2026 06 22 - RCPS School Board Meeting

001Mhm. >> Mhm. >> [clears throat] >> Mhm. >> Do you want all this? Oh, no. Um This is several of our stuff. That's not even grammatically correct. I apologize. >> [clears throat] >> All right. You all ready? Ready? We're writing on this thing. >> Good evening and welcome to our Monday, June 22nd, 2026 regular meeting. The board has been meeting all day. >> [laughter] >> We We're actually Somebody said this is like a 48-hour marathon and I love that perspective. >> [laughter] >> But it's going to feel like that it's going to feel like that when it's all over. We did meet earlier today for a work session took a short break came back this evening for some closed session matters and now we're ready to begin our regular meeting in open session. We'd like

002to begin that with a moment of silence if you'd like to join us, please. Thank you. At this time would you please stand and join us for the pledge of allegiance? The next item on our agenda are public comments. We have one public speaker tonight. Burgess Lindsay, would you make your way forward? Um not sure if you're familiar with our public comments, but we do give you 3 minutes to address the board and then there'll be a little chime that rings at the 30-second mark that'll kind of give you a notification to wrap things up. Okay, you can begin whenever you're ready. >> All right, well, thanks for having me. Well, um what a great place we live, you know, Rockingham County. Um I love living here. I've got three daughters, two of them are

003here tonight, and we've been regularly using the tennis courts at Broadway High School. We live in Broadway. Um we love we love using them. I said, you know, I said, "What do you guys want to do tonight?" They said, "Let's go play tennis." I said, "They locked it. We can't do that." So, I said, "Let's go to the school board meeting instead. That would be a lot of fun, wouldn't it?" So, good evening, fellow residents, parents, and community leaders. For years, our high school tennis courts served as a vibrant hub for our community. Families played together on weekends, students trained after school, and neighbors gathered for friendly matches that built friendships and healthy habits. That all changed when the school board decided to lock the gates in response to vandalism and misuse. While I understand

004the frustration that led to this decision, locking away these public courts is the wrong solution. It's time to unlock them and restore access with a smarter, community-focused policy. These courts were built with taxpayer dollars. They belong to all of us. In time in a time when childhood obesity rates are climbing and mental health challenges are rising, we need better access to spaces for physical activity. Tennis builds discipline, focus, hand-eye coordination, and lifelong fitness. For many families who cannot afford private clubs or travel teams, these courts are the only realistic opportunity to play. I know some will say, "But what about the damage, the vandalism?" That concern is valid. Vandalism hurts all of us. However, closing the courts punishes all of us, punishes the entire community for the actions of of the few. We don't close

005public parks because of the occasional litter, and we shouldn't lock tennis courts, either. Instead, let's implement practical solutions. Have security cameras installed. post clear rules with consequences, partner with the parks and rec department for evening oversight, do something other than locking the gates. These programs reduce idle time on valuable infrastructure. When kids and adults have positive places to play, loitering and trouble decrease, not increase. I urge the school board to reconsider this policy. After completing a FOIA request, I was surprised and disappointed to learn that only $100 over the last 10 years was spent at Broadway High School for the stated reason that you all chose to lock the gates, vandalism. $100 over 10 years? And you're going to lock the gates and lock the community out? Two of the county's four high schools tennis

006courts gates were unlocked today. Both of Harrisonburg High School's had unlocked tennis courts. So, two out of the six in the county and city, only only two out of the six had locked gates. The policies for two of Virginia's largest school districts, Fairfax and Loudoun, explicitly allow individual non-organized public use of outdoor facilities like tennis courts, playgrounds, tracks, and basketball courts, except during school hours and scheduled activities, obviously. A certificate of liability insurance is usually only required for groups, such as sports leagues, clinics, camps, private business, tournaments, etc. Individuals doing casual play are exempt. That's why I was surprised to hear back from the principal at Broadway High School when I asked, after I was made aware of the policy, saying I had to rent the tennis courts to practice with my two my three

007young girls. I asked to rent the court. I said, "What's the price?" He said, "$10 per hour." I said, "Okay, that's reasonable." And then I got to the next paragraph and he said, "Liability for a minimum of $1 million is required for an individual to put play with their family." So, when you spend just a few minutes thinking about solutions, there are so many that would be a win-win solution. Let's form a working group or something of that sort of residents, coaches, parents, and school officials to create a safe, responsible public access play Excuse [clears throat] me, plan. We can protect the courts while reopening them for everyone. Healthy communities don't hide their resources behind locked gates. They invest in access, responsibility, and shared pride. It's time to unlock the courts and unlock the potential

008of our community. Thank you. >> Thank you for sharing your comments. Board members will now move into tonight's consent agenda. There you'll see the minutes from June 1st, 2026, the minutes from June 11th, 2026, bills and mileage from May of 2026, um several field trips for you to consider, a personnel listing, and we do need one motion to approve the consent agenda as presented. >> I move to approve the consent agenda as presented. >> Thank you, Ms. Flora. Thank you, Ms. Irons. All those in favor of um approving the consent agenda, please say yes. Yes. All those opposed, say no. Motion passes 5-0. >> Madam Chair, I need to call a point of order. >> Sure. >> What? >> Uh we need to amend the agenda as we need had we now have reason to

009um go into after to I got to get it right. I'm sorry. to >> Yeah. >> uh action resulting from closed session at the end of our meeting. So, we need to add item number um 10's D action resulting from closed session. >> Thank you, Ms. Laura. >> And I would like to make that as a motion, please. >> You are correct. Give me just a second. Sorry. I realized it just as the meeting was beginning. So, I'm sorry. Thank you, Ms. Laura. You are correct. We do need to um take care of that business item, which is a motion to add or amend our agenda tonight. Uh item number 10, items related to closed meeting. Uh Ms. Laura's um making a motion to add item D, action resulting from closed. Um and when we

010do Thank you, Ms. Gregorian. And when we do go into um our closed meeting, whoever reads that motion will need to add the student matter piece from the earlier motion. Okay. Uh we have a motion that has been seconded. Any discussion? All those in favor of adding that to the end or um modifying our agenda, please say yes. Yes. All those opposed say no. Motion passes 5-0. Thanks for keeping us on track, Ms. Laura. >> And look at how beautifully we did it with Parley. Just saying. >> Look at that. Look at that. All right. That brings us into number six, other action items. We have several of those. I do believe they'll probably be pretty quick. We're going to begin with um Mr. Reed. He's presenting on the Dominion Energy right-of-way at Plains Elementary

011School. >> Dr. Shifflett, Chair Hurst, members of the board, I bring for you this evening as part of Dominion Energy's strategic underground program a right-of-way agreement for Dominion to refeed Plains Elementary School's uh primary electric underground. Uh they will be coming in from the front of the school uh along American Legion Drive in refeeding the underground service that is there now. Uh I recommend that we approve this right-of-way agreement. >> Thank you, Mr. Reed. >> Chair Hurst and board members, I recommend approval of the Dominion Energy right-of-way agreement at Plains Elementary School as presented by Steve Reed, Director of Maintenance. >> Thank you, Dr. Shifflett. Board members? >> So moved. >> Thank you, Ms. Cave, for the motion. Do we have a second? Second. >> Thank you, Ms. Bergoin. Does anybody have any questions for

012Mr. Reed? >> So, I'm looking at the schematic uh the plot that you showed us. Quail Lane Farm LLC, is that the field beside between Walmart and Plains Elementary? >> Yes, so that's that's the field as you're standing looking at the school which is to the left. Uh there's a a pretty good wood line through there. It would be this easement would be between that wood line and the parking lot. >> That's all I have to >> Other other questions? Okay, hearing none, all those in favor uh please say yes. >> Yes. All those opposed say no. Motion passes 5-0. Thank you, Mr. Reed. Next up is Mr. Gillette with the Virginia Public School Authority Educational Technology Note Series ooh 27. It's a mouthful. >> Yes, it is. >> Uh Chair Hurst, members of the

013board, Dr. Shifflett, thank you for your time today and for your dedication to the students of Rockingham County. Before you is a resolution regarding annual reimbursement from the Virginia Public School Authority education technology note series XXVII or 27. This resolution allows for the spending of $648,000 for RCPS and $26,000 for MTC beginning July 1st, 2026 and ending June 30th, 2027. These funds will be reimbursed in June of 2027. This initiative is designed by the state to ensure necessary hardware infrastructure uh hardware and infrastructure is in place to support Virginia's online testing initiative. I'm seeking your approval to spend $648,000 and apply for the VPSA grant for $648,000. >> Thank you, sir. Dr. Shifflett. >> Chair Hurston board members, I recommend the adoption of the Virginia Public School Authority Educational Technology Note Series 27 resolution as

014presented by Gregory Gillette, Director of Technology. >> Thank you, Dr. Shifflett. Board members, do we have a motion? >> I move to follow the superintendent's recommendation to adopt the Virginia Public Schools Authority Educational Technology Note Series 27 resolution as presented by Greg Gregory Gillette. >> Thank you, Ms. Lord. Do we have a second? >> Second. >> Thank you, Ms. Bourgoin. Any questions? Seems pretty straightforward. All those in favor of following the recommendation to adopt the Virginia Public School Authority Educational Technology Note Series 27 resolution, please say yes. Yes. All those opposed, say no. Motion passes 5-0. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Dr. Shifflett, you're up for the next three. Um federal program grant grant applications for 2026-2027. >> Yes, at our June 1st, 2026 regular school board meeting, Michelle Judd, Director of Federal Programs,

015presented these applications. There are five applications applications for federal grants, and I recommend approval of the federal grant applications for the 26-27 Title I Part A, Title II Part A, Title III Part A, Title IV Part A, and Title I Part C as presented. >> Thank you, Dr. Shifflett. Board members? >> I move Superintendent's recommendation to approve the federal grant the federal program grant applications for the 26-27 Title I Part A, Title II Part A, Title III Part A, Title IV Part A, and Title I Part C as presented. Well done. Thank you. Thank you, Ms. Flora. Do we have a second? Thank you, Ms. Irons. Any questions or comments? Hearing none, all those in favor, please say yes. Yes. All those opposed, say no. Motion passes 5-0. >> I think I forgot to say

016yes. Yes. >> Okay. Senate Bill 200, Permissive Local Alternative Assessments. Dr. Shifflett. >> Thank you. At our April 27th, 2026 regular school board meeting at J. Frank Hillyard Middle School, Mr. Dickinson, Social Studies Supervisor, presented an informational update on Senate Bill 200 and its implications for Social Studies assessments in Virginia. And um part of that legislation allows us for to have local alternative assessments and as an option for fourth grade Social Studies and eighth grade Civics and Economics. So, Chair Harrison Board members, I recommend the approval of the implementation of the Permissive Local Alternative Assessment option for Grade 4 Virginia Studies and Grade 8 Civics and economics in Rockingham County public schools in accordance with the Senate bill 200 and Virginia Department of Education guidelines. >> Thank you, Dr. Shiflett. Board members, do we have

017a motion? >> I move to follow the superintendent's recommendation to approve the implementation of the permissive local alternative assessment option for grade four Virginia Virginia studies and grade eight civics and economics in Rockingham County public schools in accordance with Senate bill 200 and the Virginia Department of Education guidelines. >> Thank you, Ms. Lord. Do we have a second? Thank you, Ms. Irons. Uh do we have any questions or comments? >> I do. Um I I I don't know if now there's a motion on the floor, if this is something that we can table or put off. Um one thing that bothers me is that um Mr. Dickinson came and presented a couple weeks ago and he obviously is very much for moving this direction. However, we haven't really heard anybody that's been on the opposite

018side of that other than some of the concerns that I expressed. Um Ms. Irons, maybe even you. Well, I knew Ms. Barger was going to express some concerns. Um I am really stuck at the fact um or or really at the data, I guess I would say, that we went from uh in world geography, you know, a 70-some percent pass rate among all of our students to a 90-some when we when we implemented um IDMs and the local alternative assessments in ninth grade. Um that that's just that's hard for me. That that's a really big stretch from mid-70s to to mid-90s. And it seems to me that we would be doing something like this in every subject. And so I'm still I'm bothered still by it that we're even doing it for for world geography

019or in high school. I'm not convinced and that of course was done before we came and that and that's fine. But but now it will be our decision as to whether we're going to move it to eighth and fourth grade and and I worry about diluting our testing. And and our teaching and perhaps IDMs are an okay way to teach. I think my problem primarily with with the IDMs is the connection with the C3 hub and the C3 teachers and all of that. And I haven't even talked a whole lot about that but because it feels like IDMs and the local alternative assessments come coupled, they become automatically a problem for me because I'm stuck at the IDMs. Not saying that they're not a great way to teach. I don't know that it's a great

020way of testing. And so I'm just I'm definitely not going if we go to vote to this it's going to be a no on this tonight. I don't think we have enough information from both sides and this is this is almost like the same thing when when we ask teachers, you know, if you're talking about, you know, a complicated subject, make sure you present sources from both sides, the pros and cons, the this and that, the you know, all of those things and then we sort of don't do it when when we have to make a really major decision. And so I I really I wish we could table this or put it off or until we can really have some better discussion amongst board members. I mean doesn't have to be a meeting if

021we need to do it individually, maybe we need to meet with Dr. Shiflett. I I don't know. Can I get thoughts on it before we >> I want to offer a couple questions and then I would want to share my thoughts about it a little bit and and then the board can, you know, chime in and we can decide what we'd like to do with it. I want to start with a couple of questions for Dr. Shiflett to make sure that I fully understand. We're this motion is to approve all local alternative assessments, but we don't create those. Correct? >> Correct. We we >> Who creates those? >> The The Department of Education gives us a a sort of a menu of options to choose from, but we do not create those. They are They

022are created by educators across the Commonwealth, and then we have a we we choose the ones that we would like to address with our with our teachers and students. >> Are all of those assessments IDM based? >> Yes, they're also They're all created sort of as a performance-based assessment. Like >> port- portfolio. >> So, a student is asked a compelling question, and I do not know what they would be for fourth grade or eighth grade at this time, but they're asked a question, and then they have to provide evidence to you know to that supports their claim as to what they're what they're arguing as far as you know to the answer that question. And I And I hear you know some >> I think >> some concerns that you know you can pose your

023You can pose questions I think in a way to get to an answer, but I I think well-written IDMs are really allows teachers and students to really to work through the evidence to come up with their own conclusions, and not just here's the here's what you need to know about a particular topic in history or or social studies. Is it easier? I think what I would say is students have multiple opportunities to work and improve. So, when you talk about a multiple choice test, you sit down, you answer the 40 or 50 questions, and then if you didn't pass, you can if you get a 375 or you get close, you can have a retake. But, it's a sort of a one-and-done chance where with the the IDMs with the performance-based assessment, it's sort of

024students have you know opportunities to work on it and work you know and and improve themselves and and and in the process. I'd also say that Senate Bill 200 does clean up some of the concerns I think with the previous language. You know, I think this this requires that the assessments have to be like graded by other teachers across the division. So, teachers aren't grading their own students' work. I think that does allow a little bit more validity and credibility to the to the assessments and how they're used. >> So, if I'm a fourth-grade student, I take the local assessment. It goes to another fourth-grade teacher who marks it as a fail. What happens then? >> So, >> back to the student who receives more coaching. >> So, what would happen with Well, I understand

025it and I'm not the expert in this, but if there are usually two two assessors. And so, the first thing we look for is that the papers or the the assignments are scored and if those scores are not touching, right? If they're not close, then we have to kind of get a third reader. So, we want to make sure that there's consistency between uh you know, that yes, this is what this paper is this is the value and two people have read it and their scores are within a certain range. So, we know that okay, that's that's probably a valid score. So, that would be the first assessment, but now the kid understands, you know, where he maybe misstepped or where he didn't get maybe things in line. So, then he has a second chance

026with his second performance assessment coming up later in the year. And then same opportunities that scored and you know, got to get the scores that are touching. If not, we get a third reader. And then there's another opportunity. So, the kids have multiple opportunities and I think maybe do that maybe the three scores combined or something gives them I'm looking at Ms. East up over there. She's the testing guru, but it gives them their their their chance their their three sort of three opportunities. So, if he didn't do so well in the first one, then they have two other chances sort of to redeem themselves, right? So, uh think about it like a baseball softball hitter, right? Your first game you played, you were over over three. Well, your average is not very good, but

027the next two games you're three for four and four for four. Now your average just jumped up, right? So, it's sort of similar. You have three opportunities to work on this and make improvement over the course of the year. So, I think there's an opportunity for student growth and to learn from that first sort of preliminary, you know, performance. Oh, I didn't do so well. Here's what I need to Here's how I need to change my approach. Here's what I got to do differently to to make sure I'm ready for the for the next one. >> So, my um my my next thoughts that I'd like to share on this are based on what I think [clears throat] many of us here frequently um around the county, which is um we test way too much.

028We spend too much time testing kids. Um I've I've lived that life in the classroom. Um what we are asking 7 8 9-year-olds to do um should be different than what we are asking our high schoolers to do. Um I I am generally in favor of removing certain assessments from elementary school, certain SOL like I wish the state of Virginia would say we're not going to um assess. We used to do science, social studies, math, and reading in third, in fourth, and in fifth. And there has been kind of a shift away from that. I look at this is um kind of coupled with that shift to um I'm in general, I'm okay with like fourth grade students not having to take yet another uh standardized test. I think, you know, they're 9 years old.

029And there's a lot of different ways that you can share learning or show that you know. But I also want to just share one final thought and it's more of a profile of a student and this is a real student. Student reads on grade level. Has average intelligence, good attendance, enjoy history, great relationship with their teacher, which we know if you hate your subject and you hate your teacher, you might not pass that test, right? So none of those things the teacher is an outstanding educator even, right? So on paper, I think we'd all look at the the B in the class, the fact that the student is there, can read on grade level, is of average intelligence, this kid should pass the SOL test, right? Like that's what we would expect and yet they

030don't. And yet they don't. They score a 399. And that hurts because they absolutely could have and maybe on a different day or on a different assessment could have shown what they knew. Could There could be a lot of different reasons. Perhaps that kid has ADHD and that test was long, longer than they were willing to put forth any effort. Maybe they lost motivation. Maybe maybe they didn't know the information, but again, if you look at the profile, B in the class, passing tests in the class, good really good teacher, great relationship with the teacher, wants to do well for this teacher, wants to do well for themselves and comes up one question short. You know, maybe maybe they stayed up late that night, maybe they didn't have a good breakfast, maybe they weren't in

031the right frame of mind. That one snapshot says it's a fail and that goes as part of our 76% if you will, right? But is that the real portrait of that child? And that's what I, you know, this is part of what I like about alternative assessments because it provides different opportunities for kids who are right there. That's not saying I'm lowering, you know, we would be lowering the standard for that kid. That's an acknowledgement that a a standardized test on that day and that time, when you have their kids, they're not adults. They are kids and they are, um, you know, prone to making making choices that we, you know, they're prone to throwing their hands up on question 45 and saying I don't care and then click, click, click the rest of the

032test because it just ran out of motivation to do it. There's a lot of different reasons. Uh, but what I'm saying is I I don't think I think I don't believe that saying yes to local assessments lowers our standard for that kid because I think that kid probably should have passed and would pass on another day. Um, and so I I think we can still, um, we're we're just recognizing that a single test on a single day is not always the best measure of what a student knows and is able to do. Um, but I also it does give you pause when you hear we went from 76% to 94%. Um, is what was the rigor like? I think So it's I'm not interested in lowering the rigor. It does make me feel better to

033hear that the state of Virginia is the one that's picking the We're not ourselves. We We are not picking, um, the local assessments. We're not creating them. And so that does make me feel better about that, but I just wanted to share have some questions answered and then maybe just share some perspective and some thoughts. I think less testing, um, especially in lower grades, fourth and eighth grade is is a good thing. And um or different testing, alternative testing. Because I think it I think our testing as it is is unfair to some kids. Okay, that's I've spent enough time. Does anybody else want to add >> piggyback off that just a second. I I'm thinking about what you were saying in context of myself as a student and uh you know, historically I have

034excellent records in my student achievement uh over many decades including I just finished my master's degree. But if you look at my experience from going back to whether it's professional certification exams or my practice to become a teacher or even um again my grad school experience the last few years, taking a multiple choice test versus working on a project to demonstrate that I've learned something um or being able to synthesize and create and uh explore topics deeply, they're very different kinds of testing. Uh and for me, the way my brain works, uh I have had many many a time in my life taken a multiple choice test and had to stop and fist close my eyes and take deep breaths because I get so frustrated in the test because it says pick the best choice.

035And if I was talking to someone administering the test, I could probably convince them that the second choice was also a great choice. But I can't do that on a multiple choice test, it's only all or nothing. And so I agree that different types of examination certainly do not lessen uh the potential for excellence. Um I I will say after the presentation that Bill Mr. Dickinson gave us, uh I did connect with Mrs. Cave to say I really appreciated all the questions she asked. She showed up with lots of uh thorough thought-provoking questions to help us examine this topic uh very effectively and um I share the concern for excellence. I also share the concern for less testing, especially in elementary schools. I have a fourth grader who would have I mean he passed his

036tests, but he you know, I would be interested to see what what that would look like and the multiple chances. I think um can be very effective tool for certain students as well. So, I'm also comfortable tabling it if everyone's not comfortable voting on it tonight. I I I do think I'd like to make decisions, you know, sooner rather than later as far as be preparing for the next school year so that everybody can get ready. But, um I do think sometimes alternative testing options can produce better critical thinking and outcomes than just a a straightforward multiple choice test. >> Um I have more questions after I just didn't want to interrupt your flow of thought, but it from Dr. Shiflett, when when you were talking about >> [gasps] [sighs] >> the testing and you

037were saying like if it's a fail from the first assessor, it's or it's assessed by two people are all of the tests assessed by two people? >> Mhm. Yeah, they they have two different two >> Okay. So, if you And let me to be clear because I know parents hate SOLs. I get it. I am not for SOLs at all at all. Um and less testing, I totally agree um would would be better. But, we're going to test and testing is a life skill, really. If your child wants to get their driver's license, they're going to take a test and it's going to be multiple choice. So, but I'm not advocating for SOLs, you know, but I'm just I'm worried about moving to this this great really it's a it's grading system, really, but um

038to this way of testing because it seems subjective rather than objective. Those multiple choice questions like they have a right answer and if you fail it, you get a chance to retake, but if you don't do well, you get a chance to get another teacher grade your work. Well, let's get So, now we've got an assessor that's really hard and one that's really not. And so, I just feel like the grading becomes subjective, and so perhaps that's how you go from a 76 to a 94, whatever it is. I mean, it it averages or it just Those are my thoughts, and that's why I feel like we need more to fit, and I agree. I don't I don't like pushing everything off, and just for record's sake, Ms. Irons, like we we've never really done

039that. Like this is just I feel like this is just such a big deal. And and I don't like either one, you know, to be honest. I I don't like either one. Um I I don't like the the coupling of If IDMs are a way a great way to teach, why can't we teach that way, but still SOL? Like why? And again, not advocating for SOLs, but I mean, we have That's where we are. It would, you know, within the state. Like why Why do they have to be coupled together? >> So, I think part of that has to do with the nature of what you're assessing. So, I So, I think and Mr. Dickinson mentioned this the other night, but your the type of assessment is going to in some way describe the type

040of instruction. And And so, if if you're just looking at a purely multiple-choice test, what happens is then teachers tend to just basically go through, whether it's history or I was a I was a civics teacher, so you just go through the three branches of government, the Constitution, or whatever, and you're just really or it's good instruc- I'm not saying it's not good instruction, right? There is, you know, direct instruction, explicit instruction, and visuals, and all those things to support learning. But the your approach to teaching is is way more uh teacher-directed, whereas when you have an IDM and kids are doing a performance assessment, the teacher's still providing direct instruction, but the kids or students are now more involved in the process themselves and trying to figure some things out as they go. So,

041it's not sort of this idea that we have a a performance assessment and the teacher walks in and says okay, here's the question, here's the inquiry boys and girls go at it and let me know how it turns out. That's not really what's happening. What's going on is there's a lot of conversation, a lot of instruction about a particular topic or period of history and and giving students, you know, maybe you know, opposing viewpoints or different ways to you know, to think about a particular subject and then you ask the the questions then to defend a particular position. And again, I think we have to be careful. I am thankful that DOE is is crafting some of these IDMs and we're not left to up to do this. You know, I can give you an

042example like I've I've seen I you know, IDMs where they try to cast people, historical figures in sort of either a negative or positive light, right? So you know, is Thomas Jefferson a hero or villain? So now the student has to pick one of the other and people aren't that way. Right? You're not good or all evil. So a much better question would be how should we remember Thomas Jefferson? So now students can talk about all the great things he did like the Declaration of Independence, which I think is coming up here a celebration for that very soon, 250 years if you hadn't been paying attention. But and some other things, you know, governor of Virginia, president, all these things, but also he had he had problems and right, vices in his life. Right? So

043you can speak to both of those. So I think a really good compelling question can have kids and students think about uh periods of history or social studies and and look more broadly at the topic as opposed to just you know, someone saying hey, here all the good things here are are all the are all the bad things, right? Either way, but looking at things more holistic. Um you know, testing is part of our world and you know, uh I'll say you know, I am glad there are there's testing. Like, I'm glad that people who drive have to pass a test. Right? I'm happy about that when I'm on the highways with them. I'm thankful that they had to pass a test and, you know, go through some training. And I think, you know, when

044I go, whatever, to the dentist or the doctor, I'm glad that they've passed some test somewhere along the way. So, I think that's important. And and we have to prepare kids for testing. My perspective, and this is what I presented to the to the board in 2023, was this allows us an an alternative way to approach assessments. We're still going to have the multiple-choice reading test, the multiple-choice math test, the multiple-choice science test. This just gives our students a different approach for for a social studies course. And I And I was a history major. And so, I remember early on in my studies at James Madison, I had a professor, Gargano, and he said to us, "This is history. And we don't have answers." He said, "If you want answers, go hook yourself up with

045the math department." He said, "What we have are are sort of theories about how things why things happen the way they did and what you have to do to be a good historian, so a good social studies student, you have got to support your reasoning. So, if you claim that this was a good thing or a bad thing for the country or for some other country or whatever, give evidence. Don't just say it, right? Don't just, you know, listen to, you know, whatever your TikTok, you know, whatever someone's putting out, the influencers, give evidence for why things are the way they are. And so, that's sort of how social studies works, right? Uh there were some multiple-choice test I had back back many, many years ago in school, but it was more about writing persuasive

046essay, making an argument and defending that argument with evidence, right? I think that's what this gets us towards is helping our students understand, right? If you're going to make a statement or a claim, then how do you support that with evidence? And we really love, you know, as a history guy, we really love those primary resources, the ones that no one else has interpreted. Like, read the Constitution for yourself, right? Don't have someone tell you what's in the Constitution. You read it for yourself and understand what's in the Constitution. That's sort of a sort of a more of a a better approach, I would say. And in the the closer you can get to the original source of information, I think, the more compelling it can be. Uh but some of that's up to interpretation

047in some way. So, um so, I yeah, I I I think it's a it's a nice balance to what we're already offering with all the other multiple-choice assessments. I think having, you know, other teachers grade the assessments does add another uh sort of a layer of validity to that. Uh that was a practice we used years ago uh when we used to do the uh local We used to have a local writing assessment. And teachers would um uh we had a day of work day where we would uh grade papers, right? Every I think every teacher in Rockingham County graded English papers. And we scored them, the main scored them, and same sort of philosophy, two people each person scored the paper, and if the scores weren't touching, then a third person had to >>

048Does that make the grading subjective, though? And I guess my follow-up question to that is, how can you be subjective in world geography? What because we keep on talking about, well, history, well, I mean, we could go I mean, it could be government, could be world history, US history, but, you know, American history, whatever, but we're talking about world geography that it's been implemented in, right? So, how is that How could that possibly be subjective? Like, why would you even need two assessors? It's world geography. I mean, the country is where it is. >> questions aren't just knowledge-based questions. Like, the questions aren't um what are the 50 states and the capitals, right? Well, that would be easy, right? And kids, maybe they should know that, maybe they don't. But But, the questions get more

049into line. So, like in geography, and it's been a while since I've been in that classroom, but we talk about, for example, uh push and pull factors for migration. Right? So, then you may ask students uh to look at a particular area of the world and determine, do you think, based on your evidence, the people moving from this place to this place, was it a pull factor or a push factor? Right? >> I didn't mean to oversimplify world geography. Just to clarify. >> But, so it's it's not And And so, it there are There is some subjective nature to it. I I would say there could be some subjective nature to the multiple-choice test that Ms. Iron says she thinks choice B was just as good as choice A. >> She's thinking about surveys, though.

050She's not thinking about tests. >> Oh, no, I I can tell you I I have looked at some of the released test items, and they [clears throat] are They're I'm like, "Hold on here. I think there are two possible choices." And I see some heads nodding there in in the audience where I'm thinking, "Both of these could be right, but you're looking for the best option." So, they So, they have a different level of rigor. >> Well, and and I was I was going to uh print some released tests for for social studies cuz one of the other points that I wanted to make was take a look at how much reading is in the social studies test, right? Because we we have a test for reading already. So, what we want to know on

051a social studies side, and this is probably one of, I think, I don't know. We have educators in the crowd, you can nod if I'm getting the right flow, but I think, you know, one of our biggest frustrations is that um if you're going to test math, let's test math and don't make the kids read a paragraph or a two-paragraph story to then get to the math problem because what are what are we assessing here? So, that's we're assessing reading comprehension and what's it doing in my math test, right? So, that's a great frustration when you have a kid who maybe reads a little below grade level but is a stellar math student um and now the math test is infinitely more difficult than it needed to be, right? So, I was going to um

052print some release tests and the most recent are 2014 in social studies. So, then I thought, well, what in the world? So, if you if you would like, I'll be glad to send you the link. I did some digging just on social studies cuz I I wanted to see um I just wanted to look at um you can you can go and look at practice test items, which are um you are not allowed to print, photocopy, or use for any other reason, which is why I'm going to tell you to go to the VDOE website yourself. And and pull up the Virginia studies, pull up the civics and economics test, and look at them for yourself. Um and number one, see if you think you know the answers to them, right? Because some of those

053are pretty hard. And then number two, I I think a good exercise would be um is there a different way this question could have been asked to get to the same AB like it can still be an ABCD question, but the mental acrobatics that kids have to do in order to answer that question when it could have just been asked in a in a more basic way to, you know, um I do think it's important kids have basic knowledge and can can say what 3 * 4 is, right? I think you I do think that's important and I think it's important they can do that without a calculator. But I um but I don't know that we need three paragraphs to wade through on the math test to get to that to get to that

054to tease that out, right? So, I would encourage everyone to look at the the the practice test items that the VDOE provides teachers to use as just an option to if teachers use them as a tool to say, "Here's what the test looks like." >> Mhm. >> And and here's where the here's where your calculator button is and here's the highlighting tool and here's how you mask things so that you can get rid of distractors and so it's really just a test-taking tool, but it does have some, I think, probably more realistic um test questions than what we had in 2014. So. >> I like to speak a little bit and again, we can table this if we want to talk more about it in depth, but but speaking about subjective objective, I was even

055thinking about this again as I was in grad school. Every class I had with a project had a rubric. And I could easily meet, okay, does she have three to five sources or two to four sources or one to three sources? And those were levels of objective grading, right? Well, if I meet all the requirements maximally, does that really make my work outstanding? Or did I just meet the requirements maximally? You know, I did I did what I was asked to meet, but does that mean the work I put in, the thought process I had, the extra stuff I added? That's where excellence comes in. So, I think even with objective grading while it's meeting a threshold of testing, it's not also demonstrating excellence all the time. Except in the case of my grad school

056work. >> And there are rubrics for how mean So, but if there's an inquiry and a question, um there's a rubric for what's required and again, what are the medium the minimum competencies and uh what, you know, what how much evidence is, you know, uh provided, um how the the the analysis of the evidence or the summary of of that piece of information. Um so, it guides it some, but yeah, there could be a subjective nature to some, you know, who's rating and I think again having two people score does help. If, you know, you're like, "Ah, well, you know, just I'm not going to take it very seriously." And someone else is like, "I'm really going to, you know, be very intentional with this." Then we get the third reader to help get the

057scores. But we provide training for our teachers on, you know, how to teach in this in this model and also how to to score through this model cuz I think that's important as well. >> Um I have a final >> Well, where does that training come from? Is that from local like locally or is that from the state? >> Mr. Mr. Dick is in provides work and the state provides training as well. But I mean he's um we're kind of very blessed. I mean he's sort of almost a a leader in this for the for the for the Commonwealth, right? So we have access to someone who's um pretty almost expert in this this kind of work. So >> We have had a ton of talking about This is why I I feel like we

058still needed to have more discussion. And I as a final thought, this is what I'm going to say is that I do not feel that we are just voting on local alternative assessments tonight. I mean this is a vote if if we go to vote and I hope that we don't, to be honest with you cuz clearly we we need to talk. Um it's not just a vote to change our way of testing. It is a vote to bring IDMs into fourth and eighth grade. And my concern I mean I have many. Um is the type of questions being asked. And I know that it's been said, you know, well, we get the questions from the state. Um but the questions that I've seen um and I wouldn't prohibit any type of conversation between the

059student and the teacher as to if we wanted to talk about this hot topic or this controversial subject. I'm not saying that we would prohibit any of that. I think we should have policies in place first as to how we guide children through those really hard subjects, hard topics. I think that we should have some policy in place to guide teachers, staff, even students maybe before we before we think about it. I'm not saying that we couldn't go to vote there, but I'm saying if we voted on this next meeting or whenever and we said yes and I will likely be a no that we have some guidance in place for teachers as to what Rockingham expects when you are guiding our students with all kinds of all kinds of autonomy because we you we're

060not going to have a curriculum for this, right? Like they're choosing questions from the state and it's really I guess it's I guess parents can ask this should be in policy, too. Parents could ask, "Hey, I want to see your IDM for this. I want to see your worksheets for that." Like I just think we need some guiding things cuz we're not talking about changing testing, we're talking about the whole way that we teach a very important subject, social studies, history of our country, history of the world. I think it really matters. >> So, would we like to I I think the only matter of urgency on this we can we can pass it this year. We can spend a year discussing it like I think the you know and then look at passing or

061not passing next next summer. I think the timing is really just about if if we are going to say yes to this, then that gives our social studies department the rest of the summer to work on it, right? So, that's really the only urgency. If we need more time to have discussions with social studies teachers or to take a look at some of these IDMs more in depth as a board and see if that's the direction we want to go. We can certainly um table this until such and such a date and bring it back up. Is that correct, Ms. Flor? >> What would it look like if we wanted to table it indefinitely so we don't have to put a date on it? Like how how would we do that, Ms. Flor? >> Well,

062tabling it indefinitely kills it. So, we would want to put a time on it. >> could bring it back. Right? If we wanted to >> It would kill the current motion if you table indefinitely. We'd have to put it the chair would have to put it back. >> Yeah, the chair could then put it back on the agenda. At the time she chooses. >> Okay. >> Um we could table it definitely. Um so but somebody would have to make the motion. Or >> If if we table this, I would just like some direction from the board on what you would like me to line up for the board. Do you want me to if we're going to table this until such a date? Um I just want some >> What if we were to do

063that? >> guidance on what you'd like me to plan for us. You want something this summer? You want something this fall? >> What if I just call the question? Which means we go ahead and vote on it now. And if it fails, then we come back to it. Or if someone would if someone feels very strongly that it be tabled, someone needs to make the motion that we table it and then it needs to be properly seconded and voted on. With majority vote. >> And we have to have a date for when we table it until >> If we table it indefinitely, then um the the chair could then bring it back when she felt like it. The motion would effectively be killed if we table it indefinitely. If we table it definitely, then we'd

064say like July 13th, our next meeting. We could do that. So, all that makes sense? >> Did you call the question? >> I haven't yet called the question. Do you want me to call the question? >> Ms. Flor would or I'm sorry, Ms. Cave, would you like to amend the motion? >> Um would you like to make a motion? Would you like to make a motion? >> that's exactly >> Indefinitely, you say? >> Indefinitely. >> I'm sorry. >> Indefinitely. >> Thank you. Do we have a second? >> Second. >> Thank you, Ms. Bergoin. Okay, we need to vote on that motion. >> we needed a 2/3 majority vote on that. I can look real quick. Okay. >> Is there any reason to believe we wouldn't? >> Is this tabling till July 13th? >> We are

065tabling it indefinitely, which means I will bring it back at a future date. >> But not decided date? >> Not a decided date. >> Can I add a comment? Are we allowed to do that right now? >> motion and a second. >> Oh. Um I would add that, you know, we I have reached out to teachers about this and teachers that I trust and have have expert in this. I do think there's validity in asking the question that you posed, Holly, uh or Ms. Cave, about IDM as a classroom tool versus a testing outcome. I would be interested to hear more about that. But I also trust the teachers that I spoke to and would defer to their expertise. >> again. IDM as a classroom tool versus an assessment. >> how you articulated it? Would

066you Is that correct? Like you were saying why why do they not use that as a teaching tool? Instead of an assessment. >> I mean, if the motion is to table it indefinitely, I'll I'll take your lead on that, right? Like the the agenda is the board's to, you know, if you want if you're like, "Hey, bring that back up in July." I'll bring it back up in July. That's not a problem. >> I don't need a year, but I I would rather have confidence as a board. Like I'd rather us be in agreement if possible. And if we can do that by early July, I'm comfortable with that. >> So, I looked it up, and to table is non-amendable, not it's not discussion, and uh requires immediate vote, and it's a standard vote, but

067our vote is also 2/3. That makes sense. So, uh so we need to we need to move forward. I'm going to call the question, and we're going to move forward on voting on >> of tabling this indefinitely, please say yes. >> Yes. >> All those opposed say no. We have to call the question. Are we tabling this indefinitely? No date. You're going to have to trust me. You can vote no. You can vote no. Thank you. Motion passes 5-0. Did you say no? >> I didn't I didn't say anything. I was still trying to decide. >> in favor I apologize. All those in favor, please say yes. Yes. Yes. All those opposed say no. That motion passes 5-0. Okay. Good discussion, everyone. Dr. Shifflett, we'll move on to authorization of signatures in your absence for

068the 2026-2027 school year. >> Chairperson and board members, I recommend the approval and authorization of Donna Abernathy, assistant superintendent, and Justin Myers, chief finance and operations officer, to sign all VDOE reports, documents, requisitions, and other official correspondence in absence of the superintendent through June 30th, 2027. >> Thank you, Dr. Shifflett. Board members, do we have a motion? >> I move to follow the superintendent's recommendation to approve and authorize Donna Abernathy, assistant superintendent, and Justin Myers, chief finance and operations officer, to sign all VDOE reports, documents, requisitions, and other official correspondence in the absence of the superintendent through June 30th, 2027. >> Thank you, Ms. Irons. Do we have a second? >> Second. >> Goes to Ms. Lowor. Goes to Ms. Lowor on that one. Thank you. Any questions or comments? All those in favor, please

069say yes. Yes. >> Yes. >> All those that oppose say no. Motion passes 5-0. Okay, that brings us into information items. We have three. Mr. Reed, you're up first with a maintenance department overview. >> Good evening. So, as you indicated, I'm here to talk about the maintenance department. A lot of times when I come to you it's about construction stuff, but this evening we're going to talk about maintenance. So, as an overview, we have about 20 employees in the department. We take care of 27 facilities, 24 of those are schools. It's about almost 2.5 million square feet of buildings we take care of. Uh, we do emergency repairs, we do preventive maintenance. Uh, we schedule schools heating and air conditioning through the BAS system. We plan and execute capital improvements, we do budget meetings, and

070uh, our commitment is to taking care of the physical structures of the school systems. The next slide I want to get into a lot of numbers here. But as you can see, uh, over the last 10 years there's been 1 2 3 3 years that we have had zero growth in the in the maintenance department budget or negative growth, and there's been 3 years that it has been less than 1.5% growth. And also you can see that of the total amount of the budget, it has been pretty consistent between 55 and 65% of it goes to fuel and electricity. >> So, then I'm understanding this graphic correctly. >> Okay. >> Um the 0% of incre- well, the 1.8 or 1.48% increase on 2019 >> Yes. >> is from the year prior. >> year, yes. >>

071Uh and that's just how much we increased your overall budget. >> overall budget increased, yes. >> And then the the the last column, fuel and electricity, is your total amount of that said budget, the six >> That is fuel and electricity, yes. >> Okay. >> Yes. And I will say all of you all are aware of this, but inflation has went up a lot more than that over those years. >> Mhm. >> Uh and so has the cost of construction and maintenance parts over those years. >> And does this This doesn't include capital improvement? >> This is the school department's maintenance budget only, yes. >> Thank you. >> So, our next slide's going to talk a little bit about where all of it goes. And again, if you take in water and sewer, our numbers

072jump up this year to 61.2%, so it's a little bit higher than the 58% that we showed you before, 56%. Uh another 4.6% is for cleaning products for the custodians to use through the school. We've got fixed operating costs, which is about 17, almost 18%, and those includes things such as waste disposal, some of our service contracts. Uh we've got to do fire alarm inspections, sprinkler inspections, operating the sewer system at Linville. Uh we do athletic field maintenance, and that is fertilization and that type of thing. And then we have to pay taxes, and that comes out of that line also. Uh we have operating costs, which is if we get a work order that this basketball goal is broken and we need to order a a new electric winch. That will be those costs.

073And then the last is the projects, which is the things that people talk about the most. And as you can see, less than 10% of the budget or $751,000 this year is all that went toward the projects. And that's over the 24 schools. So you divide that 751,000 by uh 24, and and the number's not very big. Especially if you have a project that's or two that needs to be done that's that's over 50, 60, 70,000. Then it uh gets really small. Again, if you have any questions as we go through, don't hesitate. >> Who Who do [clears throat] we pay taxes to? I mean, that might be a silly question. >> to the city of Harrisonburg. Uh we pay a tax on uh it's the the rain water tax. So yeah, there's taxes that

074we pay. Uh And how how we go about putting the budget together. And in your packet, there's a little more detail, but we schedule budget meetings every year with every school and go in and talk uh and meet with each administrator at each school. Uh the high schools typically will have the principal, the assistant principal that's in charge of the buildings and grounds, and a lot of times the athletic director will also be a part of that meeting. Um and then you can see in your packet, I don't have a slide of it, but the individual budget sheets of a couple of different schools of how they fill it out and what they ask for. And when we go to every school, one question we ask is, "Please rate or please rank your top three

075priorities over all categories." Um not necessarily that because a principal rates this one, that they're automatically going to get it, but it gives us an idea of what they're thinking, where they're coming from. >> Steve? >> Yes. >> Um did uh uh the electricity costs for the county go up like the rest of our personal property tax unit? >> Did the electricity costs go up like the personal property? >> Like my house, the bills like increased by what, 30% this year? >> our electricity costs have increased, not not by that. Um we we have a commercial rate schedule that we go by. Part of it um our electricity bills is based on demand and peak demand. So, we have to pay for capacity sometimes. If we have a real high peak, when a school that

076peak demand charge carries for a number of months, depending on which rate schedule we're on. Uh we've tried to minimize that as much as possible. Um just because we don't want to just have to pay for the possibility of having to use. Um and again, that one thing that we also do again is a demand response program that that actually helps us bring some money back into the system by when the grid gets stressed, we reduce our loads at certain schools. Yeah. Yeah, and we and another thing that we do is we bid our fuel our fuel uh we bid for transportation diesel. And it's a commodity, so typically what that bid looks like is it is basically where you're bidding a margin. And we have over the last couple of years locked in our

077fuel prices. Uh we locked in for the upcoming year. Uh our fuel price for heating is at a dollar ninety-three a gallon. And our diesel fuel is at two dollars and ten cents a gallon. And we locked that in back in late January, early February. Uh working with our supplier, uh they look at the futures market and and and we negotiated our our set that time and said, "Okay, let's lock it in now." So, for all of next year from July 1st to June 30th of next year, we'll be paying $1.93 a gallon for heating oil and $2.10 for diesel. >> It doesn't matter what happens to the market. >> Doesn't matter what happens to the market. >> I thought we bought that on a margin. >> Mhm. >> We we have that capability to

078do that, but when we look at it and say, "Hey, there's a good possibility that this is the way to go." One thing that that does, particularly for both departments, is that it gives us a fixed amount that we know we're going to budget. So, if we say, I budgeted $1.93, I budgeted $2 a gallon, so I know right off the bat that I'm going to have 7 cents a gallon in surplus. So, it gives me some opportunity to plan how to use that, rather than wait till the last 60 days of the budget year saying, "Oh my goodness, I've got $60,000 here. What am I going to do with it? How can I spend $60,000 in 2 months?" It lets me plan it out so that I can spend it where we need to

079spend it, also. All right. So, the next slide talks about some of the projects that was re- requested in the 2026-2027 uh budget. And these are projects all that was over $60,000. And this was This is part of a uh presentation that we did uh with a group uh along with the county uh and we was focusing on projects over $60,000. So, as you can see, there's some there that was asked for that was not priced because we just it wasn't going to make the budget, so we didn't spend the time on getting a price on it. Uh there's one there that was not priced because it wasn't well defined. And uh, that's a that's a That's a request that's been a number of years they've asked for it and they and definition of what

080they want just uh, we can't price it. Uh, that's the TA concession stand upgrade. Uh, so and then there's you can see out of all of these requests, the ones that did make the funds for this coming year. Uh, I want to point out that there's the indoor air quality law of Virginia 22.1-141.5, which is we have to test our HVAC systems. Uh, and it's going to cost us we got to test one. We got to test every school every four years. So, we're testing 25% of them every year and it's going to cost us about $60,000 a year to test it. The requirements of that law is that then when we get the results of the test that I come and I present it to you. Then we stop. >> When is that scheduled

081that we stop? >> Then we stop. >> We don't >> There No, no, we continue to monitor, but if there are There's there's no require there's no requirement to fix anything that we say. >> Oh, just report it. >> Just report it to you. >> It's really bad or really good. >> So, we start we start July 1 with the first um, fourth schools. >> And what if we don't do that? >> Well, then we're breaking the law. >> [laughter] >> Do I go to prison for that? Just me. Okay. >> No, it's $60,000 per year. >> Per year. >> For a fourth. Yeah, so by the time we get done with all all of our schools, we'll spend $240,000 in testing. That's that's new this year. To test it and report. Yeah. To test

082and report. I believe we scheduled to the Broadway attendance area plus Rockingham Academy this year. Is is the schools that we'll do this year. And then next year we'll do another attendance area and the next year another attendance area and so forth. >> So if there's something concerning, we have to make a decision whether or not we want to go back. Someone to do that. >> Local funds to Yeah. >> Or go out of pocket. >> Yeah, it is what it is. >> I Do you feel confident in knowing whether there's an HVAC problem without spending $60,000? >> I feel like a lot of the things that we're we're being required to test were fine. Uh there may be some things in in the verbage of the law that we may not meet 100%. And

083some of that stuff is CO2 levels per space uh that we'll have to test. We'll have to put CO2 monitors in those spaces each space and test that when they're occupied. But overall, our our fresh air uh is well above what code calls for. >> $60,000 >> No. >> We're talking about unfunded mandates. >> Yeah, and and and it's it's one of just slid in, right? It's just here it is. >> Do we because my brother-in-law's a firefighter, we have about 300 fire alarms and CO detectors all over my house. Everywhere. We don't have any CO detectors at our schools? >> We have We have any CO Yeah, we have some CO detectors. But what we're testing for what the requirement is test for CO2. Not CO. Yeah. Okay. So this just talks a little

084you know, it just shows a little bit of what uh was requested. One other thing that we we do a whole lot with is we do preventive maintenance. Um and we've got a number of slides here broken down by the different trades that uh our staff actually completes on the time frame that is shown here. Um so here's your general maintenance ones and that's things such as uh ceiling tiles, field houses, fences, roof egress doors, egress and fire doors is a big one because the fire marshal comes through and inspects and we want to make sure that we're in pretty good shape. Basketball goals, bleachers, that type of thing that the general maintenance does. Um our audio visual tech they do uh battery checks in the fire alarm panels every 3 years and then they

085inspect duct detectors every 2 years and some of those are more frequent if we have some that if we went on trouble a number of times uh then we'll do those a little quicker. Our boiler burner technician uh does a lot of stuff with the boilers, of course. Um does checks the glycol level and that's the antifreeze in the heating cooling systems. Um we check greenhouse heaters and everything you see there. We've got uh a custodial equipment mechanic and he does things such as change movie unit filters quarterly. Uh services mowers, vacuums, snow blowers, carpet extractors on a periodic basis. We uh our electricians we check the electric heaters in the concession rooms and flashing school lights and as time allows we will do some heat testing on panels to make sure we don't have

086any hot spots. Uh we don't have that down into a every 6 months or whatever yet, but as time allows we do that. Um our plumbing um of course we do the water filters uh in our in our schools that have wells. We do all of the uh testing that's required for our waterworks operation. Uh, we do startup of the irrigation systems and winterizing irrigation systems. And that's something that we just within the last 12 months have taken in the house winterizing irrigation systems. Uh The plumber doesn't do the asbestos inspection, but I do that. Don't worry. I don't have a plumber out there looking at asbestos. I'm taking care of that. Uh >> Do we only have interior grease traps at Broadway and Plains? Or do Or those the only ones that we do

087in house? >> Those are the only ones that are inside. The rest of them are out. >> Oh, okay. >> Grease trap outside. >> Okay. >> So, we also then track a number of of things uh that as we go through the budget cycle, the schools may not ask for, but we're keeping keeping track of stuff. Roof systems uh door hardware, fencing and security, parking lots and sidewalks. We get a lot of requests from the schools as we do our budgets of the the parking lot needs to be paved. And we keep a close eye on those, so we pretty much know when the time is for that. The water sewer infrastructure HVAC systems, we work closely with with our uh service contractor to keep track of what's what with that. Uh boiler systems, again

088we do our own boiler technician that does preventive maintenance on those. Uh lighting systems, we are in the process of doing a conversion at Turn of the High School from T12 to LEDs, and we're doing that in house. Probably, I'm going to say 70% complete with that this point. Uh you know, we do tracking of athletic facilities, track resurfacing, which is a big dollar ticket. We have uh every 7 or 8 years we have to do that. And right now that's about $350,000 each time we do it. >> And what would shorten the life of our tracks and our facilities? >> the shorten the life of the track is anything with wheels running on it. Uh running continuously on the inside lane, you know, somebody's out walking on the track, we want them to walk

089on the outside lane. They're they're there to walk for distance, so walk on the outside lane rather than inside lane. Uh >> And I remember that being the discussion when we resurfaced the Broadway track. >> Right. >> Uh we were like, "Hey, if you can please not walk on the inside cuz that's the one that wears out the fastest." But that wear and tear doesn't show up as vandalism. That shows up as this, which is a much bigger number >> Yeah. >> than just repairing. >> Right? >> Mhm. Uh you know, tennis court resurfacing, uh the lights on the fields, uh gym floors and gym bleachers. You know, we all have uh quite a a fleet that also the maintenance of it falls under the maintenance department. It doesn't fall under transportation and that's all

090of the all of the shop vans. We've got uh aerial lifts, uh we've got backhoes, uh snow removal equipment. We've got all the custodial equipment within the schools falls under the maintenance department. So, I think that's the last slide, isn't it, Shannon? >> Yes, sir. >> So, I'll answer any other questions y'all may have. >> Board member any Board members any questions? >> So, for example, if a roof is supposed to be replaced every 30 years, >> Mhm. >> but you get to a school and determine not necessary yet. >> Right. >> What is the process after that to determine like do you go back and put every year look at it do you wait till it starts leaking? >> closely. Again, we've got the general maintenance guys are doing preventive maintenance checks. Typically every

091spring we'll get with the roofing contractor and we'll walk we'll we'll look at where we've had trouble calls that year and we'll concentrate on those areas. A lot of times the body of the roof is in good shape. It's the flashings, it's the curbings that are create a problem and we can go in and we can spend >> [snorts] >> $25,000 and redo the flashings and the curbs and buy 6-7 years out of it rather than spending $3-400,000 to do the whole roof. >> Um I just want to say uh huge thank you to you and your department for your care of our facilities and our taxpayer dollars when it comes down to managing your department which is huge and there's a lot going on and I think you do a very very good job

092um with um your department and looking after our school division very very well. It's a big job. >> the staff got a very good staff. We've got we've got a skilled staff. Um I can't say that that was the case always. We we when I started here we had We had a lot of good guys in the department. Um we had some skill. Now we got a lot of good guys and we got a lot of skill. >> That's great. >> Uh that makes a big difference. >> I appreciate you and all the work that your team does. Thank you very much from the division to you. Okay, >> [sighs and gasps] >> our next information item got to my notes is the um active threat drill recap. Mr. Caleb Bailey is here to present

093on that. Hello, sir. >> Hello, Dr. Shivel Chairhurst, members of board. Wanted [clears throat] to touch base with you all about our active threat drill that we participated in on June 5th. Get my clicker right here. Uh June 5th, we had the Turner Ashby active assailant drill for to my knowledge it was the very first one that we have presented as a school division. Uh took about 6 months in planning. Let me get back here to happy with my clicker. So, 6 months of preparation, we met about once a month with the planning team. Uh full out 8-hour day of training was held. We split it into morning and afternoon sessions for our division. We had 318 participants, which for our region was the largest active assailant drill uh through VDEM in our whole uh

094region, which is very something to be very proud of. Uh the largest Yeah. Active assailant drill for our region. Here's the planning team. Rockingham County Sheriff's Office, Rockingham County Fire Rescue, Harrisonburg-Rockingham ECC, Virginia Department of Emergency Management, myself and Dr. Emily Holloway were on the planning team as well. These are some of the other partners that presented with us uh that were there that day. Harrisonburg Community Service Board was present. Bridgewater Police, Waynesboro Fire, Buckingham County Department of Emergency Services, the Virginia Department of Fire Programs, and Augusta County Emergency Management. So, one of the things that we did that was unique uh to our division, I think it's been unique as a as a whole for the state. Dr. Emily Holloway and Alice, she's a supervisor of support services, wanted to encourage and support anyone

095that may have had angst coming to train. So, we reached out, put questionnaires out. We met monthly with the principals meetings to make sure that we were getting the teachers uh concerns if they wanted to come to training and meeting those concerns with questions, answers, and being as transparent as we could uh up front. So, we were able to create this to maximize the effort and obviously we we were successful because we had 318 participants. So, why is this important? Uh it's important to train cuz it's allows us to practice how we play. We currently conduct through the DCJS four lockdown drills a year. So, as you all some of you are have been teachers and been in the classroom and you know that when the fire alarm goes off, you know, once a month,

096that's routine. The roof could literally be burning off of a building and everybody exits orderly because we do it often. So, you know, you really wouldn't know until you're outside of the building that something was actually going on because we're trained to do that. We don't do that as often with the active assailant drills because it's more traumatic in nature. However, this give us an opportunity to practice how we play, to put teachers in the the simulations and actually have us be better prepared to have some training experience to relate to. Uh we we have it creates positive and negative outcomes, so we have intended and unintended outcomes that we're able to grow our training off of. We can use these findings to hone our training efforts and promote growth. So, our safety uh training

097initiatives in the future will be developed off of some of the things that we learn here and it strengthens our community partnerships on blue sky days. So, we get to have this this day where nothing is threatening us. We come together for the sake of learning and it was a very positive event that we had a lot of community partners together on a blue sky day. Faces seen. Many of you were there. I appreciate that as well. So, one of the things that we did in this is we're operate we're engaging in our core capabilities. So, this is being evaluated by a team of evaluators and we wanted to focus on four different strategic areas. So, operational coordination, how do we our admin coordinate with uh PD resources and how do we uh coordinate with

098operations? Public information and warning, our uh lovely PIO, Katie Lopera, does a great job. How does she get information out and to the to the general public, to the school system as a whole? Uh situational assessment, how do how did our administrators assess what was going on? Did they make the right calls in a timely manner? Things of that nature. Did we practice according to our schools' crisis plans, which is not just a document, it's a living, breathing way that we It's a playbook for us, essentially. And our operational communication, how do we communicate the needs to the students? How do we communicate within our uh admin back and forth. So, these are the four core capabilities that we evaluated ourself on. Uh we will have an after-action review, but that'll give us that'll be

099provided by Patrick Lamb. Uh he's the emergency manager for Augusta County and he's our lead evaluator for this. We've had several different evaluators, they'll report back to him. He will come back with a full report for us and this will give us substantive goals moving forward on uh whether we had pass-fail criteria, uh whether we were able to perform the core capabilities that they're actually evaluating. So, that gives us something substantive to grow on. Not just we did it, we came, we you know, high-fived each other and we left. We'll actually have some some quantitative and qualitative analysis there's and give us some goals and some time time frames. Uh wanted to thank the executive team and you as a board. Uh the initiative has been put forth with safety. You all have addressed safety

100and I've been very fortunate to be able to work with you all on several projects since coming into this position, but without the executive team and without your leadership, uh we wouldn't end be in present that day. Many of you were present and that just shows that you actually came and you know, were able to You didn't just vote on things, you came out and were participatory and I really appreciate that and that's what it takes to make things happen. So, thank you to you all and thank you to everyone that every teacher and every administrator that came out, everybody that came out that day, from the bottom of my heart, I wanted to express that. I did both times to both groups. Um you can't replace that experience. So, from my position, you all

101pay me to to worry about these things and to try to have the tools in place for every teacher. But, I can't do that if they don't come and participate in themself putting themselves in a position that may have been uncomfortable for them to grow says a lot about our organization. So, I want to thank everyone in the division for that. Think that's all I have. Do you have any questions or want to talk about the >> And And I will say befo- before you jump in with questions, just bear in mind that a lot of this is security-related and so he might not be able to answer might not be in our best interest to answer some of these things publicly, but you may certainly >> And I'll defer that's the case. >> you

102Yeah, you tell us if we cross that into that territory. Um my question will will be are are we doing a safety drill again? Are we doing this annually? Are we doing What's your >> Well, I know the Rockingham County Sheriff's Office does do these drills annually. They practice their tactics. And this One of the things I wanted to elaborate on is the what we did wasn't a analysis of their performance. So, they're going to be doing their own drill in the summertime. One of the things I'd like to work with is potentially looking at you being available at their drills so I can understand some things to develop more. I would like to do these more regularly. Annually, it's a lot of It was a lot of planning that went into to do the

103full scale. I think that we can take this drill and the after action and probably find things that we can focus on. The particularly um specifics that we can hone in on to maybe not have to do the full scale and be able to still garner some things off of this. I would prefer that we try to do a full scale reunification drill next. That would be my proposal. I've talked to Dr. Shiflett about potential for doing that because if we have an event, you know, making sure that we can reunify our families and our students and coordinate that and it's probably going to be less traumatic for the teachers to be involved in that because there will be no gunfire, no actual, you know, we can we can do that with anything, right? If

104they have a school like the HVAC, if we had that shut down for whatever reason had to dismiss cuz we didn't have heat in the school, we can do that reunification and that's a little less traumatic. But I would prefer that we would try to do that next so we can kind of come full circle. >> I've I've helped with those types of drills, off-site evacuation drills and I think they're important for teachers, students, and community members to understand what what it would look like so that there's not I think it just reduces panic. >> And one of the things we've worked on since I've come into this position is actually laying out a plan so that we have a little bit better coordination with it, so. >> Yeah, thank you. Appreciate your time. Okay,

105board members, the final information item is in your folder. It's the financial review for May 2026. That concludes our information items and now we're ready to move into superintendent comments, Dr. Shiflett. >> Thank you, Chair Hurst. Just want to say we had a successful ending to the 2025-2026 school year on Wednesday, June 3rd and I think for our students and teachers, summer officially began then, but actually it didn't start until yesterday. So, like yesterday was the first day of the official summer. But for our students, it was a couple weeks ago. Um, the week after that, we had our annual administrative retreat, and we spent a portion of our time reflecting, um, that morning, just reflecting on the past school year, lessons learned, those types of things. And then the remainder of our time was

106really dedicated to gearing up for next school year. So, the school year closes, and a week later, we're thinking about next year. So, just to give you a sense of our our our thought process, and we invested a majority of our time talking about uh using assessment data uh to inform our instructional practices. And then also, um, last week I had an opportunity, uh the Shenandoah Valley to attend a conference, the Shenandoah Valley Regional Program hosted uh on special education. The morning session was about discipline. The afternoon was about IEP writing. So, I attended the morning session, and just uh one of the one of my takeaways was 25 RCPS administrators were in that room. And that that made me feel good. That our our administrators are seeking out, and I didn't tell anyone they

107had to go, or instructed anyone they had to be there, but they saw this opportunity, and they took it upon themselves to go and learn more about special education law and in terms of discipline and and writing IEPs. And so, I thought that's that's the kind of people that we have leading our schools. And and not just our principals, there was also uh central office staff there as well. And uh I thought the training was very uh very informative. So, just want to let you know that we're I know this is summer, and we're kind of a light little light over there in the peanut gallery this after this evening. Got some folks doing some vacation, but uh we are working to prep for the first day of school. >> Thank you, Dr. Shifflett. Um,

108that moves us into board member comments. We'll begin with Ms. Irons. We're going to right to left. Okay. >> My right. >> Well, we've had a long day, so I'm going to keep it short, but um I was able to participate in the drill that we did at TA, and I will say I think it was worthwhile for several reasons, but specifically because I was even participating in a drill and found myself surprised by the reaction time to figure out what exactly was going on cuz I was playing basketball against Dr. Shipley. Doing pretty well despite wearing sandals and being significantly shorter than I am. But >> [laughter] >> Anyway, but it was and he was the one that was, you know, the guy the target, and even then I was like, "What's going on?"

109What cuz you're in your normal routine, and so that's what if God forbid something like that ever happens, that that will be a whole part of what is going on in the minds of people. Um and so that was eye-opening, I thought, and worthwhile. And just to put that to perspective, but uh I've been enjoying summer and having some time to myself and with my kids, so uh enjoyed the meeting today and look forward to tomorrow. >> Ms. Burgoyne. Ms. Cave. >> Um just Dr. Shipley, when you said something, I got a little bit of anxiety when you said prepping for the first day of school cuz I'm >> [laughter] >> like summer just started. I don't Are we even in summer? Um but on a serious note, um I don't get anxious over much,

110um and I'll be really quick about this cuz it's just a random thought I had when Steve was up here. Um prepping for the first day of school, I got some major anxiety over the last week. I went into Mayfield Elementary and I saw all the all the the demolition, I would call it. It is wow. Like they are working so hard, and they're and I'm talking about the construction workers and all these people that are remodeling and adding on to the school. I mean, they're working all week, they're working Saturdays, and they're working Sundays. Um I was by there yesterday, and there was people in there working on Sunday, so um, trying to get that ready. But I'm like, "Wow, they have such a such a way to go." But they'll get there and

111um, and I have faith in that. But I one thing I noticed when I pull up to um, McGaughey's Ville is the the new addition, I don't know why. Like I I noticed the top of the building where they come out where where like the new block is, the new I don't know what you call it and I've talked about this before, but the top part of the building that because it's brand new it's very clean. The older part of the building, like if this is the wall, it's it's the What is it? Yeah. Okay. Yes, there's a difference and it's so noticeable. I mean, and it's not and and the reason that you notice it with MES is because it's there's an addition there. But down at Elkton, like you may be not so

112notice it so much cuz there's no new part there, but unless you're looking and I look, um, and I actually had a constituent come to me and was like, "Um, can we just ask community members come and clean this?" And I'm like, "I feel like there should be some there's probably some liability with that." So I I mean, can we clean that? Like can we clean the top of our schools like those? Like what do you clean it with? I mean, I don't need to know, but >> Just wait. Part of the project. >> Part of the project. >> Stay tuned. >> What what about in for Elkton Elementary? Is it Okay, I just haven't been by there. I'm going to check on that. Okay. Yeah. Okay. Okay. I and I trust that you will.

113I just I wanted to point out I talked about Elkton before, I think early on in the stages of the of the remodel, but um, so I trust that it'll get done, but it just it looks so nice when it's clean. So anyways, I appreciate that. Thank you. That's all. >> Ms. Flora? >> Thank you. Uh I'm sorry I was not able to attend the the drill. I was actually over at Penn getting kids ready for Ag Science Fair and FFA Convention, which we then went to the following Monday. So, like the first week out of school, we were back at convention and walking around and and doing all the good stuff with FFA State Convention. Um and we had several kids do very very well and hopefully a whole bunch headed to nationals and

114maybe we'll get an update on that at some point, but I would like to congratulate Brian Bellheimer. He is the seventh state officer for FFA from for from Broadway High School in a row. So, we've had a run of seven now and we're super proud of him and looking for him to do great things this year and you know, it was just all as always a pleasure going to Blacksburg for for convention. So, that's all I have. Thank you. >> Um I don't have anything um huge to share. I do just want to say thank you to our board members. We are in a board retreat. I'm not really sure what retreat means. Um We are working really really hard. Um retreat. Um no, we have had a a day filled with really great conversation,

115a lot of great dialogue, great information. Um and I think um what I appreciate about this board is we're working really hard together um pulling towards the same goals and I I would bet that not all boards operate like ours and I think I just want to commend this board for how well we work together um even when we disagree, we still um are keeping keeping in focus student outcomes. It's about the students and I think um we're doing a really great job right now and having great discussion. We'll be doing more of it bright and early tomorrow um for another full day. And we still have some work to do tonight. We do need to go back into closed session to finish up some stuff from earlier this evening. Ms. Flora, do you have

116a handy motion? >> I have a motion if you're ready. >> I'm ready. Were you done with your comments? I'm sorry. >> Okay, wonderful. >> I move the board enter into a closed meeting under Virginia code section 2.2-3711A1 for the purpose of discussing and considering personnel matters including assignment, appointment, promotion, performance, demotion, salary, disciplining, or resignation of specific employees. The subject matter is a performance review and evaluation of the division superintendent. I also move the board enter into a closed meeting under Virginia code section 2.2-3711A2 for the purpose of discussing student matters including discipline that would involve disclosure of information contained in student records. The subject matter is board action pertaining to student discipline. >> Second. >> Thank you, Ms. Flora, and thank you, Ms. Cave, for the second. All those in favor of entering

117into a closed meeting, please say yes. Yes. All those opposed say no. Motion passes 5-0. We're now headed into closed session. I do appreciate those of you who came out tonight. Drive safe. Stay dry. >> Whatever the standard goes and do whatever I'm going back to the same paper. >> Yeah, thank you.