2023 11 08 School Board Meeting

001I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the stand indivisible with Oh, >> excuse me. >> Uh, before we get started, I want to welcome everybody who's here with us today. Um we have an FLDP class uh they've just gone through uh what was it last week or the week before days were running together now uh their school session in which Dr. Gretz myself miss uh Caitlyn Harlo Burner uh some color commentary from both Hayden Parish and Jennifer Valentine described the school system and especially um as it relates to mental and behavioral health and so we welcome you here and it's nice to see everyone. Uh also just if you'll forgive me some exposition but also uh obviously uh last night was election day and so we welcome uh

002Mr. Reid uh as an observer obviously uh and uh next month we will celebrate as modestly as she is inclined uh Miss Johnson's tenure on our board and then welcome our new members accordingly in January. So, thank you all for being here and congratulations to anyone on the ballot. Uh, we look forward to working with you all. Uh, next up here is a certificate certification of close session. Uh, Miss Kiter, you don't mind? >> Yes. >> Mr. >> Yes. >> Uh, Mr. Mr. Superintendent, are there any close session actions to come out of our session? >> There are. Uh, and I recommend the board approve as discussed in close session student discipline cases 11 A through 11E. >> Uh, is there a motion? >> I'll make a motion we accept a student cases as presented.

003>> Second. >> All those in favor, please say I. >> I. I. >> Any opposed? 5. We're now on to the adoption of the agenda. Is there any motion to accept as presented andor do you have any changes for tonight? >> I move to adopt the agenda as presented this evening. >> I'll second. Thank you so much, Mr. King. All those in favor, I'm sorry. Any discussion? All those in favor, please say I. >> I. >> We have an agenda for tonight. We're now on to the consent agenda. We have the approval of the prior minutes, review of monthly claims, and approval of personnel recommendations. Is there any of those that you would like to be pulled before we vote on them? >> I move we approve the consent agenda as presented. >> I'll second.

004Thank you so much. All those in favor, please say I. >> I. That's 5. Thank you so much. The consent agenda is approved. We're now into public comments with a two-hour maximum. We invite all those from the community, whether you're a native or whether you're a resident uh employee, have business in front of this board, etc. to come forth and be heard. We ask that you confine your remarks to three minutes and that you don't address any particular board member. And on a personal note, just to be kind to one another. Is there anyone who'd like to come forth and be heard? There's two on the list. Oh, okay. Please. Um, >> yep. You don't have to be on the list. And sometimes the signup sheet back there is confused with a uh signin sheet.

005So, please come forward if you're so inclined. >> Good evening. I'm Whitney Johnson working district. I'm not 16. I just wanted to congratulate all those that were on the ballot and um forgive me. I'm a little ill, so I won't be standing tonight, but I just wanted to um just bring something before everyone. I'm sure everyone is aware of it, but I just wanted to state it myself. In June of 2022, the US Department of Education launched a national parents and families engagement council to facilitate strong and effective relationships between schools and parents, families, and caregivers. Um, and I kind of vaguely fit into one of those categories, but just wanted to go on the record saying that um, I would like to see FA put a little bit of uh, extra work into that

006area and and involving our parents and families with what's going on. Thank you. >> Thank you so much. Is there anyone else who like to come forth and be heard? Seeing none, I'm going to close the first round of public comments. There will be a second round later in the evening after most of the business is finished. Thank you so much. We are now on to excuse me uh in eight minutes I will need to double back to a uh public hearing for the fiscal year 25 budget. So, we're going to continue with our normal agenda and then at precisely seven or as close as I could be, we'll come back to that. Uh, in the interim, uh, excuse me, uh, we're on to presentation 9A, establishment of the community representatives to serve on learning

007resource review committee. First review. >> Thank you, Dr. Kelly. board members. Uh there are three attachments and we can look at all three through the course of this. This is to offer you an opportunity to have a discussion around um the potential of you establishing representation from each voting district on a special committee that would serve to review learning resource challenges. And this is in response and in association with the recent challenge of several books. Your current policy uh KB calls for a committee and it names the committee members. There's the principal, librarian or librarians, uh a teacher andor student and your policy says if applicable and then the complaint and that's in your policy. The policy calls for that committee to make a decision about whether the challenged resources would stay or be pulled

008and that decision is then appealable to the superintendent or designate and then ultimately appealable to this board. So you have considered the possibility of uh of amending this policy to name a special committee that would work alongside that committee. And again, all this is open for your discussion. I'm trying to capture the different things that we've discussed and that I've heard. Um, some considerations with the current request that are maybe not typically associated with other challenges of of learning resources that this one has garnered a lot of public attention. Obviously, um it was made in public and it's got a lot of attention and a lot of public attention that specifically is potentially very um controversial. And so whoever serves on this committee is going to make a decision and potentially um potentially be the

009subject of a lot of public discussion andor maybe criticism. So, as you've been thinking through that, I've worked with the board attorney to give you a draft amendment to your policy that would enable you to name a special committee or essentially each one of you could appoint somebody from each voting district to represent you and your voting district in that process to work alongside that committee. some things for you to think about. Um, well, I think the first thing for you to consider is whether you want to amend this policy or just leave it in place as it is. You can certainly leave things as they are. And I think we just we just would be naive to not understand that the people that serve on this committee just need to understand that in this

010case, maybe not in past cases when challenges have been made and maybe nobody even knew knew they were being made and the committee met made a decision. In this one, they just need to understand that they could potentially be the subject of a lot of public attention. If you do want to amend it and you want that representation, then your policy needs to be rep uh amended to reflect that. Your advisory committee policy needs to be amended. And you just need to understand that if this committee is named, the work of that committee because it becomes an advisory committee to the board becomes subject to FOYA. And because of that, any meeting that they would be associated with to discuss this would need to be noticed and open to the public. That may or may

011not be uh the way you intend for this to be handled. >> I've got some more to say, but let me just stop there and ask for questions or maybe some comments. You may want to discuss some things at this point or I can keep going. >> Also, a new addition is a member of the school's PTO. Is that right? That's right. As as the parent. Yes, >> Mr. Gretz. Um >> Yes, sir. >> It was from advice of the attorney that school board members should not be on this committee. >> No, I don't believe the attorney advised that. Uh because it's appealable to the board. I think you just need to understand if a board member serves on it, then you couldn't be a part of the appeal. those things, >> but um I

012I don't think the attorney said that. >> Well, I'd like the opportunity to to recommend somebody to represent the old district. I think that'd be a great idea. >> I agree. >> I actually we talked about this four or five years ago and we asked I asked Mr. Winkler to do this exact same thing and we didn't have the support then to do it. So, I'm glad we had the support now, I think. And I think it's a great idea. >> Yeah, I think it's a good idea to get people involved in committee help make this informed decision. >> So, it seems like we're in alignment in terms of spirit and and the um the the text here as as it's recommended to be revised. Let's talk a little bit about the process through which

013they would be appointed. Well, I that would really be up to the board. >> Um, but the the one thing I do want you to understand, just think through >> if you because there are a couple things you can do. If you just simply name this committee and you can see Dr. Stribbling, if you can pull up the amendment to KB. So it it's got the attorney strikethroughs there, but essentially it it adds this as a committee that would be it would be part of this process every time. >> And so every time a piece uh some material is challenged. That's right. >> As opposed to a standing committee. >> Well, it'd be a standing committee that would serve as long as you would want them to serve. You'd have to decide that, but it

014would only be associated with these challenges. And I just want to make sure that so that it's not a concern. The consideration I just would have is not that the board the the process wouldn't be secretive in any way. It's not secretive now, but I don't want to take for granted that while this challenge was made in public, and I think those involved in the challenge be fine with this process maybe being public, every parent with a concern may not necessarily want to be associated with something that's going to be foyable and open to the public. There could be a mom or dad that would come in and say, "I saw my child reading this. I really don't like it. I don't want to be on Facebook and I don't want everybody to be a

015part of this meeting, but I'd like you to review it. And so if you with this policy, that wouldn't be an option. It's going to be open to the public, period. Whether the public would come or not, I don't know. Um, you could make So, there's a form associated with this. We already have a form, but they they've amended it to to go along with this policy. If you accept the revisions, you could make it you could leave it up to the complaintant to ask for this group to be activated or you could just simply say we want this group to be a part of the process period every time. >> I think that's I just want you to think that through. >> Great time to take a quick uh thought break. We can roll

016this over while I open a uh fiscal year 25 budget public hearing at 7 o'clock. So, at this time, we're going to invite anyone who would like to come forth and be heard as it relates to the fiscal year 25 budget to step up to the microphone. Uh, same same process as before. We just ask that you um limit your remarks to three minutes. Would anyone like to come forward and be heard? >> Getting closer to the mic. >> H Did you not have public remarks? You are entitled to them. Thank you so much. All right. Hearing none, which is not uncommon. I'm going to close the the uh public budget hearing. Now, we'll resume where we were with 9A. So, um, any thoughts as it relates to, uh, kind of how socialized and public

017this committee's work might be and the necessity that any, uh, challenge then, um, be part of the public discourse, >> why couldn't they simply write an email or makeation and this book is problematic? Can you can your committee please review it? Why does it have to be >> I mean I guess someone could go as far as to foyer request who sent the email and all that, but I mean they >> they could >> um and I understand why they might not want to be their name out there, but they wouldn't necessarily need to come present themselves to the committee >> depending right now you have the complaintant a part of the process. Now I don't think that means they're compelled to be a part so much as they're invited. So, >> I like the

018way it's structured to make sure that complaintants are completely familiar with the material that they're challenging. >> Uh to that end, could we pull up please the form the request for reconsideration of learning resources so that the public can see what we're referencing? got to admit it's a bit alarming to see myself on video here. Apologies as I went. Um, but so we have a form here where the individual would fill out their name, address, etc. And then below there's a set of six questions. Uh, and it's a little difficult to read. So, did you examine, review, or listen to the learning resource or presentation in its entirety? Two, have you discussed this material with school staff who ordered it or who use it? Yes. No. If yes, please identify the staff person. Uh, are

019you aware of evaluations of the material of this material by professional critics? If no, would you be interested in receiving this information? Three, and there's a strike here, so I'll read the the recommended revision. Describe what prompted your request for reconsideration the of the material. Please site page numbers and/or specific information from material to support your concerns. Parenthesis attach additional material if necessary. Four. Does the general purpose for the use of the material as described by school staff or in fluana county school division's program objectives seem a suitable one to you? If not, please explain. Five, what actions would you like to see the school take regarding this material? And the options are do not assign it to my child. the school should re-evaluate the material or other. And then six, are there other materials

020of the same subject and format that you would suggest for consideration in place the material? Yes or no? Uh and then a signature and date and then for that to be returned to the school principal. And so I think uh I think that brief departure was in relation to a comment that you had made about um the form here. So that is the process through which something would be challenged and then ultimately then the workflow would go to to a standing committee if we're if we're inclined to adopt this. >> So yes sir, Dr. Stribbling, you could pull up the uh KB one more time and just focus in on number two. >> Uhhuh. Right there. So the process and >> the attorney revised this, they struck through the complaintant. You don't necessarily need to

021do that. I think they may have understood that maybe the this committee was taking the place of that. You can leave the complaint in there or you can make it available to the complaintant. But a review committee consisting of the principal, school library media specialist or librarian, classroom teacher if involved, representative from the school's parent teacher organization, division instructional supervisor, and members of the school board's learning resource advisory committee. this is that new committee that you would be appointing and then again if the board wanted to continue to include the complaint certainly can I honestly kind of like that that complaint is struck. I think that if we're going to have a committee and we're going to have our experts in the room that it makes sense for the person to say why don't you

022take another look at this and for the independent body to then um evaluate it. Um, is it possible that this committee should be meeting with some regularity so that it doesn't need to spin up or hold call a meeting every time something is um flagged and and rather if anything is flagged then with some a monthly cadence if necessary they they meet and if there's no complaints then they just don't hold a meeting. I'd rather go by the assumption that ourians are capable of choosing the instructional material and there's not a problem until someone suggests there might be. >> I don't understand. Is that I feel like that's counter to having a committee. Is that what you're saying? >> No, I'm saying having a committee without a a flagged material, >> I think that um

023does not support our librarians decisions of what they're putting in the library. But doesn't that then mean that we have to like form a committee ad hoc every time? Uh >> my understanding is this committee exists annually and it meets when there's a challenge to any material. >> So let if I could let's let's go uh Dr. Stribbling to BCF if you could open that. This is a separate policy that establishes advisory committees to the school board. And you can see so in the first paragraph, last sentence, these committees serve without compensation for one-year terms. So you've got the CTE committee, the wellness committee, capital for the CIP committee, gifted advisory, edtech, and then we would be adding in policy this learning resource advisory committee. So, this would be a committee that's appointed for a

024one-year term. Per this policy, it would meet when the form was filled out and that com and that group of people were enacted, it would include this committee. >> I I think my consideration is around cadence like if a complaint comes in on a weekly basis, do they need to meet weekly in order to evaluate them or what what's the parameters around there? Well, right now theoretically we haven't had that, but anytime a form is filled out, the committee would get together to review the the material on the form. One came in every week, we >> we'd need to to handle them as we can. I'm not sure that all those people would be available every week, but >> I would leave that decision to the committee. If they typically get one a week, they

025might want to meet once a month and do four at a time, but I would leave that up to them. >> Are there considerations around um the revision of the policy, uh the form for complaints, etc. One addition, excuse me, I'd like to see on the form on number five, what action would you like to see the school take regarding the material? I'd like to see added removal of said material. I mean, that's not on there. That's not an option as it stands right now. >> You think so? >> Isn't that the Isn't that what the committee would recommend if they found it appropriate? It does say other. >> Yeah, other. Well, I think the distinction here between um between the first two is like I'd say it's uh Romeo and Juliet and you know,

026he's crazy, right? You got lovesick teenagers. You got fake deaths and real deaths and suicide and fighting. And if you don't think that uh you want your kid reading it, cool. You check the first one. And then if you think no kid should read it, Check the second one, right? That leave it up to the school to re-evaluate the material. Does what the second thing says, it doesn't say anything at all about removing it. Other other my other might be completely different than your other. >> I think I'm missing the point. >> Y please. >> Would you like to help me explain material the number five? That's what I'd like to see. >> That's pretty simple. >> I think it's implicit, but um it's fine enough. So, the other thing I would add is if

027it sounds like you're probably in agreement, but as you if you do decide to move forward with a committee like this, if it would be helpful, we I'd be happy to send something out to all of our families, just notifying them of this and some kind of survey to ask people to indicate what voting district they're and then if they're interested and I could give you all that list and you could choose from those people or if you have another way of doing that you're you're welcome to do it. I'm just offering that. >> What does the policy say now regarding someone brings uh some type of type of material forward? Does the policy say it's removed until this committee can meet and evaluate it? >> It doesn't defeat the purpose of reviewing it. time.

028>> I think that's problematic in some ways, right? So, like let's assume that you um don't like sex ed. You believe it belongs at home and there's a book with um graphics as it relates to the reproductive system and you're like, I want this removed. I don't think it's appropriate for any kid to have sex ed. >> We do that now by law. >> What's that, sir? >> We allow people to opt out from that well before the program. >> Right. But your suggestion that anything that is challenged should be removed immediately. >> That's why we send the letter out ahead before the program so that they can be removed immediately prior to the program. >> I think you're missing the point. Just hold on a second. So if if we remove a book the

029second it's challenged, then that suggests that if somebody challenges the sex ad book that we'll have to remove the book immediately. I mean if someone brings a challenge board just like we did before we pulled the books until we can review this. >> Correct. >> That's what we did this time. It's not per policy. It was a decision that we made. >> I mean it's not clarified in policy. >> I also think it assumes that immediately that any any challenged material is is bad and should be in the hands of children. I to some extent I see your point because some people could just get in this fight over well they pulled that one let's pull this one and I don't like that subject and it just goes back and forth and >> right so

030my point is just like okay we have a committee they're going to review it like give the committee time to review the material and make a recommendation and then it has appeal prep processes. >> The problem I do have is before this was even brought up at the last meeting, there were books that we privately pulled that did not go I mean we literally called and said, "Hey, check out this book. I just got notification that this book is on the shelves and it was pulled immediately." And in theory, if if you wanted the books removed, that was probably the best option for doing it because now we haven't made it a political thing. Now it's been it's printed. These books were a given like they can't be there. And >> I'm not sure I'm

031familiar with >> there are several there were several books over the past couple years that we have pulled off the shelves in the library as soon as we discovered they were there. >> To be fair, like if somebody says, "Hey, there's X, Y, or Z book." And there's one copy of it and Dr. Gretz gets a complaint, he's going to take it off the shelf to read it. So inherently, >> that's exactly what we did. >> So inherently it's getting pulled while it's being reviewed. >> That's exactly what happened. That's my point is that that that should happen. If there's a book that he Mr. Gretz says this can't be here, we shouldn't wait for the committee. >> That's the committee's job. That's why the committee is being formed, isn't it? >> Yeah. Some some

032of these books are sexually explicit. And some some are worse than that. And the books that we pulled off the shelf prior to this even being an issue, there was there was never a disagreement then in taking those books off the shelf. So the point is if there's something that he feels I don't think this should be here. >> So then why have a committee? Why not just have the superintendent do it? I'm not I'm not really understand. >> The committee should probably review the book. You want to leave the book up there for whoever to check out if it's if it's that problematic. And would you just leave it up there for the next 30 to 45 days until the committee can meet? >> Well, that would be a good alternative. Hold it. while

033the committee is reviewing it. >> I mean, what what if someone goes home and fills out 3,000 forms to pull all the books in the library? >> Well, that's what I was saying. That's why I understand your point, too, because someone could do that, >> right? So, I'm saying we have a process. Why wouldn't we let the process if we're going to adopt this and let the committee and form a committee for this? Why wouldn't we let the committee do their job? >> And how many of our books in the library do we have multiple copies of anyway? Inherently, if a committee is going to read it, it's passively going to get removed just so they can read the book. So something I just want to add to this conversation. It's related but not uh

034it's just related. >> Okay. >> The So to be clear, I I'm not going to unilaterally just remove a book, but by the same token, our librarians, I mean, part of their job is to review materials and to and they make decisions about what comes in. And if they see something that they think should go out, I think they need to have the freedom to do that. I I think we need to be careful not to say that if our librarians see something that they believe was put there at some point that isn't appropriate. And I'm not saying they do or don't do this, but they don't necessarily need to call the committee. I think they they continue to have the flexibility to do their work. This is in response to parent or community challenges.

035>> Can you set a time frame that it will take for the committee to get together when it's a challenge? >> I don't >> honestly I don't know. >> I mean I I >> that was my argument about having a >> having never done this. I just don't know how >> that's the concern how long it might take for the committee to be formed and start when a challenge happens. I mean, and further to be honest, like it's going to take takes people time to read books. Like, if you you challenge a book and it's 600 pages, it's going to take a little while for people to get through it. So, it's not like meeting just having a meeting doesn't actually solve and provide nuanced discussion around a text, right? >> I'm not trying to

036be combative. I'm just trying to make sure that like the process itself is is clear and that we're thinking through these things and I understand the considerations. I just want to make sure that we're we're aware of the externalities or like what follows from these decisions. >> Always make improvements as we go. >> Good point. So, so far I've heard that number five on the form should be the school should reevaluate the material and or remove it. Does that suffice? >> in addition to what's there. So, a another mini airplane that says this book should be removed. >> Well, that is the form that a complaintant fills out to turn into the school. It's not a committee, >> right? >> Filling this form, right? Yeah. Right. >> Yeah. I just semantically I just don't understand

037the difference between re-evaluating and a recommendation to remove. >> You don't understand that >> or remove it. >> What's that? >> Re-evaluating or remove it? >> I mean, isn't the purpose of filling out the form to ask them to remove it? >> Maybe it's just a really good book and I just want the committee to read it. That's funny. >> I know. Pay me the big bucks for comedy. >> So, uh, so another mini airplane with this committee should remove it. I certainly don't object. I just think it's semantically the same. And then, uh, do does anyone want to codify some sort of cadence for the committee itself with regards to how often they should meet or ultimately how it's called? I'm told that they they typically convene within two weeks up to this point.

038I'm I'm inclined as Miss Johnson to allow our experts and especially those that are on the committee to um help guide this and that perhaps on a first meeting they should come up with some sort of standards of um how they work together and allow them to be autonomous on this. >> That's pretty much what we do with the other named committees. Any further considerations? We'll see this again during action items if we're inclined to move forward. >> I believe yes. >> I think it's a good solution. >> So it it >> Mr. Did you want to add anything? >> No, I'm good. I just like I said earlier when when you make it it when you handle it privately and like we did in the past just we I even brought a couple books

039but I said listen I don't want to I don't want to read them. I want to I want to take care of it quietly and then it doesn't bring all the community outreach doesn't come in because it doesn't the appearance from some people is that we're banning books and I'm not I don't think anybody here is suggesting that but it it this book thing becomes so political. >> Yeah. I just hate that it got that way. >> Right. I I think the point is that and I personally super object and yeah that's quotable super object to the fact that like someone could indicate that they don't believe that books that have gay characters or people who are struggling with identity or people who are dealing with abuse at home or kids going through their own

040process. Any of that that that if that's objectionable to you as a person and you don't believe that your child should have it. There's a difference between that and saying that no child that it's not appropriate for any children. And so if we just like went to a library and plucked a book every time that we think that it's um inappropriate, then what we're doing is we are censoring and banning books. It's the same thing. If somebody is an atheist and is like the Bible shouldn't be in a library, we're just going to go and pluck it. Like that doesn't make sense. And so either either we trust the judgment of the librarians to evaluate the material in and of it like by themselves or we form a committee to do that but allowing individuals

041to cart blanch decide that their own morals or ethics should be applied to everybody else makes no sense to me. I don't I don't I don't disagree with you. I just think that the problem is when you even even to some extent um I won't go into detail about some the two males and two females. I won't go into detail about that. But some of those things in in a kindergarten or first grade bookf fair are are inappropriate. I mean I don't know that kindergarteners are reading about homosexuality in in literally in at five and six years old. And that's kind of inappropriate. And >> I guess I'm confused. Are are there not children who have two moms or two dads? >> Are there not other children who are curious about why someone has two

042moms or two dads? I don't understand. But again, it's >> I just I don't I don't see why how that benefits the library, how that benefits I mean, it's just controversial and I don't know why we couldn't just handle this the way we were handling it before. And now I mean the committee will be fine but it's just and then some of these books weren't even checked out for years. So how long does it take you if this book exists how long does it take to even find the book? I mean it's just the whole thing >> my argument is if it hasn't been checked out for years then what's the harm in a committee reviewing it for 30 days? >> I know I'm just I'm just saying that that none of it's perfect and

043there's thousands and thousands and thousands of books in the library and >> that is something we can agree on. and they come in in in mass. So, you know, one librarian can't read every single book that comes in and review every single word of every single book for, you know, some of these these complaints we got were a paragraph or two in a book that was hundreds of pages. >> You don't sharpie it. >> No, but my point is one librarian can't read through all that material, >> right? >> And then review it periodically >> and then maybe find this the one section. It's just it's a it's going to be an evolving process no matter how how we decide. >> I just Yeah. I don't know why we're so so darn scared about the

044needle on a haststack that hasn't been checked out in so long when we have a review process like like we can we can review it or we can censor the options and like I just don't understand the bias to censor If we believe the experts and we believe that a committee can do their jobs, I just don't see the harm in allowing them to do so. I don't I don't if we're just going to pull some off the shelf, >> why bother with the committee at all? And to be honest, why not shutter the library? I don't dis I'm not disagreeing with the committee. I'm just thinking that I don't I don't think it meets anybody's and you know what I mean like eventually it's going to be baffled actually >> it's going to be

045an ongoing thing for years and years and years to come. I mean it takes people took people years to check out one book to discover that it was an issue. >> I'm saying then what's the rush? I'm saying that that's it's not going to give people the satisfaction that they want. >> I'm not worried about short-term satisfaction. I'm worried about kids having access to books and even books that challenge or expand their horizons. >> I don't understand why we want to limit it. Like I just don't know what what good is served by just like getting a complaint and pulling a book off the shelf. Who does like that's just a that assumes that somebody who challenges a book is 100% right all the time. I'm pretty sure we've already established that they would meet

046within two weeks, right? I mean, we we've already covered all this. >> But you literally just said, I don't understand why we need a committee. We can just go take the book off the shelf. That's what I said. >> It is what you said. >> Abs. I literally just said that people It's going to take so long for a committee to review these books as as people find one and complain. I I never said that people should make a PL complaint, pull the book off the shelf. I said pull it off until they can review it. I think you said why don't we just do this the way we used to do it. >> No no no I said what I'm saying is when we had issues before and it it wasn't it wasn't a

047political fight. It was either yes or no >> and now it's become what we see now and it's going to be left versus right you know my opinion versus your opinion rather just than just reading the book and saying yes this is explicit shouldn't be the school. >> Do you have a solution other than a committee that includes members of the community that'll >> No, this is this is what I wanted. I'm I'm absolutely recommended this five years ago. This isn't a this isn't a problem that just happened at the last meeting. This has been an issue for years. We brought this up over and over and over again. I'm glad it's happening. I just don't I want people to understand it's it's not going to fix that. You can't just come here, read the

048book, and it's going to get pulled. This is going to take if there's a book in there, it may take years for someone to find it and say, "Damn, I want to fill out this form and complain on this book." So if they're if they're on these websites looking at all these books like the same way they found the books that they brought at the meeting last time, that's the only way for someone to know what books are in what libraries. We might not even have them. They did like a national database of books, >> right? And that was certainly the case before. But what's the remedy? A standing committee to read every book? >> No, I mean it's going to take time. If there's a >> right, >> you know, if there's a and

049if the book doesn't get checked out, no one will ever know about it. >> I guess I'm saying I don't see the problem with any of that. Like >> I'm not saying >> check the book out, then there won't be a complaint and if they won't read a book. >> Isn't that fundamentally? >> Yeah, I'm not disagreeing with >> But the people that want remove these books, it's it's it's much more complicated than that. There is not going to be a removal of books. It's you may not even know the book exists. That's what I'm saying. You're not going to get the we passed the committee. >> These books are gone in two week. We're not that's not going to happen. That's what people some people may want. But there's a process and I think

050it's a good process or we'll work on it. But it's a good process. think we should be we should be comfortable with being uncomfortable and like yeah that could it will take a complaint for a book to be reviewed. I don't I don't see a problem with that. >> I think we're literally agreeing. >> Right. >> You seem concerned about about other people who want books off shelves being unhappy with the process. No, I want I just I'm explaining that you can't it's not going to happen over if if what they want is that then this is the process. That's what I'm saying. And it's not going to be a this board's not going to just make a decision and pull the books. There's going to be a process and it's going to be community

051involvement. Sounds pretty just. >> That's what I'm saying. So, and I I like as I said before, I regret that it became a political thing rather than just a yes or no. Well, I think we have formed in a policy that we can agree with. Um, in terms of process, do we want Dr. Gretz, should we pass this? Do we want Dr. gets to send out a survey where individuals can um volunteer and indicate their um address andor voting districts so that board members may review and select representatives. >> Why couldn't we just each individually pick our own representative from each district, people that we know or would recommend instead of Mr. Britz being involved in >> everyone else happy with that? think it's important to send a survey out to let the community know

052about the new committee that's formed. >> Maybe we could send out the information but have people just contact their representative. >> I mean >> and not lay that on Dr. Gretz. >> So I think that a consideration around that is that if that's the case you're going to get, you know, some odd hundred emails potentially, whereas if people were to do a form, then Dr. Guts could just send you the list of people from your district and then that's easier for you to just get a sheet. But if you're inclined to the uh bulk emails, then we can do that too. >> Which way? >> Only question is sometimes hard to figure out what district people are actually in. Like I I just saw a guy that lived on South Boston Road that voted in

053store and I didn't realize it literally went all the way to South Boston Road. >> I saw someone show up in Palmyra that should have been in Fork Union. >> Yeah. And then I asked him, "Are you sure you're supposed to be here?" And he wasn't quite sure either. So if someone emails me and says, "I live on now I got to call the registar, see where they live or what district they're in. >> Maybe they are." >> So do you want direct correspondence or do you want a survey for people to be able to volunteer for this? >> I'm I'm happy to do a survey and just hand you the results. I can also build the survey such that you all receive the results. >> If you're being appointed to like the planning commission

054or something, you would you would send something in and then they would distribute that to the members of the of the board of supervisors. If you're going to appoint someone to something similar to that >> and once you appoint somebody, we're happy to go and do the research to make sure they're in your voting district as well. However, we can talk So this isn't So this is the the process. We really just need three people to to say they want it to be done one way and if we ultimately adopt the policy then that'll be the the how we get it done part. So um >> I appreciate Dr. Brett's help and that would be fine. I'm inclined the same just to make life easier for for us and logistically and to save our phones

055from all that extra data uses that used to be the case. Um you certainly get calls as well. >> I didn't want to add anything else to your load but >> understood. However you want to do it. >> No I I'm happy to do what the board would like >> further conversation on this item before we uh we'll get more discussion before we ultimately vote on it. But if we vote accordingly then uh Dr. Guts, please and thank you for alerting the public and giving them a place to volunteer. >> All right, we're on to 10A reports from the superintendent. >> Okay. Uh board members, so there's several things in here. I'll I'll just call your attention to a few. Um, we've been working with some community members on information related to our athletic expenditures

056and so we have updated a report that has been made to the board before. It's uh the finance athletics I think it's the second one down. Dr. Stribbling, we can go through this if you'd like us to or really we're just presenting it to you as information. This has been provided to those community members that have asked for it and so we thought it'd be good to have it in the packet so anybody can access it. It basically just goes through our different activities and it shows the expenditures related to each sport and I just wanted to call your attention to it. Don't have to necessarily go through it. Uh we made it available to some so we wanted to make it available to everybody. And I'm thankful to um Mrs. Gil for doing that.

057So in the report um you know we have the all-in initiative. So we're in the process of designing tutoring and small groupoup instruction to try to meet the needs specifically in reading and math for grades three through eight per the governor's recommendation. So we've got that underway. In addition, we're considering using some of those funds to hire outside tutors. We've had conversations with with people with backgrounds that we think could be beneficial to students. Uh some actually in the FLDP program. And so we're we're thinking through how to do that in a way that makes sense. We have attendance specialists advertised. As you know, we're using the funding that we've been giving through this program to hire four of those that will be focused on improving attendance and establishing relationships with families where there's habitual

058attendance and truency. And uh in addition to that, and I think maybe the main focus of the report, certainly if there's anything in there you want me to drill down into, I can. We have Sam Irby with us tonight. You know that we have had an RFP out asking for uh proposals from health insurance providers. And so our consultant, Mr. Irby, is here tonight. He's going to present some information to you and entertain any questions that you have. And with that, I'll turn it over to you, Mr. Irby. >> And Miss Gil, if you have things to add. Well, I just wanted to say that um we sent the solicitation out. We got the bids back last week. Mr. Irby and I looked at them initially um and then he's been spending the last week

059really going through those in detail. Our plan at this point is um we're giving you an overview tonight, but we really need to meet with you in either groups of one or two to go through the details of what we received in those um solicitations. Um one of the issues that we have is we have some pretty um high cost claims right now and it's that's what's really driving the cost of the insurance. It's not it's not really the fees associated with the TPA or the reinsurance fees. It's the claims and how they're running right now. There is a possibility that um because what they were looking at was really last year's claims and what we have for um July, August, September would be about it. And so as the year continues, it's a c

060it I think they're giving us a worst case scenario. If the claims come in lower, then the cost could actually go down. It's just strictly driven by the cost claims. Um the other things that we're talking about is um self-insured versus fully insured. We don't have a local choice bid. they don't have to follow procurement. So they don't have to turn it in at a certain time. And initially they had told Mr. Irby that they'd get it to us like the third week in December. And I said, "Well, you can call them back and tell them if we don't have it by the first week in December, then we can't consider it because we have to know by the end of we have to notify Jefferson Health if we're switching plans by the end of

061December." So you you need to really be prepared to make a decision on this in the December meeting and that's the reason why we want to meet with you individually to really drill down in the the details between now and then so you're fully prepared and she pretty much covered but I but I will add to it um the Jefferson Health program is a consortium Jefferson as a governmental subdivision. So they run the plant. So it's not like a profit type operation. Um and it spreads risk amongst all the entities that are in the facility. So that helps you as well perspective. Um the one thing that they do have is a six-month requirement of cancellation. you have to let them know and that's why we're going to try to push this through December and

062say here's where we are what what y'all prefer how would you like to pursue this uh I will say that everything this far ahead of July one renewal u they build in a lot of trend into it and your claims as Miss Golden said have been running kind of hot you know they've been running a little hot right now which is pretty normal to have your claims kind of do this and come back down. So I really do feel like if we look at everything here over the next few next few weeks and you look at everything you say well let's go in this direction or let's go in this direction then we can renegotiate the rates after the first year on up until probably endeavor and keep watching claims and hopefully get it to

063come down with uh right now the nice part about what you got going on, it is a double digit increase right this minute on paper, but because of the RX rebates that you get, that brings it back down to single digit increase. So, it does help a little bit, but as she said, as I said, I think you will see the claim subside a little bit and that's probably going to improve everything as we move forward. Uh we do have several um proposals from different third party administrators. Right now you're dealing with third party administrator owned plan administrators but we got several other TPAs that we got to bid on this as well. We send it out to the insurance companies and TPA post. So we've got a lot of a lot of things to

064look at in detail to try to drill down and say okay this looks pretty good. We also have to see whether um the company or the TPA that you're looking at whether they can perform and do the job that you need to get through. So you kind of got to bet. My recommendation for one thing would be probably as we kind of eliminate and say, "Okay, we like these two or we like these three." Probably get them to slip in real quick and do amazing finalist presentation to administration or you know couple of them then let you kind of say where you feel like you are and what you think would be preferable for you to come here. And like I said last time, BPA has I guess the best term is say bought out

065by Wellnut. So after they're not really doing a midyear transition, so to speak, but July 1, it's not BPA anymore if we continue with that. So Jefferson challenges the finances of our self- insurance plan and BPA is the TPA. Those are two different things. And Jefferson Health will allow us to have any TPA that we want. And so we don't have to use the new the Wellnut that purchased BPA. We can pick another TPA, which is part of what we put out in the RFP. And I think we're all in agreement that we've had some concerns with BPA. And there are some other TPAs out there that are larger and may be able to provide us better customer service or I'm going to say will provide us better customer service than we've gotten recently. >>

066Do we have any guarantees that Wellnet won't operate BPA as a wholly owned subsidiary? So that it's just a different name and not a different service level. >> I'm sorry. Ask that question again. >> Sure. understood what you were saying. >> We're working with BPA. Well, bought BPA. I've been part of plenty of mergers and acquisitions and at least for some length of time. They continue to operate just under a new name, but it's still the same people in process. Do we have any guarantee that they won't just continue to operate as is? Are we entertaining a Wellnet? >> Right. No, no guarantee. But from Well Net's posture that they have taken, I think they intend to kind of take over and change it. They've actually offered to change your January one if you wanted

067to and pull you over to the Wellnet platform which is coming out of Pennsylvania. Um that's a problem. That would be a very difficult thing to do. Everybody have to have new medical cards and it just would create problem. I think you definitely want to tough it out until July. We're on bet wellnet as well as the other tpas and the other uh insurance quotes that we got. We're going to look at all of it and try to give y'all the pros and cons that we see based, you know, across the board with each one. >> And Dr. Gretz and I were of the opinion because when I talked to Wellnut, I said, you know, we've had lots of problems and this is not, you know, a turnkey thing. and they offered to do the

068new insurance cards January switch us over January one to their platform but our concern was that we had at that point and still haven't made a decision that that's where we would continue to be and what we didn't want to do was we some people got new insurance cards in July then give people new insurance cards in January and then potentially give people new insurance cards in July again and so we were like that is just too confusing and we want to just if we know that we're we may switch then let's just wait until July one and then make that change clean versus this kind of transition in between and and you guys all know I mean it drives me crazy when I go into the doctor's office and they're like get your insurance

069card I'm go back to the car so I don't want to do that and then it lends itself to lots of issues on the back >> on the service side makes it very difficult >> for sure I'm just concerned about what was the old expression putting lipstick on a pick. >> As are we, which is why we're cutting it. >> Very much so. >> Yeah, we were headed out to bed before we knew anything was very good. >> And so you have some sense of what we're getting back in terms of pricing. Can you give us a just broadstrokes range of increase that we're seeing right now >> in the RFPs? I I I would say it's ranging from about seven and a half to 12%. And all of it, keep in mind, it's all

070run off of your claims. It's exactly what's going on. When you're self-funded, all you're doing is paying admin fees to the TPA. They're processing your claims. So, the claims is what drives it. Um, for instance, um, flu banner maybe pays in $7 million a year total, let's say, and that's not the correct figure, but it's somewhere of that your admin and reinsurance is less than $2 million. It's $5 million worth of claims. So, when you talk about this, most of your increase is in the claim side in the projection expected claims. Well, those claims may not happen. So, if they don't happen at the end of the year, you haven't given that money over to an insurance company who's not going to give it back. You've got that money still in the check to help

071you prepare for the following year. So, you're paying your actual cost as you go. The other thing that we're being real cognizant of is just some of the devil in the details. Like we know before we had issues with lasers since we've been with Jefferson Health, we don't have that issue with lasers, which means if we have a claim that's over $125,000, we only pay $125,000 and we don't pay what's on top of that. >> Sorry, she's describing what a laser is. It sounds awesome, but could you say it again so the class can hear? It's it's less awesome than it sounds. So, a laser is if someone were to have a high cost claim and the insurance company the next year when they're bidding will look at it and say, "I know that Brenda's

072going to be going back to the doctor again because she's been diagnosed with cancer." And then when and we know that it's probably going to be over 125,000, they establish what's called a laser, which they could say is for me $300,000. and then we then have to pay 300,000 of it before they kick in. Current our current plan is we have no lasers. The maximum we pay for any person is $125,000 and we we pay for the claims but then we get refunded by the reinsurance carrier. And we do have some of those and we have some of those in October already. So that's my was my concern when we first started looking at this is are there lasers? >> Is there potential for lasers in the future? Because Jefferson Health has said there are

073no lasers and you're not going to have them in the future. And that's because they're in this big consortium that they can share that risk. Um, you also referenced and sorry not to dive in too too much here, but you referenced sort of short-term trend impacting our current bids. Is it is it real short-term trend unique to this year or is it just a cyclical nature of when people ultimately go and see the doctor? >> It it's more of a short-term trend. >> So unique to this year as opposed to like broad. >> Yeah. Yeah. I think I think what you going to see here I think when we look back 6 to 8 months from now and we look back we're going to find that you just had a spike during a two or

074three month period and kind of went away and went back to the normal what's kind of normal as far as claims go a trend right now is running 11 12% medical trend is >> um so that what that means is the cost of health care like if I go to the doctor tomorrow they'll reneg negotiating their contracts every year or every other year and they want raises from the insurance company. So the actual cost itself is going to be a little a little higher than normal as well. So the insurance company's of course taking that in consideration. >> So Miss Kryer is going to reach out to you guys with possible dates and times that we can meet. I think it's on your desk. >> And we're happy to take as much time as possible

075to answer those kind of questions, to go into the details of each plan, any of those things that that you might have questions about. And then when we come back in December, we'll need you to make a decision in terms of we're either going to tell Jefferson Health we're not going with them or and select another carrier, begin that process, or um we continue with Jefferson Health. Regardless, we'll have to select a TPA, >> right? And and beyond that, too, self-funding, you don't get your final rate until about 120 days prior to new. So what we're looking at right now is uh this is what we think it's looking like based on what's come forward and now through September, but now we're going to take another look at it through December and come forward with

076well the claims have improved a little bit. So that's going to drive the actual cost down or whatever case. >> That's what used to happen back when we had local choice. I'd meet with them now and they'd be like well it's going to be 25%. Then they'd come back and go, "We think we can get it down to this." And then couple months later, they come back and go, "We we're going to give you a rebate and we're lead you down to this." The the difference with that is they're rolling the dice on where your claims are going to be. And if they're coming lower than they thought they were, they keep that money. If we if we're self-insured and they come in lower than we thought we'd be, we keep that money. So, I

077do think our our fund is fairly healthy right now and I feel I mean you've told me you save money in the long run if you can afford to be self-insured. >> Oh, yeah. Absolutely. Yeah. It's a long It's a longterm thing. You can save 5 to 10% long term by being self. >> And for the class, how long have we been fully or uh how long have we been self-insured? >> Five years now. Uh, and this board is probably the reason why it's still in the black because we've had to put some some payments in historically at the end of the year before returning money to the county in order to keep us um in the black. >> Well, and what we've done the last couple of years is we've just basically zeroed out

078our health insurance budget. So we we budget the amount that we're told and then but premiums and plan selections and all of that change how much actually comes out. Um because I mean you know we have turnover 20 30 new people come in the plans change. >> Yes. So the cost is bouncing every month too based on how many >> somebody have a baby. >> And uh how many of the RFPs that we're getting back are fully insured versus selfinsured? Uh we've got one fully insured quote and then it's four I think five self-funded options and we don't have other right and that's kind of a semi type self arrangement. >> I have a general question how much does it cost to have a baby now? I'm I'm just curious. You don't want that one.

079>> Frankly, I don't know because it's been a while, >> but it is more than it used to be. >> Yeah, it's probably running 15 18,000 and that's just >> But that's not what the out pocket is without the out of pocket is not cheap. >> And and of course the insurance companies now negotiating your networks negotiated a lot. of it grass t >> 15 to 20 then thank you >> but it's nice to get them into the swirl. >> Uh any other questions u that we can offer now. Um obviously we got some digging in to do. Uh do you need us to take a vote on this um in December or is it more consensus? It's it's a vote and fundamentally we really just need the up down as to whether or not

080we're going to continue to give notice. If we have a couple of candidates that we're interested in and are confident we won't go, do we still have time to decide between them? >> Um we have to tell Jefferson Health by the end of the month rather by the end of December whether we're going to continue with them or not. So sure my short answer would be we would have to make a decision >> on that but not necessarily like if we prefer two candidates but we're undecided between them. >> Yeah. If we were if we were going to keep Jefferson Health and look at different TPAs we could do that >> or we could but if we were saying the difference was between Jefferson Health and another >> certainly we need to make that decision

081that you're >> Yeah. Yeah. I mean, let's assume you just say, "Okay, we're not going to stay in health." Then your other options are still open past December 31st. But if you say, "We definitely want to stay in health this year." Then you would keep picking the TPA, but you don't have to pick TPA by December. Okay. had you all come for the uh December meeting, we'll really get in it. >> Thank you, Sam. Thank you so much for being here. >> Excuse me. So, unless there are other things in my report that you'd like me to deeper in, that's really all I wanted to highlight for you. >> Anything else from the superintendent's report? All right. If not, we are on to uh the SBA policy updates. >> Okay. Uh board members, many policies

082that you have. I'm going to do my best to summarize, but as always, we can we can go into any of these. Most of the changes, I think, are semantics. They're continuing to change just pronouns and things like that. Um what you'll find is anywhere there's some code language that's changed. So anywhere you see nurse practitioner that's going to be become advanced practice registered nurse and so any policy that that was impacted by is in here. The other is uh Dr. Stribbling if you'll pull up JCDA or sorry Mr. Gford the fourth one and I I hate to even talk about this >> GCDA. Yeah. uh any again this is code language anywhere you see so for example in the paragraph in a um offense involving sexual molestation physical sexual abuse rape of a child

083you'll see that that language has been changed to add or the solicitation of any such offense. So again any policy that involves that language is going to be listed in here as a change and that's the only it doesn't really substantively change the policy at all. Um, and then these Josh, you don't have to pull these up unless board members want us to. But in GCE substitute teachers, it, you know, we've been limited in the past. You can only have a long-term sub for up to 90 days for this year and next year. They're extending that to 180. >> Um, >> is that fair to the substitute teacher? >> Well, they don't have to stay in there that long. It it just gives the school board it gives us the flexibility to keep a long-term

084sub in place if we need to. >> So, it would be more of a qualification problem because, of course, they won't get benefits or anything. >> That's true. No, they they they still would be a long-term sub. They'd be getting a long-term sub rate. Right now, what some division Go ahead. >> I'm sorry. >> No. Um, actually according to code, if they if they're if they work over a certain number of days and a certain number of hours, they are entitled. >> That's true. Ever since >> changing that to 180, right? >> No, we do a look back period. So even if we had a sub, but they were never a long-term sub, but they came in and subbed every day, they end up qualifying for benefits. >> So we're not making that with with

085this change. We're not making that limit 180 days. >> No, it's allowing long-term subs to be in the classroom. >> So, the idea is we can't find a qualified teacher. We're doing the best we can and they can do it for as long as we need them. Right. Thank you. >> And we have people that are qualified to teach but would prefer to be a sub than to be the then take a teaching contract. >> Okay. And could you remind us what we pay substitutes and what we pay long-term subs and if there's a different I'm sorry. >> Well, I'm gonna do my best, but someone correct me. Um $100 a day for a sub for a professional staff. >> It's 90 for um like IAS and it's um 225 for long terms. >> That's

086right. >> Thank you so much. And I'm sorry to put you on the spot. Um, at this point I think I'm fairly predictable, so apologies. >> That was my only question. >> Okay. >> Policy GCL, professional staff development. It adds some specific training for people related to the new literacy act. Um, I the testing program just adds that parents are going to be provided with results. And then JEC, school administration, there's some procedures. Again, this is this is legal language that's changed. Some rights and some procedures related to students of federal employees, specifically armed forces, um, foreign service workers, and that's per one of the most recent House bills. Everything else in there, I think, is just semantic. We can discuss anything that you'd like to. And so this is first review. They will be

087in action items next month. And so we have 30-ish days to to review, ask questions, and um debate when we see them next. Anything else on this one? All right, we're on to uh the SLEU. That's Dr. or sorry is it Dr. Stribbling. >> Thank you. >> While while Dr. Stribbling's coming up, this is the memorandum I'm understanding that we update periodically with our sheriff's department for the school law enforcement program, including our SRO's. >> Good evening, board. There it is. Um this is an annualou that we work with and partner with the sheriff's department. Uh there are no changes from last year. We also post this on our website u based on code requirement. Um it is a first review. So if there are any questions I can try and take those now. If

088there are questions that come up I can take those to uh Captain Hill and Sheriff Hess and Dr. Gretz and I, Miss Gillum, will review with those if there are questions needing answered. >> A little bit off topic. I'm sorry. Could you tell me the difference between the school resource officer and the other type of >> SSO SSO? >> Sure. School resource officer is employed by the sheriff's office and collaborates with uh the school through theou that gives us guidance on that. school safety officer. The other big thing is is that school resource officers uh are armed uh and a law enforcement officer. So they have arrest power. Uh school safety officer not armed. Uh more for uh there's a stage or a level where school resource officers are up here. SSOs are right here.

089They handle different uh they have different responsibilities and roles that don't go to the level of an SRO. Um, >> and they're the school safety officers are our employees. Yes, they are. School resource officers are the sheriff's employees. >> Correct. Yes, ma'am. Yes, ma'am. >> Is there language in theou specific to um how those two should interact and or should we be adding that so that they're process? not in theou but Captain Hill has a very indepth and robust um template of how that process works. SSOs uh this is for between the sheriff's office and county public schools. Uh the SSOs fall under our jurisdiction or human resources uh and would work directly through us and our policies and procedures. >> Mr. Streblin. >> Yes, sir. Currently, we have a grant covered SSOS. Correct. >>

090Yes. >> How long would that last? Two years. >> I want to say four years, but I want to clarify that for you. >> Three. Three years and then the one year. Do you >> Do you remember? >> I can look it up. >> I'm not sure. >> I'm not seem to remember four when it was presented, but >> four sounds right, but I don't want to sound right. I want to >> And then after that, it'll be absolved into the budget >> if that's what the board school board chooses to do. Yes, sir. It's not an automatic thing. Like we build on a budget every year. >> I'm a no different than I was before. I'm still not supportive for a couple reasons. The restorative justice part is absolute no for me. And um

091I'm pretty concerned with the with the relationship between the school resource officer and SSO program. I think we need to we need to clear that up. Okay. So that's where I'm at with it. >> Yes, sir. Do you want to elaborate as to why you don't believe in restorative justice? >> You don't have to. I'm just curious. >> It' be literally it' be the same argument we had this time last year. So I don't know that we need to do that again. We disagree on it obviously and um I I just don't don't believe fundamentally don't believe in the restorative justice model. The other thing I if I could Dr. add about this and this is that you know certainly not trying to poke a bear but anybody who is interested in >> just this

092whole structure and how the roles and responsibilities are defined and who does what and who's responsible for what. It's all in this document. I think um I would just encourage people that are interested to know who works for who, who supervises who, how that happens in here. >> Thank you very much. Have a great evening. >> Thank you. >> It's a four, sorry, it's a four-year grant cycle. >> Which um our school resource officers are either of them on I know one of them's on a grant, correct? state grant resource officer. >> One of the resource officers both are >> guess when we're down to one. How does the grant work out when we're down a school resource officer? >> They typically >> they put another one >> they go through a personnel process, hiring

093process. It doesn't I know that but it doesn't it doesn't have any we don't have any issues with the grant itself being that we're down >> reimbursement process where you reimburse >> okay that makes sense so if there was a separation for any reason it wouldn't be any different >> I did forget to mention as I hear a bit of an echo on myself but it's not bad right now that we have a new we don't have microphones any longer and that's a new microphone and these screens are obviously new and so we're still getting used to it. I'm hopeful that people at home can hear us okay but um just if you hear anything funny we're still getting used to it. Uh Miss Gillan looks like you're on the hot seat for a while.

094>> Have these high def cameras. I'd like a a makeup budget. >> I think we're going to need a a dressing room. 13. >> Oh, sorry. >> Um, so for fiscal year 23, we've um turned in our um turnover or or carryover request to the county that was submitted last week. Um, so we're just waiting for feedback on that. Um, >> and that is inclusive of both the population study >> and then the remainder to go to the Garbrook. >> Yes. Yes. And >> central. Sorry. >> Sure. and and we have um 57,000 in outstanding federal revenue that should be being processed this week. U we finally got the approvals. It's just it takes a little while to go through the queue. Um but that doesn't change what the carryover balance was. We've already factored

095that into the to what the balance was. Any other questions about 23? Be excited to not be living in three fiscal years. get get down to two here shortly. >> That'd be great. Um, so 24. >> Um, so this is where we are in terms of 24 at this time. Um, the payroll is the biggest expense. It's it's, you know, high 70s, low 80s for payroll. Um, I'm continuing to monitor that. we've had some pretty significant needs in terms of um students with special needs and and that's driving a lot of this budget. Um really just things that we're required to do and then looking at how um the funding sources for those um the we have a fuel contract and and allowable gallons. Um but I am monitoring that because we're probably going to

096go over the gallons that are in the contract. um because now we're full on doing field trips and all of those things. The other thing that gets factored in is we have more buses that are gas versus diesel and so that's a different cost and so looking at all of those things together as well. Um any questions that you have relative to fiscal year 24? So, what happens when we go over the contract amount? And I'm been hearing too many silly news stories about predicting weather and uh suggesting some some accuracy as to indicating it's a colder winter this year. Do we have um does it get renegotiated as a separate contract? Do we get the same rate? >> Usually, they give us a a different rate. Um but we don't. It usually it's whatever

097the market rate is at that time. um we in all likelihood we'll increase the gallons just looking at what we're you our usage now it's more to do with um gasoline than it is with diesel um but you know just kind of looking at those it's just it's a that one is particularly a moving target and and we're always trying to I think we we got a really good price this year I feel good about that it's just the gallon usage and just kind of being mindful of that. Um trying to think if there's anything else. Luckily, we're locked because of the solar, we're locked in on the utility cost, so those don't fluctuate. So, that's always good on that side. But we do have a couple schools that run um boilers with heating oil.

098So, on the second page of this, I have a list of all of your supplemental appropriations because that gets super confusing. Um, sorry, didn't mean for that to happen. Um, so, um, those are your supplemental appropriations that have been approved at this point. Then we have a couple of other career and teched grants that will get added in there that went to the board of supervisors a couple weeks ago. We have um done the ordering for the uh rescue squad mannequins. They haven't come in yet, but we've done the we placed the orders for those items. >> I've been told when those come in that we'll get emails about visiting the class and um uh they're they're happy to show us what they look like and how they use them. I don't have anything else

099with 24 unless you have questions. >> The 25. >> So, you don't have a lot in your packet. You got the health insurance update. Um, this is your budget calendar that I put back in there. I will need a January um seminar date. And I know that's a little tricky because we have some new board members coming on, but we are going to need to date. So I can ask Miss Chryser to do that um at another time and I have some unavailability in January and so she's going to work around that too. >> That's great. Anyone um I I think Canvas closes on Tuesday. I don't expect any results to change. Everyone comfortable with Miss Gritzer reaching out to um any new board members um post certification schedule? >> Great. Be in touch. >>

100And then I updated the fact sheet in your packet. This is always part of your budget presentation. Um so the the fact sheet is updated in there with our newest numbers in terms of um the enrollments and all of our key statistics. >> Thanks for that. Um, so on the I just want to mention on the school budget calendar that one of the things that so I I believe that I believe in advocacy as it relates to the school budget and being and having open communication with board of supervisors. Part of the difficulty during the budget season is that both bodies meet multiple times uh a month on Wednesdays and there are definitely some days where we can't be in two places at once. We'll deal with this in January, but I'll urge um colleagues

101to consider um moving schedules about so that we don't have overlapping. Um I think being transparent, open, and communicative as it relates to the needs of the school is important and we just can't do it if they're meeting while we're meeting. A good example is tonight. Obviously, it's a work session, but we can't be there if we're here. So, um I hope that we'll consider that in January so that we can continue our partnership with the board of supervisors. And I do want to point out that on 126 the superintendent does a preliminary budget focus to the board supervisors um at 7 o'clock. Um, just couple other thing or at least one other thing I want to mention is um it I got excited the other day because I got VRS rates and they were

102down 2%. I was like, woohoo. And then I found out there's this whole system that they're doing with hybrid employees and we pay that flat rate for them, but then we also pay any of the um supplementals to their um to their plans. And so with all of that math, I'll be analyzing how many of your employees are hybrid versus plan one or plan two. And then basically those people could cost you another 3% than the advertised rate. And I say that to you because probably what you're going to hear out there is that the VRS rate for teachers dropped 2%. It did and it didn't is my answer to you. So when we hear that because 2% of of your payroll is a lot and I was like we could give a raise and

103it really wouldn't even cost that much because we're getting this. But no. So, I'll be working on that calculation. It's it's not going to be an easy one um to try to figure all of that out. And we have about it's partly defined on how many of your employees contribute extra to VRS, which is a good thing because that makes their retirement more stable. We have about 80% of our employees that do that. So, that means our share of that goes up. But I'm told that there's this actuarial where that means your your base rate will go lower, but it also means that we might not know what our rates are until very close to the end of the budget cycle. So, just keeping an eye on all of that. >> Any news from Richmond

104as it relates to projected increases for employee pay? >> I haven't heard anything any different than what we heard. Um, BASS was a uh the Virginia Superintendent Association was advocating for 5%. Um, that's all I've heard. I don't know if you've heard anything any different >> and I have your list of things that working on. >> Yeah. Uh, so we had a uh meeting last month where we went kind of in depth as it relates to priorities for the budget. We scope broad and work our way down. Obviously, we'll have um other additional considerations and Mr. Poland, I don't think um we got a ton from you yet, but this is a moving target as we get closer um to to really get in the weeds on the budget, but we'll be happy to um

105include other things. So, I don't want to make your list longer, but it'll change as we go. Well, I if there's something I can work on ahead of time, I'm certainly happy to do that so that we have all the information in front of us when we meet so we can make good decisions. >> As much as I enjoy factchecking you, >> Thank you so much. >> All right. Uh we are on to G uh student representative to the board. So board members, this is something that was brought up before and it's basically just for you to consider and have discussion. You have a policy that enables it. Uh I'm happy to answer any questions you have about it. I think in the past maybe you've had a student board member. Am I right about

106that? >> Yeah, >> we have. In recent years it did change. We didn't see the same student twice in a row. Um, and I don't know what the selection process was, but could you describe what the existing policy is? >> Well, the existing policy has the principal nominating students, and these are students who you have writing a 100word essay. Uh, you can see if you could just go down a little bit, Mr. Gford, >> Dr. Stribbling driving currently. >> Dr. Stribbling up. I need to see the paragraph above that. >> Josh is the navigator. little more. >> So, students submit a thank you 100word essay on why they'd like to be appointed as a student board member. Um, this says they're in good standing. It doesn't define what that means. I would say probably that

107has to do with academics and discipline, but good standing at the high school. So, it's a high school student. And then specifically, the principal nominates students. and from those nominations, the superintendent would select somebody to present to you. Uh, this has them serving a one-year term. In the past, I mean, I've seen situations like this. What you may want to consider is, well, whether or not you want to continue the essay, I'm not suggesting it's a bad idea. A lot of boards don't do that. Other boards will give will have a rotation that's more than once a year to give more students the opportunity to do it. So, it may be one per semester, for example. Um, you you may want to have the principal select a certain number of students, say four from which

108to choose from as opposed to just saying that they're nominated. But those are all things you could discuss. And if you've done this before with this policy and it worked well for you, there's no reason to change it. This is on the agenda at your request to discuss >> board members. How would you like to proceed? >> And I'm sorry, Dr. Kelly, just to point out, it's in the policy, but the board me the student is here in an advisory capacity. They don't vote and they're not they're not privy to u session items. And typically, I'm sure you did, if you have a board meeting that goes past a certain amount of time, you'd probably excuse the student to >> In the past, they left after they did their presentation. >> Okay. >> That way

109as well. >> Uh thoughts on whether you would like to see this policy again for revision or whether you would like it to be uh effectively uh reenacted? re-implemented. >> I don't have a problem with it the way it is. >> Yeah, I'd like to see a react reenact. >> So, um could we ask you then to um get the process started and um let's see if we can't get a student um seated with us come uh January to give a little time for implementation and a change of a semester. >> Sure. Does >> that work for everyone else? I'd just like to suggest that if it works better for the student and the board to have a rotation of representatives as we've had in the past that that's also perfectly fine with me. It

110sort of felt like a punishment after a while >> for the student >> for the kid. Yeah, >> we're feeling quite different. So, we'd like to see representation and uh to the extent that it could be enacted this way, great. And if we need a rotation also. >> Well, when you say rotation, do you mean rotating more than once per year? >> Well, I think Miss Johnson was indicating it's a bit laborious for the >> That's fine. You just would need to amend this. >> So, we would need to revise if we want to allow for um some kind of rotation. >> I believe in the past, we always had a different one every month. And and it goes long, you know, like if meetings go 10 or 11 o'clock, most of the students will

111get up and leave. You know, they'd have to excuse theel 8:30 or 9 because they had things to do when get ready for the next day. >> What if we just change the student representatives serve a one-year term? How about up to a one-year term? And that way it leaves it to the students and the board and the principles to figure out what was going to work best at that time. >> Read. So why don't we um make that revision and adopt in December? Consider this a first read. That gives everybody a lot of leeway, but you could still have one student for the entire year. I think what you did towards the end of the last time you had student representatives was they basically the student government association took turns coming which is where

112you saw that rotation and I mean wasn't the policy but I think what was decided at that time was instead of having the 100word essay that the the student government kids have been elected by their peers to represent them and so it made sense to have them be the person that was here. I'm not saying you have to do that again, but I think that's where you saw that change, where you saw a rotation. And then I think amongst themselves, they were like, "Hey, I have a game tonight. I can't go. You know, can you go?" And so that's kind of where some of that came. >> So to that end, um I'd suggest we change the word must submit a 100word essay to may submit. And that gives everybody a lot of choice. >>

113That good? >> So, we'll see. >> We'll see some revisions and adopt in December and ask that we um see it see a representative in January if it's feasible. >> And if not, I'm sure February is great, too. >> All righty. Um 11A unfinished business board members. Do you have any unfinished finished business today? >> All right. Uh 12A new business. >> Do I bring up that some of us did go look at the bathrooms at Central just for information purposes? What do you think? >> It's It's in rough shape. >> You went too, right? >> Oh, yeah. Yep. >> Yep. Hopefully that'll be funded and get started before too long. If you uh happen your way to the middle school or the high school, I'd encourage you all to check out the tracks uh

114and and the turf. Um every time I see the middle school track, I I'm a bit ashamed of it and worry about safety. So, that's uh those are all on a pretty loaded um loaded list here, but clearly the the bathrooms are in use every day. Thanks for that. Um so, we're on the action items. First up is approval of the VSBA policy updates. And so, these are policies that we saw last month. As is our standard, we will see some policy updates and then come back and vote on them such that the list that we had this month will be seen will be in action items next. >> Move we approve the Fluana policy updates listed on the agenda for this evening's action items. >> Is there a second? >> Second. >> Any discussion

115on these two? these largely are semantic and dealing with um uh sick leave and the way that we deal with that um as discussed at length last meeting. >> All right. All those in favor please say I >> I that was 5 but uh adding next 5. Uh we're now on to the approval of the classroom observation policy. I move to approve the classroom observation policy. >> A second. >> Right. Any discussion? All those in favor, please say I. >> I. >> Any opposed? 5-0. That is approved. We're now on to the approval of the BDEQ storm water management facility maintenance agreement. So board members with this we we've been contacted today that the your legal representation wants to look at this again and so I would just ask that you defer action on this

116until next month. Dr. Stribbling, anything you feel like you need to add to that? >> Sure. Thank you. >> Um just since it's here, can I have a motion to defer if you're so inclined? >> I'll make a motion we defer till. Right. Any discussion? All those in favor of deferring, please say I. >> I. >> Any opposed? We will see this again. Uh, and then D, approval of the establishment of community representatives to serve on the learning resource review committee. Please remember that our guidance to the administration is to then send out something so people can volunteer accordingly. Is there a motion? I move to approve the policy changes that enable us to establish a community representative to serve on the learning resource review committees. >> I'll second that. >> Thank you so much.

117Any discussion? >> All those in favor, please say I. >> I. >> We have a new committee. >> Sorry, that's 5. Uh we are now on to our second round of public comments. Just as before, we invite members of the community, including uh staff, uh those who live in Flubana, who have business in front of our board, etc. to come forth and be heard. We ask you to limit your remarks to uh 3 minutes or less and to provide your name and address and a gentle reminder to treat one another with respect. Would anyone like to come forth and be heard? Seeing none, I'm gonna close our second round of public. Oh, please. >> I apologize. I just didn't see in um I hadn't planned on speaking, but um I'm a relatively new resident in

118the community. My name is Katherine Jenkins Jerome. I'm also a participant in the FLGP. Um, and what brought me here actually is I worked in the public school system in another state for 10 years, over 10 years until my school was closed by that city. Um, and because I had family here in street ancestrally here in the state, I came. Um, and one of the things I'm involved in now actually is with the Central Virginia Community Justice Organization, which actually does restorative justice. Um, one of the statistics that I learned in getting involved in my organization is that um, folks who uh, have a conflict that or or a crime that results in them calling the police and then they proceed with criminal uh, the normal criminal pathway. when they find out that restorative justice

119is an option, over 90% of them opt for that. Um, in light of that, I'm just I was just struck, sir. I'm sorry. I don't know your name. >> Oh, I'm so sorry. >> I can't address. >> Please don't address particularly. >> Thank you for reminding. >> Thank you. >> But I just I guess I would encourage further discussion and exploration of the topic among the board. I think if it's good enough for people who have been victim of a crime and are involved in this criminal justice system is worth exploring further for um for our for our young people. And um personally in my experience as an educator um it yields powerful results um that go well beyond um the incident that leads to the to the necessity for a process and can really

120be transformative for not just uh the the students um but for a whole class or even a whole a whole school community. So that's all I wanted to say. My apologies for forgetting about the rule. Thank you for your service. >> Thank you so much. Please, Mr. Anderson. >> Eric Anderson, Cunningham District. A couple of quick comments on the educational review committee's proposal. Um, doing something like this, setting it up as a standing committee with roughly once a month meetings, meetings as needed, seems perfectly reasonable. Um and people should understand that we won't respond to things immediately because the committee has to review the materials. Um that's a sort of a thing that we do all the time and other academic institutions. The question about sort of immediately responding to it by yanking stuff off

121the shelves. I I don't think that's a good idea because we can get a lot of trivial requests that get all sorts of good materials pulled until there's time to review and we'll go through this perpetual cycle where nothing's on the shelves. If a parent requests that their student not have access to material, I'm perfectly fine with that being granted immediately. If a parent requests that no student have access to the material, then the committee needs to do a review. And then my last comment on this is it seems a little odd to have it set up by district with each person only allowed to appoint someone from within their own district. We actually want people on this committee who are serious about it, who will read the materials and think about it seriously. Andre

122lives a quarter mile away from me, but we're in different districts. He couldn't ask me to serve on this committee. And that seems sort of an unreasonable restriction. If you want to have one nominee by each board member or something, that's fine. But the geographical constraints, it's not like a planning committee where actually being in a location is important. what's being important is being willing to grapple with the material in a serious way. So that's just another thing to think about as you try to constitute this committee. Thank you. >> Thank you so much. Is there anyone else who would like to come forth and be here? >> All right, hearing none, I'm going to go ahead and close the second round of comments. We're now on to school board member comments. hearing none. We'll

123move forward. I uh have communicated enough this evening. Uh we have someformational items in your packet. Um I will say that I appreciate the FLVP class being here as well as other members of the community. We thank you for your attendance and for putting up with a average length meeting tonight. Um and you'll be happy that the next item is adjournment. May I have a motion? >> I move we adjourn for the evening. >> Second. >> All those in favor, please say I. >> I. We are ajourned. >> Thank you so much. With gravity. I guess I'm the