001All just before we arrived here in the boardroom tonight, the uh Pas County School Board held a closed session conducted in accordance with the code of Virginia section 2.2-37 uh 12. I need a motion to certify our closed session. Madam Chair, I'll make that motion. I'll second. Mrs. supporter. Mr. Taylor, yes. Mr. Williams, yes. Mrs. Payne, yes. Miss Cox, yes. Mr. Price, yes. Thank you. And we do have some action that'll be taken from that session. Mr. Graham. And madam chair, I'd like to uh recommend to the school board members that student number 8604235 also be expelled for 365 days with an entry reenrollment entry meeting on May 14th, 2026. May I get a motion that we accept the superintendent's recommendation? I'll make that motion. Second, Miss Porter. Mr. Taylor, yes. Mr. Williams, yes. Mrs.
002Payne, yes. Mox. Yes, Mr. Price. Yes. Thank you. And madam chair, I'd like to recommend to the school board that student number uh also be expelled for 365 days with a reenrollment entry meeting on May 14th, 2026. Thank you. May I get a motion that we accept the superintendent's recommendation? Madam Chair, I'll make that motion. Second, Mrs. Porter. Mr. Taylor, yes. Mr. Williams. Yes. Mrs. Payne, yes. Miss Cox, yes. Mr. Price, yes. And finally, Madam Chair, I'd like to recommend that student number 8604306 uh be suspended for the remainder of the school year and then start the uh first semester at Pilaski County High School in the Cougar Center with no um participation in any activities over the summer or during the fall semester. Thank you. May I get a recommendation? I mean, may I
003get a motion we accept the superintendent's recommendation? Madam Chair, I'll make that motion. I'll second. Thank you, Mrs. Borter. Mr. Taylor, yes. Mr. Williams, yes. Mrs. Payne, yes. Mr. Cox, yes. Mr. Price, yes. Thank you all. All right, we will now having done that business, we will officially call the May 13th school board meeting to order. I believe uh we will do so with the pledge pledge of allegiance. We're doing it on our own tonight. We're doing that on Would you like to lead us, Gina? You're on. You're up. I pledge algiance 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. Thank you. All right, we have some a lot of recognitions. I'm turning it all
004over to you, Mr. Grim. All right. Thank you, Madam Chair. We we just have such a wonderful school division with with many things to to celebrate. So, I'll start with our uh Virginia School Board business honor roll. Um you should probably come on down. Yes, ma'am. keep on track. Okay. So each year the Virginia School Board Association recognizes businesses that have shown support for our school division. This year, Pilaski County Public Schools recognized New River Community College, Newer Valley Community Services, and Pilaski County Sheriff's Department. And let me tell you all, they provide wonderful support for our school system. Absolutely wonderful. We appreciate all the work that you do for the faculty, staff, and students in Pilaski County. On behalf of the businesses, the following are here to accept their award. New River Community Services,
005Miss FA and Miss Wac, are you all here? [Applause] And from New River Community College, Dr. M. Mark, VP for workforce development and external relations. Yeah, don't go anywhere. Dr. Ralph [Applause] and from Pilaski County Sheriff's Department, Stu Nelson. [Applause] [Music] Thank you guys for everything. We really appreciate it. Yes. [Laughter] Thank you. You're welcome. Ready? Thank you all. Pilaski County Public Schools students make a strong showing made a strong showing at the Virginia History Day competition. Two students received special awards for their work. Willow Damron, a student at Pilaski County High School, received the MacArthur Memorial Prize for a documentary for her documentary, Justice Beyond Borders: Nermberg Trials and Their Role in Human Rights. Please come [Applause] forward. Nina Buucy Card, a student at Pilaski County Middle School, received the VMFA ARTS and literature
006awards for her performance of Rachel Carson and Silent Spring. Congratulations, Nina Bu. Danny, you got to come up and get a picture, too. So, come on. [Applause] Can I stand over here? No, you got to go with your daughter. Come on. [Applause] Miss Penny Lane, gifted resource teacher at Pilaski County Middle School, tied with one other teacher for the Virginia History Day District Teacher of the Year Award for District 3. This award is even more special because the nominations come from students participating in History Day. Congratulations to Miss Lane. This means you cannot retire. Do you have anybody here with pictures with you? Oh, yeah. Oh yeah, you got to come [Laughter] up. [Applause] Congratulations. Okay. Okay. Pilaski County Public Schools and the Pilaski County School Board would like to recognize the following employees for
007their dedication this past year. Each school nominates and votes for their fellow co-worker that they feel is deserving of this outstanding award. We want to acknowledge and celebrate their outstanding performance, dedication, and positive impact on Pilaski County Public Schools. Thank you all for the all that you do each and every day. from Kryser as Elementary. Cassie has been employed as a pair professional in Pilaski for 20 years. She served seven years at PCHS before spending the last 13 at Kryser Elementary. Cassie resides in Pilaski with her husband John and two children, McKenzie and Dawson. Cassie has a positive personality and always has a smile on her face. Those nominating Miss Davis stated she is always willing to do whatever is needed for our students and staff. She's extremely hard worker that goes out of her
008way to provide for our students. No matter who Cassie is working with, she always finds a way to help the student be successful. We are so proud of Miss Davis and all she does to help the CDEES families. Congratulations in Dublin Elementary. Hunter has served Dublin Elementary School as a full-time rotating substitute teacher for the past three years. Mr. Dalton goes above and beyond what is expected of him in every aspect of his job. He is always willing to help and often jumps in to assist without being asked. Mr. Dalton always go always does his job with a smile on his face. He's always eager to bring Shammy the leprechaun around to visit with students. His colleagues describe Hunter as reliable and dependable. Hunter is a huge asset to the Dublin Elementary School community. Hunter,
009are you here? We'll give him a round of [Applause] applause. Pilaski Elementary School. I know Michael's here, so you can come on up. Michael Cox is currently a kindergarten pair professional assigned to multiple classes. Faculty and staff has said this is Mike's first year in the school system. He has embraced his role as kindergarten assistant. He loves coming to work every day and interacting with the kindergarteners. He plays with them on the playground at recess every day. You can hear the students shouting Mr. Mike the entire time. He helps them swing, use the monkey bars, etc. Can you still do the monkey bars? He chooses to eat lunch with the students every day instead of at a teacher table. Mike enjoys joining them in their activities during gym, too. He always has a smile on
010his face when you see him at pees in the gym hallway or classroom. He helps the students in the classroom with computer work, seat work, or whatever the teacher needs at that moment. His name, Mr. Mike, has become popular with kindergarten and older students as well. Mr. Mike grew up in Pilaski County, attending Riverlon Elementary, Dublin Elementary, and Pilaski County High School. He has raised three daughters in our school system. His wife Tasha also works in the school system, has worked in the school system for 20 years. He attended New River Community College, Virginia Tech, and Bluefield College. After retiring from postal service after 34 years, he wanted to work for a system that gave his family such a great start. He is a constant all of all the hard work all of the teachers
011and support staff at Pilaski Elementary show each and every day. Mike shared that they really care about the successes of the students and always give 110%. He spends most of his free time traveling with his family and we expect another 34 years with us again. [Applause] Thank you. Okay, good job. Riverlon Elementary School. Sandra Kaggel is a vital part of Riverlon school community who in just over a year has been a true asset. Sandra serves as a custodian, but her dedication extends far beyond the traditional duties. As she consistently goes above and beyond to ensure our school is not just clean, but truly welcoming, students gravitate towards her warm smile and genuine laugh, finding a friendly face and listening ear. Teachers deeply appreciate the meticulous care she takes in their classroom, creating spaces that are
012not only sparkling clean, but also conducive for to learning. in the cafeteria. Sandra uses this opportunity to connect with students. She takes the time to get to know each student, fostering a sense of belonging and making them feel valued. Sandra is a proud Cougar alumni and graduated class of 1988. Sandra is married and devoted mother of four grown children as well as a loving as well as loving grandmother to two. Sandra currently resides in Pilaski County. Congratulations Do you have family members here? Oh, okay. For Snowill Elementary School, Kim Johnston is our school nurse who goes above and beyond to ensure the health and well-being of all students. Whether it's providing a simple band-aid, managing illnesses, or giving routine medicines to students, Nurse Johnson is always displaying a genuine concern for everyone and goes the
013extra mile to ensure that their needs are being met. Her dedication and compassion to our students, faculty, and staff is so appreciated, and we are grateful for the time and positive energy that she invests into the health of our school community. Congratulations, [Applause] Pilaski County Middle School. Tina Blevens is such hardworking, kind individual. She doesn't hesitate for a second to help with anything you need. And she and her team ensure that Pilaski County Middle School is always so neat and clean. Every time I see her, she is busy, but not just but not so busy that she cannot help you no matter what you need. She always wears a smile on her face and speaks to you while passing. She is constantly in motion and works extremely hard to make sure our school looks great.
014Her team is well trained and does a fantastic job and most and most is due to her leadership. As busy as she is, she still has time to help her daughter and grandchild when she can and she is always doing for others. She has such pride in her job and it shows in the cleanliness of our building, but also in the work ethic of her staff. Is she here? She's not here. She's Well, I'm not going to lie to you about So, I asked her how many steps she gets because she gets to work at 4:30 every morning. She gets almost 17,000 steps a day working that working that building. So, just amazing. Uh, Pilaski County High School. Lynn McVey serves as custodian at Pilaski County High School. Miss McVey is dedicated to keeping our
015school building spotless and welcoming. She approaches every task with a smile, handling her responsibilities quickly and efficiently. Beyond her official duties, Miss McVey takes it upon herself to ensure everyone feels special by giving out birthday cards. That is very, very impressive. She also gives a thoughtful gesture that highlights her kindness and care. She is truly a treasure, an irreplaceable member of the Pilaski High School family. [Applause] Congratulations. Pilaski County High School CTE. Andrea Gerald is our dedicated rotating substitute. stepping in wherever there is a need for coverage. From our early childhood education class with three and four year olds to sec to school security and from parent educator roles to front office support, Andrea fits in wherever necessary with incredible attitude. She is always ready to help. Embodying the true spirit of team play. Rarely
016absent, Andrea is willing to step into any role, even if it means covering multiple classes in a single day. Her constant positivity and warm smile create infectious energy and students absolutely adore her. While she ensures that students follow these rules, they frequently seek her out to share their accomplishments. Pilaski High School is truly fortunate to have Miss Gerald on their team. Is [Applause] she all right? Congratulations to all those folks. And we move to our teachers of the month. Pilaski County Public Schools and the Pilaski County School Board would like to recognize the following teachers. Each year, the school has the opportunity to nominate and vote for their teacher deserving of this award. These teachers are exceptional educators who focus on excellent in teaching and leadership. Thank you for all you do each day to
017make a difference in the lives of the children in Pilaski County Public Schools. Kryser Elementary, Miss Deborah K. Hedge, I know she's here, too. Helping Miss Hedge is a lifelong resident of Pilaski County and is in her 20th year of education in Pilaski County Public Schools. She served five years at Double Middle before transferring to Kryser in 2003. She is currently serving as fourth grade special education teacher. Miss Hedge resides in Pilaski with her son Cole. Kay finds the positive in everyone she encounters. She has a heart for students and finds creative ways to help students be successful. Those nominating Miss Hedge stated, "Students love going to see her and being one of her rock stars. She is dedicated to helping every student be successful, and Kay is always willing to go the extra mile
018for her students. Thank you, Miss Hedge, for your positive demeanor and heart for the children of CES. Congratulations." [Applause] Oh, yeah. You got to have everybody up here. probably go in the back. All right. [Applause] Congratulations. For Dublin Elementary, Jessica Hall has been employed with Pilaski County Public Schools as a fourth grade teacher at Dublin Elementary for 21 years. She is the wife of Andy Hall and a proud mother of two children, Jacob and Soph and Sophia, who have also gone through PCPS. Jessica is well known for her in for infectious laugh and positive attitude. Jessica was nominated for teacher of the month by one of her peers with the following said about her. Miss Hall works very hard in her classroom daily. She has always has developed good rapport with students, parents, and colleagues.
019As a colleague, she always is good for a laugh when things get tough and a reminder to take things with a grain of salt. She literally gave the shoes off of her feet to one of her students who was unable to participate in the morning mile because a student had on Crocs. She is an example of relationships over everything, which is the theme this year at DEES. Is Miss Hall here? Probably. Oh, probably. So, let's give her a round of applause. Pilaski Elementary School. Randy Chrysley is a title one teacher, but she does so much more for the school and county. She was instrumental in helping the county implement the BLAS. She created a vast amount of resources that the entire county can use in grades K through three for structured literacy. She is one
020of the main organizers for our learning loss tutoring program. She's probably one of the most datadriven people you will ever meet. She helps our teachers gather and report data, assist in PLC's on a regular basis, and mentors many teachers in addition to her daily duties. Other teachers have stated Randy has exceeded her roles and responsibilities in disseminating information to teachers regarding the expectations of the V Virginia Literacy Act. She has worked tirelessly to collect and organize data, to identify targeted literacy needs, and to create groups and resources to remediate our students in a specific reading skills. The reading plans she has helped develop for dozens of kids have undoubtedly made things so much easier for the general education colleagues. Randy is an invaluable resource to both her students and her co-workers. Her fun, positive, let's
021do this attitude inspires everybody. Miss Chrysley grew up in Pilaski County and is a PCHS and Radford University graduate. She has been teaching for 18 years for the county. She has two wonderful daughters, Ila and Adeline, and grandson Aubrey. She assists with sporting events and in her spare Do you actually have spare time? Okay. And in her spare time, she loves knitting next to a warm fire with a warm glass of apple cider. [Applause] Congratulations. Riverlon Elementary School. Crystal Connor is a fifth grade teacher at Riverlon and a model of collaboration and leadership. She works closely with her colleagues to create a supportive learning environment where all students can succeed. Her willingness to help her teammates and her leadership role in the academic team demonstrates her commitment to success of all students. Crystal is an
022exceptional teacher whose hard work and dedication ensure students receive what they need. Crystal lives in Pilaski County with her husband Chris and daughter Evelyn. Crystal is a PCH graduate as well as a Rafa University alumni. She is in her 16th year of teaching for the county and is loving every minute of it. If Crystal is not teaching, then she is spending time with her family. Her family loves to spend time outside, usually camping on the weekends away. She loves also loves to read in her spare time. Congratulations, Crystal. [Applause] Snowbell Elementary. Miss Jameson is a speech language pathologist who is being recognized for her dedication to the students that she serves. She works in she works intensely with her students, collects the necessary data to drive her instruction, is mindful of making sure service times
023are met, and works diligently to ensure that IEP goals are also met. She is always willing to help her colleagues and does an excellent job of keeping parents informed of their child's pro progress. Her hard work is noticed and is very much appreciated by our faculty, staff, and most importantly, our students. Congratulations, [Applause] Pilaski County Middle School. Haley Smith leads by example each day. She also displays a positive attitude and approach in every regard and is willing to assist and support her colleagues in every way possible. Miss Smith is an excellent teacher. She makes math fun and really engages with her students. She is here before school, after school, does tutoring, creates things for math when needed, and is our Mastery Connect master. She has surprised her math team with small pickmeups all year long
024and is she deserves a little pickme up when she deserves a little pickme up as well. Haley does more than she is willing to be recognized for, but she does it all knowing that she may or may not be thanked or recognized. Overall, she is a great colleague to have. I'm amazed at her tireless energy and managerial powers with the tutoring program. Congratulations to Haley. [Applause] Pilaski County High School. Teesha McCrosski teaches English at Pilaski County High School. Miss McCrosski puts forth tireless effort to create thoughtful lesson plans and ensure the well-being of everyone around her, including her students and co-workers. As sponsor of the National Honor Society, she dedicates herself to organizing their events with great care. Furthermore, she is nearly always available to tutor and readily takes on four blocks when needed. Miss
025McCrosski is the first person to volunteer when anything is needed and her enthusiasm enthusiasm is contagious. Her contributions make her an invaluable member of the Pilaski High School community. Congratulations [Applause] Pilaski County High School CTE. Becky Roseberry is our exceptional early childhood education teacher and her presence is a calming influence on everyone she encounters. With a natural ability to connect with her students, Miss Roseberry fosters an environment where learning is not only fun but also deeply meaningful. Her unwavering dedication to the children in her program is unparalleled. She is committed to their growth, development, and success both academically and personally. Beyond teaching the foundational skills that we serve that serve her students throughout their lives, Miss Roseberry is also inspiring the next generation of educators for Pilaski County Public Schools. She instills a passion for
026learning and teaching and many of her students look up to her as a role model. Through her guidance, Miss Roseberry is shaping the future of education, creating a lasting impact on her students and the entire community. Congratulations. So, now we get to select our employee of the year. So, we need a little small drum roll. All right. Our employee of the year, which gets two certificates in this wonderful, wonderful uh award here, is Sandra Kagel. Congratulations. Certainly welld deserved. So, if y'all haven't ever been through Riverlon, there's there's like this thing that goes across the classrooms and it says cleanest classroom. That's what happens at Riverlon, right? [Music] And then we do a draw ice cream, as you can see. He's certainly welld deserved. [Laughter] [Music] [Laughter] [Music] [Laughter] [Applause] Congratulations. All right. And our
027teacher of the year for Pilaski County Public Schools for Yeah, we need another Thank you. And the teacher of the year will also go on to uh apply for the region 7 teacher of the year and hopefully the state teacher of the year too. And that teacher is Randy Chrysley. That's right. We're we're we're we're checking one thing. Happy. Okay. All right. Great. Thank you, Gina. All right. And our bus driver of the year. And before you give a drum roll, I just have to say that we have tons of tough jobs in in Pilaski County, but but driving a bus and driving a bus around the roads in Pilaski County when the weather is bad with I don't know how many children, 40 or 50 on it, riding 45 minutes to school and back
028from school. We're so lucky that we have, first of all, we're lucky we have Troy who who really does a great job with that. And we're we're we're so grateful for every every single bus driver that we have and they do an outstanding job. But our bus driver of the year is Rodney Farmer. [Laughter] And as you're you're getting your awards, Mr. farmer there. Before we take a a picture, Pilaski County Public Schools and the Pilaski County School Board would like to recognize Mr. Rodney Farmer as bus driver of the year. Mr. Farmer or Rodney has been driving a school bus for Pilaski County Schools for 42 years. Rodney serves the Shiloh and Dublin area of the county as well as helps with athletics when needed. Rodney is exactly what you would want and expect
029out of a bus driver. Safety oriented, consistency, dependability, and being a member of the community he serves are just a few of the attributes and qualities that Rodney possesses that make him an exceptional bus driver. An example of this would be earlier this year when a new prek student decided not to get off of his bus at Dublin Elementary. That never happens, right? One day and hid behind the seat till Rodney got all the way home. When Rodney checked his bus and found the student, he called in and returned the student back to Dublin Elementary per safety protocols. When the parents were notified about the incident, they had understandable concerns about the student continuing to ride the bus due to her maturity level and age. But after viewing the video and seeing how Rodney handled
030the situation, the mother's worries were put to rest and the student got to continue to ride the bus, which she so enjoyed. I am sure the entire Shiloh community is comforted knowing Rodney is their bus driver and their students are always safe. So if you see Rodney out, thank him for exceptional service to the community and school system and know that there is no one more deserving of this award. His students are always in good hands and he is truly an asset to our division. Congratulations [Applause] And Jeremiah, I'm sorry that you have to follow all that, but you do. So you could Yeah. [Music] Man, that was a long time to stand. I should have wore different shoes. No kidding. And Jeremiah, while everybody is heading out, are you going to be here June
03110th for the meeting? June 10th. Okay. Make sure you bring your entire family. Yeah. [Music] [Applause] No. We just need to make sure you bring everybody to the June 10th meeting that you your family and everyone. Okay, Mr. Graham, the board. Um, so I like to bring um that prom went well. I think uh I think a lot of people had concerns with how small it was, but if um how everything was decorated, I think it looked really well and I think our staff put a lot of effort into it and I'm just proud of everyone and all the work they did for us and it was amazing. And I also had the honor to go to the eighth grade dance for volunteer hours and that was great as well. Did your sister like that?
032She wasn't there. She wasn't there. Well, don't tell anybody but they played better music at the eighth grade dance and they did our problem. Yeah. Yeah. [Music] But um and DJ Scotty Scott's going to be upset now. Oh, I know. Don't tell him. Don't tell. Well, then um another thing I want to harp on is um so testing. Obviously, this week is our SOL testing and next year I won't be here, but I want um us to really like prioritize our testing because a lot of kids don't know how important they are to our community and to our schools. But from um third to fifth grade um last week actually, I got to give a motivational speech for uh Dublin Elementary School for their SLA testing. And I just want to like spread awareness that
033kids should really take that seriously because they really do need it to pass not just high school but to pass their grades and third all the way to 12th grade. So I would like to take prioritize so testing a lot. And then that's all but I just want to thank you all for believing in me to be a student representative for our school. Especially you Mr. again for taking me under your wing and having me here for the to be the first student representative for in their junior year all the way to their senior year. And um I just like to thank you all for all the opportunities y'all have given me to go to Williamsburg and the workshop and just to speak to y'all every second Tuesday of every month. I really I've really
034enjoyed it and I've taken my task seriously. So thank you all so much. Thank you. Thank you. Jeremiah, I know that we we thank you and we recognize, yes, your tenure in this position is drawing to a close, but that those are happy thoughts. Um, I do hope we can let our next representative be able to reach out to you for some mentoring because we'll be culturing, you know, crafting another individual to step into very big shoes. Big shoes. Big shoes. And thank you. Thank you. All right, this is our first public comment portion of the meeting tonight. It's for persons who wish to address the board regarding items that are on our agenda. Items presented by citizens may be referred to the superintendent for research who may report back to the school board at
035a subsequent meeting or through other communication. If you wish to commun to comment about an individual employee or their performance, please present your comments first to the superintendent. Such matters will not be discussed during the open board meeting. Do limit comments to three minutes, please. Is there anyone who wishes to address the board tonight? I think everyone right now has been paid to be here. So, no. My favorite crowd. All right, moving on. We've had a chance to look over the meeting minutes from the April 8th school board meeting. May I get a motion to approve those minutes? If there are no requested, I'll make that motion. I'll second. Mrs. Porter. Mr. Taylor? Yes. Mr. Williams? Yes. Mrs. Payne? Yes. M. Cox? Yes. Mr. Price? Yes. At the same time you were looking over those
036minutes, you had an opportunity to review tonight's agenda. May I get a motion to approve the agenda as written for us? I'll make that motion, Madam Chair. Thank you. Second. Thank you, Mrs. Porter. Mr. Taylor, yes. Mr. Williams, yes. Mrs. Payne, yes. Miss Cox, yes. Mr. Price, yes. And while we were going over all that, we got to look over the bills that have been paid, the personnel report, and uh other matters on our consent agenda. If I make it a motion to approve tonight's consent agenda. I'll make that motion. I'll second. Thank you, Mrs. Porter. Mr. Taylor, yes. Mr. Williams, yes. Mrs. Payne, yes. Mr. Cox, yes. Mr. Price, yes. All right. Thank you. We are going to now uh hear from Miss Dr. Grant for our uh strategic plan that's in the works.
037In the works. We hope it's mostly finished. All right. So, members of the board and superintendent Graham, I am here to present the strategic plan for the district. Um, the strategic plan is a has been a year-long endeavor. Um, it started with our MTSS team which comprises principles, counselors, teachers, specialists, superintendent from the district. Um, the curriculum team also worked on it um at length um and with Dr. PULA as well. So um it is a very um inclusive uh document. Uh strategic plan is a roadmap that outlines our school goals, objectives and actions for the future. It really guides our decision making and resource allocation for the mission and vision. Our vision for Pilaski County is Pilaski County proud. Making a difference one child at a time. Did I say mission? Our vision. Sorry.
038Mission. Um, we really took a long time in writing this. Um, I don't know if you guys can enlarge that at all for them to see. Um, okay. Our mission is PCPS will partner with the school community to enhance positive relationships while promoting a sense of belonging, increased engagement, and academic achievement. And a lot of that also came from our surveys we did earlier in the year. We surveyed students, staff, um community. We uh did I mention everybody? Students, staff. Yes. Um and really it came down to um kids feeling like they belong and that they have a connection at school. That's we saw that some of that was missing. And then what we found out through lots of discussion and a data analysis is that it comes down do you have to be at
039school? So our focus for our MTSS team moving forward is chronic absenteeism. Is Mary Sheperton here? No, she left. Okay. She's she'd be happy about that. I just want to go through our core values and then I'm just going to kind of highlight the big stuff here. So, our core values at Pilaski County Public Schools, we believe positive relationships are the foundation for a successful school experience. Students thrive in supportive and safe environment. Schools are places for belonging, kindness, and respect. Students have potential to be learners, leaders, communicators, collaborators, critical thinkers, creative thinkers, and good citizens. Students need opportunities to improve, succeed, and reach their full potential. Schools are a place for highquality instruction, student engagement, innovative exploration, and curiosity. Students are most successful when families and schools partner by establishing and maintaining open lines
040of communication. Parents attending meetings, and sending students to school every day and on time. Professional staff will communicate with families in a timely manner on all aspects of their child's public school experience, positives and negatives. High expectations are the standard we set for ourselves and others. And we really think that the core values really, really say a lot. And I hope what you've heard through that is relationships, high expectations, and communication with the community and families, which we've heard we need to work on. and we are doing that. So in looking through this um when you look at this plan we have five major parts. We have safety. We want to provide students, faculty and staff with a safe, welcoming and healthy school environment including physical, mental, emotional and social safety and continuously evaluating practices
041to strengthen school security. So, we have action statements on what we're going to do and then how we're going to do that. And then we look at teaching, we look at learning, and we look at accountability. So, if you kind of want to just flip through it. So, under each section, teaching, we really hone in on professional staff, what we want to do, and how we're going to get there. Teaching, lesson structure, and planning, same thing. Professional development is very important. We have our PLX coming up July 23rd and it's a professional development that we're putting on for free for our teachers and anyone that wants to come. We've got eight representatives from the VOE coming to help us um and they're doing sessions. We've got a bunch of AI sessions. We've got um handto-mind
042manipulatives. We've got our own teachers and administrators um putting on professional development. We want to grow as a um we're continuous learn continuous learners and we want to be able to provide that for our staff and the needs of our staff. So that's part of our plan learning. You can go ahead. I won't read all that. Okay. Yeah. Curiosity and innovation. I hope you're hearing a lot about cur curiosity and innovation. Student centered learning. 21st centered learning and innovation. High expectations. You're hearing that a lot. Community well-being. I left that out at first. I'm sorry. Um, our broader community, our Virginia preschool initiative. You can change [Applause] it. And community engagement. We are having a huge, huge, huge, huge kickoff to the school year in August 15th. I think it's going to be at the
043high school. We're going to have a guest speaker. We're going to have dinner. We're going to have a petting zoo. We're going to have blowups. We're going to have a lot of things for the community to come out and let's kick off a great year. So, that's part of what we're doing there. Chronic absenteeism. I told you we're really working on that. School counseling program. Accountability. There's three ways we are accountable. We're accountable to the federal government. Hope I guess it sounds like we are still um the state with the Virginia Department of Education. And like Jeremiah said, we are we really had a big day of reading SOS across the county today. So keep your your thoughts and your vi good vibes and your prayers for students and teachers and principles um because they're
044going through that right now. They've worked hard and I know they'll do great. So federal accountability, it kind of tells what we're going to do with that. state accountability and then local. There you go. So, um I'm hoping that you guys will get a chance to look at that. I know Gina and Sabrina have looked at that. Um we could work on it every day and add to it. Um we are doing so many awesome things here. It really gives me cold chills because we're working hard and these people that are sitting in the back because they're so tired, principles, directors, they they really really really need continual encouragement. You know, they're the encouraers, right? So encouraers need encouragement. So you can encourage your superintendent right there. Um but I just want you to know
045that this strategic plan is awesome. Please ask me if you have any questions. I would love to, you know, share it with uh the community um if you feel like it's ready to go. Um and we will continue to revise as needed. Anybody have any questions? No questions. Just want to say this looks great and I'm actually excited because I will be at your PLX event. Yes. Can't wait. Thank you. Thank you for doing that, too, Josh. Thank you, Dr. Grant. All right, moving on to something a little fun here. Light-hearted. Um, we've been participating, the school system has been participating uh in the one bag challenge that was issued by the Pas County Board of Supervisors. We've had several student and school age individuals out picking up bags of trash and several groups at
046the um at our schools have taken up the challenge. I was really happy to see a lot of those pictures. National Honor Society had a group of students out. I know CTE a and horiculture program. They were at some fishing stream somewhere and they were caught picking up trash. And so really love seeing that. But it also comes with the perk you might win $100. Tough. Uh we are going to do a drawing for three $100 gift cards which can be picked up here at schoolboard office. Miss Crawford will be be the one holding on to those and we'll get information to our winner. So, you want to draw? Draw. You're going to the bottom. You can't win twice. If it's a name from last month, I got I can't Did anyone write those down?
047I did. Yep. One last month in the middle. All right. We have one of our winners of the $100 gift card is Ava Jackson. Right. All right. William Duncan. [Applause] Okay. And Aiden Hilton. All [Applause] right. Also too, um, we have made a decision on the winner of the jointly funded $1,000 one bag challenge. scholarship. Uh that individual will be formally recognized at the May 19th board of supervisors meeting should anybody want to attend that. But the recipient of that is Mr. Carter Smith. Well deserved. Great. Okay. Now really getting into the fun stuff here. We have some budget analysis. [Music] Jessica has started doing that now. She'll come up into my office and go, "Budget, budget." It really gets me really gets me excited for this. Um, an analysis of the current budget through
048April is attached for your review. As of the end of April, uh, 16.67% of the budget year is remaining. On the revenue side, basic aid funding formula requires basic aid payments to be adjusted to reflect the increased state share of costs resulting from the projected increase in sales tax revenues. Therefore, our basic aid payments are slightly overbudget. Our state sales tax payments are now under budget at this point of the year and many of the other state revenues are from lottery funded accounts that we began receiving in January. They are projecting slightly under budget at this point in the year. All major expenditure areas are under budget. Um, and then I would like to add that our preliminary invoice for stride came in at just over $4.2 million and that final invoice will come in
049at the end of May. I've included that amount in our expenditure and the county transfer to give an accurate forecast of the school board's financial status. Uh, the projected county general fund transfer through March is 12.5 million, leaving approximately 5.8 8 available for the remainder of the year. By comparison, at this same time last year, we had 3.2 or 19.62%. This figure is a projection due to the treasur's office getting caught up on posting and reconciling revenues. Once we receive up-to-date reconciliations, we'll have a better idea of what our accuracy will be. Does anybody have any questions for Miss Scalar? Can you give just a brief update on the required local match that we had today? put you on the spot. Dang, Rob, those eyes. I think they need to know. Yeah, after after speaking
050with um I think Rob spoke with Mr. today and um according to Mr. Sweet, we will be fully funded for the match next year. Yay. Fantastic. That sounds like good news. That is good news. Why Why did you act like you were giving us bad news? She was trying to be very politically correct with that, too. And you did. Yes. But yeah, that's it. I don't I don't know what that looks like yet. Um I haven't received anything from Trish, but um the $200,000 that we were waiting on is apparently being taken out of the reserves. Okay. Okay, cool. So, we will be fully funded for effort and match. Yes. Great work, guys. Great work. I got worried when I saw this on the agenda. I was like, "Oh Lord, after 20 years, the PCHS
051chiller finally blew." He's been scaring us with this chiller. And here he is. He did. Oh, Betsy. Um, yeah. After all the positivity, uh, a little bit of negativity. Um, long story short, uh, all spring to get the chiller fired up this year, we've we've we've had issues and, um, we've been going through a lot of things. uh Thursday afternoon about 4:45 we determined it's it's not salvageable. So um unfortunately uh we're going to have to move forward with the replacement of the chiller at PCHS. Um, fortunately, uh, we've been working pretty much around the clock since Thursday, uh, with the manufacturer under state contract. And if we cut the PO for just the chiller, uh, not the installation, uh, because we don't know what those numbers are yet, there's a lot of moving parts
052that are happening uh, since Thursday afternoon. But we do have a 500 ton chiller uh, quote that I got today uh, for approximately $400,000. M um now that's just to buy the chiller. Uh there is a fairly substantial amount of electrical pump work, piping work and sight work that has to accompany a new chiller. Uh a 500 ton aircooled chiller is approximately the size of a school bus. So we're not talking about, you know, something very small here. So we're trying to coordinate a lot of things right now and it's just in its infancy. So, if we cut the PO to the manufacturer tomorrow, um they are giving me a ship date of July 18 and I uh we will begin the installation July 25th. Uh hopefully if we can do a lot of the
053preliminary work, which we're already lining up, um we can start the install promptly uh after we receive the chiller and I'm hoping uh 5 days. there is going to be some disruption to the school schedule at the beginning of school. I've been working with Miss Bowling uh throughout the entire process, keeping her in the loop with what we've got to do. Um there's a lot of other things that are going on with that since this just happened Thursday. So, I'd be glad to try to answer any questions you have. Currently, currently, what services are impacted with the chiller being down right now? Well, what we got right now is uh our chiller is is two circuits. Okay. We have one circuit that is fully functional currently. Second circuit is not uh it is not functioning
054at all uh right now. Um with one circuit we can hold the high school in a springtime year and be okay. Uh we can you know obviously you know in your house you don't right now this time of year you're not running as much but come August uh you get a full building load and so we'll be good for two weeks. Yeah. Well, hey, goodish. Goodish. Jennifer, don't give me those eyes. Goodish. Goodish. Yeah. And we should we should be, you know, we're hoping the other thing with that was at one point this week, we were looking at having to put money in the old chiller just to sustain it until we can get the new chiller. So, we're just open the windows, Jess. We don't have any of those. Uh we're efing not to
055do that. Um we're I think we're going to be okay. Yeah. I mean, but if pretty much operating on one circuit, the the idea with that is you have redundancy with with dual circuits. If we lose anything on circuit one, there's nothing. Yeah, we have nothing. So, um long story short, we just don't have any other options. So, well, we've already been budgeted and planning for this for a long, long time. So, it's already under cap cap. We always save. We save. I've been uh working with Morgan this week. We've always I think I've said it in every meeting I present at, we try to save that much money for that particular piece of equipment. So, um, right now I don't want to say there's there's some um there's some switch gear things that have
056to happen, electrical upgrades that have to happen that can be pricey as well. Yeah. So, right now, I'm going to say 800,000, but I'm hoping it's a lot less than that. But uh what what I'm hearing, Jess, is uh the the everyone in this room is going to retire the next time someone talks about the PCHS chiller. Yeah, I hope. Good. I hope so. Need to replace it. I hope so. It's 25 years old. Yeah. Uh the oldest chiller I've ever seen taken out of service that was operational that was operational before it died was 30 years. So, I mean, we've got to the It's time. Yeah. Expected lifespan's 20. So, it's five years past it expected lifespan. Well, like you said, you've talked about it. You've warned us. you you know, you know, and
057so we're not surprised by this really. So it it's happening and we're going to move forward with it first thing tomorrow morning. Okay. Can you give a just a quick update on the on Northwood because we got some good news today with that. And Mr. Williams has a question about the Go ahead. I was say um with the we've been budging through this all along. Does this affect adjustments or anything to our capital plan? It does. It will it will change our planning for the next three years. Okay. I mean, it's right now we have a cash balance. We have a cash balance. I worked with Morgan this morning. We we we have a I gave you guys a full counting after the projects that we have committed to at this point, which is the
058stadium lighting project, the security wall project, and Northwood. If we um well, when we go through with the chiller, our capital fund balance is is going to be slim. 980,000 is the cash available right now. Somewhere in that neighborhood. Not an exact number. it's something in change. Um, so depending on what we end up having to spend for the chiller, I mean, we're going to be down, you know, $200 $300,000 in that capital fund. So that will we will have to make things will have to be delayed. And if as long as the revenue stream to that capital fund stays intact, which is the debt service payments, uh, and we can continue to put our carry forward money into it, um, we should rebound a couple years, but it's definitely it's definitely changed our 3
059to four year outlook as far as what we can accomplish because of, you know, it just it's a large unplanned uh, not unexpected but unplanned expense to that. The idea on our sheet was that thing was going to make it four more years and it just didn't. Okay. Are there any other chillers out there just like that at that age on? We have one other chiller that's old in the school system. It's Snowville Elementary School. It's on a much smaller scale. I mean it is it's um you know when I the one at the high schools, like I said, it's a 500 ton unit. Uh and it's the size of a school bus. I mean the one at Snowville Elementary School is the the size of a dumpster in in reference. So, I mean, it
060it it's 20 18 somewhere around 18 or 20 years old. Uh, but it's it's it's a much smaller It comes with a much smaller price tag and a much smaller install, if you know what I mean. It's a whole lot easier. We just basically pick that one up, put another one in there, and plug it up. Whereas the high school's going to take a significant amount. We're going from a liquid cooled chiller to an air cooled chiller, which has been the plan all along. It gives us the flexibility where the chiller will operate year round if necessary. Miss B will be driving a Cadillac. That's what that means. Yeah. Yeah. Any other questions about the chiller specifically? I'd be glad to get into the mechanics, but No, sir. It's already late enough, Jess. We don't
061need to hear that. All right. Uh Northwood, real quick. Uh the fiber, I think the construction starts on the fiber next week. Uh they've reached out to uh Lincoln to get my contact info so I can meet with them to uh work out the routing into the building. Uh I'm not sure exactly how they're going to get into the building where they need to be, but we'll work that out with them. Um otherwise, uh we should be moving to um we should be moving to paint by the end of next week. If we move to paint by the end of the next two weeks will tell the tale. If if everything hits their marks in the next two weeks at Northwood, I don't see why the anticipated week. Um, boy, July has gotten bad all
062of a sudden. Uh, July 14th. Man, I thought you c half full, baby. I just realized in the middle of July. I'm here. I'm here. Good things. Uh, we should still uh hopefully be on uh schedule for the July 14th move if everything uh continues to fall into place at Northwood. Um, other than that, I mean, I'd be glad to show anybody Northwood if they want to see it. Yeah, I might take a tour uh in the next week or two if you don't mind. Just give me Yeah, just reach out. Yeah, cool. And the other two projects are underway. I've got to take Miss Bowling to Chandler Concrete uh this week to pick out some brick. Cool. Thank you, Jess. Y Thanks, Jess. Good job. Clap for a chiller. We we knew it was
063coming. It's just you kind of it's going to be a little bit, but it's not surprising. Uh Mr. Graham, our discipline and attendance data. Thank you, Madam Chair. And before I pull this up, I also want to thank Teresa and Morgan. They they really helped us with the required local match and also the board of supervisors and Jonathan, too, for really taking care of that for us. That was a surprise to all of us. and luckily we we handled it. So, it's a good partnership. Mhm. This is great. Uh it's the best we've had all year. I don't know if you've all had a chance to look at it, but we are meeting the accountability measures as a division at all of our schools. Um, if you look down at the bottom where it's chronically
064absent, there's only one area. I think it's third grade, that is a plus instead of a minus of of the improvement that we have. That's just fantastic. That's again a testament to our to our wonderful staff, to our administrators, uh, as well. And then the student behavior is is just as good. You know, you think as you get towards the end of the year, you have some difficult times, but we reduced our incidents from March to April. And that's important because it's a very very intense time with testing and getting ready for testing and things of that nature. And if you can look to the year to date that we are certainly moving in the right direction. So those are those are good uh good data that Debbie is is sharing with us and that
065our our students and staff are really working hard on. So glad to share that with you all. It's great information. I know you've also shared some with us too. We've had some record setting months on attendance really which is good to see. So yes ma'am they want to be back into school. Yes. All right. Mr. Arnold, do you have a new CTE course application for us? want to fill us in. Um well, thank you for the time. Uh the high school, more specifically the CTE department would like to add emergency medical responder. Um this course sort of varies our health and medical science offerings uh a great deal. we can partner this with um introduction to health and medical science initially and then hopefully as our EMT program which is coming back. You all know
066that's coming back with Mr. Sisiano who if you haven't met him yet you're ready. He's one of those people you don't have to give a kick to get going. You got to put a governor on it. Um what we anticipate is this course would offer kids to take intro to health and medical take this emergency medical responder and then they could take a certification and be a completer. Correct? Or they could take EMT1, EMTT2 and then this and and then that is uh credential profile is very attractive to people like law enforcement, fire safety. Um, so this this course would allow kids to provide lifesaving care until the EMTs get there. And if they want to stop there, they can stop with this or they can continue on in the EMT program. Wonderful. Does anybody
067have any questions for Mr. Arnold? No. Sounds sounds great. I know we're running late and I'd be remissed if I didn't thank you all publicly for your confidence in me. Um, it's a learning curve, but I'm learning every day. Uh, and it is a fascinating position, and I really appreciate it. We We don't know anything about a learning curve. You're doing a great job. Thank you for coming back. [Applause] Okay, we have some calendar items here, Mr. Yes, ma'am. Uh, the really the big one that we want to, and we've sent this out, and probably Brendan and I'll send it out again. Um, well, it's tomorrow, so guess we won't see that. It is a regular school day tomorrow because of testing. Uh, so we have not had any any issues with that. Uh, big
068day, Friday, May 23rd is our graduation. I know the high school staff's working very very hard uh on that, and we're hoping for good weather. Uh, Memorial Day is the 26th. Last day of school is the 30th with a 2-hour early release. Uh the second and third are teacher work days. Friday, June 20th is our celebration of Junth. That's right in the middle of summer school. Uh we are doing a really good job getting ready for summer school. And then Tuesday, June 10th is our regular school board meeting. We're getting near the end. Yes, we are. Yes, ma'am. Oh, yes. Uh forgot one. Thank you, Tara. We do have the retirement lunchon on Friday. Uh hope you all are able to be there. It's uh at Draper Merkantile. I think it'll be really really special.
06911 12 12:30. So hope you're able to make that. Certainly understand if you can. I'll see Richie there. And we have we have nine we're honoring, correct? Is that correct? Yes, ma'am. Three were from last year that retired late and we had already had the lunchon. So we're bringing I know two of those folks coming. Mhm. Oh, yeah. I think we looked as combined 212 years of educational service. Okay, moving on to our action items for tonight. Uh, last month we all read over and looked at the VSBA policy updates and I just got May, so get ready for another one, right? Um, can I get a motion that we past VSBA policy updates. Madam chair, I'll make that motion. I'll second. Thank you, Miss Border. Mr. Taylor, yes. Mr. Williams, yes. Mrs. Payne, yes.
070Miss Cob, yes. Mr. Price, yes. All right. And we also heard from Dr. Roxan Suma last month who brought to us a presentation on the plan to re-implement validictorian and saludiatoran. uh there was opportunities for questions then. I will state personally having sat on the committee to bring this back. It there was a lot of thoughtful deliberation and that went into this and many things considered um and I do believe the implementation plan beginning with the class of 2029 is the most fair way to proceed. It gives um everybody heads up, levels the playing field for anybody wants to compete with this. Personally, I said let's just do it and let's do it next year. But, you know, let's be fair here. Um, so if there are no further questions for Dr. Suma, can I
071have a motion that we reimplement validictorian saludiatoran in 2029? I'll make that motion. Second, Miss Porter. Mr. Taylor, yes. Mr. Williams, yes. Mrs. Kay, yes. Mr. Cox, yes. Mr. Price, yes. Thank you. VSBA excellence and workforce readiness award. Will you explain this one for us? So, this is something that we would like to apply for every year and um Mr. Arnold's kind of heading this up too and we would we need your permission in order to uh send in an application for that to be competitive with all the other divisions that are uh going to um send one in too. So, we would appreciate it if you all would allow us to do that and we feel like we have a really good offering for them and hopefully be very successful. Sounds great to me.
072You can this this program description and the application process. Somebody's going to be very busy all summer working on this. Can I get a motion that uh we move forward with applying for the VSBA Excellence and Workforce Readiness Award? I'll make that motion. Second, Miss Porter. Mr. Taylor, yes. Mr. Williams, yes. Miss Payne, yes. Miss Cox, yes. Mr. Price, yes. Okay. 2025. Another one. I'll let you explain. Thank you, Madam Chair. Sorry, this is this is new and we just, you know, we wanted to make you aware that you all aware that we are uh Terresa, Morgan, Kim, Richie, all of them are working hard to get our contracts out. We would really like to get the contracts out before our teachers go home. They are electronic. Uh hoping to be electronic this year, which
073will make it a little bit easier. Um we are putting in the 3% uh raise that that you all already approved of us uh doing, but we just wanted to make you aware and get your approval that we can move forward with those contracts as soon as uh Teresa and Morgan and and Richie and Kim can get them get them and then we'll get them out to our employees. Well, now with the asurances that we're going to get the RLE and RLM. Yes. Well, now in the contract too, there is also uh we are saying contingent upon local, state, and federal funding. Wonderful. Can I get a motion that we approve with moving forward with with issuing these contracts? I'll make that motion. I'll second. Miss Porter. Mr. Taylor? Yes. Mr. Williams? Yes. Mrs. Payne?
074Yes. Miss Cox? Yes. Mr. Price? Yes. Thank you so much. [Applause] So, um, we really appreciate the work that all of you have done. We've we've been really uh dug deep into this agreement with the community health center and all of you have put a lot of time and energy into it and um we are at the point where we can uh uh we we have vetted it with our schoolboard attorney. We have vetted it with the uh community health center the of the new rally. We have vetted it with you all. I feel like that we are at the point where we can go ahead and approve this. Um if if you all feel uh the need to um I did talk to Miss Braun uh today too. She was very appreciative of all
075the collaboration that you all have have worked with her. Um I can tell you just from being there uh it it's a wonderful service for our families. In fact, uh, one of the phone calls I had today, I was, um, set up an appointment for one of our our students, one of our fifth grade students to be there. Hopefully tomorrow they could see uh, for dental services. U, so I just think it's it's a wonderful resource and something that is great for Pilaski County. So, I would recommend that um you all approve the agreement and we move forward as we've been for the last I can't remember when the when the health center I wasn't here when it opened but whenever it had opened. Does anybody have any comments? I want to say thank you
076too. I I know it was about a year ago when we uh kind of brought this up and heard from the public who was quite supportive of keeping the clinic. Um, between Josh's tenure as chair and leading this and the work we've done back and forth and the thoughtful and intentional input of the board, I feel confident that the concerns we had have been addressed by this, but still allowing for very necessary basic health care and above all dental care to continue to be uh available. Um the more I look around and the more I see uh we are quickly falling into an area that although um there may be insurance available that doesn't guarantee health care is going to be able to uh be provided and this is particularly true when it comes to
077the dental side of care. Uh we're becoming a pediatric dental desert and uh it's a necessary service. So, uh, if there are no further comments, I would, uh, entertain a motion that we pass the contract as written between Ch County Public Schools and the Community Health Center. Madame Chair, I would like to make that motion. Thank you, Jake. Do I have a second? Second. Miss Porter. Mr. Taylor? Yes. Mr. Williams? I would like to say one thing before I vote. Um it's 2021 is when it all started and it was there when when they um first introduced it and everything. The contract we have now is 10 times better than was originally out there. There are some safeguards put in there. It's not perfect. I still have concerns that we've talked about today. You know,
078but I figure if I get sued, we're all going to get sued, so I'll vote yes as well. Thank you, Mr. Yes. Yes. Yes. Mr. Price. Yes. Thank you. Okay, just for a minute. Look, we said we were going to set up a celebration for that, right? Just bask in it for a minute. Okay. Um, are there any future agenda items that the board members would like to for us to attend to? No. Nope. No. Can I take a nope? No, ma'am. Okay. um our last time uh in this school board meeting that we will open the floor to recognize citizens for any public comments they may have. There any takers? Employees? No. All right. I will declare the meeting uh May 13th meeting of the