001all right I want to call to order tonight's uh Monday July 8th 20124 regular uh school board meeting the first thing first thing I want say is Welcome to our meeting tonight and welcome to board members it's been a while since we've been together and hope you guys are doing well and uh vacationing or whatever you're doing but I hope you're having a good summer and uh Dr shifflet's not available to be with us tonight but we do have Dr olifer with us tonight so uh we hope that Dr shifflet hopefully you're not watching this on vacation and but you're having a good time uh we miss you and and just hopefully he has good travel safe travels um first thing on our agenda tonight is the I approve the agenda do I have a
002motion to approve the agenda I move we approve the agenda as presented thank you Miss Lord I have a second [Music] second thank you Miss berlo uh any questions or comments hearing none all those in favor say yes yes I'll oppose no motion passes 5 all right at this moment we're going to observe a moment of silence thank you at this time we will recite the Pledge of Allegiance if you'll stay with me States all right first thing uh tonight is going to be highlights on from Schoolboard members and I cannot remember last time I which way we went but I'll start off with Miss Bergin I was going to say I wasn't here last time so I'll go first um I do want to apologize for not being here last time but I had
003a good reason my little sister graduated from high school so I was in Indiana with my family celebrating her graduation um so that was that was a good time and good to see my family um I've just got a couple highlights so um my daughter did a basketball camp at Broadway High School and it was awesome it was is I didn't stay for the camp I she's getting to that age where it's not cool when Mom hangs out but um yeah it was a blast they put on a really good camp so I hope if anybody's watching this and is interested in any of those camps provided by our high schools definitely take advantage of it I know ta did one and there's some other ones coming up so um it was awesome to see
004the students get involved and that was really really um a positive thing for my daughter so that's something she wants to strive for to play basketball and she's in high school now um and then just over the summer so far I've been able to meet with a lot of parents and teachers and so I appreciate the the staff that's come out and taken time out of their day and out of their summer because some of them are not working right now to meet with me and to the parents as well taking time from their kids and their family so I've um I've been really blessed that people have been willing to hang out with me and talk to me and if anybody out there is interested please shoot me an email so that's it thank
005you did you miss was talking about the camp and how how did how'd that go it was really cool so she did um basketball camp and she ended up winning a medal for a three on three game and I am I was not a basketball player uh even though I'm tall everyone wanted me to play so I don't I can be a basketball mom I just don't know that much about it so she had a blast though it was awesome that's cool Miss cave um so I just wanted to highlight all of our staff that work through the summer um just from the people in central office to the people in the schools custodians administrative staff and um all of those people that kind of work to keep the wheels turning in the schools just
006wanted to know that um we appreciate you and everything you do and I'm telling the summer is really great but it's flying by and I know soon enough we're going to be sitting here and teachers are going to be getting ready to come back into the classrooms and my heart always goes out to them to them at that point in time of the year so anyways just wanted to thank all of our our CPS employees thank you Miss cave Miss Hurst um my highlight this evening is um just a little update on what MTC is doing um we just found out um that we will be able to have the aviation maintenance program at MTC continuing next year there um had been a little bit of Doubt as to whether or not we'd be able
007to offer that program just because finding an instructor that is certified in that specific area is very challenging and um we're very pleased that we were able to find a candidate and save the program so it's very exciting I know we had a lot of students um in the county that were interested in that program and kind of hanging in there in limbo trying to see if they would be able to have that program so I'm thrilled that we were able to continue that program for our students Miss Laur thank you so um I need to thank the transportation department for taking such good care of me in the last couple of weeks I drove um a truck from J Frank hilard with kayaks and met the a teacher at the bus garage to pick
008up a bus to take the eastrock kids kaying but the eastrock bus was out so they gave us the Spotswood bus and then um uh I I I dropped the kids off then I went and had a a uh meeting at MTC and then I went and picked the kids up from kaying and took them to a a camping trip and left the bus there for the for the uh the while they were camping came back and picked them up a couple days later and then I took that bus to um State Convention State FFA convention and Spotswood has a really nice activities bus I'm not sure about the other schools but spotswood's is very nice um but the the transportation department was awesome working with me getting all those moving pieces put together and
009then while at State Convention I had the extreme honor of um Su uh chaperoning MTC students and Jay Frank Hillard students and at the end of the week um one of the one of the MTC students gron long was named uh State FFA president so we're super proud of Grayson and then a lot of kids oh and remember I've been talking your ear off about a science fair I wound up with about 25 students with 16 projects uh 14 of those projects one state so super excited Super Fun yay I'm very proud of those students and and then the kids were just amazing to work with and I got to tell you Rockingham County public schools has awesome kids and it's always a pleasure to spend time with them so that was my excitement oh
010oh but and also Jackie Diaz from Broadway High School was named State FFA reporter so super proud super super great week for all of us so thank you thank you uh Dr thank you Mr Cross um so I wanted to highlight our some of our administrators um as Miss cavid mentioned uh they obviously work year round uh but the week after we got out of school we had an administrative we call it a retreat it's a series of meetings uh that we have to sort of debrief about the past year and start to uh begin to gear up for the upcoming year even as we're finishing the the last year so we spent three days on the 11th 12th and 13th of June uh and then I had the opportunity um about the the next
011week or week and a half after that to meet with each of our 25 principles uh just to talk with them about uh their year and the accomplishments they had and some of the challenges they experienced and it was just really lifegiving for me to talk with those folks uh we each have such great leaders in our school division across the board but particularly at our schools and I just uh want to thank those principls for all they do all of our administrators but particularly those principles for all the time and effort and um all the sweat they put into their job so uh thank you to them and uh all the folks who lead this division awesome thank you um I'd like to highlight tonight uh all of our maintenance uh departments and the
012crews are out they're taking care of all the gym floors and all the things I see and waxing the floors in the school and taking care of the classrooms painting classrooms doing everything that they do in the summertime to get ready for the kids to come back they're really working hard and I really appreciate uh all that they're doing uh this summer for our kids and for our schools the second thing I wanted to highlight tonight is uh our summer school is getting started up so I wanted to highlight all our students that are heading in for summer school our teachers and our administrators that are taking care of that and I look forward to coming to graduation uh when that time is ready for our uh summer school kids all right moving on to
013tonight uh to action items uh the First on our agenda tonight is to approve all three sets at one uh of our minutes and do I hear a motion for that I move we approve the minutes from June 10th June 18th and June 26th 2024 as presented thank you Miss lore and do I have a second second thank you Miss cave can I have a correction June 27th 26th yeah oh okay thank you feel good tonight so y'all need to keep me on my toes I apologize thank you okay all right any questions comments hearing none all those in favor say yes yes I'll oppose no motion passes 5 next on our list tonight is bills and mileage and Dr arer you have that J Ron board members chair cross and board members I recommend
014approval of the June 2024 bills as presented thank you Dr for hearing the assistant superintendent's recommendation do I hear a motion to follow that I move to follow the assistant superintendent's recommendation to approve the June 2024 bills as presented thank you do I have a second second thank you m Hurst any questions comments hearing none all those in favor say yes yes all oppose no motion passes 5 and next on our list tonight is policy revisions and I believe Miss tennel has that welcome chck cross members of the and Dr aifer um you uh I saw you last time we had a meeting and we had a lengthy number of policies we've paired that down um to just some policies that are going from um Rockingham County to Rockingham County policies um there's one that's
015going from a vsba to a rcps and then there's one that vsba deleted so it's much shorter um but I know that um in talking with Dr shifflet that's what the that's the way you all wanted to go so I'm hopeful this is reflective of of the direction you are wanting thank you do you have any questions board members you have any questions no thank you for doing that though like that I really do appreciate that yeah I recommend approval of the proposed policy revisions as presented thank you Dr aler do I have a motion to follow that I move to follow Dr alderfer's recommendation to approve the proposed policy res policy revisions as presented thank you m I have a second second thank you Miss cave any questions or comments hearing none all those
016in favor say yes yes all oppose no motion passes 5 thanks for doing it that way really appreciate it y all right next on our list tonight is Bid recommendations to replace the Jim bleachers at Turner Ashby high school and Mr Reed is here to fill us in chair cross Dr all for members of the board uh the bid for replacing the gym bleachers at turn asby high school was properly specified and advertised we sent the U uh bid packages to five firms and received two uh responses our recommendation is to award the contract of the low bidder JH Pence company in the amount of $323,700 director of meance thank you Dr aler board members hearing that recommendation do I hear a motion to follow it I move to follow the assistant superintendent's recommendation to
017award the bid for replacement of the gym bleachers at Turner Ashby High School to the lowest bidder as presented by Steve Reed director of Maintenance thank you Miss cave have second second thank you Miss lore any questions comments from board yes what's the timeline before the first of the year okay school before January yeah January thank you and the company JH JH Pence okay you worked with them before we have we've done a number of different projects Jay's pinch right now one of the things we're doing with them at Ry High School is all of the locker uh lockers they're doing those uh they are they represent a company called intercal and we have those bleachers I believe they are at uh Hillyard middle schools original gy okay yeah all right great good any other
018questions comments hearing none all those in favor say yes yes I'll oppose no motion passes five V thank you Mr Reed all right next one list tonight is Bid recommendation speech language pathology services and Mr Warriors has that good evening CH cross the board dror aifer I come to you this evening to ask you to approve our request for proposal for speech and language services for the fy2 school year for um timberidge speech services and Valley speech and literacy we received five responses and those two received our highest marks and we'd like to hire them for the next coming school year thank you chair cross board members I recommend awarding the contract for Speech Pathology services to the two highest rated offerers as presented by Justin Moyers Chief Financial Officer thank you Dr Al for
019hearing that recommendation to hear a motion I moved we follow the assistant superintendent's recommendation to award the contract for Speech Pathology services to the to highest rated offers as presented by Justin Moyers all right thank you Miss Lord do I have a second second thank you Miss Burgin any questions comments um do we usually get the breakdown of like usually we see all of the people that respond all the companies that respond and um what they scored and all that was our reason that we didn't get that on I give you a copy the scoring sheet fine thank you any other questions comments all right hearing none all those in favor say yes yes oppose no motion passes 5 thank you thank you all right we have a couple uh superintendent recommendations for supplement materials
020and I'll let Dr alterer do that so the um first one on The Kite Runner and my friend dmer uh was actually voted on uh to bring to this meeting um so as I understand it um that uh motion at that time was to approve um yes retain to retain the The Kite Runner and my friend dmer so I believe you all were going to be discussing that and then voting on it today thank you um board members we we are at the point of uh discussing U Kite Runner and my friend so I'll open the floor up for that for anyone who wants to discuss that the um just to make it clear instead of trying to um have another motion and we could do that tonight but um just to do another motion
021for this I'm not going to do that I'll vote on this tonight my vote will be no uh on this but I'm okay with Kite Runner going back into the uh school I would prefer that Kite Runner would be read with a teacher because of the uh rape scene that's in there I would prefer that I seen um but I but I think it's um a good book I think it's said what what I've heard of the book and what people have talked to me about Kite Runner uh it's literacy value is is way up there uh my know I want to be specific on that is going to be with my friend dmer with the um sexually explicit material that's in the book and I would agree with some of the people on the
022content committee and saying that uh if it's in the book from cover to cover then uh that for me would be inside the book whether it's in the uh footnotes or actually in the chapters uh to me as long as it's in the book I believe that's sexually explicit in the book so my vote tonight on this particular motion will be no but I want to make it really clear that it's not because of Kit Runner uh and that I'm okay with Kite Runner going back my where I differ is with my friend dmer so I just wanted to to go on record tonight as I vote no on that that it's not because of Kite Runner although I do prefer that book be read with an adult any other I just had a question
023um the the motion was for both books correct yes should we or can we vote individually in the future or you know what I mean and I've talked with our Schoolboard Clerk and we're going to do that when we could do that tonight we could do we can do a we can amend this motion uh tonight and vote on it and to do it that way U but because there was already a motion made on the floor at last meeting that's why it was done this way so in the future that's why tonight you see all the books are are separate in there so and I assume if the content Review Committee had said yeah retain or you know had different views on both of them than it would been separate it well they yeah
024okay they yes way I understand though they did differ as well on the committee on this so do you want this split into two different motions I why not if I mean we can we can do that I move that we amend the I got you I move we amend the uh main motion to remove The Kite Runner period and so we need a second on that a second okay any questions comment on that you're just removing it then we'll come back and we'll make another motion yep any questions or comment on that so to be clear if we pass this motion just passing this motion um removes The Kite Runner from the verbiage and we will then then we will vote on my friend dmer on its own all right okay all right so
025all those in favor of that Amendment yes yes yes all right motion passes 5 so now we vote on the now we vote on the main motion right that that uh we retain my friend Almer okay all right and retain means to keep it on the shelves do you have that that's really well clerk would you like to read back the motion or would you like me to read the motion you want me to read it so the ma the main motion is now um move to retain my friend Almer okay all right all right hearing the motion on the floor do I have a second no we've already gotten we a second okay so now we just vote all right all right you want a roll call on this one make it easy for
026you can I just ask one more question I'm sorry I won't miss another meeting um you're fine you're fine we listen we understand why you did um so the content Review Committee had wanted to retain both of these and Dr shifflet's recommendation was originally to retain to go with the content Review Committee to retain them correct okay right I just want to verify and retain means to keep them on the shelves because I think that's wonky so yeah yeah I think I think the the the issue in that and that Dr oler said that night as well is that there were they were split as well I think the vote was a majority on there to keep my friend armmer on the list but there they were split and that vote won by like one
027vote so well and they they also they felt that it did have sexually explicit content but that it wasn't in the main um writing of the book it was at the end where they sort of like compiled some uh files and things from I don't remember it was the FBI or yeah so it was at the end but it was still between the cover so that they did agree they they felt that it was actually explicit but it wasn't in the main part of the book right okay any other discussion hear none can you do a roll call on this Miss lore yes Miss Hurst yes Miss cave no Miss beroy chair cross no all right motion passes 32 ni the okay now I'd like to move that we um retain the tight The Kite
028Runner as do not feel good I'm so sorry folks um The Kite Runner as um recommended by the superintendent all right uh Second and any questions comment on that I just wanted to add since I wasn't going to say anything but since we did separate the two that um I would Echo a lot of what you said um I really enjoyed the Kite Runner um I know tonight is because I believe in accordance with policy we shouldn't be putting it back there is a um what I would I feel is an explicit rape scene in there um it's very very brief but very descriptive so um that's my know but it's not again like you said it's not because of um lack of literary value thank you Miss K any other discussion on this all
029right all those in favor say yes yes all oppose say no no all right motion passes 41 Dr alord the next on the list is Elanor and park uh J crw board members upon review by the content Review Committee in accordance with rcps policy IAB I recommend raining Elanor and park by rainbow pal as the book does not contain sexually explicit content that term as the term is defined in rcps policy iaba all right hearing this assistant superintendent's recommendation do I hear a motion to follow that I move to follow the assistant superintendent's recommendation to retain Elm Park as this book does not contain sexually explicit content as that term is defined in rcps policy excuse me excuse me as that term is defined in rcps I I AB thank you Miss Hurst do I
030have a second second thank you Miss cave any questions comment on this he on all those in favor say yes yes all oppose no motion passes 5 chair cross chair cross and board members upon review by the content Review Committee in accordance with rcps policy I I ABB I recommend retaining the absolute true Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman AEL as the book does not contain sexually explicit content as that term is defined in rcps policy iaba thank you Dr UT for hearing the board members hearing the recommendation of super the assistant superintendent do I hear a motion to follow that I move to follow the assistant superint superintendent's recommendation to retain the absolutely true Diary of a Part-Time Indian as this book does not contain sexually explicit content as that term is defined
031in rcps policy I ABA thank you Miss Hurst do I have a second second thank you Miss berglin uh any questions or comment on this one um I'm going to be abstaining from this vote tonight because I did not get a chance to read that book okay and I I mean sometimes when we come when things come up for vote like we just you know we trust Steve Reed as our director of Maintenance to do what he's supposed to be doing and so we you know we move and we suck and we vote and do all those things um but this is something that's a little bit um near more near and dear to my heart and so um because I did not get all the way through that I just feel like I don't
032want to flippantly vote on it so I'm just going to be abstaining and I wanted to explain why I'll be voting for it because of the sex explicit but I'm not happy of the the racist uh joke that's in the book and I have stated from the beginning when this uh discussion this book came up uh a year and a half ago um that I wasn't in favor of the book in there simply because of the racist joke that's in there and um I just think it's it'd be probably more suitable for the high school kids than middle school kids hearing a racist joke uh that's in there that's very bad and it's not funny and I I I just hate the thought of another kid uh repeating the joke that's in the book and
033and one of our kids or children at school would be hurt by that so um hopefully it will come back up through another process but um my vote tonight will be yes on that so any other questions comments hearing none all those in favor say yes yes all oppose or and one exstension or one do you want to say okay all right so and motion passes 31 three 0 and one I should say all right next one the list is okay it's the court M here chair cross board members upon review by the content Review Committee in accordance with rcps policy I ABB I recommend removing a court of mist and fury by Sarah Moss because this book contains sexually explicit content as that term is defined in rcps policy iaba thank you Dr oler
034board members hearing the the assistant superintendent's recommendation do I hear a motion to follow that I move to follow the assistant superintendent's recommendation to remove a court of Miss and fury by Sarah Moss because the book contains sexually explicit content as that term is defined in rcps policy I I ABA thank you Miss cave do I have a second thank you Miss Hurst any questions or comments hearing none I'm all those in favor say yes yes all those oppose say no any exensions all right motion passes fa all right that will push us past our action items for tonight moving right along and we'll get into our two information items which is one uh policy revision and Dr alterer you have that so the the policy that you have before you is use of student-owned
035electronic devices um in school and so this was discussed I know among the board at their um at your work session that you had last month and the proposed policy that we've brought to you essentially duplicates the policy and how we are um handling cell phones at the middle schools and we will be doing the same thing at the high schools um so in the high schools uh students uh may use personally owned uh devices after school at extracurricular events after school hours and on buses uh but they would not be permitted to be using um cell phones or or just their student-owned electronic devices whatever they may be um during the school day from the beginning of the school to the end of the school day so again essentially it's what we currently have
036in place for middle schools as well and just a second that is the fact that I think our middle school kids that are coming up to the high school this won't be a big shock for them for the most part our middle schools are all can't have you you can have the cell phone at school you just can't have it out and you can't have it out during the class or um so I think that the rising eighth graders in to be nth I'm I think they're going to be fine but I think it's going to be the heavy lift as Dr Shi has has stated that's going to be with uh our 10th through 12th graders at all four high schools um I I'm thankful for this policy I think that um having kids
037not be on the phone I know the kids are going to hate this the students not going to be happy about this but as a parent of three uh I've seen um just how much screen time affects my own children and I also see how social media and uh without any adult supervision can be uh harmful as well and the social aspect of this uh is very important as well I mean I want to see our kids at the lunch tables actually talking to one another at the lunch table I want them to see them when we have extracurricular activities uh actually talking with one another or going through the hallways and talking to one another instead of with their head buried in their phones and because I believe that social skills are very important
038also to learn while they're at school so I'm again Dr Schiff said he believes this will be a heavy lift but we are here as a board to help assist our administrators and our teachers to enforce this policy and I think what I've been hearing just uh with the my constituents and with parents in general I think a a lot of people are in favor of seeing this at the high school level as well so uh this is not a new trend that Rockingham County is new to this is happening Across the Nation uh one school in Florida has actually banned cell phones period from being on on school property um we're not going that far we're just saying you can't have it out during the school uh curriculum day and they can have it
039after for extracurricular activities so I'm board members I'm sure you may want to talk about this as well anyone want to discuss it I'd just like to share that I'm not in favor of this at this point in time and I welcome uh folks to reach out to me um and here's why partly I've been on the board for a while and we've had at least two cell phone uh policies that aren't being enforced so why enforce what I've already given you is kind of my attitude towards that and try that let's not keep piling rules on top of rules that don't work um but second and probably more importantly when I was a young woman and started having children I went to a parenting class and Mr Harvey Yoder I know a lot of
040you guys know him he talked about the cone of responsibility and the idea is when they're little they're at the bottom of the cone and you give them just a little bit of responsibility and as they age you have to let them have more and more responsibility until when they're adults the idea is that they're at the top of the cone and they're ready they're ready to go and all too often parents when they get to be teenagers you get a major um Power struggle with your kids because you you elongate that cone and you cut off the edges and you stop and that's kind of what this policy does this policy keeps you keeps them from growing into the phone they it it gives them a little bit more and a little bit more
041so in elementary school they get no phone in middle school they get no phone but they get it on the bus and then in high school they get it and I would be completely um happy to remove the uh the per the the wind time or the the uh time that's not instructional but it's also not free time at in our high schools I would be willing to entertain that but to completely take the phones away I think is elongating that cone and not letting kids grow into the people that they need to grow into cuz when they go to college when they go to work we're not going to want them on their phones and they're going have to have that figured out when they graduate and I think that this does not let
042them figure that out so that's the main those are the main reasons I'm opposed to it at this time but thank you I was I think I was gonna when you said that I I was thinking about the places in the workforce that don't allow the cell phones to be like on the line or um they can have it in their locker I mean so these are adults as well that the workforce is having a trouble with adults being on their phone while they're at work and I think it's very addicting you know to have that Temptation um on them but I I appreciate your thoughts tonight thank you for sharing what you said any other Schoolboard members I have a lot of thoughts about this and I could talk for a very long time
043about this and I have conflicting thoughts about this you know I I agree with Miss lore but I agree that you know cell phones they they're an addiction sometimes and I know I catch myself sometimes my husband's talking to me and I'm like like yeah yeah yeah and I'm doing something it's like I I just I don't know I just am so distracted by that and I want kids to be able to make good decisions and to say you know what I need to focus right now this has to go away um you know phones phones can be a great thing technology can be a great thing but using it in a way that is distracting from school time is definitely not what I want um when I when I had substituted before I on
044the board I saw a lot of things that was you know very very troubling to me and blatantly just disrespectful to the staff and the teachers and that did not sit well with me um I was told that the win period is like free time on your phones um kids were playing Call of Duty I think against each other um for 45 minutes and I heard some kids saying they were in like a group chat with 18 other kids and I'm like oh my gosh that's so many kids Within These Walls and I said this at the last meeting but like if 16-year-old Ashley would hate what was I was saying right now um absolutely but but 16-year-old Ashley didn't have a cell phone um so so it is distracting and you know it can
045be a disruption but I also I worry about safety and I want my kid to have their cell phone on them I want it to be on I don't want it to be uh and I said this at the work session I do not want it on the back of a teacher's door I trust that you're going to be responsible enough to put it in your pocket pocket or leave it in your purse um I think when I was a senior I had like a little I don't the razor was out and um I was really paranoid and it was in my purse and it was on silent and I never took it out but I had it and once in a while would go in the bathroom and text my Mom or call my
046mom but that was it and um it it it's a safety concern for me so if if there was a reason for them to have to call 911 by all means I want them to have their phones accessible do I want it out during class absolutely not do I want them to sit at a lunch table and all you see is the top of everyone's heads absolutely not I want people to be able to talk to each other so I'm really torn on this um I know it's important for our kids to interact with people but um I also know how toxic the phones can be like I said I I I do it to my husband and um it's just it's just not it's hard for me right now but I definitely see that
047something has got to change so and and our Administration has to be supported in whatever we decide so thank you Miss berglin yeah I think there had been some conversations in the past of having the students put their cell phones like in a in a little cubby on the wall hanging on the wall and we talked about that and I think Dr oler at our work session talked about how that maybe would not be a good idea to do that as well and and being act law enforcement and working in the schools it's a lot of money hanging on the wall a lot of a lot of reports and a lot of things happen there so having the students be able to still have their phone on them I I think is a good thing
048because we're not saying that in in a um God forbid in in a in an emergency situation something happens at the school that the kids would get in trouble if they get their phone out and they say Mom and Dad this is happening at the school um but what we are saying in a normal uh school day we're not going to have it out so Dr for you going to say something yeah a couple of points one uh we have a policy like this currently at Rockingham Academy where the students aren't don't have access to their phones um and that's gone quite well there actually um while initially it is a tough uh transition for students they actually many of them would tell you that that is good for them that they would acknowledge that
049um second um Miss Laura talked about an enforcement about enforcing the that we have I will say that one of the things that's challenging is when there's ambiguity about when you can use it and when you can't use it right so um that can be maybe different between teachers what time of the day Etc and I think that becomes confusing then for an enforcement um by teachers and other staff members as well and I I do think that this policy will make provide more clarity to that and make it such that every kid will know that it's just not you're not able to have it out between eight and three that there is no wiggle room and it's not this teacher allows it and this teacher doesn't allow it or I can have it out
050here I can't have it out there it's there's Clarity there and I think that helps with um consistency and as Dr shiet had mentioned it we're not kidding ourselves we know it's going to be there's going to be some challenges related to that and there's going to be kids that are going to be wanting to use it trying to sneak it there's going to be issues related to that but um as we rolled out this policy we do think this is the best way to approach that um and being consistent and I think that's going to be clear to everyone with kids teachers parents everyone thank you for sharing that I'm I and and that's why I was I think I was not toot moan horn here but I think that when we we put
051our last policy in place I was the only one to vote against it as the board current board at that time which we've got a lot of new board members that are on here but that was my issue on allowing that part of the policy come up saying they could use it during non-curricular times uh because as I stated then it it pits teachers the cool teacher against the Bad Teacher now and I'm I don't data is showing that it's not it's not good so thank you for the conversation and I I'm sure that I mean it's up for information right now uh at the next board meeting will be up for action item so I look forward to any other discussions you may have uh our constituents please feel free to email us um
052and or call us or what however way you want to get a hold of us but uh feel free to contact your school board representative uh and voice your thoughts and opinion on that all right uh next is our financial review um June 20 20 2024 and board members you have that inside uh your packet tonight uh for your leisure to be able to view do that uh so we don't have to go over that next on our list tonight is public comment and uh we have a few people sign up and the first on our list tonight um I just to go over just a quick rules is you'll have uh three minutes when you get down to 30 seconds you'll hear a beep beep that lets you know that your time is about
053expired and uh after 3 minutes we ask you to stop uh your speech if you're not done by the end so first on list tonight is Michael stimple thank you board members uh superintendent or super assistant superintendent aler for that opportunity to speak I'm Mike stle from Broadway um as we reflect on another Fourth of July gone by I would like us all to think about these questions as I make my comments this evening what does it mean to love your country what does it mean to be patriotic what has changed since the Declaration of Independence was signed in 1776 and when the Constitution was signed in 1787 our founding fathers were very much a products of their culture as they kept up with the fashion trends for men at the time which included powdered
054wigs tights and shoes with heels perhaps if they would have been observed walking around town today they've been called drag queens but what did it mean when Thomas Jefferson wrote those words we hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal that all were endowed by their creator with her certain unalienable rights that among those life liberty and pursuit of happiness well at the time they specifically meant men and more specifically white men fortunately as Martin Luther Martin Luther King Jr put it the Ark of the moral universe is long but it bends towards Justice women and people with Bracken brown skin were eventually allowed to be a part of those who are allowed the unable rights promised them in the Declaration fast forward to 1941 Macedonia Iowa a tiny blink if
055you miss it town after the attack on Pearl Harbor Four Brothers enlisted in the Army among them was my then 36-year-old grandfather he's here on the um being too old for combat infantry he ended up being a clerk typist stationed in India in the US Army intelligence my grandfather joined a cause bigger than himself to fight against imperialism and fascism one of the Hallmarks of a fascist regime regime is the censorship and banning of various media including books which brings us to this current moment in time four of the five school board members here um have decided to seek an endorsement um of the political party in their in a nonpartisan election one of the Hallmarks of the Republican party is the belie of small government board members having veto power over specific individual books
056is the definition of big government so when the board decides to engage in a process that stands against the very principles of their own political ideology what are they fighting for why do they want the power and control over items that provoke things like imagination and thinking how does the desire to control and jive with our founding documents as currently interpreted understood is this what we want and model to our students and I just want to make a quick comment about the Diary of a true a part-time Diary of a true Indian in context the joke the racist joke made was by a bully person bowling the main character and it was made clear in the book the comment was inappropriate I just want thank you thank you for letting me have the extra time
057thank you next on the list is Jacob I have a lot to say first off I'd like to say thank you for endorsing um or allowing the absolutely true Diary of a Part-Time Indian to be put on shelves it it means a lot to me as someone who's a Native American it's pretty cool um and with the phone policy I agree with Miss lore on this it's something that if it's restricted now then it's only going to push forward the time that they're going to that kids are going to be on their phone and so in college they're they're not going to know how to handle their phone as well because they didn't have the training ground of high school to go through and it in the lunch room I don't I really don't see
058a whole lot of people on their phone if if I look out I see just everyone talking to each other and I feel like there's minimal phones unless it's showing this funny meme to their friend or something which I think is really cool I I like being able to talk to my friends and usually if I'm on my phone it's because I'm either texting someone saying where we're going to meet up uh at the lunch table or after school making plans right before the bell's about to ring and everyone's already packing up and so it's not terribly intrusive and so I feel especially with the phone policy it's something that fre freedom is definitely the way to go uh thank you next on the list tonight is Ruth Robertson thank you everyone for uh letting
059me speak tonight my family and and myself we went to Africa for two weeks to do some service at an all girl school in June there are 268 students there and as you probably imagine none of them have cell phones during their off time their outside playing soccer uh we were kind of intimidated to even try and play soccer with the high school girls because they were a lot better than we were and they were talking interacting of course it's a different culture different country but they had they were happy in their extreme poverty and they were making connections and having that time to learn and to be at school I want to say why I'm saying this is I wholeheartedly agree with no cell phone use during school I have three teenagers attending a
060School a high school um in in the county rcps and I I have two older kids that have graduated from also from the county schools and as a parent I am uh I would love for this to be enforced no cell phone use during the school day at all our most vulnerable children elementary kids go to school and none of us have any qualms sending them off they don't have cell phones they they our kindergart you know as far as I know they just usually don't have cell phones but they can go to the office they can talk to their teacher usually there's a um some sort of law enforcement there at the school and so I know our our students in high school they can go to the office they can talk to people
061uh my son my oldest son and my other kids they have a personal cell phone till they were juniors in high school and I just feel that this is a great time for them to learn to have interactions with other other students and uh to not not be on their phones they don't they don't need that it's it's damaging for their brains to have to be on there it's addicting there's depression there's mental issues there's a lot of studies out there but I just fully support uh no cell phone use during school thank you for your time thank you you next britley Britney sorry wer good evening as a mother of five children in the Spotswood District I appreciate the opportunity to share my concerns uh regarding the use of devices in our schools in
062fact I'm so concerned about it that I started a Facebook group called hrock families for healthy Tech which currently has over 120 followers and growing I'd love to have you join the conversation there based on my interactions with parents and other teachers and teachers I have learned that so many of us desire to limit the use of smartphones in schools and improve the way that school issued devices are used to understand the work that must be done please read the anxious Generation by Jonathan height which would benefit all parents and anyone working with youth today in addition I ask that you adopt the following policies for the upcoming school year no smartphones for elementary school students especially on the bus parents of elementary students should be explicitly informed that smartphones are prohibited and that they're
063welcome to contact their child through the school office or by using an internet free kidsafe Smartwatch bus drivers should be supported in their challenging role and parents must be made to understand that riding the bus is a privilege for those who follow the rules internet enabled devices have no place on school buses with children the second policy that I support is the change to our current policy no smartphones during school hours for middle and high school students parents are welcome to contact their child before and after school Jonathan height argues in his book a phone ban limited to class time is is nearly useless he says even if such a ban were perfectly enforced by hyper Vigilant teachers patrolling each row of the classroom it would mean that the moment class ended most students would
064pull out their phones check their text and feeds and ignore the students next to them when when students are allowed to keep their phones in their pockets phone policing becomes a full-time job and it is the last thing that teachers need added to their workload many of them eventually give up and tolerate open use as one Middle School teacher wrote to me give teachers a chance ban smartphones and I do support if they are put away in a book bag or the lockers that remain empty at many of the schools as parents let's support our hardworking teachers as well as giving our children the opportunity to experience school as we did without the play-by-play drama of social media as well as the opportunity to have small failures like forgetting a permission slip without us always
065saving the day we all want our children to help to grow and thrive on their own and schools without smartphones is a great stepping stone to that Independence regarding school safety it is understandable that parents want to stay in contact with their children however as is stated in the book a school in which most students are calling or texting their parents during an emergency is likely to be less safe than a school in which only the adults have phones and the students are listening to the adults and paying attention to their surroundings to begin this change I suggest a test period for one semester one semester without phones let's do the real life research and compare academics mental health concerns and overall Community thank you Miss Waller by Miss Waller what was the name of
066the age Rock something H Rock families for healthy Tech thank you and to let you know the board is also reading that book thank you Dr chifflet all right next on our list is Ellen Karen good evening thank you for the time uh I wanted to speak in favor of the policy changes to the personal device usage policy and perhaps add some additional perspective and maybe some ideas for enforcement first of all I acknowledge fully the teachers and administrators that deal with phones and devices and still still educate our kids um despite their usually addictive nature um I also acknowledge that most students actually abide by these rules especially in middle school so good for them thank you for being good and being good school citizens um and thank you for bringing these issues up
067so we can try and protect and raise the healthiest whole children that can also anecdotally I know fully that my children turn into monsters the more they're on screen so we all I think can attest to that um my concern is educating the whole child emotionally socially and intellectually therefore I support the no phone policy for the entire day that allows for more social interaction development and better focus on lessons from teachers and um to address Miss lore in your comments specifically uh there is data proving that the same brain response to addictive drugs is also shown with social media and with phones in that case I would argue parents need to be parents and make guidelines to protect them and impose limits when necessary um they're welcome to figure out how to use their
068phone usage habits at home where other kids aren't impacted negatively and I am one of your constituents a couple of thoughts at the elementary level perhaps we could explicitly state in the policy um that personal devices are not allowed in school or on buses for elementary children the bus driver should have a phone in case of emergency with all the necessary information and also a phone Locker if children do violate that policy where those phones can be locked up and then return When the child is taken off the bus um I'd like to ensure an ironcloud block made on the back end of every school Wi-Fi that blocks all social media usage including YouTube unless um for teachers that are issued rcps approved devices social media has recently been declared a public health hazard by
069the CDC and Surgeon General so when we can it would be helpful for every child's wellbeing to limit social media while at school I'm not saying let parents do what they want at their own time but at school when we can focus on children we should um ideas for enforcement just since the current consequences in that policy seem a little repetitive and quite honestly a headache for admin to enforce um not following the policy multiple times could require students to empty their pockets or set their backpack or device uh on the teacher TK that they can get after the class um also if there's multiple violations they could lock up their phone at the beginning of the day and then go back and Rich and retrieve it at the end of the day that way
070it would encourage the behavior um I'll stop there thank you for your time uh next on our list is Lois Paul thank you board for giving me a chance to speak I want to thank you all for protecting the girl Sports and I use Caitlyn uh Clark and Riley Gaines as an example she Caitlyn Clark has has just Bown the walls out of the WNBA and uh uh without without the support I think of her um of the her coaches and that she may not have made she may not have made it there and I I am almost certain that she didn't have to contend with a boy to or a man changing in the same uh same locker room with her if if she didn't if she didn't have to contend with you know
071seeing someone else that she didn't want to see she can concentrate on what on What what really is important and that is her game um I also want to thank you for uh uh transparency and dealing with the students and parents and that is fun fundamental it's a fundamental building block to to learning in the schools without that trust learning is Dar near impossible um and as far as keeping the the book issue I thank you for uh keeping the public involved and letting them uh letting them have input in there and with all the media barrage of the Stu that's AFF affecting not only the students but the teachers and everybody else um this is a step in the right direction to limit what they what they see uh Virginia has played an important
072role in the formation of the United States presenting an accurate picture of our past serves to give a balanced and complete history good and bad not biased slanted or Rewritten uh and I'm glad to see that uh Rockingham County Public Schools is has cooperation with the MTC which gives opportunities to the students that know what they want to do when they're in Junior Senior High they want to go out they want to be an autome mechanic God bless them you know if they want to do that they don't have to waste four years in college to know that that's what they want to do they can go out there take the courses do what they want to do and in two three years they're fixing your car and you don't have to wait uh they
073they they don't have to wait to be a a beneficial contributing part of the community so it benefits the community and B benefits the people as well as far as the cell phones what did y'all do 15 20 years ago you didn't have a cell phone they can use uh they can use a cell phone in the evening on the weekends in the morning before school but um as far as as I know it's a Temptation myself to um to not um to not get out your phone and look at it but um to put that Temptation on the kids I don't think so just lock them up thanks thank you Miss Paul next on our list night is alen f free sorry every day that it's not you it's apologize I'll try to remember
074I think this is your second time speaking so I should have known that thank you I appreciate that so I've come to talk to you all about books before it's just an issue that's really important to me so I'm going to stick to that rather than the device use and I I did want to say um thank you for listening to your content Review Committee I know that many of you previously said that your intentions were to uphold um what the committee's decisions were and so we're I'm watching this very closely and I'm paying attention to the fact that you're doing that I wish this were a more open process I wish that we all knew who was on the committee I think that that is a um a a danger in the future of
075stacking the deck um with one sorts of person's opinions um but we have not seen that to date seen that the group seems to be reading all the books really diligently taking questionable passages in context of um and coming to the superintendent with their uh decision and so I appreciate that I appreciate that you are listening to them I will be continuing to watch this issue very closely because if it were me I would not remove any books um from the school libraries and I don't believe in banning books at all but um I'm at least glad to see that there has been Community input and then the board is continuing to listen to that input but thank you thank you Mr fre that will conclude our public comment for tonight and we will go
076into our Schoolboard comments and so so I will start with Miss Laura I'm going to pass thank you thank you Miss lur Miss Hurst nothing here thank you thank you m first I cave uh just quickly you stole my thunder earlier I was going to tell Miss Britney that we are reading the anxious generation and um one thing that he talks about there also I'm making my 15-year-old read it with me because I think that knowledge is power and so uh yeah one thing that he talked about and that bar into the book now but and I think he said this in the beginning but he talked about um foam based childhoods versus the play based childhoods and you almost would have to be blind not to see the difference and um I have always
077identified with Gen X um I think I was like a year off from making that Mark but I've always said I was a part of Generation X and one one thing that he said about that is that we're not um as affected by um the phone addictions and things like all of the generations after us but that we are like constantly irritated by it and so even the stuff that he just kind of says um out of opinion um resignate with me um in addition to all the fact-based um things that he brings forward in the book so um just I just want you to have confidence in your board that we are taking this policy change really seriously and um another book that's really good is digital Cocaine by Brad huddleson that's a really
078good one too and um I just believe in getting educated on things and doing the best that we can um for our students so that we're not a big disservice to them and uh I think that we are moving forward in the right direction in roam County thank you Miss K for those comments Miss burky I will just share as a parent I really struggle as well with the cell phones and and tablets and all that stuff and uh when I was pregnant with my twins I was going back and forth to UVA weekly and so my daughter was um about 3 and a half and I said well I'm going to get her a tablet for the car rides and I'll never forget hearing my kids say mom WiFi and I was like just
079died inside right that's not something you want to hear out of your three-year-old and so that just always stuck with me that my three-year-old was asking for Wi-Fi in the back seat um and it was kind of one of those things that was a long drive back and forth and long meetings and you know long doctor's appointments and so I felt like it was okay and uh we ended up losing the tablet thank thankful uh for that but we lost it found it in the basement a few months ago um so I struggle with it myself and I get it um and yeah I just it drives me crazy sometimes so it's something that I think is really important and I want to be really thoughtful about and I appreciate the comments about it and
080I want to hear from more people in the community how you feel about it um because I think it's really important I also wanted to just say about the content Review Committee that I don't know all the members some of them have identified themselves to me and I appreciate that uh I appreciate uh and respect their time and efforts and energy so um you know I just wanted to say thank you to them thank you Dr aler I'll pass thanks all right Le me me and hopefully Dr shifflet you're having a good meet thanks for filling in for Dr shifflet tonight appreciate it and uh thanks for uh giving us a call and texting us throughout the week or whatever you've done so emails um i' also want to thank uh Deputy Alvarez for being
081here tonight I forgot to recognize you thank you for being here at these meetings we appreciate you and appreciate all the work that you do inside Spotswood High School and all your feeder schools uh that you have so thank you for your work and we hope that you continue as a SRO for as long as you can H but thank you for all you do and thank you for the influence you're having on our students at school so thanks um I just also want to say to the parents that came forward tonight and shared um I took some notes it might be Foyd who knows but hopefully I spelled things correctly but um thank you for some of the Insight that you brought especially your feelings on um cell phone use on on the bus
082especially with the um Elementary buses so thank you so much for that that was uh something that I hadn't thought about so maybe we can look at that and add this to this policy or see what we do there but thank you for for talking about that and thank you for bringing the book tonight it's it was it's been a good book um so um I will will say that about a year ago I went to Spotswood and was talking to some of the students after our last uh cell phone policy and one of the students that was there was very grateful that she couldn't have her cell phone out and some of the teachers were enforcing that so uh she was thankful that um she didn't have feel pressured to have it out and
083feel left out uh from the crowd and that she could she said I'm focusing more and I'm having a better time at school so I was talking with Miss cave earlier in the week at some point or maybe it was last week I it was definitely last week it wasn't earlier this week um but I think you had mentioned how this policy could be a policy that will see fruit of this policy in in the years to come of the kids graduating in a couple years and I agree with that statement I think that we will see uh fruit of this policy and it's going to be tough um to lift for our te teachers and our administrators but uh you have a board uh that has your back on doing this and I hope
084that this policy uh can be passed so I I think Miss Burkin had mentioned uh if you're please reach out to us as school board members and send us emails how you feel about the policy I it seems like there's a lot of people that are in favor of uh a cell phone policy that we are presenting um and so that's good and I believe that if you have kids and they have cell phones or devices that you see the dangers of that and um that's helpful because um this is something that we see firsthand uh inside of our homes so and thank you for coming out tonight um and voicing your your thoughts and your opinions there uh and that will lead us to our next uh item and that's Clos session and do
085I hear a motion to enter Clos session I move that the board enter a closed meeting to discuss and consider the following pursuant to the provisions of Virginia code section 2.2 3711 A1 Personnel specific public officers appointees or employees for the purpose of considering such individuals assignment appointment promotion performance demotion salaries or resignation thank you Miss Hurst do I have a second thank you Miss lore any questions comments hearing none all those in favor say yes yes I'll oppose no motion passes 5 thank you for coming out and be safe heading home