School Board Business Meeting: 2-26-25

001afternoon ladies and gentlemen thank you for joining us for the swearing in ceremony for Mr Jason in um Mr in you may go to the podium but also we'd ask our chair to come forward to give some brief remarks before calling Mr Schaefer forward thank you welcome everybody today to the swearing in of Mr Jason in whose name I still is a work in progress for me to say correctly uh we we we uh we're happy to have you here and I'm going to keep it short and sweet let's get this man SW in Mr schaer I am okay what I'll do is sounds good all right okay well let's make this official okay all right uh Jason would you please raise your right hand and repeat after me I do solemnly swear or affirm

002I do solemnly swear or affirm that I will support the Constitution of the United States support the Constitution of the United States and the constitution of the Commonwealth of Virginia and the constitution of the Commonwealth of Virginia and that I will faithfully and impartially I will faithfully and and impartially discharge and perform discharge and perform all the duties incumbent upon me all the duties incumbent upon me as a Schoolboard member of the school board of the city of norfol as a school board member of the school board of the city of norfol very good uh for a term beginning February 5th 20 2025 for a term starting on February the 5th 2025 and expiring as soon after expiring soon after the November 5th 2025 special election as a newly elected candidate as a newly elected

003candidate may be sworn in as a new may be sworn in according to the best of my ability according to the best of my abilities so help me God so help me God he passed the test congratulations let me just sign this let me sign this wait minut okay I need you to sign here Jason and then here okay and there and then I'll sign that you sign awesome sounds good let's get a John Hancock the first signature towards a new era one there all right sign and then will'll be official okay okay excellent George thank you so much for your service to the city and thank you for coming here happy to do thank you I'll give all right and you can have some brief remarks ah yes I do I love I got

004my cheerleaders here on the side I tell you I would need you my board so all right so first off good afternoon board members Educators staff family members of the norfor community it is an incredible honor to be stand before you today ready to serve the city of norfol taking this oath is more than a ceremony it is a commitment a commitment to lead with purpose serve with integrity and work relentlessly for the future of our students of our great City leadership is not about titles it's about action accountability and delivering results it's about rolling up our sleeves working together to ensure that every student in every classroom has access to the opportunities they deserve education is a civil right because when our schools succeed norfol succeeds norfol public schools has a strong Foundation thanks

005to our dedicated teachers support staff families and Community Partners it is a foundation we can be proud of but we cannot stop here ladies and gentlemen we cannot stop we must build on it and push forward raising graduation rates strengthening early childhood education and modernizing our facilities these are just the starting point of our mission and our mission is very clear turn potential into progress it is time for courageous conversations because our challenges are real reading scores are failing achievement gaps are persistent and enrollment in our school district is declining but we Face these challenges head on not with excuses but Solutions we will lead with transparency let me repeat that again we will lead with transparency make data d decisions stay laser focused on Student Success together we will create a culture of accountability

006because accountability is not just a goal it is a promise to the families and the children who trust us to get this right this is a defined moment for the city of Norfork for the Norfolk School Board the work ahead won't be easy ladies and gentlemen let me say that again the work ahead will not be easy but we will be able to accomplish it progress will not come overnight but together with trust determination and a Relentless focus on results we will get the job done let's be very clear no more exceptions no more excuses every child every classroom every opportunity I'm ready to serve this great City support my board colleagues I'm ready to get to work y'all and I'm ready to build with all of you all of you it takes a village

007this is a coalition and we're ready to see our students rise to the fullest potential and ensure that norfol and its students are a thriving Cornerstone of a diverse and thriving Community thank you for this opportunity [Applause] let's get to work thank you Jason uh I think I know who the orator on the board is after after today uh again thank you everyone for coming we have a reception in the hallway so let's go get something to eat thank you awesome [Music] i' like to call the meeting to order uh we will go straight into our budget Workshop oh we have to do the roll call I'm sorry I don't have the agenda sitting in front of me so I got distracted here Buffalo here in here Mar hi here hi pres so good afternoon

008um chair de calero of issues sorry little entertainment before the meeting again good afternoon chair de calero Vice chair Miss Thomas members of the board and our community and staff um as you recall in February I did a presentation of my proposed operating budget for fisc year 2526 and today we feel that we're well positioned to answer any questions that you may have um related to this budget proposal so at this time I'll ask Chief finance officer Cheryl Spivey to um approach the podium um she's going to certainly support this presentation as well well as our Dynamic executive director of budget and grants management Crystal Skinner Miss FY good afternoon chair de calero Vice chair Thomas members of the school board Dr bird song um I'm pleased to provide a quick um overview of the

009um superintendent's proposed operating budget and um a quick process of you know the things we've done so far and the steps we have left to get this um budget adopted and um the presentation you have before you is the full presentation I'm only going to um to talk to um a few of these um slides the um the budget process uh which began in October and is proposed to be completed in May is diagrammed on this slide and the next so on this slide we you see we began the process in October um a number of internal things happened during that period uh the preliminary estimate of revenues and expenditures were um prepared in January um in February the superintendent's proposed operating budget for fiscal year 2526 was presented to the school board um on

010March 5th the school board um will have a public hearing on the budget on March 19th this is the recommended date for the school board to approve the fiscal 2526 proposed operating budget um AP April 1st is the statutory deadline for the um sub submission of the school board's proposed operating budget to be provided to norfol city council and um nor norick city council will um appropriate funding um for the school U board for the fiscal year 2526 operating budget um the school board will then address any differences that may have been between the um your proposed operating budget and the um appropriation that city council approved and the school board um is recommended to adopt the school board operating budget um on um in in May of this year um the total operating budget

011is$ million uh it's broken out um between um a number of funds the general fund is our largest fund that is our operating fund and um the um proposed budget for the general fund is $450 million School nutrition fund which is primarily self-supported uh self-supporting with um Federal money um is 26.9 million um all of our grants and special programs are in another fund um and that's at 42.8 million and then our Capital Improvement budget for this year is proposed to be 253 million um um we receive our Revenue primarily from three sources the um the state is the largest source of Revenue um proposed for this budget at 263.50 million the city's funding um is the second highest at um proposed at 167.5 million and um and then we also H um have federal

012revenue other local revenue and an estimated amount of reversion so that's um funds that we um um will that we didn't spend that in fiscal year 204 that we proposed to ask the city council to allow us to use that number is not yet final it's very very very very close to being final um as um we um have drafted our final financial statements and then I'm going to go to um compensation compensation um is um one of the um primary priorities um for this budget um for this budget um we are U proposing to increase the starting teacher starting pay um from 57,500 to 6,088 doll that's an a 4.5% increase this um this increase includes both a one-step increase and a cost of living adjustment and um and for those employees who are

013at the top of the scale um they um would receive a one time 2.2% bonus and oh can I miss we will you know Crystal will you go to the next see okay and oh okay you are you were at it I'm sorry need to get further um in in our proposed budget instructional support is by far um the largest portion of the budget proposed at 319.50 [Music] the um again as as I had been on a previous Slide the public hearing on the budget is scheduled for next Wednesday um on March 19th uh we're recommending the school um board um adopt its budget April 1 is a statutory deadline to um get um the proposed budget to the city so that in may they can um determine the amount that they were going to

014appropriate to the school board the school board will then address any differences and um and then the school board um will be scheduled to adopt this budget um and with with that that's um just wanted to provide a a quick summary and um and where we are and where we need and our path forward and um and with that um I will leave it uh with the Schoolboard shair thank you so much at this time I'd like to ask board members if you have questions concerning the budget I'll I'll just do one and then because I'm I'm sure there's a lot of questions um Miss B Dr berson have we um I know for me when we talk about compensation I would like to see what where we sit and compare with our neighbors how

015we rank 0 to 5 uh 6 to 10 and 20 plus 30 plus um as far as last year and how that we surpass hopefully um our neighbors in um compensation and what what does that look like um for our neighboring um that's a a great question and I can say um that as it relates to our teacher salary for this year um we were extremely competitive um outside of Portsmouth public schools we had the highest beginning teacher salary and we were very pleased with that um in terms of the other districts um they were lower in that area than we were and of course because we typically end up presenting our budget first every year then other school divisions are watching what we're doing so they can um be as competitive or or more

016competitive and I don't know if Dr AG Scott has with her and I know she and her team look closely at those um salaries as we we are preparing the budget but I'm not sure if she B that information with her today did you okay but we can certainly provide that to you thank you Miss I think I'll just go around the room and ask people have question oh I'm sorry no no no you're good no you're good she say she's GNA go around the room so you'll get to me all right well um thank you for the opportunity to have greater discussion around the budget um I do I did submit several questions um ahead of today's meeting um but there are a couple areas that um I would like to focus on specifically

017related to our our goals um around literacy achievement gaps and providing access and opportun to Advanced cours workk and so with that um I would like a little bit of an understanding around um first off around um you know when during our progress monitoring we've had um updates from the administration around what's been working and not working and tutoring seems to have been um a high high leverage area for our students and so could you I see that 8.5 million in here for tutoring is that um is that all encompassing of everything that we need to ensure or to accelerate progress for all of our students or um if if you could um speak to that that would be helpful thank you I'm happy to start and then I'm going to ask our chief academic

018officer to um join me at the podium um so as it relates to your questions um there were quite a few there were five pages worth of questions and and we did our very best that we were able to get those in this afternoon to you so I think you should have in in your email boxes um the 12-page response to your questions and so we're happy we were happy to provide the information to you but as it relates to your question right now um yes so tutoring has proven to be effective and um we have invested a lot in tutors for our students and we want to continue with that because it has worked well um there are other initiatives within our budget that will specifically address closing achievement gaps and um achieving the

019the goals of the school board for example professional development at the end of the day and I know I sound like um a broken record here but it is the classroom instruction that is going to make the most difference with our children so we have to invest in our teachers we have to invest in professional devel velopment opportunities for our new teachers for our veteran teachers everyone could uh benefit from professional development we have um a very robust professional development program within norit Public Schools so much so that you know the saying around the region is that you know send them to norit first let them get that good professional development and then we'll take them and so I'll let Dr Paul uh talk a little bit more about some of the instructional uh initiatives

020that we had that will be supported by next year's budget Dr thanks Dr B song and uh to start with with the tutoring the the funding that that was requested absolutely there's enough funding to cover where we've been and and our our our current needs are being met with um with uh local funded tutors as well as Contract Services tutors through University instructors um and we're finalizing an RFP process right now to um reestablish contracts with tutoring companies so um budget-wise what we requested was based on need and not you know it was based on what we need to accomplish for next year um and then you know as Dr Birdsong was saying around the professional development and the and the other programs you know the continued focus with our early literacy um and the

021professional development for our tutors included as well as our teachers around with the Virginia literacy Act and the professional development required there that's all been included in the budget you know the the budget request that we had through academic Affairs to support our teachers throughout the process because that's a large lift for them um and then you know supplementary through our title two and title four grants we've also you know those applications have traditionally had different supports for teachers as well and could I ask a followup so regarding the um university instructors so the contract that we have with them is that inclusive of that 8.5 million or is that separate that's part of the 8.5 million that's part of the 8.5 okay all right so that's within that and then we still have the

022all-in we'll likely exhaust most of our all-in this year um so that's why you know last year this the tutoring was around six million on the local and we're up to 8.5 million now because we'll likely exhaust our all-in funding okay um but as as in the past we've discussed when we have um vacancies or other areas we're able to use that funding for tutoring when possible to okay so the 8.5 million takes into account that the the um the expiration of the all-in funding as well is that okay correct and that includes our early literacy tutors um and just to there was another question here I I'll allude to as well you know we also have uh Elementary School science teachers we have middle tutors we have middle school science tutors um it includes

023those we also have Middle School reading and math tutors for the support blocks that includes those um and this is our first year where we had specific sixs and ninth grade reading tutors as well and that includes those in the budget too okay so I guess the part that I want to better understand so the 8.5 million though it is less than what we've had for tutors is that am I understanding that correctly correct and if you recall in this year's budget we added more local tutors so we're hiring the tutors that rate is much less okay than the university instructor rate so we were able to get more bang for our buck the more local tutors were're able to find but coming out of covid we were able to find local tutors um but

024now we've been able to find more and more local tutors so transferring more to us hiring the tutors ourselves is a cost savings initiative okay okay and okay I'm just I'm just trying to understand um how the reduction in investment still enables us to do everything we need to do to accelerate that's how it is because we've been able to find more local tutors um which is much cheaper than using our contracted services with UI okay all right I have some others but I let's let everybody go around yeah first yes good afternoon um so I the general assembly just finished um and they just finished their session probably come back in April for some um reconvening um I think correct me if I'm wrong but we received some additional funding from the state um

025we haven't received that yet of course not yet but it's in the budget so when it's approved and it's um appropriated um we usually come back in like May or June after something like that happens and we develop a plan we present it to the board and you all decide if you want us to move forward with the plan or if you want to make revisions or adjustments so that's kind of an annual process and thankfully we're going to be in a position to add instead of having to take some things away as it stands right now um because we've had to do that like years ago we did have to come back to the table and make some major cuts and so we don't think we're going to have to do that this year

026so we're very hopeful about bringing some more recommendations to you when we um actually secure how much they're going the state is going to give us got it okay awesome that's my only question at this time yes Carson uh yes um we're spending some money on on the devices and all does that include the infrastructure and there were some places um it's been reported that the signals not that good inside the school buildings uh will this techn techology or device initiative since it's a device initiative it may not cover that but is it covered somewhere else in improving the reception yes so Dr catalo if you can join me we have um a replacement cycle for example um with our devices and um and I've shared this before with the board but there there new

027members on the board who may not be aware of this we have spent um invested millions and millions of dollars in Chromebooks and laptops and unfortunately some of our children have had six seven eight Chromebooks and that becomes and that's a little bit of an exaggeration but there are some there are some there are some um there too many um and so we find ourselves here every year um with having to include additional funding to support that we know experience important we want our children to have the tools that they need to be successful definitely but it is very very expensive and so I know in other school divisions they are when you lose a Chromebook you crack a screen whatever the case may be you don't get another one until your parent pays for

028that repair um or replacement device and so um we understand um that some of our children live in in poverty we understand that and where and we do everything that we can to make sure that we do issue another Chromebook or another uh device to our to our children so we're going to have to look at a way where whereby we are able to be able to at least collect something on these Chromebooks because otherwise we're going to be sitting at this table every year with millions and millions of dollars being invested in Chromebooks when we could certainly utilize funding in other areas but to question as it relates to infrastructure yes we do continuously look at that and I know that we did include some funding in the budget for that if you want

029to address that Dr catalo please yes yeah we did include money for the infrastructure in fact if you look in the center of the room right there on the ceiling right there we have one of those devices in every single classroom and also spread throughout the buildings and the hallway so if there is a principal or if you're hearing information about a dead spot or we're just not getting internet activity someplace be great if you sent me an email and I'll work with our team because we uh get Replacements on those all the time and uh many times it's just really tweaking it uh putting a new system in uh but that's exactly what those things are designed for to prevent that and we do know we have some of our older buildings that have

030very very thick walls that it it just will not go through from one classroom to the next so what we do is we'll put multiple in a classroom so when you walk in the classrooms you'll look in the ceilings and you'll see especially in our older buildings we'll have multiple uh units up there for that so we do have that built into our infrastructure uh and to assist and ensure that students are able to connect anytime they need to connect from our devices okay it's definitely built in there so please reach out to me though if you are hearing a specific School a specific classroom because that's what we want to hear and we we go out there and take care of it I I suggest the parents that they talk princip absolutely that's perfect

031yeah because that way they're they're they're the ones that are going to have to do that and and you know I I can guide them to where they need to go exactly yeah thank you that's perfect colon Paulson just build us 50 new schools we'll be that'll solve that problem 15 now well thank you I 5 z Oh 5 Z yes 15 no 50 um I I'll come back when my turn comes around well before we if it's okay with you Alfred I just have one question for the all right awesome all right so for the Chromebooks were all students issued Chromebooks so yes all students were when we were going through the pandemic in in fact um I was very very proud of of what we were able to do in a very very

032short period of time we had um a very very strong onetoone initiative we so every kid was issued a Chromebook and so we are in a position now whereby because so many children for whatever reason they have not returned their devices to us and this causes uh issues with when children need their technology in classrooms or during times of testing um and then they don't bring it back to school and then they can't participate in our you know our Assessment program s so testing and and things of that nature so the principals wanted to shift to having classroom sets and allowing children who did not have devices at home to be able to check them out as well as myi devices so that's where we are now but again um we still have more devices

033than children in in the in the school division but that will continue to be a concern and until we're able to address you know having our parents uh be a little more accountable for the devices that we are issuing to our kids so is so we don't have a one to one right now like as far as kids being able to go home have a Chromebook okay Mr Dr catado addressed that yeah we have TW right now we have 28,0 and7 Chromebooks and 6,049 iPads so we have some of our younger students who use iPads our older students use the Chromebooks so we have more Chromebooks and iPads then we have students in this school division so yes we definitely are one to one my question follow is that why did my daughter have to

034take a paper test this week as opposed to the students in another section of her class taking it on the Chromebooks because they said they didn't have enough I will follow up with your building principle to find out why your daughter didn't have a Chromebook I mean it just you know I I understand that we're supposed to be one to one but keep getting feedback we don't have I'm Sorry Miss Miss Thomas I the same thing it's not enough Chrome books I don't know where they are if somebody got them hitting but um like the snow thing a lot of kids actually went home with paper package because they did not have a Chromebook so we have a Chromebook issue if an issue like I said I don't know if they hiding them somewhere or

035whatever um but I guess we have to get with the principal and assessment you know do an inventory or whatever and see what we need because if we have that issue again where we out for more than two days the kids are not learning anything so if that's between them learning and not having a Chrome book we got to get some and I did speak with a teacher who has 28 29 students in a class class but 21 working Chromebooks so that is how many do we have broken because I know you did an inventory of that too yep we have 749 that are currently in repair oh my goodness said 749 in repair so I have a followup um my question is so we have enough make sure correct me from wrong um so

036we have enough Chromebooks then we have students correct correct and they are in operable working condition correct correct but not every student based on what what my colleagues are saying that they are not having a Chromebook well so there may be some reasons why we got be some other reasons why that we would have to definitely look into talk with building principles got it okay uh building principles work with their staff work with their network engineer that's the person who kind of counts them and monitors them and they create uh uh they let us know so they let the division know how many that they have and so we're able to access those numbers and as they change in the school they make the change in the school reflects of the division level so then

037we can see where it is and where the computers are being used how if how many are being broke how many are broken how many are repair how many need to be fixed and how many we need to get additional so we do move them from school to school sometimes if a school may have increased the number of students and maybe have uh less inventory so we do move them around when needed two more and then I'll be complete um next question so the parents we know the children for whatever reasons they may damage um the actual Chromebooks is we want to work with our parents absolutely um and this is a shared responsibility in this educational this whole education Excellence for our students is there an agreement in place for parents um that if

038a a device is broken that there is some type of fee that they must pay yes that exists but being able to force that is very challenging and again we don't want to penalize the children oh of course by means yeah you don't want to do that so we have forms that have the cost of every single item broken screen damage Chromebook uh Keys falling off whatever using a charger correct all those things it's all on the form and so they know that when they are acknowledging that that that comes with it okay how often are y'all conducting an um technology audit on your devices that you have in your schools uh we actually do that routinely uh and and when we hear reports of schools maybe not having one or a parent letting us

039know then we go into the schools and do that but but actually with the way the setup is it's we're always getting the information because it's at the school level what's supposed to happen at the school level is when that changes they update the famam which is gives us the inventory information they update that uh at their school and that transfers up to where we are so we're able to monitor that okay can I say something sorry j you're good just because we did just have an issue about this yes can we get in there and see where we at with our Chromebooks we will be definitely yes yes okay Miss had a followup question yeah may I inter yeah so so I think this is a this is a great conversation much needed conversation

040um because I think we have to understand the difference between having what we're calling one toone device you know does every do we have more devices than we have students but do the students actually have access to them and and then access to them to take home so that we're closing you know the homework Gap opportunity Gap but also when they are needed because they're also using them in the classroom right um so that's the other issue is that I know um you know especially with this roll out with the weather you know it was my understanding that I heard from several schools that the roll out happened within the last few weeks where they were assigning Chromebooks to students and so the program itself needs to be examined as to exactly how that one:

041one is working so that they have ch books in the classroom when they need it for testing and other the districtwide yeah because we need for testing yes we need to have a districtwide technology plan that's a good or one toone initiative where it's truly not just do we have 28,000 Chromebooks and we have 27,000 students yes okay you know do the math but do they actually have access uh to those Chromebooks when when they need it not only at home but in the classroom and so that is what is needed cuz you know I think I think we've all now like heard it from various schools that there is um a disconnect there so that needs to be um addressed and that I too had a question about that with the is this replacement

042cost going to um if it going to cover is it going to cover what we need in the classroom as well as for the student when they go home right so so that needs to be um I'd like more clarification on that um but that was my follow-up question and thought for um around the Chromebooks so I'll let you can we I'm are there any more questions from the board concerning this issue yeah my last one um have we ever considered a policy and it may be already in place that that the um family or parents or somebody is responsible for this and and it every case is different and I understand that but is there a policy or do they sign something when they check out the uh U the the Chromebook and take

043it home or the iPad whichever uh do they sign something that okay yes and explains to them what what the okay thank you very much but we just have not enforced like Financial repayments for crack screens missing Chromebooks which is why several of our children have had multiple Chromebooks okay good thank you you're welcome awesome my only um next question I'm to close it out um so we can get on with business uh so you said there there is usually a technology audit completed correct we do audits throughout the year yes okay and do you have Dr bird song do we have access to that report to know if the board would like that report we're happy to give them that yes I would definitely like that I would like to see that report yeah

044that all right uh let's move on Miss dror Martin do you have any questions on the budget outside of this category yes um so last year I was um talking about getting more students involved in extracurricular activities and there was um recommendation that we expand our JV teams or University athletics and so I was wondering if that was considered in this budget so um to be quite honest no that that did not come up in in this budget as a priority um so no it didn't come up as a priority in this budget because again we were peeling some things back but again we do have an opportunity with additional funding from the state to look at that if that's something that the board would like us to do we're happy to look at that

045okay I just again I just want to reemphasize um it's just very there's research out there that shows that the more involved students are in their schools more opportunities that are open to them the better they perform academically and socially so that's why I'm raising that issue so thank you and i' like to follow up on that we we have a hard time in some sports Fielding varsity teams at this point so there are C like we need to focus on varsity as much as we need to focus on expansion because there there have been some sports where games get canceled because the team the other team does simply doesn't have enough students playing on the team yeah what um we also have some varsity I mean we just need to you know build that

046Equity into the system to make sure that both that everybody has the opportunity as much as we can to get involved be at Varsity or JV but last the last conversation was focused on JV so that's why I brought it up because um I see some varsity benches that are full of students who aren't playing all season and it would be great if we could somehow give them that opportunity and also grow future athletes we have abely pretty good track record are doing that I do have a question about the 4x4 um it's listed as being cost neutral um but there will be professional development going on for the counselors absolutely so this is a little rambling but it does tie together so I do apologize just stay with me um I see that we've

047allotted more more than $10 million for security um but we don't have we don't currently have this budget money towards social workers or expanding our psychologists um this is more of a statement that guess in a question I would like to see us make that the students mental health a focus should we get that extra money from the state because I understand we're we're operating much leaner this year and we're doing the best that we can so that that is that is not a question but I do I do worry that the counselors will be so focused on the 4x4 that we'll have even less availability of counselors to work with our students and I I do get reports of buildings where psychologists mainly focus on IEPs and 504s and do not have time to

048work with our students and that is unsettling to me so more more of a statement than a question but I just I just just wanted to um say that and I'd like to respond to that um so for at least the last five years and and I can pull all of this um data together for you um this Administration has put a lot of supports in place um for our children's um mental health and social emotional learning um and of course we're we're not trying to take over the city of Nori's responsibility you know in terms of being social services but we want to make sure that in order to educate our children we know they have to be well so we have included additional Social Work position so social worker positions over the last

049few years we've also um put uh Mental Health social workers in our budget we have different um programs like K soless and panor Panorama in place we have a psychologist internship program that we support through the budget um we've increased the number of psycholog just in the budget I know we still work with some therapeutic day treatment programs so I I just don't want you to to feel like this Administration hasn't I'm not say that you haven't but I just feel like we still need more we can use a lot of more of a lot of things but with limited funding we have to make decisions about what the priorities are and so certainly if the board wants us to cut something else out of the budget to hire more social workers we're happy to

050do that thank you uh let's go back uh Miss Mo uh well it was related to your oh if it's a followup it's a not a follow-up but a follow-up statement so exactly what you're um suggesting is something that I have supported and and have not felt that even though we have made some um progress in terms of allocating resources toward mental health it has it has still been minimal in in terms terms of the volume or the percentage that we spend on things like security things that are more um uh treating the symptom versus getting at the cause and so you know for the last several years I've advocated for additional social workers um School psychologists and completely support that even in my set of budget questions here I'd like to see um opportunities

051where we have dedicated social workers at each School versus them sharing multiple schools or School psychologists that are sharing multiple schools um not only for that but for our attendance technicians which I know there's um additional the Administration has added additional uh technicians as well but what I hear frequently from them is that chronic absenteeism as we all know is highly complex and the the issues that are keeping kids from school really require qualified individual ual to understand what their needs are so that those needs can be addressed so that they can come to school versus something it goes beyond what an attendance technician can can do um even though some I know several of ours work tiously to get our students to school but the the to address the needs of the student takes

052a very different uh type of qualification and so I've advocated and continue to advocate for having social workers and school psychologist dedicated to schools to help our families and our students that need those um need additional supports so um another thing I want to share with the board around this very topic is that um around wraparound Services is that you know it's a question if if maybe it's the resources are there but a process maybe needs to be better known to the building administrators of how to get the supports for the students so I'm not sure where the disconnect is there or if there is one truly but um if there is some way that we assess that type of um situation like are the like maybe through the climate survey or through some other

053means to to really understand are they able to access the wraparound Services uh that are available or what are the barriers um I'd like to know more about that thank you so I support what what she said yeah I appreciate that um let's let's let's move on to I have one more question oh on this topic yes absolutely um so on the budget just want to make sure so I see there are several raises in the budget um I did receive um communication regarding um our bus drive drivers are they included in a budget increase yes they are okay can you point to where that is for me make surei staff it's on the one of the slides that addresses classified staff at a 4.5% increase okay and I think we have one of the

054high we our bus drivers are we are good I think thank you you're welcome I don't know where everybody else is doing but I think last year we were at the yeah we were at the top we were okay good thank you for that just want to get clarification you know you hear one thing on the streets but I like to hear superum you're welcome Mr KERO yes could I ask a follow question around compensation so are there any teacher groups or contracted teacher groups that are not included um I know we've heard from our njrc teachers but in addition to to that group are there others that um maybe compensated differently and um is there any information that can be provided to the board to um see how they compare to other districts in

055that regard know answer that the RTC and jrtc jrtc yeah yeah yeah yeah so within the 12-page document that I provided that responses included okay well yeah okay I I did not get a chance to um to go through that um and in light of That Could you um could we agree to post um my questions as well as the responses because I did hear that from several of you that the qu some of the questions I posed were shared yeah were were shared amongst the board as well so um our board received the document oh it did okay okay I have not seen that yet okay okay all right um um let's start with Dr Martin other questions oh no I thought we moved on to I am we're oh Miss Moore I don't

056have another question right now other other other areas of concern uh well my question I'm looking at the um answers to the questions um that we had around the budget and mine was um around graduation rate and how um the review of our open campus and how is it meeting the needs of the students and um how we can capitalize on on that um and targeting students and getting them back on track and um I know part of the question was um transportation may be a barrier for some students getting to open campus so I was just wondering but I see have an answer here so um uh I see one for the summer school but I don't see it specifically to open campus um con conduct a review of the program and see if

057it's if it's um uh I know originally I I can't remember some years ago when we um launched that program but is it is it continuing to to to uh students catching up getting their credits and getting on track I guess that's what my question is so of an official formal review of that has has not been done and so that that would certainly need to be done but I could say from just um qualitative feedback from building principles they appreciate having the program and when they believe they have student students that would benefit from placement there they are taking adage of that yes absolutely uh Miss Vine other areas of concern um in the does anyone else have any other questions or is that is this the only topic this is the only topic

058for B our Workshop correct yes yes yeah I'm just I'm looking through the email um that you sent to all of us Dr bird song regarding the in um jrtc teachers um and of course um board member um bassine um police provide an explanation to why they do not qualify um and if that is still the case and the results of the analysis was done to determinate the competitiveness with other districts I don't I'm trying to find a response um that you put where's that response at should be in red is not there it's it's the third attachment I think there's three attachments go to the Third okay Dr agnu Scott for time sake do you mind approaching the podium so you could provide some context thank you all for your responsiveness greatly appreciate it

059a okay there we go there's a there good afternoon um so uh to summarize our njr uh C teachers are compensated um a bit differently than other teachers um they actually are compensated um by way of half of the Navy um and also um the other half we compensate norfor Public Schools compensates the other half of their salary um the MIP as it's called is dictated by the the Navy which includes um a cost of living increase um and so that is communicated to our office um at that time as I stated before half of it is um compensated by norford public schools the other half by the Navy um the instead of the uh teachers being placed on the salary scale uh since the salary the salaries on the teacher salary scale is not

060equivalent to what is being compensated or what is being dictated by the Navy they're placed off step um so that's essentially how um why they're being placed off step rather than on the teacher salary because their salary is dictated by the Navy and some question from your resarch receiving more money next year than they received this year absolutely they they are um we receive um quarterly um compensation quotes from the Navy and as I stated it does include a cost of living increase in that um so we've already received a quarter increase for those um individuals at this time but they never get to move up a step or get basically promoted um they do but it's in a different way just so we can keep track of how many years they've been with uh

061Nora Public Schools um they're placed on the side and then they keep moving up just so that we can keep track of how many years they've been with the school division but not necessarily for compensation purposes I ask a followup sorry go I yield to you go ahead go ahead um So based on your response so um are in surrounding districts in a majority of them I think with the exception of one other they they are placed on the teacher scale um it's actually the opposite there are um approximately Chesapeake are placed on the teacher scale uh Newport News is on the teacher scale Virginia beach is on the teacher scale and just Hampton public schools are not on the teacher scale so it's about half and half so um for Chesapeake the instructors um

062actually receive a stien um to whichever is the difference between what is on the um salary scale and what is um dictated by the na Navy U by the military they get a stien for that difference between the two okay but they're not necessarily on the scale okay so so what is our competitiveness with other districts then I mean I see the explanation of what other districts are doing but where in the analysis can you show us our competitiveness with other districts um or that might be something you have to come back to us with but we um would have to come back um with that as well as the um their compensation in comparison to their counterparts okay so I I have a followup um this is so so I'm I'm just reading off

063of the responses from the superintendent from um Dr bassan um so going through those okay so a lot of our cities um as we know a lot of our teachers and instructors are leaving northa Public Schools and going to other um adjoining um jurisdictions because they pay more and probably less stress let's just Ral let's address the elephant in the room um however so since RTC we pay half the federal government pays half have we done an analysis to see if we were to give them a pay increase how much that would cost and how would included in this budget have we done that Dr bird song or Dr that uh that information um as a matter of fact I am am planning to meet with um the njrc teacher teachers um separately um to

064discuss all of that so we're in the process of preparing all of those analyses so that um we can uh share with them what what our findings are okay um so at once that is prepared then of course you know you will be able to uh see that information as well okay I have something just on that are we prepared to add them to um teachers compensation is there a way that they can see that they actually been paid their worth um because this man seems very um sincere when he comes and he really feels like he's not been paid where he should be paid so is there way you kind of ease their minds kind of you know show them something of course more than what they see of course and that's the purpose

065of the meeting um so that they can see um in terms of compensation and something that's a little bit more concrete uh so they can see exactly where they are and comparison um and this is going to be new for our new board colleagues but we've previously talked um over the last few years we've done a um compensation study and um I know it's been said that we have made those that were impacted by the compression hole um could you share a little bit more about how um what you've done to I guess confirm that and to ensure that we have done that and has there been any analysis done to I guess to verify that we have truly um addressed that issue and the second part of it is going to be around the

066one: one you know years of experience to Sal the salary scale um that the board has you know talked about in previous years and has encouraged us to kind of figure out how do we put that policy in place and what that will cost if you could share a little bit about that I see um a brief response to that but if you can expand on that that' be helpful uh sure so the first uh the first question that you had was in regard to remind me I'm sorry the the first question was in response to well the the one to one but the uh how we know like what analysis you've done to ensure that those that were impacted by the step compression yes have been made whole like for those who are still

067with us so as you know um there was a plan um that was put in place um that was I think uh four years ago um three years ago and so um the plan was followed as directed and uh for each year uh there was a a step that was taken to increase um you know to uh address the compression that existed um by the third year um which now it's complete um everyone has been made whole um everyone has received um notification of that there was written notification to each individual uh that that was impacted so um that communication was received by anyone impacted and we have not received any communication from any staff um indicating that they were not made whole all right and then about the one: one policy uh years of

068experience to step um yes what what are the B so I see that there are some barriers here to to that and if you could speak to that um one of the largest barriers is the fact that with this type of work it would require um it would require someone within HR to go through and do an analysis um of each and every employee file um to see how many years that they've been in the division um to determine what you know the the uh compensation amount would be to get them to a one toone St status um and unfortunately we don't have the staff available to be able to do that file by file review for every single employee within norfol Public Schools so um you know the feasibility of of you know doing

069something of that magnitude is not there but moving if we were to move forward with that salary scale What would it take to move forward with that the on to one especially with new hires and so what would what would it take I guess what would be needed to do that um it would just um be just a change in our processes and procedures and of course an analysis of how much that you know would cost we would have to um determine that as well um from this point forward that would be a completely different um process then to back and do a review of everything and I think that's that is what the board had previously asked for is like moving forward how what is the cost of putting that in place and so

070I was expecting to see something come back to us you know related to tying into this budget okay around that so if you have any information on what that would cost um I'd like to know what that is because this this has been an ongoing discussion for several years now um so I'd like to continue to advocate for that and okay ask for that I have a question um from the dod's point of view are they considered uh instructors or teachers and there's there's a slight difference um but I was just wondering how the dod uh I think there's a contract that you all have with them is um they're referred to as instructors um we often refer to them as teachers because they are yeah I I was just wondering like because some the

071military looks at individuals as instructors and is really not teachers correct but these are young young children you know but I just wanted to clarify that for thank you Mr yeah so just just the followup question you may not have it I mean come back to us with the information um for our um jrtc um NR jsrt TC um Personnel do you know like where they fall or what are we looking at like are they are they are we know that they're formal military do they have master's degree bachelor's degree I'm curious because I'm looking on the website and can see how much they're making if we're paying half of it I'm just trying to understand the logic or not giving them increase it varies um by individual but they are compensated based on um

072what type what level of um degree that they have uh so they are eligible for educational stiens which they do receive if they have a master's degree they are compensated at that same level got it okay thank you so much for that last question I promise um may not be last question but for now um so can we come back with us come back with the information on all of nhr njrtc personnel worker in the city of of Northfolk that and see where they compare to other teachers salary and then also create a actual document that shows if we were to approve giving them an increase because that is our role and responsibility if we were to do that what would it cost the taxpayers of the city of northw to do is that something

073both Dr Birdsong and you can do yes it is all right awesome thank you so much thank you thank you all same qu same same line of reasoning no okay uh make sure other I'll get to you T I just want to make sure other questions about other aspects of the budget well other aspects of the right but I just I just want to make sure everybody has a chance I just want to respond to Mr inch's comment because the instructors have a completely different role really than teachers so I don't see how we could compare the two I mean tell me if I'm wrong but they do teach classes teach class they teach but they don't have the same responsibilities so I don't see how that is fair comparison have more they might argue

074they have more I mean it they're like when you have a trouble with a student a lot of times if they're playing a sport you go to the coach um they get they get pulled on in many different ways other than just being a teacher in a classroom um I know from my time teaching at at uh more Mor high school that they were much more than simply a teacher so I think they need to be compensated as least as well as the teachers that are in the building yeah there may not be teachers but I definitely say it's it's a pay par and making sure that they are being paid fairly and equity for the services that they're doing and contributing to our school so just well said yeah I think they should get

075what they should get but I'm just not I just don't see it as a parallel at all um are you for example and Dr agnu Scott I know for some of our instructors at norit Technical Center they're on a different scale than than teachers or are they on the same scale now the instructors at norit Technical Center I think they're on the same scale okay I would I would just check that just based on this questioning right now because I I recall that at one time it was separate just because the the qualifications were some what different and there there was a need to seek um individuals who had expertise in a certain area maybe they didn't have a degree or things of that nature which kind of differentiated the instructor from the um from

076the teacher and I'm not saying that's the case with njrotc I just don't know so that would be interesting to know but I also believe please correct me if I'm wrong there's a stien associated with the position just based upon the the additional duties I think it's like $2,100 or so okay them having an extended day okay uh Mr Paulson I was hope I didn't come off negatively when I asked the question about the difference between a teacher and an instructor they have a skill and a aut background that Val not many people have right they're very specialized in in Naval Warfare Etc you know so thank you I I didn't want to give the wrong impression I was just trying to see what when we address them what what should we address them and

077goes either way in in our setting so thank you Miss Bine you had a different question yes um so on that um I do want to Advocate and discuss around um the ignite program program and potentially expanding that uh to include additional schools I know I think this is the third this will be the third year of its implementation if I'm not mistaken for at lyen wood um and um I know there's a recommendation to add an EC at uh Southside STEM Academy however you know looking at the data um around teacher vacancies and the percentage of associate teachers in some of our other buildings um how might we prioritize expanding the ignite program which is additional pay uh for teachers in those schools such as at jcx um jcx Elementary PB well right now

078the numbers the top numbers are jcx Chesterfield Berkeley campella um you know so looking at then using the data to drive the next set of schools that would potentially benefit from the ignite program I'd like to see us put some um effort around that because it does seem to be having a positive impact at Lindenwood um not just in terms of teacher turnover but in terms of academic performance which is our ultimate goal so I would like to see that um and if in addition to that for those schools that do have a high percentage of associate teachers I'd like to see dedicated instructional coaches at those schools um because I have received some feedback um you know from the pr from the building level that having instructional coaches that are shared amongst multiple schools

079can be challenging when you have a high number of strong but you know associate teachers who are learning to be teachers um so I'd like to see um some instructional coaching uh coaches added um at those schools or that are dedicated to those schools to support uh the teacher the associate teacher program at those schools um so those are just some additional thoughts I have but of course you know I have lots of questions around special education you can I'll look at the responses that were given um on that and and um come back to you with any additional thoughts and questions do we have the number on what the state is in the budget hasn't been approved by the governor I understand um of what we will be getting in additional support staff no

080from the mental okay well just so just so so this it's noted 5.8 mil5 m830 590 for the city of norol if the budget is approved as is the Senate and the house both approved it and it goes to the Governor that would fund an additional 96 positions for support staff that include social workers custodians and Food Service staff so if that money is approved and we do get those funds um just come I would definitely like for us to come back to the table to ensure that we try our course forward to make sure we get those people taken care of and something you may not be aware of is that we have to fund s soq positions and nons soq positions which we take responsibility for so while there may be additional funding

081uh these positions may not be funded through the S soq which means the locality has to take care of that which is why there's always every year advocacy around increasing um the positions within the S soq so while they say one thing it it ends up meaning something else totally understandable yeah yeah but we're definitely open to doing whatever we need to do to support okay instruction good that's what that's all I'm looking to hear is that if we do receive funding it has to go somewhere else I understand other priorities but we want to make sure we take care of our support staff and address and getting those people inside of our Public Schools always always thank you Dr BR thank you anything else from the board no at this time I'd like to

082uh for someone to make a motion to move us into Clos session I make a motion to move us in Clos session second no I'm uh I make a motion to amend uh motion to amend what the motion to uh go into close session as it's as it's written I want to amend it okay okay you make your motion motion is to uh amend the motion to enter close session and delete the reference uh to the educational facilities planning steering committee that committee is not a committee of the board it's not a Schoolboard committee nor an advisory committee this was formed by the uh Administration and I believe that the members are who are volunteers do not fall under our purview so I don't know why we're going to um select something that is not

083pertinent to a correction that is not in the board's jurisdiction that's my basis for the motion pson me ask this if your motion is voted down are you going to participate in the close session that portion that will cover that discussion oh yes and will you then at the end of the closed session with ref us to certify it no no if if we discuss it I can't say we didn't discuss it no the certification asks you to certify that everything in the Clos session was lawfully appropriate for the Clos session and lot we discussed within if you are saying that you feel that a subject in the motion cannot be discussed in the Clos session and you then participate in it and I don't see how you can certify that the close session was

084lawfully conducted that's why I'm asking a question well I would hadn't thought about that thank you um and I guess my point is to the board that it it may be if Mr Paulson feels that whether he participates or not at the end of the Clos session he is going to have to refuse to certify meaning that he will take the position that a subject was illegally discussed in the close session that it might be best to follow his motion and delete that and either delete either discuss it publicly tonight or at some other date or give your legal team time to research his issue and give you a formal opinion as to whether that can be discussed in close session without violating the freedom event patient if you were to uh review it um

085then I could we could participate and move on well I mean I cannot do it now that I understand but uh what I'm saying is discretion may be the better part of valor it may be best for the board rather than simply trying to vote to over return his motion and go forward to postpone the discussion in private session today of this matter uh to give us time to give you a formal legal written opinion as to whether we feel that Dr Paulson is correct and that this is a matter that could only be discussed in an open session what if the motion is not seconded even if the motion is not seconded I'm sorry I'm saying I'm asking if the motion is not seconded you're still uh I'm saying if the motion is not

086seconded then you would go in and discuss this but Mr Paulson would as a matter of logic and law at the end of the when it's time to certify he would say I cannot certify this session because you have illegally discussed a subject in violation of Foy so you would have a vote at the end that is 6 to1 one more member saying that you violated the law six presumably saying you're not that invites a lawsuit from the public and rather than risk a lawsuit from the public that you might L I'm suggesting that we might postpone this discussion and give us time and if and if going forward in the future we decide you know we advise you that we think you can legally discuss it then You Know M Dr Paulson uh excuse

087me caral Paulson may still object but we will be prepared to defend you in court if somebody sues you for fing for and me ask a clarifying so and if we postpone this discussion we're postponing the establishment of this committee obviously right yes which is already delayed I mean yeah you don't have to postpone you could discuss publical yeah uh alternatively you could uh not provide Bo inut as to the choices and leave it to the members of this which I think if I understand your allegation correctly it is not really a board committee uh that talking about uh but otherwise what I'm saying is that if if you if you vote on his motion and overrule it then he will inevitably refuse to certify the meeting at the end of the night and you're

088inviting a lawsuit for violating the Freedom of Information Act and it I think a wiser provision would be to postpone it for now so your attorneys can give you an opinion as to whether or not we V it now it's still possible colon Paulson May reject our opinion and still feel that make the same motion again but if we give you a legal opinion that we think it will not violent for you then you will have some degree of safety you at least feel that in the end uh if we go forward and Mr Paulson or colon Paulson uh refuses to certify and a member of the public chooses to sue you of whether or not you violated fo You by discussing this matter in a closed session you'll be better positioned to defend yourselves

089in court because a Foya suit comes on fairly quickly the statute requires that'll be brought forward once it's filed fairly quickly that that is my advice with regard to this I'll be happy to try to answer any questions any further questions I making decisions about how is it um so it's it's you're correct it's not an advisory committee but it is a committee that the board has typically been involved in so I guess I'm trying to when have we been involved in this type of committee I don't I don't recall a Time have we had this type of committee before yeah yes yes I've been on it I've been on one too yep and we have okay to Ure that there's Geographic the attorney has never heard of this Comm advisory committees but not for

090administ this isn't the same one that I've been plac on like the facilities committee for the school okay so what I'm hearing is we need to move forward on yes we need to move forward I'm hearing that our best course of action is to remove this from the closed uh session agenda and have our uh law team um give us guidance m but I'd like to set a timeline around it just because we're already delayed we're already delayed this was supposed to have we could add a Clos session to the March fth meeting I mean since we've never this has never been done before they say it has has not been done before with an administrative committee it has only been done with our advisory committees those are board committees all right so let's so

091do we need a motion to move remove it from the closed session agenda uh I think I mean Dr Paulson has has made the motion he made the someone just needs to Second somebody could second it and we'll just delete that subject from this motion and won't be discussed at today's post session and and part of the motion would be to be discussed at the next well they're they're going to come back with an opinion disc legal op for possible discussion because we may come back and tell you that that you know after looking at it we um you have to agree Dr the other possibility that we can look at which uh Dr Martin's uh comments make is is there something preventing the board from creating this as an advisory committee that then is

092you know just like any other advisory committee right just because it's a long range facilities educational planning committee um I didn't think she said that no I well she I didn't say that saying there's that um the precedent has been that with these types of committees they're administrative and then the administration reports to us the only time that we have done a um more thorough examination of the members of committees has been um with our advisory committees well and what I'm saying is that one possibility if we conclude that Dr Paulson is right and you cannot discuss this in a closed session because it's not advisory committee why not the the possibility would be to recreate it as an advisory committee uh where you certainly can yeah and I uh consider in close session candidates

093for that committee who idea was it to have this committee and I had inquired about this a few months ago when we first did the press release and it was shared with me that we would be doing this review as the same way as we would an advisory committee so that's why it was my expectation that we were going to do uh just that and we haven't had very many task force or uh steering committees other than this one where the board had been involved with but it's been we've had the same group that came preceded your coming on to the board so I don't know that you've been involved in that but we have had that I've been on the board for six years yeah and we've had a steering committee which we haven't

094had we haven't had one in the last four years at least since pre 201 yeah well preco um the steering committee has not gotten together so why are you against why are you against wait excuse me Mr paon Right Dr no please the board and then now I'm I'm uh speaking in and the fact that we are trying to uh if we wanted to create this committee we would have voted on it we haven't voted on it so it doesn't belong to us we have not put it in our um Co our um policy either under the BCE code or the BCF code it appears nowhere in our policy or anywhere even in the minutes I think that we have voted on this and that's why I think it belongs to to the originator and

095not to the board for any discussion or or anything it's their decision they just started it they own it that's it that's my well we we own it no we own it we own it there's no right we're the school board of the city of nor the school the not the school well the school system owns it and but the administration of it does not belong to this entity well chairman uh I suggest to um move in the air of caution so I if if Mr uh Colonel Paulson can uh restate his motion his amendment to to the original motion I would like to hear that and then we can proceed as Miss Thomas had a comment Miss Thomas did you have a comment no uh okay um he said so yeah have the actual

096pleas what he said re restated as the so amend the Clos executive session and remove section c um discussion of candidates for possible appointment to the educational facilities planning steering committee um until until further notice next or until that legal opinion has been rendered it's not removing I may have misheard it's not removing section c of the motion it's removing the last a few words of section A that refers to discussion of candidates for possible appointment to that committee so it wouldn't be part of C because that's in part no it' be no I don't think C references that so was a the way if you Mr ter if you look at the way that it's worded I'm I'm just to eliminating the portion that says the discussion of the specific per personnel as needed

097in conjunctions with uh subsection C that should remain because we are doing subse so section there SE a the last uh the last sentence specific personel uh as needed in connection with subjects identified in the word motion would be a period and then that last part deleted is correct yes sir that is the motion okay to amend the close executive session um to remove the discussion of specific Personnel is needed in connection with subjects identified in subsection C of a of this motion period right jack yes then I will second that thank you there any discussion needed on this motion it Miss Tanner will you please call the role sure Bine I Buffalo I hi Martin hion hi Jesus we'll get a something to you off as with the idea that uh our opinion is

098that she didn't call with I I say Thomas I had an issue yeah I said in I'm sorry Thomas what say you you me I miss you we're in close session call the business meeting to order Miss Tanner will you please take the role theine here Buffalo here H present Martin present pson present Thomas here cajero here let's move on to our stock to number 5.03 the Pledge of Allegiance would everyone please stand Al to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all section 5.04 adoption of the of the school board business meeting agenda of vote is required Miss Tanner is there a motion to accept is there a motion to accept or adopted business meeting

099agenda I move that we approve the um meeting agenda as presented second all those in favor I I take calline I Buffalo I en I Martin I hson I Thomas I to cajero hi section 5.05 School Board Clerk's report chairwoman de calero I would like to acknowledge several recognitions for the month of February starting with Virginia Schoolboard Association School Board appreciation month as we celebrate our school board's dedicated commitment to education and serving Nori students parents staff and the community board members would you please make your way to the blue backdrop as Dr burong and I will present a certificate from the vsba to commemorate Schoolboard appreciation month and we also have a special token of appreciation from our talented art students here in Norfork Public Schools [Music] [Applause] the stickers on the floor okay

100y'all tighten up some Carson you can come on the other end with K okay Dr B on oh I'm gonna get you to help me that's right our first person we're recognizing is chairwoman Sarah de calago come forward put your hands together not graduation time yet but next our vice chair Alfreda [Applause] Thomas oh you're getting graduation shots okay next Miss bassine Tanya bassine next Tiffany more Buffalo [Applause] my next we have Jason in welcome aboard sworn in today you thank you for your future service next we have Dr Adell [Applause] Martin and last but certainly not least Colonel Ken pson and next we have our beloved student Representatives first we have kaani green Ortiz our School Board representative followed by Carson rice our other Schoolboard student representative get them all Round of Applause now

101the moment you all been waiting for our talented students in norford public schools they commission some artwork for each one of you so the first one goes to chairwoman De Calo and you gotta look you got to show and tell so got to show your your piece of art there you go next uh Miss Thomas on Miss Thomas yeah that's hers the sticker myself fell off oh is beautiful you have to pose for the camera we have some very talented students in North for public schools very talented next we have Miss bassine oh I know next we have Tiffany more Buffalo oh yeah this is you're happy with your present so far good next we have Jason in oh interesting what we got here okay awesome thank you shout out to Jordan patter oh yes

102we have to read the children's names okay we'll come okay okay next we have Dr Martin is by Sam rogue rogue looks like Sam Rogue thank you and Mr Po Colonel Pon we know you by the water this is cool yes it is yes so I guess real quick we want you to say who your artwork is by come forward or you can say it Morgan Harrison in the school and the school academy of international studies I was uh I couldn't figure it out I am sorry to say that it's okay Rose Miss Thomas who has your artw work okay here we are this just like been in the classroom some names you can't pronounce help me out superintendent this Leah Danielson this Leah Danielson Mory High School ninth grade yes good job very nice

103all right Miss buffler I have oh we just online Jia L thank you high school high school awesome all right Dr Martin I have um Sam Rogue myy High School ninth grader and the title is United connections oh nice okay yeah okay she's starting to something come on so I have artwork from our artist here at norf Public Schools Jordan Patterson haen from Northside Middle School and the title is old Donuts Miss Bine um I have artwork from sorry like Cameron Ricks from Blair Middle School eighth grader titled united through africanamerican things oh wow I like that and I have from Aaron Schilling from Booker T 11th grade is called Deep Sky wow wa is that right yeah the Deep Sky let's give our students around very very talented students in north public schools I'mma

104let y'all get up well no hold on we're going to recognize our student Representatives you all come forward the board members got you a sweet treat than and a gift card to Chick-fil-A thank you Five Guys okay and flowers we want to continue to see Blossom and Bloom thank you let give them a round of applause about the ver all you can jump in the picture and then we're now have everyone squeeze in a little more turn your sides we all right one two three and one two three excellent awesome thank you thank you oh okay okay you all may be seated thank you oh yeah you know what I'm just trying to make you all have exercise today I need y'all to come back I need y'all to come back come back everybody all

105right and line back up again because we need you to please remain standing as we segue to recognize our former Schoolboard member Mr Rodney Jordan who's here with tonight who served dedicatedly had dedicated service North public schools for over 12 years on the school board and Mr Jordan please come forward to the podium to be recognized on this side as chairwoman de calero read your Proclamation is bassine H it Proclamation by the school board of the city of norfol in honor of Mr Rodney Jordan whereas the city of norol city of norfol City School Board and the norfol public schools Community honor Mr Rodney Jordan who sought and received appointment to the norfol school board in 2012 and was elected twice in 2016 and 2020 to improve outcomes for all NPS students all meaning all

106and whereas Mr Jordan was a significant contributor with other school board members and Community stakeholders in creating the tagline the Cornerstone of a proudly diverse community and during his tenure the number of accredited schools increased by 150% and the number of public school choice options for Nori students and whereas during Mr Jordan's 10 years chair the school board adopted the school board accountability plan with a focus on academic Excellence pass an equity policy hired the division's full first full-time women superintendent Dr Melinda Boon established the student representative to the school board and let led the creation of Revenue share of a revenue sharing funding formula with the city council and whereas Mr Jordan served as the lead advocate for student outcomes student outcomes Focus governance and earned the vsba distinction award for 10 consecutive years

107and presented around the country advocating for public education and effective School Board governance and whereas Mr Jordan served 12 and one2 years on the Nori City Virginia school board from 2012 to 2024 board chair 2015 to 2018 Vice chair 2020 to 2021 and in 2019 to 2020 Mr Jordan served as the 2020 Virginia School Board Association president and also served as the co-chair for the VSS ba task force on student in schools in challenging environments from 2014 to 2024 among other positions at the state and Regional levels and he was a founding member of the consorti of State School Board Association Urban boards Alliance advisers and also served as an executive committee member for the Council of great City Schools Board of Directors whereas Mr Jordan was the 2020 recipient of the Benjamin Eliah Elijah

108May's lifetime Achievement Award from the Council of urban Boards of education and the 2020 inaugural recipient of the Mary Peak excellent in education Equity award from the Virginia Department of Education in 2015 he was recognized by the Virginia School Board Association as his inaugural education advocate of the Year an award created to identify board members who have demonstrated significant and outstanding leadership commitment and contribution to public education that has had an impact on their region and the Commonwealth and who have shown active involvement in local state and federal advocacy on behalf of their division whereas the Nori City School Board gratefully acknowledged his dedicated career to serving our schools and the greater Nori Public Schools Community as he is also the proud father of two NPS graduates and now therefore be it resolved well it

109does say Wednesday February 19th but I'm going to take some license to say Wednesday February 26th at the school board of the city of norfol hereby hereby honors the service and contributions of Mr Ronnie Jordan to norford public schools and society as a [Music] whole you got it you sure got it you have words oh just to uh the school board that's oh behind me uh no I just appreciate and and thank you for uh for the for the recognition I have my older daughter uh Paige and her husband uh Tariq and my grandson uh Josiah with me I was sitting there thinking I think the last time I was on this side page may have been uh Josiah's Josiah's age but I just wanted to uh you know again say thank you I um

110you know started off as an appointed School Board member um my father passed in 2019 if he was here today it's a little awkward for me he would say um you know why you going down there you're doing what you're supposed to do and uh your job is to make things better than you found it and you don't get recognized for that that's just the call in and service that you're supposed to provide uh to the to the community and so that's what uh my goal was and to try to make sure that um that the students would have things better than I have it and U and that hopefully we will continue that type of uh progress moving forward so that one day uh Josiah would be able to uh come before you and

111walk walk the stage and do the things like his mother and his father did also just mentioned your security guard Harold Wilson is married to my cousin Crystal I told him I was gonna get him fired married to my cousin Crystal and uh and uh she she is a has been a a teacher of the year over in Portsmouth as has been her her sister uh Josiah's grandmother is works for north public schools he has two or three cousins that work for uh North Public Schools uh his grandmother my exwife uh past wife uh um worked in north public schools for several years and taught prek and so this this focus on literacy and student outcomes isn't something that I brought to the table is something that I was I was raised with so to

112my colleagues that I had the opportunity to serve with I appreciate uh having the opportunity to serve with you Dr bird song all of the all of the staff here and just going back to my grandson for for a moment cuz I I wanted him to come I messed up his schedule because I just wanted to be a reminder of why we're all here and so the school system exists to improve outcomes for young people uh youngsters like him uh his parents uh my daughter is uh my uh older daughter I have another daughter's in Texas with my older daughter there she's a uh uh certified get that right certified Behavior specialist registered Behavior specialist uh her husband works uh for the for the city and so they may not uh if if I had

113messed up their schedule about 7:30 he would be in the bath uh ready to read a book and so I just wanted them to come also because as a reminder that a lot of families like theirs they won't be able to come to the microphone they're going to be home taking care of their children doing the things that we ask for parents to do to be engaged at home but they count and they matter just as much as anyone that comes to the microphone and so I just wanted them to remind the board of that that you have an awesome responsibility you represent the vision and values of the community and that includes those that are able to come to the mic and those that don't those that live in war seven those that live

114in war six doesn't matter what your ZIP code is you're representing all of their potential Futures and they need for you to be focused enough to compete for whatever options that the Josiah may have because there's some people in the city that would suggest that there's some private options he should pursue I think he should pursue a public option uh but it needs to be a public option that's going to be focused on his growth and his outcomes so thank you we'd like to get a group shot come on here yes o Mills two awesome thank you very much Mr Jordan for allowing us to recognize you on this evening oh oh that's right so let's let them PI right oh okay he said cheese oh he is too cute he's eating the pl oh

115just yellow okay I I'd like to ask the school board members and Dr Birdsong to remain at the step and repeat and I'm waiting for Mr in hope he did not have trouble procuring the item were you able to get it oh I thought y was still taking a picture from right [Laughter] that is it beautiful whereas Schoolboard clerks in each locality throughout our great Commonwealth actually please come up here miss come on down Karen pric is right come on down I'm behind the scenes flow come up here stand next to me whereas the school board clerks in each locality throughout our great Commonwealth are appointed by law to fulfill their duties and responsibilities and whereas School Board clerks are responsible for keeping accurate records of the meet of the meetings and proceedings of the

116school board a record of all receipts and dis disbursements and a record of all official Act and whereas School Board clerks perform such other duties in connection with the school business of of her city as maybe were acquired by the school board and whereas Schoolboard clerks maintain frequent contact with the public including parents employees and the media on behalf of the school board and superintendent and whereas Schoolboard clerks in the performance of their duties are often required to work extra hours attending school board meetings and whereas School Schoolboard clerks join with join with school boards to help ensure that students achieve to their Highest Potential and whereas Schoolboard clerks provide an invaluable service for the school board members and superintendents the vsba board of directors does hereby recognize the third week of February or the

1174th as school board Clerk's Appreciation Week in the Commonwealth of Virginia and whereas the norfol school board joins the vsba board of directors does hereby I recognized February last week but February 26th at school board clerk Appreciation Week in the Commonwealth of Virginia oh wow thank you thank you open this when you're in private because you might cry oh okay I feel like I need to go like this let's let's get a picture let's get a picture the those are beautiful thank you guys in the middle it right in the middle [Laughter] really you got to hold the flow they're very heavy I just didn't want to my scarf as ornate that perfect all right one two three one two three Perfect all right thank you I like to thank my parents thank you s

118so much all right all right let's see put Madam chair when I have one more recognition my steps in today go back yes school next I'd like to share that many schools around the district participated in Black History Month activities and to close out this monthlong celebration we have a special Black History Month presentation from one of our students who will read an original poem inspired by a paint by a painting alad as a celebration of Black History Month Jennifer Lopez senior coordinator of history and social science will introduce our student performer good evening chair dealo Vice chair Thomas Schoolboard Dr bird song and guests my name is Jennifer Lopez I am the senior coordinator of history and social science for norfol public schools and I have the distinct pleasure of introducing our student performer

119for the month of February across the division students and staff have celebrated Black History Month as an essential part of our ongoing commitment to equity and Excellence for all students throughout history countless individuals have fought against Injustice and oppression shaping the course of freedom inequality one such moment occurred in 1839 when enslaved Africans aboard the Spanish ship La Amistad revolted against their captors in a desperate Fight For Freedom after the US Navy seized the ship their case reached the Supreme Court where with the support of abolitionists including former President John Quincy Adams they won their freedom this Landmark Victory became a powerful powerful symbol of resistance against Injustice taking inspiration from historical artwork and firsthand accounts of the ensl enslaved Africans taken aboard La Amistad AP African-American students at Mari High School created original poems

120to demonstrate their understanding of the event I would be remiss without acknowledging the hard work of their teacher Mr Christopher Alvarado Lopez for his creativity and developing this meaningful task for his students with that I am pleased to introduce Mor High School senior Lincoln Sama Lincoln plans to attend college in the fall and major in computer science while continuing with ROTC and track and field without further Ado please enjoy Lincoln's reading of his original work Freedom At [Applause] Last dark cold and wet all over wailing and screaming sound closer stacked on each other crowded no space away from our homeland to an unknown place for days we've waited trapped below in Hell's deep grip with no hope to show one day one day our chains will part but Freedom comes with life torns apart At

121Last At Last We Men gain courage strong the courage to ride is against this brutal wrong in search of Hope We Stand our ground We rise with hope and no longer bound Freedom At Last a chance of Hope for me and the 34 survivors fought to be free free not quite free as we are captured Again by the same man the man who stole my dignity and culture the man who mutilated my brothers and sisters the man who sees us as objects yet years later we are free once again but not where we once thought we'd create new life we are free in our homeland out of control able to live the life we want we are free in our homeland with stories Untold giving all children the life they deserve one day that day

122our chains released the revolts a win and our souls at peace [Applause] Madam chair that's it for my recognitions uh let's move on to agenda item 5.06 the superintendent's report well that's going to be hard to follow that was excellent that was excellent let's give this Shanda another round of applause so this evening we do have a video for you that um again and demonstrates all of the wonderful things that we are able to do as it relates to teaching and learning in norit public schools um we had a celebration of Coleman Place Elementary School celebrating 100 Years and we're very very excited about that you will see that in the video you also see our children at or our young people at NTC who built I believe it was nine shelters and we were

123very very proud of that accomplishment accomplishment there are other things in the video that you're going to be and all of our students so without further Ado Karen please roll the [Music] video Coleman Place Elementary celebrated A Century of teaching and learning with former teachers staff and students during a special event guests were invited to peruse through old photos and yearbooks commemorating the lengthy history of the school and enjoy a program featuring speakers and outstanding student performances throughout its 100 years of existence Coleman Place has experienced everything from a move to a brand new building to a visit from the president of the United States and grateful students and staff alike returned to remember I had the honor of introducing former President Clinton it introduce to others the president of this great nation President Bill

124Clinton it was absolutely amazing a wonderful experience honestly I feel better now because I was like this happened in 99 so I was feeling a little bit old but to know that com place is 100 is making me feel a little bit better about my age students from Norfolk technical Center's carpentry program utilize their skills in a unique partnership about 6 months ago uh Betsy mallister with the National Institute of Aerospace contacted us about building the weather shelters that we're currently installing these students installed nine shelters at various schools in Hampton with the goal of installing more throughout Hampton Roads we haven't really installed anything like this before so it's good experience to have and there's also like The Mixing concrete and everything it's just uh like building on and expanding upon like um skills

125that we already have so we're like more well versed in it I enjoyed it a lot actually I am very Hands-On I love working with my hands ever since I was a little baby and I would always touch a lot of things and grab a lot of things and combine stuff Mr Crawford students are amazing the last couple of times that I've interacted with them um uh you know installing these shelters they're engaged they're knowledgeable um they're great great kids and the the the future for them is going to be very very bright families enjoyed an evening of fun and learning as Mary CA Elementary held their math and literacy night stations was set up around the school as students and parents participated in problem solving activities math games and reading Bingo it's pretty great

126um it actually um lets us parents who work a lot get to see um our child's excitement um their excitement for learning to be around other people um to show us what they've been learning throughout the school year um it's pretty awesome I like it I think it's important to have families come and be in the school and enjoy certain things with their children um we're also giving parents tips on how to help their kids at home sending them home with books and um you know reading things like these are the things you can do with your kindergartener this is how we work on phonic so I think it's important to get people in here so can get those messages out to them across the division schools are creatively and enthusiastically expressing the importance of

127being present on time and ready to learn each day proving that attendance counts at Norfolk Public Schools this friendly competition underscores a vital message when students miss school they miss out chronic absenteeism missing 10% or more of school days for any reason has a significant impact on learning we want to thank Crossroads School for being able to Pivot during the the recent unexpected snow days in late January the Dolphins cruised the npss attendance flag on over to the academy for Discovery at Lakewood and still carried out their spirit week that week as well Crossroads you make us NPS proud from ADL to Little Creek Elementary School the attendance challenge is popping with much more in store as part of the schoolto school attendance challenge NPS recognizes the schools that are leading the way in combating

128chronic absenteeism congratulations to the following schools for having the best attendance and for earning the most improved attendance for the month of December congratulations to the Norview Marksmanship team for placing first and second at the area 5 air rifle championship and qualifying two teams to compete in the njc air rifle championship in Aniston Alabama on February 17th and 18th Across the Nation the first Wednesday in February is national Signing Day and MPS had a couple schools with ceremonies to Mark the occasion Lake tayah high had two football players signed to play at the next level while at myy nine student athletes signed two from the football team four from the baseball team and one each from the track field hockey and volleyball teams it was a dream come true for most even if the event

129came with some nerves my main thing was like don't stutter I just didn't want to stutter I was kind of like shivery and stuff like shaky but I worked for this day since I was a freshman you know I've been thinking about going to D1 my whole life so it's feels feels feels amazing to put pen and paper to see where all our student athletes signed check out channel 47 or our social media Outlets grany High School teacher Seiko Varner spends his days helping special education students learn algebra and his free time working on a new version of a 90-year-old idea well the hampon rose greenbook is a website and an app and it's available in the Apple Store it's available in the Android store and it spotlights Hampton Road's blackowned businesses it also highlights

130veteran owned women owned and other minority owned businesses the original negro Motors green book was developed in 1930s by Hugo green who was from New York and his wife who was from Richmond Virginia and what it did is it was a repository of safe spaces where those who were considered negro could go and not face terrorism they go on the App they're going to find events they're going to find articles but primarily you're going to find a listing of different businesses organizations and professionals that can provide services or help to you here in the hampon roads area in addition to his teaching duties he's also the faculty sponsor of gry's black student union where he had the opportunity to show students his app and tell them how it relates to the original greenbook the great

131thing is I saw heads nodding I saw them saying yes they downloaded the app I never thought that the teenagers would love it as well and see the relevance and see that there's some uses for them and to see so many of the students downloaded was great it helps out our community it teaches young people that we can build something from the past and build it up in the present and the future it could help so many people I know people who want to feed into black businesses and Just Women Business this would be an amazing platform to use another round of Rockstar Awards went out administrators visited schools throughout the division to present outstanding teachers with Rockstar Awards this award recognizes exceptional teachers for excellent attendance or reaching at least 95% student participation on

132their star literacy assessments both teachers and their students were surprised and grateful for the recognition I'm so excited I'm surprised this is amazing and I love my school so to be recognized is great teachers work really hard and it it's very important that we're here because the students need us and it's great that the district recognizes how valuable we are and what it means for teachers to show up every day it's it's really honor I I didn't know I was getting that I just started teaching uh at North Public Schools well you can't teach if you're not here you can't learn if you're not here so that's our our fundamental prerequisite for academic success is you've got to show up that's your first thing congratulations to Engleside Elementary pre kindergarten teachers they were recognized by

133the Virginia Department of Education for successfully meeting the Virginia quality expectations for early childhood programs 2324 school year kudos to them for a job well done n Public Schools invited students parents and the community to Mori High School to update them on the design of the new building after a presentation that revealed renderings of what the school and campus will look like guests met with members of the design team to share their questions and comments so we all met in back in June when we first started the design process for the new Mari high school we got lots of feed feedback lots of input and so what we're here tonight is to update the community and get more feedback the design has progressed a lot since that last meeting and so we were able to

134share a snapshot in time about where we're at and hopefully get some constructive feedback to mold where we're going attendees were excited to learn about the progress of the plans and what the future may hold for this outstanding learning institution I think it was a good event um lot of Pros maybe a few cons about it but uh I think it's what the city need it was um require a learning experience to know exactly what's going to happen to the um the school by the time the school get built I won't have kids that go here but I'm still be a resident of north um I thought the event had really good layout I appreciated the walk through of the presentation beforehand and the individual conversation I also appreciate how responsive the uh architect team

135was I had some really detailed questions and they were here to be able to talk about them I love like how they did like the athletic building and the sports and I really like how it's like a big campus and it's like actually like really like modern and still Incorporated in like the older stuff too oh I I like it I like the plans because we have to move forward with technology I like the fact it's be open spaces um natural lighting and artificial lighting together I think it's going to be a good thing for the community and more opportunities for the [Music] students congratulations to Grand B High School junior Megan the barge for winning the region 5B dive champion ships for the second year in a row and congratulations to myy high school

136girls swim team for winning 5B regionals keep making NPS proud for complete video stories and more division-wide information about NK Public Schools visit The NPS website and check out our YouTube channel Facebook page Instagram app and The NPS newsletter de calero that concludes my video report move on to agenda item 5.07 citizen comments Miss Tanner um for today's citizens comments we have two speakers today's speaker signed up for Citizens comments before the start of today's meeting when your name is called please come forward to the speaker's Podium state your name and whether you have a child in norro public schools or if you're employed by the district and state your agenda or agenda items one person is to speak at a time if you are representing a group State the group's name you may ask

137your group members to stand in place to be recognized speaking time is limited to 3 minutes a timer is set with an alarm that will signify the end of your speaking time State your position and give relevant facts or data avoid saying anything that identifies students or Personnel information about individual employees Personnel disciplinary and confidential matters may be addressed to the Schoolboard directly via email at Schoolboard npsk12.com comment should be addressed to the board and not addressed to an individual member Schoolboard members do not respond to Public public comments at the time they are given any written statements or supporting materials should be given to the clerk chairwoman dealo our first speaker for today is fell over taine spru followed by precious hay good good afternoon good afternoon see fix this good afternoon how are

138weall doing today doing good uh my name is traine spru I'm a student at Booker T Wasington High School Jr um so I just want to start by apologizing um because quite frankly I feel as if I shouldn't have to stand here uh right now so I I don't think that I should have to explain why students deserve answers and why a innocent teacher was removed without transparency or why the core program at Booker D Washington High School is suffering because of it um but since no one in power has taken responsibility or given us the respect of an honest conversation then speak I shall uh every statement I make comes with all due respect but with also deep disappointment in how the situation has been handled Mr Ziggler is not just a teacher he

139is a mentor he is a leader and at the heart of our Coral program under his guidance we were not just another school we were a force to be reckoned with he gave us opportunities pushed us to Excellence and put in the kind of effort that many teachers just don't he sacrificed his time his energy and personal resources to ensure that we had a thriving program but what makes this situation even worse is that Mr Ziggler wasn't just an exceptional teacher he was a support system for so many students in and outside of the choir class he mentored us beyond music he checked in our well-being and he created an environment where students felt valued and heard and in return for this his dedication he was thrown away with no explanation his sudden removal was

140not only unjust it was downright disgraceful students were blindsided there was no communication no reasoning given and no effort made to explain this decision to the people it impacted the most us instead we were left in the dark forced to navigate rumors and conflicting statements while our choir fell completely apart it is still it is still insulting to think that the voices of the students the very people affected by this were completely ignored in the decision-making process and let's be real this wasn't just a minor change you remove the person who built this program up from the ground the person responsible for booger T Washington High School's recent chire success his absence has already caused disruptions instability and and a decline in the overall morale of the students who were once proud to be a

141part of this choir and how do you justify that so let's talk about the emotional and academic impact that this has had on us students who once found comfort and inspiration in that choir room now feel abandoned the structure and stability Mr Ziggler provided is gone we've been left scrambling without a leader and without even the common courtesy of an explanation and let's not forget numbers because thank God they don't lie since Mr Ziggler removal our choir has lost over 60% of its members and do you honestly think that that is a coincidence students left because they knew what this program was with him and what it would become without him thank you m your time is up it has been 280 long days and I won't be long it has been 280 long boring

142and unproductive days in that choir room since Mr Ziggler has been removed that's 280 days of lost opportunities that's 20 280 days of uh competitions programs everything gone in just 280 days in 280 days I'm sorry you have exceeded your time much um also one last thing uh I have complaint letters here um so I will give them to miss Tanner yes ma'am and I will all thank you I appreciate my time all right you all have a nice evening God bless as well thank you [Applause] thank you I didn't know that I just ask y'all to give me some Grace um it took a lot to come here I'm a retired veteran and I'm like struggling with some anxiety just sitting in here so I might exceed the 3 minutes but I gave you

143enough evidence to where I don't have to say anything but it's been a year since my son was violated by rooc instructor and as a retired Navy veteran it's hard to digest and sit here and wait for some kind of resolution without being angry or being uh misinterpreted cuz I have really had to learn a new language just to express the frustration for the student um I know I'm off the letter but I I've been trying to express myself for over a year and I've been unheard my son was assaulted by Oral TC instructor and I'm a retired Chief and it's a lot of stuff that they've didn't told me that is unsat and and I'm not trying to ruin your black history month but my son this this the instructor told me he wasn't

144even his teacher and he said I need you to do better and I've been eating that since January SE January 18th 2024 I don't know how much better I need to be I'm a single mother both of my kids well this one that was assaulted he was doing very well now he does he is a chronic absentee he don't want to go to school and I said my letter it's a lot of I I'm I'm still consuming The Poetry I'm a poet so I'm not trying to get off topic I see I got a minute but I really had to express that to to you and look in your face and say I'm tired of asking for help my son I don't want him to be lost in this system he asked for help he

145told the truth in his statement I haven't got any anwers he was in they did a whole investigation and haven't given me anything like it's so much suppor documentation in there I don't have to stand here and tell you anything but I just ask you for your grace and your mercy and if you believe in God to do the right thing by my son and the rest of these children because he wasn't the only child in rooc and Norview High School for 2023 2024 school year and I thank you for your time and I thank you for listening and have a good night and that completes our speakers for this evening passing it down pass it down sure every board member has one I'll took one just make sure all the board members have it

146though all the board members have move on to agenda item 5.08 approval of the consent agenda do we have a motion to approve the consent agenda I move that we approve the consent agenda second Miss Moore has motion to approve the consent consent agenda and Dr Martin has seconded that motion uh Miss Tanner will you please take the role Bim I Buffalo I hinge I Martin I hson I Thomas to calero hi we'll move on to uh agenda item 7.01 the monthly financial report Miss FY good evening chair to calero Vice chair Thomas Schoolboard members and Dr bird song um tonight we are presenting the Janu uary financial statement the January report covers seven months for the fiscal year that started July 1 of 20124 this report reflects July through January transactions that were recorded

147honor before February 14th as shown on the financial highlights page in the top section um the general fund collections for the first 7 months totaled 273.5 million ion and represent 58.6% of the general fund budget collections during the same period in the previous two years ranged between 52.6% and 53.2% um as with prior years collections are based on cash collected during the period as shown on the next to the last line by the end of January we spent or encumbered $ 268.7 million or 57.4% of the budget during the two previous years spending through December 31st ranged between 48 and 52.6% as shown on the bottom line of um this um summary actual Revenue collections are 5.6 million above expenditures and Inc convences um more detailed information um on this um summary is um follows

148in the following pages and um and during the month there were no general fund transfers exceeding $50,000 and I'm chair de Calera that's the um end of my prepared comments I'm be happy to answer any questions board members any questions yes see yes thank you for the report um if if we could go back to um could you remind me I know I've asked about this before but the interfund transfers that are under Athletics what what is that um particularly attributed to it's um those are movement of funds between um our athletics department and the school athletic programs and um and they're they're labeled in you transfers um it um so it you there is a there's a movement of of those funds through throughout the years as the T as um the athletic activities

149are performed and um that then so that that's what's in that is what's in that line and U and you can notice over the course of the year it will go positive because there's some reimbursement from one to the other and then and then may swing back negative in a in a different month okay and then um under student I appreciate that under student health and wellness um the purchase Services I noticed was also seemed to exceed um what was budgeted what what is that attributed to and um I was curious if there if there was something that we needed to look forward to in the future budget accomodate that there um there are the um the primary drivers of um of those expenditures are our contracted psychologist you as you know because you we're

150having to use more more contracts um due to not having the people and um and that's more expensive it's it is also um care soless and Panorama and um and theud handbook make up the um the bulk of those expenditures that you're seeing okay and um and they um and and those overages are being um addressed in um in the future budget okay and that's I was going to ask that question um but can you expand on so we've had to contract for psychologist because we haven't been able to fill the positions or we didn't allocate the positions um keeping them filled keeping them filled and the and the and the hours that they're um that they're having to work has has caused us to need to use more contract okay and um how are

151you determining what the need what will be in for future budgeting purposes work working with those um with um that the chief okay um yeah on where those U needs are okay all right thank you I'll I'll ask I have a couple other questions but I'll ask that offline other questions from the board I do have one question um so um Mrs spiv you had said there were no um transactions above 50,000 is there a guidance or something if it's 50,000 there there is if if if we um move funds that have been budgeted for one particular area to a you a different area right um we uh with without um we we can do Min um the staff the Departments can move funds under $50,000 any movement of funds over over $50,000 um can

152be moved but there is a requirement to report that to the board and where's and and Dr burong maybe where would I get that report if it's less than 40 if it's 49,999 um we we that that information I'm I'm not sure I understand your question if um for any transactions that are okay I I'll I'll get with Dr Berg song and instructor to get it thank you so much thank you Madam chair I do have one additional question um could you share with us what the current fund balance is for this uh school year what the current fund balance like where where we are um well the the the most accurate way I I can I can show you that is um as shown on this report that our revenues over expenditures and incumbrances

153are the $5.6 million okay thank you there questions Mr paulon any questions all right uh we need to take a vote I move that we approve the monthly financial report subject to audit second second uh Miss Moore has moved that we uh accept the monthly Financial audit and Dr Martin has seconded that Miss Tanner will you please take the vote Bine I Buffalo I in I Martin hi hson I Thomas to calero hi uh we'll move on to agenda item 8.01 School Board business meeting adment now the school board business meeting is adjourned thank you I am sure