001There's room in the front row. You know, it's crowded up there with big chair. Yes. Yes. Okay. All right. [Music] Good evening. I'd like to call this meeting of the Rockingham County School Board back to order. We met earlier this afternoon um for some close session items and we are now out of recess and back in open session. And the first thing that we will do is begin with a moment of silence. Thank you. Now we will uh stand for the pledge of allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the stands one nation with liberty and justice for all. We uh apologize for the toastiness of this room. Um we got word that there was a little air conditioning hiccup this afternoon, but they did get it back on and
002going and so hopefully it will cool down just a little bit for us. Um, we uh the next thing on our agenda are some public comments of which we have none. So, we'll close those and move on to the consent agenda. Board members, do I hear a motion to approve the consent agenda? I move we approve the consent agenda as presented. Thank you, Miss Lord. Do I have a second? Second. Thank you, Miss Burggoyne. Any questions or comments? Hearing none, all those in favor say yes. Yes. All those opposed say no. Motion passes 5-0. We do have a marathon of items tonight. So, um, but we've only met once this month. This is our one meeting. Is that right, board members? Our one open meeting this month. And so, we have a number of items
003to take care of this evening. So, um, bear with us. Uh, the first action item that we have tonight is a budget amendment. Dr. Shifflet, would you like to present that? I apologize. Justin Moyers is going to present that. Good evening, Chair Hurst, members of the board. Dr. Shifflin. So, I have a budget amendment for you this evening. This is for additional state funds that we received for the 2425 fiscal year. We received a total of $2,226,58 in additional funds. Um those funds are from uh Medicare or Medicaid, sorry, as well as -ate reimbursement and um also additional state revenue uh because our ADM was higher than what we had projected. Uh this money will then be allocated back to technology equipment and then the difference will go into our capital projects fund to be
004spent on security cameras next fiscal year. Um so I'll be happy to answer any questions that you may have. Before we get to questions, board members, let's have a a motion and a second. Dr. Shifflet. Chair Hurst and board members, I recommend approval of the budget amendment that will appropriate additional funds for technology, equipment, and capital projects in the amount of 2 million 26,158 for FY2025 budget as presented by Justin Moyer's chief financial officer. Thank you, Dr. Shifflet. Board members, do I hear a motion? I move to follow the superintendent's recommendation to approve a budget amendment that will appropriate additional funds for technology, equipment, and capital projects as presented by Justin Moyers. Thank you, Miss Boring. Do we have a second? Second. Thank you, Miss Lure. Board members, do you have any questions for Mr.
005Moyers? I don't have any questions for Mr. Moyers. I guess my question would be is in this 2.4 4 we had talked about as a board allocating that towards the security cameras. Is that what we're doing in this motion just for clarity? So 1.4 will get allocated to the cattle projects fund that you can use for security cameras. The rest of that needs to go to other items that we have in this current year budget such as such as so 346,000 will go to purchase the iPads that we were leasing that the lease was coming up due to reappropriate money from next year back into this year and then uh 254,000 is going to go to um computer equipment that we qualified for through the e-way program. So, we purchase specific tenderology equipment. We send
006those receipts to the federal government and then they give us money back. We get um money back and then when we get that money back then we reallocate it for additional equipment and then we'll get money on this money we're spending now next year. It's always about a year u difference. And so we're we're allocating how much to towards the security cameras out of that? 1.4 four out of the out of the $2 million that that I'm presenting tonight will go to the security cameras. And what how's that put us behind on the schedule when we were talking about December? It it won't provided that next year's money is what we think it's going to be. So this will be the first part of the money that we need. Then the rest of the money
007will come when next budget year starts. So we're phasing this in doing it in increments. Not necessarily. We're just this is a way for us to put back money now so you don't have to ask ask to the county board of supervisor for it again next year so that that this is money that we're sure we will have any other additional funding that we have at the end of the year that we have not allocated will also go there but this is the amount that I know I can allocate to date um and then next year's budget we got more state revenue than what we had anticipated that money will also go to the cameras as you all had asked so will they be paid for by next year. Yes. Okay. Because I think that's
008what we have. Well, the the biggest thing we won't know is we will have most of the money as of July 1st. There will be a little bit of a time period, four or five months where I've got to figure out if we have the additional left in reserves next year to cover the rest. But we can still have all of our schools done. We're not talking about doing that in increments. Right. So, what that's not that's not the plan. No, the plan is to do it all, but I Okay. But yeah, so the the plan is this this money is like the first allocation that's going to go towards the actual purchase of the cameras. So, our first purchase will be uh to buy the security, the actual cameras themselves that will be shipped
009to 100 Mount Clinton Pike. That'll be item C on the Yeah. on the agenda for tonight. And then um as the cameras are installed u and you know whether it's you know several schools at a time or whatever that process is they will send us then invoices for the installation as we go right we're not going to pay upfront for installation until it occurs. So then between, you know, let's say the 1 of August when all these cameras are received or the end of August or excuse me, the end of July until they can get them installed, whether that's November, December, right? Then we'll be paying for it, I think. And Caleb may have more information about this when he presents the actual um uh contract is, you know, I think they anticipated it takes
010about a month, I think, to do a to do a high school. So just, you know, and how many resources can they allocate towards trying to work this out? But the idea is to purchase all the cameras we need for all of our schools, including the central office and the bus garage. Yeah. Okay. Okay. I just wanted to make sure because before I vote for this, I want to make sure that I'm straight on item C that it's not going to be like next year, oh, we don't have the money, so now we're not doing eight elementary schools and we'll see if we have the money. Like, I just want it to be, you know, that we know tonight what we're voting on that cuz what we're talking about 2 million here, we're only doing
0111.4 for to the cameras and this is the first I've heard of putting any of that money towards technology equipment. Well, the iPads is something that we had discussed when we were doing next year's budget because we had to free up money when we were doing next year's budget. So, we moved that cost into this year. The other stuff was something that had already been budgeted for. It's just we decided to present it differently than we how we had in the past. Just I'm just saying but it wasn't necessarily with this money, right? Because we didn't know we were getting this, right? You didn't know that was going to be higher. Correct. Right. Okay. Any any other questions or comments, board members? Hearing none, we have a motion to um follow the recommendation to approve
012the budget amendment appropriating additional funds for technology, equipment, and capital projects. All those in favor, please say yes. Yes. All those opposed say no. Motion passes 50. Mr. Moyers, I think you're staying up here for another item which is next on our list, speech pathology services. So, if you recall last summer, we had come to you to do an RFP for speech services uh for some of our schools. That went really well. We actually need additional speech services next year um from contractors. And so we would like to go through the process again to put on RP to hire additional contractors from the ones that we had selected last year. So this is just asking for approval to do so. Chair Hen, board members, I recommend approval of the request to use competitive negotiations via
013an RFP in lie of competitive sealed bidding for speech language pathology services for the 2526 school year. Thank you Dr. Shifflet. I move the policy recommendation. Thank you, Mr. Cross. Do we have a second? Second. Thank you, Miss Burggoyne. Any questions or comments for Mr. Moyers? Hearing none. All those in favor say yes. Yes. Yes. All those opposed say no. Motion passes. 5-0. Thank you, Mr. Moyers. The next thing on our list is um item C, which is school security cameras, presented by our safety to director, Mr. Bailey. Chair, Dr. Shifflet, members of the board. Uh in the fall of 2024, it was actually a rainy November 11th, Veterans Day, at Spotswood High School. Uh we were commissioned to do a school security camera committee to evaluate the division's security cameras infrastructure and develop comprehensive
014recommendation for improvement. That committee consisted of uh three principles, one from each division, members of our maintenance staff, SRO's as well as safety and technology staffing. And that committee has come up with the recommendation to install vericata security cameras across the division as Dr. Shifflet had said in the bus garage and central office as well not to exceed $4.2 million. Chair Hen, board members, upon review of the school security camera committee, I recommend that the school board authorize staff to begin negotiations with Biz to enter into a contract for the purpose for the purchase and installation of Ricotta cameras in the amount not to exceed $4.2 million. Thank you, Dr. Shifflet. Board members, do I hear a motion to begin negotiations? Thank you, Miss Cave. Do I have a second? Second. Thank you, Miss Bgoy.
015Any questions for Mr. Bailey? Has it since we didn't approve it by the I think it was June 9th was the date that was set. Maybe everything is uh still as we presented in close session. The pricing is the same. Um and to answer Miss Cape's question about the installation, it will be in segments. It won't be infidelity all at one time. It will have to be school to school. However, we should be done, depending on the motion here tonight, fiscal budget year pushing us back a couple weeks into summer. We should be anticipating a late December, mid January total installation of the division. Awesome. Thank you for all your work that you've put into this. I know this is a big task and one of the uh first ones that you were kind of
016commissioned to look into and do. I think it's going to bring a a strong safety and security to our schools, our kids, our teachers, faculty, and staff within all the division. So, thank you for thank you and your team for all the time uh that you've put into this. And I look forward for the whole division finally being under one umbrella that ECC can get right into the the um camera systems in need of for an emergency situation. I I think it's just a a great opportunity for the county to increase in our safety. So, thank you. I can't take credit for it. We had a great team work working with us and a lot of people put a lot of man hours into it. So, very appreciative of the opportunity. Any other questions? How
017will the roll out um happen? uh that we anticipate wanting to do high schools and middle schools first obviously and then trickle down. Uh if there would be any u monetary lapses or however if we'd have to work that we could always adjust accordingly because obviously the high schools have more cameras than the folks around elementary school uh just due to the size. So we can adjust that accordingly as we go but high schools, middle schools, elementary and garage be last. Yes. Perfect. Thank you. You're welcome. Caleb, did you ever get a a number of how many different companies were servicing all the divisions currently? Yeah, I think there's six different systems that we currently have. Okay. Yeah. And I presented that on the 11th. Okay. It was six of them that that we have
018currently operating in the system right now. Right. Yes. Okay. And that was one of the issues that caused with working with ECC of being able to do that in emergency, right? technically ECC would have to have a game plan for each of our schools and if a school was on some schools even have two different servers of the same brand. So it's it's very complex when you add in if they're doing this in a in a high stress emergency environment they they don't have time and Miss Burggo can attest they don't have time to plug and play a different playbook for each school. So with this system we will be able to have one one integrated system throughout the division. So, every school would be able to we' be able to access those cameras in
019Fidelity. Awesome. Can you I'm sorry. Can you give us kind of an overview of what these cameras are going to do for our division specifically? I've had people reach out to me and say, "Oh, well, are these going to be used to surveil our teachers?" Um, can you kind of speak to what it's going to bring to the table for us, please? Absolutely. Well, the first thing is we don't want to surveil anyone, correct? like our our plan is to make sure we're secure. So, that's the biggest thing is we want to have adequate hallway coverage and things like this. We won't have classroom cameras. We won't have audio cameras. So, there's some things of that nature um that can help us. And to that extent, I don't want to divulge too much information about
020the cameras as well because that's a security breach in itself. So, we don't want someone sitting at home thinking and plotting and planning of, you know, listening to me talk to you. But if you want to speak in close session, but to give teachers and folks a peace of mind, um this system is able to be tracked with um throughout the system every with in entirety. So every move that you make on that system regardless if you look at a certain class, if a principal pulls up a certain classroom uh regularly, a certain camera regularly, or there's individual, we can have checks and balances on that where people can monitor it. So we we're going to have different permission settings uh that have access. So not everyone is going to have access to the camera
021setting in totality. Uh we'll have permission settings through it with uh Mr. Gillette that monitor this. So there's a checks and balance. So even someone at at the ECC will not be able to check in and watch someone in the school if that makes sense. So we're not going to have any any of the big brotherism. Yes. Thank you. And yeah, we've had a couple of conversations in close session. I and I wasn't sure what I could say to the public. So, thank you for for kind of giving it to us in a nutshell. You're welcome. Well, just to just to be clear there, there's no cameras going in the classrooms. No, no class came. Want the public to or media to get a hold of that tonight and say we're putting cameras in the
022classrooms. No, no classroom cameras. We want we want our school to be recorded to where we have we're creating a safety net, not a not a prison system. And kind of on that note, we have had people come uh in uh public comment and mention that stairwells children were getting um there there would be altercations between different children in stairwells. So we've got that kind of coverage just to kind of make sure that our template covers full hallways, stairwells, every exterior door. the SRO's. We had school resource officers. Uh, Sergeant Dolpher assisted with this. Uh, and as well as, uh, well, I'm going to forget her name now. You put me on the spot. We had, um, several officers participate in this and they gave their feedback from a security perspective, which is opposite of
023our principles in because that's a disciplinary perspective most likely. So, they're most likely the ones that want to see the stairwell where the SRO wants to see that exterior door to catch someone coming or going. So we had the different perspectives. Uh Holly Glovier was the name. I knew I would come back to it. Um yeah, so that we we do have a template in place so that we'll have that coverage throughout the division. So no school's going to be left behind with less cameras or we'll have it appropriately covered. But just to be clear, you had overwhelming support from the principles that were that participated in checking those things out, giving opinion and and all of that. like there was there was support from the principles for this security system. Yes, ma'am. And actually,
024I wanted to pull my name off of the recommendation because letter from them just because I wanted it to be their voice and they they told me that they wanted my name on it as well, but I wanted to let them be do the talking because it's what they're going to use and they're the ones who put in the value time as Dr. Shifflet says uh constantly. They're the hardest working people in our division and they're bombarded with emails and they we've put over 500 hours into this and we've vetted multiple systems and we've spoken to you all in close session about the you know the gravity we went to the links to make sure that we were covering ourselves accurately and but not doing ourselves um harm by having too much either. I just
025had a question. How quickly when we put these cameras in, will our 911 center have access and ability or is that long-term? Right now, we're just looking at updating cameras for school division purposes. As soon as we have the first one in, we should be able to have okay them loaded up. So, that it's a cloud-based system, so they should be able to access it. Uh, we've actually Greg Gillette suggested that we reach out to ECC's technology director. We've already been in preliminary talks with them. they were in on the front end of this. Okay. So, this this transition should be very easy for ECC. Cool. Okay. Board members, we have a motion on the floor to authorize staff to begin negotiations with Biz to enter into a contract for the purchase and installation of
026Ricotta cameras in an amount not to exceed 4.2 million. All those in favor, please say yes. Yes. All those opposed say no. Motion passes 5-0. Thank you for all of your hard work. We do appreciate that. The next three items are brought to us by Mr. Greg Gillette. We have a couple of technology bid and some procurement things. We'll let you take it away. Thank you, Chair Hurst, members of the board, and Dr. Shivallet. Thank you for your time today and for your dedication to the students of Rockingham County. Before you is a resolution regarding annual reimbursement from the Virginia Public School Authority Education Technology Notes Series XXVI or 26. This resolution allows for the spending of $648,000 for RCPS and $26,000 for MTC beginning July 1st, 2025 and ending June 30th, 2026. These funds
027will be reimbursed in June of 2026. This initiative is designed by the state to ensure necessary hardware and infrastructures in place to support Virginia's online testing initiative. I'm seeking your approval to spend 648,000 and apply for the VS VPSA grant for 648,000. Chair Hurst and board members, I recommend the adoption of the Virginia Public School Authority Educational Technology Notes Series 26 resolution as presented by Gregory Gillette, director of technology. Thank you, Dr. Shiplet. Board members, do I hear a motion? I move to follow the superintendent recommendation. Thank you, Mr. Cross. Do I have a second? Second. Thank you, Miss Burggoyne. Um, it sounds like this is what Mr. Moyers was describing earlier where we're applying or we're paying for and then we're applying for reimbursement from federal funds. Is that correct? Uh similar situation. This
028is actually a state initiative. State initiative. Okay. Awesome. Any other questions, board members? Hearing none. All those in favor say yes. Yes. All those opposed say no. Motion passes 5-0. On to the next item. purchasing a bid recommendation for purchasing student Chromebooks. Thank you, Chair Hurst. Um, an invitation to bid, uh, sorry, an invitation for bid to purchase 1,000 Chromebooks for students in grades three, four, and five was properly specified on our website and sent to multiple firms and manufacturers. Four firms responded with sealed bids. The lowest bid was from CDW offering HP Chromebooks in the amount of 600 uh sorry 364,000 or 364 per Chromebook. I'm here seeking your approval to proceed with this purchase. Chair Hurst and board members, I recommend awarding the contract for purchasing 10,00 Chromebooks to the lowest bidder as
029presented by Gregory Gillette, director of technology. Thank you, Dr. Shifflet. Board members, do I hear a motion? I move to follow the superintendent's recommendation to award the contract for purchasing 10,000 Chromebooks to the Lois Feder as presented by Gregory Gillette. Thank you, Miss Lur. Do we have a second? Second. Thank you, Miss Burggoyne. Um, any discussion from board members? How long is that contract good for? Um, you mean how soon can we execute or how long do we have to execute on it? Uh, I believe that, uh, I would have to look at the bid language to be certain on that. I couldn't say. Um, but we could ask them specifically, how long would you give us this pricing? This is to purchase, not rent. Purchase. Yes, we've decided to purchase them versus leasing them
030because that's a good question. Um, so our next um action item will be to lease 1,700 Chromebooks. And the reason that we chose to purchase 1,000 Chromebooks and lease 1,700 is uh twofold. One is cash flow. We don't have enough cash this coming year to buy 2,700 Chromebooks. Um so uh that's the primary reason. Another reason is that uh related to our previous action item for VPSA grant um I will be using some of this funding uh from that 648,000 that you approved to purchase uh 364,000 of um of that 648 towards that 648. Go ahead. Are they the same Chromebooks, the ones that we're leasing and purchasing? Yes. And I would I would not try and do a mix. Yeah. Good. Yeah. And are are they as good as this Chromebook? Yes. Uh we
031actually uh this year uh we opened it up um for competition and we allowed four manufacturers to send us samples. We tested all of them thoroughly for a good good period of time. We beat on them pretty hard and all of them passed the test. Yeah. because these things are these things are tough. I I've dropped mine repeatedly. I I was actually working on some sheep stuff outside and a rainstorm came up and my husband's like, "Hey, go check your Chromebook." It was a little wet, but look, it still works fine. So, yeah, they're amazing. So, thank you for all the work that you've done. It was it was MTC sheet stuff. Dr. Dr. Shifflet, um before we do more schoolboard questions, do you want to share some information about I think some of some
032of us are thinking about technology as a whole as to what we're doing as a division. Um wanting to make some wise decisions for the future as far as technology use, the amount of technology being used in our schools. Um we're not afraid to be innovators. I think we we made a first step in bel belltobell on no cell phones. Um and I I think you know some of us could be prepared to do bold things with technology again in the future. Um but it is one of those things that we need a lot of care and thought and I thought maybe you would have some thoughts about kind of where you where you are seeing things shape up after you I guess you've met with the technology committee. I'll just let you share. Yeah.
033No, thank thank you, Chair Hurst. Um, happy to uh to share with the school board and and those in attendance. So, as you may recall back in a previous meeting in May, I shared with you the benefits and concerns that had been shared and collected as as I held two uh sort of meetings with parents, with teachers, with principles to talk about, okay, what are you experiencing either as a building level leader, as a teacher, as a parent, what are you seeing as the benefits for your child having access to a Chromebook or an iPad? And we really didn't talk about, you know, smartboards or smart panels or anything, just that onetoone device. And then we also spent time talking about concerns. And again, I shared that information with with schoolboard members just so you
034could kind of get a sense of what people were sharing with the group. And so then I went back to those groups, shared the same information with both groups, everything we had collected. I went back to those groups on May 27 and 28 and I said, "Okay, we're going to look and reflect on the benefits and concerns and now we're going to determine some guidelines, some parameters, some steps moving forward to address the concerns without losing our benefits and what does that look like?" And so we had two day again two different conversations. I compiled all that information and then uh I shared it with um our entire uh leadership team in Rockingham County, principles, assistant principles, supervisors, directors and we looked at that information about two weeks ago and and we kind of tried
035to narrow it down and come up with some guidelines moving forward for this coming school year. And I'd like to share those with you just so you get a sense of sort of some of our first steps that we intend to take this this school year. Uh and and this sheet is in your is in your packet. So if you want to reference it. So number one, which you know maybe goes without stating, but there must be clear connections between the use of the iPad or Chromebook and the learning goals for the for the lesson. And that's we can't forget that. Uh number two, which will be a big change in how we've been probably doing some of our work in the classroom, is iPads and Chromebooks are not to be used during choice during
036choice time or when students have completed their class assignments. Uh we will encourage students to read during these times or do other activities that do not require technology. Uh three, and this was this is another pretty significant change doesn't impact what we're doing here, Mr. Gillette, but you understand this. Chromebooks will not be sent home for sixth and seventh grade students. Uh, currently they are able to take those devices, you know, to and from school. They will have access to the device during the school day for the learning for their learning activities, but they will not be taken home daily. Students may check out a Chromebook for extenduating circumstances. Uh, number four, um, and this is more of a classroom management. Students should have their iPad, Chromebook closed when the teacher is providing direct instruction.
037Eyes up, screens down. Uh, five, our curriculum leaders, supervisors, directors will identify programs and apps that students can use to support the overall learning program as well as when to utilize these programs or apps. Uh, one of the concerns was there just seems to be just an inordinate amount of these uh, applications and we needed to narrow it. And then uh number six, continue to offer professional development opportunities for faculty staff to leverage the use of technology in their classrooms for learning purposes and when it is when it is the right tool for the task. So, you know, looking into, you know, the 2526 school year, uh, thinking about, you know, these guidelines or parameters, I will be communicating this to our our faculty, our staff, to our to our parents, to our community, to
038our students, so that they understand there's some changes. And I I think it'll be important then for us to get a pulse on uh what is the demand for devices as we begin to maybe scale back their use on a day-to-day basis. What does that look like? Um, so just wanted to to share that with the school board to kind of bring some closure to the work that we have been doing with the committee groups on the use of technology and again trying to address some of the concerns that our families had and uh some of our teachers and um try to be better with the the use of technology. Board members, do you have questions or comments? I I don't have any comments. My my vote tonight is going to be no on purchasing
039these. I've been pretty vocal over the last couple of years of my position when it comes to technology in the classroom. And um I would I I'm okay with maybe fifth grade looking at Chromebooks and getting them familiar with them for middle school, but I don't I don't I'd like to see less technology, especially at the elementary school level. So, it's not it's my opinion. It's where I stand on it. and it's what I feel as a parent and what I think is good for kids and so my vote tonight will be a no vote no vote for it but it's not a reflect on you Mr. Gillette of the work you've done thank you for the work you've put into this and and what you're doing and you do this at the request of
040the board and it's not insult on the board tonight it's just we're at my position I'm going to take a stand on this tonight that I' I feel like I'd like to see it pushed back to at least fifth grade so Mr. Cross. I'd like to uh give you some food for thought and all the board members regarding this action item. Um if you choose to vote yes tonight, I don't have to execute right away. And also the pricing uh requirements in the bid request did state that I can move it up or down as much as I want. So if we need to go from buying a,000 to only buying enough for fifth grade, however much that would be, off the top of my head, let's just call it 333. Um well, we could
041actually afford to buy all the Chromebooks we would need for grade for the fifth grade. Um it would present some significant challenges for instruction and um and also testing. Uh if you were to decide to put no Chromebooks out, um another option that I didn't present was we can buy the existing Chromebooks out of the lease. The lease ends in August. Um, I'm sorry. Uh, October 31st. My mistake. But I do need to provide them with an election. I need to provide the bank with an election to determine uh let them know if we're going to buy those out of the lease or if we're going to end the lease and return them to them. Uh, and that would be 90 days prior to um, uh, to the end of the lease. So that would
042be July 31st is a is a hardcut update to know that information. So, I will add to that because I have also struggled with my own kids. I have two rising kindergarteners and a rising fourth grader. And I have very much so struggled as a parent and sending my kids to school wondering are they sitting on their tablets or, you know, Chromebooks or whatever. And um I was I'm against throwing them in front of tablets and TVs. And you know, we just drove home 2 days ago from Orlando and my kids sat in the back seat with their tablets just going at it until they died. And I just I'm like, well, we're just getting by for a 12-hour drive, but this isn't going to happen all the time. And so, um, what I I
043reached out to some teachers that I know in Rockingham County, just said, "What's what's your two cents on this? What's your feedback?" And um one thing that I was surprised to know, Matt, was that the so test is not available in paper format. So it has to be on a Chromebook. It has to be on the tablet. And so certainly, I'm not saying stick them in front of the tablet every single day so they're ready for the so to take it on the computer, but certainly in third grade, that's when they first start taking their SOS. They need to be familiar with how to do that. And I just know my poor daughter took her um 7 hours to finish one so and she passed. But uh I can't imagine how frustrating that would have
044been for her if she was not totally familiar with her system and how to work it and how to operate it. So I um I definitely struggle as a parent, you know, how much technology are they getting? How much outside and pen and paper are they getting? Um and so I think there is a there is a balance there. So, I mean, I'm going to vote yes tonight. Um, I also would encourage our teachers to, like Dr. Shiffleta has said, limit that um, and utilize it only when necessary. I also, one thing that I didn't think of, and a teacher told me this today, um, before the bell rings in the morning, they would have kids rushing into class to to get extra time on a a game they were playing, an educational game. But,
045um, she made a joke. She said, you know, isn't that in line with Dr. Shifflet's attendance policy? I was like, you know, it is. So, um, but but these kids are they they want to get to school early now because they have an opportunity to, you know, do that spelling game or whatever the case may be. Um, and and that was definitely a topic of conversation I saw in third grade last year with my daughter. Oh, this, you know, this one kid got this far and I got this far. So, um, I also I have the Securely app so I can see how often my kid is on it. Um, I did have some concern at the beginning of the year. I thought, man, is she on this thing all the time? Um, and then
046I realized it was during a lot of assessments and a lot of testing and things like that. So, um, I completely understand that and I am concerned as well, but I um I understand that it is it's a tool and obviously I think for parents, if you have a concern, let us know. So if it if it's a a single person who is abusing the access to this, then of course Dr. Shiplet can handle that. But I don't think as a whole across the the division that we're overusing our Chromebooks. I would hope so. Um I I guess my question would be to you because we discussed this the other day, Dr. Shiplet, and so I was informed about the SOS being taken on them. What's the workound? Because these purchases when we're talking about
047either with purchasing or leasing, we're we're talking we're still talking about the oneto one, right? So, what's the workaround if we scale back our purchases and we scale back our leasing? And we may be talking about not tonight, but maybe long term. I mean, how how can we do that? Like, we we have to get that done. We have to start scaling back. Like, we have to start working on that. And I think the first step in doing that sometimes is just to say no, we're not purchasing anymore. Let's work with what we have. And so is there a workaround for getting those SOS taken and getting them trained enough in third and fourth grade? Although it it pains me to even think that we're doing that and it's not just we. I know that
048that's everywhere and that's how they're testing now and whatever, but but what is the workaround to scale back from the one one still having to test them in third and fourth grade on a Chromebook? Like what? you have a plan. So I think um and I mentioned this in my earlier conversations, right? So this is these recommendations is sort of our first step, if you will, to kind of make sure that students aren't rushing in to get on a Chromebook or an iPad at the beginning of the school day, right, for a dopamine hit, we'll we'll we'll have books for them to read or games for them to play or whatever, but it will not be technology. So I I think that then gives us some information as we move forward to say okay do
049we need um a Chromebook in the hands of each child. Now, I will say when it comes to Chromebooks, uh you know, elementary kids, if we were sharing, they would have to sign in and out. Sometimes that can be somewhat problematic for for younger kids, uh to get, you know, to get into their account, sign out of, you know, sign out. Let's say I forgot to sign out, then you have to sign me in, sign yourself in, so forth, right? It's just a little bit of a process. So, I think they'd have to be thinking through that, you know, that process. What does it look like for testing? Right now we have the flexibility since we have one one uh we can test just about any day we want to right I mean we pick
050the date and we can test all of third fourth and fifth grade if we want right we we have the capability I think we'd have to think through the testing window it's going to change and have it me be moved to the last two weeks of the school year and and so it's going to get a little bit tighter window so we'd have to think about that piece um you know and again I see some value and teachers having this resource when it's the best tool for the job. So if you know if you're giving a a test and you know Virginia studies and you want to put kids on the Chromebook for some you know some type of assessment that has some multiple choice and also some technology enhanced items. I think it just
051gives them more flexibility. It's it's a conversation then how do we uh pull back and then still you know have teachers to work around. You know, I I shared this, you know, with both groups. You know, when I was a classroom teacher, we didn't even have access to a computer lab because the computer lab was used for keyboarding and and teaching computer 8. And then I was a building level principal. We had two computer labs. Teachers always had to sign up for them, right? So then you had to plan ahead when you're going to use the, you know, the computer lab, is it available? Those types of things. So part of the onetoone initiative was just really making sure the resource was there when it was needed. But I think it can be you know
052future conversations as to is at the elementary is one to one uh too much you know I don't know middle school gets really tricky because you know it's actually more cost effective to hand each kid a Chromebook than to put one in each classroom right a set in each classroom in terms of cost uh so I think it's a you know again a continued conversation um as to what direction you know the board desires to go I understand as I you know was a part of these conversations ations with these families, the concern of kids spending too much time on iPads or Chromebooks. I I I understand that. Yeah. So, I I guess two questions, and you may you may answer them together, is maybe not. So, is this more of a pullback on some
053of the classroom management techniques as opposed to a pullback on our purchases? like, hey, it's still a good idea to purchase these and we're just going to work where we're going to start this mountain where where we're going to start at is managing the classroom and changing our habits inside of the classroom. That would be my recommendation to start there. Start. What about if this was a K through2 lease and purchase um tonight? Would would we perhaps in the future when when those comes come up think differently? Yes. And we've had that conversation already in terms of um what does it look like for elementary kids to to share iPads and how can we do that in a way that's um doesn't become a a management nightmare for the classroom teacher, but they can easily
054get on to the iPad and then you know someone else can use it after them. But I think it would be a bigger conversation. When we first uh started our digital conversion initiative, it was not geared to be one to one and K and one right then when co um came and then we needed to do you know some remote learning and different things we went ahead and put them one to one. So I think if this was a K1 conversation yeah I think we'd have to take we'd have to probably ponder that a little bit more deeply. Okay. Have we done that this year already or is that something that's coming up? I can give you the numbers and a timeline for you to be able to make that kind of decision about whether
055or not to pull back on onetoone with iPads. Okay. So, we actually had a lease for iPads that was due to end this summer. And part of this uh planning for this fiscal year was to purchase and lease uh I think it was somewhere in the neighborhood of three 3600 chrome um iPads, but instead of um uh ending that lease and returning the iPads, we actually bought the iPads out of the lease. So the ones that were deployed are still deployed and we plan to run those for another two years. So by the end of the school year ending in 27 is when we'd want to make a decision about whether or not to continue onetoone with iPads and students in uh K to2. Okay. All right. And these initiatives that you've talked about these
056parameters Dr. Shifflet just for clarification to the public you're talking about K through 12. Our purchases tonight we're talking about just for the public knowledge third fourth and fifth grade. That's what we're talking about with the leases and the purchases tonight that we're taking action on. But when Dr. Shifflet was talking about parameters, how we manage the classroom, those six items, that's for K through 12. Correct. Thank you. So to tie all this back in together to the amendment that I had earlier. So part of the amendment tonight was to purchase those iPads that Greg spoke of. The reason we did that was the lease was up and we did not want to lease them for another four years if you all decided you didn't want them in the classroom. And so we did since
057we did not have an answer at the time we needed to move for them. We went ahead and bought the used ones that we have. We can utilize them until the board makes a decision on whether or not you want to keep them one to one or then we want to cycle them out, but we won't be tied into a lease. And so that's one reason with why we structured the budget the way that we did. Yeah. Thank you. I do want to add one more thing that uh was told to me today was about the the CKLA program ties directly into a a boost program. Is that right? So I think that was very beneficial for teachers especially this year that the new CKLA tied in with this boost program that they can do
058on their computers. Um and I don't know I remember teachers back in the day taking like stacks of paper home for grading and I was just like this must be so easy. they just take the test and it's automatically there and they get their grades in. So, um I guess I I think for teachers sake maybe beneficial when doing testing and things like that saves them a lot of time I would hope. Um but I did want to mention the boost and CLA portion of of that. And another benefit of using like the digital platform for assessments, you can also get some really good information back about students. So you can look at a test item for example what test number item number seven and you notice that 80% of your students got that answer
059incorrect. Well now either you didn't teach it correctly or there's a misunderstanding right it allows you as a teacher to kind of pinpoint where you need to retach or review. Uh so there's some value in it. So again I think you know Mrs. Okay, as sort of like your thoughts about, okay, we're going to keep the technology there, but we're going to scale back our use of it on a daily basis and be very more intentional about it. And then if that leads us to conversations down the road to say, you know, do we need one set for two classrooms or three? What does that look like then? you know, and and what can teachers get get by with? You know, I um some of these uh technology enhanced items are challenging for students on
060the on the computer, right? They're high rigor. Uh maybe there's a time, you know, where Mrs. Eastep can show some samples of what these questions look like and what our students are working through. And so, you really need lots of opportunities for kids to practice that, right? whether it's just one daily warm-up or an end of the day exit ticket, but giving kids kids an opportunity to see uh questions like this because it's it's not a simple multiplechoice pick the best answer. It may be two or three answer choices are correct and it's we got to give our kids opportunities to be successful and and work with them through that. So, I guess I do want to take this opportunity to give a plug to the the technology and and why I think it's important
061that it be in the classroom. Uh my oldest child uh graduated, I believe, the year that we gave 1:1 devices to seniors. And when he graduated and went on to college, he struggled navigating the technology because he hadn't been exposed to it. Um, and now fast forward to to this year, I'm working with seventh graders on egg science projects and I had kids saying, "No, this is how you do it." And would show me shortcuts that I didn't know how to do with the Chromebook. Uh, they can navigate it now better than I can. um we have to prepare our students to work in the society that they live in which does include technology. So I think it is important that they have that they get exposure to it but we need do we do
062need to be mindful on how we give them that exposure. So just wanted to put that voice out there. Thank you. Um, I'll I'll wrap up comments just by sharing my um intention is to vote yes tonight. Um, because I think it's it's prudent to do so. I think we've all expressed a level of concerns that we have. Um, I'm looking at things from a former teachers perspective. I understand how um sharing technology works. I remember the times of um computer lab sign up to take your kids to the computer lab. I remember the times when we used to sign up to get a cart. I know what it's like to schedule um tests when you have to say I've got two fifth grade classes, two fourth grade classes, and two third grade classes that
063all need to take their reading so test and that could take all day for each grade level and we only have enough Chromebooks for 30 students. So, how you know, how do we schedule that when you you know, so that that's three full days of testing. Um, and yes, there are definite workarounds and things that we can do. Um, but I favor a more um just a little bit slower of approach and a more intentional approach while we're pulling back because I do coming from a parent perspective. I want technology use in the classroom to be intentional and I want it to be innovative. Um, I think when we came through COVID, a lot of teachers, myself included, because I I was teaching during that time, I had a lot of worksheets um for elementary
064school that were worksheets that now I needed to digitize, right? So, um, coming out of COVID and it when we think about it, it's really only been like two, three years since since we were fully digital, masking, all the things. And you know at one point we were concerned about you know transfer on paper right so everything went to the computer it took time to do that teachers have developed really amazing looking slides and presentations um what I would suggest is though that it's time to pull back the worksheet use right when we put all of our worksheets on the Chromebook and you have students completing something that could have been on paper and pencil I think I would tell you I favor paper pencil I think there's a lot of value um in taking
065notes on paper pencil, but I also would agree that there are some amazing things that can be done using technology that we can't do otherwise. I think this is a great conversation that we've had tonight as a board and I think it shows, you know, we've got some interest in figuring out a path forward. Um, for tonight my vote is yes because I think it's too soon to just pull the rug out from underneath third, fourth, and fifth grade and um and know and understand that I think we probably should begin with K through two if we're going to be making some adjustments, but that we need to have teachers as part of the conversation to just say, hey, these are our concerns. How can we um how can we accomplish this together? And I
066think our teachers will have some really good um feedback for us. And so, um, I, you know, I think I think our positions are clear as a board. We value technology, but we need to be careful in how we're using it. And so, these are all conversations that I think we need to definitely start having more of. And, um, maybe even looking at our comprehensive plan. Um, one thing, um, I think some people get stuck on is that that is the plan and it cannot be modified for 5 years. That is not true. we can as a board take a look at our comprehensive plan. We can pull it back up and we can say we want to um and you know set some goals that we would like for have you know for technology
067and then build a road map to get there and that's I I think that's what I what I would prefer to do um moving forward is just have some really good maybe we just need to have some work sessions on this and um bring in some teachers and bring in some um technology experts and just have some conversation. But I do really like Dr. Shifflett's recommendations um for the upcoming school year. Um that there has to be clear connections between the use of iPad and Chromebook. I I like that um you know if you finish a worksheet or an activity early that we don't just hop on a math game. I like the concept like go pick up a book and read. Like we we should definitely get back to that. And so um that
068those are just kind of my collection of thoughts, random thoughts, a whole lot of them. But board members, if there is nothing else, we do have a motion to follow the recommend the superintendent's recommendation to award the contract for purchasing a thousand Chromebooks to the lowest bidder as presented by Mr. Gillette, our director of technology. Um all those in favor, please say yes. Yes. Yes. All those opposed say no. No. Motion passes 41. Mr. Gillette, I believe you have the next item as well. Thank you, board members. Uh, an invitation for a bid to lease 1,700 Chromebooks for students in grades three, four, and five was properly specified on our website and sent to multiple firms and manufacturers. Four firms responded with sealed bids. The lowest bid was from CDW with financing partner American Capital
069offering HP Chromebooks in the amount of $668,252 64 over a rental period of 4 years and 3 months which is about $3939 per Chromebook during that period. I'm seeking your approval to proceed with this lease. Chair Hurst and board members, I recommend awarding the contract for leasing 1,700 Chromebooks for up to four years and three months to the lowest bidder as presented by Gregory Gillette, director of technology. Thank you, Dr. Shiplet. Board members, do I hear a motion? I move we follow the superintendent's recommendation. I'm just going to leave it there. Thank you, Miss Lauren. I'll second. It's getting hot up here. Thank Thank you for the Thank you for the second, Miss Burggoyne. Any questions or comments from board members on this item? Hearing none, all those in favor say yes. Yes. All those
070opposed say no. Motion passes for one. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Gillette. For those of you that are watching, the temperature is rising. Don't know if you can feel it or if it's just me. Okay. Um, next up we have Mrs. Amanda Rickard. She is going to present on the secondary math textbook adoption. Good evening, Chair Horse, members of the board, and Dr. Shifflet. After multiple textbook review sessions and feedbacks from teachers and parents, I would like to put forth that the mathspace textbook for grades six through algebra 2 be considered for adoption as our highquality instructional materials which are required by the board of education. Math Space met all the VDOE criteria as it was one of the only textbooks written specifically for Virginia and not Common Core and they tried to align it
071afterwards. Um there is an online component which offers a digital copy of the textbook and online practice with immediate feedback but this one would also come with the old school printed textbooks too so we could do that offline stuff. um and teachers would have the capability to do offline um assignments as well. We also received parent feedback that printed textbooks were something that parents were looking for um or a preference they had. So again, I would like to put forth the math space textbook up for consideration for adoption for grades six through algebra 2. Chair Hurst and board members, I recommend the adoption of Math Space, a VDOE approved textbook for math book for mathematics in grades 6 through algebra 2. And I move to follow the superintendent's recommendation to abduct math space, a VDO
072approved textbook for mathematics in grades six through algebra 2. Second. Thank you, Miss Lure, and thank you, Miss Cave. Board members, are there any questions? I just want to throw out there, I feel like this is one of those places where technology is super cool and awesome because back in my day I just did the same problem over wrong 30 times and that was not helpful at all. And this new on the digitized stuff it tells you no you did that wrong try again. And it it actually this it has been developed to where if a kid is doing it right but hasn't quite finished it, it lets them know that they're on the right track but they have more to do or it does let them know that they're on the wrong track and
073here are some things that they should consider looking at. So it's got a little bit of an AI aspect to it too. That's super cool. Was this a unanimous recommendation by your adoption committee? No. Tell me about that. Um, there were a one or two trying to think. There was at least one teacher that felt the rigor of that textbook was too hard. Um, and they preferred the other one. Um I understand I think having especially for new teachers who are new to the profession this is a really important thing that we um commit to and purchase just simply because when you're a brand new teacher you have the SOS but that doesn't tell you that doesn't give you stuff to work with and so this is a a launching pad. Um, I know with
074um our CKLA uh curriculum that we adopted recently last year, um it came with a you must use it to fidelity kind of mandate. Where do we stand on that as far as the um teachers in grades 6 through algebra 2 using this curriculum? Are we just going to purchase this curriculum and then set it to the side? What are the expectations? Um no. And part of the reason I think for secondary math we adopted a completely digital one years ago um there was no print component and I think it was really easy because it was out of sight out of mind. So I think having that physical textbooks back in will be helpful and I actually met with a teacher today to help develop a plan to kind of roll it out. So, like
075if we adopt it for this coming year, like this is a baseline expectation, but not expecting everybody to jump in full force. Um, because they won't be able to get trained till August. Um, or I can do optional ones over the summer. We really, I'll speak for teachers, some teachers, we really don't like learning about something days before we have to start implementing it. It takes time to to learn the curriculum, learn the resources, um take a look at how you can use them and then implement them. So yeah, so we had a plan to start with a low-level entry point and then build it up over the years. It's it's really stressful when we Yes. when we build the ship while we're flying. If it gets approved to offer summer training, but we can't
076require people to come, but those that are concerned can come in. Okay, sounds good. Any other questions or comments? Hearing none. All those in favor of following the superintendent's recommendation to adopt math space, please signify by saying yes. Yes. All those opposed say no. Motion passes. 5. Thank you. Thank you. All right, Dr. Shifflet, I think you've got the rest of these action items and then we're going to take a brief recess before we roll into the information items. So, let's let's work our way through items H, J, and K. All right. H I recommend uh the approval and authorization of Donna Abernathy, assistant superintendent, and Justin Moyers, chief financial officer, to sign all VD V P V P V P V P V P V P V P V P V P V PE
077reports, documents, requisitions, and other official correspondence in the absence of the superintendent through June 30th, 2026. Thank you, Dr. Shifflet. Do we hear a motion? I move to follow the superintendent's recommendation to approve and authorize Donna Aberdath, the assistant superintendent, and Justin Moyers, chief financial officer, to sign all VDOE reports, documents, requisitions, and other official correspondents in the in the absence of the superintendent through June 30th, 2026. Thank you, Miss Lord. Do we have a second? Second. Thank you, Mr. Cross. Any questions or comments? Dr. You don't have an auto pen you can use. Just get approval. like stamp. Do we normally go this far out or I mean like a year, but do we normally go because this is Didn't we do this in January and now Doug is retired or do we normally
078do this in June? This is the signatures, but it's this time of year. Okay, very good. Do Okay, thank you. Okay. All those in favor of following the superintendent's recommendation, please say yes. Yes. All those opposed say no. Motion passes 5. Dr. Shifflet, we've got a couple of supplementary materials to vote on tonight. Okay. The first one, uh, Chair Hurst and board members, upon review by the content review committee in accordance with the RCPS policy IABB, I recommend retaining smoke by Ellen Hopkins as a book does not contain sexually explicit content as that defer term is defined in RCPS policy IBA. Thank you, Dr. Shiplet. Board members, do I hear a motion? I move to remove the book Smoke by Ellen Hopkins as this book does contain sexually explicit content as that term is defined
079in RCPS policy IABA. Thank you, Miss Cave. Do we have a second? Thank you, Mr. Cross. Any discussion hearing? None. All those in favor say yes. Yes. All those opposed say no. No. Motion passes 41. Chair Hen, board members, upon review by the content review committee in accordance with RCPS policy IABB, I recommend retaining the Nowhere girls by Amy Reid as the book does not contain sexually explicit content as that term is defined in RCPS policy IABA. Thank you, Dr. Shifflet. Board members, do I hear a motion? I move to remove the book The Nowhere Girls by Amy Reid as this book does contain sexually explicit content as that term is defined in RCPS policy I I ABA. Thank you, Miss Cave. Do we have a second? Thank you, Mr. Cross. Any questions or comments?
080Hearing none. All those in favor say yes. Yes. Yes. All All those opposed say no. No, sorry. Motion passes 41. Chair Hurst and board members, upon review by the content review committee in accordance with RCPS policy IABB, I recommend retaining Valiant Ladies by Melissa Gray as the book does not contain sexually explicit content as that term is defined in RCPS policy IABA. Thank you, Dr. Shifflip. Board members, do I hear a motion? Great. I move to follow the superintendent's recommendation to retain the nowhere girls. Right. Nope. I'm sorry on the wrong one. I'm hot and it's sleepy. I mean Valiant Ladies. Valiant Ladies by Melissa Gray as this book does not contain sexually explicit content as that item as that term is defined by in our CPS policy IBA. Thank you, Miss Lur. Do we
081have a second? I'll second it. Any questions or comments hearing? None. All those in favor say yes. Yes. All those opposed say no. Motion passes for one. Okay. I promised a recess. We need a a very brief recess. Um five minutes. [Music] a lot of air front. Oh, that was good. That was good. Glad to hear you. You're sitt in my car to hear probably. Imagine But you have Yeah. [Music] I'm check. What's she hear? All right. I don't think that's correct. But we have [Music] number 16. Number one. It's hard. You want to say that But it was a good day. Yes. Oh yeah. I'm a problem solver. Oh my god. I'm going to call this meeting back to order. Thank you all um for the brief recess. At this time, we have several
082information items, beginning with a social studies update on Democracy 250 by Mr. Bo Dickinson. We'll give you the floor. Just remember, it's hot in here. I I've already been warned. So, you know, if it was 10-minute presentation, maybe it's not 10 minutes. No, it it it is it is much shorter. In fact, it's my retirement gift to Doug Aldifer. I've already announced it as such. So, it'll be the first and only short social studies presentation. I hope everyone over there enjoys it. Is somebody timing? Is Is somebody timing it? I'm all right. I'm okay. I'm just kidding. Take take the time that you need. No, that's all right. Thank you, Mr. Dick. I will be brief. I will be brief. So, good evening, Chair Hurst, Dr. Shifflet, members of the board. Thank you for the
083opportunity to share this social studies update with you tonight. Tonight I'm going to provide a brief overview of two major efforts of our district's participation in the national democracy 250 which is essentially our version of America 250 and then the state version of Virginia 250. Um uh democracy 250 is my terminology about what we're doing locally. And the second point that I will uh discuss is our locally awarded verified credit option in social studies. So very briefly, democracy 250 as you know begins it's our 250th anniversary as a country and particularly the declaration of independence. So we will celebrate that fact on July 4th 2026. Uh that begins in earnest. It's something that we've had pre-existing in Rockingham County. We did a few events last year. Really it starts here on July 4th. It's just
084coming around the corner. So it's a year-long celebration and recognition. Uh there'll be a variety of things. I mean, this is just one big umbrella of a variety of events that will happen across the division. This could be something as small as a lesson on the Constitution for Constitution Day in a random elementary school. It could be as big as a divisionwide initiative and a studentled project. So, uh my point in saying that is is that it's just one big umbrella for a lot of things recognizing this history over the course of the next year. I'd love to kick it off by inviting everyone across the division to join this event that's actually an annual event at Montichello at Thomas Jefferson's home. It is a naturalization ceremony. I don't know if you're familiar with this
085or not, but it's something that happens every year. Uh it's the essence of America, democracy. People from all over the world become American citizens. Uh and they take their oath to this country on the steps of Thomas Jefferson's home on the 4th of July. So, I plan to attend that event as a representative of the school division. Um, and that to me is the beginning of this initiative. It couldn't have a more symbolic start being in Virginia at Thomas Jefferson's home on July 4th. It also is the premiere of The American Revolution by Ken Burns, which will premiere and debut on PBS later this month. He actually will be there in person, and there's a number of social studies teachers that are going with me to see that event. that we were lucky enough to
086get tickets. So, we will be uh heavily nerding out as social studies teachers on the 4th of July. That's like all the things to us. Uh so, with that in mind, I will tell a very brief story about local history. Uh because that's important to us in so in social studies and in Rockingham County, we have a very storied past. So, very briefly, um a lot of people know us, of course, as Rockingham County. A lot of people mistakenly think that that's a reference to the prevalence of limestone. It is not. If anyone's ever dug a post hole in Rockingham County, you think Rockingham st stands for rocks. Of course it does not. It is referenced to an individual. His name was Thomas Watson Wentworth. And I encourage you if you've ever been, of course
087we all have, up the front steps of the county courthouse. If you look on the right, there is a plaque that was installed in 1927. That was the 150th anniversary of Rockingham County. Rockingham County was established in uh and we were named in honor of this individual. His name again, Thomas Watson Wentworth. Now, why would we name ourselves after someone from Great Britain, which he was at the time a wig politician. He was the um prime minister of Great Britain uh twice and he was named and honored here during the American Revolution. So 1877 of course being one year after the declaration of independence. We chose this individual because he spoke out against the war against the colonies in opposition uh and also as the British prime minister he oversaw the repeal of the hated
088stamp act. So that's the origins of Rockingham is in honor of this individual. In fact, his estate, his name was Thomas Watson Wentworth. So that would be an odd name for a school division. Uh Wentworth public schools was not, it doesn't really have the same center ring of the name, but Rockingham is a reference to his estate. And that is a place that is in the middle of Great Britain, probably about two hours north of London. And that was a castle named Rockingham. Those are the woods of Rockingham around it and he inherited that property as the marquee of Rockingham. So little interesting history, you know, that's where our name comes from and it came to us during the American Revolution. So uh in the interest of time, I will just say that uh you
089have these slides before you, I thought it was relevant to share our mission statement as well as our transfer goals. This is work that uh Dr. Shifflet oversaw a few years ago in our work on UBD or otherwise known as understanding by design. This is what guides us as social studies teachers and educators in this division. It's what we hold near and dear. These are the values of curriculum and best practice. Uh rather than go through those slides, I'll just leave that for your reference and if you have questions, you may of course ask them to me. Um but let's talk about the locally awarded verified credit option. That's really what I wanted to highlight today in something that's been going on in social studies for the last two years. So the LAVC option, we
090love acronyms in public ed as you know, but locally awarded verified credit option is quite a mouthful and it does not convey the significance of of what I believe about this, what I feel about this as an educator. This was innovative, fundamental, landmark change for social studies. It's available to us from uh the state board of ed. The LABC option involves a series of inquirybased assessments throughout the school year and this is in place of the traditional so test that comes in May that's just a series of multiple choice questions. LAVC is three assessments rather than one and you have the opportunity to learn from the process. Not only students have the opportunity to grow, but teachers have that formative quality where they can really think about how they're implementing it, how they're teaching it,
091and how well perhaps they're preparing their students and what their students needs are. So, I see that as the great strength. We do this three times. We do it once in the fall, once in the winter, and once in the spring. uh the state assessments use the structure of the inquiry design model which is something that we've used for years and uh spent a lot of time in professional development talking about uh that being kind of the core of best practice in social studies across the country. So that created a lot of infrastructure that enabled us to make this change. So I thought that that was very beneficial um of our professional development investment over the last few years. uh the student work is actually scored by a VDOE common rubric. That's not something that
092we write. That's given to us by the state department of ed. And then uh we ensure interrator reliability in that process through a mass scoring process. That means that the classroom teacher gets to score and evaluate their own students of course because that's best practice. But to ensure that they aren't inflating or perhaps being too harsh in that process, another teacher will score that in a mass process where they don't realize the name of the student. Um, and that is shared within a department or sometimes across departments across the school division. Uh, and that's just a policy that that we agree with, but it's also required by uh, state regulations. Uh, the second to last point here is that students receive individual scores for each IDM assessment. So there's multiple data points along with a
093cumulative score that combines all three of those inquiries which each of them have a content score a as well as a skillsbased score. So I think it strikes a good balance there of what do they know but also what can they do with that knowledge. Uh that's essential in social studies. It can't just be about rope memory. We have a lot of content. Our content's rich. It's important but you can't just ask a student to memorize and regurgitate. like most people, we forget that in about two weeks. So to have some type of uh staying power and significance and some retention uh it it should involve both skill as well as knowledge. And that's my last point. Um so that's what LABC is. Now let's look at results. Um so here's your series of inquiries.
094We started in world G. Forgive me this is a process point before we get to results. We did last year was just a pilot where we explored world geography in the ninth grade. This year we have expanded that to world history 2, Virginia US history uh as well as students in their senior year in government. And in each of those they take uh an inquiry in the fall, one in the winter, and one in the spring. And it's a series of assessments that produces a cumulative score. So the results last year we were very very pleased with. Um, you know, when you do something like this and you create a landmark change, uh, change that I had not seen to assessment in my career, which spans two decades now. It was somewhat of a question
095mark of where this might go. Uh, this was considerably different and it was not easy on teachers or students. Uh this involved a considerable increase in rigor. Um a measurement of skill as well as content and also to implement inquiries takes a lot of time. But look at those results. The multiple choice test we had 76% passed the year before we implemented this. The year we shifted to it, it was 93% pass rate. Uh those were of our freshmen who need a verified credit in social studies in order to graduate as you know. So 93% I felt good about. I would not have won at 100%. 100% makes me question the process. 93% I thought we're still holding students accountable, but our teachers are working with them to ensure their success. 93 felt good to
096me. And we also have their 10th and their 11th grade year and their senior year if needed to remediate and give them a second, you know, bite at the apple, maybe a third or a fourth. Uh, as many people know, some kids take these multiple choice tests, these so tests, some of them five, six, seven, eight times. and it's it's just not good for some students or for any student for that point. Uh so we now have a second year. So we went from 93% to 95% and I would attribute that to um the level of teacher comfort and understanding what the process is. There's a little bit of a bump there, but I would like to believe we'll probably hover around that pass rate as the norm. about 5% of kids, you know, for
097a variety of reasons in their freshman year just aren't going to make it. But they'll have a chance next year and they'll have a chance the year after that. So, let's unpack this data very briefly. Uh, in nth grade, as you know, there you have the 95%. Uh, students last year who were obviously nth graders last year. Now, 10th graders this year who didn't pass, there were only 18. And the reason that it's so few is that 10th grade world or world history 2, excuse me, is largely students seeking an advanced diploma. So, um, you know, students that are at that academic level tend to do very well on assessments. So, 18 out of 18 passed. That's why so few of them needed it in the first place. 100% pass rate. I feel okay about
098that 100%. Now, let's go to 11th grade US history. These are students who have never had this opportunity before because when we implemented it, they were sophomores. Okay? So, this was from 2023 when we we weren't using this process when they were freshman. Now, they've come back and they haven't passed the SL test. They're in need of it in order to graduate. And out of that 96, 76 of them passed. Now, that's only a 79% pass rate. That's not great, but it's 76 students out of 96 total of the whole class. So, I can sleep at night with those numbers knowing that we're going to get a second chance or I guess a third chance it is in their senior year. Now, we did work with some seniors this year and that kind of gives
099us a an idea of what that implementation might be like. So, these are students out of those 32 there, look at that bottom row, who would not have graduated from high school. These are students that have taken the multiple choice test, the so test a number of times, failed it every time. They do not have a verified credit. You have to have one in social studies in order to get a diploma. So, helping these kids through this process, our teachers took it out of their planning periods, many of them are department heads, some of them classroom teachers, uh out of their own time to meet with them during advisory, teach them the inquiry, and then administer the IDM. And that's not just something you do in one day. That's something that takes weeks. And out
100of those 31 or 32, as you can see, 31 of them passed. Now, here's an interesting point. 10 of those students passed advanced. And I got to read one of those and it was a student and if I I should have brought it here this evening to be quite honest. It is very well written. She has a thesis statement. There's claim, there's evidence, there's reasoning to support her argument. And it looks like a student in an AP class. her department head said, "This student has taken the World Geography so test eight times and never even come close." So that tells me that not every assessment type works for every kid. And I like this assessment type because it represents not only knowledge but also skill. I actually make the argument that this is more difficult,
101more challenging. So, and it's also alignment. So we with the curriculum we have our SOS with instruction we have our grade level teams that we work across across the division to talk about what are best practices in our PD and our professional learning and then assessment we believe in PBAS that means performance-based assessment like this in the middle of all of that I think is IDM it's curriculum it is instruction and a small portion of it is assessment is a summit of assessment uh that's all I have for you this evening thank you for your time I'll be glad to answer any questions you may have. Thank you, Mr. Dickinson. Um, I'm just going to start off with a question and then I'll turn over to board members. Um, some would look at your results
102and maybe suggest that IDMs are easier than so tests um, and that we're just passing kids along. I would like you to speak to that and provide reassurances. That is a great question. I'm glad you asked it for that reason. Uh, one is the state common rubric which holds students to a high level in my opinion. It has a skill measure, it has a content measure. Um, also the blind scoring process where you have two eyes on it and those scores have to be touching in order to give the student um, credit. I would also just say uh based upon my knowledge and my experience with these professionals often times I find that teachers hold students particularly classroom teachers will hold their students to a higher level than the rubric and it's the second score
103who is a little less harsh and probably somewhat more objective. Um, I would attribute our success to just the hard work of our teachers and also the three or four years of infrastructure that we've built implementing IDM over the years. Um, asking a student to write versus bubble in an answer to make an evidentiary based claim is a pretty high level skill. Um, so looking at those I have a great deal of confidence that those numbers and that data is real and that's why I take such pride in it. Well, and like you said, there are some students, like one of the examples you provided, that have taken an SO test, a multiple choice test eight times, failed it every single time, um, but then writes a beautiful and well done, wellressearched, um, IDM and
104passes. And so then we just, again, that comes back to what are we testing when we're testing? And the so test, I mean, there's some kids that um, struggle to take so tests. It's sometimes just strictly an anxiety thing. I would imagine once you get to eight times of taking the same so test, you might have a little bit of anxiety about will I will I pass this next one. So, I'm glad that we have other options for our our students. Board members, are there any other questions for Mr. Dickinson? Okay. Thank you, Mr. Dickinson. Appreciate your time. Thank you. Next up on our information items um is Botben Life skills supplementary materials presented by Miss Liza Kaufman and Mr. Sheldon Rice. Good evening, Chair Hurst, members of the board, Dr. Dr. Shifflet, thank you
105for um a little bit of time on the agenda today to um talk about some supplementary materials that we'll be using in health and PE next year. Um so, Bachmann life skills is an evidence-based program which is been shown to be effective in lots of evaluation studies. Mr. Gillette, will you please click on the link? Um all the way. So you'll see the most recent ones cited here from 2023. So the BotVin program continues to be updated and made more relevant, including information on vaping and electronic cigarettes. Um, but if you would scroll down, you'll see it goes all the way back to page five. Um, which would show you a citation from 1980. So for 40 years or so, Botven Life Skills, this program has been shown to be effective. Thank you very much.
106Please back to the slides. Has been shown to be effective in reducing drug use, alcohol use, violence, and tobacco use from students who participate in the program with fidelity. So, we've talked about using highquality instructional materials in for literacy and for mathematics. And Botman life skills gives us a chance to use high quality evidence-based um materials, supplementary materials for instruction in health and PE around the prevention um of drug use and substance use with our students. Um it is available at these materials are available. These paper workbooks are available at no like no joke actual paper student workbooks um are available to um the division to use um at no cost to our division through um the uh rightel right now program with the opioid abatement program through the commonwealth of Virginia and um they
107will provide the um teacher materials and the the teacher guide and the student workbooks at no cost to our division. Um the reason why they have chosen of all of the programs that they could choose in which um supplementary materials help meet their prevention standards. Um Botvenin was selected and so that's why it is available. The program isn't just like Liza and Sheldon in like the office come going on teachers paid teachers and coming up with some stuff. It has been used for 40 years and rigorously evaluated and held to standards so that we can make sure that our one of our most precious resources I think which is instructional time will be used well and for a good cause curriculum aligned with the SOS. Thank you. Not only is it an evidence-based program with
108great results um as Liza has shown um there are also a lot of great resources for teachers and students that are provided through this program. Uh the first is the asynchronous training um that they have for teachers um to help them get acquainted with the programs and how the materials are used. Um it's approximately six hours. Um and after completion, teachers will be given a certificate um with professional development points that they can use for um lensure renewal. Um it also comes with a teachers guide um that they supply as Liza said, which is also a hard copy. Um and there are some online resources as well that teachers can use as needed. um student workbooks um and there is a stipen available um through that program where we're getting it from uh teachers that
109complete the program um and teach that program uh will be able to get that stipen. You can see right here there's a in your um the slides in your packet there's a screenshot of what the lesson progression is for the level one elementary school program. That's the one that's available online. We were able to get the specific curriculum materials for review. I think um Miss Hurst and I sat and like looked through those really specifically, but this is the one that's available online. So, this is level one elementary school recommended for third and fourth graders. We're not going to be using that one. At least our plans are not to use that one. Our plan is to use level two and start with fourth grade. But that just gives you an idea of what the
110programming looks like and what the sequence would be. Um, and you can also see from looking at that, um, there's also a lot of overlap between what teachers already use as well as part of our health curriculum, whether it's, uh, mental health and stress, media, advertising, uh, refusal skills, decision- making, peer influences, social skills. Um, and there's several others, too. That's not an exhaustive list, but you can kind of see these are things that we're already teaching that are part of this program. um implementation. Um what we're looking at for the first year um is for like Liza said, um fourth graders will use elementary level two. Um they're not going to start with level one, start with level two. Um sixth grade will do the middle school level one and ninth graders will do
111the high school component. the second year. Um, as as we re-evaluate and things are going well, our hope is to um, fifth graders would then do elementary level three, seventh graders would do middle school level two. Um, and high school's already doing theirs. Um, and then the third year, um, elementary would already be there with fourth and fifth grade. Um, and then eighth graders, we would add middle school level three as well. So, kind of a tiered approach to that. Any questions? Board members, do you have any questions? Okay. Hearing none. All right. Thank you all for your time. Thank you. Next up on our list, we have Mrs. Becky Ford coming to present to us an art curriculum adoption committee formation. Good evening, Dr. Shifflet, Chair Hurst, and members of the school board. Thank
112you for the opportunity to speak with you here tonight. Um, I'm here to inform you about a committee that we have formed to look into a potential new visual arts curriculum. It's provided by a company called the art of education. Uh the committee that I have put together includes three elementary art teachers, two elementary parents, and one elementary principal. Their names and school affiliations are listed in the notes that were provided to you. The curriculum under review is specifically called the flex curriculum. And the reason why is um it is designed specifically to promote teacher autonomy and agency. uh rather than prescribing a rigid one-sizefits-all for our art teachers who as we know are creative um it provides them a lot of individuality and allows them to tailor instruction to their students and their needs
113in their schools. Over the next month, the committee will review the materials. Uh they are all digital. uh the if the initial review is favorable then the three teacher committee members will pilot the curriculum during the 2526 school year and their feedback after that year will then inform whether we propose to this board um to implement this flex curriculum divisionwide at this time I'm happy to answer any questions that you might have board members any questions you don't have the curriculum available for us to review as well um I can see about getting it. There is no physical curriculum. It is entirely a digital production. Um but we can arrange for some online um availability for two. Our our notes here say that you're forming this adoption committee for K through 12 visual art, but
114I noticed you said there's this doesn't seem like a K through 12. Apologies. It was probably misprint on my side. So K through five. K through five. It does have K through 12 educational materials. Okay. Um, however, as the art stratum becomes widely v uh varied at the high school and secondary level, we're planning to implement this only with K through five. That That's what I figured. Um, I just noticed you only had elementary folk. Yep. Folks on there. So, okay. Any other questions? All right. Thank you, Mrs. Ford. Thank you so much. All right. Dr. Amy Painter is coming up with a couple of policy revisions for information items. Good evening, Chair Hurst, members of the board, Dr. Shifflet. Um, I have two different policies I'm bringing you this evening, uh, that have been
115revised in consultation with the school board attorney. The first one is policy GBMA. It goes way back to July 1st of 1992, and they found that it didn't really align with Virginia code with grievances for support staff. Um, and what has happened is they combined GMA and GBMR uh and aligned it with uh Virginia code and actually spelled out some things that might not have been as clear before such as what it means by business days um and things like that. So, uh, Daniel Rose cleaned up our policy for us um and made it align with what the actual law is. Um the second policy GDQ, it is none of it changed. It's basically an addition to it. Um so right now we have had school bus drivers that have been transporting their non school
116age children, grandchildren, children, they're babysitting on their buses with them. And we are basically one of the last school divisions that do not have any type of policy in place or permission uh for that to happen. Um and how it was brought to our attention actually we had some estrange um it was basically people weren't agreeing on if their child could be transported on their bus or not. So, it kind of brought it to our attention uh that we have a little liability issue if we don't have something in place. Um so working with the schoolboard attorney uh they have drafted um something to go if our policy that explicitly gives permission for non-school age children um to be on the bus and it has to be signed by both uh the parent or ward
117of the child um and the bus driver giving that permission. Um, and it can be revoked by the school board or transportation department at any time. Any questions for either one? Go ahead, board members, if you have questions. So, it's been a little bit since we first started talking about this, so I just want to um remember well, I think when we first talked about this, so we're talking about policy change and we're talking about them signing something as well, right? So, is it like a waiver that they're going to sign and we're going to have it in policy? So, it is going to become part of the policy. It's its own separate section. It's just tagged onto the end of policy GDQ. Um it's a new section called transportation of driver's child grandchild or
118ward. Um and it basically gives the rules of this addition to it and that a request for approval has to be signed before that could start. And we do not have that in place at this time. and they're agreeing that they've met the requirements that is spelled out in the policy and that they assume all risk and dangers associated with transporting uh the children. And you said that do they sign a paper that's specific to this or is their acknowledgement that they've read the employee handbook their acknowledgement that they've read this policy? uh the acknowledgement is uh that they've read this policy and that they agree on it and it has to be done annually. Okay. Okay. Uh and you mentioned about an employee handbook. That is something that we have never had till now.
119And actually, my department's been working on one all year to kind of put some of everything we have in policies and to something that can easily be referenced and understood and actually has links to the actual policies. Um, but just trying to make it more accessible to all of our employees to understand things like this, sick leave, a little bit of everything. So, that should come out this August. Okay. I I have a question more about the the format. I noticed you have a redlinined copy, but we don't have a redline copy. Can we get a redlinined copy? Okay. This thing that I clicked here isn't You're going to have to show me where it is. Okay. Oh, I've got a I've got a paper one. Huh? Oh, okay. So, we're just doing things a
120little bit different. or we'll talk later. Thank you. I didn't use a um technology. I used paper. Thank you, Dr. Painter. Board members, we're wrapping upformational items. We have two things that are in your packet as information for your review. One is the finance department staff report and the other is the financial review for May of 2025. I do encourage you to take a look at the staff report. Mr. Moyers is been working hard on providing us um updates and information on procurement as it's ongoing. And I noticed in there that we're um getting ready to start procurement for the um was it milk milk. So um it's good information in there and so I do appreciate Mr. Moyers preparing those reports for us. At this time we will move into superintendent comments. Okay. Thank
121you, Chair Hurst. Uh, first I just want to say quick congratulations to the Broadway High School softball team and sponsored baseball team on their state championships. Also, I want to um, you know, say I enjoyed all five of our graduations. Um, we there were mass technical center had 419 students who graduated from their programs and approximately I think 244 were RCPS students. And then um, we had in our four high schools 8 186 students graduate and I have the opportunity to attend all of those ceremonies and uh it's nice to sort of see the fruits of your labor when kids finally get that opportunity to walk across the stage. Um, I would like um to um kind of ask the board permission to begin some work with some with a committee uh to be begin
122having conversations about our high school schedule and whether or not it would be feasible for us to move from an odd even schedule to a 4x4. Not this year. Wouldn't happen in August. But I know uh in conversations that we had with some administrators uh this summer uh not even talking about schedules but just talking about learning and what environments work best for that uh some folks begin to talk about a 4x4 and um I just think we need to have a conversation and I'd like to get together I'll put together a committee of principles and teachers and community members and parents and maybe ask some students at some point but it would there be some value and potentially transfer, you know, transitioning to a 4x4 for the sake of our students and learning. Um,
123and I will say upfront, there's pros and cons to both, right? So, I mean, I think if a 4x4 was ultimately the best, we would already be doing it. But, uh, what we're doing now works, but if something is uh gives us other opportunities of things we need to consider, we need to do that. And the last thing I'd like to say, with the board's permission, uh I would like to uh add an additional uh Monday, July 7th, as a holiday for our 12-month employees. Uh they're off the 4th. We thought you were going to say another meeting for us. Uh no, I just u you know, given that it is Democracy 250 and we're kind of kicking off this um whole idea of celebrating 250 years of America, I just think giving our folks
124an extra long weekend may be advantageous. So, um before we get to school board highlights, questions and comments, let's address Dr. Shivit's requests. Um I'm on board with um you pursuing discussions and investigation um with odd even um versus 4x4 as well as um green light July 7. Other board members want to chime in. Mr. Cross got his red, white, and blue on. He's all for it. Right. Yes. Feeling right. As as far as the 4x4 goes, um I ask that you include um because I I've heard these discussions before and like you said, it's better for some some uh courses, but other courses it's harder for. So, please include um foreign language because I know that becomes a sticky wicket with foreign language. Um and I believe fine arts, fine arts and CTE, especially
125EG. So, if you can include some of those folks in the conversation, that would be helpful. And and as long as you don't make me come to a meeting on July 7th, I'm okay with you taking the day off. We were dying. Okay, let's um move on to our our final item of business, which is um schoolboard highlights, questions, or comments. And we'll start with Miss Burggoyne this evening. I was going to congratulate the Broadway High School softball team as well and Turner Ashby uh softball team as well for for doing as well as they did. And I also want to shout out Dr. Aldifer that this is his last meeting and I'm very very sad uh to see you go but I know we'll see you around. So thank you for everything. Thank you
126Miss Borne, Mr. Cross. Yeah, I also wanted to say uh congratulations to the Spotswood High School boys uh state championship team and to the coaching staff with staff with Marcus Davis and um all the seniors. I think there was nine seniors on that team that uh worked their butt off and uh all those who contributed to it. Even our ninth grade pitcher that contributed came in and um did a great job and uh first time in Spotless history of ever winning a state baseball title and regional uh championship as well. So uh they've had a pretty great program under Marcus Davis over the last I don't know how many years Marcus has been there. Not too many, but he's been there for a little while. Uh, but the school's been in exist in existence since
1271980. So, this is our first state championship in baseball. So, we're really excited about it and we're going to celebrate uh for um quite some time with this victory. So, congratulation boys. Thank you. I too would like to to congratulate our sports teams, especially Broadway softball team. And I was so sad that I didn't get to drive them. Um because I had driven them to a couple of games this year and found them to be just delightful. Um and I was actually asked to drive them to the to the the state contest, but I was at the FFA convention and just returning home and I really needed to do some chores. I was going to work it out, but they found somebody else and I appreciate the other driver for doing that. But then when
128they won and they got a an escort by the Broadway fire uh the Broadway police department through town, I was like that would have been a fun time to drive. Of course, I missed that one, but I did have a wonderful time at state FFA convention. Um uh I had I worked with 15 teams of one or two students to translate into 20 students in five schools in RCPS with a science projects and they all competed at state FFA convention and all won their divisions in state at states. Now they will uh they'll move on to national qualifying and if they make top 10 in the na in the nation they'll move on and compete at the national convention in October. So wish them the best of luck. They they've got really good projects so
129I'm hopeful. And then I also spent the week with eight lovely students from Mont Video Middle School. Uh their their uh advisor is out planning. She she actually best of luck. I'm going to go ahead. I don't normally uh call out teachers, but best of luck, Mrs. Horn, who will be having twins tomorrow. So, keep her in your prayers and thoughts because she's she's she's got quite the day for tomorrow. But since she's has that planned, it was best that she not go to to uh Blackburg and stay in the dorms two weeks ago. So, I went with her students, and the students were lovely. I had the best time. Um, I I just I I I definitely had some time to remember why I do this job because our students are amazing. Um, so
130everybody have a happy summer because I already have. Thank you. Thank you, Miss Laura, Miss Cave. Um, I just wanted to in person congratulate the 2025 Broadway and Turner Ashby graduates. I did not get them on my Facebook page, which is where I've been pushing all of my highlights to. And I just um the week just got away with me. It was so crazy from the elementary um fifth grade promotions and the middle school promotions and high school and the high school graduations and MTC that it just sat by the time sat Saturday rolled around like Facebook and social media was just not on my mind. And then the whole month of of June has has almost disappeared. So, I did not want anyone to think that I purposely left out the high schools on
131the other side of the county. So, um, good job and congratulations and wish all of you nothing but success. So, thank you. That's all I have um for my comment. I have a couple of things for tonight. First of all, thank you to Dr. Aldifer. Um, I'm glad we could make our last meeting um, one of the longest in the last couple of months just for you. Um, I designed a lengthy No, I'm just kidding. Um, we we've only met once this month and so it was just a lengthier meeting, but I do want to thank you for your years of service to the division. It's been a pleasure to work with you in a different capacity and we wish you the best in all of your future endeavors. Um over the past year and
132a half, this board has demonstrated and requested some adjustments to our calendar regarding some teacher work days. And um rather than plan those things on the fly, which is totally fine. I love that we can pull it off when we can pull it off. But I'd like to propose to the board um that we go ahead while it's summer and while we can make adjustments to the calendar without um derail derailing everybody. I would like to propose to the board that we go ahead and have Dr. Shifflet bring some recommendations to um adjust the calendar, bring that to one of our meetings in July. And what I mean by adjust would be that I propose we go ahead and allocate two or three dates on the calendar. Um maybe they'll be at the end of
133the nine weeks. Maybe they'll be different times. These would be dates that we've already designated as work dates or something along those lines. But for Dr. Shifflet to to get with central office folks or whoever and make some recommendations that we could just go ahead and allocate two or three days to be um remote or some sort of adjusted work set schedule day for some of our teachers um in the past year and a half. We have done some remote days um or some flexible days in that regard. And I would like to just propose that we go ahead and try it out, get them on a calendar and um and see how that goes. And then what could happen from there is we you know people who are planning work uh trainings or um
134events and things they would already know in advance that this day is different and that teachers may or may not be in the building. Um so that would be one request from board members. If you if I get enough nods, you know, we'll proceed with that. You we've got five head nods. Okay. Um, the other thing that I um want to share tonight is that I would like to have board support to um read tonight and to send a reply um to an email from Harrisonenburgg City School Board members chair um Emma Phillips. She sent an email to um myself and Miss Laura last week. Um, and I would like to have your support to read my reply and then send this. It's what I've written in response to Emma Phillips. It's kind of a
135long one. We've received your letter dated 61925. Your email includes a timeline and many baseless assumptions and supposings. The story you outline is missing a critical component. Brockingham's County School Board elected officials intent. You have assumed ill intent, but our actions as the board of supervisors and school board have been with the following in mind. Number one, we believe that the currentou is unacceptable and unfair to Rockingham County Public Schools and must be addressed. And number two, we want to set MTC up for future success to continue the legacy of highquality workforce development while still operating a regional center. When the Rockingham County School Board was discussing our capital improvement plan with the Rockingham County Board of Supervisors in the fall of 2024, the supervisors expressed rightful concern over the 30 plus million estimate to
136renovate a 50-year-old building. The bulk of the renovation was to address structural and HVAC issues. It contained a small addition, but with a growing weight list for our high school students to enroll in MTC and with the current location being landlocked with no ability to expand programs or to build an agricultural program, we felt it prudent to determine if our CIP could handle a new building. Initial estimates of a new building were unknown and entire specul entirely speculative. We needed to have real numbers to make good decisions. So with our full knowledge and permission, the board of supervisors began a factf finding project on our behalf which was unanimously sanctioned by our board. The goal was to determine the cost of a new MTC building. As the primary fiscal agent, there is absolutely no point
137in meeting with the MTC executive board if our board of supervisors could not fund a new building. At 80% financial responsibility on capital improvement projects, the county board of supervisors and school board have a fiduciary responsibility to our taxpayers to make sure that our tax dollars are being spent wisely and without frivoly. Investing approximately 30 plus million on a 50-year-old building does not seem wise when we might have other options. This process may seem backwards. However, our school board prefers to know full facts and funding possibilities before asking our board of supervisors to fund something. We do not subscribe to the practice of asking them for funding for something that they are not able to provide. This puts everyone in a bot to do so. Dr. Richards met with county administrator Casey Armstrong in April
138to have a conversation about process and goals. any actions that or any accu accusations that Harrisonenberg city officials um that they have been kept in the dark are completely false. Rockingham County issued the RFQ and the RFP. As you've described, the county held a meeting on June 2nd to review the two proposals. We agree that the meeting went in a way that we had not intended, but it was not an ambush as you claim. The vote taken at that meeting was to provide a recommendation to the MTC Executive Board. It was not a vote to guarantee a build. No contract was signed. Regardless, the result is that Rockingham County officials have a basic idea of the cost and we can afford to do it. The board of supervisors agrees that a new building is reasonable
139and a wise use of funds. Now, we would like to bring the proposals from the June 2nd meeting to the MTC executive board. our superintendent communicated with the Harrisonenberg superintendent that we would like to have Harrisonenberg City Council and the Harrisonenberg city school board to have the same information that we have so that we can all come to the table to discuss. While Dr. Richards has repeatedly indicated that we should meet as an executive board, this has not been able to arrange for unknown reasons provided by Harrisonenberg City Public Schools. This is why our board asked the MTC chair of the executive board, Mrs. floor to schedule a meeting. We agree that the decision to build a new facility or to renovate it rests with the MTC executive board. We would like to have a
140meeting to hear the two building proposals. Mrs. Laura expressed the reason for such a meeting and asked for everyone to provide the ability their abil availability for June. Your board has indicated that they will not be able to meet until August which is unacceptable. We understand that the outstanding needs to be resolved as it would be unreasonable for us to expect Harrisonenberg to agree to any capital improvements for MTC, whatever they may be. So, we sent out our proposal on Friday, June 20th. And here's the outline. Number one, regarding the Harrisonenberg Superintendent, Rockingham is a willing to agree to the Harrisonenberg Superintendent being the clerk of the MTC executive board as is in the current operating agreement. number two on the MTC executive board chair. Rockingham is also willing to accept Harrisonenberg's proposal of alternating
141the chair and vice chair positions between the Harrisonenberg school board and the Rockingham school board as Harrisonenberg has proposed. Number three, this one is on MTC executive board membership and voting. Rockingham is willing to agree to an equal number of members and votes on the executive board from each school board with some modifications and provisions. Rather than four members from each board as Harrisonenberg has proposed, Rockingham proposes three members from each board. In addition, Rockingham is only willing to agree to equal membership if there is a tiebreaking pro provision that in the event of a deadlock of the voting members of both school boards, Rockingham County would get the tiebreaker. In light of the fact that Rockingham County carries a substantially greater financial responsibility for MTC, Rockingham feels that there must be a tiebreaker provision
142that goes to Rockingham. We are open to negotiating the specifics of how this would play out and welcome any ideas or preferences that Harrisonenberg may have. Some ideas would be that in the event of a three-3 tie that the Rockingham County School Board chair would cast the deciding vote or a fourth Rockingham school board member gets the vote. But Rockingham views this tiebre breaking provision as essential to the operating agreement. Our fourth um proposal is in regard to share of seats in the MTC classes. We do not agree to Harrisonenberg's proposal for seat allocations. We strongly feel that the share of seats should be commeasurate with the financial share of capital expenditures. Since Rockingham's share of capital expenditures is 80%, Rockingham should get 80% of the seats. We are willing to have a different seat
143allocation percentage if Harrisonenberg will match the percentage in capital expenditures. For example, the percentage included in Harrisonenberg's proposal was 65% of the seats for Rockingham and 35% of the hair 35% of seats for Harrisonenberg. To adopt that seat allocation, Harrisonenberg should agree to be responsible for 35% of capital expenditures rather than its current 20%. We believe we are being more than reasonable with the concessions we have made. We ask again for you to come to the table in July to discuss new the new building proposals. We find it hard to believe that your constituents would be pleased to know that you are refusing to meet when the stakes are so high. Our board of supervisors have been working diligently to secure additional funding for this project to make it reasonable for our for both of
144our school districts. You may have heard that we just received notice that we were awarded a $6.5 million grant from the state of Virginia for a new construction build of MTC. We cannot afford to delay, drag our feet, or postpone postpone our joint meeting for any reason. Continue to pro uh posture about the process is useless at this point. This is one of the first or the first of many grants that we have applied for and that we hope we will continue to be awarded additional funding sources. Refusal to make reasonable concessions on ourou counter proposal and refusal to meet as an executive board can only lead us to believe you are not acting in good faith. So here are the next steps that we propose. Number one, respond to our recentou proposal. We understand
145your reservations about making decisions on capital improvement projects with the uncertainty of theou. There is really no point in meeting as an executive bo board if both parties cannot agree to terms. Rockingham County has made a reasonable offer with room to negotiate. Please take this seriously and expediently. We promise a timely response to any counterp proposals you make. Let's try to work this out. Number two, if we can agree to an updatedou, we can then meet as the MTC executive board to review building plans and to make a determination as to how to proceed. We suggest that this take place by mid July with another meeting for a final vote no later than August 4th to determine whether or not to build or renovate. We want a facility that is ready for 21st century learning.
146We want room for expansion and have visions of a farm school that can serve both of our communities. It is our hope that once you have the same information that we have that you will also want to provide state-of-the-art facilities for your students and will see why building new is a much better use of taxpayer money than renovating. This is why attendance is crucial at a joint presentation on building proposals with the MTC executive board. It has been our intention and continues to be our intention to maintain a long-standing partnership with Harrisonburg City Public Schools for the betterment of our shared communities and for the future of workforce development. A regional school remains our priority despite your assumptions. MTC is not in danger of ending. We await your timely response. I'd just like to thank
147you, Chair Hurst, for taking the time to write all of that out. It's very well written, and I just commend you on the work. Thank you, and I am in 100% agreement with all of that. Any other Thank you, Miss I'm for saying what you said tonight. I think that uh Rocky County School Board has been very reasonable in our negotiations of what we want to see. We're not being unreasonable and we want to work with the Harrisonberg um school board and uh for um what's best for most importantly want to work with what's best for our kids in Rockingham County. But we also um don't want to see our agreement come to an end. But if we if we can't get an agreement uh something has to happen and has to happen soon. And
148so, um, I really feel like this board came to a a very middle of the ground of what we were going to negotiate, what was going to be a red line for all of us, and we've all given something in this. We didn't get everything that we wanted, but there were important things that we wanted to make sure that were was in that. And I don't think we're being unreasonable whatsoever uh, and what we're asking for. So, thank you again uh what Miss Holly uh Cape said uh for writing the letter and and for putting the time into it. So, thank you. I agree wholeheartedly what you said tonight. I would echo what Mr. Cross and Miss Cave just said and I just want to verify for anyone watching or or here tonight that you
149will now be forwarding this via email to the city school board. Is that correct? Okay. Thank you. I just want to make one clarification on it if I may. It's not 80% of the seats period. It's 80% of first refusal to the seats. Correct. That's a really um good question and really great point. What we are saying as a school board is we get first shot at 80% of the seats in all of the courses. If we cannot fill the 80% for whatever reason, Harrisonburgg is absolutely welcome to fill the seats and vice versa. So they would have 20% of the seats right off the top. if they can't fill, let's say they don't have a um let's say they have zero kids interested in welding um then and but we have a wait list,
150we would fill our seats and in the same we would fill those extra seats um if they would become available in the same way if we have you know um 50% um enrollment from the Rockingham County end on cosmetology leaving you know the other 30% of our seats available Um, Harrisonburg city would be welcome to take those seats with the way we are presenting this agreement. Yes, first right of refusal is a good way to say that. Okay, Dr. Shiff, I had seen that um I think Harrisonburg was charging kids who wasn't in their um in the school system to be able to attend MTC. You don't charge uh children in Rockim County Public School as long as they're um they live in Rockim County Public School, right? I thought that they were proposing that
151uh students that are not attending Harrisonenberg be allowed to attend MTC, which they weren't doing in the past, whereas like their homeschool students in that live in Rockingham County that do currently uh take MTC classes. Correct. But Harrisonburg doesn't provide that provision yet. But they I think they were voting to do that. So yeah, but we don't charge for our kids. Correct. We must view that as a Rockingham County constituent who if there's if there's space and they want workforce development, we're happy to provide it. And if they're in private school, what's the for those who are listening tonight, what's the process for those kids to be able to attend MTC? They can apply and I think students can apply not just attend private schools, not just to attend MC MTC, but they can take
152two classes in in one of our high schools if they'd want to maybe take a course that we're not currently offering. Um, and you know that if if we have room for them, they're they're welcome to attend. So the best thing to do is contact the school. Yes. Best thing to do is contact NPC. Yes. Okay. Okay. Board members, if there is nothing further, um this meeting is adjourned. Thank you all for coming out this evening.