001I'd like to welcome everyone to this um June 12th meeting of the Rockingham County School Board as we exit close session um this is new for me so give me just a second I believe the first thing on the agenda or the next thing on the agenda because we've already been meeting in closed session uh so that we don't have to do that at the end of the meeting tonight um but we need to certify closed meeting so members do I have a motion to certify closed closed meeting thank you Mr folk do I have a second thank you Dr mcelin any discussion motion certification yes certify that the only thing we spoke about during the Clos meeting was the reason that we went into Theos meting yes thank you any further discussion if not
002and this requires a roll call vote so I'll ask Miss gilenson to do a roll call vote for us Mr Breeden Mr Fulk chair lore I Dr mokin hi thank you now if you can all please uh remove hats uh stand and join me in the Pledge of Allegiance it's okay a pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all thank you you may be seated if you'll please join me in a moment of silence thank you the next item on our agenda is recognitions and our first recognition is from the so the Virginia soil and sorry the sheno valley Soil and Water Conservation District my name is Megan Trice I'm the conservation or education
003coordinator for the Soil and Water Conservation District in Harrisonburg um for those of you that don't know the soil and water district is a political subdivision of state government um we are task with helping people protect our Soil and Water and part of that is education so we have spent a lot of time this spring in schools I will say a lot um in Harrisonburg city schools Rockingham County Public Schools um this spring a lot of teachers ask for our help and we love getting out of our office to go help teach kids about our Soil and Water in addition to all of the in-classroom stuff we do we also give two Teacher of the Year Awards annually one through for a k through fifth grade teacher and one for a sixth through 12th grade
004teacher and both of the teachers of the Year this year are from Rockingham County um so the K through fifth grade teacher is Miss I want to mess up your first name carlen Lance from Lacy Springs Elementary School she's actually the librarian she does tons of work in the school garden and has incorporated tons of books into her library to teach kids about plants and nature and Soil and Water and all sorts of conservation and then our case through sixth grade um winner is Paris black from J Frank Hillard middle school she's an a teacher and she of course incorporates tons of conservation into her agriculture classes probably my favorite is all of her soil science and Soil Conservation lessons um so I have some really awesome plaques for them they've also been recognized at
005the their schools with a certificate and a gift certificate for some education resources for their classroom so thank you Megan and thank you both for all of your um efforts in your classrooms for conservation um my my husband actually used to serve on the uh shenoa Valley board um and it also encompasses I'm not sure if you mentioned it it it includes school districts Rockingham Harrisonburg and paage County so way to go Rockingham and congratulations okay next on the agenda we uh we're sadly um having a Schoolboard member leave us sadly for us um I know that he's off to to greener pastures and quieter evenings hopefully um and I'm going to turn it over to Dr Shel for a presentation Mr Breeden um we've talked uh many times over the last few months about
006the fact that uh your first year on the school board was in 1996 um that was my first year of teaching here um you've done so much for this community it's a better school division because of you um our staff members our administrators our teachers our families um appreciate all the efforts uh you know whether that's isum high school ra all the support for Innovation all the support for mental Behavioral Health um all the support just for staff and for a great education program and so it is my honor um tonight to present you with a plaque uh expressing sincere appreciation uh for outstanding and dedicated service to the students and staff of rakam County Public Schools and let me just say uh your years of service 1996 to 2007 and then returning um with
007um even more energy from 2012 to 2023 and serving as the chair in 1999 2003 2007 2012 2013 2018 and 2022 um that's a career on the school board well spent and I consider you a good friend and um it's truly been an honor to serve with you these last six years couldn't have done it without you and I just want to express my appreciation and gratitude from the entire School Division Mr Breeden would you like to make a few comments or do you want to hold that for later I'll hold that for later I may not get a standing ovation when I speak [Laughter] later well for shadowing thank you for all of your service Mr Breeden your dedication to our children is astounding so thank you very much we also have someone else
008leaving us this well I think we have a few people with this is their last Schoolboard meeting um but most notably is Dr Shy's last um regular scheduled Schoolboard meeting with us and we thought long and hard on what to get well no no wait I got you and um We've joked about the Oscars and our oscar but tonight we are presenting you um division superintendent Rockingham County Public Schools 20 2017 to 2023 the Oscar for outstanding superintendent so we're going to start with this one but wait there's more there's more since this is a small token and you know I'm seems to be bigger for Life jumping out of airplanes and whatnot we got a life-size cutout for you now as tradition I guess we have some music prepared for the the the time
009limit but would you like to give your speech your Oscar speech now or would you like to defer that to the end I'll speak at the end um before Mr Breen does but I do want to say it's it's been an honor serving with you as our superintendent um in fact when when we started to talk about the new superintendent and how we were going to bring out the new superintendent I asked my 17-year-old on what question do you have for the new superintendent he said is he going to be as cool as Dr Shel and jump out of airplanes so I do want to say thank you though um chair LA and members of the board for the amazing recognition so and I want to see you skydiving with that [Laughter] one but sincerely
010thank you for all of your service we'll now move on to comments from the public we only have one speaker signed up for tonight and it's Nancy Bassett boy that doesn't happen often I know right as you know I'm Nancy Basset president of the Rockingham County Education Association and I just want to take a moment to thank Oscar for all of his support not just of the teachers but of the entire Rockham County staff the bus drivers the cafeteria workers the custodians the assistants we appreciate everything that you've done for us and we're hoping to hear what your new adventures are going to be and I also want to take a moment to thank Dan Breeden I truly have enjoyed working with you and one of my highlights was in the spring of 2003 when
011my son was a senior and he received the Kelly coxell Britney lamb award and you also gave me the volunteer of the Year award which I had no clue was coming but just the warmth that you've shared over the years and always being willing to listen I really appreciate so thank you very much both of you thank you Nancy that concludes our public comment for this evening we're now going to move on to Highlights by board members and I'm going to start with Mr f well in keeping with the theme um the Highlight that I would like to share is the pleasure I've had working with Dr cyel and and Mr Breeden um I was mowing yesterday and going back over through my memory of looking for a funny story to tell and I laughed
012and laughed and laughed because there are so many and I decided Well really it wasn't I'll just share one story about Mr Breeden and that was the first uh vsba conference we attended was in February of 1996 and Dr kid I'm pretty sure this is right Dr kid had found this um one of the transportation multi-seat van so that the entire board could go down in the same vehicle Mr Breeden was sitting in the front and Dr kid was driving and as we were going they like to go Dr kid always liked to go 33 over the mountain as we went to Richmond and going through a small town uh in an intersection we were behind another vehicle and I said you see that car in front of us and everybody went yes I said
013well that was the last that was the view that Dale Earnhart had at the final lap of the Daytona 500 and it was the back end of a Thunderbird and Mr Breeden has loved Dale Earnhart so the van got very quiet because nobody was sure what the reaction was going to be but our Rel relationship has been joking back and forth and and things like that ever since um when I first encountered Dr Shel he was a teacher at Broadway High School and Cheryl Mast and I went to answer questions that the faculty had about uh about insurance and Dr Shel had many questions and asked very good and pointed questions and later then in about I think the year 2000 uh Joe Hill recommended him as the uh as the administrator for the student
014access or the student record keeping system that happened to be called sassy and so I thought you know he's the perfect guy to be the sassy administrator but um Elena Roosevelt had a saying that great minds talk about ideas or discuss ideas average Minds discuss events and small minds discuss people I am honored and it has been a pleasure and a privilege to work with two great minds thank you thank you Dr mooken thank you Miss Laur I'd like to begin with a recognition a recognition of Kim Dove who is a social studies teacher at Pence middle school and she was uh honored by being recognized and interviewed by an in an article by the that appeared in the National Council for the so for social studies and her topic was IDM or inquiry design
015model and that was really quite an honor for her to be recognized and to be included in that journal my second and probably second and last uh recognition or highlight this is a transition process that we're going through at the end of May beginning of June we accepted we attended a reception for our outgoing superintendent Oscar and we attended the announcement of the incoming superintendent Larry schifflet we also attended five ceremonies Mass Technical Center and the four high schools all at the Atlantic Union Bank Center which was the first for all of us and the the very last transition is probably the most difficult of all and that is that we're saying goodbye to Oscar and we're saying goodbye to Dan and in honor of Dan who often quotes Robert Kennedy I have a quote
016for both of you it says the purpose of life is to to contribute in some small way to making things better and I would say not small ways but large ways you both have done that thank you thank you are you ready or do you want me to go whatever you can go um as I have been winding this down I've been trying to thank people who have played a significant role uh in helping me to be a better board member over these 23 plus years and I can't think of any two um more significant than LOL and Oscar uh LOL and I had never known one another prior to becoming board members had no idea who we were and we have both marveled um over the years at at the things we have in
017common even though um even though we didn't know one another the most fortunate for both of us is we both married up uh from for to to young ladies from up North and um you're right lol there's so many so many funny stories that could be told and maybe we should write a book someday that that might be interesting to somebody but the Friendship has grown Beyond funny stories the Friendship has been we have we have shared one another's losses we have celebrated the successes of our children we have come together uh to support one another when our children are struggling and um I short of short of my brother I don't know of a better friend um and and Oscar I didn't know Oscar until we went to a a vsba conference in Williamsburg
018and I had the privilege of writing down and back with him and I came home and I told my wife I said if I have anything to say about it that's our next superintendent I have never rarely I shouldn't say never but rarely do you have an opportunity to work with and get to know someone who is genuine and you can trust with anything that you put before them and I've got to say that on a whole another level and this is no knock against anyone else that I know this guy has more raw intelligence than anybody I've ever come in contact with and it's going to be a tremendous loss to Rockingham County schools that uh that he's not there at last and not but not least I want to thank my wife of
01937 years next week Karina uh who's here tonight for a rare board meeting um for all of the sacrifices that you've taken the phone calls that you've taken where people were upset and didn't think that it was wrong to tell you about them uh and also our sons Kyle and Brandon today's Kyle's birthday when I went on the board Kyle was in the third grade Brandon was a kindergartener and uh now we have a third grade granddaughter and a kindergarten grandson so thank you all for for putting up with it for all these years and U we're going to leave tomorrow for Maine and have a good time so thank you good for you Main's beautiful this time of year I hear I've been in September but um thank you it has been an honor
020serving on the board with you um I I personally met you when you were serving on the board with my mother so it's been really nice to have that continuity um and and know you previously before getting on the board so and thank you for for the support that you've given me while I've been on the board and Karina thank you so much and than Please share my thanks with your family for sharing Dan with us for these years I think uh many of us former board members and board members in the room tonight understand that our families really do um sh take a lot of the brunt and and see us when things are getting to us and support us so thank you for supporting Dan for all those years um and Dr Shel
021I'm so saddened to see you go uh especially there's sometimes that I mean I I'm a well actually truth be told I'm a I was born in a subdivision in Rockingham County and grew up to have a love for a um and uh just not much of a world traveler I've been out of the country once or twice but uh to to meet you and someone who speaks fluently several languages um and I I just felt like we weren't we weren't very similar and all the time you surprised me with similarities there were so many times I'd be like I I would quote Maya Angelou and then five seconds later he would throw up a slide with Maya Angelou's quote that I just said and I'm like are you are you messing with me do
022you do you did you did you do that after I said it but I think we are similar we we share a lot of similar ideas and that was made so obvious to me during the uh Broadway graduation speech that you gave which was absolutely a highlight and it this the advice was um help me with the source because I know it as everyone's free to wear sunscreen the song that I have on my IP or my my playlist and who was it written by yeah the article was originally in the Chicago Tribune and the title was advice like youth probably wasted on the young yes and it it's about where wear sunscreen uh and and then all sorts of great bits of advice and I absolutely recommend that you you look up the song
023everyone's free uh but I was just shocked when when you pulled that out and started reading that advice to the high school graduates because it's great advice and now every time I listen to it and I listen to it all the time and my kids are always like Mom you've got that song on again but now I will listen to it and remember uh remember you and all the graduates of 2023 which is what this week has really been about uh our graduates of 2023 so thank you and Dell's not here is she okay um but please pass along your our thanks to your family as well for sharing you for all these years um and I guess we'll go to you for highlights yeah will say um one of my highlights uh as Dr
024mcin said um the graduations it was phenomenal and then in terms of the highlights in this community there are so many um I remember uh the first time in 1992 driving down um I had you know applied at JMU uh I didn't really follow the process that American um high school students follow to visit colleges I simply um had said we're moving to Virginia um and I had applied at a couple of universities Jamie was the first one to reply I that this colorful brochure I said sure looks good I'll go there and um then uh drove down from Maryland um exit 251 was the first one that said Harrisonburg and I looked around and I said okay what uh did I do um I just came from from Europe from Saltsburg and this was
025um complete culture shock um the first lunch I had was at Jess's and um I went in there and the person at the counter um was talking to me and I was like I will never understand a word anyone says here well it wasn't quite what I thought it was it wasn't just a a local dialect actually he was speaking in Greek so um that was good good for me um that wasn't really the same thing and um and it was interesting right because um at first I thought okay I'll finish college here and then um move on and then I got to do my student teaching at Broadway High School and it was interesting even at JMU people were saying oh you got to go to Broadway and I just fell in love uh
026with the Broadway Community um they brought you know they allowed me as a as a kid from Europe um of all things to teach us government uh the kids were always honest you know they would be willing to say Shel that was not a good lesson and they they didn't really just tell me what they thought I wanted to hear and I always appreciated that workingclass community uh they were just like so many of the people I'd grown up with and so I fell in love with that community and and again um now it's this connection with the AG community that just means the world to me and and for a community to be so accepting um yeah I ended up spending by choice my entire career here and with so many amazing people that
027I can't even begin uh to mention but it is everyone in the school division like you said you know the bus drivers who are the first ones that our students see and then cafeteria staff and our custodian and and um then of course office staff teachers psychologists social workers speech language Pathologists um itrs technicians administrators uh athletic directors um everyone uh you know bus garage Transportation um staff Food Services maintenance it it's amazing how much of the community goes into this School Division and when we look at how many students we have and then how many parents and grandparents that is the School Division affects you know um half this community directly and um it it's such an amazing um experience to work with board members who want to improve the School Division and with
028staff who want to improve the school division with people who are here today who were committed to saying you know what the rhetoric is just getting out of hand let's see if we can get to a point of respectful Community dialogue um with my central Office Team and then just so many personal friendships including um on the school board I always feel like we've we've done this together this is uh not you know an effort by either a school board or the school administration it is is really a community effort and so there are so many stories that just again we'll always stick with me and um the reception at the you know at the Broadway graduation was just one sign um when I asked whether there any former students or just members of the
029classes when I was there who in the audience and I wasn't sure whether it would be one or five and and it was across that building it it was amazing to see how many people um were there whose kids were graduating and who previously were my students um in Personnel you have a former student of mine who's being appointed as an administrator uh you have administrators currently in central office and at schools that that I taught and so it feels just so so complete and that um in the end I I had the chance to speak at the Broadway graduation of all um things and um just uh the farm totable event we had for my retirement it's it it's so meaningful and again I just can't thank everyone enough for all the things that
030they've done uh together you know uh with me and to always try to to be better and when we fail you know to uh try again and fail better and try again so uh full of gratitude and um thank you to everyone who's played a role in the school division it's more amazing people than I could ever list um in one evening so thank you thank thank you yeah can we go ahead and applaud that we'll now move along to our action items uh with we're going to begin with Personnel listing by Dr Shel board members you have the Personnel listing in your materials and our recommend um approval of personnel um as uh presented in your materials and as amended uh during the earlier closed session thank you Dr shyo board members still have
031a motion I move that we follow the superintendent's recommendation regarding Personnel thank you uh Dr mooken do I have a second second thank you Mr Breeden is there any discussion hearing none we'll vote all those in favor please say I I oppose same sign motion carries unanimously next item on our agenda is to approve the minutes from I'm going to go ahead and combine these two items May 22nd and May 26th um do I have a motion to approve the minutes as presented thank you Mr fol do I have a second thank you Dr mcelin is there any discussion hearing none we'll vote on approving the minutes from May 22nd 2023 and May 26th 2023 all those in favor please say I I oppose same sign motion carries um next on the agenda we have
032an update to the Schoolboard meeting schedule um members I'll bring your attention to the um the August meeting the first August meeting um we would like to ch change that from August 14th to August 7th and meet at Rockingham Academy um and then we'll move the August 28th meeting to back here in the Rockingham County Administration Center the reason for that is to go ahead and um appoint a new person to replace Mr Breeden we have to do that within um 45 days and that puts us right in the middle of fair which is it turns out that August I am going to be at a sheep show so um if we can move that that would and not that also gives us Fair week without a meeting and um July is going to be
033full we're we're this this is our last regular scheduled meeting but I think we'll be having a June a couple of at least one meeting uh special session in June and probably a couple special sess sessions in July so if we can take off for the fair that would be fantastic um so I would like to go ahead and move let me get the wording right uh to approve the revised 2023 Schoolboard meeting schedule as presented and do I have a second on that second thank you Dr mcquilkin is there any discussion suits the heck out of me yeah you you'll have the fair off too Dan any further discussion hearing none um all those in favor please say I I oppose same sign motion carries unanimously next item on the agenda is um bills
034and mileage and I'll ask Dr Shel um board members you have the May 2023 bills and mileage in your materials and I recommend approval of those as presented thank you Dr Shel do have a motion I move that we approve the the Mills and mileage for May as presented by the superintendent thank you Dr mcin is there a second thank you Mr folk is there any discussion hearing none we'll vote all those in favor of approving the bills and mileage as presented please say I I oppose same sign motion carries unanimously next on the agenda's field trips Dr Shel what members I have a number of field trips for your approval tonight Spotswood High School the student advisory committee will um travel to blackburg uh June 28 and 29th uh six students in fact East
035Rockingham High School FFA State Convention June 20th to the 23rd 13 students to Virginia Tech manido Middle School TSA national conference June 28th through July 2nd two students to Louisville Kentucky FFA State Convention June 20 to 23 11 students to Virginia Tech and Broadway High School a TSA National Conference uh June 27th to July 2nd 14 students to Louisville Kentucky and I recommend approval of those field trip as presented thank you Dr Sho board members to have a motion I move that we accept the superintendent's recommendation thank you Mr Breeden is there a second thank you Mr folk is there any discussion hearing none we'll vote to uh approve the superintendent's recommendation to approve all the field trips as presented all those in favor please say I I oppose same sign motion carries unanimously um
036next on the agenda is authorization of signatures in the absence of the superintendent Dr Shel um so this authorization um extends uh the um the authorized signatories um through June 30th 2024 in this case um the people authorized to sign in the absence of the superintendent will be Doug alaer assistant superintendent of leadership and academic support and Justin Moyers Chief Financial Officer to sign all VOE reports documents requisitions and other official correspondents in the absence of the superintendent and I recommend approval um of this authorization thank you Dr Shel members I have a motion I move that we approve the superintendent's recommendation regarding the authorization Personnel thank you Dr mcin do I have a second thank you Mr Faulk is there any discussion hearing none we'll vote to um follow superintendent's recommendation to authorize uh
037Doug aler as and uh sorry Doug aler assistant superintendent of leadership and academic support and Justin Moyers Chief Financial Officer to sign all vdoe reports documents requisitions and other official correspondents in the absence of the superintendent uh through June 30th to 2024 all those in favor please say I I oppose same sign motion carries unanimously next on the agenda agenda we have a budget amendment uh Miss Cheryl Mass chair Lord members of the board uh before I do the budget amendment I'd like to say related to Mr fa's comment earlier I was not very long into my job here at Rockingham County schools and I vividly remember that meeting at Broadway high school and he was sassy and he knows he was sassy but I've liked him ever since the uh budget uh Amendment before
038you this evening is a budget amendment related to additional state fundings that we we received for fiscal year uh 23 after the budget was originally um set most of those items uh are related to essert types of funds that we received we also um received additional sales tax of which we uh allowed some maintenance projects to be done so we could get a of some of those and also the capital projects uh amendment is because we're a little farther along in spending money for the Broadway high school project than we thought we would be um this time last year so we needed to just move a little money into this year's I recommend approval of the budget amendment as presented thank you Dr Shel members to have a motion I move that we uh follow
039the superintendent's recommendation and Miss Mass presentation regarding the budget amendment thank you Dr mooken do I have a second thank you Mr folk is there any discussion um can you tell me what the maintenance projects can you give us a little bit better idea of yes well no I really can't I saw did see a list I would uh I don't know if Steve has anything but what I would say is probably some of those projects were projects that you saw listed in your maintenance uh part of the budget book and he would have worked some of those ahead so that items that were he calls under the line that uh were um requested but weren't able to be done some of those now will be able to be done because he's working in advance
040okay okay any further discussion hearing none we'll vote um to follow the superintendent's recommendation to approve a budget amendment that will appro appropriate additional State funds received for fiscal year 2023 after the budget was originally approved as presented by Cheryl Mast um all those in favor please say I I oppose same sign motion carries unanimously and thank you so much it has been a pleasure working with you and we're we're definitely going to miss you unless you'd like to come back would you thank you um next item on the agenda is the community eligibility provis provision participation for 2023 2024 Miss Jennifer Williams okay good evening uh I'm here to present or I'm here this evening to request the board's approval of rockingham's application for participation in the community eligibility provision of the national school
041lunch program for school year 2324 as outlined in my submitted memo uh the community eligibility provision referred to as C uh it's a provision of the national school lunch program that allows schools or School divisions to provide breakfast and lunch meals at no cost to all enrolled students uh in order to qualify a school or division must have at least 40% of the enrolled students automatically eligible for free meals uh by means other than income so for example students who qualify automatically through snap tanif um or have Foster homeless child status um if a division does meet the 40% threshold overall schools or groups of schools uh may qualify which is the case for our division uh so qualification it's based on student data uh as of April first each school year uh and based
042on the April 1st data this school year we have 12 Rockingham County schools that qualify for c um and those schools are Plains Riverbend Elon Elementary udbine folks run Pleasant Valley Lacy Spring Mountain View South River cuun John C Meers and Elton Middle School uh so implementing C at these schools will benefit students and families by eliminating out- of- pocket meal costs uh removing the need to complete meal applications and reducing the stigma around School meals within the school and implementing c will benefit our teachers and School staff by reducing administrative tasks such as collecting applications and contacting parents for payment and implementing c will benefit the school nutrition program by reducing the administrative burden of processing applications and eliminating time spent collecting delinquent meal debt uh the reduced administrative burden gives the the Food
043Service program more time to focus on food production and customer service and work on increasing student participation and revenue which is typically seen in C schools so in conclusion I recommend pursuing C at the 12 qualifying schools for school year 23 24 thank you thank you yeah thank you to miss Williams for all her work in making this possible too and advocating for it it's it's great when we have 12 schools where um all students can be served that way and I certainly do recommend um that the board approve the participation in the community eligibility provision U for the 12 qualifying schools for the 23 24 school year thank you board members do have a motion thank you Mr F do I have a second thank you Mr Breeden is there any discussion thank you
044so much for your work on this I think that'll really help help not only our students but but our entire division so thank you very much thank you but we're not done yet let's vote uh members is there any further discussion hearing none all those in favor of the motion to follow the superintendent's recommendation to participate in the C uh of the national school lunch program at the 12 qualifying schools for the 2023 24 school year as presented um please say I I all those all those opposed same sign motion carries youly thank you very much next we have um fashion marketing textbook selection by Mr Eric Fitzgerald Fashion Is My Thing another short time or twoo before I get into the textbook U selection uh Mr Breeden and Dr Shel um I thank you
045too for all that you've done for me in my career um lots of things that we wanted to try in CTE lots of things that we want to try just in school in general you guys have made possible and this community has been very very very fortunate to have the leadership that we have um I I really think that um I think that that needs to continue that type of leadership and I hope that I hope our new board and our new superintendent for sure we'll embrace all the thoughts that you guys have had because you guys have been nothing but exceptional uh during my travels in my 40 years I've traveled along just about to every county in the state and CTE people are pretty pretty close-knit pretty tight-knit folks and I can't tell
046you how many times I have heard I wish we could do what Rockingham does and um that says a lot about the leadership that you guys the whole board and and everybody here provides so thank you very much now with that in mind let's get back to Fashion um back in the fall of 2022 uh we formed a committee a fashion textbook committee to review fashion textbooks for our marketing program and at this time I am pleased to announce that a selection has been made of the textbook named fashion and it's a good heart and will Cox book and uh we did have representation on the community on the committee from all the different schools we have parents and students look at it too and that is the book that they have recommended so tonight
047I seek your approval to go ahead and purchase those books thank you I do recommend um approval of the textbook as presented by Mr Fitzgerald thank you Dr Shel board members do I have a motion I move that we follow the superintendent's recommendation regarding the approval of this particular textbook fashion marketing faction thank you Dr mcen do I have a second thank you Mr folk is there any to discussion hearing none we'll vote um all those in favor of the fashion marketing textbook um fashion the seventh edition uh as selected by the committee to best meet the state competencies for the course oh I'm sorry I'm on the wrong spot okay let's start over uh motion to follow the superintendent's recommendation to select the fashion marketing textbook from goodheart Wilcox as presented by Eric fitgerald
048director of CTE all those in favor please say I I oppose same sign motion carries unanimously thank you and thank you for your service um next on the agenda we have um Mr Gregor Greg Gillette uh Virginia Public School Authority educational technology notes chair L members of the board Dr Shel thank you for your time today and for your dedication to the students of Rockingham County before you is a resolution regarding annual reimbursement from the Virginia public Public School Authority educational technology notes series 24 this resolution allows for the spending of $648,000 for rcps and $26,000 for MTC beginning July 1st 2023 These funds will be reimbursed in June of 20 of 2024 following a bond sale this initiative is designed to ensure necessary hardware and infrastructure is in place and maintained to support Virginia
049online testing initiative thank you and I recommend to adopt the Virginia Public School Authority educational technology note series 24 resolution as presented uh by Gregory Gillette and uh thank you for all your work on this and for your continued work on our technology infrastructure yes thank you uh board members to have a motion I move that we accept the superintendent's recommendation thank you Mr Mr Breeden do I have a second second thank you Dr mookin is there any discussion hearing none we'll vote on the motion to follow the superintendent's recommendation to adopt the Virginia Public School Authority educational technology note series 24 resolution as presented by U Mr Gillette all those in favor please say I I oppose same sign motion carries thank you very much and thank you for all your work on that
050hey that concludes our um action section of our meeting we're now going to move on to informational items and the first item on the agenda is the community dialogue presentation by Dr uh Katherine Barnes thank you so much s um chair lore and all of the committee and especially to Dr Oscar Shel and Dan Breeden for all of your years of service um it is a pleasure for me to come and present to you tonight what is really in many ways a wrapup culmination of a very um challenging and remarkable year and a half of developing this Innovative Community dialogue um initiative what we're hoping to do and actually am going to be joined it's not just going to be me it's going to be other of The Advisory Group members uh Renee Reed Amanda
051Richie and D Grim unfortunately both Jo shoker and Katie laira had other family commitments that meant they were not able to come this evening but send their regrets um and we feel that this is in many ways very fitting to do this at this time of transition um because um Dr Oscar Sho of course has shown tremendous leadership in helping to really take the risk of innovating with something new and to support it all along the way when it was really clear that we were in many ways um as keper saying experimenting our way forward together and willing to give it that space and time to to unfold and we're also very happy I'd say collectively on behalf of the Advisory Group and others who participated to welcome um Dr Larry schifflet in his new
052role in leadership moving forward so this evening um sorry let me find the there we go um what we're going to be wanting to do is just to to briefly set up and remind folks about where this community dialogue initiative came from and its Mission and to remind you of some of the different things stages that we have gone through with it give you a few of the highlights of some of the things that we discovered through the process the the the idea some of the big themes and ideas that community members came up with as well as some of the ideas to spark action that we're hoping that the school board and school person Personnel might consider moving forward and then give some sort of thoughts about moving forward from here so you will
053probably recall that one of the reasons why this initiative happened is I think you more than than anyone else will be aware of how Schoolboard meetings um and many Communications in the community had especially during the covid years become um extremely uh en tentious and there is a feeling of how given that the schools are so reliant on community support and are integrally entwined with them how to create a pathway for people to come together to engage with each other in constructive and respectful dialogue so our task was to create a framework for doing so and um and and truly I think we were able to do to do this so this is the mission statement that we um had developed for the as a framework for the dialogue and one that that could well
054last we also all along had recognized this is not a group for making any kind of decisions but that wanted to transmit the ideas that came back out of that process to you all so this is what we are doing now it took a year and a half um and this uh once again you've seen this diagram many times before and we've moved from um the core dialogue group process and we have some other members here tonight want to welcome who have come out as well um we also over the course of this past year have had the remarkable um ability to integrate a systemwide process of dialogue amongst 11th graders around key questions that has paralleled with the community dialogue process and came together um really wonderfully in the first public Community dialogue that
055was fully opened no invitation anyone could participate on March 23rd and we'll come back and um tell you a little bit more about that tonight Dr mcil I know was participating in that as well and and might be able to share some Reflections on that too um the report of that is now in your packet and fully available along with all of the other reports um also just to remind you and the rest of the community that we have sought all along to be very transparent in this initiative and on the rcps um website all of the reports all of the Schoolboard presentations and updates can be found um and really commend people being able to um look at those and to to Really study many of the reports I think especially that came out
056of it so you will probably also recall that the big framing question that we had for the process was around how to create a safe and caring environment for all Rockingham County Public School students in ways that are both consistent with the law while also considering the diverse values and perspectives of the Rockingham County community and I must say that we had in all of the sessions the questions in many ways were truly that open um we had we did not try to put topics on the agenda for people we really had very open questions and I think one of the things that was quite interesting about that is that inviting people to really share from their personal lived experience and the lived experience of their children grandchildren friends and other loved ones we've ended
057up finding people talking really very directly from experience and it ended up being very localized issues and their responses to them were very localized responses and I think that that became kind of quite an interesting shift in some ways because it took us out of I think some of the big National Trends which of course were also coming in to really look what is true of Rockingham County and Rockingham County Public Schools it was interesting that it was much easier in many ways to find common ground on the need for safety and belonging for students and I'll come back to some of the insights that were developed around some of the ways of doing that but very quickly um especially when we had the core dialogue group we realized that one of the real issues
058that we had to address were what were the causes of the trust Gap that was what it ended up being framed and it was a sense that a breakdown and a gap in trust was really driving a lot of the anxiety anger and fear that sometimes was coming up in the public debates so we spent a lot of time wrestling with that question and we realized that some of the of the factors are situational the covid pandemic crisis obviously created stress as well as bigger National Trends in polarization but we also realized one of the things that we discovered um in really engaging in deep dialogue was the realization that there's longterm deeper sources which are partly rooted in the rapid changes that are occurring within Rockingham County in a sense among many that a
059change in the way of life and values that are deeply cherished may be being put under strain and that um values that had been predominantly traditional conservative and Christian which really had shaped a lot of expectations of what Public Schools should be we're no longer quite certain in the same way in many people's eyes at the same time as realizing that particularly a diversification of the population um might in some ways create some challenges in terms of making it a welcoming environment for all there's also real recognition that it's a tremendous asset for Rockingham County going forward and much of the question it seemed to come down to how does that Community come together stay strong and all of the values that people see as the greatest strength again and again of Rockingham County which
060in fact are around community and service remain at the Forefront and a realization that the greatest asset of rocking County schools are really the quality experience dedication and kindness of teachers and staff and administrators and yet a sense that under all of the pressures of community conflict that was really hitting hard on on people who are working in the school systems who were feeling they might not always be supported and were coming under pressure and so a sense um that came out very strongly in the dialogue that conflict particularly organized around political polarization has really has potentially very difficult effects on the school system if public education becomes weaponized and people I think were United even though they had many different political views and many different orientations on different um topics ICS that we were
061coming up with I think people were United on the feeling that somehow needing to come back together again in respectful dialogue to find a way forward and live into the values that people cherish for community and service and we'll hear much more about that later on in the presentation um had a number of ideas about some specific things that could be done um to help address that and I'm not going to go into the details we've presented many of these to you before they are in the board packet in the reports and we really commend you to to study them more closely um but we did realized that some of the issues are not only about process they are also about curriculum and what happens in schools and there was a lot of time that
062was spent really trying to map out and wrestle with um a range of ideas about what are the roles of schools and what are the roles of families in education and a affirmation that both have roles and how that can sometimes lead to different dilemmas once again I'm not going to go through all of these dilemmas but I think one of the contributions and this was especially of the core dialogue was in fact to map them out and I think everybody in that dialogue recognized that there's no simple answers but if you get the balance right there's great strength for the students and for all in the system um and so there's once again much more around what these questions mean why they matter and how to address them especially in the core dialog group
063report one of the things that was also coming up again and again as the question is what is the role of schools in meeting the personal needs of students beyond their educational and perhaps sporting and Vocational needs what if schools have not traditional been designed to meet the economic social emotional needs of students that and many people sometimes think that really schools should stick to their Lane and not do that however I think as we explored this more and more there was the sense that really in today's context students will not be able to thrive as Learners if their basic human needs are not being met that they need to have that security and well-being and in some ways schools need to somehow figure out how to do that together with families um and the
064recognition that no individual can solve the problems we Face however the community as a whole has everything needed to address these challenges I think in many ways summed up the the sense that came from that and that schools perhaps uniquely have a are a space where families can connect with the resources that they may need and resources of all kinds and so how can schools be a vital part of the overall safety net to ensure every child is protected and cared for and thrives um working together with families and also other Community Partners how can schools be a connector I think was a lot of it at the same time there was a sense of how could schools also really think about ways maybe like IEPs happen where there's kind of care teams for students
065who are facing crises or seem to be really facing very challenging problems and bringing together students family community supports and others into um to help figure out ways of surrounding the student with care and support in sense of how to address the barriers to that but also how to embrace that as an ethic at the same time especially given the escalating um mental and Behavioral Health crisis that I think everybody is very well aware of there's a sense that a lot of that is happening in schools and on their watch teachers and staff are having to manage it and there is a sense within the um the dialogue again and again in the whole large group in the public dialogues about schools need to rise to this Challenge and yet how to lift the burden
066off of teachers and there are lots of recommendations for that it's been like teachers can't hold it if they're going to they are going to continue to survive and thrive in the profession and so lots of ideas about how to address that and also lots of of real Applause and appreciation for the tears of support um initiative that rocking County already has had in place and just to strengthen that further and when we were here in February we also um had already given and I'm not going to go over it all again but I think what was one of perhaps the clearest examples of how we were able to address some really contentious issues and figure out what I I would basically see is quite non-ideological principles for addressing how schools can best nav the
067boundary um that occurs when students may be making choices that are perhaps not supported by their families and what became kind of seen as kind of navigating that interface between student autonomy and parental Guardian Authority and there were some very interesting principles and of course this applies to many kind of context but most notably and contentiously recently it's been around issues of gender identity and there was a real sense of of having Rakim County Public Schools focus on Case by case basis and to put safety first and then to not necessarily say how do we engage families but also a notion that if safety is present support bravery and that might mean Rockham County School Personnel actually helping in some way students and their families to have the tough conversations about what it is that
068they need as long as students are safe so once again commend you to read the report around that and consider those principles in the March 23rd public public dialogue I think we really came back front and center to the questions around fostering safety and belonging and a caring environment for students um many many many things that that came up there but one of the some of the things that struck me was the observation first of all that the value of having the 11th grade students involved in the process and I know that they came and presented to you a few weeks ago and they were absolutely insightful um self-confident able to have their voices very present and really I think gave a lot of insight to the adults who were there um and some of
069the things that they shared was very eye openening for people and I think some of them especially when it came to safety and belonging was the recognition that today's especially middle and high school students are dealing with the same kind of challenges that have always been present that I suspect everybody in this room faced around bullying trying to fit in pressure to figure out your future pressure to succeed the age-old things that especially if you are a minority racial ethnic National gender minority feeling under special pressure of being potentially marginal IED and excluded all of those things are also present today yet in addition to it today's students have the pressure of social media 247 potentially most of them and that they can't leave it behind and that they are sometimes Overexposed and underrot there
070was also a recognition and this really hit home for me that today's 11th graders are those who were in first grade when Sandy Hook happened they have grown up with lockdown drills on a regular basis and they in every table group they talked about how much fear of gun violence that they have and they are living with that as and anxiety levels need to also be understood through that and then of course in addition they were the ones who had to deal with at the exact time when they most need to be with peers the pressures of being at home during covid through no fault of really their own and so this need for extra support is really understandable and the need to listen to their needs came through very strongly they highlighted and together
071with um with the with the many many adults around the room including some who are rcps uh Personnel some particular things around school discipline and the the need to support learning accountability predictability and safety um many spoke of the need for disciplinary measures to be consistent fair and effective and also reflect shared norms and there is a lot of sense within that dialogue that there's a need for the community to engage in further dialogue about what are the Norms that should be expected during the school day but also to have students a part of those conversations so that they internalize them and they are willing to hold themselves and each other as peers accountable to constructive pro-social Norms there is also a sense that really School personnel as well as students need to up their
072game in interrupting hostile and bullying Behavior this came across as a real problem a real Challenge in a sense of needing to have a lot more attention paid to that um a sense that the restorative justice approaches that are being developed in the schools perhaps offer a really positive way from that because for example one told us a story of being called um uh racial hate names the student who did that was suspended but then they came back and continued um you know they were just back in school again there was never an opportunity to engage in conversation about the nature of the harm caused to apologize and to learn and to change from it in the sense that if there is an opportunity to learn through the process of addressing stuff that is how
073things may change and so real Commendation and support for a more rest restorative justice process a final thing that came out really strongly in this um and perhaps not for the reasons that you might have expected if you watch Facebook all the time but it was agreed again and again that bathrooms are especially problematic spaces and that something needs to be done around those whether it be vaping and people feeling uncomfortable whether it be that's particular place where a lot of hate speech happens and where those who feel are already vulnerable May um feel especially vulnerable there and feel feel um feel threatened um to just generally feeling uncomfortable in their and a lot of people were actually expressing support for single use bathrooms that's obviously a big a big um infrastructure as so that
074may not be on the short-term agenda but on the short-term agenda to really kind of think about how that might be addressed as a kind of a key site um for for safety and and well-being so those were some of the key points once again really recommend going back in in in studying the the reports and the findings because all of these and many more elaborated and in just a few moments I want to um actually no now I want to invite up D grim and Amanda Richie who are going to speak to some further crosscutting ideas to support action before I start my official role I just have to say I look around the room and I'm probably the oldest person in it and I have these interconnections with so many people in this
075room for various reasons that kind of overwhelmed me and it makes me realize how ridiculously invested I am in Rockingham County Public Schools thanks Oscar for pulling me back in um but I do think passionately I believe in Rockingham County Public Schools I have my entire career I still do I probably won't go away even now but um I do think of all the things I've ever done this has been the most remarkable um so as as Katherine was saying saying the thing that kind of evolved in the conversations that we didn't control in any way whatsoever um in addition to just sharing stor sharing ideas hearing different perspectives a natural outgrowth was um constant ideas well maybe we could do this and maybe we could do that and Applause to the people who managed
076the tables at all the dialogues because they were sitting there copiously typing as fast as they could to try to get it all down I encourage you to all read the report all 100 pages of it now I don't know it's getting there um because there's so many ideas embedded in it and what one of our hopes is in addition to fostering this process and letting it continue is there's some great ideas here and I hope that school administrators faculties everybody just picks up on these things and communities and says yeah we could do that here and makes it happen because that's where the that's where the changes will come so one thing that came up uh for example was to to work in County Pockets a little bit because we do have our feeder
077areas and so have smaller dialogue initiatives in each little group so each little subc Community can talk about some of the things that that they feel um to try to we I think Rockingham County is so grounded in best practice in every subject area but just to continue that cultivated uh classroom environment so that kids do feel self safe to also share and connect and and solve um partnering with parents and and and those types of things I'm not going to read all these to you because um they're all in the report and we know you're all going to read them but um these are the kinds of things that just spontaneously would come up and these were not coming from us these were coming from the people sitting at the tables session after session
078and I just jumped you your thing so you do the next one okay all directions yeah like d said these are all organic they just just came about in all of the discussions that we had and luckily we have somebody who's really great at summarizing what what what was talked about so um increasing awareness of student support systems uh Katherine talked a little bit about that and the mental health and Behavioral Health supports we have um encouraging students to be active in creating a welcoming and inclusive community um supporting school-based extracurricular activities like Multicultural nights and developing or strengthening mentoring and Buddy programs um a good example is the sources of strength initiative that is going on in Rockingham County right now um the the 11th grade dialogue which she shared some insights from I
079think anyone who was at that last meeting was profoundly moved by their presentation and the good news is from what I understand it will continue next year they were all 11th graders they're moving into 12th grade and I think they're also getting some attention for other things so I I think that's a really POS positive thing um the kids um mentioned as as did the adults the policies and programs that focus on respect and I think by doing what we did and the 11th graders doing what they did we can become a model for teaching kids this is how we proceed in this world to to make things happen and be successful so to sort of model for them what they have not yet seen um to let schools take the initiative elementary schools middle
080schools have these same kind of little pocket programs again that Foster um how to talk about respect how to talk about safety how to acknowledge each other's differences in a good way and just support collaboration all all across the board and again this these these are not onetime things these came up over and over and over again in different table combinations with different groups of people so it wasn't like the same group sitting down at every meeting rehashing it was just all new and if you read our reports which I know everyone is going to do some of these ideas are said you know time and time again because they were brought up quite frequently um continue to expand a p dialogue amongst students support policies and programs that focus on respect I think we
081already said that one I think I did all oh okay I forgot to switch it okay create disciplinary processes designed to support students acknowledgement repair and learning of why their behavior was not acceptable um helping to empower students to stand up for each other providing supports to empower teachers with the skill and training to address behaviors when harm happens um we found that teachers are often feeling tired and under pressure and not necessarily sure of how to handle some of the situations that they're encountering in their classrooms um and then recognizing the tension between student autonomy and parental Authority so I think we'll hand it back to you Catherine just saying one more time there are many many many many many action items throughout of the port all so um so yeah so this I
082I really think rockium County Public Schools deserve some credit because I think you it's hard to turn on the national news these days and not hear what's happening in school boards meetings across the country and um to anybody's knowledge this is one of the very few initiatives that is actually trying to get ahead of it and um since um since it's happened um we have made national news um and we're going to play a clip from that PR un minute because it does feel like something fairly significant on National Public Radio there is a story um that was launched on the night of our public dialogue um with uh support from Randy Bey at wmra the local station who did the reporting on it um there have been requests for across the state the students
083some of the students are going down along with Amy Johnson Katie leera to a Virginia Department of Education conference to talk about the student dialogue there have been requests for other um State conferences um including the Virginia School Board Association conference um talk with you about that later um and um and national conferences of people wanting to learn how this has been done and so I think that there's a a sense that this this process that you have supported has has a as a model once again Rockingham County Public Schools at the Forefront um if you can play video one so you can listen and see some pictures at the same time as arguments continue to flare across the country about what is best for kids in schools one can Community is down Rockingham County
084Virginia is in the shenendoa valley and they're working to bring those who disagree about public education and transgender students to the same table and possibly the same page from Member station WM in Harrisonburg Randy B haggy reports Schoolboard meetings in Rockingham County used to erupt in screaming matches over pandemic restrictions how racial history is taught and how to treat transgender students if God exists God stop with the Socialist brainwashing of my children and put God back in schools thank you the yelling and screaming caused District leaders to hire a professional peace Builder that person is Katherine Barnes her job is to facilitate civil public discourse how do we hold on to that which is precious about values and traditions in ringham while at the same time adapting and growing in response to Century developments Barn
085sets a calm tone as 80 people look on they sit at Round taes in a meeting room at a small local College all of them came with various political viewpoints and religious values you'll notice also that there have been some communication agreements on your table and they intended the group is about to respond to prompted discussion questions while sharing a meal reporters were asked to leave for this part of the event but later I called some participants including D Grim the retired English teacher says she leans lightly left and thought these conversations were constructive because they started with personal stories and backgrounds because when you bring that to the table suddenly people become human one of the ground rules was trying to understand differences rather than judge them that worked for Dave Dean he's a
086lifelong County resident on the conservative side he doesn't want anyone on the margins to be treated poorly but he says many parents in the county want to retain control over their kids gender identity some parents on one side don't want their child have any autonomy until they leave home on the opposite side you have parents who are going to give their child full autonomy as soon as they're able to express themselves sometimes these conversations got tense says Cecil de one of her three kids is transgender it's very emotional because these are real things that are happening to people one woman shared about her her child attempting to take their life and that's so hard to hear and then you want to comfort them it was very productive and very quite frankly inspiring Joe shoker is
087a retiree who says he's conservative with traditional family values that include being a good citizen and coexisting with people you disagree with I think kids being at home with lockdowns and doing all their classes online LED parents really Across the Nation to be more cognizant of the instruction that was going on in the buildings that combined with the culture wars almost created a wedge between parents and schools to rebuild trust between parents and schools is what donica Hadley is hoping for she's a college professor with three kids in the system we just we need to do better our kids deserve better and what they have seen in the last several years has not been the best of us but it's not too late to change like I still have hope the dialogue initiative will conclude
088with a public meeting of about 150 people tonight they will meet with the hope of if not agreeing about any at least hearing each other out for NPR news I'm Randy B hagy in harrisberg [Music] Virginia as arguments continue to flare across the country about what is I should not be given this you can move it forward one slide I guess um each of our core dialogue participants were asked to reflect on their experience with the community dialogue initiative and we just put together a compilation of what they shared with us it is our hope that this video gives you some sense of how beneficial these conversations have been for the people involved you can play the videos as arguments continue to flare across I didn't touch it that time so community and connection um
089My overall impression of the rcps community dialogue initiative can be summed up with those two foundational principles I have seen firsthand how this group of diverse individuals often with very Divergent perspectives has risen above being keyboard Warriors to inperson connection through timely and challenging conversations all with the important goal of maximizing every students educational experience nearly all participants in this initiative found common ground in the belief that one of the greatest strengths of Rockingham County is our sense of community yet most lamented a loss of connection this dialogue initiative accomplished nothing less than creating community and connection among a diverse range of people proving that we can come to the table in respectful dialogue even when we disagree with one another and particularly when we are focused on ensuring the safety and belonging of all
090of our students I entered the dialogue a strong parent advocate and I remain so my strong faith in personal values my commitment to protecting childhood innocence and my belief that education should be a collaborative partnership have informed my conversations every step of the way I stand on my principles and yet I'm also deeply committed to the idea that through dialogue and an exchange of perspectives we can learn to better understand others and develop relationships that will help maximize the potential of our schools and every student within them this group has been willing to engage with others in a healthy and respectful way and we have set a model for our County and more importantly for our children they are watching and they are learning from us and we set the example for what we want
091to see in the future there is Great Value in sharing these conversations and I hope that there is continued investment in this effort which I truly believe is helping to move our community forward together so I had a number of remarks but this slide is already up and it's probably almost time for us to kind of wrap up but um with this final report there's a clear path for Rockingham County to have a proven mechanism for addressing complex and potentially contentious issues as they arise participants in the process requested more dialogue and a regular basis emphasize in the personal Reflections that you just saw in Amanda's words The Advisory Group is asking your consideration of the benefits outlined in this call to action slide and this call to action slide is for the board of
092the next steps that to take or should be taken for this initiative the process that was developed is flexible and can be used at the local level including individual schools and for larger systemwide complex issues and I think you saw that in uh some of the ideas to spark where that could be done last time we presented to you in March you also had a presentation from Dr Harris and Dr castner with bwp on the feedback they received as part of their Community engagement for the superintendent search it was an aha moment for many dialogue participants who were at that meeting as much of the information paralleled between what bwp gathered and the findings and the reports from the community dialogue events and this was very evident and profound to pull those so we encourage
093you again to look and read at those reports I don't think we can re emphasize that enough there's a real body of data there and perhaps go back and look at some of that data that you got from ewp and share them with division leaders as you plan your next steps perhaps even having a point person on the board who understands and advocates for this framework as you further your business de and Amanda presented just a small number of the ideas to spark action that were part of the findings and you may want to consider setting aside time for that dreaded summer Schoolboard Retreat Day to talk a little bit about these findings and ideas because perhaps it will also spark some more ideas from all of you for the steps forward Dr shifflet he
094attended some of I think he attended the last dialogue is that correct Dr schifflet and we really welcome the opportunity the adviser group does to review the reports and the findings with him and to talk a little bit further about that as he plans for the many transitions that are going to happen in the next year and that will and this work will continue be important to Foster and help you through those transitions finally I need to thank a number of people this was a seed that started quite some time ago um with the board and Dr Shel and Mr shoker and Miss Grim um and it's been 18 months and when we started this we never thought it was going to be 18 months I don't think Dr Barnes thought he was going to
095be 18 months and Dr Barnes is hung in there with us every single time and we've had to um take steps back and forth and take three steps forward and four steps back and continue to work through that and be tenacious and the advisory and the core dialogue stayed with us every step of the way all the way through to March 23rd um and it's important work and there are people in this community lots of people and particularly the participants that would like to see this continue so I strongly encourage you and Dr schifflet as you work forward to think about this information and to find ways to use this framework that's now been developed um to help you tackle and work through some of those things that are going to come up in the
096near future so thank you very much for your time thank you Dr Barnes for all your hard work thank you Oscar for your work um particularly to Katie leira Katie put these videos together this morning for us we did the slides to this was a this was a work in progress as um you know we end the school year and we have lots of busy lives and to some of the core dialogue people are here and people who took time to put the um give us their comments and their feedback um we had hoped to have a few more gentlemen in there but um we got mostly the ladies so next time around we're going to snag them to to provide some more feedback to share with you too so thank you for your time
097this evening uh Dr Barnes did you have anything else you wanted to add yeah thank you so much we appreciate your time this evening thank you all that that I I'm looking forward to reading all of this and um Dr shifflet I think you and I have discussed we might need instead of a summer Retreat we might need summer camp um Retreat Schoolboard camp this year definitely I want to put this closer to the top of our very long list because I think this will help us work through a lot of the things that are already on our list so thank you thank you all for this important work board members do you have anything you'd like to add thank you yeah I just want to say thank you again to everyone who was involved
098um it was amazing we had no idea what's going to develop from it and you just approved the field trip for students to um actually you know be part of that ongoing process and there's now a structure for a student advisory and students are getting trained to be student facilitators and so um lots and lots of different steps and other school districts asking uh for help with a similar process so um lots of amazing things so yeah in blackburg that's a due and uh so students are going um to present to State leaders about this process and and the state leaders are excited about it so it's really good to see and wouldn't have happened without this group and without Dr Barnes thank you yes thank you all very much um next item on our
099agenda is policy revisions by um Miss Becky tanell thrown into the fire chair low members of the board and Dr Shel um you approved my appointment um to be the supervisor of policy and compliance a few weeks ago I'm very excited about the opportunity to take on a new role after having been an administrator for about 20 years um Marcy Williams is never one to lay l very long so the phone rang when there was about to be a vsba um policy update and she and I participated in that together um there were about 45 policies that were recommended we're bringing 20 to you this evening uh most of the policies that you have in front of you are very minor um the one of them is a complete addition of a policy that comes
100um from the vsba the one for physical examinations of students and then the rest of the policies a lot of it is just wording like we've renamed the nurse we've renamed some support Personnel um the one that's the most interesting I think is the threat assessment team there's going to be a requirement for that at the division level and training and training every three years so um I've read over these I know Dr cyel has read over them as well and I'm happy to answer any questions that you might have andies will come for Action at the first July meeting yes okay thank you and at that point I think we'll bring the others for um review members any questions my only question would be so these will be in the are we even printing
101a policy manual for the for next year I think it's so it's all online I um well the policy manual is online but um there are printed copies still kept that are given out at the beginning of school that that handbook that I get at the beginning of school handbook these these aren't in that the handbook uh the policy manual is this thing uh the handbook is about like this so um the handbook mostly contains policies or really only contains policies that are uh selected and that are just a small fraction of our overall policy manual but that are of particular importance to fam so know uh the threat assessment teams's uh policy or the annual budget policy um or uh Schoolboard member in service activities they will not show up in the in the
102handbook um there may be some uh that uh depending on the content may end up in the in the handbook but no the vast majority are in the policy manual but we do have a printed copy there's a a folder yes um at uh Caitlin's desk and again it's massive but as far as these changes won't impact the the handbook or we'll get the changes made before the handbooks are printed at least yeah this should not and again these um acceptable computer use yeah again if that's approved and again in the handbook it's also clear that you know the board doesn't just approve policies um in time for handbook printing so um as policies change um for example you know the drug and alcohol policy that changed um the spring there's then if it's if
103it is something that would normally be in the handbook that families signed off on then there's some communication so uh we pushed it out via email but it's clear even in the handbook that you know the board can change policy uh at you know the second November meeting for example and that still means it's going into effect you don't have to wait until the next school year just is getting communicated so we should be good with the handbook thank you board members any other questions thank you very much yes um can I just say thank you to being for you for being a board member for as long as you have um I was at mauville when you were a board member there and you're you're iconic in that area and I know you are
104throughout Rockingham County but I appreciated my relationship with you when I was a principal there and um that I knew I could always call on you and so I'll miss you being on the board very much and Oscar you know how I feel about you it's been a great six years together and I wish you weren't leaving but I wish you all the best yeah thank you um board members you have financial review for May 2023 and the uh vsba conference on education information in your packets um any questions on those that concludes our information items we'll now move into other business Schoolboard questions and comments and I'm going to go with LOL for I'm sorry Mr folk first thank you Dr moken thank you Mr I think I'm I'm on U when I listen
105to the community dialogue I can't tell you how much I appreciate all the work that has gone into this and the thought and the the the Outreach that you have expended to make this a very successful time and I when I hear communication and connection the two words that came out and I have another word that begins with a c it's not a c but it's a k and the word is kind and of the five ceremonies graduation ceremonies that occurred this past week the word kindness was brought up at least in four or the five if sometime in in the speakers when the speaker spoke and so I'm thinking this is what you're saying you're saying you want people to be kind to one another and so I thank you for that I also
106want to say a big thank you to to Oscar and Dan I know we've we've said this before but it it um just we appreciate you both so much and we wish you we wish you well thank you Dr mooken I would like to Echo that um thank you Mr Breeden Dr Shel uh you will be missed uh we hate to see you go but wish you all the best uh I have just quick questions for both of you so what are you doing next Dr Shel what will you be doing next your microphone not on um I will be taking the month of July off U see my brother and Austria he already talked me into um participating in a triathlon with him so um if I survive that for some magic reason um
107I'll be back after that week and um then I will um in the fall I will teach some school law classes at jamu did you really just say I'll be back I'll be back in your Austrian ACC I'll be back that's wonderful uh and Mr Breeden I'll yield the answer to that to my wife she'll know more what I'm doing than I do that is an excellent answer um and I just want to take a moment to recognize um everyone in the room usually I ask if there any students and I don't believe there are any students because it's summer yay but um I'd like to uh especially note uh Miss Renee Reed is with us tonight thank you for being here tonight and then I want to um acknowledge we've got several people that
108this is your last regularly scheduled Schoolboard meeting as staff so if you can please rise and we can give you a round of applause stand up I can see you I can see you at least both of you come on Cheryl Cheryl and thank you all for your service Mr Fitzgerald Miss Mass you will also be missed um and I think now I'm gonna turn it over to Mr breed I think Mr breed should have the last word okay yeah so I will definitely want to make sure that Mr Bren gets the last word tonight then Dr sh um just briefly you know we we talked about all the the people we I need to thank including so many in this room um I would be remiss if I didn't um thank my wife Dell
109for all the support couldn't have done this over these last few years um without her I didn't just fall in love with the community um over these last 28 years but I certainly have also fall in love in the community in addition to that Broadway connection um I now have family in Elton and if you know anything about her um you know that over the last few years she has shown tremendous self-restraint um the I'm not sure how much longer the a reminder um not to speak out um because I'm superintendent will work so I guess July 1 is coming and I can't wait to see uh what you will have to say um having Mr Breeden here and and you know we talked about this earlier Robert F Kennedy uh certainly is very meaningful
110to me too and and one of the quotes in which he actually used a quote from George Bernard Chaw um has always spoken to me so some men see things as they are and say why I dream things that never were and say why not I remember sitting in Atlanta with LOL um at a national conference and um even when sessions were going on we kept going in the in the hallway in our convers and asking that same question you know why not why not try something new and we don't always have to do what we've always done and and that really means a lot to me and I think sometimes when I hear people um arguing against um trying new things and not doing what we've always done uh it reminds me of what
111St turkle said about people who uh criticize the 60s right those are often people who take Delight in the failure of dreams and um I think we' we've Dreamed a lot we've dared greatly and we've dreamed together and so all of those um in the proverbial arena with us um I want to say thank you I'm not going to read the Teddy Roosevelt's quote but um those who know that quote um well that speech know what I'm talking about and so many people who are willing to roll up their sleeves together and say um we can make a this better to risk failure but then to keep going again and uh to try again and and fail again and all better and to do it over and over again um specifically you know in this
112um the group of people that are here although Doug isn't here he's certainly in that group as well Eric Fitzgerald um he is a Legend um in Virginia and uh Beyond and it's been so much fun going to the Bay with you and doing all these things in this act Community uh Cheryl Mast Larry shifflet dou aler and Michelle Jud um the executive team that I've had the privilege to work with uh is second to none and um there were so many times um when we really talked for hours and hours and hours about new things we can try but also just trying to get a community through a global pandemic and um again that that was um a difficult time but without you that wouldn't have happened um and so uh I think we
113are leaving rcps in good hands and in good shape um our staff and our leadership at our schools and central office and some who are making the transition from uh schools to central office like Becky um they are they truly are amazing and I think it is important for the community to know um that conversations around change and and what what we want to hold on to and what we want to be different and uh what um everyone's values are and how they flow into a school division of this size that those conversations are always welcome um what is not welcome I will honestly say is an attempt to tear down the institution of public education uh public education is the Cornerstone of democracy uh public education allows everyone to come we don't ask where
114someone's from we don't ask what their abilities are we don't ask who their parents are they all get to come they're all welcome at our doors uh we don't have an admissions process other than that you live here and that's it and um there is certainly again I've used this quote before there is an attempt to divert tax money to other um education institutions uh Christopher rufo you know is the prime example uh when he said that um wanting Universal vouchers means uh we have to operate from a premise of universal Public School distrust and I will forever um be involved in that battle to make sure that public schools are funded and um that public schools where every child matters and every child is welcome are the KE um as the Cornerstone um of
115this amazing place um if you look at the areas where we've gained State and National recognition right we heard earlier about the uh Community dialogue project you can ask Eric Fitzgerald and he mentioned it earlier uh you don't often know how amazing the programs are until you go elsewhere and Eric has always used a line you know when he goes elsewhere that people say yeah of course you do that in Rockingham that's the land of milk and honey and um that's a true statement and um it's amazing to hear it and again that those are all people um that that know what they're talking about right when it comes to our a education our CTE programs MTC and all our other efforts you know National recognition for mental Behavioral Health effort so these efforts need
116to continue Larry congratulations um I really do honestly want to congratulate on your appointment I hope that the community will continue to support your efforts to work for all students all students means all we're not here for just most students we're here for all students and I know uh that you will uh bring that uh to the table and it's just important to know right you ask around the vast majority of parents um are quite happy uh with the quality of their child school it is just at a more generic sense that sometimes the criticism comes but if most parents like their child School uh you know that schools are pretty good right and always room for improvement thank you to miss shifflet miss Reed and Miss L uh Mr folk Dr mookin and toan
117um for trusting me with this task and thank you to all the parent staff administrators and teachers um for again working together Mr Breeden thank you for your friendship and for being in the arena with us I will never forget that it's an honor to share the occasion of our last public uh Schoolboard meeting with you I will miss the daily conversations about what's working and what we can do better um I've met some of the most amazing people in these last 28 years and for that I will be forever grateful thank you thank you uh Dr Sho you will be missed Mr Breeden I was just sitting here thinking I had not planned to say this but um um you know we've shared a lot of jokes about the the her brothers over the
118years and Wyer movies and I was just sitting here thinking about a line from the Kevin cner version where Doc Holliday says I know it's not easy being my friend but I'll be there when you need me and that's true for both of you I have contemplated prayed about for weeks what might be my final statement here if you've ever considered what it would be like to be a dying person and know that these were going to be the last words that you would leave to your fellow man um it's not quite that serious but as a Schoolboard member I am a dying man and these will be my last words from this Podium so I had two options one was to Simply say thank you for all the good times and all the hard
119work the other was something different and it's more in line with what I've done for 23 years and 6 months and that's to fight for what I think is best for kids so I will go down rocking or I won't go down at all I am pleased to say that as I travel around this County and I look at all of the accomplishments that have taken place over the last 24 years my heart swells with pride I can walk into each of our buildings and look at something and think I had a small part in that I see kids that I've helped to Mentor who have gone on to be successful um participants in our community we have faced every challenge that's come along from s Sol's when everybody said that technical education will not
120survive s so's we doubled down and built massan nuton Technical Center to be stronger and better than it was and still managed to gain full accreditation under those standards We have dealt with redistricting painful as they are recognizing that we had to be good stewards of the taxpayers money and we've done that by being transparent by meeting with communities sometimes heated discussions but we built in Clauses that allowed folks to make the move less painful and I can remember going to vsba conferences and people saying you did what by allowing those grandfather clauses as we called them we instituted uh a onetoone digital conversion project totally funded by local taxpayer money with the help of the Board of Supervisors we've kept up with our Capital needs projects and I would submit have the most durable
121beautiful buildings in the state of Virginia and built at the lowest cost per square foot on most Everyone We have dealt with the unimaginable and that is is the pandemic that totally upended everything that we were doing but we were in a better place because of that digital initiative that allowed students to have computers at home to do their work was it Optimum no and we lost ground and we should have been over the last year and a half working and concentrating solely on making up that ground that was lost during the pandemic but instead we have been dealing with social issues social issues that many times were founded in falsehood or were outside the purview of a local school board to deal with now why would we have to do that because public education
122across this nation is under attack and the Battleground has come to Rockingham County I have sat and watched our superintendent be talked to and ridiculed in a way that is totally unacceptable and Oscar I'm sorry you've had to deal with that I have seen St members or know of Staff members who have been pointed out in public meeting or on social media who have received threats who have had disgusting things deposited in their lawns I have been accused myself of wanting to indoctrinate our children ladies and gentlemen I have spent 24 23 and a half years trying to give our kids choice because the one thing the Creator gave to us as human beings above all other species is the ability to rationally and critically think and those who would limit access to choice and
123different Alternatives they are the ones who would indoctrinate our children not those who advocate for Choice do we have a responsibility absolutely we do but parents have a right to know that I hear so often that they have a responsibility as well to know what your kids are up to I understand if you're concerned about a book that has the FW in it but how do you explain let's go Brandon how do you explain signs that say Joe Biden I've sat and talked to a school librarian who wept because she she said I'm just trying to do my job but I live in fear of my job every day folks that's unacceptable people should not have that fear when they go to work now you start throwing all those things out there to discredit public
124education and why would that be it would be because as Dr Shel just alluded to underneath all of this is the desire to take Public Funding away from public schools and provide it to private and religious schools now if you don't believe me do the research there are people who are seeking to be leaders of our division who are endorsing the ideology and positions of groups that have been labeled as extremist groups whose sole mission is to discredit public education there's already talk if you dig down into the weeds of the debate about using local taxpayer money to fund vouchers consider that consider with the with the difficulty that we have recruiting teachers and finding bus drivers and the competitive salaries we're dealing with talking about taking away funding from our Public Schools do we
125have room for improvement yes we do and I will say and acknowledge that through the course of this debate yes I've been combative but I made a commitment several months ago that I was going to be one who stood Face to Face toet To Toe with those who would seek to harm public education and sometimes sometimes it's taken combative language unfortunately now the part about all of this that troubles me even more than the political side or the or the things I've discussed earlier is that so much of this is being done under the guise of God wants us to do it God's telling me to do it now ladies and gentlemen I respect my Jewish my Islamic neighbors so I'm not trying to say anything thing to you to discredit your faith but I
126will speak to the faith that I have don't take what you've seen presented as the way Jesus Christ really is don't take my word for it open the New Testament if you read nothing else read the first four books he tells tell us what it takes when asked what are the two most important Commandments love God and love your neighbor as yourself but there's a catch there you've got to love yourself not in a narcissistic way but you've got to be comfortable with who you are before you can love other people who are comfortable as they are now I had a young man not a young man anymore but a man come to see me and it has spilled over into some of our local churches I had a gentleman come to see me who
127wanted to talk about the pronoun issue and I'm willing to have a conversation with anyone but a conversation is not one where one side has to accept the other side's position explicitly and that man said to me I know what Jesus would do Jesus would whip those kids and my heart Brak broke my heart broke can anybody who has read those four gospels imagine Jesus whipping a kid folks we've got some challenges ahead of us I'm telling you that if you do not have a relationship with Jesus Christ don't look at what you're saying being represented as the correct way I don't like the slogan what would Jesus do the Pharisees tried to tried to say what he would do all the time only to be confounded by what he did I'd rather say what
128did Jesus do go read it and I think you're going to see someone who talked mostly about love and compassion and forgiveness and getting along with one another I don't know what the future of Rockingham County Public Schools hold I don't know what the future of of public schools hold some have asked me well Dan if you're that concerned about it why don't you hang around for a while and I considered it but I'm at an age where I have some personal health issues and I have family members MERS who have more serious health issues than I and they need me more right now but I'm not going away I have spent all these years in the arena Dr shle I've said the easiest job the hardest job in the world is to be the
129batter standing in the batter's box facing 100 m hour fast ball the easiest job in the world is to be the guy standing behind the batter's cage yelling swing well I'm going to be that guy yelling swing and I intend to continue to advocate for what I think is best for all kids of Rockingham County and for the taxpayers I pray God's blessings upon each and every one of you particularly Dr schifflet as he takes over this awesome responsibility for the board what whatever makeup it might be and I'm thankful to the citizens of District 5 who have decided on six different occasions starting at 33 years of age that this old guy was okay to do the job for him so Karina dust off the rocking chair and tell tan Oakland and Hudson Grandad's
130coming home thank you Dan members we've taken care of all of our business and we did close session already so that we could have time now for you all to come up and congratulate our retirees and on that I adjourn this meeting thank you all for your service and have a safe trip home and a safe trip to Austria