001good evening evening and welcome good evening and welcome to the April 25th regular meeting of the Rockham County School Board like to call the meeting to order and before we proceed to approval of our agenda I would like to outline a new uh procedural uh item that the board will be adhering to um in con ations with legal counsel regarding some pending cases before the courts in Virginia right now about notification of agenda items um from tonight forward if any any one of the board members here would like to add an item of action we will request that it be done as we approve the agenda um the um the board will then depending upon the topic um there will be three options one will be to place it on tonight's agenda um if it
002doesn't Garner a second or U majority vote it would not be added to an agenda or the third option might be that the board would consider the option to be uh the the item important enough that we would wait until the next meeting to address it so that there would be adequate time to notify the public that we would be discussing and voting on this particular topic um there will still be the same opportunity at the conclusion of our meeting for Schoolboard members to ask questions um it's just that any action items will have to come through the through the um approval of the agenda process and then added to action items should they be approved does everyone understand what I'm what I'm saying there okay with that having been said the first item of
003business is to approve the agenda do I hear a motion for approval thank you Mr folk is there a second second thank you Dr mcquilkin any discussion hearing none all those in favor of approval of tonight's agenda please say I I I any opposed that is a 0 unanimous vote thank you I would ask at this point that everyone please join me in the Pledge of Allegiance Al to the flag of the unit States of America and to the for stands one nation God indivisible andice all at this time I would ask that everyone please join us in a moment of silence thank you next we will move to recognition and presentations School recognitions for the Kelly Britney lamb Kelly cogdal car count students of the month and volunteer of the month good evening um
004I'd like to welcome our Schoolboard members and our superintendent Dr cyle to East Rock this evening along with our Central off Personnel personnel and our guests in the audience we'll begin tonight with our volunteer of the year and our character counts Award winners um I'll call you up as you come up I'll go ahead and read the summary um that we have here for you so Miss Molly walkup gsh garer our volunteer of the year if you could come forward she's been selected as the East Rockingham High School volunteer of the year for the school year she has been such a help throughout the year with Reviving our music boosters after the covid setbacks spending time at the football games frying Oreos organizing updating paperwork leading meetings and and always looking to assist wherever needed
005erhs is thankful for her leadership while thinking up new and creative ways to fund raise for our Music students she was tremendously supportive of the cast crew and directors of our musical production which was the Adams Family she's at every concert and finds so many ways to extend herself to others and always does it with a great attitude flare and finesse Molly's generous spirit is a fantastic model has been noticed by many thank you for the many ways you have served us all this year East Rockingham High School was proud to announce Molly walkup Gosher as our Year's volunteer of the Year Mr swager if I may um I would ask that you would present U to Molly this certificate of commendation on behalf of the board and this uh gift certificate to client Dair
006bar that I hope she can enjoy I often say that we all are typically known by what we do for pay as a living we're a teacher we're a auto mechanic we're a welder we're a nurse a police officer whatever but sometimes what is more important is what are we known for when we're not getting paid and these people that volunteer their time it says so so much about their character and the people that they are because they don't do it to get these Awards but it's an opportunity for us to say thank you and I hope that you will communicate our tremendous thanks to her on our behalf uh next up is our first character counts um award Patrick Stapleton if you and your family can come forward is Patrick here there we go
007students take many different paths to become memorable at erhs Patrick's path is characterized by trustworthiness honesty stick toess and a mature ability to communicate with others he can always be counted on to volunteer his time demonstrating an urge to give back he constantly consistently exudes empathy towards his peers and simp simply strives to do what is right Patrick is respected by everyone at rhs adults and students alike Mr Miller our counselor writes in the day and age where communication is almost always email texting messaging Etc Patrick excels in face-to-face communication this is why I think he is so accepted by his peers and teachers for leadership roles East Rockingham High School is proud to announce Patrick Stapleton as one of this year's Britney lamb Kelly cogsdale character counts Award winners I hope you all can
008hear me okay before I present these to P would you work I [Applause] P Olivia Simpkins if you can come down with your family Webster defin Webster's definition of character is moral excellence and Olivia exemplifies this she is known by almost everyone at rhs her teachers and peers describe her as warm self-sacrificing friendly and eager to lend a helping hand she is full of school spirit and comes to school with a positive attitude every day her thoughtfulness and kindness is evident through her everyday interactions with classmates and teachers Miss Roberts Olivia's former psychology teacher was especially impressed with her during the pandemic Miss Roberts writes Olivia is one of only a few students willing to show herself on her Zoom screen during covid why because she knew it would make her teacher more comfortable simply
009put Olivia Simkins is a billboard to what is right with youth today the East Rockingham High School is excited to announce Olivia Simkins is one of this year Britney lamb cogsdale Kelly cogsdale character counts Award [Applause] winners Olivia all of the things that I said to Patrick certainly apply to you as well but I was standing here thinking watching the two of you meet uh going down the highway there that and I guess it's been said forever regardless of the generation but sometimes people will tell me boy we're in trouble when this next Generation takes over and I just wish that they could be here to see people presented like these two tonight because I as I approach my um I don't know where they got the idea of golden years because I'm not so
010sure that they're golden but anyway as I approach uh senior citizen Hood I feel confident of where we're going because of people like you and Patrick and uh I have every confidence that our future is in good hands so I would like to present to you a certificate of commendation as well as a pen and a Klein's Dairy Bar certificate as well and say congratulations keep it up thank you thank you so much thank you for [Applause] sharing at this time I'm going to invite Miss Janine dolam and Miss Bethany stable to come up and introduce the erhs care closet come after good evening school board members and Dr Shel Welcome to our beautiful School glad you're here a lunchtime conversation between a few eastrock teachers was the inspiration for our care closet the focus
011of this lunchtime discussion was a particular students's academic struggles it soon turned into so much more one of us had noticed that the student didn't have an appropriate jacket for the weather another had noticed that his shoes were worn yes this student needed our support in the classroom but more importantly he needed our support with some basic pH physi physiological needs balancing academics with everything else is not a new task for teachers it's a challenge we've always faced so shortly after this meeting the wheels began to turn and the East Rock care closet was born with the support of our community the care closet has received over $8,000 in donations by check along with tangible donations of clothing clothing and personal hygiene items after Bethany tells you about some of the students we have helped
012a short video created by students here at eastrock will give you a look inside of our care closet and we hope that you'll actually be able to see it in person um later this evening it's on it's on the way to the library so thank you for your time thank you thank you you can't miss it I turn the lights on and open the door there's a nice sign there too uh working in special education and alternative education has given myself Mrs doth me and Mr Mark Palmer a unique opportunity to help a population of our students who may be overlooked students often email us come to our rooms and ask if they can be taken to our care closet my interactions with students in the care closet has always been very positive however it
013hasn't only been with students all three of us have taken families into the care closet to shop those of us who have had to ask for help know what a humbling experience it can be personally I believe that those struggles are what gives us the desire to help others parents come into the closet um to choose Basic clothing items for their children and see that we have household Basics that so many of us take for granted like laundry detergent shampoo and thanks to a student who asked about about this item when her dad was out of work unexpectedly we now have toilet paper I have the privilege I've had the privilege of being a personal shopper for several students who have been nervous about visiting the closet for the first time trying always to include
014in our bags um new socks uh shampoo a washcloth deodorant and a few snacks when we have them while we try to have a variety of sizes available of clothing and shoes sometimes we don't have with the student needs and are able to order it with those funds that have come in through donations it has been we've been able to order shoes for specific new students who need a size that we don't have as well as different items of clothing the overwhelming feeling of people that they they have when they leave our East Rockingham care closet is every school needs a care closet I've found that it really goes beyond being able to provide a pair of shoes shampoo sweatpants or a coat to someone in need we have been able with the help of
015our community to provide dignity to these 150 plus students and their families while they receive a helping hand thank you all so much for your [Applause] time [Music] stud what is PS jeans sockss Andes are [Music] Avil [Music] students OPP request [Music] access are children works better with the button on good evening uh school board members and Dr Sho I am so excited to uh present um you guys with our JMU Regional science fair winner he was the grand prize winner and in my 22 years in Rockingham County I've only seen one other Grand Prize winner from Rockingham County mve so it's very exciting to see him win the JMU Regional science fair um the award is named in order in um honor of uh Dorene and Tom d'Or who are were 30-year patrons of
016the regional science fair to give you a little bit of information about this he is now going to be eligible to present at the international science and engineering festiv uh Fair which of the five million students worldwide who compete in science fairs only 1500 of students will be able to compete at this and he has one of those 1500 students who are eligible at the fair he also won uh awards for his research from the United States Navy and the special physics and Engineering award and so he's going to present to you on his um topic of understanding the ver variability of optical Spectra of water Mega masers and I've told him to uh I think he's going to make it so that we'll all understand so we have will uh will St John congratulations
017will thank you okay uh hopefully I will be able to make this un at least somewhat understandable basically this whole slide it's a lot of big words but the main point is we're thinking about we're studying light coming from galaxies what type of light masers is what they're called which is an acronym if you've ever seen a laser pointer which I assume most of you have um it's like a laser except in the microwave frequency which is a little bit less energetic so not as powerful as a laser um these are actually these are more luminous so you're going to be able you're not going to be able to see it with your eye because it's in a different portion of uh the electromagnetic spectrum but um you can detect it with telescopes which is
018really neat uh the cool thing about these is they're formed with two different through through two different processes uh first one is star formation so um like our sun whenever it's formed it's shooting out light shooting out radiation from throughout the entire Spectrum uh but a certain portion of it would could be some of these masers um and we can detect that coming from galaxies another one that's that's even cooler is uh from a super massive black hole so a little uh fact about um in the field of astronomy is that uh it's assumed um with ample evidence that uh every single galaxy has a super massive black hole at its Center and some of them can be turned on and some of them can be turned off the way by that what I mean
019is um some of them can be called what's called an active Galactic nuclei um which basically means that it's got a super massive black hole at the center an accretion disc around that which is just matter uh just gas particles and that as that gas as those gas particles swirl into this black hole they're colliding with each other and they eventually heat up all these collisions cause it to heat up and this heat is just light um and this heat is released as light and it will travel uh if you can see this is a basic diagram of it uh this is the super massive black hole right here and what what will happen is it'll the matter will swirl into the black hole as it swirls into that black hole it heats up light
020is emitted and it travels through these uh molecules of gas that are surrounding it um and we're able to detect these uh emissions coming from them and detect what type of elements are there and the cool thing is we can determine what type of elements are present in these environments uh in this at the centers of galaxies um and what we can do with that is we can actually create what's called a line diagnostic diagram um which I'll show you on the next slide this slide actually uh when you create you can create what's called line diagnostic diagrams which are basically ratios of these elements um and then those ratios are then ratioed themselves so it looks like a bunch of fancy scientific terminology but this is just um think of it as a ratio
021of one element of hydrogen to nitrogen and that is being compared to a ratio of hydrogen uh and oxygen so it's it's actually very simple uh if you take the time to look into it but the cool thing about this is we're actually able to determine What's called the dominant ionization mechanism which is just a fancy way of saying what's going on at the centers of these galaxies um what is the primary method of which these emissions are being created is it star formation or is it uh a super massive black hole and so what we were able to do with this research project uh this is the actual data that we were able to collect um from the Green Bank telescope which is in West Virginia I think um and the Sloan digital Sky
022survey which is a database of a bunch of observational data uh the top one is what's called are the merer emissions from galaxies one thing you'll if you can see um it's kind of hard to tell from far away but uh there's about two points right here two points right here a few points few points few points few points um and you there's a bunch of different lines and different boundaries being created in this uh everything that is below this blue boundary and this blue boundary and this blue boundary is a is in a star forming region so if you see a dot in there that's a Galaxy where the prime primary or the dominant ionization mechanism is star formation so the main cause of the emissions are stars being formed anything above that is
023an AG or an active Galactic nuclei so that's the super massive black hole that's active that's constantly eating matter so that's kind of that's the cool thing that you want to look at um but the unfortunately the masers were're not seeing uh we don't have a lot of data because this is actually some fairly recent um this is a fairly like New Field that we were working with uh and I was working with a professor at JMU Dr Ana Constantine um but we also looked into non- Meers which are just regular galaxies or galaxies that don't have these merer emissions and what you'll notice is it's a lot more active down here it it's a lot more interesting a lot more colorful and there's a lot more lines that are crossing over these boundaries especially
024this one right here uh if you can kind of tell it's really again it's hard to see from far away but there's a purple line going from underneath this blue curve to in between this blue curve and this yellow curve so what that actually is looking at is um uh a Galaxy that was previously when it was first observed uh it was a star formation uh as the dominant way for these emissions being created um but then it changed and it the black hole turned back on and it started eating all this matter which we don't know why uh we could look into that but it started eating this matter and now that's the primary way we're seeing these emissions so that's something that we weren't expecting to see we were trying to look into
025masers um but we found out something new with the research project um and something that we could definitely look forward or look into more and that is it thank you will as I was sitting here listening to you I was thinking about uh President Kennedy once hosted a group of world leaders in the East room and he began his remarks by saying never have so many great minds gathered together in this room since Thomas Jefferson dined alone and I I'm just sitting here thinking never have so many great minds been at a Schoolboard meeting until will St John just talked himself so Wow way to go um before we move to public comments I'd just like to take a moment again to recognize because we have truly truly seen tonight one of the many things
026that are so great about Rockingham County Public Schools we've seen people of character we've seen um people who are scientific winners we've seen people who simply care about their neighbors and if you turn and look at the person next to you but by the grace of God go I and I'm so thankful that there are people like you that are there to help particularly during these U tender informative years so if you don't mind indulge me and just give these folks another round of applause feel like we should just journ right now because there's nothing we can do to top that but we will begin we will move into our comments from the public as always um there will be a three minute time limit and we ask that everyone in the audience um be
027respectful of the speaker irregardless of what their position might be another great thing about this country of ours so um we will begin with Ashley Saunders Miss Saunders thank you hi um I want to thank the board for being willing to listen to public comment and um my name is Ashley Saunders and I have two children at the um Broadway school system I have a junior and I have a second grader and I just wanted to say thank you to all of the teachers of Rockingham County Public Schools who have had years that felt like they have lasted like lifetimes who have carried themselves with dignity and Grace who have seen their students in their needs and say we will rise and we will respect your humanity and your autonomy as a person because children
028are autonomous human beings who deserve respect and dignity we as a community deserve to treat each other with respect and dignity even when we do not agree we need to trust the Professionals of our school systems who who have master's degrees and have given their lives passions to educating children parental choice is choosing where you send your children to school and if you choose public school you have said I trust this school to teach my children and to keep them safe and to respect them all children white children Brown children queer children trans children all deserve respect and dignity we also need to trust our school librarians for taking what they have learned their extended education and curating books for children to understand the world around them because we do it through literature I grew
029up in a very small town in Illinois I learned about the world around me through books I also learned that pirates are super awesome my favorite book is Treasure Island and I want to say as a parent if you do not want your child reading a book feel free to tell the school that you do not want your child reading this particular book and they will resp respect that but you do not get to choose what my children read in the conversations at my dinner table and who the voices my children listen to are that is my choice so I'm encouraging everyone to have nice loving and respectful conversations with one another and our children around the dinner table and remember that they are autonomous human beings fully emotionally fledged and before I leave I
030want to say I love the students of Rockingham County Public Schools I especially love the queer and trans students of Rockingham County Public Schools and I'm continuing to fight for you to be seen heard because trans rights are human rights and every child deserves a safe and healthy education in the public school system thank Youk [Applause] you Michael stle uh thank you um Mike stle from Broadway Virginia um I'd like to thank the board for giving this opportunity to speak again in the last school board meeting the book the absolute true Diary of a Part-Time Indian was discussed by the school board during that time it was mentioned that the book contained CRT material CRT or critical race theory is the legal theory that analyzes the how the legal system and institutions interact with a
031social construct of race the hysteria around critical race theory was created in part by Chris rufo of the Manhattan Institute in March 2021 tweet he States the goal is to have the public read something crazy in the newspaper and immediately think critical race Theory it looks like that's exactly what happened here when an analysis of the AFF forementioned book was given by a board member earlier this month let's look at the spefic specific claims about the so-called CRT material it was mentioned that the phrase white power structure was included in the discussion section of the book The that phrase has been in use for decades before critical race theory was developed in the early 1990s you can do a search for the phrase white power structure in the online archives of the Daily News Record
032which is what I did and find multiple articles in the 1960s that use that very phrase for example a subheadline for the June 10th 1966 issue of the DNR red white power structure in the January 27th 1967 issue an article talking about Virginia's resist resistance to the Voting Rights Act the phrase the white power structure is used back to the book another example of CRT material according to the school board member was a partial quote from page 35 of the book I'm going to quote a few sentences before that along with the selection that was quoted in the board meeting in this this section Mr P Junior's teacher is talking to the main character Junior when I first started teaching here that's what we did to the Rowdy ones you know we beat them that's
033how we were taught to teach you we were supposed to kill the Indian and save the child Junior responds you killed Indians Mr P responds no no no it's just a saying I don't I didn't literally kill Indians we were supposed to make you give up being Indian your songs and stories and language and dancing everything we weren't trying to kill Indian people we are trying to kill Indian culture so for historical context the phrase kill the Indians save the man was coined by Richard Henry Pratt one of the leaders in the effort of forced assimilation of indigenous people to White culture here in the United States Pratt was responsible for starting what was called the Carlile Indian School just up the road in Carlile uh Pennsylvania in 1979 it operated for 39 years and
034186 children died during during his time can you even imagine the school board meetings that we would have if one child died uh you know during that during uh a year let's I'm going to address the racial slur made in the book in this section immediately after the racial slur the main character calls calls the freid can I okay may I finish my statement or no uh if if you would like to present it to us in writing we' be happy to take it that's fine that's thank you yeah [Applause] next we will move to school board member comments and I will begin with Mr folk thank you Mr Breeden um one thing that uh we can do now that we couldn't do during the pandemic is visit our schools and see what's going on
035get a measure of the the the the climate and and the students and everything and um at the Board of Supervisors meeting where Dr shyo presented the budget to the Board of Supervisors I asked two of the members of the Board of Supervisors to join me for lunch at U Mass Nutt and Technical Center and we would take a tour of the building and see what some of the challenges are for the infrastructure there which is um I think they're 50 years old this year perhaps with the original heating system and cooling system and all that and two of them uh Mr Richie and U Miss wolf Garrison agreed to meet there and we were joined by another School Board member Miss low and by the superintendent and we had a great great time followed
036by a great lunch at the MTC beastro and uh it's just good to be able to get back in and see what's going on and see the wonderful program at MTC and also see some of the uh some of the infrastructure challenges that we face and that we have to address thank you thank you sir Mr Cross um I want to say that Mr um um will St John great presentation tonight man really great I was thinking of President Trump and I was thinking about space force and I hope that you can uh work for space force one day and protect the United States uh from foreign from all kinds of stuff but you are very intelligent and I I thank you for coming tonight and I saw my son on the front row uh
037just paying attention to everything you were saying because he loves everything to do with space and my wife does as well she would have Lov to hear heard you tonight maybe she go back and listen to it but uh thank you the public coming out tonight uh thank you again for parents that are here uh that you're involved in the uh your child's um School uh and your and the decisions that are being made thank you for coming tonight as community members and um thank you for all that you do it's important that we recognize you and that you are welcome no matter what side of the hour or whatever uh stance you may have on different issues we need uh the public to come and to take part in um these um Schoolboard meetings
038so thank you for coming tonight I had the opportunity to go to ELA middle school and meet Mrs uh Emily Holloway and see um just all the wonderful things that she's doing there what impressed me the most though is Miss Holloway is driving a school bus at the end of her day and um was able to go with her up in Hensley holler up in beldor holler and up in uh Sandy Bottom who's been up there lately okay let the record show that there's no one here that's been up in there and it was a beautiful beautiful uh time seeing the spring up in the mountains and uh being able to talk with some parents that I met up in uh Sandy Bottom was was pretty cool too so I'm just really impressed that Miss
039Holloway is um we're we're lacking bus drivers right now in the school Division and she has stepped up because she has her CDLs and she's driving a bus for her school and uh just kudos to miss Holloway for all that she's done done and all that she's doing um also had a chance to go by um mon videoo middle school and um visit Miss Davis's elll classroom and she is doing a incredible job in uh the E Class there and I'm I'm just so proud of what she's doing I'm proud of our e uh population and our program that we have here in Rockham County and by being on the board I hope that I have the ability to help uh these uh students out that are in our EOL program for whatever they may
040need uh to make their educational experience the best that we can give them here in Rockingham County so Miss Davis thank you so much for uh all that you do for our eel students and and for the students that were there that day it was really cool to get a chance to meet you uh as well so um also want to bring up tonight that sherith Bradshaw she's in here tonight with her father and I want to congratulate her tonight for coming in second place uh at the state vhl state debate for tournament in student Congress so if we could give her a hand tonight congratulations Cher of uh of this great accomplishment and I'm I'm rooting for you going on so good job thank you Dr mooken thank you Mr Breon I'd like to
041start off this evening by thanking the administration for for from East Rockingham high school for hosting us here this evening thank you Mark thank you Brandy thank you Barbara we appreciate the fact that you put forth great effort to have everybody welcome thank you so much I also would like to say that Rockingham Educational Foundation had a very successful golf tournament on Saturday April the 16th we're so glad that the riffy foundation the riffy group supports our schools in in many ways and we are appreciative for all the people who participate in events like the golf tournament which continues to support the foundation which supports our schools and lastly uh we have two more Middle School Musicals coming up in May or actually montv videoo middle school will be hosting their musical The Lion King
042this week of and concluding on Sunday um May the 1 and followed by in two weeks we'll have the the uh Middle School Elton middle school with their production so I encourage enourage everybody to to take some time and attend these musicals thank you Mr bre thank you Lord thank you uh and also thank you to uh the the hospitality here at eastrock high school um it's so great to be back in the schools and it's also great to see some of our students uh those of you who are here for government tonight can I get a big hand raise awwesome awesome welcome and now let's see the students who are here for fun there you go look at you yay thank you all for coming let's give them a round of applause for sure
043thank you all for coming tonight um it is great to be back in the schools I was able to as uh Mr folk said able to go to um uh massot Technical Center and have a tour and yes it is 50 years old um and it's it it it was uh Mass Technical Center was opened the same year I was born so a building this old really needs a lot of work so we we really need to to spend some time looking into what we can do to help that building and you know all the 50y olds in the house um also uh I was able to go to Elementary School for another Farm to school day so much fun it's always great to see the what we do at a farm to school day
044the the teenagers bring animals from the FFA the FFA students bring animals and tractors and plants and all sorts of farm type things and then teach the elementary students about farming and the the leadership opportunities given to the Stu to the older students and the educational opportunities given to the younger students it just it does my heart so much good so I really enjoyed that at Plains Elementary and I've got one another one coming up at La Lacy spring and I think there's a couple other around the county um and if they would like somebody to come see it let me know but um so those are the wonderful things happening I think also help me out I think our green houses are opening soon and I believe our Greenhouse here will be selling plants
045this weekend so if you need some plants come on out um there's lots of great things going on at our schools and everybody should take the opportunity to see what they can enjoy thank you so much thank you Dr Sho uh thanks to Mark and Brandy Barbara and also to Carrie Wilburn who's been spending significant time here at eastrock uh for making it you know a great building and for hosting us tonight um in terms of events that are coming up as Miss lur said Lacy spring Farm to school day um is later this week it's on Friday and then next week will be an amazing event out at the farm uh in Broadway so there's the ACT production field day for the farm that um our students run through the ACT production program at
046MTC um congratulations also to all the students that are currently uh in Atlanta at the international Career Development conference uh with Deca so there are a number of students down there competing and attending the conference uh we also have an event coming up for which students at Spotswood the one act play students are raising funds so they've been um invited to a national performance and this Wednesday the 27th from 5:30 um I believe until um 9: it's a family fund day and that's at Spotswood High School for anyone who's interested there'll be a number of um things that are going to be raffled off and then there's also um a chance to throw some pies at some people and uh raise money that way and I'll be one of the targets so uh you're welcome
047to come and uh again help raise funds for the one act play group from Spotswood thank you one of one of the students I don't remember which one on the way in said do you think we'll be here four hours and I said I can promise you no we won't be here four hours um I have to say that after a pretty tough day at work I had a 2005 Nissan Maxima that did not want to cooperate with anything I wanted to do with it today and I was frustrated and thinking dog on it I got a school board meeting to go to but I just want to say to those people who were recognized during the recognition and presentations that you have you have rejuvenated me you have charged my batteries and I am
048just so thankful that I came tonight to to be witness to the things that you all have offered and continue to offer um it is always great to be at East Rockingham High School the school that they told me when I went on the board would never exist and um if if you ever back in Hensley holl and that area again and you want to stop in and have coffee with folks most of them is related to me I get back there most of the time uh quite often so be happy to sit down and introduce you to some of those folks but thank you again to everybody for coming and we will sign agendas as quickly as we can for you before we go into to into close meeting so now we will move
049to action items we do have need to approve the minutes and I will entertain a motion for approval of those minutes if it be your desire I move we approve the minutes as presented thank you Mr L is there second second thank you Dr mcquilkin any discussion hearing none all in favor please say I for approval of the minutes I any opposed that is unanimous thank you field trips Dr sh I have two field trips for your approval tonight uh they are both to the FFA State Convention at June 27th through the 30th 2022 30 students from Broadway High School and 15 students from Wilber Pence Middle School to blackburg Virginia and I recommend approval of those two field trips thank you Dr Sho board members you've heard the superintendent's recommendation is there a motion
050in support thank you Mr folk is there a second thank you Mr Cross any discussion questions hearing none all in favor of supporting the superintendent's recommendation please say I I any opposed that as well is unanimous special education annual plan Scott hand good to see you again sir thank you school board members and Dr shyo uh in case you haven't heard this is my last presentation of the annual plan I'm a pretty excited fell I presented uh a month ago to the school board uh with a proposal for information I've also presented to the special education advisory committee on two occasions and I have received approval from the advisory committee and tonight I am here to seek your approval for the annual plan for 2223 as you are aware it is primarily uh an application
051for funding for salary that's really about 100% of the uh document you have a copy of the summary you've had a copy of the summary I did make a correction after last meetings uh little note um that will sent out the very next day so you hopefully do have a final copy are there any questions I have 48 days just I do recommend approval of the annual special education plan for uh 2223 as presented since Mr Han you were such help to me as we were dealing with my oldest son's issues going through school it has been an honor and it's my honor to move to accept this final plan that you present I appreciate that thank you and I'm going to dit of that and second that very good my oldest son as well
052so thank you we have a motion in a second is there any discussion hearing none all in favor say I I any opposed it's 5 thank you thank Youk you CTE um Perkins local plan Mr Fitzgerald who helped me with the bugs and matri we sure can we can help a lot of things I think but you know I got to tell you before I even start out on this I was really worried following Scott hand because a lot of times the special ed reports go for a very long time and he told me tonight it was only going to be short and it's like yeah right but he did that was a good last one yeah so Mr Breeden U Schoolboard members and Dr Shel uh last as you remember at the last meeting
053I presented to you our locals Perkins plan for your review and the Perkins plan funds about 50% of our equipment and other expenses for CTE programs and tonight I ask for your approval of that plan and we'll be glad to entertain any questions you might have on that plan thank you I do recommend approval of the CTE local plan for rcps for the 2223 school year as presented thank you Dr Shel is there a motion I move we approve the uh Perkins plan as presented thank you Mr lore is there a second second Dr MC Wilkins who I heard I just want to clarify that I didn't have Mr P Dred out trimming trees or something I sent him pictures of a tree that I had and said what's killing this tree and I said
054I don't know but you got a hold to somebody who did that did did thank you any questions or comments for I have a question about this is the executive summary yes at 14 pages how long's the not executive summary so um tonight after if you approve this uh Miss boock has the plan for your signature and it's probably about three times that many um a lot of it U is based on assurances that we provide you have a summary of all those insurances but it just goes into a little more detail about what you're doing there thank thank you to all you and all of your staff for pulling this together I know that money goes to very good use within our school system so thank you thank you any other questions or comments
055hearing none all in favor please say I I any opposed that is 5 o thank you Mr fit M Bri if I can say a word or two I was going to say this before but I thought then you might think I was trying to bribe your Vote or something but I I do want to I do have something I want to say um you know I've worked in this County for 38 years and um in that time I've been an a teacher I've been a CT administrator at Mass nuton Tech Center and now I work with c as a director but um in that time of those 37 years I have traveled a lot and I've been to a lot of school divisions a lot of schools in a lot of different capacities and
056I've got to tell you when we go to other schools Rockingham County is held in very high esteem even by some of the big boys like Fairfax and Arlington and some of those uh because of what you guys do and I want you to know that I mean you have over the years and there's been different folks on and off the board but you have as a board uh shown unmatched support for Career and Technical educ ation programs and that does not go unnoticed I personally thank you all for that uh Dr Shel your support uh since you have been in the superintendency has been unmatched I've never seen a superintendent that supported Career and Technical education as much as you do and I sincerely from my heart um appreciate that you guys always are
057are very up on our programs you are always willing to try new things um even if they might seem a little bit um unique uh you're always willing to do that I think the farm the MTC farm that we use we call it the County Farm uh is a good example of that and because of those things that you guys support we have a lot of initiatives and a lot of uh really cool challenges for our students that they get some experiences they would not have if otherwise so I certainly appreciate everything that the board does I know you work endless hours to make sure our students have opportunities but again I want you to know you've created it's something I think that uh is not matched anywhere in the state that I can figure
058so thank you so much thank you thank you thank you [Applause] Eric okay student accident Insurance Dr sh so this is an annual approval of the student accident insurance that we provide uh this is voluntary for students and it's not really something the School Division pays for we simply select a vendor uh that has a good program um Miss Mast our Chief Financial Officer U she contacts various vendors and then looks at their proposals so uh three vendors were contacted to provide information those three are K&K Insurance the young group and HSR and after review um Miss Mass recommends the volunteer student accident Insurance be awarded to KK insurance for the 2223 school year I concur with her recommendation and I do recomend recommend approval of uh K&K Insurance for the 2223 school year thank
059you Dr cyel do I hear a motion in support of the recommendation I move that we follow the superintendent's recommendation and and submit K and K insurance as the insurance carrier for the students thank you Dr mookin is there a second thank you Mr Cross any discussion is K and K who we used this past year yes okay very good thank you all right any other questions hearing none all in favor please say I I any opposed that is by vote under information items the rcps community dialogue framework it's my pleasure to um introduce um Katherine Barnes from uh the center for justice and peace building at emu to provide an update to the board regarding and the community dialogue framework back in January we had a presentation at Elton Middle School um where Dr
060Barnes outlined um the approach that we have taken uh We've now you know expanded the group of people um who are discussing you know uh controversial topics all kinds of topics around uh what it means to create a safe and caring environment for all our students and it's been an amazing process C and again uh the end goal really is that this becomes a public process so where members of the public uh can have a framework and a process uh for having these conversations these aren't easy conversations um it's an incredibly um diverse group really representing um many of the facets of Rockingham County and so I will turn it over to uh Dr Barnes to provide that update to the school board thank you Dr she and and thank you all thank you very
061much for um your interest and I would especially like to thank a group of people who are over here who've worked so hard in making this community dialogue happen and I'll I'll say a few more things to you in a minute um so yes as Dr shekel mentioned we first um introduced you to this community dialogue framework back in January let me see if I can figure out if this yes okay so the objective was was to really find a framework for um being able to support truly dialogue um deep conversations around many of the challenging issues that are being faced by Rockingham County is education system um in a way that could then um bring in some of that complexity and then be able to share those ideas back with the board uh but
062also to to Really find ways of modeling how to have respectful Solutions oriented dialogue among our diverse Community moving forward um so the topic that was chosen for the first in this community dialogue framework was to look into how best to create a safe and caring environment for all Rockingham County Public School students in ways that are both consistent with the law while also considering the diverse values and perspectives of the Rockingham County community and so with that as the as the kind of presenting question that we're exploring you can imagine how complex it is um so the question was how are we going to do that so with the assistance and really the the um the the development of a of a small Advisory Group which was introduced in January and uh we have
063Joe shoker and Renee Reed and Katie laera who are here tonight um and there's there's um some others as well we thought together about how we could make this happen and so Central to that was we thought is um we could begin by having a core group of people who really reflect the diversity of the county diversity in terms of all sorts of different occupations diversity in terms of living in different parts of the county and having kids that are connected to different parts of the different schools in this County people who have different identities and also people have very different perspectives values and beliefs that they're bringing to the issues that we were coming together to talk about and together we've been engaged in trying to map out what does it mean to create
064a safe and caring environment in which all students feel that they can belong so since March we've had three sessions of this group and I'll talk um in a couple minutes about the kinds of of issues that we've been exploring um but we've realized that having found a lot of both Common Ground we've also identified some issues that we feel that need further exploration originally we were thinking that this way of framing up some issues that we might open up to a public Community dialogue event as soon as may we thought that actually it would probably be better to especially with Summer coming up to have a few more sessions and then look really towards the first part of the next school year as being the time when we open up for the for the
065whole public to come in the results of these conversations we hope will be some interesting insights some ideas of where common ground is also some insights of different perspectives that are people are bringing that we would then plan to share with you as a school board members because of course it is you who are charged with making decisions and developing policy and programs for the school so we're still planning on doing that in um the the latter part of 2022 and hope you will find it interesting in the meanwhile we've really been I think in many ways pleased to find that there's a lot of common ground and in some ways I'm not going to read out all of these issues but we've found that there's lots of places where people just can really connect
066because many of these issues are just human issues there are concerns for things um for example how to create the supports for creating positive mental health and well-being in the schools how to address things that can be a healthy school um culture how do we have policies that address vulnerabilities but also policies and practices that make sure that there's healthy relations and boundaries in parent and school um relationships so many things that have come up we also realize that perhaps we share what the outcomes would be but maybe have some different senses of how to get to those and that's kind of one of the places that we're getting to now we've recognized that there are number of um issues that are in need of further dialogue and deliberation and once again I won't read
067these all out but they're complex and they're diverse and they're things that we're going to be working on in the over these next couple of months of really thinking through them together and then hoping to um complement this with some research into um some ways some strategies for addressing it so that we'll be able to have that mapped out and then invite the broader public into exploring it together jointly and so what I'd really like to say is some of the folks over here and I don't know if you if you want to stand I'd love to invite you to if you don't feel up for it that's fine too but um they have given so much of themselves and these conversations have been both really exciting and sometimes really hard hard right maybe not
068as hard as the kinds of work that um will St John has been doing or that some of the kids who are providing the um the support with the community clet but you all have really stayed with the conversation and really shared of yourselves you have have not you know stepped back and just gone into just like contentious to debate mode but really shared of of your stories and your lives and your beliefs and why you care about what it is that you care about and I think through that a lot of respect has begun to emerge and a lot of understanding and a lot of willingness to stick with it so what are some of the things that the core dialogue groups are are mentioning they're recognizing a need that we have to have
069the difficult conversations in a thoughtful and respectful way they're recognizing that in some ways this core dialogue group is a model setting the example for how such respectful conversation can happen throughout the community even when we disagree another person said we each need to take public ownership of the message going forward and the message is that we all came in with our own belief systems and are passionate about that but we've been able to find Common Ground another observed that this group was not handpicked to benefit one side or another that we need transparency that will create trust particularly with those who might have a growing mistrust of government in general the current climate and this is a reciprocal group we're not talking at folks rather we're starting a conversation face to face I know
070I found it to be an incredibly hopeful if challenging experience and I really look forward to seeing where we'll go and we're looking forward to inviting everybody into the conversation thank you thank you very much I do want to personally thank um Dr Barnes and the members of the core group again these are conversations around topics that we read about all the time for me it's been a fascinating process to really be there to listen um I think at the last session I'm not sure that I said a single word right I was over in the corner uh just paying attention to what people oh that's right CU my soccer team was playing at the same time so I told them they won that's about the only thing I shared um but it's it's been
071a really amazing process again a group that reflects the community so well and where um really difficult conversations can be had and where people still leave uh respecting each other and um agreeing to continue to talk and so uh thank you to this group and and to Dr Barnes uh for uh really allowing me to participate in that way and and to learn learn you know from the community and I can't wait uh for the fall when we really do this in a in a broader Forum where the general public is invited and we can have these conversations thank you thank you Dr shy with that we will move to Schoolboard questions I will begin with Mr crw all right it's always nice to start off first on the school board I being a new
072member on the school board and every time being the first one to to speak but I'm up to the task I was hoping tonight to uh get through this meeting and and um say thank you for coming and and going on but uh today as I found out and by the chairman bre Breeden that we were as a board looking to change our uh approach on board members being allowed to bring forth motions uh at Schoolboard meetings this is something that we have always historically done um here in Rockingham County and just now that uh I'm on the board now things are changing so tonight is really when we heard that at the very very beginning of this meeting tonight that a part of this board trying to censor what I'd bring to the table
073and I'm reflecting my constituents in District 3 and I I don't appreciate that because this is the way the board has always worked and now we are beginning to change the way that Robert's Rule of Order is being is being done and so um I would ask that the board would reconsider changing this um and and allowing us to continue down the path that we've been going down because now that um an action item has to be approved before a meeting handcut hand cuffs us as a um uh Schoolboard members to be able to take U matters such as uh back in February when Miss lore when she stepped up and she brought forth a motion to ask that the mask be taken make it be optional for the uh for our students in the
074musical place and so if that was the case and it was it was parent complaints and parent asking hey the athletes are have an option to wear a mask or not wear a mask and uh our students in the musical should have that option option as well and so she brought forth a motion at that meeting and we were able to change um to make it optional for students and musical plays coming up that following week to be able to wear a mask or not wear a mask and so I think the process works um and just a couple of things that to say is the fact that before I came on the board there was no votes that came forth in a year and a half in covid mitigation Str strategies a year and
075a half this board did not vote and what they did is they relinquished their power over to the superintendent to make those covid mitigation strategies and they just approved it and as a community that's not what you wanted that's not what you voted for and that's not as a whole as a community that you're looking for in a school board to do you want the Schoolboard members that you elect to make these decisions yes with guidance by those who are around us and taking in all these uh Strat all all the all counts of of opinions but it's up to us at the final at the final at the end of the day and so um I gave the very first meeting that I was at or in January was the was actually the second
076meeting is when we took the vote finally to take a vote to take the mask off our students inside the schools only two of us up here chose to do that and then the following um the following Schoolboard meetings I came up forth with motions asking that mask be optional for kids who have ADHD for kids who um um have um any type of disorders or hearing disorders um or any one of the Motions was to say that if a licensed doctor saw that it wasn't practicable because that was the word we were fighting over and in terms of law we I said if a if a licensed doctor finds that the student is not practicable for them to wear a mask then it would be that parents decision whether they wear a mask school
077or not it was voted down and so these are all examples of of a school board member being able to bring forth motions and not have to and listen you can foer my emails I've sent forth emails to all the Schoolboard members asking them to put these things on the agenda at times they've uh the chairman has said no to me at other times he's ignored me and so what this is happening is this is just limiting censoring my ability as a Schoolboard member to uh reflect my constituents and bring forth motions to vote to at the least show you where we all stand on issues at times and so I would ask the board that they would reconsider and continue doing what this school board has done for decades and not change the policy
078now because Matt cross has come on the school board and to end with that the the um example that that chairman Breeden brought up and this is not being disrespectful in any way but he brought up a case that's in the courts right now in spont Spotsylvania County is that correct Mr chairman bre that case has nothing to do with action items that case has to do with the school boards going into close session and not recording to the public saying this is why we're going into close session and they fired their superintendent in the school Division and so this this is a completely different case when it comes to a school board member asking for a motion for an action item whether it be approved or disapproved what we've always done is we followed
079a school board member could make a motion at a at a school board meeting so with that being said I'm asking that you would reconsider as a board not to change the way we've done things for decades is that all if you want to ask me questions well no I just I just certainly don't want I certainly don't want it to be said that I censored you no sir um at the last meeting I I had one more thing to talk about and um you didn't allow me to to speak um to that issue but I'm not mad and I'm not upset I would just like to be respected as a as a Schoolboard member up here when I have something to say that's all thank you um Miss lore uh I have a question
080about the is it kindness closet the clo closet um how how do we make donate I've got a storage building that needs some cleaning out how do I how do we make donations um let awesome thank you and I do want to note that Broadway also has one but they are full because I had other storage buildings that need to be cleaned out um but uh hopefully ta and Spotswood get can get some pointers thank you very much do you guys have one to does ta have one too awesome ta has one so spotwood does Spotswood have one yay let's have a big can for all the kindness closets in the C thank you Dr mcquilkin thank you Mr Breen I pass pass Mr F thank you Dr Sho yeah we'll say as to the
081care clauset it's an amazing uh project uh you know at East Ro have taken that um really on to to be um more expansive maybe than in some of our other schools but our schools do have them uh we also have them at um our middle schools but um again there's always of course that um you know connection to the community to get funding for the items and also donations and so I will also say that we're working with um who at this point uh will remain anonymous with the potential donor to provide additional funding and supplies to our care closet so uh that project uh will likely expand at all our schools over the next year thank you thank you thank you all for coming out this evening um those students who need agenda
082signed um what's that yeah here in just a second uh feel free to come up as we break before we enter into Clos meeting everyone please be safe driving home and um thank you for all your differing opinions we do have reason there's one more thing hold on we do have reason to enter into Clos meeting and I will entertain a motion in that regard I move that the board enter a closed meeting to discuss and consider the following pursuant to the provisions of Virginia code 2.2 3711 A1 Personnel specific public officers appointees or employees for the purpose of considering such individuals assignment appointment promotion performance salary and or resignation and to A2 one or more particular ular students specifically related to discipline and requests regarding compulsory School attendance based on religious beliefs that would
083involve disclosure of information contained in Scholastic record concerning a student thank you m lores there a second second thank you Dr mcquilkin all those in favor please say I I any opposed that is 5 we will take about a 5 10 minute break and then we will go into Clos meeting now we can do those