001[Music] good evening I'd like to call this September 11th meeting of the Rockingham County School Board to order thank you all for joining us tonight the first item on our agenda is to approve the agenda members I have a uh motion to approve the agenda as presented so moved thank you Mr Dixon do I have a second thank you Mr Cross is there any discussion hearing none we'll approve the agenda as presented all those in favor please say I I oppose same sign motion carries unanimously thank you all the next item on our agenda is the Pledge of Allegiance can you please stand and remove your head care I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the it stands one nation God indivisible and justice for all you may
002be seated and thank you and since it's September 11th we're going to have two moments of Silence but we're going to do them in uh in order together so it'll be an extra long one tonight but please take a moment of silence to remember um the tragedy of 911 and all those involved as well as our normal um moment of silence and please join me in a moment of silence thank you we'll now move into our public comment of the E our public comment portion of the evening uh I will remind everyone that the rules for public comment are three minutes per speaker uh we'll give you a a a time a beep at 30 seconds to go if you can please wrap up then at three minutes the mic will be will be turned
003off please uh use the pillars of character in your comments please address the board as a whole and the uh the audience should please refrain from any emotional outbursts the first person on our agenda or on for public comment tonight is Larry cha well I want to thank you for the opportunity to speak with you tonight I'm Larry Cho and I'm here to plead with you to adopt Governor Yan's model policies for Virginia Public Schools without delay these policies reflect the will of the majority of Voters of Rockingham County Governor Yen was elected on the central issue of parental rights specifically as they relate to parents responsibility and Authority for the education of their children these model policies place the ultimate responsibility and Authority squarely on the shoulders of parents where they belong Governor yun's
004model policies also reveal a clear effort to protect and encourage respect for all students these policies also clearly align with the parents fundamental right under the 14th Amendment and Virginia law to direct the education of their children and Governor Yan's policy support the First Amendment which forbids the government to require anyone to adopt or adhere to any ideological beliefs local school boards must in compliance with Virginia and federal law adopt policies that are consistent with these 2023 model policies setting policies that are in line with the rule of law is the responsibility of local school boards their job is to serve the constituency by setting and implementing policies that are good for students good for parents and promote sound educational practices this is what good leadership looks like I was present at the last school
005board meeting when this question was raised and I'm concerned that the decision was made to table the matter and seek legal counsel I'm not sure why there is a concern about the legal ramifications of following the law therefore I urge you do not delay to fully adopt Governor Yan's model policies I'm Larry Chico candidate for school board in Rockingham County District 2 thank you thank you our next speaker will be Margo heffernon did I get that right thank you I appreciate the opportunity to be here um I'm going to be speaking in favor of Governor Yan's model policy as well um and I'll start out by saying that gender ideology which has been taught and promoted oted under Governor northam's model policies obliterates material reality and disrupts fundamental laws that protect women and girls laws
006that are built on the reality of biological sex it also teaches children the falsehood that people can change sex the disruption of Law and reality is what has allowed for boys who identify as girls to play on female sports teams in many states grown men are stealing women's trophies and those Sports world girls have been assaulted in their own bathrooms by boys who claim gender female identities most people are not aware that in States like Maine New Jersey and California violent male felons are housed in women's prisons because they claim to be female all of this is happening because the new gender ideology maintains that anyone at any time can comp uh Proclaim to be the opposite sex let me ask ask you this who is going to be harmed most by this unscientific notion
007of gender fluidity is it a strapping 6'2 male who suddenly fancies himself a woman and is given a spot on an elite college team or is it the young Collegiate female athlete who has a shot at a sports scholarship and is competing against a dude in a sports bra the notion of gender fluidity has severely impacted girls in other ways as they are the majority of children brainwashed by peers the school systems and social media to take on an opposite sex identity approximately 300,000 minors many of them girls claim such an identity in the US many are treated in one of the over 100 gender clinics in the US including our own UVA receiving primitive and disfiguring cures for what has been referred to as gender dysphoria sadly many of these girls believe that life
008would be easier if they could be the opposite sex the truth is that push back is coming from all quarters left and right believer and non-believers from radical left-leaning feminists from gays who know that this ideology is also targeting boys and girls who are confused about their sexuality atheist and Este esteemed evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins has joined the fry for he understands that human beings are the six they were born children who have been irrevocably maimed by gender medicine are Seeking Justice for Texas law firms like Campbell Miller and Payne that represent the growing number of De transitioners who carry the Stigmata of these primitive treatments for life thank you our next speaker is Holly cave hi I'm Holly cave M four District 5 um I do not believe that public comment time should be
009used as a campaign platform and I think you all respect that so I'm here tonight as a parent as a mom as a representative of 75% of the people in this County and 84% of the people in my district alone that voted Governor yunan into office in 2021 and you know the end of this summer has felt a lot like 2021 when your constituents showed up in masses to our Schoolboard meetings to tell you that we cannot have boys and girls bathrooms and we cannot have girls and boys' bathrooms you're setting our students up for failure and our School Division up for failure they showed up they told you that and no one listened and then it you know it feels a lot like the beginning of 2022 in January and Fe February when parents
010showed up in masses again just to ask please can we make our own choice for our children as to whether or not they wear masks and yet no one listened again even though it was getting ready to be put into law it was pushed until the very last second and now here we are in 2023 and the same thing is going on and there's no way that the policies that we have right now can be in compliance with the c the current Governor's model policies when we were told in 2021 that we were compliant with those right so why do we have to consult our own attorneys when we have our own attorney general saying these are legal it should be simple to move on this subject and so what I'm asking tonight is that
011one brave soul after we hear from Dr shifflet with his update I'm just asking for one brave soul that might move to put this as an action item as our next at our next meeting it's already been brought been brought for information and then a second brave soul to second that just so we can go to vote to see where you all stand so that maybe when people look back on your legacy and your time on this school board that they might say you know what in spite of everything else that they did that last thing that last thing that they did it was right and it was good thank you thank you and our final speaker for tonight is Jeff and I've already forgotten how to pronounce your last name bander thank you yes
012thanks for the opportunity to speak my name is Jeff bolander and my personal pronouns are not important here because I don't think that's relevant and my adjectives aren't relevant either but there's a noun that's relevant and that's I'm a parent and I think that's relevant whether I was gay or trans or straight that parents have rights and they have responsibilities and those need to be respected by the school board and the administration and I ask that you adopt Governor Yan's model policies out of respect for parents so that they know what's going on in the schools thank very much thank you that concludes our um public comment speaking speakers for the night we're going to move on to Highlights by board members and we're going to start with Mr Dixon so I only have uh
013one highlight tonight and that is making everyone aware on September 16th this Saturday the town of Elton is going to be hosting a touch of truck event uh there going to have a classic car show air carees coming they're going to have vendors um and I think music so if you've got a young kid want to have see a fire truck see a tow truck it's a good opportunity to get the kids out come to Elton and spend some time down there so thank you uh September 16th this Saturday yes this Saturday 1 to4 thank you Mr Dixon Dr mooken thank you chair Laur well school is underway and and sports and other clubs and activities are in full swing and I'm very proud to say that Dr schifflet has been to many many different
014activities you'll have to give us at least a variety of the ones that you you've been to and it seems to me that the uh school year 2023 24 is off to a good start and always remember that our focus is on our students and we support our staff our teachers and staff thank you Dr Mr Cross thank you chairman lore I thank you for the public that showed up tonight thank you for everyone that came out and spoke in favor of Governor Yan's model policy hopefully that makes the DNR tomorrow or the next day when that comes out tonight um my highlight that I want to talk about is I on August the 29th a Tuesday I was able to go down to Elon middle school and U Jack was down there as well
015and Dr shipet he was able to show up but they um they there was a it was a memorial for Bonnie Monger I don't know if anyone in the community remembers who Bonnie Monger was but she worked for the school system for many years and uh she was my ISS teacher that's how I first encountered Bonnie but she was uh she was a she was a great influencer in my life she was was there at a time in my life in mon video when my parents were going through divorce and um I spent quite a few days in in school suspension and Bonnie was my teacher that helped me get through those days in ISS and uh she helped a lot of us Knuckleheads out in the school system and she did a pretty good
016job so later as a SRO got had an opportunity to work with Bonnie and uh she was just an outstanding uh person I sorry didn't didn't think I'd get ch up but she was um just a a very important person in my life in the community's life and um I want to thank uh principal uh Emily Holloway for um dedicating the benches outside uh in her remembrance and U for Dr shifflet and Joe dudash many of those in the system May member Joe dudash he was down there um uh Ramona Pence showed up down there as well so it was good to see Ramona and hear Ramona you want to know is Ramona then you know she talks very loud so she was good for her to be the spokesperson that day Dr shifflet but
017um it was just a great um it was a great highlight and um it was also it sits right there in Elon Middle School right at the 911 memorial that they they put up years ago and that just goes right into and my also highlight tonight is that we as a community and we as a would never forget what happened on this tragic day on 9/11 2001 and um I thought about that today as I watched the TV3 news and um as I watched the news at 5 they the only thing they said about the about the 911 hijackers was that they were just hijackers and I thought to myself the kids are in that are in school today they wasn't even born at the time 911 and for us to remember I mean for
018from all of us that live through that we remember exactly where we were at on that day we were exactly we know exactly what was going on I remember my wife calling me and telling me a plane had flown into the first Tower and I thought maybe a little sesta plane had flown in and hit it and so we all turned I worked at dick Meers Chevrolet at the time and I remember turning the radio on and next thing we know um the second plane hit and so we all gathered at dick Meers and the showcase and we gathered hands and we prayed for our nation that day and um I I don't I don't want our students to forget about it and I think it's so important as I thought about this today that
019we look into our history classes and we and we make sure that they know the full history of what occurred on 911 and that we not forget about that so I'm going to be speaking with Dr shifflet in the days to come and just making sure that as we go forward as a School Division that we don't lose what happened on that tragic day and that kids always remember what happened so those are my highlights um but uh Bonnie if you're listening thank you for all the um all the counsel and all the love that you showed me as a kid thank you thank you Mr Cross um we are back to school uh and things are things are uh getting busy and busier we have a number of field trips to to hopefully approve
020uh later in the meeting uh which brings me to my highlight uh I've been preparing uh students to travel to Massachusetts this weekend to participate in the Big E conference uh that that's big with a big letter e not big e um but it's it's a regional contest for uh the eastern part of the United States FFA members uh and um if you guys could please keep those students and all of our students in your prayers I would really appreciate it uh for safe travels and just you know I think we we've gotten off to a really great start at school and let's keep continuing to pray that they'll they'll continue to have uh a good good experience at school and that's my big highlight coming up so Dr shifflet all right thank you um
021so yeah so school um this is beginning week four so someone mentioned that to me today I was as I was going around visiting I like wow we're four weeks in didn't doesn't seem like that uh but we're off to a good start um few hiccups AC's and a couple of the schools last week we're having some issues um but we think we had most of those resolved and a few other problems here and there but overall it's been a really great start uh I've had the opportunity to visit all 25 schools uh so far and uh trying to be present as much as I can and be out in the community and again as I said last time I love the opportunity to see our kids competing and and activities things that they choose
022to do right they are required to come to school compulsory attendance and we can use your help with that parents but at the same time you know they choose to play volleyball or soccer or you know whatever Sport and uh so last week I watched uh the J Frank Hillyard uh Middle School volleyball team they defeated Thomas Harrison which we cheered them for that it was awesome to get a win uh watched Spotswood beat Wilson Memorial on Friday night that was really good and then today I went to shenvi and watched my first ever golf match and um I was asked several times to be quiet or to not speak as loudly as I was so that's a learning curve for me I I I don't play golf so I'm I'm going to figure it
023out um you know I thought they did well they hit the ball really far uh so that was good I thought so anyway I have to work on my golf etiquette I'm sure your uh and just also just as an awareness uh just many of you may be aware that the state has amended the budget you probably heard this on the news here recently and um hopefully in the coming days as we get more information about what the numbers really are we'll reach out to our board members have some conversations about your priorities uh looks like there'll be a 2% raise for our employees in January uh then there'll be some sort of one-time funds uh but we'll have to see what strings may be attached to that right sometimes they say you can have
024this money if you do X Y and Z and then finally uh I do want to recognize that today is Patriots Day I War my patriotic tie uh but I want to remember those families who were impacted on 911 uh but also I want to thank all of our law enforcement and Fire and Rescue who serve our community and our country uh each and every day uh this past Saturday uh I was honored to attend the memorial dedication for JJ Jefferson and John payer at Bridgewater College uh those two gentlemen um they paid the ultimate sacrifice uh to save the lives of students and staff at BC uh on that Dreadful day and as a parent of a BC student at that time I will be forever grateful for their sacrifice greater love hath no
025man than this that a man laid down his life for his friends thank you well said thank you Dr shifflet um we'll now move into our action items the first action item we have is approval of minutes members do I have a uh motion to approve the minutes as presented thank you Mr Cross still have a second second thank you Dr mcelin is there any discussion hearing none we'll vote to approve the minutes of the August 28th uh meeting as presented all those in favor please say I I oppose same sign motion carries unanimously thank you all the next item on the agenda is the bills and mileage Dr shipet chair Lord and board members I recommend approval of the August 2023 bills as presented thank you Dr shifflet members to have a motion I
026move that we follow the superintendent's recommendation to approve the August 2023 bills and mileage as presented thank you Dr mcin I have a second thank you Mr Dixon is there any discussion just to be clear too we I a year ago I had requested to put this online this is on our website somewhere right I don't I don't know exactly where it's at but the public can see the bills of mileage as well um maybe at the next meeting Dr shle you could point that out exactly where that's at on the website for the public if you wanted to go look at the bills of mileage you could do that as well it's part of trying to be transparent with with the public the best we can I believe that it's when you click onto
027the the meeting uh after we approve them like so the next day they become live so we have them currently in executive content and then tomorrow once we approve them they'll be moved up to public content so that so if you want to see any of them in from past meetings you just click on the on the on the the link to the meeting thank you chairman Mo oh we still have to approve them that that way they will become public uh any further discussion all those in favor of of approving the bills as presented please say I I I oppose same sign motion carries unanimously next on the agenda or field trips Dr sh so um I am going to save all of us some time and not read all these field trips that
028you have information okay but but they're there U we we're going to you know um Indianapolis Virginia Beach Massachusetts I mean Lexington Virginia there's lots of them on here uh but I feel confident in and these field trips and the the procedures and plans that we have in place so chair lore and members of the board I recommend approval of the field trips as presented in all vhsl field trip activities for the 2324 school year thank you Dr shet members to have a motion I move follow superintend recommendation to approve the field trips as presented and all vhl field trips activities for the 23 24 school year thank you Mr Cross do I have a second thank you Mr Dixon is there any discussion I think it is worthy to point out that this also
029this is a blanket approval for all say oh let's say Broadway goes to the state championships in football we are approving their overnight trip for that uh and all those kinds of trips for the for the entire year those are included in this so it is quite a few field trips so is there possibility that Broadway can play Spotswood in the state championship game that would be great I I don't know how Sports work but it sounds good to me any further discussion hearing none all those in favor please say I I oppose same sign motion carries unanimously um next on the agenda is the school board meeting schedule Dr shifflet chair lore and me board members I recommend approval of the 2024 Schoolboard meeting schedule as presented I shared it last um meeting as
030information items so do you have any questions about any of that or just to make the public aware we changed this and a lot to do with the new redistricting that we're going to be doing and a lot of discussions talking about that in the um Coming months ahead so U for I know there's a lot especially in my district in District three that are uh parents are just wanting to know no information on that so the redistricting process we're going to be talking about and moving forward on that but that's one of the biggest reasons on changing the schedule was so we can uh get more Community input on the redistricting thank you do I have a motion I I move that we follow the superintendent's recommendation to approve the 2024 Schoolboard meeting schedule
031as presented on August 28th 2023 thank you Dr M do I have a second thank you Mr Dixon is there any discussion okay full disclosure we just voted that I'm going to be a chaperon on a field trip for one of these meetings um and I think it's actually going to be the meeting that we're voting for The redistricting I can try to zoom in but just so that you guys are aware um I might not be at that meeting so if we if we want to change it Now's the Time are we good okay very good um any further discussion hearing none all those in favor of approving the calendar as presented please say I I I appos same sign motion carries unanimously next item on the agenda is um policy revisions and I
032believe we have uh Becky to know hello chair lore members of the board and Dr shiffler I have a action item for you this policy came for information last month or two weeks ago um it's just some change in wording on the personal leave it's not anything big um but I'm happy to answer any questions that you might have members any questions Dr shifflet do you have a recommendation for us chairl and board members I recommend approval of the proposed policy revisions as presented by Mrs tanel thank you Dr shifflet to have a motion thank you Mr Cross do I have a second second thank you Dr mcelin is there any discussion hearing none we'll vote on the policy as presented all those in favor please say I I oppose same sign motion carries unly
033thank you very much that concludes our action items for the evening we're going to move into our information items and uh Dr Schiff I believe you're going to uh give us a presentation on redistricting timeline so I wanted to share with the board on just sort of our thoughts about trying to look at redistricting and this would be for the opening of the 2024 school year so nothing would be impacted during this year but uh I think we need to give some deliberation and thought to this process so um if you'll recall at our um May 22nd meeting uh Dr Shel who was then superintendent uh presented a preliminary presentation to the board it was under sort of like just some superintendent updates and talked about some potential redistricting um proposals right nothing was formally
034put out there but here are some things that we could do and um so that kind of got people wanting to know okay when's this going to happen what's it going to look like so this summer if you will recall we met and we talked about what should our timeline be um from a division perspective as we're getting ready for the budget and thinking about 2024 uh it's it helps us in knowing maybe where the schools will be and or excuse me where the students will be in which schools so we can get the Staffing as as correct as possible so uh this timeline would uh on October the 9th Schoolboard meeting we would present the proposal right to the public uh at Broadway High School and it's going to be based on updated data
035from students this current school year so we're not just going to take May 22nd and roll it over the May 22nd presentation and roll it over real where are we and maybe even have a couple of different scenarios that we'll look at and then um there would be opportunities then for the public in October meeting which will be here 23rd uh for folks to give public comment and then the 13th at Spotswood High School and then the 27th we would be back in here for an opportunity for the public to provide comments uh then thinking about a vote on November the 27th so there is just a timeline so this is not saying what it's going to look like but just how we would sort to plan it out uh in December uh December we're
036usually asking principls to give us a sense of what you know their personnel needs are for the coming years we're working on the budget so this would give us sort of an idea of you know if if I'm an elementary school and I'm getting a 100 students then what do I need as far as teachers or office staff and support staff so we're just thinking through those pieces um you know here it is with redition districting um you know our overall our families and students love their schools where they attend so when we talk about trying to move them to another school it doesn't usually go so well um but I will also say um over the years I've lived through this a couple of rounds uh folks who have had to redistrict come back
037and say you know what this school is I it was hard for me to swallow that someone said Sou you know that another school was as good as South River when I was a principal but I but I believed them right because they all of our schools are really great but I understand too right you get connected to a community we talk about family and so then we want to shuffle kids around that doesn't always feel good but we're trying to be good stewards of our taxpayers dollars and not wanting to build and add on when we don't have to so we're trying to be thoughtful about this so here's the timeline any questions or what ifs or redos I mean this is just information just trying to keep you informed keep the public informed
038so Dr shiet just saying that on the 23rd of um October and November the 13th there will be opportunity for the public to comment at those particular meetings yep okay and on the 27th there there would be opportunity on the 27th as well usually public comment comes earlier in the meeting then we have action so someone may have a compelling argument right okay um so and I know that none of you are looking forward to this and I I'm sorry I apologize in advance U but it's part of the duties so it's and it's also not really just because of we've got to make the decision as a school board but our Board of Supervisors they also made the decision to do a lot of the Urban Development that's happening in District 3 which is
039also going to cause more students to come to go to cubon to go to Peak View that will have an impact on Spotswood High School so it causes impact on Schoolboard members to have to make a decision here as well so um get involved in your local government uh issues that are happening because that has an impact on the building that we're doing here locally is having an impact now on having to redistrict for kids in schools as well so and which had an impact on us adding a $14 million project on the Broadway High School and and how's that going along by the way I got a thumbs up all right it's going good okay at some point do you think we could take a little Tour all right great so we can think
040about that if you guys want to do it any additional questions thank you thank you very much for that report I think you're going to stay right there and we're going to go into um I can see it an update on the model policies uh yes so um heard a couple of uh public uh comments about the model policies today and so part of my goal is to always be transparent what are we thinking what are we doing as as a School Division and um I serve at the pleasure of the board and and last time I was hearing from a majority of the board that you wanted to seek legal counsel right so at our last Schoolboard meeting I shared an overview of the model policies to build awareness for our school board members
041in the community uh since then chair lore and I met with our Schoolboard attorney to determine a date and time for our entire School Board uh to meet with our legal councel to thoroughly review the model policies and compare the contents of the model policies to current rcps practices and policies in regards to our treatment of transgender students and parental rights I believe in parental rights I'm a parent and I think it's important um the ultimate goal of this meeting is determine what changes are necessary to make certain our CPS is consistent with the model policies uh this meeting is scheduled for Wednesday September 20 uh from 1: to 4: and this meeting will occur in close session so I just again bring bringing awareness really not so much to the board right because you
042have that date on your calendar I hope if not go ahead and put it in there but I know you do but for the community right so they understand well what are they doing they said last time they talked about model policies haven't heard anything about it we want to be transparent and then we'll see how that meeting transpires you know are there changes we have to bring then for information and take it to action we'll we'll look through that right because as I shared last time I think there's some some tweaks that we have to make to some policies to make sure that we're aligned and we're consistent with those policies any questions I don't have any questions but I I do want to add that I'm I asked at the last board meeting
043and this is not directed to you Dr Chi at all but I asked the last board meeting that this would be put up on an action item uh because this model policy of Governor yunan came out in July 18th of this year so we've had the model policy for a while to look at to we've been talking about it for over a year on different court cases that you brought up last time Dr shiffler that they're in there and so um it's I believe it's incumbent upon the board to make a vote on this to because I'm in favor of adopting the model policy I like the autonomy of school boards being able to tell Richmond that no it's not what's good for Richmond is not good for Rockingham County but that was good for
044northam's model policy because he was wanting to take down all the gender signs on bathrooms and that's not good for Rockham County that's not what we want here in Rockham County but as I read through uh Governor Yan's model policy it and it lines up with state law federal law lines up with Supreme Court uh rulings and it lines up with the Virginia um Constitution as well so I don't I don't want and also we have an opinion from the attorney general um that went over the whole document and um says that that the model policy are not against the law so if the Law changes then as a school board who are elected representatives then we could go back and change and what we need to change in the model policy but as of
045now this model policy is not against the law so I don't know what the holdup is to to continue to hold this up U because I sat through quite a few meetings throughout the summertime where we were meeting almost felt like week after week at different meetings and it feels like now that we're kind of we're stalling on this for some reason I don't know whether it's because there's a election coming up this year or not but we're stalling on this model policy at parents expense and that's what I'm not happy about because the parents are still having to be in the dark of what's really going on in their kids' lives at school so I want to partner with parents I want to partner with yunin model policy and put it in place and
046I will I'll be that brave soul tonight I I would ask that it would be on the next uh uh agenda as an action item um but because we have time again we we have time I sent out an email um after the last board meeting to chair lore asking that we would speak with the attorney before this board meeting to be able to seek legal counsel and hear everything they have to say and then make a decision as a school board um I want to vote on the model policy as is um because I am in favor of it and I think it's important that the Comm our community members know where each School Board member um where they line up on this model policy so um that's I don't have anything to add
047to what you're saying but I wanted to add to that because it was a topic of discussion uh during public comment tonight so thank you to answer Mr cross's question I believe well I know that the hold up on voting on the model policies is goes back to the very first paragraph of the model policies state that this policy is provided as a sample uh for consideration or use by local school boards as they develop and implement the policies in compliance with the ACT each School Board shall adopt policies they're consistent with but may be more comprehensive than this sample policy the sample policy has six lines of dress code our dress code the Rockingham County public schools dress code is three pages it's long it's lengthy it's much more than three six six lines
048and we have we need to come together and we're planning on doing that on September 20th coming together and looking at which of these items are currently in our more comprehensive policies than the sample policies have provided and which policies we need to add into our current policies and that's the purpose of the September 20th meeting okay thank you Dr shiffler uh we're going to move on to uh the Rockingham County Schoolboard working agreement which is another thing we're going to discuss on September 20th so July 12th we had a working session with Dr uh e Wayne Harris and we talked about governance and roles and responsibilities and one of the topics that came up was a working agreement and I think maybe this this school board at some point maybe have had this discussion
049prior in previous years I don't really know all the backstory on that but it it sounded like something we would be interested in in creating and as we had conversations um we said okay how about we model our working agreement after the six pillars of character since at our Schoolboard meetings we try to recognize students who demonstrate and display the six pillars of character counts and so I sent to the uh school board members a Google form and asked them to give some statements actions and behaviors that they think would match up with the six pillars of character and at our meeting I think it was in we had quite a few meetings this summer Mr Cross you're exactly right I think it was the July 19th meeting maybe uh we came together and that
050was our first draft and we just said hey here's what we put down on paper let's what do you want to do and one of the things you you folks decided was you wanted to put uh I will in front of the statements to make it you know someone's going to sign that I will do this and uh and then we you know had some similar wording so we kind of put some things together and so you have in your folder uh what I'm going to call draft two right and and I have no intentions really of bringing this back next board meeting for Action I want to work on this some more but to put your eyes on it uh again and I'm not going to read all these to you um it'll be
051there for the public to see what what is there and then maybe thinking about getting something this fall and then as we get new board members next January then we can look at do we need to revise it edit it but these are just for example I'll just share one uh for citizenship says I will advocate for Rockingham County Public Schools that's simple but it seems like it makes sense that you would be a school board for rham County that's Who You'd advocate for right um although we have moral purpose and we care about all children right but Rockingham County is our wheelhouse this is who we serve so uh but I just want again this is and trying to be transparent with the community we're creating our own working agreement we could have taken
052one from VBA or from some other School Division but this one's going to be teller to us so uh thank you for your work looking at that let's have conversations if you want to add a comma somewhere or semicolon or an exclamation point or whatever if we miss something uh we'll keep working on it okay this is draft two all right any questions or comments I want to say thank you uh just publicly again for everything you're doing uh for Rockham County Public Schools it's been a great transition uh since June um the end of June and so um but thank you for all you're doing thank you for all the videos you putting out there thank you for all the just ball games and all the extracurricular stuff you're headed up and and for
053everything you're doing for our employees I've heard a lot um throughout the last couple months so thank you once again it's it's an honor to serve with you and uh just thank you for all you're doing thank you thank you for your support right I'm just trying to live out my calling as we all are thank you very much Dr shifflet um board members you have a financial review and the attendance report in your folders for for your information um and that concludes our information items for the evening we're we'll now move on to other business Schoolboard questions and comments Mr Dixon we're going to start with you again all right well chairl Dr shifflet um talked to a few members on the board uh Mr Cross Mr Fulk who's not here tonight uh following
054up on one of the things I wanted to do in the interview process uh Dr shifflet we we uh want to move forward with looking at uh stop the bleed kits as a layer of school safety and protection um just starting that conversation whether or not there's grant funding available for it how much it would cost if we wanted to pay out of pocket if we we are coming into some one time reoccurring funds uh and just start looking at that that process to having those implemented at all of our schools so thank you thank you Dr mooken yes thank you Mr Cross thanks uh Jack for bringing that up that was um one of the things that we that was gone over this summer at the school safety conference that that I attended with
055um with Dr shifflet and a few other school Personnel in our sro's but one of the trainings that one of the positions I've been advocating for for since before I got on the board was is a a emergency manager position that would oversee uh our school division with with a safety and it's not a position that gets involved with law enforcement matters so uh if there something that happens at the school that's law enforcement that emergency manager doesn't get involved in that the mess up investigations or law matters but it what it does is I sat there as a school resource officer for almost a decade was looking at how can we hold the School Division accountable keeping our students and our staff safe and this uh emergency manager position came up when Governor Bob
056McDonald uh brought this up with his school safety task force after uh Sandy Hook shooting back in 2010 I believe it was 2010 and so uh at the conference we were just at it talked about these kits they actually called them Togo bags uh but it would be great to have these inside of our nurses station and to have something in case of emergency more than just an active shooter but just they could be used for a lot of different things so thank you for bringing that up I really do appreciate that Jack because this is part of of a school safety that is something that we need thank you and that's all I have thank you um with school back in session I'm rather alarmed to see a couple of posts not very many
057but a couple of posts about people running this the school bus stop sign and I would like to revisit the stop the school bus stop cameras sooner rather than later if possible and then I would also like to implore our our community to please stop um when when you see a school bus give them lots of room and those flashing lights mean stop because there's probably a tiny little child getting off that bus and we just want to be super safe around our children so please community stop when you see the red lights um I actually have a friend who lost their child to a school bus stop accident years ago and the hurt that's still um in that family none of us none of us want that for anyone just it's going if it
058just takes you a couple more minutes to get to where you're going it's fine you'll be there let's all arrive alive um so I would but I would like to to R revisit this School Bus uh cameras if possible um and I think that's my only question Dr shifflet do you have anything else for tonight no I just like to thank everyone who came out tonight I appreciate the Civil discourse right and I hope it remains that way and um again while I'm here and have the mic I just you know you talk about bus drivers and bus safety you know shout out to all the bus drivers in Rockingham County public schools for what they do uh it's a tough job um I always tell them you know who who would turn their back
059on 40 or 50 students right but that's what you have to do so you can drive the bus but they do a great job and and we'll explore these you know from Jack for your stop stop the bleed kit and also for the school bus stop Cameron see you know see what's out there what we should do and I do believe firmly that our schools are a very safe place but we can always look to add layers of safety and and so we're always wanted to be thoughtful about that um so yeah thank you for bringing those to my attention thank you and thanks to Dr mcquilkin for reminding me do we have any students in the meeting tonight any students with us yay welcome uh I think we probably need to sign your agendas
060when you get done so please come on up when we're done we're just about there but thank you guys for coming tonight thank you for being part of Rockingham County schools and let's give our students a round of applause folks and thank you to everyone for joining us tonight and but now we have reason to go into Clos session members do I have a motion I'm gonna try this the first time all right I move that the board enter a close meeting to discuss and consider the following pursuant to the provisions of Virginia code section 2.2 3711 Personnel specific uh personnel specific public officers appointees or employees for the purpose of considering such individuals assignment appointment promotion performance demotion salaries disciplining or resignation and one or more particular student specifically related to requests regarding compulsory
061School attendance based on religious beliefs that would involve disclosure of information contained in a Scholastic record concerning a student thank you Mr Dixon do I have a second thank you Mr Cross any discussion so that everybody knows we have a specific um motion by law that we have to make that only legally allows us to uh discuss certain things in closed session and then when we come out of Clos session we also certify that these are all we talked about so that's why it's so important that that somebody make the motion and it sounds all all official like that so thank you guys thank you all for or thank you Mr Dixon for making the motion um any further discussion hearing none all those in favor of Ving close session please say I I oppos
062same session thank you motion carries unanimously we are in closed session please have a safe trip home and a safe wonderful two weeks