NCPS - Regular School Board Meeting - January 15, 2026

001Heat. [music] [music] Heat. [music] Heat. Heat. [music] >> [music] [music] >> Heat. Heat. >> [music] >> In just a little bit of time, with a gentle swivel of a tassel, things will change. Despite what some may >> [music] [music] >> We've made it. 12 grade school years completed. And if I'm [music] going to be completely honest, it's hard to believe we've come so far. Today's ceremony represents the impact each graduate [music] had at Nelson County. These experience alongside Nelson County's teachers is a once in a-lifetime experience. High school has [music] been hard. We've been given thousands of entirely new obstacles. We have spectacularly triumphed over them. It is nothing [music] if not hard work and persistence that has lit the fuse to the class of 2025 success. Believe in yourself that you are somebody. If

002you look up the own definition of somebody, you will find a person of [music] importance. Never place blame on anyone for your failure. When things get tough, stand [music] tall. Continue to work towards greatness so one day everybody will say, "You know what? They were somebody. [music] >> With our caps on our heads and our dreams in our hearts, we're finally ready to step out into the world and chase our future. [music] And now, by virtue of the power and authority vested in me by the Commonwealth [music] of Virginia, I do hereby declare you graduates of Nelson County High School. Please turn your tassels. [screaming] Congratulations, class of 2025. [music] >> [music] >> Follow the horizon. Follow your heart. [music] Chasing the unknown. [music] Chasing the unknown. [music] Forever [music] they take it. Forever they

003leave. [music] Chasing me. [music] Follow your heart. Follow your heartbeat. Chasing me. [music] Chasing the [music] unknown. Chasing the unknown. [music] [music] Oh. [music] Oh, [music] heat, heat. [music] >> [music] [music] >> Heat up here. >> [music] >> Heat. Heat. [music] Heat. Heat. [music] Heat. Heat. [music] >> [music] >> Heat up here. [music] Heat [music] up here. [music] Heat. [music] Heat. [music] >> [music] >> This time I invite everyone who is able to please stand for the pledge of allegiance. Uh I will lead it but please also remain standing. uh I will uh for a moment of silence afterwards and I will share some information. So I 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

004for all. >> As I ask please remain standing. We uh have um had several of our former employees who have passed away in recent days and whose service left a lasting impact on our school division. We remember May Thompson who dedicated over 30 years of service working in accounts payable at central office and in our child nutrition department. Her commitment and reliability supported the daily operations of our schools for decades. We also honor Annie Roach, who served our division for 19 years through her work in federal programs in the Nelson County School Employee Credit Union. She was also known for her dedication for supporting both students and fellow employees. We remember Mrs. Dolores Trudale, who devoted more than 30 years to teaching coral music and inspired generations of students across multiple schools in our division

005through her passion for music and education. We honor Mrs. Gloria Ashley, who served as an instructional assistant in the early 1970s and contributed to the foundation of student support in our schools. Betty Lou Bryant who served as computer lab assistant at Nelson County High School. She retired well over 40 years of experience. She uh was always a bright spot and a very loving individual who supported everyone she came into contact with. We are grateful for their years of service, their commitment to our community, and the lives they've touched. Please join me in a moment of silence in remembrance and respect. Thank you. You may be seated. The next item of business is the approval of the agenda for this evening's meeting. Is there a motion to approve the agenda as presented? Move that we approve

006the agenda as present. >> Do we have a second? >> A second. >> Any opposed? All in favor? >> Any post? Sorry, I got that out of order. [laughter] >> Any abstensions? [clears throat] All right, the motion carries. The agenda is approved. We will now begin the annual school board reorganization for 2026. But first, I want to say welcome to our three new school board members. Dr. Stacy Rush, who represents the Central District, Mr. Joe Richardson, the North District, and Mr. Joe Kennedy, the East District. We are excited that you have joined our team, and we look forward to working with you to support our students, staff, and community. As part of our annual reorganization, the school board will elect a chair and a vice chair for the 2026 calendar year. I will facilitate the

007beginning process with electing a chair and a vice chair. We will begin with the election of the board chair and I will now open the floor for nominations for chair for the Nelson County School Board. >> Are there any do you have to second the nominations >> in just one sec? Are there Good question. Are there any additional nominations? Okay. Hearing none, the nominations are closed. So any second that nomination? >> I second. Okay. All in favor of Miss Pal as the chair, please say I. >> I. >> Any nays? Any abstensions? All right. Congratulations to Miss Pal who has been elected chair of the Nelson County School Board for 2026. We will now proceed with the election of vice chair. I open the floor for nominations for vice chair of Nelson County School Board.

008>> I'll nominate Caesar Perkins for vice chair. >> All right. Any other additional nominations? All right. Uh, hearing none, the nominations are closed. Uh, we will proceed. Have a motion to second. What am I doing? What's What's happening? Um, all those in favor of Caesar Perkins for the vice chair, please say I. >> I. >> Uh, congratulations, Mr. Perkins. You are now the elected. >> Um, >> Joe Kennedy. Oh, he made the motion. So, yes. Do we have a second? >> I'll second. >> Uh, we have Miss uh, Dr. Rush. >> Someone's keeping me on track here. Congratulations, Mr. Perkins. You've been elected the vice chair of the Nelson County School Board. So, congratulations to both of our newly elected officers. I will now turn the meeting back to the chair, Miss Powell. And she

009will begin the next portion. But first, I also want to hand something off to you. Thank you guys for the trust for that. >> Yep. We're going to have a good year. >> So, while Dr. Hester is pulling that information together annually. What we do um as she has said is we reorganize the board and part of that reorganization is not just chair and vice chair but it's also some of the logistics of the board. So when do we meet, where do we meet, um who the clerk is, all of that and then as well those committees that we've talked about. So, um, we've had an opportunity to chat some about those specific committees and let's talk a little bit about the rest of the things we're going to put in place. So, the clerk

010of the board generally is a position and I I do want to kind of highlight this a little bit. The clerk of the board generally is a position that is an independent position, but in the nature of us trying to kind of adjust and save money on our budget, the superintendent has very kindly stepped in and she is also doing double duty as the clerk, which means she's helping with policy. She's putting the board meetings together, all of that. So, she is graciously in um in trying to help our budget at this point, agreed to continue to do that job. So what we will need for um that particular role is we'll need a nomination for somebody to be the clerk and then a second the way I think we should probably do this is

011step through do nominations for each of the line items on this reorg and then once we do the nominations we'll vote on the place as a whole. Does that sound agreeable to everybody? We can have discussion along the way certainly we can make up the rules as we go. Um, so the first one, as I said, we're going to look at is the clerk's role. Um, generally, as we said, Dr. Hester has agreed to continue to do that role until we feel like the budget money is there. So, if I can have a nomination for someone to be that clerk, >> I nominate Dr. Hester to remain as clerk. >> Okay. >> Have a second for that nomination. >> Second. >> Okay. So, Dr. Hester at this point will be um will be in that

012clerk's position. The deputy clerk um Miss Shannon Irvin has traditionally held that position as well as the backup for the clerk. So I believe Mrs. Irvin has said don't throw me in that that match but um so if we could have a nomination for Mrs. Irvin please barring any other discussion. I'd be happy to nominate Miss for the vice chair. >> May I have a second for the >> I second. >> Okay, perfect. Moving on to the meeting schedule. We traditionally met on the second Thursday of each month. Um we know that the board of supervisors meets on the second Tuesday. So it's been a really good schedule for us to kind of go back to back on that. So if there is any discussion on that, we could have that now. But if you're

013amunable to maintaining that second Thursday of the month >> at 6 can I have a >> At six o'clock. Thank you. At six o'clock. I can can have a nom nomination for that time. >> I nominate second Thursday at six o'clock for Nelson County School Board meeting time. >> Thank you. Second a second. Perfect. >> Every month. That's right. Um and then the location. I don't know if anybody read um in the email from Dr. Hester. This room has been changed from the board room to the Thomas Harvey meeting room. Um, if you are agreeable, we will continue to have our meetings here. Know that as time goes by, if we feel like we want to make that change, we have the opportunity to make that change. But at this point, um, Mr. Cargill's got

014a really good setup for us. So, can I have a motion for >> this meeting room? I make the motion that we remain in the newly named boardroom for the meetings until we um such time we decide that it's not a good spot for us. >> Perfect. I second that. >> Perfect. Okay. So, we're moving now into those committees that we've all talked about. Um and the first one that we are going to talk about is the prep representative and then we'll also have an alternate for that. Um Stacy Rush I think has talked about that she would agree to do that. We would need an alternate for that. Is there anyone who would like to [snorts] be the backup in case Dr. Rush can't attend those meetings? >> I can. >> Okay. So Mr.

015Perkins was there. He'll be So can I have a motion for um Dr. Rush as the primary and then Mr. Perkins as the alternate for that. >> I'll make a motion to have doc Dr. Rush as the primary and Mr. Perkins as the second as alternate for the prep representative. >> Second. Can a second for that? I'll second it. >> Perfect. Perfect. >> Can you if you're the nominee? >> I'll second it. Can I second it? >> I don't know. Joe, can you second that motion? >> I'd be happy to second that. >> Thank you, [laughter] >> Mr. Sec. We second the prep group. >> Yes. Okay. So, Blue Ridge Virtual Governor School. I know that Mr. Richardson has agreed to do that. Can we have an I and I will be if everybody's agreeable.

016I can be as alternate for that since I sat on that committee this year. So, if I can have a um nomination motion for Mr. Richardson as the primary and I will be as alternate. >> I make the motion that Mr. Richards be the primary and you be the alternate for the government school. >> May I have a second? >> Second. Thank you. All right. Authorization to sign documents in the absence of the superintendent. Um, Miss Shannon Irvin has traditionally held that role and we are very comfortable with moving forward with that. Can I have a motion for her nomination for that? I nominate Miss Serpentin to be able to uh sign documents in the absence of the superintendent. >> Okay. Have a second. A second. Thank you. Perfect. And then authorization to sign documents

017on behalf of the board. Um Dr. Hester, the superintendent is usually the person that is that that person for us. So if I can have an nomination for Dr. Hester to sign documents on behalf of the board. >> I'd be happy to nominate Dr. Hester uh as authorized to sign documents on behalf of the board. >> May have a second. >> Second that. >> Thank you. The next committee is the Nelson County Education Foundation Representative. Um I've traditionally done this one unless somebody else is interested in picking that up. Um, if not, I'm willing to stay in that role if somebody would like to be an alternate for that for me. >> When are the meetings usually? >> I really haven't to be honest. >> So, it's it's at will. [clears throat] >> I'll be

018an alternate. >> Okay. You got [laughter] to do that. Perfect. Can I have a um a motion for that nomination, please, for me as the primary and Mr. Kennedy as the backup? It's not as >> huh >> it's not like some other >> I make a motion that Miss Pow remain and Mr. Kennedy be her alternate >> have a second for that >> here second. >> Thank you sir. >> So the Thomas Jefferson adult ed board rep. Um this is one that Mr. Kennedy and I just talked about that we are really want to maybe become a little bit more active with this one and Mr. Kennedy has said that he would be he would take on that role. Um, so I'd like a nomination for that. But who do we have an alternate? Someone

019that can back him up for that particular committee. >> I'd be happy to. >> Okay, perfect. So, if I could have a motion for a nomination for Mr. Kennedy for that committee and um Dr. Rush as a backup for that. >> This is for TJ. >> I offer [clears throat] a motion that uh Mr. Kennedy uh become the um representative to the Thomas Jefferson adult would rep and that um Dr. Rush be his alternate. >> Okay, a second. >> I'll second. >> Okay, good. Um we're closing in on the end here. Hang on. So, delegate an alternate delegate to vote at the assembly session at BSBA. Generally, this has been the chair and the vice chair. We'll do that as we get closer. If things happen and people cannot go, then um you know, everyone

020is included to attend that then we'll adjust as we need. But right now, we just have to have someone in as the delegate and a backup delegate. So, can I have a if we all agree? >> Yeah. >> Is this the fall time conference? >> That's the one in November. Exactly. So, during that conference, we will have legislative positions that we have to vote on. And so this person would vote on behalf of their board and what the decisions would make during >> the legislative policies that they're moving forward with that usually we'll share a month or two in advance. >> Okay. >> I make a motion to nominate uh Miss Shannon Irving to be the not not Shannon Pal [laughter] Shannon Pow to be the delegate and Caesar Perkins to be the alternate delegate

021to vote at the assembly session at the VSBA annual conference. to mention. >> May I have a second for that? >> A second. >> Perfect. Um so we are um there's been a discussion to bring another committee forward and one of those is a CTE committee um and it would be someone that would um be involved when you all Mr. Dr. Yarzensky have your meetings um that could go as a board representative to here. So it's a part of the career technical education program. Um Mr. Perkins has expressed interest in doing that if we're all in agreement. Um, is there someone who could be an alternate for him for that committee? >> I'd be happy to be the alternate. >> Perfect. Perfect. So, if I could have a nomin um a motion for a nomination

022for Mr. Perkins for the CTE committee with a backup with Mr. Richardson. >> I nominate Mr. Perkins to be the delegate and Mr. Richardson to be the alternate delegate to vote at the assembly session at BSBA annual >> convention. No, >> CT. It's not on there. It's >> Oh. Oh. Oh, okay. Sorry. >> I'll make a motion to have Mr. Perkins with Mr. Richardson as the alternate be the representative from the board at the CTE meeting. >> Perfect. >> Second. >> I'll second. >> Okay. Um, so now what we'll do now that we've we've closed the nominations for all of those roles, we will go ahead and if I can have a motion to approve the um the list of nominees as presented and then we'll be good to go. >> I make the motion

023that we approve the list as newly presented at this meeting. >> Have a second. >> Second. >> Thank you. All those in favor? I >> anyone oppose? Anyone abstain? Okay, perfect. Committees have passed. Thank you. That is um that's one of the toughest things to get started and takes a little bit of time to get that done. But again, as the year goes on, the idea is that as you attend those committee meetings that you will come back to the meetings and present to us, share with us any information um that you learn. So, I thank you all for your willingness to participate and look forward to all the good stuff that you're going to be sharing from those meetings. And you I heard you say that we will be contacted by the >> Yeah.

024So So what'll happen at this point is um specifically for you two with well you three with the adult ed prep and BRBDS's. They will now submit your name into those groups and you will begin to get communicated directly through at your school board email address. So they'll let you know. I'll let them know and then they'll probably add you to their email distribution list, but I will also once I know a little bit more, I'll send it directly to you so everybody's on the same page. A lot of times I also send um calendar invites. So just you you click yes and it's automatically on your calendar. So they make it really really easy with the um time, location. So they try to make it as easy as possible, but sometimes a little follow-up.

025We I know we have a prep meeting coming up. It's coming up in the next week or two. So, >> and know that if you can't make it, that's what we've got the alternates for. And if something happens, we've had a couple times with um BRVGs where I couldn't make it, the alternate couldn't make it, so we had another board member go. So, we just will all work together to make sure everything is is covered as needed. So, I thank you for your participation on that. >> So, we're going to go back to Dr. Hester for the one Nelson Awards. Um her favorite part of the meeting. >> That's mine. I don't know about everybody else. >> It's my favorite part. All right. My stuff in order. All right. So, we do have some new

026people here in our audience. So, this is the portion where we recognize the one Nelson Award. Some of you may see some nomination uh forms on Facebook or I'm emailing it out and in various ways, but with so many uh great students, staff, employees, and community members and organizations involved in supporting Nelson County Public Schools, we always want to celebrate them on our pathways to success. And every month, NCPS highlights individuals who exemplify the one Nelson spirit. So, what is that one Nelson spirit? It embodies the understanding that it takes a collective effort to make our school division and community the best that it can be. We appreciate what our students is that me. Oh, okay. Um staff, employees, families, community members, and organizations do for us and want to celebrate. We recognize a nominee

027from these four categories. We have students, community or organization members, classified employees. classifi classified employees are instructional aids, front office, administrative assistants, nurse, school nutrition, maintenance, transportation, custodians, technology, those in that category. And then we also have certified staff such as our teachers, administrators, and others in those positions. So that gives you a really good idea of what exactly um these recognitions entail. And so the first group that I usually like um to recognize is our student group. So Mr. Isaiah Turner, I know you're close by. Can you come join me up here? [laughter] [applause] Should I know I should have got my button? I know I closed you out. I'm sorry. All right, you get to stand next to me and read alongside. So I get to share um what happens is we try

028to share what the nomination said and why the individual felt like this um person is is uh worthy of this honor. So Isaiah exemplifies the values of leadership, service and integrity in every aspect of his life. As a dedicated member of the National Honor Society, he consistently seeks out meaningful opportunities to give back to his community. His volunteer efforts include supporting the London trip fundraiser through a car wash, assisting at local voting polls during elections, and contributing annually to the future gov's basketball camp. Isaiah's commitment to leadership is equally impressive. He was selected by his teammates as a football team captain for several consecutive weeks, which is a testament to the respect he has earned through his character and work ethic. He continues to challenge himself, stepping into leadership roles such as this. He is

029our student representative and striving to meet the high standards he sets for himself. Isaiah Turner is a role model for his peers and in true embodiment of the one Nelson spirit. So we want to say congratulations. Thank you so much for all that you do. And we have a couple people. We got people right up here. But if you kind of step towards me, we can get outside of this poll. >> Okay. Right in front of us. >> You got it, Mr. Walker. >> All right, cool. >> Yeah, horizontal. I love it. [laughter] >> All right, let me get you your mug, too. So, for those of you who also don't know, they he gets this fine mug that is a direct product of Nelson County High School. So, they are able to make it

030in uh one of the techn one of our assistant principles is able to make it for us. So, it just says one Nelson. I'm gonna put it back in its protective covering because if I have anything to do with it, it's gonna end up broken. There you go, sir. Thank you so much. Congratulations. >> All right. Next up, we have our uh community and unfortunately um Mcdana Toyota was not able to make it uh this evening um the distance away and being able to work through the end of the day, but they uh were great contributors to us when it came to the feet meet that we had um before uh was it before Thanksgiving? Yeah, it was in November. So Nelson County Public Schools greatly appreciates the recent donation from Mcdana Toyota to provide

031lunch for the volunteers for the inaugural NCPS Special Olympics Feet Meet. This generous donation was extremely appreciated by volunteers who organized, prepared, facilitated, and cleaned up after the FET meet event. NCPS is excited for future opportunities to team with team Mcdana Toyota for events that support and celebrate our students. And for those of you who were not able to come out that day, it was a wonderful event um that really highlights um inclusivity and the collaboration between our special ed education and adaptive students and our gened students. Um and it really brought out the best in everyone who was involved. And in fact, at a previous meeting, we recognized one of our students who was a team leader in one of the the uh sessions. and it was just uh one of those events that

032um you can't possibly have a bad day if you're attending that and watching all of our our adults and our children work together. So, um we appreciate and thank uh Mcdana Toyota and look forward to a great partnership. So, thank you very much. I will track them down. Um I will go up and I've already talked to the individual and I said I will come to you and I will bring you the certificate and the mug and we'll get a picture. So, thank you very much. All right. Um, the third category is our classified category. So, will Miss Jennifer Pard please join us? Yes, you. >> So, Jen thought she had to stay this evening in order to continue onboarding our new uh, school board members. So, I didn't have the heart to correct that.

033So, if you come a little bit closer. Yeah. >> So, Jen has spent the past several months learning a new position at the school board office while continuing to support her previous role at Nelson Middle School as the bookkeeper. She has worked countless extra hours as she is this evening, ensuring all tasks have been completed, including training the new NMS bookkeeper, all while maintaining a positive attitude. Jen has proven herself to be invaluable and is a stellar example of a dedicated staff member going the extra mile for students and staff. So, we want to say thank you so much for one being able to juggle so much, but then doing it in such a positive and cheerful attitude. So, we thank you very much. And we're going to smile for this nice lady. [applause] All

034right. Cool. Thank you. Let me get your mug, too. Here you go. >> Thank you. >> Yes. Thank you. [applause] So, at this time, well, I am going to um read uh Governor Yncan's proclamation. So, some of you may or may not know that January 12th through January 16th, 2026 has been proclaimed as Virginia School Principles Appreciation Week. So whereas school principles work cooperatively to direct, develop and inspire all members of the school staff and student body and to communicate effectively with parents to engage them in the learning process. And whereas school principles serve as educational leaders managing the policies, regulations, and procedures necessary to ensure a safe and effective learning environment for all students in Virginia's public and private schools. And whereas school principles serve as instructional leaders, equipping teachers with training and resources

035in delivering personalized and innovative student programs to ensure every student has the opportunity to succeed. And whereas school principles are entrusted with the opportunity and responsibility of guiding, directing, nurturing, mentoring, and imparting knowledge to our children while they are at school. And whereas school principles work collaboratively with teachers, staff, students, parents, and the community at large to proactively prepare students to be productive members of our economy, informed citizens in our democracy, and engaged neighbors in our communities. And whereas Virginia school principles appreciation week is an opportunity to recognize the hard work of Virginia school principles and to recognize the importance of school leaders in ensuring that every child has access to a quality education that prepares them for life. Now therefore, I Glenn Yncan do hereby recognize January 12th through 16th, 2026 as Virginia School

036Principles Appreciation Week in our Commonwealth of Virginia. And I call this observance to the attention of all of our citizens. So with respect to this proclamation, I have um collectively honored all four of our school principles for the one Nelson award for the certified position. So your favorite part is at this point they love to sit in the back, but at this point in time, what I ask is that Mr. Kevin Walker, uh, Nelson County High School principal. Miss Hannah Collins, Nelson Middle School principal. Heather Coughlin, Tai River Elementary School principal. And Mrs. Jody Coffee, Rockfish River Elementary School principal. And see, they're still doing Oh, he's a gentleman. [applause] So, congratulations. Here you go. >> The proclamation. There you go. Congratulations. >> Well, thank you. >> Congratulations. I like that vest. >> Thanks. [laughter]

037>> Congratulations. All right. So, we're going to slide on over here so we can get that fantastic picture. >> Do you want >> I'm gonna get in the middle. Yeah. [laughter] >> No, you guys don't get to hide behind the podium. We're going to keep scooting down. >> Yeah, you can move it. Good luck with that. Can we do what? >> All right. >> Okay, we're turning. I'm not going full. I >> turn. [laughter] I don't I don't need to look like a linebacker looking in the picture here. So, thank you so much. Congratulations. Oh, wait. Before you go, [applause] you guys have gotten your one Nelson mugs, but you got a different one. So, >> yep. >> Here you go. >> Thank you. >> Here you go. Thank you. >> And thank you. Congratulations.

038Thank you guys for what you do. [applause] >> Thank you. You're so strong. So big and strong. I think I'm up next, too. Huh? If someone would just put the agenda in the right place, we'd all be better for it. So, we kind of wrapped up the one Nelson Awards and the principal appreciation week allin one, but I'm gonna ask Mr. Walker to come back up. >> Do you have anybody else you want to invite with you? >> Miss Deno, >> why? >> You're gonna come up here, too. >> This is a conspiracy. >> It is. >> That's how we work. >> Okay. So, uh, for those of you who have been following, um, all the different accreditation models and accountability systems, um, there have been designations of four new categories. Um, and the highest

039category is the distinguished category. And so, I am proud to say that, uh, Mr. Walker and Nelson County High School has been, um, uh, able to achieve the distinguished category. And so, um, this is a letter that we've received from the Virginia Department of Education. Dear Mr. Principal Walker, I'm pleased to congratulate you and your school community on achieving the distinguished category on the Commonwealth School performance and support framework, an honor that reflects the highest levels of commitment, consistency, and belief in what your students can achieve. Recognition of this caliber is a result of strong instructional leadership, empowered teachers, engaged families, and a student- centered school culture that prioritizes excellence. The distinguished status is a clear indication that your school is exceeding the state's expectation for achievement, growth, and readiness for the next grade level

040or graduation. Leadership matters. Your students success showcases what is possible when adults lead with vision, act with purpose, and maintain a relentless focus on student growth and achievement. I want to personally thank you for modeling the kind of leadership that moves education forward and being an attentive to data responsive to student needs and optimistic about the future. Under the school performance and support framework, distinguished schools serve as exemplars whose effective practices can be shared across the Commonwealth to support strengthened outcomes for all students. Therefore, we look forward to learning more about the best practices underway at Nelson County High and student supports you and your team implemented to help your school achieve this success. We hope other principles and school teams will have the opportunity to see your work in action and learn from the

041best. And so, this was from uh Dr. Emily Anne Gullixson, our outgoing uh state superintendent. She want to say thank you very much. I am certainly appreciative. I know our students and our families are appreciative. So, thank you so much for all that you do. in this demo. You're equally as valuable in this adventure. So, [applause] all right. Come on over. Come on over. >> Put you in the middle. Yes. Okay. >> All right. Thank you very much. Congratulations. [applause] >> Yeah. You couldn't really read that, could you? So, I'll get I'll get the hang of this. point in our meeting where there comments from board members. So, Mr. Kennedy, do you want [snorts] to go first? Any comments you might have? >> Um, I'm glad to be here and glad I'm getting to meet

042a whole lot of people and learn new things and, you know, participate and so keep on asking questions and >> you know, thank you. >> Welcome. Welcome, Mr. Parkkins. >> Hi, >> Mr. Richardson. You know, I'd just like to uh express my gratitude at for the opportunity to serve and to also um voice my appreciation to all those who have done so much work that have brought us to this point, you know, because it's upon what they've done that we hope to contribute. And u I'd like to thank everyone for being here this evening. Thank you, >> Dr. Russ. echo. Um, it's an honor and a privilege to sit in this chair and we appreciate the trust you have in the board and the board will certainly do its best to live up to that

043and I'm looking forward to getting our hands and feet into the work and getting to know all of you and all that's happening in Madison County and continue to make this a greater and greater school division. >> Thank you. Well said. Um, just a couple quick things for me. Welcome to our new board members. I'm excited and appreciative of you all being here and ready to serve. So, thank you all. Welcome. Um, the other thing I just want to acknowledge, Isaiah, we always love the one Nelson Awards and think those are great. Isaiah, so good to see you recognized. I was telling somebody earlier, it's been so wonderful to watch you just we've almost got to see gotten to see you grow up over the last couple years and just blossom and you are an

044amazing young man and so worthy of that award. So, congratulations. >> Um, Mrs. Pard, our principles, um, those are some unsung jobs. So, thank you guys for all that you do. You're here late tonight and you'll be back at your schools early tomorrow. Um, and so we we're very appreciative and co Coach Walker, look, you'll always be Coach Walker. Um, congratulations to you and your school. That is that is an incredible honor. An incredible honor. And we know how hard you all have worked to to achieve that honor. So, thank you guys so much for that. And I think that's it. I think we we do want to acknowledge the the people in our system who have passed. So, thank you for the moment of silence for that. And um I think that's it for

045right now. So So thank you all. We're glad you're here. We're kicking off a new year, 2026. Let's go. Important dates. Dr. Hester. >> Sure. Um so um before we talk about the the February months of which there are quite a few. Um as we've spoken about, uh this week is Virginia School Principles Appreciation Week. Um coming up on Monday, we have Martin Luther King Jr. day, which is a school division holiday, so no school for students or staff. Um, on January 26th through the 27th is the VSBA Capital Conference in Richmond. And I'm proud to say that we will have uh two of our new schoolboard members being able to join us uh for the capital conference. And then on Tuesday, January 27th, it's the VSBA uh new school board orientation. Um which is

046kind of coupled with the previous um and we will have uh all three of our new school board members joining us for that, which is super exciting. Um with that, anytime you had three school board members that are in attendance together that could possibly be talking about um any kind of school business, we always want to um acknowledge that it is um considered to be possibly a meeting. So, um it is at a conference. Um we will be there with other uh new school board and other superintendents. But I always just want to bring that to people's attention just to make them aware. I'm very thankful that we have uh individuals who are eager to uh learn and be a part of the process of supporting all of our staff, students in our community. Um

047then we will have um on February 2nd through February 6th National School Counseling Week uh where we are able to celebrate all of our school counselors at each of our buildings. So we're pretty excited about that. In February is um schoolboard appreciation month. So you guys have joined us right at the right time um just in time to get celebrated. And also Black History Month, uh career and technical education appreciation month. and also celebrating February's love the bus month. Um so we have a lot going on and we're pretty excited uh for all the great things that are taking place. >> Do we have on the calendar potentially a budget workshop? >> We do um for Yes, we do have a tentatively scheduled uh work shop for January 22nd um in the evening. And I

048know I have communicated with you all about some potential opportunities for board training. Um that would be take that it has not coupled into that time slot. Um I think um and we'll talk a little bit more about the budget um at the um items for information. Um you know we've currently had the release of Governor Yncan's budget. Um Governor Alex Spanberger will be inaugurated Saturday. Um, so we anticipate a new governor budget being released shortly thereafter. Um, and so that's one of those we will be having our first presentation of of our of the superintendent's um proposed budget on February 5th. So that will be coming shortly. That will be the first proposal of it. Um, so we're kind of at a very unique time since we have a transition of of administrations. Um,

049typically in a in a a year where we don't have that, um, being able to have those work sessions, I think you you're able to get a little bit more, but I think also something to consider, and we'll talk again a little bit more about this this evening, is since we have three new board members, is getting an opportunity to to um get some feedback and insight as to um maybe some of the priorities or goals or things that you you've been thinking about um to make sure that we uh include or at least give thorough consideration ation to in our budget. So I think that's also really important. Um so we put that um placeholder for January 22nd and if we need to take that time we can but if we don't um that

050is one of those dates then then we just we don't need to have it at that time because we also have the February 5th and February 19th placeholder for a work session. February 5th is not a work session. It is a regular scheduled meeting. the 19th is a um that would be a public hearing for the budget um on that date and that has been we we would circulate that. >> Okay, perfect. Thank you. >> That's perfect. >> All right, Isaiah, you're up. So, we got comments from our student representative. >> Um hello, [clears throat] I'm Isaiah Turner. Um, I've had the honor of being a student representative here for second year now and I just want to say it's been such a pleasure and such a great opportunity to be here. Uh, I know

051I may not understand what's going on all the time, but um, it's always nice to be here and listen and uh, with the community. So, I just want to thank y'all again. Um, I just want to say uh, going to our track team tonight. I know they have a indoor meet and so it's only the second one of the season even though the season's been going on for a while but um good luck to them and I just looking forward to all the other events in the future. So thank you. >> It's always good to see you as Thank you. Um, comments from the superintendent. I just I got that first, which I did not do. How did you guys let me do that? Oh my gosh. All right, if you bear with me just

052real quick. We don't need to see how many emails I have. We don't need to judge. [snorts] All right, let's see if we're working. All right, so first up, um, superintendent comments. I just want to again welcome our, uh, school new school board, uh, members. We're looking forward to being able to to work with you. Um, as I stated under the important dates, uh, Monday is a, uh, division holiday in honor of Martin Luther King, Jr., Um, we have had a strong return to learning from winter break. Uh, and I appreciate, um, all of our staff uh, being prepared for welcoming our students back as well as our students ready to come back. I think that was a great, you know, we we came back on Wednesday the 7th. Um, and I think there's something

053to be said for coming in um, not at the full week, but on the 7th because I think everybody was a little bit more excited and a little bit able to to really finish strong throughout that week. So, I appreciate that effort. I also appreciate everybody's patience as we work through inclement weather. Um it was certainly an interesting ride heading into winter break. Uh we were even a little worried about this week, but I think you know things have um uh once upon a time I used to be super excited about snow and um now is not that time. And um so I think we were able to bypass some of those worries this week, but um you know we we take these decisions very very seriously. Um, the safety and security of our students

054and our staff and our community are of the utmost importance. These decisions are not easy. Um, but as I like to say, I'd rather you be frustrated with me for a day than for a lifetime. And um, we do consult with a lot of different data points. Um, I I have been very fortunate to be able to speak with a local meteorologist who tries to help out. But, um, you know, I think of the nine weather decisions we've had to make, eight of them were really good. One of them um, Well, it was a nice day. Um, didn't see that coming. So, um, my apologies for any inconvenience for that. Um, but I, you know, Mr. Campbell and I still joke about standing in front of Tai River even that morning where it's showing stuff

055supposed to be coming through any second and then Miss Irvin saying, "Well, I saw one flake and [laughter] I it's not helpful." Um, but I appreciate the attempted support. So, uh, we look forward to everything. Uh all of our uh events are really um in high gear right now. Um we have, you know, once Monday comes around, then we have a strong um set of weeks strung together where we're able to get our legs underneath us and really um headstrong into the semester. Um so this goes into our portion of the pathways to success. terms of our um assistant superintendent and uh the office of administration. Over the past few weeks, our finance and administrative teams have been busy wrapping up an important year-end work and preparing for the months ahead. And we worked with

056payroll and VRS auto escalation and endofear adjustments for the W2 distributions. We're also coordinating with accounts payable on IRS 1099s. Also begun gathering data for 2026 2027 superintendent's recommended budget. As I mentioned, that will be on February 5th. Um, reviewing the potential impact of the governor's proposed budget on our current FY 26th budget such as like Caboose. And then in addition, we presented a draft budget to the United Way for Head Start program. Um, and attended the VAS FASBO 2026 winter conference, which is always a great opportunity to be informed on legislative updates, state budget discussions, and best practices in school finance. In terms of instruction, assessment, accreditation, on the instruction and data side, we had a great professional learning day with teachers on January 6th and focused on visible learning, our NCPS AI guidance,

057cyber security, preventing teacher burnout with Blue Ridge Medical Center and vertical team meetings for secondary staff and character strong training for our elementary school teachers. Big thank you to our instructional coaches and division leaders for the collaboration and support making that day successful. We also shared the instructional calendar draft surveys to gather feedback from staff and community. Hopefully later on this evening approved that draft and um coordinated with Magnum math training with our math coach and instructional team finalized the purchase of M-Class reading interventions to strengthen our literacy supports and in addition to work with our gifted specialists and school counselors to coordinate our BRVGS uh testing. people personnel. On people uh personnel side, we held safety care certification training on January 6th for key staff focused on deescalation and supporting students through behavioral regulation

058with additional training sessions planned um throughout the spring. Teachers across all levels are also participated in a professional learning session on preventing teacher burnout led by Rosie Lewis from Blue Ridge Medical Center and we're grateful that that continued uh community partnership to work with us. Our team also partnered with instructional department uh to deliver visible learning training emphasizing collaboration between general education and special education to strengthen instruction for all of our students. And you will is a new uh partnership that we have for student mental health teleaalth platform and is now live and available for our students. And the special education help desk that we talk about so frequently u was held at Rockfish River Elementary School on January 8th for our IEP to refresh focused on strengthening IEP development. Human resources and communications uh

059and early childhood side has been working strongly with onboarding new teachers and support staff for the second semester and continuing planning and communication around the division teacher of the year selection process. Um, we were able to have some of our school board members join us Tuesday um to announce and celebrate each of our schools teacher of the year winners. Um, and we are working on establishing a division teacher of the year. So, we're pretty excited about that. And Crystal, yes, tomorrow. Yeah. Um, we also attended the Ready Region Blue Ridge Leadership Summit on January 12th, which brought uh together educators and community partners from across the region to collaborate on supporting early childhood educators and families. We're gearing up for the recruitment season. Believe it or not, this is the time where we really start

060to um understand what our potential vacancies are, but going out and getting the next um our next team members of highly qualified individuals to to build upon what we have. um our first recruitment fairs at Bridgewater College later this month and continuing to support staff with lensure applications and endorsements and then also overseeing e-rip assignments uh for recently retired staff and helping fill critical um needs areas for us. For technology um the team supported end of semester so testing which was a big deal to us. I think we even had some um power outages that kind of threw a little um interest into the end of the school year. We had other assessments with Chromebooks to support and help teachers and students transition back to school um through different help tickets and other classroom supports.

061Delivered cyber security best practices training during professional development focused on protecting our data. I think you you will read more and more in the news of cyber security um attacks on all types of industries. Education is no stranger to that uh particularly due to the the sensitive data that we do have. And so um staying um up to date with all of our best practices is um essential. Also working through our AI area with strong passwords and multifactor authentication working with Optek and MB construction through the um high school renovation and security camera upgrades and fiber pro uh projects as well as the development of cyber security incident response plan. Um this is what I really do appreciate uh about Mr. Cargill above and beyond all the time he spends being able to stream things

062and be at a lot of our events is he's forward thinking in when to order items. And so we operate a lot with Chromebooks. And he was able to get um next year's Chromebooks and teacher laptop replacements with our 2025 pricing ahead of the anticipated um costs in um escalation. and this resulted in significant savings and ensuring that these devices will also arrive in spring on time so they can get them prepped and ready for distribution. So I appreciate that. Um maintenance on the side um you know I think sometimes we forget all the different things that maintenance does outside of just fixing um the bearings and a burnt out fan um that takes place in the ceiling. Um they are the guys that um the gentle giants that they go and they pick up

063the toys from the toy lift. um and they work um to really do some behind the-scenes supports of um of our students. And so they went and did the toy hall on December 4th. And a big thank you to Blue Dog for continuing to support the effort, providing their box truck to us each year. Um it's important to note that because that box truck that they allow us to use is their lifeline to their own business. So if something happens, that's not good for either one of us. Um the team also stayed on their toes uh leading into the winter break and during the first weeks of the semester um by going out and checking the roads um and uh dealing with power outages, fan unit issues, and just the ongoing needs and developments of

064our renovation project. In addition, they supported multiple weather related uh school closures by traveling out in the mornings. Um there's three of us that go out in the mornings and then we also have some of our satellite um uh efforts of people calling in um telling us what they're seeing and what they're doing. So I appreciate the efforts. That road on the right, that was just one of several roads that look like that that we appreciate people being able to to travel that to check to make sure the safety of all of us. Transportation and safety and security. Um the fleet continues to stay very busy. Since the start of the year, our buses have logged about 230 uh yep, 230,000 miles, which is about 3,100 miles driven daily. We currently operate a fleet of

06548 buses with 37 assigned to daily routes, 10 used as spares, and two buses are out of service, awaiting repair or surplus. The fleet includes a healthy mix of newer and older buses, which helps us balance a reli balance reliability and maintenance needs. We also recently completed a Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration audit of our training program and are happy to report that there were no compliance issues. And in addition, the transportation team enjoyed their annual end ofear potluck in December and it was a great opportunity uh for a lot of our drivers to be able to sit and spend time with each other. Um sometimes they see each other in passing and that's a great chance to to develop some um some um team bonding and and really appreciation and learning about each other.

066And some of those graphs just give you a little bit of understanding as we head into the budget season. And in last budget season, there was a great emphasis on really being able to maintain um our fleet of buses and cars and just overall vehicles um to provide that transportation needs um that seem to always be ever growing uh for our student body. School nutrition. Um on the food nutrition school side, uh our division was honored with the innovation and the preparation of school meals award from action for healthy kids. And this is a national recognition celebrating improvements in meal quality and wellness efforts. We also enjoyed serving a traditional holiday meal in December. Um this is something a lot of our schools and our families really look forward to because it's a chance for

067them to come in and eat a meal with their with their children. Um and so they really enjoyed. It was a great turnout at Tai River. We do a Thanksgiving and then we do a December holiday meal. Um we said goodbye to a longtime middle and high school cafeteria employee Belinda Simpson with a special celebration. She will truly be missed. And early this month, we received a large shipment of Pink Lady apples from Seaman's Silver Creek Orchard and 4P for our breakfast, lunch, and after school program. So, we always appreciate our local uh support. Um, just a few recent menu highlights included baked chicken plates at the secondary level, homemade spaghetti, and local apples at Rockfish and Tai River, and a potato popular potato bar at the middle of high school. I was also at

068Rockfish on Tuesday where they were testing out a tater tot casserole. And if my vote has anything um of value, I enthusiastically support that. It had cheese. I'm a big fan. Um meals served during Oh, I it says October. I meant December. My apologies. Um student breakfast meals uh 6,823. Student lunch 10,187 and our after school suppers 112. Why are those numbers a little bit lower than what we're used to seeing? We were in school for 10 days um as opposed to anywhere typically maybe 20 days. So we we'll see a little bit of a dip. And then community engagement. We had a lot of different things going on, especially leading towards the end of uh the uh semester and leading over. But I just appreciate the efforts of everyone uh being a part of

069including um um our families, our community at large, our alumni. You see the thousand point club. Um and and so it's that continued celebration of of different things that take place, whether it's music, um assemblies, um doing fun theme things uh during the week to get the excitement and the attendance of kids, um the occasional inclement weather day. Um and then also, like I mentioned before, we're full force with all of our activities. And so we appreciate that. And then last but not least, thank you to all of our NCPS principles. You are the best. Um we appreciate everything that you do and are so appreciative of um what you give to our student staff and our community. So thank you. >> All right. Thank you. >> You'll have a copy. >> I I know.

070I'm sorry. You'll have >> Okay. Do we have any comments from the public? >> No. No public comments. Okay. Does anybody We want to give everybody the opportunity to speak if you didn't sign up. Does anybody want to Okay. All righty. So, we're on to the consent agenda. Um, unless anybody has any questions about the registers, the meeting minutes that you were not a part of, but you might have a question. >> I think just clarification of the times for those different board trainings and [clears throat] like the the 22nd, the February 5th, and February 19th. just knowing knowing the times. >> They're fantastic. So, um January 22nd was going to be set as a work a possible work session. So, that would start typically at our usual time at 6 p.m. >> going into

071Charlottesville. >> That that will be a diff. So, I don't think that January 22nd time is going to work out for board training. Um simply just, you know, when you have six different pe well, you know, seven different either people or organizations trying to coordinate their schedules. Um, I think we're going to have to really take a I'm going to ask you guys to take another look at probably those February dates to see if they work for you. Um, so yes, I see what you're saying. The January 2nd during the 22nd during the day. I don't think that's going to work out for the board training. That's when you would talk about um norms, protocols, goals, things of that nature. Um, and then you have that 6 pm possible meeting time, which we may or

072may not need. Uh February 5th is a scheduled board meeting. So that would be 6 PM here in the Thomas Harvey room. And then February 19th would be a 6 pm start here in the same room. We can also we have a list of I think it's out on the hallway out there, but we can also send email everybody a list of some of the dates that we've got >> planned for the future meetings. Um because I know one meeting we've had to adjust a date to accommodate some superintendent meetings. >> Okay. Cuz it's not going to be the 12th next month. Like it's not going to be the second Thursday. >> No. >> Correct. And that was changed gosh I want to say back September October. And what that really does for us is

073that allows us to present our budget in early February and then have that opportunity to work through it and then have the public hearing [clears throat] on February 19th and have that work session. Um and then present March O 11th March March 11th that would be our fi our our final presentation where you guys would vote and approve it. And that's actually when it would go from the superintendent's budget to the schoolboard budget. Um, and so what's really important about that and particularly getting the February dates earlier is because the I believe the board of supervisors actually has um probably more than likely that week will be presenting their their full budget. And so the sooner we can get um our information over to the county administrator, the greater likelihood that our our our budget

074can be um fully um considered to be included in there. I mean, they still have to work through it, but I really appreciate appreciate um Candy McGary and all her the members of her team um doing that last year. I think that really um provided a really good starting point to understand the whole the bigger big picture um that included us in it. And so I think that that's why we were able to adjust those dates. >> Cool. So 22nd maybe a 6 p.m. meeting, 5th and 19th 6 p.m. meeting. >> Correct. >> And then somewhere in there we'll look in February and figure out a date we can all do the board training >> and that would be during the day. >> Yeah. And that's been Yeah. Okay. Good questions though. Good clarifications. All

075righty. So in regards unless there's anything else in questioning about dates. Okay. Um the consent agenda if there are no questions barring any questions with any of that information we'll approve that that consent group as a whole. Um if I could have a motion to approve the cons consent agenda as presented. >> I make a motion we approve the consent agenda as >> Presented. Sorry. May [laughter] I have a second, please? >> So many thoughts. >> Second. Okay. All those in favor? >> I I Anyone opposed? Anyone abstain? Okay, consent agenda has passed. So, now we're on to this the items for information section of our meeting minutes. And again, these will look unfamiliar to you because it's right before you came on board. But again, um please look at those. If there are questions

076even from when you were here or whether Mr. Mr. Perkins and I may have questions then please let Dr. Hester know so those minutes can be adjusted to reflect what any of those questions are. Um Mr. Campbell we have an update from less on our capital improvement plan and the projects. >> All right, good evening and welcome new board members. I decided to do a little something different this this presentation. Uh I wanted to start from the beginning so you all can see where we started from and where we're at now. We kept when we started this renovation uh we we decided to split it into two phases. Um phase one we were actually um the project was largely funded by a construction grant. And so in that phase we um we had a lot

077of HVAC equipment that we could we changed out uh with that money. Um it was included some rooftop units at the gym. Uh the water cooled chiller. Um a storage large domestic water hot water storage tank. Um some mini split units and several other chillers. And um the house lights in the auditorium was in much need of replacement. We was able to get that in phase one as well. >> What's the timing of phase one? Like when did phase one begin? >> Phase one started began spring of last year. >> Uh yeah. And then we uh part of that too is we also had a uh an additional uh water line um brought into the high school. So we only had one one main line coming into that whole complex. So we was able to

078put another line into so we can isolate the high school from the middle school [clears throat] if need be. Um and then I also included some maps here what I norm in my normal presentations. Um, it kind of breaks the schools the school down rather into sections what the the con contractor has broken them down into so it's easier to communicate that way and that way you can have some references to the maps. Um and then we moved on to phase two um which we started at the CTE wing this past summer and uh there were numerous HVAC upgrades made to the CTE wing um along with the new domestic uh water pipe and electrical upgrades. Ceiling grids and ceiling tiles were replaced and classroom halls and uh classrooms and halls were painted. Uh new

079lighting with dimmer was installed as well. new LED lighting touch like these right here. Uh, a lot of the exterior, a lot of exterior civil work was completed over the summer as well. Uh, the student parking lot of the high school, the middle school parking lot, and the front bus loop were all resurfaced. Uh, the front entrance road required some structural work before the asphalt could be applied. Um, several feet of soil had to be removed due to uh, soft areas in the entrance road. We we've battled that throughout many years. Um so um we uh hired a a third party inspector to come in um ECS Mid-Atlantic and they was determined that if we if we dug down um 2 feet, removed all that soil, they brought it back up and crushed gravel and

080then they also had a structural cloth before they applied the asphalt. The road we just we just battled through the years with it just sinking and breaking apart. Um the contractors have completed renovations in D1 2 3 and four which mostly consists of the basement area of the high school and then the uh the first section of the west wing. Um the this included new electrical circuits, new domestic plumbing and replacement of HVAC equipment. The renovation scope also includes upgrading the HVAC system to a fourpipe heating and cooling system. The high school except for the CT wing in the front office currently can only heat or cool. This is due to the system only having a single pipe supply system. So we either run the bowlers or we can run the chillers, but we can't

081run both. Uh this of course will upgrade that system to be a more conventional system like the middle school and the the newer section of the the complex. Um the contractors are currently uh working in C1, C2 and C3 areas and have completed se ceiling demolition in D5 uh C4, C5 and C6 hallways. Uh [snorts] update to that is the contractors are turning over C1, C2, and C3 back to us this week. They will be moving upstairs starting next week. And I just spoke to actually as I was traveling in for the meeting, I was on the phone with the contractor and they're also going to start removing the chilled water pumps next week as well and get and install new ones there. So um [laughter] the uh the renovation project substantial completion date is

082set for July of 2026 this summer. Uh so there's a lot of work left to be done. Uh we are currently on time and expected to meet that date and uh we are expected to finish the project within budget. Uh it's important to note however that there will be minimal improvements to the aesthetics and interior finishes of the building itself. As much of the work has been done in equipment rooms and above the ceilings. So we we try to get as much aesthetics as as we can but a lot of the work it's unfortunately nobody will see when we're done. there. So, that's got us up to this current. But, of course, there was a lot, this is very abbreviated, but there's been a lot of work since last year started. So, um I'm happy

083to answer any questions at this point or [snorts] if you have any down the road, I'm happy to answer them then. >> So, where are we on the the chiller? >> Chiller. >> So, uh the the PO has been has been created. Okay. >> Honeyill has ordered the buffer tank. Uh they buff they ordered the buffer tank last week. >> Okay. and it will be in it's supposed to be delivered the 1 of March and they'll install at the end. >> [snorts] >> So basically the the chilled water tank. I know you guys have said it through a couple of the meetings when we was talking about this water cool chiller. Um the manufacturer carrier has recommended that we install a buffer tank and basically what that does is stores water and allows it to

084circulate through they we don't have enough piping system to to substantiate the large chiller that we have. So they have added a buffer tank to this. So, we have got that approved and that's and that has been ordered last week. So, >> okay, >> fingers crossed >> it's going to fit into where they want to fit. [laughter] >> I would hope that one of them used the tape measure this time. >> I hope so. [laughter] >> Yeah. And so yeah, not to interrupt, but um one of the things that we want to be able to do with everyone is especially coordinate with your schedule is to be able to sit down with each one of our department heads and really walk through um all the different um one the responsibilities, but the the various projects

085that are going on. Um just because this has been going on, this this project's been going on for a little while. Um so there's a lot there's a lot behind it that just takes some time to go through. Um so that is a part of the plan to the onboarding plan is to really try to catch everybody up too. >> That meetings actually started in November 2023 discussing those renovations. So >> are those temporary chillers still like on site? >> No, they removed they that was removed back in October. Okay. Once once I was comfortable to know that we didn't have any more warm days coming up, then I I asked them I allowed them to remove at the end. So, it's very much if if something happens, it can be installed again. Um, but

086the plan right now is not too heavy. >> Sure. Coach Walk will be ready to have a school back and appreciate all that's being done. >> Thank you. >> Absolutely. Any questions? >> Thank you. So, next up, and this is the first time that we've heard from Miss Wolf, so we're excited to hear from her some behavior data from the first semester. >> Welcome, by the way. Thanks for >> Good evening, school board members, school administration, and community. My name is Laura Wolf, and I am the behavior specialist for Austin County Public Schools, and I'm here to present some data. Thank you so much. Um, so first, where are we coming from? To uh determine our areas of focus for this school year, we dug back into our data from last year. Um, so on

087the right are some behavior concerns that are categorized. And at the elementary level, we're seeing the highest incidence of disruptive behaviors occurring in the classroom, followed by peer and social interactions and also emotional concerns. And this kind of aligns with what what is happening at the secondary level. um again where we're just seeing general kind of disruptive classroom behavior that interferes with the learning of others. So as we do with our academic skills, right, we we teach, we practice, we reinforce, and we repeat that process over and over. And we really need to be doing the same thing with behavior. Um when a student is exhibiting challenging behavior, it's a signal that there's a skill deficit underlying um that's making it difficult for them to meet the classroom expectations. So, we took this information and

088our focus is really on two goals. To help empower our staff with evidence-based practices um to prevent and also address classroom behavior. Um and then also teach our students the skills that they need to be successful. Um these are skills that are not innate. Students aren't born with these skills. Um so through our tiered systems of support, we're looking at how can we target teaching these skills to our students. So, our schoolwide universal supports are those that are available to all students and all of our staff are imple implementing these practices. Um, and our focus is on prevention, consistent implementation, um, and building our staff capacity, right? We want to build the, um, we want to build our students skills and help them grow and learn. Um, but as educators, we should consider ourselves lifelong

089learners as well. Um, so we do this through professional development. Here are some um behavior topics that we focus on in the fall. And as Dr. Hester mentioned, um on January 6, we trained some staff in our um crisis prevention and deescalation uh called safety care. Um we're [clears throat] using some walkthrough tools to help um instill a um positive and proactive classroom practices. So, we're using that data to inform um training for targeted [clears throat] staff. Um and then just in general ongoing coaching and modeling of our evidence-based um classroom strategies. So we have uh VTSS coaches at each school and of course in my role as behavior specialists um that's something I really love is I mean I love interacting with the students but I also really love helping teachers grow in their

090um skills as well. Uh Character Strong is a SEAL program that has been in place at the middle school for three years. We're currently working on a roll out uh at the elementary level. Nelson Middle School also has its schoolwide PBIS rewards system. Um we have behavior support assistance at each elementary school. That's uh been a year now that they have been in place and they are that boots on the ground um person that's able to respond to challenging behavior that goes beyond what the classroom teacher is able to manage at that time. Um and [clears throat] you will um telealth therapy resources was also mentioned. I'm thrilled to share that um last year we with the support of NCF grant funding opened a sensory room at Rockfish River Elementary School. Um and that helps

091students um they're able to [clears throat] access that space for breaks, helps them stay regulated throughout the day and increases their um engagement in the classroom. And um with a second round of funding um the sensory room for Tai River Elementary School is underway. So my hope is we can continue with this pattern and um grow these spaces at our secondary level as well. At the tier 2 level, these are our um more targeted supports for students. Um check-in checkout is a targeted intervention that provides consistent feedback um structured supports, reinforcement, and helps increase engagement and positive behavior across the day. We're using this intervention with a small number of students at each school on an as needed basis. However, as a programmatic initiative at Nelson Middle School, we launched that this fall. Um, as

092always, we have a lot of small groupoup instruction targeting social emotional and self-regulation skills. Those students are selected based on data to inform the needs. And those skills groups are carried out by school counseling, myself, and our behavior support assistants at the elementary level. >> [clears throat] >> Um, as I mentioned, the check-in checkout intervention. So, this is um data for a specific student. It doesn't include their baseline data, but you can see that upon um starting in this intervention, they very quickly rose to the occasion and are experiencing continued success with meeting classroom expectations. Um, and so for each student that is in this program, we're able to progress monitor and track their progress um in this way, which is really great. are at the tier three level. These are our individualized um more

093intensive supports uh students with IEPs, 504 plans as well as um individualized behavior intervention plans. So um in my role I am constantly doing collaborative problem solving with administrative teams, school-based teams um to ensure the implement [snorts] implementation of these supports um and also providing intensive coaching and modeling to our staff so that they can um grow in their ability to implement these supports. Um we have um assist of technology consultation available through prep. Um so we utilize that. So some of our students um you know behavior is communication and if I can't communicate I'm going to use my behavior. So um bringing assist of technology supports on board if for students that need um assistive and augmentative um communication. And then I'm very excited about this um regional partnership with um VCU and their

094um behavioral technical assistance network. Um this is not only a professional development support network for region five. So we have multiple um school divisions participating um but there's also technical assistance. So we have someone that comes to the division on a weekly basis and we are going out to our um adaptive classrooms to help um with those students with the most intensive support needs. And um it's a really datadriven model where we're using some walkthrough tools and some um assessments to set specific goals to both to grow both the classroom and the program but also help support individual students that are exhibiting challenging behavior. And so what has been the impact of this? Well, so far things are looking really good. If we compare um last quarter of last school year to the first quarter

095of this school year um at our elementary schools um because we have this fantastic data collected by our behavior support assistance we're already seeing a reduction in um the number of uh the frequency so the number of calls that are being made for them to come um for support um and this is across >> interrupt I think sometimes being like looking at things through a critical lens one of the things I always ask well is that if we're seeing a drop in numbers, are we seeing a drop in behaviors or are we just stopped um dealing with it or writing a referral and I think it's really important to know like what's important to me is what's important to our administrators is is really addressing the behaviors and not trying to tell someone well just

096don't don't write it up or don't deal with it. Like it's important to to address the behaviors and the supports for the children. So when you take a look at this data, it's important to understand like sometimes because arrests have dropped doesn't mean crime dropped. it just means that didn't take place. It's important to to really [clears throat] recognize we're trying to address the behaviors in order to stop that so that environment can be more conducive to learning for everybody. Um and so, you know, that's why um as Wolf and the behavioral assistants, that's so critical to have those positions to be able to assist the teachers in being able to address those behaviors. >> Thank you, Dr. Pastor. Yes. No, that's a great addition. And um yeah, we're seeing we're [clears throat] also seeing

097that um teachers capacity is growing to meet these students where they're at um at the classroom level. So less classroom removals, less classroom disruption um at both elementary schools. We've seen this reduction. So um what we're doing is working and we're going to we're going to keep doing it. Do you all have any questions for me? >> So my heart's pounding and I'm salivating. This is my thing. Um, a few questions just because I'm new and I'm I should probably know some of these things. Do you that enough is the wrong word to answer, but are do you feel like you're adequately staffed in the schools with behavior interventionists and your tier 2 and tier three support folks >> at this time? I do feel that we are effectively meeting the needs. Um, there's a

098constant eb and flow, right? >> Um, as you, you know, you can see it changes year to year, semester to semester, students come and go. um the model that we have moved into. Um so previously we had two behavior specialists um that were split around the county elementary and secondary at one time briefly. >> We had the contract >> one was contracted. >> Yes. Yes. >> And so when I came on board, this is my second year in this position. Um I was the sole person and we were looking to fill that second contract position. Um and by late in the fall it was proving to be very difficult. And so it was proposed that instead of having a second highly qualified individual, why don't we take that money and instead um put it into

099those behavior support assistance and train them appropriately to to be doing those interventions. And it's really has been powerful because they are a consistent day-to-day person. Um so so the students get consistency, the staff have consistency. Um, and so I do think that model is working better for us. >> So right now there's a behavior support person in each school >> at each elementary school. >> Each elementary school. Okay. >> I think ideally in a in an ideal world it would be great to have an IND it would be great to have a Laura Wolf in each school and then an assistant. Um it's tough like when we talk about shortage of teachers or whatever. I mean, the the der of available individuals going into these um training programs in in higher ed, it's it's

100it's hard to find these individuals. I think ideally it would be great to have an them at each building. Um but, you know, it's tough to find that. We're really fortunate with the individ and and I think the other key to this is the fit. Um finding the right person and putting them in the right um environment is really ideal. Um, and I think, you know, we've been very very fortunate with that thus far. Um, I would say, you know, anytime you can get more of those, you know, once upon a time we didn't talk as much about the mental health or the social and emotional learning. We we really, it wasn't really in our vocabulary as much. Um, but it is now at the forefront because if we can't support those needs in our

101children, they're not going to learn and then it'll impact everybody else around. So, I would say it would be great to build that up. Um, but we're doing a really they're doing a really great job of of figuring out the strategies to support um with with what they have. >> It sounds like the training [clears throat] is the training is ongoing for these assistants and and great. That's wonderful. Um, the other question I had was about the data collection. Are there data teams at each school or is this a district effort to to how does the behavior data get analyzed? Not that's a very big question. just a sort of >> mult we have multiple sources. So we have um administrators entering um discipline information into powers school. Okay. Um we have uh teachers that

102collect classroom based you know classroom managed referrals that go through administration um >> school administration. Um the data that you're seeing is specific to the behavior support assistance of the elementary school. So we use mult multiple data points to to inform our decision-m >> and there are people in each building that are making those decisions and analyzing those data. Okay. >> And that data is shared at the division level. So we at the division level supports we work with uh administrators and actually um Mr. Blake has instituted something um that's been really good using the leadership teams at each of the schools to go through the data and so it's a broader network of teachers who are aware of what's taking place in each of the departments and so that has been very very useful.

103So it's it's very data driven not anecdotal where there's a place for anecdotal but the data piece is really really important and broadening who gets trained. So the more the the the more you build internal capacity, the better everybody is. And so that's you have you have to start somewhere and that's what we're trying to do. >> I appreciate your work. >> Sounds great. >> Thank you so much. And thank you all for your time and thank you Dr. Hasser for the opportunity. >> Thank you. Appreciate it. >> Thank you. Good job. >> Thank you Laura. Appreciate it. >> Okay. So the next is update on NCPS status and new school performance and support framework. Dr. Yar Zabinski. [clears throat] >> Bring the data on. >> That's right. >> Dr. Raj, Mr. Richardson, Mr. Kennedy,

104welcome aboard. M Perkins, Miss P. Thank you for continued service. Looking forward to you're starting off 2026 on the right foot. All right, before I dive into the data, I'd make a couple brief points. Uh, number one, 2526 marks the first year of the full implementation of the new accountability model, the SPSF, the school performance and support framework. Uh, in short, a lot has changed from prior accountability models, and a lot continues to change with how this model will be used in the future. It's continually evolving. Uh it is not simple. There's a lot more than meets the eye relative to the data that you'll see on the board. So I'm inviting you should you desire and I would encourage you to do so to come meet with me and I can give you a

105good walkthrough and some training on this model, its components and how our data and results fit within the framework. Number two, sorry, most of this data is not new. We've been reporting this for months preliminarily in projections and now it is finally finalized. Okay. Um we were awaiting federal designation which did not post until the week of December 9th. Um so again we're simply reviewing the final designations which are appropriate. We can confirm where we thought we were and you guys can see where we are starting the school year. And lastly again this data is not new. We've been unpacking, disagregating and analyzing it since May. We have identified our strengths and areas of needed improvement. This data has informed each school's school improvement plan. It has been presented and discussed at board meetings, principles

106meeting, excuse me, lead innovator meetings, squad meetings, and it has influenced and prompted change in our instructional practices, interventions delivered, staffing and personnel, and scheduling. In short, we have not waited until now to leverage it. So without further ado, our results accreditation versus accountability and I'll disagregate between these two. Accreditation is compliance with the standards of accreditation and the standards of quality. It basically uh analyzes how well we meet uh the policies related to promotion and retention, graduation requirements, instruction, leadership. Are we having safe schools? Are we compliant with the SOS? and do implement comprehensive planning. Accountability in the SPSF is more about student and school outcomes. It is a bifurcated metric which is new this year meaning it is including both the state outcomes and federal outcomes in one report. So I will dig

107into both of those. accreditation. Quite briefly, in short, we have met our accreditation benchmarks and are fully accredited at all four of our schools within Nelson County. This is simply us develop or delivering highquality and impactful instruction from highquality staff in safe environments. We want to make sure our students learn the final accountability and SPSF results. Again, it is bifurcated. So I will work on the first components first. The [snorts] components of the SPSF are mastery which are student outcomes in reading, math, science, and EL progress. Growth, which are comparisons of individual student ESO outcomes from the year prior, readiness, which includes chronic absenteeism. At the middle school, it would include advanced coursework. And at the high school, it includes the 3E model. The 3E stand for employment, enrollment, and enlistment. And then there's a

108graduation component at the high school. This includes both the four-year on-time graduation rate and the six-year graduation rate which allows the inclusion of applied studies. A lot of information on this table, so I'll just focus your attention to the red box at the end. Our framework scores landed three of our four schools on track. And as we already recognize the high school at distinguished, we're solidly on track at the elementary and middle school levels with Rockfish almost reaching that distinguished level. And I would like to point out it is very difficult and not many elementary schools are that high on the metric. Very few have reached the distinguished mark. Um I encourage you to go through the data on this slide and if you have any questions, please feel free to ask. Um again I

109included the outcomes for mastery out of the total possible points. Outcomes for growth out of the total possible points. So you can see our areas of strength uh pretty clearly. And what has just been released are federal identification. Again this came the week of December the 9th. I believe it was the latter part of the week. Federal identification. There are four possible outcomes. Ideally, no identification. We could be comprehensive support and improvement. These are would be our lowest performing schools. Nobody in Nelson County, no schools in Nelson have been identified as CSI, so I won't go too deep into that. ATSI, additional targeted supports and improvement. This would be a longitudinal analysis, um, which will not be impactful until fall of 2028. Um, and again, I put the red box around TSI, targeted school and

110improvement. Again, these are any school with one or more underperforming student groups which are scoring below the highest performing CSI school by type. To unpack that, the state had to identify and calculate thresholds for TSI and they had to wait until all the data was submitted. Once those thresholds are calculated, all student subgroups at all schools are compared against these thresholds. If the student group is below threshold in reading, math and science, if applicable, then the TSI designation would be given. This is an example of thresholds. Okay, I probably should articulate the student groups that would be compared. These are demographic subgroups. Asian, blacks, Hispanics, whites, multiple races, and it also includes students with disabilities, English learners, and economically disadvantaged. I'll also note the percentage is not a pass fail rate. This is an indicator

111percentage. It's a percent of possible points earned within that student subgroup within that category on the school performance and support framework. TSI identifications are annual with no specific exit requirements. Meaning schools exit this identification after one year if they exceed the thresholds. However, we can be reidentified the following year in that subgroup or in additional subgroups. There are no limit to the number of times a student group may be reidentified for TSI. TSI prompts and this is the component of the support in the framework. It prompts our ability to access competitive grants. Mr. Blake, Miss Royinger, and Miss Coughland. We sat through the training today and learned about school improvement grants and direct student service grants that we can apply for. So, we may be presenting something to you next month for approval and submission.

112And the most optically impactful component of SPSF identification or TSI identification is schools that are federally identified as TSI or ATSI will have the performance category lowered one level. Meaning if a school was designated on track, they would be bumped down to offtrack. So final slide is just an overall summary of all of our outcomes by accreditation by SPF framework score and category impact of federal identification and the final performance category augmented by that identification. So we can see that Ty River was identified as TSI for a student group even though they've met the threshold for being on track. I think yeah sorry I think um it is worth noting um the JARK study of 2025 um has evaluated this new system and feels like it is a um an improved um effort in comparison

113to the past. Um I will say from a practitioner standpoint this is this has been built as the plane was flying. Um it has constantly shifted and changed on us. So, um, this data is from last year. So, our students are in new grades and in new directions. Um, and we're didn't get the finalized data until he said December, we're already halfway through the year. I want to note that even when it comes to the the special education subgroup, particularly at Ty River, their numbers are trending in the right direction. We are improving. So I I I feel like that's really important to note because in the JARK study, one of the things that they noted is um that this is a particularly punitive um application um you could be at 89.9 almost distinguished, but

114if you have this subgroup in the same situation that we do, you would automatically drop down. So there's some inongruencies between the accreditation and the accountability and acknowledgement that perhaps this is not really clearly articulated as to what the expectations or what the data points are driving it but overly punitive in its application of it. um and you know on a more personal level like in in a sense almost a morale killer because like you're accredited you're moving in the right direction and this doesn't really appropriately demonstrate that although I appreciate like we all want accountability we all very much want to know how do we measure ourselves how do we do this how do we know what's working not um and I appreciate um you know the all of the instructional team and everyone

115at Tai River um and I say everyone like this isn't just a teacher thing. This is this is a team effort. Um have already implemented interventions and strategies to address these gaps. Um we're just six we're more than six months later. Um so those interventions have been put into place. I know they had a webinar today to talk about some of the things that the state is going to do. Um, so there >> and it also really drives home the magnitude of our small student subgroups. I mean, when we're only dealing with a subgroup of 30 students, an outcome has massive implications. Students whose parents refuse them to test, that zero has massive implications. I mean at Ty River we're talking the difference between two points from being a TSI school and not being two

116points could be two passes or fails from a student who didn't take the test. It could be you know increasing [clears throat] from fail to pass or from pass to pass advance or from failing below basic just to failing. We're only talking two points out of 30 students. So magnitude of each student performing at their absolute best is important but also has massive implications for us. So >> and and these students have IEPs. >> Yeah. >> Individual education plan taking a standardized test. >> Again, not smartly aligned. That is the the hurdle that we have in front of us. Um we have high expectations of our all of our students. Um, and I think I think what's frustrating is it doesn't it's not the most accurate snapshot of how these students are are are progressing

117in learning and not an accurate snapshot of the impact that our teachers are having because I think if you take a look at year to year like the the impact that our teachers are having on the learning of the students is is really strong and I think that that's that is the the sometimes um when you have that measure it may not capture all of it you know that's hard to do um but I I think it's important to that that's our job to highlight that um in our data and in what our students and our staff are doing. >> Can I you've answered a lot of the questions that were spinning in my head. It was the students with disabilities subgroup at time interventions have been >> put in place and we're seeing a

118trend. Yes, they have it. And and you know, as well as I do, it takes a little bit of time and and this is a whole [music] new grade. You know, they're all going to whole new grades, but yes, a lot of um a lot of professional development has been put into place. Um and I appreciate Miss Reinger and and the collaboration u well every yes, everyone. But like the collaboration within the instructional department to be able to provide those trainings with the administrators and the teachers to be able to do this because it's going to take everybody. you you know um English teachers are just not the only ones who who teach English just the same as our sped teachers or collaborative environments are not the only ones who are teaching these kids but

119you also have to have the right strategies to do it um specially designed instruction um all these different things that have to take place um to really be able to capture and then the vast disabilities that are also reflected in these numbers um so I think it it's it's really juggle. >> Yeah. >> I have a question about these um like [clears throat] the section uh 10003 funds. >> Mhm. >> Is that are those only like do those funds only apply like when you have that designation or are you able to apply for >> you have to have the TS only for that school and only for that group? >> Yes. Okay. >> For that school. Um when we apply for those grants, should we apply through them? We would basically take the SPSF framework,

120identify any deficiencies, obviously prioritizing students with disability, but anywhere we can find deficiencies in there, we can include that into the uh grant, >> but you have to structure it assuming that next year we might not be under that. >> Correct. >> And so it's kind of you have to you just have to structure it so that it's set for a set period of time. >> For TSI schools, the grant is for that specific school year. So if we apply for a grant now, it should be leveraged for interventions this year. >> At least that's how they communicated it. >> Are is there are there any data that help us project so that it doesn't come as a surprise that we that our students with disabilities are the subgroup that did um you know that

121kind of brought us down or that needed the extra help. How do we how do we look forward to >> we leverage a lot of our benchmarking data and we are members of what's called the CIP comprehensive school >> instructional program. Um we have done benchmark tool correlations between students who scoring X range on benchmark Q2 benchmark Q3 benchmark here's their projection on [clears throat] their so and they're we've been doing it for a little while it's pretty accurate. So yeah, >> I always wondered where all that benchmark data went and it's okay. Good. >> Yeah, we're not flying blind going into it. For sure. >> I think also what he's explained is like some of these data points are you don't know until all the other um you know all the other tests have

122been accounted for. It it you know there's a constant moving target and so it's not like if you hit this then you know you're you're doing well. it it kind of adjusts and changes and I think that's a struggle but that's where the the benchmarks and the CIP and and the other data points that we use just to have a good anticipatory opportunity. I think sometimes the frustration is it's really hard to know what the so is going to be. >> There's trend data that are that you can >> that you have at your disposal that you can use. >> Correct. And just like we have tiered interventions for student behavior, we have tiered interventions for academic. >> Are again same question I had with the behavior folks. Are your interventionists do you have enough?

123We could always use >> there's never I said that never [laughter] enough is not. What are what's like what's the breakdown? Are there interventionists for reading and math at the elementary schools or just one or what's what do we have? >> Um well we leverage interventions during the school day. We leverage interventions after the school day. We built in intervention and remedial time within the school day. We have our reading plus and math plus classes specifically designed for students who based off last year's assessment. Right. >> Um so I would say we're hitting it at all angles as best. >> Exactly. Yeah. The scheduling seems to be you guys are doing a great job with scheduling and making opportunities for those interventions. It's staffing. I'm sure that's always the >> So actually we have two

124individuals are able to expand on that. >> You start. Sure. At High Tai River, we have um title one teacher. Um we have a shared between and also Rockish has a title one >> Instructional coach and yeah, a shared instructional coach um for both reading and math. She does reading and math. Yes. reading specialists uh at each building as uh interventionists uh that work with uh vows and uh tutoring interventionists at each of the schools as well. Tai has three, Rothfish has two um special education. Who am I missing? >> Case managers. >> Yes. this one here. >> So, there's there's a good deal of support in both, >> right? And we're constantly monitoring um case load sizes and making sure we're applying special education staffing as needed by indicated by student needs as well.

125>> Are we at 16%. What was our overall student population? >> We lose between 15.5. Yeah, I think our overall sped population for the division is I think I want to say between 15 and 16 which is higher than the state average. So we see those numbers and I think what's also interesting is when we take a look at Tai River 14 of those students are going to metriculate up to the middle school and then we'll be back at numbers that maybe will be considerably smaller and put us into a different category. So it it is a constant monitoring process. Um and and in fact we just had this conversation today at a principal meeting and how to be so strategic when we take a look at our data and how do we support and

126how do we even um really schedule things and so I I think that >> that it's it's important to constantly know because it's a staffing but it's a it's an overall performance. >> And Dr. I I would say too when we were looking it was approximately 10 of those students who would have played into this the offtrack designation are no longer at Ty River. They're sixth grade. >> Yeah. >> I think it really is if you get the opportunity to be sitting down with Dr. Garzinsky. It's amazing when you look at the data how one little thing can skew you to two words that really are not reflective of what a school is doing. I mean, we've seen the amazing things that that Ty River is doing top to bottom, whether it's culture, whether it's

127it's academic progression. And so, I I think it's really important to to level set how one little thing can make that and it is not at all reflective of the incredible things that are happening if that's plain and simple. >> Yeah. >> Also, if I can add CKLA, uh we're in our second year of implementation. And that's a new reading series at the elementary schools. Uh as was mentioned by Dr. Hester earlier, MClass is a amplify product that kind of goes along with CKLA that uh we're starting to onboard our reading interventionists and reading specialists with. We're going to be working on that in the next couple of weeks. That is a program that is focused on um detecting early reading deficiencies and then supporting those deficiencies. Um, we're also in the midst of a

128textbook adoption, uh, math, which will be K12 adoption as well as, uh, ELA adoption of textbooks, uh, grades 612. >> So, that's the other story behind the story is the standards have changed, >> right? >> All new standard, all new standards. Um, on the heels of VLA and you have to do these modules and you have to do that. Like, so when you say, well, we we should know. Well, we don't because they're brand new standards. um and how they are translated into the assessments. Um you know that it always takes some time to adjust and and I think um it there's a lot to it and it it from the outside we'll just pass a test. It's just not that simple. Um there's a whole lot more to it. Um for an everyday GenEd

129student add extra to it. And I appreciate, you know, when we talk about the entire division and each position, this is where transportation comes into play. We have afterchool activity buses and that that helps with our remediations. So, our students who are staying after school to get some extra. There's a lot built into the day. Um, but there's also a lot built in afterwards and it takes everybody to be able to make that happen. School nutrition, providing snacks and meals. um you having your maintenance teams being able to make sure that they're coordinating um support for the buildings and facilities and transport like every single person plays a role in this um that you just you would have no idea from the outside. I would that's when I first started coming to meetings just as

130a public person I was struck by the structures that are in place in Nelson County and the efforts that are going on to stay on top of the data to stay on top of the programs to stay on top of the intervention pieces and the policies and it's it's just exciting to see it working and thank you for the for the hard work that you guys do. One thing we want to take away. Congratulations on distinguish. Congratulations on on track for both of the other schools. And you know what? I see yoga. >> You are doing great things. >> And yeah, I mean um the middle school is really moving in in a great direction um in terms of like the overall score points which was fantastic. Um it's the JAR and this is not

131to take away from Mr. Walker. I already told him this, but the JARK study did say that it's a little bit easier for the high schools to achieve that distinguish due to the 3E component. Um, but that's also that's a conversation for a different time. Um, but Rockfish being at 89.5 or six or something like that. So an elementary school almost at the distinguished level is phenomenal because of as we talked about the play of the numbers and how some of those numbers if you don't have enough here it goes into the growth or it goes into the mastery over here. Um it's it's a complicated thing and and they all are doing a a fantastic job of and at the end of the day that's not necessarily our goal, right? We deal with with

132each and individual child. Um they're not widgets, they're children. and to being able to support their individual needs to get them where they need to go. And that's why it's so important to have growth calculated into this because of what they're able to improve and where they're able to go. Your end goal is yes, mastery. It is to pass, but it's it's so much bigger than that. particularly when they leave our walls and they go out into life and being able to have to um embrace that growth mentality and being able to be as successful as they can be not according to this other um some little test um how do they find their success? >> Yeah, >> Thank you. Appreciate it. So, the next thing on our um items for information is the instructional

133calendar draft survey. Come along, Mr. Bleco. Would you all like a paper copy? >> I believe they have one. >> Oh, man. >> Doctor has a step ahead of you. >> That's okay. [clears throat] >> Good evening, Mr. Kennedy, Dr. Rush, and Mr. Richardson. Welcome aboard. Miss Pal, Mr. Perkins, welcome back. >> [laughter] >> All right. So, uh, we were able to gather, um, some input from, uh, community responses. We had, uh, 91 community responses on the calendar survey, 139 staff responses on the calendar survey. We gave three different drafts uh, for uh, folks to look at. Draft one and two were very similar. Uh, draft three was slightly different. And the overall uh selection by community and staff was draft 1. Um we did make with input one minor revision to draft one and

134that minor revision was um making April 5th a green day which is the Monday behind uh the spring break. >> Yeah. Spring break and the holiday weekend. And it was a direct reflection of the feedback and input that we got from families of there's a lot of travel taking place. Um and that would be um we have done that in the past either um the Monday after at the end of spring break or the Friday before um just due to the the travel. >> We did it this year. >> I think it's the Friday before you know just the holidays that impact the the major breaks. um when you take into consideration, you know, just the the spring break holiday, the the whole break, um being able to provide that extra um because the feedback

135we got is a lot of the families were are already going to take it [laughter] because they were traveling from from pretty big distances. So with that, uh, we we did add that in there for that Monday, April 5th. And then we added a day, uh, to the end of the year, uh, in order to make up for that day, which would make the last day of school the 27th, uh, which would also be an early release day, uh, for students. And the release times there would be 12:30 for elementary schools, 12:50 for the high school, and 12:55 for the middle school. Um, so if you have any questions, I'll be more than happy to entertain those. Otherwise, hopefully uh you can look at this and vote on it a little later this evening. >>

136Um, as we did share um uh Seven Stars um is returning. Um, Seven Stars was a big music festival that um was well I say brought back. it was kind of the music festival was reestablished um that was hosted over at the Oakidge Lockan um properties and it brought in 22 to 25,000 um individuals and so they have verified that the um October um it it's like technically the 9th through the 11th but really it's the 8th through the 12th and they are anticipating a bigger influx of of individuals coming in on the 8th um that Thursday than they did this year. um you know, maybe not as they they trickled out on the uh Monday this year and I think there's some adjustments, but I I we were on the call. Um and I

137think they're wanting to increase they don't know what the ticket sales will be, but they're looking to increase the number of people coming. Yeah. Um there was some conversation about adding another event. As of right now, that's not the case. So, we do know that this weekend um is is going to be a very eventful weekend. And I think just on a sidebar, um, we we did a really good job of being able to work with the sheriff's department and our transportation department and the event organizers to be able to handle the traffic and to be able to to have our schools in. Um, I think to the dismiss disappointment of some, um, October was a really long month. um the September to October and I think the the the fall break is a welcomed

138um inclusion and whether whether that I think the event is a nice opportunity to have that but I think whether we had the event or not they would have really welcomed that that break. Um so I think that's also important to note. >> When are people supposed to start coming in for the concert? I was just looking at family teacher conferences on that Thursday night. Yeah, they trickle in, but like if the biggest concern was our buses and being able to to go across the crossways and things like that, the third state, so there was a bit of a we we corrected something. I say we um in collaboration with the sheriff's office and um the event organizers corrected some traffic flow concerns that were evident on Thursday. Um we corrected that Friday morning. Um

139which there was far more traffic coming in Friday morning and and in truth be told it looked like Broad Street Route One in in other areas like it loo it it it I mean you anybody's Northern Virginia or anything remotely in more popular um um shoot seminal trail in Charlottesville Alamo area. Um it was increased traffic. It was doable. But I think with your concern about the um parent teacher conferences, they're going on from 2:00 to 7:00. It's spread out a little bit. There's some things happening. I think um I think we'll be okay. Um but that is a part of the conversation that we have with the event organizers like hey we still have some things going on like life still has to continue in Nelson County and and they understand that. I think

140there is a little bit of that old mentality of lock in like we'll just cancel school. um not quite that easy anymore. Um but we've been able to build it in and that I really appreciate like we were a part of that conversation early on and I kept telling them we're building our calendar right now. Please include us in your conversations where we can make better decisions now as opposed to changing our calendar later when people have already made um plans or or what have you. So I do appreciate that collaboration. any questions in regards because we will need to take action on this later on in the meeting. So, if there are any questions or concerns about this, now's the opportunity to probably ask. >> Um, no, I just know selfishly I like to

141have the Monday and Tuesday before Thanksgiving, but I understand that got to squeeze it in. >> You know, we asked that um, believe it or not, that was on our survey last year and didn't get a whole lot of responses to that. And actually, some divisions who did do that have moved back away from it. I I was a little shocked that that was not did not get as much of a response. I don't know if we had that on this year's >> only one comment on that. Yeah. Um but there was a lot of thanks and praise for the fall break. >> So both a lot of community members had mentioned that having that time in October would be really nice. >> It's a long stretch when you get to that point. >> Yeah.

142But I I was shocked. >> It's not a deal breaker. [laughter] >> Yeah. Okay, >> that Friday night, I guess, is not a if it's a football game, it's away, I guess. >> Um, that's the conversation we're we need to have with Mr. Mullins. Mr. >> Good question. >> Yeah, I think um we were very fortunate. I say I think we're fortunate. I don't know, maybe uh Mr. Mullins was in on the ground work last year and was able to manipulate it, but that's a part of the conversation is we don't need a home game that night. >> Right. Right. >> That's a nightmare. Well, and if there's no school, would they have an away game that night? [clears throat] >> They could still schedule an away game. >> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Sometimes, um,

143>> yeah. Whether we have school that day or not, I mean, we with our district or our regional play, the calendars can, they don't always align as much as we we try to align our calendars with certain things. We're in specialty programs or regional programs that align with one calendar. And then you had the other side that sometimes um our private schools, we have them in all different directions. I say private schools like our private day. Um so our some of our alternative schools, they're not all on the same schedule in different areas. And so it's it becomes very challenging. It's a big puzzle and I appreciate the work that Mr. Bleo and and everybody who's who's been a part of building this. It's not easy and someone always goes away um where there was

144something they wanted that we couldn't include. Um, and then there's always someone who's like, "Yep, got my my uh fall break. I'm happy." Um, I I'm I can't I am not a fan of half days. I'm not. Um, I think it it it creates some things, but this was something that others wanted. And so that's a part of this is you need to collaborate. You need need to make those compromises and you need to try to to make it work for as me for as the majority and as much as you can. Um, and so that's that's what we try to do and we sit and we pay attention to see how it works. And I know folks did mention too they're excited for an earlier >> choice and selection. Um so that way they

145know further advance. >> We're we're about two months ahead. >> Good job. >> Thank you all. >> Thank you. >> So rolling on. Dr. Hester, are you going to take the JEC school admission policy? >> I am. Give me one second. So you're going to see the number JEC just for you all. We get policies sent down from BSBA as a local board. We review all of those policies and make a decision. So as time goes by, you're going to see lumps of these policies come through that we'll review. Um when they come from DSBA, we know they match all of the legal requirements. They match the things that would keep us out of hot water, but we could that as we deem fit. And within some of those policies, you'll see there are things

146that as a local system, we'll input airspecific data into. So that just want to explain what that JEC was for that specifically. And then she's going to talk something about um justice, education, compliance, JEC stands for, right? >> Yeah. They it's broken up into like nine different categories if you take a look at our policies. Um Jay, you know, to people like me, we just know it deals with students. Uh so that's that's how it's broken down. Uh and so um what I wanted to talk to you uh this evening about was um our it's it's tied to our student admissions policy. Um we kind of refer to it as our out of district tuition rates. Um we currently are one of the localities that allow um residents of other localities to be able to

147attend Nelson County Public Schools. There is some criteria. There are some expectations that we have. Um academics, um discipline, attendance are all expectations and criteria that if you do not um live up to those expectations that that that privilege of being able to attend here is not extended and and it can be um terminated. um in the 90s with the building of the new of Tai River um and CPS was really evaluating ways to preserve the programs and the spacing and the things um that we were building towards and so as such tuition rates were set um built into JEC's the superintendent is responsible for setting that um and it was set at a level to really kind of preserve those space and opportunities for Nelson resident students um in an effort to continue to

148consider consider opportunities to increase enrollment uh from various perspectives. Um this is just one perspective. Um I want to really uh take some time to evaluate our current out of district tuition rates and the impact on future enrollments that they have um and possible ways to support uh Nelson County at large. Um if you take a look at this chart um you will see I um did some research on about 12 other uh school divisions and what they if they and what they charge for out of district. We did have one district that responded back that they do not allow out of district. Um and that was I believe green. Um Buckingham does not charge for their out of district. I believe Amelia had gone to that as well. Um, and then you see an

149outline of what everybody um charges. And I um I think it's I I kind of broke it down here where there's three school divisions who do allow out of district that charge $500 or less. And that being our neighbor um to uh the south and west and Amherst. Um Buckingham, like I said, does not charge. And then Campbell charges $500. Um between up to a thousand is Albamaro, Appamatics, Augusta, and Wesboro. Um Albamaro does not allow uh I'm if you are an employee and you live out of district, they allow your children to attend, but you have to pay. here in Nelson County. Um our staff members that have children that when they live out of district, that is a um kind of a part of the package is we allow their children to attend

150um tuition free. Um and then when you take a look at uh a,000 to 2,000 that's Charlottesville and that's us. We currently charge $2,000 $1,000 uh per semester. Um and then 2,000 and above is Fluana in Lynchburg. they're considerably above that. Um and um they have some criteria to that. I think um what I would like to do is um really see how we can take a look at what we currently charge. I have had um multiple conversations with individuals who are interested in having their students um attend for the first time or we have some families that um through various scenarios or situations are needing to find housing having trouble finding housing in Nelson so they have to go elsewhere but their children are already here their lives are set up here um for

151the sake of continuity they'd like to keep them here um but sometimes that tuition is very difficult for them to meet um I I would like to say also I think when we take a look at how we can contribute to um our greater Nelson County um how can we expand something I'd like to to consider I know the superintendent is tasked with setting the rate but I think also perhaps working with the board to how do perhaps expand our our waiver of those tuitions to like Nelson County government employees. Um, an example would be um, a sheriff's deputy or, you know, someone who works for the county departments. I did have a convers I've had a conversation with a current sheriff's office employee that wants more than anything to be able to bring their

152their child here. Um, they work here, they want to advent, they want to move here. It's just with the housing, it's really difficult. Um, and and it's kind of a part of our one Nelson mentality of how can we contribute back and support others who who support us. And so that's something that I just wanted to bring your attention um that that's something that I'm looking at and I'm considering um and looking you know this would be you know perhaps for the the next school year but we need to be working on that now um and and and put that you know back to you when we consider those policies to be able to adjust that which is this is one of those that um we we have a lot more flexibility to be able

153to build in what we would want to do um with these tuition rates and who's included in it. Um, so I I would say as we start to to consider this, I think, you know, a good starting point to look at is perhaps bringing it down to 500, um, which would match our our our immediate um, uh, loces. Um, definitely wanting to have that conversation if if if you have something else in mind. Um I think that would be better to serve some of our local people um and our our immediate and and then perhaps expanding that waiver um to our our government um orientations currently are >> um so it's funny you say that like those are some of our fluctuating um ones and um I I don't that's also part of our research

154is how many kids do we have um and how many um I don't I know Miss >> had two or three a year. Yeah, we have two or three year. Our employees take great advantage of it. Yeah. >> Um but I I can tell you I talked to five families in the last three months. Um and people, you know, they start we had a family come in from Tennessee and they said, "We bought on the wrong side of the James and it's beautiful, but we want our kids to come to you." And so we worked, you know, we were able to work with them and that family was able to, but not all families are able to. And if we want to improve our enrollment, if we want to be able to support our local,

155that's something we really want to do. >> So what's the I guess the potential revenue like generated from state or like >> you get you get the ADM, you get the money from the state for them. >> Okay. >> Yeah. Yeah. It the downside there there isn't a drastic downside. Now, I will say our Nelson student residents are the the the building blocks from which you know whether it's staffing. So, if someone wants to come in and we we don't have any more room that that's not where we can then say, well, we'll hire another teacher like that. That is that is not a um advantageous situation. But allowing these students to attend is is >> right now there's not the demand to really force that like like in terms of needing to hire somebody

156else. We haven't had enough. >> Yeah, we have some grades right there. People like in Albam Marl wanting to like attend Rockfish River. Is that kind of how it like I'm I'm just curious like where the >> like >> um it's it's it's kind of all over. Yeah, we have some people. Yeah, we have some people. We have living in Stewart draft and um and coming over here. Uh we have some people Buckingham um Amhurst. Um we do have some Albero. I mean we we have lost some families to Lynchburg and Charlottesville um simply because the families couldn't afford the housing so they had to move back but they would have rather have their kids continue to come here. So would we. [clears throat] Um, that's tough on a kid. It's tough on a kid

157that has to move midy year or the next year through no fault of their own. >> Any any other questions? >> Do you have any? >> I I totally support the idea of reducing it if it's you still get the normal >> like, you know. >> Yeah, we still have our expectations. you know, I mean, you certainly don't want to um open it up and [snorts] students that aren't your Nelson resident are are creating more issues than than um anything. And and and our the students that we've had, they've been great. You know, occasional every once in a while some attendance, but that's just been that we've had that with our with others just trying to get a handle on that. stuff. >> But these are people that already have some amount of connection with

158Nelson County cuz it's not like you're you're you're not driving to Nelson County because it's like close if you don't either live here or work here, you know? I mean, I can see where Augusta and things like that probably have people. >> We've had Wesboro. I mean, we like Yeah. I I you know I I look at it also as hey we may be moving into Virginia and we may not be able to find something in Nelson but it's close and I we had this conversation. Hey we took a look at your website we took a look at your Facebook pages and we really like what you have to offer and how you present yourselves. Um we just can't find a house there but we want our kids to come to you. And so like

159it's it those are very eye- opening conversations that you have and you're not really expecting someone, you know, we we talk about um our presence and how we celebrate and how impactful that is, but you really don't know until someone's like, I'm making a decision on where I buy my home because I want my child to attend your schools. >> So it's a big deal. Yeah, it's a big deal. >> Home for them to buy. >> Yeah. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Thank you. Don't go anywhere. Sha. >> Oh, no. I would not want to take that fun away from you. >> Or is it Shane? Is Shannon presenting or you >> Ron? >> Let me check this over here. Okay. Hello everybody. Um, I'm Shannon Urban. I am the old guard. It's been here

160forever. I started in 1993 and this is my 33rd budget and I used to think um it can't get any worse and somehow our budget seemed to get tighter and tighter. Um we're people business uh little ones to big ones like me. Um the current budget was built on 1417 students. Um when we did our um SRC report, we only had about 1382. >> You want me to Is there one you want me to pull up? >> Um eventually I want you to do the 2628 capital. Um so the state uses um input from the Welen Cooper Center out of UVA to do um estimates by localities. We also do our own estimates looking at um the Virginia Department of Health birth rate from five years ago because those students should be entering kindergarten. And

161then we um have cohorts that move through the um grades so that if they're kindergarten this year, we hope we retain them all and that they'll move to first grade the next year. So we just advance them. And so when we looked at what we were predicting and what the state was predicting, it was really really close. Um so we decided to build our budget using the 136 um 1,361.8 eight that was actually in the couch tool just for simplicity sake because it's easy to explain to the county board of supervisors um where our numbers are coming from so that they can see that we're not changing them in any way or amending them that this is what our experts are telling us as well. Um I I hate to report that the new state

162budget as it has been presented by Governor Ynan again that will be massaged by the general assembly. Uh crossover from the House and Senate is supposed to be on Valentine's Day. So um I probably will be looking at crossover data instead of going out for dinner, but um that's okay. Um the new B budget results in a,27,75 less dollars than we received this year. >> So we're already in the whole 1.2 million. Um that's caused by a couple things. One is the um 55.2 students um lower than what was expected in this year's budget. And hopefully if we do something with the outer district tuition, maybe we can make up some of those kids and um cut that deficit a bit. >> It's about what is it about almost 5,000? >> It was this year,

163but next year it'll be less. So I would say four around four >> around four. Like so every student can be $4,000. So it does, you know, we talked about every little number makes a big difference. It does it everything helps. um composite index change from 6645 to 7269. That alone um is attributed to almost $900,000 of our lost uh state revenue. The way the composite index works is it's um like the complement of a number to equal one. So if it is 7269, it means the locality pays 72.69% 69% and the state would pay the 27.31%. SOQ positions. So, um, looking at the council and you can find this on the Department of Education website. You, it's doesn't jump out at you to say, "Hey, here I am." you have to dig a little

164bit, but in um one of the documents that's attached in your packet, I have a link to it that you should be able to get there to actually be able to um play with the macros because if you change your estimated enrollment, you can see what it changes in terms of state contributions. Um the governor did include a 2% raise for staff SOQ positions each year of the bianium for next year. >> So just to press pause when we say SOQ positions standards of quality within the code of Virginia establishes certain positions that are considered standard of quality positions. About twothirds of most staffing is is falls under that. So that means about another third does not. Um I think it is important to note that that doesn't mean that one-third is less important. Um

165there are not if it nothing jumps out at me right now, but school divisions don't staff just based off of the SOQs. That that is an antiquated um formula that is not really as applicable now. um it who it takes and what it takes to be able to support our students and our schools goes beyond the SOQUS. So I just you know we talked about the abbreviations and all like all the different things like SOQ's gets thrown out a lot and I think it's important to understand the impact that it has when it comes to funding because when the governor says 2% raise for all teachers it's that that is not accurate. Um but we get caught up in the Oprah effect. you get a raise and you get a raise and you get a

166raise and that is not accurate. So that's why I wanted to really highlight and emphasize when we talk about the LCI and we talk about the SOQ they collide together and it has a tremendous impact on us and not in a good way. >> So we have about 300 full-time employees um looking at the capital um they considered 161.45 SOQ positions. So if we were to give a raise, the state would pay 27.31% up a 2% raise for 161 people. So we would have to pay the other um 72.69% for those SO2 positions plus 100% of the other 140 people or we're giving all full-time employees a raise. That's just an important thing to kind of keep in your mind. Well, you know, we get money from the state, but we don't nearly get enough

167to be able to to cover it. When you give a 2% raise, it's not just 2% on the salary. You have to figure FICA, which is 7.65%. The BRS rates um for next year will be 12.2%. That the retirey healthc care credit to help retirees pay for their health insurance and retirement of 888%. That's group life insurance of 1.06%. owe 6% and there's workers comp depending on the um job you do. Um in terms of salaries, we've done a number of creative things over the last few years to try to address some inequities in our pay scale. The Virginia Education Association puts out a report every year that compares the salaries of teachers across um the Commonwealth. It's done by voluntary uh sharing of information from localities. Most everyone participates because it's a valuable source

168of information, but you might see a county that for whatever reason chooses not to not to um send the information in. But previous boards, and I know boards change and priorities change, but previous boards have wanted to see Nelson County salaries um at 25 or below in terms of um ranking in the state. So we have had years that our beginning salary was really really good. We were at like third in the state. And so we realized that we could afford we can't couldn't afford to be at 25 from step zero to step 30. Um so we had to do something to um adjust the um salary scales at the beginning to be able to help those folks at the end of the scale. Uh we were in the 60s um here just I guess

169it's been about two years ago. And so the last couple years we've been trying to chip away at that to kind of even it out to try to get everyone as close to 25 as we could. So um the BE report BEA report salaries at milestone years. So do it at entry level and in this report we're at 15th in the state. So still pretty good. Um at 5 years we're at 18th in the state. Pretty good. At 10 years, we're at 26, which is pretty close to where we want to be. Um, we start um dropping back at 15 years, we're at 33rd in the state. At 20 years, 52nd in the state. 25 years, 59th in the state. And at 30 years, we're at 37. So we put a lot of emphasis of

170trying to correct at year 30 because most people retire with 30 years of service and getting a person's highest critical compensation as high as it can be during um their last three years will affect their retirement for the rest of their life. So, um that's where we've been putting our dollars to >> and we've really put some attention particularly in the last two years to um really address the years of service as as she's saying. So, you know, our our first three years are outstanding. And so, we've spent a lot of time and money to make that that way to ent you you got to start bringing in the younger generations because the older teachers are going out. But as we see with the years um [clears throat] 20 and beyond, we do fall off

171pretty significantly, but we also keep an eye on who we compete with. So this is statewide, but we're constantly keeping an eye on Albamaro, Charlottesville, Augusta, um Amherst, Buckingham, like all all who we draw from. Um and it's important that we continue to pay attention. And so for the last two years, we've really tried hard to honor and um promote the years of service, those individuals with more years by offering um a different percentage for those in those and not just teachers, but all staff um and not as much for the lower because we brought those lower ends up um we've got them to where we need them to be. So, I think that's really important to understand is it's we've taken the same amount of money, we just distributed it differently um to honor

172and be able to that retention piece of our our veterans, our master teachers, our or our other staff members who are incredibly vested in us. >> The Charlottesville album numbers. Geez Louise, I don't remember them being that good last year. >> Oh, yeah. and and we could compete with Charlottesville for the first year and then lost out from there on out. Alber I'm not sure we ever competed with. >> They're now in the top 15 across the board. >> Yeah, but look at >> I know. >> Yeah, >> I know. But >> well, in all fairness, Charlottesville is um the uh so we are 13th with the LCI. Um the highest LCI you can be is 800. There are nine localities with 08. Um there are three there are three three other localities above us

173but below 08 and Charlottesville is one of them. I think they're just under um they dropped though I think this year a little bit and then it's um Highland and then it's u North umberland and then us. So we are we are 13th. So um it it is impactful >> and the state looks at that as the ability to pay. So they're saying that you have the resources and I think everyone's home reassessments went up that I've heard. So I guess that's a real thing that um the county will have to grapple with is how how did they find that balance? Um the other big well not the other but another big component of our budget is our health insurance. Medical inflation is ranging anywhere from 8.5% to 10%. Um, we are aware of some

174significant claims though there is reinsurance that will take off a significant portion of of those big claims. We're we're putting a placeholder in the budget initially of a 15% increase um for next year. Total estimated cost for the current year was about $4.5 million. So you see a 15% increase of $4.5 million. is a sizable chunk of money. So, be prepared for those when you see that. Employer rates for retirement program um we're expected to go down under the governor's budget based on what has been certified by the VRS board. for our uh 40162 group, which some people call it the professional group. That would be your administrators, your teachers, your instructional assistants, your secretaries, um your cafeteria managers, and your um department heads are all in the 40162 group. And that's going to go

175down to 12.2% from 14.2% 2%. Back 14 years ago or maybe 2014, the VRS watered down the state retirement system and they did away with a fully defined benefit plan. And now they have a defined benefit defined contribution plan that they call a hybrid plan which basically um puts employees in more of a decision-making role of their own retirement. So they have a defined benefit portion of their retirement, but the other portion is defined contribution where they can make the decisions on where their monies are invested and take more responsibility in terms of generating returns. They can choose to participate more than the 5% that they're mandated to participate. And if they choose to do so, then we have to increase our local match to what we pay for them. So a person can contribute

176up to 4% more than they already are mandated to do. So they would be putting in 9%. And then we would have to increase our 12.2% by another 2 and a half. So we would be putting in 14.7 for those folks. So it's made, you know, the budgeting much more difficult because now I have to budget by person on whatever they're choosing to to do. We talked about the things that we were working on. January happens to be the auto escalation month. The BRS automatically increases everyone's voluntary contribution that's a hybrid member unless they opt out. So few people take the effort to call in and say I don't want to do that. So we're increasing their retirement contributions which also increases our costs because we got to match it. So planning for that has

177been interesting too. Um let's see other rates. Um, there's a I hate to call it a non-professional group, but a lot of people call it that, but it's for our groups that are our custodians, our mechanics, our cafeteria workers are in a separate retirement group, and they're um judged by their own participation in their own demographics. The professional group is a statewide pool, so everybody is the same way across the state. Um, the non-professional group is Nelson County Public Schools rate. So, their retirement costs are going down from 7.98% down to 4.92%. The group life mirrors the professional group from 1.18% to 1.06%. The retirey health care credit is going down from 1.21% 21% to 888% for the professional and um it will be 1.98% for our uh non-professional group. The um another benefit of

178the hybrid plan that the plan one and plan two old retirement plans have is that they also have a short-term disability um program. We do not have a short-term disability program for our plan one or plan two folks, but the cost for that for the hybrid members is going to increase from 045% to 48%. Um for the professional group and 74 to 79 for the non-professional group. So all of those indicators, you know, we will be building into our budget, but we realize that this is a unique year because the majority of the board is new. So we didn't know if there were any special priorities or anything that you would like us to consider to cost out to add to the budget or anything that you wanted us to look at possibly deleting from

179the budget. Um, just input. I think before we heard all the wonderful things that are going on, my my thought was, are we sure we are well funded for instructional coaches and interventionists, but I'm not hearing that we have a real need for extra money there, but I think it's something we need to keep on our radar. I I would say that at the at the secondary level. I know we currently have a current teacher um at the high school who um teaches but then also does some is a math specialist um that she kind of spends time between the high school and the middle school. And it would I would love to be able to have a full-time math specialist because we're also seeing some things in legislation that is leaning towards that. Um

180but I you know um we can't sac sacrifice the math classes either. So I think it's that it's that being in limbo. Um so I would say that but I think one finding the people to do it but then also with our current budget situation then then we have to identify something you know obviously we'd love to have that increase in in a budget to do that but we're also very mindful of where we're starting. >> Yeah. But I I know we'd forgotten to mention just at the secondary level that we try to um you know because we are still feeling the impacts of COVID >> um and you know those kids are in high school where that missed out on some really primary time in their elementary years of learning some basic skills not

181only um in literacy but in like math fluency and other and other skills. So um we see that making its way up um to the secondary levels. I still don't have a really good feel for federal programs, what they're going to look like. Um, of concern is the C program where we give free meals to students for lunches and uh, breakfast and uh, some snacks and supplers. So whether that will be have the same criteria to be able to do that or not, I fear that with the changes in uh Medicare that our eligibility may drop off. So we we'll watch that come. >> Have we looked into anything? I know there's a a program called the Rural Health Transformation Program. Um, I'd love to talk with you sometime cuz I have like a couple

182of connections with people that are kind of involved with the like coordinating that kind of thing with the Make America Healthy Again um, >> okay, >> wing of things. And I just want to know what like try to understand better how that could all fit in. >> Super. I know that they're changing the um regulations in terms of the food pyramid and things that will be acceptable USDA guidelines. So um >> we have to maintain compliance with whatever those nutritional components >> dictate. So um >> we certainly will be looking into that pays very close attention and I think we had a meeting earlier this week and it was very interesting to see you know those I guess unintended consequences or what have you to when um the decentralization of the US Department of Education

183and then the elimination in where those responsibilities then go elsewhere um where we went down to four or five communications um from you know the federal government about um nutrition to what she say this was the first one she got this week in a while and it's coming from the e USDA and you know so even getting that information and it'll be very interesting to see how that then translates into the the school nutrition programs and things of that nature so it's just how all of it interconnects is very very interesting but Miss Canel is is uh plays very close attention to that um and in all the different >> diverse funding of that kind of critical service. >> Absolutely. >> Appreciate loves when you talk grants and free money. [laughter] >> Well, I will

184say though, there is Mandy and I have talked about this before that there are some unintended consequences of getting grants because we get grants and we do more things, but then we spend more money and then it looks like our per pupil costs have gone up. But it's because we're trying to do more with what we've gotten. Most of our security enhancements have been through grant purchases. Um, it hasn't really cost the county anything, but it does go into our perutable cost because we did spend the money. >> And I would say like academically sometimes like you know Bill's adage, nothing's free. Um, there there's always a cost. It just might not always be a financial cost. And so sometimes when it comes to like the instructional grants, the the workload that now comes on

185or things like Head Start, you know, you think you're getting something and really you're not and it may it it's it's much more and it's it's not conducive to what your primary role and goal is. Um, so really trying to find those right things and I'm just pulling it up so we can learn more about like how, you know, how can we we look at these opportunities to see if it fits for us and we can do it. >> Thank you. I'll be here information together for you. And um we're going to be looking at at some things that I need a crystal ball. You guys can help me with with gas prices and propane prices. And um I don't know what that's going to look like, but we call Shannon Yoda because she knows

186all. But I would recommend especially as we you're coming in kind of hot on the budget to set some time up with her. >> It's it's complex. It's complicated and it's not like the corporate structures and it's not like your home budget like it it's just to really get your head wrapped around it. So we do encourage to be able to sit down and do it and I think 10 years later you're still learning something about it. Um so um Mr. Kennedy um rural health transformation programs ve very um I know you you have a passion for the the the health and nutrition aspects to it. Any other things to you want us to look into uh budget-wise? >> Not not yet. >> Okay. Um Miss Rush, you you or Dr. Rush, Miss um you

187had mentioned instructional coaches and interventionists. Um you know, we can still take kind of take a look and see do do we have and is that going to be up on the oops up on the list? Um uh Mr. Richardson, do you have anything um particularly that you want us to take a look at or or really pay attention to as we continue to try try to build or build out? >> I do not. >> Okay. I didn't mean to put you on the spot, but >> we're now going to enter into a really slim timeline. So, um Miss Powell, uh Mr. Perkins, anything additional? I know you were able to share some thoughts several months ago, but >> you know, whenever we can still do the safety and security stuff and >> you know

188those things, >> you know, we I think we >> done a good job in staying ahead of some folks, especially some of our neighboring schools are having some >> They're just not going to say that. I mean, but they're having some issues. >> Well, and I guess I'm curious as cuz I'm sure there's going to be push back from supervisors on, you know, just, you know, revenue from the state going down and expenses naturally going up. Like, is there anything that seems like I guess lowerhanging fruit in terms of like like anything where they say like you need to cut here or there? Is is there anything that you think would come up as like a and I know that's not an easy question and everything's important but >> I'll say my part to buy

189her time to think about how what she wants to say. >> Um I I pride on what we do to be very thoughtful about the role we the role we play in the greater community. um and what we do and our responsibility um as being a financial stewards of the of the budget that we have. I'm very thoughtful about that. I don't believe in like let's build in let's build in all this stuff and you know I know they're going to cut here. let's build it in. Like I just feel like well then they automatically start coming in cutting. Like I feel like coming in and being as transparent as possible and you know I I say this to anybody like our budget stuff is on our website like painfully obvious of what we do.

190We we present like our my pathways to success articulates where our money is going and what we're doing. um our performance like we've spent the last six months really highlighting and showcasing this is where we are. This is what your money is going towards um because I feel like that's that that's the um that's a responsible thing to do. So I think you know 80% of our budget is personnel. Our budget is typically about what 55% of the county. We are the second largest employer in Nelson. I think Wintergreen. Um I think we're a pretty big employer fulltime >> and well full-time but or and then we'll just say public, you know, like the the public facing, you know, funds and things of that nature. Um and what we do is essential and it's critical.

191Um it contributes to the local economy. It contributes to the national econ like all of it. And so I think you know when you know 80% goes to your personnel and what we ask our staff to do um we shoulder more and more responsibility every year every it feels like it just happens that it it didn't used to fall on the schools. It used to fall somewhere else. So asking people to do more and more and then also increasing the expectations of performance um while then saying do you really need that much? We need more, but we're asking for and and and I know some people really don't like this phrase like we build a budget of need. One, that's what the code requires. Um I call it a budget of success. Like this is

192what we require in order for us to be successful. The double-edged sword is you take money away and we still succeed. At some point in time, that stops. Um so we're very thoughtful about what we ask for and why we ask for it. Um, we we use the data to compare like this is why why why are our starting salaries higher than maybe this? Well, because you got to get them here. There isn't the housing that a mass amount of our staff can afford or that is even available. Take the the affordability that is even available for them. So, they have to come here. So, you got to pay for that. Um, and we want the best for our kids. So, that's the quality piece. Um, we we want that for our bus drivers. Um,

193we want that for our custodians. We want to bring that in. We we take a look at what's the percentage of our staff that live here. What's the percentage that this type of staff, that type of staff? We're constantly evaluating that. Um, and so I I'm very I'm very proud of the work that we do to build our budget. Um, and not to build in fluff. Um yeah, I I I because I and I have that conversation with with um Miss McGary every month, you know, like this is where we're starting out. I know at the at the board of supervisors, she shared out the impact of the LCI. Um I said we we probably will build in a 2% budget um or whatever the governor's budget is calling for because our staff deserves that.

194Um is that something that later on we we will be able to do or not? I don't know. Um, but we know starting out through no fault of our own, through no fault necessarily of the of the counties, this is where our LCI is placing us. Um, so we're very mindful of that and we have that conversation about, you know, this isn't the time to ask for the wants. This is where we start to lay out this is what our needs are um for us to be successful. >> So, have I bought you time [laughter] >> questions? No. being able to report as >> some of those some of those announcements from from their conversations with the other board members. So you may find out that board like your partner board member may tell you

195here's what we're thinking financially that we can do. They're never going to tell you and they shouldn't tell you where that money has to come from because it's not up to them to tell us how to spend the money. They give us a bucket of money and then it we manage that bucket of money. So, you know, if you hear their programs that at that point they're saying, "Oh, we need to cut that to cut the budget." Those are conversations that then we would have to bring back to to them. Yeah. >> But you'll you may hear it before they >> I just want to be prepared to give push back because I know that they're [snorts] probably getting they're they're queued up for unpopular political decisions. >> Yeah. Well, I think looking at it

196this way, um, we're a part of a bigger pie and and like I recognize that all our all the other departments in Nelson are important. I'm not trying to take away from someone else. I'm trying to build the best possible education system that Nelson can have. I don't want to take away from the sheriff's office. I don't want to take away from D. I don't that I want to grow. I want to grow the pot. I want to grow the pie from which we take. Um I think driving driving those wedges between department well you know well then they I have to take it from them. I that's not our intent that's not what we want. Um I want all of our departments strong because it makes everything better. And I think it's it's always

197trying to drive back to to the we are working as a team to get this done. Um and and trying to to be as transparent and as honest in how we approach things. Um and we always invite those conversations. we always invite, you know, the 2 by twos or the joint meetings to be able to have those honest conversations about some things um because without that, how do you do this? And I think we we really very much um want to be able to answer those questions and and um because they are tough. I I'm a resident. I'm as much involved in this as you know like that's important like that we take care of this in all of our services in all of our departments. to get to your question about I did have

198a chance to say [laughter] did you see the smoke coming out your ears? >> No, at the end hour in last year's budget negotiations the board of supervisors reduced our budget by $85,000 after we had issued contracts to staff and and all that. So again, with 80% of your budget tied to personnel, there wasn't a lot of room to be able to make adjustments. And so the lowhanging fruit directly impacted the superintendent and myself because we've assumed a person's job responsibilities on top of what we were already doing. So if there were lowhanging fruit, we would have found it. [laughter] >> We wouldn't know. >> Well, not just us, but like >> the the the easy the soft targets, if you will, administration, um central office soft targets. And it was really important to me

199and to Miss Irvin that when we sat and looked at ways to save up for a bus or to make up for enrollment or to make up for the the 85,211 um that was removed is, you know, we don't want to take it away from the schools. We don't want to take away from people who are right in front of kids or driving kids. Like we don't want to do that. and we we've had some positions we haven't been able to fill the vacancies and what have you, but like that position um you can't always ask everybody else to to tighten their belt and then we're not willing to do that as well. Um, and so it was really important that like we have we we have to shoulder all we not us like like

200all of us we need to do this um because we're all a part of a team and so I think that that was something that was important. I want to also point you to um Manny's presentation when she was talking about all the different departments and there were some charts in there from transportation and I'll have them in the budget narrative as well with the state of our transportation fleet. Um last year we included $600,000 in our operating budget to be able to purchase four buses. we really need to keep that dollar amount in there um adjusted for whatever the cost of new buses are until we can um well the state has a 15-year uh recommended replacement cycle and we have I think it was it 16 buses >> over 15 years old. >>

201So um we do need to chip away to to get our fleet back in to compliance with what the state recommends. Well, don't don't stop talking too quickly. Done all this work to get to the slide and >> yeah, >> so that is a big ticket item that's in our operational budget is is capital items to replace buses. >> It's been there for years. >> Well, we're trying to catch up years of not being able to do that. That's that's something that's gotten pushed out and pushed out. >> And you know, we're excited about getting our new buses. I think we're hoping by the end of next month or February. I think we're pretty excited about that. Um, and we appreciate, you know, that that effort towards trying to update our fleet. Um, you know,

202every time we get some new vehicles, like they're automatically assigned back out again. You know, we just can't get ahead. >> I was um when we were doing the the um teacher of the year thing, there was a um one of the vans parked out in front of one of the schools and um there was some lifters knocking, ticking, and carrying on just sitting there. idling and I was like and they you know those are the things we need. We're still transporting kids in that vehicle and it's not running 100%. >> You know that graph is only buses. >> Yeah. I'm just saying we got, you know, we got >> we have about 30 cars that go out to Lynchburg or to Charlottesville or to outlying areas for >> I mean that's just part of,

203>> you know, I used to say when I was working early on in my career that they expect law enforcement and teachers to create miracles with everybody's kids, but they don't want to pay us what we're the worth of the [snorts] job that we do because people don't see everything a teacher does. People don't see everything law enforcement does because when you go to sleep at night, if it's not enough people out there working, then the other people going to figure out there's a lot of opportunity out here to do do the un the work that's not paid >> and and like just like the law enforcement >> like I I think that people don't understand like a custodian and the work that they do and the relationships and the connections that they have with

204students sometimes they know far more about what's going on with a child than some other people. But they have some responsibilities that people really don't recognize. They're mandated reporters. They are like if they see something or know something that happened, the expectation is they can't just be like, "Well, I'm a custodian. That's not my nobody who works for us." So those legal responsibilities go far beyond like what a custodian has to do somewhere else. And so that and to me like that levels up tremendously because of the role and how they model for our children but how they also serve as protectors. And that's the part that sometimes people really don't understand. Whether you're a soccer coach or you're a custodian, um you're an instructional like any position, anything that you hold for us, the

205responsibilities and the liabilities that you have are tremendous. and we're um counting on community members to be head coaches in our sports and that you know in our system. So you know we lose the teachers as coaches in some aspects. You don't have that relationship throughout the day. Um you know it's just relationships with those type people [snorts] are important to kids. I mean, you know, some of some of the kids relate to other teachers better than others and other aids better than others. I mean, you know, Miss Bryant, the past, all the people that was, you know, connected to her >> just, you know, you heard people in the community like I remember her when I was this age and I, you know, I remember her, you know, I don't know how much formal

206education she had, but I remember when she started to come to work with her mom, >> you know, just sitting in the classroom with her mom and just coming to the building. Those type of things pay dividends that people don't see because parents nowadays say, "Well, that's the school's job and it's not, you know, they put the their parenting on the schools or that's, you know, other places instead of the home. So, we bear a lot of responsibility in our budget that people don't see." >> That's correct. >> I did have one question. I heard in the the board of supervisors meeting the other day about the parks and wreck and the after school initiative. >> What kind of difference does that make between whatever we were paying MKA Maka and the parks and wreck

207thing? >> Parents paid for that. Okay. >> Yes. So few years back it was YMCA and then they dropped and then we scrambled and got um MKA no yes Ma to do after school and sometime in February they dropped and so we inherited it. We absorbed it. Um, and ironically, Maka had received funds to run it, but then stopped doing it. And so then we took it on and had to use our funds because what the parents were paying was not what it cost to run it. Um, and and who we had to get to do it on on such short notice. Then we were able to get them back to do it again. And it's just been tough. So we don't pay them to run our after school. Um, >> space. >> Yeah. We

208provide the space and and I think that that's exactly what Mr. Perkins was talking about. It's just assumed that that's our responsibility. Our responsibility is the K through2 education or the preK through 12. It isn't daycare. It isn't after school. Do we recognize the value in pro in in supporting that providing that? Oh, most definitely, most certainly. But um we don't we're not staffed to be able to do that. And so when we ran the after school program, that was an additional three more hours to the people who had already worked eight hours for us. Um, and it's three more hours for someone else as well, you know, by all means. And so we don't run that. And that was why when I um when I went to Mr. West, like I, you know, because

209MAC just can't do it. They cannot get the staff to come out here and do it for what they're paying. And one of the things is like, you know, I think it could be mutually beneficial for parks and wreck to be able to run this because they are um a county agency. So, we're able to kind of partner with them to do that, have space, and those are our kids a lot of times feed into their activities, into their sport, whatever it is they offer. And that kind of gives them that platform to be able to maybe offer some things at those times where our kids can go over and then when it's done, they can come back. Um, so I think we saw that as a great a win-win for us to have that

210after school because for some of our families like then I guess we can't have our kids go to school because you can't watch them until 6. Um, and and we I've had that conversation with some parents like I guess we're going to have to homeschool or we're going to have to send them somewhere else because I can't get from Charlottesville. I can't get from wherever until six o'clock. Well, that's tough. That's a tough situation to be in. Um, so that's why I wanted to be able to have that conversation with Mr. West to have the parks and wreck. Um I think I would prefer that over someone else. >> Parks and wreck budget. >> That's a parks and wreck. >> Okay. >> Well, it's opposite. >> Yeah. >> The staffing of that >> will be

211his Yes. >> And I heard they had like a best case like 11 students. >> That's his I think that's his break even. That's his break even. And I think if our families know that they'll have an afterchool opportunity um early and and that they have a part-time um so that was a part of the problem with Mac is they're like no you got to pay the full-time all five days or you can't come. Well we don't have family like sometimes our families don't need that and so I think he's able to do some things that they're not. Um so I I think that's that's that's going to be helpful but it's not us paying the teacher. Now, if they if he wants to hire an instructional aid or a teacher who's like, I I'll

212do this after school, that's fine. That's great. Um, but it's not going to fall on us because we just we can't we can't shoulder that every time. >> Yeah, that's great. I I wasn't sure if it was >> that county will provide the money to parks and wreck. Um, or maybe he can get grant like what however it is he he outlines that, but I think he's he's going to the part to the county to say this is a program we're looking to run. you had previously funded it to MACA. So, take those funds, bring it over to them, >> and whatever else. >> Like I said, when they bailed on us, it was like everybody bailed on us because the county was like, "That's your problem." It's they it was a county run program

213just in our building. It was not us saying we weren't going to, you know, provide this anymore. the people they contracted with bailed on them and it made it look like we weren't doing it anymore. So that's not what happened. >> So >> but but it'll be good to maintain that relationship with parks and recy closely. >> Yes. >> Because if it does fall apart, it looks bad on us. >> I mean, well, I'm not saying it wouldn't in [snorts] actuality, but in terms of like parents perception, >> it's still going to fall on us. >> Yeah. it's it's going to come back >> and I and I think he truly intends to have it work. I think he has some experience with in Wesboro or some other places being able to work with that

214and I think you know I love the fact that he he's trying to incorporate the extension organizations 4 trying to bring in some I think I think like I said because it's a local um parks and wreck entity. It almost opens up some access to some people that maybe before weren't willing to do that but now because it's through parks and wreck they'd be more willing. So I think I definitely think this is something that Jerry's been at that table from the first time we got dropped. He was he was he was right here. He sat here with County Heritage Center like a few other people like he's been at the table and I think this is he's starting to see this opportunity of how can we build this out and and and that's the

215partnership that we're looking for and so I appreciate that. >> Anything else for Shane or >> but low hanging fruit? you know, >> it was it was meant to be a little bit of a I mean, but so, you know, like we'll build it out, but like a sports analogy, depth chart, like we're like we're you always have to think through like if we don't have this like what are we going to do because the option of not doing anything isn't there >> and August 12th is going to come and those students are going to come. It doesn't matter. So, we have to be ready and ready to go. And so we're always looking and trying to figure it out. Um but we're at the point now where who it hurts is the people and

216the kids. >> Yeah. Cuz over the years we've not hired and luckily we hadn't cut people's jobs, but we haven't been able to fill a lot of positions that are really good positions to have back. I think it would be good information just kind of tagging on to that good information to share with the new board members the chart that you've had in your presentations in the past that look at over the years through attrition or whatever how we have rights or or had to reduce air workforce over the years and that can be very telling to see that chart because there are you may hear that oh we just spin spin spin and no adjustments are made I think you're going to be really interested to see some of these charts that show there

217have been a [snorts] lot of adjustments made over the years trying to match the >> and we pay a lot of attention to people teacher ratios. Um a priority that was set by the board many years ago was small class sizes. Um, I think also, you know, every we're going to blame COVID. These behaviors were starting before COVID. Um, you want to look at some of the studies, it was 2013 when mass, um, dissemination of social media and cell phones got in the hands of children. Um, but we see these behaviors and so a class of 28 back in the day when I was teaching is not the same as it is today. And so particularly for our elementary students like to keep those class sizes smaller particularly in the elementary but it it also

218is helpful as they metriculate up um because it's not it isn't the same. Um and we try very hard to keep those smaller class sizes. Um but that that is that is going to be a a victim sooner or later. Um and but we pay attention to that in comparison to others. So there's just a lot that goes into it. >> The previous board it said a 20 to one maximum for uh prek3 well K3 and then up to 25 through grade five and then middle school and high school would be dependent on student interest and maximum according to what the code region you would allow be maximum there. We're limited to some degree at the high school for class sizes. So we don't have room for so many desks. So depending on, you know,

219what the student the classes are located >> and and we try very very hard to provide as many pathways as we can and to support career and technical education and all the different various and which requires us to become a little bit more um creative like creating the partnerships with KEK um looking into partnerships perhaps um with Valley Career and Technical Regional Center. um we work with PVCC because that's who we're um districtricted if you will for. But we are constantly trying to look at like maybe we can't have the teacher here in our building but what are the other opportunities we can build but also the the core content classes that aren't just the bare minimum but some of the more elective but of the core contents because our kids need to be able

220to have those opportunities to learn. Um and just because we're smaller doesn't mean our kids don't deserve to have those those pathways. And so, um, it's getting harder and harder to offer the diversity, um, because of the enrollment, but it's still important to try to do that. >> Yeah. >> Thank you. >> You're welcome. >> It's going to be a fun one. >> What? You just stay right on there. >> One jump in on this one. Oh, okay. >> Last year we contracted with military architects to come out and do a facility study. So, they walked through all of our buildings and came up with recommendations for um our capital improvement plan. Thankfully, a lot of them are being taken care of with our high school project. Have to flip all those Well, they've charted

221um based on the age of equipment that we have of how much we should be budgeting each fiscal year uh for capital improvement needs. The problem is um historically is that we've had plans and we have um identified projects to be done but haven't gotten them across the finish line by the board of supervisors to be actually be able to put them to fruition. So this is a plan that was done last December. So, we haven't added anything to what they recommended, nor have we taken anything off that has been completed. I [snorts] know that uh Les has sent me something for the work needs to be done at Tai River. It was about a $30,000 project. Was it something water? >> Yeah, filtration system. >> Yeah, water filtration system. >> So, it's an addition

222here. >> So, that would be an addition if we choose to add it. And again, this is the board's plan. So we we put together a recommended plan to you and you can choose whether you want to keep the project in or take the project out. So there are different tabs on the [snorts] plan based on the location. I think there's one for each school probably one for maintenance and transportation. >> Yeah, this is this page uh page three is um Nelson County High School and Middle School. I would say that um we appreciate the facility study because it did enable us to identify some things that we hadn't already. We had also identified some needs. Um and this high school renovation is serving to take care of quite a few things that have been

223on the list and for a while. Um and we are very thoughtful about what we're trying to to use this money to address. You it because of a grant that we got for $2.5 million. We're we have to really um isolate the work with the high school complex. Um but we recognize that there's some other things that um we are really going to need to pay attention to in the next few years or tomorrow. >> So that is actually just for your information for you to delve into to see what has been identified to see you know what you think of it, whether you want to add to it, whether you want to take something off. Um, and then we will add that one item for your consideration. >> I think the filtration system um

224at Tai River is important. I think keeping an eye on um the HVAC system at Rockfish. Um it it's the little engine that could I mean it's trying and it you know every year we're proud of it. It's pulling through but it's getting harder and harder. Um >> that is the original. >> Yes, it is the original. Yes. >> Construction in 199. And so when you hear our new schools, our newest school is 2003. Um that's the middle school. And then you have your um some updates and renovations to the high school, but then you also have um Tai River and Rockfish. And those were in the mid to late 90s. So those are new schools. Um and it's really easy because I don't want to admit that 94 or anything like that was 30

225something years ago. I don't like it was just a couple years ago to me. Um, same thing with our buildings and they just they they age and the more they age, they're not as efficient and and eventually there's going to be some there are issues that are coupled with that. Um, another thing is neither one of our um elementary school uh gymnasiums have air conditioning. Um, so that is something that like we're aware of. Um, I think every year someone's like, "Did you know?" Yes, I'm aware. I've been in the gym. It's it's it's um it's not ideal. um and we're aware. So that's also something that it would be fantastic to be able to address that. It'd be you know the Rockfish is a beautiful building and it's it's a wonderful community school to

226be able to give it that that um the system that it needs to to to really do its job is important but we have some some things that are identified and obviously like anything else some take more priority over others. Um safety and security is going to be a big deal. Um those you know the safety and security things are the ones that wake me up um at 3 in the morning. >> That's all I have unless you have questions. >> We always got questions Shannon just right now. >> Okay. Anything for Shannon? >> Thank you. Appreciate it. [clears throat] >> So [snorts] items for action. Um Mr. Mr. Bleco presented the 26 27 instructional calendar. Um we had an opportunity to ask him some questions. If we are all comfortable with what he's presented,

227then we've been asked to go ahead and approve that proposed calendar. >> I'll make a motion to approve the [clears throat] 2026 27 instructional calendar as presented. >> Nice. Second. >> Second. >> Thanks. All in favor? >> Anyone opposed? >> Anyone abstain? Your calendar is approved. Mr. Bleo, way to go. >> Thank you all very much. >> So, we don't always approve field trips. There are unique things with field trips that we approved. This is an FFA overnight field trip to Virginia Tech. It's one that we see every year. It's something they do continuously. They have attached the documentation for it. They need from us unless there are any questions. Motion to approve that overnight field trip and it's one they've done a million times before. >> I move that we approve the FFA overnight

228field trip. You have a second. >> Second. >> All those in favor? >> Anyone opposed? Anyone abstain? Field trip is approved. Okay. We did not tee anybody up for this. So, we need a motion to go into close session. Um, and I will say this, we're going to do close session differently. We will be in this room for close session. So, once we go into that motion, then we will ask everybody to please leave. though I'm sure at 9:10 you all are waiting for this the word to [laughter] please leave. Um within the motion we are just going to go in for personnel. Am I correct Dr. Hester? >> Yep. >> So you'll notice built into the board docs there is a motion in there. >> It's also printed out. >> Oh sparky over there.

229>> Yeah. [laughter] So if someone can read a motion for us to go into close session just for personnel matters and that's read I move that and then that first I move that the Nelson County School Board enter into close session for the purpose of discussing personnel matters including employment assignments appointments performance resignations and retirements in accordance with section 2.2-3711 2-3711 A1 of the code agenda. Is there a second? >> A second. >> All those in favor? >> I. >> Anyone oppose? Anyone abstain? The motion carries. The board is now in close session. Who was the second? >> The last [music] >> [music] [music]