Joint Board Meeting - Board of Supervisors and NCPS School Board

001[Music] w [Music] meeting of County Board of Supervisors which in this case includes the school um welcome everybody yeah so y'all are here um I just wanted to say a couple things to start first of all um um I know that um having to do with budget things um we've been presented your gra budget and final budget for your budget as it is and uh and using our graft budget so I just wanted to make sure that we that we both have opportunities to ask each other questions um to make sure that uh you can ask questions of us we can ask questions of you um clearly our you know our our maybe not priority but what foremost in our interest is uh seeing your presentation and uh so we'd like to do that I

002don't think we're going to make a budget presentation to you of our budget but since you have it any questions you have about that we be happy to can I'm sure can you'd be happy to answer and we give you we can so just want to make sure that it's not a one-sided deal that we're sharing the space today sure no I I appreciate that um I do have a budget I have a presentation created it is about 16 slides I won't spend time on every one of them you have a copy of it so I that may be helpful to take notes on it's exactly here if throughout this you have a question I'm happy to feel it at that time um my question is is you know I can do this or not

003I just feel like there are some nuan of our budget that become a little bit complicated that we just want to remind some of the things that we take into consideration as we go through it so um like I said if along the way you have a question please let me know um we've got uh Shannon Irving here who can also um add to uh address any questions so with that being said we'll go ahead and get started y need to approve the agenda okay oh um I'll entertain a motion to approve our agenda I move we approve the Nelson County school board agenda it I second all in favor do you guys need to do the same thing no we normally don't okay all right all right then um so I want to ask

004you a process question would you like people to ask questions as you're going along or wait till the end I think it's a great question I would say it depends like if there's a relevant question at the time we're talking about it I think it's always good it helps to keep it fresh on your mind um you can write it down on the presentation page these slides were taken from the previous presentation with maybe some like bolded to draw attention to some things um I if it's about the content that's on there feel free to ask and if it's on future slides we may be able to address that or if you want to hold your questions to the end I think it's just the convenience of of the group okay all right great so

005um obviously we have some assumptions and some challenges as we work through this uh March 24th is the deadline for the governor um to make approvals and and send the budget back to um the general assembly so we're working off of an assumption that the general assembly budget will be approved so that is one um initial uh assumption we're we're working off of an enrollment of 1417 so you guys kind of have that working knowledge um health insurance increase of 12% um I almost don't want to say it out loud um but um continued operations of our equipment and then that our federal grants and when I say federal grants I'm speaking primarily of idea special education title one that works with our at risk students um title two which works with professional development and

006support of high quality instruction title three which works with our Esau students title four which is more of a catch off some of U more Innovative learning um and then there are some other grants but those are ones that really um impact us particularly Ida Title One title two and title four um so we're making the assumption that we will get those funds uh for this coming school year challenges obviously inflation and increase costs um as costs rise around us so do our service costs uh end up Rising difficulty finding workers um I think it's not so much finding bodies it's finding qualified endorsed certified individuals for specific positions and also getting those applications we do have um an enrollment decline we're finding it's it's slowing a bit but we do anticipate some further um

007decline as we go throughout the next 5 to 10 years we also have state mandates and uncertainty of funding um there has been an incredible amount of Education legislation that's been proposed over the last two years especially this year um most of which come with um not as many dollars uh I think we refer to them as unfunded but a lot of times it's underfunded mandates so those are some of the assumptions and challenges that I feel like are worth um addressing initially when we talk take a look at the four differences from the previous um budget salary uh providing a 3% raise I do want to say that it's not the Oprah show you know you get a raise and you get a raise and you get a raise when someone comes out and

008announces all teachers are getting a 3% raise that's not really that accurate that 3% is being specified for standards of quality positions you you will hear us say s soq positions so it isn't just Blank That's many times two-thirds of a of a Personnel um so we value every one of our members and everyone is going to get arrays now we are stratifying it a little bit or targeting certain bands and certain scales so with that our teacher scale we'll see um an increase of about 2.97 uh support staff bus drivers Etc 3% and then an average increase for admin staff 2.61 so we are really trying to support particularly our um our veterans and our bands of like 15 years and above because those are your your master teachers those are your master staff

009members and you want to hold on to them and let them finish out because because when you can minimize turnover um success rates go up health insurance again planning for 12% last year we didn't have an increase um safety and uh safety is a priority for all of us we're continuing to um bolster our cyber security um safeguards and also using technology for threat detection um so that continues those expenses are great but it's protecting our most valuable asset so that's really important to us and last but not least looking to add three positions uh assist principal at the elementary school adding at the fulltime at each one back into um the budget we have attempted on two separate occasions to try to share that individual and in this day and age of um of

010needs and expectations trying to share that is just not conducive to um being able to support all our students or all of our our staff we're also due to in um projected enrollment increases in specific areas additional elementary teacher and then an additional uh special education self contain teacher okay so those are the four spots where we see any kind of major differences in our budget we good so far awesome would you mind explaining the um the step that's included for the support staff and bus drivers scales are seniority based so each year of service you move a different step and that step is typically a half a percent and so we basically increase the scale 2 and A2 and then a half a percent step which would be the 3% okay yes so it's

011not in addition to it's part of it is inclusive yes thank you all right so we talked about this before I'm not going to go deep deep in um into the explanation we talked about the LCI that is the local Composite Index it is a complicated formula but suffice it to say it is the established kind of funding um platform for school divisions what this says we we saw um pretty drastic increase in our LCI from the previous bium we are in the second year of the bium so we actually expect a new LCI to come out and I believe November currently we are working with 6645 like I said pretty drastic increase as you can see in comparison to surrounding areas and what that means is that Nelson the locality is expected to pay

01266.4% of the budget so that means the state would be responsible for um 33.5 or 33 6% of the remaining cost of the S soq costs so when we hear oh you're getting a raise well not so fast the S soq positions are getting the 3% raise and they're going to take away the LCI component of that so we have to make up the differences okay so it's very you know we have advocated to our state legislators and and all the representatives about we really need to think through this funding formula because for small rural um resort areas it isn't always a great reflection of the capacity of being able to support that but this is what our funding is from the state based off of so I just feel like it's important to remind

013everyone of what the LCI is it's currently at 6645 if do they have like total number the state soq number is what the total there's obviously difference between our soq versus the actual budget yes what is do you have or is that coming up I'm not maybe understanding completely the question what would the if if if we finded just the soq what is that number oh okay I'm just curious what that would have been probably 2/3 2/3 is that I think that's what typically you say yeah I didn't bring that with that tool yeah it's on that count tool but like typically when we do like we wouldn't be able to do I mean it's the same discussion a lot of localities have I mean SQ is an impossible feat and it's not accurately reflective

014of what it's H May about 8 million does that sound in the ballpark the state funding is about oh State funding oh um well based on the LCI and that's also part of a larger conversation that we've been trying to have with the state legislators as you know because you were that meeting but just that the whole funding formula in general the soqs all of that needs to change you know because it's not entirely truthful because I don't know that there's a locality in Virginia there may be one or two but I don't know if any off the top of my head to fund on so I yeah I I don't think I'm not aware of the straight funding off of so soq to be able to be successful it just isn't realistic and it

015wasn't developed to be like that it's just that's what it's transitioned to so I would say it's going to require a healthy um reflection on how it works and how it impacts all these um various localities because this isn't you know you look at uh wboro they're not upset at that right because it dropped and it's so low the highest it's going to go is 08 the lowest I've seen I think is about maybe 0.8 um so it's just um bath county is at a08 they're pretty high but they're rural um but they have you know a resort area so it's it's it's pretty interesting again we don't have control over this um we have to live through it and and live by it but um it's something that's important because like we just said

016is it we may be getting s soq funding but it's hard to really break that apart because you have the LCI part to it okay good uh a great question um budget summary so if we take a look at all of this as we go through and and you guys have had this and and it was presented but I just want to make sure that um we can see that where um you know the salary enh the salary enhancements uh so the change of expenses is composed to 1.76 so where is that coming from we see it in salary enhancements those the salary increases um along with the fringe benefits so we have the um you know nearing over a million and just the salary enhancements infringe benefits net new positions those three positions that

017we discussed that that's the total cost coming from those three positions obviously joint operations through prep pedmont Regional Education Program that is a special education program that we use not only for placement in um um educational classrooms like Ivy Creek but also other resources and parent resources that are so viable and necessary we also get Vision support um other um special needs supports through that Services through that um Capital outlay we factored in uh for buses 355,000 purchase Services we talked about zero wise it is that um threat um uh technology that's a threat detection that is incorporated into the software and um and camera systems and and um I think we're pretty happy with the addition of this because is it an added layer that um can really cut down the amount of time

018but things like this and the safety is expensive and so that is something that's Factor in at 97 um continued uh utilities internet travel and miscellaneous so we do see expenditures that um are have increasing or I'm sorry decreasing uh materials and supplies communication and fund transfer so I'll make sure we uh correct that it should say at the bottom here um right here should say expenditure is decreasing so my apologies for that so what does that bring us to um a re Revenue increase less expenditure increase and equals the deficit so that brings us to 1.6 14 298 that is that bottom addition so one of the questions that we get asked all the time is per people expenditures and it's it's you know to say that this is again another complicated issue it

019isn't um it isn't easy to compare apples to apples so if someone says well you you have increased cost from year to year or why is one School Division paying 23,000 per student but the next one over is only spending you know 20 the components that go into factoring this are different for each of the localities and on that next slide I'll go into the different um criteria that goes into making this but I think it's important to see we have our Blended raw data so that are all the money all the factor that goes into making this expenditure something that's worth pointing out that's including grants and that's the assumption that all of that grant money is being used so actually the more and more we try to go out to get um alternative

020funding sources that still gets factored into this so this isn't always specific to this money is coming straight from the locality this is all of the money going into it's state local Federal grant all of it okay um I think it's important to note that we have an increasing sped population and not only is we have an increasing sped population or special needs population the needs of those students are becoming um greater we are seeing more and more that required different services and um more intensive services so that will drive a a part of a component that drives up those costs so if you take a look at these three categories the Blended raw data for all of our students comes to 23,990 is in our uh special needs students only and in many of

021these expenditures they are mandated they are federally mandated or locally mandated that we provide these services so there's not a lot of flexibility or room what goes into this is um outside placement uh residential day um multiple services that are being provided for our students and those are costly um these are things that some of our students are not um the environment that they need to be in to be best successful is not necessarily in our comprehensive school classroom but in in a a special services provided classroom those services are they require a greater um expenditure yes is this happening all through the Commonwealth at I will say that it is here um increasing of sped populations you know I think it is increasing here but I think it's it's not um I think there

022is um a greater recognition of some of the needs that are um we're seeing it at a greater number at our little our much younger kids we're seeing greater identification obviously there's more assessment at that level um do I have a complete comparison of the percentages of sped versus the surrounding um counties I think we've received some from others I think we see a greater number um we are above the state average why do you think that is I think that is a question that it depends on um student age kids that are being identified with particular we um just recently had a um uh developmental needs address at the one the prek and kindergarten um registrations and and we have some students coming in with maybe cable paly there they're in our they live

023in our division and I don't know if these are people whove lived here for a while and this they're still a kids or if this is a family that just moved in but they they live in our division um and we provide services for kids that aren't enrolled uh in our schools as well for a special ed that's a because that's law law Al also urban areas um tend to have uh resources available that a lot of the student population can take advantage of where that's not something that rural areas tend to have so that would decrease the population that they would have in public schools for a lot of services responsible for age2 to 21 before school a and after school a so not all of these kids are in our classrooms every single

024day but if they're if they're being um evaluated and identified then we are legally responsible to provide services then it may may not be all day it could be speech we have some homeschool students who may need some speech services and we we are we provide that um but we're we're seeing increase in service costs and um so I mentioned prep so we belong to Ivy Creek we have three slots in Ivy Creek um due to maybe relocation or due to um redesigning of instructional programs and other divisions we've seen those um the enrollment in that program go from 69 to um so the slot cost goes up because you still have to provide those Services you still have to pay for a space there's all these different so like us we see an enrollment

025drop in that per slot or that per pupil expenditure will go up because Transportation still has to food still needs to be provided electricity still needs to be paid so that uh there will be a um a move in location starting next year that's not really where those costs come up it's the drop in enrollment and these are services that our students need um there are weight list for residential day um facilities and and these um when it comes to like discipline issues or behavioral issues the students are still required to be educated so it's not a matter of like we're just going to suspend them for however long Services still have to be provided so you have to have an a um a pathway to be able to provide that uh and it's just

026getting tougher and tougher to find the open vacancies in some of these programs and the cost of these programs are going up and we see so hopefully this is just rumor but I have heard that there is disciplinary children with disciplinary action kicked out of public schools and those families move here because we provide more to children that can't be going to school is that true it's an unverifiable there's no way to know that you know it could be true I guess but there's no way to know we get um if they are still under disciplinary and depending on what that just like reciprocity if we were to expel someone we you know wherever it is they move to or try to enroll to they have to request records so they're going to see that

027so to my knowledge and I say to my knowledge is certainly something I'll look into it was before your tenure that I heard that so got it yeah I was going to say to my knowledge because we're very very you know you don't want if if if some someone kicked them out and it was to the severity obviously we're going to look into that um and and and I don't want to say honor a decision of another division but we're going to pay close attention to what was that disciplinary action so I can't speak to currently can't certainly can't speak to anything that may have happened prior that to my awareness but when it comes to people moving here to get Services we have no way to know that or or and and no way

028to I don't know how other divisions would bu pass providing the necessary services to their residents right who would we ask if that's even a possibility I mean I would say who told you that um and I will be happy to ask them where are you getting this information from so we can try to do a little bit of research but um I I don't I don't I don't even know what direction we would go and to be like who's moving here because you because you heard we provide services well I would also say who's moving here generally speaking where would they go I mean if you have a lot of money and you can move into buy a $500,000 house you know you can afford to put your kid in you know in some

029Urban school where they're going to get topnotch Services you know what I mean why would you move to Nelson for and I think sometimes we get the communication lines like there may have been behavioral discipline issues and they may have served that out and then moved and now we're enrolled here and find that we do you know we do a good job of providing the services for our students whether they're sped or otherwise so it is entirely possible there may have been a conversation like we've had discipline problems and now we're here and there's more services so I Without Really knowing the specific situation it would be difficult for me to say um but when we get enrollment we pay attention to the files that are presented to us that are sent to us from

030the other um school or program they're coming to us from so at what percentage of sped kids need to be part of the population where we just start offering these services and we're not driving them around um so we have um probably we have some sped services and some discipline Services um there's I mean there's a few of them we don't have you know like an ivy creep we have three um and we do provide transportation that if it's sped we have to provide that transport know what I'm saying is if this is an emerging problem an expensive one at what percent of our population of kids that get tested in our bed what what is our threshold before we stop driving them around and figure out how to fix our problem here yeah so

031we see that a little bit with the addition of the um Early Childhood special education classes because of's a threshold like I think more than like eight um so they're in house we we teach them and our so that will grow until we you know the the um student teacher ratio will have to continue to keep adding that legally um as long as we are required to provide those services and those in the IEP team has decided that that is the appropriate um least restrictive environment that is what we have to provide so until we can like like so can we create create uh program that is inhouse that would require us to have the space and the qualified individuals to provide those services in the appropriate environment to provide those services so it depending

032on what you know you'd have to have the specialist say it's autism all of those Specialists and all of those um service providers would have to be accessible in that location or the reason why these costs are going up it's harder and harder to find those individuals providing those Services it's like harder and harder to find counselors behavioral specialists um we are in the process of looking for an executive director of Ivy Creek that's going to be it's going to be an interesting process because it's harder and harder to find those people who want to do that but that's you know a threshold would be the expenses of hiring individuals um and all that goes into it in providing all the services in location versus that transport we're not at that threshold and I think

033it would I think the question would be like it depends on what those costs would be at that time but imagine if you will if you Google searched every special education disability and put them on a piece of paper we would have to provide programs that covered that entire everything and they really I've never seen a one- siiz fits all I mean to employ that many people it would really have a huge negative impact on our budget we're sharing the cost by driving people to places by doing that is that accurate and then there's the part about the enrollment fluctuations um because needs we consistently monitor the IEPs and the services required and assign staff according to those numbers and sometimes we have to move the staff from one school to another so there's another

034piece to that and I think that something that we do keep an eye on is where are we with the the services that we provide sometimes we have to you know there was a time where we just had I think ecsc um Early Childhood special education being served out of tha River I believe we've been able to so we have to then transportation to bring them to that specific spot or vice versa so um there's a lot of different factors that go into it and I think to be able to evaluate at that moment where we don't have we're not at that threshold I I certainly appreciate that question cuz the thoughtfulness of it I think alamore maybe trying to create some programs internally it's and that and that ironically is costing us um yes

035where where do Amherst kids typically go are they in-house or they going to Lynchburg amers which sped children depends what services they're needing I think you have be like extreme Behavioral Services maybe serving out of Rivermont um I think they have Laural school to is for special yeah I think it depends on what I mean there's various levels we have via that we use it just depends for for certain um needs um so it depends on what level of needs they have well one perspective and this is one that we always think of as regionally as Board of Supervisors is is there ever an effort if there's ever an effort where econom of scale doesn't exist for one well can it exist for two if not two can not three entities so the only reason

036why I mentioned that it sounds like I Creek where you're utilizing is that kind of more Regional like flana Nelson Charlottesville Alum all kind of context or the prep is regional it's regional so it's regional yes and the funding and that all funding structure changed four or five years ago it really changed where it's getting harder to to operate with that they recognize like oh a lot of money is going through these programs and they change the funding of it but but to your point I mean if a county of the size of alol starts trying to do even some of the services in house then that pull out of something like9 right a significant number right which then makes the the cost to a county like us go up I got first place I

037just want to write so I can try to do some research as well I be CU what is the student population of Ivy Creek oh it's going to be9 38 38 38 38 this coming uh yeah it could be 38 well and it could be 34 cuz they Reserve four slots like we were a School Division that had two slots and we we bought an extra slot because of the need um we just went ahead knowing that our students aren't ready to transition back so the hope is to have them transition back to us that's the Hope um sometimes it happens sometimes it doesn't and so um we would like the the conversation we had yesterday was we'd like to build this we would like to build this up so there's cost offs set um

038and and that sounds tough because that means there's more and more kids being identified and being placed there but you know to be able to work as a team to be able to offset somebody's costs of that having that enrollment drop it's also important to know that I Creek is a portion of the program do other resources and services and in like parent resources Vision Vision they do y occupational therapy Physical Therapy speech speech no we do so okay um so we did so before you change real quick y uh so the State per pupil on the basis what do they pay per pupil because obviously they have a number 4,800 4,800 a student is that where we're at about 5,000 48 to 5,000 but they don't even do it on a per pupil basis

039it's the siq that's why no I mean you can still divide it out in in in the funding structures you have it based off of your enrollment and then you have it based off of your attendance and then it's there's all these different factors of things but yes it's about General yeah and so I mentioned there's a lot of different criteria that point into this and smaller class sizes well when it comes to smaller class sizes um research has shown the younger ages that the smaller class sizes um support student achievement um a greater amount than a regular class size with an aid and a regular class size without an aid um so we participate in K through3 class size reduction so we we work to have our ratios um the state has put in

040you can't have any greater ratios than specified um specified amounts and so we have to obviously um address those ratios but also we want to be able to provide the best environment um competitive salaries obviously everybody can read through this it's the same slide we presented before but I think it's just every time you see this you really start to recognize how complicated um the size of the division isn't going to change and when I say the size of the division the 470 is square miles that's not going to change the mountains aren't going to change um and we have to Traverse that geography um and that cost um we talked about needing new buses are we have an aging Fleet will they become inefficient and so the costs energy costs going up um our

041buildings are getting old our newest building is 2003 um with aging facilities comes um more maintenance and because they're it's harder for them to be as efficient so all of that kind of plays into this um we offer ex we you know we're we're pretty proud of um the performance of our students and our staff this year and a lot of the extracurricular activities well that is a Lifeline for a lot of our students is the extracurricular um participation rates that we have that we've seen increasing over the last three years it cost money um number of academic Pathways in order for our students to be competitive we have to provide a multitude of Pathways for them to be prepared to go directly into a career if that's what they so choose college or just

042being successful in life and navigating it so that is a necessary thing for our rural kids to have access to whether they want to stay here they want to leave they want to go access whatever Pathways they want and then the last but not least and I mentioned this before is the grants they get added into this as well so where we're trying really hard to find extra money that's not coming from coming to the county saying give us more money it gets added into this and it and that pushes the per people up um we've talked about this we do see our enrollment projections this year um total funded was 1423 we start to see a drop we're looking at you know five from the previous year but we're hoping to Hold Steady we

043see enrollment increases at Rockfish we really seed leveling out but the others um so that is something that we see and keep an eye on as we move forward um live birth rates part that goes into wives are enrollment dropping the the live birth rates are dropping um there's other factors but that is a significant factor into it um we're not seeing um we've seen a population drop but we have an aging population um they're not going to be having children and so our um of age um families um aren't having kids at the rate that they used to and also we're not seeing the influx of families of um young families or with um School a children um projected funded uh prekay enrollment we kind of showed that before I just want to make

044sure that you guys have access to that um and this is including our prek so other funded doesn't include this includes our pre um special education population I want to draw your attention to the differences in we had a drop from 2223 to 2324 and we have a pretty big in in um increase between last year and this year when it comes to spend when we see increases like that we have to responds in many instances with staff that Staffing requirements we're also seeing an increase in our number of English language Learners or RL Learners um we saw a a significant jump in the last few years we saw 22 23 to 23 24 20 kids 24 to 25 is 84 and I would say it's higher now um since the start of the SE

045we've been enrolling kids quite a bit um so again whether these are families that are are moving in we see a um a larger percentage of our Hispanic population in the Rockfish area but we have a a pretty significant population throughout the county um so we are seeing increases here and again those are um in many instances these these students don't speak English and the services that are now required and the effort being placed on our staff to be able to communicate and support them is is even greater um enrollments by school I I I just feel like it's important you start to see the trending up at Rockfish and the leveling out in some of the other areas in the last couple years and then student transportation needs um I would imagine this would

046be maybe a part of the conversation um we did provide a document to you all um that provides some more detail Yep looks like this that provides some more detail um I just want to make sure we provide that to Transportation mileage and condition um we uh a few years ago combin combined routes in the afternoon and as a c say saving measure um we maintain doe recommended 15E replacement so again this shows you where we're not in the 15-year replacement cycle we have three route van um so I'm sorry we have 21 we have 21 in our Fleet of buses which exceed this recommendation three are out of service awaiting repairs and we have four buses at an estimated cost about 150,000 and that is um I think it's the C3 buses it does

047have air conditioning um I can't imagine us getting new buses in this day age without air conditioning um that is something that is always shared with us as a as a convenience on the ones that have it we we do currently have two electric buses um and it just gives the the information as of December of what um Diesel and gas prices are so so I got a question um and maybe this for candy or or Shannon I don't know but um when we put when you put in an order for buses do you pay on delivery or do you pay when you place the order on delivery on delivery on deliver a year yeah so you allocate it one year and it actually goes out following yeah and we would have to come back

048and say we need right yeah so that's what we're being told right now um maintenance and operation needs you know appreciate the support in um moving forward with the renovation it's something that is um certainly necessary and we've been um moving forward with a lot of it we are we do have an aging um all four of the schools are aging in kind of in their own way um whether it's through HVAC um the middle school is the newest at 2003 um high school we have our 1955 Wing our 1970 wing and then 2000s and so our projects for the high school are really um focusing on our 1955 but bringing up um to the 21st century and a lot of the others and not in anything spectacular it is the MEP needs of the

049building and that what our students deserve to be um to be provided in this day and age um s River was constructed 1995 has already had some of this HVAC addressed um and then our Rockfish constructed in 99 HVAC replacement controls upgrade are desperately needed those are the battles that we fight particularly in the summer particularly at the start and the end of the school year as the air conditioning I it becomes it's just difficult it's laboring and we we have an ongoing um Service uh through through honey well that you know we're trying to work with them to keep it going but you know we've been advised in conversation with them this is this is is something that is not um this isn't far away this is a need that we have in our

050summary you know St Staffing remains a high priority you bring in the best and they provide the strongest services for our students in which they deserve that um we're struggling to fill some positions it's getting harder and harder uh our higher education institutions aren't seeing the enrollment into education programs where they're not seeing the enrollment into counseling programs like all these different specialized um Services they're not seeing the enrollments into it so we're going to it's going to be harder and harder and more and more school divisions are going to be competing for these same people that are being um you know graduating from these programs um we're also seeing um our um veterans retiring uh and so they're starting to age out and um and and certainly um they have served and they have

051done they have done their best to serve our students and we're starting to see see the retirements and then there's the great resignation uh we have seen um not only um here but throughout the Commonwealth andout the Nations there people leaving the industry um and more competitive pay in private sectors without the same stressors not without stressors not the same stressors um since we are a service industry 80% of our budget goes to our Personnel um we do anticipate the 12% increase in the cost of health insurance um requesting the ability to reinstate the pre L Cut Elementary School principal uh full-time elementary teacher obviously um looking at our enrollment numbers and where those needs are and then the special education feacher to meet IEP goals and mandates so um that is my summary if

052there's anything you want me to go back and visit or any other questions I'm happy to do so I I just have a question um so substitute teachers are considered support staff they're like they're kind of like they're not do they are do do they get an increase when you do a across the board increase I think we typically do cost of living when we do a cost of living adjustment so they would probably get a 2 and a half% that's what we did for that St again it's harder and harder to find substitutes we have some good two people that you know we can count on but it's a lot of them are getting old that's not what they want to do so on page five you have Capital outlay buses 355,000 so you're

053planning on buying buses through your uh budget as well as requesting buses from us Capital outlay that includes anything basically over $5,000 we have a like accounting code structure and so account all capitalized are in the 8100 category that 300 and some th000 is a net of a reduction of switches that we bought last year and we're adding 600,000 for new buses and so it Nets out to the 300 and something that's just the change from year to year now we we wanted to put them in there because one of the reasons we are where we are with the buses is because they've been in the capital budget which means that if the county feels like they've got the money to spare then we buy buses if they don't we don't we have not bought

054new buses except um I think we've bought four buses or five buses I think maybe in the last seven years yeah probably maybe less than that um and by my count we've got 24 that are out of spec on the state spec so if you guys want to put some more money in to do that then we're happy to buy more buses oh so I think the quick answer was we put them into our operating budget so that's where we're asking them from you is in the operating budget not outside of it right I thought y'all did both no no what was the four buses that we had on our budget so that's coming from y'all's unless you guys are buying us more buses that we didn't know about wait what wasn't there four buses

055that we went through at the budget right so the the way um I included their request in our budget was I took the 1 a million 614 298 subtracted to 600,000 okay um okay that makes more sense to use our non-recurring funds gotta that makes more sense instead of being our operating budget but you guys would it out a non-recurring money correct okay all right that makes more sense to me so she separated it yes ipar we just wanted to so it's included yes so I went to the bus garage and talked to Mr Ashley um and and he paints a much Grimmer picture then you I mean the chart's beautiful um but really essentially he feels we need four to five buses yearly for a while he's 100% accurate I mean I I don't

056say he's wrong but I don't think our boards has heard that or oh yeah I me um and so it's just new to you it's not new to us right and I mean we us more like regular conversations about Capital stuff and that really has kind of fallen on the out of vog for the past couple few years and um so well just for my own interest then since I mean I I had heard from you Mr chap um about a bus about buses before um though the chart I love color uh what else is on the capital budget so just in my mind that's that's as rri um the AG pack for all right and what's the estimated cost on that it's a good one it's a big chunk million million million dollar and

057and unfor to put this in a little bit of perspective what's happening with a lot of these we we have service contract with with a company that takes care of these things but not only do they get near the end of their useful life but the company the Manu fa and won't support them anymore so then they came by Parts yes and that puts you in a real box but we do keep a capital budget and we just haven't presented it to you guys we've gotten some I know we've gotten a couple variations of it in the last year um we've seen it a couple times at least in the last year and a half we'll make sure you get yeah and and also was about 30 million 40 million and I think a lot

058I will say through the renovation of the high school there are a lot of items that are being addressed that have been brought up in the the CIP for us so that is something that we are chipping away at it but um since my time here the efficiency and the problems of the HVAC system at Rockfish have just increased I mean um and that need has just grown a great deal um whether in in in we we have people out there from honey well all the time it isn't just because we're not we are addressing it as best we can um there have been lever switched out at Tha River constantly um it's there you know we hear like it was built in the 90s and we think oh that's not that yeah it was

059it was a while ago as much as I would hate to admit that um so I think that it's just it become harder and harder and more expensive to replace as we keep moving forward one availability of um materials and then getting that done all right so what's the next on the list cuz all I remember from this Capital thing it's like it was it was more High School renovation stuff as well there is a substantial amount on it I can't remember with the packet was specific but I think the total turned out we looked at it several years ago and that was when we had the big discussion as the board when we were SE SE separating out $20 million for Capital Improvements of the schools we wanted to wrap in a lot of

060those improvements when the high school renovation came up it absorbed obviously that plus some and now that was a change of posture that what H the posture change was largely reflected off of that $2.5 million Grant 10% Grant or whatever the state was paying so two to three years ago there was this great spot that plot of money was originally going to be intended to just throw out a whole bunch of capital Improvement stuff when the high school renovation came up and that money came in it just absorbed L all of it in more so and but we were able to do a few things too in the meantime no I'm not I'm just saying we were the intentions of trying to address a lot of that stuff was the original intention and then when

061the high school renovation came up like I said that was a big absorption of what we were planing on for that Capital Improvement and it only can be used at the house yes oh we recognize that and you know I mean some of it you know some of the proposed um parts of that will help you know the access point that then benefits the middle school I mean there are some things but yeah um could we get ACC copy of the latest um the CIP and then I can recirculate it out to the board you mind I may have one but I have to well it might not be updated 25 million is going to turn into 30 that has been a conversation that we have tried to make very very clear I know that

062yeah I mean and I say that we all know we've all been through Renovations and construction maybe that's this this scope but like we have tried as best we can to make it abundantly obvious and made decisions to maybe like let's maybe take something out because we want to keep it in scope and because I what I don't want to have to do is say yeah but we just need another 2 million like I don't want to have to do that either um so we are working really like I just need you to hear that we are that is a priority of us to make sure that we stay within some of it's just you know environment true can't control that but but I think they're also we're working with a group that also is

063trying to keep that in there who's the architect on this one again Mosley Mosley is Mosley yeah we use that's not PM is DSS so the hbac at Tha River also needs to in 2013 well I mean that was a decent amount of time 12 years ago but I I think there are some you know 12 years there are some Replacements of some of some um items but not an overhaul now I will say this neither one of the elementary schools has an hbac has a air conditioning in the gym um so that would also be something um that when they were both built that was that was a decision that was made to make sure that we I believe fell into costs and and construction and opportunities so that's something that you know you're

064in PE in um you know May it gets you're you're sweating I mean I was you should be in I mean you know um I survived different time yep y I mean I'm with you but those are the those are the the concerns that are always brought to us and and we're aware I mean it's at both the elementaries it's not just at one I was told the other day that it was just at one no it's at both unfortunately but you know that's something that we have on the horizon that we want to try to figure out how we can do but we have to be very mindful about you know making some renovations to some then if you know you don't want to just put it in the gym and then turn around

065and replace all of the Rockfish so you want to be very mindful about how you progress through these Renovations and decisions why I think yeah to say all right we have another questions for on this because if not we'll I certainly welcome more but I'm not trying to cut stuff off but then if you all have questions you know for candy or us about uh any of the concerns that you all might have for us how it might affect you in the future what I don't know if we have any questions take this down you want me to keep it up or we some going to think of something um I think something that's going to be important to point out if you could go to essentially the fertility rate the counties just kind of

066give it a general geography so this has been a huge discussion amongst a lot of the surrounding board supervisors I have some good friends from Bland and tazwell and all that we talk about you know their great Workforce shortage and we're kind of seeing that Trickle and for a myriad of different reasons and I think this is important because I remember seven eight years ago this discussion came out when we really started seeing the beginning of the down Cline cuz I think in the tenure of of Ernie and I I mean if I'm not mistaken it shrunk two to 300 students since 2017 does that sound about right it has it's shrunken students what was in the middle of there yeah no I'm not I'm not arguing about operations right I'm talking philosophically from the

067as we see population Trends you say fewer kids fewer kids what this means for a community like Nelson um you know I it it is one of those things where you you sit here and I look around at my peers and some and many of you kids I grew up with um and I I sit here than Andrew Andrew and Kate they're having kids but looking at the general demographic of my friend group you know they're having kids really late if at all and I think we're seeing that play out in many different regards uh and what that has impact how that's impacted Workforce availability how that's impacted you know just the migration you know a lot of my peer group they they moved up to Northern Virginia and Richmond you know just for certain

068job access for their Niche trades that they have um and we as a county have to start asking ourselves as you've mentioned in 5 to 10 years what does our student population look like um I don't necessarily think yes I think Nelson County can make some steps to maybe encourage you know working-class lonians and whoever's having kids BN here from here to be able to stay here so that we can try to keep it at a net neutral level but I think we have to be cognitive of this and think in 5 to 10 years what is our school population going to be and we're going to be touching a thousand in the next 10 years unless some great new trend happens and a lot more children start happening um so what does that mean

069you know we also have a demographic scenario where people who are moving into the county tend to be older past child Age and and now they're seniors and retired folks and you know one of the things that our comp plan and that we you know really are trying to prioritize is is housing and uh family housing and to do that you know the lead time on that is years I mean from the time where we actually decide we're going to do it to move forward which at this point we haven't officially done yet but by the time we are committed to doing something like that to where it actually starts bearing fruit is also a long deep time um that's not an excuse not to do it it's certainly you know a reason why we

070should do it sooner instead of later but it's some it's one of the few things that besides budget that we have within our perview that we can you know you know try to build a commitment towards you know for the future share of the schools yeah what percent you are able to get the actual numbers of children in our County what percentage are going to public school and how is that changing well we we you know obviously with Co I think we saw an increase with home schools and some private schools and Rel exemptions we've we've gotten um more and more kids back um the percentage has changed it has changed a little bit Yeah it changes throughout the year U we see a greater percentage of student populations at the elementary level um and

071and then in and in conversations I've had with parents is like I just want to keep them in home school or private North Branch um until second well I mean it's not by choice at North Ranch because the the service ends at eighth grade but we we hear that like at the elementary level I I just want to homeschool my child until um the secondary level and and definitely high school so we we do hear that and it's not the same reason for different families that I talk to um and so what are the reasons you're hearing um they just want to be able to have that impact on their child at that age we have some kids well I don't want my kid with those kids I don't know who those kids are um

072it's hard to get an understanding of what that is I think there's just since Co um we we hear a lot more I I just want to make sure that I'm able to support my child um in the early stages maybe it's various reasons um we do have um some religious exemption not not puns um you know when it comes to home school there is the provision uh you know notice of intent provision of progress um private school um we we've had some you know we we we get them coming back to us primarily in the secondary we do have some leave I mean it's it's not that we don't have any um and we have some back and forth even throughout the year so the percentage is staying the same fluing a little bit

073but it's droing we've gotten more back since Co but like from prior to co no so you said the raw number was 75 to 880 is and that's probably just the ones that are recording essentially do we have an actual all the kids in the county we don't have that imagine like if AIDS going to private school we know so there is we there's no way to know the family moves in and they've never been in public school and we never registration we don't know about it I mean so really you don't know my kids exist right really they don't it's in your I am aware but not on our yeah yeah yeah so I mean census would be the only way that you would know and that's a 10e gap so yeah we used

074to do a trienal census where we would actually go to the households and we would write down who lived at each house and probably 20 years ago it said the state moved away from that because of the risks for people to go out to households and a serious risk I wouldn't do that would do thater yeah and when we enroll students we have some split families we have some families that have some of their kids in in in our enrollment and some of them not and for various reasons pertaining to the needs of their kids some of them like uh you know had a conversation with someone at a football game she's like you know come to our tailgates and come to our events my kids are just not ready like they they have some

075special needs they're not she's not comfortable putting in a comprehensive high school they're not ready for that and that's what we want is the best experience and most successful experience for kids we believe that we offer a very valuable and successful um product and service but it's not going to be for every single person um but we do hear that like for my high school kid this is where he needs to be for my elementary does not Middle School we're still figuring it out and developmentally um it it can be um challenging but we you know so when we when someone registers their children with us we take the data on that and there there is the um expectation that like list all the kids that you have in your household or that you are

076enrolling so we go through and check um and we cross check with other registrars to make sure like you know I see that you have a fourth grader um and your zoned to Tha River have you registered your child at Tha River yet no you haven't okay make sure you stop by and you know and we try to follow up but if if another name is not provided we're not going to know that another child lives in that household without having it reported to us and if it's reported to us then we try to work through um our loc agencies to figure out why that is and we need to go out and check on why is that student not registered they may go to a private school and they didn't even tell us or

077they just may not have ever gone to a school and then that's where we work with local agencies to work through that yeah there's there's another statistic of course that's not on this because it's not really relative to the budget but uh the accreditation statistics that you all have achieved is pretty remarkable um over the years to be fully accredited across the board right cuz we've not we've not been in that situation since we've been well yeah and and and primarily when it comes to the academic components we are you know we have uh been trending upwards I think we did have a elementary school that wasn't fully accredited due to Chronic absenteeism so attendance um some of those components we can contribute to sometimes we can't control it um so most recently we did

078have a school and that was because of the chronic absenteeism but academically in those components we do have a new accreditation model in um coming into place it's still um it's finished but it's not um so we're anxious to see how that will unfold um but we did try to run our numbers from last year on this year's model and it it did look good um there will be some adjustments this summer to to probably some academic standards that will uh be something that we'll have to evaluate and work towards but um that's something that we have a staff that works incredibly hard to support the students to be successful and we're really working hard on getting that Community engagement and bringing them into the schools to make sure we're partnering with each other uh

079it has to be that way we know we talked about one Nelson it has to be that partnership um we're not going to be able to support the success of all our students without question so a little bit off to the not off topic on topic of schools so I had a couple constituents from the Skyler area Outreach and of course social media um relative to the attendance policy has something changed obviously is that a governor initiative the attendance policy propos attendance is a law I understand that and so then you have Federal expectations and that's really where you see chronic absenteeism okay so that's chronic absenteeism for people who don't know is missing 10% of the school year or more that is all absences included in it when I say absences I'm talking about

080excused absences unexcused absences and suspensions a school field trip doesn't get factored into that um but you know you may you may have a legitimate reason of why you are upset upset um absent when it comes to The Chronic absenteeism it does not matter then you have treny treny is unexcused absences so that's something different um this has been around um I will say you know I want to say 2017 it's just with covid we see this enormous increase in chronic absenteeism and there's a direct correlation that when you're attending school consistently you perform better the student achievement rates rise so we've seen when we compare our our data of chronic absent Lo sure chronic absenteeism in in student achievement when you're in front of us our teachers do a fantastic job teaching in teaching

081the kids that doesn't mean that every single kid who's chronically absent isn't performing well I don't want to say that you know for every time you know I'll hear well my kid's missed 28 days but he has bees that is not every kid and that is not the majority um so it is not new um but there has been an increased emphasis on addressing it um millions of dollars being um pumped into the economy to or the uh budgets to try to address that um through a lot of different Avenues so probably more so the attention that's being paid to it um rather than it being new um we are held accountable for that our accreditation is attached we have accreditation components attached to Chronic absenteeism and our attendance um well it affects us financially

082yes yes it does yeah your your average daily membership your ADM um your you know all of that that some Financial component is tied to it and that's a cold way of looking at it it's a business way of looking at it and you have to there's a kid attached to that that isn't in front learning and and again um you know sometimes people well you want my kid to come to school sick no absolutely not but we have to find this balance of we got to get to school um we're held accountable for it it's just not us not magically making this up um but I would say it's more about more attention maybe more marketing of it gotcha okay but and how has it gotten better I yes we yes and I appreciate

083you bringing that up like I should have bragged on that before my bad um thank you for that softb yes we have really and there's been a lot of effort put into it we've really seen drastic drops to where we're getting um getting much closer to our pre-co numbers Rockfish especially has really gotten really close to its pre um you know we need to get to where 15% um of our students are not chronically absent in each of our schools so it's it's the big picture and then each individual um so I think we're still at the you know you're going to see higher rates at secondary so when you know so like our drivers if you're driving to school and you're not coming to school your privilege of driving school is up for um

084is up to be taken back do we want to do that no of course not but I much rather have you in school and if you can't get here we have a big yellow bus that we're trying to get more of to bring you to school um so there are some things that you know it's hard it the older kids have more say when we see chronic cism at the younger ages par it's it's you know in many instances adults are more involved in that and in and or other issues so um we are seeing drastic improvements are we where we want to be no but we're getting you know much closer to it um and a lot of times it's the conversations we have early on like no one wants you know we have

085a buyback opportunity where we can wave some absences but you have to come to school for 3 hours for it to count for a day you know so say you've missed 19 days if you come to school to a um an attendance after school program you have to stay for there for three hours it has to be outside the school hours it can't be done during the school day it has to be outside the school hours um and you know with a teacher um you can kind of wave one of the other absences and you can start getting back down under chronically absent so we do have those options and those opportunities afforded through the VOE and we have that structured at each of our our each of our schools um it has to be

086outside the school day um so our high school does a lot of their remediation during the school day through their grit and some other programs but in order to in in our elementaries have more of a tendency to do those remediations after school um so it can kind of serve multip multip multiple purposes the high school because our kids are involved in so many other things we do a lot of our remediation built in during the school day um and then for the attendance waivers they got to stay after some places offer Saturday school I think way once upon a time we offer Saturday school but those are other costs and other considerations that maybe don't fit I think we did that for people who resist end yeah disciplinary sometimes are give them more school

087instead of less you know really hit them hard been effective a lot of yeah you know sometimes but a lot of times it just got skipped and then it results into a suspension and that's like the last thing you want to try to get so we recently had a budget session the other day and I'm going to toss it over to Jessica referencing MAA okay take it away all right so um I'm obvious new to this but uh I have not been impressed with Maca the promises that they make what we get from them how much we give to them and what we give back um I realize there are some programs that you all feel are quite helpful but I I have grave concerns uh they've come to us asking for hopes and prayers

088they have a new guy I don't know if you met him yet or not he's an interim guy uh he only plans to be there 6 months I'm sure he'll be there a little longer but uh then he couldn't even really tell us why they asked for more money um I I just have concerns about giving money to a a a place that has had false promises um I really haven't seen a beautiful path to success yet um and where if we do not fund them where does that put you let me see the big picture specifically especially with the after school program okay which I here only has eight kids in it so to go back so we we um when I first got here we were using the um oh my gosh was

089it the Y YCA for school and in February we were told in 2 weeks we're no longer doing this we're out so we um you know figured out a way to kind of lint through and is that I think it was the other time we limp yeah this has happened a couple times so like forgive me like um at one point in time I was running the after school program so um we used to have a lot of kids participating in it um and then we saw kind of a decline I think ultimately what it was is they were having trouble Staffing it and the business decision was made we're having trouble Staffing it there's not enough kids it was it was Staffing and so um mat we then were able to go with MAA

090to provide um after school services and um and that was when um so this new gentleman and I don't believe I've met him um we we worked currently with another lady CH Anderson um at the beginning of this year um and another individual back before and it that was difficult it was a struggle to get it set up the communication lines um there were huge gaps in communication with us um and it you know it's hard for parents to commit to doing something if they don't know what's being offered so um again last year February you have 4 days to figure this out we're not doing it anymore so we built this internally to run the after school program where we had um we used grant funding to be able to pay for people to

091do this because we didn't have anybody and and no one wants to do it you know you you've just worked eight hours and now you're going to add 44% of your day to go do this and so to get the people we use Grant funds to do it um and we we figured it out for the rest of the semester and that was at a cost to us um and so but just to remind you we gave them their money do you see where I'm having a problem with it so we paid twice for the f t service that's how I see it well and again I think they offer different services so I it I don't know what you paid for for our after school program because I know our parents paid and we

092paid so I I can't get it I don't know but so then that went by the wayside macka no longer does our Head Start program um because they completely pulled out this region um so we're not the the uh not just us you know Louisa all this different area now some of these other um localities are able to pick up the slack and do Head Start through other programs we we are kind of no one wants to drive out to us um so we are using CDI um so this year we were able to work out something at the 11th hour with MAA to do the after school they kind of stepped in and said you know we weren't really planning on doing this but we really want to help you out um that that

093communication line I felt like was pretty strong with them they you know they they kept us a breast they work out now it started late so in all fairness our parents weren't sure if there was going to and we communicated like we we can't offer this we cannot put this in place we don't have the staff we don't have the money to do this they started it up they you know at open house they got parents who were interested but then they had to find staff and so it got delayed so parents had found other options um so now we don't have I think we were five and five I think or you know something at each location if that were to start like if parents had an opportunity to sign up in the summer

094and know that it was going to be delivered I feel like we would have more people participating I think just the inconsistency of the last couple years have contributed to that so I would say in all fairness it got started late at Rockfish it didn't even start until right before winter break so they they were having trouble finding people to work in so um we also currently this year I think we have four or five kids in the project I think it's called project Discovery where they're working with um students you know for college preparedness and tours and things like that um I think it's really working with them to kind of collaborate with our our school counseling how do we build that up um so I would say I think there's opportunity for the

095after school program to have more kids I think if our families have the knowledge and confidence that it's going to be there at the start of school and it will be there through at the end of school and not us having to pick it up again um so you know it's it's tough CU I would say there 10 kids that we have in that there 10 possibly 10 families we'll say seven families that may say we're out with seven kids so we dropped five five kids so when we talk about dropping populations that's the conversation I hear I I guess I can't have my kids go to Nelson County because you can't give them after school care and that's tough um that's tough for us because that's not necessarily exactly what we can shoulder but

096it's also tough to hear that like we need your kids here um they should be here and they want to be here but they're trying to because access to um daycare here it's it's we're a daycare desert um providing programs before and after school I know um you know the Heritage Center is um looking to try to develop and Implement um maybe some daycare maybe some after school care I don't know where they are in that that pipeline of it but it's not here right now so we can't take advantage of it we'd love you know if that's an option moving forward to kind of do a hybrid model if we need to but these options of after school care are drying up we you know in the four days that we had to create

097a solution to the problem we had this like last year not this year we were work we were trying to work with boys and girls club we were going to have to get them to drive down here and then maybe provide an automobile for them you know it was just one of those like holy cow this is far more complicated than anybody I think would ever really imagine um to Pro provide this service um so does that answer your I mean I can't we use them for for after school right now and and and I'm truly thankful for that service I think they're wanting to grow that I think there's a possibility to grow that I think that's a great conversation to have with our families now like how many would you plant how many

098of our families would plan on using it a TI and rck fish for next year um we haven't started that conversation because it's not our program right now um the other program I think you know really I can I can go more in depth with our high about how's that program going I didn't hear a complaint about it um it's not very big but maybe because our our school counseling also does some other things um and maybe just getting it advertised um and I would just say too historically MAA has had a pretty present presence here in the county it's only been what couple three years where they haven't been around and I know that they are you know that Serv those services that they provide to not not just the schools but to the

099community are really they are very necessary and needed and people call our offices every day you know help asking us to help them get in touch with you know Maka for electric bills or whatever you talked about the the 4 days notice to about the after school care am I right the the Head Start thing was just an implosion it was like here we are we're we're not doing it yes March 31st we're done we're pulling out um and then it took so those families were notified so they weren't like bringing their kids in um and then CDI was able to come in I think they finished the rest of the school year I think we were able to get that going um so that's frustrating you know the inconsistencies not being able to get

100these answers like I think once this other individual came in um that was super helpful um the the individual previous it was incredibly frustrating um being told one thing and then that not being the case that was uh incredibly frustrating but they you know they resolved that issue on their end with that individual the next person that came in I I can't say that I have a complaint about that she's not there anymore exactly so and and I that you know um uh not my organization um so I don't know the organizational structure of why those changes are being made um so I just know that for our after school care you know we we will we are trying to also have a bigger vision of what we can do for our preschool and you

101know we have VPI but we also have Head Start and how can we expand how do we how do we can sustain longevity with it because we got to get our kids ready you know we're we're performing more and more services at that level you know we have some parents like it's your job to teach my kid to read and so we have kids that are in kindergarten that have had any exposure to it and they're tested on these things and we're graded on their ability to do this that's preparation leading into it so the more and more kids that we can try to serve in prek and before obviously serves as an advantage to all of us never mind the families yeah I'm wondering if there's a scenario where you know you you alluded

102to this with special ed I wonder if there's a scenario under which it would make sense for us to or you to invest in you know resources and do yeah and that's something that we're we're working with other um divisions to see what are the strategies what are being done what grants are out there um but again you know when it comes to prek there's certain um expectations that it's just not one it's it's a 1 to 10 so you got two adults in a classroom not not not both teachers necessarily but you you know you're not just adding one teacher you're adding two adult but we we understand how critical it is not just for those individual students families but for some continuity when someone shows up in the first grade oh kind kindergarten

103right so we have you know so if there's something that we could do to you know increase you know to we're competing against uh divisions that have 160 kids in Pre kid you know I think I'd fall over if we could get 160 kids in free I mean that you know think about what that trication would look like that'd be wonderful but um that's something that we are trying to to seek out like how do how how can we manage this cuz I I am worried about that and and we don't get full funding on that correct correct yes so to just add to what Jessica said about the status of MAA as an agency the intern director that they have now is a contracted consultant person that's been brought in to revamp the agency

104um and I think he said his contract was for 6 months but often times it gets is extended so his job is to yeah reorganize the agency clean it up and then Kick It Forward get it going help them hire a new executive director um all of those things so yeah which he seems seems pretty committed to doing but it's still sort of an unknown um factor I would say that for us Fally we don't know about the funding for Head Start M so there's that well they're not planning on taking Head Start over so that's not a right me that's not a you know yeah options and different things so I I feel like I guess what I'm asking is would you put a faith in this continued faith into this thing when it

105seems like they have failed you several times with no notice I would need to talk to this individual myself and have a conversation before I could ever remotely say that because in in in one group dissolved itself in the next they helped they saved us so it would be really hard for me without having a conversation really asking some questions and learning more about it for me to make a blanket statement on that um well he's a smooth talker and actually lied to do cuz he said that he hadn't had a problem Staffing and you said he didn't find staff till winter break so for one yeah yeah that wasn't him though he started in the middle of January he he alluded to going great so but like I said I would love to have

106that conversation um with him because I feel like um whether it's ma or it's anybody but we didn't have any other options either um so while I certainly understand that concern um that's some that's a conversation we'll need to have because it's a service that's important to our families um and you know there there's there is a a dir of options that that conversation I think would be really beneficial in terms of you know helping us provide ma Services going forward yeah I think that would be do they report to y'all at all do they present before your board oh two years ago yeah I think they need to present to your board before they yeah yeah I think and they may not be presenting to our board because not the ones are well they

107need to be because they're running stuff saying that maybe that wasn't in the thought so again I've got they're doing your stuff John Edwards is that correct okay I've got his number and uh that'll be a phone call I mean that I will make in the morning we can allocate the money and say here this check can go to meca or not you know and you guys kind of look at that and ask for those programs but is all of the money that they're asking for strictly the services that go now there there's several different not I'm not going to two of them are pertinent to I think the main increase was for the after school program after school which was a decent increase it was like 20 27 was the third program that they

108handled the emergency assistance and the after school oh so the emergency assistance is that separate 740 families it was something like that yeah but did he give you how much he spent not no he was supposed to give that can you off the top of your head remember how much it cost us well I'm going to run the numbers to see also how much it cost us extra to run it because the other piece to this is you know a lot of the families that were serving there's an economic piece to it absolutely um and so we did not raise any c like whatever um ma was charging them that's exactly what we charged them um and to offset the you know we we kind of shouldered that because we needed to finish so I

109we'll also run those numbers off the top top of my head you if you'd ask me in the summer I would have been able to spit that out right now but um and because maybe that's just the cost of doing business with providing that after school cuz very few people want to do it for $20 an hour you're I mean everything is just mumping up and if you go across the street and it's you know McDonald's for 15 and there's other options it's not the same but I mean I I do think that obviously the board's relationship with that entity it's one one of those things is the Emergency Services piece it would be nice to get a little bit more Authority from you guys in that relationship because you do kind of get to

110live with that on a day-to-day basis we don't necessarily get to see that after school we're going off of not necessarily anecdotes but you know we're having an inquire with three different people and hope we're getting good data whereas it would probably be good if they were presenting to you guys and we kind of get a better feel for what they're doing from your programs perspective and I did ask our president princial how did they how what was the feedback and they felt like it was going well um but I think fair enough we do need to be in that conversation yeah okay so our um agencies that receive funding are required to send us a quarterly report and tell us what the funding has been providing right um so we can make sure that's

111being done and they're reporting information that you all want to see so yeah so I mean have they been a lot of them do I can't speak to whether or not MAA has been consistent in that I don't remember ever getting one I haven't seen one yeah right so they get an annual allocation but they have to request it yeah quarterly I'm sure we haven't had for the last two years CU it yeah they're CL in my opinion they've burned a bridge and they have to really step up to the place to prove that they're worth the money and the faith that we're putting into them and if it's not sufficient we come up with another plan and those funds get put in a place where we have more faith does that make sense completely

112my concern with that two times we've been put in that situation two different groups and it and I I say that like I'm with you on I we got burned um but our option is nothing then because we've come to the table with Community groups we've come to the table with other people to try to figure out this a plan moving forward and the biggest struggles is finding the staff and and I would love to to in-house you know I would love to have like my instructional assistant or people like hey I'd love to do this I'd much prefer that but you know sometimes with some of these agencies through no fault of their own or through some licensing they have to follow certain criteria I mean what we had to go through just to

113get our schools licensed to do Ma after school and I'm calling you know V like we we we go to school care every day like we you know what is happening why do we have to jump through all these hoops just to get this here but my concern and I'm with you um is is the cutting our nose off the spider face of not having any other options because we're just in that desert and that that concerns me um that we don't have the money or the staff and it all comes a lot of times just comes down on the staff to be able to provide that after school it yeah because it's at least two adults and you know it's three hour it's you know 3 to six yeah the flip side is that

114it also makes sense for an agency that's trying to get its feedback underneath them not to pull the rug out you know that which is a really no it's a true scenario where you have to be able to get new Personnel you got to get people you got to get Staffing and you have to get your program built again and you know if you if the only way you can do that is to have the money to do it and you have to ask for the money would you characterize this time period for them as make a break I don't know enough about the agency to do that but I do know that a lot of times um you know some some emotional and financial support at time when you need it can be important

115there are also they provide services to other counties too like emergency services and things like that and I know that they're up and running I think in so it might be interesting you to talk to your sister counties they went from $20 million budget to $1 million budget well and my my question right and my question about make a break is for the longest time they were a very tried and true organization right you could Bank on them providing the services that you were contributing to right and then they had this hiccup for a couple of years and they ruined their reputation that's little sugar coat right yeah so are they at a make or break point where if they don't do it right this time they're probably going to falter and and be done

116say yeah there's been it was it was very frustrating thanks I believe it is pertinent that y'all have a discussion with them I think that is valid one and and the sustainability and I have no problem saying we need to have this conversation about what what can I anticipate yeah um what what is the plan moving forward to staff this and when we going to start to look for enrollments for next year I mean I I I think that's um a reasonable conversation to have and you know how do we know you're going to be here doing what you say you're going to be I like that question right there yeah did you write that down just Channel Jessica Lan and go at it all right that a hard Vol m [Music] got it I

117just I just want people to understand that Ma was it was funded to the county not to the school the school was the facility where they were doing their program so they when they when they stopped doing what they were doing then it fell back on the school to provide that service correct that they that was contracted through the camp right okay and how I saw it was we paid them and then y'all paid for the same service just I mean when we paid for it got nothing y'all end up having to pay to to do the service they promised and that agates me yeah I mean of course you the cost of providing the same service that's a good way to put that no fault of our own just need for our standard circumstances

118yes yes and that didn't sit right with me at all and how you're yes yes um well I mean if we're all done with questions and such we have on our agenda we have next steps Andor other business Andor adjournment so it's really what uh ever is your fancy do we have any other matters I was just going to share you know just in the the heart of like trying to support each other um High School is really working to try to create an opportunity for like a Community Job Fair coming up in May so um you know also when we do some of the the career fairs and things that at our school really put in an honest effort to reach out to our community businesses and our community services to try to get

119them you know to be able to get in front of our kids and so that you know we're working hard to really try to make sure we're bringing them into it um and and bringing our F trying to to create opportunities for our community members to get a job that maybe they just didn't realize was out there and some of our businesses to say hey we need some staff um so I think you know um I think that's cool I think that's something to be celebrated and trying to work for and I think that that's that that only goes back to help all everybody um so those are some of the things that you know if you hear about that like we're are trying to move forward with that and kind of um questions or

120interest um something that's important I'm just trying to think of events that are coming up that you know um really promote um everyone um so those are some of the things obviously we're pretty excited about graduation coming it's it's in May but it's going to come by here in a in a blink of an eye um and our our um spring Sports season kicked in the gear I know we see a lot of you guys coming out to the events and we appreciate that support and just to say as a community know there's a lot of kids here in Nelson that don't know about they can be employed by some people being Nelson I was in a conversation with a young man that went to work for a local company that he never knew he

121had the opportunity to go work with and this right here and Nelson and he was like I'm making more money than I ever made in my life that I didn't even know it was possible to do never heard about these people through my whole High School career I never knew these people existed so you know there you know there's avenu for the whole County to local businesses no matter what kind of business you have to come to these things and promote what you do because people don't know that y'all that those jobs existed here in the camp how did that young man find out about that job a friend of his um told him he's like hey I my boss man he said has a um would probably give you a job if you come

122up and talk to him and so he took his buddy he went up there and got a job and you know he's like I'm going to be there the rest of my life you know that's you know 19 that's a 19y old kid talking but he was like you know from the time he graduated to the time he be employed by this company he was like you know I've never knew that I could make that kind of money you know being at you know near in the count which I thought that's why we want well so the job fair is a is a lovely idea my concern is um will'll use one of my businesses as a an example uh we used to have high school students come through and spend a few hours every

123week um the th those people in the last few years do not know what it is to be a quality employee they do not understand showing up on time they do not understand communication skills two of them could not type um so like on a on a computer um responsibility was like a foreign concept and and I'm not the only business to have said this and felt this way that we're burned out because we're raising kids at home we don't need to be raising more kids I and I understand their kids but oh no I I don't make excuses because they're kids I'm just going to tell you that I contact probably more businesses than anybody I know in a week's time and that's all I hear all out here and is is that the

124soft skills are totally lacking their responsibilities totally I hear that all the time um all over the different communities and so I think it's great the Outreach to the businesses but it it would be great as a business owner to hear and really would make me feel good about showing up that I knew there was some program or a you know a cl to that someone's making an effort to teach that does that make sense I cuz I'm not looking for The Graduate anymore yeah so I think there's a few components in that and I think we're working really hard developing the profile of a graduate like the five seats communication collaboration can you work well with others do you have creative thoughts like are you able to build on upon things um critical thinking

125can you problem solve can you proba solve them can you solve a problem without turn like without constantly asking what do I do yeah um and then are you a good person and so these are things that we are building towards but like when you take and you feel conversations about why why does the school want my kid to attend every day we're battling that as well we're battling showing up late and we have a finite amount of consequences that we can apply and you know so we're having some conversations um yes I think we just recently had a conversation is how do we ensure that we're working with our kids you know we have economics and personal finance we all read the what do we wish they taught in schools well are they going

126to teach Tech yeah we it's a required class economics and personal finance it's a requirement um but also what are we doing to prepare them you know and we just had this conversation is it's amazing how our kids like as long as we're still in these positions hiring like we I need you to have some eye contact I need you to be able to say your name so I can understand what you're saying and hear you shake my hand fill out an application uh thoroughly we we we did go and and this isn't and I hate to say this this is up until the the the mid 20s year olds so this isn't just a you know this is kind of um we need some help in some of these um behaviors prior to getting

127to us and that reinforcement of some of these behaviors while with us because our our teachers are trying to to to teach these and hold accountable and we need that support as well you know we we talked to Blue Rich Medical Center are there development of maybe some and this isn't all one fault or another parenting classes because I think we had like some parents come to us I don't I don't know what to do my kid is just refusing to do everything so I think it it isn't just one one solution to all of it we're experiencing you know we get push back from parents you know why my kid wasn't there it's not your business um so we do you know or you know what do you mean these privileges were taken away

128like because there are some absences we're trying on our side we we work with families we recognize that we see that as well so I think it's again it goes back to this collaborative effort if if our kids and and our young adults understand like no you're going to need this and hold to that I think there is a lot to that we we feel it too we want to you know this is how you fill out a resume this is how go through this process and we are having those conversations about how do we support that and embed that in other classes you know through our English class working on the resume through our government class working on some things through our business classes in addition to all the standards that we also have

129to cover one thing that we uh at the Home Builders Association toy because obviously we have a really great relationship with Paul and Paul can tenel Tel canel can can sorry you're good PA yeah and we've you know I've hired three or four different students out of that program you know some good some not so much and we always joke with them because UVA always swipes the the cream of the crop you know that really high performing who kind of have a lot of get uh get out there and go kind of mentality um we've toyed around with the concept of trying to do mentorship whatever that can look like obviously we know you know hiring kids at 17 and getting the work uh what's the Work Work Release done you know we've I've had

130success with that before there's some other liability pieces that as to what they can do on a job from our insurance companies and all the other you know threel acronym entities out there that manage us but if there's something that can exist it maybe from a perspective of this is a job site these are the guys this is kind of what's happening if something can exists like that I mean we there's a lot of members of our association we've said we'd be open to that even if it's just as simple as just seeing the day to the eyes of your average your dirt contractor what does he doing he's watching move this equipment things he thinks through how does that translate into money you know what does this mean um if something like that can

131maybe be produced you know I can name multiple entities that' be absolutely down to Caesar's point I think we we have a pretty strong you know is there a m program currently so they're revamping some of the 3E employment enlistment and of course I'm blanking on the three basically work based learning opportunities and we were we've kind of really advocated to make sure that the work based learning opportunities has been folded in to the accreditation piece because that what are we doing if we're not helping get our kids ready right um so I think that you know obviously there's criteria to to match components that they can get credit for but yes I think that one of the things that we want to do is be able to provide you know some students to shadow

132or do internships externships and things of that nature and getting with Dr yarinsky to see like who are these kids who are these businesses and how can we coordinate that um so for yeah the only thing I wanted to touch on I think you know we've all T talk we've all heard about the cell phones the cell phone this and it is it is a big problem um and you know we're 8 hours of the day and we're expected to control ass aspects of student use of the cell phones you know during the school day but there's this unfettered use outside of that school day that we can't really control and some of our problems are brought into our schools because of the outside so it the the cell phones and and the research on

133the impact on our students um mental health all of it it's a it's a big deal now is it all of it no but it is a big deal and and as a community really trying to get our head wrapped around not only just just being absorbed in the cell phone but the social media and just not being able to like put it down and do your job um and those are conversations we have you know we you don't get to use it during the class and you know you can you can look at it at lunch but I also don't want my adults doing it um you're modeling for our kids what it's like to be in a professional environment and not constantly checking your phone all the time and you know so that's

134something that's a conversation we're having but I will say the the the cell phones and just social media in general is is a big impact on some of these things where they're not able to communicate as well and they're not they don't have the confidence level where they're they're a little anxious about some things and so we're battling that on our end but it's a much bigger picture that isn't just um you know we need some of that support as well about like no when you come here this is what you do um you know when when we have Community outcry about our expectations about attendance is having that support like well as a business owner I expect my child you know well if it's for money they're going to be there not really you

135know I think and I've talked to business you know um the younger generation is willing to forgo higher salary for more time off that that's a problem you know that that is a problem that as a business as a school we all are going to have to deal with because I don't have that option with my staff because I only had these kids for a certain amount of time you guys are going to have to you know when when you give more people time off someone has to pick up the slack that's extra cost that's productivity so I think these are some of the things that we're seeing as a trend when I go to like the work Workforce learning and and talk to some employers um you know an employer for Three Notch in

136stottville said we have we all have online applications they won't fill out the blank you know the something that you have to type in um and that would be the distinguishing factor for that kid you know whoever like finished the whole application and just put something in there that might distinguish in them and because I don't think they think it's important like I don't think anybody's looking at them like I was looking for this and I didn't hire you because you didn't f i I'm not sure about those conversations they just don't get it and and they may be dismissive about why I just didn't get it they don't like no because you didn't take the time to do this and someone's looking at it because I think they also don't realize no this is

137important conversation skills are important um because they're not doing it they're in their fun and the other thing is to your point about um to both of your points about the kids not getting it my experience when I was teaching we had a really robust internship program anybody that was able to go out and work was working and so only the kids that didn't have a driver's license or had other things that prevented them from being out on a job were were working but and they would work well because a grade depended on it but what my experience has been with employers is it's a direct correlation and responsibility to how much they're responsible for in their personal life so you take a young person person who's just graduated high school and they're still living

138at home their odds of being a dynamic fantastic employee out the box are diminished because they don't have BS you know what I mean they're not feeding themselves absolutely and things like that and then if you add to that the Dynamics that we've come into because of covid because of allowing people to stay on PE parents Insurance longer periods of time etc etc kids are staying home longer they're marrying later they're having kids later they're not having kids in some cas um and it's and it's this uh this this willingness to I don't want to say not grow up but just um to be able like you said more time off you know I'd rather have the time off than the money the money doesn't mean as much well the money doesn't mean as much

139because you don't need much money because there's no consequences for your actions you know that kind of thing so that for profile The Graduate isn't just talk like we are trying to and and accreditation models things that we're teaching in the classroom we were embedding it into like we are trying to embed um career career um interest inventories career you know skills what does it take to do these jobs um and those are just the competencies but that's not the soft skills so we are we have worked we've had our um lead innovators work really really hard on developing this and figuring out how do we invent it into our our our lessons so it's something we recognize is important um because we see it too uh we see it in um people coming to

140us that we want to employ we see it in our kids we see it in our families we see it in a lot of areas um and so it is something important we've spent a lot of time and energy to build this and looking to then Infuse it into what we do in our conversations to make it very purposeful because we know we're sending them off to work for you know for our local people we want them to be able to keep that job um but I would say it's it's that Collective effort of like you're going to need to do this and then you know do they or you know when people aren't showing up on time what happens um what I'm told is they're going to have that a lot of our employees

141have to create more L lenient policies about it because they can't get the employers are we have people that like well if you want me to show up on time and you don't like it I'll go to this other job and there's this other job waiting for them I don't know where and how but I think it's important to us we recognize it um we spent a lot of time and energy building it um to the point where the reminder of it was on you know a convocation um a great deal time in event because we recognize its importance and it's funny how you come full circle about all these skills and careers but it's the soft skills that have been around okay for hundred of years that have time and time again been proven

142to be important I will say I was part of a panel that um the student what is it called the youth philanthropy Council put on uh Ernie and I were at that and the youth philanthropy Council started as a Blue Ridge Virginia governor School uh project last year where they were working in conjunction with the nccf which is the Nelson County Community Fund and also uh the central or the Community Fund of the central Blue Ridge which used to be called the saw Foundation I don't know if you guys remember that but um those two organizations gave a pool of money or in some way uh provided a pool of money for that youth philanthropy Council to uh to have Grant rounds and and give to people and I got one of the grants um

143last year and then they have additional money this year and then in that in that panel the kids were just amazing they brought up really uh really pertinent questions about you know the needs in the county I mean that's what they're focusing on what are the needs they brought the panel to find out what kind of needs we had as organizations that serve the citizens of the um and I'm not talking about the school from my perspective don't I'm talking about ncdf but anyway those kids impressed me so much and then they kind of went into a conversation about how can we bring this sense of community service or philanthropy philanthropy to kids younger kids in the school so I feel like that is you their intention of um going to middle school and in

144elementary school and bringing that philanthropy idea back to the other kids um is another way of teaching soft skills is how the older kids you know bring it down and you know some of the kids are come out of high school like amazing and they have everything you want they just don't want to do what you know they're going to go to college and start their own business or something like that you know what I mean so um anyway I just want to throw it out there we really have some good success stories two yeah yeah we have we have we have a great deal of success stories right and it but still room still room to grow right um but you know I think we have kids that are working really hard we have

145teachers that are working really hard to kind of move us in this direction and it's just it's going to take collectively to understand like what what how can we contribute back locally help and and create those Pathways for them Beyond um but we want to know like what are the jobs that are we're needing so we can you know we're in constant conversations with pbcc um with ktech like what are some things brid the Gap with CVC C we're working on it we're working on help with it um I need one more conversation I think with pbcc um because there's some great opportunities there that we may be able to bring but I also want to look at like there's some satellites over here that we could really take advantage of so we're looking you

146know to really see you know there's a big conversation about high wage high demand jobs and and we want to create those Pathways but what is it also that we need locally if that's not aligned with that what are some of the things that we can can um provide and contribute back so you what are some after school extension Pathways that also maybe have adult burning like so we are looking into seeing what we can do sorry um I was just going to jump in and say you know the the four of us were at a Service Authority meeting this morning and they were talking about how um water and wastewater operators were seriously needed how much they need that's been that way I got in that business in 1995 and it was that way

147then and now it's it's critical mass now they were talking about going C well localities having to go out and hire a company to manage their Wastewater system which turns into a nightmare CU you have no sale yeah the skills that needed to even operate a Wastewater system now are so vast compared to what they were 10 years ago it's just amazing the systems are more complex Electronics offsite I mean there's just so much that even talking about GIS people coming in and scada um scada is runs usually all of your larger plants like where I work the pl is run almost totally is that acronym what is SK that was oh my goodness said this morning I'm not going to be able to spell out the acronym for you but basically it's computer monitoring

148and control of valves and and pumps that's basically what it is um and it allows The Operators to uh operate uh a bigger plant doing more functions with fewer people rather than running around to your point it's so complex rather than running around turning Valves and pushing buttons and things it sounds like becoming an operator may be somewhat involved now in more certification well no The Lure is the same as it's been for a long time but they've changed how they how you go about that they went through a period of time where it was a closed book test I mean an open book test where you can bring your books then they went through a period of time where it was a closed book test now they're back to an open book test but

149they've changed some of the parameters um but the licens your process is pretty pretty much the same as it always been as far as working in the field your education level and then passing the exam years they it depends on your education level like if you have a college degree you've got to pull less time but for example if you don't have a college degree you've got to do 6 months in a class 4 higher to get a class 4 license so on that note I I was raised in a household where you start at the bottom and you you show how good you are and you're you're your commitment and you know and all these things and you work your way up and it seems now that is not the sentiment to is but

150is that truly the sentiment does that make sense like it does I think it depends on where you go I mean I think I think for some companies it's that way but I think companies are having a harder time growing their own good employees if you will they're not saying because they're not saying like for example example when I started with Service Authority Nelson in ' 95 I was a utility worker which is the bottom of the PO um and work my way up at that time that happens less now because I think what you're having is people job hopping more and so you'll have a license operator that will go from one utility to another for example in that business or an operator uh for an excavation company that moves from one company to

151another um so it's it's still done it's just getting harder to grow your own employees right well I'm saying the sentiment they come the what kids are taught I'm going to college to learn this thing and have all these expectations you have no experience but by God you know what it says in the book well they're being taught that they're being taught the they're being taught the way to look like here I mean what Dr H was just saying I mean they're they're being taught all of those things you know that you need to start at the bottom at the beginning you know the bottom the beginning you want to characterize it um but that's not always the case and I think more and more young people people have an expectation that they should be

152making top dollar when they store right and it plays into their favor because there's a need for workers right now but you know will it always be that way maybe maybe not I don't know yeah and there's it it's in a lot of different areas I mean the the the support of these values if you will have to come from it has to be a collective effort like the value of work ethic the value of I work hard I get here and I have to build my myself up um that doesn't come from one place that comes from the collective investment of supporting that um and I think that you know I would be remiss in not saying like I think we feel more and more pressure to be responsible for teaching you know manners

153or ethics or work hard or mental health supports or after school I mean we're feeling that pressure that used to be shouldered by other entities as well and we are happy to take on a lot of those responsibilities but we do need some help and and we're only with them for 8 hours so we're at this really critical development period where we only have them for you know 13 15 years and it has to be consistent and it has to be over the course of time and sustain it can't be well you got it for8 hours and you don't have it for 16 and you got it for this and and and it's just got to be a collective effort um and it's just through whatever time it's just becoming more and more our you

154know the responsibilities because we have them we have we have them with us and the mental health supports that we now are providing we we feed each one of our kids that goes through our lines we're feeding them two meals a day if you go through our line um it's costing us to do that and we are very concerned that maybe some of these opportunities are going to go away and those costs are going to be passed back to maybe our families unless we can find another way to do it so more and more of these responsibilities being passed down from the state you know we say well you know why don't you just you know kick them out if they don't come to school we can't and if we then do that then we're

155penalized somewhere else and so we have to B balance and manage how do we just get them to come and come on time but not all of it is under our control and I think businesses are starting to feel that like what do I do I fire them or I don't have a worker so how do we we manage through this and it it there's no one starting point for this and at the end of it it takes all of us to be able to support this um because if I you know how many times well you can't do this in third grade and we got to third grade we doing it I mean I from I'm a a little bit older I mean I've heard that forever well you know when is that taught

156because it's still happening in as adults and so I think we have to really have that Collective effort to like this isn't going to be tolerated This Is How We Do It um you work hard you have to do this but that isn't always supported um and to have the expectation that one entity does that and teaches it I don't think that's a reasonable expectation if it's not being supported in other areas we all have to do it with each other um not just one side and I think that that's really important because it's easy to say well what you you have them for eight hours why didn't you do that like so um how come my kid can't read yeah the the breakdown is all through Society not not in schools well I mean

157you can't just hand it to the schools and say you have to do this this this and this and this in addition to this this this and I said that we have a lot of families doing exactly what we need them to be doing and they they are so good but I'm just concerned about some of our families that just maybe aren't able to and getting them the resources to be able to do it and having the confidence to go seek those resources and get them and use them um and that's why we you know we're trying to Branch out and work with local agencies and say we're seeing this how can we work together to help our families I don't think anybody out there is wanting to fail in certain areas it's just not

158knowing what resources are out there are those resources out there and then having the confidence to go access those resources and I think sometimes that's what we see I don't want this to be like we have we have a lot of people doing exactly what we need them to be doing and they're super supportive It's just sometimes those kids that are struggling a little bit more we just getting those resources and implemented in the right way well thank you all thank you guys we good yeah we did it I think so we rung it out yeah all right we're continuing our meeting right yes uh do you want to do that first and then we'll do ours L Mr chairman I move we continue this meeting to March 25th at 10: a.m. just on second

159oh second okay okay by yes yes yes done I move we adjourn this School Board portion of the second all in favor very much 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 [Applause] another 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 be and dare to embrace that change

160in 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 were 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 batter box of life life will throw you some Cur balls along the way stand tall and take your swing your dreams won't become reality if you aren't willing to take the next [Music] step and now by the virtue of the power and authority vested in Me by

161The Commonwealth of Virginia I do hereby declare you graduates of Nelson County High School please turn your [Applause] tassel congratulations class of [Music] 2024 this is our hold your head up this is our time together we will rise step into the light we Bor to come hold your head up this is our time [Music] oh [Music]