001Okay, welcome to our last school board meeting of the summer, July 28th. And I am subbing in for Chair Hurst, who um regrets that she cannot be here tonight. She is chaper running a youth mission trip to Guatemala with her church. and so just wanted me to let everyone know that she is continuing to be available by email while she is away. Um, we do have an electronic participation request. Do I have a motion for that? Miss Lure is requesting to be um present electronically this evening. I move to approve Jackie. Oh, does she have to give you reason first? >> Is that okay? Can you guys hear me? >> Yeah, we can hear you. Okay, >> Miss Lur, can you provide >> I am Yes, I am coming for I am over in near
002at a campground near Cros chaperoning an FFA leadership uh event. So, I am I'm over the mountain from you guys, but hopefully you can hear me and I'm I'm excited to join this way tonight. >> Okay. Do I have a motion? I move to approve Jackie Lur's request to participate electronically in this July 28th, 2025 meeting of the Rockingham County School Board in which a quorum is physically present given the reasons shared audibly by Miss Laura this evening. >> Second. >> Okay. All in favor say yes. >> Yes. >> All opposed. >> There she is. Okay. And all opposed? Motion passes 40. Okay. So bear with me this evening. So um I'm just going to follow our agenda here. Next up is our moment of silence. Okay. And if you'll join me for the pledge
003of allegiance. First thing that we have on our agenda is a special recognition from Megan Trice, conservation technician and education coordinator of the Shannondoa Valley Soil and Water Conservation District, recognizing Mrs. Lauren Arbagghast as our conservation education teacher of the year. >> Um, so my name is Megan Tri like you said. Um, I work for the Shando Valley Soil and Water Conservation District. For those of you that don't know what the Soil and Water Conservation District is, we're a political subdivision of the state government. Um, we implement conservation programs. We do a lot of work with farmers and homeowners to do those programs, but we also do a lot of education and outreach um and support all of our classroom teachers. We serve Rockingham County, Paige County, and the city of Harrisonenburgg. Um we use
004state funding for most of our programs, but we li rely a lot on locality funding um to support our education efforts. So, annually we recognize two teachers who incorporate conservation education into their curriculum. um one award for a K through fifth grade teacher and one for a sixth through 12th grade teacher. Um so we encourage nominations each year because some years we don't get very many. Um so this year's K through fifth grade, even though she teaches preK, she was that awesome that we selected her for our K through fifth grade teacher of the year award is Lauren Arbagas. Uh Lauren's been an educator for 14 years and currently is a pre-K teacher at Lacy Springs. She goes above and beyond her classroom curriculum to add conservation in there. Um, she has her younger students,
005um, have buddies with older students to talk about plants and how they grow. She has her students explore the outdoors, make predictions, draw conclusions. She started farming in the city when she worked for Harrisburg City and has since brought similar programs to the county here. Um, and a lot of schools in the area have adopted those schoolwide a day concepts um, that are great for all of the students here in Rockingham County. Um she dedicates time outside the class classroom getting grants for outdoor education at Lacy Springs and that's just a few things she does. So we wanted to recognize her in front of you guys and give her this really awesome plaque. Thank you very much. Congratulations, Mrs. Arbagast. Next up we have our comments from the public. All right. And first up, we
006have Do I need a good I apologize you all. I've been thrown into this. And uh All right. Catherine Smith is um the only person up. So, you are welcome to come on up to the podium. Okay. >> Hi, my name is Katherine Smith. I am a student at Mavivated Middle School with a passion for cross country the academics and creating a brighter future for myself and for those around me. I was ranked 11th among female middle school cross country runners in my county in the past year, a testament to my perseverance and athletic dedication. In the classroom, my commitment has hasn't gone unnoticed. I was honored with the character counts award by all four of my seventh grade teachers. And now I will tackle the challenge of algebra as an eighth grader. I am
007a student and person who leads with heart, puts in work, and inspires others to aim higher. So, health and wellness benefits of longer lunch times. When students have more time to eat, they make healthier choices and don't feel rushed to finish. Slowing down helps with digestion and makes lunch a more enjoyable, relaxing break. Short lunch periods can cause skipped meals, stomach aches, and low energy for the rest of the day. A longer lunch gives everyone a fair chance to eat, recharge, and be ready to learn. Social and emotional well-being. Extra lunch time gives students a chance to relax, connect with friends, and recharge from the demands of the school day. These mental breaks reduce stress, improve focus, and help students return to the class re and ready to learn. >> Hey, Miss Smith, we're the
008board would agree to this. Can we just cut the timer off? She's the only speaker tonight and I don't want you to feel like you're rushed, so take your time. And >> can can we also ask her to move her mic closer to her mouth so that it picks up? Okay. From the audio. >> Is that better? >> I think so. >> Don't don't worry about the time. >> Okay. Thank you. So, the academic impact of longer lunch times. Studies show that students who aren't rushed during lunch are more focused and perform better in class. They return feeling calmer, more alert, and ready to learn. I've noticed that on days when lunch feels rushed, it's harder to concentrate in the next class because I'm either hungry from not enough time or stress from the short
009break. Time management. In many schools, students spend much of their lunch period waiting in long lines, which leaves them with only a few minutes to eat, if any at all. Extending lunch gives all students, not just those at the front of the line or those that packed, a fair chance to eat their meals without feeling rushed. And I would like to point out that not all like the different schools all have different lunch times. They aren't the same. Like Elton has 22 minutes. JF Frank Killyard has 22 minutes. Monet video has 20 minutes and Wolver Pence has 22 minutes. Why take away advisory time? While advisory does offer some benefits, reducing advisory by only 5 minutes will not be negative in any way. Let's work together to make longer lunches happen. Any questions? >> Great
010job. And I do apologize. I read your last name wrong room. Katherine Smith. Wonderful job. I do have a question. So I just want to clarify. You are asking that we shorten the advisory period. Take five minutes from advisory, put it towards lunch, have the same start and end time that we currently have. >> Yes. >> Okay. Miss Smith, I am I am very impressed by your presentation tonight and I am more impressed by that you went and got all these signatures from fellow students. It looks like >> and the ones with uh blue T's and their circle. Those are teachers that signed it. >> And you've got a 100 signatures here. So, this means a lot to you to do this. So, I'm impressed that you went around and got all the signatures and
011I'm I think it's something that we need to take a look at and and see what we can do as a board um in going forward with this. >> I 100% agree. Um I think it's ridiculous that we've had to have a student come to us to tell us this before we um because this is not the first time that I've had a student particularly in sixth grade. What grade you're going into eighth? Yeah. >> Yeah. I mean, particularly in in sixth grade, I think when they go there, it's such a such a transition. And um I think the complaint at Elk to Middle was that they were just getting through the lunch line and sitting down and having like five minutes. And uh and and I don't know that you were advocating just to
012shorten advisory time, but just saying that, hey, there are things that we could do >> like let's look at it like there there are ways. Um and I like it. I think they have they need to have time to sit and eat and and I know I think the argument from uh maybe staff or teachers I don't know has been well if they get done eating then the longer they sit they get rowdy well maybe they need to like you know we let them do that in elementary school they go out in recess that's where they get rowdy but what are you doing out in middle school or any middle school for that matter so anyways I love this thank you for coming >> thank you for your time >> Mr. and Mrs. Smith, thank
013you. You guys ought to be proud of your daughter and I know that you are. So, thanks for coming tonight and speaking to the board. >> So, I just want to make the board aware that when you look at the day, the school day, right, subtracting five minutes from advisory or whatever you do and you put it to lunch, lunch does not count towards our 990 hours. So, just be very aware that that plays into it. So, if and again, that's the board's decision. If you say, "Hey, we want to make a mandate that lunches are x amount of minutes," then that comes off the instructional day. So then if we have an unfortunate bad weather, inclement weather like we did this past year, then we're talking about either extending the school day in length
014or making up miss snow day. So I just it it has some repercussions, right? Lunch does not count towards the instructional day. So just >> does advisory >> Yes, >> it does. What time is >> you guys hear me? >> I I have a question, Dr. Shifflet. Um, which which group is our longest day currently, elementary, middle, or high school? I mean, would we would it be feasible to just increase the length of the school day in middle school to give them more time for lunch? >> Yes. What? My question was, what time is my video start? Do you know? >> First 8:30. First bell is 8:30. >> Off the top of my head, Mrs. Lure, I do not know. We had a discussion today about one particular elementary school not having enough time in
015their day to warrant what we would want for some bank time. Uh, Mrs. Abernathy or Mrs. March, do you do you have that document? Okay, we can we can let you know here in about 30 seconds. Sorry for the >> I I don't need to know tonight. Um just things to think about. You know, if if middle school is already our limiting factor. Do we want to shorten that day more is really the question that I'm thinking. But um I'll leave it up to you and your team to to kind of mle over. High School days instructional days. >> So it may not impact the overall instructional days if you change five minutes. Right. And again, you're right, Miss Cave. It's not significant, but uh last year we were getting close. >> Don't jinx us.
016>> I know that if we >> We appreciate the information. >> Dr. shift. We also we look into if we do like say if we we just instead of monito start at 8:30 they start at 8:25 or the you know all of them start five minutes early for the 20 minutes just doesn't seem like a lot of time to eat lunch. I I remember back when I was in school, we had at least 25 to 30 minutes to eat lunch. And so we're trying to push the kids through faster, get them fed so we can get get them back to class, but at the same time that that's they're learning a lot at lunch as well, how to communicate with others, how to be respectful, how to a lot of things at lunch. So anyway,
017it would be nice. Can we look into what it would how it would impact like bus routes and things like that and starting five minutes earlier? Is there any other thing during the day that's not that doesn't count towards instructional time other than lunch? Nothing. >> Lunch is what we have to subtract. Um probably I want to say five or six years ago recess had to be subtracted, but now they allow us to count that as the instructional day. >> But is that that's only in elementary? >> Yes, >> we do. Are we still doing some recess at middle school date? No, we did that as far. >> Yeah, I I think some of the schools are are doing some of that, but I think there's been a move from it. So, I will explore
018with Mr. Sour's time of adding to the day and then also look at our numbers and and talk with our middle school principles about what does five minutes do if we take it out of advisory and what does it look like? It sounded like from what Mrs. Abernathy shared uh elementary school is our our shortest day, not middle school. So that's not the that's not the bottleneck. So >> Okay. >> You said I didn't catch 6 hours and 30 minutes or 6 hours. >> What's the difference? 6 hours and 30 minutes. It varies during the high school when the instructional day begin. So the one that's 6 hours and 26 minutes begin or does it begin at 810 and finish at 35 and I don't a lot of that has to do with transportation right
019now. Well, thank you, Katherine. You definitely have given us a lot to think about and obviously this impacts not just the school board, all the schools, transportation, scheduling. So, this is this one thing that seems very small is going to um be a big ripple effect and I think we can figure out a way. I know my daughter last year I went and she's in well she was in third grade last year and she ate by herself and she said I said why why don't you have anybody sitting with you? and she's like, "Mom, I have to eat. This is my time to eat." And there was no one around her. She was so focused like this, this is what I'm supposed to be doing right now, and I don't have much time. Um, and
020I thought, "Oh, she's not being social." And she was just very, you know, she was watching the clock. So, um, I get it. So, thank you very much. Um, okay, moving on with our agenda here. We have got a consent agenda that includes our minutes and personnel listing. Do I have a motion on the consent agenda? Move. >> Do I have a second? >> Second. All in favor? >> Yes. >> Jackie? >> Yeah. >> Are you still there, Jackie? >> Sorry, I muted it. I was saying yes. >> Okay. Motion passes 4. >> I didn't want to make any noise. >> Motion passes 40. And moving right along to our action items. And I promise I'm not trying to rush the meeting, but Dr. Shifflet did say if Klein's was open, he'd take everybody to
021Klein's. >> He did say that. >> So, he did say that. >> So, I got a campfire to get back to. So, >> okay. >> I'm just kidding. All right. >> The good news is I am one of the The good news is I'm one of the presenters, so I can I can talk. >> I'm a filibuster. >> Perfect. Perfect. Okay. Uh, next up we have our updated 2526 school calendar. Good evening, Vice Chair Burggoyne, Dr. Shifflet, and school board members. At the June 23rd schoolboard meeting, Chair Hurst recommended adding personalized teacher work days to the 2526 school calendar to allow time for report card preparation. At that time, October 24th and March 20th were added as proposed personalized work days. An additional day, January the 20th, has been added for the same purpose uh
022at the end of the July 14th schoolboard meeting. So, I'm here tonight requesting for final approval of the revised 2526 school year calendar that will reflect three days for personalized uh workday for teachers completing report cards. And that's October 24th, January 20th, and March 20th. And that's the end of each of the three first terms respectfully. Thank you very much, >> Vice Chair Burggoyne and board members. I recommend approve approval uh of the updated school calendar for the 2526 school year. >> Do you have a motion? >> So moved. >> A second. >> All in favor? >> Second. >> Yes. >> All opposed? >> I didn't hear. >> Okay. Motion passes 40. >> Thank you. Thanks for work in doing that. >> All right, next up we have bid recommendation for speech and language pathology
023services presented by Justin Moyers. >> Good evening members of the board. Dr. Shifflet, I'm coming to you this evening to ask for approval um to have speech language pathology services um approved for uh Valley Speech and Language Centers for next year. Uh we received 10 total proposals. Um the committee looked through all of them and they provided the best one and they will provide services to our middle and high school kids next year. >> I'd be happy to answer any questions that you have. >> Did you call it valley speech and language? >> I'm sorry. Just speech and language. Yeah. Not valley. Yes, you can take that word out. >> And it's just for middle and high. >> That's the plan on how they want to use them. Yes. >> Okay. Vice Chair Burggoyne and
024board members, I recommend awarding the contract for speech pathology services to the highest rated offerer as presented by Justin Moyer's chief financial officer. >> Do I have a motion? >> A second. >> Second. >> All in favor say yes. >> Yes. >> All oppose say no. Motion passes 40. Thank you. >> Thank you. Okay, next up we have Miss uh Becky Tanell with some policy revisions. Good evening, Vice Chair Burggoyne, Dr. Shifflet, and members of the board. Um last school board meeting, I brought you a number of policies that we were wanting to update. Um and so I'm coming you to you tonight to ask if you are ready to take action on them. Vice Chair Begorian and board members, I recommend approval of proposed policy revisions as presented. >> Thank you, Dr. Shlet. Do
025I have a motion? So moved in and a second. >> All in favor say yes. >> Oh, sorry. Any questions? Yes. Any questions? I'm sorry. Just moving right along. >> Got clients on my mind. >> Any questions, board members? I I do want to point out that we we have updated our drug and alcohol policy here. Mhm. >> And one of the things that Sorry. And one of the things that I want to point out here is that we I think it was last maybe a year ago at one of our board meetings uh special meetings that we had that vice chair Burglloin actually wanted to add the piece in there that that a student could uh do some hours for community service to take off the days for poor school standing which I thought
026was a really great idea. And we we put it four we put for for every four hours you do for community service would take off a day of poor school standings. And this year we're cutting that down uh back to three. So every every three hours you do will count for one day. Correct. >> Yes. And we we made that change to be in line with our attendance recovery. So if a student misses a day of school, they can come to uh evening school or night school for 3 hours to offset that date. So, we thought it just made more sense just to be kind of equal with what we're doing, three hours for trading off for a day. So, that's sort of the rationale behind that. And I I also want to point out
027that we we put some language in there as well of what we approve as community service for for um students to be able to do. Right. >> Correct. We we wanted students to be um offering service in some capacities to someone other than their family. Uh whether it, you know, a church organization or the the the little league or or just any way that they can support their community or their neighbors and not receive compensation so they're not being paid for this work and uh doing something for someone besides, you know, their mom and dad or their their grandparents. So that was sort of the idea. um because there are a number of nonprofit organizations out there, but sometimes it's hard for kids to get to some of those places like the SPCA or what
028have you during the right, >> you know, maybe on a weekend or or what have you. So, we're trying to give kids an opportunity. So, if you make a bad choice, right? And again, we've talked about this. It's not really a hard like decision. Don't bring drugs and alcohol to school. It's really simple to be honest with you. But if somehow you get yourself in a in a tight spot, uh you can work your way out of it, right? And hopefully learn from it and not be a repeat offender because if repeat offenders, then there's going to be other consequences and the board may get involved with some of those. But this was uh where we saw an uptick with um our alcoh drug and alcohol violations were with vape bins, right? That's still seems
029to be the place where we're where, you know, we where we catch kids. And so we're trying to give them an opportunity to to earn back those opportunities to participate in sports or the band or musicals or or what have you. So I I I think it's I think it's nice the school board offered that. I really do. >> Yeah, I I do too. And this goes back to 2021 when um Dr. Alter came to the schoolboard meeting that I was here at and said, you know, the drugs, especially the vaping is out of control and we they needed a tougher policy uh from the board to be able to enforce. And um we were trying to f find a good balance and you know, as any policy that you that you make, you re-evaluate
030at the end of every year and you see is it working, is it not working and that's what I think that the board is doing here. we're seeing. I'm glad we put that piece in there last year and we saw that, hey, maybe three hours would be efficient for for a day. And so, I like it even better this year. So, >> I guess my question would be, have we had many students um use that ability to do community service? >> I I know of um several students who have taken advantage of this. um they run the the hours by their school principal and um you know record their hours on a sheet that we use for like other um um hours for community service and we used to have that as part of our
031graduation. So, um, yes, I know of several students who have used that opportunity and and it and it's a lot of hours, right? So, and and there there is if I there's a minimum number of poor school standing, so you can't work them all off, right? I think is it 30 or I think there's some >> Yeah, there's a minimal that you can't work off. But, >> I we wanted to give an opportunity, you know, for students to be able to do that. And what I also like that the language we put in here as well is that this is with prior approval >> of what they're gonna where they're going to do their community service. So, you know, you just can't put anything on the paper and say, "Well, I did it, you know,
032down the road at such and such, you know, so it's prior approval or we're going to check in and make sure that this is a good place where they're doing their community service." >> Yeah. And I think uh Mr. Cross, I think you're right. you we draft a policy that was new to us a couple years ago and you make revisions to it. Um, and I think trying to clean up the language as to what counts towards the community service and the hours, making it more aligned. So, it's it's sort of a work in progress, but I think, you know, again, our message is going to be uh it's pretty simple. You don't have to do community service if you don't bring alcohol and drugs to school. Right. Right. That's not a hard rule to
033follow. >> Amen. No other questions. We're good. >> We're good. >> Go. Okay. >> Yeah. We We already got a second and now now just vote on it. >> Okay. Time to vote. >> All those in favor say yes. >> Yes. All right. Now motion passes 40. Thank you very much. Where's that at? >> I can read it. >> Do you want me to handle public content? >> Okay. So, we just have a resolution. Um, and correct me, Dr. Shiba, if I'm wrong. Uh we do this every year, right? This is annually. Um we adopt a resolution authorizing our superintendent um to reassign personnel. So this year the resolution just says by resolution of the Rockingham County School Board, Larry Shifflet Division Superintendent hereby authorized to reassign principles, assistant principles, and teachers to any school
034within the school division for the 2025 2026 school year pursuant to Virginia Code 22.1-297. And this resolution was approved July 28th, 2025. Um, so I move to adopt the resolution authorizing the superintendent to reassign personnel pursuant to I can't see it on my screen. I got a box at the bottom. Sorry. >> I'll second it. >> Thank you. All those in favor say yes. >> Yes. >> All those opposed say no. Motion passes 40. Thank you, Miss K, for that. Okay, next up we have our information items. Um, we have information on student conduct update on this [Music] >> true. We may be here for a while. I'll read very I I'll read very I'll read very slowly. four or five years and looking at some trends in student behaviors and uh I think the
035last presentation was uh by Dr. Otterer in January of 2024. So, um, we'll hopefully take a a look at some of the kind of a followup with some of the the data he had shared back during that presentation and and maybe sort of build some momentum to maybe yearly just look at this data and and how uh how we're doing. Um, you know, in part of our comprehensive plan last year, core focus area number one was student safety. So, uh, it does remain a high priority for the school division. It remains a high priority for me as a division superintendent. And so it's important that we kind of keep a pulse on where we are in terms of student conduct. So I want to just kind of as we're looking at this data, I want
036to kind of talk through just some some cautionary words here. So um in 2122 uh DOE changed the the codes for collecting student conduct uh data. So we have codes that we have to enter. when we student, you know, has a a misbehavior and then we have to enter that into power school and then we submit all that information to the the Virginia Department of Education. So in 2122 they changed their codes and we have 93 different code options which in some ways you may think more is better uh but perhaps it's not right because then it gets a little bit confusing uh as to um how we are classifying a particular behavior and I'll give an example so let's say uh a teacher is in her classroom or his classroom and and they ask
037a student to do something and uh this the student doesn't comply right he or she he or she he chooses to do something else and so then the teacher writes up a referral and sends them or her to the office. Right? So um that's definitely a disruption to the classroom. Uh so we could log it as a classroom disruption. Um it's also disrespect. So we could log it as classroom disrespect. So sometimes it's hard to you know figure out you know how these are being classified. So the ad the teachers, you know, kind of making a decision maybe in the moment about what they're writing and what's happening and then the administrator is dealing with it and then maybe the clerical staff is entering into the discipline report. So um so sometimes it's hard to
038say that what is a classroom disruption, what is a um you know a class classroom disrespect towards the teacher or to classmates. So sometimes it it requires a little bit of looking through and thinking through the data. And I'm going to share some examples of how I think some things have changed from last year to this year based on how some things were coded. Okay? So just keep that in in your in your mind and and some of this data will make sense especially when we get to the second one on my presentation. So uh first up is excessive tardies and skipping. So um we had a a decrease which is good from previous year 23 24 and and again when Dr. Oliver presented this in January 24 we did not have any information from
0392324. We're trying to look at the entire school year because it's hard to to know if mid year you're on sort of track or you're you're behind pace or what have you. So I I think it's just going to be important that as we move forward like next summer we have the same similar presentation where we're looking at this data to look for trends. I mean 2122 we were over 1,200 excessive uh tardies and skipping. So maybe we're moving the needle down a little bit in that area and I think that would be somewhat clearly defined. 881 uh of those infractions. All right. So the next slide, cell phone violations. So knowing that we implemented a bell-to-bell no cell phones used, do you think we had more or less infractions for last year? So uh
040yes, more lots more, way more, lots of cell phone infractions, but we have a very uh specific policy of infractions. What happens on offense one? What happens with offense two? what's happens with offense three. And so we began to be very more intentional tracking these and in some cases I would say in years in previous years some of these may have been um because teachers could allow students to use them during non-instructional times and and maybe what happened maybe at the end of class the kids you know were you on their cell phones and the teacher said you know now it's time to put them away and a kid didn't. So then that wasn't a cell phone violation, it was a disrespect, right? So you you see how it's kind of changed in some ways,
041but I'm not surprised by that. M matter of fact, um I don't even know that the 321 is maybe accurate from the previous years. We were looking at some data uh when this first when I first sat down to do this presentation and I and I talked to the to the the data department. I said, "This can't be right. We we had to have more we had to have more cell phone violations this year than we did previous years. And so we went back, looked at the numbers, look at looked at the codes, what codes are we using, and we cleaned it up. And so yes, 2015, that's not a year. That is the number of cell phone violations. Right? Now, again, the first violation can be a student had their phone out and we
042document that. There's no consequences, right? We document that. uh but then we can track it because the second violation there is consequences start to be implemented right so we have to be um and kudos to our teachers and administrators for doing this work uh I have been meeting with uh all of our principles this summer sitting down for about an hour talking to them about how we're doing towards you know meeting our goals and this is the one thing when we talk about high expectations for student behaviors every high school principal said my referrals were up three or four or 500 And this is the reason. I mean, it was it was significant. So, that's but that's okay, right? We're we're enforcing the policy and and I'm happy that they're doing it. I'm sorry that
043they had to deal with that many referrals, but u that's the nature of doing business when kids had them freely and now we're restricting them. Uh so, uh this next one, tobacco and nicotine products. Um we still continue to deal with vaping and those things, but there was a decrease across the division with that. So, we're we're we were happy to to see that there's progress made there. Um, classroom disruptions, again, they were down um significantly, but over a couple almost what, not quite 200, but they're down, but again, maybe some of that could have been some cell phone violations in previous years. So, we're not not sure um what how a teacher or administrator or clerk looked at that. And then uh disrespect and defiance has decreased. And I know uh that was important
044to our school board. Last year we talked about uh really a harsher stance on disrespect for towards staff and teachers and the board uh saw students for that um for some of those behaviors that were very extreme. Um physical altercations u was did increase. Now, uh, some of this is, you know, not always fighting, but it's pushing or shoving or and those types of things. Once there's some physical, uh, hands placed on each other, uh, it becomes part of something we need to address. And, uh, I've seen language and gestures, um, small decrease, and you can see that's kind of been somewhat steady, uh, but trying to address that behavior. uh weapons uh last year we were at six weapons. Now this would not this would be you know you know a knife that reaches
045a certain length with the blade or you know what whatever would you know we would look at you know not not always are we talking about guns but there has been a decrease right we were up at 18 17 and then down to six and then nine um so still a little bit alarming again that's something that I would say to students it's an easy rule to follow right you don't bring knives to school um it's it's um uh drug and alcohol and I think Mr. Cross was was alluding to some of this earlier. Um, a couple of years ago, we, you know, because we were having so many cases of of uh THC with vaping, we implemented this policy with the poor school standing. And then, you know, again, we're addressing that some tonight
046with this current policy. But alcohol and drug violations, we're down to 229. And a lot of that, again, the the drug piece is vaping THC incidents resulting out of school suspension. So that was that was increased. But I think uh in part I the board wanted to take a pretty strong stance with some behaviors like again cursing staff um you know violations for for for you know vaping and these things. They're automatically 10 days out of school suspension uh a little bit more rigor with in terms of you know uh sanctions for fighting and those types of incidents. U making trying to build some consistency. If you'll recall last summer, we worked on a discipline matrix to build some consistency across the county and we shared that uh with the school board and had conversations
047about what what the the board the school board desired to see. Uh incidents were uh for hearing officers um you know it was 116 then it dropped to 174 then last year there were 92. In some cases, this may include um maybe a student who's coming to Rockingham County from another school division or for maybe a day placement and we wanted the hearing officer to listen to the to you know the parents about maybe what they feel was a good placement. Uh but a lot of those had to do with discipline infractions. And then the last one, you're probably very familiar with this is there was an increase of uh schoolboard discipline hearings. we went from 11 to 28. Uh but you can see in some previous years 6 2 1 5. Um so I
048think you know again the board's desire to um you know set high expectations for students be behavior and there's consequences when you can't meet those behaviors and so the board um heard 28 cases over the course of last year and you were there you were part of that. So um just sort of an overview right so what questions do you have what other information would you like us to go I think if I recall Dr. did a presentation in January early January of 24 then came back with some more data. So if there's things that you would like to to for us to dig a little deeper into or other pieces of information that you think would be helpful to you as in in your work in trying to govern the school the school division.
049and I'd be happy to work on getting some some more data for you and you may not you know if it's nothing on the top of your head that you know you want obviously we can have more conversations about what would be helpful to you this uh Dr. Sure. This is really exciting for me tonight. I mean, to see the improvements, I believe there are improvements over the past almost four years that I've been on the board is is pretty significant. Over the last year, seeing what we've been able to do as a board is pretty significant. Uh we did make it a priority last year to to start the year off in 2024 and having a student you you created a student uh conduct committee and looked into this and we told you to
050tell the message back to our principles that we were wanting them to enforce um our policies especially when it came to drugs and alcohol fights and threats, safety as a school. All these things were big deals to us and we wanted to make sure that um we were doing d doing our due diligence as a board to make sure our schools are safe uh for our children in our schools. And so I mean quite a few things point out to me, but the last one that you just read is you go back to 2021, the school board heard one discipline hearing case and last year we had 28. That's because this board made it a priority for student conduct to to to do a better job for our kids and for our teachers. And the
051the policy in in cursing our teacher, I think that's a big one. We know from national statistics that uh teachers aren't wanting to be be a part of the uh to be a teacher anymore because of the disrespect in the classroom. And I have heard back from several different teachers thanking us for our stance on that. And also have heard of and teachers leaving the city coming to the county to want to teach, you know, so they're a lot of them are going to take a little bit of a pay cut, come to the county and teach, but the environment is a whole lot better. So I'm that's credit to this board willing to do some hard work uh on the board. I'm a few notes I did take during your presentation was I'm at
052the very beginning I'm see the the one on tobacco and nicotine products I'm I would like to look into getting um detectors in our bathroom. I know Augusta County has this. Several other school divisions have uh detectors when it comes to vaping detectors in the school. And so I would like to check into that um and seeing what that looks like and what the cost is of that. Um um I did have a question on the cell phone violations. Did the numbers get a little better as the year went on or did they kind of stay um kind of the same throughout the whole year? I will have to look go back and look and see if I can get a breakdown by month. Um, in my conversations with principles, they felt like we were
053moving in a positive direction, but I don't want to speak to that and and find out I'm telling you wrong information. So, I can look at uh getting that broken down by month for you, Mr. Cross. >> Okay. >> I'm to >> I'd like to tell you yes, but I >> No, no. I'm hoping that it did. you know, it takes it takes a while for course correction and and it's different for the kids who were seniors and juniors that were able to use their phone and then all of a sudden they they can't have their phone out. So, um the middle school kids that came up through, they were basically the same policy for them that they had in middle school. >> Right. For the freshman, we felt like the policy wasn't going to
054change. Right. The rising freshman previous year and we felt like obviously for um you know the middle school policy didn't change. So we we would we would expect to see most of this with 10th, 11th and 12th graders. Right. >> Right. >> And maybe we can look at those numbers as well. Right. Again, this is big sort of 30,000 foot view and we can drill down and get more information. >> The other one I thought the disrespect and defiance in 2021 was 963 and we dropped down to 665 uh this past year. >> Yeah, >> that's a great that's that's good news. Um, and I did write down two things at the end that I would like to know. >> School threats. So I I would like some data on um how many school threats
055that we had throughout the year um from students and then also how many um how many were fully how many students were um did we as a board say they couldn't come back? I'd like to know that because that's not in here like a full for the past year. >> So, you would like a breakdown on what basically the verdicts were for your hearings, >> right? >> Okay. >> Long-term suspension or expulsion because I'd like to know what the what some of that was. But, thank you for presenting this. I mean this is the first time that we were able to see um some good numbers for a while when it comes to student discipline and I'm thank you for also to all the um administrators who and teachers who enforced these policies. >> Um
056is there a way to separate the drug and alcohol offenses so we know >> drugs versus alcohol? >> Yeah. Yeah, we can. I believe we can do that. And one thing that we didn't get at the last uh meeting was can you also uh find out how many IBR offenses that we had in the schools? >> IBR. >> Yeah. Incident based reports from the sheriff's office from our resource officers. It just be nice to know how many um IBR reports that our resour resource officers are having to file as well. Kind of give us a little bit of idea where we're at. >> I'll be happy to ask. >> I hate to add more to this, but I would love to see a breakdown yearly of the cell phone violations by 6 through 12. just,
057you know, that way if sixth grade has or let's say 10th grade across the board has a lot of violations, next year if they still have a lot of violations, we can assume that majority pool is the same kids. Um, I do find it interesting and it's not funny at all, but the cell phone violations are up and physical altercations are up and and coupling that with us removing cell phones, feel like kids have they haven't had that device to be able to, you know, focus on. So, I I'm curious and just my theory is maybe that they're being forced to interact and maybe haven't haven't done that in a while with some people they may not mesh well with or or whatever. And maybe that has led to that. I I guess we won't
058ever know, but I just found that to be interesting that this was the first year and and the physical altercations are the highest they have been since 2017. So just just interesting to me. Um but classroom disruptions are down. And I did have another question with these incidents can be coded with multiple. So these these are not all separate incidents. They could be I mean one incident could cover probably four or five of these codes. >> Yeah. We we basically I ask our our data team to to to basically share the data from previous years, right? So trying to build some consistency and looking at what codes would go into the incidents, right, that we report. Um >> does that is that true statement though? Are they are they able to have multiple codes for
059one one report or are they just filing one? some cases in some instances they could be coded but we we try to target a particular code and say this is this is going in as this code but like for cell phone incidents there's two codes I don't have a memorized I'll but like B12 and B13 are the codes used for those violations it would also include uh maybe if there's an unacceptable use breach with a Chromebook or something as well so there's >> so again it's not always the cleanest data in some ways just because there's some human error. I shouldn't say error, but some human element to how they're, you know, entering this this information. Uh, but we can definitely again dig down and as you sort of digest this over the next week
060or two, if you come up with something, say, "Hey, I'd like to see this broken down and and I like the idea of uh breaking the cell phone violations down by the month and then uh as Mr. Burggoyne requested by grade level to see where there's targets, right?" So >> you know so last year um as a division we set sort of three goals right one was academic go for green meaning you know green and achievement data not saving the environment which is also a worthy goal but that was not what we were measuring. Uh two was high expectations for students behavior right that was a goal and um being visible as as you know leaders and so we're going to kind of put all those on the 2.0 and O scale for next year,
061right? Same things. We we haven't really reached the pinnacle yet, if you will. So, we still have work to do for going green and we still have work to do for high expectations for students. I think what's really important is, you know, what you alluded to, Mr. Cross, is that our administrators understand the school board supports sometimes these harsh consequences, right? because you'll hear from parents or from students that, you know, my son was suspended or my daughter was suspended for X, Y, and Z. That that's the work we're asking them to do, right? And that's their charge. And uh and they appreciate that the administrators, you know, appreciate that the school board sort of has their back, so to speak, that they're going to u be tough on some of their consequences. And sometimes
062um sometimes parents don't appreciate it. I'll just be very candid with you, right? So when they may call board members and say, you know, this or that, but when you hold firm and say, "Yeah, simple solution here. Don't bring alcohol and drugs to school." Then you don't have to worry about poor school standing. You don't worry about community service. Just you just don't do it, right? Uh so I think that's going to be important again as we get into another year of trying to uh you know, make our schools a safe haven for learning, right? And it's it's important. It's number one on the comprehensive plan. Yeah, >> I I think that's that's something that I'm not going to be long here, but I think that's something when uh people look at when you when
063you are elected official when you sit up here on the dis of the pressure that um that you get from community members or you get from parents whatever to you know and I want to congratulate this board as well for sticking to the policy and I've always said what's good for one is good for everyone. if it's going to be the policy is going to be for this child, it's going to be good for um another student. So, I want to congratulate the board for staying to our policy because I think it's we're seeing the numbers that it is helping out and thank you, Dr. Shifflet, too, for the work you're doing and as you said, this is a continued work that we're doing. So, I keep keep on with the message being present. I
064think that's important. And just the president-wise, I've said it time and time again, but one of the best administrators I worked with was with Eric Baylor, and he was he was um always big on teachers and everyone just being present from the SRO at the everyone in the and being present in the school. So, it it helps out a lot. I can't I can only remember I'm sure there was more, but in the four years I was there as an SRO, I can only remember like two or three major fights. And that was because Eric Baylor was present and he demanded that you know he didn't do what he asked his teachers to you know he would do he would do it too. So >> yeah so thank you for keep on saying that >>
065you have any questions. >> Thank you Dr. >> I always look up like she's above us. Yeah. Okay. Um thank you Dr. Shifflet. Next up, we have Tammy Stone with a science and challenge update. Welcome school board members, uh, Dr. Shifflet and guest. I'm going to give you an update for how this year went with science and, uh, challenge. I'm going to do science first and then I'm going to, uh, end with what we did with challenge just as a thing. Um so the first thing I'm going to highlight is our fifth grade uh science scores. Um one thing that's interesting about science is we are the only subject that tests cumulative uh bits of knowledge. So our fifth grade students have to take a fourth and a fifth grade cumulative test. Um and eight
066of our schools saw doubledigit growth this past year meaning they grew more than the the 10%. And as a division, we increased by 4.6% in our scores for fifth grade science, which I think is impressive. I want to highlight a couple of the things that we did. Um, two of our schools had been on academic review for several years and we teamed up and piloted um, some different science experiments um, and piloted a learning platform and got the students feedback on how that learning platform went and um, those two schools had the largest growth, one with 27.5% and the other with 16%. Um, we also this year adopted this past summer we adopted that third through fifth grade uh five pawns press uh textbook which I have heard from teachers that they very much um
067enjoy using and that the students actually enjoy reading um from it. Um, also I create created some data for the teachers that I shared with them and they appreciated that data and we're hoping to get that data again this year which they will of course get that data. So those were some things that we kind of worked on. Um we are going to try for one year for that learning platform with all of our fourth and fifth grade students this year so that we can hopefully um see that increase everywhere especially since it was student approved like they they enjoyed doing it but also showed grow growth. our eighth grade science um so is even I think more interesting if you think about our middle school students their brains are in flux and they're changing
068right but in science we give them a sixth through 8th grade cumulative um test for all of the content they learn 6 through 8 which means they're learning all four branches of science in three years and then take an assessment on it. Um, as you look at these scores, each one of our middle schools um grew almost 10%. Um, a couple of them even uh um increased more. I also I forgot to point this out. If you notice on here, this says raw data for 2024 and raw data for 2025. Um the Virginia Department um of education has not released our final scores. So what I have done is given you what our preliminary scores were in 2024 and our preliminary scores in 2025. And that means that's the raw uh data. No, no students
069who were exempt because they uh were a newcomer or because they transferred in later have been exempted from either set of data because I feel like that's the only way you can truly compare it. So for both of these sets of data, if you looked at the the reported data, they would actually be higher. So if you went back and looked at the 2024 report card for each of these four middle schools, their middle school scores for science would be higher. they're typically not lower with the with the other data. Does that make sense? So that's why I think you can just look at the true growth. Um so what worked with middle school? I think the biggest help is we have a lot of newer middle school science teachers and the new teacher mentor
070program um that the county started last year was a huge help because one of those new teacher mentors has a background in science and is able to support those teachers along with me so that it's we're not kind of spread quite as thin to try to help as many people. So that's very helpful. Um, another thing that the middle school teachers did was the sixth and seventh grade teachers would uh come up to the eighth grade and review that content with the students. I even had some sixth and seventh grade teachers who wrote spiral review questions that could be used throughout the year in 8th grade so that we were working on some of those retrieval practices for the students to be able to get that. Um, and we worked on trying to get students
071extra practice with the more difficult types of questions that are on um, the so. And again, teachers like the data that I created. Some of them have already asked me if it's done yet, and I'm still finishing it up. Um, but it will be done by the end of this week. though. Um our last group is our high school biology um assessment and you can see there that first of all all of our scores are um above we would be green in all of them if you were looking at them um just as it is. And you can see that uh we've either held our own or increased our scores which I think is uh very good. Um the teachers there feel a great responsibility towards doing that because they want our students to get
072the verified credit for graduation. I think one thing that helps with our high school biology is they did like the information that I gave them, but also we have a a pretty experienced high school uh group and when there is a new one, there's some there's someone to mentor them and I think that's an important part that we have. So, what are my science plans for this year? Um, my number one science plan for this year is um to bring in a former BDOE science specialist who now does um work on building science um for all learners, trying to hit that diverse learners and working with um our EL and sped populations. and he's going to come in and uh target a session for our um different science teachers on how to do that. And
073I have selected the schools that didn't have as much growth as I would have liked to focus on science growth to model exper model and go in and do science experiments like I did with the other two schools this year. And like I mentioned, we are going to pilot that learning platform um because we did see huge improvements there and the students when I asked them really did enjoy doing it. They said it didn't feel like they were working and that's always good when they're learning without um doing that. Um are there any questions on the science update before I move to the challenge update? >> Uhhuh. First of all, just wanted to say thank you to all our teachers um for all the work they put into getting these scores up, right? Um I
074do have a question with Turner Ashby though. They look like they were negative one and their total pass rate was 74%. So what is being done to help those scores go up? Um so with that score that's really um it's that you know 1% so it could be that can just be a fluctuation kind of between um there um and they I'll definitely be be talking to them. I mean, well, I could be talking to all of them because they'll all get the the data, but they're a very strong group of science teachers and you can see a fluctuation in data between one group and another. Like for at this point, I don't know. It could have been they had a larger um population of special needs students. It, you know, it could have been
075many factors, but I won't really know that until we've had that conversation with them. But I can get back to you if you'd like. Yes, definitely would like to get back uh there's uh 74% and want to give out a shout a shout out to Spotswood because they improved the most at the 8.76% with the 88% uh pass. So that's pretty cool spots doing there. Also wanted to say thank you to the sixth and seventh grade teachers. I thought that was a really cool idea that you guys that got them to come up and do the review with the eighth graders because it does bring back that cognitive uh memory of learning and being able to remember what was taught to them. So, great idea. >> That was their idea. >> Yeah, >> we have
076awesome teachers. >> Y awesome. So, moving on into the challenge update. Sorry, I turned pages here. So, focusing we're going to talk about elementary, middle, and then high. Um, we've been focusing on how to best serve our advanced learners with the changes in our elementary instructional time. Um, one part has been figuring out where to put in our challenge time at um, especially so that it doesn't um, mess up with our reading instruction time or our math instruction time. So, our challenge teachers have become very creative about pushing in during um during those times and doing enrichment with a small group um and having a math group that they're doing with. Um we worked on a plan and figured out how to budget to make it more accessible for smaller schools to have more access
077to resources. So, we intentionally changed um the budget structure in this year so that every elementary school regardless of their sign size got a little more money and then it was based off of per student. So, that's another thing that we worked on. Um I was very excited. Um actually there was a huge demand for this, but we piloted this summer our very first summer enrichment camp just for challenge students. So, we had one that was for challenge students. I think it filled up in three days. Uh so we had to use a lottery system um with our we had over 60 applicants and we just did a lottery system to select them. So um there was that. The other thing that we piloted this year, we piloted this at two elementary schools was we
078did Beast Academy, which Beast Academy is a um it's a math program for gifted students. um it basically u accelerates them not beyond their grade level but makes them think deeper in math and be able to solve more complex problems. Um I can definitely say it was very popular. It was so popular that one of our students and their parents came to us about could we offer it in middle school because they were missing they didn't want to miss that opportunity. So it was something that the students were doing and it is not a game-based program. it is literally they're doing different tasks and um they are enjoying that. Um for our middle school level we had our first two successful sixth grade challenge field trips which one was archaeology. Um they both had archaeology
079but both of them were dealing with history of our first presidents. We had Jefferson and um James Madison and we compared their houses and we did that and the students were very very much enjoyed it. I love their conversations and the things that we had with that. Um in fact um before this year when before we offered them this year our number of students who requested testing for middle school challenge once they made it to the middle school we would test at maximum two to three students a year. And this year we quadrupled that number. We tested over uh 13 of them. Um and I think that's because they saw it as this is relevant. This is where we're moving. I want to be a part of that. And so that was exciting. um our
080all four of our middle schools um helped us uh had a solar challenge teams and we held a district solar challenge competition and we got to tour a solar farm, the one over here on Acorn Drive. Um and then um two of our middle schools actually sent students on to states and one of our middle schools sent students on to nationals. Um, we also had two students apply to do our middle school regional summer governor school and they did do that this summer as well. So, at the high school level, we had four high school students who were selected for summer residential governor school. One in agriculture, one in foreign language for Spanish, one in science and technology, and one in fine arts. We also had 32 students who attend the Mass and Regional Governor
081School. And then we have two uh gifted students who worked on independent research and inquiry projects um under me working on that. And that's the picture of them at the uh JMU uh regional science fair um where one of them actually I think earned like $250 in prizes from different organizations and won first place in a couple of things. So what are my goals for challenge this next year? We've already booked and planned our to continue our sixth grade field trip. um we want to add on to our seventh and do a seventh and eighth grade field trip. Um we actually had it all planned out and we were going to go to Lake Shannidoa and we had all the stations worked out and then my friend at uh the Department of Wildlife Resources let
082me know that they're draining that this fall. So that might mean we have to punt and come up with a new but we want to do something related to life science and um things like that. So, it'll be related to that. And our eighth grade field trip, um, we're going to base that one on science and STEM as well, but we're going to go up to Masanutton uh, resort and the eighth grade students are learning about force and motion, and we are going to do their new coaster that they have up there. Um, and we are going to do a math lesson with the zipline, figuring out what the slope of the um the slope of the descent is. And so that that's two of our plans for that. We also would like to offer
083more summer enrichment gifted plant uh gifted camps at multiple levels next summer. Um, I'd like to offer at least uh try to offer a couple of different grade bands since this one went well. And we are offering Beast Academy to our elementary um students again this year and we are offering it in high school. I mean in middle school as well. The Beast Academy program only goes through 8ighth grade. Are there any questions on the challenge update? >> What kind of budget increase are you going to ask for next year? >> Um right right now. Well, well, that Okay. Well, my budget this year um will cover everything that's in here. Um well, what I would like is more people um to be honest with you, to be able to actually offer more differentiated instruction
084and things like that. That's what I would really um you know, like. But I did appreciate that we were able to fund with when you guys went through the line item budget things and I put in requests for there. You guys were did fund for me to be able to do these sixth, seventh, and eighth grade field trips and to be able to do some of these camps and things like that. So I appreciate that. So right now I'm not asking for anything like right what I'm offering right now or what I'm saying right now. We're that's our plan for this year. Anything else would need more money. >> Good job. >> Oh, I work with amazing people. >> Thank you. >> How many I just have a question real quick. How many middle school
085challenge students? You said you don't have many kids request to be tested. So, how many in the county do you have? >> Uh, we have Well, so when they are tested in elementary school, if they make it in, they're in middle they're they stay in there in Okay. in through middle school and high school. Once you are identified in Rockingham County as a gifted student, you stay as a gifted student until you until you leave. Um and but typically we did not have we would have lots of requests all the way up through fifth grade. Um in fact, we we do a screener in second grade, but we have one of our elementary schools, I think, that had 58 requests last year for parents uh that wanted their kids tested beyond second grade. they wanted
086them retested or things. We weren't getting those numbers in sixth through 8th before. I think because we have challenge classes, but a lot of the the students may choose to take band, which would mean they wouldn't have the elective to do that. >> But I think these field trips offer them the opportunity to still be a part and do some extra enrichment learning and still choose their own path of what they want their electives to be. >> Great. >> If that makes sense. >> Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. Thank you. >> And thank you. >> Okay, next we have field trip policy considerations. Good evening again, everyone. Um there's a policy tonight for um you to look at for information. Um included in the packet was um the previous administrative directive which had guidelines for field trips
087um and there was a policy and they were separate and so what has happened is those there have been some changes to it but it's all in one policy now. So that's there for you to look at tonight and look over um and consider for our next meeting whether or not you'd like to take action on it. So it would be combining both that administrative directive and the previous policy. >> I I have a question about the policy. >> Okay. >> Can you guys hear me? Okay. Um so it says for overnight field trips there must be at least one shack room in the same sex of students attending the field trip. Um that is if all students on the overnight trip are males. At least one shack room must be male. If all stu
088or if all students are female, at least one chaperon must be female. If students attended both sexes, there must be at least one chaperone of each sex. Uh currently, uh well, I I've talked to CTE teachers and that's a real problem for them is getting getting the recruitment of uh assault sexist to come. and an impact tonight. Uh obviously I'm on an overnight trip and there are three female chaperones and then multi there's um a mixture of kids male and female on the trip and just getting getting a male chaperon was going to be a real real problem and I know um sometimes it um like the the um I think an FCCLA teacher is required to go with their student And if they they are opposite sex, I mean, they're not sharing rooms or
089anything. Um, in fact, as as female adults, we're sharing rooms and that helps keep the cost down if we had to have um different various sexes as chaperones, it would it would uh increase costs and it's just a real burden. So, I would like to take that part out unless somebody else has a uh um a if somebody can explain to me why it is important. >> What part of the the policy, Jackie, did you did you quote from there? I'm trying to find it. >> So, it says first page. >> Okay. >> Uh >> chaperoons, >> third paragraph, chaperoon um for overnight trip. So it says chaffrons adequate adult supervision shall be required on all field trips. Yes, absolutely. But then for overnight trips there must be at least one chaffron of the same
090sex of the students attending the field trip. That is if all students on the overnight field trip are male at least one chaperon must be male. If all students are female at least one chaperon must be female. If students attend of both sexes there must be at least one chaperon of each sex. I would like to take that part out. That's a that's a tough one for me to want to take out. Um, coming from a law enforcement background, I'm it would I get what you're saying that it's going to be a difficult task maybe in some cases, but I'm there should be a male chaperon for our male students and a female chaperon for our female students. That's where we've gotten in trouble in the past um when there's not. So, I think that's
091>> when have you ever gotten in trouble for it before? I mean, I've gone on probably a hundred overnight trips. >> Well, the only point >> have I ever had a problem? >> I could point out required me as a female. >> I could point out an incident, but it would be inappropriate here at a board meeting, Miss Lord, to point that out. Um, and I think that's probably part of the reason why we even have this one in here of an incident that happened not too long ago. I believe I'm aware of that incident and I don't I still don't understand why men need to accompany me on a field trip. Um, and like the one time I personally have ever had any kind of problem, it's when a a little girl started her
092period and needed supplies and she was more comfortable having me take her to the the store than than the male. But um I I don't understand why I cuz cuz it I I I've just got so much experience with this. I can tell you there's one incident that you're referring to that I still don't understand why you feel like it's so important that there was a female or a male on that trip. And I've been on hundreds over a hundred trips and have never seen that. And it is a major burden for um a lot of our a lot of our CTE and a lot of our our other trips to for this requirement. >> And I would like to see it strike sh It's for you all to consider. Okay? And we'll it'll come
093back before the board um the next time and you can let me know what you'd like to do at that point. If if you have communication that you would like for me to uh work on the policy between now and that time, I'm happy to do so. Okay. Be back in. All right. Sure. All right. Um, next on our agenda is our policy manual statement. >> Per policy BF, board policy manual, the superintendent shall ensure that an annual announcement is made at the beginning of the school year. Prepare yourselves. Annual announcement. The schoolboard policy manual is posted on the Rockingham County Public Schools web page, accessible to employees and the public. Printed copies are available as needed to citizens who do not have online access. Further, changes in schoolboard policy are presented at open schoolboard
094meetings, predominantly asformational items to be approved at a later date. The school board welcomes input to the proposed revisions by schoolboard members, administrators, teachers, parents, and other concerned citizens. Period. >> Thank you, Dr. Shifflet. And then next is also yours with the superintendent update. >> Alrighty. Well, as much as I hate to say this, summer is quickly coming to an end as terms I know on the calendar, right? It's some other date there in September, but um it is coming to an end. Next Monday is always where in my mind it ends for us. We have our administrative staff meeting on Monday, August the 4th. So, uh that will close up that'll put a ribbon on summer in my in my opinion. And also, right, fall sports are beginning soon. I believe golf started today
095and uh football and sideline competition cheer begin on Thursday and then on Monday uh we'll have cross country and volleyball begin. So um it is summer is sort of coming to an end and the first day of school is scheduled for Thursday August the 21st for all those who are interested in knowing that. Um want to just let the board know that the school security cameras have arrived and we have started the installation process. So, it is underway. And also, uh, in talking about school safety, I will be traveling tomorrow to Hampton to participate in the safe schools conference. Uh, Caleb Bailey, our director of school safety, is already there as well as Jen Nick, an AP from Broadway High School. So, uh, we continue to try to participate with that conference as as much
096as we can. It's just really tough this year because we have a board meeting tonight and Wednesday night we have high school graduation. So, uh, it'll be a quick turnaround for me, but I'm looking forward to it. So, Thank you. I hope everyone has had a wonderful summer and looking forward to the start of a new school year. >> All right, school board uh highlights, questions, comments. Would anyone like to go first? >> Yeah. >> Go ahead. >> Would you like to go first? >> Actually, I don't have anything for tonight other than all of what Dr. Shifflet said about welcoming all of our staff back. So, I resist. the end of summer. >> Someone has to do it. Someone has to >> Thank you for your sentiments. >> Someone has to do it. >>
097Mrs. Laura, are you still there? Do you have any comments? >> Yeah. >> Um, some highlights I've had. Obviously, I'm having a great time spending uh this wonderfully humid and hot weather camping. Uh and that which makes me do uh realize that I it's it's prudent to say as we start up summer sport or fall sport, uh Dr. Shiff would just make sure everybody stays hydrated and takes care of themselves. I know our coaches are great at that, but just a little reminder for her. Um because man, it is hot out there. Um also, uh I was able to catch a couple of summer school visits uh this uh last week. it was while we had summer school and um I even was able to take some sheep to John Whan Elementary and we got
098to talk about my favorite thing farming. So, um just I'm have I hope everybody's having a fun summer and I'm looking forward to to really getting back um and everybody stay cool in the meantime. Thank you and thanks for letting me participate um virtually. This has been very helpful tonight. >> Thank you, Mrs. Lawyer, Mr. Cross. Yes, I I'm wanted to bring up I I sent an email out to the board when we had our executive MTC meeting, but and I also talked with our um with our school attorney. I I want to make sure that we're in Foya compliance when we're meeting as an executive um team with MTC. I know that Harrisonenberg is they post theirs and they do a couple different things and the what I understand and what we we're doing
099is we put out a media release but I still feel like it needs to be something that we put we post at central office and we also have um we have it out there more than just a media release to local media. So, I want to make sure the parents are are made aware of those meetings and if they want to show up, um, they can be there. So, besides that, I hope you guys are enjoying your summer. >> I'm going to ruin this and let you know that school starts in 24 days. So, we've already started our back to school shopping. Um, I know it revolves around the fair. We've got to got to be there for the fair. That's right. Come on out to the fair. Um, this is our last meeting, our
100last regularly scheduled meeting before school starts. So, um, thank you all for bearing with me this evening. I hope Miss Hurst has safe travels back. Um, and then she can get, uh, this board back on track and you won't have to deal with me. Um, >> did a great job. >> Yeah. Thanks. Um anyway, uh one thing that I am planning on focusing on for this school year is bullying. And I just want to throw this out there because there was some new um laws that went effect July 1st, 2025. And I have spoken with our attorney and just said, "Hey, once we get this down the pipeline, would love to revisit it with RCPS." I felt like last year a lot of things that a lot of parents that were contacting me and things
101that I was dealing with um lots of issues at school were related to cyber bullying and internet and social media and things that were happening outside of school that ended up affecting and disrupting the school day. Um and so a new law was uh passed about cyber bullying. So, I'm looking forward to seeing um what those policies um look like and and how that trickles down to us and then what we can do what we can do further. I believe um the the Virginia General Assembly said that um we are required to address internet bullying that takes place off school grounds between students enrolled in the school system. So, um, we'll see how that policy comes about, but I just I just despise bullying and and cyber bullying has made it internet has made it
102so easy for that. So, I just really last year I felt like it was disrupting our school day a lot and that's not something I want our administrators and teachers to have to deal with on a regular basis. So, um, definitely one thing that's on my radar and will be my focus for next year. And um clients closes at 10:00. So meeting a journ. You all have a great evening. >> I I'm going for more. Did I >> Excellent job, Ashley. Excellent job. It's really hard with um with somebody zooming in too. So that was like >> Thanks, Jackie. Have a safe trip home. >> Thank you. Thank you. >> Miguel, >> that's right. Meeting