001before What's up, Don? >> You have the meeting up in the corner. not allowing me to watch live. >> Is that the >> Huh? >> Don, that's just the one that pops open Zoom. That's not the like go live one. Yeah, Mr. Pull said he's having trouble connecting, so you can go ahead and get started. >> Yeah, let's give Let me give him a sec to finish up here. >> That's the one. See him do it. I think that's the screen. Are you sure? Good. We don't have Mr. Mr. Phone's not on. I'll go ahead and get reconvene to open session. Um, thank everybody for coming tonight. Hopefully everybody's dry and staying safe making here tonight. Uh, today is July 10th. We'll get started with our county regular school board meeting. Can everybody please stand
002for the pledge of >> allegiance and a moment of the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all. Okay, please be seated. >> All right, on to the certification of the closed session. Um, Miss Price, can we have a roll call, please? >> Yes. Yes. >> Before we get started, Mr. Pulling was going to join us online, but the connection because of the storm, he's no longer with us. So, Dr. Gre, are there any action items coming out of close session? All right. So, on to the adoption of the agenda. Board members, there are any things you like pulled or you want not pulled, but would you like the agenda as presented? >> I move that we
003um accept the agenda as presented. >> I have a second. >> I'll second. >> So all those in favor say I. >> I. So adoption the agenda. So on to the consent agenda. Is there anything that we want to pull from that or just as presented? I move that we adopt and approve the consent agenda as presented. Okay. >> A second. All right. So, we have a motion from Dr. Kelly and a second from Mr. Writtenhouse. So, all those in favor say I. >> I. So, we have consent agenda. All right. On to the public comment section. >> We come to the time our meeting for public comments. I remind everyone that the policy only members of the community, meaning residents of Louisiana and the staff of CL County Public Schools may address the board
004unless you're legally legally council presenting a group interest in tonight's proceedings. We welcome all community members who are here to give information or opinions. We'll ask you to come to the podium, tell us your name and address, and limit your comments to three minutes. We'll start with any names on the signup sheet, but we welcome your input. If you didn't sign up during public comments, the board will not interact with you, but we are listening and appreciate your time. Is there anybody from the audience that want to come up for public comments? All right, seeing that nobody's coming up, we'll close that section. I'll remind everybody that we have another public comment section towards the end of our agenda. on to reports. Dr. Gretz, floor is yours. >> Thank you, Mr. Key and members of
005the board and the public. Um, I'll highlight just a couple of things from uh the report from this month. And as always, if there's questions you have or anything you want me to go into more than that, I we've discussed as a a group in the past, it's been a while, but we've discussed the new state assessments that were implemented the what they're calling growth assessments. They really aren't growth assessments and there's been a lot of unrest around the state and I'll own a lot of that u with those assessments. They're taking up a lot of valuable instructional time. They're not providing teachers with good data. And I don't want to rehash the whole thing, but I'm very encouraged by the fact that the state has allowed us to use the NWA mapped NWA map
006testing that we have done for gosh, I don't know, 17 18 years, maybe 20 in Fana. Flana was one of the pioneers of that in the state, which does give us great data. And if you remember, one of the problems we had is that we had moved to uh multiple administrations of MAP and then in order to accommodate this less valuable test, we had to pull back one of those. And we essentially were wrestling with do we continue to hang on to this really valuable test when we're only getting one data point. It was kind analogy was like getting in the pool to swim and not actually going to the other side. So this frees us up to to be in a much better position. Do you have questions about it? I don't want to
007belabor it, but I'm I'm very happy that that decision was made. Um >> I'm a huge fan of Matt and and delighted to see it replace tests that are just not useful to us. >> Agreed. Yes. U there's planning going on for the if you if you went to Flucco Fest back in the spring, there is a second one that's going to be planned for August. I believe it's August. It's Saturday, August 24th. And that was a really well- attended event. We had a lot of different community agencies there. And that one was primarily to introduce people to opportunities in Fluana for their families and their children, not just parents, but it was targeting parents of students in our schools to show them all the different things that were available in the in the community
008and surrounding community. This next one is going to be uh geared, I think, more towards just bringing people together and there'll be food provided again. It's going to be a large-scale event and I just want to put that on your radar because it was a a wonderful occasion and I think it will be again. Um this past week there actually just yesterday, sorry, there was a large-scale training that was held in our high school. multi- agencies were brought together to talk about the DC uh Department of Criminal Justice Services came in and and did a training in our high school for all those stakeholders that are involved in caring for families and and children. Uh it was related to trauma-informed care, uh suicide prevention and intervention and postvention and it was really well attended. I
009just want to mention that because uh Caitlyn Harlo Burner, who is our mental health coordinator that that the board uh fought for this past year, continues to just be an invaluable asset to our students and families and she coordinated that event and it was really well done. Um and good training, invaluable training. Our convocation is going to be I'll I'll be hitting you guys with dates as I always do coming up, but I just want to highlight for you convocation August 6th, the morning of August 6th. Uh there'll be some refreshments and then the convocation will begin at 9:00. Do you have any questions for me? I I think the bulk of my time I'd like to reserve for strategic plan in light of the storm. I don't want to keep you here all night,
010but that that I can talk for a long time about the plan. I'm not going to any questions for me about anything else that might have been in the report. Uh there there'll be some information forthcoming about finances obviously and some information forthcoming about some of the CIP projects and the different uh different projects that are happening. I we'll go into those here. Okay. Would you like me to move? >> Okay, >> Dr. Stribbling, I am wondering if you actually play that. Hit that slideshow button. I'm wondering if I'm going to be able to. It would be amazing if I could do that from here. >> Should be able to. >> Fantastic. I'll make it go faster. Uh so I want to take a little bit of time and and just share with the board
011where we are with our strategic planning. Um you're required to have a six-year plan. This is one that we've been working on for a couple of years. You do have one in place and we actually put kind of a stop gap in place last year if if that's the right word for it called bridging the gap. Um, but I wanted to walk you through at a very high level of where we are in advance of the schoolboard retreat that I hope all of you will be able to attend on the 21st. So, I I'll run through these. I'm not going to take a long time with each one of these slides, but if you have questions for me, please Don, I wonder if you have to click on the screen in order to Yeah, >>
012that's me clicking. You were clicking it earlier, I believe. >> I know something happened. >> Yeah, >> I'm more than happy to >> Okay. >> Y >> So, we've been we've been working as a leadership team with uh partnering with Interwill, which is a nonprofit based out of uh Richmond, and they do work internationally. And essentially their model is they do uh for-profit work that enables them to work with folks like us at no cost. And essentially we've been working on uh the tenants of values-based leadership. I think if you click so this is what I want to cover with you very briefly. Values based leadership mission vision our shared core values and where we are with our strategic plan. Go ahead Don. So values-based leadership is this is the book that we read and
013I bought that book for all of you. I hope you had an opportunity to read it. Tom Eper, the author, is the one who has been working with our team and again he's been doing it at no charge. I've been working with Tom for probably 15 years in different uh capacities in different divisions. He's outstanding at at this work. The the five pillars you one of them is hidden, but the bottom one is essentially awareness. And I I won't I won't cover these at length, but as a leadership team, we've been exploring basically making sure that as leaders, we know who we are. We know what we what makes us tick, what we value, what we believe, and what we bring to the table. Realizing potential is taking that next step to understand I know
014who I am as a leader. I have the the ability to have an impact. There's a purpose there. Developing relationships is me as a leader taking the step to get to know how you tick the members of our team tick. We all did the insights discovery if you're familiar with that. Um I'll I'll go into the details of that with you in our retreat or I can do it now if you want me to. But it's a uh it's kind of like a personnel. It's really a leadership style inventory that enabled us as a team to really get some valuable insight about who we are and who each other uh are and how to better relate to one another to have a positive impact on each other and to inspire really the best in each
015other, which is taking action and then reflection, building in time with all of our decisions to essentially do an autopsy of what what just happened. How could I have done that better? How could I have specifically uh and intentionally? It's it's really about being more intentional. So, as we approach the work of vision and mission, this is done a lot of different ways and and this is how we chose to do it basically to answer these questions. our vision as we look back on the work that we do and I would invite all of you here to think about this in your relationship to the schools whether it's one year 10 years or 35 years or however many what legacy do we want to look back and have le what's the impact we want to
016have had asked educators that question for the last 15 years and I have yet to have somebody tell me that the the legacy they want to leave is I just want kids to pass the so test and I'm not saying that to belittle the so tests but we know that educators empirically speaking educators become educators for two reasons one is to have an impact and the other is to form transformative relationships that's supported in research and so we wanted to build a a vision that really answered this question and invited people to answer this question that went beyond do we want kids to pass SOS of course I want I want that but that's not my legacy. I I I want something bigger. We want to be able to invite people to come and work
017in this organization to a bigger vision than just that. Once we kind of uh get an idea of where we want to go, what leg what impact do we want to have, what what's the stuff we need to be doing every day in order to do that, what are the steps we need to be taking pragmatically in order to end up where we say we want to go. That was our model for this work. He does. If you're familiar with uh Jim Collins, who wrote I think his most famous book is Good to Great. He did extensive research in into basically the most successful companies. Uh what did they all have in common? I'm boiling all this down obviously, but they didn't all have the same shared values, but they all had them. had well
018articulated values that uh everybody understood and was able to passionately support and make a part of decisions. And that that's what we want to do is to be able to say to our school community, this is who we are. This is what we're about. This is our purpose. This is what we want to do. This is where we want to go. And as we do that work and make those decisions every day, this is what's going to guide our behavior. We're going to be committed to these ideals. Okay. All right. So, here's where we are. What legacy do we want to leave? Our vision is to equip students. We want our kids to be known for who they are, not just what they know or what they can even do. So, we want to equip
019students for life and equip them to have a positive impact. That's where we are with our vision. And just so you remember, I've shared this with all of our schools. I've been out to the schools. I've met with all the staff about this. I think uh 2.0 is for the board to dive in deeply with this. This is all a draft and our community to have an opportunity to interact with this and undoubtedly it will be somewhat dynamic. Okay, Dr. Stribbling. So if our vision is to equip students for life and to have a positive impact, what we need to be doing every day is maximizing their potential. And we said all members of the Fluco community because we really believe that in order to do that work, it's not just our students, but our
020staff, all of those involved, the adults in the community that wrap themselves around our schools and and participate in the work we do is to maximize the potential of all members of that school community. That's what we want to be doing every day with our curriculum, with our assessment, all of our extracurriculars. Okay. So, with core values, which I believe are next, you you can go ahead, Dr. Stribbling. This is where I apologize for that. This came out of keynote into Google Slides. Looks like it didn't play well. How about we go to the next one? Okay, I'll go through each one of these. So for each one of these there's a core value that was articulated and this work was done over months of our team uh meeting together working with Tom Eper to
021answer these questions and articulate these things in draft form to be able to share. So with each one there's a there's a value there's a definition and then there are behaviors that demonstrate what that looks like in action. Trust ability to believe in others. So what we're saying is tangibly speaking in order to do this thing that we want everybody to be committed to be honest, respectful, reliable, show integrity, and be transparent. There's some conversation going on about whether be honest and be transparent are maybe redundant, maybe the same. Welcome anybody's feedback on that. Okay, next one. Relationships. Ensuring open and effective interactions in all of our schools and the Fluco community. Open, effective interactions. What does that look like? Communicate respectfully. Show empathy. Value other people. And again, be honest. Next one, optimism. Expecting
022expecting the good, expecting positive outcomes. Be solutionsoriented. See the good in others. Persevere. Don't give up. Believe in our efficacy. In other words, believe that we actually have the ability to make a difference and that we can have an impact. Okay. Work ethic. Uh, can you go back real quick, Dr. Stribbling? I just want >> I think you just hit the arrow. Yeah. Persevere brought some conversation. I'm going to show you in just a minute. Just want to put that in your head. As I was sharing this out in the schools with staff members, we there was some uh feedback about persevering. Okay. Work ethic, consistently performing at a high level. What does it look like? Exceeding expectations, being motivated intrinsically, taking initiative, holding myself to a high standard. So, those are the four core
023values. Now, there is another that's kind of on the table right now. They're all in draft form. um as a result of having shared this out to schools and it is the next one. Oh, I I shared the comment from the teacher. This is the push back on the idea of persevering. Teachers should not have to they they thought that we were talking about like enduring something feels like we're settling being complacent. I thought this was worth sharing uh or worse comfortable. Bottom line is it's lazy teaching. I believe teaching needs to be intentional to have purpose to be engaged. In acting in speech, they talk a lot about attacking your lines. People become lazy, not just in their attitude, but their speech. They begin a sentence with strength and force, but as they speak,
024they trail off. So he says, as teachers and educators, we start the year off strong, but as the year progressive, we get lazy, lose focus. We endure to the end. We become less vigilant with expectations, more tolerant of poor behavior. Lack intention, motivation, purpose. I've seen it happen year after year. Teaching needs to be intentional. To be intentional means to have purpose, focus, motivation. Instead of being passive, we become engaged. And so out of that conversation that happened really, I was at the high school auditorium. Uh we have another one that could take the place of uh of the last one or there could be an amalgam of them. Dedication consistently performing at a high level displaying strong worth work ethic excuse me being intrinsically motivated taking initiative and being intentional. So shared values that
025are easily understood, that have that are actionable, that we know what that looks like in an environment where we're clear about where we're going, what we need to be doing. Uh, and we have kind of the parameters that are going to guide the decisions we make and our interactions with each other. all in the concept of valuebased leadership which says that as leaders my first goal is to have a positive impact on you. I have to know who I am, what makes me tick. I have to know you, what makes you tick and know how to best communicate with you, out of conflict with you, and to be intentional in my interactions to have a positive impact on you, to inspire you to be your best. That's kind of what uh is behind all of
026this. Now with the strategic plan and don't flag through this we have goal areas and under each there will be an objective and under each objective there will be strategies and under each strategy there will be a whole bunch of actions related to that. I'll show you an example of that. I'm not going to go into all that here. I'll just tell you our strategic goal areas have to do with learning. So engagement, inspiring an inclusive culture and transformative relationships. These are the big overarching things that we are suggesting that we really want to go after as a school community. So for each there will be a uh kind of a definition if you will and then you can go ahead to the next slide Dr. struggling. And then there will be the objectives. And
027remember, under each objective is strategies and under each strategy are bullet points. Maximize each student's learning potential through engaged learning experiences and innovative instructional practices. And I'll highlight for you. We've got the maximizing of students potential. We have to know our kids in order to be able to do that. engagement, innovation, preparing students for success to be productive, to participate in the community and citizenship. The main areas under that ensuring that engagement is our central focus. And there's a danger as we get back into what looks like another foray into the standardized testing. uh I don't know what to call it, but there's a danger in losing focus on engagement and focusing on specifically how do we get these kids to pass this test. And the analogy I use at nauseium to our team is
028uh you go to the doctor, you get your temperature taken, you take for granted that your temperature is going to be good, unless you're sick, then you probably know it's not. And all the temperature tells your doctor is that they need to look. That's it. It's all it tells them. And the so test is no different. It's not that it isn't important. And I think people in Fluana have gotten the wrong message from me that somehow maybe I don't like the SOS or that they're not important. None of that is true. But by focusing on the big picture of your health, you assume that your temperature is okay. Nobody in this room got up this morning and said, "Gosh, I just can't wait to greet the day and make sure my temperature is 98.6 today."
029Um, but we all want that. We all want kids to pass so tests and they will if we focus on engaging learning experiences, ensuring teachers, well, I won't read these to you, but for each one of these, this is the these are the overarching objectives, if you will. Making sure that they achieve growth and that's being defined at the state level, but we want to define it for ourselves as well. and uh make sure they have the ability to do whatever it is they want to do next after high school. Okay, Dr. Stribble, you can go ahead and hit the next one, the bullets. So, an environment where all members of our school community feel welcomed, informed, empowered, and valued. Just let those sit with you for a minute. Support the physical, mental safety, and
030wellness of our adults and kids. a work environment that's characterized by high expectations and support. We want our folks to be creative. We want them to take healthy risks. We don't want them to be in a box. We want to have a diverse staff. We want them to be aligned with our mission and our vision and our our sense of shared values. And we we want them to be good. We want to be good at what they do. We want to support them getting even better, maximizing their potential and engage the community of the school division. This continues to be a big one after the pandemic is to further make sure the the community is a part of our work. Okay. And then the third transformative relationships we will pursue impactful. We want to be
031strategic and have an impact. Positive. Look for the good among our school community members with all students characterized by these things. Trust, empathy, honesty, respect, high expectations. Okay. And this uh again just the high level objectives building connections, valuing the perspectives and the personal stories that everybody brings to the table, communicating well, valuing others, recognizing others and cultivating a real sense of belonging to the school community for everybody. Belief that what we do matters and I'll give you an example of what it looks like. This is just one and again it's an example. Next slide Dr. St. So the overarching goal area culture the definition create an inspiring inclusive culture. One of those objectives is support the physical mental safety and wellness. We have some measures that we this just kind of a brainstorm of
032some of the measures that could indicate we we're experimenting with whether each should have maybe a we could create a dashboard and each would have a leading indicator uh and a lagging indicator. In other words, uh one that one that kind of demonstrates where we want to go and one that shows us the results of how we're doing. And then under this one, the first strategy would be cultivate a student- centered culture. Ensure all students feel that the adults in the school division care about and support them. What would that look like? Promoting the expectation that all staff build positive, supportive relationship students. Expand and promote student support, mentorship experiences such as sources of strength. preserve the role of the mental health support staff. Avoid assigning responsibilities that take away from that core function. And
033I can't read the next one, but you you get the gist of where we are. So, I'll stop there. And uh again, this is just kind of a precursor to some of the deeper work I'd like us to do together on the 21st, but I welcome any feedback. This isn't the first time you've seen this. Um, we really want to put this into effect and hit the ground running with this this year. Every year it seems like this is not meant to be devaluing of any of these things, but it does seem like the last three years there have been a lot of work we've been doing with mitigations and masks, both sides of that issue as the different administrations come into the the uh into Richmond. Um some of the other thing we have
034now executive order now that just came out yesterday. I was going to mention that during my report I don't have a lot of information about it but the the cell phone free education being established in schools. Uh these are things that as as the community gets engaged in that and it stirs up potentially controversy that taken our eyes off this work and I want to make sure this is what this is what we talked about when I first met you uh us doing and making sure we Yeah. Do we have that happening? Absolutely we do. Do we have it everywhere? No. And we want to make sure that this becomes our central focus. Uh I said I was going to stop talking and then I started talking. >> Got any questions, comments? >> I'll note
035that I am uh aligned and choosing optimism um for this this work stream. I'll note that perseverance to me does not have the peorative notion of endurance that I can think back across the 20 or 50 last big problems I had or big projects that needed to be done that absolutely none of them rolled over on the first attempt. and that like sure perseverance is about getting back up to the plate and taking another swing at it because ultimately the mission itself is is worthy of that effort. And so perseverance to me in in this context isn't about enduring, but it's about recognizing that the first 20 times you try to teach a kid long division that it may not take for them. It may it may be the way that we um do notation.
036It could be the concept. It could be the environment and that it takes it takes time and it takes repeated efforts and it takes differentiated pedagogical approaches. >> Sure. >> To find that aha moment and that perseverance is being willing to fight for the aha moment. So, I think that to the extent that that's useful, I um I worry less about the notion of endurance versus perseverance because all these fights are are worthy of those repeated attempts. Um I'm also happy to to work with and uh vote and endorse this. Uh but I'll note again only to the extent that we treat it as our northstar and actually make efforts to to live to it. To the extent that um marginalized communities in our building continue to feel marginalized and we're not taking corrective action
037to to make it less so then like this piece of paper doesn't help us. It saying that we believe it is not the same thing as living it. >> Sure. >> Yeah, that's great feed. Well, I'm excited to get into these conversations with you again and uh and to engage the community in it. >> I look forward to our August meeting where we take a deeper dive this >> Yeah. And for the record, that's genuine optimism. I can't do anything about the fact that my voice is pretty monotone, but >> it's about what I sound like when I'm very excited and very angry. So, you know, understand Thank you. >> Mr. Key, would it be okay with you if I kind of backtracked and did just just say a couple of things for the benefit
038of anybody's listening about Executive Order 32? Right here. >> I meant to put this uh it didn't make it in obviously because it just came out yesterday, but uh I don't have a lot of information about this. I just want what I want to make clear is that the state so the department of education I think the state superintendent and I don't know who else is going to be coming out to each of the eight superintendents region the state is divided into eight regions that that they for I guess purposes of education called superintendent regions and ours is five and they're going to go to each one of those and do a listening session that's open to the public. It's open to well, it's open to the public. It's designed to get feedback on how
039to define what what exactly is the executive order calls for school boards to establish policies that create cell phone free education in all schools by January 1. What is a cell phone free education? Uh so there will be an opportunity and certainly people who live in Fluana I imagine that ours because our region is so large it goes it goes to Ba County, Bedford County, Lynchburg, uh Highland, Alagany, Louisa, Nelson because it's so big. I imagine that ours will not necessarily be here. It'll probably be in the Waysboro area something. But there'll be opportunities if people want to go to one that may there may be one in Richmond. They're in region one. I don't know where that would be. As that develops, I'll publish that with you and with uh I'll try to get
040that out to uh at least the addresses I have in Power School to get that out to the public to make sure that people know they can they can weigh in on that. I imagine people are going to have thoughts on this. Uh and as it develops, I'm sure we will have an opportunity to talk about it, too. Oh, ours will be in early August. Still trying to nail down the date, but uh sometime the first week of August. Thank you. Operation updates. Good evening board. Uh we'll run through this. Uh stop me if you have questions with regards to the projects that we have going on. I do want to send a thank you to all the schools, administrative staff, SRO's and parents who assisted with the school safety audit. They wrapped that up
041and then I'll be meeting with you or getting you to come to the school board to certify the crisis management plan for the upcoming school year. uh security safety grant. We were issued an additional approximately $45 to $50,000 from 2022. Uh we're looking at putting additional cameras at Central Elementary along with security door locks uh possibly at other schools. So, that is something that we're excited about. Uh Cary's Brook HVAC project. I was on the phone with Mr. Hampshire and uh some of their point of contacts. Um we are anticipating an an end uh last week of July, first week of August. Um with regards to having all units operational, uh there'll be some punch list items and some additional uh units that we'll have to continue with. So hopefully we'll be at the 95%
042completion. Uh sometimes that 5% sometimes takes a little while. Uh but uh excited about that as well. Uh we just worked with the county through a CRM process. Uh we are replacing a huge uh HVAC coil unit at FMS that operates probably about 15 to 16 offices, no classrooms. But I will uh say thank you and appreciate the patience at both Carisbrook. The main office has been without AC for about a month and a half now, two months, uh along with the main office at Blue Vana Middle School. So, we're trying to get that all done before school starts and kids return. Um FCHS field, we have a walkthrough for our astro turf on the 18th. I'm going to invite the board along with the board of supervisors if they'd like to come. The track
043has been stripped and we are still looking at a end date at the end of July so that everything is ready to go for fall season. So, we're excited about that. >> Yes. Do we if we ultimately believe that we're going to have a quorum of board members from either board, do we not need to make it a public meeting or at least announce that we will be doing that? >> I'll get with Miss Kryer. I don't necessarily expect it, but optimistic. I'm not saying that I'm not optimistic, but >> to the extent that I am alive and in the county, I'll be there. You can count. You only need two more to make it appear. >> And and and the walkth through, it's not as important to the 18th is not as important as
044just to go down and take a look at it. It looks very nice. Looks very very nice. Um, as far as the uh we went over some of the savings uh that we were uh going to have with the FMS track with some of the adjustments and the change orders that we did. We were excited about that. We're waiting for one more RFP, one more request for proposal uh for the drainage. We should have that by the end of this week and hopefully that project will start not next Monday but the Monday following. So, we're excited about that. Um Bait Project, we did a walk through on Monday. Yes, sir. >> Go any further? Yes, sir. The >> at the um middle school track, will that be completed before school starts? >> No, sir. >>
045No, >> it will not. >> That was optimistic. Um but we want to do it right. >> Yeah. And so we've had to back off and have a time frame uh get the drainage working uh and then we can finish with the track so that uh we don't have to address it anymore. >> So but no sir, unfortunately it will not be. >> I know you're still in the RFP process. Do you have a ambitious date where you expect this to be finished at the middle school? >> Midocctober. I'm not really sure whether that's a stretch goal right now >> or a real goal. >> Um it's really going to depend. I'll be honest with you. I think we'll have the um retorin is ready to go and I think I think it's going to
046be a lead time on the I don't know the almost I call them manholes the canisters that we're going to use in the corners that are going to push them off. That might be a four-week wait period. So, even if we even if we once we decide what we're going to do and who we're going to go with, then there's a four-week wait process for that. So, that's kind of just standard right now. Um hopefully we might be able to push them a little bit, but mid-occtober, end of October. We also have to keep with the metric that it has to be 50° or higher. So, >> it's been dry lately, but that doesn't mean that it's going to continue to be dry. Correct. >> Good working weather. I know that is >> correct. Correct.
047>> Correct. Uh we did a walk through at the middle school and the high school on Monday, Tuesday, excuse me, it was Tuesday. Yesterday, um they will start installing our vape detectors at the middle school this upcoming Monday. And then the following Monday, they'll start with the high school. Um excited about that. not necessarily excited in terms of uh kids vaping, but we hope it's more of a deterrent than a catch. Um but do want to let our families, communities, and students know we worry about your health. Uh but the school is not the place to do it and we we have an educational uh platform that if you choose to, we will educate you and knowledge you on the dangers of vaping. Uh so excited about that. Central Elementary playground. We're working to get
048that resurfaced before school starts. Um, Central Elementary's had five of six exterior doors. Uh, we worked with the county on that with regards to a CIP uh, funding project. Uh, we have Car'sbrooks getting two and FMS has three scheduled. And then we're just going to follow along with that process and priorities to replace those exterior doors. Um, we'll have some more information uh in August regarding our regarding our Abrams Academy restoration project. Uh, but that u we've been busy this summer. So excited about all the projects. Any questions? All right. Wonderful. Thank you. >> Thanks for thanks for pushing ahead. I know that you've had some roadblocks and unexpected things on these, but they're they're important that middle school deserves a new track and as early as we can deliver it and I know it
049takes time, but >> thank you. Speed bumps, not roadblocks. >> Example of perseverance. >> Thank you very much. >> Right on to the 20 23 24 staff survey data. >> Thank you uh board members. You know, every year we do a climate survey and we've continued to use the same one in order to maintain the integrity of the data and so Mrs. Grasser used to seeing that. >> I'm not used to hearing it yet. >> Thanks. >> It took me way longer than it should say. >> Figure out that. I'll admit I looked around the room for you dumb dumb. So, uh, congrats. >> Thank you very much. >> Yeah, absolutely. So, Mrs. Grasser is going to go over the details of it as she does and she's got some graphs. I think over and
050above I think it's been positive data. Um, but let's get into it and then we can we can chat about it. So this is the same survey in essence that we've done since um about 2006 I think was the first time we did it. We did do a couple of revisions um in 14 but we've kind of tried to stay to the same model so that we can compare it over time. Um and the major I can I can I click or no we decided that's not working. >> It's not working for me but Never know. >> You never know. >> The cursor seems to be working. Are you doing that? >> Oh, >> there you go. >> Maybe it does work for me. How about that? Um, so it's seven categories. Work environment, building
051administrative support, um, professional learning, um, professional responsibilities, climate, culture, the superintendent's office, and school board. This year we had about a 33% response rate compared with u previous years and um I think it's really partly due due to the fact that we were kind of late in putting the survey out and so I think that kind of attributed to some of the low response rate with that. I think once you click on that it doesn't let us click again. Yeah, I don't stop. >> There we go. But now I'm kind of out of sorts. >> Um, >> let me see if >> Yeah, center a page and then just click on the document large >> and then don't do anything. >> Save that. Um, so this is the response rates by school. Um so you
052see our two larger schools we had a a fairly good um response rate. Um >> this is one of the lowest response rates actually >> by six points. It is >> yes >> it's terribly low >> the lowest in 15 years. Um yeah see >> I can't again there I go somebody goes and then this is the response rate uh of the percentage completing the survey um the what categories they were in and the majority of them were teachers um and then you see the other positions that are there and what I do is I take the survey and I group it according to strongly agree and agree and then assign it a number of uh percentage bas based on that. Um, and then I've compared those over previous years, so you can kind of
053see them. And then anything anybody that checked not applicable, they were removed from any of the calculations. If it's if the current year's blue and font, that indicates that it was higher than the previous year. And then if it's a gold background, that indicates that it's the highest rating that we've had in that area to date. >> So that's without significance testing. That is just directionally higher, not statistically high. Yes. Um so it the the first area was work environment and you could see the ratings there and in three of those areas we were higher than we were in the previous year. So definitely saw that trend where we were moving forward in that area. Um definitely saw some feedback that we'd heard um in the comments that we'd heard relative to doors and things
054like that that we're attempting to address now. Um but certainly that was something that kind of came up um time to time. And then building administrative report. This is a longer category. So this is just the first part of that. Um but that top area even though it wasn't higher than previous year it was 87%. And then um for the discipline it was up considerably from the previous year to 70%. and the um all of these areas with the exception of meetings are necessary and productive went up over the previous year. I'm not really there seem to be a lot of feedback regarding meetings. I guess a lot of people don't like meetings anyway, but um I'm sure they weren't talking about schoolboard meetings, but um other meetings. Atlanta actually interesting article that basically that
055white collar work these days is basically just meetings. It was in the latest edition then I thought it was pretty compelling and representative of what I experienced. >> Well and I think part of it is you know when we were in COVID we did things virtually and we didn't have as many meetings and now that we're kind of normalizing it that that shift has trended. I think there are people that think well we don't really need to do that. I'm sure there's opinions on both sides. >> Yeah. And you know, you brought that up. It it is interesting to just It's interesting to just consider as you look at these different years. The the one where schools were closed, nobody was in them was 2020. So just >> have a higher response rate during the
056years we weren't here. Yeah. >> Yeah. Well, just the ones that are that are marked higher during that year. It's interesting. >> It's not necessarily I'm not saying it's correlated, >> right? >> Um and then this also continues administrative support. We had um three of these four areas. We were higher than we were in the previous year. And >> when did we field it in 2020? I'm so sorry for interrupting you. >> That's okay, >> Mrs. Grasser. Uh Dr. Stribbling. Uh what when when in the year do we actually give the survey in 2020? >> We always give it in May. >> In May. >> Uhhuh. We've always given it in May. It's just sometimes it's been a little bit earlier in May than this one. >> Okay. So 2020 would have captured the >>
057the response to CO. Gotcha. >> Um and then professional development again higher. Um, all of those were higher than they were the previous year. Professional responsibilities were higher than they were the previous year. And we did a lot, you know, we did a lot over the last couple years in terms of class sizes and and that was the highest that it has been. Um, so definitely we saw that pattern there. >> You know, it's funny. These are the things that we we've talked about over the last four years about getting adequate planning time, making sure that people aren't like assigned additional duty such that they can't plan and then reducing the class sizes especially in K to2. So, it's good to see that the um staff see that as progress. >> And then professional responsibilities
058continuing and again um the um again higher than they were the previous year. That one for sufficient number of um support staff is still um pretty low. um surprisingly the school that has the most instructional assistance to students ratio said that they didn't have enough instructional assistance. So >> I believe them and think that is absolutely true. >> We could just get the support cap lifted. We could do wonders. >> Um climate culture um that that we weren't as high as we were the previous year, but most of those were in the 80s. And then the the one that's not is in 7 at 77%. So I think still very favorable in that area. >> And then for the superintendent's office, this is again a longer category and and two of those three areas we
059were higher than we were the previous year and the one where we're not, it's still at um almost 85%. And then continuing the superintendent's office. Uh again, the um all of those were higher than the previous year. And then um the the information relative to job opportunities is the highest that it's ever been. So I know that they've worked extremely hard on making sure that information is out there as well. and the school board um two of those areas higher than the previous year and and the one that's not is um still at 75%. So I think very favorable trend there as well. Then we share this information with you. We've also share the information with the um each um building's administration. they have the data specific to their school and then also information comparing
060their school to the other schools and the averages so that they can look at that information and make that part of their strategic plan and how they're going to do their continuous improvement. And then we've told asked them to share this with their staff when staff return in August as well to break that make that part of that as well. >> Do you anticipate sharing verbatim responses with the board as we have done previous years? Yes, we can certainly do that. >> I know it's effort to anonymize. >> Yeah, we just want to redact. >> Yep. Totally. >> Places where people are there. >> Yeah. To the extent that you were comfortable in that it's not too laborious. >> I think sometimes it's nice to >> this provides the like what direction are we headed
061and sometimes the open ends can give us a little more qualitative guidance on the why. >> Yeah, absolutely. Uh you know I just a couple of thoughts about it. I I think because it's been given so long, I do think there's some value in in continuing to you, you know, not tampering with the way things are worded or the types of questions. And at the same time, I if everybody doesn't answer it, it's it's hard sometimes to know. It's hard to use this data. Uh my experience with these is that people will hear me say this and say, "Well, of course you're going to say that because you're the superintendent." I as response rates very seldom do people who are sideways with the division or unhappy not avail themselves of the opportunity to fill this
062out. And often times people that are satisfied and happy don't take the time to do it as response rates go down. I personally I take away from that that but that is a positive thing. I'll never know whether it is. My first choice would be that I'd love to have 100% response rate uh because I think that's where it would be really helpful. some of the questions, you know, I there's there's data in here. Obviously, there's work that we need to do in some of our schools with physical cleanliness, and we knew that already, and there are steps that have taken. By the same token, we've worked uh with the board to try to beef up the custodial staff in terms of numbers at some of our schools. We haven't been able to do that
063necessarily. We did increase the contracts um for a few of them. So we hope that that will have an impact when the you know to me the most valuable data we get maybe to supplement this and this is in our strategic plan. This is in the granular details of our plan is for us to be doing regular dipstick chip assessments. Um, the one at the end is fine, but taking the pulse of the staff throughout the school year, not this lengthy necessarily, but essentially just a a mechanism for them to say thumbs up, thumbs down, and to have an opportunity to give details so that we really know how we're doing in creating an inspiring environment for people. uh we've we've made it a priority to really communicate with our staff uh to go out
064and meet with them. I do the block parties with them which are all day. Uh I have a vibrant staff advisory committee that does a great job of facilitating communication. So over and above I overall I'm encouraged by the data. I'm I'm not discouraged by the the lower response rate, although I wish more people did take the opportunity to fill it out. Um, but my goal will be for us to do more regular check-ins, formative if you will, assessment to supplement this. I think that will be really valuable for us. >> Well, I'm on board with all of that. I will note that like falling response rates are also like sure we can say that like there's less people who are I rate and and willing or are interested in gring but usually um response
065rates aren't uniform meaning that like the same type of person isn't going to sure >> to take the survey at the same rate. And so to the extent that we can and the number one thing you can do to encourage people to like give feedback like this and you know I do survey research for a living >> is to demonstrate to them that you actually are going to use the results and that you care about it and to communicate what you've done with the information provided to show them that you're you're serious about it and that brings them to the table that's in line with your vision and your mission statement. Sure. And so to the extent that you can especially as you get close to releasing next year's provide like in block parties or
066in whatever format and or venue you can communicate the way that you've used this data historically to encourage them to >> participate that's fabulous because there are omitted voices with unique perspectives that we're just not privy to based on sample size and based on participation. >> Agreed. I also given this like some odd years of data here would encourage you not to make changes to it to the extent that like it is an imperfect instrument. It is a we have tons of tracking data and so to the extent that you're going to add or change anything I would encourage you to do so at the very end of the survey so that you're not disrupting tracking data. >> Yeah. >> Because bias is critically um important on these. So to the extent that you need
067objective survey related help, please let me know what I can do. But >> yeah, absolutely. Thank you. >> Here having the voice of the staff is so critically important. >> Yes. >> But you're right that survey is not the end all beall when you have millions of touch points. >> Thank you. What was it? So, we found out how much money we're getting for fiscal year 24 from the state in um somewhere in the middle of June. um which I don't need to tell you makes it a little bit challenging. Um at this point we're still looking at um because what's included in the template doesn't include all of the state revenue. So we're still scrutinizing some of that. The other piece is that we get sales tax every month, but sales tax is two
068months behind. So we'll still get sales tax in July. That's actually for fiscal year 24. and then another um sales tax in um August that's for 24 as well. Um one of the things that I find challenging is we have a template that tells us how much sales tax we should get, but if I look at the trend of sales tax that we've been getting and what's left in on the template, those two things don't match. And so I am still monitoring that to try to see what that real sales tax number is going to be in that the state revenue may be a little bit higher than what's on the template, but I'm not clear on that. Um, so that's when people ask me, well, how much money are you going to have left?
069I really can't answer that question right yet, but I'm working on it. >> I mean, it seems like 5.7 million. >> That would be wrong. >> Let's just call D and let him know what's going on. Um, so we've talked before about revenue that we're not going to see. One of the big things is we didn't use all the all-in money. We're going to carry over about $770,000 of that and that's already built into the 25 budget. And the other giant one is the construction money. It's about 1.7 million that's in the bank that again we'll be carrying over. So you lop those off of there and additional some additional funds um related to project return and governor school and that brings that number down. Right now I would say my number somewhere between five
070and 800,000 but I'm still really tentative and because it's so tight it makes me nervous to say a dollar amount. Um, so I promise when I come back in August, I'll have more and better information. Um, and at that point we'll have at least one more sales tax payment. So I'll have a better idea on that front as well. >> Yeah, I mean you're what you do for this division and for our budget is is akin to building a plane while you're flying it uh is absurd. And the fact that we are even on the plus side 500k is astonishing given how much the state has taken away from us. Did how much did they take away over this over the last year? About 2 million. >> Yeah, somewhere around there. >> So literally if
071they hadn't kind of pulled the rug out from under us, we'd be sitting on $2.5 million, not a half million dollars. Well, we we did a lot of things during the year like for operations, you know, we told Travis only do the stuff we really have to do, have to fix. If it's cosmetic, you know, people want you to buy paint, we can't do it right now. We can't buy paint brushes. Um, we just really cut anything like that. Any kind of extra materials, things we thought, well, you know, we could buy these books now, but let's just wait and do it next year. just because we just didn't know. >> Um there were also some positions where people left and we just didn't fill them. We we held that position open. Um so it's
072just some of those things. Um when we we kind of knew um well we knew the first cut when we got the the budget originally in October for 24 and that was lower than we had been told. So we already knew about that. And then as as the year progressed and we looked at enrollment and those things, we saw it trending down as well. So I mean we will be in the black that I'm sure of. How far in the black? I can't really answer that right now. >> Um >> so nobody's going to jail and that's the good news. >> Well, to be clear, we would only go to and not we but other gavvel. >> Yeah. only go to jail if they exceed the revised budget of the 579. So I think we
073are yes far clear of that. Were there any was there any projects or things that we would have considered essential but for the cuts? Like is there anything that is like that we really had to do without but we really shouldn't have had to do without that we'll need to like find a way to make work. I mean, I >> like paint paint's one of those things that like it's not going to kill anyone, right? Like, >> right, but it does lend itself to what you know what we've been talking about with um >> you know, with the building cleanliness and those sorts of things. I mean, you know, I don't need to tell a fresh coat of paint in here did wonders. Um I don't need to tell you that. Um so, those kind
074of things, I mean, they're important, but you're right. I mean, it's it's not that we're going to um that kids aren't going to learn as much just because the wall wasn't painted, but it does help with the whole atmosphere. >> And I'm not belittling it. I was just thinking about like >> what are needs versus wants? >> And I know we, you know, I've had many conversations, as I'm sure Dr. Stribbling has, with Mr. Hamampshire about, you know, um we just found out this thing is broken. You know, can we replace it? And I have to say, not right now. We need to wait. Um, so you know, it's some of those kind of things that are just sort of ongoing. Um, we cut back, we cut way back on technology purchases. You know, we
075asked Mr. Gford to look at what was really essential and even though it might have been something that was in the replacement cycle, can it wait? And so we did a lot of that in the spring as well. Um, because we want to make sure we were on good footing, >> putting the cart before the horse a bit, but as you get through the budget process and come up with a number, etc. You know, obviously we we continue to have ongoing discussions with the board of supervisors about doing uh bathroom renovations on an ad hoc basis, but to the extent that the things that got cut that went below the line because we didn't have funding, if there is a a single voice between a lot of our executive staff here as to like what
076the like priorities are, >> then those are things that we could discuss as a board come I think probably it's either September, October. we had the conversation about what we might ask for through carryover and I would love to make sure that those are considered in tandem with the bathroom renovations. They're all critically important, but finding what our priority rank is and being able to communicate that to the supers um means that we're starting with with um from a place of genuiness and consideration. And we do find that we have some um items that are still outstanding that we're resolving. Um but for the most part, I think we're on on solid ground with that. We've taken care of all of fuel, utilities, and those sorts of things. >> You should be canonized. >> Well,
077uh let's see. Uh the other thing I would say in reference to 24 is the health insurance fund is extremely tight and that's not looking at the runout. Um so any claims that we get, you know, we'll continue to have claims being processed that occurred um with BPA and so we'll have to pay for those claims as well as new claims that we're getting. Um and that fund is very tight right now. Um, but we do also have a lot of large claims, which means they're in the we pay them upfront and then we're repaid. And so there's some of that that's still being washed out. Um, at this point, um, I think, you know, for the most part, I've not heard anything. Um, any issues with Cintara? The cards, they came out like literally
078the 30th or the first. People got their cards. Um, I do know people were at the doctor's office on the first because they were calling here if they didn't get their card and we helped them with that. Um, there was an issue with primary care physicians and apparently they picked one for you, but they didn't ask you if which one you wanted and so we're still trying to work through that. Um, so there should be a people can go to their to their physician, they don't have to change, but we just have to work through the paperwork and electronic part of all of that. Um, but I don't I can't think of anything else. Was there anything else you wanted to add, Dr. Gre? >> No, no, great with that. Thank you. >> Uh, do
079you think that we are going to need to ask the board of supervisors for carryover funds in order to keep our um healthcare accounts afloat? >> Um, like it's not our cash anymore, so we can't move things around, >> right? Um, I mean, it's always wise to have money in to have funding in that health insurance bucket. It doesn't go anywhere. It just goes to those claims. Um, I I would say in the next month or so, again, I'll have a better idea of where we stand with that completely. >> I don't think there's a danger in it not being afloat, though. Would you agree? No. The health of it terms of >> Right. That's the issue is >> stand some of the higher claims, but >> yeah. And and we had quite a few
080people that were over the 125,000. I mean, it's it's quite a few. >> Um and and hopefully they're all getting better and >> um and some of that dissipates. >> Yeah. I mean, we have health insurance for a reason. >> Um and you know, I certainly want them to be healthy and and get the care that they need. Um, I'm very encouraged that um that Cantara seems to be um at this point a a good agency to be working with. I think some of those issues will go away. Um I c my staff and I certainly hope so. Um that would be nice to have to deal with that right now. But yeah, we'll keep I I will let you know more when we come back together in August >> as we continue to go
081through renewals. Um, does Cinta have programs for it's paternalistic, but basically rewards based on preventative care so that the small things that ultimately um become large things can be caught earlier. >> It we had that with BPA. We haven't flushed out what that's going to look like with Centara yet, but there is a plan to do that. So that is something that um I need to reach back out to them about and um get back on their calendar for setting that out and defining it. >> Yeah, the the BPA plan was propri they built it. It was proprietary, but that what they have told us is that they're trying to do it in a way that's as seamless as possible for the employee. But they have said that our employees can So essentially what that
082did was gave the ability to lower the deductible. >> Yep. >> And that they that we should be able to count on the same being able to lower it to the same degree through the process, whatever it is. >> One of the things that we do have to be mindful of is that we're not creating a wellness plan that costs us so much that it's doesn't really make sense. And so that's the the other piece of >> short-term, long-term trade-offs, >> right? Um, and I'm not sure that BPA was in a position to really do metrics on how much the the wellness plan you have set up works. Um so I mean works and costs and >> should have >> right >> be able to share some statistics because there are some divisions and organizations
083that do and don't have these things and the difference between them. >> Yeah. >> Assuming Ceta Speroo should tell us a little bit about like how much more you ultimately pay if you don't do the short run. Um, but we did have a situation with BPA where we were paying a pretty exorbitant fee for these consultations that may or may not have been happening the way they should have been happening. And we definitely don't want to get into that boat again where you're just paying out this money um for something that's really not being effective. So, I'm trying to be really careful with that as well. >> Totally. Thanks for being thoughtful and for running both a finance department and a health system. >> I'll put it on my resume. >> Um for 25 I
084don't have anything in your packet right now. What we're just to kind of explain how the process works with budget is um the first thing we have to do is build all of our people in payroll and we can't build them in payroll until we've generated all of the payrolls. So, we've now generated um the June payroll and the July written in June payroll. And we've spent the last week um building people in payroll, making sure they're in the right lines and doing all of those pieces. Um we I'll just be um well, I'm always honest, but Munis is not my favorite software. Um, I have a we're having a lot of different issues with it. Um, the customer support is very poor. Um, I don't have a choice on whether I use munus or
085not. The county has dictated that we use munus and so that's what we do. Um, so when the vendors call me, I said call. Um, but it's just it's really been a challenge this year more than ever. And, um, It's we are I told Dr. Gratz we're there's an automated process for rolling people over on steps and changing salaries and none of that worked properly. So we have spent the last day going through line by line person by person to make sure that their salary is correct and um it's taking some time to do that to make those um corrections and changes if there's an issue. And then what then the process is um we we're ready to run the true July which is just a 12-month employees and then we'll start generating mock payrolls
086and then that's when I build the line item budgets. So when we come back in August we'll have line item budgets. Um, I mean, we have a feeling for the categories and those pieces, but just doing line by line. And then because we lost some grant funding and had to shift things to other grants and move things around, a lot of all of those adjustments have to be made as well. I promise you, we're working on it. We have we do have a number from the state this year which is exciting provided that doesn't change >> plus or minus $2 million. >> Yeah. So um but right now we're we're working really hard on it but it's July is our toughest month for sure. Do you have any other questions about that question? >> Thank
087you. >> Thanks so much. All right. To unfinished business board, any unfinished business? Any new business? >> If I could um I should have mentioned it earlier. My fault in action items. You have um AP textbook adoption. When our teacher went to training, she found out that there's a new edition of the textbook that was just released. And so we really don't want to adopt the old version, but we need to review that new version and make sure that there's nothing in there that we're going to have issue with and then we need to put it back out on display for another 30 days. Luckily, the class is not being taught till second semester. So that would be January. So we would rather just table that right now and kind of restart that process. Should
088that be okay with Yes. Yeah, we'll just make a motion to defer. >> I think it's already on C. >> Yeah. Yeah. >> 11C defer. >> All right. On on to action items 11 A. Dr. Chris, anything we should be looking at far as policy update? >> Uh, nothing new. I mean, that nothing's changed with regards to what you've seen. um we pulled a policy a couple months ago um to examine. I I don't know if it's come back out. Yeah. I don't I'm having a hard time remembering 60 days ago, but remember, Miss Kryer, >> I I remember that we >> Yeah, that that's what I'm thinking of. >> The one that provided the uh room for nursing and the request from Mr. pulling was to make sure that applied to students as well
089>> and that was resolved last month I believe month before. So Mr. Key nothing okay >> I mean I'm happy to talk about any of these again but it's >> nothing's changed with >> All right. In that case, I'll move that we approve the VSBA fluana policy updates for June from June 2024 in bank. >> Thanks, Dr. >> I'll second this. >> Got a second. All right. I guess got a first and a second. So, all in favor say I. >> I. >> Vice chair votes I. It's approved. So approval of a 20 24 25 current resource guide. >> So this Dr. Stribbling presented this last month. I think there were a couple of edits that have taken place. You can see where they are. But Dr. Stribbling, anything you want to highlight? I mean,
090>> no major. The only real thing that we haven't done because it's an active document or fluid document to our website. We haven't finished adding all the hyperlinks because we want to actually hyperlink if we have a policy hyperlink policy so that parents should have that access. I entertain a motion for approve of the 20 242 parent resource guide. I'll make a motion we approve a 2024 to 2025 current resource guide as presented in the packet. I have a second. >> Second. So I have a motion and a second. So all those in favor please say I. >> I. >> Vice chair votes I. On to the approval of the 2425 cafeteria meal prices. Any questions for me? Jones was here last month and presented this. >> Uh, you also have the eligibility the the
091form for the C in there as well for the free meals. Um, real quick on the resource guide, uh, Andre Key is the vice chair, so that'll need to be updated and isn't currently in that draft. >> Thank you. >> Thanks, Dr. Kelly. >> We always miss that one. >> It's hard. Denny's in there, but the the titles are wrong. So, >> thank you. See that? Right. Can I get a >> I apologize for interrupting. >> No. >> So, I'll move that we approve the 2024 2025 cafeteria meal prices for 11D. >> I second. >> Thanks, Mr. Jones. So, all in favor say I. >> I. >> Vice chair. Uh, just to be tidy, do we want to make a motion or may I make a motion that we defer the AP psychology textbook adoption
092until further notice? >> Yes, sir. That's fine. Can I have a second? >> Second. >> Thank you. So, all those in favor say I. >> I. I. All right. On to public comments. Second round. Is there anybody here that wants to um come up for public comments? Please keep in mind there'll be three minutes up there on the screen. >> Um good evening. My name is Jennifer King. I live in the Ravana district. Um I'm reading on behalf of Ashley Crocker who lives in the Fork Union District. Um she's on vacation this week with her family and regrets not being able to be here in person. Um, she says, "It seems that as usual, there have been some there's been some confusion. According to the recap of last month's meeting provided by the Fork Union
093representative, the public comments were from parents concerned about charter schools. That's only half true. While charter schools are certainly a concern and something we continue to fight against, what the parents in this community are most concerned about are the clear lack of ethics and transparency shown by some members of this board. It shouldn't take a foyer request to learn that the chair of this board is having secret conversations with the Virginia Department of Education. It shouldn't be on the citizens who attend these meetings to keep board members honest and set the record straight for everyone else. I would contend that if you don't want members of the public to ask you what happened at the last schoolboard meeting, you should act with openness and integrity. If you aren't willing to have difficult conversations with people
094who disagree with you, you should not be a member of this board. You should apologize when you do something wrong. You shouldn't sit there and scold and smirk at your constituents who are just concerned parents trying to make Savannah a place where all of our children can be successful. Unfortunately, that's not what you've done. You've doubled down on half-truths and refused to acknowledge your own doing. And so we will continue to be here digging into your actions and holding you accountable even if you don't like it. See you in person next month. >> Thank you. Georgia Joselyn Cunningham District. I have three quotes for you tonight regarding transparency and accountability. One, one of the main focuses of my campaign and one of the most frequently asked questions has been on the subject of transparency. Unfortunately,
095this is because there has been serious issues regarding transparency both in the school system and on the school board. Number two, I feel strongly that there has been significant issues with transparency and accountability both in the school board and with the administration in previous years. Number three, I am focused on bringing accountability, confidence, and transparency to the school board while ensuring that taxpayer dollars are going to classroom instruction. All three of these quotes, plus a few more on the subject of transparency and accountability, are quoted directly from our current chairman. I have copies if anybody would like to reference them. But yet when asked by fellow members of the school board as well as members of the community about his involvement with Life Prep Charter School, there was no accountability and there was no transparency.
096That last quote, I am focused on bringing accountability, confidence, and transparency to the school board while ensuring that taxpayer dollars are going to classroom instruction. Please note that this does not say classroomless instruction, which is what Life Prep Charter School is wanting here in Fana. Members of the community were forced to file multiple Freedom of Information Act requests to try and unravel what should have been disclosed publicly. The latest request was just released today, and we look forward to seeing what else the chair hasn't been transparent about. Thank you. Anybody else? Seeing nobody else coming forward, I'll close the second round of public comments. On to the school member comments. Dr. Kell. >> Uh, I want to apologize for not being in person last board meeting. I managed to avoid COVID for three plus years
097and ultimately um had a rough had a reasonably rough bout of congestion and whatnot related to it. So, um between that and some travel, I'll admit that I've had to um limit sort of the amount of time that I've spent on various things, including my professional responsibilities and and other projects and things at home, but I am uh quite well and back on my feet and enthusiastic and optimistic about the school year ahead. I know that I hold um appointments to a good number of committees here and that I've had to miss a couple of meetings for health and travel reasons and so I'm optimistic that in future meetings I'll have more information for you. I'm imperfect and uh we'll continue to have work travel from time to time and in in fact do take
098a vacation every now and then but uh my goal is to be at every meeting uh when humanly possible. I've missed two in six years. I'm confident I'll miss another one this year for various incundury reasons, but to the extent that I am above ground in in this county, I uh I promise to be here. And so my sincere apologies for not being so last time. >> Thanks, Dr. Kelly. Mr. Rittenhouse. >> Um like Mr. Kelly, uh, I do look forward to the upcoming school year and, uh, children coming back and the new teachers, uh, in schools. I look forward to meeting them, uh, on the first day. And also thankful for the rain that we're getting. That's all. Thank you, Mr. House. I guess I'll close with uh, I'm very excited like Dr. Kelly
099and Mr. written out said about the new school year and I had a chance this evening for the schoolboard meeting. I drove by the new high school, checked out the new football field that's in progress. Look at those yellow shiny gold post. That's a lot of excitement for the kids hopefully the school year starts. You know, going to high school, you know, a lot of things that you remember and don't remember. I know one thing I remember is being on sports teams. So that's Thank you. All right, board members, there are someformational items. 14A, VSBA newsletter, upcoming events. B, Fluana County public press releases and upcoming events on the 15. Can I have a motion to adjourn the meeting? Some second. >> All right. All those in favor say I. >> I adjourn. Thank you.