2022 10 10 - RCPS School Board Meeting

001right testing one two okay supp there C yeah okay yeah good any [Music] El is like to call this October 10th 2022 regular meeting of the Rockingham County School Board to order uh prior to moving into approval of agenda I just have the announcement to make that uh due to a family medical situation there is an outside chance that I may have to leave the meeting early and uh just so that if you see me get up and leave I'm not angry with anything that anyone has said or or done so I appreciate your Indulgence there we do have reason to approve tonight's agenda and I will entertain a motion in that regard I move we approve the agenda as presented thank you Mrs lore is there a second second thank you Mr Cross any

002discussion hearing none all those in favor of approval of tonight's agenda as presented please say I I any opposed that is 5 I would ask that all who are able to please stand and join me in the Pledge of Allegiance Al to the FL of the United States of America stand thank you at this time I would ask that you join us for a moment of silence thank you next we will move to comments from the public um again just to restate uh there will be a 3 minute time limit um there will be a timer on the screen but I will gavel once at the um 30 second to go Mark so that you don't have to be so concentrated on the on the timer and we will start this evening with Nancy Basset

003good evening chairman Breeden Schoolboard members and Dr Shel normally I come for the Education Association but tonight I'm coming for myself and this morning when I got to school the first thing I saw was our new SRO and I just wanted to thank you for all the work in getting those things dealt with so that we could have one in our area and I'm really looking forward to working with them and I appreciate all of the efforts thank you yes thank you Michael stle members of the board Dr Shel um today is indigenous people's day I would like to acknowledge that the land that I currently live on was inhabited by the manah Hoak and the shauni people I want to remember all the people who signed treaties that gave a group of people the

004right to own a piece of land was inhabited by the indigenous peoples while colonizers and Western thought saw that land is merely something to own indigenous peoples in the US had a spiritual connection to the land that went much deeper I'd like to talk a little bit about Yan's policy um back uh I think I cited this in my public comments previously but case law cited in the parental as it related to parental rights in the policy says nothing about um parental notification as it specifically relates to school record it was all about uh Guardianship and how the authority you have for people to visit your children like parental rights and like as it relates to that number two you do not have to legally change your name to be called by a preferred pronoun

005or be called by a name other than what is on your birth certificate that doesn't have to you don't have to legally change your name to do that um the policy does not use an evidence-based approach as it relates specifically which to transgender students as directed by the law that gives the department of Education authority to create the model policy um and during the last meeting um board member mentioned that being in the majority U of the county um as far as uh Yan's policy that may or may not be true but may I remind the board that this County and the state of Virginia have an unfortunate Legacy of being on the wrong side of history when it comes to being in the majority racial segregation was actively practiced in this County and across

006the state legally and with a majority of folks approving of the practice let's not make the mistake of being on the wrong side of History Again by targeting trans kids with harmful policies um also during public comment last meeting a local Pastor suggested I read 1 Corinthians 13 so I would know what love is so let's go here we go love is patient love is kind it does not envy it does not boast it is not proud it does not dishonor others it is not self-seeking it is not easily angered it keeps no record of wrongs love does not Delight in evil but rejoices with the truth it always protects always trusts always hopes always perseveres I saw that kind of love in action this weekend when I attended pride in Harrisonburg and Court Square

007this past weekend it was a beautiful thing and I want you all to remember uh 1 John chapter 4:18 perfect love casts out fear thank you Mr Temple Martin Carr good evening Dr shle and board members want to thank you for all the work you do can I pass out a article here what I'm going to be [Music] discussing can we stop the clock for a second while he gets this to us please thank you but I'll keep it brief uh just um I'm a school bus driver been with the county for approximately 13 years and some concerns we have is um with the drivers is is a lot of the inflation cost and all we're not really keeping up we don't think so what I did there on number one of the article there

008is giving an example of where we are after 13 years I just gives you you all an example of what what the contract looks like and also in number two if you go to the number second art article there it's I was wanted to know if the board is in discussion with the finance department staff in regards to the employee compensation and classification study that is something that uh you can see was discussed I think two weeks ago over County uh salary so I just want to bring to you all's attention see if that's something that we're looking at and excuse me then the third one is is this isn't isn't something I just started working on now in 2019 you'll see there where I worked on this here back in 2019 before covid-19 and

009gives you an idea of kind of some other structures so just something as a concern we'd like to see possibly looked at and one last concern is there's an old saying you can rob Peter to pay Paul and we've uh we're hiring teachers to drive buses now and that's taking from from the education of our students in the classroom prep and after school and I think it'd be easier if we kept the drivers moving and uh full staff of drivers versus um versus uh supplementing from other sources thank you for your time there folks thank you Mr Carr Sandra Parks good evening my name is Sandra Park and I'm a retired librarian with 34 years of experience my purpose here today is to encourage a wide variety of books to be available for our children

010all children have different needs but they need to have choices and I worry that there are some in our community who would narrow the choice either through formal or informal pressure I'm going tell a quick Story 2 minutes and 39 seconds worth um once upon a time I was a librarian in a fifth through 8th grade school that's a tough age range to provide materials for because you you've got the fifth graders that are more Elementary and the eighth graders that are more high school and yet that was my task you don't want to lose the seventh and eighth graders as readers by not having materials available for them because in my experience as a high school librarian if you lose them then you'll never get them back as readers so I worked with the

011kids to develop choices and to make good choices but there was one book A Child Called It And this is a story by Dave Peltzer it's a true story biography of a child who was horribly abused it was one of the most popular books in our school and I saw kids developing empathy through reading this book um but a fifth grade parent was concerned about this book and as was appropriate she filed a request for reconsideration that's what the policy is there for and so we moved into reconsideration um formed the committee principal who Joe Glick and at the time uh um wanted a reading specialist on the committee our reading specialist said can't can't do it so we had to borrow one and that turned out to be a good thing because as we

012were discussing this book all of us had read it and I could see that the book was running into trouble that the principal was not inclined to keep this book available but then the reading specialist spoke up and she told about the time when she was a second grade teacher and she saw a child who had been that she ected was being abused she reported it but the child could not or would not say anything at that time and then that reading specialist moved on to be a seventh grade teacher and his luck would have it she had that same child that child read a Child Called It And Soon afterwards came forward to say I need help and got the help that she needed and when the principal heard that the end of that

013story he closed the a book and he said we need to keep this book available for students and so we did now books can save lives but children must have access to a wide variety of books Let's make sure that we don't limit our children thank you thank you m Sports Matthew alexand ER how youall doing today um my name is Matthew Alexander I'm a seventh grade social studies teacher at Elton Middle School um this is my second year in Rockingham County Schools um I have nearly 20 years of experience as a classroom teacher for social studies ranging from sixth 7th to 8th grade um I shared a document with you all earlier um and I'll share anyone else if they'd like to have it as well I'm going overal or what is called social

014emotional learning um social emot emotional learning is something that I have practiced in my classroom for quite some time and it has drawn a lot of fire nationally for um a myriad of different reasons um I've spoken with many of the school board members about social emotional learning and how it can be implemented effectively in the classroom and I thank all of the school board members and you Dr Shel for making sure to take care of our students not just the academic aspects of these students but also the emotional aspect the psychological aspect and all others the whole learner and not just the academic student um like I said I shared that document with all of you to make sure to just kind of give you a brief description of exactly what that is and

015what it is not um so there are five basic pillars of social emotional learning um self-management self-awareness social awareness relationship skills and responsible decision-making now the last of those responsible decision-making I know even as adults we can always do much better with that um so having students to make sure that they can they are taught how to make responsible decisions in a classroom setting especially when interacting with peers and others and other staff members I feel like is a very good thing and is going going to assist all staff members to make sure that they can once again teach the whole student and not just the academic student as far as uh relationship skills making sure that once again they have good peer-to-peer interactions making sure that they are able to interact appropriately with their

016peers as opposed to some of the behaviors that some of you all might see at some Schools elementary schools middle schools and high schools across the county um social awareness so empathy making sure not just to know how you feel but making sure others know how you make them feel and making sure that you can take on their motion and understand how our actions cause others emotions and reactions um self-awareness I mean it's one of the most basic princip know thyself to make sure you know what you do well and make sure you know what others do well and self-management how do we deal with stress ever since this pandemic began and even before that parents and students have had a very tough time with dealing with the stress we've all seen it here at

017Schoolboard meetings we've all seen it probably outside Schoolboard meetings so one of the things I want to make sure that we do and I thank you all Schoolboard members for doing this is making sure that we as teachers in the classroom are able to take care of not just that one academic part but can teach the students as a whole thank you all thank you to everyone for sharing your your thoughts and concerns and ideas for with us here this evening um I I apologize that I forgot to welcome everyone here this evening I was thinking about making my announcement and didn't say welcome to you all here this evening I'm pleased to pleased to have everyone here with us next we will move to Highlights by board members I'll start with Dr mcin thank

018you Mr Breen uh this evening I recognize that we have a lot of highlights and every Friday uh Katie leira sends out a sharing the gold and I really appreciate that I mentioned that to her earlier and so I try not to do exactly the same way that you do Katie but here are my highlights uh Fox Run Elementary is building a walking and biking trail which I think is absolutely wonderful they haven't uh completed it by any stretch of the imagination but they're on the road and and I think that's that's great uni unified basketball has already taken place in two high schools Spotswood High School and Turner Ashby and they had the unified basketball in front of the student body and even though I wasn't there to attend I understand that that it

019was very well received and everyone had everyone players and audience alike had a wonderful time and unified basketball for the rest of us for the community begins this Wednesday at Broadway High School 6 o'clock hope to see you there uh Farm to school events South River and FKS run both had Farms to school events we we know that other elementary schools have it too but we're glad to see that these two have already occurred and my last one is community involvement I understand that Lacy spring who is Lacy Spring Elementary where there's a lot of Agriculture going on is that right Miss lur a lot of Agriculture at Lacy spring many yes many of our schools but Lacy spring has a community involvement partner the Spotswood Garden Club came out and they they uh worked

020with with a school with some seeds and now they're a regular partner so I would like to highlight uh Lacy and the Spotswood Garden Clum community and school working together that's it thank you Dr mcquilkin Miss lore thank you um I would like to highlight the uh oh the word just left my head the ex I want to say experiences that's not the right word but the uh the Broadway uh High School band uh they recently traveled to myth Midlothian High School I am struggling with words tonight um they recently traveled to Mylo Midlothian High School for a a band uh competition and they place they were the first place class daa first place music AA first place geaa first place percussion AA first place drum major daa and then second place because we can't

021be all first place right um second place Visual and daa and the second place Color Guard AA so I'm very very proud of that those achievements so wanted to shout out to them and then I guess for my future highlight uh I sadly will not be at the next school board meeting because I will be traveling to Indianapolis to uh chaperone the middle school trip to uh National Convention and I want to wish we've got many teams from uh Rockingham County Public Schools competing and many individuals and I want to wish them all luck so I will see you oh my goodness I will see you guys in November so thank you thank you m lore Mr Cross thank you Mr Breeden it's great to be here tonight and thank you for the public for

022coming out speaking uh with us um and talking about the issues that U that are on your heart that concern you for our schools and our community thank you for everyone that came out tonight I I do want to highlight the last uh two weeks I've had the opportunity to go out to Turner Ashby high school and to East Rockham high school and today I spent the day out at Broadway High School visiting our government classes and um just had a great time being inside the schools one of the things I said when I came on as a school board member is one of the things I wanted to do was get into the schools and just see what actually was going on and and to be a part of that and um we've got

023some uh great things happening within the classroom um and one of the things I got to to see while I was there Mr null was very kind to me he took me around not just to the government classes but he took me out over upstairs and showed me their augmented uh topography uh machine that they have this is technology that came out of UC Davis and the kids get to play with Kinetic Sand how cool is that number one and uh just to smell of the sand putting your hands down in the sand it's very therapeutic and uh they invite the teachers to come out and if they're having stress a stressful day to come out do the same thing but you they got a chance to just really see uh some pretty cool technology

024that we offer the children inside the classroom and that was very impressive more impressive than that was the fact that this machine has the capability of going around to even our Elementary uh schools and so they've made it uh uh where they can take it in the vehicle load it up in the van and take it around to our elementary children and they also uh can see this technology which is re very creative uh Innovative learning Hands-On learning so very impressed with what I saw out at turn asby high school and uh today out at Broadway High School was just a it was a special day to be there all day to see the kids uh just having a good time being not sitting six feet away from one another they're actually close up with

025one another they're having fun again there's Smiles on their faces and it feels like things are getting back to normal so that was a very positive uh outlook on today at school so that's what I really want to highlight today thank you Mr chairman thank you Mr Cross Mr folk thank you Dr Sho have a few things so the um walking and biking trail at FKS run that Dr mcin mentioned was actually initiated by one of our students so uh one of our elementary students uh came up with that idea and he explained it to me when I was out visiting the school and so our students just like uh last time at the board meeting they step up and make their voice heard uh we're missing out tonight on the high school all County

026Choir concer So Fine Arts um out strong and also uh this weekend so on Saturday our marching bands were competing and there were 27 bands uh in total at Harrisonburg High School Spotswood took first place in class 2A Broadway third place in 3A Turner Ashby first place in 3A and East Rockingham third place in 4A and then ta and Broadway both earned spots in the final competition later that night and placed fifth and sixth respectively out of the 27 bands in attendance so uh only separated by I think 0.0 Five Points on the score sheet so um amazing things uh going on um I do want to welcome uh deputies Luke good at manav videoo and Andrew kuster at Wilber Pence is our um newest sro's um as I explained previously we received State funding

027for this and then we have grant money for two more and again uh Sheriff Hutchinson continues to invite applications and um interview people to make sure that it's a great fit in our schools that we have um SRO who are a great fit in schools and who know the difference between they do know the difference but sometimes it can get tricky you know distinguishing between code of conduct and and criminal behavior and again like I said previously there are some SRO uh like our um do Meer brothers who uh not only serve here at times at board meetings but who also became SRO became uh deputies Law Enforcement Officers specifically to be SRO and I think there are a number of people out there like that and it's a it's a pleasure and a joy

028to find the right people and sometimes you just have to keep interviewing until you find the best match uh for our students uh Farm to uh table so last week we had Farm to Table events at our schools um I had the pleasure of being up in shanoa County at Steve Baker's processing facility where hogs that were raised by our students in the ACT production program were then um butchered there and uh the sausage links and sausage patties ended up on the plates of our students uh during Farm to Table week and uh that's always a joy this time I didn't get to do the Hands-On part there was there were so many students there um who you know were doing amazing work also had the opportunity to see a USDA inspector there uh who

029was working you know through the legal aspects of it at the at the facility at the time that was really neat and then for the first time ever Farm to school event at Peak View Elementary School um last week and and so that was great to see um and last but not least it's time for the vsba Academy Awards um so the Virginia Schoolboard Association um gives Awards to board members for a certain level of involvement in um vsba events in educational events and so um two board members uh Miss lur and Mr Cross received the certificate of recognition um earning 15 credits for the year and then uh the Academy Award in in this category I could not find an Oscar statue I looked today um it would have been awesome to award that

030but couldn't I would have to order online but the Oscar goes to Dr Charlotte mcquin for 84 credits in two years uh she will also receive a starfish pen and then um in is invited to a special lunch in at the annual vsba convention so congratulations to Dr mookin thank you thank you Dr Shel uh I too have had an opportunity to be in some buildings but not in my role as a Schoolboard member but rather in my role as a grandfather Which is far and way the favorite of my two titles and um it's amazing to to sit and watch the The Talented adults that we have uh working with these young people it's um it just makes you heart singing when you sit there and you know that hey okay my my grandkids

031are entrusted to some pretty dog gone good folks and um so that's that's a nice feeling and I look forward to um the day not too far from now when uh when I can go in with the only role being Granddad so um but it's been been a lot of fun to get out and be in the buildings next we will move to our action items and we do have need to approve our minutes and I will entertain a motion for approval if it the board's desire thank you Mr car is there a second thank you Mr Faulk any questions or comments hearing none all in favor please say I I any opposed it's 5 thank you bills and mileage for September of 22 you have board members you have the bills and mileage uh

032in your material and I recommend approval of those as presented thank you Dr Sho board members you've heard the superintendent's recommendation is there a motion in support I move that we follow the superintendent's recommendation to approve the September 2022 bills as presented thank you Dr mcin is there a second thank you Mr folk any questions or comments yeah i' just like to just mention again that the public can get on our Public School website and uh check this out um and see the transparency between the schools and the public of where your money's going to so if you want to go on there please check that out think you go on the is that on the front page Dr Shel you said last time if you go to the school board um link you'll find

033it there go to the school board link you'll find it and it's just part of our transparency of where the Public's money is going what we're spending to in your school yeah so our school board materials the minutes and everything else all the documents are um available there and so when um bills and mileage are approved um initially you see them in executive content so that you have a chance to review them and then they are made public um after the meeting any other questions or comments hearing none all those in favor of uh approval of the superintendent's recommendations regarding bills and mileage for September of 2022 please say I I any opposed it's 5 as well field trips Dr shyo board members you have a number of field trips for your approval uh Broadway

034High School de and fbaa marketing competitions October 13th 45 students to FedEx Field in Maryland Deca fbaa marketing competitions November 27th 45 students to FedEx Field at DEA New York experience November 30 through December 4th 30 students to New York City Spanish club November 30th 40 students to the Kennedy Center in Washington DC Spotswood High School FFA State Convention and they're a little bit ahead of the game here so June 19th through the 22nd 2023 15 students to Virginia Tech in blackburg and Turner Ashby High School FCCLA November 10th through the 13th three students to the Columbus Convention Center in Columbus Ohio and I recommend approval of all those field trips thank you Dr shyo board members you again you've heard the superintendent's recommendation do I have a motion in support move we follow the

035superintendent's recommendation and improve the field trips as presented thank you Miss lore is there second second thank you Mr Fulk any questions or comments I do have concerns of the students uh going to FedEx Field and in just our tradition of Excellence with rcps and I'm the Decades of them losing so much I'm kind of concerned they may bring their losing Spirit back to the valley it's just a joke I think the DECA students uh will be well qualified to give uh marketing advice to um people who run an American football team there well one of the nice things about being here is the Raiders play tonight on Monday Night Football and they're going to be get beat pretty bad too so I can empathize with that any other questions with regards to field trips

036all those in favor please say I I any opposed and that is unanimous budget amendment for fiscal year 2023 that Miss MK and Miss MK will will introduce a budget amendment and I just want to briefly explain the first part of it and the first part of it has to do with a staff bonus so last year the board uh voted um to provide a staff bonus in December to all uh full-time and part-time staff members and this year um the state budget actually in its final version included some money for a bonus and as state has a habit of doing um you know just like with pay increases when they say you know there's a 5% increase what it means is the state gives us money for the state portion and only for the

037positions that are covered in the standards of quality that the S soqs and so uh the money that came from the state is coming from the state that the budget amendment is about is money for a bonus of only for S soq positions now um rcps has a history of not dis ising between staff members and saying oh this counselor is an SQ counselor and because we have more counselors than the SQ is require the other counselor doesn't get anything and so uh we are planning to um provide with the board's approval a bonus of $11,000 for a full-time staff and $500 for part-time staff for all of the positions as they are defined so um you know these are these are positions where there is a at least for part-time uh staff at least

038a set schedule at least uh 10 hours a week and a number of you know um other requirements we have a listing of of who qualifies for it and um for a full-time of course it is a full-time staff with the exception of for example a long-term sub because you know someone's out on FMLA for example and and they're just there for a short time um it's the bonus would be in effect for anyone who is employed as of November 1st 20 22 and so um and since this was additional money from the state that's where the budget amendment comes from because again we have to make sure that the count is also aware that these funds are coming in chairman Breeden Dr Sho and members of the board I do have a budget amendment

039for you for fiscal year 2023 and is uh is in two parts as you saw in the memo and as Dr Sho explained the first part has to do with money that we received with the final budget if you'll recall this past year we set our budget in March but uh the final budget didn't actually come until June and when it came in June there was this additional money so it was not in the March budget that you passed so that portion uh is that's por part one of this budget amendment and the second part of that is a little more complicated it's actually a change in accounting standards and it's a non-cash item there'll be no cash going out but at the same time this there is an expense and a revenue that needs

040to be recorded in our general ledger so in order to do that we need to do a budget amendment to increase the appropriation or we could be at the end of the year and it could when the this journal entry is entered it could look like like you overspent the budget so we worked with the auditor on this coming you'll see this coming forth in the next budget process this is actually just going to become part of our budget as a revenue and expenditure and we won't have to do an amendment I'd be glad to answer any questions about either of those and I do recommend approval of the budget amendment as presented thank you Dr Sho Miss Mass do I hear a motion in support of the recommendation I move that we support this

041recommendation thank you Dr moken is there a second last second thank you Mr Cross questions concerns comments so this will did I hear correctly that every employee will receive something with the exception of like a long-term sub so the way yeah I can um give you more details so for example for a full-time bonus uh must be employed on November 1st and then um it does apply for example um to someone who's a long-term sub in a teacher vacancy position so if we couldn't fill the position with a teacher and so there was a vacancy and we hired a long-term sub for that vacancy then that person qualifies for the bonus uh it does not apply if someone's out on um FMLA for a month and just H that happens on November 1st so that's

042a regular substitute position um for the part-time bonus must be employed on November 1st must have a set schedule throughout the year must work a minimum of 10 hours it does include cafeteria monitors hourly custodians hourly teacher assistants um hourly alternative education teachers uh El tutors and then also includes part-time long-term Subs in a teacher vacancy and the staff group that it doesn't apply to is for example daily subs so someone who just is on our sub list and and Subs here and there the bonus doesn't apply there again long-term Subs who cover a teacher on FMLA summer workers um wouldn't qualify for this um adult instructors at MTC that's funded completely differently um hourly so testing again that doesn't qualify under um really basically scheduled part-time work that's just for that um for those

043events and then stien positions so for example um coaches of course many of our coaches are um you know of course our band directors and others who receive stiens they're also employees so they qualify as an employee um but if someone who for example uh Works in a local um golf sh shop and then coaches golf in the spring uh that doesn't qualify for the bonus so those would be these exclusions but everyone else pretty much would qualify for the full-time or part-time bonus we we heard a speaker tonight U talking about the difficulties that U that we have with bus drivers so I didn't hear bus drivers mentioned they would be included absolutely bus drivers are considered full-time employees and qualifi for full-time benefits this would not apply to Schoolboard members correct it does

044not apply to school board want to make that clear to everyone because that would be like uh what 30% or something it would be huge okay any other questions or comments hearing none all in favor please say I I any opposed and that will be unanimous thank you m m okay as most everyone I'm sure is aware now uh at the last meeting uh Dr Shel announced that he would uh be I don't know if retiring is the right word to call it but uh would would not be seeking to continue as superintendent of Rockingham County schools at the end of his contract term um in 2023 and the board um though I think it's safe to say sad to hear it's sad to hear that announcement we do have a responsibility uh to begin

045the process of U setting things into motion to do a superintendent search and interview in the past we have had a board member or two who has uh been tasked with the opportunity or the that has been tasked with the job of U looking into different firms that are there that work with this type thing laying out a timeline U soliciting public comment through one form or another um and so with that in mind I would like to nominate uh Dr Charlotte mcquilkin who has been through superintendent searches in varying capacities during her tenure uh both as a as an employee and as a board member and ask Mrs lur if if the two of you I would like to nominate the two of you uh to head that up that does not mean that

046they will be hiring the new superintendent it simply means that uh we don't have to get the full board together for some of these uh um organizational tasks so with that motion nomination being made do I hear a second thank you Mr F questions comments hearing none all those in favor please say I I any opposed that's 5 thank you Dr mooken thank you Miss Laura uh for taking on that responsibility uh before we move into information items I think we've got just a small housekeeping item here to take care of cool all right yeah thank you so anyone who thought they would avoid the camera tonight we got you um we will move into information items and we will have a report on the Rockham County Public Schools Community dialogue framework and I'll call

047Dr Katherine Barnes to the podium to introduce this project and again then other members of the committee good evening even in board members and good evening public who've arrived um it's a pleasure to be back in front of you again and it was January um 25th when we first came and presented and launched this initiative and then we came back again in April 25th to talk about how things were going with the community dialogue framework I'm very pleased tonight to give you an update on that but especially to share with you views and perspectives of those who've been a part of it thus far and what we've been finding so just as a reminder I think many people will remember this was an initiative that was designed in part out of recognition by the school

048board of its valuing of respectful and productive Community dialogue and so the um focus of this was to develop a framework for a dialogue that would address the challenging issues that affected a public education in the county with the idea of how to create a respectful and solutions oriented dialogue among our diverse community members and that this insights from the process would be given to you as the board for consideration and possible decision making as such time issues would come arising so tonight we have now been and I'm going to come back to this in a sorry wrong direction um to talk a little bit more about the process and I'll talk a little bit more about where we're going from here but basically since March there have been 20 three people reflecting a lot

049of the diversity of the county who've been engaged in really thoughtful often challenging ways and I'd like to maybe invite we don't have everybody here tonight but we have many maybe to stand if you feel so comfortable just to get a a sense almost feel like I should maybe I'll do this just to up um carefully carefully placed there and we have created an interim report a 30 page report which I think has been given to you as as Schoolboard members and we also thank you Dr Shel um and there's a handy two-page summary and we have eight of our folks who have agreed to come forward to share something about what it has been for them to participate in this experience because they truly reflect a trem tremendous diversity of life experience of perspectives

050of regions of the county of different roles so they can speak to what it's been like and also share some of the key things that they feel that we've been finding so far so Renee Reed I'd like to start by handing over to you and this I should also say this report is going to be up on the rockim county public website after this meeting this evening so folks who can't wait to read it your bedtime reading thanks okay so I almost used my voice in one of those votes I had to like bite my tongue um good evening school board members it's been a long time since I've been on this side of the podium I think the last time had to do with the grading policy and it was about 10 years ago

051and I was needling Mr Fulk and Mr Bren about that uh heavily um didn't win that battle but um certainly was a catalyst for me to become a board member um this uh project has been a little bit of a passion of mine in the fall of 2021 it became clear that Rockingham County Schools needed to find a pathway to create opportunities for dialogue across Community differences beyond the limitations of school board meetings the superintendent and I sought Katherine's assistant to facilitate the building of a process for the community our desire was to have the process created guided and piloted by community members not the board which is why you've just received updates and not have not been involved in the process the group started with our advisory members D Grim Amanda Richie and Joe

052shoker and you'll hear as Katherine said from all three of them tonight D Joe and Amanda have brought their expertise their heart and their unique voice to this process and the group hasn't always agreed but this is where we've come to now and I think when you read through the summary report you'll see we've come a long way the second step of the process was the core group that was created with 23 stakeholders of De diverse viewpoints and experiences and I think probably everyone in this room knows at least one of those people who is on the uh that who is in that group after over the past 10 months the group uh have created space for constructive engagement and Equity of dialogue between those who have a range of views and needs this has

053been challenging work I'm not going to lie all of the people involved have worked tirelessly and haven't given up we when even I'm sure many of us have left meetings when we were frustrated or challenged thought we weren't getting anywhere where we weren't being heard and we weren't moving quick enough however we've continued to gather engage and look for common ground what this group of community members has done is simply extraordinary it's a small group but I think it's indicative of what we can do as a county the summary report that you've been provided is the beginning of a road map to creating and reinforcing a culture that values dialogue and collaboration and is a reflection of the commitment partnership and hard work of both the core and Advisory Group in finding a way to

054break through divides this is a process for the community so the remainder of this dialogue will be devoted to the community members speaking and sharing their experiences so with that in mind I am going to ask Amanda Richie to join me here at the podium Amanda's going to speak for a few minutes um in probably one of my most frustrating moments as a Schoolboard chair at a meeting in Spotswood High School I probably said a couple of things that I shouldn't have we all have those moments in life and Amanda had spoken that evening and really took what I said to heart and she's going to share a little bit about that but she and I afterwards had a dialogue and um talked a little bit about it and she has become a passionate parent

055advocate in this process um both advocating for the parents but just a continuation and if correct me if I'm wrong Amanda that was the first time you had ever spoke at a board meeting maybe second so it it was a catalyst for um what you're going to hear about this evening so Amanda thank you all um I want to begin this evening by saying that I am not a teacher I am not an expert I have no qualification so to speak but I do have a very important job I am a stay-at-home mom to my two boys and I take this job very seriously as the saying goes behind every young child who believes in himself is a parent who believed first in short my expertise is in knowing loving and parenting my children my

056journey began with this project in August 2021 when I spoke at a school board meeting following the meeting I had an email exchange with Renee in which I acknowledged her professional way way of handling a very disruptive crowd that evening but also recognized what I felt had been a slight she responded and I quickly realized that it had all simply been a misunderstanding and what could have resulted in a tense interaction was smoothed over with respect and civility soon after I was asked to serve on the community dialogue initiative school board meetings in my opinion have become an environment of Discord on display perhaps serving as a microcosm of our larger society I believe that each opinion expressed comes from a sincere concern about the children in our community and one thing that I've come

057to understand through this process is that underpinning so much of the fracturing in our community is hurt some parents feel hurt because they believe they haven't had a seat at the table while others have been making decisions for their children some educators and administrators feel hurt because of damaging accusations and anxiety about saying or doing the wrong thing to support their students some students feel hurt because they believe there is Injustice being done to themselves their friends or their classmates we can react to hurt with harm or with healing this hurt has done great harm to our community but we have an even greater potential to heal our community and that is where this community dial initiative is so important this group recognized that engaging and productive dialogue that brings everyone to the table may

058help in healing our community relationships while also improving the public education experience experience in our County and this wonderfully diverse group Committed almost an entire year toward mending relationships through facilitated dialogue centered on ensuring a safe and caring environment for all students students while still considering the diverse values and perspectives of the local community we have been willing to tackle very uncomfortable and difficult issues while still modeling respect and appreciation for different viewpoints I believe this group is doing the hard work needed to restore Partnerships between parents teachers and administrators and to reinstate trust in our schools for those who have lost it key to making this challenge work is understanding that quote I don't need to agree with you but I do need to respect you and recognizing that respect plus empathy equals civility

059our right and Our obligation as parents is to instill the values morals and greater truths upon which we want our children to gr their Futures our schools play a vital role in equipping our children with the problem solving and critical thinking skills that are necessary for life together this Alliance is the key to developing a successful well-rounded contributing member of society Henry Ford once said quote coming together is the beginning keeping together is progress working together is Success our children deserve a community that is dedicated to their safety their belonging and their growth and we hope that through this effort we can bring this community together and move forward together in healthy dialogue because we know that when we all work together in Partnership we ensure the greatest possible success for every student thank you

060Amanda war is on her head I've got a wear M on my face um I'm Jennifer Armstrong I know a lot of people in this room um I've lived here my whole life short of one Wayward Year my parents moved to smases I don't think I've ever recovered from it um in kindergarten uh my I wanted to be an oton otter and I wasn't and anyway my husband and I live near singers Glenn we have two kids um both graduated one in 2018 one in 2021 both from Turner Ashby though they did start in Broadway um I'm the executive director in life I'm the executive director of Virginia FFA foundation so I do work for uh a lot of FFA students all the way across the state um I wasn't I was quot qualified to

061be on this panel when I got the call from Mr shoker um I admire him uh I can't call him Joe because he was my teacher many many years ago but I I struggle I struggle with that um but I always admire him because he's always been very keen on leadership um and considering he was my teacher once I did feel like I had been called on in the class when I did not do my homework uh but I sat down and thought it through talked it over with a few people and I kind of thought of it the way that uh I treat FFA is that when you're talking about the opportunities that we offer I always want kids to be able to see like kids like themselves in the blue jacket so that

062they know they have a place to belong so that was how I looked at it so here I am mostly independent voter not really vocal until Co about my beliefs um but I always kind of felt like I was too small a person to make a difference but like probably a lot of people in here I was tired of the arguing I was tired of name calling I was tired of generalizations and this is a society as a whole not necessarily just here um but I believe there are a lot of us that are right here just like me Stuck in the Middle um and I thought this is a place that I could make a difference I have strong opinions so please don't get that wrong um but I also believe there's a lot

063of common ground to be had and compromise is not a dirty word so when I attended my first session um we just got to know each other and each session we got to do that more and more and from my perspective finding common ground was a lot easier when we were face Toof face it's easier when we began to understand the life experiences that formed all of our beliefs and value systems but the pivotal point for me in this whole process was actually pretty recently we were in a small group and the group as a whole had kind of come up with this term called the Rockingham County way and I'll be honest when I first heard it it felt a little like yucky to me I didn't I didn't like that term but uh

064I think a few of us were able to sort of nail down a definition or at least in my view we did and to paraphrase what we kind of decided those of us who have lived here our whole lives and came up through Rocky and County public schools with the best roles ever um is that we're mostly rural or we had been mostly rural we believe in hard work Common Sense helping our neighbors and less government in our day to-day lives we aren't all of the names that we get called when we try to have honest discussions about these hot button topics but being part of this process forced us to get to know the people behind the keyboard and though we still have a lot of work to do I thought it was beautiful

065um I really challenge everybody everywhere uh to try that in their daily lives so on to more official stuff I launch into the uh summary so the core dialogue group was convened to consider the question of how can Rockingham County best create a safe and caring environment for all rcps students in ways that are consistent with the law but also considering the diverse values and perspectives of the local community at the same time we sought to understand the various factors given rise to contentiousness in the community toward the school system mapped out what was termed the trust Gap that goes always what we found we found insights that were were to be gained when 23 people with very diverse views and I mean very like they'll nod their head very diverse views and very diverse

066backgrounds can engage together in respectful dialogue about some of the most vexing issues facing our community we affirmed despite controversy that rcps continues to excel most families are satisfied with the students educational experience public schools are at the heart of our public life they have the challenge you have the challenge and the value of meeting the needs of all the students in your midst you can they can support constructive relationships across differences and grow a shared identity with the wider Community good evening um I'm do Dr donica havy and I am in I've been in education for over 25 years I started as a public school teacher um served as an assistant principal and a principal I'm from New York I moved to Boston and I've lived here for about 15 years I am a

067former um administrator here at rockim County um and I currently am now a professor at James Madison University um I too when asked to join this group um I had been um you know education is what I do is is it is what I do and I also wanted to say also I'm a parent of three children which I can't believe I forgot to say that because that's the most important thing that I do sorry boys um but I but I I I have the wonderful pleasure of raising my three boys but I also very deeply um deeply spending my life and and believe that my life's work is to represent and be the voice for all children um when I was asked to join this group I too was hesitant um because I had

068been um I've been watching school board meetings um sometimes in person sometimes at home and I too um was disheartened by the the tension and the contentious um arguments and conversations that didn't feel very productive um and so when I was asked to do this group I was hesitant because I did not want to be a part of something that your voice was going to be asked to be at the table and it would go nowhere or it wasn't going to be heard um I was intrigued by the diverse group and um I've never looked back since my first meeting um I wanted to talk to you about the fact um specifically as an educator with my educator haton um one of the things that we talked about when we were unpacking and really talking

069about a lot of um our issues um after several conversations it became evident that there was not a clear consensus for what the purpose of education is which is really interesting when you come to these Schoolboard meetings and we sit at the table every day with our children and our neighbors and then we all realize that we have um different versions ideas of what the purpose ultimately is of why we come here every single day why we do the work as school board members as parents as Educators um All the Above um I have heard it stated on several occasions that children are sent to school for the sole purpose to learn to read and write and do arithmetic however it is important to note that students are not empty vessels in which information is

070simply poured into them for the sake of regurgitation this argu arguably is not the sole definition of learning learning is evolving um learning is figure out what figuring out what to do with the words and the numbers learning is um figuring out how they can use words and numbers to solve problems be creative critical thinkers um finding their voice you know representing or standing up and and and advocating for walking trails and bike trails that's what learning is that's what learning looks like and ultimately we want our students to be positive change makers in a world in which they will inhabit in ultimately inherit our hope is that our children do things One Step better than we're doing them right now and that their children do it one step better than them and this cycle

071continues when we know better we do better in the words of Maya Angelou for this to happen we have to acknowledge what we are doing well and which areas are in need of growth and Improvement we all shared many celebrations that we have witnessed every single day within our schools within our homes within our children and there are many many celebrations that we talked about however we also acknowledged Room to Grow public or public education is an organization it's a living and breathing organization that is built on diverse values and beliefs and even assumptions and we cannot afford to use these differences and assumptions to tear each other down but rather to identify areas on which we need to improve we must follow State and National laws we understand that that's our role as citizens

072within this organization and sometimes it's controversial and general flash points of generates flash points of conflict it is important to distinguish which of these flash points are hearsay and which of them pose actual barriers for positive student growth how we deal with these conflicts matter because our children are watching they're watching all of us and even though we may differ on how we get there we all want the best for all of our children we all are neighbors and we are all members of a community and we all wish to belong to a community that uplifts and empowers and educates our children to the best of our abilities and theirs growth within our community is rapid and sometimes uneven but it is part of the reality of Rockingham County growth however does not have to

073mean d stabilization but it often does mean change and change can be hard hard it often is hard because it pushes us out of our comfort zones and into unfamiliar territory but change is inevitable and constant and ever present and the community and culture of rockim county has roots and some of these roots are traditional and conservative and Christian however change has brought along new routes that also reflect diversity and diverse values and beliefs and these new and diverse roots are just as important to the foundation of a healthy Community as the roots that hold on to some of these traditions and some roots are generational While others are newly planted myself included this is my home it wasn't to begin with but it's my home now my husband grew up here I did not

074but we are raising our three children here and this is their home all of these roots make up our community and all are equally deserving of calling Rockingham County Public Schools home it is not about uprooting what is already in place it's just about figuring out how best to work together to grow stronger in areas that are in need of change this is not change for change sake this is changed to support the evolved purpose of Education it's about establishing a clear consensus consensus of what the purpose of education is for all of us who call this our home and our community it's about figuring this out together as neighbors for our children I sat in a meeting and we talked for about 4 hours and we had very diverse very different um feelings about

075a lot of things but we talked and we laughed and we we were able to do it and I wish there was a camera on us for four hours so that the community can see that it can be done you can have differences with your neighbors and still break bread eat food eat dinner um and laugh and find your common ground and that is why I'm proud to be a part of this group my name is Joe shoker and uh I'm very pleased to be involved with this effort that began in the summer of 21 well over a year ago Dr Shel was sitting in my living room and he came to talk to me about an idea he had and uh I'm sitting there thinking why is he here what and then I then

076I real then you know thinking back I had taught for 36 years in Rockingham County Schools my wife taught 30 and my daughter taught 90 that's 75 years in the aggregate of service to Rockingham County Schools we raised two daughters in the county who learn skills that they're now very success successful young ladies and uh we're very proud of that I was also involved with Internet safety and digital ethics and child safety I was the first uh I I started the very first mediation program in Rockingham County schools at monov videoo Middle School while I was there and uh I think probably Dr Shel also picked me because I was I represented the values of many of the people in our community and had fallen in love with public school and and very very honored

077to have served in that role what you've heard is parts of our dialogue the dialogue that's that's in the document the pdf online that you'll be able to read and um I'm going to continue those as I go through this and and hit some of the points that I I told uh I checked off that I would take as we started this effort I had been involved in a whole lot of reading and research every morning when I get up in my retirement I will sit down at my computer and literally spend an hour to two hours to the point where Debbie saying it's time for you to get up out of that seat why don't you get up and get off that computer you know but what I do I read the tea leaves

078I research I read documents from all over the the land landscape on all the issues that we have as a school system political issues sports issues go dukes and other issues so anyway I came up with two terms and I shared it with the group and I think they they kind of personify something that we're trying to accomplish here one of them was Equity of dialogue and what Equity of dialogue means is that everyone deserves to be heard everybody needs to be heard not just one one group one faction right left Echo Chambers everybody deserves the respect to be heard and that steered a lot of our discussions the second term I came up with was Equity of research and that is in all the research out there whether it's peer reviewed or not deserves

079to be be looked at if someone believes that that research is valid or that proves a point that they wish to prove we can't just look at research because we like what it says Equity means across the across the the the Divide so all research needs to be looked at so in our document you will read and the document we're trying to rebuild trust in this document trust between parents stakeholders and the school system I've trusted it all my life I worked in it but there are there are for many different reasons and and covid and and lots of things magnified them a lot of trust has been lost our group is committed to renewing the trust between parents Community stakeholders and our Public Schools and this document that we have created that you will

080have access to is simply our deliberations and discussions so in that dialogue our documents uh we identified contentious issues and I was willing to tell you about in brief a couple several of the contentious issues that we have and you already know them the first one was how can schools help to protect the Innocence of the child while also equip equipping that student with the knowledge and critical thinking skills they will need as they grow up it's so important to teach that but we also have to realize the innocence of the child and that I was drilled as a teacher of age appropriate instruction in my Internet safety uh seminar ARS I did not tell those sixth graders the same thing I talked to those 12th graders about because there was a maturity Factor an

081age factor and everything I talked to them about in the back of my mind I had a a little voice saying what will the parents think about you telling them this the second one how can schools be responsive to the needs and values of families while they may differ that's called diversity I've I've been I've been in schools in Rockingham County that have dirt or not schools but homes that have dirt floors and I've been in homes that were five 6 8 10,000 square foot homes we have an incredibly diverse population in Rockingham County we also have the fourth largest county in Virginia you go from one end of our County to the next and you spend time in these buildings with these families and you realize just how diverse of a community we have

082next how can schools enable students to have access to materials boy that's a Hot Topic materials due to the nature of the content we have a wide range of materials and in my Internet safety stuff I had to look at some and say no I had to look at others and say yeah maybe for a sophomore but not for that fifth grader I was talking to and the parents when I got feedback you probably shouldn't have said that here at the Elementary PTA meeting I was like well good feedback thank you tell me why I shouldn't say that another point is that the role of school Personnel in balancing the autonomy of the student they are humans they are creatures they have rights and the authority of their parents the parents are legally in charge

083of the child and we know that there are laws in local parentice and things like that where we give our children to the schools to educate them it's got to be a partnership a partnership that means not this that means this way next item how can Educators best teach controversial subjects and educate our students about the world they live in and their history that's so important because if we don't honor the past we don't learn its lessons and we make mistakes into the future and finally the appropriate roles of schools in meeting their students needs and what is the basis for a positive partnership with families and others in the community the need needs of that student who came to school with dirty socks or dirty underwear and had to referee a fight with his

084parents before he got on the bus that morning to that student who had to go home after school and work in the field before he went to their football game that Friday night and he was worn out when he got there our students have many needs our schools are charged to meet those needs but with a partnership with their parents and Trust so to end my comments I'll say that what we're doing here I think is profound I think it's groundbreaking I literally think that what we're doing and the dialogue that we are presenting here and about to scale it to 60 80 100 people in our schools could serve as a national model to bring people back together to regain trust and to develop those Partnerships that I grew up in that I'm better

085for and that my family is better for thank you good evening uh chairman Breeden Dr shako School Board my name is Esther niser I live in Elton and this is my notes I do bullet points um I was asked to serve on this board or with this dialogue uh and my first thing was what am I going to be doing and what am I getting into um and then I decided that it was worth it I decided that I have nieces and nephews and great nieces and nephews and other children in my community who needed to know they had someone that would show up and so that's why I'm here this dialogue meeting became a priority I rescheduled vacation cancelled a couple of dinners as our meetings moved and were scheduled because it's important the

086section of the summary that that I wanted to talk a little bit about uh speaks about all students should feel safe they should feel safe they should feel wanted and they should feel welcomed yay [Laughter] W uh oh I know I was two and a half minutes I'm like where's the clock all right that's okay awesome and as I think about the children that are coming to school that are hearing U name calling and being mistreated uh even coming to Schoolboard meetings and hearing that I'm thinking how are they feeling safe and welcomed and wanted and so we had discussions and our meetings that I'm an introvert so when these meetings were over I got in my car nothing was on and I drove back to Elton because I was exhausted and I thought what

087does a student do when they don't feel safe and welcomed and wanted they have to get on the bus a lot of noise maybe go home have chores that they have to do where do they have a chance to decompress if the school can't be safe what are we doing and so that's why I participated in this and that's why I'll continue to participate and that's why I will look for people uh to participate the students need to be able to speak up and be heard and they need to know that they're going to be heard and that the response will be consistent all across that one won't be treated it one way and another treated a different way that there is consistency across the board and if it's not there is a way that

088they can work through that the do dialogue has been fantastic we've been in sessions where we're pretty passionate about things and and we don't mind you knowing that we're passionate about these things and we're going to be okay with that because we are but we're adults so we understand how the those things work our hope is that we'll be able to create this dialogue that will encourage people to uh make the priority of creating a supportive uh and positive School community so that these children will work with the Garden Club and have a garden so that they will go out into the community not just Elementary but High School all across Rockingham County school system and so my hope is that as we expand this list of people that they will come in understanding that

089we're not all going to agree but we do agree to be agreeable and so this group hopefully will set the standard so that when people ask what is Rockingham County School System doing oh we've got this cool dialogue where people come in they don't really like each other they don't really like what they're doing but we're GNA be okay with that because we want the school to be safe for all students and if we can do that we will set the standard Nationwide I believe that so I'm grateful for the opportunity to be a part of this fantastic group our leader has been more gracious more patient and can document like nothing so I'll leave you with this you have a document I would suggest that you spend some time don't try to read it

090all at one time kind of paast yourself on it I'm still reading for the third time picking up new things so thank you for this time my name is D grim and um I just want to point out that we were put in speaking order um to align with the summary which is the one pager for the 35 pages that you will read and there will there will be a quiz and possibly an essay question um I retired after 45 years in the most rewarding career I could have ever imagined the community and it schools mean the world to me and I worked with so many students parents and colleagues and it just gives me they gave me constant hope and fulfillment in fact um I worked with half the school board in some way

091in that capacity um sure it is exhausting Beyond anyone outside the classroom can imagine um often frustrating and I vocalized many times thoughts on ways I thought things might be better because it is a work in progress it is not a fixed thing that doesn't evolve um but I was always proud to be part of rcps and we all know that it's a leader in public education in the state there's no denying that while I continue to do some work within the system with preservice teachers at JMU and home bounding and some other things I actually plan to start a life away from public education then came Co and I began to see and hear primarily through social media received attacks on public education and I watched as they began to land on local schools

092with allegations against books teachers curriculum largely from parents whose social media activity began to ignite contagious outrage among many what I was seeing and hearing however bore no resemblance to the system classroom students and parents that I had recently left so after attempting to ask meaningful questions and Dialogue on social media and anyone who knows me knows I'm not going to stay quiet I became discouraged and deeply concerned I had always valued my relationships with parents and students and encouraged them to be involved and come straight to me if they had concerns in all my years I can think of few potential issues that could not quickly be cleared up this way the concerns I was seeing aired and discussed online seemed to be based on buzzwords generalizations and they always lacked support teachers and

093long established best practices began to be vilified and demeaned I didn't know what to do and then the phone rang Oscar cycle asking me to be a part of a vision he had for bringing folks together face to face to truly talk and the community dialogue initiative was born after months of meeting with the advisory and working with lots of topics issues and a lot of logis ICS the dream of having 23 varied backgrounds and Views together in the same room truly came to life it has not as you've already heard tonight it's not been easy there's still a lot to be discussed but we have made connections real human connections based on our stories and experiences these are the only genuine remedy for the Divide caused by a climate of talking points rampant disinformation

094and and a failure to truly communicate this level of personal conversation simply needs to happen for us to move forward the internet can be a wonderful place to connect and learn we now know that it can also be a mindfield it is a part of our daily lives and part of our now Mission with students should be to navigate all that they read see and hear with strong critical thinking and reading skills and the ability to do authentic research most importantly to me this group has kept Central our belief in keeping public schools and our dialogues focused on what's best for all of our students as we grapple with topics we've explored many controversial issues found many areas of common ground and the journey continues as we move forward to expand our group to watch

095this evolve gives me hope that this model for better understanding will keep the role of public schools in our County State and Nation strongly in place as an integral part of democracy as we work to restore the confidence in the excellent schools we are so blessed to have it has been my privilege to work with all of these people that's right K how you doing Oscar Oscar's Oscar retired just to get away from me no I'm just kidding my uh Brian Taylor I'm a uh went to Spotswood High School uh graduated with Kelly actually and I've been here most of my life spent four years at Virginia Tech spent four years at Rono found out man that place stinks compared to Rockingham County so I moved back here uh and I'm not going anywhere got

096three great kids and uh they're all in elementary school next year next next year I will start the Middle School uh theme I truly only have that much to read Mr Cross so I I will not be that long so but when I got the phone call since everybody else likes to talk about when they got the phone call Joe called me up and he said I need somebody strong goodlooking successful and I said Joe I appreciate all that he said yeah do you know anybody so um after I gave him a couple referrals they wouldn't do it so he called me back uh I was in the moment they said there was free dinner um and uh no I'm just kidding uh I like everybody else really lost uh a lot of connection I

097guess is the word I would use with the school systems when Co happened and I'm not saying it's anybody's fault outside of anything else but programs started to disappear access to teachers started to disappear access to administrators heck access to the building was all begone all of a sudden your Zoom calling and um you know I mean I I love Zoom as we all do but it started to look like the old SES Street if you remember all those little boxes up and everything and uh I think a lot of parents lost a lot of trust um I think that uh that needed to change and when I truly got the phone called to be on the board that was uh or the group of 23 that was the biggest reason why it jumped into

098Joy I'm a business owner I have not worked in the school system like most of these other people I don't operate the same way that most of them do and I'd like to thank the other 22 members for putting up with me um I got a small it and they gave me this part um probably because I have the biggest issue with it right uh they said um I'm I'm just kidding I don't actually have this issue uh fundamentals of building a stronger school system and a stronger Community to affirm the value of I don't need to agree with you but I do need to respect you and that has always rang true in my family deeper than I could tell you do not have to agree with me for me to respect you we

099do not have to have the same opinion for me to listen to you we do not at the end of the day need to agree on every single thing for me to shake your hand and not go bad and badmouth you behind your back uh some of the most honorable people come with different uh come to the want to get to the same conclusion with different paths and I think that's what I've learned most about through this 23 people getting together is our hearts are all in the same place we want the same thing which is what's best for the kids so some of us just have different life experiences and different paths to get there and truly I could say that I went to this first meeting not with much hope I think like

100many of us have said tonight correct but not with much hope but as the process has continued and the ability to understand their stories and their backgrounds does not mean that I've changed what I believe in my path into getting the the students to the best place but it has earned their respect I have their they have earned my respect and I can promise you that these 22 people all have their hearts in the right place which uh anything in this report uh will reflect I think in today's world anytime somebody disagrees with you people take it as a personal attack I think that needs to change I think one of the things that I've also learned in this group is that um we we need to realize that the things that unite us are

101greater than the things that divide us I think too too many people focus on the one issue that divides us and they don't realize the other 25 issues that do unite us with that I will read the last line and step off stage and so and to respect uh and to recognize that respect is empathy uh and empathy or excuse me and to recognize that respect plus empathy is civility I don't believe that anybody needs to uh leave like I said earlier personally attacked and any anything you know what why am I still talking about that I had a closing line it was really good and it was a joke but I think it's over there with my 11-year-old son so can I just wave and step off no I'm just kidding I really look

102forward to this this group expanding I think these 23 were really chosen in all honesty to get the most diverse opinions into one room and see if it could work so kudos to you because it has worked and we we do have very uh engaging conversations that probably sometimes take it too far I I know I've sent a couple email apologies afterwards right but at the end of the day I respect every single one of these members and I fully agree with everything written in that report thank you okay so I think you heard a lot of themes and really I just want to say to everybody it's been just this joy and privilege and I really hope that people will take the time to read because then you get into the real insights that

103have come up that have shared by people willing to be vulnerable and speak from their heart about the things that really matter so where are we going next a few times it's been mentioned that we are um we're kind of at a point right now where we're looking to expand because we need to go out more people more engagement we've been a little bit you if you if you remember well we you might remember that we had hoped to be expanded earlier but when we got in we realized that we really needed to go deeper deeper than the initial talking points that often are in the media in the the things that people first talk think and we went a lot deeper I think where we understand the roots are now of some of the

104issues that are giving rise to contentiousness are probably different than what we originally started from and that's been good so so we've also had this concern as you will have heard it took a lot for people to be able to come together and we realized that we might need to go very carefully with this next stage of expanding out um and so we're thinking now you'll see on this um is this a little highlighter yes okay um we we're basically here the core dialogue group has met um since March we have now have some insights to give to you building on these we are thinking over this next period of time there's two big things happening and this is a really exciting one that I'm not sure if everybody knows about but there's a group

105of English 11 teachers in all four of the high schools who are actually doing projects in the classes of getting the students themselves who are really the experts Esther ner talked about what it is to be a student in the school how is it feeling they are answering this question how to create a safe and caring environment for all Rockingham County Public School students by around January they should have some insights to share with us which I think are going to be invaluable we recognize that as adults many of whom have been out of the classroom for a long time it might be good for us to have a period of time and we are planning on November 15th of expanding adding about another 60 to 80 people having about a 100 people sitting in

106a room together um using table group dialogues connected with inter internet um technology around exploring a theme and we're thinking that in the first instance for on November 15th what we're going to focus on is this process of navigating change what is the purpose of education and how do we navigate that change together then doing another one in January is date to be determined that is focusing on what is the role of Rockingham County public schools in the lives of students and meeting their basic needs also some of the themes that Joe shoker mentioned earlier some of the dilemmas that need to be managed exploring that and then drawing on that input from the English 11 classes also having a third one that is focused on how to address bullying that may actually be be

107one of the things that is needed for people to feel safe and feel welcomed and cared for in schools and then we're hoping in Spring 2023 to open up and really having everybody in the county who wants to participate but we'll have pilad the the methods for doing larger group because once you've got 100 in the room you can have 5 00 methodologically it's about the same if we get 500 that would be wonderful but that's where we're at and we will continue to keep you informed and we will also of course provide insights and ideas that come out of this dialogue this will be on for everybody who is um I think those of you on the board will already have it for everybody else it'll be on tonight thank you all so much

108for your attention I want to U thank everyone who has participated uh those who spoke tonight um I was sitting here as I was listening to each and every one of you and I was reminded of a quote that I had read uh from Pope Francis back in 2017 I had to look and find it while you were speaking but he said we all need each other none of us is an island an autonomous and independent eye separated from the other and we can only build the future by standing together including everyone tenderness means to use our eyes to see the other our ears to hear the other to listen to the children the poor those who are afraid of the future we need a revolution of tenderness so thank you all very much and

109U may we all dedicate ourselves to that common goal I would like to add to Mr breeden's eloquent words and quote thank you how uh amazed impressed and and to use your word respect I have for all of you it's it it's a wonderful Journey you're groundbreaking and we're we're just so thankful that you have you're willingly committed to carry this on thank you thank you from the bottom of my heart I too would like to thank you all um I I've been asked many times how do you sit through those board meetings and I've said many times it's because I know a lot of that anger is coming from a place of love for our children and and I I feel like that the The New National Pastime is outrage we need to replace

110that National Pastime and make our national Pastime our kids and making our kids great citizens so thank you guys and you guys have given me hope that that is possible I'm so excited for this project um and I I've had hope uh I know many of you guys were like I don't know about this I have been so excited to hear more about this so thank you for coming and sharing tonight and I so I'm so looking forward to the work you guys are going to the work that we are going to do as a community because we all need to come together and heal Co was rough man co co did us a dirty one and I think we all need to come together now and and and that's the Rockingham way isn't it

111to look out for our our fellow community members so thank you I do want to also thank everyone who came today Katherine thank you for your guidance through the process we couldn't do any of this uh without your expertise and and just everyone who spoke and those who are in the audience who um are also part of this group uh it's been an amazing year and a few months since we started that and uh my role isn't to be there and you know provide all the information from the school division side I get to sit there and listen and participate just like everyone else and it's been a joy and a a pleasure and it's an incredible process so thank you to everyone okay wait I want to add one more thing I'm sorry um

112this will be available on the website uh go to Rockingham County Public Schools click on board meetings click on this board meeting click on this is a lot of clicks sorry click on the rcps uh got to put on my glasses Community change dialogue framework link and read this I've already I did I tried to read it all in one setting I almost got there I I I did have to go do a little laundry but it's there's a lot of really really good stuff so I totally encourage everyone everyone here in the room everyone in the the the Broadband or whatever we call the the universe read this because this this has a lot of really good points that we all as a community need to to hear so thank you and you don't

113have to remember all the steps to get there we'll make sure we'll make it available more prominently go to the homepage go to the homepage click on announcements and it'll be there thank you all right next we have policy revisions Miss Marcy Williams good evening Mr Breeden Dr Sho and board members I'm here this evening to present for you for your information three board policies um for the community sake the this is not new policy these are three policies that we simply needed to revise and revisit because um of our of our procedures to do so on a a regular basis the policies are uh CA which is Administration goals jca which is students that have been a victim of crime to transfer schools and then FG retirement of facilities and these policies are in

114your packet this evening for a review all right thank you ma'am any questions any question I have a question about policy jca uh it's really more the other side of that this allows uh students that are victims of crimes to to ask to be uh moved from their school is there a method for that student to ask their victimized ER to be moved I feel like there is the person that are you this is for the complaintant that feels they've been a victim to be removed but yeah yeah I feel like there's a there's a path for no there has uh the policy has always been that um a student's family as the victim's uh family can request the student attend elsewhere there are on occasion situations where we move an a offender it it

115always depends right so if you look at the specifics of each case the victim certainly has that um is entitled to go to different school um if they uh want that it it'd be a little bit tricky in some situations to force the offender to go to a different School based on you know whatever the violation was but um we do have cases where and again you may be aware of some where that's come up recently where as a School Division as part of the discipline process certainly that also happens that the offender is then um moved to a different building so it it's not always the victim of of an offense that that moves right so is there a path for students to make that request or is that is that just part of

116our I don't I feel like there there should be a path for students to at least have bring the conversation to us uh families do make that request Quest at times so if um again an incident occurs then what you sometimes see is the parents of the student who is the victim in a particular um incident to say you know I don't want the other student you know around my child and that just becomes then part of the disciplinary process whether that's considered or not um in this case it's you know the student really can say okay I'm I've been victimized I want to go to a different school and that's more of an entitlement almost unless there's no room but again that if if possible right then that's certainly permitted we can't I don't

117think it um that the policy could re that the a victim's family can simply demand or um have the right to send another student to another school that's the school's role and part of the disciplinary process and it does happen and certainly families often times even though again these aren't uh we operate differently uh from Criminal cases right cuz we're not um the burden of proof is also different and so our families raised that issue and then as part of the process that's considered and has happened recently thank you yeah I I would just add to that that um the it has been my experience when we have had disciplinary cases um where there has been where there has been a pretty obvious case of um someone being assaulted or or what have you that

118the board has used every mechanism within its means to the fullest extent to protect the one who was who was harmed so thank you Miss Williams thank you board members you have uh a financial review and an attendance report for September of 2022 in your packets and we will move to Schoolboard questions I'll begin Mr Faulk I would just like to reiterate what my colleagues have said about the um the group of 23 um I knew have known quite a few of you for different levels for quite a bit of time and uh everybody I've known I've admired in each of your own role that you've played in the in the community and in the school system and and uh it just it is heartening it it makes me feel really really hopeful and I

119I look forward to the expansion and including uh a broader range of citizens in the discussion and I I see the the ripples from this being very beneficial to our community so thank you very much Dr mooken thank you Mr BR I Echo once again how much we appreciate all your work and I hope that you eventually will publish this and share this with others M lur um I'm looking around and I'm seeing some familiar faces but I'm seeing some young faces too do we have high school students here tonight you can raise your hand I'm not going to make you do anything really scary and then um I think we have some even younger ones so I just want to say welcome to our um students that are here tonight and uh thank you

120for coming to witness government in action and also know that you're the reason we do all this so thank you for being here tonight thank you Mr cars thank you I I thank everyone for coming out tonight and speaking uh from this group and just want to speak to the public uh because I have had some concerns from the public saying does this uh Community dialogue groups that mean that you know they're the on is going to be making the policy or things like that no this is them bringing concerns to the board um to us and to the public on that on topic there uh I just want to um solidify or say tonight that you know Rockingham County is not Northern Virginia and we will always be a place that's very welcoming of

121diverse of thoughts and uh diverse of race diverse of culture um and as was spoken here tonight is Rockingham County is historically a very religious community with deep roots into Christian judeo values and although we we respect and we welcome all face into our and to our community um we are not going to forget um our heritage uh here in Rockingham County as well uh so when we hear words like diversity a lot of times people in the public especially in Rockham County we we like tonight there was a speaker talked about um diversity of books and libraries and I'm and I'm all for that I want diversity of books when it comes to race and culture and different uh aspects of life but um what more specifically I believe maybe the speaker was talking

122about was books um that display any type of pornographic image and things like that that's not the diversity that we are welcoming to uh Rockham County Public Schools and those things that we that we those are things that which board members uh elected by the public have to take a good look at and say what is appropriate uh for our children and what's appropriate for our community the whole of our community so I heard the word safety come up a lot tonight and that really is my number one concern as a school board member is that we are protecting the not only the physical safety of um our students but the we're also protecting the emotional safety of our students which includes parents in that decision making as well and we also want to protect

123the intellectual safety of our children in Rockingham County so thank you so much for the group um and thank you for your time that you've spent I heard some of you say tonight that you skipped vacation I I left vacation or or planned your vacations around the meetings and uh Miss family events I know how that's like and I just want to say thank you so much tonight for all the work and time you've put into it so thank you for your time and um that's all I had to say tonight Mr chair Dr sh I'll pass thank you thank you uh Joe I was kind of thinking about after I went back on the board after my first round we used to meet in my office in the evening a group of five or

124six of us and we were a pretty diverse group and had some some Lively conversations I I sitting here now I regret that that's ever stopped we we did at least for an hour or so yeah um so you know I I think all of that is great I'm I'm I've always been convinced that I can sit down and uh and find a lot of common ground with most anybody you know but we've gotten to a point I use the baseball analogy that we can we can both be Baseball fans and love the nuances of the game but let it come out in the conversation that you're a Yankees fan and I'm a Red Sox fan and then suddenly we see the game entirely different and that's what's happened in our politics and that's most

125unfortunate and I think that the first thing we have to do is take responsibility for our individual part in creating that dysfunction and I do that I recognize and I uh commit to improve that uh that I will try my dead level best to not be drawn into um that kind of dialogue because U your kids your grandkids my grandkids that's what it's all about folks and U when we lose sight of that we've lost sight of U of why we're all here and so my commitment to you tonight and to those who may be listening is to do what small part I can to improve that dialogue moving forward we do have reason to enter into Clos meeting and if it be the board's desire I will entertain a motion in that regard I

126move that the board enter a Clos meeting to discuss and consider the following pursuant to the provisions of Virginia code section 2.2 3711 A1 Personnel specific public public officers appointees or employees for the purpose of considering such individuals assignment appointment promotion performance salary or resignation and A2 one or more particular students specifically related to discipline and requests regarding compulsory School attendance based on religious beliefs or the inability to benefit from education at the school that would involve disclosure of information contained in a Scholastic record concerning a student thank you Miss lur is there a second thank thank you Mr Faulk all those in favor of entering into closed meeting please say I I I any opposed that is 5 thank you all and please be safe driving home