001[Music] w [Music] [Applause] [Music] Al to the flag of the United States of America and to Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible liy and justice for all thank you so much um okay I need a motion to approve the agenda I make a motion that we actually amend the agenda under recognitions and presentations to add the teacher of the year second all right with a motion in a second I'll in favor I I no opposed or anything like that so that one passes so I now move that we approve the agenda as amended I'll second oh oh okay all in favor I I don't think you have to do it with that I think you sorry we'll look um all right so now we're on to recognitions and presentations all right
002so um the first going to try to get these things organized so um we've had a funky last two months and so we've had to kind of move some of our recognitions around to make sure that one they're not conflicting with some of the weather related issues but also too not kind we're trying to counterbalance some things so um during um February um we C we had National School counseling week so that was February 3rd through the 7th and so we really wanted to highlight our school counselors unfortunately I don't and I'm looking around I always try to pan who's here um I don't think any of them were able to make it I know it's a busy week we have a lot of literacy nights we have a lot of things going on and
003and they like to be a part of that and helping out but I do still want to go through and be able to acknowledge who they are um the first person is Ricky Perry and she works at uh Nelson Middle School and we just want to say thank you much uh very much for your your service to our students um School counseling is a very complicated um busy uh role and you wear a lot of hats and we just want to say thank you very much um next up is Zach Wingate he serves as a counselor at Nelson County High School uh summer white is in um that kind of transition position of the 8th grade middle school counselor as well as the ninth grade counselor at the high school so serves both schools and
004really unique position shamaine day is our lead counselor our uh director of counseling um for all of them and she is a counselor at the high school and um we have Marin tettlebach Marin tettlebach serves as a counselor at Rockfish River Elementary School and last but not least is Ashley erens she is our newest addition to our counseling units um I'm just still looking around make sure someone's not sneaking in on me um to make sure so I don't miss um acknowledging Ashley's new to us and she is serving at Thai River Elementary School so we just want to say thank you very much um you know we talk a lot about the needs of our students and our staff and these are really integral uh individuals who work to support our students but they
005also serve and work to support our staff as well so we just want to say thank you very much and congratulations and I will say please join me in giving them a round of applause over yeah sorry I Le Stu everywhere don't I all right so next up is one of our favorite things they're all our favorite things and we get to recognize people but our one Nelson Awards so the first individual that I always like to recognize is our students so Hoy will you please join me up here I think we're going to go on this side because it makes it easier for the lady to take the picture and also maybe easier for your mom so Hoy you were nominated and um I'll read out loud what the nomination is for so bear
006with me okay um po serves on the Tha River Elementary School Safety Patrol he does great with others and working with buses each morning he is a hard worker respectful has great attendance and is a caring person is it oh you right ahead we'll get to that ho is an exceptional student who strives for success and this is coming from um his teacher so he strives for success and is helpful to his peers he works well with others he's kind and has extra fun to our learning environment this is what he was snickering at he earned the nickname toaster during our electricity unit we'll probably all like to hear more about that so between the two of us we re he we usually joke about what's for lunch because he always has the better meal
007he's smart fun and kind and is a great model for the one Nelson award go Hoy so congratulations look at this nice lady right there and then we're going to make sure that Mom gets a picture as well and don't forget your mug you get a mug I don't know if you know this we got a little mug for you and I keep it in bubble wrap cuz I will drop it and break it but it has one Nelson on it so it's going to kind of M that a little bit so congratulations mom might end up with the mug you never know maybe you put your hot chocolate in there so all right next up is our community member and we have someone standing in to be able to accept this and Mr Sheriff
008Embry will you please join me yes ma'am of course all right all right so for our community uh one Nelson Award winner we wanted to recognize the Faber fire department as our community recipient the fire fber that's a mouthful fire the fber yeah you're going to read ahead of kind that makes me nervous the F fber fire department has been instrumental in helping the ncps transportation department by allowing us to use their parking lot to train and test our new employees who required their CDL recently we had to repaint the lines and make some adjustments and chief cook came to the station assisted us with the lines by providing painters tape and 90° uh angle measuring stick to ensure that we met all of their requirements during our flooding event uh during a previous month
009Chief cook also was able to assist by providing roadway updates so we want to say thank you so much for the assistance obviously helping us um train our uh drivers and also um navigating uh the flooded roadways is super helpful for us keeping everybody safe but also getting us to school so we want to say thank you very much appreciate it and thank you for joining us absolutely yes ma'am absolutely thank you very much no it's fine thank you very much appreciate thank you wait your mug make sure the chief gets this tonight abely thank you all very much can I get a mug shot everybody's groaning I really reading ahead of me and out thinking on the jokes that's stuff right huh happy anniversary all right so uh our next up is our support
010staff or our classified staff so we'll uh M Melissa Mars please join me up here yes we all have the I'm assuming you're going to read ahead too so I'm not you're to listen exactly basing the glow of the one else's so Melissa's job as accounting assistant is critical to the overall success of the division she is responsible for all the payrolls and tax and benefit reporting for this school district she has to plan vacations appointments and sometimes sicknesses around the deadlines imposed by her job responsibilities the IRS does not care if we don't feel good or she doesn't feel good or if we have snow or if we are have a vacation as uh it's dead lines are non-negotiable Melissa also does all the filing of our Federal grant reimbursements requests and ensures that
011we are meeting all Grant mandates and requirements and so thank you on behalf of all of us getting a paycheck we really do appreciate that and yes exactly and um a lot of that job is like making sure those little details and checking the right boxes and making sure everything's filled out correctly because one little off task thing can take out too much not take out enough and then that can re well it's tax time so we all we're going to find out real quick if that works out real well so we want to say thank you very much congratulations does your daughter want to you thank you all right all right and unfortunately our next recipient is not able to make it and the reason why she's working one of our literacy nights um
012um so I want to um if you bear with me I want to be able to recognize Susan Cargill as our certified staff division um for those of you who don't know her husband is sitting in back behind that wall running all of the technology here so he's proudly watching through the monitor um Susan serves as an instructional coach for both Rockfish River and Tha River Elementary she is a dedicated employee who serves students teachers and administrators with literacy support uh in addition to providing coaching Cycles she attends PLC meetings attends and provides professional development and tracks data for data informed decision making Susan is always willing to go the extra mile and collaborates with co-workers in a positive manner Susan's Pleasant demeanor and Forward Thinking mindset is an asset for our Nelson Community so
013we want to say congratulations to Susan Cargill I will find where she is tomorrow and I will go back and read this in front of others so she has that chance um to experience the same thing everyone else is and we'll be able to make sure we uh recognize her and she gets her mug so congratulations to Susan um okay now no one more oh yeah forgot we so um like I said we kind of get derailed sometimes with the weather so earlier I think it was January was it not the January we were able to go to the individual schools and recognize not only um our IND individual School teachers of the year but the entire division uh teachers of the year so I want to be able to go through and what I'm
014going to do is for the consistency sake I'm going to read um some of the information that was submitted on behalf of those teachers particularly um by their principles because that's always really really meaningful but it's also a collection of feedback and um feelings about those individuals from all who nominated them so it's a collection of things and I think that that's something that really needs to um emphasized is these awards are peer nominated so a lot of times that's far more meaningful than like someone in a separate building just said I'm going to I'm going to name this person so this is clearly a very well-earned um and respected um award so first we're going to start I'm going to uh call up M um Leslie Roberson up please Jo so you get to
015stand in front of everybody no we have [Music] yes not we're not short changing anybody we did go out to the schools and kind of um really did a big fan fair at the schools um but we do have other things waiting to bring to you but just don't worry um so bear with me as I read this and do we all have our phones ready to you good we're good okay all right I don't want to okay so um it is a great uh great pleasure that I meaning Mr Walker write this letter in support of Leslie Roberson's application for ncps teacher of the year once you meet Leslie the first thing you will notice is her infection enthusiasm and smile she brings the same energy and enthusiasm to each of her classes daily
016Leslie started her teaching career at Stonewall Jackson high school that's Shen andoa correct yep in shenoa in 2018 as I was interviewing Leslie for her current position here at Nelson County High School she noted that she is able to make connections with students that traditionally struggle with or hate English class as a young student never that never happens um as a young student in the nth grade Leslie English n teacher noticed that she was struggling as a student her teacher made it a priority to help Leslie find her way once Leslie found success Mr Holton her English n teacher encouraged her to help struggling peers in her class and established a creative writing Club After School Mr Holton encouraged Leslie to pursue a career in education after graduating the guidance from uh Mr Holton helped
017provide Leslie the foundation needed to help her in her own teaching philosophy as an educator the early success that Leslie found as a struggling student she's able to support students that traditionally don't like English and and not always finding success those students have found books and magazines that have uh that have often um helped these students stay excited about reading and finding success her students have shown several letter levels of reading growth in her classes with her students showing success in nth grade this has helped those students be successful in 10th 11th and 12th grade with their teaching strategies and support those students have shown greater success on the English 11 reading and writing assessment finally Leslie has been a great English n and 10th grade teacher at Nelson County High School the students love
018her as so when we walked in and announced this um it was the first day she had her second semester students so they're just learning and so to sit in a class and the first um kind of impression that you're getting of your teacher being honored as the high school teacher of the year is it's a pretty cool way to start and they when we walked her back in they all gave her a standing ovation so that was that kind of shows you that you know the reputation for Ed but also was reinforced so um her her students love her her lessons are fun and engaging for all of her students and she plays music at a low level to keep her students on task while working independently last year students in her classes encouraged
019her to start U Back Up the debate team at nchs it had been 20 years since the high school had a team compete as Robson wants all of her students to be successful in the classroom and with their future plans she supports her students in their Athletics and activities by attending several games and events throughout the school year trust this provides all of us with the information needed to understand why Leslie Roberson won um teacher of the year for the high school so congratulations like I said oh my gosh what yes so and we like I said you've gotten your stuff we have something coming to you so don't worry about that yes thank you so much congratulations all right good all right do we have yes Miss Hess is back there I almost try
020to finish that stop myself I won't read AE because I can't see without my I'm not the fastest reader so all right so this uh like we said this letter is uh provided to us by um your principal so it is with pride and enthusiasm that recommend Miss Lyn hes for the Nelson County Public School teacher of the year um and as the winner of the Nelson County uh middle Nelson Middle School this s exemplifies excellence and education to her ability to inspire engage and Empower her students and colleagues her impressive career spans more than three decades and her dedication to Student Success professional growth and community service sets her a part of an exceptional leader Miss hes currently serves as a seventh grade English language arts teacher at Nelson Middle School where she combines
021her knowledge of research-based teaching practices with a genuine passion for learning for Innovative approaches to instruction such as integrating Hands-On learning activities and data-driven differentiation have led to measurable growth in her students performance she maintains high expectations for all Learners creating a nurturing yet challenging environment that allows each student to thrive in addition to her classroom work Miss Hess is an accomplished professional with a long history of leadership and contributions to the field of Education her role as lead innovator for ncps demonstrates her commitment to advancing educational practices across the division her expertise extends beyond the K through 12 setting she also serves as an Adjunct professor at Liberty University in Central Virginia Community College where she has developed and taught courses such as composition and rhetoric in methods and materials in teaching of English
022her experiences in higher education not only enriches her pedagogy but also inspires her students to Pur pursue Excellence beyond the Middle School classrooms as hess's influence reaches far beyond her classroom as a Content author of s Gage in McMillan publishing she has helped to develop textbooks used in college level writing courses directly impacting the quality of education for students Nationwide she has also presented at conferences such as the cider conference for higher education pedagogy at Virginia Tech sharing her insights on effective teaching strategies with Educators from across the the country her commitment to service and Community engagement further underscores her well-rounded Excellence as a Virginia literacy volunteer and Special Olympics supporter Miss Hess models the importance of giving back to the community she also serves as a mentor for Liberty University's adjunct instructor team demonstrating
023her dedication to fostering professional growth among her peers the accolades Miss hes has received throughout her career speak volumes about her impact and reputation from um she has been named the nms staff member member of the month and also has earned Liberty University's Chancellor award for teaching excellence and this recognition as a testament for her unwavering commitment to the teaching profession in every role that she's undertaken Miss PES has embodied the qualities of an outstanding educator her passion Innovation and an unwavering belief in the potential of every learner her contributions to Nelson Middle School and Beyond make her truly deserving candidate for this award so we want to say congratulations for being Nam one more atin congratulations thank you all right uh so miss Al or Dr Alice and Simons please join me all right
024so um Dr Simmons is a teacher at Rockfish River Elementary School she's a dedicated special education teacher at Rockfish River and she has been for 14 years she works tirely tirelessly to empower her students with the tools they need to succeed academically and socially Dr Simmons Foster's meaningful relationships with her students through love patience and understanding while inspiring them to strive for their best in helping them achieve her teaching approach involves fun interactive and educational activities to reinforce s so Concepts while making learning accessible and enjoyable she constantly seeks new strategies to improve her practice and enhance student achievement Dr Simmons is a valued Nelson County Public School Community member and is exemplifying dedication in and out of the classroom as a lead innovator for the school division she plays a vital role in driving
025Innovation and supporting her colleagues she makes time for all students and staff offering assistance and mentorship with enthusiasm and Care while guiding fellow teachers through challenges and celebrating their successes Beyond her professional duties Dr Simmons is a passionate volunteer supporting after school events tutoring students and engaging in community activities whether organizing morale boosting events for faculty or enriching classroom experiences her selfless contributions reflect her unwavering um commitment to the values of ncps Dr Simmons's dedication and willingness to take on additional responsibility set her apart as an invaluable School Community member her her determination to excel in every aspect of her career her unwavering positivity and her ability to inspire students and colleagues make Dr Simmons the perfect uh candidate and winner for the Rockfish River Elementary School teacher of the year so congratulations all right
026did you did you get one no all right now not last but not least we're going to call Taylor Ramsey up you knew this was coming all right so this is Taylor Ramsey and not only is Taylor uh the winner of the um Tha River Elementary School teacher of the year she was also um the winner for the Nelson County Public School teacher of the year and was um had her application submitted for region and State uh consideration so as I read this so it is with great enthusiasm that we write this letter in support and so this was a part of the package to be able to to nominate her and send her forward um for region and State uh she won the prestigious teacher of the year again not only for Tha River
027but the division um this is written on behalf of her uh principal she's had the privilege of working with closely with Miss Ramsey Who currently teaches second grade ear wavering dedic Innovative teaching methods and genuine care for her students make an exemplary candidate for this honor Mrs Ramsey has consistantly demonstrated an extraordinary ability to engage students Foster a love of learning and create a nurturing classroom environment her commitment to academic excellence and her passion for Education are evident in her students exceptional growth and achievements this has included such engaging lessons as making butter in the classroom incubating and hatching chicks in the classroom um not making butter for the chips okay y so taste test oh gosh um taste test with the peeps not the ones that have the marshmallow distinction there and also creating
028food trucks for students to practice spending money each lesson has been directly connected to the Virginia standards of learning and follow-up activities were included to incorporate Math Science and reading standards one of Mrs Ramsey's greatest strengths is her ability to meet each student at their level tailoring instruction to suit their individual academic and behavioral needs she employs a variety of creative strategies including Hands-On learning technology integration and differentiated instruction to ensure all students have the opportunity to succeed as a teacher licensed in both general education and special education her knowledge skill set and experiences have assisted her and her ability to meet each student where they are daily beyond the classroom Mrs Ramsey is a leader within the school Community she has served as a cooperating teacher was an active member in her Squad work
029last year and is now an active squad leader she participates and is active in planning for Afterschool community activities and collaborates with colleagues to enhance curriculum and instruction her positive attitude and willingness to support others Inspire those around her and contribute to a culture of collaboration and continuous Improvement at Tyre her Elementary lastly Mrs Ramsey is deeply committed to her students social and emotional well-being she goes above and beyond to build strong relationships with her students and their families creating a sense of trust and partnership she has worked hard collaborating with uh behavioral support staff and special education staff to assist in meeting the needs of her students and communicating with families her compassion and dedication ensure that every child in her care feels valued supported and safe Mrs ramley truly embodies the qualities of
030an outstanding teacher and is an asset not only to our school but Nelson County as well she is an exceptional educator who's made a profound impact on her students colleagues in the Tha River Elementary Community cannot think of anyone more deserving of this recognition and they're excited to name um M Ramy not only Ty River Elementary School but also Nelson County Public School Division teacher of the year so congratulations just a little back note when we went to uh Tha River to announc her for the District um able to kind of coordinate um a little bit like an assembly if you will so yes um and she none the wiser she thought you were do you think you having I had a meeting Squad lead meeting I have stuff to do I don't need doing
031this oh get better um so when we got in there the kids went crazy um the staff went crazy they were all super excited and it's kind of everything youd want to have someone be able to experience it as they are named that so that was a lot of fun so right now what oh he was able to hear and kind of say some so we're gonna you know wait this one and then we'll get to the PO thank you all right thank you guys I appreciate your time all right now we can go to the comments from board members uh Mr Chief yes uh well congratulations to all of the uh teachers of the year and all the one Nelson Award winners um always pretty amazing stuff um again I'm always thankful that when
032Dr Hester came on board she uh came up with the idea for the one Nelson Awards and uh I think it's a fantastic example of of how we work uh well as a community and uh as we go forward in time more and more people are more and more involved and um and that's that's a really good thing um also um great job of finishing the year of basketball team uh at the high school fantastic job we were all kind of following along uh with that and um they made a made a pretty good run on that so uh congratulations to all of them thank you very much um Mr perin uh to Echo what Mr chief just said um I was able to participate in the um boys what was it it reg finals
033or quarterfinals reg game finals and down in runic um they fought hard and um some things out of their control happened during the game to um predict the outcome but and um and thanks to all the staff members and central office staff for their hard work and um that's all I got all right thank you so much so we love the not one Nelson Awards congratulations to everybody that was recognized that's that's such a good honor people take time out of their day to recognize you write something down and it says a whole lot about you um so congratulations to everybody congratulations to the teachers of the year I mean that's your peers that's your peers looking at you and saying that and so when we watched you all up there we were like they're
034so humble like this is you truly do this from the bottom of your heart and for the good of the students and so um it is really a huge honor and we appreciate as a system everything that you do every day because no one person no one staff member teacher goes in to do just the do job they've been hired to do you all go above and beyond every single day and so thank you for that thank you from the schools congratul ation not only for the School honor to you Taylor for your countywide honor congratulations for that you all represent us really really well and we respect and appreciate you more than you probably know um the other thing uh Caesar and I were able to go to that game together and we had
035the best fans plain straight up and simple when you saw some details later on we our fans love our teams and our teams certainly deserve it so congratulations for that I think we had some really good indoor track things going on so congrats to those to those teammates um the play was phenomenal so um you know what blew me away about the play is that there was you know sometimes hard to get young men to do play stuff and it the stage was full of lots of different kids and they did an amazing job that is a a huge production and the efforts of not just the kids but a lot of community members again a lot of teachers a lot of Staff putting in extra time to make those things happen so um well
036done tell the kids really really cool and well done and I think that's oh oh for Middle School our elementary and Kids a glow dance do we have a glow dance somewhere oh those nice very well done sounds like you all are getting a ton of really good participation in your dances um so thank you to everybody another busy month we're kind of closing in towards the end of the year believe it or not in a few more months couple more months so hang in there we really appreciate all that everybody's doing well thank you so much now I do not have have anything else to say because they all said it all um thank you everybody and I do get sometimes feedback about um making you guys sit around like past this point but
037I really feel like it's since you already here what the heck you should listen to the next part um which is comments from the superintendent and she just rolls right through all of the things that you guys have done or we have done as a system in the last 30 days or month or whatever and it's just amazing to me you know not working in the schools no kids in the schools just how much you guys do and how much it brings to the whole County as a whole you know this is um a wealth of everything so um with that well can I defer to support our students have because we were just on the heels of like how how great they're doing so I don't want to steal that fund I'm going to
038pass that on to our uh two student Representatives have been doing a great job all long so you guys go [Music] ahead okay so the boys basketball team made it all the way to the state quarterfinals and where the runners up in the regional basketball tournament this is the first time they participated in the state tournament since 2008 so uh for the boys basketball Dogwood District uh Dogwood District Player of the Year was Colton Ward uh Bryce Jiles First Team all Dogwood District aen Carter second team Jack winner Colton Baker were both honorable mentions and teron Watson was the Dogwood District coach of the year so conratulations um for the All Region Colton Ward and Bryce Gils were first team All Region 2C and aen Carter was second Team all Toc um for the girls
039basketball dog Dogwood all district team honorable mentioned was Sophia Pedra and Hannah Rivera so congratulations for our indoor track team Dylan Butler Garen Carter Brent tabber all went to States for a long jump Dylan Butler and Sterling Williams made to States for the 55 meter dash BR Giles went to State for the shot put and finished fourth in the state and was a PR for him in indor track also the 4X 4x200 relay team made to State me and PR and finished e in the state and this team consisted of sterl Williams Dylan Butler Matthew Shannon and Colton Baker so congratulations to that for spring sports baseball softball and both boys and girls soccer had scrimmages this past Tuesday and start their season's games next week um as well as our outdoor track 35 boys
040and seven girls are on the official roster and our first meet is on March the 22nd in Danville at the dog Dogwood Pon District inter Invitational so something to look forward to yes thank you for some of our clubs at the school the cosmetology is opening up a governor Salon from on Tuesday Wednesdays and Thursdays providing a variety of services that range from $10 to $30 FCCLA will go to to compete in state conference the first weekend of April FFA will have a literacy day March 20th where FFA members will go to the elementary schools and read to them they will have April 11th they will have driver tractor to school day and April 2 24th will be food for America day um yearbook is currently selling their yearbooks until the end of April for
041$75 and then some recent school activities that were that happened um as you said the musical was just performed last week and it was I went and on and it was really good they did really well um reader cross America week we had high school students go to both the elementary schools and read doctor Sues and Pete the Cat books to the classes and they also each gave all the students a book um we currently have a go govs give back program going where students athletes will go and to the elementary schools on Friday and also reach to St to students and encourage them to read and then remediation is going on during grit and also after school to prepare students for the end of the year SS all right thank you add any dates
042that you want to mention too like the spring break is April 1st through the 5th and uh April U spring break is actually the 14th through the 19th well then what am I looking at thing yeah we have some other dat on there okay I will correct that so um I was like having them first because I certainly don't like to steal their Thunder but um you know a lot of times we don't plan out what they share but then we'll see it later on so when I'm able to um when I'm able to show some of the pictures for Community engagement some other things we'll see um many of those items that they've just um I'm sorry yes um so we do have some things coming up just uh from some of my comments
043um first and foremost thank you to all of our community support um I think we saw that in full form um in not only Newsies but also basketball but we also start to see more and more people coming out to see all the different variety of activities and events that we have going on and and that's a testament to our students and the support that they want to have I'm so close to being able to have that um so um we have coming up of the third marking period um we have that coming up pretty quickly and it feels like uh the SEC or the third marking period went by um very quickly due to a lot of the inclement weather um with that being said um something I'm sure people are are eager to
044hear um as I explained in our last meeting we started off the school year with 1144 hours that were scheduled um we are still now well above the um the standard of 990 hours for the school year so as of right now barring any future weather we are keeping our instructional calendar the same as we have right now so um we're not looking to add time to the day or um um additional instructional days because we're still well above um but as um was shared we encourage and are in full force with our remediation various remediation programs whether it's grit during the school day at the high school or after school uh remediation and also a lot of uh remediation takes place during the day at the middle school as well but um during the
045school day and after the school day for remediation we encourage students to take advantage of that I know our teachers are working really really hard um to to support uh so I just wanted to share that I know some people are eager uh to to find that out um and good luck to our spring Sports uh activities um yes FCCLA is heading off to States but also I believe we had block and Bridal coming up I know it had been postponed from February so that's coming up this weekend this weekend so best of luck to everyone participating and in all of our students in in the various activities um we still hold clubs and we still May there may not be major competitions but that's a way for our kids to find a sense of
046belonging and and find things that they're good at and passionate about and it makes them excited to stay connected and come to school so we want to continue to promote that all right if we can just press slideshow on that bad boy that would be great thank you so much um all right so administ uh Administration um obviously this is a big budget time so a lot of time and effort is spent doing that but it's not the only thing going on we've also been working on the bid and financing for the high school renovation um reworking uh the budget when we find out some about health insurance costs and and some other items that we can see we're we are in an interesting time period where we don't know everything going on at the
047federal level that could have some impacts on some things but we continue to pay attention and to work through um what we do know uh we're also working through you know our our everyday monthly things when it comes to um you know following the remaining balances of our federal grants um working with maintenance to plan um and strategize for dealing with just our everyday um operations um looking at purchase orders and and approving them and monthly Financial reports and also federal reporting for the the FY 24 federal grants so a lot of things going on um within the administrative department and also really strong budget um emphasis on that um again in full force for instruction um various professional development opportunities whether it's working with our um secondary uh staff on um English as uh
048Second Language um strategies and being able to support our students or um working through professional development for CK CK if you'll remember new literacy materials new standards trying to make sure we're aligning it and supporting our staff to be able to do that we also have uh finished up our vowels testing so we're we're getting the screening system and understanding where our students are at brvgs testing is complete so it's our next group of brvgs testers coming into us but also our seniors are preparing for their Capstone uh presentations coming up at the end of the month so we're pretty excited about that it's kind of a full circle opportunity there um big month for Early Childhood we had our kindergarten and our prek registration I would simply say to anybody out there watching if
049you have not registered um your preas student or your kindergartener yet there's still plenty of time to do that we encourage you to reach out to Tha River or Rockfish River Elementary School to be able to do that um we also continue with our so we have some people who weren't able to make it this evening because of literacy nights um at both our elementary schools that are taking place and that's a a great way for us to really promote and engage with our community and our students uh to promote literacy and then also we had uh individuals attend uh the National Institute for excellence and teaching and that conference was in DC um a lot of great Rich information not only for education but leadership so excited to to have that brought back and
050um implemented Human Resources this is the hiring season so lots of time and energy spent going out and recruiting um filling POS posting positions and scheduling interviews um recently attended the Liberty University teacher Fair also looking to work with local uh universities and colleges to place students um and grooming our next generation of Educators so placing them for practicums student teaching and also submitted our hometown teacher program applications to compete for um being able to support some of our our Nelson um students who then turned into Nelson employees to be able to support them here and celebrate that um in terms of pupil Personnel in conjunction with kindergarten registration we also do our developmental screenings for ages two to five um we've talked about this a lot with our budget we're seeing more and more
051of our younger aged um students um coming to us with with more needs and so that requires more supports and we try to get ahead of that to know the students that are coming to us and what their needs are so we can better plan for Staffing funding and all of those um those items that are going to be so critical to their success also special education helped us we talked about this the last time it's continuing I love that it gives everybody a chance to kind of learn a little bit more um also uh Drafting and hoping to approve the annual plan for the 2526 school year special education advisory um one of those mandates but it's a wonderful opportunity to bring families students staff in to really support all the goals and initiatives
052of our special education plan and also continue to have division wide Department process of facilitating um last school board meeting we talked about parallel um learning and bringing in um a a um kind of an interim school psychologist to do evaluations that's their primary um focus and it is through a virtual platform um but that is something that's we've gotten going already with it so we're pretty pretty happy to have that taking place in terms of Technology here in central office um having the apcs or the the connection and and racks to um minimize and prevent any kind of interruptions and disruptions to the function and signals that we get um Chromebook updates um I appreciate the forward thanking on behalf of our technology department to be able to go ahead and order Chromebooks ahead
053of any kind of anticipated big push for other divisions and other um entities to ask for these Chromebooks and I think um we're pretty lucky that we're going to get them in I think tomorrow whereas if anybody had waited later they may not be getting them for a very long time just due to the um the big push in anticipation for maybe having some trouble getting them in um fiber updates working on the terms and solutions for nchs zero eyes project getting that implemented and also you know you see a lot about this but cyber security and it's one of those things we're all like oh two Factor authentication oh I got to do this but in this day and age the need to be very Vigilant about cyber security things like um they've been
054Pro providing training of being able to look at an email and identify like that's a little suspicious I don't recognize that name I don't recognize email address and sometimes you can open up the email that's not as um as um high risk as it is clicking on links or opening attachments and so really training like if you don't recognize it then just delete it or send it on to Mike and and and his crew and they can identify what how legit it is um so that's really uh paying off for us because um we're surrounded by individuals that have been hit by some cyber security attacks and it's it can be crippling and we really are working hard to try to event or minimize any exposure to that so thank you um maintenance uh last
055time we were here we talked about the chiller um and we were able to uh uh address the challenges of installing that Chiller and um finally moved into the place after some setbacks um we received our rfps and approvals for our um High School renovation so looking to move forward with that and appreciate the support on behalf of the Board of Supervisors for assisting in that that whole overall funding process maintenance is continued with our quarterly training goals so we don't have just these big projects we have our our daily and our monthly goals and also has been winterising so we talked about um our our spring Sports and our spring activities requires um kind of dewinterizing our fields and our um event spaces so that has been the focus of this week because we'll
056go into full swing next week um transportation has been busy transporting um just recently our boys basketball none of those games were scheduled anywhere remotely close to Nelson County High School I think they kind of threw something on the the uh map to figure out how far away we could get um so we appreciate everybody um providing that transportation for our teams and not just our boys basketball team but all of our teams um that's including um we had a um a escort to the county line by the Nelson County Sheriff's Office so we appreciate that and all of our drivers that are so willing to be a part of that process and driving our kids safely to and from the activities um winter sports has come to an end spring sports are starting so
057that bottom left for all the scheduled activities that we're providing transportation for you know the ideal scheduling is having all of the teams going to the same spot but sometimes you can't always make it like that but there's a great deal of effort to make it work that way and also a huge shout out to the high school auto mechanics class teacher Justin derky they offered to take on the task of replacing the engine and you see quite a few of those pictures so a full engine swap and um all these different these photos that you see um in a completed version so that's a pretty big deal and that's you talk about um work-based learning you talk about um life or employable skills you know you give our our students an opportunity to swap
058out an engine and particularly on a bus that's a pretty big deal and that's a pretty good preparation for Life Beyond high school and food nutrition um School nutrition celebrated School breakfast week at all sites and introduced three breakfast items uh with the focus on whole grains for confetti pancake strawberry cream cheese bags and a whole grain chicken and cheese waffle and so the theme was get a clue um with School breakfast and u a lot of enjoyment out of that and also the continuing education that takes place in within our school nutrition um attending uh Child Nutrition advisory meetings and also the Virginia food and Virginia kids cohort meetings last uh for February student breakfast meals um 8,053 for the launches 13,135 for after school meals 177 little bit of a dip simply because
059we had a little bit shorter month period with the weather and a shorter month so last but not least we talked about the community engagement Newsies what a wonderful turnout I mean they've had to go now where you have to order your tickets in advance just to be able to make sure that you can f get a seat um but also a Twist um the cast and crew went to the elementary schools to be able to to um interact and work with the students to kind of get them engaged in that and make those connections so what a great way to kind of build your program but build that cohesiveness within um the School Division also obviously I'm the picture at the top of of our boys basketball team um winning the Dogwood District um
060Champions but also the escort um on behalf of of those supporting uh the team the middle we've been holding some Community meetings um and trying to get some feedback how do we increase our community and family engagement and really trying to to to listen to some of the ideas provided and one of which was you maybe maybe kind of taking a different approach to parent conferences and really you know sometimes that can be a scary thing for now the students the teacher and the parents is really kind of renaming it and re kind of marketing and branding it as a ncps student success night so really kind of looking at is how do we promote the success of our students and really kind of bringing that you know breaking down the barriers and building those
061relationships of getting our families in there to participate in this taking the ownership on behalf of our students and really taking ownership in those meetings so we really appreciate trying to work with our community on that in the upper right uh for Black History Month at Ty River they collected 550 cans and donated it to the Heritage Food Bank um so again another um really generous way of giving back to the local community um uh Marissa talked about uh the cosmetology um initiative where they're you know working they're you know they're in business and they are working to kind of within our community to provide some Services uh that maybe otherwise people wouldn't be able to get um the gubs give back student athletes and other students going into our elementary schools to promote Literacy
062By reading to them on a more consistent basis they also doubled up and went on re read Across America but it's a a great connection tool for our high school kids to make those connections going to you know our our Rockfish River graduates went back to Rockfish to read to those students and seats that they had sat in and our Tha River High School students went back um to read at the school that they went to so it's a it's a great connection and the teachers enjoy it the students enjoy it and it's a wonderful way to keep things going and that is it a all right thank you very much uh now we will have comments from the public if there are any that's not or the public can leave too if they want
063to see been checked anybody has here I can go I am like brain dead so you're going to have to I mean tell we're good okay all right so all right awesome I did want to mention though and uh Dr huster reminded me that we should um thank the Board of Supervisors for their recent action to um finish our borrowing whatever that step was um so they you know it's something along the lines of the whole project is like $25 million um to renovate the high school in many many different ways and you know most of that's not going to be all flashy stuff it's going to be plugs in the in the rims but you know I always say like in the 50s you might have one thing to plug in but now everybody
064has four things to plug in so those things are not flashy but they're very important to you know the ability of our teachers to teach and our ability of our kids to learn so thank you so much appreciate it um all right so what's next consent agenda can I uh and I will entertain a motion to approve anyway a minute does anybody have any questions or anything about the consent agenda okay I will accept a motion to approve the consent agenda motion to approve the consent agenda second all in favor I thank you very much um now we have items for information the first one being the minutes of our February 20th School Board meeting um and then we had another Schoolboard meeting and a budget work session on February 22nd also the first uh
065uh reading of that so just let um Tammy know if you've got anything there uh want you look it over and we're back to Dr Hester or is that me uh that is you okay so March among other kind of celebratory things that we had going on in March it is is um also equity and education month and I'd like to read the proclamation um whereas inequities in schools have become an increasingly significant challenge in the United States and Virginia and whereas the majority of school age students are children of color and over 50% of public school students qualified for sub subsidized meals and whereas we recognize that factors including but not limited to disability race ethnicity and socio economic status have a demonstrated history of impacting the educational opportunities provided to a student and
066whereas the promise of public education is for every child to be successful in school and life and whereas it is important for Virginia families students teachers and school administrators to be aware of the diverse needs of Learners and to encourage discussion of the challenges as a school community and whereas the vsba has established a task force on students in schools in challenging environments to make recommend ations and to stay at the Forefront of discussions on academic excellence in Virginia schools and whereas we recognize that in inequities and resources including educational settings supplies technology and buildings impede student learning now therefore be it resolved that the Virginia school boards Association recognizes the month of March 2025 as vsba equity and education month with the intention that educational Equity best practices and programming be discussed W in
067Virginia schools communities and classrooms during that time and be it further resolved that Nelson County Public Schools and the Nelson County School Board recognize the month of March 2025 as equity and education month to spread awareness examine discuss strategies and review current trends and best practices that will positively impact the educational outcomes for all of ncps students okay awesome that was awesome uh now we are going to go through some policy updates do you guys have any questions I only saw the one am I wrong was there more than one it's this big yeah I I think a lot of them were just just updating and Clarity okay um well this is the first reading this is the first reading so yeah this is really yeah that rather than going into in depth this is
068just the first reading of it any questions or concerns that you may have please by all means um reach out so then of that second reading um we can discuss or answer any of those questions thank you very much thank you very much and now we will have Mr Les Campbell with updated information on Capital Improvement plan it's not enough oxygen okay I guess I will start with theous chill we're calling it Mr biggie Mr biggy that's not only is it tall it's long so uh I had a few pictures for you tonight um if you look at the first picture see it's sitting on the concrete pad so when I say it's long honey well realized that it they only had about 2 feet On The Backs side of the chiller to be able
069to access the service door so they have to shift the chiller all the way to the front side of the pad which they had to cut out a bunch of piping to uh to to make it fit so they are actually hit a schedule Believe It or Not um installing it um they've got a good install crew um and so I say all this last time we were talking about what if it would cost us anything um I had a conversation with their account a manager at Honeywell Joyce curn and she agreed that it was on Honeywell that was there over sight and that we will not suffer any Financial um glad to hear that y uh they did uh repair the duck work and the door framing that they had to cut out and
070I've supplied some pictures for you to look at so you can maybe yep you can see them uh they they've yet to have to paint the uh the block but they will match all of the paint to to existing uh the modernization of the uh High School elevator uh met with TK elevator on the 26 and uh they come out to give us a list of what we have to handle on our end as far as the new upgrades of course we're severely outdated with their equipment so uh put some examples of what they're going to be looking at we have to to uh install a new disconnect with the battery power down feature so if you lost power it will go down back to the first floor MH um so I'm I we be
071working with Mosley to get that worked into the phase 2A portion of the renovation to get all of that done before we can get a they have to have a third party inspected after they in install it so in order for them to be able to inspected and give us clearance we have to have power on it so I'll be working with them to get that up and going uh of course like Mandy said we uh we're working to finalize that contract I know that the contractors as well as some of the subcontract contractors are trying to get ahead of some of the potential increases in material and the um probably looking at the trouble of getting material yeah the scheduling so um so they're we're working trying to get that so they can start
072ordering the material as quick as they can to get aeit of it um and uh I just as of this afternoon uh reached out to the service Authority uh to work on the the the meter we're going to go with the 4 in meter uh water meter and um so we've reached out to them to kind of get locked in so they can go on and get order that material cuz that's a large lead time on some of that equipment too so I think we're going to be battling a lot of lead times and and markup on material as we move forward with this I don't think it's anything new for our projects yeah it's definitely going to be tough yeah yeah so any questions thank you than top of um now we have Mrs
073Rachel discussing the participation in our Region 5 cohort of the VCU rrtc which is the Virginia Commonwealth University Rehabilitation research and Training Center Rachel wow I'm going to change the change up your introduction there we go yeah yeah make it exciting um so I wanted to come to you all today with an opportunity for us to grow our capacity in supporting we've identified for a while is you know concerns with behaviors in the class rooms and how do we support teachers support students and keep us focused on what matters most which is instruction and safety so this is an opportunity for us to build capacity and I wanted to give you all a bit of back background about how this came to be and why now it's an opportunity in Nelson so to No Surprise
074back in 2008 um superintendents and special education directors in region one which is Richmond area were noticing that they were experiencing some challenging behaviors uh all with students who have autism spectrum among other disorders and they realized that they wanted to pull together regionally and try to see if they could solve the problem to keep students in their home schools so then you fast forward to 2016 and the region partnered with the Virginia Commonwealth University at the time their Ace Program which supported individuals who um had autism had very specific behavior driven um and data driven protocols and procedures to help schools so what they found through that success V uh the VOE Now supported um vcu's expansion to go out to other regions in the state of Virginia to help these services for students
075with disabilities of all all disabilities from ages 3 to 14 which we know we are seeing incidents as young as three and four and sometimes there are most challenging behaviors um and also individuals who have autism through the age of 21 um through a process proc called customized Behavior application training and so what their proposal and what they've done and seen success with in region one is coaching consultation and training for school staff so I wanted to give a background on what that would look like um for coaching they would work with our division liaison which um certainly I would be a part of but also Laura wolf our Behavior specialist um and our two Behavior instructional assistants to really Target individually where their skill set is and what their individual needs are and to
076provide them training in order to support our division sta our division students um and personnel and they would do that through regularly scheduled meetings and consultations and so what they're doing is they're doing an individualized approach as opposed to just coming out and saying this strategy hey this works for all you may have 10 years you may have 2 years we're going to give you the same thing they um figure that out through a variety of assess ments in in ski in skill Gathering another thing that they do that I can already Envision some classrooms where we need this support is within 2 days when you reach out and maybe schedule an initial meeting if you have a classroom with a student who's maybe in crisis or particularly challenging and everyone feels as if they've
077done everything that they can do um they in they will come out and do three to five at least iners visits and help support the staff in those classrooms their data indicates that they have a 90 to 97% success rate over their nine years of Assisting School divisions and keeping these students when they come out and help in comprehensive Public School settings as opposed to placing them in our public separate School Ivy Creek or in our um private days um additionally uh they training to all staff based on several different models and of course my vision I've really realized I need to go to the eye doctor and I haven't gone in years um so I'm going to flip here so um there's different packages that they offer based on not only ranges of of
078experience but Al also and those could be provided regionally but also um individualized like micro models because they know how busy teachers and instructor assistants and administrators are they don't have time to sit for 2 hours watching a training there's no time for that so they offer very short incremental like 8 Minute types of mini trainings that they can provide so there's some social validity this is just additional data but I just want to highlight a couple of uh points that they brought out um they found that this is from teacher surveyed and in other divisions but the High success rate in this teachers identifying the feasibility to implement in the classroom as well as the turnaround time from you know when they were contacted and said they need help to when they come out
079and support was rated very high additionally um 92.3% saw a reduction a behavior reduction and 86.3 um% noticed a decrease in challenging behaviors that's really what our goal is it's really to make sure how do we support our teachers how do we support them quickly um and of course you know um I asked them when they they in my initial discussions with VCU I pointed out Richmond's not that close to Nelson are you sure you um have the means and the capability to drive out to Nelson and they say yes we drive all over the state all the time we're happy to do so so all of this is really at um well first off it's the the benefits we have are consistency in consultations and trainings providing that additional resource to our school Division
080and what I really believe in too is that building capacity for teachers and School staff it's more than just not just throwing people into a situation but let's build the people that we have and let's equip them and make them feel empowered in order to support the students in their classroom most importantly increasing Student Success in the school so and I was like very surprised when I heard how minimal this was uh annually the cost of this is $3,750 for all of these services and the cost share with Region 5 um it is not impacted as Shannon and I learned through uh conversations with their fiscal team it's not impacted if a School Division joins or says no thanks we're not doing it anymore because in the they reached out to all the Region 5
081special education directors and the larger School Division in Region 5 decided not to do it or still deciding and um I thought when they pulled out that there would be no way we could afford it but our price remain the same um I will say we've had uh via come out and support individual student needs before and we did uh we looked at some of the bills that we've received from via for those consultative services and that price is really less than we've paid bya in a month so it's a really good price there's not a cap on that price no in the sense that only so many people can participate from a training only so many students could flow there's no cap no they didn't say a cap they base that price off of
082our student population so for that c share it's just how many student students we have is how they calculate the price um so who they serve again is students with autism spectrum disorder ages 3 to 21 and then also students with disabilities of all ages 3 to 14 um and really not all the time but a great majority of the time the individuals who are requiring the most support with behavior are those who H are identified under a disability category and I would say just even as Rec last night having conversations with a staff advisor these are the constant things that we hear that are that are the biggest challenges um and it's it's some of these you know we had chall we had behaviors you know since you have kids they're kids but um
083the increase in the number of students with these behaviors and the severity is we're starting to see that and it is something that um you have people working so hard we want to be able to work to support our students and and really understanding how to do that and how to get that and it's is difficult so I think having services and opportunities like this is going to be critical to being able to serve the students and also support the teachers any questions how did you find it so they actually um we have region five special education directors meetings on a monthly basis so they reached out to our lead through region five and did a presentation and spoke to us and um so far it's ourself and Rockbridge County who have jumped on this
084of everyone in region seems like no brainer do our current proposed budget numbers already reflect this or not yes they do okay I think still up you still are up I'm not even going to introduce you again I can all right I'm ready for now it is the annual plan 25 it is I'm riveted yes you got it all right so now I'm going to um speak to you all on the special education annual plan okay there we go um so the annual plan is basically an agreement that we have with the state on how we are going to use the federal dollars that are given to us on a yearly basis to implement the individuals with disabilities Education Act our idea um so it's our ability to establish why we are eligible for funding
085and how we're going to use those funds appropriately based on guidelines um so the steps and um M was there with me the other night um we present this plan to the special education advisory committee uh and then we present to the school board for approval if you all approve the annual plan our superintendent signs off on it and then I submit it to the state and those funds are released in the summer of 2025 so you can see there are many different components of the annual plan application and I'll be going into each of those briefly with you all so that you know just so you're aware of what each component entails um so one of the first components is and it was actually new last year the general education Provisions act um so
086what this says is it acknowledges that we are going to um we are going to assure that we take away as many barriers as we possibly can in order to meet the needs of individuals with disabilities and their parents in accessing our services as a public education setting it also um we're required to think about how we're engaging our community stakeholders uh teacher Recruitment and staff training is a big piece of this as well making sure that we get our um teachers properly prop ly trained and those who are certified to be the ones to um be providing their services to students another component is the regional jails and the implementation of the previous year's plan we don't have any Regional jails so luckily I just did no and move on um for the regional
087plan something that I do want to highlight is or for the annual plan there are a multitude of ncps Staff members Sal salaries and benefits at least partially tied or um funded through the use of federal funding through this annual plan and you can see that they're listed there it includes eight special education teaching positions our Behavior specialist our two Behavior Support instructional assistance one of our special education administrative assistance my position um last year's plan also provided for funding um instructional materials and supplies These funds also help to support our vision and hearing services that we have contracted um both through prep and Allied uh services to because it's a very low incidence it's hard to find a vision teacher and a hearing teacher so um these funds help to support those and also
088at a greater need interpretting interpretation Services during meetings um both with languages with um sign language with interpreting documents ments making sure that our families are as aware as possible um before they give consent to any plan we proposed um the other piece that another piece that we have to discuss is maintenance of effort and maintenance of effort means that we are charged to spend at least as much if not more with local and state funds as we were the previous year um and so as you can see for the last school year we had um for we spent I'm going to have to get closer because that's too small and that's too if this isn't a time for me to go to the doctors I don't know what it is all right so we
089spent 4,470 2453 last for fiscal year 2024 doing some calculations for this next year for fiscal year 2025 we're projecting uh spending 4,771 460 $1.95 so we're hoping to maintain that effort of how we're supporting our individuals with disabilities additionally we have and we don't qualify for this thankfully but the state does monitor disproportionality and um if we over identify a certain uh gender race ethnicity disproportionately either with eligibility or disability then um or discipline then they do mandate that we set aside 15% of these State funds that they give to us in order to do some intervening and intervention services at this time ncps is not required as set as aside those funds um speaking of setting aside there's also proportion is set aside that is gathered from the December one count and um
090this really takes count of how many students we have that we're serving who are either parentally placed in a p in a private school or home school and uh the state does does a calculation and shares with us exactly how many students um we need to set aside money for to fund in in the proportionate set aside manner as you can see um we are required to aot $382.92 younger Early Childhood population and then $ 28,36 187 to our school age special education population who are served separately that's for a year what happens that's a set aside in case what happens if you don't spend it do you have to get if we don't use it spend it there are exceptions and um we can select one of those exceptions and it can roll over
091into our other annual plan funds and we can allocate them to our students and and needs such as materials or whatever we identify as a need um the annual plan also requires us to uh calculate and set aside how we're going to be supporting our individuals with disabilities ages 3 to 21 and then ages in um 611 and then 619 um so you can see the listing there of the salaries we use uh we're proposing to also really not make any changes continue with um instructional supplies materials uh both to support evaluations for eligibility as well as training and then um for 619 which is our younger kiddos we also are talking about resources and supplies mileage field trips extended school year Services um and then evaluation tools to help determine their uh needs and
092abilities so here you'll see we have a breakdown of funds per object code um the majority of what we're using in 611 and 619 as was highlighted is our personnel and employee services we also have kept some purchase Services uh for our uh hearing andv Vision interpreting as well as materials and supplies uh there's a much smaller allocation of funding for 619 uh which is are three through five and so you can see how it's broken down very similarly to last year so looking at our application we get this calculation from the state based on our December one child count numbers and so this application including PSA or the proportionate set aside that we take out of the funds we are overall in our total overall annual plan application um looking for funding for $488,500
093for our total annual plan allocation and that I have to highlight is in addition to State and local funds um so just a reminder it's this application is federal flowthrough funding to support students with idea local and state funding also required in order to meet the needs of students with disabilities and we spoke about maintenance of effort in that need to spend at least as much if not more than we did the previous year any questions no [Music] thank e e e look at all the comments like the community count the community um survey that was put out the teacher survey that was put out the student survey we look at that information and thoroughly go through it and determine if we can meet that need and that criteria that with the parameters that the
094state gives us and what our expectations are for instruction no it's very how much time and how very uh you know how how hard you work on this I really I appreciate that and I was actually you know very proud of myself to be able to kind of like take all of this information and kind of explain it to somebody so that was good too yeah I've seen it a many times it's a good I mean I think it's a good point if there's a way for families to to simp to make those student no student days that's a fair okay all right any other questions no ma'am can you redo it all yeah I can redo it all if you need I have on um one thing that did come to mind that I
095wanted to mention is that when we sent out the draft calendar input survey um one thing that we brought up was a question about um a transition night that we normally have transition nights at our school we wanted to kind of build that into the calendar it was a thought um and after collecting that information it does seem that our um staff would like to move forward with that at some point in time but we do have some things to work out so we thought we get a a committee together and kind of work on that throughout this year to make a solid plan for the upcoming school year after 25 26 so we do have that in the works as something potentially for the following calendar that we'll present um but this would be
096for the current school year we didn't decide at this moment in time to use that thank you so much thank you all right now the highlight of evening updated in it was perfect time and I know did someone text you she said [Music] oh dang all right so now we're going to hear from Mrs Miss Shannon Irvin and about the budget hi the budget that showing you tonight looks a bit different from the one you saw a month ago um well on the 20th the um health insurance renewal came in from the local choice at 12% so I went through and reworked the budget um it was originally 15% of the budget so we moved it down to 12 um we also Incorporated the general assembly's recommended Revenue figures where before we were using primarily
097the governor's uh Revenue figures he has I guess another the 13th two weeks yeah to uh decide whether he's going to veto or approve the budget there's General consensus that it was a bipartisan effort and so the thought is is that it's likely to pass as it was presented so fingers crossed um it did result in additional funds for us now the federal government um they still haven't settled last year's budget so I think they have until Friday to decide whether they're going to do something or the government when's the last time they actually did a budget on time that was an actual budget I can't even remember right so if they don't do something Friday um I think the federal government could shut down but what that means we'll see um who knows what's
098going to happen next year um I did put some information in your packet about the C program which is which allows all of our students to have free breakfast and free lunches the um house and their budget bill has a um recommendation that the threshold for C participation be moved to 60% none of our schools reach that 60% Plateau we're in the 50 to 59 range for each of our schools which means that we would not qualify so I wanted to prepare you for the fact that we may be going back to the old free and reduced and paid lunches so that would be passing expenses back to our community I went back to 201 19 which was the last year that we had a really good year before c and um we received $583,000
099in um federal revenue and um last year we received 956 because of the C program so an additional $373,000 that we'll will have to either pass on or absorb somehow and the C if I'm not mistaken um it was either created or adjusted uh during Co yes right and so they're really what they're doing is trying to Sunset that I guess yes okay okay um so the total budget request uh changed for another reason and it's basically my nervousness over the federal budget so many of the federal grants cover more than one year like they might be for this year but they might be also for next year and part of the next year because we're on a different fiscal year than the federal government so this budget would ask for the appropriation of all
100of our federal funds that have been awarded to Us in this fiscal year coming up just because I don't know what's going to happen and if there's a chance that we could lose money we may want to redirect the purpose so particularly you'll notice the difference in 6B we have um usually only asked for the amounts of money necessary um or what we received this current year you'll see a big increase in that for next year um so the total budget that's being presented is 33,8 79,80 composed of 9,996 424 of State including state revenue and state sales tax which makes up 29.5 1% of our budget uh federal funds of 2,467 68 2 which makes up 7.28% of our budget um other Revenue which is fees and charges of $81,300 4135 or 60.8 2%
101of our budget this budget does include funds for four buses um to be purchased out of the regular operating budget I will say that I talked to another Finance director yesterday in the lead time of getting buses of when they're ordered May exceed the year so even if they are appropriated next year chances are we wouldn't be paying for them until the following year so it would be really hard to put them in an operational budget without the understanding that those balances would be reappropriated the following year that's why a capital fund might make the most sense if those funds would be in there just just because of the way our budgeting works that any unexpended funds revert back to the county on June 30th um I thought it was interesting that as our budget
102our local percentage is 60.8 2% and our Composite Index is 66.5 2% yeah um and the composite index has made up of 50% of the true value of real estate and Virginia adjusted gross income and taxable sales the it's weighted so the true value of real estate is 50% of the formula um adjusted gross income is 40% of the formula in taxable sales is 10% so um that's our budget in a nutshell if you have any questions I would refer you to the budget summary sheet I think Tammy's got that to put up um so overall we would have increases in Revenue not counting the County's contribution of $145,900 the potential impacts that tariffs and drive Cuts could have um sales tax is one of those numbers that it's not guaranteed to you it's their
103estimate that they do based on their models but if we enter into a recession sales tax may not be as rosy as what they've projected um increase in federal revenue we did have a decrease there but with adding the title 6B carryover funds into the budget it brings it into a positive and the reason we had a decrease before is because we had purchased switches for our Network infrastructure out of last year's budget which were're paid for with federal funds so just to explain that and then a decrease of other revenue of 42,900 increases for staff we did 3% for bus drivers and um support staff inclusive of inclusive of their steps so it's basically two and a half and then a half a percent step um teachers we looked at the whole entirety of
104the scale and targeted those um at years 15 through 30 the highest and then for administrators it averag out to a 2.6 6 1% I believe um fringe benefits uh 12% increase in health insurance overall and then uh the way the Virginia retirement system now funds the hybrid benefit program every three three years there's an auto escalation where employees are encouraged heavily to increase their participation by a half a percent when they do that that incurs an additional cost to the school division because we have to match their half a percent so um that is going to an effect in January of 26 so those numbers are factored into the French benefit cost as well um new positions we had three positions in the budget we had an assistant principal at the elementary level we
105tried going without an assistant principal at one of our schools or having the person float and for a number of reasons that's not been successful so we would like to reintroduce that to our budget um in order to provide an age appropriate setting for um our adaptive U special ed students that will be entering Middle School we need to add a program back to the middle school that was taken away and moved to Early Childhood special ed this year um that will be driven by I AP so we don't really have a lot of choice in adding that position position and the other one is an elementary position um we're holding our breath for kindergarten registration um to see how that's going to turn out for the coming year um that position um is budgeted
106in the budget as an additional position but unless the numbers increase that may not be needed so that's just out there um as a worst case scenario moving forward joint operations of 882287705 worth of buses is in the regular operating bu budget but also some funds out of TI 6B for a special ed bus and that is a placeholder in case um we need to use those 6B funds quickly um but also would give us some um help with our transportation department and transporting special needs students uh purchase Services zero eyes again that's the first year of the contract that we'll be need be needing to pay for that it's not the full 97 but it is a majority of that amount of money for um security and safety in our buildings internet costs of
1076,278 N2 travel of 2855 and miscellaneous of 300 um but we also had some decreasing expenses um materials and supplies of 224,000 where did that money come from but it's actually our Allin Virginia program has impacted that greatly that um that money was given to us the year before last and was to be used last year this year and a little bit next year so um we'll be watching that to see if there's any carryover to go into next year um communication went down 22 27 28 and that's basically um our cell phon that are in our elevators and then the fund transfer to textbook which is mandated based on um the state budget of 2083 so that's our budget in a nutshell is any questions that I could give you or said so the
108three new metet new positions I understand those the one that had been moved down to the elementary level yes do we still have that position in place we did okay and it's still needed that particular population has grown and probably continue to grown I know that we have looked at possibly into the future needing yet another Early Childhood special ed class some of those aren't options right like some of those are are required at certain number position so when she said we don't really have a choice about it she means we really don't have a choice about it yeah no and I agree we need to have they back that's that's got to we got to have that on the buses so you're saying there's a about a year lead time on new school buses
109yes so you're listing it as capital outlay but it's currently in the operations budget like we were talking about yes so we just would need to have an understanding with the county that we would have to use carryover funds from one fiscal to the next uh because of lead time on the buses correct okay all right I think as long as we have that understanding we'll be okay we have a PO it can be you know considered really spent even though we haven't cut the check yet got to pay on the invoice um still a lot of unknowns there a lot of unknowns um I had a meeting with several other Finance directors and other divisions and everyone is has taken the stance that they think that the C program is in danger but that
110they will pass those costs on to Residents as they were before but they think the other Federal grant programs will be passed on to other agencies to administer like Health and Human Services for some and um so we'll see if that changes um either the administration of the grants or the dollar amounts of the grants so the C progr you referenced in here for for food the program we've been participating which I know George and I were really an advocate when we came on board of providing meals for all kids also read something about a local food program that potentially may like you said get Sunset is that tied into this one or is that a separate program yeah so a few years ago we had a grant from the local food Hub that gave
111us um the opportunity to be able to purchase fresh fruits and vegetables from local sources but it's been a sporadic not an every year kind of Grant so it depends on funding it was like a billion dollars cut from that but it didn't affect Virginia okay so I was trying to do when you were originally talking about the uh C program with the meals I was trying to do some napkin math based on the number of meals served in February or whatever and it looks like which is much lower oh yeah yeah and I figur we probably school days in February something like that did we have that many maybe it's it's only 12 I don't have that off the top of my head I don't either that's why out of 20 28 days I
112don't we know we're upwards of 16 and 17 14 okay so was close yeah I mean it's not anything to see 16 17,000 meals suppli yeah but I wanted to find out what that breaks out to the population the school population using them and so on average we're serving 550 bre a school day uh out of 1,400 and have many kids and then 900 and some well but it's available to everybody so my question is and I'm an advocate of it being available to everybody but should we lose that extra funding what would the cost be if we pick that up so you you may not have that information now and that's okay3 I know that the revenue that we received under the old way was about $363,000 different but again we were different population
113so again we'll have a different number of free and reduced kids and that's not a scientific way of calculating refresh my memory didn't some of the local businesses and organizations donate to the um lunch cause when I early on when I came on there was an individual that donated funds for students that had debt and that owed the school lunch program because it used to be that they carry debt from year to year to year till it was paid off yeah but we did have a benefactor that came in and settled all the debts for all the kids MH well and I'm asking this one I feel like it's I mean I am a believer that you know kids that are sitting in for whatever the reason is whether they are hungry CU they're needing
114food and they can't afford it or whether they're just hungry CU they didn't eat breakfast before they left home kids sitting in the classroom that are hungry aren't paying attention and they don't learn as well so I'm a Advocate I'm a Believer in all of that but I'm asking these questions because I think going forward there's going to be a because of the deficit situation that the country's in I think we're going to be looking at a lot more onus being placed on the states and then localities um and you know so it's probably good for us to be ready for that but I don't know the answer to you know like you said it's a moving Target so you don't know year to year how many how many you have so we never the
115socio economic dynamics of their student population is going one specific Direction and that's more towards free and reduced lunch that would qualify in that Arena we've collected reduce lunch information for 5 years since since Co hit so and we're going to have to to issue new guidance on doing that if they go forward with this what benchmarks are right anything else we don't you know I think we sit here every year and do this and the reality is there's very little in the budget that you know it's so people focused and employee focused that there's not not a lot of wiggle and and jiggle as they say nothing new Under the Sun every business in the country spends about 80% of their budget on good statement true doesn't help us though no thank you yeah
116thank you all right you guys ready I say not every business has 80% well that's true I'm not what you're saying but I don't there's some that may not be but the majority it depends on the Titan business someone said Virginia e I guess where the pay is higher the pay rates are higher um or they have Administration or something thank you [Music] Shannon um all right you guys ready all right so items for Action we need to have a motion to approve the participation in the region 5 cohort of the VCU R RTC I move that we approve participation in the region 5 cohort of the V CC rrtc Virginia Commonwealth University Rehabilitation research and Training Center second we have a motion and a second anybody want to talk about that at all you
117all good sounds like a bar all right I think so7 let's say yes before it goes away right all in favor no opposed or abstaining so that's cool um the next one is the approval of the 2526 uh annual special education plan can I have a motion please I'll make a motion that we approve the special education plan second we have a motion in a second all in favor I I all right no nose or whatever the other middle thing is um and now we need a motion to approve the 2526 division calendar I move that we approve the 2526 division calendar second all in favor I no n or anything else um now we go to uh we need to approve the superintendent's proposed budget for 25 before we do that do we need
118to put a dollar in that motion yeah all right you got the number yeah it's this one it's really hard to see 33,8 79,80 right yes 33 33 87948 all right I move that we approve the superintendent's proposal budget for 2025 2026 school year in the amount of 33,8 79,80 second all in favor I all right we did it one more time for some for those of us who are quitting I hear you oh do we need to go in a close session do we what do we need to go in a close session for um can I have a motion to go into close session please I move that the board go to close session to discuss and consider the Personnel report and other confidential Personnel matters as authorized by Virginia code 2.23 711
119A1 for purposes of discussion or consideration of prospective candidates for employment assignment appointment promotion performance demotion salaries discipline or resignation of specific public officers appoint appointees or employees of any public body second we have a motion and a second all in favor I we're in clear session all right [Music] he [Music]