2022 11 28 - RCPS School Board Meeting

001e what [Music] a board member um the mic is already hot so it's already already live just talk about this far away from it this is the clicker to advance to your slides this is the only one you should need that's forward and just in case you accidentally go too far that's back questions um I'm not very kind of is you're certainly welcome to move that okay but this I do need to stay behind the podium with this it's keeper or you mean uh like what's best practice for school board well I've presented to them before um different context a little bit um but yes would it be expected would make it easier for you all to keep that in for me to remove it while stand okay all right okay thanks so much I

002think so thank you e audio test e for big one is forward you go too far that one's back you don't worry about that one um and I noticed in your slideshow that the um YouTube videos are set to manual play so um which is perfectly fine so as soon as you're you just look at me and give me a wave and I'll press play um and the there's two of them right there's one beginning one okay I'll I'll keep an eye on the slides and make sure I'm ready to click play all right cool so you can set C yeah that would be IDE all right SC e for e for e for e is this is that a typo or is that for real they're in Clos meeting right now oh so this

003not but then okay so so they were open in the beginning they went into Clos meeting so they're currently in Clos meeting and then we're gonna they're getting ready to come back out of meeting e he you're good mom and e for e to e for e you don't have to touch the mic or do anything when you're advancing slides that one goes forward yeah and in case you go too far that one goes back you don't have to worry about that one all right any questions um is there anything I have to do for the set up part or are you g to just P it up no as soon as soon as you guys uh walk up here then um uh rad your principal will signal me to open the presentation and uh

004it'll you'll just be able to walk up and start talking all right thank you good all right good luck e ter e what we you ready get going here welcome this evening uh the board has voted to enter uh to exit close meeting and enter re-enter into public meeting and we need to have a motion that we only talked about those things in closed meeting that were U contained in the original motion under Virginia Statute I move to certify to the best of each member's acknowledge that one only public business matters lawfully Exempted from the open meeting requirements under Virginia Freedom Act information act under the Virginia Freedom of Information Act were discussed in closed meeting to which the were heard discussed or considered by the school board thank you m lore is there a

005second thank you Mr Cross chair Breeden I Mr Cross I Mr Faulk I Vice chair lore I Dr moken I thank you at this point I'd like to ask that all who are able to please stand and join us in the Pledge of Allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the for it stands one nation indiv and for at this time would you join us in the observance of a moment of silence that's thank you before we move into recognitions and presentations can I see a show of hands of the students that we have in the audience tonight welcome welcome there you go any board member will be please to sign your documentation at the close of the meeting for verification of of your attendance but thank you and welcome

006for being here Mr Dany Mr Breen how are you this evening great it's my honor this evening to uh welcome you all to Spotswood High School for the board meeting uh and also to take the opportunity to to recognize some incredible folks in our community uh who exemplify what it means to be a Trailblazer so uh chairman Breeden Dr Shel member of the boards I present to you our first recipient of the Kelly Britney lamb Kelly cogsdale character counsil recipient if Denita vul would please join me up [Applause] here Denita is recognized by her teachers as the Spotswood High School Britney lamb Kelly Coale character csil recipient based on her willingness to take the time and spend the energy to help others grow when I first really was able to get to know Denita during

007her junior year I was immediately impressed with the manner in which she interacted with her peers and teachers it was obvious to me that she was a special young lady who has the ability to be a powerful and positive influence on others her teachers share the same sentiment about Denita Miss kishorn Spotswood science teacher shares that Denita has really grown into become an amazing leader within our Spotswood Community she has dedicated to her studies and ask insightful questions to learn more about a variety of subjects because just because she loves learning she is the type of student who will work well with any student out of our 900 plus students at Spotswood and will try to get the most out of them she has taken it upon herself to start several clubs as a strong

008Voice Within those clubs I am so proud of her Miss Korn is not alone in her admiration for Denita Miss web Spotswood business teacher added Denita is a terrific Spotswood Citizen and a pleasure to have in class she is bright and creative and generally cares about helping other students Denita is also in interest and the greater good and wants to make our world a better place we are so fortunate to have Denita as a Trailblazer her positivity and her good citizenship are contagious and welcomed earlier this school year Denita and one of her closest friends shared their hope of beginning a future female Leaders Club at Spotswood High School I asked him to create a proposal and find a potential adult sponsor within a week Denita was back in my office with her friend to

009share an incredible opportunity for students at Spotswood they have scheduled speakers and events for each Club day to inspire others to work towards a goal miss Bean sponsible English teacher and the future female leader sponsor offered this about Denita Denita is one of the founders of the future female Leaders Club she is kind thoughtful and a good student Denita is something someone her classmates turned to because she is a sympathetic listener she is a mature and intelligent young woman with her involvment in sources of strength and the future female Leaders Club then is willing to give of her time to make spots with a better place for her peers in doing so she is making the most out of her High School experience to set the stage for the next chapter of her life's journey

010I have no doubt it will have a storyline of service to others congratulations denito for epitomizing the ideals that Spotswood High School and the britley lamb Kelly cogsdale character counsil award recipient of requires congratulations and thank you so much than you OED would OED please come down and join me [Applause] OED Lopez Vasquez is recognized by his teachers as a spotwood high school Britney lamb Kelly Coale character counts award recipient based on the incredible spirit that he shares with everyone he comes into contact with each day I am appreciative to have had the privilege of watching Obed grow into a young man who works hard in all aspects of school when asking teachers about OED the words kind energetic and caring are often used his teachers and coaches were asked to share a few words

011about OED the following comments were made OED is very energetic he is always polite and respectful he's always willing to lend a helping hand Obe his thoughtful and energetic young man with with a generous Spirit he generally cares about those around him OED is pleasant and positive and works well with his fellow students he focuses in class and communicates well to stay on top of his assignments he is an example of accountability and optimism that make him a terrific Trailblazer it is clear from these words o bet has earned the respect of the Spotswood staff Miss kishorn Spotswood science teacher shared the following he is a fantastic person who embodies what it means to be an accepting and kind Trailblazer he is friends with many students from various backgrounds and goes out of his way

012to brighten a room and bring personality and humor to the class the thing I remember most about OED is when he made a huge go Blazers poster with basketballs all over it for the unified basketball game and he cheered for students the entire time a similar sentiment is shared by Miss joner spots with math teacher OED is a student in my analysis class this year he is a ray of light in the class every day he comes prepared and ready to learn he is engaged and ask questions he's not interested in only getting the answers right he wants to know the why he never complains and once I give an assignment he always is the first to get started he interacts in such a positive way with his peers and can make even the most

013challenging math concepts seem fun that's impressive he leads by example and she says I wish I had a thousand o beds in class that's awesome wow I personally have come to enjoy our short conversations in the hallways and the sidelines during football games as he's always looking for the positives in life OED is a living idea of Blades of respect that we strive for all of our students o bet please know that your kindness is noticed by teachers and students alike at Spotswood and they are excited and proud that you being recognized as a recipient of this award congratulations and please continue to lead others with the enthusiasm and care that we need in our community congratulations [Applause] it is now my honor to to recognize Miss Paula lamb Paula is an outstanding volunteer for

014Spotswood High School as a school having parents and members of our community coming together to assist in the educational mission is essential this has been especially true as we've navigated the past few years in many ways parents have willingly stepped up to to recognize teachers and organize events among our volunteers Paula quickly became my go-to to help make the seemingly impossible impossible a reality Paul has a genuine care for the students at spotwood Hive and is willing to move mountains to provide them with the opportuni to enjoy their High School experience in my time of desperation as I was attempting to put together an after prom event for our students who had not had a prom since the spring of 2019 Paula's name was given to me by several parents they all Shar that if

015anyone could pull an event together it was Paula Lam when I called her I shared that one we were now able to host a prom two that I would like to give our students an after prom oh and three we have about four weeks to make it all happen uh without hesitation uh she said she would come and make it happen for our students within a few days she had put together a collection of spots with parents some former Trailblazers who put together an event that provided our students with an incredible experience and the Revival of our Blazer bash working with Paula and the parent committee was as much fun for the parent group as it was for the students who participated in the activities so as I approached the summer of 22 I once

016again called on Paul for a helping hand during the restrictions of covid our parent teacher Association Student Association folded this Association is a key resource for for a successful school as it allows sponsor to draw on the talents of our community when asking Paula if she would be willing to help with this endeavor she did not hesitate within several weeks a group of parents were called on and the PTSA was Reborn this was not an easy as a statement made it makes it seem due to Paul's dedication our first full PTSA meeting had 15 parents attend which was about four times as many as we've had in the past Paul's understanding of the division of Duties and her ability to work with and encourage others allow folks to be involved without being overwhelmed with responsibilities

017I'm excited about the direction our meetings have gone under Paula's leadership on top of these responsibilities Paula is also a member of the Spotswood athletic booster club where she serves as a board member to assist our athletic director and student athletes to have the items needed to assist him to be successful I'm not sure how she does all that she does for Spotswood while being a Spotswood mom a local business owner and a full time Jamie employee I can say that I am grateful that she's willing and able to balance all this pretty well Paula thank you for saying yes many times now and in the future for the benefit of our students our our families and our teachers you are truly an outstanding Blazer volunteer thank you so [Applause] much it is now my

018pleasure to uh introduce our students who are going to present on Del liberal democracy uh this is a project that's been going on spots for now for two years under the leadership of Mr Longacre and Mr shanan uh and this is exciting process that we're working through at sponsor High School guys it's all yours um good afternoon I will begin the presentation I'm sorry all right so I will begin now Del liberate democracy began as a collaboration between our school and James Madison University last spring it opened doors for the Youth and government and social studies onor Society clubes to work together along with six graduate students and Dr Diller from JMU Del liberate democracy includes everyone it is an intentionally long conscious and careful conversation about subjects that impact or will potentially impact everybody

019in the student body deliberate democracy exist exists in order to include all voices yes all right thank you a few weeks ago every student interested met at the library we were pres we were placed into three different groups and tables and given worksheets with three options offering different levels of free speech Dr Diller explained that through a series of rotations between groups we would be discussing which which of the three options would be the best to apply in our school environment each group had a maximum of two JMU students they each asked questions related to the option and allow us to continue the conversation amongst ourselves every 15 minutes we would rotate to different tables with different people to discuss other options in order to have other opinions amongst ourselves in order to have free

020ideas of every single option that we were presented by okay so this we had three different options that each student could choose choose the which one they preferred um option one is to prioritize students safety and well-being this uh option highlights student safety and well-being um of faculty and staff from potential harassment and discrimination from the impact of harmful speech those who chose option one favor students safety physically and emotionally over all else threats to safety and education would be eliminated to protect students when necessary drawback of option one an environment uh that limits speech doesn't always provide students the opportunity to debate sensitive topics next is option two to affirm the educational value of intellectual curiosity and engaging with ideals across differences this option asserts the primary role of higher education is to encourage

021intellectual curiosity and to build students skills to engage meaningfully in difficult conversations those who choose option two believe learning often requires discomfort instead of limiting the discomfort students should use it to guide them through interpreting their feelings thoughts and ideas that make them uncomfortable exposing students to a spectrum of perspectives teaches them to question their assumptions bases uh and clarify their bases their own values develop their own ideas and give them an understanding of how to respond to these who they to those who they disagree with drawbacks of option two are students may be exposed to ideas that are potentially harmful this option requires students to be in control of their emotions and to have a peaceful conversation and lastly was option three which is uphold the ideals of free speech this option um argues

022that education should welcome free speech in all its forms educational environments should include public debate and provide space for diverse opinions and ideas even when they are potentially controversial or offensive drawbacks of option three like option two students may be exposed to harmful ideas this option may also reinforce or worsen barriers for historically marginalized groups and might only benefit historically privileged groups whose members already hold voice and power so all in all the whole deliberative democracy experience brought many good results across the board everyone there was very respectful to one another new voices were heard from people that we didn't know and we could experience them a lot of the great perspectives were shared of different options that we were discussing as well as the opinions on the deliberative Democracy format after we were discussing

023the different options most of us came to the same conclusion most all of the people who participated in this discussions picked option number two there were few people who picked option number three which gave total free speech and there were few and there were no students who picked option one which prioritized safety over any speech when we discussed why most students picked option two it was mainly because it offered The Best of Both Worlds many of us believe that it gave students both the safety and from the oppression of their voices and from hurtful comments as well as the chance to share their opinions and discuss certain matters before the start of the discussions we had to rank the options given and most of put us put option three as the best option by the

024end of the deliberation almost all of us picked option two as the best option After experiencing at Spotswood what deliberative democracy was we are going to meet at JMU on the 2nd of December to produce our own deliberative democracy forum on the new upcoming rcps safety plan when at GMU we will be making our own deliberative deliberative democracy outline papers like the ones shown on the board this may this way we know how to use this new style of debating and for our future purposes we can use it to make more inclusive discussions thank you [Applause] congratulations to all those who were recognized tonight and thank you all for the presentation that was very informative we will move to the FFA science fair project Dr sh so this is um another piece in the uh

025presentations part of the agenda so when I had the opportunity to be at the National FFA convention um a few weeks ago I had the opportunity to judge prepared public speaking but then also had the opportunity to see student presentations in competitions and one of the uh competitions was the FFA science fair and in the social sciences uh category I got to see a presentation uh very relevant to our time uh very relevant to our community and it was amazing to it was the only presentation I saw where the judges then came over to the student and um you know just showed their appreciation for that presentation and how impressed they were with it and it was one of our students and so since we're not going to be a TA for a while I

026thought it was a a good time today again since we also talked about more presentations about educational topics to allow that student to present and to introduce her uh we have Mr Brian crickenberger from ta who is her FFA adviser Brian thank you Dr CYO as I start out I want to say thank you first of all to Dr Shel to our CT director Eric Fitzgerald and School Board member Miss lore for traveling to the National FFA convention and spending what 15 hours on a train with us all together thank you it means a lot to us um this evening alrey Garrison is going to represent the agroscience fair con contest and kind of how this all got started back in June she competed at our state contest in blackburg she was recognized as a

027state winner at that time over the summer we had to submit her project to National FFA where she was selected as one of the top 10 National finalists in her category by being selected as a national finalist she had the opportunity to travel to the National Convention to participate and hopefully come out in good standing which I think she did uh she also had the the very special opportunity to be on the Showcase stage which is a brand new opportunity they had at the convention this year so she was able to give a presentation there and that's what she's going to share with you this this evening and we also want to say that she did Place ninth in her category for the aggro science fair so Audrey excuse me good evening Dr Shel members

028of the board community members thank you for the opportunity to be here this evening as uh Mr crickenberger said I'm Audrey garison I'm a junior in the Turner Ashby High School FFA chapter and just recently I was at National Convention where I presented a presentation very similar to this one so prior to Convention and this is what was judged I completed research on drug and alcohol use within Virginia's agricultural Community the project and the research was really three-fold it surveyed about 60 members of Virginia's agricultural Community who are involved in all different ways to identify three things the first whether or not drug and alcohol use is an issue within the agriculture Community if it is why and third what can we do to lessen the effects the drug and alcohol use have on the

029agricultural Community because it's a big effect so what we found um in the project that the top three factors that cause drug and alcohol use are our mental health issues physical pain and in very few cases pleasure so we're going to talk about the first one mostly Stress and Anxiety that is uh just really a part of being in the agriculture Community with the changing economy and the weather and everything else causes a lot of mental health issues and so people turn to drugs and alcohol in some cases to help lessen the stress and lessen the anxiety what we found is that a lot of people about 50% of the survey takers didn't even realize the drug and alcohol use was an issue which is part of the issue if people aren't aware of it

030it's really hard to work with it and to figure out how to solve it so we then asked what was the accessibility of treatment and Rehabilitation in the agricultural community and within Virginia's rural areas and the general consensus is that it's not super accessible which makes those mental health issues worse because you can't take time and days and weeks off the farm to go to a rehabilitation facility which might be what it has to happen for you to receive effective results and then the third was what can we do about drug and alcohol use that would lessen the impact and so people said education for everybody for people my age for old adults to address what does drug and alcohol use do to you it has a negative impact and some people just truly don't

031realize that so helping people understand that and also education about the resources and the opportunities that are available for you to address the issue or to address your needs your mental health needs or your drug and alcohol um Rehabilitation needs and then providing Mental Health Resources so providing healthy outlets for that providing counseling providing different forms of therapy would be the biggest Factor because not only would it address those issues it would in turn address the self-medication and the drug and alcohol use that happens as a result of that stress and anxiety so having treatment options and facilities and resources is available to a wider group of people that in geographically uh available financially available and then also just destigmatizing the fact that those resources are there and they're okay to use nobody's going to

032think you're less of a man for doing it being able to provide those resources would then in turn lessen the need people feel to use drugs and alcohol and so the next slide is what I called the why so this was something that wasn't even in my research as a question or as a quantitative piece of data but what it asked was please share your personal experience with drugs and alcohol use in the agricultural community and what it did is it gave people the opportunity Anon anonymously because the survey was Anonymous to share their experience with drugs and alcohol whether it was their personal or that of their family members or their friends so you see some up there and this information here was more of valuable than any data or any number that I

033found in the research because it gave the research a reason it gave it gave purpose for the research that I did and it said it was important to people and it needed to happen because it hasn't happened a lot so what people said is that yeah I dealt with it or my my neighbor did it and you know they lost their Farm or it's tearing apart families and that was amazing because the other thing you the connection that could be made is that majority of the people who submitted the survey were between 50 and 60 years old and so that directly Echoes the reality that most farmers in Virginia are about 58 years old so if you think about it and they're mostly male so if you think about it those 50 to 60 year

034old males were raised in a time where you're not so much going to go out and say hey I need some help or hey I'm like really stressed so the fact that on an anonymous platform these individuals who you know if you were to talk to them aren't going to burden you or anybody else with their issues they were willing to say it's hard it's stressful we need help and so that was why I continued doing the research and that's the motivation that I have to really hope to continue to implement that research in a manner that like I said is is effective and destigmatized and accessible to people within our industry because it's not necessarily widely known but it is widely impacted so thank you all I hope you have a good [Applause] evening

035thank you Audrey and also thanks to the Spotswood students uh big questions of our time right when it comes to free speech when it comes to mental health and it's um amazing to see uh the knowledge and the thoughtfulness of our students so thank you for those presentations and also uh thanks to the teachers um who brought the students to that opportunity for um you know the event at JMU and what comes next so thanks to both of you thank you before we leave our uh recognitions and we know now part of the reason why I'd like to recognize Sally wolf Garrison Board of supervisor member for being here with us but uh I won't ask you to say anything because that would be hard to find um so thank you for being here and

036for sharing your daughter with us all right we will now move into the public comment section of our meeting and the same rules will apply as have been standard protocol for this year um there will be three minutes and at the two and a half minute Mark I will gavel once which will give the speaker notice that there is um that there will be 30 seconds left and um we will begin with Mr Michael stle I just want to say if I we could all be speak as eloquent as a young lady before me um thank you Dr uh board Dr Shel um for the opportunity to speak with you today um my name is Mike stample I'm from the Broadway area uh I would like to remind the board again the importance of rejecting

037the model policy proposed by the yunan administration as it relates the treatment of transgender students the policy will be harmful to trans youth as it does not Implement and it does not Implement best practices as recommended uh by medical professionals in addition to creating harmful policies for children the yunen Department of Education is trying to revise history and social studies standards for K through 12 education in her letter to Susan Weise Bower Sheila bird carmichel the consultant who presented the yunan Department of Education revised standards uh along with the Department of Education superintendent Jillian bow use these words to describe the standards deeply flawed very hastily and irresponsibly prepared she even mentioned in that letter that she was she uh wished she had not she had removed herself from the process altogether Governor yunan mentioned

038omissions and mistakes and noted that he was disappointed in the document regardless the majority youngan appointed board voted to use this deeply flawed very hastily and irresponsibly prepared document as the template to work from why does this matter history helps us understand essential questions such as who we are as individuals Collective groups and who we are as a nation it helps us understand the why of the current social order one thing I like I like about history is that history has the receipts for example if I want to find out what the Civil War was about I'll read the words of key leaders involved including those who called for the creation of a separ separate Coalition of states in Savannah Georgia on March 22nd uh 1861 Alexander H Stevens the vice president of the Confederacy

039said the following in what became I I'm not going to quote it but I will I'll give you a summary and what became known as the Cornerstone speech uh stens clearly states racial superiority and slavery as the Cornerstone of the newly formed Confederacy history has the receipts why have we uh why why have we heard alternative alternatives to this reality and to the Main's cause of war with slavery and the feeling of racial superiority because of who controlled the historical narrative it has been said that the South lost the war but won the battle for the historical narrative surrounding the war we cannot allow false narratives persist and more to come in future meetings we're going to talk about textbooks uh next meeting thank you thank you next up Holly cave hi I'm uh Holly

040cave mom of four um taxpayer citizen stakeholder in District 5 and I'm here tonight to provide some feedback on the capital Improvement plan requests that were presented at the last school board meeting um Elton Middle School according to the spreadsheet that we saw last week or two weeks ago was the only middle school that's currently overc capacity for student popul population in fact they're the only school was overc capacity in the county and yet Elton Middle School is not as quoted on the horizon for additions or Renovations and that school is overpopulated and according to your own Educators even it's busting at the seams the students there do not have room to eat in that cafeteria I noticed the last time I was there it's actually been expanded since I was in school there um

041which was great but it's still not holding these kids to eat their lunches and so as an alternative they're in the auditorium they're in classrooms they're all over the school and as we know you know Middle School is a rat race anyways when they get come from fifth grade they move into that environment it it really is a rat race and to just have 20 minutes during the day to eat your lunch they don't have that and yet there's a high school that that we're looking at paying $70 million to renovate when that school's population is likely to be reduced by the completion of Broadways addition and so um the idea is also loaded around of moving our eighth graders to eastrock and the parents in our district are emphatically against that they all they're

042like that's a big no not just the parents but the Educators and administrators by their own admission say those students are not ready to go into high school um it's there's this falsehood that they would be segregated into you know a wing of East Rock but they're going to share the same parking lots and they're going to share the same bathrooms and they're going to share the gyms I mean they're just they're going to run into the rest of the population there it's just going to happen and even if wild idea they were completely segregated I mean what kind of life is that for them in eighth grade they've looked forward to being in eth grader since they were a sixth grader and maybe actually even a fifth grader they've looked forward to it I

043remember my eighth grade year was the best year of middle school and it's just being snatched away from them and so I would just ask you tonight um to really think long and hard before we would approve um the capital Improvement plan requests as they've been presented and also give that same thought long and hard to moving our eighth graders prematurely into high school thank [Applause] you that concludes our list of speakers who have signed up for this evening we will move now to Highlights by board members and I will begin with Mr folk thank you Dr mcquilkin thank you Mr Breeden first of all we'd like to thank the staff at Spotswood High School for for hosting us this evening thank you for not putting us on the stage and having us down here

044we like it we like to be in on this level so thank you very much for your hospitality uh secondly I'd like to wish everybody a a Happy Thanksgiving or at least I hope you had a happy Thanksgiving in a restful time we're back in school to start again and thirdly I'd like to talk about the fact that uh we went there were several of us from the school board who went to willamsburg the week before Thanksgiving for the Virginia school boards association meeting and it was an annual meeting that happens every year at this time and we found it very enlightening and it's always good to hear about other things that other school boards are doing across the Commonwealth of Virginia and lastly I'd like to issue an invitation from Chris null who is

045the principal of Turner Ashby and he said he's inviting all the school board members to come tomorrow evening at 6:00 there's going to there will be a a social reception for Larry s Pence because during the boys basketball game in the intermission the middle of the game they they will uh announce that the gymnasium is being named the Larry s Pence gy gymnasium so all School boards are board members are welcome and certainly members of the public we hope that that you will join T the TA family at that time thank you Miss lore thank you uh I would like to reiterate what Dr mcquilkin said I hope everybody had a wonderful Thanksgiving uh I had a super busy Thanksgiving and spent the whole day exhausted and like oh I have to go to Schoolboard

046meeting tonight but I'm so one of the highlights now is that I was here because I got to see a great presentation from our students and um always love seeing a Audrey uh we go way back and I'm so very proud of how well she represented the state of Virginia because there were only four students from the entire state of Virginia that competed in na nationally and in the egg science fair so I'm very proud of you and wanted to to to say that publicly I'm so glad you were here tonight I also want to thank Mr Fitzgerald for making that trip possible for all the students because uh Mr crickenberger uh Dr Shel spent 15 hours on the train the rest of us spent 30 hours on the train but but Mr Fitzgerald made

047it possible and made it a wonderful trip and I definitely I met the most lovely lady on the train who who saved tip for everybody here she saved $300 by riding the train from um like Huntington West Virginia to Charleston West Virginia and called it her Leaf peeping trip so it was a beautiful time uh it was it's a great time to to travel by train and that's a great tip if you want to like hop on the train and Stanton and go to Charlottesville and then turn around and come back it's like 75 bucks instead of the 375 bucks they charged for the the scenic tour but um it was a wonderful time and Mr fitgerald did a lot to to put that together so I'd like to thank him too um but we

048also did before uh thanks oh I'm also looking forward to seeing Mr Pence's dedication tomorrow thank you for bringing that to the to the group uh Dr mcquilkin uh that that should be a wonderful experience I hope everybody can come out for that but I I also got to attend the Williamsburg conference and I learned a whole lot of great things that I'm hoping to bring back to Rockingham County so thank you to everyone for your support thank you for being here tonight and I'm going to pass it back to the chair thank you thank you Mr Cross thanks every thank you to everyone that came out tonight and especially to those who spoke and received Awards uh it's a great opportunity to be here at spotwood high school at the at the wood tonight

049and it's uh never a burden uh to come to these meetings it's always a privilege to serve as a Schoolboard member at these meetings and uh to come out to hear the Public's concerns and also to hear all the great things that are happening inside of our Public Schools uh tonight I want to uh highlight uh uh number one the custodial staff here at Spotswood High School I saw uh over our Thanksgiving break uh the basketball gym that they had resanded and and did all the work in there it looks nice uh basketball season's getting ready to begin I'm looking forward to coming to some games up here and uh seeing spots would win like we always do so uh thank you to everyone that came out tonight I'm looking forward to other presentations that

050are here uh and again thanks for coming out thank you Dr Shel uh first thank you to rad and his team for hosting us it's always a pleasure to be here at Spotswood um I also want to thank the Peak View kindergarteners for inviting me to their Thanksgiving feast last week uh parents provided a wonderful meal to the students and uh it was a lot of fun to be there and open uh milk cartons or provide uh take the drinks to the kids and and they had a blast um next um I also want to say thank you to sheriff Hutcherson um he's been able to secure the third SRO in the group of four that we were hoping to hire in the middle schools so there's one more to go but uh Deputy is

051Samantha Klein will begin at jrank hilard on December 12th so thank you to her for serving and thank you to um Sheriff Hutcherson for making that possible and then finally uh we've talked about this before um every year this is related to the vsba convention every year points are collected for how many events board members attend and how many um how many education opportunities they take advantage of and as in pretty much every year the board member who uh stood out in the vsba Academy Awards is Dr mcquilkin and when uh we talked about this at the a County Government building I said if only I had an Academy Award for her and Oscar and wouldn't you know it uh thank you to Cecil Dies who teaches at Wilber Pence NTA I can finally present

052the acad award for outstanding vsba education to Dr mooken thank you thank you yeah good okay I too would just Echo the sentiments of all of my colleagues and thanking the staff here at spot wood for welcoming us this evening um I never attended Spotswood High School I was part of the last graduating class from what was in mon avido High School uh but I've had two sons graduate from here and I have three grand children on track to to attend here one day and uh as I sit here tonight and think about the many wonderful memories that uh that I've had in in being a board member working um with the the various administrators and staffs here at Spotswood uh realizing that this will be my last meeting at Spotswood as a board member

053um it is a it is a a Bittersweet night but I with the grandkids coming I still have a vested interest and we'll stay involved with what's uh what's going on in the future of this school and and thank you all for being here tonight particularly the students and I hope you take something away from our meeting tonight we will move into action items and board members we do need to approve our minutes and I will entertain a motion in that regard if it be your desire I move I move we approve the minutes as presented thank you Miss lore is there a second thank you Mr folk any questions or comments hearing none all those in favor please say I I any opposed that is 0 field trips Dr Shel board members you have

054one field trip for your approval this is um Spotswood High Schools one act uh group this uh January 12th to January 15th 36 students to shannond University for the one act competition and I recommend approval of this field trip thank you Dr Sho board members you've heard the superintendent's recommendation do I hear a motion in support thank you Mr Cross is there a second second thank you Dr mcquilkin any questions or comments Dr sh would you have any the students are competing during this yes would you have any idea when they are competing um I do not know but we'll get that information to you I'm assuming it's a competition rad would know more about that um it's a chado university so um it's not far right so that' be a great great opportunity to

055see that um but I will find out for you uh whether it's actually a competition or a workshop but I believe it's a competition but I'll get that for you and also um if they are competing what their time slot would be that would be great thank you thank you any other questions hearing none all those in favor of approval of the superintendent's recommendation please say I I any opposed that is 5 as well a b bid recommendation for pumps for Broadway High Broadway High School Edition Mr Reed and it is the competition by the way Dr Cy Mr Breeden members of the board I've got a rather unusual bid recommendation this evening uh the bid for pre-ordering the chilled water hot water and variable frequency drives for br High School addition was probably specified

056and advertised we had three firms that we sent to bid package to and two firms responded with bids as you can see our recommendation is to Ward the bid to the low bidder TLA Incorporated which will be which then will be assigned to the yet to be determined general contractor for the Broadway High School Edition the reason for this is that the long lead time of these pumps uh if we waited till the contract was awarded to the general contractor after the first year or 1 of February would not allow the project scheduled to happen and this cannot be done the first summer which is a necessity for the addition uh so we are pre-ordering these pumps and then we'll assign these pumps then to whoever is the lad bidder it'll be part of the

057the bid package that will go out and it'll be clearly stated in that thank you Mr Reed as always for um thinking ahead and and making these things happen um even though you know it takes a little bit of a different process but to make sure that these things can be done on time so always appreciative of of everything you do I do recommend uh that the board award the bid to the low bidder tlaa Inc as presented thank you Dr Sho Mr Reed is there a motion in support of the recommendation I move that we award the contract for pumps at Broadway High School to the low bitter as presented by Steve Reed thank you Dr mooken is there second thank you Mr folk any questions or comments I assume that these are comparable

058pumps to each other uh are they they're not the same pump though or not the same systems right does that make sense no I don't understand your question okay really what my question is there's something really loud in this Auditorium it like there's a rumble and will these produce well are both of these comparable on the what you're hearing here is the air handler uhhuh which is scheduled to be replaced over the Christmas break uh so that's what you're hearing here so no these pumps won't make that noise okay good neither one of these pumps will make that noise good thank you that's the real question any other questions or comments hearing none all those in favor please say I I any opposed that is 5 as well thank you Mr Reed policy revisions Dr

059alifer chair Breeden members of the board Dr Shel I'm standing in for Marc Williams this evening um we do have a total of six um policies that are up for revision uh and four policies that are going to be deleted from our policy manual um I'm happy to answer any questions you may have but we do recommend that those approved this evening I recommend approval of these policy changes as presented thank you thank you superintendent Shel and um these were policies that were presented for our information the meeting prior correct do I hear a motion in support of the superintendent's recommendation I I will I will move that we support the superintendent's recommendation is there a second thank you Mr folk any questions or comments hearing none all those in favor say I I any

060opposed and that is 5 as well thank you Dr aler thank you okay we will move to information items and we will begin with the 2022 family and consumer Sciences day Proclamation Miss Drew and and Mr Fitzgerald thank you thank you um Dr mcquilkin that bling is blinding me a little bit could you turn that just a little bit no I'm just messing with you chair Breeden school board members and Dr Shel uh family and consumer science is an extremely is an extremely popular and valuable uh CTE program that we have at all four high schools all four middle schools and Rockingham academy uh in case you're not familiar with the program the purpose of that program is develop is to develop skills for life and we have some students back here going to tell

061you a little bit more about that in just a second but they develop scho uh skills for life they learn about financial management they learn about parenting nutrition Independent Living culinary skills workplace Readiness skills and a whole whole lot more tonight we have two of our outstanding teachers for FCS programs uh Jen stro and Jim would you come Jim Jim uh teaches at Elton middle school and Ashley chromer who teaches between ra and Turner Ashby um they're here with some of their students that and they're going to tell you a little bit more about why this upcoming month is so special for family and consumer sciences and then the students are going to tell you a little bit about what's happening in FCS family and consumer sciences and the co-curricular the ingal co-curricular organization FCC

062FCCLA M Dro I'm going to let you introduce those guys and tell us a little bit more thank you thank you school board members Dr Shel Mr Fitzgerald for going along with my request to read the proclamation and asking my kids to come and give a presentation they're pretty nervous but I know they're going to do well um this Saturday is family and consumer Sciences day where we celebrate the uh anniversary of the founding of family and consumer sciences and all the wonderful things that FCS does so I'm going to let them come up and they're going to run the show um I'm going to ruce them uh Hannah Frasier is an eighth grader she's our president these are all officers in our FCCLA organization at OA Middle School uh Rowan kenshaw Abby schifflet Kennedy

063Ard and Sutton scker hello we are students from Elton Middle School family and consume family and consumer science classes and the family career and Community leaders of America Stu of America student organization tonight we are going to talk to you just a little about what family and consumer science is and why isn't so why is it why is why it is so important in today's world world thank you for giving us this opportunity what is family and consumer Sciences family and consumer Sciences is the field of study that empowers individuals and families across the lifespan to manage the challenges of living and working in a diverse Global Society focusing on families careers and communities and how they interact family and consumer Sciences is the only class with family as its Central Focus FCS is also

064known as the people centered Sciences we'd like to share with you a quick clip about family and consumer Sciences when someone prepares a nutritious meal balances a household budget creates a fashion design or takes care of a child or aging parent they might have a family and consumer Sciences educator to thank for it FCS Educators impact individuals families and communities every day that's because we specialize in teaching the science and art of living and working well say yes say yes to FCS explore career paths today at FCS ed.net why are family consumer Sciences classes and FCS teachers more important now than they ever were there are approximately 5 million FCS students in the United States that's 5 million students learning to make informed decisions about their well-being relationships and sources for resources for a better

065quality of life today and in all of there tomorrows it's time to elevate FCS and all the important work of the family community the family and consumer science professionals who are on the front lines helping others develop essential skills to live and work in a complex world we hear all the time about the need for adulting 101 classes and the reality is those classes never left there are alive and wellin schools across the country we are so lucky in rcps to have a superintendent school board and administrations that value our Career and Technical education classes like family and consumer Sciences the FCS teachers in Rockingham County work hard to not only teach us important life skills that will help us be successful family members career driven individuals and Community leaders but also to let us

066know that all the opportunities available to us is what we say yes to fccs and choose an fccs field of study in college we'd like to share one more video clip about FCS at Educators with you I said yes to FCS because when I was in high school I found my place in my family consumer Sciences classroom I'm saying yes to FCS education because I believe so strongly in its value in today's society I love being an FCS teacher because of the relationships that I form with my students FCS is where I belong I teach real life skills which gives me the opportunity to watch my kids grow FCS is one big happy family and I want to be a part of that you have now become part of a very important family I said

067yes to FCS because this was one area where I know I could make a difference I really gained leadership skills that showed me a passion that I didn't know I had I get to give my students Hands-On skills for life this is what I would do for my rest of my life I want to inspire people I loved my family and consumer science classes in high school I love working with kids so it was perfect fit I love being an FCS teacher because the kids every day there's something new we challenge you you you to say yes yes yes to FCS to FCS to FCS we challenge you to say yes to FCS challenge accepted challenge accepted challenge [Music] accepted as you have heard family and consumer Sciences is no longer your grandma's home economics

068class during FCS class we have covered many different topics including the FCCLA student or organization workplace Readiness skills leadership community in involvement human development family and peer peer relationships living environments kitchen and safety and sanitation nutrition and wellness cons consumer and Family Resources finances textiles fashion and appearance Concepts sewing Child Development and child care and identifying careers at Elton Middle School the program has gone from part-time to full-time M Dro tries to cook with each class at least once a month and every grade level creates a different sewing project we take the field trips to Child Care Centers complete a comparison shopping scav your hunted Target enjoying a c cooking demonstration at Kyoto and practice our etiquette on a Countrywide etiquette field trip as part of the co-curricular student or organization family career and Community

069leaders of America Oak Middle School has one of the largest Middle School chapters in our area we are extremely active holding monthly membership meetings going on almost every field trip offered competing in Star events competitions and placing in Star events at the state and National level this past summer EMS had two students Avery hbert and Brean Williams placed first in the National and their star events category event management we are working hard to have many students attend this year's conference and compete once again in starving competitions to celebrate family consumer science day and FCCLA at the table which encourages members to plan prepare and share healthy meals with their families this Friday EMS FCCLA is sponsoring a f ccla family fun night where members will eat dinner with their families and take part in different

070family friendly activities at the end of the night each family will take will have a packet to take home full of family activity ideas for the next year as well as a conversation starters at the dinner dinner tables we thank you so much for taking the time to listen to our presentation about family consumer science in today's school we hope you all have learned a little more about FCS and the importance of in it of it in today's society have a wonderful evening so it is now my pleasure to um make a proclamation related to family and consumer Sciences um this is the family and consumer Sciences day Proclamation whereas the profession of family and consumer Sciences had its beginning as home economics in 1899 when Ellen swalla Richards the first female graduate and faculty

071member of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology blazed the path using scientific knowledge to address the plight of families with regards to water quality food safety and safety of Home environments and whereas building on its strong Foundation family and consumer Sciences continues to use the family as its Central Focus thereby expanding its content base to meet the ever evolving needs of that entity and whereas family and consumer science Sciences integrates the content areas of food nutrition and wellness human development personal and family Finance family relations housing and interior design textiles and apparel and consumer issues to equip and Empower individuals and families to manage the challenges of living and working in a diverse Global society and whereas family and consumer Sciences professionals help people develop the Essential Knowledge and Skills to lead Better Lives be work

072and career ready build strong families and make meaningful contributions to our communities and whereas family and consumer Sciences professionals work in careers as diverse as secondary and higher education extension Outreach Family and Child Services agencies consumer protection retail business and as entrepreneurs and whereas the conditions impacting individuals and families today are at an all-time high which heightens the role of family and consumer Sciences professionals to use evidence-based approaches to help people lay the groundwork for long healthy and successful lives whereas policy makers and the public in general need an awareness and understanding of the relevance of family and consumer Sciences in addressing many of the problems facing individuals families and communities now therefore I Oscar Shel superintendent of Rockham County Public Schools to hereby Proclaim Saturday December 3rd 2022 as family and consumer Sciences day

073in Rockingham County and I urge all citizens to participate in the activities planned here forth thank you thank [Applause] you challenge accepted um I I'm not going to embarrass uh uh this individual tonight but uh to tell you about the great work that that these classes and these organizations are doing one of these young ladies is my daughter-in-law's sister and I remember when she would come to our house to swim in the summer as a small child and was very shy and wouldn't didn't want to talk or or intermingle that much and I was just sitting here with pride tonight to watch her participate in this presentation so thank you all for the great work that you're doing and for a great presentation all right the inquiry design model in rcps Mr Dickinson um as

074um you know Mr Breeden you had asked at the last board meeting that we um included additional presentations about our education projects uh Mr Cross had asked about this specific one as well and so I thought it was a a you know you saw earlier what our students are engaged in and how they research and uh this is another one of our um approaches in Rockingham County that has been led by Mr Dickinson and so I asked him to present about the inquiry design model today so I'm looking forward to your presentation Mr Dickinson happy to uh this is for years of social social studies education this is something that gets me quite excited uh it is long overdue in our field and our discipline and it really marks a change in more engaging instruction

075so chair breeding Dr Shel and members of the board it gives me great pleasure to speak tonight about the use of inquiry in our social studies classrooms simply stated inquiry is just posing questions to trigger curiosity and as a basis for research and investigation the inquiry method is certainly not a new idea uh as it states back to the work of philosopher and educational reformer Dr John Dewey during the early 1900s and of course dwey was just merely the modern context for the socratic inquiry that of course dates back to ancient Greece so uh Not A New Concept but a a spin on on something uh That's essential to The Human Experience however some of you may be aware of the recent Resurgence of this method in what is known as the inquiry design model

076that was developed by doctors Kathy Swan John Lee and SG grant their book was on the title slide there of the presentation that's otherwise known as the inquiry design model known to many teachers as simply IDM for short it is simply a structure for a lesson and a unit plan that is themed and framed around a central compelling question IDM is not necessarily a curriculum of any particular content it is simply a teaching method that ensures deeper learning by challenging students to develop claims based upon supporting evidence unlike a multiple choice test which we take a lot of and they do have a time and a place in in education but in social studies historically they have taken the Lion Share so to speak so we're trying to achieve some balanced assessments so to speak

077a multiple choice has has one correct answer that is typically fact-based as you know in inquiry you can have a multitude of answers that a student can velop based upon how well they can defend their arguments so there's a lot of agency and Independence where students can really develop their own opinions and defend them based upon the evidence that they offer so let me go ahead and point out on the screen there that's the inquiry design model that's the lesson plan that teachers would fill in and as you can see on that lesson plan IDM provides a structure to support inquiry through three essential components so if you see um just below where it says standards you see the three columns that are listed there within each of those three columns you have three essential

078building blocks if you want to do inquiry and social studies those building blocks are simply one questions two tasks and three sources so questions tasks and sources now I can sit here and expound upon this further but I think there is no better way to learn deeply about inquiry than actually doing one together so if we could Advance the slide I realized that this could be a little bit unconventional for a school board meeting but the true strength of inquiry is student engagement so if you will indulge me board I'm going to ask you to poses students this evening for a very brief foray into inquiry so pardon me while we engage a little bit and learning about fourth grade Virginia studies I partially chose this grade level in in order to demonstrate that even

079nine and 10 year olds can do this work so this is from an actual inquiry that our fourth graders did so let's start with one of the building blocks of inquiry and that of course is sources a great way to make history tangible and handson is obviously through primary sources this is a primary source I have a video Source direct from the source to share and I would like to ask everyone to just take a moment watch the video it'll appear on the screen and I want you to do one thing and that is just make an inference about what you see in here okay there's no wrong answers here and we could probably frame this as a thinking routine many of our classes in kindergarten as well as all the way up to 12th

080grade we use the thinking routine of what do you see what do you think and what does that make you wonder and that's the basis for making inferences so here we go let's go ahead and begin and again we'll call on you so have any answer ready thank you for all of your letters that you sent to [Music] me I read all of them and as I read your letters my eyes began to tear up because I felt that you all were so sincere and meant what you said what I like most about the letters is the fact that you wrote them from your heart you expressed that because of barbar's actions it inspired you all to be brave and to stand up for what you all believe many of you said that you would

081speak out against bullying which makes me feel so so proud since I was a victim of bullying when I was in high school some of you said you would treat others the way that you would like to be treated regardless of race that really made me feel good just remember that one person can make a difference in this world just as Barbara did you all are the future of our country and we are counting on you all to do what you can to make our country better so there's a primary source piece of oral history and I'll model one so I see a woman testifying and I think I'm going to infer that this was emotional for her so I'm GNA ask board members could I get some volunteers to make a similar inference what

082do you think about what you saw what can you infer can I get a volunteer I think I think that she was sincere and very moved by what she was reading by the students who sent her the letters in we could infer that they she was sent letters from students and that she is responding very sincerely absolutely I I would think that she's probably been touched personally by some experience that uh that was very troubling that uh students would write to her about uh making it a better world this isn't just history it's some of our what we call hard history challenging history for for certain any others experienced it firsthand we can infer that she has firsthand experience yes she's a woman of color and she's obviously we could we won't dare to guess

083her age but she is some a certain generation that more than likely lived through those times yes these are all wonderful inferences any others she mentioned a name Barbara Barbara can infer that she knows someone named Barbara all right let's go ahead and Advance the slide very good thank let's give a round of applause for our board for indulging in that thank you for being students this evening everyone gets an A but there's our inquiry so questions tasks and sources uh the question was what inferences can you make our task was engage in a see think Wonder we would probably complete the chart if we were doing it in class or we could just discuss it in this format and you had a single source which was a video clip uh this of course is

084a very profound story we go ahead and Advance the slide to show uh this is the story if you're not familiar of Prince Edward County Farmville Virginia 1951 in April 23rd a 16-year-old girl named Barbara we just met her sister Joan who was in the auditorium that in fact Joan's pictured right up there on the bottom right I was in a student presentation once of ta students and they had that that photograph I'll never forget it they had that photograph blown up and we're doing a Pres presentation and Mrs John's Cobbs gets up and walks over and points herself out so every time I see that photo I'd go back to that moment she says that's me in the 11th grade uh but in a very profound moment in not just Virginia history but US

085History her sister Barbara who was 16 called forth a student strike and protest of Jim Crow education at the Robert rousa Moten High School in the small rural town of Farmville in Central Virginia this of course evolved into the case of d Davis versus Prince Edward County and 3 years later that case was combined with four others that went before The Supreme Court in 1954 as Brown versus the Board of Education take one last look at that photo those are all Prince Edward students in Virginia those are fellow Virginia of this Commonwealth and if you add up the plaintiffs of brown V board that photo is 75% of brown V board this is a Virginia story uh more than it is any other it's a national story but it's a Virginia story too so why

086we took a look at this in fourth grade Virginia studies so let's go ahead and Advance the slide here's an inquiry that our fourth grade teachers developed last spring and like I said an inquiry is based in in and framed around a compelling question so the compelling question that our fourth grade teachers came up with was simply how do the actions of Barbara John still Inspire us today and there's the Virginia civil rights Memorial that's on the grounds of our general assembly state capital uh let's go ahead and move on so one beautiful thing about the instruction of the inquiry method is that it's backwards design you notice that ubd symbol there at the bottom that's a lot of work that we've done over the past couple years in Rockingham County uh that stands for

087understanding by Design so thinking uh forward to what is the intended learning outcome and then backwards designing your curriculum from that point that is embedded in an inquiry because the compelling question is the starter it's the hook it frames the the the exploration and the investigation for students but in the end that is the summit of assessment where students will be assessed so we know what the test is going to be and then we plan the unit back from that end to ensure that our instruction prepares students for it along the way that's good instruction that's backwards design that's best practice in not just social studies but in teaching and learning okay thank you let's go ahead and Advance the slide it is also it should be noted that these aren't just random choices that

088these are rooted in standards so if you look at the very top of and I've blown it up there the very top of the IDM format and a structure you see standards and content so it's rooted in the so we take the the overall standard we look at what is the most essential piece the most essential understanding and then frame the question around uh that understanding so that's the ultimate learning outcome okay let's move on thank you uh and then if you would blow it up even further and go uh just a little bit further down the page uh these are the three building blocks that I referenced earlier of course questions task sources but there's a series of questions task sources so there's a three-day and a four-day inquiry there's sometimes a one day

089inquiry which we just did together as a group here we did a little mini inquiry but you notice that there is is a horizontal alignment you have a supporting question a task and a source and then the following day you have another supporting question task and source so all of those will be complimentary of one another of course the supporting question is driven by the sources supported by the sources and then that informs what the formative task is going to be all right next slide then those increase in sophistication and rigor so you start off obviously with a very broad question in this case with these Virginia studies teachers they just said how did segregation impact Virginia it's a very broad question but essential context for those students to be able to understand that compelling

090question and you notice if you go to supporting question two it becomes a little bit you know deeper it's a it's a deeper dive it's more specified and it's a little bit more rigorous so the second question if I can read it from here with these glasses is who was Barbara John's and what motivated her to take action and then of course in supporting question three you get into what impact does that have today okay so not that these are events trapped in the past but students would be able to think really broadly and really deeply about the significance of those events not just memorizing that those events happened but what does that mean for the present day obviously that's supporting question three because that's the most difficult so it increases in rigor it increases

091in sophistication that's good practice and that's how this inquiry design method organizes instruction it's a great structure it's it's it's wonderful practice all right let's go ahead and move on let's go ahead and move past that one as well those are some examples I thought to highlight with this particular one but we're going to see the output of it here in a moment in a video let's go ahead and move on one more uh to me this represents uh when I say CIA I don't mean the Central Intelligence Agency of course I chose this for for another reason with the Washington Monument CI and a are the three sides of the educational triangle everything we do no matter if it's in social studies or in math or in English language arts or science you have

092curriculum instruction and ass in the inquiry design model you have all three coming together you're building curriculum you're designing instruction on how that curriculum will be enacted through instruction in the classroom and how it will be implemented and then with your compelling question you're returning to answering that in ass summative fashion and how it will be assessed the beautiful part about those formative tasks is that the along the way you notice that I describ those as not summative but within the inquiry those are formative so I know the board knows but for the sake of the audience formative assessment is students those are the types of Assessments that we will not grade you on those are your opportunities to demonstrate and to practice summative assessment is what goes into the grade book so what we

093call that is obviously instructional scaffolding the supports that keep the building up and then gradually taking those supports away so that when students do have to perform on a summative we've prepared them for it and the inquiry design model embeds that scaffolding 90% of an IDM is scaffolding and instruction 10% is assessment but it's a valid assessment because of the scaffolding that supports it all right next slide it's all based around this uh essential document that is probably the most Central to social studies this was produced by our uh National Organization the um the National Council for the social studies otherwise known as ncss it's the C3 framework which means college career and Civic life and you see there's an arc there in the image on the cover of the C3 framework that is the

094inquiry Arc which is the essence of social studies instruction according to C3 so uh we'll go ahead and Advance the next slide we've been fortunate to work with one of the authors of the inquired design model and that is Dr Kathy Swan and if you notice go ahead and click again I think it'll highlight it here the lead author of the C3 framework which is considered the national social studies curriculum and one of the most significant pieces of work done in our field in the last 20 years the lead author is Dr Kathy Swan from the University of Kentucky she's worked with Rockingham teachers to design their own inquiries not to download them from the internet but to write and author their own curriculum and implement it in the classroom and we've had teachers spend

095their Summers doing this uh in plc's now implementing them with their colleagues and we spend our PLC days which are of course new this year talking about how those went how we could modify them how we could improve them and it's been been really great collaborative work amongst grade levels and subject areas let's go ahead and move on thank you Greg I thought I would give a little shout out to our understanding by Design work as well because ubd is so embedded in inquiry we wrote this this is our social studies teachers as a part of our ubd work had to come up with a North star which is kind of like a mission statement for social studies so this is what we think social studies means to our teachers and hopefully to our students

096and it's worth reading I'll read it out loud the purpose of social studies education in Rockingham County Public Schools is to empower all Learners to think independently and to take informed action as respectful engaged and productive members of society that's our mission now let's look at our transfer goals so if we would unpack that let's go to the next slide and we'll see those there's four transfer goals that we thought would apply to whatever grade level from kindergarten to 12th grade every student should be able to one apply knowledge and draw conclusions about past current and future events that will in unfold in the future of course number two actively seek out information to take informed action as an Engaged citizen number three evaluate the validity of information's sources so notice again the infas upon

097Source work uh and four respect and appreciate diverse perspectives um when I looked at that and I thought about all the idms and all the inquiries that we developed the one for these fourth graders and Miss John's and looking at that particular history just Rose to the top I thought that clicked all four boxes um and I'm going to demonstrate that here in a moment with sharing some student work let's go ahead and move on to the next slide uh this letter gets me every time I read it this is a young lady from cuun elementary school I'm going to try to get through this but this is a fourth grade young lady and she said that made me feel like I can change things no matter what age I can try to change things

098I think are not right it makes me think I have a voice wow what a statement for a fourth grader uh what I can do to be brave is to stand up to others when they are not being fair forgive me I'm trying to read with my glasses when they're not being fair or tell a teacher or an adult Barbara John's was Brave and I want to be just like her that it couldn't have a better statement on the impact that this inquiry had on this particular student but let's hear not only from them let's hear from Mrs John's too because our students wrote to her the summit of assessment was to write a friendly letter I called Mrs John's cobs and I said we have this idea I said would you be willing to

099accept 800 letters from fourth graders and she said of course and uh we we did not send her all 800 but we did send her a sampling of what students expressed and here's her reaction to that let's go ahead and move on I want to say to you that my sister Barbara was a brave courageous and fearless young person who saw in Injustice and decided to do something about it she stood up for what she believed and her actions on April 23rd 1951 changed the course of the nation when in 1954 the Supreme Court declared that segregated schools were unconstitutional I just want you all to know that you can make a difference in this world so I implore you all to continue to be good citizens and to stand up for what you believe

100and may God bless you all thank you so much for those uh amazing words and the heartfelt message uh I I can't wait to share this with students uh that someone that they wrote to is communicating back uh a message uh someone that was a history maker as well as someone that they wrote to individually I can't tell you the the power of that uh of that history lesson and how how real and important that will be for kids so we're honored to to have your time and attention and your willingness to uh speak about these events well thank you so much I'm honored to do it because I I felt those letters were very uh touching and so I thoroughly enjoyed them I really appreciated your message to students about how they can have

101an impact that this story doesn't end of course in in 1951 or 1954 or in 1964 65 that this is a story that's ongoing and that their generation will write future chapters of it yes that's that that message in particular is is great to hear not just to hear but to hear from someone such as yourself thank you thank you very apologies to the audience you probably couldn't read our student work there but the last one you may have Hannah w said in our salutation she just simply said thank you for changing the world so it's a beautiful thing to see fourth graders you know from the mouths of children right and uh just that sincerity spoke to a woman removed by uh several generations and uh seeing them connect in such an authentic ways

102shows the power that that inquiry can have in the classroom rather than just memorizing these events and regurgitating them on a multiple choice tests students truly captured the significance of what had transpired in their native state in 1951 since um if we go ahead and move on to the next slide there are um oh I think you have to click it on the I think it's starting the video again so there is a menu that we've developed these are all the inquiries used in Rockingham County Schools they're all authored by Rockingham County Teachers uh let's go ahead and move on to so here's our sixth seventh and eighth grade menu that teachers choose from uh some of what you see they only have two choic choices in sixth grade so those are the two that

103they implement but you notice in Civics we have quite a few uh this is an evolving project that will be continually added to but the most empowering part of it is authored by our teaching staff and faculty of course next slide to see our secondary or excuse me high school 9th through 12th grade inquiries uh they're all listed there if you'd like to look at them specifically we could uh make those available but these are assessments of course uh so these are not things that we will make available to students I'm sorry until you have them in the classroom these are your tests so uh that's it um I won't go into the details of these specific inquiries just to highlight the method itself and this particular one that we found uh particularly empowering thank

104you very much and I'll take any questions you may have thank you questions I got a a few questions for you um thank you for tonight of alternative assessments and they've actually replaced the traditional so that dates back to a reform that was passed by the general assembly I believe forth uh since then uh they have started to replace some of the high school SLS with the opportunity to do IDM specifically now they don't call it that uh because that's a trademarked product but the idea the concept is embedded in those uh inquiries uh that we've used in Virginia studies and Civics and Virginia US History uh We've started to expand them across the board because it's just good practice but yes they are endorsed by the the department they're by the Department of Education

105they are endorsed by them they corre correct yes um my second one is um uh can we share our inquiries with other CT teachers and can we see what other uh teachers in Virginia are sharing throughout with the inquiries as well um I mean we've not made an effort to do that at uh since these are assessments that we use in in class um when other school divisions have asked to borrow them of course we we don't want to reinvent the wheel but we've not made them publicly available uh that would be something that if another social study supervisor said hey we've heard about your Barbara John's inquiry we'd like to use it of course we would share it uh but there's no formal means um like you may be familiar with the C3 teachers

106uh website where you can post inquiries we haven't done that with these just because we they double as assessments okay and I I know that the adms are is uh with John Lee and Kathy Swan as their idea that actually through CT uh teachers is which John Lee created himself but what um what's our involvement or what has been our involvement with C3 teachers C3 teachers has provided training on how to write an inquiry uh so Kathy Swan and Emma backer who actually teaches locally at uh James Madison University has provided professional development to our teachers on how we develop these and author them and and create them okay I and I and I did recognize um tonight well I'll talk about that later but I'm thank you there seem that we've teamed with up

107with John Lee with the IDM and C3 teachers not that I know of but there's nothing preventing someone to take you click that link it forces a copy into your Google Drive and then the teacher can kind of make modifications to ensure that it reflects their teaching style and the needs of their students so um I mean there's nothing preventing anyone and I wouldn't discourage the use of the website uh I think it's a good website for sharing resources but of course teachers look at and interrogate resources before they enact them in the classroom and we trust their professional judgment in doing that thank you sure any other questions I questions I just like to ask um back to the Farmville situation and that Mr folk is referring to is enacted in the spirit of

108Barbara John's instead of teachers leading the field trip we ask the students I don't need my parents or uh an adult to uh to to guide me although I could consult their guidance and her parents were quite influential on her but she decided to take action for herself as a young lady so uh our Farmville tour guides is based upon that sense of student agency uh that they can you know as young adults start to form their own opinions and that's the essence of inquiry it's based on your own personal opinion thank you I I don't have a question just a comment when when I was going through Rockham County Public Schools social studies assessment was all about multiple choice and gge to take the information in essay form and it wasn't until I was

109at JMU studying to be a social studies teach by challenging those of us in his classroom to to think and talk beyond the the particular snippet or fact and the thing I like about this is it does bring history to life and it's it it's something that uh you know I I have found I I recently met one of the students that I student taught at Buffalo Gap who who remembered something that we talked about and that's been 40 years ago now for crying out loud you know and uh so I it's just in exciting for me to see history brought to brought to life in this fashion and um and it'll it'll certainly make us uh um better Educators for doing it thank you thank you I remember Dr hman speaking here at Spotswood

110and yes I could testify to that fact too he he engaged uh a lot of ninth through 12th graders so yeah and that was well after his retirement good Georgian yes indeed all right thank you all so much thank you all right policy revisions for information Dr aler I hate following B Dickinson um this evening um we have for your information uh one additional policy um this is um policy IIA which is on instructional materials um this is a policy that is actually uh a state requirement that we adopt a a policy um the criteria were uh set out by the general assembly and then the BBA has created a policy um that um complies with those requirements um the policy is actually um has two kind of distinct um additions to it in the

111revision one is a definition section which is in the second page which has quite extensive um definitions and then there is a section that um outlines what is required um as far as procedures go um that the superintendent or staff in the superintendent need to uh create in order to uh support um and be sure that all parents are informed uh it specifically um relates to notification of uh any instructional materials that um are sexually explicit and so it there's criteria there uh in the procedures that we'll uh that we'll need to include um so again the policy is here it'll again this is for information uh now and if there's any U thoughts or changes those are things that we would entertain um at the next meeting whenever we it comes before action um

112the uh piece that again we'll um be doing also after that has been uh completed will be the putting the procedures together so that will be in place for for next um year in January I'm happy to answer any questions any questions for Dr alord at this point thank you sir chair Brean I I don't have any uh questions for Dr aler alterer but i' had sent out an email to all the board members asking that we would add uh to the policy and I want to read tonight what I sent to the rest of you guys because I never got to response back uh as of uh today but i' would like for the policy to say also state that a school board member May inspect on request any instructional material used as part

113of a student's curriculum um there was an incident incident we had this past year where I had a few complaints from parents and asked uh Dr Shel that I could see that instructional material and um he was really quick to um to get back with me and I really appreciate that but and he told me he was advised by our attorney that um individual school board members have no Authority other than um just like a parent would have that and since I wouldn't be that that child's parent therefore I couldn't look at that curriculum uh without a board majority asking uh to see that curriculum so I think that that Schoolboard members um every Schoolboard member should have that capability of asking um our division of any curriculum that we may uh want to look

114at From Any teacher that teaches and we it doesn't have to come from a majority of the school board uh asking for that but any elected uh Schoolboard official could ask to see that Curriculum by taught by Any teacher that was taught so I'd like to add that to this policy and and I wanted to to state that tonight all right uh I I would just say an answer to that I I did get your email the reason I I didn't respond is because I read it as a suggestion as opposed to a question um so um but that would that would be something we would discuss when this policy is up for Action as opposed to information tonight so um well I didn't want I didn't want to just bring it on like the

115last man like we're getting ready to vote on it like hey I want to add this to it so I wanted you guys to to know sometimes you send out emails and people may not see it and so since I didn't get any response from any of you I just wanted to make sure that you knew that tonight that that's what I'd like to add to this policy and it's not a unreasonable u u policy to to to put in there okay all right we will move to Schoolboard questions and answers um and I will since since we got you rolling there Mr Cross will start with you awesome I thank you I I appreciate it um I've I've I've got quite a few uh things that I want to say tonight but it's really

116based on the um the IDM that we just presented to us by Mr Dickinson here tonight because I've been actually looking into this over the past probably um year and a half um many of you aren't aware of this and most of the community is not aware of this but we were partnered with with a collaboration called the Virginia inquiry collaborative group now the viic was tasked to write anti-racist uh curriculum here in the state of Virginia um Dr I first read about this I first read about this through a article that the Federalist posted and um we were partnered with divisions such as Fairfax County um Alamar County which is a very liberal uh division as well Charlesville City Virginia Beach Madison County and palton County now when palton county found out about their

117school uh board was their school was uh partnering with the viic um their board I we had a board of supervisor that was here tonight and I wish that that would have been her view as well but uh Board of supervisor member from palon County Michael barley who I have talken to I'm um oneon-one on the phone with he held a joint session with his school board and with the Board of Supervisors of palon County and ask very specific questions on why they were partnering with the Vic and these other school divisions in writing a critical race Theory based ideology curriculum on anti-race curriculum here in the state of Virginia um there was a July Schoolboard meeting that um actually here at spotwood high school that uh Dr Shel brought was um asked this question

118by a Community member actually by a veteran that had asked him that and Dr shyo wasn't 100% um forthcoming of our involvement uh with the viic I know this because during my campaign I I spent hundreds of dollars in foas asking for our involvement with the viic uh with um people like John Lee with the IDM which it wouldn't very really familiar with the IDM or with C3 teachers at the time uh but it took some some time to to get into the process but uh Dr Shel basically said that our involvement with the viic is that we attended a conference where we um where we made three inquiry designs which really are are okay designs in which we made there's nothing wrong with what we made with that I would not I wouldn't say

119that um but that is not 100% truthful in our involvement with the viic it was more than a conference in which we attended it was something that we were a part of for well over a year and we have ties to many of those who were 100% uh affiliated with the vi um I I don't want to get too deep into that tonight uh but I I do want to say that I do have some uh I do have my concerns and they're valid concerns of us partnering with C3 teachers and uh with the IDM in and of itself Mr Dickenson is really not a bad concept um at at my Christian uh school at our Church be a great um uh inquiry design model to do stuff like that because we want our children

120to grow up and we want them to take on our ideologies and Christianity and to begin to go out into the world and make converts for Jesus Christ now one thing we didn't like really talk about a whole lot tonight with the inquiry design models is the fact that their ingame with the IDM models is that children would be civically engaged in the curriculum in which they learn so I would say to that in the fact that majority of parents in Rockham County aren't looking for their their children to be activist once they learn about the curriculum but they want their children to know all the history the hard history of what's going on or what has gone on but they don't want their children growing up to be civically engaged in the fact that

121they're going out and being activist within our world and so I that's where I would have a problem with a lot of the inquiry models in that and and the the to go on U with that I do want to read something from C3 teachers I got a few inserts that I do want to read tonight um because it it really does concern me that we are a part of this group um with C3 tonight you actually said that um when I asked if our if our teachers were using any of the inquiry models with the C3 teachers you said that uh you wouldn't discourage not using the C3 website with the Virginia Hub which I have a very um big problem with our teachers using the material with the C3 Virginia Hub because the

122majority of the Vic curriculum that was made is on the C3 uh framework uh for teachers on the Virginia Hub and so a an inquiry like who is equal in the United States this was a a curriculum that was built through the viic John Hopson uh which was the supervisor of alore County uh history of Supervisors and this was an inquiry that was made through the viic now as I said a while ago one of one of the things that they want the children to do at the end of all this and you can I I'll add a link on my social media page uh sometime this week on this but and John hopson's which uh Mr Dixon you're very familiar with who Mr Hopson is you guys are friends and involved in also the

123vslc uh as well which is another uh legislative har being able to um um influence curriculum in the in the state of Virginia um but there's a there's a link I'll post with Mr Hopson on nbc29 talking about what their endgame was with the viic and I know for many of you you're you're you don't quite understand this took me a year and a half to do the research on this I make about $5,000 a year being a school board member just my work and my foas and the time I've put into this is well worth spent on my time on the school board and so there's a link I'll post that shows um Mr Hopson uh talking about what the endgame was to the Vic anti-racist curriculum and he shows four uh pictures at

124the end of that nbc29 episode and it shows kids who are actively civically engaged and they're out in front of um uh courtrooms and they're out in the public holding up SIDS and they're protesting and they're being civically engaged like that and it's a it's very damning to see that's the output that's what we want to see our children do at the end of this curriculum and this is curriculum that our teachers apparently our supervisor wouldn't discourage them to go and to use and so I want to read just a part of uh part of this curriculum that our teachers according to our well if they wanted to but this was part of curriculum that was made through the viic which is not a good Organization for for Rockham County the last of these complaints

125however is talking about our independence but his the last of these complaints however is one that reads he has has excited the merciless Indian Savages whose known rule of warfare is undistinguished destruction of all ages Sexes and conditions the most famous document in American history really State all men are created equal and then hypocritically Proclaim right afterwards its first inhabitants are merciless Indian Savages now I'll say that tonight to bring up the fact that if that if a socialist agenda could get our generation to believe that our founding fathers are inherently evil uh then they can also look at our founding documents such as a declaration of independence and our Constitution and one day say these are created by racist white men who we need need to get rid of and these are these are

126things that I have trouble with as a Schoolboard member that our kids could could be taught this kind of curriculum made by the viic now I I'll I'll try to be real quick here but this is my U my Facebook account as well but this is by the C3 framework okay this is by them this is in their own words uh C3 framework remember this is something that John Lee who made uh with with um Miss Swan made the addm the inquiry design model okay he came up with the C3 framework you can you can Google John Lee and you can find in his all all his accomplishments uh uh the founder of the C3 framework okay so this is a a article written says teaching the C3 framework making inquiry critical um it says

127critical theory is one of one of the predominant schools of thought in the social sciences is in examining how these unequal power relationships lead to privilege for some and oppression to others roots of critical theory although current ideas about critical theory are quite broad most observers Trace its roots to a group of intellectuals who founded the institute for social research known as the Frankfurt School in Germany in 1920s these thinkers sought to extend Marx's Theory into the changing social political and economic landscape of the 20th century by talking about how culture and ideology encouraged and sustained social inequality although their work was diverse and primary thrust focused on how modern capitalist societies acted as a new and suppler forms of social control these societies man that this consumer culture helped to create an illusion of

128Freedom that prevented individuals from seeing that they were not the autonomous actors they seemed to be although their specific societal critiques still resonate today the Frankfurt school's extension of Carl marks called to produce knowledge and to take action from the standpoint of the oppressed by of the oppressed may be its greatest impact critical pedagogy critical theories emphas emphasize on emancipation is most visible in educational practice through critical pedagogy this approach to teaching and Learning Centers and analyzes lived experience of the participants as we saw tonight drawing inspiration from the writings of Brazilian educator Apollo Ferrari the problems that face teachers and students in their effort to live just and ethical lives critical social stud pedagogy with citizenship education and its Central Mission and with content that allows for examination of past and current injustices social

129studies should be natural uh be a natural home for critical theory and critical pedagogy the adoption of the C3 framework and the development of the inquiry design model offer a useful template for implementing a critical social studies pedagogy inquiry based practices position students as creators of of knowledge and when appropriate allow students to pursue questions that are the next section there are certain criteria that teachers should consider when attempting to make inquiry critical when these offer students the chance to identify social injustices to build Knowledge from the perspective of the oppressed and to cons conceptualize action that disrupts the status quo thank you m one I'm not done yet I have one one more the concluding thought to this article written by the C3 framework says in this article we hope to make it clear

130that one must be purposeful when disguising a critical inquiry it is not quite as simple as examining a topic I.E Jim Crow Indian Removal same-sex marriage the gender wage Gap islamophobia that would connect to social injustice issues to truly stay with unjust social relations to remain true to critical pedagogy teachers should work to identify questions that are important to students lives and that encourage them to reflect on the ways that they are either privileged or oppressed by social dynamics and finally to enact these Concepts in the context of the IDM the inquiry must ask critical questions analyze sources from the Viewpoint of the oppressed and encouraged action that can make a tangible contribution toward Justice at the foot notes says this when we use subordinate social groups I.E women racial ethnic minorities lgbtq individuals by

131dominant social groupsense of suffering in other words Prejudice plus power equal oppression now I'm going to end with this tonight this is something that a link that I will post on there came straight from the C3 framework straight from uh what John Lee and the IDM and the whole process of what that is and and as again the IDM in of itself not a bad thing but having access to this through the C3 teachers and through as Mr Dickson said tonight that he wouldn't discourage his teachers to go on the the Virginia Central Hub and to take these inquiries made we were part of this for over a year well over a year and our involvement with key players within the viic uh is at I would ask the board tonight that this isn't some

132rabbit hole that that Matt cross is going down but this is I'm this is factual information that I have plenty of more that I could share with you but I'm asking that we would pull out of any work related with the C3 framework seeing that its uh ideologies are based in critical race Theory and Marxism and that we would not have anything to do with that here in Rockingham County Public Schools and i' I suggest that tonight that we would make a motion to do that I know that many of you would not want to make that motion but I would suggest tonight that we would do that and that we would pour M lore I'm sorry I don't oh there you are great hey um I didn't catch the names of the students that

133presented tonight would you happen to know them and you could you share them with us because I don't think they were mentioned Violet Halland hollahan austo toar Aon car and shean great thank you please please in the house with us tonight yet bless you all for staying and uh just thanks to all of our students and um have a have a great couple of weeks as we start the holiday season Dr mcquilkin thank you Mr BR thank you Mr Breeden I would like to say that this evening has been uh enjoyable and enlightening because we were here with the students and it was wonderful all the student presentations that we that we witnessed this evening uh it it just is to me very very uplifting this is what we're about what our students are doing

134and what they're learning and we thank and so that's my comment thank you Mr folk I'd just like in the meeting this evening um there was a lot of good information a lot to give hope for our community as our students learn from very good teachers and very good programs and how they will be I I look forward to them stepping out in society and making it a better community and I would especially like to thank uh Mr Dickinson for the work he has done over the years in exciting children about learning about history and the cause and effect of things thank you so much thank you Dr Shel uh the Vic which we still weren't part of uh from the beginning as some allege and all the foyer requests show that uh to for

135C3 I guess if we ban it we'd have to figure out how lock the site um since it's simply a publicly available website we have to tell teachers not to use it at home either even though many of the inquiries on it are perfect Ally uh good examples of what teachers could adopt for Rockingham County to the IDM which is a model but then we took a detour to things like the Frankfurt School although I doubt that many of the people who recently posted about that on Facebook ever read uh habas or horim or adoro um all the way to Paulo fer and his pedagogy of the oppressed so it's quite the intellectual uh trip we took there that you is a very much a part of yep um again you you show us should

136be fired for it's do you should be fired for lying you're out of public for our involvement with the V you brought this up during your campaign and I told you then that we were part of the viic for a single year that it resulted in the inquiries I released publicly and um your the bills all the bills that you um got and all the time sheets um clearly proves that we were only part of it for a year and so yeah you can continue saying it that doesn't make it any more correct thank I will post all my documents that I have showing on my um social media account so you can show you can see that this is not some madeup story that I've made up but I have documents such as this

137foia email here with with your name and attached with this and our involvement more than just a um conference that we attended which you said on this over a year ago that was not the truth Dr Shel and you know it wasn't the truth and I will release this one again with many others which you were fully aware of what we were going through and seeing the homework that was even assigned to our teachers and those a part of of the viic with Dr uh darinda Carter Andrews with the Ted Talk that's very daming information as well and so I will post all the information I have the public can come up with with your thoughts of what you believe but I'm telling you that our superintendent knew fully he fully knew what our involvement

138was with the viic and it went a lot deeper than just attending a conference and writing three inquiries in which you stated just over a year ago here at Spotswood house okay um let me just say that uh I apologize to the students here for the for the behavior of certain members of this board um and uh I think we're probably all better Serv D um when we're not fearful of hearing dissenting points of view as long as they're done respectfully and presented respectfully we do have reason to enter into Clos meeting and I will entertain a motion in that regard at this time I move that the board in our closed meeting to discuss and consider the following pursuant to the provisions of Virginia code section 2.2 3711 A1 Personnel specific public officers appointees

139or employees including the division superintendent for the purpose of considering such individual's assignment appointment promotion performance salary or resignation A2 one or more particular students specifically related to discipline and requests regarding compulsory School attendance based on religious beliefs that would involve disclosure of information contained in a Scholastic record concerning a student in a29 discussion of the award of a public contract involving the expenditure of public funds including interviews of biders or offerers and the discussion of the terms or scope of such contract where discussion in an open session would adversely affect the bargaining position or negotiating strategy thank you m lore do I hear a second second thank you Mr folk all those in favor please say I I I any opposed I I think that was a 5 I I did not hear everyone

140but I think that was a 5 so we will now enter into close meeting thank you all for coming please be safe driving home