001each other. >> We're live >> returning from close session. Um 3 02 certificate of action. Well, we need to come out of close session first. >> 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. >> Motion's been made by Mrs. Morris and second by Mr. Gregory to return from close session. Roll call vote. >> I >> We are back in session. 3.02 certificate of action taken in close session. >> We need some action for personnel. Um I madame chair I move that we accept u the personnel agenda as amended. >> Second >> motion's been made by Mrs.
002Morris and second by Mr. Goodman to approve the personnel agenda as amended. All those in favor please raise your hand. That's unanimous. Motion carries. Um please stand for the prayer and pledge of allegiance please. Lord our gracious and most heavenly father. Lord we uh we thank you Lord for already the things that we seem to think are so big Lord or that is so small in your eyes. Lord I thank you for already um taking over and doing what you always do best and that's shown us grace and favor and mercy. I pray Lord that you will lead God and direct this board to do the things which are right for this community for the fulfillment of our children. blessing to our community and also to our staff. I thank you for all that you
003do for us. Most of all, I thank you for Jesus and ask it all in your name I pray. Amen. >> Amen. >> I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. That leads us to 3.04, adoption of the agenda. >> Madam chair, I make a motion to adopt the agenda. [Music] Madam chair, I make a motion to approve with one amendment uh for the student liaison report to be moved up to 7.01. >> Second. >> A motion's been made by Mr. Goodman and second by Mr. Gregory to approve the adopt the agenda as amended. All those in favor, please raise your hand. That's unanimous. Motion carries. That leads us to 4.01, presentation
004of the summer school programs by Emily Harris. >> Hello. Good evening. So, we have put together something for summer school to show you all the exciting things that happened. And I say we because I definitely did not do this alone. Our coordinator at the primary school was Heather Paige. Elementary was Olivia Surface. And at the high school, Damon Tally helped get everything put together. We also had a lot of help from JB Hustes keeping everything together. Our transportation department making sure all the buses were running. Our cafeteria people for keeping everyone fed. Our red coats did an awesome job working with us, especially here in the building because we would have to work on certain hallways so that they could clean others and it was it worked really well having everyone together and I was
005just really pleased with how smoothly everything went for this. So, I'm going to let each of the coordinators speak to their part of the program because they are the experts and can share all of the exciting things that happened. So, up first is our um nightlife program at Buckingham Primary. So that's the next slide and that will be had their page. So we had our first summer of our 21st century program at the primary school this year. Um the average daily attendance was 61 students per day. We implemented you for reading and hands-on standards for math. And with those 100% of our students showed growth in either reading or math and bo most most showed growth in both areas according to pre- and post- test data. Um we also offered STEM and recreation each day
006and they worked together. They had to build dinosaur enclosures. They built cars and then they used a fan to see how far they could move their car across the floor. And then our STEM class also made solar ovens out of pizza boxes and actually melted s'mores in their ovens outside. So that was kind of cool. Um, in the art class, they built dinosaur replicas out of straws and marshmallows. And then they also made dinosaur footprints out of plaster. In recreation, they learned how to play basketball, kickball, and how to play cooperatively in groups. Um, something super exciting our second graders got to do is they got to travel to the YMCA in Farmville and take swim lessons. So, all of our second graders that attended our summer program received six swim lessons through the YMCA.
007>> Cool. >> Um, we also had two family field trips. We went to the Science Museum of Virginia and we went to Amazement Square in Lynchburg. And our theme this summer was dinosaurs. So, everything we did kind of revolved around dinosaurs. Um, and then also exciting this summer is we had our kinder camp for pre-K students. So, historically we've offered this program for four days and this year we were able to offer it for all 15 days of summer school. So, we had 19 rising kindergarters that were able to come to school for the entirety of summer school and kind of get a glimpse of what kindergarten would be like. >> So, that's pretty much it. Thank you. Hello, my name is Olivia Surface. I'm the program coordinator for the Beyond the Bell program at
008the elementary school. Um, I had the pleasure of coordinating our summer school program at the elementary and our theme this year was adventure awaits. I think you all will see that our staff really embraced that theme. Um, so our enrollment was we had 96 total students attend um over the course of June for our summer school program. We had three different areas of study. We had remediation, enrichment, and encore. So students were placed on a um remediation or enrichment track based on their student data for that year. And then their encore options were cooking, music, art, sign language, and drama. So these are some pictures of our third grade students. Um that first picture is from our enrichment class. They got to um select a national park and basically create their own itinerary. Um, in
009the middle we have our reading remediation where they did a novel study of um, the one and only Ivan. And on the right is Miss Edwards and her math class and they created their own ice cream stand. All right, these are our fourth grade students. Um, the first picture is our math remediation and they created brochures where they got to create a trip based on any state or city that they hadn't attended before and then they had to share out to all of the students in their class. So, all the kids got to learn about a place they hadn't been before. In the middle, we have >> That's okay. In the middle, we have our enrichment students. They got to plan and create their own island. So, first they had to go on Google Maps
010and learn all about different islands first. And then they ended up creating a blueprint in a travel journal, and they even had their own survivor buffs. They really embraced the theme. And then the picture on the right is from our fourth grade reading um remediation class where they did a novel study on the book Wonder. All right. So, next we have our fifth grade groups. The first picture is our reading remediation group. They did a novel study on the bridge to Terabithia and ended up creating their own setting diagrams um using shoe boxes and different art supplies. Our middle group is our enrichment group with Miss Davis. They did a novel study um on one crazy summer and then they created their own water parks. And then the picture on the right is Miss Chapman
011with her math um class and their end project was a fraction kite. All right, next are our amazing encore classes. We have our drama class, music class, and our cooking class. Um students were really able to step out of their comfort zone here and try something new. So it was really fun to see our drama production um drama, music, and sign language all did it into the summer presentation. And then here we have our art um class. They created their own maps and then our sign language class with Miss Maxi. >> Thank you so much. >> So after our regular summer school programming is done, we offer summer jam to all of our summer school students. We have three rotations. First one being recreation. Um we have a project based learning session. So this year
012we um gave the students the task of creating their own survivor challenge. So once they were done building, the students all got to try their own challenges as well, which was super fun. And then last we have STEM. So, we did a lot of hands-on, very engaging activities. We did a lot of experiments and then um a lot of Legos, different building hands-on activities. And then on the last day of programming, we took all um about 50 of the students to the Science Museum of Virginia. They got to explore different science exhibits and then they also got to see a movie in the the big dome at the Science Museum. And that's all. Thank you. [Applause] So, I always love following up after primary and elementary because it always sounds like such a good time.
013And then we switch gears more into trying to get credit recovery and getting our students moved up to the next grade level. So, we offered math for sixth, seventh, and eth. And then we offered English for sixth, seventh, and eighth grade, which was our main focus for summer school. It's also the big push for the state is improving our math and our English stuff. In sixth grade, we had nine students signed up. In seventh grade, we had seven. And in eighth grade, we had 17. So, they encompassed the majority of it. And that was in our pre-alggebra course that they had the majority of it. Our average daily attendance was 26 students. So, we only had three core teachers and two paras to help us out. I would like to offer it to more. we
014were not able to do teacher recommendations. It was all strictly based on strict course failure in either math or English or if we had students that had not been able to meet the criteria to move on to the next grade level. So, a little bit about how our students did. In sixth grade, 100% of all of our students either maintained or showed growth from the pre-EST to the post test in both math and in reading. In seventh grade, 86% of our students either maintained what they had or showed growth on the reading pre and post test and 86% also in math. Our eighth graders in English showed 71% of them were able to show growth in the content that we offered to them. And we were really excited that 88% of all of those pre-alggebra
015students in 8th grade were able to advance through that coursework, which will help them once they get to high school. Overall from all of our students, 86 maintained or showed growth according to the data in reading and 91% showed growth in math. We also carved out some time for fun. So, we had some enrichment activities that we did, which was my favorite because I love the cooking class. That was lunch. We had taco salads. They made Frito pies, monkey bread. The kids really enjoyed that. The hallway smelled amazing. I was always walking down the hall like what are we having today? We also allowed our kids to do some enrichment with ROC where they would leave in the mornings and they would go out and they would get to run through the obstacle courses which
016was a good opportunity for them because a lot of them are really excited about the opportunity to be able to do that in high school. We also did some crafts. They made candles. There were stepping stones. There was all kinds of different things that they could do. and we incorporated math and measurements and different things into that so that we were sneaking some learning in while they did the fun stuff as well. And then also housed at the middle school this year was the high school and Mr. Tally can speak more to that program. >> Okay, good evening. Um so at the high school we participate in summer school um activities here at the middle school also unlike the other schools which I appreciate you guys having fun the high school is a little more
017serious simply to for the fact that we have a lot of credit recovery and so SO requirements um some of the act some of the programs we offer at the high school uh we have our excuse me our regular summer school which is our credit recovery we offer the summer boot camp we also offer the project graduation Um on the next slide I'll explain the difference between the two. Um the summer school students that in order for them to be eligible they have to um a lot of times those students may have uh failed the class during the academic year. So they're there for credit recovery. Also they have the opportunity to so test for makeup and get those verified credits. On the next slide you'll see that we have some of the classes we
018offer. Uh we don't offer initial classes during summer school like I said because it's a shorter term. A lot of times we offer recovery. So we offer English 9, English 10, English 11, algebra 1, geometry, world history 1, we're history 2, US VA history. This year we had the opportunity to use the virtual learning um academy to assist with some of those students participating in similar school underneath the boot camp and similar um project graduation. They're very similar, but the difference is how they're funded. Um, some criteria, for example, an 11th grade student have to be participating in English to get the project graduation um, you know, grant for that. The rest of the students basically would come through local funds, but they will also be considered the boot camp. To qualify to boot camp
019is grades 10 through 12. Um, these students to be eligible, they have passed the class, but failed the so um, those students would come in for four days out of the week. on the fifth day, they will actually retest for the so. If they do not receive a passing score, they will come back, they will remediate for two more days and retake the test. Um, and then some of the courses we offer at that grade level, um, they vary. Um, the ones we offer there are basically the same thing. English 9, English 10, English 12, um, algebra 1, geometry, biology, world history 1, world history 2, Virginia, US history. Um, one thing with the high school, it's still a struggle. I'll be honest with you, because a lot of times this year our enrollment numbers,
020we invited, we initially was scheduled to invite close to 50 kids. Some of the students um got by with because they we had an extended um amount of time to make up absences, attendance recovery, which took our numbers down lower. And then with that, some of the students had the option um parental support would help us out as far as getting more students coming in the future also. So that's one thing that me and my team is still working on trying to find ways to get more um participation and um and hopefully we get these students through and get our scores up. >> Thank you. [Applause] >> Thank y'all. Thank you for those presentations. Uh 4.02, the presentation of the BISE trip by Miss Suzanne Snotty. [Music] So two years ago I stood before you
021all and asked you for support of us traveling internationally. This was our first group. It was 10 students and four adults including myself uh traveling to Bise. I'd like to thank you all for your support. I'd like to thank Miss Branch for surviving me and with her being my chaperon. and I am going to let you hear about our trip from three of our travelers, Joey Maynard, Alexis Carol, and Cassie Ahart. >> Hello, I'm Joseph Maynard, of course. Um, you want to go ahead and move it to next time? Yo, I've I've been up since six o'clock, governor's school and all. It's so real. All right, so this is day one. When we got to Bise, the jet lag did hit, not going to lie. And we traveled down the New River which took us
022to like a um what was it? >> 6 to 11. >> Yeah, I was like it went it took us to the ruins that we went to go visit. But before Yeah. the laminai ruins. There we go. And we traveled down I know I'm just and we saw the camarat birds which only died down and eat the fish right there. And that's the only interesting thing we saw in the river. We can go ahead to the next slide. And then here, oh no, here is the old sugar mill which we went to visit where the Lmani ruin ruins were. And the sugar mill was used mainly for storage because Great Britain did own it until 1981 where they finally left and become their own country. So they used that as like a sugar mill plantain
023station. And also we saw the last train in Bise which only was there Yeah. since they had no use of trains. They only had three and this was the last one. Like this was the newest one to the last one. Um, and this is the Lmani ruins which are pretty awesome. We got to climb on top of them in the one photo where me and the girls are. We got to climb on top and it was really really awesome. And pretty much what anything on top? >> No. >> And then >> what can I talk about the sport? >> Yeah. You want to? We learned that there was a sport that the Mayans played where they had a ball that they would bounce off of their hip and they would have to what? Bounce it
024off of the wall to into this hoop. >> Correct. >> Yes. >> And so pretty much we learned that the winner or loser they had a very strong sense of like they love to sacrifice her for their gods back then. And so the you would believe that the loser of this game was who was sacrificed or they had they didn't really do human sacrifices more so they did more like you would sacrifice some blood for whoever and the winners were the ones that were graced with this honor of winning this game to sacrifice for um their gods. So I just thought that was very interesting. cave tubing too. >> Oh, >> on day two we did cave tubing and we got to go through uh what they said that the Mayans call sheiba which is
025their gate to the underworld or hell. And so they believed uh back way then the Mayans believed that that was their gate. If you fall through um to the water that's where they would maybe take their prisoners. they would to leave uh their sacrifices or such to the gates of the underworld and we got to go through there but it was very interesting. We got to see a lot of formations. Um we each most of us had little packs where we take photos and we got to see um >> the cave writings remember the uh the thing that looked like >> I forget >> well cave writings and then we also got to see bats and different wildlife. We also got to see a toucan. We got to see lots of different wildlife. >> All
026right. All right. What's the next? All right. We also went ziplining, which never again. I'm going to be someone. And long story short, my friend Alexis lost her shoe wall in the middle of ziplining. So, that was like a one and done for me, which was fun. It was We went through the woods and stuff and it was actually really cool. But what >> it was familyowned, too. And then we also went to a classroom which was awesome. We got to learn like their BISE culture there and how they function. They kind of like function like our school but they really don't have the funding since Bise is poor but it was interesting to learn their culture in their country. And then here at the museum which we just got to see like the Mayans
027tools and stuff that they use and the different types of insects that were also there which was pretty awesome. Anything else add on that? >> No believe. And then we also went to the butterfly sanctuary where we got to learn the basics like the butterfly life like life cycle which I think everybody knew. >> And then most of also most of them there were dying because they only live for two weeks. But it was pretty awesome to see them. And then this is >> Sununatunic >> Shunatic ruins which was the tallest ruins in Bise where if you go on we I get to climb on top of it and we saw all of Guatemala and it was pretty awesome in my opinion and anything and then we also anything else about >> okay and then
028also went on a jungle night hike which was a disappointment because we had middle schoolers and they were very very loud. I'm sorry it was true though. And then and then we only got to see three like nighttime animals which we saw a scorpion which was pretty cool. A baby nighthawk which was pretty awesome. And then and what was that? That was a crib. >> Yeah, it was a blacktail crib. It was a It was a big snake. And I run from snakes trust. But it was a big snake. All right. Then we also went to the blue zoo. You wanted that one? We went to the Bise Zoo and we got to see a lot of BISE's home like their local animals that are there, their wildlife. Uh the zoo, the something I found
029very interesting is that the zoo was built around their natural habitats. They were not moved. They were simply built around and they had so many different animals that you would never see here. Their um what was it? >> The tipier was like their national. Yes, the tapier is their um national animal. We got to see many of them. They have lots of babies. They're very cute, very sweet. Um we got to see >> we got to see the um spider monkeys. >> The spider monkeys, the pelicans, spectacle >> and the howl monkeys. >> Howers monkeys. Oh, we got to see wild howler monkeys while we were out. And they also have small little rodents that run wild around that area as well. Wasn't it? Secret beach. Ah, finally the nicest part of this trip was
030Secret Beach. We got to go out there, enjoy the waters, and the waters were so warm, crystal blue. It was so nice. And there was an obstacle course. That was very, very fun. >> And then the local shops, we This is where I got the shirt, by the way, from the local shops. It was really nice. And this necklace, which I really loved. And then we also went snorkeling after that, which at first I was like struggling a little bit, but then when I got when I got used to it, it was really cool. We saw like there was a conch shell island. Yeah, we saw sharks. Wait, wait. Oh, yeah, we did see sharks. Yeah, we did see a shark. And then we saw sea turtles and then puffer fish. Yeah. And then a
031um there was like a conch show dead island that we saw too. It was like underneath and was all around and was dead. Um what else? And then, >> oh, do you want to? >> Okay. So, we thought it was really great. Our tour guide, our tour director was so wonderful. I think EF tours did so well. Um, our tour guide, Ivor, he planned so they he planned everything weeks with a week or so in prior and everything was so organized. It was very nice. It was so it was very interesting to also get to know him and for him to tell us everything about his culture and about the just the things about the places and the history of everywhere we went. He did really well and EF Torres did such a good job
032at having all of us together and even bringing a separate school with us as well and letting us meet them and sort of bond with them. We made lots of good friendships and learned lots of great um information that we will use probably in further day life. I think it'd be really fun just to know everything about this history and their culture. >> Is there anything else we need to add on that? >> Thank you. Thank you. >> Thank you for the presentation. >> 4.03 senior of the month. Good evening. The August 2025 Senior of the Month is Cameron Wilson. Cameron is the daughter of Kelly Cricenburgger of Dillan, Virginia. She has a 4.27 grade point average. She has been involved in softball, volleyball, and has assisted with coaching. She is also in the SCA,
033yearbook, FBLA, Skill USA, RiseUp Leadership Team, FCA, Prom Committee, Gifted, National Honors Society, Beta Club, and she is the senior class president. [Applause] In her free time, Cameron enjoys hanging out with her friends. Her favorite memory of Buckingham County High School has been her involvement in Rise Up and having the pickle ball tournament last year. After graduation, she plans to attend Community College for the degree program in diagnostic medical synography. She also would like to say how thankful she is to be recognized as the August 2025 senior of the month. Congratulations. [Applause] [Laughter] Good job. >> Congratulations. Congratulations again, Cameron. Um, that leads us to 5.01 public comment. Anyone who wishes to address the school board must state their name and address and limit their comments to three minutes. Speakers must refrain from referring to
034employees 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 in court 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 anybody? Susan Ombby. >> My name is Susan Owen and I live at 2526 Bell Branch Road. Good afternoon, Dr. Rezner and schoolboard members. I'm speaking tonight on behalf of the Buckingham Education Association, also known as the BEA. Our local union is looking forward to working with you this year. We are cautiously optimistic
035that the work started last year by the salary scales committee will be continued this year so that our schools do not continue to lose highly skilled qualified staff to surrounding counties who are better compensating their employees. As has been stated before and will continue to be stated, we are losing dedicated employees because of the unbalanced distribution of teacher salaries. Our rate of teacher turnover doesn't appear to be slowing. If anything, many who have held on for decades have finally reached their end point. As a teacher, it is disheartening to have a full have to teach a full 16 years to make just $1,000 more than a brand new teacher straight out of college. That's an increase of only 2.6% after 16 years. For kicks, I looked at how our administration pay increases during that same
036time frame. After 16 years, the increase in pay for administration is anywhere from 10.7% to 18.4%. Just some things to consider. When you start diving deeper into teacher salaries of surrounding counties for comparison, you will likely see that we start off offering very competitive pay for new teachers. Unfortunately, we go from being one of the highest paying in our region to one of the lowest within a few years because our pay scale desperately needs to be fixed. No one expects us to keep up with Fubana for salaries. So, I looked at Cumberland's current pay scale for reference. Do you know where Cumberland is at year 16 for teachers? $7,418. That's a little over $14,000 more per year. Our high rate of teacher turnover, in my opinion, causes a snowball effect. Because of the suspension of
037salary steps, teachers begin leaving our school system. Bringing in new teachers means additional unfamiliar faces for students to learn, the uncertainty of what their expectations will be, as well as increasing the load on those who do remain to mentor or assist new employees to learn the ins and outs of our particular work sites. It affects the continuity and connections we all strive so hard to maintain, which thereby can affect our students and their learning environment. The BEA wants to work with all of you to see the salary scales distributed more evenly and to ensure that they are front and center whenever budget planning is started. The cost of employing staff should be one of the very first line items when establishing our budget. Without the right staff in place, will it really matter if other
038extras can be added in elsewhere? We want what will be best for our students. Retaining dedicated staff is one way to ensure that. Thank you. And I apologize. Thank you. Kimberly Paige. Good evening. My name is Kimberly Paige. I live at 7293 Bell Road. I'm coming before you all this evening as a person who loves the place I live. I love working in the district that educated me and is now educating my children. I love carrying on my night pride in my classroom, in my school, and on the playing fields. However, I am also coming to you as a very concerned teacher, parent, and community member. I'm very concerned about the current veteran teacher turnover in our school system, which seems to be directly tied to the current pay scale. It is disheartening and crushing
039to your veteran staff when a brand new teacher can come in and start at only a thousand dollars less than a teacher with 20 plus years experience. As veteran teachers, it makes us very feel very undervalued and underappreciated. While it is great that we are able to bring in new teachers because of our starting salary, it is also sad that we seem to be unable to keep them once they realize that this district doesn't offer the same pay scale steps as other districts around us. I was heartbroken this year when I learned of several amazing educators who left our school system to only cross county lines and make upwards of $14,000 more a year. We not only lost some amazingly effective classroom teachers, but great mentors to other teachers, support systems to our students, teachers
040who volunteered their own time to make community connections and school events successful. Teachers who are invested in our school system because they are homegrown from here and feel the same night pride as many of us do. But teachers who are finally broken by being told that our salary scale was frozen yet again. Many of us teachers go above and beyond for this school district and our students because we love this place and it is our home. There are a lot there is a lot going on behind the scenes that our educators do beyond our contracts and paychecks that keep these community ties strong and these schools running smoothly. And that is because of this community pride. We live here. Our children, nieces, nephews, and grandchildren are being brought up here in Buckingham. And we want
041them to be taught by teachers who love this place as much as we do. But our board has to do better at keeping these amazing educators here and making us feel valued and appreciated. I know there was a committee who was working on this last school year and I'm happy to hear that our new superintendent is also invested in this project. I hope that this will be something that will continue and prove successful so that we do not continue to lose amazing educators to our neighbors who are able to better compensate their staff. Because believe it or not, it hurts when you have to trade that green and gold for another color. Thank you for your time. [Applause] >> Thank you. >> I wanted to recognize Mr. Mike Palmer here from the board of supervisors
042as well. Um, did you have anything to say to us today? >> No, I'll take >> Thank you for coming though. That leads us to 6.01, approval of the consent agenda. >> I'll make a motion to approve the consent agenda items. >> Second. >> A motion's been made by Mr. Gregory and second by Mr. Snotty to approve the consent agenda as presented. Are there any questions on the motion? All those in favor, please raise your hand. That's unanimous. Motion carries. Uh, that leads us to 7.01, a student liaison report. And please identify yourself so we'll know who you are. Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. My name is Micah Clark Reed and I am a senior at Buckingham County High School. Um, and I am one of the co-leazons for the 2025 2026 school year. And
043I thank you for having me. >> Congratulations. Thank you for being here. >> Okay. Um, first starting off, we have our recaps from the summer. We have FBLA Nationals. Um, Harmony Holman and Ava Taylor attended. They traveled to Anaheim, California, and they competed in several rounds of competitions and leadership events. Um, they were able to visit Huntington Beach, Disney Adventure Park, and they watched an Angel's baseball game. Um, they were able to trade pins with people from all across across the country. Um, those go on your lanyards that you get there. Um day four included Harmony and Ava competing in um different events. So Harmony competed hers her event that morning and Ava competed hers that night. Those students went to various workshops and got to visit different booths. Um FCCL LA Nationals Dustin Harmon
044and Alexis Carol attended. They went to Orlando, Florida in July and they competed in multiple events. They were able to also trade pins with people from all across the country. And I was told that a competition started among students to see who could get the most pins. Um, the BCHS nurtures lifelong learners got to travel to BISE in Central America. They learned about the Mayan Empire, local animals, and Central American culture. FFA summer leadership workshop was held at Virginia Tech this year. Students learned how to become different, how to become leaders and better their skills. um the RiseUp Club. Um this is a new club that was started. Um they were able to sell snow cones at baseball games and raise money for that. And we had a pickle ball tournament in May and they
045we raised that to get funds. Um we combined with um FCA, Future Christian Athletes, um to allow everyone an opportunity to be in a Christian um club. We were able to raise over $700 at the pickle ball tournament and our first meeting of the school year will be this Friday, August 15th and our topic is on dealing with anxiety. Thank you. >> Good evening ladies and gentlemen. My name is Lily Jones and I'm a junior at BCHS and I'm also the co- student liaison for this school year. Tonight I will continue Micros. VSCA leadership development day had nine students attend on July 9th at Massaponics High School. Legacy Youth Leadership Program was presented while they were there. Some of SCA's upcoming events is a yard sale to help raise money for a leadership scholarship. Also,
046we have Patriots Day coming up on September 11th. Homecoming, you know, the games, the the dance and all that. And the National Leadership Conference in DC will be held on fe February 27th through August 1st. Students will need to start raising money to attend this conference. It is only held this close every several years. Clubs are currently doing their membership drives and sporting events are starting to kick off. First home varsity game is August 29th. JV first home football game is September 3rd. Volleyball will play at home August 28th. Cross country has a home meet August 27th. And golf has a match at home August 14th. Middle school sports are also in full swing for this school year. The high school has now implemented a new schedule. Students now are on a flex time schedule.
047So that means we have five blocks a day. And we have a mentor time on Friday with different teachers to help us encourage to chase our goals. Thank you all for your time and for listening. Thank you. That leads us to 7.02 um criteria for independent educational evaluation by Jennifer Graasier. >> Sorry. Good evening again everyone. Um, you should have in your packet, it's a six- page uh descriptor as well as criteria for an what we refer as an IE or independent education evaluation. Uh in summation, what this is is if a child goes through um testing for potential eligibility for special education services and the parent is not uh happy with the results that we provide, they do have the right to request and there is a process for a request for an IE.
048Um, and as you see on page one, it's a breakdown that they have to pre present in writing to myself uh requesting the IE. Uh, it does go through an approval process and once it is approved, the parent will be expected to contact the qualified evaluator whom they've selected. The very back page has two individuals in which we have approved. Um, the parent must sign the necessary releases authorizing the evaluator and the school system to communicate about the student and share information relevant to the IE. Um, this release and the IE must be received before payment will be made. There is a cap of $1,500. Um, further down throughout this packet, it gives you the minimum qualifications for each particular test, the psychological as well as the educational. Um the the on page three there's
049criteria that um goes more into detail about uh section two which is the criteria and that the evaluator should not proceed uh at public expense until receiving notice from us that they have been approved to conduct the IE. So a parent cannot go out and get an individual evaluation report and then ask us to pay for it. we there is a process that we have to go through before that is conducted. Um and then all information is shared. Uh on page four it does say we have the right to remove an evaluator from the list at any time. They may be requesting they may actually can request to us to be uh removed um by providing written notice. they just can't quit cold turkey and we're still thinking that they're actually going to be the
050ones to evaluate um from that. Again, we will not make payment until we have received the appropriate reports. Um and we have approved throughout the process of requesting this. Uh I will say in my 26 plus years I've only experienced two. Um, so this is something that is a rarity, but it can happen and it is the right of the parent to request that. >> So is this common place across the board? This is the first I think I've seen it up here. Is this common? Is this common? >> This is a com This is something that is common in uh the processes of special education uh as far as parental rights go. they can request that if they are not satisfied with the results that we provide here at the school level, you know,
051with our qualified school psychologist, school social worker, etc. Um, again, it's it is a rarity, but it is something that is within the special education regulations that we must afford the opportunity for a parent to make that formal request. And we have set the price at no more than $1,500. So, are we required to pay that up to $1,500? I mean, >> this is what we as a division have decided based on >> we have. This is something that has been in place um that we we do review every year. Um I'm not sure my predecessor before me um in in her presentation, but um inheriting this this is what was in place that we're not I'm not requesting an increase in in price or anything like that. >> No, like I said, it's just
052first time seeing it. Um, so if we do one here and a parent goes and has theirs done, does theirs trump by ours or who make who's a determining factor for the the two that have already been done? >> So that's when you would come back together with with reviewing the previous report as well as the evaluator report. There are checklists and criteria in which we would go through again. Um and you know from that criteria it could still be the same result that a child may or may not be eligible under a certain category. There are seven um or based on this information it may be a consensus amongst the the uh eligibility team to accept that IE and then move forward with providing service for a student. >> Okay. I'm sorry just want
053to ask >> that's okay. What's the pleasure of the board? Madame Chair, I recommend approval of the criteria for independent educational evaluation. >> Second. >> It's been made a motion by Miss Morris and second by Mr. Snotty to approve the criteria for independent educational evaluations. Are there any other questions? All those in favor, please raise your hand. That's unanimous. Motion carries. >> Thank you very much. >> Thank you, ma'am. SE 7.03 um the DCPS preschool steps head start. >> Good evening. I rise to recommend approval of the steps Head Start memorandum of understanding. The thisou outlines the partnership between steps Head Start and Buckingham County Public Schools from August 1st 2025 to July 20 31st 2026 to coordinate services for eligible preschool children including dual language learners and those with disabilities. It establishes joint efforts
054in recruitment, enrollment, professional development, curriculum alignment, parent engagement, and smooth transitions from Head Start to kindergarten while ensuring compliance with federal regulations, and maximizing the use of Head Start funds. This agreement details responsibilities for data sharing, confidentiality, inclusion services, screening and referral processes, facility use, utilities, and insurance. termination provisions allow steps to end the agreement with 30 days notice if head start funding ceases. >> Um I did notice that it had Dr. Keeler's name on this still. So I would hope that they would update that. Um and um >> I would like to assume somebody gave this to you. >> Yeah, it was a lot of >> Yeah, you need to go back and like >> redo this whole stinking thing. >> The whole thing? >> Oh yeah, it's horrible. >> You can't read it.
055I mean, I didn't I was trying to figure out what the words were a couple times and I did not finally >> Is it a poor copy? >> It's got poor copy parts to it, but it's got misspelled stuff throughout it. And from an education piece, I Yeah, I wouldn't want anybody looking at this. >> Yeah, I was going to call Wendy up and tell her about it, but I said, "No, it didn't come from us." So >> even the spacing on the documents between the different paragraphs and stuff like that where it would look like it was copied and pasted across, it's not formatted properly. So if you if you take a look at it and review it, what we have maybe has been done, but what we're seeing right here in front of
056us, it's it's it's rough. >> I think I think what happened was the wrong document got shared. Okay. >> So two were originally shared. The one since he was new, so he could see the one that he signed. >> Oh, you got set up. And then and then the one we were bad. So we'll go back through our documents and get to the correct one because you are right. That other one was really bad. >> Yes, it's bad. >> We do have the right one. >> Okay. >> I was going to say the PDF I reviewed looked great. So >> all right. >> I say we table this until we got one in front of us and we can say go ahead and do unless they're going to fix it. >> We can say we
057can fix it >> as amended. >> Long as long as it's amended. We'll fix it. >> Yeah. Let's do let's do that then. >> Yeah. because um just one question. Um so I mean this is something that we normally do because I mean how does the steps head start work with the preschool? I didn't even know that they were working in conjunction with each other. >> So I'm going to turn this over to to Miss Walker. Just in the brief time that she's toured me through the building. I know that they share they use one room of the of the preschool hallway. And so, um, she's really worked out the responsibilities and she can speak to that. >> Hi. So, this is something that we do yearly. Um, last year, last summer actually, we put
058a lot of work in with step head start because we were tasked by the early childhood office and the DOE to go back and look at thisou to add in all of the good stuff. So, we did all of that pre-work. It was approved by the state and that messy copy that you saw that didn't translate well was what was signed last year from Dr. Keeler. So what I did was I went back through I found a fresh copy. We made it look much better. We updated it with Dr. Rezner's names, all the right dates and that sort of thing. But to your point, Mr. Goodman, this is standard. This is what we do yearly. And we have a great partnership with Head Start. >> All right. Thank you. >> Yes. You're welcome. We need
059a recommendation for approval. >> I move we go ahead with an amended uh approval of the BCPS steps head start year. >> Second. >> Motion's been made by Mr. Snotty and second by Mr. Jameson to approve the BCPS preschool steps head start as amended. Um any questions? All those in favor, please raise your hand. That's unanimous. Motion carries. Thank you. Uh leads us to 7.04 uh approval of the 2526 dual enrollment at um SVCC annual contract. >> Madam chair, I I stand to recommend approval for the dual enrollment SVCC annual contract. This contract between Buckingham County Public Schools and Southside Virginia Community College establishes the terms for offering dual enrollment courses taught at the high school or online by qualified high school instructors outlining tuition reimbursement, faculty credentiing and instructional standards. It specifies requirements for
060faculty selection, training, evaluation and responsibilities, student eligibility and enrollment procedures and administrative duties for both the school and the college including grading, recordkeeping and data sharing. The agreement ensures dual enrollment courses maintain the same rigor outcomes and assessment standards as onampus classes, provides pathways for students to earn certificates or associate degrees, and addresses issues such as textbook provision, privacy compliance, accommodations for students with disabilities, and liability coverage. Termination requires 30 days written notice and may not occur until until ongoing courses are completed. And I think the price went up just a little bit this year. >> Yes, >> correct. Okay. Um, >> Madam Chair, I move we approve the 2526 dual enrollment SVCC annual contract. >> Second. >> A motion's been made by Mr. Snotty and second by Mr. Gregory to approve the 2526 dual
061enrollment for SVCC annual contract. Are there any questions? >> One question. Now, when I was reading through it, it was had some language in it about if they don't pass the class, how how does that work? >> I'm going to have to seek clarification for sure on Buckingham's policy towards that. But generally, if someone doesn't pass a class, the school system or the passes that cost on to the families. I will confirm that and report back. >> Okay. >> Thank you. If I'm not mistaken, it's kind of like the agreement going into those type of classes. >> I think they sign a contract up. Yes, >> that's Are there any other questions? >> All those in favor, please raise your hand. That's unanimous. The motion carries. Thank you. 7.05. Uh recommend approval of the Buckingham
062Charlotte transportation cost sharing agreement. >> Yes. Uh, madam chair and members of the board, we are seeking your approval this evening to enter into a transportation costs saving, excuse me, cost sharing agreement with Charlotte County Public Schools. We have two students who reside in Buckingham County in a temporary living arrangement, but will remain enrolled in Charlotte County Public Schools for the continuity of education during their senior year. In the best interest of the students and in accordance with ESSA, both school divisions agree to coordinate and share the cost of transporting the students from their temporary residence in Buckingham County to Charlotte County High School. >> Oh, that's a loaded one. >> So long. >> The cost will be every other month >> as I it's going to be split equally between the two school divisions.
063>> Okay. So we really don't pay anything except for getting them to what the county line or or what do we do >> to what do you mean currently or just with this or >> so we're not sharing duties we're just sharing the cost. That means if we're sharing the cost somebody's providing a transportation which in this case is us. >> So Charlotte's Charlotte is transporting is is going to come in and pick them up and take them to their to their >> Oh and we're going to give them some of our money. >> Correct. But every other year, I mean, every other month, right? I think that's what I read. >> Do we have an estimated cost? >> I do not. Um, it would be fuel, mileage, reimbursement, and driver time. I could find
064that out from Mr. Palmer. >> Are we required to do this >> or is it a gray area? >> It's a It's a It's a gray area. Um, because they reside there are students. they reside in Buckingham, but given the nature of their special circumstance, um it is in their best interest to for them to continue work going to school in Charlotte. Uh we presently do not have a vehicle um available that would readily available that would be able to assist us with this if we were to transport them there ourselves. So Charlotte is doing us a a service by coming into Buckingham to pick up the children to take them back to school with them. >> And this will be for the whole year, correct? Or >> um or or until or until their
065situation um changes. Yes. >> So we could be looking at doing this for the next how many years? >> No, they're seniors. >> They're seniors. it would be for no longer than the remainder of the school year, but it could be shorter depending on um their circumstance because they are in, you know, tempor, like I said, a temporary um housing arrangement. Sounds sketchy, >> but if it's already been worked out between you and Charlotte, I mean, while is a gray area, I mean, these kids also didn't they didn't wake up in the morning to want to put themselves in this situation. And if I believe if Charlotte is going to do their part and we do our part and if this if it's in the best interest of the children and you know both superintendents
066have agreed that I'm um >> we we agree that this is in their best interest. >> I'll make a motion that we approve the approval of the Buckingham Charlotte transportation cost sharing agreement. >> I'll second it. >> Uh Mr. A motion's been made by Mr. Gregory and second by Mr. to approve the Buckingham Charlotte transportation cost sharing agreement as presented. Are there any other questions? All those in favor, please raise your hand. That's unanimous. The motion carries. See 7.06 recommend approval of policy GCB A-R salary scale placement. >> Yes, madam chair and members of the board. Uh we are seeking your approval this evening of policy regulation GCBA salary scale placement which outlines how teachers, classified employees and administrators and supervisors are placed on the salary scale. Teachers will be placed on the teacher salary
067scale commensurate with their actual full full years of teaching service in public public education. Teachers will be placed on the teacher salary scale commensurate with their full years in private school service in which they taught with an active license. Five years of military service may be counted towards salary scale placement. CTE teachers will be granted one year of teaching credit on the salary scale for each full year of documented full-time work experience in the related industry. Classified employees will be placed on the salary scale commensurate with their actual full years of public school experience in like areas of service in their areas of responsibility. Five years of military service may be counted towards salary scale placement. One year of service experience will be granted for each full year of experience in an area of responsibility
068similar to the contract assignment. Administrators will be placed on the salary scale commensurate with their actual years of licensed administrative experience with one step on the administrative salary scale granted for each year of prior experience in an administrative position in a public school setting. One step on the administrative salary scale will also be granted for every four years of teaching in a public school setting. Five years of military service may be counted towards salary scale placement. This regulation also outlines how fractional years of service are counted for salary scale placement. And the reason that we uh are seeking your approval of this uh regulation this evening is to provide consistency and equity with how administrators primarily are brought on with regards to salary scale placement. This is in response to questions that were broached at
069back in the I guess it was last month or so if I'm not mistaken and there was kind of like some shock I think that some of the stuff wasn't done the way it was supposed to been done a while back. So this is in uh direct correction to some of that. Yes, that is in th this this regulation addresses all of the questions that were brought up and raised um actually at the first board meeting in July where I came on >> and I think we had asked Patty to provide us where where they were coming in when we hired someone new in the first place to know what the logic was for where they placed them >> at the time. >> Correct. and we gave you um all of all of the administrators
070at that time and where and where their salary scales fell. >> And this will be going forward. It's not going to be retroactive. >> Uh no, ma'am, it we actually put this into place on July 9th with the uh with administrators that were hired, Dr. Ring staff and Miss Stegar. Um both their salaries were both calculated based on this proposed regulation at the time. And I think when we talked about it, everybody who was basically there already, they were grandfathered in and anybody coming on board would bid. >> Yes. This is to be moving forward. Correct. >> Madam Chair, >> go ahead, >> Madam Chair. I'll make a recommendation that we approve approval of policy GCBA-R salary scale placement. >> Second. >> The motion's been made by Mr. Gregory and second by Mr. Snotty to
071approve the policy GCBA-R salary scale placement as presented. Are there any other questions? All those in favor, please raise your hand. That's unanimous. The motion carries. 7.07 recommend approval of the fiscal year 2526 budget amendment. Madam Chair and members of the board, we are seeking your approval this evening of a budget amendment to accept a one-time appropriation from the board of supervisors in the amount of $54,000 to be earmarked for retrofitting four buses with air conditioning. This appropriation request was brought to you previously and was tabled for further discussion and consideration. Move we approve the uh 2526 budget amendment. Second. >> A motion's been made by Mr. Snotty and second by Mr. Gregory to approve the fiscal year 2526 budget amendment as presented. Are there any questions? >> No. These are the things we talked
072about before and some of the conversations we had with the board of supervisors. So the after coming out of one of the meetings, I think it was two months ago, >> month before last, wasn't it, Mike? >> Yeah. month before last, we talked about some of the budget concerns between us. Um, and this is one of the things leading up to that that uh we're going to look at taking the uh the monies we had gotten from the board of supervisors that was previous uh pushed over to buying I think it was one bus and moving some of the other funding over to the ACs that the community want so bad. So, I think this will plus up that whole endeavor. And if I'm not mistaken, we talked about it, Mr. Palmer, it was uh
073roughly 20ome buses we'd have up and running if we used all the money accordingly. Right. >> Exactly. >> Yeah. So that'll put us up over what? 80% 90%. >> Yeah. >> Okay. >> Thank you. >> We need a motion. >> It was already done. >> Oh, I'm sorry. Uh all those in favor, please raise your hand. >> It's motion carries. Unanimous. 7.08. Recommend approval of the July 2025 VSBA policy updates. Now, do we need to do this or second u second reading? you it was just a se just simple you know adjustments that we just did okay these uh these these policy updates are very minimal and we felt like we could do this with okay single reading >> so madam chair members of the board we are seeking your approval this evening of the
074following July 2025 VSBA policy updates policy DJF purchasing procedures this policy has been updated for clarity with policy and legal references updated to reflect the correct code section numbers from House Bill 2150 and Senate Bill 913 creating Virginia Code section 2.2-4311.3 and 2.2-4311.4. Number two, policy JFC, student conduct. This policy has been updated to reflect amendments of Virginia Code section 22.1- 276.01. 01 and 22.1-279.6 by Senate Bill 908. And number three, policy KBA, request for public records. This policy has been updated to reflect a missing paragraph from the May 2025 update. It starts from the most recent prior version of June 2022 and reflects the amendments of Virginia Code section 2.2-3704.2 2 by House Bill 2152. What's the pleasure of the board? >> Hold on. Let me skim this one real quick. I missed that
075last one. >> Madam Chair, I recommend approval of the July 2025 BSBA policy updates. >> Second. >> A motion's been made by Mrs. Morris and second by Mr. Goodman to approve the July 2025 BSBA policy updates as presented. Are there any questions? >> We talked about some of that cyber bullying stuff before and some of the questions that that we bought up right >> in the meeting. We talked about uh what does that mean and so it's got the cyber bullying stuff in this one document. Uh but it doesn't address what that really means the contact of the the parent and stuff like that. And that's some of the same question we brought up before uh with this specific one because of that. What does that mean? I think was the question that was asked.
076What does that mean? How do we do that? How is that done? How is that captured? And I don't know if that I mean I don't again it's in here. >> It says that it will contact all involved. So >> same thing I said before. >> It should be both the bullyer and the right >> bully. >> But I don't know what the recourse is. This is this is just addressing what's happening. But, you know, as as we've seen already in the school year with social media stuff, right? >> What what happens? I mean, at the end of the day, we can identify it all day long, but this is just >> Would you like for us to uh bring this policy back to you next month for um further clarification of our implementation of
077policy JFC? or or what's I mean it's great for the the institution if you will to give us policy updates but they're kind of >> vague >> right ambiguous right vague and ambiguous you know what is what does that mean you're telling us what it is but what is everybody doing >> I think we need it we need to show our action plan on this policy is basically >> uh we will be prepared to present that to you next month >> but we can go ahead and approve it for now and then we can update it if we need to >> y >> so uh any other questions questions. All those in favor, please raise your hand. That's unanimous. Motion carries. 7.09. Uh VSBA governance training, new superintendent training, and master board training. >> Yes,
078madam chair, members of the board, the Buckingham County School Board has previously been named as a master board by the Virginia School Board Association. Because we have a new superintendent and a new board member, the board must complete governance training and updated masterboard training. The school board and myself will be meeting together in Charlottesville at the VSBA office on the following dates for these trainings. Governance training on Monday, August 18th, beginning at 9:00 a.m. and master board training on Wednesday, September 24th, beginning at 9:00 a.m. I have arranged for a van um to transport us if you would like. I've made arrangements um for that if we would like to caravan up together. >> What time are you leaving? >> Yeah, I know. Right. What time? What time we got to be there? >> We
079have to be there at 9:00. >> I mean meeting >> I mean we don't have to take the van. I've made arrangements for the van if we need it. >> I'll drive separately. Thank you then. Drive. >> I will definitely be driving separately. >> Okay. >> Thank you though. >> But thank you. You're welcome. >> You're welcome. I'll cancel the van. >> I mean, unless, you know, lease for to u Monday. It may be different the next time. So, just, you know, bring it back to us. >> I don't think >> Thank you. >> I get car sick. I wouldn't be back. I wouldn't be pretty at all. >> Um 710 VSBA hybrid legislative advocacy conference, September the 19th. >> Okay. Madam Chair and members of the board, uh the VSBA Legislative Advocacy Conference will
080be held on Friday, September 19th at the Chesterfield Career and Technical Center on Hol Street Road from 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. The conference will have sessions on safety and security in schools, understanding fentanyl, vaping and CBD in schools, federal updates, conflict of interest, training, legislative updates, and also both gubernatorial candidates will speak as well. If you're interested in attending this conference, please let us know and Mrs. Oliver will work to get you registered. >> I want to attend >> myself as well. Thank you. 7.11 VSBA 2025 annual convention November 19th through the 21st. >> Yes, Madam Chair and members of the board, the VSBA will hold its annual convention on November 19th through 21st, 2025 in Williamsburg. Events include keynote addresses, breakout sessions, and the 22nd annual VSBA 5K runwalk. Thursday during the conference
081is schools division spirit day. If you're interested in attending the VSBA annual convention, please let us know so Miss Oliver can get you registered and book your accommodations. >> I'll be there. >> I'll go. >> Yeah, me too. Are we at the um the lodge or we got to go to the the boonies? >> Um unfortunately this is not our year for the lodge. >> So we're at the holiday in Thank you. 7.12 update on the community survey. Madam chair and members of the board, this evening I would like to provide you with the community survey results. The survey was part of my superintendent entry plan and the data collected from the survey will be used to help inform our new school division comprehensive plan. On July 9th, the survey was first placed on our
082school division website, on our Facebook page, and was emailed to all school employees. It was also linked in the weekly newsletter that I send to employees. There's been a total of 63 survey respondents, 46 employees, eight community supporters, six parents who were also not already an employee, and one student completed the survey. All significant themes are are indicated on the report and I would like to share each question as well as the top five responses for each question one. What does Buckingham County Public Schools do well and what are you most proud of? 12 responded that the school division helps students succeed and that it cares about the students. 11 responded that the school division brings the community together. Nine responded that the school division has dedicated employees. Seven responded that the school division provides
083student centered and individualized instruction. And four responded that the school division helps students feel valued and recognized and also does a great job of educating students by focusing on achievement. Question number two, what is Buckingham County Public Schools doing to meet the needs of students? 10 responded that the school division meets students where they are. Eight responded that the school division provides before and after school programs and also provides support services for students such as clothing, counseling, and mentoring. Six responded that the school division provides remediation and that teachers p participate in weekly planning and PLC meetings with a focus on their use of student data. Question number three, what are your highest aspirations for Buckingham County students? 16 responded that they want students to build strong character and become productive citizens. 12 responded that
084they want all students to achieve their long-term goals and find success. Nine responded that they want to provide students with workforce ready skills and also to learn a trade skill. Nine responded that they want students to become self-reliant after graduation and eight responded that they want students to graduate from high school. Question number four, what critical issues exist within Buckingham County Public Schools? Four responded that student discipline is a critical issue. Three responded that staff compensation is a critical issue. two responded that a lack of mental and behavioral supports for students is a critical issue and two also responded that bullying is a critical issue and teacher turnover and teachers resigning is is a critical issue. Question number five, what practices or programs would you like to see started, stopped, or continued within Buckingham County
085Public Schools? Three responded that they would like to start a band program at the high school. Three responded that they would like to start a partnership with a full-time counseling support from an outside agency. Three responded that they would like more middle school elective courses offered. Two responded that they would like to see us implement anCCL program for primary and elementary students. two also responded that they would like us to implement tier three recommendations for student behavior, greater consequences or alternatives for students who cause disruptions in class and also offer a community service or volunteer program for students. Two with regards to what should stop, two responded that they would like us to stop the employee of the month recognition. Um there is also a long list of other suggestions that one respondent would like
086us to stop. So there were many many many one person responses here. And so some of these include um stopping academic medals for students, ending favoritism towards staff and students, stopping a lack of followth through by administration, stopping a lack of support for staff, and stopping uh one-sizefits-all instructional programs. And once again, the complete list is posted in Bordox as part of this presentation. Um, six six responded that they would like us to to see us continue expanding CTE program offerings. Uh, three responded that they would like us to continue offering extracurricular activities. two responded that they would like us to continue providing after school remediation and also continue with the senior of the month recognition and the banquet at the end of the year. And last question, question number six, what is your what
087is your number one or top priority for Buckingham County Public Schools at this time? Eight responded eight respondents indicated school safety. Six respondents indicated staff compensation. Five respondents indicated that all students receive a high quality education and discover their own unique skills and abilities. Four response four respondents indicated that student discipline with consistent consequences. And three respondents indicated an increase in community buyin and involvement. And once again, this is a synopsis of all the data collected from the community survey. And I'm happy to answer any questions you may have. There was well on that last one it also said that it wanted to continue with parental involvement and more parental involvement. So I think that one's pretty >> pretty high up there for me. So just wanted to say that. >> Yes. Well, yeah, that
088one is, you know, up there high for me as well because I mean, if say for instance someone they say, well, you know, I'm a parent. How do I get involved more in the school? What would you say? >> I would say that um they need to uh communicate frequently with their child's principal, with their child's teacher. Uh follow us on social media to see of the activities that we are doing to get involved. Um but it starts, you know, primarily with the classroom teacher, finding out what and and teachers what they're what they're doing in their class, what the students are doing and working with um with their um principal. And of course, you know, I have an open door policy as superintendent if a parent wanted to meet with me. Um I'm happy
089to entertain a one-to-one conversation with parents. >> Yeah. And also, I saw it talked a little bit about disruptions. I I personally believe that our children should learn in an environment that's free from disruptions. So, as a parent and they are dealing with uh their child in a classroom that may have some disruptions for whatever reason, uh how do you respond to parents if uh they are complaining and saying, "Well, you know, I I think uh what's going on in my class child's class is is some disruptions." How do you address those concerns? So um it's inappropriate for us to have a conversation with a parent about another student. Okay. So we have to keep the focus on their child and then listen and take good information and then follow up with the principal and
090the administrators at the school to find out what's happening in the classroom, what supports might be needed, uh what can we do to help support and try to make the situation better and then follow back up with the parent. But we have to keep the focus of the conversation on their child and not on anyone else's child during those during those one-to-one conversations. >> All right. So, you do have one-on-one conversations. Now, >> I open that up. I I open the opportunity certainly to meet with any parent that wants to discuss and I have already had many conversations with parents who have requested to meet with me. >> Okay. >> Since I started. >> Well, good. >> Thank you. I I have to say that this is the results of this are the few percentage
091of people that have actually cared enough to do it and and part of that is our own employees. I mean we had 40 46 employees that did this. I would love to had shoot 80% of them >> you know tell us what you think tell us what you want because right now we got less than half that's even >> right and so we can revisit this later in the school year I mean there's no you know this is one survey >> we can certainly do another survey at a later time but I'm grateful for >> those that those that took the time to complete the survey >> um it was not a check the box click click click click click kind of survey we wanted to really have gauge what their thoughts were. Um, and
092so and not box people in. And I think we were able to do that by providing there's so many people that maybe one person had a had a comment about a certain topic, but their comment was recognized, you know, on this. >> There's a stigma associated with surveys, especially from an employee with us in the military. you know, nobody wanted to put what how they really felt or what they really wanted to see done because they thought it came back to them to bite them in the, >> you know, the butt. Um, but you know, once you convince people that look, this is, we don't hold that information. The numbers that we collect and the numbers we collect, even the, you know, the IT bubbles that we talked to like, hey, can you see this?
093Go, no. The only person that even sees the results nine times out of 10 for our side of the house was the big wigs, Lieutenant Colonel, Sar Major, those kind of individuals. I don't know if this is the same, but perhaps that's a stumbling point for some of our, you know, people want to hear from is are they collecting the data? Do they know it's coming from my my, you know, my IP address on my machine? You know what I'm saying? >> Uh, and not that they they expect to tell the truth about it, but at the end of the day, I would want to know whether or not, you know, are you watching my computer? Can you pull this data? Can Patrick tell me whether or not he saw me put this and I
094clicked this and I don't like like him on that board member talks too much, whatever. That kind of stuff, right? I mean that's that was a real fear for us and that's a big institution. I would imagine it's the same here. >> So you know the survey was one one way to get gauge information. You know we have listening days coming up in August uh end of August into early September. Um I'm going to be spending the um a full day at all of our sites, all five schools plus the bus shop and maintenance department. And that's an opportunity for uh anyone during that day at any time that they are available to come talk with me about share anything that's on their mind, any questions they'd like to ask, is there anything that they
095would like me to find out more information on. So that's another way for us to further engage with our employees um during those listening sessions. and and I would say and and I wanted to commend you uh because to me I feel like it's trending in a positive direction especially with regards to uh the communication with staff. Uh I know I've been on the board since 2016 and that's always been one of the uh kind of points of contention with people is that they felt like uh they weren't being heard. And so, uh, I celebrate the fact that now that we have a superintendent that's come in and, uh, she's got a newsletter that goes out and, and I was looking at it, uh, and I see people on there smiling. Uh, and so I,
096it made me want to smile. And then hearing some of the information about what's actually going on uh, in the schools, I just said, "That's wonderful." And then uh I saw that she had listening days where people can come in uh and I thought and said, "Man, maybe I should come in one day and just give her an earful uh as a parent or something maybe or just as a person." Uh but that is good. That is wonderful. So I celebrate that. Uh and so I did want to commend you and I did want to highlight uh the fact because sometimes we hear a lot of negativity, we hear a lot of complaints. Uh but uh I believe that we are trending in the right direction and we've got someone here that is listening and
097we are hearing what it is that you are saying. So thank you so much. >> You're welcome. And I'll say this, you write it down so we know you've got it because she writes everything down. She's got notes for >> the list is getting done, right? The list is getting done. So, you know, I just want to reiterate uh to the community and those that are watching this and and to you as well that there are four pillars that I feel extremely um that that are extremely important that I have told our directors and our principles and I shared it with at convocation with all staff and that is to communicate, collaborate, have transparency and have teamwork and those are the four things that everything that we do should operate under those four norms and
098so that's what we are trying to do here with the listening sessions and the survey and other things that we're doing. >> Okay, thank you very much. Um, that leads us to 7.13, salary study overview. >> Okay, so um, Madam Chair and members of the board, uh, we're in the process of, as I've stated before, conducting a comprehensive salary study of all full-time contracted positions. And so we are comparing Buckingham County Public Schools with eight other regional school divisions. Cumberland, Atheatics, Fana, Nelson, Prince Edward, Powatan, Gland, and Amelia. And so we are examining each step and what the average salary is for each step as well as how far off Buckingham County is from the average of each individual step. So our goal is always to be first in the region for staff compensation. However,
099our initial first goal is to at least be average when compared to the other eight school divisions. We know that we recognize that we will not get to first overnight. Okay? It will take time, but our initial first goal is to at least be average. And so, we will share this data with you during the November schoolboard meeting. It will probably be quite lengthy. and we will take the time to go through every position and have all of that available for you at one at one setting. Um the data will also be used uh to help inform conversations as we begin our budget development process. >> Thank you. We are working on the salaries just it's not happening. It's not getting there it looks like but we're really working on it. as what? >> Money.
100>> Okay. Um 8.01 school board member committee updates. Does anyone have any updates? >> U Madam Chair, >> I just have just want to commend u Mr. Hessup and Patrick and all the safety um aspects of how Buckingham County schools are running. Um just want to thank all the staff members that have the new open gate system and the weapon scanner. Um, thank you guys for taking the time, taking it serious, and I know it, you know, it can hinder the date just a little bit, but I really do appreciate you all just still just just jumping right in and dealing with everything. So, I want to thank the administrators of the school as well. Um, safety is a big component of my life. Um, so I want to make sure that our schools continue
101to do do the right thing and stay above stay in front of what could happen. So, I just want to give thanks to everybody that's involved with that. say something about today's visit. >> Um well, first u um Dr. Rezner and I both went to the governor's school um meeting, first one for both of us, so we were, you know, green horns, but it was basically just a gathering for the new meeting because everybody was basically new except the ones that have been on that board forever. Um, but we learned a few things and hopefully the next board meeting we go to, we'll learn even more. But, um, I think they went up just a tiny bit on their, um, the cost for Southside, but for the dual enrollment, but overall, we we learned a
102few things, but it really isn't anything to tell um, yet because we didn't really cover things real hard yet. Go ahead, Mr. But I did attend uh one of the governor school events where they had the students there. Uh and it was wonderful. The the students were there. They were pitching ideas that they had. Uh my son was a part of it. Uh but it was great. It was wonderful. Uh listening to them pitch their ideas and try to show how they came to their conclusions. So it is a really really good program. Um, also, uh, s did we have a facilities meeting lately? Could you come up and kind of share your words of wisdom for us, please? Mr. Heslip, >> thank you for letting me come up. Um, we've had a safety committee
103as well meeting and, uh, facilities um, since the last time we've meet met. Um the facilities uh we talked about uh this kind of this year concentrating on fixing things that we have, keeping costs down, being very budget minded in all that we do. Um we've had some things that I made the committee aware of that that popped up on us already. Um and we are addressing those in the most uh financially responsible way we can and making sure that we move forward. You know, we just um that's the that's where we're at. And so the projects that we were blessed to be able to get through, we're through with those now. So that budget is gone. So we're now in the we're fixing and repairing and making sure that we're being fiscally responsible. So
104that was the general meeting with facilities this time. >> Okay. Any other items to come before the board? >> Thank you. And uh thank you for feeding. We saw where you had pictures of you feeding in the chow hall. >> Yes. What we got? >> That goes for your your other volunteers, too. Thank them for helping out in the chow hall. That's that's cool. >> I appreciate that. And um just wanted to say that the um the weapons detector roll out has been very successful. Excellent. and uh administration has been very very um open to that and have really done a good job accepting that and doing a good job with it. So I just want to say that >> just uh just one thing if I can chair we were up there today uh
105doing a walk through. Mr. Tally is doing a wonderful job. It it did feel to me a little warm. Uh >> that's a budget thing sir. word. No, I'm just teasing. Um, >> we do, you know, to be honest with you, sir. Um, we have brown power here a lot. It either it fluctuates up and down and it is a it's murderous on my HVAC equipment. U we have to reset it sometimes and um that you you may have walked in. We did have some today. I had to reset again. I think the day before yesterday, uh, we had it as well. So, we're constantly staying on it. I do have EBI, so I'm uh constantly looking in where we're at. We're better than we were. We're about 98% with our rooms. Uh the 2%
106we're suffering through right now, but we will we will we'll get through it. So, >> all right. Thank you. >> Thank you. [Music] >> And I do want to thank Mr. Thally and the whole high school for letting us be there today for a little while to >> tolerating us. >> Well, whatever. >> Man, talk about interrupting classrooms. I was I felt like a dog. >> But everything looked like it was going pretty well for the first few days of school. I know they're trying to get used to the new block schedule that you've got and u hopefully it'll be a success. Uh if there's no more items to come before the board, this meeting is adjourned. Thank you all for coming.