001I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you all. So, we have the agenda. We need to approve it, but have we had a chance to look at it and barring any additions, deletions, if I can have a motion to approve the agenda as presented. >> like to add a approval of a field trip um to that agenda. Um so, National Honor Society approval of a field trip to the uh zoo trip. Okay. So, prior to the motion to approve the agenda, add the approval of a field trip to that agenda. Any issues with that? And you do have a copy of that at your spot. Okay. All right. So, with
002the addition of that to the agenda, may I have a motion to approve the agenda as I make a motion to approve the agenda as presented with the addition of the field trip. May I have a second? Second. All those in favor? Aye. Aye. Anyone opposed? Anyone abstain? Okay. The agenda is approved. Thank you, Dr. Hester, for adding that. So, we have a few extra people here today and this is kind of the best part of our meeting, but one of the most important things I think that we have as as a school partner to us are SRO partners and so, if Dr. Hester can come up and recognize their introduction and recognition of our SROs. Actually, I believe what I'm going to do um for those of you who are not aware, we are
003um fully staffed with SROs or school resource officers at each of our school locations. So, that has been um uh a priority and an undertaking that's taken place over the last four years since I've been here. So, um with that, we believe strongly in creating that relationship and that partnership with our local law enforcement through our sheriff's office to be able to build those relationships between the schools and law enforcement and our overall community while also providing the most safe and secure environment that we can. So, I am actually going to defer to Major Meche uh to be able to provide a little bit of information and introduction. And do you want me to stand up there with you? I'm happy to. >> No, ma'am. No, ma'am. >> to All right. I I told you
004that Dr. Normally the sheriff does these things and this is my very first one and I guess I'm pretty the largest meeting today. But with that being said, I will also try to keep my to my notes and make it quick and get out of y'alls hair. Um we have basically recognized with the new board members uh and congratulations to each one of you and welcome. That we wanted to just provide the opportunity to put names with faces and see each of the SROs that serve uh in our schools. So, with that being said, um first I I'll introduce uh Lieutenant Curtis Brandon and you can step ON UP. UM LIEUTENANT CURTIS BRANDON is a seasoned veteran uh law enforcement officer. Um he's responsible for the direct supervision and the coordination of the SRO team.
005Uh next we have DEPUTY WILLIAM BROWN. DEP- DEPUTY BROWN IS ALSO A seasoned uh law enforcement officer and a very seasoned school resource officer. I'm sure uh his notoriety is popular amongst the county. Um Deputy Brown is assigned to the Ty River Elementary School and he also coordinates for the office our Project Lifesaver program. Um Deputy Brown is a DARE certified instructor and he also assists heavily with the planning and the coordination of our uh now annual Cop Camp. Uh next we have Deputy James Walls. UH DEPUTY WALLS IS A seasoned law enforcement officer. He is currently assigned to the middle school. He is also a certified DARE instructor and um as well has contributed to our Cop Camp. And last but not least uh certainly, UH DEPUTY ROBERT RICHARDSON. UH SO, DEPUTY RICHARD RICHARDSON
006HAS a uh long history of public service and uh first responder world. Um he is newer to the law enforcement world and then recently started his assignment um as a school resource officer at Rockfish Elementary. Um he plans to attend the D.A.R.E. school and become a D.A.R.E. certified instructor um this summer. Um Deputy Richardson's specialty is also he's very heavy in the traffic enforcement. He usually just about every morning I see him monitoring one of the local uh school bus stops on River Road. Um and lastly, not but not least, um the SRO division is ultimately supervised by Captain uh Connor Tobin. Um he was unfortunately uh out of town this week, so he wasn't able to make it. Um but uh Lieutenant Brandon reports to Captain Tobin uh with the investigations division in which
007the SROs fall under. Uh so, he's kind of ultimately responsible for them. So, these are our SROs. Um you now have names with faces and we appreciate appreciate the time. I will say the the sheriff asked me uh to also mention uh his personal wanted to thank you all. We have alert training coming up, our alert active shooter training that's coming up next week. It's Thursday and Friday. We're going to be at the middle school, so he wanted to say thank you all uh for letting us uh use the schools uh sources there to complete that training. Um and then again, a thank you with Cop Camp coming up again this summer um for using the entire river. We'll uh be hosting Cop Camp for the 2-week period. Thank you all. Put me on the
008spot and answer any questions. Especially from the new members, any questions? We just have a I just Just that my kids go to school with highly of two of you guys, Thank you. We We appreciate that partnership with you all. You know, anything everything from the cop camp to even when you something as simple as escorting your buses to the line for competition. That's that's awesome. But, you all have such an opportunity and and we're so appreciative that to to really bridge that gap and show our students what good policing and and creating that partnership. So, when they go into the real world, they know who they can trust. So, we are appreciative Do you have a second to ask real quick an opportunity to get a picture with you guys? Absolutely. All right. So,
009you're going to be in it as well? Absolutely. All right. If you guys can come forward a little bit in right front. So, I'm sorry. I'm going to be right in front of you. And we'll both get in it. How about that? And this waiting area is going to be able to get a picture. So, yeah, you get in. You're right in the middle. Thank you ALL SO MUCH. THANK YOU ALL. APPRECIATE IT. GOOD TO SEE YOU ALL. WE DID have some seats open up over here if anybody wants to shift over. So, the fun part. This is a huge accomplishment. We're going to recognize perfect SOL scores. This is such an incredible accomplishment for you. Kids would have students that have been able to do that. So, on the front end, congratulations. Excuse me.
010Um First, thank you all for being able to make it this evening. Springtime is a very busy time of year. I think selfishly, I kind of like the fact that the SROs were here at the really busy time because it's our perfect SOLs. So, that means we've had a lot of kids be able to accomplish that goal. And a lot of um families and teachers who are able to support that achievement as well. So, I'm going to go through So, how this is going to work. Um I will announce the student's name and kind of wait a little bit for that student to join me up front. Uh then I will um say what the test was, what assessment it was, where there was a perfect score. Then we'll That'll be a perfect opportunity to
011have a picture um to be Parents, you will be able to take a picture of your student. So, we'll pause a little bit. We'll also have someone else taking a picture as well. Um and so that is a good time to be able to do that. We'll pause. Do not hesitate to stand up and say, "Hold up. I need that picture." especially if we start to move away. Okay? This is that perfect time to be able to do that. All right, we good? We're all excited? Okay. All right, bear with me. I have I will do the best I can to get the pronunciations correctly. I've been uh practicing, but I think almost immediately walking away out of um fear of mispronouncing it, it's gone out of my head. But, our first student up, I
012might be able to get this one right. Kennedy Haney. Do we have Kennedy here? Oh, no. Shucks. Well, I guess Kennedy wasn't able to make it this evening, but Kennedy received a perfect score of 600 on the end-of-course reading test in the fall of 2025. So, we want to say congratulations to Kennedy. Okay, I think I'm pretty confident this one's here. Rush Newsome. Rush Newsome. So, Rush received a uh perfect score of 600 on his grade five science and his grade five mathematics uh assessment end-of-year assessment. So, okay. Can you scoot OVER HERE? OR ELSE WE'RE GOING TO SCOOT OVER JUST A LITTLE WHAT? OH, THERE we are. I did it in the background. Well, I was going to try to see the scoot over so you could. Congratulations, Rush. That's awesome. Good job. Thank
013you. Next up, thank you, Mr. Blico. Yes, congratulations. All right, next up Oh, gosh, I apologize. Alexander Velasquez Isidro. Congratulations to Alexander for a perfect 600 score in his grade five science and his grade five mathematics. So, congratulations. We're going to get this picture and then we'll get a picture in a second. We're going to be right here first. Take a step closer to me. There we go. All right, ready? Cheese. All right, ready? Look at your parents. I can see it, too. That's so cool. All right, thank you. Congratulations. Thank you. TY JAKETIC. CONGRATULATIONS, TY. ALL RIGHT, Ty had a perfect 600 score on his grade five science assessment. So, congratulations. We're going to take a picture and look at that nice lady and we're going to turn and look right over here. We
014ready? Yes. Yay! There you go. You guys, congratulations. Hartley Woodson. Woohoo! It's a cool bell pepper you got. That's awesome. All right, Hartley who scored a perfect score of 600 on her grade five science assessment. So, congratulations. And look look right here. Okay, we're going to rotate. Awesome. Congratulations, Hartley. Thank you for coming. Hazel Mosey. Hazel was not able to make it this evening. I think she has swim practice. So that like I said, there's a lot going on, but Hazel received a perfect 600 score for her grade for reading in the spring of 2025. So congratulations to Hazel. Ava Burkhead. I get that right? Yes, I thought so. Congratulations. Ava received a perfect 600 score on her civics and economics assessment in the spring of 2025. So congratulations. I'm going to step over here,
015make sure we get out of the Okay, there you go. Yeah, they're being parents, they're allowed. Did you get a good one though? Okay. All right. Thomas Whitehead. But it WAS KELLEN, RIGHT? THOMAS GOES BY KELLEN, SO THIS IS WHY I always try to practice. All right. Uh Kellen received a perfect score on his civics and economics assessment in the spring of 2025. So congratulations. That's awesome. We're going to take this picture right here. And then right there. Yep. Congratulations. Thank you. Yep. All right, James Martin. Is James Martin able to join us? No, he's not. No, okay. All right. James Lewis. Awesome, there he is. Did you start to get up when I said James the first time? No, it just scared me. >> Oh, oh my god, I didn't mean to scare you.
016Okay. All right, so James reserved uh received a perfect score or earned a perfect score of 600 on his civics and economics uh SOL assessment in the spring of 2025. So congratulations. We're We're to take a picture right there. We're going to turn and take a picture right there. Thank you. Yes, ma'am. Here you go. Congratulations. Thank you. JACOB PIEDRA ALL RIGHT, CONGRATULATIONS, JACOB. ALL RIGHT, Jacob earned a perfect 600 score on his grade 7 mathematics and that was in the spring of 2025. So, we're going to scoot on over. You can another one to your parents. There you go. Congratulations. Congratulations. William Carter I think William may have baseball this evening. So, William Carter, okay. All right, William received a perfect 600 score on his civics and economics SOL in the spring of 2025.
017So, congratulations to William. Jared Craig All right. Jared, what sport do you play? Baseball. Okay, good. Uh Jared earned a perfect 600 score on his civics and economics SOL in the spring of 2025. So, congratulations. We're going to scoot to your right two steps. Yep, there you go. ALL RIGHT. CONGRATULATIONS, BUDDY. THANK YOU. YEP. ALL RIGHT, Batula Braime. Batula, was she able to make it this evening? No, Batula is not able to make it, but she received a perfect 600 score on grade 7 reading. So, congratulations to Batula. Bethany Cash Is Bethany Cash able to make it this evening? Bethany? No, oh, a bummer. Uh Bethany got a perfect 600 score on her Virginia Studies SOL and that was in the spring. Yes, that's good. Bring it 2025. That's not an easy one, so congratulations.
018All right, Jacob Massey. Jacob Massey. Congratulations. Do you like to hunt? Okay, yes. I asked him if he liked to hunt. Yeah. All right. So, Jacob received a perfect 600 score on his Virginia Studies and that was in the spring of 2025. So, congratulations, Jacob. We're going to smile at this nice lady and we're going to smile back in that corner. All right. Congratulations. Good job. Tessa Massey. Congratulations. Yeah. Tessa, congratulations. She earned a perfect 600 score on her Virginia Studies SOL end-of-year SOL assessment in the spring of 2025. So, congratulations. We're going to have that picture and we're going to go in the back there. All right, congratulations. Good job. Jordan Massey. Congratulations. All right, Jordan earned a perfect 600 score on her grade five mathematics SOL in the spring of 2025. So, congratulations.
019Yep. All right, congratulations. Thank you. Yep. Anna White. Was Anna able to make it this evening? Oh, track meet. That's right. Yeah, we have a big track meet going on this evening and man, with the weather that happens in the spring, you get those in when you can. So, um Anna received a perfect 600 score on her end-of-course, which is one of the final SOLs of high school, in her reading. Um so, that's a 600 score, perfect score on her reading. So, congratulations to Anna. And our final um our final individual has actually transferred out. He is now um in um Amherst, but we want to say congratulations to Easton Coffee for his perfect score in Virginia studies in spring of 2025. Do you guys want to say anything? Yeah. Uh that's such an accomplishment.
020I I I hope you as parents and as kids, as teachers, know all the hard work that goes into to getting a perfect score, 600 on an SOL. So, as a system, as an individual, as a board member, I'm so proud of you all. Congratulations. Yeah, I I think for um that is an achievement, and I think at a time where um we've started to see those um assessments kind of alter and change where it's a little bit more than I think what they get credit for. Um so, I want to say congratulations to all of our students and their families and their teachers for that accomplishment. So, that is a very much a a well-rounded deserve um appreciation. So, thank you so much. Thanks. Do you want to help out with You want to
021stay and help out with this? All right. We um One Nelson? Yes. Next Next up, we have our One Nelson awards. Uh and so, what's exciting about the One Nelson award is it's that mentality that it takes all of us and um all types of individuals to help support not only our students, but our staff and our schools and our entire community to be successful. And so, what we do is at each uh school board meeting, we recognize One Nelson winners, which have been um Did I miss anybody? From the SOLs? Okay. I just want to make sure I didn't miss it. It was that afterthought that I may have missed someone, so I don't want to have the Um when we take a look at it they are um nominated by a wide variety
022of individuals and so they could be your peers as students, they could be teachers, instructional aids, they could be community members. Um those nominations come from all over which is really meaningful because it kind of recognizing that you can be seen from all different perspectives for the contributions, kindnesses, and efforts that you put into it. So our four categories that we recognize is our student category, our community category, classified staff, and certified staff. So we want to just kind of lay that out. Um and for this first category, which is students, we have two students being recognized um that operated kind of at the same time or recognized at the same time. So I'm going to call up uh Tara Livergood. I'm also going to call Meiliana Grubb up. Did I get it? Okay, it
023only took practicing. So I'm going to give you your certificate and I'm going to stand in between you. I'm going to give you your mug and I'm going to give you your certificate and your mug and I'll give you your certificate when I'm done reading it. So you two were nominated uh to be recognized for outstanding helpfulness and leadership during a morning bus ride with a substitute teacher. Meiliana and Tara went above and beyond by assisting the driver in locating stops along an unfamiliar route and helping maintain a safe, orderly environment for younger students by ensuring they remained seated while the bus was in motion. Their initiative, responsibility, and willingness to step up made a meaningful difference and contributed to a smooth and successful ride. The driver greatly appreciated both of your support and positive
024example. So you imagine who nominated you for this? Yes, you know, yeah, you have the bus driver. The the normal bus driver uh nominated you guys for this. And all that Yeah, Mr. Durkee, yeah. Um and so while you might not think that that's a huge deal, I um I don't know if you guys know this, it's a little hard to come by bus drivers. Um that's a stressful job, it's a huge responsibility. Um and it's just really tough, especially when you're covering the 470 square miles of Nelson County. So, we want to say thank you guys so much. We appreciate it. So, what we're going to do right now is we're going to take a picture. Okay, you guys ready? All right. So, we're going to take a picture. Um we're going to do
025um we're going to do one each and then we're going to do a group. We're good. So, we're going to go here. Ready? No, no. That's you. You can't get out of this. There's no getting out of this. Okay, you hold on to that. All right. I'm going to pivot. All right. All right. And together. All right. Awesome. Thank you guys. Did you both get your mugs? Awesome. All right. Next up, uh we want to recognize the Heart of Nelson, the community recipient. So, Heart of Nelson. It's Miss Abby Davis? Abby Rice. Abby Rice. Abby Rice. So, this is Miss Abby. Um she is able to Are you serving as the president? >> Serving as the director >> The director Yeah. of the overall. Yeah. How many uh organizations are within Heart of Nelson? Um
026the Heart of Nelson, there are I think we have about 18 members who are individual artists who um display their work there and sell their work there and volunteer there. So, Yes. >> we're a complete all-volunteer organization. >> Yes. That's awesome. And so, you're not only you're giving to the entire community, but you guys are giving back in supporting us and we want to thank you. So, the Heart of Nelson is coordinated with the art programs at Nelson County High School and Nelson Middle School to celebrate and showcase the remarkable artistic talents of Nelson students. Through this collaboration, the Heart Artisans demonstrate a strong commitment to nurturing young artists by providing a space for their work to be displayed and appreciated. This exhibit highlights the creativity and skill of Nelson's youth and encourages community engagement
027and support. So, we want to thank you so much and we're so excited to be able to see that artwork on display, but also to be able to see all the things that you guys give back and offer. >> it, so >> Yes, thank you so much. So, we're going to have this nice lady take a picture. Okay. Thank you. And hold on 1 second. Um this is what the mug looks like. This is actually what we're handing out, and so this is created in-house by one of our assistant principals over at the high school, um and being able to use and and take advantage of that. So, here you go. Thank you so much. Appreciate it. THANK YOU. ALL RIGHT, NEXT UP IS OUR UH CLASSIFIED UH staff recipient in Ms. Tanya Reyes. Will
028you please COME UP, PLEASE? SO, I'LL GIVE YOU THIS SO YOU HAVE SOMETHING TO HOLD IN YOUR hand while I talk about you. Okay. All right. So, um you actually had uh quite a few uh nominations, so bear with me as I read through this. Tanya Reyes, a dedicated special education paraprofessional, which by the way, April 1st was National Paraprofessional Appreciation Day, so we want to say thank you so much for that as well. Um so, paraprofessional at Rockfish River Elementary School, she makes an impact that extends far beyond her role. She cares deeply about her school community, often putting others first. She consistently shows kindness, patience, and a strong commitment to supporting students and their families. Tanya regularly goes above and beyond supporting colleagues, stepping in where she's needed, and serving as an interpreter
029to help Spanish-speaking families feel welcomed and connected. She embodies the true spirit of the One Nelson and is an invaluable asset and joy to work with. So, congratulations. We're going to step over here. So, uh we got a few people wanting to take pictures, so all right. We're going She what? Okay. You coming? Yeah. Okay. Good. Yeah, Rachel get it. Awesome. Congratulations. Here you go. Oh, oh, oh. You can get that. YES, THANK YOU. AND THE UH FINAL category is for the um certified staff. And unfortunately, Madison Tyree is not able to make it this evening. She had made a prior commitment to running the golf cart over at the track meet. Um so, in order to make sure that people are able to to make it here and there. But, Madison Tyree consistently goes
030above and beyond to support student success through creativity and compassion. By recognizing challenges, she is able to implement innovative strategies to better meet the diverse needs of her students. She continues to explore additional approaches to foster growth and confidence in the classroom. Her ability to uh her ability to truly see her students, understand their needs, and respond with thoughtful action creates a lasting positive impact on their educational journey. So, we want to say congratulations to Madison Tyree. Thank you. Thanks. Congratulations to all the One Nelson winners. That's quite an an accomplishment and and wonderful to be rewarded by your peers. So, let's see. We are on to our comments from board members. Um yes, you know, as much as we would love to hold you all hostage here, we understand your lives outside of this
031meeting. Thank you for joining us. Thank you for joining us. I'm so sorry. Take care. >> Okay, is there leaving we'll go ahead and begin to talk about our comments from the board members. Mr. Richardson, I feel like you pick on me always at times. Mr. Deemon, is that No, not at all. Um recently I've had the opportunity to participate in FFA presentation and also um the Blue Ridge Governor's Cup presentation by the students. And this is actually very timely given you know, what we've just learned with students who uh achieved a perfect score on the SOL because one of the foundational things that I witnessed whether you're talking about the FFA students or the Governor's Cup students um I've reflected on all this and I actually wrote something out so I'm kind of going
032to read from it. Um you know each of our students um demonstrated an impressive command of their ideas and a mere uh maturity beyond their ages. Each presenter articulated their values with clarity and conviction demonstrating not only a deep understanding of their chosen topics, but also a genuine awareness of the broader community they aim to serve. Their confidence, thoughtful delivery, and ability to connect personal ideas to real-world impact reflect the strength of their character and the quality of their preparation. These presentations stand as a testament to their hard work, leadership development, and commitment to contributing meaningfully uh to their communities. And I think this all bore out in the earlier part of this presentation today. You know, these are key foundational pieces that are being added uh to our young people. And it's exhibited in
033their growth and accepting those responsibilities. And I think that's worth celebrating. I don't think anything better. Thank you. Dr. Rush. Yes. Um I have a shout-out to give to Rockfish Elementary nutrition lunchroom ladies. I was asked to read a story about springtime, yes, uh Wednesday morning, yesterday morning, to all the pre-K students and the kindergarten students and the students with disabilities. The lunchroom ladies had recycled milk cartons and turned them into Easter baskets and painted them, filled them with straw. They had two dyeable eggs for each student that were each of them were in separate bags, separate plastic bags, but they were sort of the crinkly noisy ones. Um so after I read the story about springtime, they the the ladies went around and put a couple drops of food coloring in each of the
034egg bags and the kids had a sensory sort of bonanza dying their eggs and putting them in the uh in the little baskets. Yes, it was a mess, but the parents had been warned the night before not to wear anything that food coloring was going to be a problem on. The kids were so great, the teachers were amazing, and I'm the I'm sorry to keep calling them lunchroom ladies, but that's what my kids call them, all very respectfully growing up. Um the fact that they would take time out of their very difficult job to do this for these kids just floored me. After they stuffed their Easter baskets, the Easter Bunny came. Um and that also was a lunchroom lady, and she ran around to each kid at each table and got hugs and, you
035know, checked out their beautiful work. So, and then they very quietly walked back to their classroom. I'm imagining they washed their hands on the way. Um but just a real shout-out to the lunchroom ladies at Rockfish. This is not something they were asked to do. This is just something they did out of the love that they have for the kids at their school. So, thanks to Rockfish. Mr. Kennedy? Um I guess uh I I was able to take part in some, you know, a lot of training with the ASBA, with new member training, and us all working together, and I was just grateful for that time and learning more about what this uh responsibility is all about. And uh also, I'm just uh excited to talk more about the the middle school athletics um proposal
036later on in the agenda, and, you know, kind of what a vision for how we get more and more of the community engaged and be able to, you know, get that enrollment trend reversed, best case. And I don't know what all that that that's part of something that we almost need like a task force on that is enrollment trend and how we would like, you know, rebut the national and state trends. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Kennedy. Mr. Perkins? I just want to say thanks to all the award winners, the 600 students, the everything that's going on at the schools, um sports-wise, academic-wise. Um appreciate the teachers and every the staff, bus drivers and all. Everybody's doing a tremendous job. Um it's fastly closing another school year and um I appreciate all the
037work that's being done. And thank you for your time. Thank you. Well, as we kind of round out the board comments, um we had opportunity as a board to have not a retreat, but really a protocol sort of working group together a couple days ago in Charlottesville and it was really good opportunity for I think us to get to know one another better as a board, kind of understand their perspectives, where we want to go, and really begin the work on how we want to get there, um from really a Norman protocol standpoint and how we want to operate as a board. So, we know that's a working document sort of as we move along and we get to know each other's style, we'll continue to move forward, but I appreciate the time. I know
038if if you all don't know, the new board members have spent a tremendous amount of time learning how to be a board member and lots of trainings and that's a ton of time out of your personal life and so I just want to publicly say how much we appreciate that investment you're making not just in yourselves, but in the system as a whole and and say thank you to each of you. So, important dates coming up. Dr. Hester, I don't know if you want to tag team on this one, but Um April 1st is was paraprofessional appreciation day. Have you got it? Yeah, I've got it. Okay. Sorry, I was multitasking. Um all right. So, as I mentioned, uh April 1st was paraprofessional appreciation day and that is not a joke, anything but a joke.
039They are very much uh a backbone of everything that we do um and they create such phenomenal relationships with our kids and our staff and our families, so we appreciate them. Um April 3rd is a green day and a student holiday. Um later on in the agenda, you will notice something that I'd like to add to that um a part uh upon your approval. Um April 4th is National School Librarian Day. Um it's always a bummer when these days fall uh either over a spring break or a weekend uh because they um contribute greatly to the success of the school and we uh appreciate everything that they do. Um and kind of coupled with that, April 6th through the 10th is spring break. I know we're all really looking forward to that, um but it's
040also National Assistant Principal Week. Um so again, it's a bummer that that falls during spring break and uh you know, I know Central Office-wise, we'll celebrate our our APs on on the uh following Friday with some lunch. Um schools may have been celebrating them this week. Thank you. Um and um maybe next week. It's just bookending it to be able to acknowledge the role that they play. Uh without them, the uh operations of the building are very, very difficult. And uh we got prom coming up. It's spring season. It's prom time. I know they've uh worked really hard to get that planned and and the kids are really excited about it. April 21st is Ty Rivers Spring Concert. Um so that'll be 6:00 p.m. for 3rd through 5th grade. April 22nd is Earth Day, but
041it's also Administrative Professionals Day. So we want to take the time to celebrate our administrative professionals. April 30th is the uh Rockfish River Show Choir. And then uh that's 6:30 in the Rockfish uh cafeteria. And then on May 7th, um again, this is something that we'll have a little bit later on in as an action item is to establish May 7th as the May School Board. Reason why it was originally second Thursday of the month is May 14th, the day before um graduation. So that's a little rough on everybody uh particularly um for those involved in our technology team getting ready to be able to not stream a school board meeting right before a big graduation production. So, we want to make sure plus that's just a lot going on for for everyone. And uh
042as I do want to make a plug. We had a parent in here earlier who had a child a student recognized. We talk about prom. She's doing a project where she's collecting prom dresses so that if there are students who don't have access to a prom dress. So, if wants to support that prom a prom dress left over from a kid um you can reach out to me. I'll give the information to Dr. Hester, but I think it is a wonderful opportunity for students that might not have access to a prom dress to to have access to it. Sorry to interrupt you, but want to put that little plug in there. It's perfect. Yeah. All right. All the dates. Good enough. So, in the spirit that everybody is incredibly busy this time of year our
043student representatives are out representing their school doing extracurriculars. So, they are not here today and now we are on to comments from our superintendent. All right. Let's see if our little clicker is working. All right. Um so, um one of the things that I like to do this is kind of like our our showcase of not only the division, but all the different things that are going on and it really reflects how we put into action the priorities and the funding that we get. And so, we really want to highlight that um and for the administrative staff, we want to um give our well wishes to Ms. Ervin. She has had a rough 3 years and in particular she's had a rough last 2 weeks. Um she has um had a surgery, so she is
044not with us this evening cuz she is recovering, but um she is watching. So, we want to say we have a bunch of well wishes for Ms. Ervin and she continues to keep working. So, she is a trooper. Um the big things uh from the last school board meeting to this is really working on continuing with the budget, but also identifying with potential funding gaps. Where are areas that we may have to address? And so that has been a big part of this. She's been a big individual creating the presentation to be able to identify areas to cut, but also this presentation has been um We presented this to each of our schools and um in an effort to be transparent and educate and inform our staff about our current status of our budget and
045where we are in the overall budget process. And so that she was very instrumental in in in doing so. Um instruction assessment accreditation is really charging quickly. Over the past few weeks we've continued strong work across instruction, operations, and student support. Supported ACHS and NCHS at the career expo. Conducted quarter three instructional walkthroughs across all schools. Engaged in multiple curriculum and data initiatives including M class, Lexia, and Valles. Also completed key federal grant revisions. Supported the title one family events. Facilitated student discipline hearings and continued the progress on textbook adoption, which is also um um an action item later this evening. And additionally we celebrated student voice and creativity through our participation through the VSBA art contest. If you'll notice in the window wells behind you, we have the four submissions on behalf of the
046central region art contest. We had two third place Yep, two third place winners from our elementary and our high school. And we also had good showings by our other entrants. So we want to say thank you and congratulations to our students who will recognize our next meeting. Uh for special education and student services over the we've continued to strengthen our support systems for our students. We participate in the region five special education meeting at JMU to expand resources and partnerships and we're working closely with infant toddler connection and school teams to ensure smooth transitions for our students into early childhood and middle school services. We also welcomed our new telehealth facilitator is already helping students access mental health supports. I've I've spoken with her a couple times while I've been over at the middle school
047and she's very very excited about this opportunity as well as well as students and parents with this opportunity to access that support. We're preparing for upcoming McKinney-Vento audits. I spoke to a parent the other day who's beginning the process of of going through and accessing you will to support their child particularly with through anxiety and I just I'm so thrilled that a small rural school division such as ourselves is able to be able to provide those services for our students and I just appreciate Ms. Royden her and her team for being able to kind of really put intensive work into looking for those opportunities and bringing them to us. HR and communications over the past few weeks our HR team has continued strong efforts in its recruitment and staff support. They participated in both the
048NCHS Career Expo and Liberty University Educator Fair to connect with future educators and we're exploring new licensure pathways through Grand Canyon University. We're also working closely with retired staff through the ERP program and that is the early retirement incentive program to support schools in meaningful ways and we continue collaboration with the United Way on the Head Start implementation through the rest of the school year. Technology technology team has been actively supporting instruction innovation across the division. There's this ongoing emphasis in implementation of training for cybersecurity for all staff and focused on protecting student data and safe practices in the age of AI. We work with Bay Corp quite frequently when there have been um cyber cyber security um attacks and things of that nature and it's coming, you know, not only um in in the
049Commonwealth but throughout the nation and this is um becoming even more integral to be able to have that training and knowledge to protect ourselves. We're also launching our elementary laptop refresh expanded classroom technology with new Promethean panels at the high school and continuing our phased out roll of iPads at the elementary in classrooms to enhance digital learning and student engagement. Uh maintenance team has been taking full advantage of the warmer weather to focus on both exterior and interior repairs across the division. We've transitioned from snow and ice removal and you can see the impact of the snow and ice removal on the the um plow. It bent up the front lip because of the uh what was it the um snow creep, the concrete basically that was created. But we have transitioned into now we
050are needing to mow our grounds. And so uh with that work we're repairing equipment to be fixed winter conditions and getting our spring conditions ready. Also constant monitoring and evaluation of the renovation project and addressing any needs that arise from that. Um, we have had quite a bit of um extra support of our transportation department. Um, we've also received and tagged our new buses from ordering last year. Um, we uh transportation has collaborated with our instructional programs to be able to put up signs throughout the county as you see at the intersection of 161 and 6 advertise kindergarten on 151 and 6. What did I say? Did I just make it up? I'm just making up street names. Okay, 151 and 6 um to advertise kindergarten registration. And also looking at uh other opportunities to
051be able to monitor through GPS and tablets and just opportunities to webinars to see what we can do to enhance our transportation experience. Um, school nutrition elementary schools recently celebrated National School Breakfast Week. Um, it happened at a time where there was a lot of assessments and things going on. So, they they posted they kind of backed it up a week. Um, additionally, what they provided was engaging activities for students including themed events and taste testing. Additionally, our nutrition department is actively working with the Blue Ridge Cooperative to prepare food and supply bids for the upcoming year. By partnering and neighboring with divisions, we're able to secure more competitive pricing and maximizes our resources for our schools. Our Over the 20 days that we served meals, we had 13,897 breakfast breakfasts, 19,958 lunches, and 829
052suppers or those after-school meals that we provide when we provide instruction. Community Oh, yep. I messed this around. How'd that possibly happen? Got ahead of myself. We have a lot of the community engagement opportunities. Mr. Kennedy was able to join us when we went to the VSBA Central Central Region Networking where we had an opportunity to taste the the delicious meals prepared by the culinary Louisa culinary students, but also hear an AI presentation and then also be able to watch our students be celebrated for their art achievements. Um, the chili cook-off this was a a first inaugural chili cook-off put on by the Sheriff's Office, but it was to benefit Special Olympics. And so, this was a second opportunity for the schools to support that cause to to give back to Special Olympics and it
053was a chili tasting contest that was It was a tough job, but I was you know, I was able to to make it through to be able to participate for the community. Um, as we mentioned, we've had some students not here this evening cuz they are involved in their spring sports. So, that is in full swing. The middle school hosted a sixth-grade orientation. And this is a wonderful opportunity to be able to welcome rising sixth-graders coming in from two different schools to be able to see and experience a new building. We said prom is coming up. We also have the green and gold golf tournament, which is a wonderful booster event. It's a golf tournament being held at Stoney Creek. So, it's a great opportunity to get businesses, alumni, community members, staff members, anyone involved
054in playing golf for a good cause. Tie River had a career expo, which highlighted some local businesses, but it also highlighted teachers, staff, and students from the high school in other areas. And that was a really cool event for our elementary students to be able to participate in. And also hosted wacky scientists who visited Tie River to discuss science and how it impacts life. At Rockfish, they supported a community event through bingo. And then also um made a video that kind of went out to help advertise that. So, just really finding new pathways to be able to engage our community back with our schools. I mentioned we had the NCPS paraprofessionals day. That was Wednesday, the 1st. Um the 4th is National Librarian Day. So, we want to thank all of our librarians. We have
055assistant principal week coming up the 6th to the 10th. And I'm not sure if we've mentioned this, but we also have spring break coming up, which I believe Mr. Ashley has signified that our precious cargo has all been delivered through our regular bus routes and our activity buses. So, we spring break has begun for our students. So, congratulations. And then obviously willing to answer any questions that you may have about the pathways or anything else. All right, thank you. Thank you guys. I think >> So, I have a question So, we are now open for public comments. Mr. Philip Kershner has registered speaking on behalf of the NCEA. He will get 5 minutes as Ms. Becky Allen also has to forfeit time to him. So, if you can state your name. >> Yes. State your
056address. Uh Philip Kershner. I actually live in Lynchburg. Um, 1 North Princeton Circle. Um, good evening members of the school board, Dr. Hester, and all guests watching in person and online. My name is Philip Kirchner, a teacher at Nelson Middle School and Nelson County High School. Thank you for your advocacy and support of Nelson County schools by passing a budget of need that invests in our students, the future of this community, the state, and the country. For those in our community that are newer to school budgets, they see an increase of 13.7% in the school board's funding request compared to last year. And they think, "Why do the schools keep asking for more?" Meanwhile, inside the schools, it always feels like we are asked to do more with fewer resources. The community may be surprised
057that the proposed school budget is only 3 and 1/2% higher than last year, lower than the county budget's growth of 7.6% and just barely above inflation. The county contribution towards the school system makes up 40% of Nelson's budget, which comes well below the state average of 52%. So, what accounts for this difference in perception? As many of you know, school systems in Virginia get allocated funding through a percentage called the local composite index. This percentage indicates how much the state of Virginia thinks Nelson County can support its schools. Unlike our neighboring school systems who are only expected to pay between 30 and 40% of their standards of quality funding, Nelson is expected to contribute around 73%. This percentage was raised from 66% this past year, and it is the 13th highest in the Commonwealth out
058of 134 school districts. Virginia puts Nelson's ability to pay above that of Fairfax, Loudoun, and Prince William counties. That increase accounts for nearly all of the difference in Nelson County's contribution, um, contribution to its schools. Why did the LCI increase so much? The largest component of the LCI is property value, and I don't think I need to tell anyone in this room that your tax assessments went up. This is unfortunately a known issue for rural resort communities and affects communities similar to ours in Bath, Highland, Lancaster, and Northumberland counties. Since the LCI formula is enshrined in Virginia code, only the general assembly can change it. And aside from advocating for our community with our state legislators, there's little that the school board or board of supervisors can do to change it. It's the reality for
059at least this budget. Some in the community might point out that enrollment is also a factor in the LCI. That is true, but in a county with a median age over 50, the ninth oldest in the Commonwealth, there simply are not enough young families in Nelson to offset the increase in property values. While we can reasonably hope to attract a dozen or so more students with our competitive activities, opportunities, and high accreditation status, it would take over 2,000 additional students to bring the property value portion of the LCI in line with the state average. That's two and a half times our current enrollment, and a number of families that we do not have the school capacity, housing, employment opportunities, or infrastructure to support. So, if changing the LCI is not an option, maybe cutting the
060school budget is an option. I would remind the community of several points. First, no cut is without consequences, and many cuts will end up costing more in the long run. In fact, some of the costs in the current budget are a result of decisions made years ago to save money in the short term. For example, a cut to special education services could lead to decreased outcomes for our most at-risk children, either through less direct support or through early intervention. Raising class sizes could jeopardize our accreditation status. Eliminating programs could mean the difference in families moving to Nelson or switching from home or private schooling to public schools. And more importantly, students could miss out on finding a lifelong passion or career path. I know that none of us want to make those mistakes. Second, the
061current budget already makes cuts largely through a tradition through attrition to accommodate increased costs and the rise in the LCI. There's only so much to be cut without real consequences. Furthermore, districts with small populations cost more per pupil than their larger counterparts. For Nelson, it's about 20% more. I'm sure I don't need to explain the advantages of economies of scale to the many successful business people in the audience. Some costs are fixed no matter the number of students or customers you have. Finally, we all have to remember that the vast majority of numbers on the budget spreadsheet represent real people, real lives, real families. Each year for the past several years, school staff is asked to do more with less, and that takes its toll on morale. Adding one spinning plate too many makes them
062all crash down. An engine can't continue to redline without damage, and neither can people. That insurance increase may look like just a frivolous number, but that could be what's keeping an instructional assistant's family from declaring medical bankruptcy. The cost of living adjustment might look like a luxury on paper, but in reality, it enables your child's favorite teacher to afford to continue to work here. I'll say that again. With inflation of the last few years, the cost of living adjustment enables our employees to afford to work here. Otherwise, our staff's real wages are going down when their experience goes up. That's not tenable for any institution, especially one that directly serves our children. As a final ask, I would like to encourage our community to invest in the future of Nelson County by supporting the current
063school board budget and the members who voted for it. I know that support is not easy, but we show our true convictions by the decisions we make when it is difficult. If we only do the right thing when it's easy, then this community would not be as strong as it is. Your children and grandchildren are your legacy, and I'm confident that you will choose to leave them the best opportunities that you can. Thank you. Could you please email that? I can Yes, I can also give you a copy. We're now on to the consent agenda portion of the meeting. >> Did you come for public comment? I did. I wasn't sure do we need to wait for the specific agenda? Um interesting. I spoke I just read that. Interesting we just had this conversation. >>
064point the current policy is that that somebody can speak if you would if you have the grace to allow them. >> Yes. So Yes, well said it. You like what the agenda item I have an assumption of what I think it is. What are do you >> We get um sports for home school. Okay, so we're going to we're going to have that up on the agenda in a little bit. If you would like to just speak Nancy you don't have to stay through the whole meeting or is the board comfortable with that? >> Come on friend. This is this is you feel free to come on and speak and what you need to do your 3 minutes you need to state your name, your address and then you can come up. My name's Martin
065Bush. We live at 1342 Berry Hill Road. Uh we have been Nelson residents for over 10 years now. We have four children ages 7 to 14. Um three of those are all middle school or younger age. And um you know while we have been home schooling and continue to make that choice for our family we we evaluate every year what what's best. Um but I just was so happy to be a part of the early meeting and hear these kids recognized. Many of whom we actually know which is great. Sitting next to Rush here, good job, buddy, and Alex and Micah or or James is, I guess, his real name is. Um you know, these kids we have been um had such a the good opportunity to to participate with them in the community, primarily
066through Nelson County Parks and Rec, but not only that, 4-H, uh the community choir and Rockfish Presbyterian Church, um gymnastics at the Rockfish Community Center. Um I've had the benefit of of coaching for 4 or 5 years, either head coach or assistant coach. One of Joe's kids was on our flag football team last year. And um but it's so great to hear these kids recognized. And also, you know, I I don't know the background of the One Nelson flag, but it felt very appropriate to have that up. And I know that's that's the public school uh slogan or motto here, but that really gets at the heart of what I want to say, that while we do uh home-school the children, we do feel very much a part of the community. Um and we have
067really grown to love Nelson County. And while I'm speaking for our family, there are many other families that we are that are dear friends of ours that home-school, but also private school that are part of this community as well. And um when we heard the opportunity maybe arising to do um sports with the middle school at least, you know, it we're really excited about that prospect uh to continue to to be a part of the community. And our kids have been playing together for years already in the Parks and Rec. And as we're looking at them aging out of uh Parks and Rec, having this um option would be fantastic for us and and a lot of other families that are here. So, I don't know how how long I'm into it, but um You
068have 30 seconds. 30 seconds, great. Um anyway, so yeah, I mean, we um I think, you know, the fact that we have have not chosen to put the kids in in public school and partake of all of the opportunities that that brings, it sure would be great to be able to take advantage, you know, as tax-paying members of this community and and real, you know, participants in this community as well to be able to take advantage of of the sport. So, I appreciate the the board members for putting that forward and the opportunity to talk, um, Dr. Hester and the rest of the school board members. So, thank you all very much. And Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Okay. Now, I think we're done with public comments. Um, onto the consent agenda. Is um,
069are there any questions in regards to items on the consent agenda? Okay. If not, may I have a motion to approve the consent agenda as a whole? I'll move to approve the consent agenda as a whole. May I have a second? I'll second. All those in favor? Aye. Anyone opposed? Anyone abstain? The consent agenda is approved as presented. So, items for information, we have the first reading of our March 12th meeting minutes. Please, as we always do, review those minutes. If there are any changes, adjustments, modifications, do please let, um, let please let Dr. Hester know. So, we've got a couple of policies that are coming up, um, Dr. Hester, do you want to lead the charge on these? Do you want me to Um, I think the first one, um, so, um, back in
070May 2025, um, we had, uh, much like we've had in this past month, um, a considerable amount of proposed policies coming through the uh, the VSBA. Um, we had our first reading and our second reading. So, the reason why there's a gap between May and August when, um um the policies were approved as we didn't have a July meeting. Um and so if you will well, three of you won't remember this, but two of you will remember this. That was also the same time as a transitioning of clerks and taking on new responsibility. So through the process of updating um the policies, I made an error um and included um s- in reviewing things, somehow or another the VSBA snuck in another update in November on policy LBD, which is home instru- piggybacking home instruction.
071Um and um there were kind of some edits, but nothing to the intent, to the structure of it. I um in my attempt to make sure that I had all of the appropriate edits incorporated the November edits into that. So what I would request is to have a first reading of the November 2025 home instruction policy LBD um for you to take a look at that. Um we'll have a second reading coming up in May for that to be approved. Um what I have provided as you can see what those red line changes were. Um nothing to the intent of the policy, but still important nonetheless, so I wanted to draw your attention to that. The second Any questions on that? No, I read it and it's really just minor inserting Yes. code here. >>
072Yes. Uh compliance versus Yeah. Um so Yes. wording. Yes. Yes. Um The second first reading um to draw your attention to is through policy GCBA, which is Family and Medical Act. You actually had um a month old version of that included that was going to be a part of the second reading this evening, but uh the VSBA came out with some more edits, and uh March. So, we need to pull that older version out and have a first reading of the newer version. This also will require some make sure that I we meet with Miss Irvin to to go through our current policy and compare it to the new suggested changes and also pay attention to current legislation to see if there's anything being discussed at the state level that could impact any of these
073changes as well. Any questions? That will require probably a little bit more processing for you all to have an opportunity to really read through. And again, this is a first reading for you all. We'd have a second reading on this to be approved in May if that is the direction you wanted to go in. The third item for first reading is the amended JJIA which Mr. Kennedy's proposed middle school sports participation policy. So, there was an amendment to it and Mr. Kennedy, if you'd like to speak more to that, you're more than welcome to. But, we I pulled the old policy back not to be considered for a second reading so we could have a first reading. If there's any amendments to that or changes as we move along, we would make it to that
074amended version. Okay. Any questions or further comment on that? >> the amendment that was made was with talking with coach Ben. He thought that it would really be a good thing if we could to open it to not just home instructed, but kids that are in private schools that are Nelson residents. So, that they could participate and maybe end up enrolling when they you know, reach the end of eighth grade at the school that they're at and decide that they already have friends in in sports and want to play high school sports with them. Is a maybe. That But I think that as the gentleman spoke to it would be an immediate impact for some families. Um and then the other amendment was just to say that in the Excuse me. For transportation, while the
075parents still are responsible for getting their students to practice if they're if they're riding on a bus together to a game, that the students that are playing under this policy would be allowed to ride with the team on the bus. Um and so I know that there's definitely details to still work out of insurance and what kind of forms everybody needs to fill out and those kinds of details, but I'm glad that there's some um momentum behind it. I've never met you people Well, I guess coach, but I didn't know you were going to show up tonight, so that's fun. Thank you. >> In discussion of that, and I don't In discussion of that, I have gotten feedback. I don't know if you all have from constituents and even some staff members that have some
076concerns, especially with the startup of a middle school program, but just concerns in general about um as we're starting a program up and we're trying to do something that's very very different than what we've done. Is it too much at one time? I also have families that are just not happy about that. To be very honest from a constituency standpoint, that they are not um they have really voiced their disapproval of that at this point based on things just such as not a part of the school community 100% and this is feedback from constituents, not my voice. But not a part of the school community, what happens if there are behavioral issues with the student from an insurance standpoint. We know there's a lawsuit with VHSL. I mean, and there's a part of me that
077says let's wait and see what VHSL does at the high school level with the home school student thing. I mean, that may that may resolve anything at that point, but my initial take on this is I'd almost like to pause it, feel get a feel from our community on what their thoughts are on on our staff on what their thoughts are, but also let the program get started. Let us ramp that up. See what happens. We middle school sports, we've got to find coaches. We've got you know, we've got to find students like there and we've got to get funded. That's the other thing. I mean, this is all based on if there is funding there. Is I'm merely one of five, but that's the feedback and my initial thought is do we pause this
078policy, not say no, but pause it till that program gets up and going and then see what happens and maybe look at it through the next year. And also see what VHSL does, what happens with that lawsuit. What programs need to get I mean, if there are already athletic programs up and running at the middle school. >> Not to the not to the extent of what this would be. No, there is um so, the only athletic program at the middle school currently volleyball basketball, cheerleading, track and cross country soccer soccer Well, and the soccer is is um coed. So, yes, um one of the proposals for the new additional is to separate into boys and girls. Um so, you have the order the the the their current sports versus the uh possible additions would be
079to separate by gender and then baseball, softball um and then potentially um shifting JV to middle football build up the capacity and the strength because we don't have those feeders um and then leading that back into um JV as it builds up. So, other feedback we've also gotten is based on your based on your policy is that if we have tryouts And what a great thing if we have tryouts and have enough kids that not everybody can make the team because it means there's that much support, right? But what happens if we have a home school kid that could potentially cut a student that's already in our school system that will matriculate into ninth grade and we've we've lost the investment in that student for for their training. I think if they're serious about it,
080they'll go home and they'll practice. And I think a little hard nose approach is appropriate. There'd be a lot of ways to make hard nose approaches, but yeah. I think in sports it's a it's competition breeds, you know, excellence. And I mean, a lot of the things I've heard the answer is well, that happens anyway. Like what if a public school kid gets more time on the field than a home school kid. I mean, a home school kid gets more time on the That happens anyway. Why isn't my kid getting as much playing time as your kid anyway. That would play out. Um what if if the you know, what if if a public school kid gets cut and a home school kid doesn't? Well, kids get cut, you know, they they 30 try out
081and 20 make it. So, somebody you know, it's the same thing. Why did my kid get cut and yours didn't? And why is your kid taking a spot that my kid could have had cuz I know that he plays this sport better than yours. So, I haven't yet heard other than the the building up of the program. Um Although even in that case taking advantage of this opportunity in the programs that are already built makes sense to me, but none of the issues that I've heard come up are not solvable. The insurance is solvable. The um behavior is I think they follow the same rules public school kids follow in the in the same consequences. And so, I haven't I don't I haven't run into yet from the folks I've talked to um problems that
082aren't don't already exist among parent, you know, I mean and or you know, and and on the field you know, my kids not getting any playing time and they go after the coach. Well, happens if my kid doesn't play as well as your kid and my kid doesn't get any playing time. So, I really haven't heard anything that would um cause me to consider pausing. It would be a good idea maybe phasing it in into the sports that we have established. Um and you know, seeing how that I'm not even sure you know, how if the if the place on all pieces going to be available or not. Definitely not this academic you know, year, but if it's something we could work out some implementation details for next year. That would be I hate to
083pause when there is an opportunity to solve that and none of the concerns that that I have heard in conversations in the community are alarming at all or not solvable. I mean, it would take conversations but that I mean, it could be just a different district but that I mean, it could be just a different district but that I mean, it could be just a different district but that I mean, it could be just a different district but that I mean, it could be I'd like to see it if we were so overpopulated that we separated them into grades, seventh and eighth grade. You know, I just came back from Lexington, Kentucky this weekend where my eighth grade grandson was deemed a all-state all-star and they split the state into six districts and you know,
084these are you know, the future leaders you know, for their high school teams. I think to a point of like football, it was you know, just 3 years ago we were having trouble putting our players on the field. Um that we could actually grow our thumbprint into uh sports. Now, you know, whether that's you know, the way we want to move, you know, uh or not, that that's another question, but I really haven't even though I can imagine it, um especially when you get to you know, uh sports where like with basketball, you have, you know, the teams of smaller size. But, you know, maybe that could be addressed if there was that high amount of participation, you know, and then separating that by grade. Um now, again, the funding issue of course, that's always
085there. Uh um And it is a real issue. And um it may take, you know, additional thought how we might be able to fashion that, but uh um I think there's a lot of value in athletics, you know. Um you know, we've always maintained um uh a great participation level in certain sports. And um I see no reason to um not create, you know, the opportunity to um you know, grow our skill level and grow the competitive nature with it, but that's a gut level feeling. Caesar, I I know you you've been involved in sports for I'm not calling you out or whatever, but I I don't know if that makes sense, that line of thinking or not. It It makes sense. Um you know, as a former coach and been in this community you
086know, all my all my life and um I'm I think um where I'm at at this point is just to see where this court case goes, cuz that will have a lot of bearing on what VHSL does. Then that will give us a clear path to where we need how we need to get there and and how to structure it if it happens. Um it's um you know, at this point, you know, we do have Parks and Rec. You know, they have a lot of vacancies. They have They have more room to grow in in their department than we do as a school. Um but you know, I just for me, I just want to see it's a this court case is going going to tell us a lot. So I I am personally just
087waiting to see how that all shakes out. But you So I probably a lot of us don't know what VHSL is, much less the court case that's been filed against them. Could you It's um let's see. It's Roanoke County and has filed for a um private school kid to run track and Virginia High School League is VHL. And they govern all the sports through high school. Well, just for like clarification on like plaintiff defendant in this case, it's like the family is the plaintiff and the family foundation, they're like a they fund like kind of conservative leaning lawsuits. They are bringing suit against the school board and the VHSL saying that their policy violates the equal protection clause of the Constitution by denying home school participation to their son. And apparently the the boy had
088been a middle schooler publicly school enrolled in eighth grade ran, now in high school is home schooled and is now bringing suit against the school board and VHSL. I would say one is that VHSL says nothing about middle school sports, it's not their domain. It's the school board's domain. Um and then I also think that this would actually insulate us from liability because they're coming after them because of their exclusionary policy. If we had an inclusionary policy I think that would be a more viable stance, but also I understand but seeing how it plays out isn't irrelevant. I think getting lots of legal opinions. Right. Does anyone have any idea litigation tends to move slow and so it moves very fast, but I mean one have any idea what time period would be given for
089this to actually come Family Foundation will take it to the Supreme Court. Yeah. Yeah, three and a half years from now. Like that's that's where I don't I I think that getting a good opinion on it is appropriate and making sure that we're like liability covered, but I'm not so I don't know how fast that's going to play out with an opinion. Right. It So you know, I love kids to play sports. Whatever sport that's you know, they're suitable for I love all kids to participate, but you know, for me that's where I'm at. So, you know, we just it's a wait and see. Um you know, I think we should put it out. Um get some more public involvement. See how they how our um people feel about it. Um I've heard staff, you
090know, some staff comments and you know, we we got to get a little off track, but you know, the budget has got to we got to educate kids before, you know, sports take a lot of money. I've heard this a lot, you know, why you spend so much money on sports, but you know, those are in-school sports. Those are students. Um those are things that we need to provide. And I'm okay with that. So, for me, I'm going to stand on what I just said. I'm going to wait and see part of this and um you know, they Ronda County is going to make a decision sooner than later, then yes, it'll be appealed and all that stuff, but that's just how it works out, but I still want to see the first decision before,
091you know, and some more public feedback on how that how how the Nelson County as a whole feels. We did a survey to families. >> that. That's what I was just about to ask you. How did you >> a survey to families and even to staff, because I think while you talked to Coach Butler, I'm not sure that we talked to your AD. Have we talked to the principal at the middle school? >> I'm I definitely have not done the like the full schedule of >> Have you talked to the No, but I I think, you know, a decision like this is we represent our constituents. right? And so, you know, we've tried to I've tried to talk to people who have kids in school, who don't have kids in school, who may lean towards
092being for it, may lean towards being against it. And so, I think because of who we represent, it would be important to hear the voice of the people. There's There's a If we got deliberate, direct, you know, evidence-based tool that we can use to get it out and not any other good data and not just use anecdotal information. All right. And if we have a budget hearing, we could probably schedule like a concise hearing on it at some point. >> Absolutely. Just for a, you know, say opportunity for public comment. 100%. 100% agree. Put it on the sports social media thing for the sake of like getting people that are playing sports now to comment. Yeah. I would agree with that cuz at the end of the day we represent the people. Yeah. You know,
093from my perspective, there we have a hard enough time in this county just trying to get people to coach. Yes. You know, getting people, you know, putting the right adult in front of you in front of kids. So, you know, that's a consider- That's more of a consideration for me. You know, we're going to influx a, you know, a bunch of kids and then you don't have an a good adult leadership to coach these kids or, you know, and can't can't everybody coach. You might think you can, but, you know, it take it takes a special person to gel with kids and that capacity. And um it's a learning curve. Let me tell you, it's a learning curve cuz there's a lot of personalities out there. And um so, that that's the other thing, you
094know, is if it goes forward, then we got to find the right people to put in front of the kids. To, you know, cuz a coach could be a more not taking anything away from teachers, but coaches can be more meaningful to a kid than you're ever know. Just like the janitorial staff or the bus driver. You don't know the impact that that person might have on a kid's life. So, that that is important. And maybe there's a home school dad who's been traveling the country with his son playing travel ball. Yeah. Because that's the opportunity he has and says, you know, maybe I'll play middle school ball and help coach there. And if that's the way we go, absolutely. I would hope that the family would support Yeah, I mean that could be I
095mean, that expectation would be that they would get as involved as as >> as as public school family. Yeah. So, you know, cuz you know, right now I think I don't know what the shakeout is, but you know, most of our coaches are um civilian coaches and not employed by the school, right? I mean, we're mixed staff. Mixed and staff wise, but But I yeah, we do have several coaches that are not um employed during the day as staff. Right. Yeah, okay. So, because this is considered a first reading, do we want to put this on pause to get data back from the community then on surveys, etc.? Do we have to do a second reading next meeting? Mhm. Okay. I think we just can do a second reading can like can we do that
096like a couple months from now or something? >> When we get Yeah, when we Sounds like we have action item, Yeah. right? The action item is to survey or collect data in some form or fashion. What how whatever that timeline that you so choose, but I think we have an action item to implement in the meantime. Um so, yeah. I make a motion to delay the second reading until after an action item is taken to survey or have a public hearing. So, hold it up. I don't know if I did it exactly right. >> You did a great job. We'll hold it until items for action. Excuse me. Excuse me, you did a great job. You were right on. Okay. Um Is that fair to everybody else to to think? Okay. Look at that. Discussed
097and didn't all agree and we did it nicely. Okay. Um First reading of the VSBA March policies. So, remember as you look at these, you'll see red lines revisions, what to expect for that. Just a first reading, so those will be voted on during the next meeting. Okay. If there any questions or anything we want to discuss as a group before then, just reach out and and let us know in regards to that. Dr. Hester, update on capital improvement plan projects. You're Um yeah, I um Mr. Campbell has been working very diligently uh to get all of our grounds ready, but also to continue uh monitoring the progress on um the renovation. Um It we um we had a breakthrough in term in a good way. Um in terms of uh the chiller pipes and
098particularly the impact on at the middle school. Um we you know, it's we kind of um news in that when we're planning a lot of these renovations, you try to plan it around time of year and what you the anticipated weather is. In the very beginning of March, you know, we were worried about being able to make it and stay in school all day without having to go home early or making it the next day. And then two two days later, it was 80 something degrees. And so that that planning of not anticipating having it being 80 degrees, um so when they were installing those the chiller pipes, also there was air that got trapped, um which prevented the chilling of the air to actually take place and they have resolved that problem and I
099I do want to say thank you so much for the constant monitoring of it. I know Ms. Collins had maybe been reminded once or twice that it was maybe warm in the building a couple times and as was Mr. Campbell and pretty much everybody being reminded that it was a little warm and I want to say everybody working on this project wants very much to have this go well and quickly and efficiently. So there's no number of like if we get the five complaints they'll start working hard. No, they're starting to work hard from the very beginning and I want to thank you know, not only the architects but the engineers and the service individuals and and some of the individuals in the higher food chain of these organizations that we're working with who are
100also invested and we're monitoring the progress and trying to troubleshoot and collectively they were able to problem solve that. So I appreciate that and we transition into awaiting the buffer tank. You know, we've talked about the chiller, the high school chiller and and the bane of our existence so far. So we're awaiting that delivery of the buffer tank that then we anticipate that resolving some of those issues but we are progressing. We are still considered to be on track and on budget. So I did want to give Mr. Campbell an opportunity to focus on something else this evening other than the CIP projects. Dr. Yarbinsky All right. The Perkins application. Thank you for reviewing that in your packet. It is a big one, 56-ish pages this year and I promise my presentation will be much
101more brief than that. Um Perkins funding directly impacts our CTE students. Um these are our CTE numbers, 547 students. This is an unduplicated count. I will say a lot of students take multiples. I have students in auto and carpentry or carpentry and electrical or ag and horticulture. So, it's not representative of the number of students total uh section enrollment. So, but overall there were slightly fewer students enrolled in CTE courses this year than in 2024-2025. Um this was expected and is aligned with an overall decrease in secondary enrollment. Um these numbers up here also depict what are called special populations. These are student groups that could face barriers to education requiring specific considerations to ensure equal access to high-quality CTE programming. Uh proportionately, CTE serves a slightly greater amount of special population students than in
102years past. Specifically, in the subgroups of students with disabilities, English language learners, and non-traditional students. Um non-traditional, I'll focus on that for one brief statement. Um in CTE, non-traditional fields are considered occupations where individuals from one gender comprise less than 25% of the workforce. So, examples for women with our programming would be careers in construction, auto tech, and welding. Um and examples for men could be careers in nursing, early childhood education, and cosmetology. Um we did see a relatively large increase in this, 35 student increase despite having a overall lower unduplicated enrollment record. And I highlight that because that was one of the goals we presented last year with our CTE budget proposal was to increase the number of non- traditional our Meat and potatoes of the Perkins application is the summary of expenditures. Um
103I will say I make this based off of last year's number because the amounts from the state have not been finalized yet. I do not anticipate decrease. Um it will likely be flat or slightly higher. Usually change about less than a percent year to year. Um so our budget local federal funds as I said written is consistent from the 25 26 application and these funds will be leveraged to do the following. Uh one increase awareness and exposure to students especially for our special population and non-traditional students across all program areas. Uh we leverage it to implement and assist with the CTE summer academies which Mr. Blake presented to us last week or last quarter rather. Uh to provide career related field trips to businesses and industry that we partner with in addition to transportations to
104clinicals, internships, and other WBLs. And I can also say for the credentialing examinations. We also like to increase opportunities for credentialing and licensure attainment to students at no cost and there's a slide I'll put on that a little bit later. Uh we leverage primarily equipment to modernize, improve, and expand CTE programming to include equipment currently used in the modern workplace. We also leverage it for professional development for our CTE teachers through state and professional organizations and along with access to VDOE trainings and industry workshops. And lastly we leverage Perkins to implement CTSOs. These are our student organizations in all content areas and to increase exposure, hands-on opportunities, and chances for students to showcase their abilities and in competitions. Uh CTSOs also create uh exceptional networking opportunities with both peers and potential employers. So it's not
105a huge sum around $40,200 uh with the bulk going to equipment, uh curriculum materials, and access to credentialing exams. A component of the Perkins application is the review of what is called the APR, annual performance review. Perkin APR benchmarks are comprised of 15 standards set for all students as well as students identified as members of a special population. Um These standards include five on academic performance, which are not directly attached to the CTE courses themselves, post program placement, program composition, credentialing attainment, WBL participation, and competency attainment. Um it is important to state this year that these targets have increased from last year's benchmarks substantially in some standards. In spite of this, Nelson demonstrated sound results meeting 10 out of 15 indicators. For relative comparison, last year we were 14 out of 15. And the year
106prior, we did meet 15 out of 15. I will also note that if we leverage the targets from last year, we would be sitting at 13 out of 15. This is consistent across uh CTE programs in the region. We just had our region director's meeting and everybody uh quoted on how many more targets were not met um because of the change in the uh Virginia agreed upon target thresholds. Big highlight of our APR though is the number of students who attain success at passing a credentialing exam. Um This continues and has been a goal for us. We always said if a student's in a CTE class, we want to see them become a CTE completer. That means they create they complete sequential electives, sequential CTE courses, and pass a state approved credentialing exam. Our goal
107is 100% and we almost received that. 81 out of 83 students and all of our special populations met that threshold. So, that is a big area of celebration. Areas of growth, three out of four standards not met for the first time this year are related to academic proficiency in core content areas, and the fourth relates to post program placement. I will say Nelson is impacted by the magnitude of a small cohort. In our case for this metric, these results are determined by 83 CTE completers or 51 students identified in special populations. The thresholds are high enough where if it's one or two students not meeting that threshold the the standard, we don't meet the threshold. So, our goal is obviously 100% and to improve upon that. But, it is tight with the the like I
108said, the magnitude of a small cohort. And we will continue to encourage and explore ways to impact non-traditional students participating in the career pathways that we offer. So, I'm open to any questions or comments you have at this time regarding the Perkins application. I like the work-based learning percentages. That's really that's huge. That is huge. And I will say last year, when I say some of these standards went up, the threshold last year was 11% and we were at um 36.9% this year is the target, but we still exceeded that up to 57.83%. So. And down here you have that note about how of like the five people that the five students that, you know, missed we missed that threshold for post program placement that two of them are homemakers, one of them is disabled,
109and only one of them is actually like looking for work and doesn't have it yet. >> Yes. So, one student out of the program is pretty remarkable, honestly. And that that information on that standard is obtained by actually contacting our students in a snapshot of time in which we make those phone calls or meet with the students. So, something could have changed from May to June or July. So, again, it's a snapshot. We communicate the data accurately, but I think there's a lot to celebrate, and if you wanted to go into the nitty-gritty and the actual numbers with each threshold, I'd be happy to share that with you, but like I said, it's within a student or two across the board. Absolutely. Thank you, sir. Thank you. Dr. Heston, I think you are up for
110the next two things. Yeah, so that at at your table, you have an updated March 27th memo from Moseley. Moseley is an architecture firm that we've used throughout for our facility study, but also our renovation, and they've been gracious enough to work with us anytime we would want to take a look at spaces to be able to identify does do we think that this space may work? This is on the heels of being encouraged to look for alternate locations for central office. You know, initially back in September, you know, working with the county to provide our space needs and the square footage that we may need to have. We've submitted that. Back in the fall with the previous board, we'd requested a joint meeting to be able to discuss. It seemed in question as to
111which department would be asked to move and relocate from this location, and it sounds like in some recent Board of Supervisors meetings, there's been some discussion about relocation of the school board office. In one instance, it was over to Ty River, but it sounds like most recently, we've been encouraged to take a look at the Alpha Wing. And the Alpha Wing is in reference to the first level or first floor at the high school. And so in the documents that you have, you have an outline information from a third party, Moseley, in taking a look at the available, you know, our our current space needs, which it looks like it's about 7,100 square feet. And then what are goals for the offices and in purpose of of the use of those offices and then a
112summary more specific to the Alpha wing as you see on that second page where it outlines pros and cons. Um and so we wanted to be able to to provide some information with you as we move forward in conversations in my conversation with Ms. McGarry she indicated to me that she was unaware of any formal decision made that it was going to be the school board moving but I do know that there have been some conversations where it has been suggested that perhaps we may be. So we want to try to to be thoughtful in what our needs are and potential proposed areas. So architect did take a look at the Alpha wing and on the third page you do see kind of more of a specific outline of the offices and space needs that
113we currently have in comparison to more ideal spaces perhaps for the for the roles and responsibilities. And then on that back page you see an architectural design of a breakdown of restructuring that first floor. You have another page is more of the square footage um measurements that we were able to that Mr. Campbell was able to take. Um there will be some structural changes to that location that would be necessary. Um it is not currently um designed for office spaces specific to the business. It's more designed I think way back when when Alpha wing was was renovated or built it did have that big conference room in the middle. So that big conference room in the middle would need to be repurposed to create more opportunities for office spaces. There would be um, needs to
114address the entrances because it's now a public facing and entrance, so making sure that it is ADA compliant. Um, it is also a safe and secure access point, um, to our building, so there would be a a need to make sure that we bolster the security aspects to it, badging system, um, to be to to be, um, more safeguarding public coming in and then not being able to access our, um, student areas. Um, so there's three main access points to that area. Um, if you're taking a look at that last page, the main access point would be right here. Down at the bottom, that would be the main access point because that's where we could, um, usher them into maybe a vestibule, uh, secure vestibule. Um, there is another, um, current outside access point which
115is in the middle, which is where it's currently where our conference room is, and then, um, the entryway way into the stairwell which would take you up into the heart of the school. Um, so, um, I would say, um, some work has been put in to being able to try to consider this space. Uh, the architect has identified some pros and cons of that space. Um, whereas you see sufficient space for entire program excluding school board meeting room. Um, minor renovations required to move in, meeting space for school board meetings and public meetings could be held in the auditorium over at the high school. Um, there is uh, available parking in that location. Um, dedicated exterior entrance available, existing support services, uh, from high school can serve as the space such as there is current,
116um, technology, um, existence there. Um, perhaps the extension of custodial and maintenance staff that is applied already there. Um, and then there's a list of, um, some cons in terms of the impact of available space for the high school programs that are there. Need to develop dedicated secure entrance. Exterior sidewalks from the parking need to be modified to improve accessibility. This becomes more important when it is the only entrance for public offices. Under the current function as a school, this was not required because there were multiple access points that also then could be accessible to an elevator. Um Limited natural light. There are very few of the internal spaces that once separated into office spaces would not have windows or external light. Um or natural light, rather. Subdividing the existing classroom creates some office proportions
117that are not that are a bit awkward and isolates clusters of offices from each other. This It may require new office furniture instead of re-exist reusing existing furniture. Recent mechanical, electrical, and finish improvements to these spaces would need to be adjusted. No large meeting space within the suite where meetings and other district meetings would require sharing space in another location. And then access to fire stair and the stair and exit would allow for visitors to gain access to the school without modifications. And then there's also some potential disruption uh school operations. So, the bells or drills or announcements or other things that we would have to to try to see how that could be mitigated if it could be mitigated, and that may not be um it may or may not be a bigger problem,
118but that would be something that would need to be investigated. So, uh we wanted to be able to present to you um this new uh memo from Moseley that breaks down um the office space specific to Alpha. Uh I'll remind you back in I believe it was September, October, we had gone through and provided some pros and cons of some other identified spaces. At that time, um the current Nelson DSS location was not evaluated. I had we had not gotten to that point to evaluate the current the trailers of the current location for DSS. If that were to be a viable space that would take some time to get into as they are building the the new site for DSS. So that is not specific, but I would say that at that time we had
119requested a joint meeting to really further understand timelines or budgets or just a a greater overall picture understanding. We had been told that by other board members that perhaps we would not be the designated department to vacate our current space. So I think there is still some information to learn and obtain to really move forward. I do hate to ask and and dedicate a lot of time or money to investigating spaces if we really don't have answers to some of these other items. But definitely want to be able to be able to provide the Board of Supervisors and Ms. McGarry with answers when we're asked with those spaces from our end. And so this is our our effort to be able to do that. Does anybody from their two by twos recently have any sense
120from them on My sense is that if there's not like strong opposition to the idea of Alpha Wing from the staff and saying no it wouldn't work. I think that we should get some hard numbers on what the cost would be to make the renovation happen and what a timeline hypothetically looks like and just to know I mean I've even put forward the idea of you know a joint meeting if it like a limited agenda joint meeting on something that's going to take an amount of capital improvement that we need to partner with them on because it affects all of the county operations. I would be interested with the outcome. Where Where are those programs that are down there? Where would they go because there was a benefit to those programs being kind of in
121that section of the school for multiple reasons. And that would be a consideration that we would need to collaborate with Mr. Walker um and uh get the feedback from those individuals who are currently um really working within those programs to get their feedback. I mean, they live in and and breathe that every day um as to what locations would be beneficial. Um again, these are preliminary. We haven't gone to the extent um of trying to then work with Mr. Walker. As we've said, we've we've asked for the joint meetings back in the fall to be able to discuss this to see just how far we need to go in learning what this this uh use of this space would mean in terms of displacing what's currently there um and what would it take in order
122to get this space um utilized for uh the school board office. Um so, I think before disrupting the apple cart in terms of of working through those questions, I think maybe perhaps getting a little bit more of an understanding of what we're working with would be helpful. Um so, then when we work with Mr. Walker or those individuals, um one of those individuals is here um to be able to get that feedback about what spaces would be necessary for them to run their programs um at the level and the degree that they feel like they need as well. such good success. And I don't know whether it's the physical location, the separation, but I think you guys have had a lot of really good success with that space down there and keeping it still integrated
123in the system, but a little bit of a separation so they can work through whatever the things are that they need to work through. So, I would really want to be sensitive to the fact that it might be good for the county, but is it good for the students? And so, I I would really want to be super sensitive. >> Can I ask what the Alpha wing is being used for now? I don't even know. So, um we have primarily two programs that are operating um from that first floor. It is the government Governor Pride School, which is an alternative program um that allows our students to um remain on-site on location during an alternative instructional environment that allows them to be in a smaller structured um to be able to remove them from maybe
124some um some um experiences that allows them to kind of refocus uh and be successful. We have a really strong success rate of our students um reentering back into their other classrooms after um participating in GPS. And then I I can't even adequately articulate what exactly um Miss Hauschner works her magic with the students that she works with and it's a it is a uh a constantly evolving group of individuals and the courses that they're taking, whether it's recovery or you know, GED centered. There's a lot of different um opportunities for students who maybe need to catch up, um recover some classes, um provide just another opportunity to be successful. Am I even scratching the surface on how I'm articulating that? And it's it's a very creative environment in terms of it it is as
125much of a example of personalized learning and instruction that you can get. Um and so, that space is really good for that because it enables them to be able to to kind of break away and use the spaces um to really isolate and focus on what's needed for those individual students and also give them the freedom. I think one of our students that we had in that program was then also able to do work-based learning through transportation department. Uh, and so it's just there's a lot of freedom, um, to be able to take advantage to get those students on track to graduate on time or to take advantage of just, um, setting themselves up for their future. So those are the two primary programs that take place, um, critical programs. >> Yes. Very sensitive. We
126need to be very sensitive, I think, to where it gets moved and I think we need to involve the staff in those decisions because those programs won't work just anywhere. Exactly right. So I think that's a I'm glad that you brought that up and I'm glad I asked the question and 100% agree with let's make sure we're not >> done a really Ms. Armstrong and that team down there have done a really good job of taking kids that might be and I don't like to always like to use the word at risk, but they're kids that we could lose somewhere in the system. And I I mean, I think you can speak to I mean, just the success you've seen beyond even the school with them. So I, you know, I just I I like
127you, I would hate to disrupt >> Right. I think that should be a primary consideration. The other >> And we have multiple individuals. I mean, uh, we have GPS that we also have instructional aides. We have um, counselors that are able to go down and work with students to provide extra supports, administrators that go down and be able to provide, um, some um, you know, different types of counseling and different types of modeling and support systems that those students Sometimes that smaller environment is just what they need to kind of reset and refocus and then get on that success and realize that they can do it. Um, and then are able to to kind of, um, join back in where they were. Uh, and I think it's a wonderful the the just the alternative program
128in general has been successful and it is a a big step away from um sometimes those students being removed and only being at home anywhere from 35 to 364 days. And so those students that we've able to kind of gear them into getting back on track or continuing to finish is is been really meaningful. And that's a roughly 1,500 square feet less than y'all operate out of there. It is a smaller space, yes. It is a It is a smaller space than what we are using right now. Yeah, and can I just, you know, for the fact that you know, workplace your workplace is um now being thrown into mental health and to relegate people to smaller offices with no windows and you know, with at that is not a um that doesn't put people
129in a good mental space that are you know, when you're asking people to perform at their um their peak performance when they can't be comfortable in their work environment. Um it's you know, I understand that you know, the county has um growth issues. But um But 7,000 doesn't include the meeting room. Yeah, but you're still trying to put a lot of people in a small space. I mean, if you've never been in the space, it's you know, >> encourage you to go down and get >> Yeah, I would I would love to Yeah, I mean, I would encourage you I've got to >> taken pictures. I just haven't had a chance to put it to put a folder and share it with you guys to kind of take some pictures, but I think it's also
130worth worth seeing. Yeah, when you know, like when I was in school there was the weight rooms that Mhm. So, it was >> I would say currently this is used um um this space not just for school board meetings, but this is really the only space that we have access to for any kind of a a bigger meeting more than six people. Um we had utilized the bridge room for a little while, but then when um the audit there were certain groups that came in and it just really hasn't been available. Um so, this is pretty much the only space that we have to use if we want to meet with more than five people. Um so, I think um this space is large and this is also where we use our school our school
131board meeting uh room, um but we share it so the scheduling of it. I mean even tonight we were you know, pushed for space when we had a lot of public participation even in this room. So, and uh it's that's a lot of things to take into consideration, but losing losing space, putting people in a environment where they don't get you know, get natural lighting and and can feel comfortable or feel uncomfortable in a small work work space you do it is mentally taxing. Um based on studies that have been put out there that you know, you don't you putting people in their mental health in in jeopardy when you cram them in the small spaces cuz you know, it the value goes down into you know, with that the work. And and as you
132create the space it's really going to be important to and I I would say it it would be important for any of the departments that are are being considered to be relocated is the the sensitive nature of any of the conversations that take place. Or the parents or the family members that do come in there is to make sure that we're able to maintain that confidentially in some some respect, but just the security of information. Right. And a lot of people I don't know how many people visit the office, you know, publicly, but for them to have to come on campus to talk about something about their kids is not a probably a comfortable thing and they don't want and you know, if it's something serious they don't want everybody to see them, you know,
133entering you know, to and word travels fast or rumors start because, you know, a kid may not know that their parent have has a meeting with superintendent or or department head or whatever and then, you know, then your mom or dad's here and you know, that that creates you know, stress on the kids. So, you know, it's we need to evaluate further, you know, what what spaces are going to come available and um you know, and there's a lot a lot of construction that has to happen no matter where they suggest suggest or we agree to go to. Now, those are all great points and I even think about the expansion of an alpha program. For example, if you were to venture in, which is going to happen, to AI. Um and end up with
13415% or 20% of the students signing up for what they know is going to be something to help them in the future. You know, where do you go? Um Also, in the report it mentions how low. Like if we're talking about windows, it says only four of the 13 offices that they're like proposing can have win- a window without significant expense to add them. We should include that significant expense to add the windows, in my opinion, if this is going to be a maybe not forever home, but a long-term home for school offices, windows would make a big difference. >> Temporary in Nelson usually lasts is 25 on the average of 25 years. Well, I mean, it sounds like, in terms of some of their overall goals of being close to the campus and within
135reach, like, those kind of, you know, ideals are kind of in some aspects met by this idea where you're on site, and I and I don't know enough to say that it's the best or the brightest or anything like that, but I I do like the idea of us being consolidated closer to where the schools are. I do think there's a value to that, but it it's not a square peg into a round hole, right? Like, it needs to be kind of well thought out, cuz like Caesar said, the the social services offices were supposed to be temporary, and that was 25 years ago. So, I don't, you know, I I don't want us to make a decision that then costs us more money in the long run, because we got to change it. If
136we're being charged with growing student enrollment, that's a that's a big thing. Like, we need more students. We need more students. Well, if we do, then what's the impact on this? And if we just done this, you know, million dollar And and to be honest, we don't really know if this is what we're supposed to be doing, because we've gotten no direction, to my knowledge, from the board of supervisors on this. Or a budget. Or a timeline, or any of those things. So, I mean, I would I just don't Are we being asked to make a any sort of decision about this right now? No. This is just information. Okay. So, the last conversation I had with Ms. McGarry is she was unaware that a final decision had been made and really is not aware
137of like any timelines or anything of that. This was born out of some things that were made some comments that were made in public meetings about where it was determined that either as as school board members we had agreed upon to where we needed to go or it had been discussed and the thought was this might be a good place. And so, in order to really I I you know we want to be responsive to our partners and when asked like would this space would or would not work, you know, we want to in good faith be able to say we've looked at it and we've studied it. And we have all of our you know, Ms. McGarry when she's given me um some thoughts on some spaces that they perhaps were looking for, um
138this may or may not work for you all. This this won't. Have you looked at any spaces? You know, one of the first places that was suggested was Rockfish River Elementary School, which was the furthest away from about 80% of our people and and and not ideal um in terms of of what we would need to do. Um although certainly understandable about why that might have been a suggestion. Um some other spaces, the Nelson Center. Um so, we've gone out and looked at some of these spaces to see what would it take and what would it be. Uh the maintenance storage shed that's not very far away from the Alpha wing and studied that space, but you know, when you take over that space you need there's stuff in it and there's a lot of
139stuff in it and it's being used. So, then you have to find a new location. So, you know, it's like anything else and and it's just simply problem solving. Um but, you know, being able to have these conversations, one of the questions I asked is like and who is paying for this? And the comment Ms. McGarry said, well, you know, I I can't imagine that you guys would be. And and I I appreciated that comment, but then again, like I don't know. We're not like we just Those are just some serious things that need to be talked about and discussed. And I think that's that's really a great first step is being able to have those conversations about um what are the thoughts? Like what what are we thinking through? What what sense of urgency
140is there? Um what other departments are being considered? I think just really being able to have good dialogue about it. Um and and other you know, there there may be some lands and some spaces that I'm not aware of or or looking into. Um but again, if we don't have a budget, we don't have a timeline, we don't have a a clear understanding, we're we're maybe wasting an architect's time or we're wasting time or money trying to really evaluate it and look at it. Well, we also just talked about kind of studying what what our needs are from an administration standpoint as we're moving forward. And I think it may not be what this looks like. Yeah, that's Is that the the study that we voted on last month about the central office? Yeah, the
141the the hope is that when we come back out of spring break, that we have a a kickoff or a a sit-down and be able to sketch out perhaps what that would look like. Um and have a an opportunity to then to kind of schedule out and as you've read in there, there's interviews with individuals, there's an overview study of what's taking place and things of that nature. So, that is the thought that was a that was a a communication that I had today um with one of the individuals about like, you know, let's let's start talking about when we can kick this off. Follow them. You know, we have a school board meeting tonight, we have spring break next week. Um and so, coming back out of spring break, that would be ideal to
142have that meeting. I guess in that assessment, including this question of you know, we're being asked to relocate. You know, I don't know if that has any bearing >> it, but I think that that's definitely something that will um that isn't significant to the under- the to the organizational structure cuz that's our operations, but I definitely feel like, "Hey, this is what's going on also um in in the background." So, but I don't think the space should drive >> Yeah. the structure of our organizational system. But, it's great that I'm very glad to see the like the recent Mosley report just that we have something to give to the supervisors and say, "This is And that initial memo had been provided. Um however, I think The September one? The September one had been. Right, right.
143>> Um to to one individual, not um I have since changed our methods of communication in being able to provide documentation, but um But, this one's much more helpful than that. >> they they do not have this. I've shared that with you all first, and I will then provide it um to to uh Ms. McGarry. And I don't know I would be cautious in how you present that or share that cuz I don't know that we're in agreement that that's the answer. I'm I'm not saying it is, but I I think that having more information and to say Mosley who's trusted looked at the situation and said, "There are constraints, but it's not a it's not a total non-starter." And I think that's >> that that I will say from a comment by the architect,
144he's like, "You do realize how small this is." Like, you do He said, "This is And I said, "I'm not com- I I'm not telling you what to tell me because that's your like your job as a third party is to really look at this, and and I'm this isn't what I do." Um but, he did express a concern of the small nature of the spaces, the lack of natural light, and is this an ideal suit for the operations of of what we do. I think I'm playing catch up here a little bit, but why was that space the one that we targeted first to do this mostly thing about? We did not target that space. So, back up. In September, a few spaces were identified. Rockfish, Nelson Center, um >> But who were they
145identified by? Uh us and and some feedback from the county. >> Um and um so RRES, uh the Nelson Center, um Alpha Wing, um and I think we also saw like we do have this space that's on our campus that's in the maintenance storage. So, we we're trying to identify like that. I don't know, that may or may not work out. Um I think there were some other spaces um throughout the county. There's a um a location off just off of 56. Um But you know, there that requires like people selling. Um there was a uh a space off of Front Street. Like um I think one of the locations off of where Moss Lover was like that requires someone buying or selling or willing to do that, and that wasn't really a space that
146we we were looking at. Um so, we tried to come up with some thoughts about where if we had to, where where would it possibly be from our perspective. So, I did appreciate there you know, McGarry said like you know, we want your feedback on this, too. Okay. So, that that's where that began. Perfect. >> Okay. Um and then um uh the suggestion since uh DSS is vacating um their space in the trailers, that perhaps that may be um a a tenable solution to that. Um whether it be uh temporary or or not. I mean, those are They've been there for 25 years, so I'm not I'm not certain on that lifespan of that space. Um but I have been there for some meetings. Um and and that has been used for for um some
147office spaces. Um that it is already designed. You know, there there is office space there. So, um we we've we've tried to come up with some options, but I think um it's just difficult when you're really not clear on some of the parameters. Right. Is there a best-case scenario of we construct something new? And I know that it's not It's not necessarily the what everyone's eager to do, but if there are going to be constraints on what are the proposals as they stand, if if none of them are workable, I'd love to know what something best case looked like. Um so that there's at least a bar to consider as a base. >> Yeah, I'd say, "Well, And it did And again, you know, don't quote me on this, but as I tried to go
148through and I've I've taken a look at the VUE that kind of looks at like costs of additions or costs of an elementary school or a cost of a middle or a high school. Um additions might be Like, so when I asked what would it take to renovate that maintenance shed, he's like, "It could be 3 to 4 million dollars." Um to to build a new addition, it may be 8 to 10 million. I'm not sure. You know, I'm just I'm just trying to think through cuz I I I couldn't tell you exactly what that would take to build a brand new building. I mean, quite frankly, um I You have said like if we were to build something, is that a viable option? But again, I don't have any guardrails. I don't I don't
149I am not aware of again costs. I'm not sure where we would get that money to do that. Um if we know that we have current needs um in our current buildings that we occupy, that you know, like the HVAC system for Rockfish is going to be that a bigger priority for us because that's that's what we maintain and and work with right now. So, I would say building something brand new, I I'm not I I hesitate to continue to ask uh Moseley to well, design a new building and what would that look like? That That's not free. Right. Um and so, again, without understanding of budget, timeline, parameters, understanding of the big picture, it just makes it a little bit more difficult to do that. Not I mean, again, having this That's where that
150those conversations would be really great to understand. And again, when I asked I It's sounding like we've been identified as the group to to relocate, but I have not been told of any formalized decision that has taken place or then what the next steps would be. It's hard. That's all. I think any questions? Thank you guys for all that discussion. Anything else Dr. Moseley? All right. And then, budget discussion. Yeah. So, um Do you have the ability to bring that Google up? Yes, that's perfect. All right. What you see here up on the screen is um a presentation and as we'll get to it, an activity that um we conducted with each of our schools and our staff um to be able to really one, be informative and educational in terms of the where we
151are in our budget process. Um and um what are some of the uh circumstances that we're facing right now. And so, as you see, um at our March because many of our staff is watching the school board meetings, but sometimes they're not able to cuz they got to work that next day. So, um at our most recent school board meeting, you all approved and adopted uh the school board budget request. And at 34,976,942. And of that number, what we were requesting directly from the county, and again, remember they're shouldering the 73% of LCI impact. So, always kind of keep that in mind. Um asking to have 22,774,480. And that's in addition so of 164,935. So, that that 164 is not included in that 22.7. So, that annually allocated for our school nursing program. We currently
152contract with Blue Ridge Medical Center for our nurses. And so, how that works is, you know, you have a RFP and a bidding process, and they create contracts. And and um you know, you go with with the bids that you've gotten um through those costs. And And we we are so thankful for um the reimbursements that we do get for the nursing program. And we also get some aid from the state, but that does not fully reimburse us for our nursing um our nurses or materials and resources and things of that nature. Um so, but in that 22.7 is included 600,000 for buses, four new buses. Um we've identified over the last few years that it will be important to um regenerate a life back into our transportation fleet. Um and it's been estimated through
153that research that it will require four new buses a school year. Um And that's a balancing act, right? We We know we have the needs through our transportation and our buses, but we also know that 80% of our budget is personnel and people-centered. And then at the March 18th Board of Supervisors meeting, uh the the Board of Supervisors voted to include additional funding of 1.6 million. That So, that's in addition to what it was in the previous year. So, when we see these numbers, we're like, "Oh my gosh, 1.6 versus 34 million? No, that's not fair. Uh It's 1.6 million additional from what they provided last year." Uh and then they had county administrator further broke it down that 835,065 to be transferred to the fund operational budget and then 164,935 transferred to school nutrition
154and 600,000 for buses. So, this does create a funding shortfall of about 936,675 between what we're requesting and what is being suggested that will be allocated. We good so far? All right. So, um did say that textbook funding, cafeteria fund amounts would be included as requested. Um information down below, we know just a layout of the next few meetings for the Board of Supervisors. Um public hearing on the overall budget, um April 14th at the regular meeting. Public hearing is planned for May 12th at 7:00 p.m. With the state not having an approved budget, this definitely um throws a wrench into the works. It's really super hard. Again, as a reminder, in our overall request, we went with the worst-case scenario, which would look like it would be through the Senate. Um the the Senate
155um proposed budget. All right. So, we've spoken quite frequently about standards of quality, local composite index, and per pupil expenditures, but you know, when we go and we speak to our school staff, you guys we have three new people who are now just trying to get your heads wrapped around what do all these things mean? And our staff really doesn't deal with this on a day-to-day basis. They go, their job is to go instruct our kids and and provide the best possible pathway for our students on a daily basis. Um but they do need to have um in order to really understand the big picture, just a good understanding of what some of these things cuz we hear standards of qualities all the time. And and I always try to try to say it's the
156it is the bare minimum requirements of staffing. Um very few uh division staff at the lowest minimum. Um just the requirements and needs of students um these days require a little bit more. And we know that at-risk students require more. Uh students uh ESL students require more support and sped students require more support. So, the standard of quality is more of a staffing and it's the bare minimum. Um local composite index, we've talked quite frequently about what that means. And it measures it is the the state perspective and belief and measures a locality's ability to pay for education costs relative to other localities. So, it is a comparison. So, if our LCI is going up, that means someone else is coming down. Um the highest LCI you can have is 0.8. And what you'll see,
157and again, this is the state's belief in what the locality can pay towards education. And I think at the heart of LCI, probably when it started, it was born out of a professor, I believe, from Virginia Tech. And it was born out of a need to make sure that localities fund education and fund education appropriately. And so, I think at the heart of it, it it has good intentions. It just doesn't reflect well for Nelson County and other small rural resort uh localities. Um there are a lot of it is a complicated formula, but at the heart of it, property values, adjusted gross income, and taxable retail sales. We don't control those. What we do control is the enrollment. And as Mr. Kirshner um you know, taking notes in a lot of the great things
158that he shared was the increase in the number of enrollment just to be able to offset that, it creates other uh obstacles. Um our current LCI for this new biennium will be 0.7269. And that is up from the year before, 66.45 and 58.88 from 22-24. We have seen huge jumps in the last 6 years um or the new biennium. So, um the is a tremendous impact on Nelson. So, per pupil expenditures again, just some reminders of some things. And it's really hard to compare apples to apples. Some people want to look, well, Amherst, they don't take up as much of their overall county budget because their LCI is significantly lower. I think it's point three something. So, the the locality is not required to pay as much. I think it is very, very important to
159note that our Board of Supervisors has consistently funded us well above the bare minimum that they're legally required to do. And I think that's really important to note. It's just when we talk about building a a budget of success through our needs, that that need to have that fully funded at what we're requesting is really what we're focused on. But, I think it's important that they we are not funded at the bare minimum by any means. So, we've gone through and we've identified some areas that could be options for adjustments and cuts. We will need, you know, ultimately, the school board will be responsible for making decisions on what those cuts. If we have a continued shortfall of that budget funding, if we do end up getting that 1.6 million in addition to the the
16020 million that we got last year, then we're going to have to make some decisions. And so, we've tried to identify some areas that would perhaps uh alleviate or cut into that gap. We've set it up in a spreadsheet, we'll get to it in just a second. I know I'm going to have to maybe drive a little bit. But, and then we have a tracker. It's connected to a tracker. So, as we make some selections, you'll see the cost go down. I think the the bullet point that you see second from the bottom, I need that to be emphasized. There's There's reason why it's in bold, and there's a reason why we have it uh highlighted and underlined. We value every single individual that we employ through Nelson County Public Schools, and it does not
161matter what role. It is all essential, or else that's not we wouldn't go in that direction. So, every single individual is incredibly valuable to us. Our programs we have we have you know, we take great pride in the pathways that we offer, whether it's academic pathways or extracurricular. Um as a board, it has been a priority to have small class sizes. It has been a priority to be competitive in our salaries and our wages, because we know that we want to attract high-quality individuals, and you don't just put anybody in front of children. And so, with all of those, we are or very, very um mindful that every single person is important, but any decision that is made, it is real people that are going to be impacted. Um it's very easy to to sit
162in in one school and say, "Well, I don't think they need something." No, that's someone's job, that's someone's livelihood, that's someone's ability to pay either um for food, for gas, for their children, for medication, what have you. This is important, this is real. And so, what we set up is a little spreadsheet. And so, can you Yep, can you click on that? And that should take us to a um an interactive spreadsheet. Can you do that? Um can you click on the Okay. Nope, on the actual Is it not set up for you? There we go. Okay. Do you mind if I steal this from you? No, I don't. I'm going to steal this from her. Uh-oh, that's not a good So, what we have here is an interactive spreadsheet. And so, I by no
163means think any decisions are going to be made, but I think it's really important to identify that in the left column, it is category. So, we have different categories of items that we are able to, um, make decisions or make cuts and then be able to use that money for something else or be able to re- re-address it. And then within those categories, you have items. So, not every funding category can be used for different things. You know, textbook money goes to textbooks. Um, some of the grants that we have can only be used for certain things. So, as you see here, and we'll go through this, we see compensation and we see the cost of living adjustment. And I think it's really important to note that that is a life, you know, that that
164is the life adjustment as, uh, we see, um, things become more expensive, um, what you're taking home is not going as further. And so, um, I think sometimes we flippantly refer to that as a raise in this instance, it's not. That is just keeping up with life or just trying to stay as close behind it as we can. Um, and so that is really important. And so, as we build in, um, as we said it was the Senate bill, so that's, um, 3% raise. They call a raise, it is a cost of living adjustment. And it is incredibly important to focus on that. It is not something flippant as an extra. That is just to try to keep up. Now, here's the next thing, uh, health insurance. We've talked about the 11.9% increase. Um, we
165had initially built in 15% because we we build our budget when we don't have our renewal prices. Um, but if we kept that 15% in, we could offset the cost that goes back to the employee. But if we did a cost share, it would end up, um, we would save 117,000. That's just for the, um, that's just for the county. The cost that that would have for an employee is a little bit more i- is not a little bit, is significant because I think something important is when we talk about cost of living adjustments, those are percentages put towards salaries and benefits like that. But this health insurance is regardless of your salary. That is per person. And so, whatever it is you make has no impact on the cost of insurance that you have.
166And if you're an individual, you you'll see if you if we do a cost sharing, we'll see an impact as an individual. But, we really see the drastic increases on on the impact of individuals when it's the employee plus one or the family. Um that is where we see these increases. So, um if you see an increase, um you're hoping that the cost of living adjustment just allows you to still take home the same amount, if not maybe an addition. But, if we adjust if we don't if we cost more at the health insurance and can't support the cost of living, many of our uh individuals will actually not make as much money or take home as much money as they did the year before. So, I think that that is as my conversations that
167I've had with staff, uh that is the that is the most common piece of feedback that I get is "So, you're telling me it's possible I'm going to take less home take money less home money." And that's I think really critical to kind of keep a thought on. Um I know that there's a lot that goes into that. These are two of the biggest ticket items on here. Um the next is contract length. We have different lengths of contracts. Um I always emphasize with each of the groups that I've come to, this doesn't have a name attached to it. So, some people are like, "Oh my gosh, is that me?" No, this is just we know that we have different lengths of contracts. Maybe there's an opportunities to maybe we have individuals like, "I don't
168need to be on a 12-month. I can go to 11-month or maybe can we do an 11 and 1/2 or a 10 and 1/2?" This is just an option of areas that we could address. Um but, what that means is if you are not if your contract length is different, you're not taking home as much money. So, I think that that's important to uh articulate. We've talked about Piedmont region uh regional um education program. Um that is a special ed program. Um we currently use it for a lot of different resources and such as occupational therapy, physical therapy, looking through autism or hearing and vision, but we also have slots for Ivy Creek. And that is for an IEP placement and it's for students who are needing those extra supports through that specialized training that
169those individuals can provide. We see increased costs going through that, but if we were to eliminate prep we figure there would be areas to eliminate that could increase or could result in $36,000. Again, nothing on this list is not important and I think it's really, you know, when we did this exercise with staff members, they're like, "Well, how about that? Wait, no, that's important." Yes, exactly. They all are. Travel, so we do provide reimbursements for travel. So, that's something that perhaps maybe gets cut, but again, that's real people cuz we have 470 square miles and people from central office and schools that travel from site-based to site-based in their own vehicles. We do try to encourage using um um county vehicles, but they are being used more and more to be able to transport students.
170So, it'll be important to kind of keep an eye on that. Software licenses, we always try to be very mindful about the licenses that we have and so we're currently trying to review and audit the the licenses that we have and do we need them and what is our total cost? And we don't quite have a total cost on that yet. Um, ERP, that is our early retirement incentive program. So, retirees who are still of age to be able to continue providing 20 days or 140 hours. It also enables them to take advantage of insurance. So, I think that that is something that as our our retirees consider that option or employees consider retirement, that is something that plays into it, but we we take uh, great care to emphasize that that is a year
171by year um, program and opportunity that could possibly be cut if need. I will say that um, it's the insurance piece that is the most uh, important to a lot of those individuals that take advantage from the retiree, but from the site-based individuals, those are the those are the individuals that if we have a maternity leave that they go in and so you have a high-quality educator working with those kids in that absence. So when that that um, individual is able to come back, whether it's maternity or other illness or other reasons, they've had a a teacher or a a quality staff member working with those students. And um, so I think it's important we we utilize we've got 17 where 15 are really being utilized. Um, and and so to the employees, the feedback
172I've gotten from the employees on the e rep, that is incredibly important to them. I think you talk to um, uh, many of the individuals that have those those people serving in their place is really really important. So that's just something to kind of a background on what e rep is. Clerk of the Board, I currently serve as the clerk of the board. Um, um, my friend sitting over there was uh, the clerk previously and executive uh, administrator of assistant to um, to work with me. And so when we had that total number, um, that is the total package number. And it's also dependent on experience, it's dependent on a lot of things. We have um, held that open for uh, several months now in an effort to try to um, to free up some
173money to be able to redirect towards some other things, particularly when we had enrollment drops at the beginning of this school year. That was a decision that we made, but I guess we're not going to fill it because we need to make up for uh, the differences in enrollment and some other uh, some other things. Custodians, we've had several custodian positions that we've had advertised for a couple years that we've just not been able to to And so that might be something where we just need to cut. Um so that it is not current employed custodians that we're looking to eliminate. Um I always worry about someone looking at that like, "Oh my gosh, is that me?" No, that is um positions that we haven't been able to fill. Um secretarial, again, um if we
174should have any retirements or anything that is around about what that possibly could could be if we had to combine positions, there's no name attached to that, so I don't want anybody to panic with that. Um in-school suspension, again, uh 2 years ago, I believe we reinstated the um in-school at the middle school because it was an important intervention uh to support our students, to keep them in the building, to keep them engaged, and the relationships associated there. But again, if that's something that that needs to be considered, um VPI program, as we talked about at Rockfish, uh due to Head Start and impacting the enrollment there due to the application process, we condensed it just to Tai River. We would like to add that back because of the importance of early childhood could early
175childhood education. Um but if that was something that was deemed by the board as not important to continue, that's what we would go. The additional middle school sports, so one person said, "Oh my gosh, are we getting rid of middle school sports?" No, we're not. This is what we've added into the initial budget this year, a 50,000 to increase the number of middle school sports. Um driver's ed, um I think we had removed it several years ago and have added it back um as a service to support access for our students. Um activity buses, again, it's a access point for many of our students to be able to to get home after for after after practices, but also remediation, so it's not just a a sport or a club thing, it's also some remediation. And
176then also, just added in a teaching position there um to get a general idea about what a package might possibly be, obviously contingent upon years of service, but um we do try to evaluate um enrollments and any kind of shifts that if we see that the enrollments don't suit we can combine a class and that would free that up. That is not again doesn't have a teacher's name associated. It's just good for um you know, if we if you guys said I don't I don't see a problem having 28 29 kids in a classroom. So let's remove a teacher from over here and put that a roundabout a cost for what that would be. And so um I um This category here is for cuts and so it's a percentage of cuts. So say we
177said say we wanted to to go and say the clerk of the board we don't need that. You want to cut that. You put oh, okay. Just kidding. I'm in view only. So I'm going to fix that real quick. Um Um so what you do in that category is um put the percentage of cut that you want to do and then that would then enable you to see the total that it would impact and then um it would also show up on the tracker. Um Okay. So it'll show up on the tracker. So the far right screen it the far right column is really something that enabled um still doing that. Okay. Yeah, it's not. Okay. Okay. All right. So um That might have done it. There we go. Okay, so you see put that
178in there so that equates into a 100,000 off to that second column from the right and then that drops our total tracker down to 836,000. Okay, so we do have some big ticket items that take the biggest bite but if you were to decide on something else um then you would be able to watch it. Now you can also say, well let's not get rid of all of them. Let's just get rid of 15%. So then it would calculate what 15% of that total is and then drop the tracker down. So it doesn't always have to be completely cutting something out. Um you would be able to go through this and adjust it. Um So does anybody want to offer up something to percentage cut to see what it does? Uh VPI zero. You don't
179want to cut? I don't want to cut VPI. Okay. Zero times zero is zero. Yes. Um there already people that don't make like that don't they're not filled right now. No one's losing a job. The custodian and the secretarial but I'm just one person but this is Well just This is the point Just for an activity. Just to see how it's working. I'll put that in there. So that's that brings us that's an additional 120 so that takes us down to 762,000 to go. So if we were to add up all of these options that we currently have that would equal about 1,489,000 total to choose from. Um our target is 936,675. Um So I use this as an activity because this is what we're going to have to go through and do. Um I
180as I have shared with each of our staff like if you have a different idea, if you have something you'd like to add to this, you let us know. Um I think there has been some conversation about, well, um what you know, how is CEP working and would it be better to go? CEP is our community eligibility provision. That is our meals that allows for each person who goes to each child who goes through the line get a free breakfast and free lunch. Um what would that look like if we went back old school to the free and reduced process. So, um that would be something that we would need to go back and really reflect on to see, well, what kind of an impact would that be? Um we do have some built-in reimbursements
181for our CEP program. It's not necessarily self-sustaining or self, yeah, sustaining, but um we do have an ability to offset that, but I think those it's it's thinking like that that allows us um to be able to see what are we working at. What other ideas can we add as options to be able to get um to zero to offset the the funding gap. Um I think someone asked, you know, we talked about what was included in the overall number with the 600,000. We've we've declared that our our buses are really important to us, but so are our people. And so is that 600,000, is there some flexibility um in being able to maybe we don't use all of that 600,000 for new buses, maybe we can use some of that to offset some of
182these other costs. So, I think really have having an open mind about what we can do and how we think through this is going to be really important. Um I know it's hard we got eyes watching um and you guys haven't really had that that much of a time to have a conversation for us to work through and discuss what some um opportunities or options are, but I would say um this is something we'll share out with our staff so they can kind of play around with it. And as you've as you can see on this uh page, um having it sent, you know, it can be anonymous, that's fine, or you can email like I I don't want to go through the chart, I don't I to go through the spreadsheet, I just want
183to give you my ideas through an email. That's perfectly fine as well, but I think it'll be important for us to have those conversations about what do we value? Where do we see opportunities to cut because this is exactly what the experience is going to be and this is what we're going to need. So quick question. How many kids do we have that's enrolled in drivers ed? Just I'm asking You know, that's a good question of that you know what? Well, this year hasn't been as many in the past a lot of them are not in the RC yet, but usually have 60 to about 100. Okay, and how many Do we know how many we transport on activity buses? Just a I think that fluctuates. I think do we see more in the fall
184or do we see it in the In the spring, yeah, spring time I think they take advantage of it and also don't forget this one of our mediation. Um, so that is definitely survey that we can do with each of our our schools about how many of their students take advantage of the activity buses. Yeah. And is that like the activity bus program as a whole or is that Yes. Okay. And you know So again is that something where we say we're not going to run it for remediation or we're only going to do it for activities or we're not going to run it for activities or we're only going to do it for remediation or we're not going to do it at all. I mean, again, remembering like there's certain percentages. So Yeah, I
185mean for us and the amount of space we have to cover it would have to be all or none because you're going to cover you know a lot of miles either way. I mean, I know some of the routes are condensed, but you still have fuel >> yeah. Yeah, fuel costs right now it's you know, you get we're getting hammered. So, I'm just you know, and Again, and if that were the direction you were going, by no means are we saying this is what's going to happen. Let's take a look at what that would do. Should we say we did that all or nothing? That would bring us down to what we selected so far. Oh, I don't like that number, but yes. Um almost 667,000 more. Right. Yeah. You know, and that's you know,
186we like you said, we might have to you know, if we still choose and and if agreed upon, then that would might be something we did in the winter and not in the spring. Yeah. You know, cuz we have we affect less people. I mean >> And again, all of these factor and I think it's really important is like when we make our request, we really try hard to make it a a budget of need and not of of any kind of fluff. And so, these are the tough choices that go into cuz we talked about real people, real people will get impacted. Yeah. I mean, it's not the only that we want to cut. I mean and that we want to cut, but if we're put in that position that we have to that's
187I mean, that's our worst people involved in this cuts. And like you said, to what the you know, we might if we have people leaving, we might have to move people around. You know, restructure contracts, you know, all of those things could come into play. You know, we have a hard enough time filling vacancies as it as it is. And um so, you know, we might have to figure out where where we can, you know, move some move people around to to help out with this situation we have with the budget. And so what I would ask of the board is to begin creating, you know, the mental maps of like what are you thinking? What are some of the areas you know that these are some of the areas that are potentially could be
188considered. Do you have others that we can then research and provide more background and data for you as we move forward. And you know, I think resoundingly from the staff they don't envy the decisions to be made and they appreciate how difficult it is. When do we find out who's who's accepting contracts? When when do we put >> Well, we don't send contracts out until late May. And that's the impact of the state not having a budget because that really impacts We we we we send our contracts out. We make a commitment to them, but it's always hard when there's an asterisk obviously contingent upon an approved budget. So like letters of intent, you know, we're recruiting. Miss Joe is working really hard to try to bring in you know, individuals who we feel will
189be the best fit, but also retaining our individuals. You know, it's it's it's if they feel like if I I may I may have a chance to not take home the same amount of money. Do I need to look elsewhere? What's going on? You know, I think I would say the whole state is in the same place in terms of not having a state budget, but perhaps not everybody has been impacted by the LCI like Nelson or you know, some other things like that. So I think that this is why it's really really important to be able to think through and and and be creative. You know, I appreciate the county administrator sharing the 2025 audit for the county because I think that'll be something for us to really and I've forwarded that on to
190you guys. I think it'd be important for us to take a look at to see you know how we understand it and and how things are are going and to see what are other areas for us to to really look at. Yes, I would encourage any feedback on that. Please let us know. For sure cuz it's interesting. There's definitely perspective on that audit to see but I don't understand it all and I think I'd like to understand it and digest for sure. There's certain numbers that stick out and you go oh. But I don't know what it means in the grander scheme of things. >> Right. And I think it's worth noting that you know it's a 2025 audit so there's a lot of impact from COVID and SR funds. You know I think there's
191it's it's not always probably as clear as you think it is when you're taking a look at it cuz there's some of other other factors and perhaps how we report renovation versus the revenue side of it. So I think it'll it'll take some time to really go through and review it and evaluate it and see how does it apply and impact and and what are what are other aspects to it. We essentially with this have defined out of this list of the shortfall in expenditures we only have $552,325 to find on that list. That's what we can spend off of that list based on the current budget. So it's as much about what are you putting in as what are you taking out because essentially all of this is gone. I mean if you look
192at this budget from the beginning it goes and you put back in $553,000. Does that make sense? It's not good. I mean if you want to do if you want to do Cola increases then you're left after that with 120 20 I can't do big sorry Ms. Bella I can't do big math. 125 127,000 I mean it's not there's just not a lot Mhm. to work with and then when you talk about activity buses and drivers ed, those are I know every part of our budget is student facing, but there are very few line items in our budget that are actually with the student. And I I don't take anything away from the teachers, the staff, any of that. Activity buses, drivers ed, that may be the only opportunity a student has to participate, to
193get a driver's license. I mean, if you're in a rural community, and I've said this, I've said it Excuse me, years ago. >> I get all fired up about this one. You know, I can't I'm going to pull them over. Well, I don't forget even with the activity buses, that's an adult, too. Those are adults lining up to be able to try to get those extra opportunities and and I I you know, it it it is and and we are we're very student-centered, but we're staff-hearted. They're at the heart of it. And um and when you look at those top three, um and then you look a little bit down below and you look a little bit down below, like that is your staff. 80% of our budget is people and personnel. And I will
194I would be remiss in saying that this is this is just to keep up with life. Oh, yeah. And so is the insurance, but this is to keep up with life. Um and we recognize health insurance, it goes I mean, we recognize that, it's important. This is what all the the cost of living increases, this may or may not cover it. It may not cover inflation, but you combine these two, and and it it is a a huge impact in particularly on individuals that don't have the room to feel that impact. Um so I just >> I can speak from personal experience um with the insurance and the cost of living raise. It it happened to me that I ended up losing money. >> Mhm. You know, it looked on me oh, you just got
195a raise. And no, you didn't because they did a test sometimes annually. The only raise we got was to cover the insurance. >> Mhm. And then some years the insurance would increase was so large that, you know, we lost money. You know, and that's the real world of not making hundreds of thousands of dollars a year being self-employed or owning your own business or whatever you do, that insurance kills families. Just to have it. You know, if two people if you're in a single you know, single-family home or it's just you're one parent in a home and you're not sharing it cuz that's devastating. That's devastating to your budget. You know, so you know, just my personal experience. But, you know, I this is going to hurt staff if we can't help them cover their
196costs. And I hope we can, but there's a lot of hoping here. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. We're going to see which one fills up first. So, this will be our task. >> Yes. Yes. Over the next um several weeks. Um Also awaiting a state budget, you know, and and evaluating what comes next cuz we also don't know that part of it. So, this will be a task. So, that I ask that your feedback and thoughts on this are provided so we can work together and work through this. This active this tool is great. This active >> It's great until you realize what you're doing. And there's nothing And then you're like, oh, it's like, you know, it's it's it's cool, it's engaging, it's interactive until you realize Not doing it. Yeah, I we can't >> What
197the actual But it's helpful to Yeah, participating in E-rip. Yeah, but if you take E-rip away, then you've got to add in the cost of filling those positions. >> different substitute teachers probably that We have a financial cost and then you have an academic and then you have a another mental because here's the thing, finding substitutes is not easy. So, you know, like the incentive for an E-rip person is like you want that money, here you go. You you want to you want to earn that insurance and that money, you got to go do this this assignment. Um it isn't And and just so you understand, that assignment is not just to go substitute in one classroom one day. It is geared towards what that person's expertise or specialty is and then what that significant
198need is. And sometimes you have some overlap, but it isn't like we'll let them go substitute, but you're going to get substitute pay. Um so, this isn't you're not making a ton of money to go do um something. So, I I would remind you, defining substitutes is super difficult. Um and you want to put Again, you don't just want to put anybody in front of your kids for that long-term um at all, but definitely not for that long-term. Um you asked the question how many. I think it's 17 with 15 really active. Yeah, my my first graders teacher went on maternity leave and had retired teacher in the classroom for, you know, those weeks that she was gone and it was great. And we have those those wonderful stories, but we also have it in
199in um the cafeteria and we have it you know, we have cafeteria individuals who are taking advantage of being able to work and we we need substitutes in there and and they're quite frequently. And so, it it isn't just the teaching aspect, it's all it's in in many areas and so, that's it's important. All right. The challenge is not just one year. I mean, that we're going to deal with this again next year and the next year and the next year. And so we figure something out outside of this LCL. Like, you know, there's I'm in my brain thinking, can we go to the county? Can we ask for if it's not in the operating, can they give us a one-time extension of this amount of money? But there's no guarantee, you know, A cut
200is just not for one year. No. It the trickle-down effect is is years. The recovery from a cut is years. It's a good tool to demonstrate pain. Exactly. So, thank you for that political tool. Unfortunately, it's a good I think it's a I mean To demonstrate reality. Well, I mean, I'm not saying it's only like a tool to like demonstrate something in like a negative sense, but it is It is helpful to say, you know, to say, "Hi Supervisor Friend, what what would you recommend that we don't have this year for our students?" >> Your children. And say, you know, you guys still have time to do better. Maybe they will. Maybe they won't. But thanks for the opportunity. I think it's it's it's a good tool to use as a as a discussion piece.
201You're not just working the abstract. This is very It's helpful. It's tough to have conversations with people and and you don't have it in front of you. You don't even have the ability to share that in front of you. And so I think it's helpful to really use as education and informational. Um it's tough to make these decisions. We recognize we're one department of others. And and I would never I don't want other departments to have to cut, but this is an incredibly vital and important uh department for the entire county um because of who it deals with and who it addresses. It's our future and it's our children um and it's the individuals who work with them. And so I think that that's why this is important. And it's it's the budget decisions are
202tough. I think it's great that you laid this offer out to staff. And you know, be direct. Give us your thoughts and here's where you send them. Um so that they can A understand what a problem this is and how difficult it is to think through and and make uh, you know, decisions around and and to get their ideas. They, you know, they are probably in I mean in my family versus your family, things that I could get rid of, you can't live without. And same in schools. And we if we can get some of that information to help us work through this, that's really going to be helpful. And I think it gives the staff a sense of yes, it does matter what you think. We do appreciate that this budget is a painful
203thing and we need your input. And I will say it's been very interesting each of the personalities of the buildings and the different staff. Um, and then also, you know, drill down even further, the different um, categories of staff. Um, it's and and just seeing their responses and understanding like, um, this isn't um, it isn't ringing a bell that isn't worthy ringing. It's this, you know, decisions are going to have to be made and it isn't just um, it isn't just a panic. It is this is something that we're going to have we have to make some good decisions and we have some time that we need to think through it. Thank you. Okay. Well, let's just tell her we're all cheered up. Seriously. We got items for action. We have our February 2026 policy
204update second reading. So, at this point we will approve those policies. Um, if there are no discussions on those February 2026 policies, I'd need a motion to approve them as presented excluding the policy GCB And that was the one that we did the first reading of earlier. Okay. I make a motion to approve the policy updates as presented and gone over in the first reading last week. Excluding Excluding GCPE. May I have a second? I'll second it. All those in favor? I. I. Anyone opposed? Anyone abstain? Okay, can I get a motion to unless there are any questions to approve the NCPS fiscal year 2026-2027 Perkins plan? I'll make a motion we approve the Perkins plan as presented. May I have a second? Second. All those in favor? I. Anyone opposed? Okay, we talked about
205rescheduling the school board meeting from May 14th to May 7th. I think that was kind of floated to everybody before, so if we are in agreement, may have a motion to approve moving the school board meeting from May 14th to May 7th. I move that we move the school board meeting from May 14th to May 7th. May I have a second? Second. All those in favor? I. Anyone opposed? Anyone abstain? Um Mr. Perkins will run that meeting. I will be out of state at a business function, so y'all got Mr. Perkins. Don't forget that the field trip to the zoo Yeah, I'll make sure to do that. Okay, we have um if unless there is any discussion, we have a motion to approve math 6 to 7 and ELA 6 to 7 textbook adoptions. I
206will say this was reported upon by Mr. Blake in the last meeting and removed the elementary adoption of math so we can further investigate a third option that could potentially be a a pilot of something that it hasn't been approved yet, so we are now reviewing that option um at the at the request of of looking into it further. So these were discussed um prior. So if I can have a motion to approve textbook adoption for 6th to 12th. With the exclusion or It's not even in here. Okay. It's not even in here. Okay. Yeah. I want to make sure we didn't even make it confusing. Yep. We textbooks textbook adoption. May I have a second? Second. All those in favor? I. Anyone opposed? Anyone abstain? Okay, so this is a music showcase at Hershey
207Park field trip request. Can I get a and again out of state, so that's one reason it's with us. May I have approval of the music showcase Hershey Park field trip May 8th to 10th, 2026. I move we approve the music showcase Hershey Park field trip May 8th to the 10th, 2026. May I have a second? Second. All those in favor? I. Anyone opposed? Anyone abstain? Okay. May I have Okay, so I'm going to give Dr. Hester a little credit for this. Um for tomorrow, it is a green day for all employees. She has asked that it also become a green day for NCPS 12-month employees. Any questions for her on that or green day means they can work from home day. Barring any questions, may I have a motion to approve that green day
208for 12-month employees for April 3rd, 2026. I make a motion to approve Friday, April 3rd as a green day for NCPS 12-month employees. Start spring break early. I have a second. May I have a second? Second. All those in favor? I. Anyone opposed? Anyone abstain? Okay, we had a late field trip request. Um Is it this? >> Yep, it's the one we've got from Mr. Durkey from Mr. Gerke. Um, we added that to we had amended the agenda and added it to it. >> And Mr. uh Dr. Gerke can actually provide any kind of uh background or questions that you might have about that. Um, it is you know Mr. Gerke's our automotive and he has a wonderful opportunity to um take some students and supervise them um as they as they go to what
209is it called at ZMAX Dragway. Um, so it's like putting what they're learning kind of in action in a different in a different way and so it's a um we have a couple people who'd probably like jumped at the chance of being super uh chaperones at that as well. So um that that was uh Is it an overnight trip? It is. Okay. >> It's out of state. Yeah, yeah, I just saw it's in like North Carolina. Yeah, yeah, that's why We usually looked at the virtual options as are in the summer and the students So this one is 24th of April. Um it is in Charlotte ZMAX. It's NHRA uh top fuel so it's the elite level drag racing. It is one of the more accessible uh forms of motorsports. So the students will be
210able to get pretty close into the pits, see the actual teardown of the cars. Uh Morgan has just some opportunities for them to gain some of the Just be an excellent experience for someone. It's also good networking. Motorsports is one of the few venues that there's still a lot of uh recruiting going on. So a lot of these kids are interested in some of the diesel colleges and schools that would be um there at 12. Morgan has a cap that operates out of VIR so um some good opportunities for them to So if there are not any questions, could I get a motion to approve the ZMAX Dragway field trip to Concord, North Carolina on April 24th, please? I make a motion to approve trip request to number 670. And well done. May I have
211a second? I second. All those in favor? Aye. Anyone oppose? Anyone abstain? Okay. Personnel, is that the only thing we need to go into? Okay. May I have a motion to approve, I mean, a motion to go into Where is the motion to approve? Motion to go into closed session. Um it will be for personnel and I believe it will be for approximately 10 positions. I move that the Nelson County School Board enter into closed session for the purpose of discussing personnel matters including employment assignments, appointments, performance, resignations, or retirements in accordance with section 2.2-3711A1 of the Code of Virginia. I second. All those in favor? Aye. Anyone oppose? Anyone abstain? We are now in closed session. >> Hey.