001Do we need to update the roll call? >> Whenever you're ready, sir. >> Okay, that's fine. All right, let's start with certification and close session. Here >> I'm going to abstain because I was not present. >> Here >> I just want to confirm that that is a yes from three board members because we're certified close session. >> Okay. >> All right. Um any actions coming out of close session? >> Uh Mr. Chair, there are four student discipline cases and unless the board wants to pull them out individually, I recommend that the board approve those cases as discussed in close session 3A, 3B, 3 C, and 3D. A, B, C, and D. All right. I was not present for that, so I'm going to abstain obviously. So, I'll entertain a motion in a second. >> Second.
002We have a motion and a second uh on student case 3A, 3B, 3 C, and 3D D. Is that correct? Any discussion? All those in favor, please say I. >> Any opposed? And the chair abstains. All right. Now, we need to adopt tonight's agenda. Are there any changes to the agenda that you all would like to make a motion on or would you like to see the agenda as is? >> I'll make a motion we approve the agenda as presented. >> Second. >> All right. I have a motion and a second to approve the agenda as presented. Any discussion? All those in favor, please say I. I. >> Any opposed? Chair votes I. All right. On to the consent agenda. Is there anything that you all would like pulled from the consent agenda and talked
003about individually? Also want to point out since it's been a topic of discussion that um letter B, review of monthly claims is available for the board supervisors to review if they'd like. Um and I'll entertain a motion to pursue to approve the consent agenda as as presented. I'll make a motion to approve consent agenda as presented. >> Second. Any discussion? All right. All those in favor of approving the consent agenda, please say I. >> I opposed. Chair votes I. All right. We are now ready for public comment. Any Fanna County citizen or employee of the Fuana County Public School System is welcome to speak and the expectations are that you address the board, not individual members. That you provide your name and voting district. That you do not exceed three minutes and that you're respectful.
004The board will not interact with you during public comment, but you're welcome to ask them questions directly following the meeting. And there will be a second opportunity for public comment later in the meeting. And the three minute timer will be on the televisions and whoever would like to speak first may approach the podium. I don't I haven't seen a list so you don't have to sign up. My name is Georgina Joselyn. I'm from the Cunningham district. Uh we're still still here talking about books, talking about how much this is taking from the community. 11 people, 23 books. They took the time to reduce the book count. They took the time to create a spreadsheet for costs. They took the time to find alternatives to save the taxpayers money. This one complaint could have costed schoolboard
005budget over $1,600 in just materials. Literally hundreds of hours will be spent on this. And it could have been so much more. It has the potential to literally be every book in the library. As of right now, there is nothing in the KB to stop anyone from doing this again. There are no restrictions on how many books a single person can submit for review. No requirements to read them. Just download a list from somewhere and poof, submit a complaint because that was what just happened. I believe I heard there are over 15,000 books in our high school library. If someone looked hard enough, I'm sure they could find something objectionable in each and every one of them. profanity, violence, religious views, political views, occult themes, sex, gender, race, evolution, anything and everything. Ashley Crocker sent
006y'all a list, a detailed list of things that could be implemented to help alleviate this issue in the future. I wholeheartedly concur with that list and the recommendations I have heard from the members of the literary review committee. I also urge you to step back and look at what your students are already saying about band and challenged books. Read your own student newsletter, the Fluco Beatat. They have a section called m music, movies, and literature. Throne of Glass was apparently so good it was reviewed twice, October 2023 and also back in March of 2022. Both reviewers encouraged readers to look into the series and other books written by author Sarah J. Moss. But every single one of her books is on the Pen America Band book list multiple times and most of those in the
007top 10. Carrie, The Fault in Our Stars, It Ends With Us, Divergent. These are just a few of the other reviews posted. All are on ban books list around the country. The Hate You Give was also reviewed. One of the most challenged books of all time. Your Fluco reporter wrote, "This hard to put down novel forces readers to look at a difficult topic and perhaps look at life from a different perspective. I give this book four out of five stars. The only other time books were banned in the history of Flana County was back in 1970 when a newly integrated Flavana High School tried to implement a course in black literature. A week and a half into a three-week long course, 250 people showed up at a schoolboard meeting to protest the six books being
008used. The school board shut the course down that night. You know who fought for that course in those books? Who had the courage to speak in front of those 250 angry adults? Two courageous students and a teacher. Listen to your students. They are our future. Thank you. >> Thank you. Anyone else wishing to speak? Hello, my name is Ashley Crocker and I live in the Fork Union District. I'm here today once again asking questions about the learning resources review committee. I sent all of you an email a few weeks ago with some suggested changes to the policy that governs the committee based on what committee members themselves had questions about and what severable community members would like to see. And the only response I got was from Mr. Reid who said that he would respond
009later. He never did, but at least he acknowledged he had received it. The rest of you didn't even do that much. I understand you're busy with the bud budget season, which is a very important thing, and I applaud the work that Dr. Gratz, Dr. Kelly, and Mr. Key did last week at the board of supervisors meeting to defend the budget. However, members of this board have made it clear that they would prefer community members to bring suggestions for that committee straight to them, which is exactly what I did. And yet, I was ignored. After attending the last meeting of the learning resources review committee, I learned that they plan to have only a few members read each book and then conduct small group discussions during the next meeting to determine whether or not a book
010should be banned from our school libraries. This is extremely concerning because one member of the public cannot possibly follow three discussions happening simultaneously. It is my understanding that in these discussions that committee members will come to a consensus and decide on whether or not a book should be removed. It is therefore critical that these discussions happen separately so that members of the community can find out exactly what was said about each book. >> I'm also concerned because it does not seem like each member of the committee will vote on whether or not to remove a book. Instead, they will simply come to consensus. That makes it impossible for members of the public to know where each committee member stands on each book. The committee should adopt a voting process so as to be clear and
011transparent to the community. There were many other important items to my 10-point plan that was ignored by all of you, but one thing I forgot to include was that there should be an opportunity for public comment at those meetings. If committee members are the ones making the decision to remove or keep books in the library, they should be able to hear directly from the public about their thoughts before making a decision. Thank you for consideration, and I look forward to hearing your thoughts on my other ideas as soon as you respond to my email. Thank you. >> Anyone else? M Paresi, I got we received your email this afternoon and I would suggest that if you had multiple people, you only have three minutes and you can't pass your time to the next one. So,
012if you have multiple people that want to speak, I would speak consecutive. >> Sounds good. >> This is for the board members. Okay. Yep. Take care of it. Good afternoon. I'm Joy Besi from Mr. Keys District. Thank you all for your service to Clavana County for your work on the school board. Each one of you shows outstanding commitment to our schools and to the students enrolled in them. My hope is that we can together find a way to allow more students to benefit from the services that you work so hard to offer them. Did you know that public schools lost over a million students in fall of 2020? That is the biggest decrease in enrollment since World War II. In our own county, 300 students filed a notice of intent to explore education outside of
013traditional classrooms in the fall of 2020. That was up from 200 before COVID, and they have not returned. The most recent numbers indicate that 298 students have notified the schools that they are homeschooling this year rather than enrolling in the public schools. I probably do not need to remind you that this represents over $1.5 million of state funding lost to our schools. Who are these students and why are they opting out of our schools? The National Special Education Advocacy Institute notes on their website that 38% of the 2.5 million students receiving homeschooling have special needs. That is almost three times higher than the 14% of students being served in public schools special education programs nationally. These students are leaving because they have found a different environment which contributes to greater success for them. Perhaps there
014is a way to come alongside them and develop a program which will allow them to enroll in a public school without removing them from the structure that is contributing to their success. We as parents and community members are asking you to create the necessary services for these students by chartering a classroomless public school which will serve students in the environment that is most accessible to them. After reading the summary before you, as well as the full proposal for the life prep charter school initiative in your email inbox, we invite you to discuss it, open it up for public comments, and vote this spring to launch it for the 2025 to 2026 academic year. This is your chance to be a hero for a population that desperately needs heroes. Will you please allow our community to
015support a more more students by using life prep to provide a classroomless environment in which they can thrive? >> Thank you. >> Sorry. Three minutes. >> Uh good afternoon. My name is Rob Ball and I live at 19 Shortwood Circle here in Palmyra. Um I'm uh reading comments today from Dr. Alan Mclucas, 24 Zbec Road, uh who's a neighbor and a friend. Dr. Mclucas is a former special educator in Albamarl County, a current special education researcher studying transition interventions in rural communities and a lifelong Virginia uh resident. He apologizes for not being able to attend and ask that I present these comments. So Dr. McLucas states and I quote, "I first want to thank the members of the board and the staff and the faculty of all county schools for their service to support the
016growth and education of children in this community. I believe the public school system is the best public service that is offered in the United States and I'm grateful for all the hard work that is necessary to keep our schools operating effectively. I know from personal experience that the job of educating children is one of the hardest that exists. Our schools are presented with the near impossible task of providing a high-quality education for thousands of children and are often not equipped with the resources to do so. Rural school systems in particular face unique challenges and accessing resources and recruiting and maintaining highquality teachers and related service providers. And these issues are compounded once you begin considering the diverse needs of students with disabilities. this specialized skill set that is required for uh to teach these students
017with a high quality education. With many students uh with disabilities um they are successfully graduating from the public school system but outcomes for students with disabilities are more broadly continued to lag behind their peers. Additionally, rates for identification of developmental uh disabilities such as autism are on the rise with the most recent estimates indicating one in 36 US children have autism compared to only one in 68 a mere 10 years ago. This is why I believe the school system may benefit from a creative solution for connecting available resources in the community directly to students who need the most support. This is the vision of life prep public charter school and could serve to alleviate some of the increasing pressure and stress put on our students by utilizing instructional agents parents who are highly committed to
018the education of their children. Um committed parents have a deep understanding of their children and would have time to commit to developing highly individualized instructional programming. time to individualize instruction is the uh what meets that meets every child's need is a resource that every teacher needs, but they're lacking because the ne uh the necessity of supporting a classroom full of students, many of whom have complex needs. The charter school presents a creative solution to this problem by utilizing parents as resources and providing appropriate collaboration and support from educational professionals to help them um develop an high quality instructional programming at home uh using evidence-based practices. The purpose of this school is not to withdraw resources from an already uh stressed public school, but instead to provide additional resources by utilizing families. I believe this charter
019school I'm gonna have to stop. You have an opportunity at the end of meeting at the end of the meeting to finish. >> Oh, okay. Thank you. >> Hello, my name is Sarah Vanise and I live on Possum Lane, Lake Manachello. I have a degree in elementary education and I currently home educate my three children here in Lubana County. Uh, in my eight years of being in homeschool communities and co-ops, I've met many parents who have made the decision to homeschool their child with special needs because they know that there are some students for whom a classroom is simply not the ideal learning environment. A classroom setting is a wonderful collaborative learning environment for many students. However, there are some for whom a large group setting filled with noises and distractions is not ideal and
020it can even be detrimental. Many of these students could thrive in a classroomless environment. My middle child has been diagnosed with ADHD. Homeschooling has provided a flexible environment for her in which she's able to work at her own pace. This sometimes means taking brain breaks, taking her schoolwork outside, getting up and moving around while she processes information. Our home environment makes this easy to change or adjust things when necessary to accommodate her needs. When distractions abound, as they often do, she can move to a different room where she's able to concentrate or play music to drown out the noises of her siblings. They seem like simple solutions in a home setting, but it would be very difficult for a teacher with 25 students to be able to accommodate all of them in this way. Making
021many individual accommodations just isn't practical or conducive to learning in a group setting. But for students with special needs, it's crucial. Having a charter school that understands the needs of the students in the community would be invaluable to parents who have chosen to homeschool and specifically to the parents of children with special needs. Providing an option for students like my daughter to work in an environment that's better suited to their needs would be empowering not only to the students but to their parents as well. A classroomless school could provide additional support and resources to children who thrive in a non-traditional environment and could allow for a stronger partnership between families and schools. The need for this community support is growing and we would be so grateful to see these needs met. I implore you to
022look beyond the traditional setting for teaching our students and partner with us as parents as we seek to meet the needs of our students who thrive outside the typical classroom. Anyone else wishing to speak? >> All right. As I said earlier, there is a second round of public comments at the end. Moving on to reports from our school board student liaison and I think he had a presentation for us. >> Go ahead. So earlier today, I sent out a Google form to the junior NC classes at the high school. I would have included the 10th, 9th, and eighth graders, but due to lack of time and planning for me on this form, just kind of came to me in the moment, I didn't. Also, we've had issues with these classes previously with mass emails and
023email chains just going ary. I'll try to get them in in the next month's month that I do, but I received about 30 40 complaints and concerns with things. A lot of them do have to do with the new Wi-Fi blockers that were installed in the school system, as I'm sure you guys are aware. Well, a couple were just talking about, you know, I'd like to be able to use my phone in class. There were a lot of concerns that really stuck out to me. One of these was the incapability of us to be able to contact our parents and guardians during school systems like hours. Um, personally, that's big for me. I need to know if I need to go pick up my sister after a track practice in middle school, if my mom's
024got it, my dad's doing it, what's going on with that? A friend of mine actually ended up leaving her brother at school on accident because she wasn't made aware that she needed to bring him home. Another big concern with this is students who have virtual Virginia classes, dual enrollment classes, they use their phones to turn in their paper assignments. It's big in like our math classes where we have to like take pictures and send it in. Sometimes we're not I know someone who almost failed an assignment because it was timed and they almost didn't get it in on time because they weren't able to take the picture, email it to themselves so they could then upload it to Canvas that they were using. Another concern that has been expressed to me is the lack of
025communication between admin and students. Going back to the Wi-Fi blockers, we weren't made aware in advance of anything be happening. Even when there was an email sent out addressing these safety concerns, the students weren't involved in this email. they weren't sent this email, which I don't think is right. I think we should be involved in this as this is affecting us daily. Couple concerns that I also got that aren't as big and don't have much of an explanation, but I think are still important are um parents picking up their children in the parking lot and blocking up the roads, making it take 30 plus minutes just to get out and get home. Um, concerns with the water fountain filters. A lot of them are showing red a lot and aren't being changed for weeks on
026end, which isn't that healthy for us. Requests to put more funding into the art program is one that I got. A couple people said that actually. Um, and a concern with the school not being able to pay for SATs and APs next year, which I know that's a big thing. Everyone needs those to be able to send to colleges. And if we're making our students pay for them, some may not have that extra money that they can use to take these higher placement courses that they may need to progress in life. And the last thing is just the continued drug use and vape use and bathrooms across the schools. It's everywhere. It's bad. That's all. Thank you. >> Thank you. You did an excellent job. And we will Can you email us that list? this
027where the creat of positions that you had. You email that to us and we'll pass it in another time. All right. Thank you. Anything else? We are moving on to reports. Mr. Gretz reports from the superintendent. Thank you, Mr. Poland. Um we've got a lot of business to do and um the board of supervisors will meet at 5:30 and among other things they'll be talking about the school board's budget request. So, I'll keep this somewhat brief. Diver, welcome. Glad you're here and good job. Um, there's a lot of exciting stuff happening in the spring. I sent all of you an update and you can you can pursue those things as you see fit. I'll just highlight a couple. Uh, we did have ReadAcross America week and it was great to have a couple of board
028members come in and read to some pre kindergarten students. Um, the Eastern Regional Student Art Forum with the VSBA happened last night. We did have three student art submissions. So, thank you for moving this meeting. That enabled me to get those art uh submissions there. I I don't know yet whether they placed or how they did, but I'll have that for you at the next meeting. I want to call your attention to Glow Night. This is tomorrow night at Car'sbrook. This is their title one activity night, but it's going to be uh just lots and lots of STEM activities and uh great great activities for families and for kids. If you'd like to come out to that, I think it would be great. Fluco Fest is happening on the 21st and we've talked a lot
029about that. I won't go into a lot of details, but it's a partnership between the parent and community advisory board members and the parent organizations of each school. It's going to be at the high school 21st 5:30. There will be vendors and u just resources from the community. I think there are about 35 that will be there. The theme of the event is for families to come and see what's in this general area for their for their kids in the summer. So, there's camps, there's uh all kinds of activities, sports activities, community events that will be there. Captain Hill will be doing a brief presentation 15 to 20 minutes for parents uh on uh just some of the the information related to drug use and some of the ways that students are accessing some things
030online uh just to begin a partnership with parents and just to give them some general information and things that they can look for and encourage parents and students to come today. Um, and tonight at 6:00, for those of you that are not going to the supervisors, you may want to head over to the high school. The speech team, the award-winning speech team, we'll be doing a showcase for any of that want to take a look at that. So, that'll be at six o'clock. And if there's anything else you'd like me to touch base on, I'm happy to. Otherwise, I'll just end with this. Each year the kindergarten at Central Elementary does a wonderful activity called the the wedding of Q and U. And this is related to uh kids learning that concept with letters. And
031it's an amazing event throughout the kindergarten classes. They really do it up big. The kids love it. And I'd love for you to come if you'd like to come and just just check it out. That's on March 22nd. So, with that, I'll just uh I'll move on unless there's anything you'd like me to go into. >> Any comments from board members? >> No. >> All right. Moving on to the grades four and five literacy curriculum recommendations from Miss Sorz. So, Miss Suarez is not here tonight, but uh you have a process by which you approve committee members to serve on a review committee to look at potential textbook adoption materials. So, you have the the cover sheet that gives you all the information around those committee members, who who they are, what kind of functions
032they will serve in, and then if you approve this committee, they'll get to work. And then forthcoming will be textbook. They recommend that you will have the opportunity and all the public will have the opportunity to take a look at any materials being reviewed. They'll be here at the schoolboard office or any that are available and will be made available anybody that would like to see them and reviewed including board members. Any comments from school board members? >> Mr. reps, you say um if we want to look at the books that are being reviewed, they're here. >> Just like before, but we don't have any. >> Don't have a one copy of each. >> That's right. Uh we may be able to get you some to take home. >> Thanks absolutely. >> All right, moving
033on to the FY fiscal year 24 budget update. Miss Gillum, >> got the in your packet the most current expenditures following. We've um continuing to monitor some of our costs that are such as substitute teachers tends to be one that seems to be going up and down a little bit. And I'm also a little concerned about heating oil and propane. We're analyzing that for what um we have in terms of the rest of the year, what we might have to purchase in in that regard. Um I'd be happy to answer any questions you might have. We're the federal revenue is just really getting hung up at the state level. We're putting in reimbursements, but it's taking them a really long time to process things right now. Any questions from the board? >> Miss Gillum, uh
034what what concerns do you have about the heating and fuel? >> Uh the heating oil, the >> the gasoline, we were using a little bit more gasoline, but we were able to offset that with the um when we went back for the contract for the rest of the year, we were able actually able to cut that cost by 20 cents a gallon. So, I feel okay about that one. Um, but the heating oil and the propane, if I'm doing it annualizing, it looks a little bit higher than it's been. So, I'm just trying to look at that and see how many more times we're going to have to fill up um for heating oil. And um we use propane at Central for heating. Um then we have some propane that we use for the green
035houses and things like that, but that's really minimal. So, just trying to figure out just projecting that out for the rest of the year, trying to make sure we're okay in those lines. Thank you. Anything else for the board? >> How about the FY25 budget? >> You have in your packet the information that was shared at the board of supervisors, the updated budget book, um the salary study, the presentation that Dr. Gretz and I did with the board. And then the last page is um there were questions that came up during the meeting um that I told the board of supervisors I'd go back and research and then provide them that information. So that last document or those charts and um information relative to that. I'd be happy to answer any questions that you might
036have. Questions from the board. I thought it was a great uh dialogue between board members. We they got a lot of questions. It was a little over three hours, so it was extensive, but it was a I think a a good productive time. Very good. And just to confirm, we're going to we're going to have a conversation well in advance with the board of supervisors about the how they want the presentation to look. Um, do they want an actual work session like we had years ago? Do they just want Mr. Gretz to present um that there's so many complications with us not having a meeting or advertising a meeting? Um, that, you know, if we don't do that properly, um, we can't have more than two board members there. So, there's a lot of complications
037with not having that discussion well in advance. U, but we're going to make sure that doesn't happen again next year. Um, but in my absence, I was going to be absent either way because I was in North Carolina, but know that Mr. Key does a great job and I think that uh Dr. Kelly was there as well. >> Excellent. Anything from the meeting, Mr. P? >> No, I was just like Dr. Great discussion. >> I thought it was and and I I'm happy to take it upon myself that I assumed I've only been here this is my third budget here. my experience with them is me presenting to the board at the podium. I just kind of assume that's what we'd be doing this year. But, uh, as you said, clarifying the future and I
038think I think the the setup this year was great. I mean, it was really conducive to a lot of good dialogue and some great questions. We left with some questions to answer. So, I I I think that's very positive. In the past, we had which meeting in the in the Morris room wasn't a great idea because it was so many people in one room, but we had actually had both boards gave in an official meeting and then we move forward with both boards in a real work session. Um, we only I don't think we've done that in a number of years. I think it just depends on the board and the county administrator at the time. We're willing to work with whoever. >> So, is it this year? Absolutely. But next year, I'm sure we'll
039be willing to work with whoever. All right. Um, Miss Gillum, how about the AP psychology textbook adoption committee? >> So, we um when we were doing the program studies at the high school, I think we talked about this before that we decided to add AP psychology as a course offering and um we have staff on on um our current staff that are able to teach this as an elective course. We've sent the person to initial some initial training and we do need to adopt a book for the class um that would start I don't I'm not sure because they haven't finished their master schedule whether start in the fall of 24 or the spring of 25 but we want to have a textbook in place. So this is um the committee that they're proposing for
040textbook adoption and then they review the books and come back to you with the recommendation in May so hopefully we can purchase the books in June. and then she's also going to go to more extensive training in June so that she's um fully prepared to teach this class. One of the tricks with AP classes is making sure that the teacher's teaching the content that's going to be on the test and how and knowing how it's going to be tested so that the kids are prepared. Miss Gillum um of this committed u any of these people on the committee have any kind of degree in psychology? >> I do not know. >> I was just curious. >> I do. You're not evaluating people. >> Thank you. >> So I'm happy to assist if needed. >> I
041don't see your name on here. >> I know. I I'm happy to assist if needed. >> Thank you. >> Sorry about that. I had to walk my daughter out. Any other questions or comments from the board? >> Hey, Miss Gillum. Um the Perkins annual plan update. >> This is your CTE local plan and budget Perkins. Uh Christy White is here. Um I am um gradually turning over the reigns to this program to her and um so she's um been working on the grant this year and she's here to answer any questions that you might have. >> You want to come to the podium? >> Welcome Miss White. >> Thank you. >> Appreciate you being here. >> The board have any questions, comments? you have anything you'd like to share with us? >> Um, no. This
042was my first year working on it. Um, so I'm trying to tie it all in how it actually um goes along with our CTE programs. But it's working. So hopefully it will all come and the money will lay out for our programs because I really think we offer great programs at the high school and the middle school and I'm trying to close that gap, the middle school and the high school. Um so that when kids come from the middle school they go right into you know what have may what may have been their interest um in middle school. >> Is there anything we can do to help you? >> Um >> hold that thought. >> Okay. Which C programs help for that? You said which ones don't um let's see engineering does agriculture does business
043does just nursing like our medical programs that would be the yeah we Mr. Gretz and I've talked at length about working with uh Louise and Gland partnering with them and I hope know that's that's a long-term plan. I hope to see before I get off the board in another year. I hope to see that we make progress on that. I think we we've done well with KE. Correct. >> Well, we started doing a cyber security class with Louisa. Do you want to talk about that? >> Okay. So Louisa got a grant last year um and they reached out to me that we could have students that may be interested in cyber security. So we had two students that worked in that program and they did really well um with that. Louisa is going to branch
044off I think after this year and it's kind of I think going to stay in you know in Louisa but if we have kids that are interested they said they would you know let Zubanna tag along. they'd send our kids over there or they did they do that virtual. Okay, that's even better. >> We were been in a partnership with PBCC for they were writing a grant for a lab school and then they decided that they would instead do it internally and so they've offered us some spots for that lab school and advanced manufacturing and I think Miss White has a few students that are interested and we're trying to see if we can work that out. Yes, we have two students that um were interested in that. The only hiccup we came with that.
045I think they were 12th graders and we wanted 11th graders just so they could continue with the two-year program. But once again, they told us that if space is available, they will let those two students go in that. And then with K-KE, we have seven students this year um that participated with KEK versus the four last year. So, of course, K-KE is going through some changes, so I'm not sure what that's going to look like. >> What classes of Kchek are they participating in? >> Um firefighting, auto, and electricity. kind of our rule has been if it's something that we offer and K-tech offers, they need to take it with us because there is a tuition and a travel expense associated with that. And so it's just been the ones that that are open there.
046Um but it it they their students are placed first and our students get spaces if they're available. So not all of our kids are going to be able to get into that program. >> And Mr. Key, can I add carpentry to that list as well as carpentry? Isn't it >> questions or comments from board members? >> Thank you so much. >> Thank you. >> All right, moving right along. We have unfinished business. Is there any unfinished business that the board would like to discuss? Right. How about new business? Any new business from the board? All right, we are in action items. Approval of the Virginia DEEQ storm water facilities maintenance agreement. >> So, this is the agreement that was presented and discussed uh on first reading. You approved it on first reading. It's been reviewed
047by your attorney. Uh Dr. Stribbling isn't here tonight, but nothing's changed with it. Unless there are additional questions that you have, I'd recommend that you approve it. >> All right. I am entertaining motions from the board to approve the Virginia DEQ storm water facilities maintenance agreement. >> I move we approve the BDEQ storm water management facility maintenance agreement as presented. I'll >> second. Right. I have a motion and a second. Is there any discussion? All those in favor of approving the VDEQ storm water facilities maintenance agreement, please say I. >> Any opposed? Chair votes I. Thank you. >> Brandy, do you want me to sign that before I leave? I see the I see your red handwriting on here. Don't Don't let me forget. Sure. Okay. >> All right. the approval of the Favana County
048Public Schools 2425 academic calendar. Okay. Thank you board members. You've done a lot of work with the calendar this year. You saw an option that uh well, you saw the draft calendar that came to you last month that had gone out for public review and Miss Sorz brought you the results of that. I had been in all of our schools talking about this as well. And I have thrown a little bit of a monkey wrench and I I take full ownership over that. Uh the calendar that was presented and that went through the calendar committee and that I supported was two days shorter than our current calendar. It's 174 days. I've been uh very vocal that I don't think there's anything magic about the required 180 dates. 182 178. I don't think there's anything that
049necessarily happens when you hit 180. I do get concerned if we go too far uh if we decrease too far. And as I reviewed the draft calendar, my concern was that if we lose those two extra days with uh Carnegie units of credit that are being assigned at the high school secondary courses, if we were to miss um it's hard to quantify this, but if we were to miss say four, five or six inclement weather days, my fear is that we would get into the you know, pardon the term, but the nonsense that we sometimes in other divisions where we start adding two two minutes onto the day or three minutes onto the day or let's add a day in June, things like that that don't have any instructional merit at all and all they
050do is let us check a box that we got a certain number. The reason is because at the Carnegie units uh credits require seat hours. There's certain clock hour requirements there and I'm concerned if we move forward with a 174day calendar, it may be fine. I'm concerned that we might get into that depending on what kind of year we have with weather. And it's obviously impossible to predict that. Uh this year has been another anomaly. It wasn't what we anticipated. We did put it out to the staff and put it back out to the community just to give them a heads up that the the one you saw in first draft there is another option coming to you. I'll tell you the differences and so it's two more days and the way we got those
051two days was to uh instead of starting in August on Wednesday, typically we start in the middle of the week. Option two has us starting on Tuesday. So that's one day. The other is uh we turned the day before winter holiday, which was a staff day, into a half day. So it's a half work day instead of a full work day. Um to be perfectly candid, I've been in our schools this past week and I've had wonderful dialogue with our teachers. Many of them don't like this option um for a couple of reasons. one is they really want that staff day, the full staff day at the end of the semester because they're going to come back from winter break and have a a a whole new group of students and new courses to prepare
052for. And so I think that's valuable time and typically they've had two in in January. And the other is that uh I have heard from parents and teachers especially of our primary grades that uh after a full summer away from school it's really hard on five and six year olds to come back for five days and so the the three days is is preferable. This one option two would turn that into four. Um, I wanted to bring you this option and in full cander just to tell you my concern. I I'm a little bit concerned moving to 174. If you approve the option one, it's fine. It'll be fine. Uh, the worst case scenario is that we miss a whole lot of we miss a whole lot of days due to inclement weather or something
053else and then have to be really creative about how to make up the time. And I will assure you that I will do everything I can to avoid things like six minutes onto the end of the day or two minutes to the start time which really that just doesn't have any value for me for students. Um what questions do you have that you may have heard feedback? I I've heard feedback on option two. I haven't heard anything uh I wouldn't say it's been strong feedback. Uh but the only feedback that I've gotten I consistently get this is the half days. A lot of folks don't like the half days >> and we did we did reduce those in option one and option two puts one back. So it's still a reduction from this year but
054you're right that those those tend to be difficult for families. I I've heard quite often over the years, but also living with it with two elementary schoolers, the three-day week to start the school year is very very much so preferred. >> It is. Yeah. >> And I mean, you know, the difficulty, we do this every year. The difficulty is if we start when we start in August and we want to end before or by Memorial Day and we want the the full 10 days of the winter break and just only so many places you can find these instructional days and we try very hard to incorporate the data we get from families. We want it to be and and as I've shared, our priorities are first and foremost, we want it to support instruction and
055second, we want it to support convenience for families and for staff. And so to be clear, either one of these work, I I did want to bring you another option and make sure you were aware that we do run the risk with 174 of potentially having some difficulty with clock hours. Uh there's no way for me to tell you what the chances of us missing days are, but is your concern primarily focused on inclement weather with that? >> Yes. when the power can go out on the Dominion line and all the schools lose power. >> It's it's rain it's rain and flooding and trees down in the spring and fall and potential snow in the in the winter. We haven't had a lot. And I I'm sorry to be I hope you don't feel like
056this is wishy-washy. I I I don't mean to be wishy-washy. we can make either one of these calendars work well. And I feel like the changes, and I don't want to speak on behalf of teachers or families for whom it's difficult for a 5-year-old. I'm not suggesting that's a trivial thing. I'm just saying the changes I think are minimal either way if we if we go with it. I just I was concerned with a shorter calendar. >> Mr. threats. Um sir, >> in in calendar option number one, how many bank days are figured in there by >> Well, we it it's it's really hard to quantify a number of bank days. >> I mean, I know some of the previous years we've had like 10 bank days. >> Yeah. So the concept of bank days
057is really you have to either build a calendar with 180 instructional days or if you don't if you come down off of that then your next requirement is to have a minimum of 990 hours. Most school calendars including option one are well in advance of 990 hours. So the concept of bank time, unless you build a calendar that actually designates days as inclement weather days, the whole concept of bank time is is built on the fact that you've built a calendar that is in excess of your requirement. And so bank time is means that if you miss a day, you don't necessarily have to make it up because you've built a calendar that's already more than the minimum. the the question the issue you get into if you miss so many days is not so
058much are we gonna are we going to go below the 990 because we're not really in any danger of that. It'd be very hard for us to miss so many days as to get down to 990. The the question we get is at some point we're not we're not gonna we're gonna be compliant with the 990, but have we missed so many that we aren't able to do what we need to do with our kids? Do we need to add time to that? I I hope this is answering your question. I don't have there's no set number of days because this calendar doesn't designate >> figured in by time. >> Yeah. >> Instruction time. >> So six and a half hours of instructional time in a day. I mean, you can figure that the average
059school calendar probably has in excess of 25 to 30 of those if you really wanted to cut down to the state minimum of 990. Um, I I would not want to do that. And I don't know any division that does that. Now, some divisions do designate days. I've been in divisions where we built a calendar that had four or five days on the end and they were they were noted on the calendar as makeup days. And so if we didn't miss we we would we wouldn't end wouldn't go the full length of the calendar and for every snow day that happened one of those would would be assigned to that snow day. Uh my experience with that is that was a disaster. Nobody once they got into the year remembered that and and the end
060of the year was the end of the year. When you start tacking on time, it it becomes difficult for everybody that uses the so I don't recommend it. I don't know many divisions that still do that. >> But just to confirm because if I'm reading it correctly, prek and kindergarten still staggers. >> That's right. >> Even with the option two, correct? So start a day earlier but they still get that staggered offset. >> Yes. That's >> so in addition to the two days, just to make sure it's clear, >> August 8th becomes the open house date with option two. The first teaching day is the 13th. So you can see that that's Tuesday the 13th instead of Wednesday the 14th. Uh December 19th, if you move Josh, can you go down? There we go. So
061December 19th is now a full student day whereas in option one that's a half day and the 20th um is an early dismissal. So that becomes a half day here. So basically instead of instead of having a full another day off right before winter break, it's an early dismissal day. Any other questions or comments from the board? Um, and we need to we need to make clear on our motion option one or option two. Correct. >> Yes. And I mean, do you have thoughts on these two options or do you have a preference? Do you want to have a discussion? To >> be fair, I I wasn't aware of option two until until I saw this. >> Okay. Um, so personally I'm in favor of option one just because that's what I receive feedback on.
062That's what I talk to people about. >> Understood. >> I hate to approve option two, but I haven't discussed that with anybody. >> Sure. >> Um, that's just where I'm at. That doesn't mean I don't speak for the entire board. >> Yeah. I mean, I I would agree with that. I I'm I'm just asking. so that I can clarify. Would you want me to just go ahead and make the recommendation for option one >> so that you're not in the position of trying to figure out what what to move? >> Yeah, I I will support you, but I just want to be clear that I'm in I'm in favor of option one just for the >> So, let let me just amend. My recommendation will be option one of the two. >> All right. I
063will accept a motion from the board to approve the Fenna County Public School 2024 2025 academic calendar uh option option one. >> I'll I'll make that motion. I'll second it. >> All right, we have a motion and a second. Any discussion? All those in favor of approving option one, the Fuana County Public School 2425 academic calendar, please say I. I. >> Opposed? Chair votes I. All right. Approval of policy updates. So last month you uh approved on first reading the amendments to our leaves policy and the the big one was that we were choosing to abandon the transfer leave policy in favor of sticking with the sick leave bank policy. Um nothing's changed from what was amended and presented last month. I'm happy to answer questions if you have them that have come up. Otherwise,
064I'd recommend that you approve it as it was presented to you last month. It remains now. >> Any comments or discussion from >> All right. I need a motion to approve the policy updates as presented. >> Move to approve the policy updates as presented. >> Second. We have a motion and a second to approve the policy updates as presented. Any further discussion? All those in favor, please say I. I. >> Any opposed? Chair votes up. >> All right. AP psychology textbook adoption committee. So this this is the committee that you um will approve to review potential textbooks. You can see the timeline uh in the attachment you're I know Josh if you want to open that up. Do you have questions about any of the committee members or the process or what will happen? Again
065the materials will be made available. You've seen this once, now you would approve it and this committee would do that work and would bring you a you can see the books that are to be evaluated there. There are five of them. They'll all be under review and available to the public and they will bring you a book for you to approve in May. Questions from the board? I need a motion to approve the AP psychology textbook adoption committee. >> I'll make a motion to approve the psychology textbook adoption. >> A motion. >> I'll second >> and a second. Any further discussion? >> All those in favor of approving the AP psychology textbook adoption committee, please say I. I. Any opposed? Chair votes eye. Thank you. >> All right, moving right along. We are on to
066our second round of public comments. Same rules as before and you have three minutes as well. Um, anyone wishing to speak, please come to the podium or finishing. >> I have to finish. Sorry. >> Make this I know Dr. Lucas would would want you to hear the end of his comments. So, um, committed parents have a deep understanding of their children and would have time to commit to develop highly individualized instructional programs instructional programming. Time to individualize instructional uh, programming to meet every child's need is a resource that many teachers are lacking because they necessarily support a classroom full of children. many have many who have uh complex needs already. This charter school presents a creative solution to this problem by utilizing parents as resources and providing appropriate collaboration and support from educational professionals to
067help them develop highly um qualified instructional programming at home and use evidence-based practices. The purpose of this school is not to withdraw resources from an already um stressed public school system, but instead to provide additional resources by utilizing families. I believe the charter school has the potential to allow the public school system here in Flavana to increase its capacity to meet the needs of children with disabilities in the community. And I would strongly urge the board to consider the life prep proposal this spring with the intent to open classes starting in August of 2025. That's the end of his comments and thank you very much for uh letting me speak. >> Sir, anyone else wishing to speak? Um, Georgiana Joselyn, Cunningham District. Um, I do have some experience with charter schools. Yes, they do cost
068a heck of a lot of money. Flubana right now is going through their budgets and as Miss Gillian has spent so much time going through those budgets. She said at the board of supervisors meeting, um, they are running a very lean ship. you yourself is you're also doing the job of what three or four people. You said um y'all don't have a lot of money. Diver just said that you guys want um arts, you want music. You don't have money for that. Teachers want raises. You want to be able to pay for health insurance. You don't have money for that. You're looking at cutting costs. You don't have money for SATs. You don't have money for PSATs. One of the things that was mentioned that the next thing is going to be cut is going
069to be um AP testing. So, where do you guys think you're going to get the money for charter schools? Keep that in mind. This is going to come out of your pockets. This is going to hurt y'all. So, don't even entertain it, guys. Fluana does not have the money for charter schools. This came up really big in the last election. It's going to hurt Fluana more than anything. Thank you. >> All right. Anyone else wishing to speak? All right. We will close the second round of public comments and move on to schoolboard member comments. Mr. Writtenhouse. >> Yes. Um I'm I'm interested in the questions that the board of supervisors had. You know, I was at the meeting last uh time, but I left early. I wasn't there for because couldn't be with two of
070us there with y'all anyway. But I I may come this evening for one. >> Thank you for everything. >> Thank you, Mr. Keith. >> Yeah, I'd like to thank everybody that came tonight. Thanks for the presentation, discussion. Thanks Dr. Gretzen is from preparing the budget. Like she said, it's lean. We do our best to try to do what's best for the citizen and the kids who feel better account. >> All right, >> yeah. Um, appreciate everybody coming out this afternoon. Um, thank you to both of y'all for presenting the budget last week. Um, just one thought that I have and I think it's worth exploring just over the next, you know, 10 months as we kind of evaluate budgets and numbers and things like that all throughout the year. um is also just working closer
071with the board of supervisors throughout the year instead of putting it off until uh December, January, we get into the numbers. Um quite frankly, I'd love to see, and I don't know the legality behind this, so I don't want to speak for anybody else, our whole board, you, Dr. Stribbling, their whole board, I'd love to see all of us go through the schools to be very honest with you. um have everybody be able to see what we are going to be voting on as a team and then we also break down into more conversation between now and then. So might be a rookie comment saying that's not how things are always done, but I'm also a guy that says that we can look to do things differently than what we've always done it as well.
072So that's all I got. >> All right. Um I just wanted to mention that this is not the first time we heard about the life prep school. Um, it's been six, seven, eight months since Mr. Cretz first um, brought this to our attention. Um, I would like to hear more about it in uh, next month's reports because truthfully, we don't know. So before we put the cart in front of the course and make accusations about charter schools, we know nothing about this. So, I would I I did read 46 pages um that was sent to the Department of Education. I read all of that and I got some opinions from Grace Casy and some other folks. Um so, I I would just want to learn more and I want to get Dr. regrets his opinion
073and I think the best way to do that is for us to discuss it um at the next meeting and provide you know your opinion and in the in the reports in April. >> Happy to happy to get together with Miss Besi and others and put together something to present to you. I I don't want truthfully I don't want um the back and forth on the like a philosophical discussion on whether charter schools I just want facts um and I'm I'm inter I'm particularly interested in this being part of the public school and the state funding that comes with those students because I think that's a point that a lot of people are missing. they're focused on their attention on the money, but the way that I read this and the questions I've asked is
074that this perhaps may bring in some state funding um because it's not a brick and mortar school. So, it's not your typical charter school. Any other comments from the board? All right. Um, the Flava County Public Schools School Board meeting in April. Is it April 13th, Miss Kryer? April 10th. I'm not looking at my calendar. Next meeting will be April 10th, excuse me, 3M close session, 4 p.m. reconvene and open session. All right. Nothing else. I will entertain a motion to adjourn the meeting. >> The meeting second motion and a second to adjurnn. Any discussion from the board? All those in favor of adjourning adjourning the March meeting, please say I. I. Any opposed? Chair votes I. We are and just