NCPS - Regular School Board Meeting - November 13, 2025

001[music] subtractions. about the agenda. >> I'll make a motion that we approve the agenda as approved as presented. >> Second. >> All in favor? >> I Okay, that's approved. Um now we will go into recognitions and presentations. Dr. Hester. >> All right. So, first to start off with, um, we every year like to recognize our NCPS employee who are also veterans. Um, and so I don't think any of our veterans were able to make it this evening. This is a super uh, between our veterans and some of our one Nelson winners, it is super busy evening as we learned. So, um, but some of you may have noticed that on Facebook, uh, we presented individual um, thank yous to each of our veterans. And I just uh what each one of them we have seven

002employees who were uh former service members and uh each of them will receive this certificate and on the certificate it says a special thank you goes out to our NCPS employees who are veterans. Your service did not end when your military career did. You continue to serve with dedication each day in support of our students, staff, and the Nelson County community. We are proud to call you colleagues and we are thankful for your example. We honor you today and always. And so I will also name um uh read out the names of our individuals who did serve. So um Shmaine Day is our uh NCHS school counselor and she served in the army from 1988 to 1992. Steve Washington who uh who is our middle school lead custodian and he served in the army from

0031987 to 1992. Zack Windgate, a high school school counselor. He served in the Air Force from 1999 to 2003. Rachel Spalding is our middle school sped teacher and she served in the Navy from 2007 to 2015. And Carrie Bryant served in the Marines and she is currently a Rockfish River Elementary School kindergarten teacher and she served from 1996 to 2004. All right. Dan Stroberg, who's also at Rockfish River Elementary School as a PE teacher, served in the Navy from 1990 to 2001. And I believe last but not least is Mr. Leander Robinson, who is a high school custodian, and he served in the Army multiple times. Um he served active 1987 to 1995 in the reserves from 1995 to 2003 and again active again in 2009 to 2018. So I just want to take the

004opportunity to say thank you so much um to all veterans and we had a great time celebrating them this past Tuesday um and multiple celebrations in each one of our buildings. Um, but also especially a big thank you to all of our employees who um who are considering to serve with us, but they are are veterans and we appreciate their service and dedication. So, thank you so much. And [applause] okay, next up are our uh one Nelson Award winners. Um, so I'm going to, um, be able to read. Um, we know a couple of our individuals weren't able to make it with us today. Um, but a couple of them did. So, we're going to start out there. So um with us today what we do is for those of you who don't know one

005Nelson award is for all those individuals who are nominated by uh could be by peers it could be by any number of individuals who represent and and reflect that one Nelson mentality of it takes all of us to um have a successful school division and and allow to create opportunities for a successful pathway for all of our students. So there's four categories. We have a student category, we have a community category, we have a classified staff category, and we have a certified staff category. So the first person that I will call up today is Miss Sarah Bell. [applause and cheering] So congratulations. So Miss Bell is a school nurse at Rockfish River Elementary School, and she don't worry, she's going to take some pictures. Um, so we'll make it as awkward as possible. Um, serves

006as a nurse at Rockfish River Elementary School and also works with us through Blue Ridge Medical Center. So, we appreciate all that she does. Was nominated multiple times. And so, Sarah Bell is the school nurse at Rockfish River Elementary School and the school nurse coordinator for NCPS. Sarah provides compassionate care with a high level of positive energy that brightens the day for everyone around her. She's being recognized for her above and beyond attitude and her meaningful and impactful work. Nurse Bell recently arranged for a mobile vision center to visit each of the schools to provide free eyelasses to students in need. Her and I think you just celebrated that. That was finished it up this week or last week. Almost. Oh, almost finished. Okay. Her efforts led to dozens of students receiving care that they

007may not have been able to otherwise. Sarah Bell truly exemplifies the one Nelson spirit and while having a smile on her face. Thank you for all that you do. And she is also one of the individuals that any kind of theme day there is, she is all in participating along with the students. So we want to say thank you so much. Congratulations. I'm going to give you this. We're going to take a picture real quick [applause] >> and we're going to come over here just a little bit because that podium. All right. >> Perfect. Thank you. I'm going to give you a mug real quick, too. >> There you go. >> Perfect. Thank you. Congratulations. [applause] >> All right. Miss Maline, will you join us, please? Maline Bell is certified um she's a math teacher

008and also serves as a math coach uh for um our secondary level um teachers. And so Meline exemplifies dedication, compassion, and excellence in education. She consistently goes above and beyond to support her students, not only in mathematics, but in all aspects of their academic and personal growth. Her classroom is a place of encouragement and high expectations, where students feel empowered to challenge themselves and succeed. Miss Bell makes herself available before and after school, offers individualized support, and creates innovative learning opportunities that make math both accessible and engaging. Thank you for all that you do to make a difference. So, we want to say thank you so much. Congratulations. We're going to have this nice lady take our picture. Come over here. All right. >> Congratulations. Let me get you your mug. >> There you go.

009Thank you. >> We had two other recipients. Um, our student, Yep, congratulations. Our student representative had practiced this evening, so she was not able to make it. Her name is Riley Turner and she is a middle school student. Riley Turner consistently demonstrates leadership through kindness, respect, and integrity. She leads quietly but powerfully, choosing actions that support and uplift others rather than seeking recognition for herself. Riley is known for treating classmates and adults with genuine courtesy and empathy. She listens thoughtfully, shows patience, and is quick to offer encouragement or assistance. Whether in academic settings, group activities, or in the softball field, she displays teamwork, humility, and strong character. So, I want to say congratulations to Riley Turner. I will find her someday tomorrow in class, and we'll be able to present this to her in person

010so her classmates can see it. And then our classified staff recipient is Mr. Marshall Beieler and he um sent his apologies that he was not going to be able to make it um this evening, but Marshall Beer is being recognized for the profound impact he makes within NCPS. The backbone of our school systems day-to-day operation is our digital education network. Marshall's impeccable attention to detail and labor impacts every student, teacher, staff member, and administrator in the county. He continuously builds his own knowledge and skill set ensuring a consistently functioning fast and secure network for all. Recently, Mr. Beer was called upon to assist in the implementation of the new vows tracker. This new tool is a major component of the Virginia Literacy Act and will be used by all English teachers grades through eight. The

011initial rollout involved numerous updates which Mr. Beer promptly implemented. Um NCPS thanks Mr. Ber for his tremendous behind-the-scenes impact, expertise, collaboration, humor, and forward thinking in ensuring that we remain regional leaders in the delivery and support of our educational network. So, we want to say congratulations to Mr. Beer. [applause] Okay, I think we got our SEA kids up next. Is that right? All right. So, where are my Brockfish River Elementary School SCA students that were involved in the Veterans Day assembly? Come on up here. We won't bite. [applause] Yep. Just come along. Make a little line right here. You're good. Someone's got to stand next to me. It's okay. [laughter] >> Okay. >> She's a little scary. I So on Tuesday uh was Veterans Day and we were able to hold our annual Rockfish River

012Elementary School Veterans Day assembly, but we're weren't we would not have been able to hold that if it weren't for our um SCA student representatives. And so rather than me talk about what it is that they did, I wanted them to be able to come up here and introduce themselves and talk about the role that you had in putting on the Veterans Day assembly. For those of you who aren't really as familiar, they do a phenomenal job of inviting community members from all over. There's a guest speaker. This year's guest speaker was >> Sergeant Bodec. Yep. Sergeant Bodec works for our um our sheriff's office. And so year in and year out they have a special guest. They do a lot to try to support. So these individuals were instrumental in being able to put

013this assembly on. So now I invite you to introduce yourself and tell a little bit about what you did for the assembly. So we'll start with you. Yes. >> Um okay. Say your name. Yeah. >> My name is Maline Wheimer and I was I spoke in the assembly. >> Yes. What did you speak about? I introduced myself and I announced the pledge of allegiance. >> Yes, you did. >> And what was supposed to be America the Beautiful, >> it turn [laughter] it was it turned into the national anthem. Good good times. Um anyway, it it sounded really good. It sounded really nice. Did you carry a flag? >> No, I >> No, you didn't carry. So, you introduced and you said the pledge. Awesome. Good job. All right, next up. Who's our next? So I'm

014Brandon and I was holding the army flag >> and I didn't get >> So Brandon marched in um what they had an opportunity is they they marched in with the flags of each of the branches and then they were able to stand there and hold the flags as the band played um the theme songs from each of the branches. And so he was able to stand there and he represented you said you held the army flag. That's awesome. Congratulations. Good job. All right. Next up, >> I am James N. I held the Navy and Virginiaian flag. >> Okay. Yes. Same thing. Was able to march in um and was able to hold the flag really steady and was able to to be a part of all of that. So, thank you. Good job. Oh my

015gosh. Don't leave me hanging. Don't leave. That could have been rough. That could have been rough. Go [clears throat] ahead. >> Hi, my name is Sophia and I was holding the US Marines flag. >> Okay. Yes. Did anything significant this week happen for the Marines? Anything at all on Monday? >> Happy birthday. Yes. Happy birthday for the Marines. >> Yes. Yes. Can anybody tell me what year? >> Anybody in the audience? >> 250. So, it was a big one. It was a big one. So, good job. Wait. Good job for remembering. What else did you do? You held the flag. >> Um, we sang. >> Yes. Yes. And you guys did sing. So, good job. Awesome. Way to remember that. Next up. >> Hi, I'm Kay Ty and I will lead the American flag through

016the whole entire thing. >> Yes. Yes, you did. Yes. Um, and which was Yes, the whole thing. Cuz it was there was a length of of time. So, that was not easy. And you did a great job. You um it it stayed the tallest and it never you never stumbled and you did a great job. So, awesome. Good job. Last but not least, >> I'm Mercy Mimer and I um I spoke in the Veterans Assembly. >> Yes. >> I >> What did you speak about? Do you remember? >> I congrat um >> I congratulated um the the band on their awesome performance. >> Yes. >> Um and I introduced um Mr. Me. >> Yes. >> Good job. >> Yes. Awesome. Good job. So, thank you guys so much. We wanted to take an opportunity. One,

017it is not easy to get up in front of all these individuals and talk. And I know some of you may have been a little bit nervous, but you all [laughter] you all deserve to be able to be recognized for your role because that's a really important um event. It's a it's a big event in Rock Fish Rivers year, but it's also a big event uh to be able to continue to carry that torch of remembering and being thankful for the service of our veterans. So, thank you guys so much for being here. families, we're gonna get some pictures. So, now would be a good time also to get some pictures. So, I'm gonna ask you guys to kind of come over this direction and get a little bit closer and get that podium out

018of the way. Yep. So, some kind of just get right in front. Yep. Step. Three steps. Perfect. One right here. Perfect. Yes. Like you've done this before. All right. Yes. All right. We ready? >> Yay. [clears throat] So cute. >> So, yes. Brandon, look at your mom. [laughter] >> Oh, you got Elmo. Okay, good. Congratulations, guys. Thank you so much. Good job. Good job. Way to get up there. Good job. >> Off. >> Switching gears. And we are going into a little bit of budget. >> I will. >> Thank you. Yes. Thank you guys. >> All right. So, we are transitioning into um so every November we uh provide an opportunity for our um Hey, how about that? That's probably not what I meant to hit, huh? Okay, there we go. Uh an opportunity for

019a pre-budget uh public hearing. But what we decided to do a little differently this year is provide a little bit background information on how we actually develop the budget. So, this is in by no means great detail about what our budget actually is, but rather an explanation of how we go about um creating it. So, I'm just going to go ahead and do it the oldfashioned way. So, basically what we try to do is a financial plan. Your budget represents all the things that you value and what you deem important in order to be successful and our mission to help our students achieve academic success and to reach their full potential. Um, we cannot do this alone. We solicit input from our staff, our teachers, our administration. This formally began in October. So, we uh

020put out information to our principles, our administrators, and our supervisors of each of the departments. Please contribute what your needs and what your wants are. Um, so that starts in October. We conduct a pre-budget public hearing to gather budget priorities from the board, from our our community, from individuals who are wanting to provide that feedback. That starts you typically in our November meeting. We [clears throat] also consult with the school board for input and prioritization for requests. That is ongoing. That is a constant conversation that we have, but we really start to kind of begin to formalize that in November with the pre-budget. And then that carries on through the finalization of the process. Um, you know, in the last couple years that's been at the very end of June. It's just been um with

021all the different budgets taking place over the course of the years. Um, so it is a pretty lengthy process. Um, we also want to be able to finalize our budget. We have a a deadline of April 1st to finalize our budget and to send it to the county. We try to get that done sooner so they can begin to incorporate that into their overall budget. [clears throat] We also consult with county administration as to expected costs as well as expected revenue streams for the coming year. That is ongoing throughout the year. I have a standing monthly meeting with uh Miss McGary, the county administrator. We have those conversations. Our school board um also has conversations um not only um with us but uh we work hard to try to create opportunities for joint meetings and

0222 by two meetings where um conversations with the board of supervisors can take place. We've been able to hold a joint meeting I believe in April for the last couple years um in which we're able to share a lot of information about how did we build our budget, what is involved in it and all the contributing factors. I think one of the things that is important to address is there is a lot of vocabulary and terms that are every day for us but they are not as familiar to our community even at times people who work with it a lot. So things like and this [clears throat] is will be posted this will be available and just so you guys know um we created a important budget vocabulary list uh where it kind of breaks

023down what each of these terms means. Now, I'm not going to read through each of these in this presentation right now, but for those of you who who think I would really like to learn more about standards of quality, um you'll hear us talk about the local composite index. We'll talk about the local composite index quite a bit because it has such an impact on the funds that we get from our locality and the funds that we get provided to us from the state. It is a complicated formula. This is something that we talk about the impact of our LCI. Um, we should be getting the LCPI later in November, um, early December. We're really hoping to get it in November so we can anticipate what um, some immediate uh, costs are going to be

024for us and so we can create our budget a little bit more effectively. Um, like I said, a little bit further into the the presentation, we'll talk a little bit more details about this, but these conversations are incorporated to each of our budget presentations as well as our joint um meetings that we have with the board of supervisors. We talk about the local composite index, we talk about SOQS. So, just wanted to point that out that this has a lot of really good information if it just breaks down what some of the definitions of these are so you don't get lost. I will draw your attention to the per pupil expenditure because as we talk about it uh this is a number that uh the the Virginia Department of Education posts we posted on our

025website. These are all those things that have to be factored in and they get broken down per obviously student. So we have experienced a decline in enrollment and so when your enrollment declines those costs still go up because of these very factors. when you want to maintain small class sizes, competitive salaries, um the geography and the topography of our county does not change regardless of the enrollment that we have that maintains the same. So there's transportation costs, building costs, fuel costs, size and age of schools, size and age or the um ages of our bus fleets. Um like it or not, just like us, when our buildings when our buses get older, they're not quite as efficient. They they require a little bit more upkeep. And so all of those factors go into the per

026pupil expenditure. So I wanted to just draw some attention to those uh phrases. So you'll because you may hear them and it just helps a little bit to keep clear um what you're trying to think about and consider when building the budget. Okay. So enrollments, how do we look at enrollment? How do we project enrollment? Well, we look at live births from five years ago. Um, and we take a look at the number of live births and then we try to each year advance it one year. So if we know what we have in kindergarten, we try to anticipate what we have in first grade. How do we anticipate what we have in kindergarten? Those live births going back five years. That is the starting point that we use. So you see here um a

027kind of a breakdown of those um numbers prek to five and then 6 to 12. So I'm not expecting anybody to memorize these numbers. We'll talk about enrollment a little bit later, but we do factor in the impact of enrollment. Using projected numbers, we then estimate the number of sections that are needed to make these classes. We talked about small class sizes. So, we need to make sure that we take into account what are the numbers of students that we're going to have at each of these grades. How many teachers will it require in order to satisfy the standards of qualities and then also maintain the best possible learning environment for our students and our staff. So this doesn't only deal with just teachers. This deals with counselors. It deals with administrators. It deals with

028instructional assistants. It deals with a lot of different individuals that we factor into this number. Looking at staffing changes. This is also part of the consideration. Um we take when we look at budgets. If we have a year where we have uh more retirements, more than likely those individuals are on the higher end of our salary scales. Typically when we um hire people in it you you anticipate those individuals being on the lower end of the salary scale. Doesn't happen every single time. Sometimes you get veteran teachers in who see what we have to offer and they want to finish their years out here, but sometimes you bring in younger and that can create that um [clears throat] difference in salary or personnel costs. So we take a look at those resignations or retirements as

029well as promotions. um if we move someone out of a building up into central office or we take someone who's an instructional aid and they become a teacher uh there we take into consider all of that. Now one thing that is pretty universal is 80% of our budget is tied to personnel costs. So 80% is invested in our people and that is something that I think is really really important to understand. Uh we are very labor intensive that is that is what drives our budget. um factors that we consider. Um so a part of the the the personnel is the salaries and the benefits. So what drives our decision- making on that? Well, the governor's budget, the governor's budget comes out a little bit uh typically around mid December. We are anticipating the governor's budget

030coming out. It's December 17th this year. Um we can anticipate more than likely two governor's budgets because we have a transition of administrations. So, we'll have um Governor Yncan's budget coming out around December 17th, and we can we can assume or anticipate that um Governor Elect Spanberger will have a budget coming out. I couldn't tell you when that would be. Um that is I would imagine that is something that they are working on right now, but I couldn't possibly project what that date would be. Um then you add to that you have the House and the Senate also working on their own budget. So, we are heavily reliant. the governor's budget is really what kind of sparks the the the development of our budget because that drives the um the calculation tool. So, we'll talk

031a little bit more about the calculation tool. Also, things that drive the consumer price index, um target market, who are we competing with? Um what does it take in order to be able to fill the positions that we have and to maintain and positions in the state at key intervals. Um we've done pretty extensive um study of salaries particularly for teachers. uh this the school board back in I believe it was 2012 2013 established a goal of being in the top 25. Um so there has been very targeted effort in bringing our teacher salaries up to be able to those competitive levels. In the last two years we've really recognized that um years of service particularly as you go 15 years and above was um not as competitive with the uh divisions that we directly

032compete with as as we needed it to be. So, we've really identified um not just for teachers, but for all staff on years of service, being able to um really target them for salary increases because that also provides um a better basis for um the retention and having them serve out through that loyalty of um being able to support them. That's a group picture. Individually, we look at job responsibilities. We look at experience, time commitment, skill level required for the position, and licenses and certifications required. Um, estimating the cost of employee fringe benefits, including health insurance. We've just recently met with um some uh of our health consultants to try to get an understanding of what uh we can anticipate our health cost to be. Um we will continue to keep um consulting with them

033so we can have a good estimate. um that health insurance for us is one of a competitive competitive aspect of our personnel costs. Um how we try to to take care of our employees, particularly when it comes to insurance. Um other things are in at retirement. We um we're pretty excited that the VRS came out and it looks like there's a drop in 2% that that can really help us out. Um so we'll see how that shakes out in our overall budget. Um, our fringe benefits are about 25% of an employees compensation package and rates can fluctuate yearly. So, we work really really hard to not only have good solid salary but the benefits aspects um to be able to hold on to our staff and to recruit um highquality individuals and and to retain

034them. Estimating another aspect. So you have your personnel costs. Um and then we transition. We have these other costs like cost of fuel and utilities. Um we look at the usage. We take we evaluate every every month we get a bill and we take a look at the energy costs and because that can often be indicator of a problem. If you see a big jump in costs, if you see, you know, any kind of significant change, that is an indication of an of an issue that we have to address. So we take a look at the past usages and making um some estimates of what we can anticipate. Um, we check we check the farmers almond act. We we check projections of weather. Um, so we can have a thought about what to anticipate. Um,

035obviously the weather does whatever the weather wants to do and that's hard to harness, but we try really hard just to at least kind of pay attention to that and anticipate. Um, our buildings are aging and will require more and more maintenance. Um, our newest building is over 22 years old. And we hear all the time like, "Well, your new building," that was 2003. Um, I don't know about you, but my body uh felt drastically different in 2003 than it does now. And so, the same thing happens with buildings. So, um, the middle school is the newest, constructed in 2003. The high school is kind of, um, the island of misfits. Um, it's been built on and built on and built on and so portions constructed in 1954, then in 1975 and 2003 where we

036significantly overhauled some facility needs. We are currently going through a renovation um to be able to address and bring it up to current standards. Um, those things will not necessarily be abundantly visible from the outside, but uh for for our staff that um are in the rooms that are getting handed back to them, they're starting to see it's it's lighter, it's brighter, it's more accessible, it's better usage. We are uh working on the mechanical, electrical, and plumbing aspects. Those things that the infrastructure has got to be addressed if we can if we want to continue to use our building and have um a good safe atmosphere for our students and our staff. Um Rockfish was constructed in 1999. Um HVAC replacement and control upgrades are desperately needed. That is an area that we know um

037will require attention. Um Tai River was constructed in '95. We do need to pave the parent drop off area and remove old water tank and mobile unit. We look at our inventory and our capital improvement plan to see what major equipment we need. Um buses has been um buses have been something that we have talked about uh since the time I've been here. Like we've talked about, we've had an aging fleet and the need um to replace them on a 15-year cycle. That is the recommended replacement cycle. uh we also work with our Chromebooks and and create a replacement cycle for those. So those are those resources that we have to maintain and continue to keep using. Um and so that requires the upkeep and the maintenance and and the payment cycles. Um modern learning

038in school and I think one of the things we hear about like it wasn't like that in my day. There's a lot of things that have changed. Um and it is it is so much more than like let's get it to them as cheap as we can. We talked about Marshall Beer being instrumental in being able to provide us the safety and security that we have in our internet. Like the rest of the world, a lot of what we do is dependent on um technology, different aspects of technology, the the safety and security of our cyber uh presence. And so there's a lot of things that that go into this and and to provide the best possible learning environment. Um, we project our revenue using the following information. So, I referenced the calculation tool or

039the calc tool that is put out to us by the Virginia Department of Education. We hope to get that. So, that is dependent on the governor's budget. So, once the governor budget gets presented, then the people of VOE start furiously working on building the calculation tool. So basically it is an enormous um workbook spreadsheet that um personalizes the data to Nelson County Public Schools. So we go in there and we select Nelson County and then it autofills all these categories specific to our school division and it calculates the impacts of the local composite index. you know, it factors in all of these different things that will drastically impact the money that we receive from the state. Um, we also calculate a lot of things that come to us from the federal government. Um, so that

040is something that, you know, we take a look at the calc tool. We um that every time a new budget comes out, they redo the calculation tool. So, we'll have the governor's budget and then we'll have to take a look at the house and senate when that comes back out. I've got to imagine if a second governor's budget comes out they will redo that back u they will redo that then it's so comprehensive that that tool is very necessary for us to accurately and appropriately calculate what we in anticipate getting from the state other things federal grants we receive a great deal of money from title one title two so title one is our at risk um lowincome um qualifications for our students we have two elementary schools that are title one schools. That doesn't

041mean that our other two are not eligible. They just have not been established as title one. We also have title two, title three, title four, uh 6B, preK, Perkins, and school nutrition. Okay, those are our federal grants that we get. But on the state side, we get state grants for dedicated purpose, various things. We have fees for services and local contribution. And so, as you see um on the right, all the different kind of categories um of where we receive our revenues. And by all means, if you have a question, please stop me. I'm more than happy to um clarify or answer any questions. Government shutdowns, unfunded mandates. Uh and I think it's also um necessary to also say underfunded mandates. Um there is a lot of unfunded, but then there's also drastically underfunded mandates,

042and they are are are increasing every year. Um we get budget cuts that have potential to our impact or budget in a negative manner. I think we are um you know as we were um uh at the beginning uh of the school year when we talked about the possible impact of of federal cuts to the our programs, all the different areas that it could impact. We're very fortunate when it comes to our title one funds and our title three funds that we get them upfront. We got our money upfront so we were able to secure that and that was uh that was very very good. We don't know what that will be like for next year. And and our ti our federal grants are also tied to personnel. So that is something to really think

043about and and in personnel things like reading specialists really important roles to the success of our students. The uncertainty of grant funds continue u continuing in the local match requirements are important aspects to monitor as we move into the uh next future years. Um, so we talked about the local composite index. Um, it determines a school division's ability to pay education. It is based off of um true value of real of real property, adjusted gross income, and taxable retail sales. Another aspect of the LCI is also a component of enrollment. Beyond the enrollment factor, schools don't have an impact on this. And even with enrollment, sometimes schools don't have an impact on that. So, it's really important to understand that um we advocate we have been advocating I can only speak to my presence here

044in Nelson for three years. We have been advocating to the state that this is a difficult way to continue funding schools particularly in rural resort areas um areas much like Nelson that it's a it's it's drastically a tale of two counties. Um we advocate for that. We understand that that places um it places um a responsibility much greater on our local government in terms of the funding structures. We recognize that. We advocate that there's got to be a better way. There has been a JARK study that has studied overall education um budgets and salaries and things of that nature. And they do address the LCI. I think it's just super difficult when you try to put all 132 um school divisions into the same formula uh because it's dependent on how well other counties are

045doing. And I think that that's just it's super difficult. We experienced a large jump from the 2024 to the 2026 bianium. Our impacts or our composite index for Nelson County was at 6645. So two years ago [clears throat] we were sitting here talking about the 1.2 2 million deficit that we were starting out before we ever put a pencil to paper to start drafting up what our needs are. And so I think that's something that we know that LCI is going to be coming out. We know it'll come out well we're we want it to come out in later November, but later November, early December that will drive a lot of what takes place. It it basically identifies the wealth of a locality and what the state believes the locality can put towards schools. >>

046Right. So what you're saying is if I can repeat it is that our LCI is 66 that means that of anything that the that the state is going to fund here in Nelson that the locality has to ma has to pay 66% of that. >> Yeah. Yes. So what the state is saying by using this formula is that it det it is anticipating or it has determined that the locality is able to fund 66.45% of the budget and that the state will match 33.55%. >> Again our enrollment factors in that but value of real estate adjusted gross income and taxable retail sales drives this. So things that you know you want to celebrate when you're you're getting um you know taxable retail all of that but it has this impact on the LCI. Um >>

047so one thing for us and we've talked about this over the years is that because we're unique in a resort community or resort county. Our real estate values are inflated for some people over inflated because that's not how many of our citizens in the community can live. Um, having said that, it does make us look like I mean we're one of the higher LCIs across the state. Correct. >> The highest you can be is 08. >> And so I think the last ranking I saw >> before it was like 0.5885 or something like that. And then we jumped to 664. I mean that was a big jump. >> Yeah. In one year with no help. >> Yes. More than just being a resort. I mean, Win Green has a huge impact on this county, but

048our economy is an aggra tourism economy and we basically invite people to come here and visit and also live here. Um, people like to retire here and things like that and and all of those pressures have made the the property values go up and and has helped increase that LCI >> economy, right? One of the things that we talked about when we're going to talk about the legislative um actions that we take as a board is that as a VSBA group, >> we really work hard to advocate against that LCI because communities we're a little unique, but unique communities like us really suffer from this LCI formula um to some degree because it we just look so high and it's not reflective of our full community. And not that this helps our case this year

049or even next year, but can you speak for a second about um how odd it is that Virginia funds the way they fund compared to other states? >> I I I don't hold me to it, but we I want to say it could be 8 to 10 other states do it this way. Like we are um definitely in the minority of how we fund our schools using this formula. Um and I think it's you know uh Mr. Mr. Chief and I sat in with a meeting with um delegate Griffin along with um Mr. Rutherford where we outlined like this is you and and we have to remember a lot of these delegates don't have a strong working knowledge of what the local composite index is. This is our world. This is what we we really

050work off of because it's so impactful. But to the bigger picture, our our local delegates, our statewide may we can't assume that they have a strong working knowledge of what it is and how it impacts us. And so we had, you know, with uh Jesse Rutherford, you and myself work uh meeting with Tim and his his aid to talk about this is what the LCI is. This is what goes into it and this is the impact that it's having on us. And I I think it I felt like it was pretty eye opening. Um >> it was and and when you sorry u but it it's amazing to a person when I've had these conversations be at that meeting or other conversations I've had with people in the public or other elected officials that are

051um at different levels than at the county. The county understands it. I mean they they feel the pain just like we do. Um once you explain what the LCI is and how the funding formula works, the light bulb goes off and they're like, "Oh, wow." The problem is it's a political football. I mean, you can't it's it's not high on a lot of people's priority list to fix because it's it's not something that most people know anything about, and it's it's going to take some time and some political um uh political >> will maneuvering and whatever fixed in Richmond. This is it's something that's going to have to be fixed in Richmond and and hopefully it will soon. I think that the Jerich study is really good reading for those of people who are really

052want to dive into this or should be diving into this. But um and there's a good cardinal news article that about it that's more like easy reading compared to the Jac study. Um and and I think it's about 12 other states that and I I don't think it's the LCI that's the part that really kind of kills us. I think it's the so maybe it's the SOQ but it's the per pupil funding versus per staff person funding. I think that's the difference between us and the other um we we are based on >> quality. Yeah. >> Yeah. I think our funding is based on the number of kids we have in [clears throat] the class, not the number of people that we have to uh employ because the standards of quality covers about twothirds of

053our the people that we need to hire to be able to run our schools. So when they say, "Oh, we're going to fund you 33% of you know what we're going to give you." They're only giving you 33% of twothirds of our positions. mandate. It goes even further than just the LCI, >> right? >> If any locality in the state of Virginia started running their schools strictly on an SOQ budget with SOQ personnel, it would be Yeah, it would be um riot revolt something. I mean it would be you know I mean the numbers when I got first got on the board that's one of the things I I didn't know anything about it so learn about it. So I started learning about it and I'm like oh okay. So that's >> we used that

054for the for the vice the assistant principal thing. Are we looking? >> We did. Exactly right. And that was a mistake. That's exactly right. >> Well, and I think that's a great reference because I think these formulas are created many many many years ago >> and the education system was just different. Um we are we shoulder the responsibility of a great deal of things that go just beyond reading, writing, arithmetic. Um the mental health um components that we provide supports for. Um because there's a a a a critical lack of access um not just here in Nelson. I we're feeling this. I I've just come back from a conference with other colleagues and the the behaviors that we are seeing now particularly at our young our younger students our K through2 but we're seeing it

055in the older because we still have students who are coming out of COVID but some of these behaviors I think if we really take a step back we can acknowledge they were beginning before COVID they may have been exacerbated but the the frequency and the severity of the behaviors that our staff are seeing in the classrooms rooms are they're they are much greater and they aren't the type of thing where you can just go have a quick conversation and then get them back and going. You know the the times of like you've just got to do this and then you move on. like these issues that we are working through require an investment of time and energy and um cert certificates, you know, our counselors, the need for crisis counselors, the need for all these

056different individuals and what they are working with our kids. Um and our families, our families in the community are experiencing these same health uh mental health crises. Um whether it be drugs, mental health or the I'm on drugs because of my mental health. There are a lot of aspects that we now shoulder because we can't teach math or English if a child is disregulated and the other students in the classroom and there I I get this all the time. Can we just send them to another school there? Those other schools have long waiting lists and can if it's uh a residential day could cost $100,000. Um Ivy Creek those types of slots are $63,000. So, there are some things that this magical school that we can send these kids off to, >> it's not there

057and they're not staffed well. They're having trouble. >> Those resources are dwindling because there's such a demand. >> There there's shortages of individuals and experts in these areas all over. They're not going to higher education to get trained for these positions. So, they're not coming out of the colleges for us to hire. So then we have to adjust our standards and who we look to hire for these positions. And they're, you know, they're not as qualified as some of these needs that we have. And I know that's kind of getting off a little bit, but like some, you know, we recognize there's a need for counselors. We recognize there's a need for behavioral supports. Um that's why the need for the additional um or bringing back the full-time assistant principal was so critical is because

058of the needs of what it takes to um the increased responsibility of instruction and all the different standards and all the different tests and all the different data points that have been added to it. So instructionally, but discipline and behavior aspects, attendance, um I know everybody loves to talk about attendance, but we have to walk it back and and recognize there's aspects associated to the code. We are held responsible for these things. We're held responsible for the behaviors. We're held responsible for attendance. We're held responsible for the instructional outcomes. All of these together. And at no point in time did I mention funding in that. This isn't about money. This is about success. And I think that that's it. It it we have to be willing to invest in that because it is coming to

059a critical time where we have to be able to support this. So the SOQ's don't address all the staff members that we need to be successful. It's an archaic formula that needs to be redone. But we also have to be very very careful because at some point we talk about the size of divisions or we talk about someone said well why do we pay teachers in Nelson as much as someone else who has a bigger um enrollment because they still have to teach in the classroom like they still have the same job. An administrator still has the same job if not bigger with fewer staff because of the enrollment. But it's the same expectations of success. It's the same expectation of safety. It's the same expectation regardless if you have 10 kids in your classroom,

06020 kids or 30 kids. the same expectations and so that's what we have to keep an eye on and it's just it's not the same as when we went to school. It's not the same as 10 or 15 years ago. So I think it's important to keep that in mind. >> Okay. Just one thing. Um, when we talk about our budget, it's not all of these things go into our budget and we present a budget to the county and then they decide if those monies are necessary for them to fund us. So, we on for Dr. to Hester and her staff, then they have to go back and make adjustments to fit what they say they want to give us. It's not that the state says here, school board, this is your money then, but

061the county gets to adjust it how they want to distribute it. In some cases, they have mandates like 3% raises [clears throat] or whatever they say the governor says he wants to do. Then we have to figure out how to do those things >> because that's ro the the money we'll get fromation is only for the SOQ positions not for every employee >> and not for every employee and sometimes those monies are dependent on local matching right too >> and I will say you know there is a minimum that needs to be funded and and I you know I will say that we get we get well above the minimum but I I think that and I appreciate the work of you know um Miss McGary and and her crew to try to work with

062us to understand this. Um, I appreciate that they were able to get our budget in the beginning so they knew exactly what everybody was dealing with. Um, I think that's important. I think it's just, um, the bare minimum is not going to get you, you know, good enough is not enough. It's not good enough. And so, not because that's what we feel like or what we want, like we can show it. Um I we pride ourselves in in building a budget and of success and it's needs based um by the code it's needsbased but we try really hard to be to be pretty um thoughtful and responsible with the funds that we get. >> Yeah. >> Yes. >> I because I I mean I am a resident >> I am a resident. Um I know

063it is important and critical to be very fiscally responsible with the funds of our citizens and our residents. um you know, but I also know that the investment that we make in our children and our staff will come back to our community um exponentially. Uh and so I think that that's you know getting away from the thought of cost and really understanding it is an investment. >> Okay. >> All right. School division receives over half of its funding from Nelson County which uh relies and I want to say probably 55% of the county budget. Um, but we receive uh that which relies heavily on real estate tax for revenue. Current tax rates. This lists out what our current tax rates are. I know we have a reassessment um and those those uh estimates are coming

064in I guess December sometime soon. So that will also factor into for the county to take a look at. So that will also play into the overall big picture budget. Um, so this I kind of alluded to this like a comprehensive needs-based budget begins with one guiding principle. We make all of our decisions with the best interest of our students at heart. Um, our responsibilities as educators is and leaders is to ensure that all the resources are allocated to provide the best possible learning experiences, support our staff and sustain meaningful pathways to success. Our budget, a strong budget, is not simply about controlling costs. It is about making strategic investments in the people and the programs that then shape our future. And so every dollar that's spent on instruction, professional development, facilities, student supports, all

065represents an investment in the growth potential and well-being of our kids and our children. When we view education through the lens of an investment rather than an expense or a cost, the return is extraordinary. We see well- educated citizens who contribute positively to the local, state and national economy. And I would even take that further global. You know, we took a question about the um the uh debt and and where do we feel like you know the expenses for schools play into that and I would say we contribute to a positive GDP. So we're contributing positively when we have a well educated citizenry. But another aspect we talked about our health insurance and we talked about contributing factors. One of um the biggest pharmaceutical expenses that we have GLP once for weight loss. So for

066someone like me, that means like how can we support our staff, our community in making healthy choices and making the life a healthier life because we're seeing those costs and and we know that those experiences have other impacts on people's lives. And so we we take a look at this. And so when we have a an educated citizenry, we have healthier communities that are decision to making civic engagement becoming involved in our community and then lower crime rates. So the better we do, we can contribute to the other departments that we have in our county by making their jobs a little bit easier and greater stability within our society and a stronger local identity and that pride. We have since in the last few years we have seen the engagement of our community increase, the

067engagement of our student bodies increase within the schools with the activities and the different um the different things they choose to be a part of because of that sense of belonging. But that pride that develops and the community um support that we have had. You see it we had um we had our our um final home football game senior night and looking around the band said we've not we we're bringing in more money tonight. They had to go send someone to food line to buy more food. Um we had a greater um we're bringing in these individuals and our community members to be able to celebrate what our students and our staff are doing. And so by prioritizing a needs-based, we affirm that our education is the foundation of progress. And so supporting our teachers

068and our staff and our students. And I really think it's important, not just our te our staff, every one of our employees is critical and vital and valuable every position. And it's important to make sure that we continue to emphasize that and that our students are that thoughtful and equitable budgeting is not essentially only for academic success. It is essential for the strength and prosperity of our entire community. Investing in our schools is investing in our children and it is our future and it is their future. And so I really feel like it's important to kind of keep that in mind that we we don't deal with widgets. We deal with children. Widgets cost. Children are an investment and it's ongoing. It's for the rest of their life. And then we hope that reciprocating component

069of it. Thank you. Any questions? >> I am right. Appreciate the work you put into that. I really do. It's just hard. It's um such a critical part of what this board does, you know, uh and our job as the school board is to uh you know, do the advocacy that we need to do to get the to get the budget of need, you know, uh out there and funded. So um I appreciate your work on that. I know it was not easy and it's really important for all of us as humans to understand as much as we can of that because then we as not know not necessarily people on the board can advocate for those things as well you know in the community teachers you know people of the community should be advocating

070for this as well or I hope that they would want to. So um so the next section is comments from board members. Um Mr. Cheap, would you like to go first? >> Sure. Thank you. So [clears throat] welcome everyone. Uh first of all um thank you and congratulations to the uh Rockfish River Elementary School SC SCA students. Um, that's a really big deal to get up in front of people and um stand there while they're watching you and speak. Uh, especially for something as important as Veterans Day. Um, that's that's a fantastic job. And they all seem to be even even shy, they seem to be very excited about what had happened. And I'm sure they were excited in the moment, too. So, that's fantastic. And I'd seen there's been some videos of of the

071assembly, which I thought >> Mr. Cargill and his team streamed it. Yeah, you can go on the YouTube channel and >> Okay, very good. I I've watched it. I just didn't know that's how that happened. So, that's that's great. Uh cuz I couldn't be there. Um [clears throat] and I want to thank all the veterans um in recognition of of Veterans Day. Um you can't thank veterans enough for what they've done to protect our freedoms and our way of life. Um and it's been going on for centuries. Um and and it is uh they'll never get paid enough or be recognized enough for what they do. Also, um, happy birthday to the United States Marine Corps, uh, Simp. And thank you to all the devil dogs out there. Um, [clears throat] so that's a a

072big milestone. I mean, most of our armed services are celebrating 250. Um, and so it's the Marine Corps's turn and that's that's fantastic. So, um, also, uh, congratulations to our new newly elected school board members, uh, Miss Stacy Rush, Mr. Joe Richardson, and Mr. Joe Kennedy. Um, thank you all for um, stepping up and raising your hand and say you want to do this in a competitive process. Um, as some of you know, uh, at the last minute I decided to run as a right in against Mr. Kennedy. Um, and we had a bunch of discussion about that which was very productive and good discussion. Um, we stood shoulder-to-shoulder and and had a lot of discussion all day on election day. Um, I never intended to run again. Um, the whole reason Mr. Kennedy uh

073was on the ballot. Uh he wound up being unopposed until I ran as a right in. But the whole reason he was on the ballot uh in the first place, as we discussed, was uh because I elected not to run. I'd been pretty upfront about this was going to be my last term. So December 31st will wrap me up after 7 years of service. But um but congratulations to you all. Thank you uh to Mr. Kennedy for uh uh we worked really well together. It was very professional all day on election day. We were together from 6:00 in the morning till a little after 7 in the evening. Got to know each other pretty well. And I think um I think Mr. Kennedy's going to do a fine job on the board. So, uh thank

074you all uh for that. [clears throat] Um so I I just real quick I want to say a couple of things about about being on the board um as I wrap up seven years um of being on it. Um, when I first got on the board, when I I got on the board differently than what you all have, there was an opening. The East District member at the time um had actually, ironically, run, I believe, as a write in uh because uh she didn't she was looking to go back into private life. She had her life going on and nobody was going to run like nobody. It was just going to be an open seat. And so she she ran and said, "Okay, I'll do it again." And I think she did for a year

075and then she's like, "Okay, I'm done. I got, you know, every we all have stuff." And that's where I'm at. I've got stuff I've got to do. Different part of my life. I've got grandchildren now and things like that. Um, so they were the the process that the board at the time decided to do. You have to appoint someone, right? So they said, "Well, we know what we're going to do. We're going to do a competitive process." [clears throat] There were five of us that sat at a board meeting and answered questions from each one of the sitting four sitting board members. at the time. Um it was grueling uh to say the least. And for whatever reason, the four sitting board members decided to pick me and so here I am. They've been stuck

076with me ever since. Um but uh and then I had to run uh to finish the term u on the next election day and so I did and and so then I ran again and and got reelected. Um, however, when I started on the board, I had all these ideas about what this was going to be like and what I was going to do and the things that I was going to do to change everything. Um, and I'm just telling my story. Everybody else's story might be different, but um, I really thought we could save money. I really thought, um, we could cut costs. I used to say things out loud to people like, you know, if we could just turn a budget in one time that didn't have an increase on it, that would

077be fantastic. And some of you might you probably remember me saying those things. Um but I learned I learned a lot and and you have to learn because you don't know what you don't know as the late Donald Rumsfeld used to say. Um and we don't you don't know until you're in it, right? I didn't know what an SOQ was. I had no idea. I didn't understand. I looked at the budget and I didn't understand it when I looked at it because that's how it's built. Not not by our people. That's just how it's built at the state and federal level. That's just how it is. And so it takes a while to learn how those things work. Um, for whatever reason, I guess because um, I've been around a long time in the county

078and I have a big mouth, I seem to be the historian at times of the board. Um, [clears throat] um, but one of the reasons that our budget is the way it is, um, and and true enough, Dr. Dr. Hester said that um 80% over 80% of our budget uh is is employee salaries and benefits. That's not uncommon. That's not common to just uh it's not uh singular to education. That is true for nearly every single business that is in the economy. Um private or public, it doesn't matter. It's all the same. Your people are your biggest investment and they are going to cost the most money if you want to look at it that way on a budget. And that's just how it is. We have to compete with the market that we're in

079to compete for the best teachers and staff that we can get. We are competing with the market in Charlottesville and Arm County. Okay? Um because we compete with them and they're our next door neighbors to the north. Ammerst and other counties uh to our south and and other counties to our east try to compete with us um somewhat. They not not quite as much. They don't pay as well as we do. neither does Campbell and and other places. But if we don't um offer the salary and benefits packages that we offer, we will definitely lose very talented individuals um to better situations um as far as salary and benefits um in other localities, namely Al and Charleston. So, we've done a really good job. Uh we did find out our LCI was 25th in the

080state. Um I think I said, "Well, then we should be paying 20, you know, 25th in the state." and and we've worked really hard to do that, but I wasn't the first one to do it. Somebody else on the board previously um when I first got on the board, somebody else had said that before I ever got on the board. Um and and it is true, it's something that should happen. We need to continue to re reward our people and um and that's that's going to be an ongoing struggle to do. Um, but I want to I want to speak a little bit to, you know, when I was talking about learning about the budget and how it works, I was I had become hyperfocused on the cost per pupil, not understanding what goes into

081the cost per pupil. Um, there are a lot of factors that go into that. Um, but one of the things that I've always known, um, because I've been around for a long time, I went to Lovingston Elementary School. I went to Skyler Elementary School uh, when I first started and then we moved to Loving. I went to Loving. I went to the old junior high school. I went to Nelson County High School. About 5 years after I graduated, um I think in '94, 93 or 94, they really started talking about uh closing up the community schools and building two elementary schools. And for those of you that don't didn't know or don't remember, if you can imagine, um if your child goes to a school where the classroom size is like 12 and then you're

082talking about going to combining those schools, everybody's worried it's going to be like the big city schools. Um, and that was that was a concern. Um, we weathered that in 95. They built uh Ty River Elementary School. Proud to say I worked for a contractor that worked on that. That was that was great. And then four years later, we built um Rockfish River Elementary School. And at that point, that's when we closed all of our schools and we had issues with people were worried about their kids being busted so far and all that kind of thing. But one of the things that the county school board and the board of supervisors understood then and it's gone all the way through is our budget is like it is because we're trying to maintain these small classroom

083sizes. And that was something that was um kind of a a handshake gentleman's agreement um to to maintain that. It's not written down anywhere. It's not in a contract, but it's something that that basically as a as a citizenry, we got that promise from our elected officials that that they would carry that out and try to honor that. And I really thank the board of supervisors for continuous continuing to fund us at the level they are to keep that a reality, right? Because our kids get a better education because of that. They get more individualized instruction. And now more than ever with the mental health issues we're having, behavioral issues that we have, that smaller classroom size makes it a lot easier to deal with those issues. If you had 25 or 27 or 28

084kids in a classroom, it is anybody that's ever taught in a classroom, and I have for at least three years, it it only takes, you know, you can deal with one child that's having an issue, that's not a problem. You might be able to deal with two. When you get start talking about three, you're going to lose your room, right? And the kids that you need to reach paying attention, you can't reach them because you're dealing with this crisis that's going on. And those are the things that are important. And that's what we hear from teachers um all of the time. So I thank the board of supervisors for funding us at the rate uh that we are. But because our enrollment's declining, I mean we were at I don't know when I was in

085school we were at 21 2200 students in the school system and now we're below 1,400 now. Is that right? Or just below 1400. Um those costs there's a floor for the cost. I mean it it costs a certain amount of money to run and staff a building no matter how few kids are in it. and and we're rapidly approaching that if we're not already there. So, I don't think those costs are going to go down. Um, and most of the what's going to happen is is students that are leaving are usually students that their parents have means to put them somewhere else to to go to school, a private school setting or something like that. So, that means a higher percentage of your students are going to be in need of services and those services

086cost money. We're in a rural area. You just heard Dr. Hester talk about um what what the cost is for whether it's a residential uh school or whether it's a day school, what those costs are and and you know, we're going to do whatever we can, whatever we need to do to meet kids where they are. Um but that costs a lot of money. Um what I learned along the way, um and u I really want to thank some of the staff or all of the staff rather, um I'm sure Dr. Yarzinsky got tired of hearing me say, "You know what we really need to do is we need to give these personality assessments to these kids in elementary school cuz I was I've been beating that drum since I was a teacher. I've been

087beating that drum and I still believe in it and thankfully uh you know Dr. W shares that sentiment. I don't want to put words in your mouth but that overall right and has been working on those those types of things. It's not exactly like I had it envisioned but I'm not a trained educator you know I'm on the school board. So, um I I think it's very important. Our job as a school board, no matter what I thought it was in the beginning, our job as a school board is to hire the superintendent to approve the budget and set school board policy. That's it. That's our job. And we've got three jobs. That's all that's all that we do. Um everything else that we do is in support of, right? And we have to be

088careful that we don't get in the way of while we're supporting as well. Um but but I am so proud of the things that that are going on in the school system right now. Um it's important to me um and I think every I know everybody on this board it's important that um we meet children where they are and that you know our goal has been and my personal goal has been that when children walk across that stage as young adults and they have a diploma put in their hand that they have a really good idea what it is they want to go do. They don't have to go to college. They don't have to go to the military. They don't have to go to trade school. Some people just they might just want to

089go to work, but whatever it is that they want to do that we've helped them achieve whatever that is and and get as far towards that goal as they can possibly get, meeting people where they are. So, um I'll wrap up here in in just a second. I know it's long and I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Um but um I do want to say um the single big best thing I think we've done in this school system is hiring our superintendent. >> Um Right. >> Yeah. Um we um we started a search um and our board was was just like it is now when we started that search. Um I I think we had was it two members on the board that hired the previous superintendent? Right. Okay. Um and so um we knew what we

090wanted to see with the next superintendent. Um we knew that right out of the box. Okay, we had a lot of interest um in the job, but one of the things that we knew we we we met in in our search and we talked about it and one of the first things we said was the superintendent needs to live in this county. They need to they need to be part of the community because we've had three the prior to Dr. Hester. The three most successful, longest serving superintendents that we've had in this county were Henry Connor, Ernest Worley, and Roger Collins. The thing that all three of them had in common was they moved to the county. They embedded themselves in the community. They became part of the fabric and they they were part of

091it. They were they were citizens and they lived it. So, lo and behold, in walks Dr. Hester, and I can't give away the farm on how the interview went, but I will tell you this. We didn't have an opportunity to get that part out before she said, "You know, I'm already looking for property or uh a house to buy because I want to live here. I've had my eye on this job. This is what I want to do." Um it was a no-brainer to hire her. Um and just to watch her go and put the team together, it's been really good. I mean, you've got a fantastic team. So, anyhow, that's all I got. Um and that's enough, I think. I think Good job. >> Thank you. All I got to say is if you

092come to the December meeting and talk this long about your career, [laughter] I'm going stop you. >> Is that right? Are you sure? >> Yes, I'm [laughter] going to stop. Um I just want to thank everyone for attending the meeting as as um you have tonight. Um thank you, George. And and um if you're going to this going to be your last one, thank you for doing what you've done over the years. So, >> oh yeah, I'll be here. >> Well, I thank you. >> I won't be allowed to talk, but I'll be here. >> I'm done. [laughter] >> I won't be allowed to talk. >> Thanks. >> Keep it short, too. >> Yeah. >> Thank you. You want me to go? >> Yeah. >> Um, so a couple of quick things just to give

093acknowledgements to and George, we're going to recognize you, Margaret, and Janet at the next meeting. But, um, the middle school play, Mr. Kersner, was fantastic. I don't know how those kids can remember all those lines and get all of that done, but it you just you always put such a great play on your kids do. Um I think the 30th anniversary at Tai River was awesome. It was really great. Um I don't know if anybody saw the pictures, there were many teachers that were there that were there in the beginning, some still working for us. So um that was a really nice acknowledgement of that school. So thank you guys for doing that. We have a VSBA meeting next week um to talk about. One of the things that you know we'll talk about later

094on are the legislative positions, but as we go through the budget um we talk about some things. Just know I think as a community, as a system that as a group, the Virginia School Board Association is advocating for things like um taking the LCI off, like a a better way to figure out the funding for schools. Another legislative thing we'll talk about later is chronic absenteeism. you know, that's been a really hot topic for many people in our community. The reality is is there's some laws associated with that that we can't touch, but also um it's tied to accreditation. So, we as a group, as a board, are going to propose a legislative policy that really pulls that away from part of the accreditation process. So, you know, the things that are frustrations in our

095community, even with our staff, as a board group, we continue to hear that and just know that there's advocacy that helps beyond our local level that we are working on to change some of those laws and some of those regulations at a at a higher level. Um, the other thing we talked about the groups and and I'm not going to touch your stuff, Isaiah, because I know you got the group covered, but I do want to I do want to acknowledge that it's been really great to see the sportsmanship stuff with our kids. Um, in incredible. It sounds like there was something tied with the Appamatics game where you all Dreken Talk gave you all some shout outs on just the sportsmanship there. Um, I loved seeing our cheerleaders. You all go to the cheer

096competition. I love seeing the football team and the cheerleaders go to the band competition. You know, that's what it's about. Winning. Winning's important, right? Like we all want to win, but how you win and how you play the game is even more important. You guys are killing it. And I just want to echo what my fellow board members said. Um, uh, thanks to the veterans, congratulations to the new school board members. Um, I'm not going to give my spiel. I may never give it. It may just be something I just never say. But um I did want to um let you know that um in our meeting next week I have to do uh or I am on the nominating committee for the VSBA central regional committee. Is it a committee? I don't know. Anyway,

097it's a group. And so the VSBA divides itself up into regions. We're in the central region and it's quite large. and I was on the nominating committee to uh determine who was going to be the chair and the vice chair. So, you know, as school board members, we do have opportunities to work in other uh capacities within VSBA and within the region and within the state. And you know, our advocacy and our connections with the people that do the same job for us and other localities is another part of you know what we do and and how we can connect and learn our jobs and and make our impact actually kind of echo out to other localities. So I mean I was only the nominating chair or the nominating person. though. But I did get

098to meet a bunch of people that way as as our work on other committees or and boards too. Uh happens all the [clears throat] time. So, and I also wanted to do one more thing. This is kind of like not even related to it, but it's kind of related to it. Um in the board of supervisors meeting today, there was a presentation from the Blige Health District about their their uh study, which they do, I think, every three to five years. I don't know exactly which one it is, but um it's called map to health and it's a big thick like 80page thing about the health of the region. Um and so much of that and they did it specific to uh Nelson as a presentation in the meeting. So much of that relates to

099you know the health affects the school um housing u education uh health outcomes. I mean all of that stuff is so related. If you guys have any anybody has any kind of uh interest in that sort of thing, it's just it's very telling. Very telling. And they did some very deep interviews with like over a hundred people in the remote areas is what they said. Oh, that's why they [laughter] reginina and part of Shipment I think and it was like a remote area of Nelson. So, >> I always thought of Tairo as being the most remote or maybe Gladstone, but anyway, remote being kind of like far away. Um, okay. All right. So, important dates. We are at least two of us are going to the um schoolboard convention next week. So, we'll be gone

100Wednesday, Thursday, Friday. I think the um uh Dr. Hester will be out there longer. Um we do have Thanksgiving is in two weeks. It's coming. >> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Crazy. And then um I guess right on the tail of that is winter break and the end of the grading period and all those sorts of things. So um I'm not going past December with my important dates because >> I don't have to. >> However, >> yes. However, >> for everyone else, [laughter] >> uh, >> once the week of Thanksgiving comes, it it it quickly goes by because once we come out of Thanksgiving, then it's three weeks and then we're at winter break and then your first semester is over and then you come back and then it's the whirlwind of then getting into I mean

101whatever the winter has for us in in early spring, but then we're getting into the so seasons. you know, the high school already is going to have the SOS coming into December and then in the other areas, it just goes by quickly. Um, and you know, I think sometimes like I if I can just get to Thanksgiving or if I can and like there's a lot to be done between now and Thanksgiving and and to to thrive instead of survive, but that that sometimes are those little markers to work towards. So, um, we do put some of the other important things just to kind of keep that in the back of everybody's minds. Um, but we do also try to have winter break be just that it's a break. So, >> yes, thank God. >>

102Yes. >> Um, all right. So, comments from the superintendent. >> You want to go? >> You want to do Isaiah first? >> I think Isaiah wants to go. >> I think I I love hearing Isaiah first if that's all right with everybody else. >> Good evening everybody. Um, I just want to say thank you'all for everything. Uh, especially as our fall sports come to an end. Uh, thank you'all for so much support y'all shown us. It's been truly amazing to see how many people show up for the football games, volleyball games, or any anything else. It's just been absolute pleasure to see how many people show up there. And um as our winter sports um begin to kick up uh I know basketball starts next week, so already jumping into that. So um yeah, I

103just want to say thank y'all for everything and um hopefully tomorrow night we'll continue our football season and um yeah, >> thank you. >> This is a regional game that you're going to, >> right? Congratulations for making that. Thank you. >> We go to Glendo. >> Glenberg. >> Glenber. Sorry. Glenar. Glender. >> Good luck. >> You guys have done an amazing job. >> Yeah. Yeah. >> And we also probably should mention that the one act play won for the >> the sub region, right? So, they're going on to the regionals as well. >> To the region um at Bradford High School on Saturday. >> Okay. Awesome. Awesome. Hope they come back and do that again here for us so we can see it. >> I think they're putting on something tomorrow, but is it during

104the day or >> during the day? But she usually does >> a Sunday or something like that. >> Do what? >> Oh, yeah. Okay. I was like, where >> 8:30 tomorrow morning? >> There you go. >> The high school. >> Uh, not the practice. Yeah. [clears throat] >> Okay. Now you >> not me. Okay. I see if I don't need to take that up with me. Okay. >> She said now you >> what? >> He said she said now you. >> Now me. Now me. All right. So, um we uh I sent a a communication out to all of our staff and all of our community about the um approved cut scores and that the board of education was going to vote on the implementation process for those cut scores. For those of you who

105are not really clear on what I'm talking about, um for years there's been an established cut score. 400 is passing and then they've kind of identified other bands as maybe being in need. Um recently the board of education has established new cut scores which has drastically increased. Um I think we all agree that high expectations are really important to encourage the um the strong performance and rigor that we can provide but there's also a reasonable way of doing that. Um and so today the board of education voted on um having a four-year implementation process as a phase in way of putting in these um these increased cut scores. This year will be a planning year. So those cut scores won't go into effect this year. They will go into incrementally next year. Um we had

106advocated by having a hold harmless um effect and that reminded me we talked about the LCI. So someone remind me about that uh later on when we talk about the impact of LCI where there was a lacking of hold harmless. Um so uh why is that important to try to um exclude the current high school students is because those drastic changes to the so will impact potential graduation. Um unlike 3 through 8th, you don't have to pass the so in order to have um to maybe be um promoted up to the next grade. It is a big key indicator whether you're prepared for the next grade, but it is not um a mandatory. In high school, you have to pass a certain amount of SOS. You can't opt out unless you don't want to graduate.

107So um there is a concern that these drastic increases to the test scores will impact um students in their graduation. Um currently this year senior class will not be impacted. Next year um the board did not vote um to address that aspect. So that will be part of the conversations that we will continue to have with the board of education and potentially a new incoming state superintendent. Um we know that um a part of these new cut scores is a is something called approaching like approaching passing. Um that will count as a passing grade until the full implementation of the process. Um so we do know that the the conclusion of this integration is 2028 2029. Um students retaking an SO exam will retake it at the cut score that when they initially took it.

108So that's good. Um, so if I took an ANS so this year and fail it and then have to take it again next year, it's this year's scores that they'll have to get. Um, so that is really, really good. Um, students that have already demonstrated proficiency in a high school course won't have to retake it to get that score again. Once you've passed it, you've passed it. They don't make you redo it. Um, there's there will be a release of revised student assessment reports in the spring of 2026 for parents and school divisions to clearly communicate new proficiency levels. We are asking and requesting um communication tools to come from the state to aid us in being able to really clearly explain this to our staff, to our students, to our families. This is not

109a small adjustment. Um so I did want to be able to shed some light on that. We did um encourage individuals to take a survey to be able to put uh to provide their feedback on these scores. Um so transitioning a little bit away from that, fine arts has had a bangup month. Um, we talked about it. The something um, Rotten Jr. was fantastic. Our one act play. Um, I thankfully I had someone warn me that like, hey, it's a little bit of a of a heavier subject, so just be prepared when you watch it, but it's really meaningful and impactful. So, I encourage you, um, if you can go out to Radford High School and support them Saturday, please do. Um, I wish them, what is it? Break a leg. Um, now football goes

110and plays Friday night. I'm going to say good luck to them. Um, I don't want to cross my wires on that. they uh they will take on Glenver um Friday night. Um so um I uh we had several student athletes make it to the state level. We had two cross country runners make it to the state level. So um again, we have a lot to be proud of um in our in our student athletes and our students in general um in in a various array of activities and events. Um held our senior night that was it's a special night. I talked to um a parent who just they appreciate the effort and the work that goes into putting on events like that because that is um a symbolic and a significant experience um for both

111the students and the parents. And so um that was really nice to to watch and be a part of. Um and as we said, we're coming up on Thanksgiving break. Um I encourage all of our community members if you want to stay up to date with some things um find us on Facebook and follow us. It's a great way to get some information and really to be able to see and experience some of the great things that are taking place. Um we I always um I always say that the biggest uh engagement that we get is when they get to see their students and they get to see the staff that it just explodes. And so um I I really encourage anybody to kind of take a look at our websites and follow us on

112Facebook and and really stay connected with us that way. Um one of the things we talk about is we our advocacy. I currently serve as a legislative representative for the Virginia Association of School Superintendent. And that gives us an opportunity to to be in front of individuals to advocate um not only as for legislation, but just the overall thought process of what we do. And I'm I'm hoping to really use this as a as a platform to be able to advocate not only just for Nelson, but um for for education and K- through2 public education and really just quite frankly overall education for any child. Um, in the end, they're all our children and we want what's best for them. Um, in any way, shape, or form, uh, it can come in and and we

113just want to be able to support that. Um, and I would say as we listen to the pre-budget, uh, feedback, if we have any, I don't think we had anybody signed up just yet, but as we listen to that, now more than ever, it is critical that we support and retain our talented educators in our public schools. The work of our educators is foundational to the success of our students and ultimately the strength of our community, um, our state, and our nation. Teachers do far more than deliver instruction. They nurture curiosity. They build confidence and develop the critical thinking skills necessary for students to thrive in life, the workforce, and citizenship. Um, we know that a well- education, a well- educated population contributes to a stronger economy, healthier communities, and lower crime. and also individuals

114that are empower empowered to make and have the confidence to make decisions and informed positive decisions. The daily work of our teachers and all educators creates those long-term outcomes. The impact of a great teacher resonates far beyond the classroom and well into the future. Um I think sometimes our staff and when we say educators, our custodians are educators. They have some of the closest relationships with some of our students who are are are most desperate for those connections to trusted adults, our cafeteria workers, our front office, our instructional aids, our maintenance workers, our bus, everybody. Um, so I I don't want to just be specific with teachers, but we are reading reaching those areas where we need to understand their roles. And because of this, it's imperative that we continue to invest in our schools

115and our in our employees. The investment is at its core an investment in our children and return it exponentially. Every student who feels seen, supported and challenged in a future is a future adult who will shape the world that we share with them. And at times there is noise that can distract us from our purpose. It is important that we remain focused on what matters and that's providing the best possible pathway to success for every one of our students. And when we champion our teachers and support the work happening in our classrooms each day, we're really investing in championing our children and our community. And thank you for your continued commitment to our students, our staff, and our public education. We appreciate it. And so with that, I get to show off all the different

116things that we are doing from a division level. And so when we talk about, you know, did we lose that? Did I lose that chance? I did lose that chance. So when we talk about the different things that are taking place, we're entering in to um our budget season and so uh we have um participated in conferences where we got a Virginia budget outlook and quite frankly for the state it is looking like somewhat positive outlook. Now how does that shake out in terms of how it gets down to us? We still um are waiting to see. Uh there has been a great deal of um conversations and meetings with the Head Start in uh Head Start groups. Um it is a it is quite an undertaking. Um just being uh brutally honest, it is

117it is a a pretty significant um undertaking. you he'll hear later uh some proposals that we have for we we will probably um using the funds that we're getting from the Head Start need to hire someone to be able to maintain all the different regulations and um items that are related to just running Head Start. Um this isn't even our our our um our K through 12 aspect. Um so it'll be very very interesting um to see how these future meetings um participation in our community in terms of the Loving Halloween event. Uh Mr. Ashley and Miss Irvin uh were so gracious of their time and being able to come out and hand out uh we were able to hand out books and puzzles and educational aspects but also candy. That's what they came out

118for. Um and so it was a lot of fun to be able uh to participate in that. Um, as we talked about, Tai Rivers's um, 30th anniversary, that was a great deal of fun. And Miss Irvin was here when it it was established and opened up. And she was able to take a picture with Miss Wells, who was an original, and I mean original more than one ways, but she's an original, and uh, Miss Shepard. And so that was really nice to be able to see. Um, and then working with our, um, health insurance to be able to start getting an idea of what to anticipate. Um, instruction, it's been super busy. uh you know the collaboration that we have with our instructional teams and our uh leadership and our teachers is really um is

119really shaping and being able to work together and create that that concept of it's all of us together. Um so the the instructional team facilitating professional development being able to support our staff um walkthroughs to be able to see what's taking place. Um I know we have three um incoming schoolboard members and I invite um our two remaining along um maybe doing some 2 by 2 walkthroughs and observations in our so you really see what's taking place in our buildings because I think if you if you can't really see it you really don't understand it and so we invite um to be able to set that up in in the coming you know once we um are able to install everyone and get going. Um, we're in the process of developing school calendar. Um, appreciate

120everybody provided feedback, uh, cooperating and creating partnerships with our community members, Woodson's Mills, and being able to have some educational opportunities through Rockfish Valley uh, Foundation and our Nature Foundation. Um, being able to partner with them to create those experiences for our kids. Um, really working to um, submit a letter to Region 9 for the Go Virginia grant mobile unit. Really looking to kind of advance our partnership for um, Cyber Bites Foundation. So really expanding in all areas and pathways that we can to give all of our students a pathway that that interests them. Um we continue to complete the submit summit K2 uh early literacy training um with our ESOL teams. Um there's there's a lot going on. Uh Mr. Bleo will talk a little bit more about the VTSS grant that we received

121this year and the investment and the focus that we really put into employing the the the tenants and the components of VTSS with our students and our staff. Um we we did finally complete the installation of our vows tracker. Little bumpy little bumpy at first. Didn't go quite as smooth but um we do find it to be important as we work through it. U pupil personnel um thank you to Miss Reinger and your team. um the the feet meet that we held here. It was our our first um our inaugural feat meet um really emphasizing the inclusivity of our um our special education students and our gened students and just giving them the same opportunities or similar opportunities that we would and the outpouring, Mr. Walker, your staff and and our middle school staff. um

122these students had an opportunity to be welcomed as they walked into the middle of the high school um by rows and rows of our high school students and our staff cheering them on and really making them feel special. And it was a it was a wonderful experience to be able to and I know I've had the questions are we going to do it again and we'd like to um maybe not when it's that cool in the morning but whatever it ended up being a beautiful day. Um, so also participation in VCASE and so it's um, one of our goals in our strategic plan is to talk about growth and the professional growth of all of our individuals and being able to to continue to to move forward with that. Um, our early childhood special education

123team hosted developmental screenings. That is our community, our schoolaged children um, in our community where parents want to be able to to to provide some screening opportunities for their children if they have some concerns in certain areas. So, as we try to reach out, like I mentioned, they're all our kids. Um, it's important to to be able to support them. [snorts] Um, we had a team of general and special education attend the Virginia Council of Administrators, that's B case, as I was talking about, and really to focus on specially designed instruction as we move forward um, not only with our sped teachers to really focus on specially designed instruction, but really kind of gaining that knowledge for all of our educators to understand what it is. Uh, there's a lot of components of special education

124that benefit all of our students. And so I think it's important that we continue to provide that educational experience for our staff. Um NCPS was awarded grant funding uh for schoolbased teleahalth. Miss Reinger will provide a little bit more information about that. Um so we're pretty excited uh about that and they continue their help desk. Um human resources. I don't know if you guys saw the post and thank you um Miss Chote for putting the post of announcing um our uh newly hired assistant principal at the high school um Miss Knight. It it almost broke our Facebook page. Um, we got far we got a ton of engagement aspects to that. Um, and so that's that's that shows you all the different efforts and attempts that we have not only to celebrate that also we're

125trying to use these things to recruit. Um, you know that sometimes that's one of the ways we are able to advertise vacancies and then celebrate our hires so they know that that they are in a place that is excited um and welcoming to them. There's also been a great deal of effort on early childhood provisionally licensed teacher incentive program. Miss Choke put in for a grant to be able to support our early childhood um teachers to be able to continue their education and have that paid for and that is huge um in that um in that area. That is huge to be able to to to provide that. And then early childhood Virginia preschool initiatives reporting requirements coming up. Um technology um actually that's Mr. Beer. You see uh one of our one Nelson award

126winners up on a on a ladder fixing some of the cameras. Um, we have the installation of a lot of these replacements and a lot of work that we have um being able to bolster our security that we have in our in all of our buildings. That's it looks like that's at the high school. Um, but we had an upgrade project. So, working with our our company, Optek, uh, we continue to do camera repairs. Virginia CyberCon. It was a conference that was held put on kind of locally by some local tech individuals, but it was a phenomenal conference um really highlighting and emphasizing the importance of ongoing um cyber security supports and the different things that take place with that. So, we appreciate the attention being paid by our technology team. Um hardware software requirement

127positions, working with building administrators to gain input. Um working with schools to capture events. Um Mr. Cargill is is putting in a great effort to be able to capture Nelson in the fall. Um that's just a picture and I mean anybody who's around here knows just how beautiful it is. So really kind of taking a look at each of our our sites and our buildings for that and also putting a lot of time into um streaming events. You know we talk about the engagement with our community and we we are trying to put out um efforts. So if you can't be here physically, you will be able to um enjoy and be a part of the experience and see the great um performances of our students or just those um you know kind of instrumental

128marking um experiences whether it's a promotion ceremony or it's um a performance or what have you. So a lot of effort goes into putting those on. Um but it's so we can support our community better and um and there's a survey of like hey you know can we stream something for you? And so a lot of those as you see the pie chart right there of what those um requests are for um maintenance um super busy continue to um have uh assembled a transportation building so they can store supplies. We got our yearly um hall of paper delivered and so that takes some space. um taking a a look at the um taking advantage of our asynchronous day where we didn't have students to make some of those repairs that we need to do that

129you don't want the students in there. We're trying to prepare and get ready for the winter months. Um meeting with contractors to get budget pricing uh for the mobile unit over at Tai River to be uh removed. had the fire marshall, everybody's favorite experience, the fire marshall coming through for the inspection on um early November and intended a cons uh a school construction assistant program grant award program webinar. And so again, we keep talking about we we we really try hard to find alternative funding opportunities. We talk about the per people expenditure. The part that people forget to think about is that's not just from our local that's not funds just from our local budget. That includes grants. So when we go out to try to get other money to to help out, that gets

130added into our per pupil expenditure. And I think sometimes people don't really realize that transportation and safety. Um really appreciate it. You know, we talked about um um Miss Bell who is one of the first to participate in the themes. Um, our transportation department is also and our and our they all are um our school nutrition, our transportation love to participate in these things. So, they set up a bus at the uh the one Nelson trunk or treat that took place. We had a incredible turnout for that. Um, we had a ton of our community there. It's a safe way to enjoy trunking and it's open to all of our community. You don't have to be a student with us. It's open to everyone. and so and and they came out and they enjoyed it.

131Um they have been busy. They we've really kicked into the remediation. So transportation is used to provide um for our students in the after school remediation programs. Um they attended the association of people transportation. Um Mr. Ashley's been elected as president of district 5. So that's exciting. Um also um they part they uh Mr. Ashley helped out with the book box. Um formerly we used to have a book bus no longer. Um, so we have some things going on. School nutrition. Um, October has been a very busy month for school nutrition. Celebrated farm to school week. Uh, October 6th to the 10th. Cafeteria's decorated for fall and farming. Um, Rockfish and Tai River participated in Crunch Herd round the Commonwealth, which is always a lot of fun. The 13th through the 17th is National School

132Lunch Week. The theme was taste of the world. Uh, Taste the World, your school lunch passport. Students got to enjoy these tasty uh different tasty meals. Um the 13th and 20th of full-time nutrition employees worked at the school sites preparing the meals and decorating cafeteria lines. Um we'll continue to work with Virginia Foods for Virginia Kids cohort in conjunction with Chef Anne Foundation to increase scratch or semiscratch menu items. I know that that is something that we you all have talked about quite frequently is trying to make sure that we um purchase local as much as we can and try to uh provide the scratch or semi-cratch as much as we can. So, I appreciate their efforts. We take a look at those taking advantage of our community eligibility provision, our C where every student

133um who goes through the line gets a free breakfast, free lunch, student breakfast meals on site, 14,86 are lunches. So, this is an increase I want to say by um maybe 700 from the previous month. And then um lunches jumped up 21,577. and the the suppers. I think last time it was 10 uh because we just hadn't gotten going with the afterchool programs. Now you see that they are really taking advantage of that community engagement. We had a lot going on um this past month. The picture up in the upper left is what I was talking about. Our sped kids when they came in to compete, they walked through that tunnel of um of support really. Um so we had the feet meet, we had the one act play. Um, congratulations to Nelson County High

134School for its level of distinction in the accreditation model. Our three other schools um are on track and and performing well. So, we are are doing really well and trending in the right direction. 30th anniversary that saw a good turnout for our community of Tai River Elementary. Um, the family partnerships that we have, we celebrated our parks and wreck participants at a football game. So, that's what you see in the middle picture just bringing out our community members. um trunk or treat, our Veterans Day assembly, um Something Rotten, our senior night. We we're also particularly driven through the when we had the shutdown is just the need of our local community in terms of the food insecurity. So, still continuing to run a food drive to provide the boxes or at each of our school

135sites to provide some um food and support to our local uh families. And we also in this last month had the um student success night where formerly known as parent teacher conferences. Um it was also a school counseling week November 3rd through the 7th. So we want to say thank you so much to Chrissy uh Tiora and Nancy Cornell for all the work that they do with our students. Chrissy is our full-time school psychologist and is really embedded in working closely um with our students and Nancy Cornell does a lot of the assistance particularly with testing and evaluations and things of that nature. So, we appreciate their work and of course, thank you to our veterans. Um the the uh the selfless uh willingness to serve and um do what's necessary. We will always be

136thankful for. Thank you. >> Thank you. Always amazing how much you can do in a month. Um, can I do you think we should do public comments before the bud the budget or >> Oh, no. Uh, >> I have to open it and then close it if we are going to if they're nobody signed up for the pre-budget public hearing. But >> I think I think you still need to um do that. >> I think you you might as well do it first because no one's signed up. But that doesn't mean someone sitting here doesn't want to say something. So, we want to make sure that we offer that. But then we can close it and then do the public. go ahead and open the pre-public budget hearing. Um, if anybody wants to speak toward

137their priorities that, you know, you want the board and the staff to hear, [clears throat] now is your time. Hearing none. All right, I'm going to close the pre-public or the pre-budget public hearing. That was quick, but I would like to encourage you guys if you have something that you, you know, are thinking about that should be a priority to, you know, email it in or, you know, somehow get it to us. Um, yes, our we're open for that. Okay. And now it's just comments from the public. Um, just want to kind of remind everybody to um to that it's basically three. You have three minutes. Uh, if you're speaking on um behalf of a group, you can have five minutes. We're going to keep you to that as much as we can. I think

138you'll time them. Um, and just uh speak to something that um it says for an issue that's not on the agenda, the school board will hear a citizen under the agenda's public comments. for an issue that's on the agenda. Anyway, um members of the public who wish to adjust the board as to sign up. Um tell us your name and your address. Um keep it to three minutes. Um and uh you know, obviously be as gentle as you can. So, um first person on the list is Philip Kersner. >> Hi, Philip Kersner. Um, I live in L, but I'm staff member. Um, course teacher at both the middle school and the high school and the vice president of the Nelson County Education Association. As we begin the budget planning season, I want to thank the

139current school board members for their advocacy for students and staff at Nelson County Public Schools. You have served before, during, and after the worst pandemic our country has seen in a century, where every day was uncharted territory. Looking around at our neighboring districts, it's easy to take for granted the unity that you have expressed in your policym and the budgetary process. In a time where politics has divided families, friends, and neighbors, it's refreshing to see this board, whose members all have very different political beliefs, come together for the purpose of supporting our school. Although each of you have varying stances on a number of issues, you are united in making Nelson County Public Schools as successful as it can be. Thank you. I know this consensus building did not come easy. It must have taken

140a tremendous amount of work to build the trust and knowledge necessary to provide unified leadership to staff and students. It is easier for students to learn and for teachers to teach when it feels like everyone, especially our school board, is pulling in the same direction. Thank you again for your service to the community. You have served as role models not only to the other to other school boards, but to our students, showing them how adults can find agreement, address concerns, and move forward in a positive direction despite our differences. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Um, our next person is Denise Moldenhower. Hi, Denise Waldenhower. Um, I live on Walkound Lane in Mland and I'm here to discuss the attendance policy um and a new policy by the um school that um results in lunch

141detention. It's sort of separate. I know the attendance policy is based on the governor's mandate. But first I want to say I know this is a very difficult job for the administration and um my Mr. Ker my children have him and adore him. Um [clears throat] Mel is the best math teacher I've heard according to my daughter and Mr. Walker is back to me and my daughter on a couple of sports issues. So I'm appreciative of everybody's work. But I do want to give a little um example of how this policy affects a family directly. Um, so I know the current governor is um really um concerned about attendance policy and currently as parents we're getting notes if our children miss seven days and we're told that they need to do seat remediation. Um I

142talked to um Mrs. Po Dexter and technically you don't have to do the seat remediation until 14 days but we're getting these letters saying that that's seven days. So I'll give you an example of what that looks like. One of my daughters went um [clears throat] took her out of school for three days to go look at a college in Colorado. Um and we had a note for that from me. Then she went to see a doctor one day. She had a dentist appointment and she was sick twice. So here we are at day seven. This week she missed three days of school, two of which she had 101 degree fever. So in theory she should have to stay out after school for three hours um for those three days. So nine hours at a

143seat. Um the governor wants you to be given instructional time um to mitigate the time you've missed from class. That's not really happening. You're sitting in a seat. So it feels as though it's punitive because really it is. And it feels like almost like after school suspension. So I I think as a community we could come up with a more compassionate way um when our kids are sick or need to miss school. I also feel like as a parent I should be able to keep my home my daughter home when she's sick. So now we've reached seven days. I have to in theory have a note for these three days she's must be excused. Well, my pediatrician is 45 minutes away. It will cost me gas there and back. Also time off work and to

144pay the doctor. That's really cost prohibitive for most people in the county and seems rather unfair. So I want to bring that to your attention. Another thing that's happening is aside from actual missing class now if you miss if you okay 15 seconds quickly seven tardies and you have to have this is really what I want to talk about you have to have um lunch detention that is so unfortunate right so my other daughter has missed um two days for dermatology appointments I made it 8 am 8:00 a.m. to unfortunately miss Miss Driver's class. So, she would miss Miss Bell's class because it's easier to miss advanced drama than it is trigonometry, which she missed in the morning and then she missed another doctor's appointment. She was sick two mornings, couldn't make it the first

145period, but didn't want to miss. Anyway, she [snorts] was So, stop tension for this. This seems really, and I think you could do a better job. >> Thank you for your comments. Does anybody else have any? >> Yeah, I will. I will. >> You can also write it all down. We'll be happy to listen to it. Um, anybody? Anybody else? Okay, we're good. All right. So, next is we're going to have and um if you don't want to stay for the rest of this, you do not have to stay except for some people need to stay, right? >> [laughter] >> But other people who don't need to stay don't need to stay, but you're all welcome to stay. Um, we have that's mine. Um, >> we're moving into the consent agenda. >> Um, >> anybody

146have any questions? No. >> I move that we approve the consent agenda as presented. >> Second. >> All in favor? I. >> All right. I vote I. So, um, now we're in for items for information. The very first one is the first reading of October 9th's meetings minutes. If you have any questions or corrections, you would let our uh clerk know. Um, and what did you say? >> Oh, right. Well, I was thinking Tammy, but she's just Okay. So, let our superintendent know. She's multitasking. Um, now we have Mr. Les Campbell. Update on capital improvements. Fire me. All right. So, I guess I will give you some updates on the [laughter] uh renovation process. So, I I included the maps again to for quick reference as I we've broken it down into sections. Um so,

147today we had our progress meeting um in the progress meeting. We had our commissioning kickoff meeting today. So, we're at the stage where some of the equipment going in is actually going to be start get commissioned um into service and that's tenatively started is supposed to start the week of the 24th. Uh we're using facilities dynamics for that process. MB is uh planning to finish up renovations in areas D1 through D4 on the map. Um actually tomorrow night um they will then move to C1 and C2 which is further up the hallway towards the library if you're familiar with the areas. Um they so D1 through D4 they actually was a week behind on schedule. >> It's not it doesn't affect their overall schedule. It's just they was just behind on that one area. Um,

148MB is actually planning to move to C1 and C2 areas Monday night. Uh, Kevin was able to work with with the contractors to select the next set of rooms to to to uh renovate. And I included some pictures of um the renovation process. Uh, the ceiling has actually been uh has been actually installed on the lower end of the the math hallway, the west wing. They finished that ceiling up. Um, and MB has actually been working with our local building inspection office and the the fire marshall come in about a month and a half ago and they was he was in um actually inspecting the new fire dampers that were put in. And as it turns out that it's only really a handful that actually are installed in firewalls. And so he was concerned about

149the annular space around the um the fire damper. And there's a minimum of a half an inch gap that's allowed to go around. And what happens is it the framing if if there was a fire is allows it to uh if there's any kind of swelling or anything in the framing there's nothing to obstruct the the damper from operating like it's supposed to. Uh so there was some concerns from a fire marshall and MB has worked through those and getting in and addressing those issues. Um the um the DOAZ unit, the uh dedicated outdoor air system, they're working on finishing insulating the duck work and all going into the building there. We have a total of three of those units alto together. Uh two of which were installed on the roof on the lower end

150of the west wing. Um and then one's going on the ground on the back side of the school next to the propane tanks um on the back side. Uh they they're working on um one and two now. Uh three will be installed uh commission later on. Um MB is actually moving upstairs to start removing the ceilings up in the second floor of the high school ne uh tonight. Uh actually sorry that was delayed. So, they actually will start tonight. They were supposed to start on the 10th and they start tonight removing the ceilings. Um the brick remediation um they've actually stopped because of the cold while they're coming in. They'll pick back up on that in the springtime. And um this the four shop units um were replaced um and they were actually started up

151and they're running now and operating. So, they will be commissioned in the process later on this year too in December. And that's sounds short, but it's a lot going on. So, any questions? >> We um for the commissioning or they using a separate commissioning agent to do that >> that we've employed. >> We have right I thought we had I was just want to verify couldn't remember. >> Yeah. >> Good job. Thank you so much. >> Thank you. Thank you. >> Thanks. >> Great, >> Mr. Oh, sorry. Excuse me, Dr. Zadinski is next with an update on >> Good. All right. A brief enrollment update. Um the data that I will share to you today comes via the fall student record collection uh in comparison to last year's fall student record collection. Um our most

152recent um SRC was approved and finalized late October. And from this report we get two enrollment counts full-time and funded enrollment. So first off full-time enrollment this is what we would call students and seats. And this is going to be comprised of uh all students in each of our four schools in addition to students who are in special ed and private day placements, students placed at alternative schools, and our prek population. I will say it is not completely comprehensive as it does not include um students who receive ISPs, uh students who come in for drop-in services like speech or physical therapy, um or occupational therapy, sorry. uh does not include two to four year olds in the home or private setting who are undergoing evaluation, nor does it include NPA or our Head Start students.

153Each of those still require staffing and personnel implications for us. Um but again, they're not included in our enrollment numbers. >> [clears throat] >> So, our full-time fall funded en I'm sorry, funded enrollment, not funded, full-time enrollment is,440.5 students with a little pie chart right there that shows the demographic breakdown. Um, I would say the biggest point of interest is that um our Hispanic population has exceeded the black population as the second largest demographic subgroup. Um, that just recently happened over the last two years. Um and this chart depicts uh division membership variance in both demographic subgroups and students with disabilities where we would see just an overall small decrease of 3.5%. Um where we would see a little bit larger demographic subgroup decrease in in the black population almost 12% and we're pretty much

154flat everywhere else. small decrease in English language learners, but it's still rather large relative to what we've seen pre-COVID times and even in the years running up to 2023. Um, this chart like included this so we could see how this enrollment is distributed across the grade levels by cohort size. Um, and this is actually very telling and can foretell some of our future enrollment trends. You'll notice that our largest cohorts are all housed at the high school. The first, second, third, and fifth largest cohorts are all grades 9 through 12. Um, and as they graduate out, unless they are replaced by equivalent or larger cohorts, uh, we will be seeing a reduction in overall enrollment. And we can see that our next one again and just breaking down our 25 enrollment versus 24 enrollment. Um

1551492 was reduced to 1420.5 a change of 51 a half fewer students. Um and this change can be contributed to three main variables. uh a large relatively large cohort graduating 2025. It was about 15 students higher than our current juniors and seniors right now. Um we have a very small kindergarten cohort which is actually the smallest cohort out of all of our grade levels. And we recorded 62 withdrawals spanning from June 1st through October 1st. And we want to track these from the last day of school. So students who finished with us in the 25 school year relative to now. And those withdrawals we can track and see that four of our students left Nelson to go to private school, seven to go home school, 45 are attending another public school within the state of

156Virginia. Three transferred out of state and three are what we would call unconform unconfirmed. Um they just did not return. We were coded them with a W970. So they will count as dropouts if they are not reenrolled at some point or they moved and have not enrolled elsewhere. So again that was full-time enrollment. Next we'll go to funded enrollment. Um this is different and unfortunately smaller because we will remove certain uh groups of students who are impacted by external funding sources. Primary ones are prek students, students who receive tuition from the comprehensive services act, and sisna or intensive services students. [clears throat] Our 2526 funded enrollment lands at 1,383.5. This is 57 fewer students than our full-time enrollment. And this is the removal of 32 preK students, 16 CSA or private day students, and nine

157SISNA students. And I included a similar chart that just shows where these removals that the 57 students are coming from. And you can see it's sprinkled pretty evenly across the grade levels with one, two, or three from each grade level minus grade two. And the last slide just last year versus this year we'd see an almost 40 student reduction in our funded enrollment which obviously will have some implications both for funding staffing programming and we will be discussing this through our budget formation for the next couple months. If you have any questions like >> one of the things we talked about is a small kindergarten class. M so the kindergarten class um you know for lack of a better way of the co babies and um that is also where we've seen an increase in

158homeschool applications. So we have seen it particularly in that that younger grade prek we um we don't have a prek at Rockfish and that's something we desperately want to bring back. Um, that's where some of the the the competition of applications with Head Start impact our VPI programs. And so I think that that's something that we're really going to have to think about as we move forward in in the direction that we want to go with with maintaining or continuing our Head Start program and really looking to bolster our prek. PreK is not necessarily in our funded, but they'd certainly metriculate and uh want to be able to to continue with that. >> Thank you. Anybody have any questions? >> All right, we're rolling right ahead. Mr. Bale. >> All right. Good evening, members of

159the board. I am here to uh let you know that uh we were fortunate enough to receive our VTSS grant uh for this school year and we have uh goals uh that we're focused on. One is uh to reduce uh disciplinary disciplinary referrals by 10% across all of our schools. The second goal is to reduce chronic absenteeism rate from 18% to 14% as measured by our state reported attendance data. And our final goal is to monitor reading and math uh benchmark data and ensure a minimum of a 5% increase in the percentage of students making grade level expectations. So, for those of you that may be wondering what is VTSS, it's Virginia tiered systems of supports. So, basically, it's a three- tier system. Tier one is making sure we're providing universal highquality instruction and supports

160for all students. Tier two focuses on behaviors of certain students and then we align practices to help support those students. And then finally, tier three is when we're seeing uh more noticeable behaviors and we really focus on individualized supports for those students. So our grant funding this year is uh supporting our school-based VTSS coach. So a stipen for those individuals, school-based school improvement leaders as well as school-based squad team leaders. And those individuals work with our assistant principles and principles to focus on data both academic and behaviorally to drive goals and and move learning forward. Uh we'll also be implementing Character Strong. Character Strong is a program that's currently implemented and we've been doing it for three years at the middle school. It focuses on social emotional behaviors, students making good choices, being kind, and

161uh we're going to look to uh implement that with this funding at both Rockfish and Tai River elementary schools as well. Uh we're also using uh funds to fund PBIS attendance uh and attendance, pardon me, incentives for students as well as support professional learning for our staff. So in action what happens is each month uh we meet as a division leadership team and our assistant principles are a core part of that team along with our director of student support service our behavior specialist instructional coaches and we meet with state coaches and we look at data across the division and we talk about what's working, what's not working and then we make plans to uh adjust to meet our students needs where they are. And uh currently um not only do we look at that data

162quarterly uh regarding discipline uh we also are looking at re-evaluating our discipline flowcharts. So what do we address in the classroom? What do we address administratively and we're going to align those across both elementary schools as well as the middle and the high school. So that way we're speaking the same language across the board. And then finally, we're also working this school year as a team to create a VTSS MTSS handbook that will be alive and well, and we'll uh have that in place for next school year. So that way, our teachers and administrators will just have a guide and a resource that they can use uh whenever they have questions or concerns. It'll be kind of be a go-to for them and and again, align practices to what we do across all four of

163our schools. Any questions? Thank you. on the ground. >> Yeah. >> Thanks so much. >> Now we will have Mrs. Rachel Roying with the teleaalth grand. Sorry, I kind of want to introduce. Right. I mean, she knows what she's doing. We've got the agenda. >> All right. Well, good evening. and I come with more good news on a another grant that we've been awarded. Um really excited to share with you all that um we were one of 15 school divisions in the state of Virginia to be awarded a grant that is in partnership of um the department of behavioral health and developmental services and the VDOE. And so they have a a group of state contracted services that provide um teaalth mental health services. And so um we selected to go with the agency of

164you will. I did this in collaboration with the school counselors um because you will um is an organization that allows unlimited referrals not just for K through2 students but for families and staff members for Nelson um to provide as you can see there's a list of services that I know you've seen um so they can provide unlimited teleaalth per student some wellness programming to complement ment the therapy and obviously the mental the teleaalth mental health services really takes down those barriers that we have spoken about earlier that we experience here in Nelson which is the transportation um time you know taking off for your jobs and and really being able to bring these services in the county. So, um, we were fortunate, if you, uh, I also have a table of the breakdown of the

165grant award, the total amount of this grant is $13,000 that we can use these funds through June 26th or through June of this year or 2026. Um, what we also wanted to include is while this is a really great resource that can be provided to families 247 365, we also wanted to acknowledge that at times our students will need this service during the day. And so we we didn't we want to increase that capability to provide that access during the school day and also not put one more thing on our current staff members. So we have we were authorized funds in the grant for a teaalth facilitator for their salary and benefits. um that would be completely grant-f funded really on a an instructional assistant salary scale. Um I did like a job it's also

166a separate document that was submitted but the job description is linked to this as well. Um but the idea is the teleaalth facilitator would be able to help get students to and from their teleaalth sessions, keep them safe, help them if they have connectivity issues, make sure that they're in a confidential location to receive these services. So the vision would be and we would communicate um you know with individuals during interviews that this this job position would be shared for all four schools >> um and may you know have some sort of daily schedule of which school they're at and then on Friday it either being an overflow or the middle high school campus obviously has the greatest population so could benefit from an additional day of services. So, um, we're just seeking and items

167for action for approval of that teleaalth facilitator, um, for the duration that we are receiving grant funding. Um, and we're just really excited to give our family, our community, our students, staff members, um, an opportunity to access mental health services. So, >> that's awesome. I think one of the great things to find and follow up on that would be utilization. >> Absolutely. >> Like who's we don't need to know names obviously from a HIPPA standpoint, but who's using it? What are the things that potentially if they can share that back, what are the concerns that people are seeking support on and then if there's any outcome data where we see improvements. I I know from a HIPPA standpoint we have to we can't but >> absolutely well numbers. >> You know, they do have a

168dashboard. I'm actually meeting with them. I have a meeting with them tomorrow morning. Um, and then because this is grant-f funded, Shannon Irvin and I attended a meeting a couple of weeks ago and there is data that we are gathering on that very topic in terms of you you how how many students are utilizing this service, how are they asking for this service, um what is the frequency from referral to actually receiving it. So we'll be analyzing that. >> One of those things I think down the road as a community we can highlight what are the areas of opportunity for us to better better support and can our community provide something for these families >> at a on a larger scale. >> Yeah, I I'm with you. >> Thank you. >> Great job in that

169grant. >> Yes, it's you. >> Um I will do that from here so I apologize. Uh so year after year we're really uh we've been pretty fortunate to um be the recipients of funds for the school security grants and we weren't formally uh provided any funds for this year. However, retroactively funds that hadn't been spent last year um from others has now been passed over to us. So we've gotten about $50,000 50 well almost $51,000 has been reallocated for the 2024 grant funding year to us for this year. So we're pretty excited about that. We we [clears throat] um continue to communicate our emphasis on safety and security. We've done a lot over the last several years to really build that up and we'll continue to keep doing that. You know, um last year uh

170we implemented the phased in approach for our weapons detectors and the towers. Um we also um you all approved um a a year ago and a month the implementation of zero eyes. Um that has that is fully active. Um and so by these using these grants, it's going to contribute offsetting any kind of cost that there is. Um but in that these are important investments that we are making in the security of our student, staff, and community. We're bringing in a whole lot more people into our buildings. We're bringing in a whole lot more. Um so we're looking to try to make sure we do that as safely as possible. So I'm I'm excited over this. >> Thank you so much. >> Yep. All right. Now we roll. >> It's almost $200,000 in grants that

171don't come out of our local budget or other budget or >> and it's been since 2022 it's been um 450. >> Well, you got which was you know >> Yeah. >> Unbelievable. But then yeah, there's been a great deal last three years. Yeah. Sec Oh, security grants. >> Yeah, just security grants. It's been over 450 since 2022, I think. >> Oh, security. >> Yeah. Yeah, >> I'm talking about total. Yeah, >> I know. Yeah, it's just been phenomenal. But really, >> you all finding the grants and getting them >> right. >> All right. Items for action. Um, do we have any reason not to just roll right through these? Okay. So, I'm just going to go. Uh first one is a declaration of beverage cooler assorted technology items and teacher desks as surplus property. I

172will entertain a motion to approve that action. >> I'll make a motion that we do the surplus of the coolers desk and other products to be um >> surplus products. >> Second. >> All in favor? I >> I >> um we have a field trip request for the BRBGS students to go on an outofstate trip to Washington DC. >> I move that we approve the field trip request for BRVGS students to go out of state to Washington DC February 26, 2026. >> Uh second. >> All in favor? >> I. Now we have the approval for the contract for the RFP for the sped teacher contracted services that Rachel had writing or just >> this is a different position. Um this is um we are struggling to find sped teachers and so we are looking to

173um try to do an RFP for contracting those services. >> Contracting. Okay. All right. >> I move we approve the contract from RFP to sped uh teacher uh contracted services. >> Second. All in favor? I >> I um now we need uh to approve new temporary positions to support the telealth grant. This is the one she just talked about. >> I move that we approve the new temporary positions to support the teleaalth grant. >> I second. >> All in favor? >> I um now we need approval of the new of a new temporary position to support the Head Start program. I move we approve a new uh approve the new temporary position to support the Head Start program >> as presented. >> Second. >> Um all in favor? No questions. >> I Everybody in favor.

174>> Okay. I'm sorry. Um um now we need to amend the January schoolboard meeting date to be January 15th. Does everybody remember why we're doing that? It's a little painful to come back from the Christmas break. >> There's a lot going on um to be able to make that happen because we actually our kids come back >> the seventh >> on the 7th. So that's super um taxing to have everybody >> reminiscent of when we did a school board meeting one time on the first day of school. >> Yeah. Yeah. That was brutal. >> It was even brutal for us. >> Yes. >> Um okay. So I'm down. I need to have a motion and a >> You're not even gonna be here. >> I moved it [laughter] >> January school board >> meeting date

175to January 15, 2025. >> I second 2026. Sorry. >> Sorry. >> All in favor? >> I I >> Okay. Uh now we Oh, so we did not talk about the delegate proposals. So um if you guys there is a little package of them. So every year uh in March the the VSBA asks all of the um school boards to come up with ideas of ways that they can amend their um legislative positions and it's this is the time of year that I guess it's new governor or whatever. or it's always around this time. And uh so then the um mostly Fairfax, but a all a lot of uh school systems submit things that they need they think need to be changed or whatever in the in the legislative position. Some of them are new, some

176of them are amendments and then they go to a committee. the committee goes through them and then they vote for the ones that they think they should go to the entire uh well there's always one delegate from every school board at the convention and that delegate ha has the responsibility of getting their um board to vote on these positions so that when we in the school board convention when the delegates meet that delegate from our school board would be able to represent the entire school board on how we would vote on these changes [clears throat] or um a new legislative position. So, this year is pretty light, thank God. There was like 10 or 11 and they're all in this like 90page booklet. Um but they only had three. Uh the first one was um

177about um assessment reform and accountability reform. So, as Dr. Hester was speaking about earlier. Uh we have new cut scores and we have um a different accountability system this year and it was just like um I'm trying not to be political about this, but it was kind of like abrupt abrupt changes. So, the legislative position that was brought forward this year was if you're going to make any changes to the assessment or accountability, um, you got to give us time about a, you know, we would like a year to be able to prep for it, get the kids ready, get our our systems ready and all that. Don't change anything like that. So, um, we need to just decide if we want to go yes on that one or no on that one. Um the

178second proposal was uh removing this is a new one uh taking chronic absenteeism out of the indicators for the accountability and accreditation models. So um right now if we don't if we have like a certain level of chronic absenteeism our um accountability is is a model is changed or is it's taken into account. Exactly. So it's it's it's good to note that like chronic absenteeism is all absences that aren't related to the school. So that means excused absences, >> right? >> That means suspensions, that means un unexcused. So I think really the crux of it is there are things far outside the control of schools >> that are impacting us and and there and there's nothing that we can do. I mean obviously we don't want sick children um or sick staff members. Um but

179there are some things now that isn't to say that like chronic absenteeism is a a huge negative impact on student learning. Um so you know there is a part to this you take that away and it it still doesn't take away the fact when our kids are in front of our teachers they learn. Um, so I think it's important to note that, but the the the the really big part of this that's so very frustrating is excused absences still count towards chronic absenteeism. It does not it is not truency. So they're two very very different things. Um, and so chronic illnesses through no fault of the child or the family, those chronic illnesses, they still count, for lack of a better way, against us. Um and that's just a difficult spot to put anybody in.

180Um and I think that that is a big part of this. >> So they are uh recommending or in this proposal is that we are going to um advocate for that chronic absenteeism to be taken away as an indicator in our accountability. >> What? >> Nothing. >> Sorry. So the to be clear the the proposed new legislation position is not to eliminate the chronogic absenteeism policy statewide. It is to eliminate it from the consideration for accreditation score. >> Right. >> Okay. >> And this is not I mean just so people understand this is not that we vote this in as a BSBA. It's >> we're supporting it. >> It's what we're supporting at a higher legislative level. Right. So >> this is the advocacy piece. >> Yes. Right. So and and I am I'm the

181delegate and I will go and I will vote what so and so some cases like they would say no we don't want to do that and I would say to myself yeah I do want to do that and I still have to vote no because the majority of my board says no. So that has happened too. It's pretty interesting to watch actually. Um anyway the third one is um also kind of easy. I think these are easy yeses, but um it's an enrollment cap for virtual Virginia. So that there is a n there's a certain number uh of either kids or dollars that you can spend uh taking virtual classes and they want it hasn't been updated for 20 years and they they want to uh adjust that so it more people more students have

182access to this um to this um virtual Virginia you know uh uh >> that helps us with AP dual enrollment >> right it helps us in a lot. So the the thing the tricky thing about dual enrollment is you have to have specific certifications for the um >> for the uh educator for the teacher >> and that's just super difficult. Uh and so when you want to be able to provide these pathways like AP classes, dual enrollment classes that are really valuable to um a lot of our students, it gets taken away just because of a staffing issue. And so this is a great way to be able to still continue to provide that particularly if a student is is amendable and good at that online environment. >> Right. And I mean they just basically

183say this budget priority needs to be revised to raise the free enrollment cap that will provide additional flexibility to divisions wishing to alleviate staffing issues by using the state's virtual Virginia program while expanding opportunities for students. I mean that pretty much says it all. So um we could vote on these individually. consension all together. >> Okay, that's fine. >> All right. >> So, uh I move that we approve the VSBA delegate proposal positions as presented. All three of them. >> Yes. To all of them. Yeah. >> Got it. >> Yes. >> Second. All in favor? >> I. >> All right. Perfect. Um, now we would go into close session and >> we did have a last second >> thing we need to go into and this would be for employee >> for students or employees.

184>> student. Okay, got it. >> It's on the also on here. >> Legal. Legal. Legal. >> Legal. >> Sorry. Legal. Yep. >> Okay. >> So, wait a minute. Just just the legal or student and legal? >> Yes, just just legal. >> Okay. All right. >> That's why I like doing all three. >> I make a motion to go into close session for the purpose of discussing legal matters requiring the provision of legal advice by schoolboard counsel in accordance with section 2.2-3711 A7 of the code of Virginia. Second. >> All in favor? Hi. >> Hi. >> We're now in close session. Thank you guys so much for coming. >> Thank you. [music] >> [music] [music] >> Hey, [music] hey, hey. Are you [music] Heat. Heat. [music] >> [music] >> Heat. Heat. >> [music] >> Heat. Heat.

185[music] [music] >> [music] >> Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. [music] >> [music] [music] >> Hey, hey, hey. [music] >> [music] >> Hey, [music] hey, hey. Heat. [music] [music] Hey, heat. Hey, heat. >> [music] [music] >> Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. N. [music] Heat. Heat. [music] Heat. Heat. [music] [music]