001Good evening. Like to welcome you all to the April 24th, 2025 regular monthly meeting of the Portsman City School Board. We now call this meeting to order. I ask you please stand now for a brief moment of silence. Thank you. May be seated. We do have some very special guests with us on tonight and I ask Dr. Brace if you've come forward now to introduce them at this time. Thank you Dr. Patillo and good evening to everyone as well. Good evening. This evening we are fortunate to have Simonsale Elementary School to be present with us tonight. Let's give Simonale a round of applause. So we have two students that will be joining us at the podium and that will be Xavier Brown who will be bringing us the pledge of allegiance and Lacy McIntosh providing
002the school statement. Will you two please come forward at this time? And as you do, I will read some bio information on each of you. Xavier Brown is a fifth grade student at Simonsdale Elementary School where he consistently maintains principal list honor row, demonstrating a strong academic achievement. Xavier scored above 500 on his most recent so assessments in both math and Virginia studies with a solid performance in reading. His favorite subject is math where he continues to shine. In addition to his academic success, Xavier is an enthusiastic member of the Simonsale Chorus and enjoy singing with his classmates. He's also a member of Lighthouse Church. Xav is also passionate about sports. He plays basketball with the Western Branch center and baseball with the Western Branch Orioles, playing key positions as both a center fielder and
003third baseman. After college, his career goal is to play professional baseball for the Baltimore Orioles. Xavier is a proud son of Mr. Thomas Brown and Mrs. Tiffany Mormon. And parents, if you're present, would you please stand to be recognized? [Applause] for the school statement. Lacy McIntosh is a sixth grade student at Simmonsdale Elementary where she consistently earns her place on the principal's list honor role. Her passion for learning was evident in her most recent so assessments with impressive scores in reading, science, and math. Her favorite subject is reading, where she enjoys diving into new stories and expanding her imagination. Lacy is also a valued member of the Simons Dale Chorus, where she brings energy to each performance alongside her classmates. Beyond school, Lacy is an active member of Alexander Baptist Church, where she is excited
004to volunteer during vacation Bible school this summer. Lacy is also an avid animal lover with a big heart for furry friends. After graduating from college, she plans to pursue her dream job of becoming a veterinarian. Lacy is the daughter of Mr. Kelvin Macintosh and Mrs. Carrie Bernett who are the proud and are proud of her achievements. And Mr. Macintosh and Mrs. Bernett, if you all are present, please stand and be recognized as well. All right. So, at this time, I'll introduce uh Miss Tammy King, who's the principal, and I don't know if Miss Underwood is present, but she is the assistant principal at Simonsdale. There she comes. So, at this time, we will turn it over to Xavier for the pledge. Will everyone please stand for the pledge of allegiance? I pledge of aliance to
005the 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. You may ple you may please be seated. And parents, if you all want to come up front to get a better picture, feel free to do so. You You go right in the center. Yeah. You're so annoying. Okay. Chairman, Dr. Patillo, Vice Chair, Miss Atkinson, Superintendent Dr. Bracie, school board members, and members of the senior staff. Good evening. My name is Lacy Macintosh and I and I am a proud sixth grade student at Simonsville Elementary School, home of the Eagles, where we strive to soar higher every day. At Simonsville, we are fortunate to have dedicated and caring administrators, teachers, and staff members. Their morning greetings meet us on
006the bus ramp and car riders loop and continue on into the building. Miss Gatlin, our day custodian, has the brightest smile as she welcomes us in. Miss King and Miss Underwood greet us with encouraging words which help to set the tone for a positive learning day. We all then make a stop to pick up breakfast from Miss Huffstickler, our cafeteria manager, and her staff members. They rock. Breakfast, pizza, and cereal are our top favorites. As we head into class, we continue to receive motivation from our teachers who encourage us to give our best day best each day. Then the real fun begins. Our teachers design fun lessons which helps us to be more engaged in our learning. We sometimes work in small groups and stations which give gives us the opportunity to work with our
007peers. We perform science experiments in labs and on any given day our technology resource teacher or our TRT Miss Glass may be the code teacher in our classrooms. We use technology across all grade levels for for example we enjoy using coding robots to solve math problems and we integrate reading and social studies by creating ebooks. In science we use the iPads and apps to bring life cycles to life. Our encore teachers goes the extra distance to provide activities that broaden our knowledge of the arts and strengthen our bodies. So at last count, how many curups could you do? Along with growing academically, we are always being challenged to build our leadership skills and good character. In our anchored for life program, which is a peer-to-peer support program, student leaders provide encouragement and resources to our
008peers who are experiencing challenges such as being a new student to our school, moving and par parent deployment. We also have afterchool groups like arts for learning strings impact where students learn to play the violin. We have cheer cheerleading and cub scouts. This year for the first time we have our Simonville Eagles chorus of which I am a member. We love singing together. In fact, our chorus along with our teachers, Miss McCuin and Miss Herdigan are here to present to you tonight. We hope you will relax and enjoy. Thank you for allowing Simon the Simon Eagles to share with you tonight. [Applause] Thank Miss King, did you want you want to make any remarks while the course is coming? Thank you. Good evening everyone. Um, I just want to say thank you again to Lacy
009and to Xavier and all of our Simonsale Chorus. As they s as Lacy told us, this is our first year with the chorus. And if I may, um, will the coral parents stand as well? [Applause] And a huge thank you parents for as always your wonderful support and to all others in this room who are such a support to us at our school. I hope that you will enjoy uh our first um official outing as the Simonsale Chorus. [Applause] Thank you so much, Miss King. And we're here in for a treat. [Music] around people. [Music] might Merc. [Music] [Applause] David play on your heart. Play on on your heart. [Music] Play on your heart. Play on your heart. on your [Music] heart. Hallelujah. [Applause] Well, we're going to ask they will stand stay just one
010moment and we're going to also ask if Xavier and Lacy could come back up as well. Uh we do have uh some gifts we would like to present to you all at this time. Let's give him another hand clap. [Applause] We have all our [Applause] Thank you all so much. And thank you again parents for bringing them out tonight. Thank you. Agenda item 3.6 is attendance. Roll call. Oh, Madam Clerk, I'm sorry. 3.5 is a school board mission statement. Miss Futrell. Thank you, chair. The mission of the Porsche public school division is to engage all students in learning that will foster academic excellence and responsible citizenship. Thank you. Agenda item 3.6 is attendance. Roll call. Madam clerk, Mrs. here. Dr. Cotton, Mrs. here. Main present. Mrs. here. Dr. Walker here. Dr. Patello present. Seven members
011present. Thank you so much. Before we move to agenda item 3.7, board members, we will not have a student representative report uh on tonight. So, I ask that we ask for a motion for approval of the agenda with that change. Move for approval. Second. Motion made by Vice Chair Axton, second by Miss Futrell. Is there any discussion? Seeing none, roll call vote. Madam clerk, Miss Atinson, yes. Dr. Yes. Mrs. Petra, yes. Miss Wayne, yes. Mrs. Sass, yes. Dr. Walker, yes. Dr. Patillo, yes. Unanimous. Thank you so much. And before we move to our next agenda item, as a part of uh chair privilege, we do want to recognize that this week and yesterday was administrative professionals day. And at this time, I ask if our vice chair and Miss Betrayal and Miss Cessums could come
012forward. And I would like our new uh school board clerk, Miss Cheeks, to come forward. Our deputy clerk, Miss Stewart, and also Miss Patterson at this time. [Applause] We do just want to say we want to thank you all for all that you do to support the board and the school division and and we know trying to uh to help nine different individuals is not easy. So, thank you all for all that you do for us. And and if we we can get a picture if we can get a picture uh with them as well. Yeah. Then come here. Put it in the middle. In the middle. Yeah. Let's give him a hand. [Applause] Agenda item 5.1 is a resolution considering a resolution for recognizing National Teacher Appreciation Week May 5th through the 9th. Dr.
013White. Good evening. Schoolboard Chair Pello, Vice Chair Atinson, school board members, and Dr. Bracie. The resolution. Whereas teaching is an honorable profession, one which all Americans know too well because of their personal experiences. And whereas the National Education Association and the National Parent Teacher Association spearheads the annual observation of the National Teacher Appreciation Week, which commenced back in 1984. And whereas the National Teacher Appreciation Week, May 5th through the 9th, 2025, recognizes an educator significance to our nation's future and to our students future well-being. Now therefore, be it resolved that the Portsouth City School Board conveys its profound appreciation to the heartfelt gratitude of the Portsmith citizens, to the individuals involved in the teaching and learning process of their diligence for their zeal for their care of our great historic Seaport City young peoples. And
014be it further resolved that the school board salutes the school division's teacher core as a manifestation and respect and support for the magnificent role they play in educational process and that the school board designates May 5th through the 9th 2025 as National Teacher Appreciation Week and Tuesday, May 6, 2025 as teacher appreciation day. And finally, be it resolved that this resolution of commendations be made as part of the school board's official minutes and a copy shall be sent to all administrative schools. Move for approval. Second. Motion made by Vice Chair Action, second by Miss Cessums. Is there any discussion? Seeing none, roll call vote. Madam clerk, yes. Yes. Mrs. Yes. Mrs. McWang. Yes. Yes. Dr. Walker, yes. Dr. Patello, yes. It's unanimous. Thank you so much. And if we could just pause board members and
015give a hand for all of our teaching staff for Porson Public Schools. We also recognize that this month is also autism awareness month and we're extremely proud of all of our exceptional students here at Porson Public Schools and we also recognize there's no need to fit in when you were born to be different and stand out. Absolutely. And we're totally thankful for them. Uh we'll now move to our agenda item 6.1 which is rec recognition a student recognition and tonight we are thrilled to honor Icy Norham High School senior Ian Lindo as last month he was named the 2025 military child of the year and and you can come forward. Operation Homefront extends these annual awards to students across the country, each representing a branch of the armed forces. Selected students are ones who excel
016academically and also show great leadership in their schools as well as in community service efforts while being a part of a military family. Ian is currently ranked first in his graduating class and is on track to complete an associates degree this May. During his time at Norham, he has served as president of the Norm National Honor Society and Key Club, as well as co- captain of the Scholastic Bowl team, which has made made it to the regional championship for the past four years. If that were not enough, Ian has provided more than 500 hours of community service in the past two years. Give him another hand for that. Ian is the son of retired Lieutenant Michael Lindo and Miss Michelle Eat. Congratulations, Ian. And we are proud of you. It reads, "Porson public school certificate
017of achievement presented to IN Michael Lindo in recognition of IN being named Operation Homefront's 2025 military child for the Coast Guard while enrolled as a senior at IC Norm High School. It's signed by myself, board chair, and also Dr. Bracie, division superintendent." Give him another hand. [Applause] All right. And I'd just like to say thank you to the school board for this recognition and um yeah um being the 2025 military child of the year for the Coast Guard. It was really it was a really nice experience. You know, we got to go up to DC for a week. Um they had a nice gal at the end. We got showered with a lot of gifts. Some of the stuff I don't even know what I'm going to do with. But all in all, it was
018a great experience and I'm just grateful that I was selected for this amazing honor. [Applause] vice chair. Thank you, chair. I just want to say Ian, you are beyond bright. You're the reason um I think I can speak for our board while we, you know, advocate for our students, you know, the way we do. It's exceptional students like you that that makes it worthwhile. Um there's no doubt in my mind that you're going to be a success story coming out of Porsch and I mean you're going to go far beyond um expectations. I know mom is proud. Um thank you also for for your service to our students and to our school division as well. Um just congratulations again and and thank you for being an exceptional student. Any other board member comments? Miss McWain.
019Thank you, Ian. Um, as a former Army personnel, I am just ecstatic for you tonight and um it's just making my day, making me happy. Um the military is um awesome for especially for those who um don't want to go to college. Right off I say right off but um I am so proud of you. I feel like you were I'm looking at one of my soldiers. So congratulations and h to you [Applause] comments. Thank you so much. Agenda item 6.2. We have another recognition. We are thrilled to congratulate the outstanding school counselors from Churchill Academy Elementary School and Churchland Middle School who have earned the recognized ASCA model program ramp designate designation from the American School Counselor Association. Let's give them a hand. You You all are rambunctious bunch back there. Ramp status is
020awarded to schools that align their counseling programs with the ASCA national model, demonstrating exceptional ability to foster academic achievement, career readiness, and social emotional growth for all students. There were 190 schools nationwide that achieved ramp status this year with only 14 schools in the state of Virginia earning this designation. And two of those are right here in port. [Applause] Achieving ramp is no small feat as the work spans the entire calendar year from October to October. It requires a thorough review process, the collection and analysis of meaningful data, and a deep investment in continuous improvement. Your efforts have elevated your school counseling program to a national standard of excellence, and that is something to truly be proud of. Thank you for your leadership, advocacy, and dedication. Your work transforms schools, and it changes lives. Congratulations
021again on this incredible accomplishment. Uh Dr. Grace will head down now and if you all could come forward as I call your name from Churchland Academy school counselors Hillary Davis and Cody Chapman. [Applause] Amen. I'm not sure if I saw her, but the principal of Churchman Academy is Miss Christine Castro. Oh, there she is. And we're going to get a picture with you all and your principal and Dr. Bracy. We're going to do at a time. It's up to you, Lauren. You're the boss. Okay. All right. Next for Churchland Middle School, Tiffany Meyers, school counseling director. School counselors Chenille Perry Wallace and Marcy Mloud. And we also have Marcy Mloud. [Applause] And I would also like to state that Miss Perry Wallace is also our middle school teacher of the year. [Applause] And the acting
022principal is Mr. William [Applause] Brooks. You can come get up to it. All right. One, two, three. Perfect. [Applause] I Okay. Yes. Y with the bags. And at this time, we're going to ask if Miss Twimman can come forward as she presents certificates to the middle school champs of Churchland Middle School. [Applause] And Miss Twim, I had to list whenever you you finish your remarks, I have a list to read all the names. Okay. Good evening everyone. Thank you for having me this evening. Uh tonight it gives me great pleasure to introduce our middle school girls basketball champions. Tonight I present our church and middle school girls basketball team. They are the Norfick Portsmith basketball champions. All right. So as I call your names, please come forward. First we have Ala [Applause] Alexander, Kala Kohl's,
023Jordan Corbin, Dia Crawford, Alana Dudley, Kanaya Fletcher, Anton Gardner, Milan Green, Nyla Green, Michaela Horton, Mariah Martin, Chloe Noel, Emily Stoner, Trisha Sudter, Kennedy Tvarez, and Serenity Taylor. [Applause] Coaches, Coach Williams, Coach Yanni, and head coach, Coach Hood, please also come forward. And of course, our athletic director, Sandra [Applause] Rudolph, principal, Dr. Brooks, please come forward. And any administrators as well. And my apologies for any misprononunciations, ladies. Do you want them to scoot in some? We're going to need you guys to kind of scoot in some. Tighten up. You want to put the team in the front? team, step forward and we'll put the board members, some of the board members and coaches behind them so we can get everyone in the picture. There we go. Yeah. Dr. Patilla, you might need to step forward.
024There you go. Are they on tight or are they good? Can you get them? Three, two, one. All right. [Applause] All right. And I do want to uh openly thank the board for making uh a conscious effort to make the majority of our meetings about recognizing our students and our staff for they truly deserve it. Uh let's give them all a hand again. [Applause] Agenda item 7.1 is public comment non-aggenda items. Do we have any speakers? Madam clerk, one speaker, sir. Okay. As part of the school division's dedication to full transparency and collaboration, not allowed. Super direct. Thank you. Good evening. My name is Sergio O'Neal. Good evening. I'm sorry. Good evening. Good evening, Dr. Patillo, Vice Chair Atinson, members of the school board and the public. I am Sergio O'Neal representing the community. Uh
025first of all, my my purpose of being here tonight is to say thank you, continued thanks to the efforts of our school division, all of our leaders, our administrators, and especially our teachers and our support staff for what they do on a daily basis. Um, as the public may know, we are in the budget season. Our city council is prepared to getting prepared to vote on a final budget which include which includes appropriations to the school board for their operating budget as well. I'm here to solicit the support of our public when it comes to our school division and what our public schools have to offer here in the city of Fort. I saw a lot of faces here tonight from in the audience from the community and I wish I would have saw some
026of them same faces at our city council meeting when it came to the public hearing for our um school for the operating budget. The reason why I'm saying that is because the I know that I've heard school boards ask I've seen the need both internally and externally and I think it's only only right only fair only appropriate that we do what we need to do by me by the way of our students and we do what's right for them. A lot of times a lot of people think that when they hear numbers they don't know the know the why behind the numbers. And I would ask the school board and the school division to make sure that the effort to for as far as transparency is concerned is there so that the public will know
027why those numbers matter and what that need is and why it's so important for our city council to make sure that they do what they need to do. I will say this, our our city council looks different than what it has in recent times. Our school board looks different than what it has in recent times. And I and I think and I say that because it's for the better. So I I will also say that I think that in collaboration between both bodies, I think that there is a level of understanding of what the need is for our school division. and I can see that that there is going to be a a good change and a good level of improvement in many years to come. However, one thing I also want to see is
028more public involvement in our school division. And the reason why I say that is because a lot of times only the negative get highlight gets highlighted when it comes to Port Schools. It's all over social media. It's all over the place. Everybody got something to say. until you get boots on the ground, the real boots on the ground, not the song, you you you won't know until you get there. And I I say that for for what I've seen. You know, I I'm I'm that parent that talks to the administration of my school or my children's school and let them know like, "Hey, I'm here. Call me at any time. What do you need? I'm I'm there." You know, there's a level of accountability when it comes to the community and our school division that
029we're lacking. and and and it's sad to say, but it is what it is. Like, I'm not going to play games and sugar coat it and just say, you know, the accountability of the community is where it needs to be, because that needs to improve, too. Because, see, what happens is we we allow we allow the media and some naysayers to cloud our judgment when it comes to what our public schools have to offer. But I can compare to plenty of school divisions across the country and I can say I can tell you what Porsche is without batting the eye because I I know what what Porzma stands on and that's standing on business and making sure our students get to where they need like the young man in that was up here earlier. You
030know, he reminds me of another young man that was Maris Hunt. That's exactly who he reminds me of. having that level of achievement, having that level of drive coming out of Portland public schools to make sure that our our community knows what what we have to offer. So with that being said, I would like to say this. There is I see some things there. There's some questions that have been asked as far as Spark School is concerned or whatever the case might be. I would hope that the community gets the real time data behind that program to see what what is to come of that because I think that whatever we are doing to drive student achievement we need to really focus on we have a lot of recovering to do a lot of people
031know what happened with co whatever the case might be that's beyond that I think that's more of an excuse I think it's now time to really put the the the meat where the potatoes are and let's get it done so again I'm just here to advocate to make sure that whatever we do as a school division we continue to improve improve. We continue to show that the community that it is worth the investment in Portland public schools. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Neil. Is that the last speaker? Thank you so much. Consent agenda items 8.1 through 8.6. I entertain a motion at this time. Second. Motion made by Miss Futrell. Second by Miss Atinson. Is there any discussion? Seeing none, a roll call vote. Madam clerk. Yes. Yes. Thank you so much. Agenda item 9.1
032is a monthly report from curriculum and instruction. Dr. degrees. Good evening, school board chair Patillo, Vice Chair Atinson, school board members, and Dr. Bracie. Um, we are happy to highlight this evening our performing arts and our visual arts departments. So, with me today joining me are leaders of those two departments. And we're going to begin with uh Miss Moody and Mr. Harmon, who are two coordinators for performing arts. It's about time I get to sing. Good evening. Good evening. Good evening. Dr. Bracie, chairman Dr. Patillo, Vice Chairman Atkinson, esteemed schoolboard members, division senior leadership, and all who are gathered here tonight. My name is Garen Moody, coordinator of elementary performing arts. Good evening, and I'm Joe Harmon, coordinator of secondary performing arts, and we are honored to be here this evening to present how academic
033excellence is thriving through the arts in Portsouth public schools. impact. The performing arts department theme continues to be impact. Last year, this time we shared with you the various ways that our department collaborates to make impact in our students academic journeys through the arts. Tonight, we would like to briefly focus on the A in the word impact, academic excellence. Our work as performing arts educators is rooted in making an intentional difference in students lives. We magnify their potential through highlevel performance opportunities and we support each other as professionals through continuous learning. We strive for academic excellence through arts integrated instruction. Prioritize communication and collaboration among our team and with stakeholders. And most importantly, we teach not just music or movement, but confidence, creativity, and community. In our efforts to promote academic excellence within the department,
034Mr. Harmon and I have supported teachers through continuous observations, modeling, co-eing, and student centered coaching. Our mentoring program fosters teacher collaboration both during school hours via peer observations and after school through department meetings and student rehearsals. We are proud to share that alongside Mr. Harmon and I, 14 performing arts teachers from both elementary and secondary levels attended this year's Virginia Music Educators Association conference and have since shared their insights and training with our team. We brought expert instruction directly into our classrooms this year to work directly with students to further develop their musicianship. Our instrumental ensembles benefited from in-class workshops and sidebyside coaching through the Virginia Symphony Orchestra SOAR program and the Tidewater Winds Band Tweed program. Our coral ensembles received direct support from local clinicians who provided customized standardbased workshops on tone diction balance
035and performance preparation. In middle school theater, students participated in the act out program through the partnership with Virginia Arts for Learning, where professional artists guided them in storytelling, collaboration, and performance, culminating in a showcase at the 2025 Portsouth Arts Festival. At the high school level, Churchilland's All Things Theater earned a 2025 Virginia Thespian Festival grant, placed second in a regional mock theater competition and fifth in VHSL, gained technical experience with the Little Theater of Norfolk, and celebrated a student's acceptance into the Governor's School for Theater. Their involvement extended to the community events like a haunted house and a schoolwide lip sync contest. Manor High School afterchool theater group performed a fall one act and a production full production of a doll's house while IC Norcam students um after school ensemble presented monologues and ensemble scenes
036in a scene showcase. In dance, middle school students attended a recruitment event at Churchland High School and performed at the Oldtown Holiday Festival, Holiday Nights at the Park, and the Portsouth Arts Festival. Churchland High School Academy hosted the recruitment event, welcomed a workshop with Ghana National Dance Ensemble Director Stephanie Ursulo and performed at multiple highprofile events including the MAK tournament, the Emojia Festival opening ceremony and the arts festival where they presented an Alvin Ay tribute and student solos. Our student musicians perform remarkably well in this year's district assessments, earning superior ratings across all disciplines, orchestra, band, and chorus at both the middle and high school levels. In cases where ensembles receive comments only, it provided a valuable opportunity for feedback and growth, often making the early stages of developing programs or groups choosing evaluationonly status.
037A particularly exciting highlight is that some ensembles participated in district assessments for the first time in over 20 years. A powerful sign of revitalization and renewed commitment to the performance excellence. Additionally, schools like Churchland High School and Icorham High School took multiple coral ensembles to assessment with all groups receiving superior ratings. These accomplishments are a testament to the talent and dedication of our students, but also to the strength of our instructional practices, the professional growth of our educators, and the unwavering support of our school communities. At this time, I would like to introduce Mr. Martin Mchias. He's a foreign exchange student at Noram High School. He will share a few remarks with you all tonight. [Applause] Honorable school board members, ladies and gentlemen, as Mr. Harmon said, my name is Martin Matash. I'm a foreign
038exchange student. I came from Hungary. uh I'm being here as a scholarship winner uh achieved uh and won the scholarship called future leaders exchange which provides me one year or one academic year chance to learn here and also learn about the culture of the United States and educate others about my culture. During my time here, I had many chance to explore the differences and also the specific techniques of band and music in the United States under the guidance of Mr. Mag. Jones. You can stand up please. And also had a chance to try out something really, if I can say that really American, the marching band. Uh I I'm proud that I can say that um I was awarded to become the only uh student from Portsus public schools who not just got selected to
039district 4 all Virginia district 4 band but also got eligible uh to audition for all state band. [Applause] With that being said, uh I would just like to appreciate the enormous support and the opportunity that I can stand in here in front of you and that I could do this uh do this journey during uh like between boards public schools and had the chance and opportunity to live this year and make this year for myself. So thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you so much, Martin. Although formal coral and instrumental performance assessments are not required by the VDOE standards for elementary schools, our annual all city sing forjoy event offers a unique opportunity for elementary students to sing alongside secondary students while working with professional clinicians to further develop their coral and performance skills.
040On April 1st of this year, 126 students from all 19 of our schools came together on stage to showcase their beautiful voices, discipline, and decorum, demonstrating coral excellence at its finest. Collaborative efforts like these have a significant impact on recruitment and retention in our secondary performing arts courses and extracurricular elementary music programs. We are proud that 49% of this year's sixth graders have signed up for performing arts electives in middle school. At this time, we would like you to meet Mila McNeel. She's a fourth grader at Kredo Elementary School. I'd like to mention that Mila is not only a vocal scholar, but she's also a history bowl scholar as she was a part of this year's 2025 History Bowl winning championship team, Crowd Out Elementary. Good evening, Mila. Good evening, Miss Moody. We're so happy
041to have you here with us tonight. Mila, you were a part of this year's All City Chorus. Can you tell everyone what you thought about that experience? The conductors, Miss Moody and our teachers that has been helping us out were very kind at the Sing for Joy experience and it's been very fun there because of all of the teachers, conductors, Miss Moody and students too. It was very good to meet all of them. Thank you for sharing. Can you tell us about how Miss Napier, your music teacher, prepared you to be a part of that chorus? Miss Napier has never missed a day for coming to the All City for Sing for Joy Chorus, and she's been helping us every step of the way. That's how I know that she cares for us very much.
042And I have one last question, Mila. Do you think that you will join chorus or maybe another arts class when you get to middle school? I would love to join chorus or any other arts class. Thank you for sharing, Mila. And I would like to also say a heartfelt thank you to her family, her principal, and her music teacher for joining us tonight. Thank you. And I just want to thank the school board for having me here tonight. and I really appreciate all the work that you do for the Portsmith Public Schools District. Thank you. Good job. Good job. I got $5 or something here somewhere in my pocket. As we conclude, we invite you all to follow us on social media platforms to stay updated on our department happenings and our events. We would
043also like to acknowledge the performing arts teachers who work tirelessly each day and have joined us this evening. Please stand. We hope that you share in the joy that we have knowing that our students are striving for academic excellence in the arts. This concludes our presentation. Thank you for your support, time, and attention. Thank you. Thank you. And but before you before you walk up, uh vice had a question for you all. Sure. Thank you so much, uh Miss M, Mrs. Moody, Mr. Harmon for all you do. um the accomplishments is not just a testament of the talent of our students, but a testament of your leadership as well. Um I guess um I saw the I heard you speak about the middle school electives um and pathways. What courses are offered in high school
044for our students to continue um forward? Hi. And actually in which area for middle I'm sorry, performance arts. Okay. Sure. So um we literally have chorus, band, orchestra, theater, and dance. Um dance is offered through the academy at Church High School, um which is audition only um led by Miss Jones over at Church High School. We have middle school dance. So for middle school offerings, we mirror the same effect. The difference is arts for learning is our partner for theater. So we don't have theater in our middle schools, but we have it as a club. And what we did is like a six-week course that led up to our all city event to which they performed. Um for high school theater also we have theater offerings at Churchland High School. Um one block of theater
045per semester and there's clubs at Manor and Icorham but not in the building. Okay. I mean during the school day. Okay. for so for theater. Um I know I would literally was just out speaking to um some some kids today regarding the the da theatrical arts is is so drama is not a course that's offered as far as like a course. It's the same thing. So theater drama is the same course but no it is not offered during class instruction at Manor or Icorham. Okay. It's just after school. After school. Um as far as like I know you heavily experienced you talk to the the kids. Is there an interest there to possibly make that a course? There is a huge interest. Um there's two problems with that. Um the first problem is certification of
046the teacher. Okay. Um to actually you can't have too many teachers teaching out of their content area. It affects our accreditation status. Um so I do know at Manor actually the teacher does have a theater degree. Um at at norm we do not have that as of yet. Interest is there. They've signed interest forms. Each of their clubs have 25 or more students. Um, church around 30 35 students. Okay. Thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you so much. And I know Miss Taylor Martin is coming, but I I want to make sure that uh that that that Martin doesn't leave before we have a chance uh at the end of the meeting to get a picture with him at the end as well. We'll do it now. Okay, we'll do it now. All right,
047board me. Let me take a picture uh really quickly. I know he's here for one year on scholarship and I may not see him again till he's on Broadway playing his instrument. 40 more days. Oh man. is 33 from my family. [Applause] Wow. Wow. She said this is her 33rd exchange student that she's housed here uh at for Norm High School. That's that's amazing. Thank you. Wow. That's a huge contribution to our school division. Miss Taylor Martin. Hi. Good evening. Um Superintendent Dr. Bracie, school board chair Dr. Patello, Vice Chair Atinson, distinguished schoolboard members, leadership team, principals, teachers, and community guests. Thank you for having me this evening. It's my great honor to serve as the coordinator for visual arts here at PPS in my fourth year. Um, we've made some great strides towards two
048very important goals. Um the first goal is to feature students artistic accomplishments by exhibiting their work, entering competitions across local, regional, and state level opportunities. Um last school year we displayed over 600 works of art in the community and this year we are at about 675, maybe more. We haven't finished our spring exhibitions yet. So, I'll update that number for you as soon as I know exactly what it is. But, I would like to um let you know that we have an exciting new opportunity in partnership with the Children's Virginia Museum um the Children's Museum of Virginia where we're going to hold the first animation film fest this May and that is going to be on um May 23rd. Um, so the impact of student work in the community has been wellreceived across the city
049and the region and the state. Here's just a few of our students who are featured here. And I'd like to just highlight briefly some of the partnerships that we have where we exhibit our students work. We have ongoing partnership with the Portsouth public libraries at the Churchland and the downtown branch which currently um the downtown branch will be hanging the middle school exhibition um that should be up by May 1st and we'll be hanging the high school exhibition at the Churchill branch of the library which should be up also by May 1st. We continually work with TCC and the joint use library and that is in Virginia Beach where we house um the Hampton Road Student Gallery, our regional art exhibition and one of the students who was featured in the video that I'll show
050you this evening actually was awarded an honore um in that regional competition and that's the second year of the row that we have had an honore for the Hampton Road Student Gallery which is our regional exhibition. We always show our work at the Norvick International Airport to celebrate March um student art month. Um we have recently been in partnership with a um the VDOE to um show student work at the state level. Um and we've had two exhibitions with partnership with um Kelly Basono, the coordinator for visual arts at the state level. And then also for the last two years, we've had student works highlighted in the offices of speaker Don Scott's office. Um, and that was in collaboration this year with the Portsouth chapter of the Lynx Incorporated who hosted a thematic show called
051Healthy Living where we had over 25 students featuring their artwork in the state capital building which was an amazing event. Um, we also had a special event this year with the Virginia Symphony where students created artworks around the theme of the symphony and the symphony was entitled pictures at an exhibition and then their student works were exhibited during the symphony at the Sandler Center and the Ferguson Center. Goal number two is to provide meaningful community and cultural engagement for our teachers and our students through the arts. Some of those partnerships have brought us in connection with partners like the Elizabeth River Project which provided um PDS for our our teachers and for our students. We have ongoing partnerships with the Virginia Museum of Contemporary Art in Virginia Beach. Um the Children's Museum, the Chrysler Museum
052of Art. We have a grant through um Arts for Learning. Uh we also do partnerships with Norfick State University, Oldman UN University and Christopher Newport University um creating opportunities for our students. I would like to do one more thing before we show this short video which highlights some of our students giving their um experiences because I know you'd love to hear from them. I have several of my teachers here with me tonight and I would really be greatly honored if you would recognize them. Their hard work and dedication means so much to our students. Would you guys please stand? Thank you so much for being here. Um, and without further ado, we have a short video where some of the students that I mentioned who have recently won awards are going to be honored. And
053we just found out that one of these young ladies has also been invited to attend the summer residential program at Radford University for visual arts. So that's the first time one of our visual arts students has been invited in a while. Her name is Rebecca Nav and she's going to be in this video. Thank you so much. The fine arts program has impacted me in a bunch of different ways. My art has never been at the same level as it was now compared to before I started it. I think it's like that because I have more people to take criticism from and who can help me learn new techniques. I have teachers who can really get in depth with me on things I need to improve with. It's definitely made me step out of my
054comfort zone. I would have probably never touched most of the materials I've experimented with in this classroom if it weren't for this program. I've done clay in here, charcoal, and we've done print making in here, which is hard to access if you aren't in a classroom. Before doing honors one, I wouldn't have really focused on trying to really capture values in my art or using charcoal or really trying to mess around with paint and watercolor and other materials like that. It's given me opportunities to present my art for awards. And I never thought that I would be able to win awards for my art. Makes me feel really happy. There is this recent show this year for Don Scott's office. My artwork is hanging up in his office in Richmond and we got to go
055on a field trip. I've had some art displayed in Hampton Road Student Gallery, displaying art at the Congressional Show. I had one of my pieces displayed in Mil Museum recently. Uh it felt really good. I liked seeing my piece there. Seeing how capable I've become because of this program, it just means a lot being able to show other people things I and others can do with my art. Since I was a kid, I've always wanted to be an artist. I definitely want to pursue art, even if it's just as a hobby, like painting in my free time. Thank you so much for allowing me to share with you some of the wonderful things our students have been doing and thank you for your continued support. Thanks so much, Michella Martin. And I I did want
056to say that um uh our students are making a tremendous impact as we saw in the video, but also uh just on uh last evening uh Kayn Jones from Churchland High School won first place in the art contest for the Virginia Board Association. That's amazing news. And not only Not only did he win first place for the region, he's now going to be in competition on a state level to win a $1,000 scholarship for his artwork. So, uh that's great news. Mr. Johnson is one of her one of her teachers at Churchill High School. All right. Thank you so much for conveying that. I'm so proud of her. Thank you. Thank you so much. All right. And I do also want to uh congratulate uh Mr. Harmon and the secondary staff. Uh last evening they
057they chartered uh the tri uh tri charter correct music. Okay, congratulations on that. Uh this is the first one um four p for p for p for p for p for p for public schools. That's something to be proud of as well. And they had an amazing recital on yesterday evening as well. Let's give them a hand. And and I'm also excited because our Churchland High School orchestra will be traveling uh to Bush Gardens to perform there uh among other students within the Commonwealth of Virginia. And I volunteered Dr. Cotton and we're going to go ahead and pay for their bus to make sure they get there. So I look forward to seeing y'all perform and knock it out the park. Right. All right. All right. Uh we're now at agenda item 10.1. Superintendent Dr.
058B. I didn't tell you Dr. contin you all right with it? It's all right. I got it. Good evening, Chairman Patillo, Vice Chair Atinson, and members of the board. I hope all of our staff members and families had a wonderful spring break and were able to enjoy some time away. We're certainly glad to have everyone back and we jump right back as we were the last couple of weeks of instruction before so testing begins. Before that starts though, I have a few announcements and reminders. First, the division again is hosting the PPS runs is prek is 3K color run at Churchland High School this year. This is the fifth year we've hosted the color run. At this event, thanks to grant funding, we're able to present $10,000 that is dedicated to swim lessons for students
059and families in the division. In addition to it being a lot of fun for all of the runners and walkers, it also provides materials and resources for PPS families while participants take to the course. Last year, roughly 1,000 people were in attendance. This year's event will take place Saturday, April 26th at 9:00 a.m. Registration to take part in the course has passed, but community members are still welcome to come out and enjoy the day. student will students will just need to have a parent or guardian with them to attend. I also want to take a minute to remind our staff families that we have launched our spark schools, a new initiative to help support our schools that have experienced ongoing challenges rel related to staff and vacancies. With this new initiative, staff members selected to
060work at the Spark School will receive $30,000 in stipens after taxes over the course of three consecutive years. You may have seen we've announced our first Spark Schools is Douglas Park Elementary School and we're ready to start in the 2526 school year. We've all been really encouraged by the response so far. In fact, I'm happy to announce tonight that the board has just approved Miss Diedra Williams as the new principal of Douglas Park Elementary School. Mrs. Williams will be joining division from Chesapeake Public Schools where she currently serves as principal of Oscar Smith Middle School. She has a proven history of success in leading schools like Douglas Park and we're thrilled to have her in place to lead our first ever Spark School for us. We're still recruiting because we want the best possible candidates
061to be part of this work. So, anyone interested in more information can visit us online at ppsk12. ussparkschools. Thank you, Chairman Batillo. That completes my report. Thanks so much, sir. Agenda item 10.2 of board member comments or concerns. Do we have any at this time? Vice chair. Thank you, chair. Um I just wanted to uh give a report from the MWBE committee to the board members. Um we basically talked about um our event that's upcoming this Saturday. Um it's a breakfast. It's the opening of the Southside Entrepreneurship Center uh which Third Baptist will be the host. And while I'm speaking on Third Baptist, I would like to send my condolences to the Fleming family. Um so thank you to uh Pastor uh Fleming for continue to host this despite of um the death and the
062family. Um Senator Lucas and Delegate Ward will be the uh speakers. Uh Chair Patillo will also be there um welcoming. He does a great welcome so we always want to bring him back. Um, and then just want to give a big kudos to uh, Chief Jenkins and the Portsman United initiative over spring break. Um, it was uh, peace week. Um, it was over 20 events, over seven days, 10 community- based organizations. I would say in total probably over a thousand of our students were serviced um, through these events over spring break. And a big historic moment that happened over spring break is there were no uh juvenile related incidents of gun violence, no shootings, anything involving juveniles. And that was um big for a peace week. And again, I just want to thank Chief Jenkins
063um and his staff for even um putting this together and thinking of community- based organizations. So, um, anybody that want any information on the organization's mentorship, um, Porsche United, uh, Facebook is where you can find that information. Thank you. Thank you. Any other board member comments, Dr. Kai? Yeah, thank you for, uh, electing me to also help with that. And I said jokingly, um, I haven't, it's not even about that. I remember being a student in Porson public schools that teachers invested in me in various ways. Whether they saw me in public, saw me walking to the candy lady, it didn't matter. But we should all know that the best investment we could have or best investment we could ever do is in our young folk. So I seriously say thank you. Any other board
064member comments? Miss McWain, thank you. I just want to um I've been going in to the schools since I've been on the board and um just want to thank all of our educators, all all of our educators um for everything that you're doing. I am a product of Portsouth and I remember as he does as well. I remember what my teachers poured into me and I just want to ask y'all to continue to please pour into our students that we have and just know that we are pushing for you. So once again, thank you all. One more chair. I'm sorry. Also, vice sha. Thank you, chair. Um, I just want to um we have a program and it's in partnership with bond secures. It's uh kids in grief and it's a children's bereavement program. A
065lot of our students um are impacted by loss of siblings, family members, and this partnership with Bon Securs is to provide them with an outlet um and and just something outside of dealing with death and trauma of their everyday lives with with uh grief professionals. So, any parents that are interested um look up kids and grief. Um it's on Bonds of course. Um the groups are facilitated by Monica Atkins. She's over to stop the violence 757 board. So I'm happy to see this partnership for our children. Thank you. Thank you so much. If all our minds and hearts are clear, this meeting is now adjourned. the first. I was looking