001[Music] [Applause] [Music] Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] In just a little bit of time, with a gentle swivel of a tassel, things will change. Despite what some may think, graduation is not just an abrupt end to an experience that started at the age of six. It is the delicate close of one chapter and the eager beginning of another. [Music] [Applause] [Music] Each of us has faced our own battles, whether academic, personal, or social. But we've also celebrated victories, both big and small. We have learned resilience, not by having straight A's or passing the tests, but by grappling with complex problems that don't offer easy answers. Choose to be who you want to be, and dare to embrace that change. In fact, be excited about it. May Angelo said,
002"We delight in the beauty of the butterfly, but we rarely admit the changes it has gone through to achieve that beauty. Never forget where you came from." I challenge you to write the next chapters of your hometown. Because absent of you, we are absent the story of Nelson County. Let us depart from Nelson County High School with our minds wide open to the wonders of the world. is up to us to shape the future. As you enter the better box of life, life will throw you some curveballs along the way. Stand tall and take your swing. Your dreams won't become reality if you aren't willing to take the next step. [Music] And now, by the virtue of the power and authority vested in me by the Commonwealth of Virginia, I do hereby declare you graduates
003of Nelson County High School, please turn your [Applause] tassels. Congratulations, class of 2024. [Music] This is our time. Hold your head up. This is our time. Together we will rise. Step into the light. We were born to come alive. Hold your head up. This is our time. [Music] I aliance to the flag of the United States of America. America stands one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. there questions. I make a motion to approve the agenda. Second. All in favor? I. Any opposed? No. Okay. The agenda is approved. Thank you very much. Um, so we go to the second part of the meeting where we will be doing our recognitions and presentations. All right. All right. So, yep. I have uh the privilege of being able to do the fun part
004of this and that's is the uh rec uh the uh recognition portion. So, we have quite a few this evening. So bear with me, but this is our our one of our favorite parts of the evening. So the first group that I will recognize is I want to um to be able to say thank you to our student representatives. Um the first person that I want to recognize is Marissa Garrett. And that's Marissa, is this your second year? This is your first year. This is your first year. Yep. And so, um, we just want to say thank you in being recognized for, uh, the commitment to providing invaluable communication between Nelson County, uh, school board and NCPS student body. So, we want to say thank you very much. We're going to I think this person's
005going to also this person over here. So, step forward so we can avoid a poll. Okay. Okay. Um, yep. Um, we also have a second um, student uh, representative and he was not able to make it this evening and that is Mr. Isaiah Turner. So, he is um, one thing we'll we'll kind of go back and she'll be a part of something later on. The individuals that serve in this role quite frequently are doing five, six, seven other things and so they're super busy individuals. Um, and so to be able to carve out a couple hours once a month for this is super special, but they're integrating this into everything else that they're involved in. So, I just want to say thank you to Isaiah Turner as well. Thank you. I believe next up is
006is it Mr. Brown? Am I reading the agenda correctly? He's on the way. So, I'm not going to do him next. I am going to do What am I doing now? school recognition for start with uh yes yes yes I don't know how many of you how many of you were able to go out um yes to the Willy Wonka the musical um and that was a couple weeks ago held at Rockfish and it was a um I think two separate productions and so it was really great to see um all the students participate in this but in order to get to that point you have to have someone who's organizing it putting it together And it isn't a small job, but um we want to be able I guess I you know what I
007don't think is here today. Yeah. So I'm going to bring you up. Yes. Coffee. She's the principal at Rockfish River Elementary School. Um also behind the scenes part of helping assist with this. We just want to say thank you for your hard work, volunteers, and the support of our Rockfish River Elementary School students by putting on a fantastic production of Willy Wonka. So, we just want to say thank you very much. Um, do you want to talk about who all was involved in putting this together? So, for staff, um, we had Reagan Jackson, who was our music teacher, Courtney Treslo, our secretary, um, helped with the stage setup. Um, of course, custodian David Johnson helped with that as well. Um and then one of our IAS, Megan Eckles, who was also a parent, but she
008supported the costume and backstage with the performance and numerous other parents and um of course students as well. But and food was involved, little treats were involved. It was a big community event and and quite a helped with that as well. So um we're going to take a picture with you in it, but we're also I'm going to find Greg at school and the other individuals as well. So Perfect. Thank you very much. I put them over here. All right. Next up is um for Tai River Elementary. So, everyone who's involved with the Earth Day. So, I know you were, so you can come on up as well. ask to come up. Sure. So, um, in order to celebrate Earth Day, Miss, uh, Miss Taylor and Miss Coughlin worked with several other individuals in order
009to organize something that was encompassing of the students, but also staff in order to educate and celebrate Earth Day. So, we just want to say thank you for your hard work, volunteerism, and support of our Tai River Elementary School students and by your efforts in teaching about and celebration of Earth Day. So, would you like to share just a little bit about what the event was and what all took place? Uh, we had a 1K. Um, we had help from Mike Cargill. Um, he was streaming it uh with the drones. Um, and numerous teachers. Um, the art teacher, she was did the flyer. Um, Mr. Garrett uh and it was numerous teachers. Um, um, sever all grades. Yes. All grades involved. So, what a wonderful inclusive way to be able to promote um Earth Day,
010but also get kids physically active in the celebration, but also learning about it. So, we just want to say thank you very much. So, we're going to smile at that nice lady over there. Perfect. Oh, did you get one? Did you want one? We got it. Okay. I don't want to die. So, we give you this certificate. Um but it's for the whole group. Okay. So, thank you very much. Appreciate it. Yes. Thank you. All right. So, the next uh uh event that we want to celebrate is um at Nelson Middle School. So, I'm going to bring Ricky Perry up. Um Mr. Bleo, I'm also going to bring you up since I'm creating a theme here. Um I'm sharing the love. That's how I'm framing it. So, thank you for your hard work, volunteerism, and
011support of our Nelson Middle School students through the development and execution of career day event. This is a great way to educate our students about various careers and to support local businesses and organizations. So would you like to add anything about the participation and how this came about and why you guys are putting on an event like this? Sure. Um we this is our third year to have a career day event and um we ask for folks from the community largely to come and uh support kids um education on what careers are out there to help motivate them and inspire them. um at the Scholastic level, but also to get them excited about their futures and to think that far ahead. Um can I mention some of the folks? Okay, I brought a list. Um
012we have Dr. Leslie Hatfield, uh, Jesse Rutherford, uh, Eddie Torres, uh, Richard How and his dog Sky, uh, Katherine Canada, Francisco Mayo, uh, Jason Bronstein, Bill Perry, Michael Downey from Department of Forestry, uh, DJ Hatfield, um, Raglin Automotive, which was Apprentice and Chrissy Raglin, uh, Jim Miller from PHI Air Medical, and they actually brought a helicopter. after one year to go um to our career day which was phenomenal. And then Ryan Schilling, Cody Shiplet, Michael Profett from VOTE, Mark Embry, Jeff Jeremiah Templeton, Keith Brown, William Brown, and Curtis Brandon from the Nelson County Sheriff's Department. So, we had great great one of the things I like to say is it also a lot of our community um is introduced and exposed to like the talent pool that they have coming to them. Um and also
013to people excited about you know one of the um presentations about math and being a professor and understanding the role of math and and math is important even if you're not going to go on and teach it later but it has its presence. Anything you'd like to add about that day and event? No, I would just like to thank our community members for their willingness to be there and to support our students and our school. It was a great event. Great. Thank you very much. Congratulations. Thank you. act like we like each other. Yep. Awesome. Thank you so much. And then Yes. Thank you. Congratulations. And last but not least, one of the things that we want to recognize um at the high school level is um we have a theme here. We have a
014career pathways theme going on, but we want to recognize those individuals involved in the FCCLA, more specifically national qualifiers. So, my representatives today from FCCLA, would you like to come up? Including Miss Ty. And Mr. uh Walker, will you also come up and join? I'm going to leave you out. We're going to sandwich you. He's going to be on that far side. Um, and so I'll read to you what the the certificate says. Give uh Mr. Walker, Miss Tyrie, an opportunity to talk about the qualifications for this and what this means. So, uh, congratulations to all students and staff for their efforts and success this school year. Good luck at the National Leadership Conference. So, we So, if you want to add a little bit more about who these individuals are and what this means
015historically and moving forward. Yeah, absolutely. So, this is Norris Garrett right here. She's a senior. She was actually the first one to ever qualify for the national conference last year um for FCCLA at Nelson County High School. So this year, um, so this year it's been really exciting to just kind of see, you know, her and also the other kids all rise to the occasion and and be able to make that big step and qualify for nationals. This is Naa Williams. She's a senior. This is her fourth year in FCCLA. Um, and she was able to also qualify for the national conference this year as well. And then Miss Ava Proctor, she is a sophomore and this was your first time ever going and competing. and she also went and she um qualified along with
016her group as well. I do not have all of my students here. Um but they all worked so hard. They put so much effort into these projects and they were so passionate about them which made me so intern because I I kind of started growing a little passionate about their projects. I'm not going to cry. Um, but I think uh for me the the biggest highlight about this, not only were they able to grow in their leadership abilities and and academic abilities as well. But we had so much fun and we made some of the best memories and you know, we still talk about it. We have these crazy inside jokes now from that experience. And you know, it's not just an opportunity for them to grow as students, for them to grow as people
017too and and form those relationships that'll last a lifetime. So, um, it was a really great experience. is uh this was my first year having anything to do with FCCLA and they they taught me the ropes honestly. They they really did. They they taught this old dog new tricks and that's kind of what I've been telling them the whole year. I'm like you guys tell me what you need from me and we'll do it. And that's just been kind of the thing all year. So, um just, you know, huge congratulations to this group of kids. They are amazing. They are going and I'm I'm sending quite a few seniors off to the real world that I'm just I have chills. I'm going to miss them so much and it's it's going to be hard to
018part with them, but I'm I'm so proud and I'm so fortunate to stop it. I'm so fortunate to just, you know, um be involved with them and get to experience this with them. So, um I'll say the group, they worked really hard all year. Um and Miss Tyrie didn't realize, so she started fundraising and doing things with FCCLA back in the fall at football games, selling cupcakes, cookies, and stuff like that. And so, they work really hard throughout the year. Um they have some great projects and I think they will go and represent Nelson County going forward. Um make us proud. Do you have something coming up on Saturday? We do. Yes. So we have my nose over there. Jesus. Sorry. Yes. Yes. So we have a wide array of different fundraisers that we've already
019kind of scheduled and that are in the works. Um but this weekend in particular, we have a car wash. It is at what's the the Remax the old Yes. Okay. Um I'm not as familiar with this area. I'm I'm a Lynchburg native and I'm I'm slowly but surely learning. Um but that is where our car wash is going to be. We will be there from we're going to start setting up at 7:30. So we'll open up around 8:00, stay there until 12:00 if you guys want to come get your car washed. You know, we have a lot of kids are really good at cleaning. You know, you come look at my kitchen if you if you want proof. Um but uh yeah, so just you know if you have the time, if you want to
020come out, get your car wash, even you know, just a donation, anything helps. No donation is too small. Um but these kids have worked really, really hard. So I'm just I'm trying to do all the fundraising that I can to help get them to where they need to be. So much breakfast. Yes. Oh, and there's also Sorry, I know there's a lot there's a lot. Um we also have a breakfast that's scheduled at Ann's restaurant. If you guys are familiar with Ann's, I love Anns. They're amazing. Um, but basically they have decided to open up on Saturday, which is they're usually not open on Saturdays, which is really nice that they're willing to do that for us. So, basically what will happen is they'll open the restaurant up. We'll come in and just kind of,
021you know, you'll say, "Hey, I'm here for Nelson County FCCLA. You eat your breakfast, and then a certain percentage of that will go back to us." So, that'll really help us kind of start to, like I said, I have a lot of fundraisers that are going. So, it's all going to add up and um hopefully get them to um Orlando, Florida, where the national conference will be this year. We also get to go by Disney World, too, which is really exciting. So, um not only is it, like I said, a really good experience for them to grow as students, but also these are a lot of firsts. You know, these are for some people once in a-lifetime opportunities. They're taking me places that I have never been before. And I think that that is one
022of the most amazing things about this organization. Um, so yes, we have Ann's. Am I missing anything? Probably something that'll come up in public comment. Yes, absolutely. Absolutely. And that's everything. So, we're going to take a um a picture real quick. So, we There we go. Good job, huh? [Music] still. Okay, we're going to go on to um our uh business honor role. Is he No. [Music] Yes, we can come on up. You're right here. Thank you very much. So, one of the things that we do every year is we um nominate um businesses in the local area and who have really gone above and beyond to do various things to support uh Nelson County Public Schools, students, individuals. Um and one of the things we're just so thankful for in this last couple years
023um is the willingness of Saunders brothers to support our staff in teacher appreciation whether it's um free pansies at Thanksgiving um teacher appreciation last year but it's the overall support. I think just recently we had some of our new nursing students go over and provide some um some valuable um skill sets that they're practicing but also it gives back to the community. So, we're just so thankful for everything that you do to support us in helping encourage us to give back to the community as well. So, we just want to say thank you very much and you're um one of the 2025 business honorable recognes for Nelson County Public Schools. And this is on behalf of um the Virginia School Board Association. So, this is through a a state um entity that that helps work
024with us. So, we want to say thank you very much for everything that you've done. Thank you. Yeah. Oh my god. Thank you for Thank you very much. All right. Unfortunately, the next Yep. next recipient um for the 2025 business honor roll able to be here this evening. Um but we wanted to recognize creation appreciation landscaping. So I don't believe any representative from that. I know Jeremy wasn't able to make it but we want to say thank you so much. uh they have been generous in offering their services um in supporting um multiple schools, one of which particularly our fields. So they have given quite a bit back to us to be able to support um making sure our fields are at the level um that our students deserve. Um also looking at how they
025can help in um other areas just not in the competition fields. Uh they've helped maintained at the high school the football field, soccer field. um also worked on the fields over at Rockfish. Um kind of a little bit everywhere. So, we just want to say thank you so much uh for having Creation Appreciation Landscape be so supportive of Nelson County Public Schools. So, thank you very much. And last but not least, we want to recognize Virginia Farm Bureau, particularly the Loving Office. And again, unfortunately, Mr. Ar is not able to be with us this evening. I know it's been a tough week for uh him and his family. So, we want to have our thoughts with them. But we also want to recognize how much that Farm Bureau does um for our students and our
026schools. Um you know, how they are so supportive of FFA um and how they're able to really contribute to our students um and all the things that take place and they're they're supportive of all of our students that that's some that is one of those areas that they every year um they you know pay for um a lot of what FFA does. And so we just appreciate um what they do and we want to say thank you and publicly recognize Virginia Farm here the Lovingstead office. So thank you so much. Okay. Next up we are going to do our one Nelson awards. And so this is one of again a fun thing that I get to do every um every month is recognize um a community member, a classified employee and also a certified employee
027and how they have gone out of their way to support that one Nelson mentality. And what that is is um it takes all of us. It takes all um po parts of the community, all parts of the schools, everyone to be able to allow Nelson County Public Schools to be successful. So what I try to do is recognize individuals. They're nominated. Um and then we we kind of go through and and uh and select the the winners. And so um the first we'll recognize and I don't think he is able to make it this evening um but maybe but is Caceroso and he is from Rockfish River Elementary. So I'll go ahead and unfortunately Eer was not able to make it but I'll go ahead and read why he was selected. Efer is always a
028friendly face when he interacts with both peers and adults. He is in the TAG which is um talented and gifted program. He goes out of his way to help his classmates when it comes to explaining a concept or other things. Additionally, ever participated in the Rockfish River Elementary School production of Wonka. He was Mr. Wonka himself. So, yes, he was quite like loud and proud out in front. He did a fantastic job. He uh did a wonderful job and took his role very seriously. Ever is a wonderful student and a great classmate. He is doing a great job and does great things. So, we want to say congratulations to Ever. He will he will also receive a one Nelson love. So I will make sure I find him over at Rockford some point point in
029time tomorrow or even Monday. So we will find him and he will get his award. Our next um one Nelson award winner is from the community and so Miss Elizabeth Liz Wilbur are you able to join us? So bear with me. I'm going to read through why you worked. Yep. My favorite part. I don't know about you, but Liz worked at NCHS for years as an English teacher and since retirement has helped the drama department with countless costumes. Last year, Coach Baker asked if we knew anyone who could help with a torn jersey. Immediately, we thought of Liz, and she happily helped us out before a game. This year, coach reached out to uh to us again before a game and Liz again fixed two jerseys. Since then, we have sent her five more jerseys
030this season and she fixed each one. There have been times when the turnaround time was very short and she was always happy to help. She is such an amazing supporter of Nelson and takes pride in helping our students. Liz Wilbur is a treasure and we are so thankful for her kindness. So, thank you so much for your continued support even after you do diligence of being an an English teacher, right? Yes. Oh my gosh. Bless your heart. You have kids in there like me. Good. That's good. I need Yes. That's awesome. when she most So I want to say let's give a round of applause for Miss Yes. All right. And I'm also going to give you a one Nelson mug. And so for those of you who don't know what these are, they are
031made inhouse by someone who's actually in this room, and we appreciate it greatly, Miss Knights. Um, and it basically has a Yep. a little mug that has one Nelson on it. I'm going to keep it in its um protective sheath. I'm going to break it before anybody else. All right. Very good. Yes, ma'am. Thank you so much for continuing to help us out. So, we appreciate you. Thank you. All right. Next up is recognition of a classified employee. So, Miss Cindy Taylor, will you please come back up? All right. So Cindy Taylor deserves to be recognized for her outstanding contributions both in her role as a bookkeeper and in creating a solid education experience going beyond the walls of a classroom. With a 27-year tenure, it is evident that she is dedicated and hardworking. Cindy
032is extremely organized and manages routine activities both efficiently and effectively. It is a joy to collaborate with her on fundraisers that support the students and staff of Ty River Elementary School. I've witnessed her interactions with students in the morning arrival time, during lunchtime, or simply walking through the school office and hallways that have boosted students self-confidence, eased nervousness, and encouraged a positive attitude towards being at school. Furthermore, she has proven to be a dedicated leader going above and beyond in sponsoring the recycling club, kid Care Bags, and as chair of the Earth Day Committee. I'm confident that Cindy Taylor is a deserving candidate for the One Nelson Award. Her positive contributions to our school community make her an exemplary employee. Thank you for considering her for this nomination. So, congratulations. I'm not folding it up
033in front of scared to death. I'm doing that. So, congratulations. Don't forget your mother. Thank you. All right. Yep. Last but not least, Miss Madison Tyrie, will you please come back up here? All right. So, Coach Tyrie, she forgot to introduce yourself. I'm so sorry. That's okay. So, Coach Tyrie is a new teacher. So, old dog, new tricks. You're a new teacher. I don't know what that means about me, but that's all right. Uh she's a new teacher who asked to teach a subject or who we asked to teach a subject for which she did not but she then went and took the practice test and passed it to be fully endorsed to teach the curriculum. Thankfully she agreed to take on the challenge and has had a great year teaching family and consumer sciences.
034In addition to teaching Madison coaches varsity girls basketball was the first girl uh teach year for coaching the girls varsity team. um sponsors both the junior class and the FCCLA members of the FCCLA recently competed at the state confl and qualifying more individual individuals to the national conference. So we want to say thank you so much for your dedication all aspects of Nelson County High School and NCPS and we wish you the best of luck when you take your FCCLA students. So congratulations and we're going to have this nice lady. All right, let me get you your mug, too. All right, so now we get to recognize Mr. Orlando Brown, please come up. So busy wait for Mr. Brown. He most recently did and Miss Garrett recently of the senior um scholarship awards, but um
035he is he served on um my uh superintendent advisory. Um he's currently track team involved in a lot of different things, but this year the VA just has put on a um a film festival type of situation. And so Mr. Brown. Congratulations NCHS senior Orlando Brown for becoming the first Nelson County High School student to create a film that has been selected for the VHSL State Film Festival. Orlando's film Equin Equinimity uh was one of eight experimental films chosen from over 110 submissions throughout the state of Virginia. Do you want to say just a quick snippet about what your film was about? The film was basically about modern day life. You're waking up every day realizing you're doing the same thing. But you know it comes to a point where that point will end soon.
036But we don't talk about that even though we don't know. But that's what it's about. That's what it is about basically about modern day. You're just waking up realizing that you're doing the same stuff over and over until the point comes we don't talk. So, one of the things one of the things that really impressed me with Orlando when I first met him, he had just suffered an injury and in talking with him, you could tell the impact that it had. You're not sure. Like he said, sometime that point will come and you're just not sure what it is. And having that conversation with you, like you got to have faith in what you're doing and you believe in it and you do everything you can to get yourself back on that path. And he
037did everything he was supposed to do, got himself back on that path and is super competitive in track. And I'm proud of you and I'm proud not only um for for qualifying for your state film and everything that you do, but I'm more proud of who you are and your willingness and your grit to do whatever it takes to come back and do what you want to do. So, I'm really proud of you. We're all proud of you and we want to say congratulations to you. And so, congratulations. Smile. Thank you. You made it, right? That's the most important thing. All right. I believe that is that's it of our recognitions. Thank you. Thank you so much. Um, I think we had our student rep go for comments from student rep before us. Is that
038want to give her the heads up so she can all her stuff is new. Okay. So, I'm going to start off with the sports and like how So, we have all our spring sports in action right now and their records. So, girls soccer JB is one win, three ties, and two losses. Varsity is five wins, three ties, and one loss. Boys soccer, JB is two wins, two ties, one loss. Varsity is eight wins, zero ties, and two losses. Softball, JB, is three wins and seven losses. Varsity is three wins and nine losses. Baseball, JB is five wins, five ties, one loss. Varsity is six wins, six losses. Tennis is five wins, five losses overall. And then for track, they're supposed to have a track meet today, but it got cancelled. Um, their state meet qualifier
039so far is Sterling Williams in the 100 meter and 200 meter. Dylan Butler in the 100 meter, Garen Carden, Garen Carter in long jump, Colton Baker in 200 meter, Anthony Gian Kona Sprry and Pva in the 4x1 100 meter relay team. And then also each girl this season on the track team has scored points in at least one event at every meet. More often than not, each has scored in two events per meet. Then for our clubs going on right now, FFA has their car show and their tractor pool this Saturday. FCCLA will be fundraising for our trip to nationals with a car wash fundraiser at the old Wells Fargo Wells Fargo current building in Nelly's Ford this Saturday. And we will also be having the ants breakfast benefit May 24th. Yearbook um yearbooks are
040still for sale while supplies last. You can purchase them online at johnston.com or from Miss McCullowitch. And we will be having the yearbook signing party tomorrow at school for everyone to attend during the break. Um so end of the year so testing has begun and will be taking place for the next couple of weeks. And seniors will walk all the schools tomorrow morning and graduation is May 16th at 7:30. Thank you. just want to say thank you from us for your work with us this year. It's been great. Really been great to see you over there. It's been fun. Okay. Comments from board members. You want to start? Sure. Happy to start. Um let's see. So, first of all, um just so proud of you, Orlando. I have watched you. You have been simply amazing.
041and I remember the injury that he had and look at you now. I am just so proud of your accomplishments. Um, second of all, Willy Wonka, oh my gosh, it was beyond amazing. Um, I think I was sitting kind of midway and I felt so bad because I kept, you know, doing all the songs and everything, but so proud of those children. Just an amazing job. Amazing job. Um, and certainly want to acknowledge the FCLA. FCCLA FC LLA. I never said it right, do I? I am so proud of you all. I mean, just to thank you all went to Virginia Beach and look at you now. So, just so proud. Can't wait to see what happens in Orlando. And um, however I can support you, please let me know. Let me know. Um, and
042Miss Wilbur, I'm just going on record by saying that you were the best English teacher ever. Um, it's really nice to see um, some of our teachers come back and be recognized because you did such an amazing job. Just so so proud of you. Um, and lastly, I I certainly would like to announce that I will not be running for reelection next next term. Um it's been an honor and a pleasure to serve for these last 12 years. Um representing the community and advocating for our students, teachers, and schools has been one of the most meaningful chapters in my life. Um I'm incredibly proud of what we have accomplished together. um proud of how we have strengthened the academic program, proud of how we have improved facilities and supporting our educators and ensuring that every
043child has an opportunity to succeed. So throughout these years, these 12 long long long years, um I've had the privilege to not only serve on the school board, but also to step in leadership roles both locally and nationally. It was an honor to serve um as chair and vice chair of the local board. Um and these roles certainly allowed me an opportunity to get closer to not only our teachers but our principles who work so extremely hard and our families um and help to strengthen not only the school from the inside out but the outside in. Um, on a broader scale, I also was humbled to represent the state of Virginia as the president of the Virginia School Board Association and a member of the executive committee. Um, that role gave me an opportunity to
044advocate for public education at the state and national levels, lifting up the voices of our students, our educators, our families, and helping to shape the policies that impact our children all across the Commonwealth. Every experience, I would say every meeting, every decision, every conversation has left an imprint on my heart. And I'm grateful for the trust that you all placed in me. I'm grateful for the support that you all have provided me. And I am so grateful that so many of us have a shared belief that all children deserve access to an excellent and equitable education. So to those who supported me along the way, whether through a kind word or your vote or a conversation, I want to say thank you personally. I want to um your encouragement, your trust has meant more to
045me than you will ever know. Um while I'm stepping away starting um in December, I'm not stepping away from the mission of education. I will remain as always a proud member of this community. I will remain a fierce advocate for education. And that commitment doesn't end with an elected term. Um, it's part of who I am and will always be part of who I am. So, thank you for allowing me the great privilege to serve you and to serve our schools. Thank you. See how you followed that one, George. That's not right. You don't have to. Oh, there you are. Okay. No. Um, so that is going to be really tough to follow. Um, congratulations. Thank you. um welld deserved and and I'll have to say that you know I got on this board 7
046years ago well this the end of this year will be 7 years um through an interview process because there was an open seat and our board has changed since then quite a bit and we all come with different perspectives different work backgrounds different ideas and all of those things but the thing I'm most proud of is that we all come together with a consensus to do what's best for the kids. Um, and Janet has been a huge part of that. So, um, so thank you for that. Um, so just so excited about all of the different recognitions, um, tonight. That's one of the things that I I say this every meeting, but one of the things that I'm I'm really thankful that Dr. Hester does and her staff do is to recognize the hard work
047of people in the school system and in the community. I mean, the students going to FCCLA, uh, going to nationals, qualifying for nationals. I'm not sure. Has that ever happened? That's never happened, right? Did it last year? We had one. I mean, remember last year and this year we had eight, right? Which is absolutely amazing. And um, and that happens through hard work and and good guidance is what is where that comes from. So, um, really good on that. Um, Orlando, I I'm I'm excited to see your your film. I think u that sounds really interesting. I I think that's really cool. And our school system is is just full of students. They don't always get named, but it's full of students that have grit and determination, perseverance. You know, I don't even know what
048your injury was, but I'm sorry. ACL. That's rough. That's really rough. And and having been an athlete, when you get injured, it's tough because you think, well, I might not be able to do this thing anymore, right? and then it's hard work to just just get back to where you were, much less to get better than you were. Um, and that's that takes a lot of lot of determination. So, so great job on that and and um welld deserved recognition on on everything that you've done. Um and also um the the what went on with the different schools whether it's Earth Day or uh career day. The career day is is near and dear to my heart because um I think our primary job is to turn out good citizens in the school system and
049to help them achieve whatever it is that they desire to achieve whether they want to go to college or in the military or or go into a vocation. um that is our primary job and and to turn out good citizens. Hopefully some of them will come back here um and be good citizens in this community. The community is also full of people um that have gone to school here and come back here. Um when I look at the uh the business honor role, you know, I've known the Saunders family for a long long time. um a homegrown business um you know started by Paul uh late Paul Saunders and is carried on by his sons now and their families and they've always helped the community. Um you know might have left to go to school
050but then came back and has always served. Uh Jeremy Parker um I know him as well. uh he's also um a product of the school system and went off uh also to Virginia Tech and then came back and started a business from scratch. Um and is and and all of these businesses just do yman's work quietly saying, "Oh, you need you need this? Well, we we can provide that. We we can do this. We can send somebody to help do this." Whatever that happens to be. And it and it goes unsung. We really, really, really appreciate those things because we're a small community. Um, we don't we we kind of operate on a shoestring a lot of times. So, we need that community involvement and and it makes our community richer. Uh, for sure. Um,
051and there was one other thing that I was going to say, but I can't remember what it was now. Um, so maybe I'm at the end. If you remember it, Mr. Perkins, I just want to It's going to be short and sweet. Thank everybody for everything that you've done. All your accomplishments, the teachers helping the students reach their goals, you doing your thing and everybody um past and present for representing Nelson as one Nelson. I really appreciate it and thank you all. Thank you. And I'd say anybody who doesn't think we're doing good things in Nelson, check these meetings out. Check the schools out. check the kids out, check the teachers out, check the families out, check it all out because it's a lot of good stuff happening. Um, and as George and every I
052think everybody else has stated, you know, we're a small community. We don't have the Fortune 500 companies here. We don't have all the big businesses. And so we're so reliant on, as George said, our homegrown partners that own their businesses, small business owners, larger business owners, and you all step up and support the schools in a way that these kids will see the benefit of if you have the opportunity to join the scholarship um scholarship recognitions earlier this week. You'll know that it is an amazing amount of money that is funded through this community to support our students to go on to whatever that next step is. Some of them might be career tech programs. Some of might be traditional four-year colleges, whatever. But that's all from the people who believe in not just the
053kids, but believe in the community. And so when we talk about what how we're preparing kids and George R talked about citizenship, it's the number one thing on how we're preparing our kids for the future. So thank you to everybody. You know, if you're a past teacher, whether you're Mrs. Wilbur or you're Mrs. Saunders, we suck you back in. When you leave, you never really leave. But the reality is is that everybody who has been through this system sees the value and believes in it. And so whether you're a part of it now, whether you were a part of it, I don't think thank you is enough. There's there's so much that you do to support it. So um we're sliding in to the end of the year this time next week. We got a
054group of kids that are ready to hit reality, the real world. And um I have a lot of faith in this group. You know, we talk a lot about kids and and where we are and oh, the world's not a this world's a better place with this group of kids. For sure. For sure. Um and Miss Jiles, I think there is no doubt that your imprint will be felt. The legacy you leave, all of that will be felt. We've relied on you at least the the six years that I've been here for your wisdom, your knowledge, all of those things. And so I wish you luck in the next chapter, whatever that may be, and know that you are appreciated and have been appreciated on the board. So she just said what I was going
055to say. She just copied it off on my page. No. Um, no. I I just want to say this past week I was able to go to the FFA banquet and I was able to go to the awards morning uh which was more like uh not was not scholarships but it was awards that kids get for like you know things like attendance and um getting good grades over and over again. you know, they get academic letters and and uh and I I'm getting ready to go to graduation next week and and I just have to repeat what you guys said, but you did it so eloquently. I wish I hadn't even said anything. But the kids that are coming out this that are in the schools now are just an amazing bunch of kids. I
056mean, just like so talented in so many different ways and just like a really like a high bar, which brings me back to Miss Turner Giles. High bar. She went, you know, to the presidency of the VSSBA, which, you know, first person in Nelson County, as far as I know, I don't think anybody else has done it, to to take the leader to, you know, as far as you can in the state of Virginia. So, um, very kudos to her. She did set the bar high. We will miss you. Um, and, uh, but I know you'll still be around. So, if we have questions, we'll just call you. We're gonna You're going to be on that side soon. Um yeah. Uh let's see. Um graduation's next week. There's um a bunch of uh different things
057going on. I don't know if you want to hit on that the calendar. Um Dr. I'm not going to read through each one of you. I can see it, but it just goes to show you that um we've got 11 days starting tomorrow. Um and they are chocked full of a lot of different type of events and they're all important events um you know recognitions, promotions, celebratory um events and so it it's just cool. I mean it's a it's a fast and furious time but it's exciting and it's a lot of fun and it's emotional um in many regards and so um just kind of stay tuned. We've got a lot of things going on and and always check out uh we we post a lot of the stuff um on our web pages, our
058Facebook pages and and if you have any questions about what's taking place, I always encourage you to call the schools, call us and we'll let you know. You ready? Okay. So, we'll move on to the comments from the superintendent and she rolls right into her pathways for success. Yes. And this is really the best part. So, it's uh as I mentioned, it's been a busy past few weeks. The last thing we put out a video um you know, getting ready for spring break, and I said in the video when we come back, it's going to go by quickly and it has. We've got 11 days left. We are in the full swing of so testing and providing remediation and scheduling retakes. Uh I do want to say I appreciate all of our staff and how
059hard they worked in preparing our students uh for these assessments, but I also am proud of how hard our students have been working to be successful. So, I want to thank for that. Um I do want to say um this is kind of a an awareness um aspect is we um we want to draw attention to a new Tik Tok trend and challenge um that basically students force an electrical s short circuit on Chromebook devices. And they do that by inserting items such as paper clips, pencil, graphite. They've learned how to disassemble a regular everyday pencil and get the graphite out of it and uh cram it into the USB port. Uh they push pins, folded metallic gum wrappers, and other aluminum foil. So what does that do? It sparks um it can spark a
060little bit of a flame or fire. It basically punctures the lithium battery and so it poses a fire risk. So what I am asking is um parents, guardians, students understand that this is not appropriate. It is Tik Tok. Tik Tok is not always used for good. Sometimes it's used for evil. Um it's vandalism and also could result in having a conversation um in consequences from law enforcement. So um I want to thank Mr. Walker and Mr. Bleo for sending some messages home to their families. Um this is something not just impacting Nelson, it's it's impacting um surrounding school divisions um surrounding states. So it's something that hopefully we can nip this in the bud right now and prevent it from resulting in anything. Um 11 days left. We have 11 days. Um so let's keep
061our eye on that ball and finish strong. Um so shifting gears tomorrow our seniors will participate in their senior walk in which that involves a parade um through each of our schools starting at the high school moving to the middle school and then those students who attended Rockfish will go up to Rockfish. Those students who attended Tai River will go to Tai River and it's an excellent way to celebrate our graduates and it gives our younger students an opportunity to see that end goal and it's really exciting for them to see the seniors. It's exciting for the seniors to see those young students um excited about them but also our teachers. These are the teachers that you know sometimes the graduation ceremony we have you know the students and the staff the high school but
062we can't forget that it was every other teacher leading up to that point that was incredibly impactful and important to them. So that's a great chance for those teachers to see those kids they they you know the fruition of a what a 13-year journey. Um so that's important for that to take place. Also um for those senior parents don't blink. um it's going to go by very very quickly and quite frankly for any of our parents. Um pay attention to what's going on. Um celebrate those successes. Um we have a lot of things going on. Eighth graders have a formal tomorrow night. Um so we have a lot of things that are really exciting. Um next week we'll have our senior night for spring sports that'll take place Wednesday, May 14th. Got graduation on the
06316th and um Mr. Walker indicated that a decision about whether or not it'll be inside or outside will take place by Wednesday. keeping an eye on the weather, which seems to change about every hour right now. Um, we don't forget we have a few fundraisers going on, quite a few. Um, I know we have uh the FFA car, truck, and tractor show. So, don't be afraid to go get your car washed at the FCCLA um car wash up in Nelly's Ford and then head on down to the FFA event taking place over at the high school. And the following week is also filled with year-end activities such as awards and promotion ceremonies, field days, and testing. um last day of school is May 23rd and teachers will have two work days in the following week.
064So that's that's kind of my comments and so we'll lead into the um pathways if you will. Again, things don't ever seem to slow down. They only seem to gear up. Um when we talk about our administration department, um we uh been working on title grants um finishing up the ones from uh this year and writing um applications for next year. um fi continuing to file insurance claims attended division safety meeting every year required to to have a division level safety meeting. So, Miss Irvin in in conjunction with uh principal um Mr. Ashley and also some of the local um emergency agencies met to discuss crisis plans and other ideas that we have. Um she also attended the 13th annual Golden Governors. Um we um are moving forward, anybody who's been in the high school,
065we are moving forward with the renovation project. Uh a part of that is also the funding aspect. So closed out the bond anticipation note financing this project. Also setting up activity funds um audit for the July 2025 and um finalizing property auto general liability workers comp coverages and then also attending um you know we talk about working with our local agencies. Attended um a meeting with uh the sheriff's office and and uh DSS in order to talk about inter agency communications and reporting. So, we appreciate all the work in that arena. And I am so sorry you didn't even get a chance to see those pictures. Um, all those pictures represent just various um projects or items that uh Miss Irvin worked on throughout this month. So, my apologies, I didn't have the screen on
066the right one. Um, instruction um end of the year teacher uh mentoring. When we bring in new teachers, it's important to continue to provide the support for them. So, we have an ongoing mentoring program, not just their first year, but it carries on to the next couple years. So, meeting with our new teachers, um fun little, you know, the spring chickens, um hatching in over at the high school, kind of being involved in in looking at those instructional programs. Um really gearing up for in the summer learning preparation. So, you see the two advertisements there in the bottom left. Um the school year ends, but we shift right into summer learning for our students needing just extra support throughout the summer. um continue with uh planning uh second annual professional development academy um time opportunities
067in the summer to continue um growth um finishing out vows and via KRP reporting um working with our VTSS coordinator and divisions at the end of the year reports. We had drive your tractor to school um a couple weeks ago and that's always a fun this year it took place a little bit later than we've been doing it in the last couple years but it was it was light out their weather was good. It was it was fun to watch the the uh students uh driving the tractors. Even even more fun to see how many female students were driving the tractors. So that's great. Um like we said, FFA High School held their banquetss. Um and uh FFA participated in the Central Virginia Livestock Show. Um we continued to do the instructional aspects with classroom
068observations in secondary. And then our BRVGS students presented their capstone projects which um again when we talk about the faith and pride that we have in our students when you take a look at those projects they are phenomenal. Um our other students are doing great things as well but that's that culminating event for uh students participating in that program. We also are planning u for administrators until month o employees. Um May 23rd is not the last day of school. we kind of then shift into the major planning portion of our year and that starts um with admin retreats. So we appreciate the work on that. For human resources communications, there's a lot of trainings and a lot of exposure to information um that's required and part of that is like teacher ed advisory where you
069work on the data driven decision-making and that was held over at Sweepbrier. Also title N training um and updates to make sure that we're compliant and working towards the best interest of supporting our students and our staff. Um the HR department worked to uh coordinate the programs and also set up for the Golden Governor banquet. Um as you see there, we're getting ready to celebrate our retirees coming up in June. Um while all the while still um advertising and filling our vacancies to make sure that we are um fully stocked on the high quality workforce that our students and our staff deserve. Um for our um pupil personnel, it's been a big week for a lot of different types of events. Um a couple weeks ago they participated in the tournament of champions which is
070for our adaptive classes K through 12 held over in Louisa. Um a wide array of activities whether it's like um track races or baton twirling um obstacle courses um some farm animals an introduction to um all these different experiences and it was really a great experience for our students and I thank everyone who's involved in making that happen. Um also um um pardon me um community playd date. This is a one of the first initial experiences that we have in trying to put on um these events where we can educate our community about the different things that we can provide to support our students particularly our special education students. So we had a play date back on May 2nd. We'll have another one coming up on May 16th and that will be held at the
071Heritage Center. um family fun fitness night partnership with our prep program, Piedmont Regional Education Program and is again a great way engaged in cardio drumming, yoga, therapty um able to take home some of these items um like an exercise bowl, pool noodle, drumsticks, yoga mat um and all the while to help support families um develop their students. And little feet meet was held yesterday um and that was at Fluana and again this was for our um early childhood special education students. And again, um, a great way, uh, for our students to get out and be around other kids, um, experience some wonderful activities and just have that social aspect, but also the fun aspect and in developing our students and with our special education department also participating in developing our admin retreat. Technology um, attended,
072I'm sorry, um, continues to start u figuring out uh, Chromebooks and technology for summer learning. Um, so prepping the Chromebooks and working with administrators to get ready for that. Um, finishing up desktop upgrades, um, Chromebooks, um, getting ahead of any kind of issues with acquisition of Chromebooks as we rotate out on our cycles. So, I appreciate um, Mr. um, Cargill and his team for being forward thinking and and getting ahead of that to make sure that we can get the Chromebooks in and and our students have the best devices to be able to work with. Um, working on uh, NCPS secondary fiber upgrades. So making sure that we have the access to that internet. Also received confirmation from Calypso um to be able to um continue with the classroom innovation um and working through virtual
073Virginia um receiving new requests for video streaming. So you see like we're streaming this meeting tonight. That takes some extra effort to be able to do. There's also been um the um academic day, um musicals, all these different events. Um and it's an extra step that we are able to bring our community together, be able to show off the um the skills and talents of our students and our staff, but it also helps kind of um solidify and unify our community to be able to, you know, give access to people that might have not been able to be there in person um but they could certainly see it. Um, I know from time to time my parents in Indiana um log in and try to see what um what types of things our students are
074doing and they can appreciate that. So, I just it's extra work. It's extra time, but I definitely think it's worthwhile for our community maintenance. Um, we continue to work um with our through our HVAC and Honeywell um and and just kind of working out the kinks of some of the things. Um, it's starting to heat up and and making sure our chillers are kicking in. And so, I know Mr. Campbell has been working um a lot with Honeywell to be able to to fix whatever glitches there are. Um they've also been able to add a lawn mower to the middle and high school complex which helps them keep up with the mowing needs. Right now they're going full force and getting ready for graduation and prepping all the the campuses. Um also participated in the
075division safety meeting. Um they're scheduling many events with the uh the EBI HVAC system for the remainder of the month and then working with contractors to work around schedules. You know, an example, I had a phone call with Mr. um Campbell today saying, "We've worked with the contractors to be able to make sure that any kind of the renovation isn't taking place to impede the Fourth of July fireworks." So, you know, we talk about these things that it's not just instructional. Um we are working hard to be able to support a lot of other areas, not only for our community, and what a great way to be able to do that. The the fireworks that have been held at the high school have been great. We want to make sure we continue to support that
076partnership and collaboration. just takes a little bit of extra uh thinking and scheduling when you're coordinating the schedules of contractors and everything else, but we've been able to work that out and not really inhibit the the pro the progress of that renovation. um transportation and safety. This has been um a big week in terms of working towards um supporting our safety uh aspects of the safety coordinator meeting with um the safety audit team made up of the sheriff's office, Nelson uh Nelson EMS, the emergency services, Winter Green, Lovingston fire, and 911 dispatch. And all of that is to make sure that we um we're confident in the crisis plans, our local um law enforcement agents and first responders are knowledgeable of what we're doing. So in the event we we uh need that extra support,
077they will be there. Um also in a collaborative effort to try to support our local emergency services, we donated um bus 59 to Wintergreen and so they can use that for their different uh preparation um and training. So that was something that I appreciate just that that work and and uh collaboration with each other. Um the transportation uh team was a part of getting our um students who uh travel to England safely to the airport and safely back um late at night. And you see that in the far right picture. So they were a part of making sure our students get to and from very very safely. And they also celebrated their transportation on April 10th. the whole entire transportation department celebrated um together by having a lunch and and it's always great to I
078had a a privilege of being able to stop by and it's great to see everyone together because they don't they don't work in the same building. They're traveling in different directions but they are they are a great group to get together and how supportive of each other but of our kids. Um and they they take our most precious cargo to and from home in a safe way and I appreciate that. um school nutrition. Um we tend um Miss uh Canel attended the region five directors meeting. So we continue to talk about growth and support. Um celebrated national school lunch hero day. So this has been a big month of celebrating staff. Our school lunch hero our cafeteria workers were celebrated on May 2nd. She ordered these um these t-shirts that really kind of go with
079the theme of the hero. Um so we appreciate everything that they do. Um and uh at at Rockfish, the cafeteria crew coordinated an opportunity to paint eggs and have the the spring bunny that you see there come in and some others be able to read to the young the prek and kindergarten teacher uh students, I'm sorry. Um so that's that was a lot of fun. And um I always like to kind of draw attention to the meals that have been served um for uh April. 11,230 breakfast um 16,737 lunch and then we do after school meals um through um the CACF and that was about 739 and so as we start looking at that um when we take a look at the rates in the student body the breakfast at Rockfish was about 65% we
080usually want them to be about 75 but that's not bad the lunch is over 71% um Ty River breakfast 55% and 76 for lunch at the middle school 44% um breakfast and then 86% of the population having lunch. Um and then breakfast at the high school 39%. We all know teens sometimes do not like to have breakfast but giving those opportunities for those students to have it. And then lunch at 69%. So you we are feeding a lot of our students. Um so I always just try to to kind of keep that that um on our mind and I appreciate the cafeteria crew for for being able to take care of that. In terms of community engagement, um there's a lot going on and a lot of fundraisers at this time and that's the way
081that our um PTO's are able to give back and support the students and the staff. So, um from chocolate fundraisers to a color run coming up at Rockfish on the 20th, you know, we celebrated or Orlando and his VHSL. Um I do um on Facebook I do put out a newsletter that kind of recaps the month as well as the one Nelson uh winners and things that are discussed at schoolboard meetings just to kind of keep that line of communication. I mentioned how our school nurses went um out to Saunders brother market to be able to provide some services there. Um the musical um the the sped events that we put on the um the national um honor society put on a movie night. So, there's a lot of things going on where we're giving
082back to our community and bringing our community out to us. Um, our cosmetology students have their own salon, so they're it was kind of like their own business that they're putting on to be able to provide those services. Um, our high school, we have these squads, and these are different groups of staff members who work to try to put uh do different things to support the goals of the school. One of the squads at the high school put out a community survey about what are things that you would be interested in participating in if we put it out. out and we gave a list of about maybe uh 15 20 choices and um im almost immediately you know we jumped up to about 44 responses and the last I checked was about 102 um and
083it was really interesting the things that were voted on that they would love to have an opportunity to participate in um cooking and baking um CPR um self-defense um automotive thing like oil change um gardening and then sports camps and so these are all the different types of things that maybe um as we move through. We can put these on in the evenings or on the weekend just to kind of provide extra support. I think another one was parenting um parenting opportunities. So, I just was uh pleased that um we had that response back um and and the things that that were uh had the highest return are things that like I think we can do and I think we can do well and we have community members that I think would like to be
084a part of that. So, I just appreciate um the effort in doing that and the response. And like I said, last but not least, thank you to all of our teachers and staff. Um this is uh National Teacher Appreciation Week. I always like to broaden that to staff because it's everybody. Um but we also had this week the school nurses day, um school lunch heroes, our administrative professionals, and then also school bus appreciation day. So there's a lot going on over the past um month between uh schoolboard meetings and and there's a lot to say and and nothing more important than thank you to all of our staff. So thank you very much. It's always amazing that you can do that in like approximately 30 days, right? I mean, like all of that stuff went
085on since the last time we met, which is just crazy. Um, and thank you so much. Or do we have any No. Okay. So, we'll skip that part. The comments from the public, unless anybody in the group would like to make some kind of comment. Do we have anybody signed up? Nobody signed up. Nobody signed up yet. All right, then we'll just Okay. Yeah, you have to let her tell you. Yeah, I can talk and then you can absolutely please add in, please. Um, so I'll introduce myself again. My name is Madison Tyrie. This is my first year teaching family and consumer sciences at Nelson County High School. It has been a year. We have done so many amazing things. I have built so many amazing relationships and this has been the best first year
086that I have could have ever imagined. Um, like I said, this is going to conclude my first year of teaching ever, especially in family and consumer sciences. With family and consumer sciences, comes along FCCLA. And I know we've kind of been throwing those those letters around. So, let me just kind of tell you guys a little bit about what FCCLA is. Um, so basically their mission is just to kind of promote that personal growth and leadership development through family and consumer sciences education, which I'm able to do in a lot of my curriculum that I teach. Um, but also in the in the club in itself. Um, so through participation in this club, students will have the ability to acquire different skills and grow in different areas like character development, creative and critical thinking, interpersonal
087communication, practical knowledge, as well as career preparation. And these are all important things that I do touch on in my classes, but FCCLA gives the kids an opportunity to really dive deeper into these really important aspects that correlate directly with their own personal success. um FCCLA chapters across the entire country participate in various state and national level competitions and events. Back in April, um I took 10 students. I had had a list of 20 of them on there. I'm like, "Oh my gosh, a first year teacher taking 20 kids to the beach. Let's take it back a little bit." So, we kind of cut that back a little bit. I had I took 10 kids. Um it was me and a another chaperone that took them all. And um we had eight out of the
08810 qualify for nationals. So, it was a huge accomplishment. I was a basket case the whole time. That's why they were waiting for me to cry because that's what I did when they were, you know, qualifying. I was I was so proud. Um, and I think that, you know, I I always believed in them, but it was I'm a first year teacher. There's a lot of imposter syndrome that surrounds that. And they really kind of came in and and they took me under their wing. I'll say that. Um, and that just kind of, you know, showed me that not only are are they capable of amazing things, but so am I, too. Um, but yes, we went and we showcased those projects. We had eight students qualify. Um, like I just to reiterate from earlier,
089Marissa Garrett, she was the first student to ever qualify for the national conference from Nelson County High School. But this year, we have seven others that are that will be joining her. Um, hold on. Is it seven? Yeah, seven that's going to the conference that will be joining her in Orlando, Florida, which is so so exciting. Um, 10 out of 10 students actually left Virginia Beach with a medal. So, everybody placed um but we just had those eight um qualifiers. So, it really exciting stuff. Um and just to kind of, you know, say their names and just recognize them for the amazing work that they've done. Christina Harlo, Marissa Garrett, Willow Garrett, Ava Proctor, Abigail Fitzgerald, Alexander Reigns, Melenny Garcia, and Naa Williams. Um, I just want to acknowledge their exceptional work, their presentation skills,
090their leadership ability, their work ethic, I have no doubt in my mind that they are going to go on to do amazing things in their life. Um, and I got to really see a lot of that in FCCLA, which made me so happy. Um, while it was a very, very exciting weekend, I told you guys we made a lot of memories there. It is far from over yet. Um, like I said, we are going to Orlando, Florida. Um, getting to make a pit stop in Disney World, which is so exciting. Um, but with that being said, we also have to scrge up the money to um to get there. Uh, like I said, we had only had one student ever qualify for nationals before. I'm a first year teacher and I, you know, I just
091kind of wanted to come in and at least get one to qualify, but lo and behold, I had eight qualifiers, which is so exciting. It is such an amazing problem to have, and that's what I keep telling people. It is it is an amazing problem to have. Um, but you know, it's going to it's it's looking at about $2,000 a student, which is very very expensive. However, this is something that is very important to us. While we have started fundraising, and I think I have at least one student um that is over halfway um from her goal, which is awesome, we have a lot of things in the works, but we still need a little bit more help. Um, and not only will our students have the opportunity to continue to blossom more and more
092as leaders and as students, but they will also continue to make memories that will last a lifetime, which is so important to me. I mean, I I'm not even exaggerating every 5 minutes at my door. But I and I wouldn't change it for the world, truly. Um, so we just kindly ask that you, you know, consider donating and just, you know, spread the word too of what we have going. It is an amazing thing. we're going to be doing amazing things. This is a great cause and these students have truly worked so hard um to get to this point and they deserve this more than than anybody. Um so just you know one I know that I just have one here now but uh thank you guys for an unforgettable experience an amazing year. I
093could not like I said if you would have told me that this is how my first year teaching would have gone I would have told you you are lying like you know um but it it is because of them and I think that it's just kind of one of those things we we make the perfect equation together. It's it's these students are awesome and I could not have gotten them there if it weren't for them meeting me halfway. So that's just a little bit about um you know kind of the situation that we're in right now. Like I said, it's a great problem, but if you guys would just kind of, you know, spread the word, get the word out there, if you're willing to donate, it would mean the world to us. And like
094I said, there is no dation donation that is too small. So, and if you did I miss anything? If you have anything that you want to add? Okay. Okay. I know. I'm sorry. I told I tell my kids all the time, I'm a professional yapper. Um, you know how far along you are with donation? Yes, ma'am. So, I um I do have a spreadsheet breakdown and I can always share that with you after. I'm I'm not a numbers person, so I don't have the numbers off the top of my head. Um, but I think I have about one or two people that are about 1/4 of the way paid for their trip. Um, I have one student who is about halfway. Um, and there are a lot of other students getting there. They're very they're
095very hands-on. They're wanting to participate in these fundraisers. Um, we had our community yard sale last weekend and we actually made $900 from that. I ended up we did got a little bit extra change to equal it out for us. So, we made about $900 from that. We are currently in our callathon that just started yesterday and we are I think at 1500 now with that. Last time I checked it was about I haven't checked recently. Yeah, it was about 1,500 overall. Um so it's and I am kind of asking the students just to make sure that everybody is you know no person is reaping the benefits of you know what I'm saying. Um, so they are coming and participating and trying to work towards their individual trips just to make it a little easier
096to figure out where you know funds are and stuff. So if you want to know specifically where each student is, I would love just wanted to kind of get a feel we're getting to because I know this trip is coming up. Yes, it is coming up. It is coming up and that's um also you know why we're we're begging and pleading and having all these events because just we did not plan for eight students to to qualify. But like I said it is amazing problem to have. I it's amazing. Um but yeah, and I I do have the breakdowns of that, but I did not unfortunately prepare that for you. Appreciate that. Yes, ma'am. Absolutely. They're they are amazing and I I told you they're waiting for me to cry because Amen. But thank you
097guys. All right. Yeah, absolutely. Thank you guys. All right. So let's move on to the actually if anybody wants to go ahead and delete now unless you have duties or you want to stay. It's always up to you guys. I just wanted to let you know you could go home if you wanted to. Um the consent agenda. Does anybody have any questions or anything? No. Uh I will entertain a motion to approve the consent agenda. I move we approve of the consent agenda as presented. A second. All in favor? Congratulations. Congratulations. All right. Uh no opposition. Um then the consent agenda is um approved. Uh now we're on to items for information. The first item is the meeting minutes. if you guys have will read them, make sure that any corrections or uh anything needs
098to go to um Tammy, that'd be great. Um and then we will have an updated information on capital improvement from Mrs. Shannon Irvin because I do not see Mr. Campbell in the room. That's really wanted to be here, but he had an event, his son's last performance, I believe, at the high school. So he's there supporting his son. So certainly understand that though I am a poor substitute. I will admit. Not at all. So um just to give you an update on some of the things that we're dealing with. The uh water cooled chiller from Carrier still has some kinks in the technology. The equipment works but the um equipment isn't talking to other equipment that we have. So there's some communication issue that Carrier is working on. Honeywell has done their part and now
099we're waiting for Carrier to finish it up so they talk. Now the um air chilled chillers that we have are also having a communication issue with our old controllers. Um they're designed for the new equipment that's going to be put in this summer. But to get it to work now, it's taken some finessing. And so they work manually. So in the mornings we had to go in and set them to work for the day. Um it's a headache on our part, but we do have cool air coming now that we understand what the problems are. Um the next project that we've been working on is the 4-in water line to separate the high school and middle school um water supply. The line is in they're waiting for the uh meter to be purchased and to
100be put in. There was a fiveweek delay in getting that to us. So, they have done all the work up to and including um putting the line in and all of the work inside the building. Um so, they're just waiting for that meter to hook it up. Um another thing that we are uh working on, our contractors are here. They're in the building. They've torn out ceilings in a number of places. um they work from 3:30 in the afternoon to 1:30 in the morning um until school is out and then they'll work convert to a day schedule. There is a map there that u has been provided to show you the areas that they'll be working in and when they'll be there. Um we do have a problem and I think that was in some
101of the pictures that Les had shown earlier with the um shading of the greenhouse. it for whatever reason the the motor kept running as the shade was being pulled and it uh got tightened up and we think it's going to be a very expensive fix. So, we've turned in an insurance claim to Vorp and hopefully they'll help us get that done. Um is that I think that was the last thing that he had on the list. The last thing? Yeah. Yep. You may have a question. Yeah. The the greenhouse issue. Yes. So, do we is that something that could be under warranty or a failure of the system itself? Yeah. We've been in contact with the um manufacturer of the U greenhouse growth span and they're supposed to be sending people on site to take
102a look at and we'll determine whether it's a warranty coverage or whether it's an insurance coverage. But we wanted to alert our insurance carrier just in case it wasn't covered because we're not that far. What are we How many years in are we on the green? Was it November of 22? Let's say October or November of 22. It took uh we bought repurchased it and it took a while for it to get there and then it took a while for it to get installed. So you had the warranty issue. Very interesting to see if it's still under warranty. Yeah. Well, that should happen at turnout. I don't know what I don't know. You know how other things tell us. Thank you. This chiller has been a challenge. It is. They had to retrofit it to
103get it in the building and to to get it set up. So, there are some communication issues, but the good thing is that the equipment does work. It's just getting the technology to talk to the other parts of the technology. But we are getting new controls at some point, right? We are as part of the summer work. Yeah. Yeah. I struggle with with this process because they put in the original stuff that we've had and they've been working on it. So, I mean this to me I think the people that we're relying on, not our people, but the contractors that we're relying on to do this, they should have anticipated this happening. Mhm. You know, so this is great. Thank you. Congratulations. Okay. Cuz his kid is just like everything is going. Um, now we
104have a field trip request proposed for spring break 2026. Hello. Um, so, uh, we just got back from England a little while ago. So, um, thank you so much for approving that. It was an amazing experience. Uh, we ended up taking 20 students. Uh we had 15 parents and grandparents go with us. Um which was phenomenal. Um we got to see Stonehenge and Windsor Castle and we got to see real a real Roman bath with a geothermal spring and the kids learned a lot and were fantastic and took videos and made presentations in their visiting classrooms to talk about it. Um but uh what ended up happening was we inadvertently scheduled it for the same year that they do the New York trip and a lot of the students who were in advanced drama were
105also signed up. And so the question was do we go I'd like to go to even years international travel if possible and then odd years New York trip. Um and so the question was do we do it next year or do we do it in three years? But there were a lot of students who weren't able to go to England who have come and asked about going to a trip. So right now we have 10 students who are asking if it's possible. We haven't advertised. Um we we did an interest meeting for the potential and had 10 people show up and it was the like the night before kind of. And so I'd like to if possible um take a group to Greece next spring in spring 2026, April 4th through the 11th. Um the
106cost would be um if they if they signed up by the end of May, it would be $3,499 per student. And we um already have the contract with uh Airark at UVA to do fundraising there. And that was a really big help. We ended up raising almost $20,000 um last year to help pay for the bus and for excursions and opportunities and and and some of that was through grants and community uh donations, but also through the hard work of parents and students. And so I know that um it's only 10 months away, but there's a lot of interest and and ability to to go and put that fundraising in. Um, we would go to see the Parthonon and we would go to see the Temple of Athena and we would visit Greece's Parliament and
107u and go to see a lot of historical sites and different types of architecture as well as going to a cooking class and um a an interactive uh pottery making activity and um and a cruise to see some of the Greek islands surrounding it. So, um if it's something that um that you would see fit to allow us to pursue, I think it would be another really fantastic experience for students. So, you can go. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you. All right. Um I'm guessing this is Dr. Hester. See Kim in the room either. Yep. I hope I'm getting to the right part. Okay. And this is for Oh, of course it just closed out. Um this is for division literacy plan. Um you we have signed off, we've developed, we've
108signed off on the division literacy plan, but every um every uh periodically, not every periodic, but periodically we have to update it. So this is simply um the approval of the updates. Um we're moving forward. We're doing really well. I think what we're pleased about as we kind of monitor some of our in incoming um assessments and we talk and we work with our principles, we're starting to see um a lot of the effort that's been put into our literacy thus far over the last couple years. We're starting to see it pay off. Um and so we'll continue to keep moving forward. Um this year is is very unique in that we have brand new English standards that are being tested and brand new curriculum um along with other um standards that are new to
109us like math. So, there's a lot going on and we feel really confident in our literacy plan, but I just wanted to bring it to your attention that we are required to provide these updates and just wanted to put that in front of you and just let you know that part of the approval process. Yep. Thank you. Any questions on that? You might as well stay up here. I think I thought it was Yeah. Then you were on title one family engagement. Yeah. Finally, a part of uh title one and that's uh the program that really addresses atrisisk student bodies. We have two schools that uh qualify uh for title one schools and that are both our elementaryaries. So, Tai River and Rockfish Elementary. And a part of that title one program as there's certain
110stipulations to receive the money and a part of that is parent engagement. Um that is also something that is a part of um title three when we work with our English language learners. But we couple it all under this um because it is also a part of our at risk. It's has a strong alignment with our literacy plan as well. So all of this is together. We really want to focus on the parent engagement that takes place at Tai River and Rockfish, but we also broaden that out to the engagement at the division level. We have literacy nights that also fall under this parent engagement. A part of that is you need the feedback um and responsibilities of the parents to be engaged. So, it's getting the feedback from the parents, but it's also having
111um you know kind of defined roles of what we expect from our staff, what we expect from our schools and our parents. And so, that's um a great way to go about it. Um, so there's a lot of emphasis and effort put towards um, putting on these types of events. Just recently we've had literacy nights. Um, and we don't just focus on our at risk. It's really a big focus on all of our students, but you know, we really look at the the the atrisisk students for our title one schools. Um, like I said, we also look to provide that support and engagement for our um, English language learners. We had a family night uh, um, for uh, those students as well. um we integrate conferences and making sure we're bringing in an advertising for
112all of our parents to come in for different conferences and various events. Um so that's something that we're um really looking forward to to continue. Um and again that alignment with our literacy plan um that we believe strongly is is really taking hold with our students, but getting that parent engagement piece um and bringing back that support from the the parent side. All right. All right. Cool. All right. Next, we would have I guess Miss Urban will come and talk about the Title One Part A and C, Title 2 A, Title 3 A, and Title 4 A grant applications for the next year. This is actually a strange year as we're looking at federal programs because we don't know what they're going to look like um when they're actually approved for next year's budget. So
113we have prepared applications similar to what we have done in the past um thinking that the funding would be similar. That may not be the case but the advice that we're getting from the department of education is business as usual until we know something different. So um we have before you our applications for our federal programs. Title one we use primarily to pay for our reading specialist and instructional coach. Um, title two, we pay for halftime FTE for our math coach at the high school and for um, tuition reimbursement for our um, teachers that have yet to achieve full lure. Title three is with our uh, ELLL learners. Title four we use for um a half-time assistant at the high school and alternative program and a third of the salary for inschool suspension person at
114the middle school and staff development professional development. So, um, the sum of all of those grants is, um, listed in the packet, but title one is 51248717. Title 2, which is possibly in jeopardy, is 72,19359. Title 3 possibly in jeopardy 6,2116. and title four which is possible in jeep in jeopardy of 40,18618. Um so that would be 132,42134 thereabout that we have included in our budget that may not come to fruition um as we're looking to balance the budget for next year. So we have those applications before you. We're going to ask for your approval. We're going to send them in and hope for the best. Um, if you have any questions about any particular programs, please let me know. Okay. You're welcome. And you just stay here. So, the next is the 25 26
115budget. I'll come up with Okay. Um, so, um, over the course Oh, you got a lot of chicken scratch there. So, over the over the course of um the budget season um we've been closely following any kind of developments out of state um budget and also federal budget. Um in March we presented our budget in which you approved it. I appreciate that. Um and also at that time the county was putting forth a balanced budget um with the capacity to fully fund. Um, we have been keeping an eye and have been aware that there's been much conversation about federal programs that have been identified as areas that could be adjusted. In fact, we participated in a federal funding forum where we outlined um each of the areas where we receive that federal funding, the overall
116cost and what it really goes to and we've identified positions, you know, specifically title one. We we um fund specific people and specific positions out of that. Um and uh we are starting to see um where the money that we do receive for title one is not aligning itself with the total costs of those positions that we've been funding um to a deficit of was it 40,000 for overall for title one. Um that is not a decrease or a cut from the federal government. The federal government at this point in time um is doing the funding for title one at least for this year as well as sped. So we feel really good about that. Um however we are seeing that perhaps title two and title 4. Um will we will see a a financial
117impact on um the federal side from that. And I will let Miss Iran talk a little bit more in depth about that and what it addresses. And I say all this to say that we start to see the federal um government funding shaking out and some of the ways that they're looking to address that. Um and we align that um on May 2nd, Governor Yncan um signed uh the budget and um we're seeing that matching up what we thought it was going to in March. Um, so that is a positive thing in terms of um K through2 education despite a um a reserving of $900 million. We don't see how that's going to overall directly impact K through 12. Where we're seeing it a little bit is from the federal side. In addition, in conversations
118with um the county um we're being asked to kind of review our budget and see if there's a possibility of reserving $150,000 to put towards um a goodwill gesture towards a bus. Um we appreciate the the funding and the support of um $600,000 that we will intend on ordering four. We have ordered four buses. Um we're just being asked to go back and see if it's a possibility to use $150,000 out of the remaining million. Um which um what we would have to do and I'll remind you of when we passed the budget in the increase and asking for 1.6 6 million more than what we asked um last year as that goes towards reinstating the full-time assistant principal. Um an addition of 12% for insurance um that we saw an increase and also a
119middle school sped um teacher and then uh an additional teacher at Rockfish due to SOQ increases in enrollment. So there's really not um a whole lot of of flexibility there in terms of those were the needs that we've identified to be successful. Um you know when we uh brought back an interim um assistant principal at Tai River, the immediate impact that that made was felt and and and articulated to us. And so we we understand the importance of that in a lot of different areas. Um, so we have begun the process of identifying um areas that like like we did last year, identifying areas that if we needed to um address $150,000 from the county side, what are some of the things that we could do? But we're now getting the information from the federal
120side that it may be more than that. We may be looking at um 200 um 32 additional Yeah. an additional 132 to to result in an overall um deficit of 282. So, we now find ourselves where we were we were um feeling pretty good about, you know, where we were without really knowing about federal, but we're finding ourselves now back in a situation where we're going to have to identify possibly some things. Um and again, you know, these conversations are are kind of in their infancy and talking about it and being able to see. So that'll take a little bit more uh conversation to understand the overall impact. Um but again, you know, and I and Miss Irvin will talk a little bit more about the specifics of like Title One and who that goes
121to, but it goes to people. Um it doesn't go to um excess things that are easy to cut. They go towards people that, as I've mentioned when we talk about our literacy plan, there are laws, you know, the Virginia Literacy Act that require us to have specific positions that require us to do certain things. we're having changes in math and we'll start to see through legislation some requirements of what we need to do. So, uh when we go back and we look to scale, there are some things that we can identify. There may perhaps be some vacancies that um we won't fill um or some positions that we haven't been able to hire and maybe that can have some some um reserve there. But um that is the the position that we're in right now
122to to start to identify areas to um see what we need to cut, not fill um or adjust in one way or another. So, I'll pass that baton off to Miss Irvin. Okay. I think earlier I um told you guys about the positions that would um be affected right away. We're we're looking at the halftime math coach, the half alternative edia, the third um middle school in school suspension, and then previously we had had a fourth of our um director of instruction salary uh taken out of title one. We had to take that out to get the title one budget to balance and we're going to have to move that over to the regular budget. Due to carryover that we're going to have out of this year's grant over into next year, we think the
123impact will only be about 15,000 from that one position. Um, as Mandy said, we'll be looking at positions. Um, if there's any lag time between a resignation or a retirement and a person starting, we'll garner those savings. Um we'll look at any positions that aren't able to be filled juice due to an applicant pool shortage and try to you know put those there without making such draconian cuts that would affect people and their livelihoods. So um that's the first place to go. We also are at the point where uh personnel needs to issue contracts because teachers are going to be leaving us in how many days? 13. Yeah. So, um, this most employees will see a 3% raise with a it's basically a 2 and 12% cost of living in a half a percent step.
124U teachers are a little different in that we targeted certain areas where we were behind the market and um those that we were over market um would not see those increases. But the governor's budget that was passed was with the um understanding that there would be a 3% for SOQ positions. Um and so I guess we would like permission to go ahead and issue contracts with the understanding that if we have to make cuts, it wouldn't be due to raises. Um so think about that. Um, also the governor's budget included u some changes for the current year's budget, including a bonus for employees um $1,000 um for full-time employees. And we would propose a $500 bonus for part-time employees through identified savings out of this year's budget and the state money that's going to come
125before June 1st. between the combination of the state money and our savings that we've identified, we believe that we could do that with board approval. I think it's always important to note that when you're reading the headlines of um all teachers get 3% raise. No, SOQ positions get 3% raise. SOQ positions get the thousand bonus and that's before you start adding in other factors. So I always think it's important to identify we understand that each and every one of our employees is valuable and integral to our success. That is why we were giving it to all of our employees. Um because that is what's you you know to pick and choose who's more important. That is not ideal and it's not accurately reflective of their value. So um that is also a part of this.
126Yeah. I would like to say though that if we were fully staffed throughout the year, we would not have had the money to do this. This is coming from positions that we've just been unable to fill or to find candidates. Um you know we have a number that have been filled unfilled most of the year if not all of the year. So um and this is a struggle not only for Nelson there are divisions who are not able to do this or they are only able to do $250 you know so I think we feel pretty fortunate that you know maybe the reasons we're able to fund it aren't as ideal because we can't you know fill a vacancy but um for those who are with us um that is the that is the bonus
127and that is that that kind of that loyalty pay um because they are with us and they do deserve it. And those are also subject to the the formula, right? LCI LCI, right? So, um basically 23 of our employees are SOQ, right? And then we have to local uh is required to pay 66% of all of that. So like when you think of like the governor signed something that gave us money to do something, it they only give us Yeah. Yeah. It's just it's just a portion of it and the rest of it is through you know economies or whatever savings if we have or or the large s of our locality. So, and the understanding of, you know, our parents and community members who get that and know that we we need to as
128community members pay for a valuable service that the school system provides to the community. It was very interesting that they made the bonus payment this fiscal year because we're going to get it in June and our fiscal year ends June 30th. So, that window to match the revenues to the expense is very little. very short. So, I mean, I will say we've had a heads up about it, but you don't know it until it happens. And I think that's been the most tenuous thing about this whole entire experience. A month ago, um we felt like we knew exactly where we were. Um but, you know, there were some question marks. And so, that's the thing that, you know, that's how this this process works and we'll continue to work through. I know the board of
129supervisors has their public hearing on the budget, I believe, on um May um is it 13th? at 7. So, I'm sure there'll be some more work on that between May 13th and June 10th when their next meeting is. So, we know that there'll be a lot of work done on on the county side and we'll still be paying attention to what comes down through the federal um federal, you know, pipeline. We're still waiting to hear what decisions are made on the rate, which would which could possibly significantly impact us. So, we're still we're still um in a a bit of a waiting game and paying attention to some things. Yeah, we did talk about C at the last meeting and that that could possibly be in jeopardy. Um, our food service supervisor went to her
130um state meeting and learned that in all likelihood it would be a year delay. So, we probably will go business as usual for this coming year, but the following year could be a change. So, at least we have a little bit of breathing room um to get ready for that. So just so for people who don't know what C is, that's the free reduced lunch for everybody in the community eligibility provision. That's where each one of our kids that goes through the line will get a free breakfast or a free lunch, right? So those numbers, you know, I read off a little bit earlier reflect the the individuals taking advantage of that and and using that. Does anybody have any other questions? All right, guys. If you keep up with Yeah. Um, you guys ready
131for items for action? You want to wait till George gets back or we can just keep going? I know. Um, all right. So, I will entertain a motion for the approval of the division literacy plan. I move that we approve the division literacy plan as presented. Second. We got a motion and a second. All in favor? I I George is further division vote. Yeah. I All right. Division literacy plan has been approved. Now I will entertain an approval of the title um budget applications as stated. I move that we approve uh the title one part A and C, title two part A, title three part A, and title four part A budget application. Got a second. I'll second. All in favor? I I All right. Everybody's approved that one as well. So, now we have
132a field trip request for the FA FFA to go to the FF. Oh, sorry. I was going to Has it been added in? All right. I was in the paper one. Sorry, guys. I'll put the D the All right. So, the approval of the bonus for full and part-time employees. I'll make a motion to approve the $1,000 bonus for all full-time employees and $500 bonus for all regular part-time employees. Second. All in favor? I I Good. That one's passed as well. Sorry, I had Mark through it. Um, okay. Now, we have a field trip request for the FFA to go to the FFA leadership camp. I move that we approve the FFA field trip request to their FFA leadership camp. Second. All in favor? I. All right. Everybody said I. So that's approved as well.
133Um and we have now the um field trip request for next year's uh international field trip and give them permission to go. Can I make a motion we approve them to move forward with the international field trip? Second. All in favor? I I and I do want to go to that too. Um okay. So personel just personnel but do we want to talk about that at all or you want to do it as other other matters? Um let's do it as other matters. I guess so. How do we need to do we need to amend the agenda? I don't think so. But I just I mean we were just cons conversing about whether we want to discuss doing a donation to FCCLA. You want to talk about that and the items for action or another
134items. Um are you guys contracts? Oh yeah. Is that another item for action? You got to put it in other matters at this point agenda. Yeah. Well, I mean, we can put it at other matters. Can we do that? All right. So, let's just do both of those things in other matters if that's all right with everybody. Okay. All right. Um All right. Now, I need a motion to go into close session for personnel matters, please. I move that the board go into close session to discuss and consider the personnel report and other confidential personnel matters as authorized by Virginia Code 2.2-3711A1. 2-3711A1 for purposes of discussion or consideration of prospective candidates for employment, assignment, appointment, promotion, performance, demotion, salaries, disciplining or resignation of specific public officers, appointees or employees of any public body. All
135right, we got a motion and a second. All in favor? I I So, we are now in close session. Thank you very much. [Music] In just a little bit of time, with a gentle swivel of a tassel, things will change. Despite what some may think, graduation is not just an abrupt end to an experience that started at the age of six. It is the delicate close of one chapter and the eager beginning of another. [Applause] [Music] Each of us has faced our own battles, whether academic, personal, or social. But we've also celebrated victories, both big and small. We have learned resilience, not by having straight A's or passing the tests, but by grappling with complex problems that don't offer easy answers. Choose to be who you want to be, and dare to embrace that change.
136In fact, be excited about it. May Angelo said, "We delight in the beauty of the butterfly, but we rarely admit the changes it has gone through to achieve that beauty. Never forget where you came from." I challenge you to write the next chapters of your hometown. Because absent of you, we are absent the story of Nelson County. Let us depart from Nelson County High School with our minds wide open to the wonders of the world. is up to us to shape the future. As you enter the better box of life, life will throw you some curveballs along the way. Stand tall and take your swing. Your dreams won't become reality if you aren't willing to take the next step. [Music] And now, by the virtue of the power and authority vested in me by the
137Commonwealth of Virginia, I do hereby declare you graduates of Nelson County High School, please turn your tassels. Congratulations, class of 2024. [Music] This is our [Music] time. This is our time. Together we step into the hold your head up. This is our time. [Music] Heat up [Music] Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. Heat. N. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music]