001it is do no good good ready you guys ready to go all right better wait I've got two minutes yeah I hadn't I hadn't reset I hadn't reset the CL on my truck yet tell the way out here yeah yeah oh yes like to call this March 14th meeting of the Rockham County School Board to order welcome to all who are in attendance I'm pleased you can be here it's nice to start a meeting with it Daylight outside and um it's just a pleasure to have all of you here the first item on our agenda is for the approval of the agenda and I will entertain a motion in that regard I move we approve the agenda as presented thank you Miss lore is there a second second thank you Dr mcquilkin any questions or
002comments hearing none all those in favor of approval of the agenda as presented please say I I any opposed that is unanimous thank you this time I would ask that everyone please join me in the Pledge of Allegiance Al to the flag of the United States of America to the for it one nation God indivisible withy andice for all thank you and at this time would you please join me in a moment of silence thank you next we will move into public comments just as a reminder as we have been doing um each speaker will be given three minutes at the 302nd time left I will tap the gavel once um we would just ask again that uh everyone refrain from Applause or comments during the time that the speak is speaking so as to
003not take away from their time uh while they are speaking and in addition to that in an effort to be respectful to one another we'll begin with Lori Meyer good evening I'm here as a parent Community member and Advocate to ask that we as a district come together and hold ourselves accountable and not limiting our work toward Equity I would like to see our district consider creating a position for a chief Equity officer and considerate effort put in regarding who would fill that position I believe our children will better be served if Equity is not only an added task to a department or committee but a district leadership position that will develop and Implement in Fairfax County public schools the description of the chief Equity officer is as follows supports and leads efforts by FCPS
004to align actions around the shared value of equity by expanding perspectives creating the space for courageous conversations leveraging and building upon strengths helping all staff to understand the difference between symptoms and root causes challenging the status quo clarifying and focusing attention on core purpose and ensuring that FCP F FCPS does all that it can to unlock the potential of each student in albam Maro County Public Schools there is an assistant superintendent for school Community empowerment which includes Equity education and looks like Equity policy checklists an anti-racism policy staff development tracking and existing disparities advisory committee and accountability of policies and procedures I believe that we have to rethink and create to better our schools Equity will not happen with just changed mindsets but alongside that with changed policy and procedures maybe it's not in this
005upcoming budget but honestly I don't know I don't know where the um where all of you stand on the push for three more SRO or a professional safety manager in this upcoming budget that is soon to be decided but I personally would feel better with the chief Equity officer protecting our children in our schools if not now the next budget let's keep talking about it let's look for Grants let's look at schools who have created this position I'm just asking that you please not limit what we do with Equity thank you good evening my name is Sandy parks and I'm a national board certified teacher librarian and I have 30 years of experience in working with children in school libraries primarily middle school and high school um I rise tonight to encourage support of diverse
006books um for students in Rockingham County schools now a diverse collection should contain content by and about a wide array of people and cultures to authentically reflect a variety of ideas information stories and experiences our kids come from all over they need to be able to um see themselves in the words of Dr rudine Sims Bishop um books are sometimes Windows offering views of Worlds that may be real or imagined familiar or strange these windows are also sliding glass doors and readers have only to walk through in imagination to become part of whatever world has been created and recre created by the author when lighting conditions are just right however a window can also be a mirror literature transforms Human Experience and reflects it back to us and in that reflection we can see our
007own lives and experiences as part of the larger Human Experience reading then becomes a means of self-affirmation and readers often seek their mirrors in books but those books have to be available for them to see themselves and to see their communities and to be able to see The Wider communities diverse books are often the most challenged although their diversity is not the reason why they are challenged uh other o other reasons such as profanity um are often brought up with these books now not every book is for every kid and and parents do have the right to choose what their child May read um but if they want to choose what every child May read there's a reconsideration process that needs to be gone through for that um and I encourage you all to work
008with your Librarians to look at the collections to have the broadest variety possible for our kids so that they can see those windows mirrors and sliding glass doors thank you hi um good evening board uh I'm here this evening to speak on one book in particular that's in our libraries um there are Littles in the room so I don't feel comfortable reading epert from the book it's uh the absolute true diary of a Part-Time Indian I'm sure you guys have received emails over it the past couple of days um personally I don't believe if it's not okay to say at the dinner table it's not okay to be available to children and whatever process that we have that goes through proving books to be in our libraries needs to be fixed I appreciate it thank
009you oh thank you Mr Bren uh this evening i' would like to highlight uh a few opportunities that that have been going on in our school division we have art for our students art is available to see at the JMU Memorial Hall and at the Smith house Gallery so I encourage anyone who wishes to look at our students art please go to those two locations and I know you will enjoy it I'm still I'm in the Arts mood tonight so I'm going to talk about the fact that the high school musicals are over and they were wonderful every one of them I went and they were they were great and the and Pence middle school has already completed its its program but we have yet uh to to see and hear hilard Hillyard is coming
010up in April and Mont video and and Elton middle will be their their musicals will be in May so I encourage you all to come and participate and then I understand there was a District 5 band assessment for various communities in our area and the bands were performing and they were assessed and I believe the Broadway High School you'll have to check on this Broadway High School one uh and we thank Becky Ford from broad Broadway High School who was the chair of this whole committee this this group of schools and Shawn McCumber who hosted the group at Spotswood High School and now um that's that concludes my art section but I I know that we're moving from uh winter sports to Spring Sports and bring it on uh we love for our students to
011be participants so we encourage all of our students to find something in their schools and in extracurricular wise and enjoy it and we we're so glad that all the schools join together whether it's in arts or in in sports We join together and and and participate and cooperate together that's it thank you um I just wanted to express uh congratulations to the Broadway FFA con conduct of meetings team uh they placed first in the state and will be uh working from now until November to prepare for the national contest and I'm disappointed because Caleb who spoke at our last meeting was um let me get this right all state All State Treasurer so if you see Caleb at the next meeting please be sure to congratulate him on that we also had um Aaron M
012Mata and Ally Phillips as all state officers as well so just congratulations to those students thank you first of all I want to say thank you for everyone showing up tonight students there's a lot of students here and welcome to your school board meeting tonight parents it's good to see you as well it's good to have the community engagement people coming and speaking and uh taking part of what goes on here at Schoolboard governance I'm I'm sorry that I wasn't able to make the last meeting I was on a missions trip in El Salvador and I'm I've been doing that for almost 20 years now and enjoy uh going down there at least twice a year so I try to plan my I will try to plan my my um fall visit down there when
013it's not a school board uh night uh I will miss the following meeting I'm going to be going out to uh Los Angeles I have opportunity to speak at a very large Latino church out there and um I was given the opportunity and I do not want to turn them down so I please excuse me on the next one I I will not be here but I am still available I'm still taking phone calls and and your emails and staying very much engaged to what's going on so thank you for your understanding on that and I should be at the rest of the board meetings for the rest of the year uh tonight I just want to highlight uh a couple of our um u basketball um um coaches and teams that went past our
014districts uh congratulations to the East Rock farity boys basketball team and Coach Carrie Keys uh for what you accomplished this year here and the community came out in huge support uh as they they traveled um to every school and did such a fabulous job representing Rockham County uh as our division and uh Carrie Keys is a childhood hero he's a he's an amazing uh coach we're glad to have him out at East Rockingham High School um was uh the point guard for a 1993 state championship boys basketball spots with high school when I was a kid so thank you Carrie for doing that also Tyler Nichols and we need to I wanted to congratulate him tonight he is the all-time leading scorer for Virginia High School league and so he he has scored more points
015than any other student in basketball in Virginia history and that's a huge accomplishment and he has a um he's been given a full ride to UNCC and uh to the tar Hills and uh it's going to be exciting seing him on National Television playing sports and as his hometown I I'm folk just representing and thanking him for uh everything he's done it's been really cool to have such a superstar uh in our and this doesn't happen that often this this comes around once in a lifetime I mean if you look at look at the last person like him to come through this is I don't know I mean we last last night we had um oh um what's what's the young man for Spotswood for Ariz was um Justin KY yeah to see Justin KY
016come through and see him playing for Arizona and seeing him on National Television was pretty cool but something like this probably hasn't come around since like Ralph Samson and so uh this has been pretty cool so Tyler thank you for all you did for our community and um you got a lot of young uh boys and girls are so excited to play sports and another generation so thank you I also thank you to coach uh Chad Edwards he did such a fabulous job job every year I mean people move in our district in District 3 to attend Spotswood High School because of him being such a great successful basketball coach so Mr Edwards thank you so much uh for all you do thank you for his team for representing um Spotswood Blazers and to the
017girls what I mean that's that's another amazing Chris Dodson out at Spotswood High School is an amazing coach and every year uh winning doesn't come easy it's very difficult to do and I'm very proud of uh what we do here in Rockham County so Chris Dodson thank you so much and for your accomplishments and not only that but Chris Chris does an amazing job uh taking care of the younger girls that are coming up through H through the ersc program and so you'll see him at a Friday night basketball game and then early morning Saturday back out on the court teaching little girls uh how to play the game and his kids coming back through to help them to learn how to play the game so thank you coach doson for all you do and
018your time you spend uh is just um it's it's amazing what you do and lastly tonight I wanted to say thank or just congratulate um um uh Scott Turner for becoming Turner Ashby H School's new Varsity uh football coach uh Scott's an amazing coach he's done a great job down at East Rock over the years uh the only thing that I don't like is I'm starting to see a dynasty being built at Turner Ashby and uh being in the east side of the school uh district for so long I I we're seeing Mr Baylor down there we're seeing coach Coleman being hired down there now we're seeing coach Turner being down there so we we need to make sure that the East Side still stays strong but these men have uh built up a good
019um u a good following behind them and I think we're going to be in okay hand so congratulations to Mr Turner for becoming I know it's a dream come true for you but becoming the next head varsity football coach at Turner Ashby High School go nights thank you a lot of the um highlights that I was going to talk about have already been covered spring Sports always a special time of the year for me because I get to coach soccer at Spotswood and one of the in relation to girls basketball you know one of the highlights actually always is when I have to tell a player hey I hope you're not at our game tomorrow because it means you're still playing in the state in the state tournament right and that's what happened when we
020went down to blackburg for jeree and and one of the basketball players who's on our soccer team and said I hope you're not going to be in blackburg tomorrow because that means you won tonight and you're playing again next week so these are always U you know a lot of sports being played and we're going outside and and all those things so that's really great um to see in terms of Tyler nickel again not just a great basketball player but uh involved as well he spoke at a Schoolboard meeting more than a year ago about you know how we can play basketball safely and and really his um conversation here his public comment made a big difference in how we allowed basketball to happen last year so that was quite impressive as well uh we
021had a great first uh core Community dialogue group meeting was one of the most diverse groups um I've been around over the last few years and again people who may not really have conversations uh with each other on a daily basis but uh so many laughs and and high- fives and and positive comments at the end in terms of building a dialogue uh in this community around difficult topics but that remains respectful and and that was really neat to see and again we'll expand that to a larger Community framework um later in the spring so that was great as well and Dr Barnes from emu LED that and then finally something Mr Crossett talked about um earlier in the school year the strong starts program at caban and so it's this intensive assistance program we
022have for students in early grades who have significant behavior issues um that can't function in the regular classroom and the Intensive assistance they get in uh Angel ship's classroom again with behavior support and last week I got to visit that program and two of the students that I'd seen there earlier in the year who really couldn't uh be in their classroom for more than just a few minutes that were in that intensive assistance program I got to visit both of those students in their regular classroom now as they had transitioned to full-time attendance in those rooms and were functioning quite well and so uh it's changing lives for the kids and I know you appreciated it when you were there and it continues to shine and and is really um from an education perspective definitely
023the highlight of the last few weeks for me thank you thank you Dr Sho students can I see Hands okay good contingent tonight we will be happy any one of the six of us will be happy to sign your agendas after the business meeting so feel free to come on up and get that done and I hope you uh learn something something and if you have questions afterwards feel free to to ask as well I just wanted to uh mention as a highlight that uh Miss lore and I met along with Dr Shel and Cheryl Mass this morning with our counterparts the Board of Supervisors to discuss not only this upcoming budget but some longer term things that will be potentially coming down the pike and uh I just continue to be amazed at the
024working relationship between these two two boards um and you know we I had an opportunity to participate in a presentation to the Virginia school boards Association about that working relationship one time and it it it remains even as members change and on both boards it's um it's nice to be able to go down and and sit down around a table and have a discussion that's non-confrontational but is very Frank and and and very transparent so um that was a good experience expence this morning I think so all right we will move into action items we have need to approve the minutes of the previous meeting if there is a motion in that regard I would entertain it at this point I move to approve the minutes thank you Mr folk is there a second second
025thank you Mrs lore any questions or comments hearing none all those in favor please say I I any osed that is unanimous the bills and mileage from February of 2022 I recommend approval of the bills and mileage for February 2022 thank you Dr Sho is there a motion for support of the superintendent's recommendation I move that we follow the superintendent's recommendation to approve the February 2022 bills as presented thank you Dr mcquilkin is there a second second thank you Mrs lore any questions or comments hearing none all in favor please say I I I any opposed it is 5 field trips Dr shy you have a number of field trips for your approval tonight uh Broadway High School fbaa April 1 to uh through the 3 six to eight students to Hampton Virginia uh Turner
026Ashby High School FFA April 22nd through the 24th 30 students to the Chesapeake Bay field study on Smith Island Maryland and reads Virginia FFA on June 27th through the 30th 20 students a state FFA convention at Virginia Tech the TA choir April 21st through the 23rd three students to the all Virginia course in Richmond uh Turner asby High School and Wilbur as Pence Middle School a TSA April 28th through May 1st 42 students uh to the Virginia TSA technosphere in Hampton and East Rockingham High School choir April 21st through the 23rd to students to Glen Island Virginia and henrio Virginia and I recommend approval of those field trips as presented thank you Dr Sho business is picking up so I will Entertain Entertain a motion u in support of the superintendent's recommendation if it be
027the board's desire yeah I move I move follow approve the field trips thank you Mr Cross is there a second second thank thank you Dr mcquilkin any questions or comments I have a quick question that I'm pretty sure I know the answer to but I just want to get it out there so everybody is clear uh the Smith Island shows method of transportation as a bus to Maryland but we don't allow our buses to leave the state but they take the bus to Reedville and catch a boat right that's correct all right any other questions hearing none all in favor please say I I any opposed that is unanimous as well the bid for the MTC East Building structural upgrade smal Center was properly specified and advertised nine firms were invited to bid four firms
028attended a mandatory pre bid conference and three firms responded with sealed bids the recommendation is to W the contract to the low bidder Harrisonburg construction company in the amount of 80,81 and I recommend approval of the bid as presented to Harrisonburg Construction Company Incorporated from Dayton Virginia for $808 122 okay thank you Dr Sho you've heard a review of the bidding and the superintendent Rec recommendation is there a motion in support we're all asleep today uh I move to follow the superintendent's recommendation to accept the bid for upgrading the East Building in MTC thank you Miss lore is there a second second thank you Mr Faulk any questions or comments this begin it's going to begin fairly soon because it will be finished before June 30 be finished before it will be finished before June
02930 oh wow the end of the budget year correct um I struggle with Direction which one's the East Building the East Building is where the over it's where we have the board meeting okay so it's like if you're looking at MTC it's over to the building thank you yeah other questions hearing none all in favor please say I I any opposed that is unanimous thank you m May last we will move to information items U we would begin with a presentation from uh Miss Tate on the process for public complaint regarding curriculum instructional challenged materials Miss Tate chair Breeden members of the board Dr Shel um I was asked in December I think um or maybe even November um by um member of the board or member of the board requested um to share our
030process for um challenged materials and just simply to explain the policy as I understand it um and I want to to make clear before I share that policy that reading and writing and developing a community of readers and writers has been my life's work um I have been a teacher a librarian and for the last eight years the English and Library supervisor in Rockingham County Public Schools and I've always been very proud to work in this school division with the teacher and the Librarians the principes the board members the superintendents that I have worked with it has been um a true privilege and I think the reason I have been so proud is the collaboration that happens um as chair Breeden mentioned earlier among all of those people I also think it's important to tell
031you that I have a strong belief and faith in teachers and Librarians and also young people um my experience has been that that young people give me hope and while it is not every teacher's why um to work to help young people find their way to develop positive relationships with them for me my why is my hope to make the world a better place and young people have always always given me that hope the policy that I'll be sharing with you has been in place to my knowledge in its form I think the only changes have been to change people's job titles because job titles change in education quite frequently um we changed on them slightly I can say for certain since 1995 when Sarah Scott was the English supervisor in Rockingham County Public Schools
032and I believe the policy was in place previous to that even when I began working in the school division in 1984 um so I feel very strongly that the policy has served us well um librarians make decisions about books and libraries based on their professional experience in particular by looking at things like the school library journal the circus review to look at their professional organizations and Publications to determine what is placed in our libraries and in our classrooms and also to meet the diverse needs of the Learners in our buildings every book is not for every child books win awards every day and as I used to tell my students quite frequently there are great books being written every day and you too can be one of those people who writes that next great book
033it was always my dream to teach a book that students um someone that I had taught wrote um I will tell you that as a teach teacher sometimes parents brought concerns to me about materials that in my classroom and in every circumstance except one in my 38 years the conversation stopped with a conversation between the parent and myself and the way that happened was I explained my learning goals for use with that material if that was not appropriate for that parent or that family I did what our policy has always been even though it's probably it's not written down in this policy which is to provide an alternative selection for that child to be able to meet the learning goals that I had established in my classroom and I am grateful that parents showed me
034the respect not to go to my principal not to go to my superintendent but to come first and talk to me and again the joy of working in this community has really been that I felt like I had positive relationships with my families and with my students and students could ask for alternative materials so the policy itself all right Mr Perkins you may have to help me if it's not moving what's which button oh this one thank you thank you thank you all right let's see if I'm going in the right direction here we go um the policy was last updated as you can see in March of 2020 and as I said previously I think that that was a result of some changing job titles um we have in place a media Complaint Form
035that can be used if a parent has a concern about a u material in our school classroom or library and that Complaint Form can be received from the principal or it can be received um online at the central office um The Challenge any official challenge begins first at the school level um and we certainly don't make decisions because one person is concerned because again we all have different perspectives different experiences that we bring to the table when a parent came to me and said the Holocaust never happened I don't want my child to read Elie vel's night I did not argue with that parent I found an alternative resource for that student um the decision of the superintendent if the any challenge cannot be resolved at the school level would come to the superintendant and
036could be appealed to the school board this is the school procedure the complainant first comes to a conference with the principal and the professional person responsible whether it be librarian or classroom teacher and if as in my experiences a compromise cannot be reached then that person would fill out the media Complaint Form once that complaint is filed the principal convenes a committee which includes two patrons of the school in which the complaint is filed and three staff members and their charge is to review the challenged materials if the committee agrees to a recommendation acceptable to all parties then the principal will carry out that recommendation and file a report with the superintendent of the schools to indicate that a resolution has been reached at the school level if the complainant whether that be um a
037a parent in the school um the staff member or principal is not satisfied with the decision of that committee then a division level committee is formed oops sorry I'm behind our division procedure is that a division level committee and you can see the members of the committee before you one would be a member of the superintendent's parent advisory one parent or teacher organization officer a School parent advisory committee member the principal of the school involved in the complaint the assistant superintendent of innovation and learning the supervisor of Media Services and one member of the Librarians Association shall make up the division Committee in the event that the um decision was not resolved at the school level the committee provides a report their decision regarding the text to the superintend endent and the superintendent can then
038agree with their resolution or propose a different solution and if resolution is not reached the superintendent would make a recommendation for Action by the school board and the school board could make a final decision to retain modify or withdraw the challenged materials also in our school division though it is not part of the official School Board policy we have been since 1995 using a format that was developed at the time called bookfinders for our classroom instructional text and books that are being used for whole class instruction our bookfinder in our school Division and in middle and high High School typically books that will be used for instruction are listed on the school's the teachers syllabus um the evaluators in bookfinders are a teacher using the book and any combination of other division staff parent or
039when we get to high school sometimes one high school student might also review the text we always planned then to have if we are using it for whole class instruction three people having bookfinder to book that then goes on record both within the school and on a Division spreadsheet so that teachers can access and know what has been approved at other schools But ultimately we have always operated under student choice if a student came to me and said Miss Tate I find that I might not be able to read this book because there is something in it that inherently bothers me for example Huckleberry Finn the only students who ever asked for an alternative to Huckleberry Finn in my classroom were not students of color but they were bothered by language in the book and
040so those students were by our policy by what we do every day in our classrooms offered another choice for the text when we book talk books when we try to provide the right book for the right child we are making an attempt to differentiate for the students who walk into our classrooms I was a very lucky person I grew up in a home where I always had food on the table where I always knew that I had to parents who loved me where I Was Not Afraid or a victim of violence but I can tell you unfortunately that there were students in my classroom who I often cried for because of what they had experienced sometimes reading things in books helps us to be able to talk about them and I can tell you in
04138 years not once did any student in my classroom ever Snicker at language or derogatory terms they never laughed when something happened in a book that was violent or hurtful to someone else because I had faith in them to be able to talk intelligently to think and they didn't always think like I think not by a long shot but they were allowed to think and make decisions for themselves in my classroom and if their family or a parent had a request for something different as with all of the teachers that I work with and all of the Librarians that I work with who work so tirelessly every single day and then some the same thing is true and I realize there could be bad teachers just like there are bad judges or bad doctors or
042an orinary person at the department store who checks me out but I think we deal with those individuals rather than to label things and to say it's not all right for my child um because my children were able to have those conversations and I say my children not only for the two who graduated from Rockingham County Public Schools but also for my children that I taught and that I cared about one of my proudest moments was Justin ker introducing me on a recruiting trip at James Madison University and I heard him tell the guy when he said this is Miss Tate and the coach said who is that and he said it's My Librarian and I watch Justin partly for that and because I wanted him in my library as often as I could get
043him there so if a parent has a concern it's always preferable to First have the conversation with the teacher or with the librarian I think that's just what we try to teach children is the adult thing to do and that doesn't mean we will agree at the end but we can have that conversation and we owe it to our children to model those behaviors to understand our audience and believe me in 38 years young people have changed and to be honest I'd say it's for the better in so many ways and I love love love all those kids from 1984 and I tell them when I knew better I did better um so again I get get very passionate about reading because I want students to read and write for whatever purpose that might be
044um every day in however they do it and some of the greatest emails I've ever gotten are those things when they tell me Miss Tate I used what you taught or have you read and um whether I'm visiting a classroom when kids challenge me I didn't read the Lightning Thief until this year I'm just putting it out there because I was challenged by a group of sixth graders at Pence to make sure I did that and I owe him that um and so I will so at this time I'll do my best to entertain any questions that you might have for me again I'm not a lawyer um I didn't take School law I took English Library science Yeah question from Miss Tate thank you very much yes thank you thank you for supporting teachers
045and Librarians thank you thank you Kim you next we will move to budget update for 2022 chairman breed and members of the board and Dr Shel this evening I would like to update you on our Revenue I have for you this evening the governor's budget along with the House and Senate version for comparison there should be a copy at your desk we'll also look at it on the screen as you may know the general assembly adjourned without passing a budget therefore what we look at this evening is the revenue that we will need to use to finalize our budget budget I plan to use the governor's numbers as we'll see that's kind of Midway for our fiscal year 20203 budget and once the general assembly finalizes their budget I will have to adjust as needed
046we look at the um this document the First Column there is our current year budget then what you see in purple is the governor and the increase over current year budget based on what the governor suggested the house and then the Senate and those will be obvious in the um state revenue section the miscellaneous stays the same across all of all three of those it's an increase of $84,000 84163 this is the state section and that's where you will notice the governor's budget house budget and Senate budget yield different increases or decreases over our current year budget if we look down at the bottom okay the uh yeah there we go I missed the subtotal there at the bottom you can see the governor's budget was 8,700 th000 the house is an increase of 8,100
047and the Senate is 10, 300,000 and that is what I alluded to just a few minutes ago we're not going to have accurate numbers going into passing our budget so I think that I will use the governor's budget that gives an increase of 8,740 th000 and recognize that it could come in lower or it could Comm in higher once the House and Senate pass a budget the third section is our federal revenue and again that won't change related to state revenue it uh yields a decrease of a million dollar in next year's budget current uh as it compares to this year's budget if you look down at clear at the bottom there's where you can see a total of the miscellaneous the state and the federal budget what our total increase would be based on
048Governor House and Senate so um as I'll remind you we have the superintendent's recommended budget presentation a week from tonight at MTC at 6 o' at that presentation we will have Revenue uh balanced with the expenditure for a balanced budget that'll be followed by a board vote by the a board vote on the budget Tuesday evening March 22nd the note at the bottom one of the significant differences between the house and the Senate version is in the house compensation included a 4% plus a bonus and the senate had a 5% recommendation uh salary increase and the house also did not provide for construction money that I had shown you in fund 2103 so that will need to be determined at a later also I'd be glad to answer any questions you have about that questions
049for Miss Mast I'm just curious about the house version with the bonus is that do we have to provide local matching funds to get the bonus do you understand my question like if they do a four I'm assuming that they're 4% we have pick up 2% locally do is there a match on the bonus there's not necessarily a match on the bonus but it's all tied together the 4% and the bonus with the match required for the 4% gotcha thank you other questions thank you Cheryl uhhuh board members you will find in your packet of information a financial review for February of 2022 as well as an an attendance report for February of 2022 and there is a vsba Hot Topic conference April 20th hybrid School law conference uh June the 30th anyone who's interested
050in that uh please notify the school board Clerk and with that we will move to Schoolboard questions I'll begin with Mr Cross thank you Mr Breeden I'm there are two things I just want to discuss um that would be brought up on the April 11th um agenda put on there since I won't be at the next one um I'm asking that we would look at our our current policy on Parental notification when a student desires to be called another name different than their birth name given by the child's parent uh our current policy does not allow the parent to be notified by school administrators of a parent child desires to be called by a separate name than given to him or her at Birth while being at school so if Johnny comes to the school
051counselor or the administrator and tells them that they would refer to be called Sally the child's parents do not have um any say in it so I would like to look at that policy there and um first of all I I think it's crazy that we that we don't um that we're not allowing parents to know that like so Johnny can say call me Sally and um we're not allowing the parents to know that their child at school's being called a different name that was given in birth there a lot of wrong that goes on there I mean they they have to have permission from a parental permission to get on a different bus to go home but we were telling them that you can be called by a different name that's that's wrong and
052so I want to look at that policy and go over that um and um make that right uh for parents to to be aware uh of what's going on and it's not and about changing the name but it should be that parents know what's going on with their child at school and they should have that very right to know what's going on at school so um I don't like that we're hiding that I don't like that we're um we're not notifying parents on that that's a very sensitive topic and I I hate that we're not telling parents that we're telling administrators that they're not to call parents to let them know that they want to be called something different than what they are at home so I want to go over that at the next
053I I would like that to be put on the agenda for the next time we meet on the April 11th um a meeting um also want to be put on the agenda for the next time and I brought it up at the last meeting I was at but um there's there hasn't been any move on this so I'd like for to put on the agenda so we can talk about this and put this into the budget um but we we need four more school resource officers in Rockham County Public Schools um that is that is the least that we could do to make sure that our schools are safe that our students are safe um right now currently this has been going on for for a number of years is that your high school school
054resource officer they take care of five schools and in the midst of taking care of those five schools we have one resource officer here with us tonight Mr Warwood thank you so much for what you do at East Rockham high school he's one of our top SRO and I appreciate what you do I but Mr Warwood yeah yeah you can give him a hand sure where to go Lamar I'm Mr Warwood takes care of five schools and that's in the midst of um training that's in the midst of going to court that's in the midst of being called um for an emergency here it's in the midst of having to take off work all kinds of different things happen and he's responsible for five schools and the high school doesn't want Mr Warwood to be
055gone that that often because it the high schools you have have the majority of your issues that take place there but he's required to go by and at least stop by those other schools at least once a week which takes him away from his high school and then when he has other things that happen at the middle school or he has an incident that happens at the elementary school um he has to leave and investigate those things and has to write reports and has to go to court and has to go to juvenile intake and his job's pretty busy to take care of five schools and then to be present there at East roam high school so I'm asking that we would at least hire four more SRO to put in every single middle school
056and if the state picks up that uh that extra budget then great then we don't have to pay for that but if they don't I think we've we've if we haven't learned a valuable lesson how valuable that our school security and School uh campus police are with the current events at Broad at um at Bridgewater College then we need to have we need to have someone there at our our middle schools um and for my district and District 3 mon videoo is the only Middle School in all four middle schools that lays outside of a town Corporation so they if in case of an emergency um if if the deputy Rodriguez SRO at Spotswood High School if he's not there at Spotswood High School the response time could be quite some time to get someone
057there in case of a true emergency at mon videoo middle school so we need these resource officers put in the school we need to look at it and this can be done this year it doesn't have to wait another year and we don't have to say okay let's um let's see if the state gives us enough money to to give us that we we're looking at a budget here of a lot of money and safety comes first with the kids and for the staff so I'd like that that put be put on Mr chairman uh for the next meeting and and uh we can at least begin to discuss that and get that uh approved and put into the B the budget so we can have four new school resource officers at least uh for
058the 2022 2023 uh school year I'm tonight I I appreciate Miss Tate you you coming and explaining the policy um of um for the curriculum and and books when parents uh disagree with what's being put into our libraries and the uh the book that's been of discussion uh lately uh and that's just it's just one book I believe of many uh as we begin to go down this road of parents really starting to see what their son and daughter is reading at school um so this is not just one incident that's going to happen or one one thing that's going to be did you and Mr Perkins could you uh put up those two uh slides that I gave you on the screen um these these are not I think Miss Tate used you said
059that uh every book is not for every child uh and I would say but not every book is appropriate and so true not every book's for every child but not every book is appropriate and that's where we're really getting at what's appropriate for children and I'm that's what concerns me when we when we say that I'm that book's not for everyone or this this student doesn't like that there they come from this kind of household but what is appropriate what kind of values what kind of morals do we have here in Shand in in Rockingham County in chandel Valley and I can tell you when if you will Mr Perkins uh did you put that up on scre um yeah we talked about this earlier and Miss wine mentioned it um as well um the
060differ between a book that is a voluntary reading at a school and his mandatory reading is pretty much the same as um showing it to a captive audience of students who are here and of students who may be watching at home and those who choose to do so so it's inappropriate anyone it's inappropriate for adults and those who are here tonight no it's inappropriate for us to see this tonight but it's not inappropriate for sixth graders 11 year olders seventh graders and eighth graders to read this and take this home and read this and it's okay but it's inappropriate for this board it's inappropriate for those here tonight is that what we're saying it what what we're saying is it may be inappropriate for some of the very much younger folks who are seeing it
061it the the the real the real um purpose behind this is you don't want to put up on the screen nope yes it is okay the real the real purpose behind that is is when you have racial jokes in a book that a sixth grader hears a a a joke like this and uses the inword and a joke a 11-year-old reads that and all of a sudden they repeat that and then they they they a minority kid hears that in our schools they think that kid's like that at home when we they've read that in the in our library book that's wrong and if I say I I don't even want to I I don't even I don't even say that word but it's okay to plant those seeds in our children and say that's
062appropriate not every not every books for every child I I would say this you can get your point across by not using that word yeah we can we can get our points across by not using that word inside books that that my my my son that's 11 years old he would read that and and repeat that joke that's not a joke that's not funny it's something that he'll get a whipping for at home if he uses that kind of language at home and it's inappropriate for for that to be inside of our schools and then to talk about sexual uh explicit stuff in there that yeah there is a child sitting here tonight or I would read that it's wrong it it it's wrong and and and the majority of our citizens in Rockingham County
063agree with me it's wrong and it's embarrassing that it's so wrong that we can't put that up here on this screen because there's a child in here tonight but it's okay to send our children to school and put that on their school library and for them to read it that's wrong and we should be ashamed tonight and we should as a school board member or School Board we should say you know what tonight let's go ahead and let's let's vote to get that book out of our schools we know that at least that's one book that needs to be out of our schools let's vote tonight to get that book out of our schools what you want what you want do it it's in it's it's it's inappropriate it's it's it's sad it's sad I
064I'm I disagree with the comment that we've we've gotten better as a society uh in 1984 this was be being in school in 1998 it wouldn't been in the school inappropriate this is stuff you talk about in in sexual education this is stuff that professional teachers talk about with their sixth graders inside of family life not just to put and that's that kind of curriculum is is okayed by the division it's okayed by by parents who have access to that curriculum and family life this is Family Life material when you say that thank God God that God created thumbs for me that I'm a professional this thank God was what was the top the top piece on it again I can't even say it because there's a child sitting in the room but values values
065and morals are important they form character in life values form our character morals form our character and we're having a pandemic of character in a generation in our schools right now we're wondering why are they acting like that why they cussing us out in the classroom I mean if if if a kid goes and and uses this language in the classroom it gets sense to the administrator he's going to get kicked out of school it's okay to be in the books it's okay to be in the library we don't ask them well what kind of context did you use um that that word in when you called your teacher the b word when you use the F word what kind what would you really meaning what was going on at that time no it's inappropriate
066it's not how we talk we don't talk like that in public but it's okay to put that inside of the books and it's okay for kids to check that out it's okay for them to take that home so we need to be able to streamline books like this when it comes to our attention and so I'm glad we glad we have policy where it can go see this book went before the school in middle school went before the committee that was formed and was deemed to be okay and so the book stayed in school and so it's books still in the library and it's still cool for it to be in there so books like this in my opinion should be we could cut all the red tape all the nonsense in this cut all
067the red tape out let it come straight before the to superintendent let it come straight before the school board and let us make a decision on this whether it's a deemed appropriate or not and that's that's what it's all about it's about appropriateness it's not about banning books it's not about that's what that's a big thing when you start saying this book is not appropriate shouldn't be in the library the other side wants to jump on you and say well you just want to ban books and burn books no that's not the case it's about what's appropriate for a child to read at that age and for my 11-year-old son to go to school and pick up that book and to read that that's inappropriate not just for my household but that's inappropriate for for
068for children it's morals it's values it forms character inside and we we're looking at what character counts when you when you look at women as as as as um just a piece of meat or something that's just just there for us to as man to take or for us to lust after like that morally and our character that we begin to talk to to women inappropriately and do things inappropriately and and in books like this bring on um plant seeds that that don't need to be there and so um you know I've been I've been addressed to to talk about U possibly putting ratings on books and doing things like that I I don't know if that's an idea that we begin to look at but I I def definely believe that we need to
069to look up the definition of of appropriateness and what's appropriate for children and we've lost that you know for us just to sit up here and think that this material is is appropriate it's okay to stay in the library but we can't even put that up on the screen tonight to be read I can't even read it tonight because there's a child that's in the room but it'd be okay for my child who's 11 years old to read that in front of him so there's there's some issues there's some deep issues that that need to be fixed there are more books that are in our libraries that need um to be looked at and they're going to come up before this board continually as the years go on as the year goes on and they're
070going to continue to come up before us and there needs to be a way where we can cut a lot of this red tape and let it come before us and and we can we can look at it if they're talking about things in this book that it's talking about in there it's inappropriate come on you disagree with that that's that's wrong if you disagree it's it's it's okay to tell racial jokes in books you're wrong it's not okay so I'm not going to ask tonight to um to take a vote on putting a Bible in every school library because they are in some libraries but I am asking you Dr shyo that you would check every library in Rockingham County Public Schools and find out who has Bibles and who doesn't have Bibles and
071that you would get back that list to me and to the board to find out what schools have that and I'm also asking that there would be a Bible placed in in every um in every library and that it would be cataloged in every library and that it would be accessible to every child in that library and so um that's what I'm requesting tonight it's not against the law to have the Bibles in our libraries some of them do some of them don't but in the generation we're living in I think it'd be great to have a Bible inside every library for a kid could go to and check that out for kids can go in there and they could highlight their favorite verses for kids who are dealing with depression and suicide and and
072different things they're struggling with they go to somewhere at least find some hope instead of picking up filth like this in the library that they can read at least go find that and find some hope inside of our library so Mr sho I'm asking that you would I'm get get bring a list at at the next Schoolboard meeting even if I'm not here I will listen to it and find out which libraries do and which don't and that uh that we would begin to make sure that there is um Bibles in every Library here in Rockingham County Public Schools and with that tonight I'm I'll give it back to you Mr chairman thank you can I ask a clarifying question are you asking only about the Bible or do you want me to look at
073the Torah Quran Book of Mormon or other religious books as well I'm asking specifically for the Bible thank you m low I have a question for our high school students tonight uh are you having fun yeah no you don't have toe do you wantan to do you want to go home uh but I would like a shout out uh just shout out what school you're from what I still don't understand you your th because it totally sounded like you were saying something different sorry I didn't mean to single you out and then do you guys have any questions about anything you've seen I will defer my questions to you all yes at this point I'm just asking for the Bible I'm I'm not opposed if if you want to know that Mr uh superintendent I'm
074not opposed to having the Quran or the Torah or the Book of Mormon in our libraries I'm not opposed to that I'm just is asking that is there a Bible in every library at this time I'm asking that there be a Bible in every library and so the majority of you guys were from ta I went to ta so this could be you one day and that's all I have thank you thank you Laur Dr mooken I pass thank you Mr Faulk thank you Dr Sho I'll pass all right thank you all for being here this evening as I said we'll be happy to assign your agendas to show that you were here and you sat patiently through this meeting and uh completed that assignment however we do have need to enter into a closed
075meeting and I will entertain a motion in that regard Charlotte just looks at me now I move that the board enter a closed meeting to discuss and consider the following pursuant to the provisions of Virginia code section 2.2 3711 A1 Personnel specific public office officers appointees or employees for the purpose of considering such individual's assignment appointment promotion performance salary or resignation thank you Miss lore is there a second second thank you Dr mcquilkin all in favor please say I I any opposed that is unanimous we'll take about a 5 10 minute recess here so we can sign these uh agendas and then we'll meet for close session