001Good evening. Thank you all for being here this evening. Um we began our meeting earlier this afternoon in a closed session. Um but we're ready to begin the open portion of our schoolboard meeting for tonight's schoolboard meeting October 27th, 2025. The first thing on our um agenda is a moment of silence if you'd like to join us. Thank you. The next thing on our agenda tonight is the Pledge of Allegiance. If you'd like to stand and join us, The next thing on our agenda are the public comment speakers. We have two tonight. Kieran and Shahan, you're up first if you want to come down to the podium. And then Kenneth Pierce, if you could be ready um as soon as the first speaker is finished. You have three minutes to speak and there will be
002a little chime or buzzer that um signals when you have 30 seconds left. >> Hi. Should I just begin? Okay. Um I'm Kieran Shahan. I'm the president of our electrical vehicle team at Spotswood and I'm here speaking to help you guys reconsider the decision to make the electrical vehicle club no longer a club and make it into a team activity at Spotswood. Uh first off, I'd like to provide a little context into our club. We are a uh club that's sponsored by the Shannondoa Valley Electric Company that we host a that they host a competition every spring that we've have built a go-kart for and uh it's an electric go-kart that we compete against other teams across the county in our region uh against uh last year we uh got fourth and it was a
003lot of fun as a club. Uh I'd like to help you guys reconsider because it's a very STEM oriented club and uh my understanding of the new club policy is that the clubs have to be related to class material and I'm very sure that this club is related to our class material here at Spotswood. Um first off uh for science we are studying our uh speed of our car. We're studying the battery percentage. Part of the competition is that we have to make sure calculate the max speed that we can go over the course of the hour so we don't run out of our battery percentage over the course of the race. and that requires us to do math and science which are both courses that we have here at Spotswood. And then addition to
004that, we are very CTE oriented that uh not only are we building uh in woodworking with recreating our floor of our car, recreating the B battery housing and uh welding our frame together. And we are also uh marketing for our club that we are reaching out to local businesses for sponsorships and that coincides with our marketing school uh class that we here have here at Spotswood. Um so why I want this to be a team and uh be a club and no longer a team is that last year uh we had 15 club members and this year we have only four team members because we can only meet after school and uh we can't uh reach out to our student body and tell them to join it as a club and that's been really uh
005degrading our uh what we're able to get done during our club time with your members. So, I would ask you guys to reconsider. Thank you. >> Thank you for your comments. >> Can I just clarify real quick? It is currently a club. You want it to be a team. >> No, it is a team. >> It got cancelled as a club at the start of the school year. It's a team, which means that it's an activity that we can only meet after school and not during club hours. And so I want it to be a club, so we're able to meet during club hours to work on it and advertise it as a club to our student body. >> Thank you. Okay, our next speaker is Kenneth Pierce. >> Thank you. Um, I'm here as
006a a parent concerned about the redistricting proposal that was discussed uh a little while back. Uh, I moved here recently from out of state and when I started looking into schools for my son, I was quite surprised at the level of inequity in achievement and opportunity educationally across schools within the same district. uh improving those schools that are falling behind is a very difficult project that requires a lot of investment of money, time and effort from the entire community. And I appreciate the work that you all are doing at that and the work that our teachers are doing. But as long as those inequities persist, I think you have to understand that parents will continue to have very strong opinions about which schools their children attend. And this also impacts sense of community identity. It
007also impacts property values. It impacts everything. And redistricing again after just two years creates a kind of instability that I find extremely problematic, an unpredictability. And uh new housing just doesn't get approved, built, and occupied that fast that we should be caught unawares by that kind of population growth within such a short period. And so I would um strongly encourage you to find and pursue opportunities that would allow for greater stability for communities uh to not be constantly shifting those boundaries uh and to engage in long-term thinking about how to provide uh enough seats in classrooms for the children in our communities. Thank you. >> Thank you for your comments. Um we have no further um public speakers signed up. So we will move on to our consent agenda. Board members, there's several items there
008um which will um approve in one motion. It's the minutes from October 13th and the minutes from October 22nd as well as bills and mileage from September of 2025 and the personnel listing. And um I will would like to have a motion to approve the consent agenda. Please. >> I move to approve the consent consent agenda as presented. >> Thank you, Miss Lur. Do we have a second? >> Second. >> Thank you, Miss Burggoyne. Any questions or comments? All those in favor, please say yes. Yes. All those opposed, say no. >> Motion passes. 5-0. We'll move on to our action items tonight. Mr. Steve Reed is going to come forward with the bid recommendation for asbestous abatement at McAisville Elementary School. Chair Horse, Dr. Shifflet, in conjunction with the renovation that we're going to be
009doing at Makisville Elementary School. We will need to do some asbestous abatement. Uh we put the uh project out to bid. We had four biders that attended a mandatory pre- bid and they all submitted bids and our recommendation is to award the contract to the low bidder Waco Incorporated in the amount of $70,270. We have worked with them in the past and have had good luck. >> Thank you, Mr. Reid, Dr. Shifflet. >> Chair Hurst and board members, I recommend awarding the bid for asbestous abatement at McGisville Elementary School to the lowest bidder as presented by Steve Reid, director of maintenance. >> Thank you, Dr. Shifflet. Hearing that, board members, do we have a motion to approve? Thank you, Mr. Cross. Do we have a second? Thank you, Miss Laura. Any questions or comments for
010Mr. Reid? Okay. All those in favor of approving the bid recommendation as presented, please say yes. Yes. All those opposed, say no. >> Motion passes. 50. Thank you, Mr. Reid. Next up is Miss Tanell with or Dr. Amy Painter with some policy revisions. Thank you, Dr. Painter. Dr. Shifflet, >> Chair Hurst, and board members, I recommend approval of the proposed policy revisions as presented. >> Thank you, Dr. Shifflet. Board members, do we have a motion to approve? Thank you, Mr. Cross. Do we have a second? >> Second. >> Thank you, Miss Cave. Any questions or comments? >> Anything further? No, that one's for action tonight. It was information last board meeting. Board members, do you have any questions or comments about that policy at the last meeting? This was for information. Uh when we had
011met with um our school attorney, he had recommended some of these changes in the language of our um public comments and so we added the six pillars of character. Is that correct? Is that Yes, >> that's your reference. >> No, it was in the information items. >> Yes. And um I believe uh I'm going to ask the clerk to to verify that the motion that was made was to approve both of these policies. Correct. Yes. She's saying yes. So um we will be voting on both of these policies unless someone wants to amend the uh the motion and I do not. I want to vote yes on both. >> Have we had the motion? >> Motion made to approve both. Yes. Okay. It was properly seconded. Does anybody else have anything further? Okay. Here. Um
012we met with legal counsel and those were provided to us um as recommendations. Sure. >> Can you speak into the microphone? >> One of the changes was that members of the public >> I don't think it's the one. >> Oh, hello >> there. >> Uh members of the public are requested to consider emailing schoolboard members or communicating with them via other means instead of a public comment. Um especially if the information to be shared with the school board changed to a specific employee or student for sake of the individual's privacy. And then the other change was that all comments should set good examples and adhere to the character counts pillars. Those two things Thank you, Dr. Painter. Any further questions? Okay, we have a motion to approve both policies. Those in favor, please say yes.
013Yes. >> All those opposed, say no. Motion passes. 5. That concludes our action item. No, I'm sorry. I'm on the wrong I'm right. I'm on I'm I've got two different agendas in front of me. I was looking up last the 13th. Okay. So, that does conclude our information or our action items for tonight, pardon me. And we'll now move into information items. Mr. Justin Moyers is coming forward to um give us the budget calendar for the fiscal year 2026 27. >> Good evening, Chair Horse, Dr. Shifflet, members of the board. This evening, I want to go over with you all the budget calendar for the 2627 school year. Um, as of October 6th, we did distribute all our budget information to principles so they can get started preparing their requests to us. Starting next week,
014we want to meet with you all, uh, Dr. Ship and myself, and one-on-one meetings to go over with what your agenda items would be for the upcoming budget season. Uh, December 3rd, we will have a request from principles are due to all the departments at the central office. And then December 15th, we will advertise for the B uh budget public hearing. Then on January 6th, all budget requests are due to my office. On the 12th, we will hold a public hearing for the 2627 um budget where anybody in the public can come and speak um with anything they would like to see in the upcoming budget. And then I will start my presentations to you as a school board on January 26th. The first meeting we will just look at all our expenditure requests from
015all the different departments and then in February we will start to look at the governor's budget at projected revenues from the state. Then in the midFebruary we will meet with you all again when we have a better idea of what the numbers look like to to kind of finalize some things. um on the board meeting February 23rd, we will have a revenue and expenditure discussion and then we get to March where we start wrapping it all up. So on March 9th, Dr. Shifflet will present his recommended budget to the school board. On the 23rd, the second meeting of the month for you all, you all will vote on that proposed budget and then on the 25th, Dr. Shifflet will then present that budget to the county board of supervisors and then they will pass it
016along with their budget um after that date. So that is all I have this evening, but I'd be happy to answer any questions that you have. >> Board members, do you have any questions for Mr. Moyers? >> Um I have two things. Uh number one, so this has the date for the board meeting vote. Now, is this a tenative date or is this have we decided on this date? Because I'm curious, Mr. Cross, if you already have dates for your missions trip next year. >> Okay. >> We we can change that. >> Okay. Okay. >> The biggest thing is that we want you all to vote on it before Dr. Shiffford presents it to the county board of supervisors. Okay. Okay. >> So, I just chose a second meeting in March, but if you all
017wanted to have a special meeting anytime after the 9th, you could to pass it. >> Okay. And then the second question, the board has expressed um a desire to start as early as we can in budget season. Um have we backed up any of the dates? Like just looking at these, they just seem familiar to me. Like are we doing any of this stuff any earlier this coming season than what we did last year? Because like I'm looking at where um where it's talking about January 26, look at all expenditure budget requests. Um is that like sort of when Chair Hurst and I came in and we sort of went line by line like do you see what I'm saying? Are we doing anything any earlier? >> No. So, we'll have the first meetings with
018you all in two weeks and then I won't have the information to present to you all until late January where I can give you all the expenditure requests at that time because it takes time for all the departments to meet with maintenance and HR and to to get everything to me to be able to to do that. Is that what your question is? >> Yeah, I just I know we had talked about trying to get the ball rolling sooner >> and I feel like we're not [laughter] So, I've been through two budget cycles and it does feel like we're always doing a la the last, you know, the two times I've participated, it feels like a last minute scramble in March. And I think that's what we're hoping to avoid. Um, and so maybe, but
019I understand some of these timelines. So, maybe what we need to do is back up some of the March dates a little bit. Maybe we need to have a special meeting sooner in March >> to approve or to and maybe we need to have work sessions instead of trying to do two by two. Um we just need to have work sessions planned. >> Yeah. And the biggest thing for us is until I know what the state budget is going to be, I have no idea what revenues are. Right. So, I could give you the list of expenditures, but until I know what the revenue is going to be, I don't have any idea what we're trying to what we're trying to match or what you might need to cut or or take out. Um, and
020that depends on when the governor gets us his budget. Typically, the last few years we've had it late December. By the time they've broken it down for the school systems, it's usually early January before I have an idea >> that we can work off of. >> Would it be helpful to pencil in extra dates for us? I think like I would appreciate that just to have it ahead of time to know these are my and it can be later on in the cycle here but extra and not that I want to fill up your calendar with meetings with all of us every week but um I I know I have felt the same way so would that be helpful to have extra like >> probably in the first part of the year I would say
021yeah I don't know how productive our November meetings are when we come but it's the >> okay some more when we get into January and February. >> Yeah, we can work on >> We might just need to make sure we have a work session planned. So maybe at the beginning of January, we'll revisit this and plug in some more dates. >> That's fine. Yeah. >> Is that agreeable to everyone? >> Is the March 25th date set in stone? >> It is not, but we have to stay in line with the county's timeline as well. So I haven't checked with them this year. Typically, we can't go more than the very beginning of April or they get into their deadlines when they have to have stuff submitted to the state. So there could be some wiggle
022room at the >> possibly, but we need to shoot to have Dr. Schiffer present on the 25th. >> Anything further? >> Okay, thank you very much. Thanks for your time. >> We'll have some meetings. Thank you. >> Okay, there are two bits of information in your folder for board member review. So that's the finance department staff report uh dated October 27, 2025 and the financial review for September 2025. Those things are in your folder for your review. Um that concludes uh information items and we'll now move into superintendent comments. >> Thank you, Chair Hurst. First, I want to give a huge shout out to our principles and assistant principles in Rockingham County Public Schools. October is National Principles Month and this is a time that's set aside to celebrate um the work that our uh
023school leaders do and shaping strong and successful school communities. Uh they help build and sustain the culture for the work that's done and that's you know that's accomplished in our schools and their leadership uh fosters growth and creates the foundation where student learning and development thrive. So, I want to say just thank you to all of our principles for the hard work that they do on a on a daily basis and spend many hours um you know after the sort of the school day ends still you know sorting through emails, parent phone calls, meeting with employees and so um I I know what that road's like because I did it for many years. So, I want to say thank you to them. Also, I want to give a shout out to uh Mr. Bailey. I
024think um we're at a point now where all of our cameras have been installed except for um MTC and McGisville where we're waiting for some renovations. So, the new cameras are in and um we had an administrative meeting on on Friday and uh the principles were very very thankful and grateful to to the support of the school board with those new cameras and and the way they function. So, uh, we appreciate the efforts on making that happen. And I've had a chance to, uh, look at the cameras as well, and it's very, um, [clears throat] I think it's going to be a great tool to help us keep, you know, another layer to keep our schools safe. And, uh, also just want to shout out to, um, Dr. Jordan Davidson, the choir teacher here at
025Spotswood High School. Uh I came to their um cabaret last week and uh was able to see some phenomenal performances by our students. But a big shout out to him because he too performed during that uh event and I thought that was quite impressive. It's sort of like when the basketball coach, you know, puts on his sneakers and goes out and plays with the kids, right? He he he actually um performed extreme extremely well. And then finally, I want to just um make the board aware I'll I'll be departing Wednesday for the national FFA convention. We have around 60 students attending from Rockingham County Public Schools and I'll be there for a few days to see uh to help celebrate them and and u you know cheer on their accomplishments when you know the work
026that they're doing. So thank you. >> Thank you Dr. Shifflet. Um, moving on to other business, school board highlights, questions, and comments, and we'll begin with Mr. Cross tonight. >> Thank you. I'd just like to like like to recognize tonight uh Miss Brandy Strickler. Thank you for your hospitality and your staff family as well. So, I also want to say uh thank you to uh Deputy Smith for being here with us tonight. Welcome to Monavido Middle School and Cub Run. Thank you for all that you do for us and our students and our staff and appreciate you a lot. So, thanks for being here tonight. Miss Burggoyne, >> I have nothing this. Miss Cave, um, I wanted to ask you, Miss Strickler earlier. Thank you for the meal and for hosting us tonight. Um, but
027I wanted to get a chance to ask you how your school year had been. I didn't get a chance to, so I apologize for that. And u, we just got to talking about football and and other things. So, thank you for what you're what you're doing here. And um I don't have anything else, >> Miss Lure. >> Okay. First, I want to thank the entire board for working so hard tonight because I think you guys know I'm supposed to catch a bus tomorrow morning at 5:00 a.m. And I asked that this meeting be short and you guys have knocked it out of the park. So, I am going to keep it super short just to say that I'm traveling to the National FFA Convention to tomorrow morning. Um, I will be I have we have
028eight students who will be on the national stage as top 10 finalists in a science fair. And then we've also got several kids that are competing and we'll have to just see how they do. Um, but I'm I'm super excited. So, keep up with Facebook and uh I'll I'll try to put out posts and so you guys can watch links and everything. But thank you to all of you all for for working so hard and thanks to everyone for coming tonight. All right, I'll uh wrap up our meeting by again special thank you to Spotswood High School for hosting us this evening and for feeding us dinner. And also um give us a wave if you are a high school senior attending a school board meeting. See a couple of hands out there. Oh, there
029were more than I thought. There we go. >> We wouldn't have a crowd tonight if it wasn't for you. So, thank you. [laughter] >> So, thank you all for being here tonight. Um I don't have anything further and so with that, this meeting is adjourned. Thank you for coming tonight.