001there we go now thank you all for being here on what has been a hot but beautiful day and um it has been a busy summer for all of us I am sure certainly know it has been for me so we appreciate you joining us this evening I'd like to begin by asking that everyone who is able please stand and join me in the Pledge of Allegiance Pledge aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all ah since I skipped approving the agenda I would ask that we can proceed to that now do I hear a motion to approve tonight's agenda I move we approve the agenda as presented thank you Miss lore is there a
002second second thank you Mr Cross any discussion hearing none all those in favor of approval of tonight's agenda as presented please say I I I any opposed sounded like a 5 O to me at this time I would ask that all of you um join me in a moment of silence as before we begin our public meeting thank you next we will move into public comments and there will be uh a timer on the screen and as is the normal procedure I will um gavel once at 30 seconds that way you don't have to be so attuned to the clock um and then we'll gavel twice at the end of the three minutes uh we ask that your uh comments be directed to the entire board and I will begin with Zach Nicholson post on
003his government page about his request being denied to meet with legal council of the name change policy someone who will remain anonymous which I can only assume was Mr folks little birdie posted that if cross was concerned with the meeting then he should have attended and instead was shering a youth group to which I replied that members missed meetings for various Reon reasons rather illness emergency or vacation and that would be like me criticizing Sho while he was away when his mother was sick now granted that is not the same as say shap Runing a group but rather a vague generalization that yes members do miss meetings I do not feel my comments were disrespectful to Shel I would not fault a man for spending time with family or grieving with family so around 10
004p.m. July 25th Mr folk reached out to me via Facebook Messenger I told Mr folk that unless he was willing to give his Source or at least tell me what was said U between him and his birdie this conversation shouldn't proceed I cannot defend myself if I don't know what was said I then requested folk to call me we exchanged numbers but he was too tired to talk which I find ironic since he decided that around 10 p.m. this was a great time to strike this conversation I told him I expect his call about as much as I expect the F feedback he promised on the Sherman Alexi novel that was qu uh excuse me in question where he and his wife were to review and give me feedback that was March 29th and I'm
005still waiting for that feedback that's when Mr folk used profanity in calling me an ah use your imagin ination this is not appropriate behavior for a school board member I do not appreciate being harassed at 10 p.m. so days later I email Vice chair lore and chair Breeden lore responded with not only a condescending tone but would not comment folks Behavior was inappropriate or not despite my repeated attempts P you my email guys it's all there they condone these actions by folk and Breeden never responded during the last two years I have debated policy and actions by this board where I was called hostile and not once have I threatened or used profanity in our conversations emails or texts advocating for my children is a fundamental protected right learned a distinction I gave this board
006and Mr folk ample time to issue an apology to which I received none so again I'll ask Mr folk I would like you to issue an apology here tonight if you cannot do so then perhaps it's time to resign if you have to curse a parent when addressing uh and conversing about school business then that is a clear sign of weak leadership imagine if cross had said this to someone like Ashley Saunders or uh uh Patrick frit you guys will be all over it when it shouldn't matter the party affiliation of who said it but rather it was even said at all and closing I offer my comments on sro's and uh the name change policy we need sros in every school otherwise how was this this board County Supervisors and Sheriff's sleep knowing they
007have to pick which students and staff to protect and which ones we don't it's also wrong to assume that all parents are some kind of trans Boogeyman if the assumption is that I'll be abusive for being no IFI then don't notify me of B grades or skipping class I'm not transphobic just because all right well the floor is yours guys thank you Marvin Weaver my name my name is Marvin Weaver thanks for this opportunity um I am here uh for one reason and really one reason only and that's for the benefit of our children and in my case grandchildren because I do have grandchildren in the public school system um let me just start out by saying I'm 100% behind Matt cross's uh proposal as far as parental rights because that is fundamental to me
008the children belong to the parents and we should never usurp parents' Authority okay okay um the issues um that you as a school board decide are going to have a profound effect going forward for our children because they're life changing and they should really be debated with all sides involved um because I have watched this issue and of course you know what I'm talking about probably the whole gay agenda the transgender all of that I have watched and I have observed people that are involved in that and that have uh accepted that lifestyle and I don't like what I see I sat here last um Schoolboard meeting and listen to a lady give statistics on uh some of the things that these children are exhibiting as far as Doric behavior and they were not good
009yet she was for the she was for all of the transgender things uh the percentages of things like suicide they're thinking about suicide and I'm thinking can we not connect the dots can we not connect the dots I'll leave it at that the other thing that I'm really concerned about is I'm going to relate to you a situation that was really related to me by a friend I did not research this I took him at his word because he knows these people they have a daughter that is in high school at one of the local high schools she went to her bathroom to use the bathroom and in comes a boy and she says what are you doing in here you can't be in here he goes oh yes I can well she just left
010thank you she just left did use bathroom didn't use it till she went till she got home because she was mortified here's what I'm saying please think this through because once it's in place it's going to be hard to get it out thank you next is Mike stemple uh thank thank you for the opportunity to speak with you all um yeah I'm 100% against the name change policy um I don't think it's necessary um I don't think it's it's something that was a problem was created out of nothing um there was no issue and as far as the there were some mention of Statistics those statistics um that the gentleman mentioned or the the young lady mentioned in the previous meeting were about unsupportive families uh people lgbtq folks who are in unsupportive families experience
011more suicide and things like that that's that's why they experience it I'd like to talk a little bit about the nature of God and who God is um according my understanding I believe that uh Jesus is the greatest uh as far as the character of God he is our best representation and I just think about him I know many many people on this ISS on I don't to call it an issue because these are people's lives but people think about these things they use God as their their guide and I'd like us to think about the nature of God and things that God said in his uh in the Bible and his word and about how who he God interacted with so you think about um uh the Pharisees you would think Al so the
012Pharisees um if you're a Pharisee you memorize like this much of the Bible like you know the Old Testament the Minor Prophets The Major Prophets you knew all that stuff right so you'd think well these guys would be the righteous ones these are the guys would be God hanging out with no in his inner circle Jesus hung out with a prostitute who washed his feet with her hair and perfume right that was his inner circle not the Pharisees who knew this whole thing like the whole almost the whole thing um I think about uh verses such as James chap 2: 19 because a lot of people will say well we're just trying to you know knowing god means we're trying to get people to believe in God it says well even the demons believe and
013tremble you know in God so obviously that's not the mark there's a there's a there's a better Mark of who God is and the N nature of God so I think of the prophets I think of Hosea chapter 6 verse 6 for I desire Mercy not sacrifice and acknowledgement of God rather than burnt offerings basically God's saying I don't care about how you can do all your religious festivals you can do all your Pious religious Behavior I don't care I want Mercy not sacrifice you have um Amos um chapter 6 oh excuse me oh yeah excuse me ver uh chapter 5 verse uh 24 I mean before that he talks about I hate and despise your religious feasts I cannot uh stand your assemblies he's talking about like if you put it in contemporary English
014you think about today he's talking about people like if you're having a religious service he doesn't care he says but let Justice roll down like a river righteousness like a never flowing stream um he doesn't care about your sacrifice all this Pious Behavior he says you know Justice that's that is my guide and that is the god that I follow and God would be on the side of the CH trans kids and lgbtq kids and that's that's where I'm going to I'm going to stay with God on that side Todd Matthew I'm a math teacher in Rockingham County and something is just not adding up about the lack of Parental notification in our County first let's be honest about what parents are concerned about a child asking to be called a different name is going
015down the road changing their gender in rcps this very important decision by a student is supported by the schools but concealed from parents what right does a school have to hide such a momentous change from parents it appears that the school board and superintendent don't trust parents the majority of whom were educated in public schools such as ours does anyone find that ironic second why would rcps want to conceal this information from parents is it because you don't think it's a big deal for a child to change their gender well it is or do you not trust parents to make decisions that are best for their children they do or do you assume that most parents who are not supportive of their child changing their gender are going to abuse their child they aren't the
016fact is that growing up is a process in which parents guide their children the best they know how and sometimes that involves difficult conversations and interactions keeping this a secret from parents short circuits this natural process why do you think parents are not as good at school officials at trying to understand and deal with what their child is going through third we've been hearing alarming statistics about how students go down the road of gender transitioning are way more susceptible to self harm as a side note affirming something that could harm someone is not compassion what doesn't make sense is why would you intentionally conceal this potential danger at the very time when a child is in the greatest need of their parents involvement love and guidance this has nothing to do with outing students and
017everything to do with simply informing the primary source of care love and responsibility in the child's life their parents taking this one step further have you considered the potential liability you are assuming by keeping secrets from parents imagine this likely scenario the school system knows that a child is headed down a path which has risk factors for self harm the school system intentionally withholds that information from parents and then the child harms herself have your lawyers considered this lastly as a teacher I am not comfortable keeping secrets from parents don't ask me to call a student one name at school and then a different name in communicating with parents it's not ethical and I won't do it school board members don't cave to poit politically correct group think woke voices who insist that you agree
018with them that the emperor's new outfit looks Terri terrific wake up people he's naked I want to say thank you to all of those who have addressed the board this evening and thank you for your courtesy to all of the speakers as they as they spoke and expressed their views we had one more I did and I'm so sorry I'm sorry it's my first time I don't really know it's been a long day for me and I yeah I apologize it's okay hi my name is Sarah Hurst and I'm a parent of three children ages 5 10 and 13 I'm a former teacher of Rockingham County Public Schools I actually just resigned this year after having spent 14 years um teaching in this County so thank you for allowing me to speak tonight I speaking
019tonight with the perspective of a parent and a teacher on board member Matt cross's name notification proposal teachers care deeply about the heart of a child and what is best for them but we are not nor will we ever be our students parents there are rights and responsibilities that go with parenting that we do not have as Educators the term in locco parentis which is Latin for in place of the parent is been being taken too far these days schools have temporary authority to ensure that our children are respectful and safe while in your care but we are still the parents even with in loco parentis in place you still do not have the authority to withhold information about our children from us as parents we have sovereignty over our children not you you don't
020have to agree with our parenting style but it isn't your job to interfere or to keep secrets from parents there are a lot of assumptions being made about how parents will respond when a phone call like this is made and somewhere along the line some of you began to think that it was your job to protect children from their parents first of all and you all already know this but you have hired excellent teachers and counselors in Rockingham County they know how to have these difficult conversations with parents that can cultivate relationships and not endanger children it is irresponsible to base policy or a lack of a policy on a rare and worst case scenario like the child could die if you wanted to you could work together on the wording of Mr cross's policy
021for those rare in instances but as a general rule parents need to be informed second parents make mistakes we all say things we regret we're probably going to get it wrong sometimes the school should never presume that they need to protect children from their parents by withholding information just in case we screw it up these situations are opportunities to help the child share with the parent schools have an opportunity to in these situations direct parents to outside resources if you choose as a former teacher I can assure you that this proposed policy will not place an undue burden on teachers nor will it cause excessive paperwork as some has worried that it would as Educators it's not considered best practice to ever withhold information from parents period it's not best practice members of the board
022do not vote on the policy based on assumptions about how a parent might respond vote to protect a parent's god-given privilege and right to parent and to be informed of what's going on in with their child at all times we may not agree with how someone else rears and parents their child but the bottom line is it's not the school's job to create barriers and a lack of transparency parental consent should be required for name changes because the schools are not the parent thank you again miss tus I'm I'm sorry for overpassing you it was not intentional I apologize but again I thank you all for being respectful of all of the speakers and the opinions that they have expressed to the board tonight next we will move to Highlights by board members and I
023will begin with Mr folk thank you Dr mookin oh thank you Mr Breen this evening I have three highlights the first of which is this book that's available on Amazon and was written by one of our teachers it was written by Autumn I never get this name right Pino thank you thank you yes and Autumn wrote this book and it's called the day the farmers quit and I I purchased it from Amazon and we're just proud as as can be that she uh went to Amazon and had this book printed and it's available there and I I highly recommend it Autumn is very supportive of a A in the county isn't that correct Miss Laur lur abely yes indeed and I know she has uh sponsored many programs annually to bring parents in and to
024community members in to watch the children interact with the with the farm animals and and Farmers so thank you Autumn my next one is the week of July 11th there there was an article in the DNR and it was uh highlighting the national drumming Workshop sponsored by the world music drumming Corporation and it was held at Peak View and one of our teachers um asked to bring this in and 10 of our teachers attended and 30 there 35 Al together and 25 were not from our County and it was a wonderful opportunity for our teachers to learn more about drumming and it was an opportunity to highlight and showcase our School Division when the other teachers from other divisions came in so it was wonderful uh wonderful program and lastly uh at the end of
025the summer on uh at TA there were 56 students who graduated in summer graduation I think it was absolutely wonderful students from all four of our high schools were represented and it was a very proud evening the parents were so enthusiastic the audience was enthusiastic and the students were ecstatic to be graduating so it was a great great evening that's it thank you Dr mooken Miss lore thank you I think I'm gonna pass for just a minute because my highlight is coming up very soon I uh and it looks like we have I'm I just want to say I'm a proud graduate of Turner Ashby High School I let I see a lot of familiar faces out here so I'm looking forward to that so I'm going to pass for now Mr car I've got
026two tonight number one uh Bob Scott is here tonight he was my principal and I want to highlight him in all the years he spent in Rockham County and all the hours I spent in his office as a student something must have worked I'm sitting here tonight and I God worked in my life Mr Scott and I turned out okay I think I so thank you for all your patience as my principal and believing in me uh as a student and I appre appreciate all the work you've done throughout the years in Rockham County Public Schools thank you for being here tonight um my second highlight tonight won't uh well my second highlight tonight is I want to just highlight all the custodians uh that we have within the county that's all the hard work
027that they've been doing throughout the summertime and all the things I've been seeing post on social media and and just the the work they put into the schools is absolutely amazing and uh your work does not go unnoticed so uh you're probably not watching this tonight but you're probably at home uh uh with your family and joining your evening but uh as a Schoolboard member I really appreciate all our staff that puts all the hard work in over the summer time to make our schools look as good as they do and I I appreciate all your hard work so if you happen to see a custodian please reach out to them and tell them thanks for all they do for our school so Mr chairman that's all I've got thank you sir Dr Sho um
028one highlight uh just this past weekend stuffed the bus uh at multiple locations across the county uh thanks to everyone in the community who came out to donate school supplies that go to um students and families that have trouble you know paying for those school supplies and it's always a big effort on part of the community to uh support the schools and to support those families and so that uh those supplies are staying uh in the area so they are divided up by a free reduced lunch percentage among the different schools and and it was a privilege to be out at Timberville Walmart to help collect some supplies with staff and and uh talk to community members for that time uh while the custodians as Mr Cross had said um worked hard again this summer
029to uh make the schools really look amazing um as to do every year and you know we've we've said this all the time you know when people come to Rockingham to visit um when you look at our buildings and some of you know the buildings um certainly um have aged quite a bit but you walk into that building and it looks like a brand new building and that's really due to the work from our custodial staff and and it's amazing uh that's what most people uh who visit immediately comment on is how amazingly um clean our buildings are how well taken care of they are uh when Renovations are done of course our schools look like brand new schools inside and and custodians just like everyone else they take tremendous pride in their work and
030I know the Facebook post was about the spotwood group um which is an incredible group and it's the same in all our other schools and so while they were cleaning um families were taking vacations and I would say one of the highlights um on social media at least uh was um the Facebook effort that Katie leir put together um our community outreach coordinator to have families send in pictures of all the things that the kids did over the summer whether that was activities locally or travels that took them um all over the world and and the same for staff that was certainly also highlight to see what happens during the summer when the kids aren't there and um while the custodians clean and everyone else also traveled administrators and teachers had a number of opportunities
031for uh learning so just uh these last few days I know a number of Staff members were out at the bay again with Mr Fitzgerald so um always want to say thank you you know for making those opportunities available um number of other opportunities as well and and today we just started administrative in Services um at JMU for our administrative staff so we're getting close uh uh you know just a couple days after the next board meeting it's going to finally be school again because it's not school until the kids are back and so everyone's still finalizing the preparations getting bus routes ready and um yeah looking forward to the kids being back thank you thank you um and thank all of you for for your for your highlights U you certainly have touched on
032some uh very very worthy uh topics here I I just am excited because the people that I talk to who that I run into that are employees of the system are just excited about going back everybody seems to be in a in a good frame of mind and and ready to buckle down and get some get some good work done a and a good year underway there's only one person that I've met who does not share that sentiment and we just received word this week that my four-year-old grandson Oakland has been accepted in the four-year-old program and he said nope not going so but everybody else seems to be pretty excited about that um next we will move into action items and the first item is the name naming of the Turner hash Turner Ashby
033high school gymnasium and I'd like to call upon principal Chris snow good evening chairman Bren Schoolboard members and Dr Shel my name is Chris null principal at Turner rashby High School uh pursuant to board policy FFA I come to you this evening on behalf of members of the community who have submitted letters in support of the renaming of the gymnasium at Turner Ashby high school for Mr Larry s Pence I'm in possession of 16 letters requesting at the board consider this proposal a number of individuals who submitted these letters are in attendance this evening along with Mr Pence his wife Mandy and members of his family Larry Pence came to Turner Ashby in 1961 as a head boys basketball coach during his 18 years as coach employing The Motto Excellence through Athletics his teams have
034had a record of 276 wins and 117 losses and notched nine District championships three regional championships and the 1967-68 group two state championship he also served as athletic director and coordinated the move to the new school in Bridgewater coach Pence retired from Rockingham County schools in 1995 during his career spanning four decades he was recognized as coach of the year two-time athletic director of the year for the Commonwealth of Virginia as and has been inducted to the Bridgewater College Hall of Fame and the Virginia High School league Hall of Fame in the words of Coach Bobby Stevens Beyond his success on the court coach Pence truly believes and set and sets the example of the student athlete many of his former players went on to college and post-graduate degrees his love of competition through Sports
035and his willingness to work with young men and women has positively influenced many young people and has earned the respect and admiration of those who worked with him thank you to the board for considering this request from the Turner Ashby Community thank you Mr Mr n and um I'm prepared to read the resolution that was really um prepared as a collaboration with some of the members of the community who uh came to Mr null uh this process always begins with members of the community suggesting the naming of a of a facility or part of a facility to the principal and then uh Mr null came to me we worked through that draft again there was additional input from even Schoolboard members and we had it um also worked on in in our staff so so
036thanks to Kim Tate for proofreading it um as late as today and so here would be the final version of ref may I please have the honor of reading this resolution absolutely I've got it right here in front of me and just so everybody knows so um I grew up with Mandy and Larry as my 4 leaders and I owe a great deal of my public speaking abilities to these fine people so it is absolutely my honor to read this resolution tonight resolution naming the main gymnasium at Turner Ashby High School the Larry s Pence gymnasium whereas Larry ESP Pence served as a teacher coach and athletic director for 35 years at Turner asby High School and whereas he coordinated the overall athletic programs and Facilities to move to the new Turner Ashby High School
037in Bridgewater and has led the way for the athletic programs to grow in many areas during his tenure over the four decades at the school including as the coach of the 1968 boys basketball group 2 state championship team and whereas he consistently sought to meet and serve the needs of all students staff and athletes with whom he worked and ensured that every child received an equal opportunity to succeed in addition to teaching his Co to his teaching and coaching duties he was an an adult volunteer leader in the creative chefs 4 Club club and the Rockingham County 4 a volunteer at the Rockingham County Fair assisting with various food booths and the junior homemaking department and whereas he was recognized with many honors and awards including coach of the year and in 1978 and 1993
038athletic director of the year for the Commonwealth of Virginia and was inducted into the Bridgewater College Hall of Fame and the Virginia High School league vhsl Hall of Fame and whereas his motto Excellence through Athletics has influenced many student athletes and athletic programs at Turner ASB high school and whereas he served as a role model by virtue of his strong moral code his work ethic his commitment to education and his high standard of sportsmanship on and off the court earning him the respect affection and gratitude from the students athletes parents coaches and staff members of Turner Ashby high school and its extended Community now therefore be it resolved that the Rockingham County School Board names the main gymnasium at Turner ashb High School the Larry s Pence gymnasium in honor of Mr Pence's ex exemplary
039contributions to Turner Ashby students athletes teachers coaches and the Dayton Bridgewater community did I do the adopted part no you don't and I recommend approval of the resolution as you just heard thank you Dr Shel is there a motion for approval of the resolution is read by Miss lore I so move thank you Mr lur is there a second second thank you Dr mcquilton any discussion it's truly an honor to be here taking this vote tonight and uh we uh can't wait to see the when the recognition is is in place if there are and we have to have a roll call for resolution no okay all those in favor of the resolution and the motion please say I I any opposed I hear that is 5 congratulations Mr chairman may ask for a five
040minute recess so that we may congratulate Mr Pence absolutely would you like to say anything Mr Pence before that's a good idea I am highly honored with this distinction I'd like to thank you the school board I'd like to thank Tom Hoy who headed up our committee the people who supported me the administration of Rockingham County and Turner rashby my fellow coaches and most of all the athletes who served under these 18 years of varsity basketball I'd like to also thank my student managers scorekeepers those who uh were not the athletes but supported the program and most of all the parents of these youngsters again it's a high honor and I definitely appreciate it thank you thank you at this time per uh Miss Lord's request I will declare the meeting in recess for five
041minutes for how you doing back up sure oh boy PR all thank declare this meeting back into order um We are continuing on our action items and board members we do have need to approve the minutes from the previous meeting you have received a copy of those and I will entertain a motion if it be your desire for approval I move we accept the minutes as presented thank you Mrs L is there a second second thank you Mr vulk any questions or comments hearing none all those in favor please say I I I any opposed that is unanimous next we will move to bills and mileage you have that that in your packet as well board members and if it be your desire we will entertain a motion for approval of payment uh I move
042that we approve the July 2022 bills as presented I supposed to wait for you to recommend it was I do recommend approval of the bill it's okay I follow Su second thank you m l that just shows you're not really in charge Dr sh that's right go with the flow go with the flow all right any discussion on bills and mileage um Can Dr Sho have you found out whether you know how close we are to making that uh transparent to the public being able to see that on the website I think they are being posted they are yeah can you can you tell us where that's at so it's just like everything if you go to to a board meetings there's always public content administrative content executive content right now you see them in
043executive content because they haven't been approved yet so um but in the in the meeting record uh these are then in public content just like um the resolution for example to uh name the gymnasium that we just had again right now that's an executive content and then that goes up to public content so as uh people look through the agendas the when bills are adopted once that adoption happens then those go up into public content so they will be available Great Is there a way we can make that um simple on the on the page um a button where they or something they could address so that people don't have to kind of search through it they just kind of it's out there and they can see it yeah I understand I mean every uh
044every document that the board approves just like Personnel for example you know whatever the documents are um the there is on the main website if you go to the board you know there the meeting agendas and again every month the bills are there so they are consistently in the same spot and so anytime you go to meeting agenda if bills are there and you click on bills the document will be there I think that's okay so doesn't you just don't see them now um I don't know whether yep last meeting already okay was that cool all right great awesome yeah and again that took a little bit of work just in terms of how the items are recorded we had that conversation previously um before they were posted publicly you know it wasn't always easy
045to identify what that was and so again and there'll be some you know where that continues but uh for the most part we've had conversations then with accounts payable to make sure that when the description is put in that it it really explains um you know what that is for so so hopefully that's helpful to the public and um yeah not a problem problem any other discussion or comments hearing none all in favor of payment of the bills and mileage for July 20122 please say I I any opposed that was unanimous as well budget amendment for fiscal year 202020 2022 Miss Mass thank you it's easier said than not said than done chairman Breeden members of the board and Dr Shel uh for your approval this evening is an amend it's actually for mut and
046Technical Center our fund 2205 uh it is to appropriate additional Revenue that was received by MTC for fiscal year 22 the one that just ended June 30 and I do recommend approval of the budget amendment for fiscal year 22 as presented by Miss Mass thank you Dr cyle is there a motion in support of superintendent's recommendation I move to follow the superintendent's recommendation to approve the budget amendment thank you Mr F presented thank you Mr folk and I will second any questions or comments hearing none all in favor please say I I any opposed that sounded like 5 to me as well first American Commercial Bank Corp police Dr CYO um back in I believe November um the board approved the bid for um 2,700 Lenovo 500 E Chromebooks for students in grades 6 7
047and 12 so this is not really a new item uh simply at this point we are at the stage where um the lease financing because again that spans multiple years has to be authorized by resolution and so we've worked with legal council and um with first American Commercial Bank to um draft this resolution for your approval that now authorizes the lease for the Chromebooks um that you have already approved through the bid uh previously and I recommend approval of the resolution as presented thank you Dr shyo do I hear us a motion in support of the superintendent's recommendation on the resolution yeah I motion to follow superintendent's recommendation to approve this resolution thank you Mr car is there a second thank you Dr mcquilkin any questions or comments okay all those in favor please say
048I I I any opposed that is unanimous as well English Learners textbook adoption for middle school students Dr shefet good evening chair Breeden members of the board Dr Shel at the May 9th 2002 meeting the school board of approved a committee to review and evaluate a new textbook or resource for our English learner uh middle school students and teachers uh the committee reviewed three different textbooks and they are recommending that we adopt Bridges by Vista learning for our Middle School El Learners thank you Dr CH and I do approve I do recommend approval of the um Bridges by Vista learning uh textbook for the Middle School El program as presented by Dr shifflet thank you Dr Shel and Dr shifflet do I hear a motion in support of the recommendation I move we follow the
049superintendent's recommendation thank you m Lor is there a second thank you Mr Cross any questions comments yeah go ahead good my question is is this a a paper textbook or or virtual or both it's both it is there is actually a um paper textbook tradition but there's also desource digital resources that support it as well yeah I actually had the opportunity to go out to planes and visit Miss riger's uh classroom out there and see it in action and uh she's doing a great job with this out there and um she loved it she was working actually it was challenging the students and she just talked about how I'm it's someone got the it's all right happens in church too um so um but she really enjoyed it we got a chance to go over
050to Pence middle school and and check out the E program there and then we followed up with Miss McDow over at Spotswood and so it's a great a great curriculum I love the the E whole e process that we're going through my question would be is U since we've adopting this for the middle school is there anything in uh place to look at maybe adopting something for the high school students as well yeah we already have an adoption for for the elementary and I think that would be probably the next on the list right we're trying to just build this out the monies for this um were set aside with some of the car's money and some of the sr2 and sr3 funds I can't remember exactly which one uh we used but uh maybe
051it was three yeser hold on one of you said two one of you said three but anyway one of those budgets we're going to pay for them I think no I'm just kidding they had the money it's set aside for that yeah okay but like I said I just going and visiting the classrooms it seemed like the stud the uh teachers enjoyed it and also it challenged the students so I'm glad to see us adopting this tonight thank you other questions or comments okay now I have just I've had a really long day I apologize I've been at the hospital with my mom since early this morning but did did we do the roll call vote on the resolution I don't think we did so let's so let's get I think I did a Voice
052vote on it as opposed to a roll call but let me get let's do this one and then we'll go back and and pick that one up if there are no questions or further questions all those in favor of adoption of the um English Learners textbook please say I I I any opposed thank you that's 5 and back thank you Dr back on the first american commercial bord lease um does anybody need any refresher on that before we so we'll do a roll call on that chair Breeden I Mr Fulk Vice chair lore I Dr mcquilkin Mr Cross I thank you next we will move to policy revisions Marcy Williams good evening chairman Breeden members of the board and Dr Shel I'm here this evening to bring to you the 14 policies that were before
053you in July for information uh for your review and action on those policies this evening I do recommend approval of the Poli IES as presented by Miss Williams thank you Dr Shel do I hear a motion in favor of support of the superintendent's recommendation a motion to follow superent recommendation thank you Mr cars is there a second thank you Mr folk any questions or comments hearing none all those in favor please say I I any opposed and that is 5 thank you Mr Williams you and that will conclude our action items for this evening we will move into information items we have a textbook committee for fashion marketing Mr Fitzgerald good evening chair Breeden school board members Dr Shel uh tonight for information I present a list of potential textbook committee members for fashion marketing
054uh the list includes marketing teachers from each of the attendance areas a business owner Who's involved in fashion marketing a parent and a student um I'll ask for action on this committee at the next school board meeting uh the book was last adopted the one that's in current use in 2006 are you're saying that fashion has changed since 2006 just a little not my fashion but maybe you and I wearing the same stuff coming back I know I got my old tie on today that's it any questions well once we get the committee then the committee will choose some books to look at and you we're planning on looking on at online and text versions most of them are both text versions and online versions but yes if you'd like a copy we certainly can
055get you one of everything we look at okay thank you Mr fiter thank you board members there is a policy manual annual announcement that you have for your information the annual announcement says that the Schoolboard policy manual is posted on the Rockingham County Public Schools web page accessible to employees in the public printed copies are available as needed to citizens who do not have online access further changes in Schoolboard policy are presented at open school board meetings predominantly as informational items to be be approved at a later date School Board welcomes input to the proposed revisions by school board members administrators teachers parents and other concerned citizens and that is just an annual statement that's U made each year regarding policy manual also you will find in your packets a financial review for July of
05622 and uh do you have anything to add to that M Mass we also have that yeah that's okay um so the financial review right is in your materials as usual Y and the school meeting schedule is also in your materials just for a review again there'll be action on it at the next board meeting uh the meeting schedule is very similar to this year we make some adjustments based on uh when the retirement event is so that that's not always at the same school but other than that um you know and again there are some uh meetings that are changed to Tuesday for example you know if uh Monday for example is a holiday that that is observed and and so you can review that and then we'll bring it again for Action at
057the next meeting thank you Dr shyo next we will move to Schoolboard questions and I will begin with Mr Cross yeah my my first one is question on Dr Sho was I I'd ask you about maybe some I'm looking into possibly doing something with um cell phones in the classroom helping out with teachers and things like that and just wanted to ask you kind of where you're at on that your thoughts and kind of the process that yeah so um over the summer I had sent uh board members an article uh to to read at their at discussion obviously about um Research into the negative effects of cell phones on learning so in the actual learning environment it's really important to understand um how cell phone applications are written uh cell phone applications that uh
058rely on students you know to like something so for example a lot of the social media apps they function when you talk about brain chemistry they're very similar to a drug addiction so a dopamine release and so these clicks become something kids actually literally get addicted to and um while we can't put the uh social media piece back into the box uh we certainly have some control over how much students have access uh to those during the day currently it's not really an issue at elementary schools we don't allow cell phones there at the middle schools the policy um basically allows students to have their cell phones and they can even carry them around or have them in their pocket but they're not supposed to use them now you can imagine you know students go
059to the restroom or or they just walk with them in the hallway you know who's going to um check whether they're on their cell phone or not and then at the high school um it is basically up to each teacher to determine whether the cell phone is needed for uh some instructional purpose and and that policy came about you know it's called bring your own device so that came about years before we went into a onetoone environment where students have access to a Chromebook at all times and at the time you know when students conducted research that required online research if the um teacher couldn't get access for example to a mobile lab or to the at the time to a regular computer lab then you had to really postpone um that activ potentially and
060so the board at the time then uh created that policy to allow teachers to say you know what if we need this for research right now uh you can have that cell phone but again that's no longer uh the case because the Chromebooks are there now times have also changed in terms of how much students communicate with those cell phones for example with their families particularly in high school when we're talking about Athletics uh many coaches you know if if we find out in the middle of the day that something needs to be postponed there may maybe a group text message and so um I think there there's a good conversation to be had uh for example it's conceivable uh to say in Middle School even though again saying you can't have your phone with
061you at any time well if it's in the book bag you know it might be okay so at the middle school it's certainly possible to say the phone if your phone is with you it can't be in your pocket you can't carry it around you can't use it during the school day if you have it in your in your book bag for some before and after school communication or on the bus whatever it may be then we may be okay with that again that's a good conversation to be had at the high school certainly it makes it really difficult um for this class by class uh permission and so the feedback from administrators the feedback from teachers has been pretty much uh cell phones are the biggest distraction to Student Learning no question about it
062and so that again um maybe a policy could be implemented that says at the high school level even though students can have them in between classes and because again it's a different level of communication that during instructional time no cell phones um it would include some other um changes to policy in terms of for example um requiring wired headphones for the Chromebook uh because again as soon as you have the the Bluetooth um your piece in you know you're connected to your phone not really to the Chromebook likely um and so again it's a good conversation but I will also say that it's important for us to get feedback from teachers and feedback from families and so my recommendation um would be to um conduct a survey among families among teachers um to see you
063know which of these variations uh families and teachers really prefer um I have to say in teacher um and parent advisory U both groups overwhelmingly um supported any change that uh eliminates the use of the cell phone during instructional time again at the middle school um just have it in your book bag if you have it in school um but again that's a small group and so I think again this is um something that affects families in in ways you know that um we don't always know you know in terms of communication and certainly there will also always be exceptions for example we have some students who um are diabetic right who have um a measurement uh device in their arm and then the cell phone serves you know as their tool to to get
064an alert so um again we'll work through all that and but but I believe as teachers return and families are coming you know kids are coming back to school think it's the right time to ask families and then um at the board level have that conversation around what potential changes may be appropriate but I can tell you um teachers have told administrators it's the number one uh reason that um they're having you know problems with getting kids attention and and it's you know I don't want to blame the kids because when you live in that environment where um that's how the apps are designed specifically to get you hooked uh then we just we have to to be very very careful right great we will we try to get a survey out the beginning of
065school year or I would recommend that okay um because again if we do it I mean we're two weeks from the school year so you know anytime between now even at the beginning of the school year we can open it up to see what the early feedback is but I would also like to give again families that time you know that they really are thinking school and and and teachers you know are are back in that environment because some of it may involve you know conversations at the school level where teachers really want wants that surveys is out maybe they want to talk to other staff members and and so rather than asking them in the summer when those conversations aren't necessarily there I think it's a good time to say you know we we
066hear the concerns and but we want to get more input from families and from teachers uh because ultimately that's who it affects the most right it um it certainly affects teachers in their ability to um have classroom activities where students are focused and that's a key piece of of learning and also to have some input from families um you know what barriers they might see or or how they see the benefit of it awesome awesome uh board members would you agree to for him to do a survey that would be in favor of that all right well it looks like we're all in favor of of doing a survey like that to hear back from the teachers and parents and I think it's a great idea so thanks for thanking that thanks for sending that
067out anything we can do to help our teachers in class room is Big so thank you I'm the the last thing I'm not uh from from the name uh change policy um we're going to talk to Council on tonight and and look at my policy in which I presented so um there's not a lot that that that I have to to say on that um other than I really appreciate um a lot of the speakers that came out tonight and the public that addressed this and because many of you had some great thoughts and ideas uh on this and I appreciate you coming out and addressing the board um I was at um MAA I don't know if you like MAA in District 3 but I was at Mya just here last week having lunch
068and there were two young uh mothers that were in the uh restaurant and so I'm I went up and introduced myself and I one of them had an infant that they were carrying the other one had three kids under six and and um told them about my policy and what the how we operate now as a school board and I asked them two people that I don't know don't know whether they they they didn't know me um and I asked them their thoughts on this as well and they said absolutely we want to know if our child is dealing with something like this and we want to be the ones in in charge whether they changed their names or not and these are two young parents um I talked to another parent today uh in
069my uh District who's a mother at kubon and I asked her she didn't know who I was either didn't know anything about the policy and I asked her I said um told her what was going on and told her how we were operating right now as as a division and she was shocked that we wouldn't notify the parents and allow the parents to have that decision uh with their child so um as much as the media wants to report that I'm some mean ogre and some just um the boogeyman out here and this is I'm such a terrible person this is how the majority of our constituents in Rockingham County think and believe that we should have the parent uh involvement consent and knowledge if their child is going to change their name and I
070think it would behoove us as Schoolboard members to listen to our constituents and do what's right on this and whatever needs whatever language in the my policy needs to be changed I don't mind doing that as long as the core of that uh policy says that hey that we're going to that we're going as a division we're going to notify parents we're going to let them know and then we're going to ask their consent whether they're okay with changing their child's name and so whatever I have to do to do that to satisfy you as a board I'm willing to work with you as Schoolboard members to do that um but that is the that's the meat in the policy that we that needs to be addressed and uh it's pretty vague right now the
071policy that we have and we need to narrow this down and parents aren't going to trust us as a School Division until we begin to include them on these decisions so if we're saying as a board we're going to hide this information from parents how do you expect to earn back the Public's trust at a low time low right now in our nation and especially here as well how do we expect to gain back their trust that we have their best interests at mind when they send their children the school and so I think a vote against my policy as we look at at it and and change whatever needs to be changed as in um whatever will satisfy you in the fact that the meat of it says that we will notify parents and
072also they would have to give consent to any name change that we would call their child by at school um I think we're we're hiding information from parents and um I think it was um our math teacher here I'm sorry uh your name again ma Mr Matthews I'm I apologize yes the Mr Matthews the math teacher I I'm I think he made a great um point tonight was what kind of responsibility this is what I'm going to ask council tonight is what kind of responsibility do we have liability I think it was you that brought this up what kind of liability do we have um on us not to report um these issues that we see with children that puts them at a higher rate of suicide I think the the data shows they're at
073a 5.5 increased rate for suicide and so we're going to hide information as a school resource officer we notified parents and worked with administrators when children were depressed when they were cutting themsel when they were um dealing with any Suicidal Thoughts we tded them we we contacted parents and why would this change and not notify find them so if we're going to gain back the trust of the community we really need to put our parents first and I I hope that at least two of two of you agree with me with that and I'm I don't think it's too much paperwork Miss Lord to to do this this is a very simple process and I I appreciate you bringing that up tonight um Miss Hurst that it's not too much paperwork to do it's something
074that we owe to the parents that we should do to gain their trust so um I look forward to talking with the with the council tonight and um and lastly um I apologize to Mr Nicholson for as a board member um I've had many heated conversations with people that don't like me that call me a racist a homophobe a bigot all kind they've gone on my Church website and said all kinds of evil things about me and I've never been called a racist or a bigot till I began doing this and I've never cussed anyone and said something that like that to someone so as a board member I apologize that another board member and I recognize that as you as a parent no no matter that you agree with me on a lot of
075issues is that's not the point I think the point is is that as as leaders in our County as elected officials we shouldn't talk like that uh to anyone whether we disagree with them or not and it's hard to do sometimes I'm not going to say it's not Mr folk U but I think it's best that we rise above and show the community especially our our our children our students that we can that's the thing we can we can agree to disagree and that's the generation we're living in right now we we can't talk with people without them hating us and walk away and that's why I said it the last board me meeting I'll end with this was that um Mr Miller Jimmy Miller at at um East Rockingham a councel out there man
076we don't there's hardly anything if you're listening and Jimmy there's only anything we agree on and we've talked to issues on abortion we've talked on issues of of all kinds of things but I think we can say we can both walk away and he may disagree with me now maybe thinks I'm the devil too but I don't think he does but we have both walked away and we have said you know what we disagree on almost every single thing you can think about but you know what Mr Miller's a good guy and that's what we're missing in today's society is that we can disagree with one another another yet walk away and not think each other is the devil and be mean towards one another so for that Mr Nichols I apologize and I can't
077get the whole board to apologize I haven't asked them but I will say um for me as a board member I apologize that you were talked to that way so that's all things I don't have any questions at this time thank you thank you Dr mcil no questions this evening Mr Ro thank you Dr sh I just want to briefly and Mr Cross knows this right so um it's really important because Mr Matthew brought this up you know what he is required to do and what his concerns are um it's really important to understand that the when you asked uh previously what policy we have in place I said we don't have a policy in place right so that's also important to State there is no policy in place currently so um when I responded
078by saying we wouldn't call it means we don't have a responsibility to call and I think that's what where your policy comes in you want that uh responsibility to be there if a student says I want to be called by a different name uh currently um if a teacher decides to make that call there's no sanction there's no there's no no prohibition against calling right I think that's also important for the public to understand so at this point uh we don't have a policy at all so if uh teacher it's to the at the teacher's discretion you know whether they work with counseling or whatever it may be and so your policy comes in in terms of um saying the call has to happen and so I just want to make that clear right so
079it's not currently that we have a policy that says you may not talk to the parent about it um we also don't have that right so we simply don't have a policy in place right now and I know you know this but I think that's more important for the public to understand yeah that's not how on of course in social media that's not how it plays out right and you and have talked about this but I just wanted to clarify that right and I just wanted that there be a requirement for the school to be able to contact parents that they should be in the know and also um teachers you you have a constitutional right where you don't have to go along with that as well like you said tonight uh that you don't
080have to go along with it whether you you have knowledge and you know that that situation going on you don't have to you can't be forced by the school division or by the government to to go against any convictions that you may have so that's important for us to know for teachers to know as well so thank you Mr T yes okay um I once to heard a comedian say I have the right to remain silent but not the ability and I was hoping to remain silent during this part but I have to say that it is reckless and perhaps even dangerous to talk about an employee by name and their political views from because they could possibly could possibly be retribution from the community um so I'm talking about the the counselor that you
081referenced just a few moments ago and that you didn't agree with them on anything it's my time now sir it's my time you had yours that's fine but if you're going to criticize me we can contact him because yeah he's never reached out to me and said anything he's not me either but I'm saying that it's a dangerous and irresponsible thing to do that's your opin to call out an employee there now it's also um inexcusable in my view to even inch up to the to the tow Mark of suggesting that chaperoning a field trip to Hershey Park equates to being with someone's dying mother so I do not apologize Mr Nicholson and you should be ashamed of yourself because you even tonight disrespect Dr sh by simply referring to him as sh as sh
082yeah well generalizations sometimes cause things to happen too so the the other thing that I would say and I'll stop there yeah good night good night well you can't hang a man for telling the truth uh that's that's pretty disrespectful of you Mr chairman how's that pretty disrespectful how's that yeah right thank you um I will I will stop and I will leave a set of with a quote that I read that was attributed to uh Mark Twain when he said that no one learns anything when they're talking so we'll leave it at that and we do have reason to enter in close meeting and I will entertain a motion in that regard I move that the board ENT our closed meeting to discuss and consider the following pursuant to provisions of Virginia code section
0832.2 3711 A1 Personnel specific public officers appointees or employees for the purpose of considering such individuals assignment appointment promotion performance salary or resignation a to one or more particular students specifically related to discipline and requests regarding compulsory School attendance based on religious beliefs that would involve disclosure of in of information contained in a Scholastic record containing a student and A8 consultation with legal counsel employed by or retained by a public body regarding specific legal matters requiring the provision of the Le of legal advice by such Council thank you Miss lore is there a second second thank you Dr mcquilkin all in favor of entering into closed meeting please say I I I any opposed can I have a roll call on that I didn't hear all the votes Mr Faulk Dr mcquilkin okay Miss lore
084hi Mr Cross okay I don't I don't know what that means I guess that's an exstension so all right four four yeah I'm in favor four in favor one exstension we are now in closed session thank you all for being here tonight please be careful uh on your drive home and uh have a blessed evening she