001Amen. >> Thursday, June 11th, 2026, the regular meeting of the Nottoway County School Board is now called to order. >> Amen. >> We'll have a moment of silence followed by prayer, if you so choose. And if you are able, please stand for our Pledge of Allegiance. Let us pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you tonight for our school board. Thank you for our division staff. Thank you for our superintendent, our clerk. Thank you for all of the parents and the students that are here tonight. >> [laughter] >> Thank you for just allowing us to kind of wrap up another successful school year. We thank you for your grace and for your mercy. We ask your continued guidance and your protection over us as we continue to go about the business of Nottoway County Schools. In the
002mighty name of Jesus, we pray. Amen. >> Amen. >> Takes me back. >> I pledge allegiance 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. >> Is there a motion to approve the agenda for June 11th? >> So moved. >> Second. >> Any discussion? All in favor? >> Say "Aye". >> Aye. >> We shall begin tonight with awards and recognitions. And I'm going to turn it over to Dr. Martin, our superintendent, to our awards and recognitions. >> Good evening, Mr. Chairman, members of the board. It is exciting to see this many people in here for recognition. >> Yes, indeed. >> Um we're going to start and we're going to get through them. And so the first
003one we're going to do is the 2026 valedictorian and salutatorian. And so this evening we're We are able I can't even talk there's so many people in here tonight. But we're able to celebrate our 2026 valedictorian and salutatorian. Both provided words of encouragement and support at graduation this past weekend. Um I do not believe he is here this evening, but I'm going to start with our salutatorian. It's Logan Hanson with a grade point average of a 4.2576. Logan will be attending UVA. WE MET UVA. [applause] >> [laughter] >> UM AND HE WILL BE STUDYING systems engineering in the fall. So congratulations to Logan, but I do NOT THINK THAT >> [applause] [applause] >> AND NEXT I HAVE OUR VALEDICTORIAN who you know very well from being the student liaison on the board, but our valedictorian
004was Avery Claiborne with a grade point average of a 4.2813. Avery will be attending South Suburban Community College this fall pursuing a nursing degree, and so we're super PROUD OF HER. >> [applause] [applause] >> THAT'S OUR LITTLE MASCOT. COME ON, MASCOT. >> YEAH, so I will share These are our Charlie Cougar Cub mascots. If you've checked out our Facebook page, you've seen pictures of Charlie the Cougar Cub traveling. Our goal was for staff to get them and to travel I'm sure they will get you one. But it's to travel throughout the summer to different spots. Send us the pictures so that we can snap Charlie Cougar Cub on his travels this summer. And he's a great therapy animal. He does not talk back to you. Fantastic. So Yes, he listens very well. No comments back.
005So but we do have those for our staff. So and you each have one this evening as well. >> Thank you very much. >> All right. Our next awards this evening Is this how you want me to do it, right? Me just keep going? Okay, that's what I thought. Our our SVCC graduates. So this evening we get to recognize our students that completed their associates, their uniform certificates, or program certificates from SVCC for this past year. I do think it's an important to note also with these recognitions because these students are part of that that we had a very small senior class this year. And as it was shared at senior night and just so you know that 63 of the 103 graduates either graduated with high honors or honors this year. And >> [applause]
006>> of our senior class that graduated with those honors. So that is remarkable, it's amazing, and it's amazing that we had so many students that completed community college programs as they are moving on or certificates for the workforce. So as I call them, if they will come forward and you have to stand Ava Martin, Associates of Arts and Sciences Governor's School UM HUMANITIES. >> [applause] >> PLEASE STOP IN LINE OVER HERE. WE'LL get a group at the end. >> Kathleen Price, Associates of Arts and Sciences Governor's SCHOOL FOR HUMANITIES. >> [applause] >> BREELYN FULLER, Associates of Arts and Sciences GOVERNOR'S SCHOOL STEM. >> [applause] >> SAMUEL HARRIS, ASSOCIATES OF Arts and Sciences GOVERNOR'S SCHOOL STEM. >> [applause] >> ELLIOT WAIT, ASSOCIATES of Arts and Sciences GOVERNOR'S SCHOOL STEM. >> [applause] >> KENDALL CLEMENTS, ASSOCIATES OF
007ARTS AND SCIENCES GENERAL STUDIES. >> [applause] >> AVERY CLYBURN, ASSOCIATES OF Arts and SCIENCES GENERAL STUDIES. >> [applause] >> SELENA HONG, ASSOCIATES OF Arts and SCIENCES GENERAL STUDIES. >> [applause] >> LAUREN LEE, ASSOCIATES OF Arts and SCIENCES GENERAL STUDIES. >> [applause] >> CONGRATULATIONS. >> MCKENZIE PAULETTE, Associates of Arts and Sciences GENERAL STUDIES. >> [applause] >> CHILINSKI, Associates of Arts and SCIENCES GENERAL STUDIES. >> [applause] >> SARAYA VAUGHN, ASSOCIATES OF ARTS AND SCIENCES GENERAL STUDIES. >> [applause] >> AND I'LL LET YOU GET THEIR PICTURES AND WE'LL MOVE ON to the >> All right. Can you get in the middle? All right. People be able to come this way. Let me just get over here. Get together here. You can be presenting them the certificate kind of like you do some of your hands. All right. All
008right. Very good. All right. Got a full house here tonight. Um going to move on in a little bit. Looking great here on three foot. >> You got to smile. Smile. >> You got to do it. You got to do it. >> Smile. >> Very good. >> [applause] [laughter] >> That's right. Smile. Let me come up there. Smile. Smile. >> GOOD JOB, GUYS. >> [applause] >> SMILE. >> THANK YOU FOR BEING HERE. >> I'M SMILING. >> ALL RIGHT. SO, our Southside Virginia Community College Certificates, um James Arms, I'm going to say Calvin Arms, uh Uniform Certificate OF GENERAL STUDIES. >> [applause] [applause] >> COLIN BARTON, HVAC CERTIFICATE PROGRAM. >> [applause] >> HAYDEN TUCK VIRGIN, HVAC CERTIFICATE PROGRAM. >> [applause] >> DE'JON STEWART, HVAC CERTIFICATE PROGRAM. >> [applause] >> BENJAMIN SYKES III, HVAC CERTIFICATE PROGRAM. >>
009[applause] >> JEROME THOMPSON JR., HVAC CERTIFICATE PROGRAM. >> [applause] >> JACOB WEBB, HVAC CERTIFICATE PROGRAM. >> [applause] >> TORI BOWEN, NURSE AIDE CERTIFICATE PROGRAM. >> [applause] >> DEMONI MILLS, NURSE AIDE CERTIFICATE PROGRAM. >> [applause] >> GRACIE RAMIREZ ESCALANTE, Nurse Aide Certificate Program. >> [applause] >> ADORIAN WOMACK, NURSE AIDE CERTIFICATE PROGRAM. >> [applause] [laughter] >> WOULD THAT BE A LITTLE HIGHER, PLEASE? WOW. I PROBABLY get one. >> Congratulations to ALL OF YOU. >> [applause] >> SO, NEXT UP WE HAVE OUR SPORTS AWARDS. And sports are amazing opportunities for our students to showcase their talents on and off the field, the court, the track, and ultimately in the classroom because they are student athletes. You're a student first and foremost. So we have student athletes receiving honors in all spring sports, soccer, softball, outdoor track and field,
010and baseball. So I'll start with soccer. First team all district, DANIEL MURPHY. >> [applause] [applause] >> SECOND TEAM ALL DISTRICT, SEBASTIAN SILVA CORTEZ. >> [applause] >> SECOND TEAM ALL DISTRICT, JOSEPH PEREZ. >> [applause] >> READY? 1 3 1 2 THANK YOU. >> [applause] >> OUTDOOR TRACK AND FIELD, Malia Davis, third place district championship triple jump, eighth place VHSL class 2 state CHAMPIONSHIP TRIPLE JUMP. >> [applause] >> ANTON CARTER JR., FIRST place district CHAMPIONSHIP SHOT PUT. >> [applause] >> BRADLEY HAMILTON, FIRST place district championship 1600 meter run. First place, district championship, 3200 meter run. VHSL Region 2A 1600 meter run champion. VHSL Region 2A state champion 1600 meter run. And VHSL Region 2 state champion 32 meter 3200 METER RUN. >> [applause] [applause] >> MARION JOHNSON, SECOND place district championship high jump. VHSL CLASS 2 STATE
011CHAMPIONSHIPS HIGH JUMP. >> [applause] >> JULIAN GRAY, THIRD PLACE district championship 3200 METER RUN. >> [applause] >> JAYDEN BANKS. >> CONGRATULATIONS. THAT is a lot of running and jumping. Nice try, guys. DON'T RUN AWAY. >> [laughter] >> OKAY. ON THREE. >> ONE, TWO, THREE. >> THANK YOU. >> [applause] >> NEXT UP, SOFTBALL. ADDISON CHILDRESS, second team all district shortstop and second team ALL REGION SHORTSTOP. >> [cheering] [applause] >> CAMBRIA ASHFORD, SECOND team all DISTRICT THIRD BASE. >> [applause] >> CONGRATULATIONS. JAYDEN BANKS, FIRST team all district outfield, first team ALL REGION OUTFIELD. >> [applause] >> OLIVIA SHORTER, SECOND TEAM ALL DISTRICT OUTFIELD. >> [applause] [applause] >> REAGAN TUCKER, FIRST TEAM all district pitcher, second team ALL REGION OUTFIELD. >> [applause] >> AND MEADOW AUSTIN, SECOND team all DISTRICT FIRST BASE. >> [applause] >> AND BELIEVE COACH
012CROPPER HAS THEIR ALL region certificates. You want to come forward and get your certificates? >> You didn't ask me anything. >> [laughter] >> I'm sorry. >> Congratulations. Congratulations. >> Thank you. >> Congratulations. Congratulations. >> Thanks. >> All right. >> [laughter] >> Ready? Okay, here we go. 1 2 3. Awesome. THANK YOU. >> [applause] [applause] >> AND LAST BUT CERTAINLY NOT LEAST, BASEBALL. Cameron Hendricks, FIRST TEAM ALL DISTRICT. >> [applause] >> AND SECOND TEAM ALL DISTRICT, TRENT HAYES. >> [applause] >> CONGRATULATIONS TO THEM. DON'T GO ANYWHERE. >> SANDY, 1 2 >> Mr. Chairman, while we are still doing students, I would like to go ahead and do the attendance ones and then we'll get to the staff. >> All right. >> If you don't mind, that way we can keep all the students together. >> Sounds
013good. >> Um so tonight, um we're going to celebrate perfect attendance across the school division. Uh we have the privilege of recognizing a very special group of students, those that achieved perfect attendance for the entire school year. In today's world, this is a this is significant as the world is full of distractions, challenges, unexpected obstacles, and showing up each day is not a small accomplishment. Perfect attendance is about much more than simply being present. It reflects commitment, responsibility, and a dedication to learning. Attendance matters because every day of learning builds upon the next. The ability to show up consistently is a life skill that will serve them well long after leaving Nottoway County Public Schools. So tonight, we celebrate not only their achievement, but also the support of their family who helped make this accomplishment
014possible. Their commitment demonstrates that every minute of learning truly matters. So please join me as we congratulate those who are in perfect attendance for the 2025-2026 Jonathan Anderson, 11TH GRADE. >> [applause] >> AND BEFORE I CONTINUE, I WANT TO SAY THERE'S A LOT of families in here, so you're going to see some families coming up, which is fantastic. Michael Anderson, 11TH GRADE. >> [applause] >> DANA ASHLEY JR., NINTH GRADE. >> [applause] [applause] >> AMARI COLEMAN, NINTH GRADE. JACE FITZGERALD, NINTH GRADE. >> [applause] >> JOSHUA GREEN, TENTH GRADE. >> [applause] >> BRYCE HOLT, TENTH GRADE. >> [applause] >> GENCIA HERNANDEZ MANUEL, NINTH GRADE. >> [applause] >> ANDREW HERNANDEZ MARTINEZ, TENTH GRADE. >> [applause] >> JAMESON LIVINGSTON, NINTH GRADE. >> [applause] >> COLBY MARTIN, TWELFTH GRADE. And I know I will get in trouble if I do
015not add this because it's listed here and I'm going to get >> Yes, indeed. >> upset. Um but Colby Martin was the only senior with perfect attendance who has also maintained perfect attendance from fifth grade to twelfth grade, eight years in A ROW. >> WOW. >> [applause] >> I WAS ACTUALLY GOING TO LEAVE THAT OFF. I WOULD HAVE GOTTEN UPSET BY A LOT OF PEOPLE. >> YES, YOU WOULD HAVE. >> Um Candy Martinez Alonzo, NINTH GRADE. >> [applause] >> JADE OLIVER, ELEVENTH GRADE. >> [applause] >> LILLIAN RODRIGUEZ, TENTH GRADE. >> [applause] >> GARY TAYLOR, NINTH GRADE. >> [applause] >> ANTHONY WALLACE, ELEVENTH GRADE. >> [applause] >> REED WALLACE, NINTH GRADE. >> [applause] >> JACOB WEBB, 11TH GRADE. >> [applause] >> SO, THOSE ARE OUR HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS. >> [applause] [applause] [laughter] >> I'LL GET CLOSE
016TO YOU. ALL RIGHT, HERE WE GO. ON THREE. ONE, TWO, THREE, SMILE. AND IT'S CHALLENGE. OUR MIDDLE SCHOOL PERFECT ATTENDANCE, Isabella Alba, EIGHTH GRADE. >> [applause] >> ALEXANDRA ALTUS TORRES, SEVENTH GRADE. >> [applause] >> MARIANA CLARK, SEVENTH GRADE. >> [applause] >> NICOLEMAN, EIGHTH GRADE. >> [applause] >> JALIA EDMONDS, JAYLA EDMONDS, I'm sorry, SEVENTH GRADE. >> [applause] >> MALIA HILL, EIGHTH GRADE. JEREMIAH JONES HUBBARD, 7TH GRADE. >> [applause] >> KYLER MILES, 7TH GRADE. >> [applause] >> KELSEY SKINNER, 7TH GRADE. >> [applause] >> JADA WALKER, 7TH GRADE. >> [applause] >> AT INTERMEDIATE SCHOOL, Samantha Cochran, 5TH GRADE. >> [applause] >> ROWAN DUNBAR, 5TH GRADE. >> [applause] >> AVA HOLLYFIELD, 5TH GRADE. >> [applause] >> KINSLEY JONES, 5TH GRADE. >> [applause] >> CADEN LEWIS, 5TH GRADE. >> [applause] >> MCKINLEY VAUGHN, 5TH GRADE. >> [applause] >> MCKENZIE VAUGHN,
0175TH GRADE. GABBY ELVIS PEREZ, 6TH GRADE. >> [applause] >> AVA BECK, 6TH GRADE. >> [applause] >> KAILYN BOWDEN, 6TH GRADE. >> [applause] >> IDALY HERNANDEZ MARTINEZ, 6TH GRADE. >> [applause] >> 6TH GRADE. FABIANA PATRICK, 6TH GRADE. >> [applause] >> KAILYN JONES. 6TH GRADE. >> [applause] >> JANETTE THOMAS CASTRO, 6TH GRADE. >> [applause] >> KINAYA WASHINGTON, 6TH GRADE. >> [applause] [screaming] [applause] >> DREW PRIMARY SCHOOL. TRINITY COLLEGE, 4TH GRADE. >> [applause] >> SIMON CHAMBERS, 2ND GRADE. >> [applause] >> LITTLE BALLOT. BENNETT MILES, 1ST GRADE. >> [applause] >> HARRISON MILES, 4TH GRADE. >> [applause] >> BENJAMIN SHELTON, 3RD GRADE. >> [applause] >> AND LATRAYA YARBOROUGH, 1ST GRADE. >> [applause] >> HELLO, YEAH. HOW YOU DOING? >> THEY DON'T NEED TO BE. >> YOU HAVE TO kneel down gentlemen. >> Yeah, we got that. >> You can take
018him as talking. >> I'm going to try and get a good expression. >> A little bit of A little bit over to >> All right, perfect. >> Great. Get on three. >> One, two, three. Hold that up. I'll take that further. >> Hold that. Hold that. >> Are [laughter] we ready? Smile. I love school. >> YEAH. >> [applause] >> YEAH, THANK YOU. >> ALICIA, I'M FINE. AND LAST BUT CERTAINLY NOT LEAST, Blackstone Primary School. >> We're going to have to kneel down here. >> ALICIA ALTAMIRANO TORRES. PRE-K. >> [applause] >> PRE-K. >> Yadiel Altamirano Torres, THIRD GRADE. >> [applause] >> LONDON BASKERVILLE, FIRST GRADE. >> [applause] >> MACKENZIE BASKERVILLE, PRE-K. >> [applause] >> SILBY COBURN, THIRD GRADE. >> [applause] >> SILBY. SILBY. >> GLENN COBURN, FIRST GRADE. >> [applause] [laughter] >> STADY DUMONT, PRE-K. >>
019[applause] >> ASHTON EANES, FIRST GRADE. >> [applause] >> SKYLER EANES, KINDERGARTEN. >> [applause] >> BARRY EMERSON, FOURTH GRADE. >> [applause] >> KAMARI HICKS, THIRD GRADE. >> [applause] >> JASON HOPKINS JR., FIRST GRADE. >> [applause] >> MESSIAH HOPKINS, SECOND GRADE. >> [applause] >> SMARTER MESA, KINDERGARTEN. >> [applause] >> ZELATA LERA, SORRY. MOSES, FOURTH GRADE. >> [applause] >> OKAY, I JUST MAKE IT SURE. AND Jodicee Whitaker, SECOND GRADE. >> [applause] [laughter] >> OKAY, BLACKSTONE. LOVE AND LEAVE. Let's go, Blackstone. Come on, hold it. Try to GET A SHOT. >> [laughter] >> HOLD IT. EVERYBODY GOOD? >> YEAH. >> TURN, you ready? Hey. What do we say? Come to school? >> [laughter] >> Come to school. Yeah. GOOD JOB, GUYS. >> [applause] >> YES, INDEED. >> [laughter] >> NOW, I WILL SAY, I KNOW THEY HAVE LEFT, but
020that's a huge accomplishment. >> it's joyous. I think I would be remiss if I did not mention that there will be a distinct lack of anyone in attendance tonight wearing UVA garb. >> [laughter] >> That was not SUCH A PROBLEM >> [laughter] >> THEY GOT MIXED UP BEFORE THEY GOT HERE. THEY WERE JUST WEARING THE MAROON PART OF IT. BURGUNDY, whatever they want to call it. The UVA is a much better color to put on. Requirement of all >> I'VE GOT SOMETHING >> [laughter] >> LET'S NOT TAKE HAMPTON SYDNEY. >> UH-OH. UH-OH. I think this is a great idea. However, I'd again be remiss if I didn't mention that another of our more or less local institutions of higher learning, Hampton Sydney, has a flag that's about yay by yay >> [clears throat] >> has
021pictures of it taken with graduates from all over the world. >> Okay. >> That's cool. >> And my son contributed to uh that [snorts] in four different countries. >> Oh, awesome. >> All right. Hampton Sydney. >> Hampton Sydney. >> Tigers. >> [laughter] >> THAT HAS HAPPENED. >> NEXT WE HAVE OUR NOTTOWAY LEAD PROGRAM, and I am actually going to turn this over to Dr. Gregor because he spearheaded the work of this program this year under his leadership and direction. So, um this was our first time with this program, and it was a success, and so I'm going to let him share about the program. >> All right. I don't know if I should say say something about JMU. I don't know if >> [laughter] >> Sorry, we we forgot ALL ABOUT JMU. >> [laughter] >>
022THANK YOU EVERYONE. UH GOOD EVENING MEMBERS OF THE BOARD, DR. MARTIN, GUESTS, BOYS. SO, I'd like to take tonight to talk about Nottoway LEAD. As you can see it, leaders emerging across the division. Uh this is an initiative, you know when your your supervisor or boss goes, "I think that's a good idea." You usually end up doing it. So, I just off the cuff was talking about, you know, we need a uh of developing a pipeline. We got great folks, we have leaders who are already within. And someone that I report to said, "You know, that's a great idea, RJ. I think we should do that." Well, being the good soldier that I am, we're doing it. So, >> [laughter] >> so it was a pilot program. With pilot programs, as you know, they're basically
023guinea pigs going through the process. And these folks did an amazing job with that. But the important part, as you can see, it's leaders across Leaders are emerging across the division. So, let's let's be that. So, as you can see, this is a one-year structured professional development program that's designed for our licensed staff who has demonstrated leadership potential. Our core goal is simple. To ensure that the future leaders are equipped with knowledge, skills, and support they need to positively impact students, staff, and our school culture. What makes an effective program is it's built on these key areas. We have a mentorship where they're teamed up with their supervisor, principal, or so on. We did a book study. I know everyone is thrilled to have a book to read in addition to the extra work that
024they have to do, but this was a very impactful book that we were able to use throughout the year and then pull from it and through their capstone capstone aspect of it. It was authentic learning. We did school walk-throughs. They observed classrooms with their superintendent. They we did shadowing. They did book talks with it and they did real-time material that they can apply. It's a lot of times we get into practice where it's theoretical. You learn about about about. You don't really do. And this was the aspect that we really wanted to take away from it is core concrete material that they're able to use immediately leaving the the program. And obviously, just to make sure we're in line, the state has benchmarks preset for leadership development. So, we talked about what's the result. What
025is our I always try to begin with the end in mind. What is our outcome that we wanted to achieve and what's our path to get to that? So, the key element of this was their capstone project. With the capstone project, they we took a look through the book was kind of the anchor and through that we were able to develop themes that they were supposed to present on as a group um within each other. So, as you can see here, such were attendance, which we saw a good reflection of that today, instructional strategies, morale boosting, and overall just systemic change within the division. By the time they finished, they weren't just trained. They're able to use these resources directly like we talked about having something concrete, a concrete resource whether something from the book
026or something from the the group that they led with each other that they could hold in their hands or put in their pockets to save for another point whenever they get to that next level of leadership. So, in summary, uh not only lead, we're investing in our future. We have to build what from within. The state has kind of the grow-your-own pro- program that we team up. We decided we need something for the leadership asset. We have great people here that are leaders now and we need to see them blossom more. So, this it's an investment to our own folks. It's succession planning, it's leadership opportunities so when they're ready to come open, we have folks ready to step up. And I could not be remiss without talking about them. So, we have as you
027can see on here, I know we have some folks here I'm going to We have Audie Body And a Check from the middle school. We have Taylor Booker from the intermediate school. Casey Boyles from the middle school counseling. As you can see from this, it's not just teachers. It's licensed staff. So, we've got counselors, we've got health PE, we've got reading specialists, and so on. And so, it's across the spectrum of folks that were involved with this. Jay Coleman, Jessica Crane from reading specialist at Crew, Daniel Matthews at the high school, Melanie Madeline Duffy at Lorraine Merano, Ronnie Johnson, and Kristen Wilson. So, I personally want to say thank you for the time that they put in, the effort that they put in. It's nothing like having something to do extra at the end of
028the day after you have a full day of classes and so on to sit again to learn about something. And I think I hope they gained something from it. I truly did personally, and I think it's a great step towards our future with internal with Nottoway. To that note, we already have folks reaching out already that are interested in the program for year two. And on top of that, we've had a contact from Longwood University that's kind of sparked their interest with that as well. So, we're getting on the map, but I think that's that's something to be proud of in general. Thank you. >> So, Dr. Gregory, we're going to call them up individually, too, cuz we >> Oh, absolutely. Please do. Yes. >> [laughter] >> And you guys have your speech ready? >>
029RONNIE ANDREW CHECK. >> [laughter] >> LAUREN SAID SHE WAS BRINGING AN OFFERING. >> [applause] [applause] >> LAUREN MORENO. I DON'T BELIEVE THIS IS >> [laughter] >> SO, YOU STAY UP HERE. >> NOW. CASEY COLEMAN. >> [applause] >> LIKE A KID IN THE BACK OF THE CLASSROOM YOU jumped up there all OF A SUDDEN. >> [laughter] >> UH JESSE IS not here. DANIEL MATTHEWS. >> [applause] >> THE TECH AND UVA. WEST VIRGINIA University is in the >> [laughter] >> All right. >> LAUREN MORENO. >> [applause] >> I DON'T BELIEVE I DON'T BELIEVE RONNIE or Kristen are here. Um >> [laughter] >> I will say too, I had the pleasure of attending their sessions along with a lot of our central office admin team. Um, they did have the opportunity to coach some of us um, as
030a teacher would coach assume those roles and talk through it and what would they do? Um, I would also add that one of the things that we had in there was priority if positions open up for teacher leader and those type of things that we felt that they should have priority in those processes because they completed leadership training with us. So, it was a great group to work with and Dr. Gregor did a fantastic job leading it. >> ALL RIGHT. >> [applause] >> GREAT ON THREE, ONE, TWO, AND THREE. Hold that pose. One, two, and three. Charlotte's next. >> [laughter] >> Yeah, you're hiding. >> Dr. Gregor, could you please get on the side? >> Really got [laughter] to follow these women's orders now, you heard it. >> [laughter] >> OKAY, ON THREE, ONE, TWO,
031THREE. Thank you. >> All right, THANK Y'ALL. >> [applause] >> AND I THINK THAT IS THE LAST ONE. >> [laughter] >> BUT I WILL SAY it is great to have that many recognitions. >> Oh yeah. >> Yeah, that's good. That is. >> All right, I'm back. Hey Jake. All right, thank you. >> [clears throat] >> Delegations. Do we have anyone signed up for delegations from the public? All right. Next [clears throat] the consent agenda. Is there a motion to approve the consent agenda? >> Mr. Chairman, I move that items A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, J, K, L, M, N, and O be approved. >> All right. Is there a second? Any discussion? >> I'm sorry, which ones? >> Everything but >> [snorts] >> I. >> Correct. Everything but I. All right. All
032in favor, sign of I. >> I. >> Any opposed? All right. >> All right. So, would you >> I'll move that we approve I I the VSBA annual dues. >> Is there a second? >> Is it what we what we doing again? >> D. >> We're doing number letter I. >> Okay. >> So, we can discuss it. And what were you what were you looking for? Uh a second. >> I'll second. >> All right. Any discussion? That item, you need to discuss? You can go ahead. >> I have no discussion. >> Are you good with number? >> He just wants to vote no. >> Oh, okay. Okay. Okay, I understand. Okay. All right. All in favor? >> I. >> Opposed. >> All right. All right. >> Mr. Chairman, can I just make a clarification when
033I go through board policies moving forward that you're going to find a board policy in there for um FOIA and Freedom of information and all of that that's coming up that in the future we need to amend that to begin with because we can't change the agenda later on. You're going to hear me talk about it, but I just to put that out there for you. It's fine for us to do that, but moving forward once the new policy and actually that's that's not just going to be the policy. We have to do that up front that if you want to take something out based on the coming day. Yes. I just wanted to put that out there before I forgot. >> Thank you. Mr. Chairman, let me question. We didn't take anything out. >>
034No, but we did it separate whereas the consent normally goes as one item. We just need to separate it. We changed the agenda to take it separate. >> I'll politely disagree with that. So we can change the consent agenda. We're not changing the consent agenda. We're just either >> a new that's a new uh policy >> that. I read the policy. All right. So we're done with consent agenda. >> All [snorts] right. First action item. >> National policy LBD home instruction. >> So Mr. Chairman members of the board, this is an oversight on my part. So I do apologize. This was a policy that came through separately in October. I did not catch it. It is a wording clarification. We are in full compliance with this policy, but it does spell out the statutory requirements
035to place the safety and privacy of children that are homeschooled um it's taken care of and it's just a wording change uh for it. It did come out in October. As I said, I do apologize because it slipped past us because it wasn't in the the big group of them that typically come through. Um so I am asking that you formally approve that so that we're up to date with that, but it does and you've heard I believe we've talked about it before is that the privacy information. We are able to disclose the number of students that are homeschooled, but we are not allowed to disclose their information or those type of things. So, it really just make sure that we are in a line with those requirements. We are already adhering to it, but
036I do want to make sure that we are in full compliance. >> And we are discussing the home instruction email. >> Yes. >> Now, I have a question, if I may. >> Yes. >> Uh on page two uh the paragraph that starts "No proof of immunization shall be required of any child so on and so forth." I would like to add at the beginning of that sentence if requested. And with that would be a question. Do you typically request or require that uh home school uh families provide that uh statement on immunization? >> We do not. >> Good. Then, I would like to see that uh that if requested be added to that first part of the sentence. >> All right. >> I have a motion to adopt policy LBD home instruction and to add
037the phrase if requested at the paragraph that Mr. Outlaw suggested. >> So moved. >> I have a second. >> Second. >> Any discussion? >> I'm not sure does that fit? >> I'm not so up on my understanding. >> sure that that's something that we have control. >> [snorts] >> I have a question. >> That would be a question. >> The next line does say no proof of immunization shall be required. >> Well, if it's a sticking point, but >> I'm just trying to understand. Can you explain it to me again? >> Yeah, I'm going to say explain why you're saying that so I can get an understanding. >> That's why I asked Dr. Martin a little uh >> If we request, we don't >> Yeah, she typically requests this. And it would seem to me
038to be a burden on the school division and home school parents if every year they got a request for this. So >> It's not necessary, yeah. >> Right. So, that's why I suggested that we add if requested. >> So, it's clarifying it at the top. The bottom part says that it says no proof of immunization if um requested, stating certain things. >> Okay, well, I'll withdraw that. >> We do We do not request that as part of our We have not even when I oversaw home school instruction, that was not something that we >> Well, I'll withdraw that. >> I get what you're saying now, though. But I do Yeah, it's Yeah. >> It makes sense. Okay. All right. Okay, so is there a motion to adopt? We had a We had it with it
039in there. >> He withdrew his >> So, we get a motion to So, there Is there a motion to adopt policy LBD home instruction as presented by Dr. Martin? So moved. Is there a second? >> I'll second it. >> Any discussion? All in favor, sign of I? >> I. >> All right. Second is the division wellness plan. From Ms. Maya. >> Yeah. So, well, I'll actually turn it over to her cuz she's got the whole thing, but we are required every 3 years to update our division wellness plan, and so Heather can hit the highlights of the plan, which you also have a copy of. And then once approved would be posted on the school's website. >> Okay. >> Every year we have to go through or every 3 years we have to go through
040a triennial assessment um to ensure that we are adhering to our um school um wellness plan policy is actually what the state requires it to be termed. Um but some of the key changes just from whenever you all Well, the >> [clears throat] >> It was last approved in 2023, so we need to update it now. There's just a few changes. Um we shifted some of the wording, so instead of it saying um a general wellness coordinator, it does specify food service director, which will be myself going forward. Um it also reduces um the exemption for fundraisers. We had it in there that schools were allowed to do 30 fundraisers with um exempted foods, so basically foods that did not meet USDA nutritional standards. We don't come close to 30 fundraisers, so we reduced that
041number to 10, which is a lot more realistic um in within our our schools. We also adjusted the restricted hours that um schools and clubs and sports athlet letics can sell um restricted or exempted food. So, they cannot actually sell it within the school building between 7:30 a.m. um until up until an hour after dismissal. Um it was 6:00 a.m., but typically we started accepting kids at 7:30 in the morning, so we adjusted that time. Um some other just key differences, um we we softened the lan- language in the celebration classroom celebrations and rewards um section. We had it a little bit more strict about you could only use smart snacks. However, whenever especially primary schools, you've got families bringing in, you know, snacks for parties and such as this. So, we changed it to
042where it reads that we will make all reasonable attempts to meet and exceed um the smart using the smart snack snack rule, but we will also provide the schools the option to purchase compliant items through the food service department. Um so, that was a change in there. Um we also had to actually add language in as and this was required by um Virginia Department of Education that just specifies we are a CEP school division, meaning that all students receive free breakfast and lunch. Um and then we had to add in a section that talked about um the guaranteed time for students to eat. So, students get 10 minutes in the seat to eat breakfast and 20 minutes for lunch. That does not include their time waiting in line for meals. That is actually the time
043that they're supposed to get to sit. Um so, that had to be specified out. And then just a couple of things that we I added in there was just a table of contents in the front to make it a little easier to find things. Um and there's a couple of appendices in the back. One just lists the names and titles of the school wellness contacts, which unfortunately falls to each school principal. Um there was >> [cough] >> more information to add them and repeat on what their role is in that. And then it also provides just a list of ideas of healthy snacks or rewards that schools could use um in place of unhealthy snacks. Um so, we added that. Other than that, um everything else stayed the same, which just talks about um the
044interaction of teaching school nutrition during health PE classes and other classes throughout the day, which is already done. That did not change. Um so, those are just a few of the changes. So, we ask that you please approve our updated school wellness policy. >> Is having a wellness plan a state or federal requirement? >> It is a state requirement, which also is a function of um USDA guidelines, as well. So, it is it is required for us by the state. >> Where would one find that? >> So, the requirement? It is on the BDOE website, um and I can certainly pull that and provide it to Dr. Martin to provide to you, all. But, it is a requirement um that we have this and we have to renew it every 3 years. >> Well, good.
045Thank you. >> I also think that >> I I apologize for interrupting. >> No, go ahead. Sorry. >> I My question is uh it talks about the Act of 2010 uh in the school meals first paragraph. >> Mhm. >> The Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010. >> Mhm. >> Does that have anything to do with the kind of food that is served? >> Yes, so that act talks about your sugar, sodium contents of food. Um that was really when things start to start ramping up. It's been amended over the years. I think they just amended it this year to change from the fat-free milk to add back the option for 2% whole milk. Um but, yes, that is the act that guides the nutritional values that we have to provide. >> What I What I
046pulled from your sentence was that the 2010 Act has been modified >> It has been modified by Congress, US Congress, over the last several years. >> Thank you, because I'm comfortable that Kennedy, the current guy that's up there, has changed a lot of things. I just wondered if this was impacted by any of that. >> The The The latest >> pyramid, turned it upside down, basically. >> The latest change was allowing us to be able to provide 2% whole milk again. >> Yeah, okay. Thank you. >> Uh I might not I might not either. I did want to add that Heather and her team and her committee did a lot of work with this, but um one of the components is not necessarily listed in here that we are excited about for our middle and
047our high school students next year and some of our improvements and and this was this is Heather's brainchild, but it also meets the requirements of the breakfast and lunch that you talk about um is the fact that we can put vending machines in the cafeteria that have grab and go lunches on them, that have snacks that the students typically would probably buy in the cafeteria. Um they still have to meet the requirements, but instead at lunch of having to go get in the line, they can go to the vending machine, they can type in their student code um and they can it comes off their balance of their account. So, it provides us some options for our students to also after school for our athletes to be able to get the snacks out of there,
048but it's also connected to their school accounts and different opportunities there, but healthy snacks, too. It hopefully will help us increase um our our some of our participation numbers for breakfast, too, for students that come in late because they can get a grab and go quick breakfast or things like that as well. And that is um Heather's done a lot of work to work with that to get it set up and um has embraced her her food service director role and um add on and is just working with the staff there to make some changes to meet these guidelines, but also put in other provisions to help you >> Mr. Chairman, final question, Mr. Chairman. Uh >> [clears throat] >> the 10-minute sit and eat rule >> Mhm. >> is that someone put a clock
049on the kids on how long it takes them to eat? >> No, that that is a recommendation by the USDA. Um they realize that obviously schools have They don't want to impact instructional time. So there was research put behind that as to how long it actually takes a child to to eat once they sit down without like scarfing food down. And if you're ever in a cafeteria and you actually watch most kids are done with their meal within you know, I would say 7-8 minutes and then the rest of the time they're just chit-chatting with their friends. But this is like the minimum that we have to give them to be able to sit and actually eat. >> We actually provide more time. >> Typically lunches are about 30 minutes. I believe >> as a
050whole is 30 minutes. >> As so on average. So we So I want to clarify this for principals because they're sitting in here and I know what they're thinking in their minds right now. They're hearing this and they're saying we can get some extra time in our schedule because we can reduce lunch down to 20 minutes. That is not what we're saying. That's the seat time that we have to add and then I know what y'all are thinking back there. >> [laughter] >> To reclaim that time. But it it it allows them We typically build their lunch schedule between 25 and 30 minutes built in and that also comes out when we count our hours for time. >> The reason that I asked that is for >> That's for everybody. >> We give 20 minutes
051for the older kids. >> We get 20 >> Every student regardless of age has to have a minimum of 20 seat minutes to be able to eat their lunch meal. So it doesn't matter if it's their you know pre-K or if they're 12th grade. >> 20 minutes for lunch and 10 minutes for breakfast. >> 10 minutes for breakfast cuz a lot of times at breakfast you're coming in off the bus, you're grabbing, you're eating. Sometimes you're grabbing and going back to your your classroom. >> Yeah. Okay. >> And it's a much lighter meal too. So they don't need as much for breakfast. >> I only have one question. Um it's uh this was something and if I missed it, you know, I I need to know that. Um public involvement. >> So, there is there
052is. Um and I will I will admit that for us, because I took on this role and I had to do this very quickly, um the public involvement that we did get was really word of mouth. Um So, in this going forward, it has to be advertised whenever we go into a triennial assessment so that the public who wants to sit on the committee has a right to request that. Um so, that'll be something that is going forward to be able to get their input. Um but this will be posted on the food service section of the website. Um so, the general public has access to it any point in time. [clears throat] Um and I said, you know, we will be part of um my portion of admin retreat when I talk about food
053service, it's really going to be going through this and schools understand what their roles and responsibilities are in maintaining and ensuring this uh this policy is adhered to. >> Okay, because um like I said, one of the school board members are supposed to be have the opportunity to sit on the panel and have that discussion as well, and I didn't know if I missed it, and if I did, I needed to know how I missed it, you know, so I could correct my actions. >> policy did not specify that, the new one does, which was a change by the state. Um and it I might not have picked that up when I did summary changes, but we will be going forward ensuring that this is followed um to the T. The old policy left out
054a few little things to make sure that we were in compliance. >> Okay. >> All right. Is there a motion to approve the the division wellness plan? >> So move, Mr. Chairman. >> Is there a second? >> I'll second. >> All right. Any further discussion? All in favor, signify >> Aye. >> Any opposed? Thank you. Next is 2026-27 calendar adjustments. Dr. Mark. >> So, the calendar is the gift that keeps on giving. >> It is. >> All the time. Every time you turn around, something with the calendar. And speaking of which, we're getting ready to start working on the next 2-year calendar for it. However, um after a lot of discussion and consideration and talking with our administrators within our building, our athletic team, examining what we have done historically in the past compared to
055other districts, um looking at the fact that we always build off of days, but we always end up counting hours no matter what, and looking at um the And I guess I'm just going to be honest, the lack of instruction that occurs sometimes in the last few days of the school year after we finished all SOL testing and those type of things, um which then increases your risk of behaviors and attendance and those factors. Um I am presenting uh with with um collaboration from our admin team, the following calendar adjustment for next year. It does have us automatically counting hours to begin with. There is um this calendar I do believe too will support the fact that the new requirement that's going in next year is that we have to provide SOL testing in the
056last 2 weeks of school um for middle and high school, which means if you were to think about that last week, we would have been SOL testing. So, that doesn't leave us a lot of time for 7th through 12th grade. All SOL tests have to be administered within the last 2 weeks of school. Um, and so, that really completes the year, gives them a couple of days. We Dr. Lewis um has already worked on a plan as to what that will look like uh for next year. But, what I'm asking you for is to allow us up front to build off of um hours. And the last day of school will be Friday, May the And I think it should be the 28th. I think I do have a typo. Let me look at the
057calendar. Friday, May the 28th. I'm sorry. Um, and that will satisfy the Code of Virginia's to the requirement of the minimum number of hours. Well over still the minimum number of hours that we are required to have because our day is slightly longer than what most most school districts have. Um, June 1st and June 4th were originally the last 4 days of school. I am asking that those all be listed, the 1st through the 4th, as well as the 7th through the 10th, are listed as potential makeup days should we need them because I do believe we should be up front with our parents and our families as to what the potential makeup days are. It leaves us with approximately a little over 10 built-in days, snow days, um built into the calendar. This is
058something that we've heard from staff repeatedly about why don't we get out before Memorial Day, and it's because we have always based it off of days. Um, so, I also think that would be supported by our staff, but it also requires a graduation adjustment again. Um, because it would make graduation, and we have to think this is the big thing with athletics during this time of year for athletics. Um, and I have talked with Coach Cropka about this and Mr. Wilson. It would move graduation to Friday, May the 21st. Typically, if there's regional play, there would not be any um play on Fridays. It keeps us off of the Saturday that we were hoping to to be done. Staff would much rather work that evening and stay later than to have to come back on
059a Saturday morning. As you know, it was awfully warm um out there this year and um it does not interfere with any state playoff games nor regional because we do have to stay away from like the Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursdays because that would potentially do that. It does not affect attendance on seniors because we have um provisions in there to account for them. Um and so, I do believe um that this is a good calendar with the adjustments allowing us more instructional time than what we need, but meeting the needs of the school division as well. >> I would like to go along with that. >> I'd like a clarification on something and I think you clarified it then uh there's a typo in the agenda that says uh last day of school will be Friday,
060May the 29th. >> It would be Friday, May the 28th. Yes, sir. And I apologize for that. >> So, clarification, when you say SOLs in the last 2 weeks, is that in the weeks that begin Sunday the 16th and the 23rd or the 9th and the 16th? >> Now, for the high school and the middle school, their SOL testing would have to be those 2 weeks, the 17th through the 21st and the 24th through the 28th um would be their testing. Um the elementary schools, because they're not part of that, but we do want to get them in that same thing, but they also have a lot of end-of-the-year activities and stuff. They would be from um May the 10th, they're getting an extra week, through our hope is to have them done by May
061the 21st, but they would have time in that week, too. So, they'll have They'll have about 3 weeks, but the high school and middle school for compliance will only have 2 weeks. >> So, seniors will be taking their SOL the 24th, 25th, and 26th? >> Seniors do not have SOLs, um unless they are term grads, and they do not um We have extenuating circumstances on all of those to get them to um get their assessments in prior to graduation. So, anybody that's a re-tester or second attempt that did not have [clears throat] to meet that, but first-time test-takers have to, but our goal is, and I know the high school has worked really hard on this, is that we don't have any seniors having to take SOL assessments in their senior year, because there's nothing
062required in their senior year unless they are missing something to graduate. >> words, May 2nd through the 11th, they need to have all their Okay. >> That's what our goal is. >> That answers my question. >> [clears throat] >> And with that, I know the high school we've already Mr. Wilson has uh He slipped out on me, but we Oh, fun god. We um We met with him the other day. We already planned out his dates for senior walk. We already have his senior night, his class um his senior practice, how it's going to look. He already has his dates lined up for next year, so that we can Pending approval, can get this information out to families quickly, and get the updated copy on the website. >> All right. Is there a motion to
063approve these 2026-2027 calendar adjustments? >> I'll make a motion. >> Is there a second? >> Second. >> Any further discussion? Hearing none, all in favor, sign of I. >> I. >> Any opposed? >> All right. >> Next we have [clears throat] the approval of travel for superintendent. >> Mr. Chairman, members of the board, I have two requests this evening is to attend the SO Coordinators Academy July 14th and the 15th in Norfolk. This is federal programming updates for our grants and requirements regarding our federal grants. Um and as you approved last month, the day after that I'm going to be going to the VSBA um conference on education um in Virginia Beach, I think, but I would be attending that later that afternoon because on the 14th because I will be attending I believe Kropka
064has an athletic meeting that morning, so it would be later on cuz I do try to attend meetings and events in the county. And then the other one is the comprehensive literacy state development grant statewide convening. Um that is the grant that we have to focus on um best practices for students with disability in relation to literacy for the middle school. Um it will be a team of us going as part of the grant requirements. Um myself, Dr. Bravely, the principal, um the coordinator of teaching and learning and I'm missing one other person off the top of my head, but it's a team of I think about five of us that will be attending that and bringing those practices back to not only work with the middle school, but to work across the school division
065because we have had um some great information that comes out of that and best practices and that has assisted um not only the middle school, but we used it to assist the high school and adjusting some of their classes and how you do recovery and remediation and I know the high school had a lot of success with their getting their students through the SOL assessments early and getting them to move on in those classes and so of course, even though it's for the middle school it does benefit the schools across the school division. >> Do we have a motion to approve this travel for our superintendent? >> So moved. >> Is there a second? >> Second. >> Any discussion? Hearing none, all in favor sign of I. >> I. >> Any opposed? All right. Uh
066the next item um I asked to be put on uh the August school board meeting date is August 13th and I have a scheduling conflict on that date and so I was asking um about would it be feasible to change the date uh for our meeting um I have we have on the agenda either the Thursday August 6th Wednesday August 12th either the Thursday August 20th. Um I was thinking maybe Thursday August the 20th at 6:00 p.m. if that date works for everyone or if there's another date and time that would work better for the board. >> I am not available on the 6th. >> Okay. >> But I am on on the other two days. >> What about >> All right. What about you? >> I'm not available any of those dates because I
067schedule my schedule around >> That was >> around the um >> What about you? >> Or the head. >> Yeah. The only dates that I have for August cuz August is very busy for me because of back to school primarily is Fridays. >> So would you be able to do I mean I'm just throwing out there electronic participation in that >> I'm at events. >> You're at events. Okay. Just wanted to throw that out as a possibility. >> What about you uh Mr. Abe? >> And then >> I'm Personally I'm available any of those days. Uh I'm going to ask the superintendent which day is based on your calendar cuz August uh has to be impactful. >> Mhm. >> I'm I'm for whatever you need. I can make any of them work. >> Or or
068we could leave it on that the regular prescribed date and Mr. Abbott could preside. We can leave that as an option. >> okay with that, Mr. Abbott? >> Yeah. Either way. >> I don't like to miss meetings, but I can handle it if you can't be here uh or we can change the date. I'm I'm available for any of those options. >> So, you want to keep it? I would like you about the only one >> I I would rather keep it because I'm already in March going to miss a meeting uh next year because of something that I have excuse me, for work. >> I'm cool. Well, I'm fine with it we if we if we have to if we can leave it >> What about you, Mr. Alou? You you okay? >> I'm
069fine with leaving it on the regular date and Mr. Abbott >> I'm fine with that. The only thing I can't do is the 6th. >> The 6th, okay. >> Now, there might be some other days other than what's here that I haven't looked on the >> I'm fine with it. I'm fine as long as you're okay with it. All right. As long as you're okay with >> And you don't have to be here because >> that is electronic participation. You're preaching. Well, you can just preach on the mic. >> [laughter] >> And I hear and you say pause >> So, that's fine. We can we can leave it the regular date and uh So, we need any more >> No, I'm just going to miss the meeting, that's all. I'm okay. >> I'm okay. >>
070And of course, if something comes up between now and then, we can revisit it, but so >> Okay. >> So, we can leave it on that date and Mr. Abbott will preside. >> We are on the >> the regular >> regular meeting. >> What day was it again? >> August 13th. >> 13th. I'm in the 13th. >> All right. All right. Uh non-action item. First read of the 26 school board policy update. >> So, Mr. Chairman, members of the board, you have a nice packet for reading pleasure for you this month and next yes, and your leisure moments. But I am going to hit a few highlights for it. I am happy to send you my notes that I have here if it will help break those down for you because I know this tends
071to get a little wordy with things that are in and out, but I do want to highlight a couple of things that maybe would or that should be of interest to you as you're going through them and looking at them. And then like I said, I am I'm happy to share my notes with you that may add some clarification to you with them. >> Can you share those via email? >> Yes, sir. Yeah, I'll share them. I have um I have a list going over here of the things you've asked for the well the wellness policy information and then of course I always send you the presentations after the meeting. So, I will add these notes to it as well and hope that that answers some of your questions. Um being that I will not
072be here next month at that meeting, I do ask if you do have any any clarifying questions that you want Dr. Lewis will be well versed in it, but if there's something that I can help clarify for you up front, I I am happy to do that in advance if there's a question that you would like clarification, but >> [laughter] >> But I know that she is more than capable handling this and she will have my notes as well and any additional comments. She keeps saying I'm going to be in her ear that night. >> [laughter] >> But um just so a couple of things you've got two sets in your packet. At the back of the packet you have the February ones. Those are some I would I don't want to say minor, but
073there's not as many in that group. The big ones are in the May. Keep in mind, we only bring them forward at one time for review instead of reviewing multiple times throughout the school year. I will tell you that most of the policy revisions that you were seeing, they are technical formatting, cross-reference, and legal citation changes. They're not major changes to policies, and the ones that are changes is what I'm going to highlight for you. The rest is more of that cleaning up the language type of thing. Um Most, like I said, do not significantly alter anything that we have in what our current policy um is for the division. The following policies represent the changes that I'm going to give you the new legal requirements, and um please note that there are areas where
074the board is open to discuss or engage in discussions for them, too. At the July meeting, you're either able to adopt the revisions or make your own changes to them if you so choose. So, I'm going to start in the back of the packet, and then I'm going to go to the front because the February ones are um not as as lengthy in that. Um employee policies is in this one. It's GCBE, Family and Medical Leave, FMLA. It's a comprehensive rewrite of the policy to improve the organization in alignment with the federal FMLA requirements. It clarifies what the employees' rights are, employer responsibilities, qualifying leave advance, and leave administration. There is no major change in employee entitlement to it, but it does make the policy significantly easier to interpret and to administer it. Um if
075you know, working with FMLA and policies that come down like that, they're often very wordy. It cleans up some of that language in it for it. Um GD, GDG, and GDN have been consolidated into one policy, and that is about support staff. It merges those three into one single policy. Um it aligns with the language of the Virginia code and Virginia DOE regulations. It improves consistency regarding support staff employment probationary periods and evaluations. The administrative impact is minimal but creates a more streamlined policy structure for that one. Uh some student safety and discipline out of the February group, J F C D is weapons on school property. It is substantially revised to align with current state and federal law. Um it updates >> was that again? >> Um J F C D. It updates the
076definitions, prohibited items, and disciplinary expectations when it comes to weapons. It ensures the division remains legally compliant regarding student and visitor possession of weapons on school property and at school activities. Um J F C E is gang-related activity or association of those things. Um it's a significant legal compliance update there. It clarifies prohibited gang-related behaviors, symbols, activities, and disciplinary consequences. And it is a stronger alignment between the division practices and with the Virginia law says. And K P is parental rights and responsibilities. And you're actually going to hear this one twice also in the May updates. It's probably one of the most significant revisions in that February update. It expands and clarifies the rights of parents related to the educational records, instructional materials, student well-being, and communication with schools. >> That's K C? >> K
077P. It'll be in the very back of your February part. Um it also reflects the increased state emphasis on parental involvement and transparency in public in public education. Um, it also, and you'll hear this later on, it ties directly to the fact that school divisions are no longer allowed to charge for it's a cross-reference to another one. Any transcripts of students in the past after you graduated, you had to pay for your transcripts. Those rights or transcripts are the rights of the students or the the parent with them. So, those type of things are clarified within it. Um, those were some of the highlights in that part of the policy. Let me make sure I didn't miss one for you. Um, I will tell you B B B C option two does not apply to
078you because it's the oath of office for appointed boards and you're not an appointed board. So, you would adopt option one um of that policy. It's just updated for clarity. Um, and I think I gave you all of the other weapons gang and parent rights. All right, so the bigger ones are in the May part of your agenda. The first one is on board governance. It's on B B F A. School board member conflict of interest. It was a rewrite based on the legislative changes. Um, it simplifies policy language while maintaining the required conflict of interest safeguards that are in place. It clarifies disclosure requirements, ethics training expectations, gift limitations, and situations requiring abstention from voting, when you can abstain and when you cannot. Ensures alignment with the updates to the Virginia state and local
079government conflict of interest act. So, that's one that relates more to y'all. B D A, regular school board meetings. It's updated to comply with the recent Freedom of Information Act changes. So, this is the one I talked about earlier. It adds restrictions regarding modification to meeting agendas after public notice has been provided. So, once we put it out, we really shouldn't change the agenda item unless you or the agenda unless you change it at the very beginning of the meeting. It has to be stated at the very beginning. So, that's important to know. We don't typically have major changes throughout, but just so that that's out there because that is new under FOIA. Um and it's designed to increase transparency and public awareness is what it's for. School safety. This is a new one for
080you or additional item on EBB for threat assessment teams and Dr. Lewis is already looking into this and that she is aware of those. It adds a new state required training for threat assessment teams. Um it reinforces what the division's responsibility is to identify, assess, and respond to potential threats in the school and it represents compliance update rather than [clears throat] any significant procedural change, but it does have the requirement of training for threat assessment teams in there. GBGB, wearable panic alarm for staff. This is a new and it is an optional policy. And at this point, I would not adopt this as a policy yet cuz I don't believe we're ready for this, but that of course is the board's decision. It is a new optional policy authorized by the General Assembly. It provides
081a framework should the division choose to implement a wearable panic alarm device for staff. So, that means they have a device on that they can hit a button in the classroom. Um there's a lot of realm that too that would need to be clarified and worked at. It is intended to strengthen emergency response and school safety measures. The adoption they do say does not require implementation, but does provide policy authority if we pursue it in the future. So, that's one that is optional. It's it's up to the board how you would like to proceed with that. GBBEA, leave without pay. It adds the requirements of House Bill 139 in it. Leave without pay for employees of school who have a debilitating or life-threatening illness and they're not eligible for FMLA. So, while they're not eligible,
082they can take leave without pay to a certain extent and not lose their job position within within reason there. GCL is professional staff development. It was rewritten for clarity, but it does add a training requirement to it from House Bill 38 about mental awareness training. If adopted by the board and because it was passed as a House Bill 38, we would add that health mental health awareness training as one of our back-to-school trainings for staff. There's certain trainings they have to go through child abuse and neglect. All of those would be this one would be added to the forefront of required trainings for staff. IGAG is teaching about drugs, alcohol, tobacco, gambling, and the added electric electronic devices. The big push on that is that it adds additional reference to screen time as part of
083requirement for instruction within the schools. And the the >> [snorts] >> the problems that come along with increased screen time. So, not just the drugs and the addiction there, but really sometimes the addiction to devices for some of our students. IGAJ is optional. It is driver education. However, I would highly encourage you to adopt this policy. It is an optional adoption, but it adds the requirement that we must teach in driver's education about reckless driving to students. We know we have more and more of that just in general with students and and behind the wheel. So, I do think that is a good thing to also add. It is an optional policy. However, I would ask you to consider that. KPA. This is new. It is parental notification of the safe storage of prescription drugs
084and firearms. This is a new requirement come coming down. It states that I must have a plan in place within and provide notification within 30 calendar days of the first day regarding the importance of securely storing prescription drugs and firearms. It must include relevant state laws and regulations. It has to include information about accidents, injuries, deaths, tips and resources for seeking help in the current statistics, and it must be posted on the website including being in multiple languages. >> Which which one is that again? >> KPA If I'm Oh, you don't have my notes, but it's in the back of your first part of your packet. The K's are. >> What about securing firearms? Is that for the SROs? >> Well, they're already secured. This is telling parents that they must secure firearms and prescription
085drugs. >> At their home. >> Their residence. >> Right. We have to provide them with notification of the importance of that. >> Ooh, that's interesting. I'll have to read that. I'll definitely got to read that. >> So, but that's why I highlighted it for you. It's KPA. And like I said, I'm going to send you my notes too, so you'll have a reference to the policy code and then you can find the policy in there that might make it a little easier. >> Well, that about that's beginning to sound like restricting second amendment rights. >> You come into my house. >> [clears throat] >> Well, that's it. I'm not coming We're not It's a saying that you should >> I know what you're saying. >> And I believe probably a lot of it has stemmed
086from if you think about the Newport News situation where the parent you know, they don't try the child because of the age, but the parent is tried for the access to the gun and or whatever in the home. I believe it's more centered around not allowing our students to get guns in their hands or prescription drugs. I know of two instances this year while I've heard from community members that and I know Dr. Lewis has as well and our other staff about student access to guns in the community. Not that me sharing that not to do it is going to correct it, but their students have more access to guns that appears in the community. And it also we've had a couple of situations where a student took more of a medicine than what they
087were supposed to take. So, it's us providing the guidance to them about you know, the resources and the tips but and stuff like that and the effects or what could happen in those situations. Um So, that's one that I would suggest that you read and look at. >> And just as a counter right off the top, I'll throw out one fact of a 13-year-old in South Carolina that was faced with a six-time convicted felon breaking into his house. And he shot and killed that assailant. So, it's not all bad. But it is a parental responsibility that see and it's a parental responsibility. I don't see it as a school responsibility to make sure your children, if you have firearms in the home, that they are properly trained Mhm. about firearms in the home. >> Um
088a couple of the other ones for you, instructional programs, IK, um academic planning and course selection. This is new. It is a new policy establishing the expectations for student academic planning and course selection. Um, it supports clear communications with students and families. That is the piece here regarding graduation requirements, academic pathways, and post-secondary planning. Notification must occur to families of enrollment deadlines 30 days prior to course registrations. Um, so it's really trying to bring the parents back involved. Um, this is an area that we've Mr. Wilson and I have already talked about previously, um, about ensuring A lot of times we go to the students, we sometimes forget that they they're young adults, they are not adults yet, and their parents need to be brought into the process of what they're taking and those type
089of things. So, it also allows the parents, it provides notification to the parents that we're in an enrollment course request time. These are the deadlines, um, and communicating that out to them. Um, I will have to give kudos though to the high school. It's not about the course request part, but this year they did it twice. Um, they sent notifications in the summer to, um, juniors and seniors, I believe, if I have it correct, of all of where they were in their graduation process. Were they ready to graduate? What were they missing? They sent that to the parents to increase that communication with parents saying, "Your child is still missing this and this." And, um, my understanding was especially in the fall, they received a lot of phone calls back from parents saying, "Whoa, I
090didn't realize my child was at not at risk of graduating on time." Um, and so that was a beneficial communication with them. So, this requires us to ensure that the parents have notification about those course request periods and the opportunities there. Um, ILBC is College Board School Day program. It is a new uh policy requirement in there. It is created in response to new state legislation. It establishes the framework for school divisions to provide SAT and College Board testing opportunities during the regular school day if needed. Um, and it does support access to college readiness assessments. That's that's the idea that it supports it for all students to be able to have those assessments. Um, because typically your your college board or your SAT, they're on a Saturday somewhere, somewhere else. We do already administer
091the PSAT um on site, but this would allow the opportunity for us to provide some of these other assessments on site for our students just like we provide the opportunity for our students to we're DMV testing site for learners for our students too. Not that you still don't have to go to DMV, but you can take your test with us here, which takes out that travel factor to some of those things to get more students to do those things. Um, ICID is the school year school day. This really does not impact or or alter anything that we have. It reflects legislation allowing school division to begin the school year as early as 14 days before September 1st. Um, we are grandfathered in because we were already under the waiver to start prior to Labor Day.
092What this really does is change the language from the current language says uh 14 days before Labor Day, which we know Labor Day fluctuates from year to year, and it puts a definitive date of September 1st. So, 14 days. But, this really has no impact for the school division. Um, the last couple of ones are regarding special education and student attendance and discipline. JED student absences, excuses, and dismissals. It just adds a new care uh category to it for military-connected families. It automatically allows excused absences related to military family transitions and deployments as permitted by law. So, it automatically excuses them out provided that they present the evidence that that's what they're doing instead of having to count it as a parent absence there. It allows the family to go for the deployment or those
093type of things and it ensures consistency with those state requirements for our students. Uh JFCM is the student cell phone and smart device possession and use. The biggest thing in there um is the student-related changes. So, after reading through it and after reading what they have put out, um it seems like there were some modifications from the final things that we thought was coming out, but it really states that it prohibits student cell phone use during the instructional day from bell to bell. Obviously, there were still some school divisions that maybe weren't following that. That's what we follow already, bell to bell. Um so, I don't believe that this has a lot of impact for us, but it does target smart device possession unless you meet one of the provisions of medical need or um
094you're an English language student that needs it for transla- like those type of things. The same provisions are there, but the biggest thing it says prohibits in there. [snorts] JLB is new. It is financial aid information. It kind of goes hand in hand with the scheduling piece that I talked to you about. Um divisions must provide guidance and informational materials regarding financial aid opportunities. Uh we must post the materials on the website and the guidance is to go to students and parents. So, just like I said on the other thing, it's not enough for us to give it just to students. We need to make sure that we're connecting with our families as well. Um so, the the of information, the deadlines, etc. to put that information out there regarding financial aid. Um another new
095one that is big and I have already gone over this with um school staff and I will go over it again at admin retreat is extracurricular activities notification. This is a new requirement and it prohibits social media as being the sole form of communication. Um so it means that if we are having and I'm going to use athletics because that's probably the easiest one for me to make the connection to. I think I've used it every time I have talked to them. If they're having tryouts for basketball, they are not allowed to just put out the tryout information on social media. It must be put through the other platforms of the school division or fine, but it's to put it out there because not everybody has social media. Um and so it has to be
096put out there and through other avenues to our families, posted on the website, posted through our communication platform that we have, but it means that any extracurricular activities cannot just go through a social media platform. So um and it means anytime you send it out as well. So if I send it out today, I've got to also send it out in that other form. I can't say when I send it out again, I'll post it on social media. You need to send it out in both forms every time. So that is a new one um that is coming down. I talked to you about KP parental rights. It also mirrors IK with the required notification requirements. It really is about a commitment to families. It lists out the rights of parents. Um the biggest thing
097in that is what I shared with you about course registration deadlines, um processes. That's the new part of that. The other things are still in there, but that's the main part is that we're communicating with families about courses and registration, especially at the middle and high school level. And the last one I want to highlight for you is JDJGDA, which in special education, it's a discipline of students with disabilities. It's substantially revised to better align with federal and state special education requirements. That's the biggest piece of it. It removes procedural language that's more appropriately addressed through administrative regulations, and it clarifies disciplinary protections and due process requirements for students with disabilities. So, that's the biggest thing is some procedural changes and things within it. Um I know that was a lot. I know that was
098uh lengthy, but I did want to highlight some of those things. So, as you were reading at your leisure over the next month um that you have those. And like I said, I am happy to send you these notes that I have if that will help you in reference to to looking at some of these policies. >> Thank you. Thank you. >> Yes, ma'am. >> So, um these are recommendations. Which ones can you When you send that list, can you inform of which ones are requirements via state law changes? Because for me, of course, you know I think looking at all of the deletions regarding the special education it concerns me that a parent cannot go to our policies to easily see what some of their rights are. So, for example, it removed um Go
099back to it. Outlining what the manifestation determination review is, outlining the um educational services while disciplined, outlining the functional behavior you know >> It doesn't spell it out as much in the policy versus it moved it to the administrative um regulations, I guess, from the state more so. >> Right, because it base it summarized it. >> It summarized it. >> Instead of saying, um, this is your due process, this is your MDR, this is your your FBA, or your BIP, it just says blanket covers this. So, for me, looking at this, um, I'm curious if you can help me understand where else a parent can easily find this >> Yeah. Well, um, we'll we'll we'll get that. I'm sure Dr. Gravely has it right on her fingertips and she can send me the link to
100it and I will add that to the list. So, I do believe, um, and Charlotte will correct me if I'm wrong, I know that that is one it's not attached to, uh, a bill, a house bill, especially the ones that are attached that you will see in my notes that say house bill tied to code or house bill. The others, like you said, an instance with that one, it's not tied to that. So, if the board so choose, that could stay that way. You would not have to adopt that in that form if you would prefer it to be spelled out for families. >> Right, cuz like it says the superintendent shall develop regulations to implement this policy, including procedures governing. >> Mhm. >> Um, let's just say manifestation determination reviews, blank, that's it. But,
101it doesn't explain to, um, somebody >> where to go to find it. >> Right. And but and before, I mean 6 years ago, I was looking at board policy to see what is the policy on this, what does this mean with this, to know what the school's policy is on it. And if we remove the detailed explanation of what an NBEA, um, MDR, or an FBA, and a BIP is, >> Right. >> they're not going to have access to it. >> Right. >> Um >> Dr. Gravely, is all of that in your handbook, too? All of these things are spelled out in your handbook? >> Definitions are there. >> All of those, so. But, I understand your concern because then you don't know where >> You see that? Okay, so where do I get that?
102>> So, where do I know where do I go? >> Right. >> Um, so I understand that. >> step for the parents. >> Yeah, sometimes cleaning up doesn't always you lose the meaning of whatever it is behind because now you created a little bit more difficulty in finding what you may need to find. So, it has pros and cons to cleaning up policies and stuff and fixing the language and ensuring alignment, but it could create a burden. >> Yeah, it could create a Yeah, undue burden. >> There might be somewhere else that I just >> Right. >> don't know. >> All right. We've got some readings. I don't like reading. All right. Next we have the information items. First [snorts] is athletic department update. >> I'm actually going to turn it over to Coach Cropka
103and Coach Coleman. Um, this is their athletic update for the school year, kind of where they are, uh, where they intend to go in the the next uh, year. >> All right. Good evening, board. We don't have any policies to talk about, so this should be nice and easy. >> [laughter] >> However, you do have an update to the heat-related policy and just the wording change. If you want me to tie it back to athletics for you, too. >> [laughter] >> Uh, first and foremost, just want to thank you for allowing us to do this. It's the second year I got to speak to y'all and give you an update about all the amazing things we're doing not not only at Nottoway Middle School, but also at Nottoway High School. Um, so we're going to
104keep this kind of brief, but I really want to focus on this one. This was amazing. We had six state qualifiers this year. Um, that was up from last year. Five uh, state championships. You saw one gentleman here tonight. He's the one that won all five of those state championships. It was an incredible season for him. He's only a junior, so he gets to do it again next year, but that's pretty awesome. Four all-state members, he was one of them. We also had one for football. Um, but he he did the cross country, the indoor track, and the outdoor track, but we also had one for football. We also had the all-district coach of the year, which is amazing. What's not up here is we also had the teacher of the year as one of
105our coaches. Um so amazing things happening here at Nottoway High School. This past year, and I put last year's data up there so you can see the big increase that we had from last year. Not only just in student uh athlete involvement, but my big push has been females in sports. And you saw a huge increase, 53% increase from last year in females in sports. Um I I've really take a lot of credit of that, but it's really more of what we are doing at the middle school that is helping with the what we're doing at the high school. Um please don't get caught up on these numbers because they're based off of last slide. We had a huge increase, so our GPA did take a little bit of a dip, but it's still well
106above that 3.0 threshold that we kind of hold our student athletes to. Um not only that, this year again, our salutatorian and valedictorian were both student athletes. Um so we're doing some great things. We just got a large number. We have to took a drop, but we're still well above that 3.0 threshold. >> Uh just like Jesse, uh we had a uh very big increase in the not in the middle school. Um last year we had 82 student athletes. Uh this year we had 107. 45 which were male I mean if male and 62 were female, which is a 30% increase. Um that's something that we are continuing to to strive forward. Um that's why we're adding soccer, so that number should jump up for next year as well. Uh our GPAs >> I'm sorry,
107go ahead. >> [laughter] >> Um our GPAs uh all our teams uh maintained a well all of our uh fall, spring, and winter all maintained [snorts] a above a 3.0 uh GPA average for the school year. So we thought that was really great as well. Um we do weekly grade checks that go out on Mondays. Um, I give those to the coaches and they distribute them to the to the athletes and they know they need to get their grades up for that week. Um, athletes also understand that, um, if they have enough in one class for more than one week, then they would be suspended. So, um, we're pushing that to get those grades up and, um, we've been doing a great job with that as well. >> I'm going to ask next year for
108a bigger podium so I don't have to slide over. Uh, new to the athletic department this year, this is one of the first years in a long time we had a JV girls basketball program. That's why you saw the female numbers jump up like they have. We added a coaches handbook, not necessarily to discipline our coaches, but to give them some guidelines. So, we had a lot of new coaches this year at the middle school, thanks to the school board office. They added assistant coaches for all of their sports. And as a new coach coming into the program, they really don't know necessarily how to do things according to Nottoway County policy. So, we created a handbook. Uh, we already added Arbiter registration and that's just going to help us streamline getting our kids registered
109for sports and then keeping them eligible. Uh, the Virginia High School League has gotten rid of their old platform and moved to Arbiter. So, it's a lot harder for parents to see how their kid is doing academically or eligibility wise. Arbiter registration kind of puts that in the forefront for the parents. So, when they register their child, they get to put all their medical information on there, but they're also going to be able to see if their kid is eligible with their physicals, when it expires now with the 14-month policy. It allows our coaches also on their phones to be able to directly message their parents without having to look up their their phone number in our SIS platform. Uh, we did our camera system, our network live streaming, um, for any of you that
110weren't able to actually come to a football, basketball, volleyball, track, soccer, they got to watch it live. I think that's awesome. It gets us out in the district of Virginia, so the people don't have to travel. This year we did a Brightspeed business sponsorship. We were reached out by Brightspeed fiber optic internet that's now coming into Nottoway County and surrounding areas. They wanted to give back to the local athletic programs in the county. They gave us a $7,000 scholar sponsorship that's going towards our golf tournament. It's also going to be some marketing for them on our live network streaming. We're also going to paint with because of the robot that Heather so graciously bought us a couple years ago, put their logo on the football field every game. Um so we got a lot of
111great things going with Brightspeed. Uh the uniform cycle, thank you to Dr. Martin. She has kind of take that off our budget. Uh so last year I kind of talked about some constraints we had with our budget. Taking away the uniforms really does help us focus on getting the kids their equipment that they need to be safe. Um and I'm sorry, I'm talking a lot for him, but >> You go ahead. You like to talk. >> You do the talking. >> Uh Nottoway >> [laughter] >> Uh we started a booster club. Our coaches talked about some of the concerns they had with the budget over the last couple of the years. Also running concessions has been really difficult. Just the manpower of two people trying to do all the sports that we had. We were
112able to get a group of five people, local people that used to have student athletes or still do. They run all of our concessions for every single sport the middle school and the high school. Uh last year we did not have anything for soccer, so parents would come, watch a two-hour soccer game, wouldn't be able to get a drink or a bag of chips. This year they did. They were able to get some hot food. It was a nice thing for them to come to. Um do you want to add anything to this slide since I talked a [laughter] lot? >> And I thought I might talk about it by the way. I'M JUST NOT LONG-WINDED. >> [laughter] [laughter] >> UH-HUH. SO FOR NEXT YEAR WE'RE looking to continue our local business sponsorships. Um our
113golf tournament is doing really well. We got about 10 businesses that have sponsored our golf tournament, which is pretty awesome. Last year we only had two. We are going to add and update our athletic emergency action plans. Last year we introduced it to our coaches, but it really wasn't a full front focus on it. Emergency action plans are very important because our coaches need to know how to address an emergency on their practice field or their games. We have EMS at football games, but that's it. So they need to be able to address it. So we're going to update that. I'll let you go ahead and talk about the next one. >> Uh next one is just what I talked to about before was the soccer program. I'm actually know you guys approved us to
114have a soccer program. So we're looking to add that in the fall. We are looking for a coach and hopefully get that done as soon as possible. But that's it on that one. >> Yeah. The other two are just conferences that we graciously would Last one we graciously thank you for allowing us to go to every year. It's awesome to be able to social network. As a middle school AD when I used to go there, I got to meet some of the ADs and kind of talk about some of the things that were happening at their schools that I could adopt. That's where you kind of see a lot of the things with the female sports increasing cuz we saw it across the state. But also at the high school level we're able to make
115sure that we keep our selves up-to-date on VHSL compliance. So we greatly appreciate that. Our goals. Last year we did increase community involvement, but we're never done. We want to do better. One of the big things I saw was that the community has a bad taste in their mouth for sports for some reason. I'm not going to go into detail on that. My goal is to change that. I don't want our community business leaders, parents to ever think poorly about what we are doing here at Nottoway, but also definitely not what we're doing with athletics. We want to make sure everything is is clean and cut. We did increase our student athlete involvement last year. My goal was 10%. This year we did 21.8%. So I think that was great. All sports having a 3.0
116GPA or higher. Last year that was my goal. We had three sports under that last year. We have still have two sports under that this year. So that's going to continue. That's why it's still in the white on the right-hand side. Uh unfortunately this year we did not fill all of our JV or varsity or girls and boys if the sport allows it programs. Uh but cross country is growing. So we're expected to have a girls cross country. Um the Virginia High School League has proposed and allowed girls wrestling. We're hoping to be able to add that this year. Uh we missed JV football last year. So hopefully we can add that and we missed JV baseball this past year. Hopefully we can add that as well. And then one of our joint efforts is
117going to be to increase attendance. Um A- as a former player if I walked out there on the court or a field and I only saw 10 people out there I wouldn't have a whole lot of school pride or school spirit. And we have some great facilities here at Nottoway High School. We just got to attract them to come. Um so we're going to do a military appreciation night again. But we're going to do the joint effort. The middle school's going to do something as well. Might be a first responder night right before the high school plays um that same week. Also our homecomings are going to be linked up this year. So when the middle school does a homecoming on a Wednesday we'll have a homecoming on a Friday. Try to keep everything unison
118to to grow the population and grow our attendance. Other than that any questions? Yes sir. >> Trying to get the interest up to come uh and I've used this for some other things but coffee chat are you familiar with that? >> You are? >> I'm not familiar. No sir. >> It's a local radio station. >> Okay. >> And every day they've got I don't know the times but uh uh you can call in and whatever you want. >> Okay. >> And it doesn't cost anything. >> Nice. Okay. I'm going to add that to his sheet since he's got paperwork. >> I think it's the uh radio station as you're going south out of Blackstone on 40. >> Okay. >> They're on the right. I think it's 97.1 >> [clears throat] >> on your FM dial.
119>> You don't know about that. >> [laughter] >> It's not on your Sirius one. >> Not on your Sirius. >> [laughter] >> Not on your Pandora. >> Um I I will say that they both do a very nice [clears throat] job with the athletic program. Um I give them a hard time a lot. I even We have We have frequent meetings about athletics. We had one yesterday. We had one yesterday about athletics and I even tried to erase athletics off of my board and it's like stuck. I can't get rid of >> [laughter] >> Um every time I try to get rid of it, but we do have discussions about um and I don't know um if they've had those discussions before, but as central office as I've shared before our role is servant leadership
120and to support and to know what's going on, but bringing them to the table with the central office team and their administrator to ensure as as I said with um graduation that that doesn't impact something that they have, but also discussions about where our programs are, where we want our programs to be, evaluations for coaches and staff and then plans if we've got problems. Um you're not guaranteed to always be a coach just because you've always been a coach. Um and so we are working through [clears throat] those things and and have worked with them. They both serve on our division leadership team as well. Um so that they're part they're at the table with those conversations, but they do do a very nice job of of working with athletics and advocating advocating for what
121they need. >> It's [laughter] nice to hear you say that. I was I was a little concerned about some things in the athletic department. >> Yes, sir. >> And like you and I have shared them with you. And sound like you are trying to uh uh uh >> address, thank you. Address those problems, and I really do appreciate that because uh those students, they're they're very important and they want to do certain things. So, if you're going to help them do that, I appreciate it. Okay? I do. Thank you, Dr. Martin, for you know, being interested in that cuz I don't think some people >> I >> care. >> Yeah. I have um they know I have a high standard. One of the things that athletics is required is all before a child is allowed
122to participate in a game. Um they can be on the team and go to practice, but it doesn't matter for what the sport or thing is, their parent is required to attend the parent meeting. If they do not attend, they will not play. Um and I believe we had a If If they didn't we had 100% participation in that because they were well aware if they didn't make it to one, they had to schedule a meeting with the athletic director and the coach before they would be allowed to play because I am very competitive and I really want our athletics to do well, but at the same time, we have high expectations and requirements about behavior and attendance, all of those type of things. >> Yeah. >> What's my name? >> Uh-huh. >> [laughter] >>
123And on the same note, we want our parents to feel comfortable coming to us whenever there might be an issue. So, the preseason parent meeting is a big benefit to have the parent there to meet us >> That's that's great. >> and then meet the coaches so that we can kind of get faces with names. >> I like them parents' involvement. >> Thank y'all. >> Thank you very much. >> Thank you, sir. >> They really the the broadcasters or whatever they are, they you know you know, they know getting excited about things. So. >> Awesome. Thank you. All right, thank you very much. Next is the human resources and staffing update from Dr. Gregor. >> So, I know you've heard from each department. Now, you can come on, Dr. >> [laughter] >> You've heard from
124each department this year. RJ was not getting out of his. >> I missed last week because >> he was. He thought he >> He thought he was. But, I will actually share with you. So, he has his presentation and he will do a fabulous job with it. But, one of the things that I will share with you is the video recording of his presentation. I got ready to I think you thought he was going to get out of the presentation for me to show the video tonight instead. That goes along with this. The video is amazing. I will share it with you about the work of the HR department this year. But, I'll turn it over to Dr. Gregor because they have been busy, very busy. >> All right. Thank you. Um It would've been
125nice to play and But, anyway, we'll just So, anyway, thank you for school board and Dr. Martin and guests as well for giving me a chance to talk about the human resources update for this year. Jesse >> We're good. >> Did you turn it on? >> Jesse broke it. >> Did you hit the arrow? >> [laughter] >> I'm good. It's still ready. >> Jesse broke it. >> There you go. There you go. >> [clears throat] >> So, I also noticed that they >> They left. >> Oh, wow. So, anyway, they stole my title a year in review. So, I just want to talk about that. So, our target areas were obviously were large portion of human resources is recruitment and staffing. But, as you'll see in the other slides, it goes way deeper into that.
126So, there's three topics, three areas that we kind of gleaned out of primary areas. We did diversified outreach. So, that there is passive recruitment and then there's active recruitment. Passive means we posted on the website and wait for people to come to us. We can't do that anymore. We Historically, when the population were we were able to just kind of be lucrative you know get our information out people reply to us when and move through it. Now we have to be aggressive and go out to find people. So not only do we have the website we go through LinkedIn handshake indeed and we engage in many teacher recruitments in and out of state with the net. You see handshake what handshake is is it's linked to over 200 colleges across the state. We upload our
127information about us the schools the students go into that tap in a lot of the events are connected to that. So the outreach is not just Nottoway it's not just region eight it's not just the state it's you know nationwide and well as you see the next part uh global. So we actually this year we've brought in people from Nevada and we also have folks coming from Utah that are coming to Nottoway with that. The second uh targeted area we we stepped out. Historically if you continue to do the same thing you get the same results. We were running in the gaps we were running in the gaps. So we had to look out side the box a little bit and we did the EPI the uh educational partners international. This is the first year
128we've they've completed year one as you can see on the picture on the side. They're quite happy that they finished successfully year one on that cuz that's a group of those folks. They were fantastic. They came in with energy they came with appreciation. They were grateful for anything and everything that we could provide with that and that kind of just leached out into the building into the staff and the students and community. So that I think that was a huge step. Thank Dr. Martin and the board for approving allowing us to step out into that that land to to try that. We've also looked at the streamline um and hiring material. We took the opportunity when we know we brought in a recruiter but Melissa's always been there so when we brought in we kind
129of stepped back and looked at okay what are we doing? Again if you do the same thing you get the same results. So we really kind of hashed things out about how to streamline the process and able to get things more efficient. What I heard from our meetings was that historically HR was slow. I know HR is still a little bit slow. Sorry. So, the reason why we're slow is we want to be thorough. So, one project the one if the product comes out, it's right the first time instead of going back and forth and with that material. So, we're trying to streamline that, get the information fast, recruit early, be aggressive, be up front so we get great people. Currently, as of today the snapshot, we have nine teaching vacancies. Those are the actual
130teacher whatever positions and seven non-teaching vacancies. I looked at historical data. We are in a good place this year comparative to where we were in the past. We're already moving forward to reduce those numbers. Uh we just some didn't make the actual cut for this this uh school board meeting with that. So, as we talked about it's it's more than just recruitment retention, but we also in order to get people to stay, we have to do things celebrate them and so on. So, we did some proactive measures. We looked at a 60 and 90-day kind of touchpoint reach out. How are you doing? What do you need? What are some of your gaps? What did you not get? What do you need with the the new employees that came through? We talked about Nottoway lead.
131That has been tremendous with the just the fuel of the that group turn into their own PLC group and help each other out with within that. So, they're seeing that there's a blessing and a curse of being a small system. A blessing is it's small. Everyone knows each other and you could pivot quickly and do that. It's also a curse to a certain degree where your ceiling kind of caps. There's not a whole lot of you know, principal shifts. There's not a whole lot of directorships and that. But, this opportunity allows that door to open a little bit trying to keep people in with us to stay and to grow in with Nottoway. So, when that does happen, opportunities we already have people ready to go. Ongoing development. We talked about the mentor and colleague
132program that we have that we've been been on for years with that. And engagement, this is where I think we really have taken turn it up a notch with Dr. Martin forcing us I mean asking us >> [laughter] >> uh to meet with the students and so on. We do [clears throat] spotlights. We do spotlights for employees that are coming in new to us. We have roots where we post on social media about people that grew up here and that are coming back here. Also posting on [clears throat] social media. We have this commitment to excellence where people randomly, whether they're citizens, employees, or whatever could simply nominate someone for doing something good within the building that they see in the welcome posts, staff attendance, and then quarterly school meetings. Historically, it was a meeting
133where everyone just got to sit behind a screen and talked about their concerns and that material. This time, the whole central office team, the cabinet, goes out to each school and talks about the information. So, teachers, employees, custodians, whatever can have direct interaction with us, ask the questions, put us on the spot sometimes, and we're there to answer. If we can't answer it, we go back, find it, and discuss it with them real time instead of just behind the screen and emails and so on. This I don't know if you've been to our um Nottoway homepage on Facebook and just clicked on the word photos. You will scroll, you'll scroll, you'll scroll, you'll scroll all the pictures. This is just a quick glimpse of that. And I want to take say thank you to uh
134Charlotte Wood. She's the one that posts all those. We send her pictures, we send her everything and anything. Can you put this up? Can you put this up? Can you put this up? And she's she does it. And so if what as a recruitment piece and a selling point of Nottoway, is a lot of times we'll simply say, "Check out our Facebook page. Look at photos. That is us." There's a little pictures that there that, you know, having a lot of fun. That's what it's about. At the same time, it's business. It all relates around student success, creating environment where people want to be. So, it was interesting on one of our recent interviews for a position, one of our questions we all talked about is what what sparked your interest in Ottawa? How did
135you find us? Kind of thing cuz we're kind of that hidden gem. And one person said, "I watched your Facebook account and I could see what's going on. I I really became enthralled and and engaged with that." So, that's man, that's just kind of smacked you in the face saying, "Yes, that's exactly what we want to have taken place." So, I talked about how Dr. Dr. Martin has said, "Hey, why don't we go out and visit schools?" Well, she didn't realize we had costumes to go visit schools. Um but on top of that, there was employee recognitions uh through Heather's office, we had a $750 full-time pay and a $400 for part-time pay that went out in the May 2026 paycheck. Also, milestones, we talked about annual celebrations, regional awards, uh central office visits as
136you can see a picture over on the right, and social media recognition recognition what I talked about already with them. Again, operational improvements, we talked about the efficiency and the tracking system, job posting accuracy. So, whenever people see what's online, they know exactly what our opportunities are and if there's any questions, one of the things that's I find great about small system is it's one phone call. And you get anybody you want. If we can you It's like when I have her call Tanya. You know, Tanya picks up the phone, it's one single phone number and it gets you to everybody. They can patch you through to anybody you need within that. You go to other school systems, it's press one, press three, press four, press five, whatever to get something. So, it has that
137direct link to people and I think that's what's really thriving with our connections. The statistics, we uh introduced 29 new teachers and three administrators. The substitute pool substitute pool is maintaining around average of 70 active substitutes. And our outreach uh recruitment is over 15 major networks and college and universities. Licensure, it's very different now than it was say many years ago. And this is a huge charge to Melissa Chamberlain. She's our licensure specialist. Historically, you know, you went to college, you did your student teaching, you came back, the school submitted their information for licensure, and the school got the license, and they all went and framed it. And that was fine. Those days are gone. Now we're getting people for alternate alternative licensure methods, career switcher programs, and things. So we're almost making our own
138teachers, and that's been fantastic. So you see here on the numbers, we had 16 teachers go from temporary to provisional license, like we talked about earlier, the temporary instructors. 11 gone from provisional to full teaching license within this year. And seven that are sitting at the uh Virginia Department of Education pipeline uh to finalize their process. So Miss Kudos Miss Chamberlain for really getting that unique cuz by state code you have to have people that are licensed. But we have to figure out ways of getting great people in our doors and getting them to stay. And the the the work that she's done with this has been quite remarkable. Primary Where are we getting folks? The Nottoway staff consistently is our greatest asset to getting people. They talk about it. They're our cheerleaders to get
139people to come to Nottoway. Longwood is right there underneath it. We've built a great partnership with Longwood, their student teaching program, their practicum program. Uh so it's been a great success. We just had a meeting with them earlier this week about building that more, going out to doing site visits, and so on. Um EPI we talked about. That's been a a great method for those niche positions that have been difficult to fill, like high school math, high school math which have been quite challenged to find. They filled that niche for us and are being successful. And also, like I talked about earlier, the student teacher pipeline, that's we're getting focused in for the the highest demand is from Longwood, but other school systems are starting to join in as well. So, in summary, we have
140over 32 new staff, 70 subs. We have an outreach program over 15 platforms, including colleges and universities. We've improved tracking accuracy through university um instructors, EPI, and the NC public staff. And the engagement and retention is doing that check-in. How are you doing? So, we're adding a 30-day check-in, a 60-day check-in, and a 90-day check-in. And so, that image, I had that is actually uh I think that was Blackstone. However, it's enhanced. >> [laughter] >> So, I had there's a a gentleman by the name of Gemini that will sometimes step in and assist with some photos. Thank you. Any questions? >> Thank you. >> It is indeed. Thank you very much. >> I had I did have a question. I'm sorry. I wasn't fast enough. I was still greening over that picture. Um I know
141you said, which I'm very happy that we're in a better place than what we were. >> You trying to distract me again with the >> Yeah, it's a good picture. It's just that >> [laughter] >> Um >> [clears throat] >> I I'm very happy to hear that we're in a a better place comparably to last year when it comes to staffing. Um do you know about [snorts] this time last year what the actual data was? >> We were about 13 teaching vacancies. >> And we had about >> It wasn't a whole lot of difference, but we are better. So, it's not like a huge discrepancy, but >> This doesn't happen immediate. But It's just >> Zero would be great. Zero makes me sleep well. So, nine's okay. >> Fine. >> Thank you. >> All right,
142thank you very much. Next, we have the ANTC report, Mr. Outlaw. >> Well, ANTC finished strong this year with uh testing and so forth. Uh I don't have the enrollment figures uh for next year, but we are way up and we have waiting lists in many many areas. Uh one other note, the principal uh Lawrence Slidzenski has resigned. >> Yes, and And I don't know anything further than that. >> I didn't know that. >> All right, next we have the Governor's School report, Ms. Duncan. >> Already, um but it was um we did do regular business things, budget, calendar, appointment, um that type of work. The grand thing is um we received the approval by the board for the reduction in slots by four, so we now have six slots versus the 10 that will
143take effect on the >> two-year cycle, so 20 28. >> 28 29 school year. >> You back in calendar. >> So at that [clears throat] time our slot would be reduced and thus reducing payment. Hopefully by then, you know, um with changes that was made at the college, that we can get those numbers back up and it can be something for our students that um they would see as advantageous. >> All right. And with the CEAC report, Ms. Duncan. >> Um there have been no new meetings yet. A survey was sent out for individuals to respond. Again, I'm excited to see um how we're going to develop our uh president. I was trying to figure if it was chairman or president. How we're going to develop our president, how we're going to develop the other
144individuals in there because it is something rather it's not new for Nottoway, but it's new in growth, it's new individuals, and they need that support to know that the doors are wide open for them, um that this is going to be as big or as small as what they choose. So, I'm excited to see um how we can support them in helping them grow and have it be as much as what they want it to be. >> All right. Thank you very much. Next is Superintendent's Report, Dr. Martin. >> I think [clears throat] they all stole what I was going to say is a year in review as well. Um >> [laughter] >> they've already done it, but um I do want to highlight um kind of our year in review for you. Um and
145I really think um when you think about 25-26 school year, there's one word that comes to mind, and that's progress is what I would say is that word. Um so, as I look back on this year, I am incredibly proud of what our students, staff, and school community have accomplished together with your support. Uh throughout the year, our focus has remained clear, and that is providing every student with high-quality learning experiences while continuously improving those systems and supports that they need to succeed. Um but before I tell you about some of the progress and the priorities as we move forward, I do want to recognize the people, and I know I say this a lot, but our staff is what makes Nottoway great. Um and so, I cannot say that enough about our [snorts] staff.
146Um they are the people behind the scenes that are doing the work. They are the reason why Nottoway is successful. It's because of the employees that we have. Our everyday, our teachers, our instructional assistants, our bus drivers, cafeteria staff, custodians, office staff, administrators, support staff, they are committed to Nottoway County Public Schools, and they're committed to serving our students. There's a level of dedication and belief in our children that will continue to move our division forward, and I am truly grateful they are here this evening, that I get to do the work with them on behalf of our students and our families. They do pull a lot of long hours and a lot of of work here from teachers across the board, but they always step up whatever we need, and they make sure that
147it's done. We have had many accomplishments we're celebrating. All of our schools of course were fully accredited across all schools. Remember we have two systems there, accreditation and accountability. We've continued to strengthen instructional practices. We've expanded student supports. We have really tried to increase collaboration amongst our staff, but remained focused on the division's mission of ensuring that every student has the opportunity to learn, grow, and succeed. We celebrated academic achievement over the year. You heard about athletic accomplishments, successes with career and technical education, fine arts performances, and countless examples of student growth. And a lot of those things never make the headlines across the school division, but it makes a tremendous difference in the students that we serve each day. A key focus for us this year has been on strengthening literacy instruction across the
148division. We've had professional learning, instructional coaching, intervention supports, and the implementation of a high quality instructional material, which is our HMH, which is K through 12 now, has [snorts] really helped us focus on ensuring that every student develops foundational reading skills that are necessary for long-term success. That does not mean that we still don't have work ahead, of course. And we're encouraged by the progress and we are seeing and we remain that we're seeing we remain committed to continuing that impact that we have. Um as we celebrate successes, I think it's important that we honestly examine our opportunities for growth. Uh continuous improvement requires us to acknowledge our accomplishments, but also recognize where the areas are that we need to work. Um they know me very well. I'm a data person. I go through the
149data. I look at the data. I analyze the data um as to where our focus and our needs are and they know don't come without the data most of the time behind it as well to support. Um but we need to look at those areas for what we can do better for our students. Um so preliminary assessment data um was is looking good. There's progress. Um but there is a clear area focus which has to be mathematics. Um It It shows we have spent a lot of time in the last couple of years with literacy and getting literacy where it needs to be, but we also need to focus heavily on our math instruction. So while we have gains and progress, there's still a lot of work that we need to do across the board
150in math instruction. Um as I said, the data tells us that there's there's pockets of success existing in our school, but overall math performance is not where we expect it to be or what our students need to be at math. Um it was one of the areas prior to COVID that had some of the greatest strengths. Um technology came along and virtual learning and all of a sudden all the progress that we have made, we have really had to rebuild and it has not been rebuilt as quickly as as what we have seen. Um we didn't experience or see the gaps in reading as you did in math. Um and so we've been working through that. As I've shared, we've pulled back devices and really gotten back to pen to paper uh, with things and
151getting students engaged in hands-on learning, uh, with the things that we're doing. And so, our focus this year, while we're not saying we're not doing literacy, we need to increase that level of math focus as well. Um, you cannot ignore the other, but we need to create balance in there and really put those additional supports to make sure we're aligned with where we need to be. Um, it's not simply about raising scores, it's about ensuring students develop the math skills, the math thinking, the problem-solving skills, and the confidence that they need in math. Um, so that will be our focus. Um, as we move into this next year, we're going to raise expectations for math instruction across the division. We have to continue to strengthen that tier one instruction, that's that baseline instruction that every
152student is getting in the classroom, and we have to ensure rigorous lessons aligned to the Virginia standards standards of learning are delivered consistently in every classroom every single day. Um, so that will be the focus on that alignment piece even more. We're also going to be intentionally utilizing student data, and I will tell you this is nothing that they haven't heard because they've all sat with me in meetings, and they're hearing the same thing based on the conversations. Um, um, weekly data to identify gaps, monitor progress, and make instructional adjustments in real time. That's the thing that has to occur is that we have to use the data in real time to improve learning outcomes right in the moment for our students. It's not enough to modify our practices after a major assessment, after a
153benchmark, because if you think about that, a major assessment occurs three or four weeks down the road. Well, now, if Marsha didn't understand X, Y, and Z, they've they've compounded, and now I've waited four weeks to fix it. We've got to fix it in real time, um, with what we have going on with our students. It's really too late at that point, and it piles on the stuff for the students, and they're not feeling successful. Um data has to be used to identify gaps, monitor progress, and make those adjustments that we need to meet their needs. Um so, one of the things that I will tell you with data as well, um one of our focus, and I'll talk about it, is the flexible student groups that are going to become a routine practice in
154our classroom because that's when you tailor instruction to meet the needs of students. You cannot have a flexible group if you do not have data to support who you're putting in the groups. If not, they become stations, as we say, and everybody's doing the same same type of thing. Um but, flexible groups are are off of data, and it's really tailoring so that I can fix and help that child with the skill that they are lacking so that I can quickly get them back into the tier one instruction to have them move on. Um so, it allows us to target skills and provide students with the support or enrichment that they need at that moment in time to fix what we need. Um our staff this week, so many staff as you think this is
155the first week of summer vacation for them, we have had staff in this week uh across the division working on curriculum pacing and adjustments and alignment. Um secondary math teachers did 2 days of training in the new math curriculum that we have so that they know how to roll it out and to support it. Um but, we had K through five teachers Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and today in working on curriculum pacing guides to lay out everything we need to do with the resources and the support. Today it was crossed with secondary was here, and secondary will also be here part of next week doing the same type of thing. Really uh digging in deep to what the standards say and making sure that we have it aligned in our pacing. The biggest area, too, that
156we will focus on is maximizing every instructional minute in the classroom. Time is the most valuable resource and we cannot afford to waste it on a daily basis. This means ensuring lessons are planned, materials are prepared, transitions are efficient, and classrooms are focused on learning from bell to bell. There should not be 15 or 20 minutes of wait time at the beginning of an instructional period for students to get out Chromebooks or for copies to be made or these type of things. We should be ready to teach when that class period starts so that we use every ounce of time that we have in the classroom. Um it is something that we have talked about. It is something that we have seen in our observations and our walk-throughs is some wasted instructional time and we
157don't have instructional time to waste. Um and so those are an area of non-negotiables with our administrators next year that when we're in the buildings, it's going to be a question. Why did the class finish 15 minutes early before the bell rang at the end? What are we doing to maximize the instructional time in the classroom? But I have to say so I say those things, but the good news is that we have the foundational pieces in place that we need to have. Uh we had as I said earlier the dedicated staff, the educators. We have instructional leaders that are committed to improvement. Um we have strong curriculum resources, those high-quality instructional materials that we have put in place, and we have a clear understanding of what we need to focus our efforts efforts on
158across the division. Um the work ahead will center on increasing rigor, strengthening instructional delivering, using that data effectively to move instruction, and that's getting beyond the surface of saying that, "Oh, 75 of kids passed the assessment. Okay, that's surface level. What happened to the 25 that didn't? What was the reason why they didn't get it? Why How can we push them to to a higher level? So, really delving deep into the data, ensuring that students are challenged when they need to be challenged, and supported to reach those higher level of achievements. As you know and as you've heard, a 400 passing on an SOL moving forward is is not enough. That's not enough anymore. Um and we know that because it's not sustainable. So, if you think about um instruction as you go and you
159go each grade level, it gets a little bit more difficult. The rigor goes up and a 400 at I'm going to say fifth grade becomes a 375 when they get to sixth grade if we don't get instruction to the highest level that we possibly can. Um so, that is a a high level of focus for us. Um and we have to remember, and this is you hear me say it often about the commitment to excellence across the division, but I do truly believe that a commitment to excellence is not a destination. That's not our end goal. It's what we're continuously pursuing throughout the year. We continuously want to push higher and higher and not settle for just the minimum. Oh, see we got there. That's not enough. We have to keep pushing higher. So, I
160do want to say thank you to the board too for your support, to the support of our schools. Our staff have enjoyed seeing you at different points in times in there. They feel comfortable coming with questions. Um and so, a lot of that is the support that y'all give us as well in helping us to make things happen that we need within the school division. So, thank you to do you. I have to say thank you to our community and our families and most importantly our students. We have wonderful students across the division. We talk about our staff a lot, but we have fantastic students across the division, and I think you saw tonight what our students can do and what they can achieve in various aspects. So, those are kind of my remarks for
161year in review. We got a lot of work to do. We know what we have to work on over the summer and what our focus is going to really be next school year. >> Thank you very much. Question, couple questions. >> Yes, sir. >> Uh discipline. You handle on [snorts] that? >> Yes, so I will tell you that um discipline numbers were down, and Dr. Lewis is here, so she has to remind me. It also is in the grant. High school numbers were down. Um Crewe and Blackstone Blackstone was down. Crewe was about the about the same. Um we did have an increase in discipline at intermediate and middle, but there were behaviors that had to be gotten under control. So, um I firmly believe in that students should not interrupt instruction in the classroom,
162and that there should be consequences for their actions. Now, that does not mean that we don't work with students and we find avenues and we find means, but students need to be held accountable. So, I do expect an accountability sometimes that you're going to see it go up, and then it should go back down once procedures and processes are in place. So, um we did see an increase in some of those numbers, but I also will tell you fifth to eighth grade sometimes is a >> different >> It's a It's a challenging time for students. >> Oh, no, no, no. >> Um but I I also have to say the procedures that we have in in place, too, the work that Dr. Lewis has done with the alternative education and the Reset Academy has has
163helped tremendously uh for our students across the board and there I mean yes we have we're always going to have some level of discipline but we are reinforcing those expectations and we're holding people accountable to those expectations. I can also tell you that with the two-tiered bus system we were talking about this today the bus referrals have they're almost non-existent to some level. I mean yes we have a few of the bus referrals but nothing like that with just the elementary students being on the bus together and the secondary students being on the bus together. One of the things that we talked about and that we will share at admin retreat with leadership too is if you do get a bus referral from transportation take it seriously because you typically don't get them because they're
164not coming in so there's obviously a concern if they're having to do that. So yes there was a spike in discipline at intermediate and middle school but that's because expectations are being set and reinforced and there has to be consequences for students' actions in the classroom. >> ADM end of this year versus last year. >> Can I send it to you because I don't know it off the top of my head unless Heather knows it off the top of hers. >> About 1643 1646. >> 1646 last year? >> This year. Last year we were like 1670. >> Okay. >> So I I and last year I may be off but somewhere around >> Yeah somewhere in that ballpark. >> Thank you. >> You're welcome. >> All right any other questions? All right. We'll move to
165matters of school board interest. On August 10th is the back to school parking lot party and August 14th is complication. All right. Ducking, do you have anything on the other? >> No. >> Wilson, do you have anything? >> I just wanted to say I really appreciate all the principals and the teachers and your and I appreciate your effort to get our students where they need to be. That's all. >> Thank you. Thank you. Without law, do you have anything? >> I am excited about the direction in CPS is taking. I am just excited. >> I can do that. >> you all. Like everybody. >> And Mr. Abbott. >> Yes, Mr. Chairman. I believe that the 25-26 school year baseline is one that gives us hope for the future. Uh Uh and I look forward to
166it. Uh I look and anticipate that it will be even better than it was in the 25-26 school year. Uh we have what I consider to be an outstanding staff leadership team. Uh and trust matters. And I believe that we can trust each and every one of you. Not only those of you that are sitting in this room tonight, but all of those that come to work every day to help educate the children in Nottoway County. Uh >> [clears throat] >> You have my respect and my praise for what you do. Thank you. >> Thank you very much, I can echo those same sentiments as well. I think we all I think we are family and I think it it shows. All right, is there a closed meeting resolution? >> Mr. Chairman, pursuant to section
1672.2-37-11A of the Code of Virginia, I move that the board convene a closed meeting for the purpose of discussing the following specific items: the consideration of personnel for 57 appointments, one summer school food service manager, six summer school food service workers, one math teacher, one health PE teacher, one elementary principal, two teacher leaders, 33 summer school teachers, one summer school site facilitator, one alt GED teacher, one summer school clinic clerk, one band teacher, one agricultural teacher, one assistant principal, one bus driver, one assistant [snorts] volleyball coach, two instructional assistants, a bus aide, and a temporary instructor. There's also information information on five resignations and one teacher retirement. >> All right. Is there a second? >> Second. >> Any discussion? All in favor? >> Aye. >> Any opposed?