001excutive session this afternoon. I'll make that motion we exit executive session. Thank you, Mr. Eaton. Do we have a second? Second. Thank you, Mr. Parsons. All in favor? I. Any oppose? Likewise. Okay. Miss Perkins, give us our what we were in executive session under. 2.2-3711 A1 Personnel 2.2-3711 A7 Consultation with Legal Counsel 2.2371 23711 A8 consultation with legal counsel general. Thank you. And it is yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Thank you. We'll stand now for pledge. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Okay, Dr. Hooker. Okay. Do we have anyone that would like to address the board tonight? Let's bow our hearts for a word of prayer if you would. Heavenly
002Father, we thank you Lord for this beautiful day that you've given us to be out to the county school business. We thank you for the board members and superintendent and everybody for their willingness to serve and thank you for the accomplishments of these young people that we'll be recognizing tonight and just bless their talents as they move forward and help us to keep our focus on you as the holy week approaches that you are the Passover lamb put in the tomb at the feast of unleaven bread and rose again on the feast of first fruit so that we could be with you forever in Christ's name. Amen. Amen. Would anyone else like to address the board? She must not be here. So, okay. Okay. Do we have any adjustments to the agenda this evening? Dr.
003Hooker. Yes, Madam Chair. We do uh we will be adding one action item. Okay. I need a motion that we finalize and approve our agenda for this evening. I'll make that motion. Thank you, Miss Perkins. Do we have a second? Second. Thank you, Miss Garrett. Any discussion? All in favor? I. Any oppose? Likewise. Okay, we will do I have a motion we approve our uh minutes from last meeting. I'll make that motion. Thank you, Miss Perkins. Do we have a second? Second. All in favor? I. Any oppose? Okay, Dr. Mr. Hooker, our recognitions for this evening. Yes, it's one of our favorite moments of the night. I'd like to ask Miss McCoy to come up, please, and help with our recognitions. Thank you, Dr. Hooker, Madam Chair, Vice Chair, members of the Russell County School
004Board. We do have quite a few tonight and that's always great. We're going to start with Honeaker High School and we're going to recognize this young man and I'm going to call your name and when I call the parents as well come up and of course uh with home high school that would be Mr. Bush. Um and that young man is Avery Music. Um his parents are Amber Music and Chris Music. His coach is Aaron Low. If you'll come forward right there and center He uh has won the BHSL class one all state football team, first team wide receiver. [Applause] I'm gonna let his coach speak if he'd like to. Yep. First of all, you know, Avery is a an outstanding young man that that represents Homeacre High School with uh with high class and
005and and dedication and we we appreciate that from him and uh he had an amazing year. Uh helped uh helped the Home Tigers to uh win the Hogi District Championship. Um on the field, off the field, he does what he does whatever it takes. He put up unbelievable numbers this year. He had over,300 yards receiving, had 18 touchdowns. Uh helped orchestrate and lead our defense and uh done amazing things and can't wait to see what he does his senior year. We're all extremely proud of you. This is a great honor. Uh name a lot of people make state and uh for you to do it and represent us and your family, we greatly appreciate it. [Applause] audience got a bright future ahead of him. Just like coach said here, he's outstanding young man. I don't
006know if anybody spent more time at that fieldhouse than Avery and every time I go down there and they're down there working. So I can say the same thing coach Mo said on the field and off field in the classroom school. Exceptional young men from exceptional family. We just wish them the best and we hope we have a good senior season with you next year. Congratulations. [Applause] That's awesome. Come back next year. Good to meet you. I keep my head down. I walk. Sorry. Okay. Our next homere recipient is a young man that I also know. Uh Hunter Uh his parents are Scott and he coaches Dylan Shortidge and Jamie Helton or Shelton. Will you please come forward? He is the winner of the BHSL class one state wrestling champion 113 pound weight class. [Applause]
007Dylan, would you like to say a few words? Thank you all for having us here today. Audience, members of the board, Madam Chair, incredibly proud of Hunter. He's an awesome kid. Great parents. Proud of him. Incredible accomplishment to Wayne State. Something that we haven't done at home high. So proud. Looking forward to next year. And this season, like his season in state tournament was awesome. He went 36 and four. at 13 texts, 13 pens at an 81% bonus point rate, which is insane. Super proud of what's to come. You can't have him, Kippy. I've been waiting for this for a long time. Of course, I don't know if you guys know I coach wrestling at W High School and then we started a wrestling team and uh I don't know who was more excited than
008Hunter won whether it was him or me. So anyway, I'm very proud of Hunter. The reason Hunter won this year was because he worked so long from the first year to this year to to improve and get better. And the young man that he beat was a state champion. So Hunter actually had a wrestling state champion in the final and beat him and that's pretty amazing and I look forward to what's to come from Hunter and I appreciate his family and the support they give our school Hunter just like Avery is an exceptional young man in the classroom as well. So I look forward to watching him and see what he's going to do next year for us. Congratulations. [Applause] Thank you. Congratulations. Congratulations. Hey, he's got a good coach. I said I know you're
009proud. Congratulations. What grade? Okay, our next group is C High School and it will recognize the uh wrestling uh winners. So, um, at Castlewood, our head coach would be Cody Smith. If he's here, come forward. Uh, Mr. Jared Sparks, uh, Joel Bush, parents, Brandon and Car Bush, Jacob Bush, Brandon and Cara Bush, Jacob Young, David and Tiffany Young, if you'll come forward. Congratulations. Cody, Mr. Smith, would you like to speak? We had a pretty good season. Uh, these guys work hard. It's welld deserved. I mean, it's been They put in the work and it shows and I'm very proud of them and uh we just got to build off of that. Get better every day. Thank you, Mr. Sparks. Just to feed back off what Cody said, uh I can tell you every day I
010park my truck right outside the wrestling room every day. people absolutely know and I walk by that room every day and just see the work that these guys put in and I I mean just I can't speak enough on on what it takes to do what Russ do honestly like it's impressive and we're just super proud of them and you know better than that you're looking at three really good young men sitting here in front of they do they do the things that we need them to do we proud of them we're just super proud of them just can't say enough thank you [Applause] in recognition of winning the 2025 VHSL class one state wrestling competition 160lb weight class. Runner up, Jacob Young. In recognition of winning 2025 BHSL class state wrestling class one state
011wrestling competition 285 pound weight class, third [Applause] place, Joel Bush in recognition of the 2025 VHSL class one state wrestling competition 132 lb weight class sixth [Applause] place. What these guys do is amazing. They they work hard and just like Mr. Spark said, they they put in 150%. And it shows. And congratulations, guys. [Applause] I know you're proud of it. Thank you. Congratulations. Congratulations. Thank you for congratulations. Congratulations. I guess you two brothers. All right. Good to see you. Congratulations. Congratulations. Congratulations. I know you're proud of them. Congratulations. Congratulations. Okay, our next group uh will be from Casswood as well and it's in the indoor track uh competition at state. Their coach is Dominic Block if he'll come forward. Uh, and our two recipients would be Sam Gibson and Joselyn Phillips if they're here with
012their parents, Bob and Jim Gibson and Ronnie and Jessica Phillips. And I'll say this for them as per the case with Josie and Sam. If it's a sport, they're probably playing it and that's where they are tonight. We got Sam on the tennis court somewhere and wise and Josie is currently uh playing softball and Damascus at Holston. say that for them because they are multisport athletes so that's why they're not here tonight. No, you're good. I was going to say the same. Go ahead if you like to say a few words. Just as as awesome as they are athletically they're academically just as strong and a pleasure to be around. And this was the first year of the program. So we have a small team of five and two out of five made it to
013state. So, I'm just grateful for the opportunity to get the program off the ground and this is any indication where the program is going, I'm just really excited and grateful to be a part of it. Thank you. [Applause] Jocelyn Phillips has two for the 2025 VHSL class one girls track 3,200 meters, ninth place, and the girls track 1600 meters, seventh place. And we have Sam Gibson, 2025 VHSL, class one voice track, 3200 meters, 15th place. [Applause] Good to see you again. Congratulations. Our next group from Castlewood High School are the class 1A VHSL state champions of the Scholastic Balls. Head coaches Britney Hill, assistant coaches Rick Burns, Bryson Cheney, parents Amanda and Dean Johnson, Gavin Ham, Nikki and Kennyham, Eddie Jackson, Henry and Sharon Jackson, Stormy Odum, Missy Bellamy, Sophie Ray, Randall Ray, Joshua Ruer,
014Sarah Dickinson, Mason Street, Allison Street, and Cooper for Barney. Dave and Rebecca Barney. This is their coach, Miss Britney Hill, and I'm gonna let her say a few words. Thank you for being here, everyone. Um, I have a lot of thoughts and I had to put them on paper because I couldn't keep them all in my head. Um, the 2024 2025 Scholastic Bowl season has been one wild ride as the kids could tell you. Uh, we started practice about midepptember and we played our first Southwest Virginia academic team alliance tournament. We caught SWAT for short in Gate City in October. And over the course of the next several Saturday tournaments that academ continue to improve and beat some of the best teams in southwest Virginia and northeast Tennessee. We learned early on we need to
015be warmed up before we play and also caffeinated. Don't forget caffeine. And Trey has become our designated reader. So he will read while I drive or even warm the kids up before competition. And Mason is our math guy. Um his contributions during our direct rounds gave us an edge that we really needed and most of the time the kids say e math specific quote Mason says let me try. The irony is not lost on me as I have had almost every one of these children in one at least one math class and they're like math. It's okay. I take no offense. Um I also need to congratulate Mason on scoring his 10,000th point at the solo tournament a couple of weekends ago. [Applause] Stormmy has consistently made the top 10 scores in every tournament that
016we played this season and she is currently the top highest scorer that I have ever coached. Um she has a total of 8,655 points. Sophie, Trey, Josh, Cooper, and Eddie all broke the top 10 high scores at one tournament or another, and we did play in several. Bryson and Eddie are new to the team this year, and they have both scored over 300 points, which is impressive as new to the team this year. They played as a twoman team in some of the tournaments and even beating teams of four. So even at 50% capacity, they still won. The Academ also won the Russell County Bowl for the second year in a row. With a nine and one record, the Academ brought home their seventh Cumberland Conference Championship. In the last eight years, the Academ have
017consistently placed fourth in the regional tournament. But this year, with a hard fought win, and I do mean hard fall, uh against JI Burton, they clenched their spot at super regionals. The academ were the region 1D runner up and we had made history. We had never made it before. The academ buckled down and worked harder than ever in preparation for super regionals. We practiced every day including days that we were virtual at school. We had virtual practices. We scrimmaged two schools that had won state championships in the past. And we honed our knowledge with each scrimmage. As super regionals, the academ went undefeated, sending us to state again. We had made history. We'd never been to state before. When we arrived in Williamsburg, we even scrimmage Ridge View in one of the hotel rooms the
018night before. We didn't give up. We kept pushing. The academ were ready. Before we began our first match at state, I gathered the team together and I told them I could not be more proud. No matter what happened, we had made it. We had already won. We were going to continue to play whimsically, as Sophie says. And no matter the outcome, we had won. In our first match, we lost to Galileo Magnet by 15 points. We were disheartened, but we took a break. We dusted ourselves off and we sat down for game two against Patrick Henry. I've never seen such a resilient team. To take a loss and then continue to play as if nothing has happened in this game. You can't run faster or play harder. You can't something that you just don't know.
019Before the second game, I overheard Stormmy coaching her team, and it was a very proud moment for me as a coach because this came from her, not on me. This was an excellent example of a captain leading her team. It was another close match, but the academics prevailed. With a little confidence boost, we headed into game three against Rapahanic. We led the first round, but they closed the gap in the second. It came down to the last four questions. I don't think I could breathe. Then it was the last two, but we won by 10 points, but we didn't know where we stood with our two in one record. So, a friend from SWAT that I happened to run into because I was running around going, I don't know what to do. Uh, he said
020that if Patrick Henry won, we would be state champions. So, we crept back to the Patrick Henry classroom where they were playing and we waited outside and as soon as the door opened, we got the thumbs up from Patrick Henry and we knew that we were state champions. We've made history. There was a multitude of hugs and congratulations and a few tears that Stormmy has led and pushed this team as a true captain. Our state championship is the biggest title we've won, but these kids are winning outside the competition. I can't tell you how many compliments I get from coaches and other teams saying how nice my kids are and how resilient. They compliment other players on their wins, on their early buzzes, and for just pushing the button. And that's a really difficult task.
021No one likes to be wrong, but you don't know unless you try. Lastly, I want to thank the parents, the grandparents, the siblings, and the friends that journeyed with us to Williamsburg for all your support over the years and on this trip. Thank you for letting me coach your kids and for teaching them. They're an awesome group and I could not be more proud. Thank [Applause] you. I'm not sure what else I could say. Um, I'll tell you a funny buddy. Um, I thought Buddy had got me one night walking the halls of Castlewood High School because this group um, if you know anything about Castwood High School, you know what I'm talking about. I thought Buddy Pool got me. There was well after a basketball game and as you know there's no one around
022and I'm walking through the hallways and I'm hearing this buzzing. I'm like, I don't know what's going on. And I'm walking around looking for it. I walk by Miss Hell's room and sure enough there they are. So I know the work and the time and effort they put in. And that being said, I know the work, time, and effort that Bren Hill put in, too. So if you don't think relationships don't matter, you care about your kids, take a good look right here. Take a good look at this group. this family that is built right here just from a competition just a game but it's not just a game we are so proud of them all of them super super great young men and women storming we will miss you to know the extent at
023Castlewood High School that I can't even begin to describe but we just we are so proud of this group as a whole and we're just going to continue to grow and move from here so thank [Applause] to say something about this group. This is my school and I'm so proud of Miss Hail and these these kids and the families they've they're they're way above me on smart these kids are. I can't say nothing about that. But they brought history to our school. First ever academic state champions. I'm so proud of these kids and the families. Congratulations. I'm gonna start out by reading this will be on everybody's flag the Russell County School Board in recognition of outstanding achievement in winning the 2025 VHSL class one states classic bowl championship April 2025 and this one goes
024to Master Street. So we'll take that back from you before you leave. Sorry about that. Cooper Barney. [Applause] Congratulations, Joshua. [Applause] Eddie [Applause] Jackson, Stormy [Applause] Odin, Bryson Cheney. Congratulations [Applause] H this goes our coach Britney Hick Burns and then I'll present this to Mr. Clark in the school. I have to take this back off. Congratulations. Thank you. Good to see you. Good to see you. Congratulations. I'll see you Thursday. Congratulations. Cooperations. Oh, you do. It's a beautiful day. Absolutely. It's gorgeous. Congratulations. They work. graduate this year. So proud. That's a sport. So proud. We'll be cheering you on. Oh, how special. Congratulations. Thank you. Congratulations. Good to see you. Congratulations. Good to see you, Randall. Congratulations. They did it right. So proud of you. Congratulations. So proud of you. Congratulations. Oh, good to see
025you. So proud of them. Congratulations. I seen [Music] that. Congratulations. Yeah, we don't hear these stories, do we? We going to high school recognition. Okay, we're going to start with Wrestling. And we have Dylan Smith as their coach and James Ray as their assistant. Uh, if you'll come forward when I call your names. Uh, Ian Ray, James and Sarah Ray, Isaac Alva, Vicki and Jimmy Alvera and Sheila Rasnik. Uh, Braden King, Eugene and Lin King. Come forward. And Mr. Say them. No, mine still won't. Congratulations. [Music] [Applause] One, two, three. Okay, Mr. Smith, would you like to say a few words? Uh, first of all, we had a great season. Started out a little bit rocky. I was a little bit scared about it, to be honest with you. But, uh, about midway through the
026season, everybody started coming together and wrestling a lot better. Um, so I as a team, we did really well. One thing about wrestling, you can always tell most of the time by the podium who who actually works the in the wrestling room and we we took three to state this year, got first, second, and third, which is very impressive. Uh, and I can point to those three and tell you that these were the hardest workers in the wrestling room each each day. Uh, even coming in in the offse and and and putting in the work and it it definitely shown from our our placements and just how we wrestle this year. And as a coach, I can't ask for anything more than that. And just the effort to and it comes you end up doing
027well and I'm I'm grateful to you all for for doing that for me. [Applause] I can't really say much more than what Smith just said, but um like like I said, the the passion and the heart and the drive and the determination of these three young men it shows when they get out there and they wrestle. Um, like you said, you look at the podium and you see you see the ones that put the time in and the effort in. Um, but then to come back and be the leaders in the wrestling room and make sure that the other guys are there and pulling pulling them up and helping them learn new technique and and wrestle through situations and things like that. These three were constantly the leaders in the wrestling room during practice as
028well. Um we're losing one, one's graduating, but we got two of them coming back and we're expecting good things again next year. No pressure. Um so um the the theme this year was always improve on last year, improve on the last situation. So um that's going to be our goal going forward again, improve on what we had. Um always do one better. That's always the the attitude we have when we're working is is get better. So I think Things are looking bright. So, we're going to continue to improve. We'll be back here next year to get another play, right? [Applause] We got three great young men up here. We got two coaches that have worked extremely hard this year. One thing I think coaches when they talk about Justin, they talk a lot about how
029physical it is and how hard the work is, but there is a mental part to it, too. And one of the things that I'll tell you about particular I could always count on Ian I could ask him well what are we doing here before state I said well what do you think and he gave me entire rundown of his opponents Isaac's opponents what all they did what he thought they could do and to be able to do that in the moment of grappling and think about how many points you got where you know there's a big mental part to it that I think sometimes we don't talk about enough we got three pretty intelligent kids up here they represent our school and our community in a and we're super proud of. So, congratulations, [Applause] guys.
030[Applause] King of the 2025 BHSL Class 2 Boy State Wrestling Competition, 150 lb weight class, third place. [Applause] Isaac in recognition of the 2025 VHSL class 2 boy state wrestling competition 285 lb weight class runner up Ian Ray in recognition of the 2025 VHSL class 2 boy state wrestling competition, 157 lb weight class champion. Thank you for coming. Congratulations. Congratulations. Congratulations. Congratulations. Congratulations. Good job. Congratulations. Congratulations. He learned all that for your support. Yes, sir. Your last recognition goes to Miss uh I call her Leah, but it's Ameilia Beck. She was the state runner up in the shop indoor track. Her parents are riding Christy back and they couldn't be with us tonight. But Mr. Pots is going to say a few words. Just a word about Leah real quick. Um I know she's not
031here. her both of her sisters play tennis and her track coach is the tennis coach. So, they're all at tennis tonight. But, uh, Leah had a really tragic injury. She tore ACL the second practice of basketball. And that was her second time here in the ACL. So, she was done. She's done from, you know, competitive sports. It's going to be individual only for her from here on out. And I know her mom would would not mind me telling you all that if she were here. She did this with, you know, a torn ACL and she had surgery right after the last meet right at like two days afterwards. Uh she's hoping to be able to throw the shot in the outdoor track uh if she can get cleared in time to do that. She's a
032tremendous kid and she's battled through a ton and so for her to have the perseverance to do that, I'm really proud of her and impressed with her. I wish she could be here so y'all could tell her that in person, but she's she's great. [Applause] Thank you, Mrs. Our last two recognitions go to our teacher of the month and the employee of the month. Our teacher of the month is Miss Cindy Crabtree. She's a third grade teacher at Belfast Elementary. If she'll come forward with Miss Linda Miller, principal. [Music] [Applause] I want to read your nomination. Cindy does an excellent job presenting the material taught in a way that actively engages students in learning. She strives to meet the individual and unique needs of each student. She collaborates on an ongoing basis with other team
033members who work with her students to address any academic challenges they may be experiencing. That's why I think she deserves to be teacher of the month. Congratulations. Would you like to say anything? Congratulations, Miss Cindy. We truly appreciate your dedication to the in your commitment to air students. Greatly appreciate that. This acknowledges that Cindy Crabtree Belfast Elementary School has been named teacher of the month. Congratulations. Congratulations. Maybe we got another teacher. Congratulations. Good to see you this evening. Congratulations. Hey Linda, thank you for the phone call. No, it's just down there in the corner. And our employee of the month for March is Tony Dodson from Le Middle School. If he'll come forward with uh Mr. James Ray. Mr. Freddy couldn't be with us tonight. Mr. Dodson is a really is really nice to my
034child and his friends. Always tries to cut and get on their level and is a good super cool and nice dude. And he works hard keeping the school clean. [Applause] Would you like to say anything? I don't know if I can. Tony is one of the first ones in our building. He's absolutely the one person that makes our building run. Um any multiple times during the day, we're giving giving Tony a yell and being like, "Hey, we need you to come do this, come do that." And never never hesitates. It's always I'm on it. I'll be right there. Whatever he can do to help us out. Like I said, without without him, the building would not operate. So, we are super appreciative of everything Tony does. [Music] This acknowledges that Tony Dodson, Leon Middle School,
035has been named support staff employee of the month. Congratulations. Thank you, Mr. Thank you. Good to see you. Good job. Thank you. Well, that was some good recognitions this evening. It was for sure. Do we have a motion that we pay our bills tonight? I'll make a motion we pay the bills. Thank you, Mr. Eaton. Do we have a second? Second. Thank you, Mr. Ball. Any discussion? And all in favor? I. Any oppose? Okay, that takes us to our resignations and retirements for the evening. Madam Chair, we do have a list of resignation and retirements to be approved tonight. Okay, do we have a motion? I'll make that motion. Thank you, Miss Perkins. Do we have a second? Second. Thank you, Miss Garrett. Any discussion? All in favor? Hi. Okay. Next is the personnel. Yes,
036we do have a few on the list for uh new hires and transfers to be approved. Okay. Do we have a motion this evening for the new hires and transfers? I'll make that motion. Thank you, Mr. uh Parsons. Do we have a second? Second. Thank you, Mr. Eaton. And any discussion with that? All in favor? I. Any oppose? Likewise. Okay, Dr. Hooker. Yes, Madam Chair. We do have two action items tonight. The first one is to request the approval of the 2025 2026 CTE Perkins plan. I make a motion we approve that. Thank you. Uh, Mr. Parsons, do we have a second? Second. Thank you, Miss Garrett. Any discussion? All in favor? I I start. Any oppose? Okay. Dr. Hooker. Yes. The second action item, Madam Chair, is to request a $2,400 stipen to be
037given annually on the June the 30th paycheck following the plan year to each employee that is eligible and chooses to participate in Medicare's health plan instead of Russell County Public Schools group plan. The stipen will assist in offsetting the cost of employees in obtaining prescription and ex auxiliary services coverage. I'll make that motion. Okay, Miss Perkins. You'll second that. Mr. Parsons, any discussion? All in favor? I. Any oppose? Okay, Dr. Hooker. Yes. I just have one update that I'd like to share with everybody is this is just a reminder that we do have makeup days and the first one will be uh the day after Easter on April the 21st will be a makeup day and then also May through uh the 27th through the 30th which the last day will be on May the
03830th want to make a motion for she didn't come yet. Yeah, I think we wait. That's it. Okay. That's your policies. Oh, yeah. Uh the other information item is just the first reading of policies. Are those listed anywhere? She didn't list them on here. I'll have to get you all listed. Okay. Yeah, they're in. Yeah. Do what? Okay. our sales tax for March I guess 337,90246 the ADM is uh 360 as of 22825. Okay, we're to our maintenance report. Does anyone have any question or comment on the maintenance report our expenditure report for this evening? Does any board member have any question or thing about our expenditure report? Okay. Our next school board meeting will be March the I'm sorry, May 6th, 2025. at uh five o'clock. And likewise, um our superintendent will be presenting
039to our county board of supervisors April the 7th at 6, right? So, anyone that would be interested in going to show up in the support of Russell County Schools, I hope that you could make that And we have future and future calendar items. It's starting to get very busy, so we have that listed. The RCCTC advisory dinner is April the 17th at 6 o'clock. Our VSBA spring forum and this is always good attendance. Uh that's when we have our art. We hope our students get a first place with those and that will be April the 29th, 2025 at 5:00 at the Higher Ed Center in Abington. Our business partnership lunch will be May the 1st at 12:00. Dr. Hooker, do you have anything else this evening? No, ma'am. Does any of our board members have
040anything this evening? Uh, we do thank Hiker Elementary for the food that they blessed us with this evening. It was awesome. And we thank everyone for their presence tonight. And congratulations again to all of those uh achievers. you know, we we hear we don't hear enough about the good things that our students are doing and our parents that are supporting them. So, congratulations to all of them. Do we have a motion that we adjourn tonight? I make that motion. Thank you, Mr. Ball. Do we have a second? Second. Thank you, Miss Garrett. You anxious to go home, Miss Joking. All in favor? Okay. I think I need to clean my screen. Yeah. Thank you. No, you keep it.