001We're now returning from close session. Can I get a roll call vote, please? I need to do it first. I need to do it first. What? I need to have somebody. Mr. Mr. Chairman, I recommend that we certify that 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. properly voted and seconded. Motion is seconded. Now we do roll call vote. I I I I I unanimous. Obviously, Mr. Chair is not here. So, he's tagged me said I needed my reps. So, we'll now open the regular meeting. It's the customary for Buckingham County School Board to open each meeting. Certificate of action. Huh? Certificate.
002post. Certificate of action taken in close session. Mr. Chairman, I make a motion to approve the personnel agenda as amended. Second. So approved. Roll call vote. Just vote. Got it. Sorry. I got to remember, like I said, I'm writing this at the same time we're going through it. All right. Everybody eyes have it. Eyes have it. Yep. I can enroll them. I'm sorry. Like I said, I can roll with them. You're good. Opening of the regular meeting. Custom of the Buck Buckingham County School Board to open each meeting with the pledge of allegiance and a moment of silence. We're going to start off with a prayer. If anyone is offended by either of these suggested that they wait until one minute after the beginning of the meeting to enter, please note any person may photograph,
003film, record, or otherwise reproduce any portion of any open meeting. Uh BCSB policy BDA code of Virginia [Music] 22-3707. Please rise. Let us pray. Dear heavenly father, thank you for allowing us to come here today. Guide us and making wise decisions for the students and the rest of the school system. Watch over us and help us to do thy will. In Jesus name we pray. Amen. Amen. Pledge 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. Three check 04 adoption of the agenda. Mr. Chair, I move that we adopt the agenda as presented. Second move and properly seconded. Vote I. All in favor? [Music] Approved. Recognitions and presentations. Before we go into that, may I make
004an announcement uh about the Buckingham preschool and kindergarten registrations. Um, it's open for the 2526 school year. Uh, it's also posted. We have the flyers out there. Uh, it's on the website. If you go to the website on the main page of the Buckingham County Public School website, it's all right there. Uh, so it's been emailed out to the community. We're talking about it now. If you have any questions, please check the website and contact the uh, individuals on the uh, on the website. Senior of the [Music] Month. Good afternoon. Uh each month we have recognized a senior uh from the graduating class uh to be honored. And tonight, uh, we'd like to honor Kain Wooten as a senior of the month. Would you come up? Give a minute. [Applause] [Laughter] It's always a pleasure
005to take a moment to recognize the outstanding achievements of our students and tonight we are honored to celebrate an exceptional young man as our March senior of the month, Kain Wooten. Kain is an exemplary student at Buckingham County High School where he has demonstrated remarkable dedication to both his academics and extracurricular activities. He is the son of of Summer Overton and Troy Wooten and and through their support and guidance, he has become a true leader in our school community. Kane's academic excellence speaks for itself, he has been a member of the National Honor Society and the Beta Club for the past two years, showcasing his commitment to scholarship and service. He is also a Governor's School student and not only is he excelling in high school coursework, but he's also completing his associates degree along
006with his high school diploma. That's a big deal. Uh his hard work has earned him a place on the president's list at Southside Virginia Community College. Beyond the classroom, Kain has been an active and and a dedicated member of his school community. He has been a part of the Future Business Leaders of America, FBLA, for three years. Athletically, he has shown his talent and dedication as a four-year member of both baseball and and basketball teams. And you remember last year when we were making a run, he got a big win for us. I never forget that. Whereas he demonstrated teamwork, perseverance, and sportsmanship. Outside of school, Kane attends Calvary Baptist Church in Farmville. Because of his hard work and determination, Kain has earned a full academic scholarship to Hampton Sydney for four years. Let's give
007him a big hand on that. This incredible accomplishment is a testament to his dedication to his education and his future. So Kane, on behalf Buckingham County Public Schools, we congratulate you and on your achievements and recognize you as our March senior of the month. And we look forward to all the success that lies ahead for you. Congratulations. Now, we're going to get your picture and get that [Applause] Make it all. Thank you so much. [Applause] Good job. Good job. [Music] Good job. And they will be able to invite their parents and family, girlfriends, or whatever. But it is a uh it's an honor to do this and some of you have been there on these things and uh please don't let us down. That's May 13th at 6:00. [Music] Also, we have a employee of
008the month, Miss Holly Taylor. And I'm asking her daughter to come up with her, Cadence. Let's give them a big hand. [Applause] For those of you who don't know, Holly is our school nurse. Uh she takes care of 630 or so kids in the high school and 100 little little ones over at prek. So I I doubt if there's a doctor in town has got that many patients, but some do sometimes you probably feel like you are a doctor. Uh she's been with us for over four years and we'd like to recognize her for her dedication to us because not all of it is putting band-aids on. It's a lot of other things goes on and and the kids love her, but she's got a kid with her that I want to recognize. Cadence. Cadence
009get come up here, girl. She is a hokey just like me. I was the first one. She was the first senior of the month back in 22. She is now graduated graduating in three uh three years as a aero space engineer. How about that? And if you need a a business person to get do your contract or something for, let me know. I'll help out all I hope you I'll for you. Okay. Thank you. Uh, it just shows you what our kids do. Never never put them down. Thank you. [Applause] Get the picture first. Picture first. Thank you. [Applause] Yes, I'm so proud of her. Lily Jones is our student representative and we wanted to recognize her with a her VSBA certificate of recognition. Bless her heart, she went to the uh state conference this
010year. Was the first time we had a child to go down there and she liked it so much she got sick [Laughter] and and she's back and great uh kid and and she's going to be one that you see like these other kids. So, Lily, congratulations. Appreciate it. [Applause] I didn't even know that was J. I didn't either. Thank you for having us. Thank you. Good job. Good job. I'm partial. She's my niece. Okay. Favorites, right? Public comment. Anyone who wishes to address the school board must state their name and address and limit their comments to three minutes. 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
011soon as possible. Do we have anybody signed up? No one signed up. No one signed up. Moving forward to six, approval of consent agenda. Mr. Chair. Oh, go ahead. Mr. Chair, I recommend I move that we approve the consent agenda as presented. Second. Probably move and seconded votes. Approved. Moving forward with the report of the superintendent. Uh our first 7.01 presentation. Uh Donna McCrae Jones, VFW American Religion Memorial Day Program. We can we can move it down to the next and then when she gets her just wave or something in all right 7 02 presentation alternative education program Mike Sutton Dr. Keeler and the board, I appreciate you having me tonight. Um, I'd like to take this time to discuss with you some of the things that are happening with our alternative ed program. Um,
012put together a little something for Dr. Keeler. He asked me to do this and, uh, if we go on to slide two, we'll just we'll get it rolling here. Um, I'm going to set the setting for you of what it's like and who's down there with us. Um, Miss Lang has been there for years and uh, again, it's a family setting. That's what we sell these kids on when they come to us during their intake meeting that regardless of what they've done to get to us, that is over with. And you're here in this house, the Barryman house now. And uh, all that's behind you. Let's move forward. And you're in a family system with Miss Lang who's accepted the role as grandma. Um, Coach Mike Jones, he's the the stern uncle. U Travis Tony
013is the older brother. He helps us with the middle school side of things. Uh, Mr. Jones, Miss Lang's there, our transportation people, getting the kids to and from. Um, and then Deputy Bailey come sees us every day, every day that he can. um he comes and and and the kids really take to him and uh he's been a big help for us. And then myself, I just call myself the the the the tough uncle, the grumpy uncle, and they accept that. Um moving on, next up, I've got data from I started three years ago here with this program, and I've got data from 22 to current. I'm going to look at the first year here. Um we were down in the uh arts building at the courthouse. Um that first year we had 16 total
014long-term that means either semester or for the year high school students that year. 15 out of 16 of those students were one semester stays. So we only have one that was with us the whole year. Um, every student that was there with us that year passed their courses, all of their four plus courses. And we had one GED graduate that year. He needed math help. So, they sent him down to me and we got him through that uh that math GED portion. He was able to graduate. Um, that year was it was a great year for me personally because there were zero referrals and all of our students returned to the high school. Uh slide five, moving on to 23 and 24. Uh we moved up here to the house right up here, the Bryman
015house. Uh had 18 long-term, middle, and high school. So we started bringing in the middle school, uh 10 shortterm, that being 10 days or less. Sometimes if they were suspended, instead of sending them home, we worked it out where they'd come with us for 5 to 10 days. Um again, that year we had great success. every student passed all of their coursework, all returned to their schools without returning back to us. And uh that year we had two referrals slashinccident that year. Um and then now moving to our current year. Um still in the Bryman house and loving it. That is home. Our numbers have increased. We've got 22 long-term, middle, and high school students so far in semester 1 and this current semester, and we're going to get some more. Um, so far in
016semester 1, all of the students passed their coursework, four, five classes, whatever, you know, what it may have been, they've all passed them. Um, we had one high school student completer during first semester. He came in and, uh, knocked out what he needed to do. He will walk in May. Uh he's got a job. He's out there working. We also had a GD completer come to us again. This one needing math. We got him through and I'll talk about him in just a second. Uh so far this year, just one referral. A silly incident. So again, the referral process, we've seen two or three I think in three years. We handle within. Um next slide, please. All right. Now, I'm going to show you some student progress. Um, I've identified them as student one, two,
017three. Student one here, the blue line is their benchmark where they need to be. The percentage is on their y axis, the vertical axis, up and down of where they need to be. This guy right here, uh, exceptional. He's got three classes online. He's meeting his, uh, requirements where he flattens out to yellow. Past two days, he's been sick. He hasn't been here. This is up to date, current data through today. All right, next slide, please. All right, this one here came to us uh this semester um is progressing. And I got to remind you in our setting and and who we have, the trend is our friend. Blue is where we want to be. This young lady is getting there and she's trying. She's not quitting. It's the the the slope is positive coming
018the math out of me right there. The slope is positive. She's getting there. Uh, very proud of that one right there. The next one. Make sure I got this. Uh, this one right here. Here's your challenge. This is where we get a challenge where they come in, they going to think they're going to do it their way. And after two or three times, two or three rounds with me, Mr. Jones, Miss Lang, Mr. Tony, the light bulb turns on and the rocket ship blast. And you can see where first part of the I don't know a week or two she was rather flat. Now she's progressing up and she's going to get there. It just not all of them are going to be top tier. We're not going to see that. And that's what that
019shows right there. But she's making progress. I'm proud of her. The next one, this one is directly opposite of what you just saw. She is knocking things out the park. The red line. She finished the course. We have a whole nine weeks left. So, we're going to give her another elective. Um, she's going to finish the other two that she's above the blue line. Probably in three weeks. She wants another elective. She's already finished two other ones in another program. Um, she just did some foolish things. Bright mind, could be a nurse one day. She loves that and has an interest in soccer. So, we're trying to push her into that once she gets out of here. Um, and then our next one. All right, this one has been our challenge right here. Uh, Miss
020Jansen has come. She comes down every Friday. Her and Melissa come down and, uh, meets with the kids and everything. This guy was just cruising. Uh, he was a former advanced studies at a former school. Life hit. We don't know what, but life hit somewhere in there. He bottomed out. Didn't want to do nothing. He tried to fool me by acting like he didn't know what he was doing. We had some heartto-he heart. Miss Jansen came in. We set in some things for him and he has taken off. He was in the single digits forever. Uh right now they need to be close to 40%. He is now in two of the classes above 30% and the other one he's right at 20. The red line, bottom one, he has pledged to me that once
021he gets this math class done, we'll attack that one. So, he'll get through that one as well. And then we'll finish up with one more. This student looks like she has only two classes, but she doesn't. She has two other ones. Uh she's actually had three in another program, the uh Edenum CL uh program. She finished those three. She's out in front above above the blue line here, meeting her benchmarks, getting ready to finish the red class, the health class she's taking. Uh the yellow one is her history class, and she's she's right on where she needs to be. um doing doing great things. Really proud of that one. Um now just to close out some things um what we provide for them down there. It's not just sit down, be quiet, get on the
022computer. Uh character building Wednesdays with me. I bring in a topic. We have a roundt discussion. It's usually just the high schoolers. If it's something I feel like the two middle schoolers that we currently have can handle, we'll come over. We'll talk. It's basically, you know, uh things like truth. Um, being able to relate, just your basic character building things. Um, honesty was a big one, a big discussion we had. Uh, the next thing on there was we have Fridays with Miss Harvey. Miss Harvey, Pat Harvey comes down every Friday. She mentors these kids. Um, they willingly go with her and go in there and and she'll talk to them 30 to 45 minutes every Friday. They love Miss Harvey. Uh, further down the line, guest speakers come in. Um, we've had guest speakers, numerous
023come in to talk to the kids, to expose them to things that otherwise they wouldn't see. Right now, we're working on the community college visit to uh PVCC to take them over there. Mr. Tony's put in a a thing that we're going to start doing within the next two weeks of a job interview preparation. Uh, we're going to set it up. We're going to give them the skills what they need to fill out an application. They're going to dress up one day, come in. We're going to do the we're going to teach them that, you know, the slang stuff has got to stop when you go to do an interview. Um, right now we're currently working on the letters and care packages for a soldier. That's with Deputy Bailey. He knows a soldier that's in
024Syria. The kids bought into this uh two days ago. Started writing letters to this guy, the soldier over there because it's right bad in Syria. You don't hear a whole lot about Syria, but uh it's it's right bad where this guy is. And these kids bought into it. We're going to put a care package together next week. The letters and the care package will go out to him um again next week. And this newest one is about to start. It's FLO peer support group. We're working with a former graduate. It was uh Sherekica Eldridge. She has gotten in touch with with uh Mr. Tally and uh we're going to pilot with us this semester. She's coming. She's supposed to be here tomorrow. Um and she's going to provide some peer support. Flo stands for fostering
025leadership outreach and wellness. And what's going to happen? She's going to come in tomorrow, introduce herself to the kids, and then on Thursdays for about 30 minutes from 12:00 to 12:30, they're going to go online and have a peer support group with her. Um, and just, you know, it it it's it's a great outreach program. Something that uh it's it's really cool thing to see a former graduate come in here, show interest in kids that are that are still in school. Um, continuing on to our next slide. Uh, three-year highlights. I'll get through this real quick. like 60 plus total students. Only one returned to us. Only one student came back to us. Again, the only uh three referrals written, two GED completers, 10 former students have moved on to graduate. That's 10 we saved.
026Uh four currently on track this year to finish out and graduate. 10 plus students are or have been employed. Next slide. Uh, one graduate currently works with Department of Corrections. One graduate's enrolled at PVCC. That's the guy that passed his uh, GED. He's enrolled at uh, PBCC. He's going to be doing welding over there. Uh, one graduate, the other guy that graduated early, first semester of this year, he's already lined up making good money in the logging industry. Uh, we got one guy that comes back and visit us and he's loving life and he's working at Taco Bell and happy. Good for you. You're doing something. Uh, several students have been hired at Food Lion while they're with us and after graduation and that's I put it in here give give Travis the credit on
027that with his connections and and stepping up and these kids getting a job through him and his connections. It's been very cool thing to see these kids grow through that just at Food Lion. And then to close it out, some personal student success here. Um, carrying on, we had one former student was voted on to the SCA, the homecoming court, and is a member of the cheer team. She was with us three years ago. She's now a senior. Uh, former student was able to accelerate his class status and graduate early. He's a senior now at the high school. He came to me as a freshman and mom wanted him to stay with us. So, he stayed with us in an additional year. He didn't sit around. He got caught up where he actually skipped either
028a semester or maybe a year. He advanced himself. Uh former student joined the indoor track team and was a regional champion in the 55 meters. Real quick, tell you that story. When we were down at the uh community arts building, we'd go across the street to the church and the kids would have races every day. This girl would line up against all the boys, pull her shoes off and dust them in her socks. And I started telling Tally, "We got a state champ." And you know, it's it's a shame she couldn't have done it sooner. Um I hope she can do something with it. I hope she's on the current outdoor track team. And then last but not least, former student was able to accelerate his class status. He voted on to the homecoming court
029and he has joined the track team as well. Those are just some of the stories in a nutshell. Um, but that's what I got for you. But Mike, we we're very proud of you and your staff. Uh, we got somebody going to graduate this year, you think? It's it's four of them that can. Okay. one already. He's already finished. He's out working. He will walk in May. The other three might have an so or two they got to take care of, but that's it. Very good. Wonderful information. Miss Eldrich was the one that came in here and talked to us out of Richmond, wasn't it? That's wonderful. We're anxious to for the followup. That's a great thing. Yeah, these kids, our kids definitely need it and there's so many in the other buildings that need
030it as well. Thank you so much. Appreciate you. Thank you. You're doing an excellent job. and I challenge the rest of the board to go see them sometime. That is a very interesting um program. They're doing a great job and and those kids are working. You go in there, they're quiet and doing their thing. So, it's got good thing for us. Uh Mr. Chair, I'd like to go back and and get Donna McGra Jones and BFW. Yes, please. BFW program, please come forward. [Music] My apologies for being late, but I'm just coming from the blood drive and out of two lights in Buckingham. Dylan, I hit every last one. And if anyone says there's no rush hour in Dylan, I beg your difference. Okay. My name is Donna McCrae Jones. I have uh a iron
031in every fire there is to happen to go zone in Buckingham. For those of you who don't know me, I do just about a little bit of everything. Uh most of you know that the Buckingham Ruitans started Memorial Day program recognizing our veterans, our diseased veterans about 35 years ago. We had planned to celebrate 30 years, but the pandemic took care of that. So now we're at 35 years. It has been my pleasure to keep the moral day program going with the help of the VFW, the American Legion, and most important of all, the Junior ROC. Because when you change the school year from September, June to August to May, it has been a pleasure that the students will still come and present our colors for us. This year in celebrating our 35 years, we're
032doing a little different. We're starting off with a breakfast at 8:00. Breakfast will be um given by the cake place and um we'll start our normal program at 10:00. In addition to that, what we have planned to do with our 20 with the on the 2020, which we're doing now in 2025, is do a souvenir journal. I don't know um if the um flyer was shared with you guys. Um she's going to give you a copy of the flyer. We're doing a journal for the 35 years with a full page of 170 125 half page 75 a quarter page 35. And also we're asking for anyone that have um veterans that they like to recognize in the book for $10 would be the person's name, their branch of service, and their ranking of service. But
033more importantly, what the book is going to do and the fundraiser is all about is our way of giving thanks to our junior ROC. They have represented Buckingham in a marvelous way over the years. Uh they just recently had an event on March 1st, I think, and you have another event coming up March 22nd in which they're being hosted here in Buckingham. The proceeds after our bills are paid from the fundraiser will go towards Buckingham's Junior ROC is our means of thanking them for all their service over the years and for um helping them with their expenses for future events that they plan to attend. All that you have to do is just share the information with the children, the school, especially with general TC. I have sent an email to Sergeant Glazier um with
034that. uh been in touch with um the veteran affairs um like I said we're planning to have a good event um which would be very well received if we would have um the support of the school as our mo go main goal is to after all the funds have been collected and we've paid our bills and I'm hoping to at least raise $1,000 to help with the expenses of the junior ROC for future events. Uh, thank you for your time. Again, I apologize for my delay, but who would ever thought leaving a quarter of I'd run into both traffic lights and leaving Buckingham, leaving Dealwind Baptist Church, you know, you got to make a left turn to get on the 15. And you wouldn't believe the number of vehicles that came through run me, preventing
035me from making that left turn. But I thank you for your time and I hope and you're sharing this information. Uh, our hearts are in the right place and we are very proud of our Buckingham Junior ROC. Thank you for your time. Thank you. Thank you. Put this on social media. Russ Damon, right? Tell you what, you look sharp tonight. I look bad. Okay. Um, first of all, good evening, um, Mr. Snotty and the rest of the board. I'm here to present the regional award of merit. The VHSL regional award of merit is awarded to individuals who have had positive impact on high school athletic and activity programs at their school conference, regional and state level. Each region may nominate three people per year, an administrator, a coach, a contributor. All regional nominees are recognized
036at the VHSL October membership meeting and awarded plaques at the regional meetings. Dr. John Keeler was nominated by coach Goen for this prestigious award. He was only one of four individuals across the entire state to win this award. His vote was unanimous. Dr. Keeler school systems have won 11 state championships including the Scholastic Bowl here at Buckingham in 2023 and 24. He has been a teacher, coach, administrator. He has worked in the central office and was superintendent twice. He is the most he is one of the most respected men across the state of Virginia as a coach, mentor, and superintendent. He is best known for his love for the game and his caring for his players and coaches. I personally, as one of those individuals that had witnessed firsthand some of the power that Dr.
037Keela has. Uh my leadership ability has been reflected among myself from him. Um and first thing I do is try to build relationships and I show my passion for my kids and my staff that I really care about them. Um, true fact is I have a group of friends. There's about 20 of us. Each of us were all Americans um at Dan Whitty under Dr. Keeler. And um I'm fortunate enough to be in two Hall of Fames because of his leadership. So thank you Dr. Keeler. Um unfortunately he's retiring June 30th, 2025 and will be truly missed. Ladies and gentlemen, let's give a round of applause to Dr. John [Applause] Keeler. Congratulations. [Applause] Yes. Say good night. [Applause] There's I think everything he said was true. Honestly, when you have great kids, great things can
038happen. Thank you. Before we move on to the next one, Dr. Keeler, is is anyway we can get the um the VFW stuff posted somewhere? Yes. I don't know if you want to put that on social media or put on the website or whatever. I think on the next next on the list is what? The school volunteers. 7.04. 7.04. Yep. ICB, community resource persons, school volunteers, uh policy review. Um this came up during discussion u about a month ago uh with regards to uh community members volunteer actions for specifically u sports related programs. This is the only policy that we have. Uh can you pull it up for everybody to see? I'll go ahead and read through it just in case they can't see it, but this is the one that pretty much is for
039the the community uh involvement. Buckingham County School Board supports and encourages the active participation of parents and members of the community in providing and extending educational opportunities for children. The involvement of parents, volunteers, and others in the community who can serve as a resource to schools is a fundamentally important component of successful school programs. The administration of each school directs the activities of parents, volunteers, and other community resources at the building level. Um, obviously the the the last revision on this was like 2021. Um, it's come up in conversation. I believe here recently we've had a a volunteer desiring to uh help coach baseball. Uh, previously there was a decision I believe what was it two years ago? Is that what you said about two years? Two or three years ago where we had an
040an issue. It wasn't an incident. it was an issue involving some volunteers regarding u a certain uh sport that was played at the time. The decision by the board at that time was that uh we would not accept any volunteers um for assisting in any sports related activity. Now it's caused some concern of lately because we've had individuals that have desired to help uh coach our young uh students uh on the field of battle. So, uh, we thought it relevant to bring back up this. We didn't capture it. The school board, we didn't capture it. We had a vote on it, um, a couple two or three years ago, uh, because this has come up and it doesn't match any of our current policies, we're going to try to attempt to address it now as
041far as a policy correction, change, modification, whatever you want to call it, in front of everybody so that the community can hear the conversation. Um there are many opinions on this uh and and we've taken it to some some conversations uh outside of you know here as well but um my opinion is anytime we have the ability to impact uh you know our students whether they're in the classroom or outside um I I think we need to take that opportunity. That being said, um, any administrator or otherwise has an obligation to make sure we got the right individ individuals for the positions or whatever you want to call it. Um, additionally, there are checks and balances that need to be in place. Right now, we have, I guess, procedures in place, but nothing that directs
042policy side of the house. So, um, do we want to open it for conversation so we can have the discussion? Because at the end of the day, u I I do agree with having volunteers. If we want to say it's not going to be used for coaching, that's fine. I I can back up either either count. The problem that we're going to have is whatever we decide it's going to impact, you know, down the road just like it has lately. So, um any comments around the table? This is the time to do it in front of everybody. So, I go ahead, Todd. Yeah, I I think it's a it's a plus to have a the community involved volunteering in our schools. I do think it's a positive because we need that impact on our children
043because the people sometimes volunteering actually having more impact on our kids than you realize because it may be someone they know in the community and maybe somebody they know in their church. You know, we all impact somebody at some time or another in our lives. So, you know, I just like to give that opportunity to our community to give back to our children and be through sports. Maybe, you know, I think it's a positive. I I agree a thousand%. Uh the only way I'm going to get on a playing field again is to volunteer, right? Uh and there's a lot of good people. Yeah. And I agree with you, we have an obligation to monitor it, make sure that they are the kind of folks we need. But you listen to uh Mike talk about
044uh his program at Next Door. He's got a lot of volunteers. They're good people. So, let's don't let's get a policy that will work for both sports and academics. I think we need to have a policy that states who is going to be making the final decision as to who to volunteer because, you know, who's going to be allowed to volunteer because um what if 20 people show up to volunteer and that's just going to overrun, you know, the program. It's just going to be too much. Who is going to be in charge of making the decisions? who is allowed to volunteer so that we don't have issues as were before. And I'll piggy back off, Miss Morris. I I think it's going to be depending on the school system and we're going to have
045to lead on lean on our administrators to handle the fact of who's volunteering on this day and having a signup sheet, just a simple Google signup sheet. If there is someone, if there's a event coming up and there's a chance to volunteer, we send that out to our student population and we get all the responses back and it's going to be up to the the administrators to decide who comes in for that event. They're going to be they're going to have to monitor that. As far as the the checks and balances, we just need to make sure that this policy is across the board for volunteering purposes, um sports purposes, any any type of volunteering and ensuring that background checks are done frequently for that individual. Volunteering is a big broad scope because we have
046several come to all of our different school functions. I know, you know, we might have career day, we have field day. Those days, I don't think anybody is really vetted. We just someone volunteers. Um sports, we have a coach, so they should be, I would think, in the supervision part of that, but I'm not sure exactly how we would do that for the classroom unless they're taking on more of a responsibility than when we would envision. Just throwing that out there, too. I'm gonna play uh devil's advocate on one position. Um we we need to be careful. And the reason why I say that is because there's a fear that comes with whatever decision comes out of here as far as policy goes. For example, I'm going to go down and volunteer at a school.
047Uh Mr. Thally is going to go down and volunteer in a classroom. Um or whatever. you know, we we have administrators in certain positions. So, when we adapt or adopt our new policy, I think it needs to be sort of detailed because at the end of the day, it's not desirable for me to go down and and and work for Tally, I don't think, right, in class for one day, right? He come down and say, "Hey, you're doing it all wrong. Get out of my classroom." And I'm like, "Ah, you know, that sort of thing." So, and I'm being facicious, but at the end of the day, those things are opinions that come up. Um, most of us would love to get into the classroom. Most of us have a fear of getting in the
048way or people acting differently because we come into the classroom. Whether you're a parent, whether whatever, I think there's a fear that comes with that. you know, rightly so in some cases, but um uh I think it needs to be crafted in such a way to where we we we throw some parameters or or left and right lateral limits for military terminology, if you will, uh of of where, you know, individuals from the community consist of parents, uh normal community members, board members, school members are not allowed to to volunteer at their school that they work for or whatever. Those things need to be considered. And while I don't necessarily agree with that, it's it could become an issue in my opinion. Uh it's the same reason we've had the conversations on why we go
049down and read at the schools, but you know, can I go down and volunteer to help drive a school bus? Well, no, because Department of Transportation works for Dr. Keeler and you know, they work for the board. All right. Well, what can I do? You can't do anything. Well, where does it say that? So, do you understand what I'm saying? I really can't we can't volunteer a whole lot outside of you know, acceptable, which is not captured. So, it's one of those tricky uh all-encompassing but non-encompassing at the same time uh policies. Um, is it possible for us to agree or disagree with the the current policy as is written? I think we really need to define what a volunteer is for the most part because just coming in to read a book, I don't
050call that a volunteer. That's just supporting the the the classroom, you know, if you if you want to look at it that way because once I read it, I'm gone. I'm not there the rest of the day. So that that's why I say we need to define what a volunteer is. Yeah. And support, right? I we hate to be pedantic about this, but at the end of the day, it's it's what it is. Um the way I look at it is if you know if they're coming into our schools being around our children, there needs to be a background check done on that. Absolutely. So 100%. And so we have that on the other policy. Okay. Uh for the parents and stuff like that. And if we want to wrap this into that one, I
051wouldn't be opposed to that. But there are different categories on our our policy page. Each one of our uh designators has a different area. Um, so the parental piece of it, volunteering at the schools, that's all captured. We have that uh policy set aside. Um, if we want to have some of that verbiage taken out that we want to see from stuff, we could add it to this one because it's in a different content area uh policy-wise. I don't have a problem with that. I think it's a wise move to to for safety and security, right? Right. Neck of the woods. Um, to have the safety and security of our children and schools upfront with everything we're doing. So I would I would at a minimum I would first define the volunteer who's who's not
052supposed to be volunteering school board principles whatever uh if we can do that to be wonderful and for for this policy particularly can we also add the safety backup who's responsible I mean at the end of the day you know if we've got a a athletic department issue and and you know is rust ahead is you are you the one making the final call that that stuff needs to be kind of like an a process uh whether it needs to be policy directed or not that's a different story. But at least have identified, you know, who's who's making the final decision, you know what I mean? Um, so let me ask this. How long does it take to get a background check done? I mean, because that's something that's going to the event will be
053over with by the time we get it done probably in some cases. That's where the you know, the planning takes place. We know the elementary school is doing donuts with dad one morning. They need to at least have this out two months ahead of time so that it should be planned in their school year calendar, but it needs the the background check needs to be done at least two months ahead of time so that we have some kind of understanding of who's coming into our school system at this during those times. So, are you saying that like with donuts with dad or that every dad is going to have to be background checked before they can come have their donut with their child? That's just going to be based on the board's decision because at
054the end of the day, I mean, I wouldn't want someone with a criminal background or a sex offender to come in with my child. So, I mean, you just got to you got to play it by ear. These people should know, you know, obviously they can't be around the school system. They should know this. However, we have people that come into the school that they don't always follow the law. I mean, it's just the bottom line with that. So, we we have to just depending on the events, we have to, you know, sometimes we just have to let the principles be the be the lead lead player in this. You know, if there's a conflict, if we feel like there's going to be a conflict, absolutely. I mean, we need to go back to the
055background checks. But if you know, I I can't speak for everyone. My only opinion in this is that I don't want a known sex offender to come in next to my child and we didn't do the due diligence that we're supposed to do. That's why we go to the office when we first go to the school and we scan our driver's license in and that type of thing. I thought that was what caught those type of things. So maybe we need to look at some of the rules that are in place at these schools so that we know how that is done right now because I mean family engagement nights uh PTA meetings I mean those are after hours but there's still school you know kids there so I mean a ball game for that
056matter I mean you know we gota got to be careful of what we um put our restraints on I I do believe we should look at other jurisdictions policies to get a feel of what is acceptable and what is not acceptable before we actually go write a policy and we it would also be nice it'd also be nice if this was done in the first part of the school year. Yes. Uh that way you get your you get your volunteers, five or six that you know you can count on and and and can pass. Uh that way something comes up and you need some help by and large probably get it. Oh, that's a good that's a good point. Yeah. Well, you know, maybe we just need to table this until we get additional information.
057I mean, we can go with what's there for right now and just table it and and then just just work on this um before the new year starts, you know, school year. So, we'll have a new policy in place if we do need to change it. Okay. That's my idea. I got you. But right now, the answer I guess some of us are wanting are what do we do at this point right now to the end of the year? Do we let volunteers come in and play in the sports or do we not? I mean, I think that's the question. Question. That's the question. The whole reason why we're here. That's the whole reason why we're here. Do we allow that? The current vote from two or three years ago was no. Do we have
058anything to to go against that? Well, recommendation. The first question is if if are we going to have to vote on every volunteer that ever comes foot in the in the school system because that's what we're having to do for for this. Why why are we doing this? Why are we having to vote for this one if you know what I'm saying? Y I don't know if it's different because it's a sport or or what. I guess it it depends on who who answers to it. if it's a principal or or superintendent or board. Uh but I, you know, I hate to miss out on an opportunity for a kid. Uh if if they pass the, you know, the test. And that's why once we get this thing, I still say get get the word
059out if you want to be a volunteer, you sign up for some school and that way something comes up and you need help, you know, uh you have approved list, right? Support. That's right. Well, why don't you make a motion and we'll see how it goes. Okay. How do we do that? I make a motion that we vote on behalf of volunteers for our sports sports teams. I second it. So I mean we will be voting for that and just approval or not. Okay. Was that just for this season or we talking about the rest of the year? Just for this just this year just for rest of this year because next year I agree that we do need to implement this at the beginning of the year that we get all this beforehand. So
060restate your motion that we just want to vote for it. Whether or not we can accept them for the rest of the year. Is that what I'm hearing? Yes, sir. All right. So, we have a motion on the floor for voting on this for volunteers through the rest of the year. That has been properly seconded. Let's vote all four. All right. Now, we've got it through the end of the year. Assuming all vetting will take place accordingly. So, whoever we have in the in the shoot currently for volunteering for baseball, whatever, you know, soccer, whatever we've got going on right now. Yeah. Well, do we need another um I'm thinking we need another motion because that was last month and no one's in there right now for this month. So, um yes. Do we need
061to go ahead and make a motion for that? Is that how we would do that? You're wanting to approve the volunteer that was not approved, right? Right. You can do that. Okay. Okay. That's what we need to do then. I I make a motion to approve on this right now. Yeah, we can just make it. We can just make sure that up or whatever. Unless you want to wait till next month's personal agenda. Too late. Too late. No, because if they're going to start volunteering right away, let's go ahead. Let's get them going if we can if that's if that's something we can do. Yeah. All right. I make a motion to approve the volunteer for the head or for the baseball season um as presented last month. Second. It's been moved and properly seconded.
062Vote. It's been approved. So, whatever volunteers we had in the shoot waiting waiting on confirmation from the board has been approved for the rest of the season. I think there was one individual in case. Um, we also need to make a motion for this. Go ahead. Go ahead. I got another question real quick, Mr. Chair. Um, I've been on the board for about a year now and I've had a lot of people come to me about wanting to know why Buckingham didn't sell merch. Like, you know, to honor like our veterans to maybe bringing something about, you know, breast care, breast cancer survivors, you know, the black hat with a pink bee on it, something to support that. But something really for our community to to invest in to come purchase because, man, I'd love
063to have something like that. I think that'd be pretty cool walking around with a with a military grade hat, you know, honoring our veterans. And I just wondering if that who would we talk to about that? Talk about sweatshirts, too. And sweatshirts, t-shirts, all that. And well, it was big sizes. It was stated that we had a booster club back in the day that that used to be responsible for that. Is that something that's gone by the wayside or we can we implement that or is that is that something that somebody's going to have to take on? Of course, sir. Yes. Uh, you think we could get a a booster club take started back? It's a possibility. Yes, sir. Okay. Possibility. Excuse me. I believe that some of the schools sell merchandise. They do. They
064do. Yeah, that's what I want. I know the CT I know that, you know, other schools have their stuff that we come out with, but I think when they're talking about this specifically sports related and you want them at the at the games and stuff, is that what you're saying? Maybe at the games also well if even at the schools or at anything you know that we have they come by and you know hey I want to buy one. What was make it available distri distributive education would have a store within the school. We could sell sweatshirts and caps and stuff and they made money uh as a part of the program and and supplied people stuff. If you ever get to Denwitty, Virginia and go in that high new high school, you would think
065it's a department store road trip. And the kids do a great That's all kids. All right. So, we're going to look into it. Is that what I'm hearing? Yeah, I believe so. We're going to look into it. All right. Uh on the subject of the current policy, uh was there a motion that we wanted to or did anybody want to make a recommendation for us to table that get more information or what do we want to do with it? I make a motion to table that until we can get uh some additional information as well as uh vetting it properly so that we know what we're talking about up here because there's so many volunteers we have no clue about and I feel like we need to talk to the different schools about that. Second.
066It's been moved and probably seconded. Votes approved. eyes have it. Um, is it possible that we can go ahead and draft up procedures for that uh uh if we start at the first part of the year like we talked about and even if that's not the case, we have that on back burner for for future purposes but also have the process in place for how we do this once we refine and table our you know refine the the uh policy. How do we go through you know details of how do we execute it? Okay. So, we're tableabling this ICB community resource person, school volunteers. I think we have three motions tied to it right now. All right. 7.05 policy updates. Do we have anything else for community resource? I think we beat that one to
067death. All right. policy updates. Look at all that. Anyone have anything on that? This is I believe this was the first reading. What are we looking at having this? This is the first reading. It just came out. And I did want to point out that the student liaison I think that's appointed by the principal at the high school, but I may be wrong about that. Yeah. So, I have that for the BBB as well. That's the only one that really had anything on much. But we can talk about that later if you want to. I mean, otherwise we can capture it and then for it's just the first reading so we could Okay. I don't know if you want to capture any details now for what we what we've already read. Just what are we
068looking at as far as timeline? Trying to get them done by next next month. Yeah. Okay. Everybody okay with that? All right. So, we got the initial 7.06 state budget update. Uh we have a slide for you. I let you know this is where we're at. The governor's budget came out in December 18th. Uh 3% pay raise. Uh and uh that was about it. Uh then then uh back here a couple weeks ago on Saturday, the House and the and the Senate decided they were going to go together and look at each, you know, each other's proposals and they came out uh with interesting proposal because we've been wanting some funding for towards the uh this salary cap and and and stuff. So, they came through with it. Uh for us, it would be almost
069$400,000. They also had some extra money in there for spit that uh like uh 85 or 82 I think 82,000. I I guess what we're we're going to see u the the governor has time to come back here. He's probably got a couple weeks yet, maybe a little bit less than that to say, "Okay, I like that cap thing or I like this or no, we're not going to do any of that." Okay. And then uh we'll see what goes. uh uh there's you know obviously I think everybody in the room would like to have more and and uh I think when you see it uh uh it would be uh you can see the difference uh and this is budget season we're we're getting ready to meet with the board of supervisors on Thursday
070and we got a lot to talk about and And we're anxiously uh hopeful. Uh I guess that's what good thing to say. Hopeful that they've been good and uh hope to continue to be that. And that's my short update. Any any questions? They're not going to ask, but we've been getting asked about the $1,000 SOQ stuff that's all on social media and everywhere else. So, you might want to bring that up. Well, uh, as a bonus, it's a bonus involved, $1,000. And, uh, the the House said, "Let's give it, uh, let's give it in the spring in in June." And somebody the other one said, "How about the fall?" which uh if you're a superintendent, you you kind of like to hear it in the fall because that way you don't use your year-end money.
071Uh but to give everybody uh we can't afford to give everybody $1,000, okay? Because we give when we give a a a bonus or something like that, we give that to everybody. Uh but we're but we're working on trying to get maybe a $500 bonus of that. Uh and uh and not wait till the fall. Do it in the spring and uh now if you're not going to be with this, you're not going to, you know, get a bonus. Uh it's and we're not going to mail you that thing, but but that's it's called it you know here during the last week they start to put the word retention. Ah which is cool I think. Uh and that's all I got on that. We'll have a lot to talk about next time. So bottom line
072is it's it's out there but we don't have any details as of yet. No. Okay. Stand by. I hope he's uh hope he's been in a good mood and right I and I like I told you guys he he's I think he cares about education and I I hope uh I hope it's going to be good for us. Thank you. Appreciate that. 7.07 student the report. Good evening ladies and gentlemen. My school school board report for the 2025 school year so far is the following. SCA will be attending the BSCA annual convention April 3rd through 5th at Park View High School in Sterling, V, Virginia. Seven students and two adviserss will be attending from the high school. This year, the middle school is also attending the convention with four students and two adviserss. FBLA attended
073the regionals at Longwood Tuesday. 30 students placed in 27 competitions and are ed eligible to compete at state. FFA is now open for strawberry pickup today. Friday, FFA will be going to Appamatics High School to participate in an FFA contest. The CTE clubs are starting to attend their state competitions and conventions. Also, HOSA attended their convention this past weekend and FBLA will be attending theirs over spring break. The welding fabrication team will be competing in state competitions in April and Rowenoke at Skills USA. Buckingham Jerotc will be hosting and competing in Best of the Best Raider on March 22nd. And lastly, spring sports are practicing and getting ready to play their games. They start their regular season to play on March 24th. Thank you so much for listening. Thank you, Miss Jones. If you need
074to go, sweetheart, you can. I'm good. Okay, just checking. All right. Eight. Other board business. School board member committee updates. Um, I don't have anything from anybody. Do you guys have anything from any updates? I'm not aware of anything. Um, before we depart or close up shop here, I would like to take a moment uh for the month of March. It's Women's History Month, National Nutrition Month, and one of my favorites, National Sleep Month. I say that, you know, jokingly, but uh I think it's also social social work month. Uh if you get a chance, go ahead and uh Google some of that. But those are some of the ones that I know we deal with are here locally. There's also a bunch of uh uh medical uh not days, but uh months that are
075used for the month of March as well. So, you get opportunity, you know, people that are in those areas, please thank them for what they do. We thank everybody for what they do as well. Um meeting adjournment. Thank you. Thank you. You know, what was