001e for e e e all right let's get started here I out of recess back have closed session into our public meeting part of the uh meeting tonight the first thing on our agenda tonight is to open up with a moment of silence so if you would like to uh participate with that with me you can participate now thank you very very much next thing on our list is the Pledge of Allegiance will you stand with me all right first of all thanks for everybody showing out tonight and thank you to our central office staff as well for being here this meeting meeting I'm the first thing on our list tonight is that um with board highlights and I'll start with Miss Jackie lore this time thank you um I've been super busy I'll probably
002forget half the things I did but uh I was able to go to uh South River and join them for a walk to school event which was super cool and then got a tour of the school um it's always so great to see the little kiddos come into school first thing in the morning they even had horses there and I believe Dr shifflet and uh chair cross joined me as well and it it was a great day uh and I thank both of you guys for coming as well um I've been getting kids ready uh the end of the week several me uh members of our uh Community will be going to the Big E uh for a contest and the Big E is in Springfield Massachusetts it's kind of a regional FFA contest it's
003it's the big Exposition and it's like the count it's like the state fair for New England um so they'll be representing Virginia um I think we've got several teams and I've been working with a couple of them to get them ready a couple kids doing a science fair so they're all excited about that um so please keep them in your thoughts and prayers as they travel this weekend they'll be gone I believe they're going Thursday coming back Sunday um and then today we were able to I it was It's been a busy day I was able to go to the regional program um special ed committee meeting that's as school board that's my Schoolboard assignment and we had some great discussion and um and I I learned again how hard it is to find people
004to teach special ed and then the specific um requirements of special Leed like uh speech pathologists um sign language interpreters these are really hard jobs to fill um so I appreciate all the work our HR department and our sped department does to fill these positions um and I thank everyone who works in those positions because it's it's a hard job um and I get oh then we all then uh Sarah and I were able to go to uh planes and I I'll let you talk more about that and I will stop talking but it's been uh it's been a great couple of weeks and thank you guys thank you Miss Laura Miss Hurst yes I want to highlight the program that Miss Laura and I went to see out at Plains Elementary School they house
005one of our strong starts um programs which is for um children who need um maybe a little bit of a different approach to education as they're getting started in their Journey so for prek through grade one um and I was just um Blown Away we got to hear a personal story um from a parent who zoomed in to meet with us and it was one of those success stories where um and and I wasn't aware of um that this program we have is brand you know it's five years old but it's you know I was asking questions like is this like a Statewide program is this a federal program no this is like a program that Rockingham County um grew up and created on their own and it's now being a um a model used
006across in other school divisions that they're looking at the successes that we're having in Rockingham County and I just think that's incredible and so we got to see um we got to hear us uh a personal story from one of the parents of a child who has who started in the program and graduated through the program and just has had tremendous success um and we I got to just see the inner workings I think um and get a good get a good look and then we had a tour of the um program of medical a couple students I mean I was just blown away and it was as a former classroom teacher that's the you know I've taught first in second grade and we needed that program when I was teaching we really did and
007I'm so happy that we have that program um and that hopefully we'll be able to expand it develop it a little bit more um but kudos to all of the people who um that was their that was their baby that they um that they they birth this idea is just really incredible and it provides the supports that some of our really truly struggling kids really need and um gives them a strong start as the program says so I was really um excited to take part in that today and hear a lot more about that program thank you Miss hurse Miss cave so Mr Cross and I got to visit East Rockingham high school last week and and and to check out their lab school program there it's uh they're off to a really good start
008um to go in there just a few weeks into the school year I was a little panicky about having 50 students in one classroom because one of the things I would love to see um within all of our schools are smaller class sizes and so um I'm a little nervous with you know having 50 kids in one classroom but I mean the teachers in there just they jive with one another um they play off of one another they work together and I think uh just speaking for eastrock they have some really um strong teachers in there that are going to be really good for the program um the students were excited to see as when we went in I knew several of them and they quickly came to us and sort of told us how
009their day went and we got to be there for their uh physical education part which was really cool too and it was a beautiful day outside so um that was exciting to um to get to sit through well stand through really and uh and witness all of that and even just to get to sit in on the on the English part of the day um I love English English and math are two of my favorite things but um just to be able to see that teaching going on and just the fun like the teachers just had fun with one another and I think it's you know an incredible way for them to learn so it was fun to get to sit there and see all that we got to ask a ton of questions and
010we didn't interrupt the classroom though but the teachers there were um so just forthcoming with everything even you know the things that they don't have figured out yet that that we're looking to figure out in the next couple years you know it was a good time for learning for us and just excited to see that program it's it's a different way to learn and so I'm hoping I'm hoping that it will be successful and be good for our students so anyways I always love spending time over in my neck of the woods so thank you for coming with me to do that and um and really it was your idea to do so I don't want to take that from you and I think we're getting a lab school update tonight maybe are we getting
011that tonight yeah so that's exciting so I don't want to steal any Thunder from from that either so anyways that was that was my week thank you Miss cave Miss Burgin um I have a couple highlights so one of the things that I've been involved with just at my kids school as their PTO organization and I really just seeing the staff and the parents come together to try to support the teachers um I I just left a PTO meeting before I came here and you know hearing the parents and and everybody start to plan for okay the holidays what are we going to do for them how are we going to thank them because we already know right it's like fourth week of school we already know the hard work that is coming and so
012um watching these parents and um the ladies on the PTO with me just pre-plan for all of that and there's just ideas and ideas and ideas and I think we text and email each other like every single day what about this what about this so I love seeing that it it does make a little Community within your school um so I did get to meet with Mr Bailey our school safety um director and so that was awesome we have both of us having a public safety background I I think we have so many good ideas and I'm like ready to do them right now um so that has a very very promising future and I'm really excited about all the school safety measures that are about to come um so I coach cheerleading for um
013third and fourth graders for parks and wreck and there's like 25 girls in the program and they're all kids in our CPS schools and our elementary schools and um we got to do youth night I think they did it at all the football games this week but I got to do it at Broadway and it was a lot of fun seeing I mean all of the football players all of the cheerleaders get to go on the field and watch the football players come out and I kind of sometimes when I'm in those environments I like to take a step back and and try to look at it differently rather than just oh we're having fun and seeing all of the teachers that are out there late at night supporting them the athletic trainers the the
014band all of the support staff that goes into these games and it was it was awesome um but my kid had a great time we had a really good time um um and then and then Saturday at 8:30 in the morning we had our own game out at the um at the football field and one of my daughter's teachers showed up and that was really really cool and really special and there were several teachers there watching their own kids play but they really made a point to make their kids feel special from their school so I thought that was really cool and um speaking of we were talking about PE like my kids are obsessed with PE right now and Miss Jordan is an awesome teacher and so she was there bright and early 8:00
015on a Saturday to support my kids so that was that was really special to my kids so very special to me as well but thank you thank you Miss Berg Dr shifflet uh thank you chair cross u i too want to highlight U participating with the walk to school day with you and Mrs Laura that was fun at South River and also having an opportunity to visit East rockingham's uh lab school haven't been to Broadway yet but it's on my list um at our last meeting uh Mr Dickinson our supervisor of social studies talked about some events uh coming up this week for 911 and some activities and things our schools are doing and since then we have worked and collaborated to put together a memorial stair climb at bridgeforth Stadium this Wednesday at 1:00
016so I'm inviting any board members who would like to come and participate as part of the relay team or to be there in the handout water or or what however you would like to participate you're more than welcome uh I may attempt to do a few steps myself I think it's over 2200 steps that we'll climb as we um you know honor and remember the First Responders who uh paid the ultimate sacrifice that day trying to rescue folks so our MTC students in the criminal justice and Fire and Rescue programs will be participating so I do have an invitation to the school board members as well if you'd like to just come out and watch if that would Su you abolutely and thank you Dr shifflet and thank you to the board for making uh
017this a priority for 911 um was I thinking last year as I watched the local news and saw um how things just wasn't being reported as um as we recall them and as we remember them and I thought to myself wow even our students that are are in school right now they they wasn't most of them wasn't even alive at that time all of them so um it's important that we continue uh to remember what took place on that day all of us that were alive and old enough to remember what happened on 911 we can all tell our story of where we were at and um how we felt and it was um real important to us as a board to keep that um history right in front of our Forefront with our students
018and uh so thank you to the board number one and thank you to Dr shifflet for um making sure these things get done this here um my highlight tonight is uh it's been I wanted to say to the board thank you for all that you do because we've been busy over the last two weeks and I'm just talking to all of you guys of of where you go what you do the time you put in the amount of time you've been going here and there uh to look into things a strong Start program at PLS is amazing on Dr Johnson that's out there uh running uh the school is is such an amazing principal as as well and Miss ship who does it at Cub Run uh does an amazing job uh with our strong
019starts there so I just I know that many of us on the board are going to be visiting the strong starts program uh just take all that in and see that that is a great uh program they had an opportunity to visit uh as Miss cave said out at East Rock see their Lab School uh something that uh Governor Yan initiated and Dr shifflet went twice I believe down to Richmond and advocated for rcps to be able to um um bring the lab school here to Rockham County this is such a great opportunity for our students uh here in Rockham County when we talk about education what we're doing in education this is this is big this is a great opportunity for all our kids and one of the greatest parts that that's about this
020program is that it's a lottery system to get into the program so uh whether you have an IP or whether you know your GPA average is in is as great as some other students if you want to get into this program you put your name on the list and really they they they turn a will and they pull out your number and if you get picked the first 50 kids out of the program that's who gets in the program so that's that's an awesome opportunity for all of our kids to have an opportunity to either uh go through MTC uh go to Blue Ridge or actually go out to JMU and with a possibility even going the career route or going the route of um of college and getting graduating high school with your associate
021degree so pretty cool things that are happening in school we have two of those this year uh East Rock and Broadway open up next year U we're already planning on those two opening up at TA and Spotswood so uh we're really excited about that program and what and and I just wanted to personally and publicly thank Dr shiplet for the work that you put into it I remember your second visit you went down there you said I'm I'm crossing my fingers Matt trying to get this program so thank you for all the work you put into that it was um we we appreciate the work you put in for that for our community I'm yeah I've been to a few other schools did I also want to thank you for the beginning of the school
022year everything you've done all the work you've put in I just thank you uh not to me people superintendant would um do that what you've done and publicly just want to say thank you for all that as well um first thing tonight on our action items is to approve the minutes for the August 26 2024 and the August 28th 2024 and do I hear a motion for that I move to approve the minutes of the August 26th and August 28 2024 meetings as presented thank you Miss Hurst I have a second second thank you Miss lure any questions comments hearing none all those in favor say yes yes all POS no all right motion passes 5 all right next on our list is bills and mileage August 2024 Dr shiff I believe you have that
023yes Sher crawson board members I re recommend approval of the August 2024 bills as presented School Board hearing recommendation of the superintendent do I hear a motion to follow that recommendation I move to follow the superintendent's recommendation to approve the August 2024 bills as presented all right do I have a second second us work going any questions comments on that hear none all those in favor say yes yes all post no all right motion passes 5 next on our list tonight is fi trips AR you have that as well uh yes chair cross and board members I have several field trips for your consideration uh Turner Ashby High School FCCLA Leadership Institute October 24th through the 28th for students Anaheim California TSA leadership conference November 15th to the 17th 6 to8 students Hartfield Virginia and
024Rockingham Academy ecology this is agriculture class October the 19th to the 21st eight students tylerton Maryland and I do recommend approval of these field trips cboard to hear a motion I move to follow the superintendent's recommendation to appr approve the field trips as presented thank you Miss H I have a second second you miss burlo any questions comments hearing none all those in favor say yes yes all oppos no motion passes 5 all right next on our list tonight is Mr Steve Reed good to see you here tonight chair carw Dr shiet members of the board you have a list of surplus furniture and equipment that will be offered for sale on by online auction beginning this Thursday September 12th and closing Sunday September 15th and every week thereafter until items are offered for sale
025I respectfully recommend that the school board declare these items as Surplus so that we can offer them for public auction chair Carlson board members I recommend that the school board declare the list of items as Surplus property for online public auction as presented by Steve Reed director of Maintenance thank you Dr Chip I hear motion School Board I move to follow the superintendent's recommendation to declare the list of items as Surplus property for online public education as presented by Steve Reed director of Maintenance thank you Miss cave do I have a second thank you Miss lore any question questions comments from Mr Steve Mr Reed why we have him here I have a question and I hate to hit you with this um it's cold but I'm seeing five buses on the list yes but
026we bought three buses yes that's two less buses yes so do we have two less buses or and we're okay with two so but we're not like in desperate need for two more buses or anything not desperate need but but next at budget time remember that we're down two already okay I think the problem was finding the drivers to drive the two extra buses if we found them correct I'm sorry for your luck because yeah even I got a call hey can you drive her out it's like well I don't really want to drive her out I am driving a field trip though so but yes we need to we need some bus drivers so um let's let's see what we can do to recruit for that and we'll talk I've got some ideas about
027that but yeah any other questions all right all those in favor say yes yes all oppos no motion passes five vote thank you Mr Reed appreciate that all right looks like we have our next on our list tonight is is a bunch of supple supplement supplementary material sorry I'm saying my words mix up tonight and um I believe we had a motion on that uh yes chair cross and board members upon review by the content Review Committee in accordance with rcps policy I ABB I recommend retaining 13 Reasons Why by Jay Asher as a book does not contain sexually explicit content as the term is defined in rcps policy iaba all right I move to remove 13 Reasons Why by J Asher from the supplementary materials at rcps for containing sexually explicit content as that
028term is defined in policy I I ABA second second that and do we have any uh any questions or comments on this okay hearing none all those in favor say yes yes yes all those oose say no all right motion passes 41 next on list tonight is um burned chair Carlson board members upon review by the content Review Committee in accordance with rcps policy i i i ABB I recommend retaining Burn by Ellen Hopkins as a book does not contain sex explicit content as that term is defined in the rcps policy iaba thank you Dr shiplet sure I moved to remove burned by Ellen Hopkins from the supplementary materials at rcps for containing sexually explicit content as that term is defined in policy I AA all right thank you Mrs cave I'll second that any
029questions comments on this I have a quick comment okay um on some of these books I went through I've read all of them um but on some of these books I at some point started documenting where the explicit content is because I think you know when you look at this from the outside and you say well how much material was it what was it like and all those things we we all have lots of questions so um I have the page numbers written down for a few of these books that we'll we'll be talking about tonight and voting on and for burned content that is sexually explicit as def as defined in our policy you can you can find that on page 3 16 122 125 327 to 328 372 to 373 378 415 440
030and 449 now one thing we discuss is there may be different additions to these books um different um I don't know if you call it copyright dates or uh whatever it is so you may read a book that it's not that specific page so I actually have documents that have all of those excerpts recorded and I am willing to share them with whoever would request them so if the page numbers as you so wish if you went back and looked at these books if they do not match up with something you think sexually explicit I can give you the specific excert that we are um referring to that's all thank you Miss cave yeah that's one of the things with um having the public in the public meetings talking about the excerpts having students in
031the room and people that are young um that many of us feel it would be inappropriate to even share the comments that are out of the book so um we do have those uh Pages if you would like to even look them up yourself you can go do that as well so um you have a second any other questions comments on burned hearing none all those in favor say yes yes all those opposed say no no passes 41 all right next on our list tonight is glass chair Carlson board members upon review by the content Review Committee in accordance with rcps policy I I ABB I recommend retaining Glass by Ellen Hopkins says a book does not contain sexually explicit content as that term is defined in rcps policy I AA according to the Review
032Committee yes according to the Review Committee yes sir yep okay yeah these are all their recommendations okay all right no problem I mooved to remove Glass by Ellen Hopkins from the supplementary materials at rcps for containing sexually explicit content as that term is defined in policy iaba thank you Miss cave I'll second that uh any questions or comments on glass oh I'm sorry I do uh sexually explicit content can be found on pages 324 326 329 424 to 425 427 477 through 480 518 542 584 and 650 and I would just comment and say to this this book was the very first one that I decided that I needed to start writing this stuff down and I made a note for myself that the first time there was a sexually explicit um part in that
033book I didn't write it down so there's probably some prior to where I started recording on page 324 thank you and I also want to thank you as well for sharing those things with us as well so I appreciate that all the work and time you've put into that any other questions comments on glass hearing none all those in favor say yes yes all oppose say no motion passes 41 next on on the list tonight is sold chair Carlson board members upon review by the content Review Committee in accordance with rcps policy IAB BB I recommend retaining Soul by particia McCormack as the book does not contain sex explicit content as the term is defined in RCBS RCBS policy IAB baa I move to remove sold by Patricia McCormack from the supplementary materials at rcps
034for containing sexually explicit content as that term is defined in policy iiaba thank you Miss cave I'll second that any questions or comments on this I have a comment okay sexually explicit content can be found in this book on pages 103 120 121 123 125 127 128 129 130 133 141 142 145 146 176 218 222 227 228 254 and 257 thank you Miss cave any other questions or comments hearing none all those in favor say yes yes all oppose say no our motion passes for one next on list tonight is me and Earl and the dying girl no which one's more happy than not more sorry sorry more than happy that that would be more happy than not more happy than not I'm more happy than not upon review by the content Review Committee
035in accordance with rcps policy I ABB I recommend retaining more happy than not by Adam Silver Sila as this book does not contain sexually explicit content as it determ is defined in rcps policy ABA I move to remove more happy than not by Adam Sila from the supplementary materials at rcps for containing sexually explicit content as that term is defined in policy iaba thank you Miss cave I'll second that any questions or comments oh I want to add any sorry more happy than not sexually explicit content as defined in our policy can be found on pages 16- 19 21 23 24 47 61 62 112 142 167 182 185 186 318 that's good all right I any other questions comments hearing none all those in favor say yes yes yes all oose say no all
036right motion fails 32 so do we no I'm sorry motion fails two three a motion put someone has said I move to follow the superintendent's recommendation to retain more than more happy than not by Adam Silvera as this book does not contain sexually explicit content as that term is defined in rcps policy I iaba all right thank you Miss Hur do I hear a second thank you Miss ber questions comments um I have a comment okay this is all more happy than night not yes okay I'm voting against retaining this book because sexually explicit content can be found on pages 16 through 19 21 23 24 47 61 62 112 142 167 182 185 186 6 and 318 thank you Miss cave the I also want to say too that when we talk about uh
037sexually explicit we're also looking at sexual excitement and sexual conduct and if you go and read those pages as well um that's why I'm also voting uh against this book as well so I am all those favor of passing it say yes yes yes all those oppose say no no no motion passes 32 all right sh okay chair Carlson board members upon review by the content Review Committee in accordance with rcps policy I I ABB I recommend retaining me and ear on the dying Girl by Jesse Andrews as this book to not contain sex explicit content as determined as that is that that as that term is defined in rcps policy I a I move to remove me Earl and the dying Girl by Jesse Andrews from the supplementary materials at rcps for containing sexually
038explicit content as that term is defined in policy I I ABA thank you Miss cave I'll second that any questions or comments on this I have comments sexually explicit content can be found on pages 31 59 60 61 69 72 73 74 113 114 118 121 206 through 209 218 and 240 through 241 think Miss cave any other questions comments hearing none all those in favor say yes yes all those opposed say no our motion passes 41 Dr shet uh chair Carlson board members upon review by the content Review Committee in accordance with rcps policy I ABB I recommend retaining Leah on the offbeat by Becky arbital as this book does not contain sexually excit content as that term is defined in rcps policy IAB I move to remove Leah on the offbeat by Becky
039albertal from the supplementary materials at rcps for containing sexually explicit content as that term is defined in policy iaba thank you Miss cave I'll second that and any questions or comments I have comments go ahead sexually explicit content can be found in this book on pages 89 34 55 59 111 116 124 265 and 317 and I would just like to say on this book I think this book is comparable to um another book that we're going to be uh a pending the vote um removing from our libraries based on the recommendation from the content Review Committee which is The Perks of Being a Wallflower I think if we could compare and contrast any of the books tonight I think Leah on the offbeat sort of matches Perks of Being a Wallflower in terms of
040the references to sexual content um and I don't I don't want to get too much in the weeds of that but I think that we could um compare those two and I and in going with removing perks of being a wildflower upon recommendation from the committee that that's why I'm voting uh to remove Le on the offbeat yeah I I would also say that in uh many of the pages that you listed there um sexually explicit would also fall clearly under page 34 and sexual excitement um when the character itself in there says that they are sexually excited on an action or something that they saw happen within the book so uh to me that clearly states as according to our definition of what sexual explicit is and that book would also um fit underneath
041that just on page 34 and that's not to mention all the other pages that you mentioned uh as well so any other questions or comments on this book all those in favor say yes yes yes all those opposed say no no set three two three NOS all right motion fails I'm two three I move to re to follow the superintendent's recommendation to retain Leo on the offbeat by Becky albertal as this book does not contain sexually explicit content as that term is defined in RC PS policy I ABA thank you Miss Hurst second thank you Miss Berling any questions comments on this I have comments okay sexually explicit content can be found in this book on pages 8 9 34 55 59 111 116 124 265 and 317 yeah I and I would just like
042to say in in um page eight and if you're young enough um well let me just I I can't even I feel uncomfortable even reading this tonight when we have high school students um they're shaking their head in the back any questions or comments this question and comments Tom oh I don't think that would be I don't think Miss I don't think Miss hersher listened to me I said I was going to read it but I feel uncomfortable because I have high school students in the back so oh your seniors in college what about you two there okay all right well thank you thank you well I will that should be an indication that we should remove the book Absol absolutely should be a big indication there and I will read since there's no one
043here in this meeting that is um under 18 years old that I can see so I will read a few of these tonight in page 34 well let's see one moment in page eight I want to read page eight and I want to read just an example of here's a problem and it's a problem that I faced with my social media page was that the books are inappropriate to share at a public meeting and but they're and they're also inappropriate to share on my social media p page but they're okay to be approved to be in our Public School libraries and I I have a big issue with that when we're talking about whether it's legal we could face legal charges if I read this book out loud at a public school board meeting but
044it's okay to go back into the library in our public schools and if there's nothing wrong with the book we should all be able to to Rony it it from the podium of what's in those books and I and I've got a big problem with that I understand that's and that that part is is is very frustrating for me uh to to see that we can't have a a public dialogue and a public meeting but it's okay to be in the schools where my kids are at and I know that there are many in our community that feel the same way at that and that bothers me that we I can't even read this out loud tonight and it's also inappropriate to even put it on social media on a Schoolboard page that that but
045actually it's not because it should be the point that where we're able to read what's in our books in our Public School libraries at a public school meeting and that that bothers me you there questions or comments tonight all those in favor say yes I'm sorry I'm sorry go ahead motion follow to retain Leo on the off feat by Becker Becky Albert alas say book does not contain sexually explicit content as that term is defined in R CPS policy I AA the motion is to retain all right all those in favor say yes yes all suppose say no no motion passes 32 all right next chair CWS and board members appoint review by the content Review Committee in accordance with rcps policy I ABB I recommend the removal of the perks of being a wildflower
046by Steven chabos because the book contains sexually explicit content as that def firm is defined in rcps policy iaba I move to follow the superintendent's recommendation to remove The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Steven chabos because the book contains sexually explicit content as that term is defined in rcps policy iaba thank you I'll second that any questions or comments hearing none all those in favor say yes yes yes all those opposed no all right motion passes 5 chair Carlson board members up on review by the content Review Committee in accordance with rcps policy IAB BB I recommend the removal of 19 minutes by Jody PCO because the book contains sexually explicit content as that term is defined in rcps policy IAB ba I move to follow the superintendent's recommendation to remove 19 minutes because
047the book contains sexually explicit content as that term is defined in rcps policy I I ABA thank you I'll second that any questions or comments hearing none all those in favor say yes yes all those oppos no all right motion passes 5 all right that leads us into our informational items tonight and Mrs Dr Amy payner is here to talk about growing our own presentation thank you Miss payner for coming tonight and I also want to say publicly thank you for all that you do for rcps as well you're welcome uh good evening chair cross dror shiplet members of the board um tonight I'm going to be presenting a little bit on how we are growing our own did I cut myself off gave us a little intro about uh our need for special education
048teachers that we need and it is threefold that we are growing our own through our students through our current par Professionals in our schools and through provisional license support so the first way is through our students you're like well how are we grown our own through our students uh well we we have some high school graduates that if they choose specific education majors and they apply to JMU they could get a full ride through JMU through the teaching fellows program so it is called teaching fellows campus teaching fellows it's a invitation only program designed for rcps high school graduates who want to become early childhood Elementary education or special education teachers once they finish their degree at JMU which is fully paid tuition R and board they return to teach in their home District of
049Rockingham County there are only eight districts in Virginia that participate in this initiative and we're lucky enough to be one of them uh there is a specific allocation of seats per year for our district so it is based on grant funding so we find out each year how many allotments that we get there are a pair of professionals so this one um M Abernathy and I kind of oversee together it's for our full-time pair of professionals that are in our schools so each winter we have an application process that they complete and they have to have principal support to apply uh and if they don't have an Associates or Bachelors already they can apply for this program and again it is a full ride all tuition paid uh they get their Associates through Blu Ridge
050and then it's an automatic transfer to JMU to finish or education program uh and just like the campus teaching fellows that our students are in they also make a commitment to two years to Rockingham to teach following a graduation and these are Grant funded through JMU and then we locally fund a few as well and if you're asking what are these specific programs that these students can apply to JMU for it is early childhood education which is for our prek through third grade elementary um education which is prek through six inclusive early childhood education which is a dual endorsement so it's special ed birth to age five and prek through3 and then special education K12 General and adaptiv bed and then the Third Way We Grow our own is through provisional license support um so
051at any given time we have over 40 teachers that don't have the traditional education degree so they are eligible for provisional license and there are six required classes that they need to get their teaching license and we offer them inhouse through our central office instructional leaders for free and it's through JMU uh how it works is each class meets one time a week for eight weeks so we offered two per semester uh the classes are classroom management curriculum and instruction assessment of and for learning human growth and learning language and literacy and foundations of Education uh all the assignments and assessments are job related so it's not the traditional busy work it's things that they're actually going to use in their classroom um and there's alignment across all six courses and then how are we
052reaping what we seow so our first group of high school graduates are now teachers so McKenna massarella teaches second grade at Elon Elementary School and that's a school that she attended as a child so she was super excited when she received that placement and Katie mzingo teaches social studies at Elton middle school and we're excited to say that we have 14 more of our High School grads in this program our first group of PA professionals are now our teachers Katie Baker teaches fourth grade at riverb Melanie Dy teaches second grade at udbine Nicole Wagner teaches sped at Spotswood High School Sarah wood teaches sped at MTV Middle School Leah Hall teaches special education at Broadway High School Sherry swacker teaches Early Childhood special ed at Riverbend and we have 27 War pair Professionals in this
053program 11 of these are actually just starting this semester and then our provisionally licensed teachers are taking advantage of our courses so actually right now two or three weeks ago we started our second cycle of these six classes so classroom management is going on right now we have 13 teachers in this class and it's being taught by Liza Kaufman and camel height and to date we have had 97 class enrollments in these provisional classes that we offer so in all we just want to say that we're grateful for your support of how we're actually growing our own in this time of need for different teaching shortages have any questions thank you Miss painer board members any questions yes what I didn't mention during U my highlights one of the things I did I visited with
054one of the new um a teachers who's trying to get her classroom started and um I'm noticing there a is one of the critical shortage areas um what what are our other critical shortage areas and are we addressing any of that through this I know we've got at least three a teachers on provisionals right now so there are actually a lot of critical shortage areas now most of which are special ed all of Elementary Ed um math science a uh and the actually consider something a shortage area if you have fewer than a certain amount of um properly licensed candidates have app PL for it okay so if if we have like a Spanish class that doesn't have um enough applicants then we can consider that within house a critical shortage area is that is
055that what you're saying or no so when you get into the critical shortage areas it's more along the lines that you could reach sh then to some retirees to come back and they can double dip their vrs retirements um so that's what critical shortage areas mean to them but basically all areas of Education right now there is a shortage but especially the special it and have we looked at expanding this because it's this is special ed and elementaries right is the the current special ed is K through 12 well and then the elementary area we don't select those as part of the grant oh okay so we can't expand this into like doing math teachers this way because I'm sure we've got some math teacher some students that have been math that that are looking
056to be Math teachers but am I making sense yes but this is based off the grant that is written this grant is JMU Okay but well thank you for this and I'm excited for this any other question you're welcome all right next on the list tonight Miss Donna Aber abery sorry lab school update good to see you tonight thank you good to see you all as well good evening chair cross Dr shifflet and members of the school board thank you for this opportunity to briefly share some highlights of the rcps lab school inaugural opening so this picture that you see here on your screen had the opportunity to join the Broadway lab school students this past Friday they were at the ropes course at JMU timing is everything when I got there they just finished
057lunch and they were posing for this picture and rolling out the new Banner so I got to be a part of that and then they went into the ropes course so um I'll share a few more pictures with you about that in just a few moments so as you're aware the two lab schools that open this year located at Broadway in East Rockingham high schools both programs are full with a maximum of 50 students in each program and there's four teachers in each program so right now so there's eight teachers and 100 students teachers have spent many many hours this past spring so late spring really and this summer collaborate collaborating with each other to plan lessons that integrate their curriculum with each of the four uh classes that they're teaching uh the teachers are
058very excellent and strong in their own right and in their classrooms and we know growth is hard and this is it's hard work trying to integrate four curriculums or maybe two or three curriculums together and they're doing a great job of learning how to team teach in an interdisciplinary way uh there are many realizations along the way of as they're talking about their curriculum hey I I teach that too how can we integrate this and do this together um which certainly makes that easier to integrate the content there's also a ton of support the ministrators at Broadway High School and East Rockingham they provide their support they meet with the teachers that are in the classrooms often and as they Moet the teachers like what do you need to be successful of course we're 3
059weeks in so we're still learning and figuring things out um in this new lab school uh but all in all it's going very well um at the moment JMU supports come in a variety of way with the director Dr Hadley uh she leads weekly meetings with administrators uh the building level principles and she visits the programs and uh also I will say that the Spotswood and ta principles have been joining these meetings since this past summer as well as they prepare to open up the lab school next year at their schools there's also mentors graduate assistants and a counselor assigned to each lab school to provide support and of course I'd be remiss if I didn't mention the gracious funding that's been provided by the governor's office for lab schools to be available throughout the
060state so I want to highlight some of the lessons and activities that have have occurred in the first three weeks of school so it it is important to note that the lessons and activities that have they have the similar structure and support at both Broadway and East Rockingham but each school has the autonomy to innovate differently that emphasize the strengths of each program and I'm sure next year when Spotswood and Turner Ashby begin this process they'll find the way to iron out those details to really capitalize on the strengths of their teachers as well uh to fit for the Blazers and the kns so at Broadway and East Rockingham these following things are happening at both schools so they have students who alternate serving in roles of greeters of the lab school and uh Miss
061cave and Mr Cross you may have been greeted when you went to East Rockingham the other day uh so the Greet thems welcome anyone who visits the lab school by introducing themselves and explaining what they're doing for the day for anyone who comes in the room and it is noted that the greeters thus far are doing a really wonderful job of that so much that the visitors are like they don't know what to say because they're not accustomed to walk into a classroom and a student coming up and greeting them and say welcome this is what we're doing usually as a principal I'd walk into the classroom and go to the student say hey what are we working on today right so it's kind of a role reversal morning meeting uh has been Incorporated so
062morning meeting typically has been associated with elementary schools um but morning meeting has been incorporated into both lab schools as this time morning meeting time together builds community and cultivates a culture of care and safety in that learning environment so it just sets a positive tone for the day there is a solid body of research that suggests and from my own personal experience as well that teenagers learn more when they have healthy peer relationships and a safe learning environment and um I interviewed a few students the other day when I was at the ropes course and two of the three actually mentioned morning meeting and how much they love that so specifically at Broadway a few items there teachers have facilitated a debate where students chose their topics one such topic which I think you
063all might be interested in was the new cell phone policy and there was very passionate many passionate student statements about the support of the band so just wanted to share that piece with you students have created a hypothesis of why grass seed doesn't grow under pine needles so their experiment is ongoing as they use dried needles and then boiled needles needles to test their hypothesis students have engaged in a project where they brainstormed and discussed issues they had experience with in the middle school they had small group discussions to problem solve and then got into groups based on their shared problems or solutions they worked in teams to prepare presentations and presented to a real world audience of JMU faculty and students involved with the middle school and secondary education the students presented very well
064and voiced their opinions about issues that they were concerned about and lastly one of the highlights at Broadway um upcoming activity with PE and World GR geography students will create their own City and their own unique sport so their own unique City their own unique sport for the culture of their city that they've created so students will make the rules of their sport they will vote on which sport that they like the best and then they'll play their unique sport that goes with their unique City so I'll have more information on this the next time um that I get to give an update probably in in two or three months or so specifically at East Rockingham every day between 7:55 and 8:15 students have been engaging with early bird Wellness I love this idea this
065time allows students to play card games board games yard games inside or outside and just get them to socialize in a positive way Uno has been the most popular and it's good to know that puzzles are making a comeback so they're just coming in working on puzzles together and thinking about the future the English teacher at East Rockingham has had students write letters to their future selves that they will read on their graduation day for years from now and they're working on writing proper emails they have worked with students on measurement skills such as using a meter stick stopwatch converting units in the metric system and using scientific notation once they practiced in the classroom on many whiteboards little small whiteboards they completed a science lab in the gym where students had to measure their
066highest jump they had to measure the length of the gym in meters and they had to time the fastest person in their group from half court then they had students complete a claim evidence justification on how many students laying down would cover the gym from one end to to the other and students are TR are starting to transition into Project based learning where students have to research the different types of energy resources like solar wind and fossil fuels and determine which one is the best with specific quotes or data points then students will be presenting this information to a local panel of teachers there at East Rockingham and then both schools um again that's a big culminating thing for the first three to four weeks of school um they are coming to visit the JMU
067ropes course so again Broadway went there this past Friday it was a beautiful day they couldn't have ordered up better weather for that they had an amazing time East Rockingham goes this Friday to the ropes course so they're doing team building activities and there's a lot of teamwork on that ropes course as well I didn't realize that until I was watching them when they have to pull together and they have to maneuver these things you'll see some pictures in a minute um but this certainly elicits them to work in a collaborative Spirit in order to continue emphasizing the importance of communication collaboration creativity and teamwork in a manner that allows students to work in a capacity that is both physically and mentally stimulating so here's just a few pictures um snapshots from the JMU rope
068course so you have a student Ellie on the bottom right and Mr Ernie they're kind of sizing things up and kind of watching to see what others do U before it's their turn to climb up the net and you can see where they are working in teams the top left picture you can see where someone's leaping over and yes they are harnessed don't worry they are harnessed and have helmets so um where they're leaping over onto the um plank um and with some assistance from some of their classmates as well and here's someone on the right climbing up just to get started uh bottom left some guys they are they are ready to go they are all harnessed up before they get ready to go up the and then we get a thumbs up up
069at the top from one of the students so they're they're ready I did have the opportunity to speak with um a few students on Friday Broadway students when I was there at the ropes course just asking them tell me about lab school what do you think how's it going so far we're three weeks in so this is Lee so Lee says I think the lab school is a lot different than regular schooling like we have a morning meeting supposed to be meeting in there every day we usually don't have that regular school like having all of it so I think it'll work out pretty well Anella says it is very interesting I think it is actually really good and helpful because you'll get more of a sense of how to communicate and actually how to
070work with real life and people itself so I think it's good with all the teamwork and the projects that we do so it does help a lot with all that and very fun too it's not bad and then Ava says okay lab school is really a great opportunity for many students like it doesn't like have a specific set of students that they aim for it's open to all people and all the grades and I think that's really cool and it's a lot of different from regular schooling because we have morning meetings and such it's just more focused on team building and real life skills which I love that so it's very positive um experiences for them uh thus far in the lab school so you're probably wondering what's next so uh for Broadway in East
071Rockingham we need to identify the subjects for 10th grade and the teachers who going to be teaching those subjects for 10th grade so there's a meeting later in this week to hopefully determine what those subjects are going to be for the 10th grade year for the current nth graders this year um and then begin writing and integrating that curriculum with the 10th grade teachers which they have a huge Head Start based on uh what our ninth grade teachers had this past uh year because they literally had like three months to work together for Spotswood and Turner Ashby they need to identify the teachers to teach the ninth grade subjects next year which I believe they're working on that at the moment uh meet with current ninth grade teachers at Broadway in East Rockingham um to
072discuss curriculum and just to hear like what their ideas are to get off on a positive start and determine their learning space so again they're looking at the different classrooms about what that learning space um can be for the lab school and finally uh coming soon to a venue near you is a ceremony to celebrate the inaugural JMU lab school that is October the 3 there'll approximately be about 200 guests there including the 100 students participating in the Broadway eastrock cohorts uh invitations will with additional information about this event I believe will be sent out to everyone later this week so you can see the folks that'll be invited to come to this inaugural opening there'll be some speakers then all the students from the lab school we get to have lunch at De Hall
073um so I know that they're going to enjoy that as well so that's coming soon so mark that on your calendars and you'll be getting that formal invitation we're very excited so do you have any questions for me thankk you for com thank you for tonight for coming and sharing with us board members do you have any questions comments thank you and especially thank you to everybody in the launch yes I know that was a tremendous amount of work setting it up and you all will be making tweaks as you go but um great job really excited to see what happens with this program we we are too there's a ton of support that comes with this and um we couldn't be more grateful for all that thank you yeah thanks thanks all right thank
074you Dr shiff is next next on our list tonight with the address code policy update good evening chair Carson board members at our last meeting we had some conversations about our current dress code policy and you had directed me to get some information from our employees so with the help of Caitlyn we put together together a Google survey Google form and sent it out to all employees about a week and a half ago and basically what we did with that survey is said here is the current portion of the policy as it's written do you agree with this you disagree with this or you just sort of neutral right you maybe you don't have a strong feeling one way or the other and so what I'd like to do this evening is take a few
075moments to share with you some of those results and have some conversations about maybe what you think you would like to see for next steps so um 61 so we had 720 respondents okay uh 7 720 responses and of those 61% were teachers faculty or teachers 30% were like classified staff and then some other and then a few building administrator so just to get a sense of who is kind of sharing their thoughts on this so um which of the following best describes the student you work with regularly right so almost half would be Elementary and then the other uh half would just be about secondary middle school high school so you can see the breakdowns and how they work work out um kind of somewhat almost evenly so the following dress attire is prohibited
076okay clothing which exposes undergarments 90 does that say 90 I get my 90% 90.1% of folks said yep I agree with that statement we don't want that so that's part of it okay good um the following dress at tires prohibited see through apparel 94% of folks said I agree with that they like that part of the policy clothing that exposes the mid drift lower by cleavage be chest 82% 82.9% folks agreed with that particular prohibition if you will uh strapless tops or tops with spaghetti straps 67% of folks so maybe maybe didn't feel as strongly about that as compared to some of the others okay the following dress at tire is prohibited dresses skirts pants or shorts that are shorter than the student mid thigh about 66% of folks agreed with that particular prohibition um
077the following dresss or ties are prohibited hats hoods or head coverings inside the building unless they required for religious or medical reasons 54% of folks agree with that and since that was one where we were like just a little over a majority we said what how did that break out between the three different groups Elementary 63 % agreen with that policy Middle School 62 High School 34 right so you see a change in mindsets of Elementary Middle High right and thinking about if there are um you know if the board has um a desire to make changes there could be some changes for elementary middle or high right it can be different doesn't all have to be one siiz fit all um sunglasses or uh other heing glasses inside the school building unless for medical
078reasons 84% of folks were feeling that that was pretty supportive um spiked accessories are wallet chains and so 58% of folks so you know just a little over half we're we're in agreement so we broke this down as well Elementary strongly 65 60 for middle and then 46 or 45 for high school having some feelings agree with that extremely tight pants worn without clothing which covers the student to the mid thigh including but not limited yoga pants leggings bandex shorts compression shorts jeggings or tights so here's a situation where only 39% of the respondents agreed with that particular prohibition and so we did take a look at that and it still kind of stayed pretty close within there wasn't a huge disparity between elementary middle and high with that as maybe you would think um
079jewelry including facial or body piercings that is actually are likely to be disruptive distracting or hazardous to the students or other students in the presence 43% of the folks we're sort of supportive of that or agreed with that if we break that down um about half at elementary 43 at midle and 34 at at High School um dress that promotes depicts or in any way affirms explicitly or implicitly drugs alcohol tobacco alcohol illegal activity including gang activity 96% of people felt good about that or agreed with that and then uh address that promotes depicts uh threatens or in any other way affirms explicitly or implicitly violence profanity vulgarity or sexually implicit or explicit messages again very high 97% of folks agree with that and um like the last one was uh dress that promotes or
080depicts discriminatory messages or practices are that just in gen gener sorry integrates sorry about that or that integrates a particular group of people um 96% so there is sort of the breakdown of just simply here's the here's the policy you agree or disagree from the employee 720 we also gave them an opportunity to add comments and so Caitlyn has provided those in your packets I think how many pages 73 Pages it's pretty thick so you'll have something to that to read and digest over the next coming days so um providing this for you is information and would welcome any direction from the board or if you want to sit on this for a little bit to read through some of the comments and digest this I'm totally that that makes sense I understand that but
081be glad to the graph the graph that you should tonight this this go out to teachers and administrators or administrators or so so this information tonight yeah yeah it went out to well it it's on public it'll be up for the public it'll be on the school Schoolboard docs and we can send it out to folks and say Here's the the summary if you'd like for us to do that well what I was asking was was that survey for just the administrators that went out to them or was that for the for who to go out to who was surveyed in all employees all employees yep and we had 720 responses so if you go back to that first maybe first slide or two uh so um we asked them to identify their role this
082was Anonymous but identify your role so of the 720 61% of those folks were teachers 30% were classified 5% was other I'm not sure what other and then the smaller percentage would be probably three and a half 4% was building administrators the reason why I asked that is because the last slide was just shocked that anyone would vote or say yeah that's okay to to wear something discriminatory or right no I but thank you for doing thank you for doing that and and for getting feedback for us on this I have um received I think it's a Broadway teacher that and had their students send letters to the board and been doing my best to respond to all of them but I think there was I two days worth of class periods that that over
083100 emails that I received so it's um it's taking me while to get back I'm going to try my best to get back to all of them if you're if they're listening tonight I'm try to respond to all your emails um but thank you for writing the board thank you for um putting your input in um and I will get back to you the best that I can I spent uh a couple hours of my morning last week I think it was maybe Friday morning I'm the first four hours of my day trying to respond back to them but we'll get back to them any other questions or comments I have just a quick comment on the one on uh number 11 it looks like pretty much everyone agreed that we should not have um
084dress that promotes um depicts or in any way a affirms you know drugs tobacco alcohol illegal activity including gang activity and I just see the one comment everybody's in agreement that they shouldn't be wearing that stuff but the one comment is this should be prohibited but it is not enforced and I think that this is you know we have a board with a strong desire to get the drug use and the violence out of our school R and I would really hope that we are enforcing um this particular rule to not have promotions of any kind of violence or drugs or you know alcohols you know on shirts I get it you know as a teenager think the things are funny or whatever and um parents can parent however I would just hope that that
085is something that's being enforced in our high schools and I know it's never a fun thing to address someone's you know attire but we would appreciate it absolutely I'm what I noticed going through some of it was the fact like some of these things are dated but there was a reason that I'm sure the school board at the time voted to make sure these things like Spike jewelry you know it brings it back to the day of Nirvana and Grunge music and back in the 90s and so um who else was I don't know there's quite a few different bands but anyway so that was kind of popular back when I was in in high school in the late 90ss in the wallet with the chain on it you know that that dates me as
086well but there was a reason why the school board at the time felt the need to make sure that those wasn't there and then I talk talk about the undergarments I got a bunch of emails from students saying you know I feel like this is directed more to females I'm like well I think the what you know we're talking about undergarments I think it's even directed more to voice at the time because lot of kids like sag pants and then their shirt rais stuff and see that so I think at some point there was reason why the school board members at the time put these rules in so it really it was good conversation pieces with the with the kids going back and forth U the students that wrote me so I appreciate the dialogue
087uh with that and it was good for for me to go over it and look at the look at it as well okay so all right I think you have one more thing yes sir I wanted to um follow up with a quick update on the comprehensive plan we're going to switch years I think now correct and I'm not going to read this entire presentation again but uh since the last meeting I've had some conversations with board members individually and they've said hey Larry you forgot something or what about this and so I wanted to bring that back to the whole board right so it's just out there one of them is an an updated technology plan and if you were re we'll recall at our last meeting one of our um public comments was
088about the use of techn techology and revisiting that and and I can say U you know pretty assuredly right I was part of helping roll out the technology the message was the message never was use technology all day every day right the message was we want to give you the tools and the resources for when you need them and when is it the best tool it's not always the best tool right so I think that's that's would be prudent on us to you know to revisit that talk about that right but want wanting to have that resource available for our teachers and our students but it's not always the best tool right and um you know I used to say back then I would still say today if I walk in a PE class and
089they're just watching videos of people run then that's probably we've missed the mark right that's not the purpose right we want them to run in PE class not watch videos of people running right you need to exercise and the others we have had some conversations in the past about exploring uh developing our own Junior Roc program within rocking County Public Schools have made some initial contacts there's some still work to be done there and we'll have to think about is that going to be a priority for us and where does that fall uh so but again I'm just trying to put things on this working draft and then the other piece was all mentoring program uh and I've asked uh Liza just to get some preliminary information for us just to start talking about what
090that may look like if we wanted to have a program uh a very structured program for community members to come in and volunteer some time mentoring our students who could use some extra support and some extra um you know TLC as their uh working through situations circumstances of Life uh next steps so that's kind of all the new stuff I have next steps I would love I know you probably are dreading to hear this another work session on comprehensive plan but um it's pretty significant right we have to sort of set our sales for the next five years and then use that document to guide us as we go through budget process and and what resources that we we need and and how we need to govern and take care of um our students and
091our teachers so I'd like to just put that out there is i' like to find another opportunity sit down for you know a couple hours with this this group uh look at what's here what do we miss what do we need to reconsider can we consolidate some of these can we do we need to break some of these goals apart what does it look like because at the end what I really want is a comprehensive plan that will guide our work and it becomes a living document not something that we put up on a shelf and say wow we work really hard on that for three months and it's over there on the Shelf somewhere and you you may be able to find it right it's we use it we reference it and again when
092we get to things like budget when we have to make hard decisions we can reference back to this plan and say is it in the plan well if it's not then that may have to be the next five years or somewhere else right there's a lot of great things that we can do out there but we have limited time and resources so um so I don't know maybe I could get some help from Caitlyn to poll you guys with a doodle poll or something and try to find a time to meet a morning or afternoon and and and kind of get back in on this I was I was thinking about in um October having a school board uh Leadership Retreat meeting would this be something that we could do possibly at that meeting there
093have enough time still on it we do the retreat in September what haven't really I haven't really I missed the August meeting I haven't really on this thing so if we push it till August or I'm sorry if we push till October we make some edits and changes we still have to have time to send out to the public for feedback so I think September is probably a better fit for a work session keeping your retreat in October but I think we probably better my recommendation would be to get work on this sooner okay I'm I'm I'm that that makes sense maybe Che on it some more we can dialogue in the community about it once we've got once we've got a a final draft we can well not a final but you know what
094I mean we're making progress that's for that's for certain but I think yeah if we could maybe perhaps meet in September then maybe an October meeting we could have a a more for you know more a better draft right and then then I would at some point love to be able to send that out to our community and to our employees to get feedback from them because that needs to be part of this process as well miss Skil if you'll just send out email maybe looking at I don't just maybe asking all the board members when would be a good uh maybe some dates not to include that on and start with and in September and see if we can get that on the work sessions created for that appreciate your help do we have
095access to that live it's in your should be in your folder y that means I have to find a piece of that's all right Dr shiffy can also email it to you if you she just wants that digital copy of that yes yes please not a problem thank you Dr chifflet I really appreciate yeah all the work you put into that as well all right that leads us to comments from the public and do we have anyone signed up tonight thank you Nancy basset there we go Dr shifflet chair cross and Schoolboard members I'm Nancy Basset president of the Rockingham County Education Association and the reason I'm here this evening is I've received questions regarding the removal of Elementary reading lessons from the CK curriculum and as I understand this curriculum was approved by the
096Virginia Department of Education under the provisions of the literacy act and it was the one Chosen and selected certain CK lessons were removed in the teacher pacing guides and teachers were instructed not to teach those lessons I'm passing along these questions because I had no answers for these individuals so and I understand that you can't respond in real time but I do hope that you guys can provide some clarifications so that I will know what to tell them so under the policies IIA and IAC revised last year the following questions arose with the removal of lessons from the Core curriculum for English language arts so the first one is was the policy I AA followed to remove the lessons what content was deemed offensive in the lessons so what was the rationale for the the
097removal of this content in the complaint filed pursuant to the policy IAC were staff members and parents selected selected to serve on the committee to remove the lessons and is there any documentation that can be viewed such as meeting minutes or otherwise that I can share to exemplify the dialogue regarding the removal of these lessons so if the policy IAC was not invoked what is the rationale for that and who made the decision to remove these lessons and when and could a written statement a rationale be provided for the removal of these lessons so and that's all I really have but I just don't know how to answer the questions so I appreciate your time and I'll give this to Caitlyn thank you Miss Basset all right there is no one else on the public
098comment sheet tonight so that brings us to Schoolboard uh questions or comments and I'll start with Miss lore thank you also I'm sorry also before we start tonight I do apologize to the students that are in the room that aren't high school students one day you'll appreciate being you know mixed up with high school kids at least younger but I am sorry about that it's little great thank you I'm wondering where we're at with our staffing can you share with us like how are are we fully staffed do we have all our teachers well when you say fully staffed I think we're still short some bus drivers I think Chris Chris you have a plan so that's good so um we have um an a position that currently we're filling at Pence middle school with
099a um long-term substitute we have a reading specialist position at Mont videoo middle school that's unfield and we have a part-time Spanish position at Pence middle school as far as teaching position that is the only vacancies we currently have and yeah and then maybe an elementary position that we acted upon earlier this evening so yeah a resignation so I think we're in a really good space right I mean as far as where we are we we do have some some classified positions some custodian positions that we're trying to feel um but I feel um really good with where we are and again kudos to Dr P and her staff for all the work they doing and our principles they're out there trying to recruit and find folks to to fill spots so it's a good
100question thank you but rcps is a great place to work and we do have some openings so anybody listening please please consider joining us and and I might I just take this to just do a quick shout out to to Rockingham County Public School boards and always thankful to our Board of Supervisors for their funding but a number of years ago and I I can't remember how many but probably 15 at least I had a friend who was driving in another School Division I'm not going to name it and I said said you you should drive in Rockingham right we we would offer you you know full-time benefits right on part-time pay so he recently retired from his other school division with no vrs and no pension but had he been in Rockingham he would
101have been afforded some vrs and you know he said H insight's 2020 I should have came the rocky him so my whole point is learn from his lesson so if you're in a School Division and they're not paying your vrs or putting money in your retirement for you we do that right it's it's full-time benefits for part-time hour space I I don't if I'm going to say it's it's a full I mean driving a bus is not easy and I want to preface that and say that's not an easy task but you do have health insurance and also you know the vrs so excellent nothing here miss miss Bur I don't know that anybody remembers but I had had a really hard first two weeks of school but I just wanted to update everyone that
102my kids love school now my twins um love love love love love school um and then I also wanted to uh share that I also had a wallet chain so I'm with you Matt it had flowers and I'm going to call my mother and see if she still has it so it's embarrassing thank you do you have pipe jeans yeah I did too yeah y they're back in style they're back in style I Dr shiet only the cool kids back in the day jenos all right go ahead Dr Chet that's fine thank you so uh two things very quickly one uh if if the schedule I believe is accurate that I have then our first unified basketball game of this year will be Monday September the 16th at East Rockingham high school at 5:30 and
103I believe that is accurate so you want to get that on your schedule I know they've made some changes here in just the last couple of days so I had to rework my entire calendar but I am scheduled to be there and then the other thing I just want to make a comment so maybe folks who are you know here in the audience or listening at home or whoever watching recording and say why is all this about you know the books and why some people are supportive and not supportive what it it's there's this element of subjectivity in how people read or perceive something and when we look at the policy it talks about a description of a description of um you know sexual excitement or or a description of and so sometimes it boils
104down to as a reader did you did you read that as just a statement of or did you read that as a description of right and and I think there's where this subjectivity comes in and so I mean I appreciate the dialogue that you folks have had and the work that you're doing because according to the policy the schoolb has the ultimate Authority with that so uh and you're exercising that Authority and kudos to you for doing that and and doing your homework and reading the books as well so but I just want to clarify because people like maybe it sounds simple it is or it isn't but there is a subjective nature to it it's it's not just TR truly black and white and I along with the content Review Committee we have these
105conversations about is that describing this or is it just a statement of this and a little bit of back and forth so anyway thank you for your work and and taking this role seriously and not just rubber stamping everything and and understand you never hurt my feelings if you don't vote for something I recommend I mean that's that's your that's your privilege absolutely no I I think the frustrating part for me being a board member is um that you can't read these things at a public meeting because it's not appropriate and then when I had a Facebook page um was um told that what I posted was wasn't good either but it was in it's in our school library so it's it's frustrating as a board member it's frustrating as a parent in rockan County
106public schools that um what seems to be um appropriate for the kids it's not appropriate for public meetings where there's adults and where there possibly could be a kid at but um so yeah I think that after tonight's meeting I'll go back to having a Schoolboard page to be able to share with the public uh of what my what's in these books that I can't say at a public meeting that way that the public can be aware of what we're voting on and what's in those and then they can be the judge if it's whether whether it's sexually explicit or not the thing is is not only sexually explicit according to the code but it's sexual conduct or sexual excitement and then um the book today on 34 the character in of itself is sexually
107excited of what they see in what's being told in the book and they describe thems by having a boner and so are they sexually I'm I'm excited when in the character in the book was they sexually excited absolutely 100% can't argue that page 34 says that in the book um and then when it describes other things like orgasms inside the book as well uh I think that's pretty sexually explicit and uh sexual conduct uh um and sexual excitement in there as well so um I think after tonight's meeting it's good for me to go back and be able to share with the public of what's in the book books um that way they can know as well hold us accountable as board members of also what we're voting for so uh we do not have
108um reasons to go into close session tonight and so I want to say again thank you everybody who showed up thank you for our central office staff uh that showed up tonight and thank you for the board members who put in all the work thank you and good night