001Good evening, everybody. Today is March 23rd, 2026. It is 5:02 p.m. The Mercer County Board of Education is in special session. All board members are present along with the superintendent. We are thrilled to see such a big crowd for all of our recognitions, the favorite part of our meeting, and we'll get to those in just a minute after we do the 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, good evening. We do welcome everyone out for our favorite board meeting of any month. And I think this is loud enough. Can everyone hear me? Russ, can you hear me back there? So, okay, good deal. We are going to start with
002some staff recognitions, and our first recognition is 110% Club, and this is for Mr. Les Farmer. He is the Grow Your Own Instructor here at the Mercer County Technical Education Center. We are proud to recognize Mr. Les Farmer, Grow Your Own Instructor at the Mercer County Technical Education Center for his nomination as a Superintendent's Rising Leader by the West Virginia State Superintendent, Michelle Blatt. This honor highlights emerging leaders who are making a meaningful impact in education across our state. Through his leadership, mentorship, and dedication, Mr. Farmer is inspiring and preparing the next generation of educators right here in Mercer County. His work is helping to shape the future of our schools, and we are incredibly proud of the difference he is making. Les Farmer, Grow Your Own Instructor. >> [applause] >> I know you don't
003like this stuff, but that's okay. He got us up here to do it anyway. So, this gentleman is making teachers here at Vo-Tech. He's helping people that are kids that are ready, but they're still in high school, to become teachers, start their process. That's free college credit. That's a head start on college, so when they leave here, they're ready to go. They're ready to become teachers. And trust me, we need teachers. So, we really appreciate his effort, and he does a really good job at it too on top of all of it. Are there anybody in here in his class? Yeah. I thought I saw some people smiling. Yeah. By the way, Dr. Adkins appointed him and recommended him for this. And for, somebody in that position to recommend for this program, it's just un-
004unbelievable. And, you know, I don't This is You don't know if anybody has heard or seen in the paper or if it even made the paper. Um we got a $10 million grant from the School Building Authority. And we'll match it up to 10. We'll match it with our part. We're going to double the size of this place. People like Les, Mr. Farmer, who's the boss of the school We We want to make sure that we give every student in Mercer County the opportunity for something. Good thing for parents if you're thinking about the Grow Your Own program. We've had students in the last 2 years that graduated with a 2-year degree 2 weeks before they graduate from high school, and the parents paid them nothing. Zero cost on that. So, we're proud of that,
005and we really appreciate all the efforts Mr. Farmer makes. So, we had a good idea. All of you that are in his class, come up here and get a picture with him. Oh, good idea. COME ON UP. >> [applause] >> GIVE US DANIEL. WELL, I DIDN'T EXPECT THIS. CAN SOME OF Y'ALL GET IN like on that stair if you don't mind? Then there's some of your kids, some of your students. Y'all want to scoot up and in? There we go. Okay, got y'all. Got y'all. Alyssa Crawford. I was requested by my Mr. Aubrey. Okay, here we go. That's part of it. So, how many are going to be primary teachers? Primary grades. How about secondary? High school, junior high, middle high. Good girl. Good. We need them both. We truly do. Congratulations. We're proud OF
006YOU. >> [applause] >> OUR NEXT BOARD RECOGNITION IS ANOTHER 110% Club for Carla Auton, Cook 2 at Montcalm Elementary. We are proud to recognize Carla Auton of Montcalm Elementary School as a member of the Mercer County Schools 110% Club, nominated by Principal Matthew Ryan. Carla consistently goes above and beyond to ensure students are cared for each and every day, whether overcoming unexpected challenges or simply brightening the cafeteria with her positive attitude. She makes sure every child is fed, supported, and welcomed. Carla's commitment extends beyond her role as she builds meaningful connections with students and families and supports school events on her own time. Her dedication and compassion and tireless work ethic make a lasting impact on our school and community. We are truly fortunate to have her. Carla Auton, Cook 2 at Montcalm Elementary. >>
007[applause] >> So, we got to use the mic cuz they can't hear us. We're streaming. So, um how long you've been a cook? 15 years. 15 years of of cooking in that kitchen for all those kiddies, making sure they have plenty of food. My guess is that there's times when they get a little extra scoop of this or that. We won't tell anybody, will we? When they're particularly hungry. Helping make sure that we're everybody has a good breakfast, a good lunch, and has got plenty of food. We really appreciate your effort cuz it is a hard job. >> Thank you. Thank you. Appreciate it. ALL RIGHT. >> [applause] >> OUR NEXT BOARD RECOGNIZES CERTIFICATE OF achievement 2026 mathematics teacher of the year. Mercer County Public Schools is proud to congratulate Kimberly Yaya, fourth grade teacher
008at Athens Elementary School, for being named the 2026 mathematics teacher of the year by the West Virginia Council of Teachers of Mathematics. This recognition reflects Ms. Yaya's strong instructional expertise and deep content knowledge, as well as a high level of training and professionalism our public school educators bring to the classroom every day. Through intentional planning and research-based practices, she equips students with skills and confidence they need to succeed in mathematics and beyond. We are incredibly proud to have educators like Ms. Yaya representing Mercer County. And I don't know if I see her tonight. No, Kim. Okay. Kim Yaya. >> [applause] >> In case In case you don't know, Kim was the one of the finalists for teacher of the year last year for the state of West Virginia. She is a rock star. If you
009happen to have a child that's in her class, you would understand why. She's dynamic, she's thoughtful, she's caring. And she's at a softball game right now cuz it was the first it's first game of the season for her daughter, so that's where she is. We'll bring her back next year. Yeah, we'll get her next time. Our next award is certificate of achievements for national board certification. We are proud to recognize the outstanding accomplishment of earning national board certification, one of the highest and most respected credentials in the teaching profession. This rigorous voluntary process reflects a teacher's deep content knowledge, committed to student learning, and dedication and continuous improvement. National Board Certified Teachers are proven leaders in the classroom who meet the high standards of excellence. Please join us in in congratulating Jessica Satter of Princeton
010Senior High School and Kendra Kelly of Princeton Primary School on achieving this prestigious distinction. Their commitments to the craft and to the success of their students exemplify the very best of Mercer County Schools. We are very proud of their achievements and their positive impact that they have on students each day. And I'm going to read Ms. Satter is social studies, history, and adolescence and young adulthood. And Ms. Kelly is literacy, reading language arts, and middle childhood. Jessica Satter and Kendra Kelly. >> [applause] >> So come in a minute, okay? I'll be right up. Can you get us? Do we need to go up? No, I got you. All right, so no, don't come in here. Not yet. So, if I told you how hard what they did was, you think they went to college again.
011It is an extraordinarily difficult process, procedure, and it requires a lot of extra time, effort, and energy outside of the classroom. This is extras This is evenings, this is weekends, this is traveling during the summer. This is all those things that they had to do to reach this, and we really really appreciate it because it makes them better teachers. Just on the flip side of it, you want to feel old? I remember her when she was that size. So, uh she's They've both done an extraordinary job here. They've put in a lot of effort, extra effort cuz you don't have to do this. This is This is a drive. I want to be the best teacher I can be. And we appreciate both of you so much. ALL RIGHT, EVERYONE. >> [applause] >> OKAY, WE'RE
012GOING TO NOW MOVE TO STUDENT recognition starting with certificate of achievements for All-State Children's Chorus. The following students were selected for the All-State Children's Chorus: Jude Spinella of Bluefield Intermediate School, Chloe Gore of Bluefield Intermediate School, Mikaela Lucas of Princeton Middle School, and Jamie Vance of Princeton Middle School. >> [applause] >> YEAH, WE NEED SOME OF THE ADULTS TO GET in behind, please. Thank you. Oh, that's perfect. That's a good one. So, did you all have a good time doing this? Do you like to sing? What do you like to sing? That can't You can't shake your head no. >> [laughter] >> You got to actually talk. What do you like to sing? Opera? Country? Pop? Taylor? No? Taylor Swift? No No Swifties in the group? That's all right. Rock and roll? Well, we really
013are proud of you guys. Obviously, you you have great voices. You keep doing it cuz we want to give you this every year until you're graduated. And we hope you have a lot of fun and success in in singing. All right. >> [applause] >> OUR NEXT CERTIFICATE OF ACHIEVEMENT IS FOR All-State Middle School Band. The following students were selected for the All-State Middle School Band: Yaa Afra Boateng from Glenwood School and Gabrielle Scott from Princeton Middle School. >> [applause] [snorts] >> Yeah, come on over here, come. What do you play? Clarinet? Takes a lot of fingers, doesn't it? Do you like playing clarinet? Want to play anything different? Saxophone, too? Oh, that's awesome. Uh which one do you like most? So, did you have a good time when you did this? You ready to do
014it again? What grade you in? Okay, so you got plenty of time. Keep going. We're proud of you. THANK YOU. OUR NEXT AWARD IS CERTIFICATE OF ACHIEVEMENTS FOR All-State Junior High Middle School Honor Choir. The following students were selected for the All-State Junior High Middle School Honor Choir: Jayla Dotson from Princeton Middle School, Xavion Dotson from Princeton Middle School, Katrina Mason from Princeton Middle School, Addison Fortner, PikeView High School, Abigail Nolan, PikeView High School, Mary Burkey, PikeView High School, and Miles Fisher, PIKEVIEW HIGH SCHOOL. >> [applause] >> ALL RIGHT, SO WHAT DO YOU SING? WHAT PART DO YOU SING? SOPRANO? SOPRANO? FIRST? SECOND? FIRST? WOO, that's way up there. Do you like singing? Do you like the music you get to sing? Do you like just regular music? Sing in the car? Bother your brother
015when you sing? Or your mother? Or your dad? Yeah, do that. There you go. All right, well, you keep singing cuz it makes the world a better place, okay? We enjoy hearing you. We're real proud of you. So, y'all keep doing it. ALL RIGHT. >> [applause] >> OUR NEXT AWARD IS CERTIFICATE OF ACHIEVEMENT FOR All-State Middle School Orchestra. The following student was selected for the All-State Middle School Orchestra: Ethan Kim from BLUEFIELD MIDDLE SCHOOL. >> [applause] >> COME GET YOUR PICTURES. SO, WHAT INSTRUMENT DO YOU PLAY? Uh [laughter] [applause] I play violin. The violin. and Kiera Graham, Princeton Senior High School. >> [applause] [cheering] >> We might have to put Todd in the back. >> [laughter] >> I'm up on three steps and he's taller than me. >> [laughter] >> Okay, if the front row
016could move down just a little bit. Little more. Little bit more. That is perfect. Right there. All right, so how about a number? What we got? No, okay. >> [laughter] >> You guys enjoy being in the choir? And have a good time? Been You do do it every year? Every year? It's worthwhile, isn't it? Yeah. You know that people that are in music tend to do better in academics. I don't know if y'all knew that or not, but there's a correlation between music and and academics and they seem to do better. We don't know why, but we know you do. Everybody enjoys school? So, we are really proud of you. Keep singing and make the world a better place, okay? Hey, who's from PikeView? Raise your hands. Okay, good. So, do we still sing to
017the principal in the auditorium? I mean, in the atrium. You don't know how much that makes the principal very happy. At the end of the day, especially. >> [laughter] >> CONGRATULATIONS. >> [applause] [applause] >> OUR NEXT CERTIFICATE OF ACHIEVEMENT is for All-State High School Orchestra. The following students were selected for the All-State High School Orchestra. Weston Saunders, Princeton Senior High School and Elijah Moore, PikeView High School. >> [applause] >> So, what's your favorite music piece? Well, we only got to play one in the orchestra. It was the Egmont Overture by Beethoven. Did you like it? It was pretty fun. Very fun to play. Was it tough on the trombone? Yeah, the only thing is that it was a song that didn't originally have trombone, so we had to like add a trans script transcription in
018there. So, it was a little a little weird, but it was it was fun. You had a good time, right? You can keep doing this. Yes. What year are you in? I'm a sophomore. Okay, you got two more years. Keep doing it. Good job. Keep that. THANK YOU. >> [applause] >> OUR NEXT CERTIFICATE OF ACHIEVEMENT IS FOR WEST Virginia American Choral Directors Association of High School Chamber Choir. The following students were selected for the West Virginia American Choral Directors Association High School Chamber Choir. Parker Shrewsbury, PikeView High School. Christian Shrewsbury, PikeView High School and Elijah Moore, PikeView High School. I think there's something in the water. So, everybody had a good time doing this? Y'all doing good in school? Grades good? Not having any trouble? Good job. So, the arts matter, huh? They make life
019more interesting, don't they? Well, we are proud of you guys. Keep up the good work. Congratulations. >> [applause] >> Okay, last but not the least, our last recognition is certificate of achievement for West Virginia Educators Rising State Medalists. The following students were selected for the West Virginia Educators Rising State Medalists and we will start with the gold uh winners and that's Madison Taylor, Brooklyn Ford, Scotty Miller, Alexis Witt, Riel Coburn, Gillian Spencer, Jacob Crawford, Gracie White, Emma Blankenship, Ava Dare, Jayden Alston, Liam Deets, Maya Mereto and Catherine Brown. Those are the gold medals. >> [applause] >> Everybody smile. Big smile. All moms, dads are proud. They want a picture. Everybody say Portland. Portland. That's the same one as the grand prize or >> award. All right. So, what did you What did you guys do
020to get this award? I did a TED Talk. Does nobody know? So, what did you guys do? I did a lesson planning. Lesson planning, what else did you do? I also did this. You spoke with a PowerPoint, okay. What else? Teacher created materials. There you go. What else? I did an ethical dilemma. Okay. Um I wrote a book. You wrote a book. I think I've seen it on Facebook. Yes, I wrote it. Uh anybody else want to tell us what they did? Um me and my partner, she's not here, but we did a professional development presentation. So, it was kind of teaching teachers how to deal with um certain things in the classroom. So, you guys juniors or seniors? Guys, this is high-level stuff, man. >> I'm a 10th grader. A 10th grader. And a
021what? 10th grader, how did you pull that off? Good job, guys. We're really proud of you. And I'll tell you what, the thing about board members is we're like parents and we go to other meetings with other board members. We go, Did you see how many gold medals we got in that teaching thing? Cuz it's it's impressive. You guys should be real proud of yourselves. I know your parents are. Congratulations. >> [applause] [applause] >> Okay, next we have our silver medalists for the West Western Educators Rising um state competition. We have Janay Hill, Eden Bassil, Patience Dobbs, and Macy Hayes. SILVER MEDALISTS. >> [applause] [clears throat] >> TURN AROUND, BIG SMILE. EVERYBODY SMILE. IF anybody wants to come up, come up and get a picture. So, what did you guys do? What What did you
022do? I did lesson planning. Okay, what did you do? Um an ethical dilemma. All right. We did a bulletin board. Oh, okay. So, interactive bulletin board. All right. Again, this is pretty high-level stuff. They're teaching this at Concord Middle School state right now. And they're doing it in uh 11th, 12th? 11th. 11th? 11th. 11th. Good stuff. That's college level stuff. So, we're real proud of you. And and and don't ever think, "Well, I just got a silver." You didn't just get a silver. You got a silver. If you listen to the Olympic people when they say, "I got a silver." They're not the least bit worried about it. Silver is awesome. Okay? Proud of yourselves. You did a good job. WE'RE PROUD OF YOU. >> [applause] [applause] >> OUR LAST BOARD RECOGNITION FOR THE WESTERN
023Educators Rising competition is bronze medalist Aiden O'Quinn. >> [applause] >> Okay, he's not here. >> [applause] >> That concludes our recognitions. All right. So, we have a business meeting now and we always encourage you to stay if you want to. But, if you want to go, now's the time to go. We're going to be in recess. >> recess, so all those wonderful parents and kids could head on back to home. We sat and waited for them to leave. Now, the room's been cleared out and we're ready to crank it back up again. So, we're on the uh superintendent's opening remarks part of our agenda. Yes, sir, President Fritsch. I just want to um again, from last Tuesday, congratulate Alan Ross, our custodian at Bluefield Intermediate School, for being named our Mercer County Service Personnel of
024the Year. Also, uh we have the board workshop at 9:00 a.m. on this Friday, and then at 1:00 we have a few student disciplinary hearings, so I want to share that with you. Uh we have the top scholar dinner that will be next Tuesday at 6:00 at the Chuck Mathena Center. Also, I attached uh professional development from WVASA that is going over some legislative updates. Once we get those things, I really wait till the green book comes out and and I'll get a copy of that for you also. But, um State Superintendent asked if all superintendents would uh be available to bring their treasures also, and I think you've had some of that questions asked from the school boards association also, but again, I think um State Superintendent uh Blatt's is trying to make the
025communication out there with some of the counties going on. We don't have any worry what uh Ms. Wellman's doing an incredible job and her team, but again, she's going to go up along with uh Dr. Atkins and Ms. Mitchell. Um Also, wanted to share today, we have our last uh it's kind of a um leadership game training that several of us at the central office will be getting together with two groups and doing our final um group with Mike McClanahan and the leadership training, and we have that scheduled now for uh April 30th, and we'll have a 9:00 and a 10:30 session with Mike McClanahan. And that's uh my opening remarks. I got a few things I want to start off on 2322, and then I'll pass it on to the others when you're ready.
026>> There are no citizens input that we're aware of, so we'll move into policy 2322. President Fritsch, members of the board, I I put a few things together. Thank you, Dr. Bowling, Ms. Harrison, and several of you that put together some of the things with my goals. I've been uh monitoring those issues along with our data wall, our board minutes, our superintendent's updates. So, if you look at all those things, our minutes are very detailed of what we're doing academically. But, I've got uh some of that in there. You have that to be discussed this Friday. So, I wanted to give you a few things that I could uh some talking points that you can look at ahead of time, and then we can go more detail, and I'll get some other stuff for you
027also that I have attendance and all those uh different issues there, and I don't know if from strategic strategic plan, uh from our data wall. I had an opportunity sitting by uh State Treasurer Larry Pack uh the other day, spent a lot of time uh talking to him about uh uh opportunities he wants to come down. We talked data wall. I sent it to him this morning. He wanted to see that. He loved the part. We talked about Bluefield State meeting with them and what they've done with dual credit, and I think I I said I I believe you need to look at Mercer County Public Schools and what we did with dual credit to make those things available, and uh showed a great growth there. He took a lot of that information, and uh
028he was tickled and plans to come down and uh and visit Mercer County schools. But, with that, I'm going to pivot instead of Dr. Atkins and Ms. Mitchell. I know I I got our attendance director, Mr. Lippincott. I want to roll with you now. I think you you got some other plans. Let's get you going. You're winning right now. We're early, aren't we? I got you. So, uh Mr. uh Lippincott, you have the goals with attendance that you guys gave me. He has been on it. We have made such improvement, and again, anything that he and Ms. Zaylor, Ms. Mitchell, anyone to add in, but it's all yours, sir. Don't forget the mic. Uh so, the handout that I gave you guys is the 6-month comparison report from last year to this year. Obviously, you
029can see we went from 31.51% on the 6th month of last year to 13.68% this year, which was a 17.83% improvement for this month alone. Um I can tell you without 100% certainty, but >> [clears throat] >> from the year to date, we're somewhere around 14 and 1/2%. Which would be an increase from the 20.4 around 28% reduction as opposed to 10%. So, I do anticipate that climbing up slightly. We've had a pretty rough month this past month, a lot of sick kids and hospitalizations and things like that, so I look for next month probably not to be quite as good, but overall for the year to date, I think we'll be we're still well on track to keep going towards exceeding that goal that you guys had set. I mean, obviously, that's a big
030support through our principals, through our student support staff, through targeted interventions and family communications. Uh so, yeah, we're definitely on track. Everything seems to be flowing in the direction it needs to be at this time. For the benefit of people that are listening or watching on the streaming, explain what chronic absenteeism is. Well, it's anytime that a student misses 10% or more of the school year at that particular giving time. So, a student could be chronically absent in month two uh by missing 5 days. I mean, 40 [clears throat] days in, 5 days put you over. However, that student wouldn't remain chronically absent if they continue uh going to school on a regular basis. So, it's a constant fluctuation for us, which makes it challenging, but uh for us to continue to monitor it, it's
031as long as you're there 10% more than you need to be. So, anybody who misses 18 or days or or more on the school year is chronically absent by the end of the year. Right now, in terms of definitions, does it matter why they're missing? Not for chronic, other than [clears throat] things that aren't counted against you as far as suspensions, uh failure for bus to run, those two, and um yeah, what was it? Homebound. Oh, yeah, a homebound partial instruction, stuff like that does not go against the student as well. Okay. So, if we have a kid that's chronically sick, we get to this point of the year, and they've missed 14 days, 15 days, they're absent even though they have doctor's excuses for all of them, or they were hospitalized for 10 days.
032Yeah. Yeah, cuz the state has really looked at this as so much more as missed instructional time versus excused versus unexcused absences. How much time is the student actually missing from their day-to-day instruction? Cuz we know if you're not in school, you can't learn. Exactly. Okay. One more? I have a question. Go on. Staying in touch [snorts] or listening to what the legislature was dealing with, Lacy's Law, is that is that what's what they tried Railey's Law. Law. Railey's Law. >> Railey's Law. What we know that do the teachers do they look at um they know the students, and they report that they're absent. Do you ever get contact that somebody says to you, you know, we've got Jim Bailey's not coming to school and there may be any any issues like that. Oh, absolutely.
033But typically it usually comes from a principal referral so the the teachers >> So they they do the footwork and go to go to the principal and then relate to >> Yes, absolutely. And I still continuously and even have done so more do home visits on a regular basis. Mr. Goff can attest to that. He's been on a few with me in the past. But Highlights of my career. >> [laughter] >> So yeah, I continue to do that to keep our families engaged and understand the importance of daily attendance, not just excused versus unexcused. So I've kind of had to to change my approach with that as well. It's like, "Hey, it's about a misconstruction of time. I still want your kid here." You know, so but yes, I do get referrals quite often from
034principals just asking, "Hey, would you mind following up and do a checkup? They're not really listening to us, but they may listen to you." So yes, I still do some door knocking and phone calling myself. >> What triggers a concern in terms of numbers of days to where you take get this kind of interaction? Uh it it really varies per student. I mean, it also varies per school. I mean, some of our schools have more student support staff. Others really don't have a school social worker. So it really triggers some but usually within 8 to 10 days things start ramping up and then the pre- principals are reaching out. And if there's not no response by the parent, then typically I'll get notification. Is there anything that that you need would help your plight in
035life with this from the legislature that they seem to ignore? Well, the legislation luckily uh nixed bill 4656. Uh it's it did not pass this go round, which was uh all things associated with chronic and trying to convert that to a legal issue and taking away our status offense for families and students who were in violation of that. So as of right now, I haven't getting gotten any major updates, but I do know that that was a breath of fresh air knowing that that's kind of been tabled. Uh it's really hard to state trying to push the chronic, which I understand. But it's hard to say that and then then it it's a legal versus excused and unexcused. So trying to police that becomes very difficult. Thank you. That's it. Uh Mr. Livingston Cott How
036you doing? Good, sir. You? I'm good. Um I'm looking at the numbers and um the one thing I wonder, is there a when you reach 10 absences um for the various races and that's your um chronically absent. Is there a running total of the percentage of the school that has that that meets that criteria? Like a year to date? >> Yes, sir. Yeah. Yeah, and that's posted on our Zoom and Zoom educators. All of our teachers have uh access to that as well. So that data is live data. Um and we went over that with them at the beginning of the year in order to keep them on pace with that and and the ability to access it. But yes, that's where uh when I'm I can't 100% predict where we're going to be by
037the end of the year because it's ever changing. But right now we're floating around 14 and 1/2% year to date for the whole county. But this was a this is a month snapshot from month to month. I'm watching that I'm I maybe I need some reading remediation remediation That'd be interesting to look at. Yeah, it it's a really good tool. Of course, like I said, our principals was able to view it. It only it breaks down their chronically absent number, but it also gives them a list of the chronically absent student, those that they need to be aware of and then the students who are exceeding so they don't have to really dial in and focus individually on them. Does anybody get dinged if they're out of school uh like these kids that were in
038choir and band and Should not be if they're coded >> does that's that doesn't show up at all. No, sir. That that goes as part of like a non-traditional type of day, but they're still considered part of it's a school uh school function. Yeah, so that's not held against them either. Good. Also clearing up the data between uh votech and the high schools. Yes. For those Okay. for those functions. Yeah, and and of course, Danielle can attest to that. That's all is challenging because we have so many, you know, people involved with that process. But yeah, just constant communication back and forth. Um and she's got a really good handle on the number of kids in certain activities and all of that. So she keeps track of that as well. Anybody else? Nope. How do
039we compare to the state? If you know. I don't know off the top of my head because I can't see everyone else's chronic numbers. >> So they don't there's not >> live >> They won't give us a a big number until the end of the year or what? >> Yeah, exactly. >> Okay. All right. But I my guess would be we went from 18.4 two years ago or 18.8 somewhere in there to 20.4 last school year. So we jumped now I'm anticipating it's coming down. I would say we're going to be really really good if it stays around this 14% cuz no one in the state was below 20 other than one brick and mortar. Great. Yeah. Good. Do you have any idea why it's working? What we're doing is working. Well, I think it's
040a continual effort. You know, we do have a lot of our school social workers and our principals that's gotten heavily involved with the process. Uh you know, it's not a cookie cutter thing. Unfortunately, you know, each dynamic each area is different. Uh kind of what works for your community through advertising and promotion is different from one area to another. So it's really the people grabbing the bull by the horns, so to speak, and trying to make a difference within their little area is really what's making the difference. Look I noticed that secondary, particularly middle school, seemed to be an issue. Mhm. Uh do we know have we pulled out Clemwood Middle School's numbers to see if their middle school is doing like the other middle schools? With their overall number my guess is it's going
041to be significantly lower just because their overall number is still really low. Um but I can try to break that down. I don't know if the data formula would let me just pull specific grades, but I can try to do that if that's something you're interested in. Yeah, I'm just curious uh because it looks like that um the biggest numbers seem to be in in middle and and high. Yeah, and that's always our most challenging group um cuz, you know, elementary obviously they're not responsible for getting themselves there. Um middle school is starting to have a little bit of spunk about them, I guess, is the best way to put it. And then borderline offensive. Yes. And then in high school, obviously, kids transporting themselves, kids parents leaving for work, kids not coming. I mean,
042all of it creates a challenge, but something we're tackling head-on currently. All right. Thank you. I can attest in the battles that we fought together that Russell and staff and others are always willing to to go do a home visit. Some of those home visits are very revealing. Which I already knew since I lived in that community, but uh I I I when I said it was a highlight, some of the things that we accomplished was were a highlight for me as an educator. I appreciate that. Our team got kids through school that probably would not have gotten through school. Absolutely. And that's I know sometimes the the bigger numbers is a lot, but sometimes the individual accomplishments or things that we've been able to help one or two kids do is a lot of
043the things I hang my hat on. I've had kids come to me at my son's ball game and was like, "Do you remember Mr. Livingston Cott? If it wasn't for you, I wouldn't have graduated high school." Stuff like that's what I continue to hang my hat on. So Anybody else? Okay. Next I believe I have Dr. Atkins. Okay, thank you. What I plan to share for 2023-2022 tonight is our um ESEA federal programs monitoring. And then also Ms. Crawford will be sharing the monitoring that was done simultaneously with this for the McKinney-Vento subgrant that um she works with. Thank you. We had this monitoring last fall on October the 27th. We received the report a little over a month ago, but we wanted to wait to share this information after we completed all of our
044CSI presentations so that we didn't have too much information all at one time. Um I do want to start by thanking the team. This is not work that I do. This is work that a a large group of individuals do. Um I want to thank Rhonda Rogers, Title I supervisor, Pam Clark, Title I supervisor, uh Denise Johnson is our Title I secretary, Amber Rife, um elementary and pre-K supervisor, Leslie Wellman, our treasurer, Crystal Fillipic, director of um HR, Amy Harrison, I'm not going to say your title, Amy, cuz I can't remember it. Mandy Alef, and um and Alicia Crawford, and many others uh that really helped. It was truly a team effort and everyone did an amazing job. I think Russ had some some part in that and others as well. I'm going to go
045over the the first three three and a half pages will be the overview. And then the remaining 25 pages in the one that says ESEA monitoring at the top, the thicker document, um will have more detail, but I will go over that briefly and then I encourage the others that have more expertise on their target areas to please chime in. I know many plan to do that. Overwhelmingly, we had a very good monitoring. Um over 90% uh or you can see have green, orange, and red, and over 90% are meets compliance or or uh meets with a recommendation. Um if you go down through the uh over overarching requirements um for the overview, you can see with comprehensive needs assessment, uh justification of materials, comprehensive plan, uh again, this is Title I. Integration of uh
046other funds, which we call blending funds, effective transitional programs, uh public control of funds, equitable services, and then additional target of supports, you will see that um we were in compliance with all of those areas. We did have um one uh non-compliance there, and it was the private school consultation, which the letter needed to be updated. And something that we've talked about over the last few years is that um a requirement from the federal federal funds is those have to be offered to our private school entities because those are for students, not necessarily for what school they are in. Our letter said titles one, four, and five, and it uh the updated version needs to say one, two, three, and four. So, that was something that we did, and when you have a monitoring like
047this, you just have to provide them with the new document showing that now it's the updated version. Title I Part A, and that's what we do receive in Mercer County. That is supplemental funding to support instruction and student achievement. And again, you can see uh target assistance um down the down the line there, paraprofessional qualifications, um program monitoring, testing transparency, uh comparability, um distribution of teachers plan, and uh public school transport. All of those were meets compliance. Title I Part D, um Mercer County Schools does not get. That is for youth that are um considered neglected and delinquent and are in facilities that provide educational services that we do not have in our district. Any questions about the Title I Part? Title II Part A is an opportunity uh to use federal funds for recruitment
048and retention of staff, and also providing professional development. And something that we've also tried to do in the last few years is use these supplemental federal funds to help reduce our overall staff expenditure to help keep our um district uh funds and our district balances in very good shape, which we know they are, and had reported a clean audit uh in recent meetings. But those funds for Title II are used to pay the salaries for our five um technology integration specialist and Jason learning coaches that work with all 16 elementary schools. Any questions on Title II? Looks like we left um reference to No Child Left Behind on one of our letters. Well, I'll Well, and there's a reason for that. And so, the next one is Title III Part A, and that is our
049ESL work, and Miss Alef does a very good job um with the um ESL program, and uh the teachers that she have also do very well. And that is a very detailed uh oriented monitoring. It has been the last two cycles that uh that I've participated in. And I will let Miss Alef, I think um we over again overwhelmingly uh meets compliance there, but there was one one uh issue there. So, Miss Alef, if you'd like to talk about that. Sure. Overall, the process went well for Title III. We were able to demonstrate strong systems in identifying and supporting our English learners. We did have a minor compliance finding related to parent notification timelines for two students. Um in response, we've already implemented corrective actions, including additional training for counselors and principals, and strengthened internal
050monitoring procedures to ensure timelines are consistently met. Uh since you mentioned the No Child Left Behind, I'll I'll go ahead and explain that. We work with a translation service called TransACT. They provide us with all of our translated materials. So, the the home language survey that goes home every year comes from straight from TransACT. They had still the No Child Left Behind at the bottom of their form that they had never removed. And so, they still have it, we do not. So, it's not it's not won't be on our any of our forms. Um academically, uh I'm pre- proud to share that for the 2025 school year, our county achieved 74.2% growth rate for English learners, which is meets standards. Uh with the 75% uh growth rate, we would be considered above standards. So, we
051were very very close this year to being above standards with the support that our EL students get and the growth that they made. Thank you, Miss Alef. Any questions for for Mandy for we Okay, we will move on to Title IV, which is another um bucket of money that we get federal funds for. And again, uh the last several years we have used these funds to help offset uh the expenditure for staff, and in many cases these are support staff that we have in our schools. Um and in four titles uh four and five, and five's not on here, but I I'll mention it in a little bit, that we use those funds to help support our secondary schools because Title I largely supports the elementary. But you can see under Title IV, um we
052met compliance on all of those areas. That focuses on um well-rounded education, safe and healthy schools, and effective use of technology. So, what we do there is the well-rounded education aspect of it, we do pay the uh salary for one of our middle school social workers. And that is a social worker at Princeton Middle School. Safe and healthy students, this pay pays the salaries for four I think four or five of our resource officers um to help keep our secondary schools safe, and um including Melissa Clements, which is the safety coordinator, and then also serving as resource officer right now as well. Um effective use of technology, we're required to have a certain percentage of that, [clears throat] so we do supplement our TIS salaries with a portion of the Title IV funds to meet
053the requirement of of what uh the Title IV guidelines have. Questions about four? And then real quickly, not on here, Title V. It's federal funds to support rural schools. Mercer County receives uh a a pretty good budget from Title V, and we also utilize that to support um our secondary schools for the most part. That provides the salary for our high school student support specialists, which are social workers that work uh with Russ and the things that we were talking about earlier in supporting attendance, and each school has one to help uh those students to work with the students that are the highest at risk of being chronically absent or dropping out. And uh we pay for one salary um at the Tech Two Academy for elementary. Again, any way that we can use federal
054funds to uh supplement staff salaries, that will help our overall budget and bottom line. That's not on the uh on the monitoring, but I wanted to share that, that we do use titles two, four, and five to help with staff. McKinney-Vento and foster care students, um this of course is the work that uh Miss Crawford does, and she does a uh outstanding job with that. And so, these two monitorings were happened at the same time, and you can see there that we met compliance on all of those. On the professional development, there was a recommendation, um but we know that uh she does a good job with the professional development with our staff, and I think they wanted some feedback or something, and she'll probably talk a little bit about that when she does the
055subgrant. The parent and family engagement, um you can see there that is the first piece, the eighths. We are met compliance on all of those. We did have a couple of small issues uh with parent and family engagement. We had a couple of Amazon orders that were canceled late, and that did wasn't realized, and we did not find out until the monitoring that 100% of the parent engagement money must be spent, or you do have to return that. So, um that was about $900, and then um the definition of a door prize is something that's uh changed a little bit that we we've always trained no prizes, no incentives. Uh we had a few schools that did Lego nights and said, you know, we have 10 different stations with 10 different Lego kits, and you
056all know they're very expensive, and then they um gave those 10 kits away, but because everyone didn't receive one, that's considered a uh door prize or incentive. So, that was about $700, but have a $4 million budget, and you're talking about, you know, about $1,600 there that we did have to pay back because of those two issues. Any questions about parent and family engagement? And on the on the sec- the last page there you can see that includes um engaging families, parents right to know, teacher qualifications. Uh the schools do an incredible job with the parent and family engagement nights. Uh Rhonda Rogers and Pam Clark uh go out to those at their schools. We do have 16 Title I schools. They have eight each and they're assigned to them geographically. Um for lack of
057a better description, um Rhonda has the Bluefield Montcalm side of the county and then Pam has the the Princeton Pikeview side. The final section under the SA monitoring is the fiscal resources. And again, overwhelmingly we had uh meets compliance or with recommendation. We did have an issue there you can see for expenditure. And if you go over into the details, you can see that and Ms. Wellman may have to um add some detail here, but we have a VRC company that we use to do shredding of documents. And this was uh blended funds where different sources of monies are used to pay for their department. And because all of those added together to exceed the bid amount, then they wanted a bid document for that. And that is now being changed and that also is
058a moving target um if I'm correct on that. Indirect costs, um again, there's a required percentage of a multiplier there. And um those budgets changed several times as we went and that multiplier again changed, which caused uh um minor issues with the in calculating the indirect cost. That caused a change at near the end. And one final correction was a a Title II. I think there was a um a payroll error on paying a teacher with Title II funds. I think one or two paychecks that just had to be corrected from the correct funds. And so that was uh taken care of. Okay. Okay, any questions on fiscal resources? If you And And again, that's the first three and a half pages. The next 25 pages, if you all want to flip through that um
059later, it shows the the details of each compliance, each recommendation, um each uh does not meet that and what we exactly had to do. If you look at those and you have a specific question, please um give me a call and we'll work through that. And if I can't answer that, I will direct you to the person that can. Uh we overspent indirect costs. One of the findings. Yes. It's not a huge amount of money, but what what is that? And Indirect cost is a percentage that is given with federal funds that were a multiplier that we're allowed to use that money to help pay for uh materials, supplies, staff costs, anything that goes along with the running of managing, you know, a budget of this size and a staff of this size. And that
060is a moving target throughout the year. And at the end, if that multiplier wasn't done correctly, then it caused that offset. Well, thanks for all Title I, II, III, IV, and V and CSI, it looks as if my math is correct. About $2,100. Yeah, it's a couple thousand dollars there. And in programs the total how much? About 5 million. Okay, that's not too bad. The last one won't be happening until December. And I feel like we will accomplish that. Yes, sir. How long How long is this? The actual fiscal department is I just want to know The every document Or do you mean how long this is this is monitoring is or how long did it take to do this work? That Mon- months, yeah. And And I will And again, everyone here worked really,
061really hard and uh and Pam and Rhonda um had They They work um and worked and worked on it. And I think And And they'll have to correct me, but when we are we started on this essentially July 1 and started on last year, but the actual work of July 1. And we uploaded our our last documentation after the audit by December 19th. Rhonda has it memorized. Um because, you know, it it was when when we did that, we said uh we're still working on this. But that was okay because I have a lot of friends that do this work in other districts and our our monitoring was very good. Um and uh a good result of a lot of really hard-working people that are are sitting in this room and really care about what
062they do, care about the federal funds we get, but more importantly care about the success of our students and how these these funds really, really make a difference. Not just in elementary Title I, but with the Titles II, IV, and V um in our secondary. And then of course, McKinney-Vento. What we do with Title I, we set aside based on um observation and calculations that Ms. Crawford and I have looked at over the last four years, we set aside $10,000 in Title I for that work. Um and she'll speak to that and uh much better than I can. And then the subgrant supports that. But we've looked at how to um select different types of support from the different um funds. And I'm sure she will talk about that as well. Or will now. Um
063but any other questions um on I have a question for Yes. >> Where did you come up with the monetary amount? I don't see numbers on here. Uh page 24. You got to go all the So you She's going way ahead of him. Okay. Yeah, if you I was following through on the big document while he was going through the The summary, yeah. Yeah, that's right. That's That's I'm not doing the summary. I need to see the actual >> Yeah. He Yeah, he's looking at the details as we go. So Very proud of him. In general again this is a huge a huge um undertaking. But how many of our employees are responsible for the monies that this for the students that this touches? How many? I can only imagine. That's an excellent point. I
064And And >> Because so many different people have to follow these rules. That's right. Where I'm going. And And they do an extremely good job, I will have to say. Each Title I school has someone designated at their school to handle the finances and to comply with. But this year, I will have to say um the federal programs made a lot of really significant changes and monitoring. And it all comes through ultimately Pam and Rhonda. They do an exceptional job with it. I I'm just as as someone who had to just keep up with uh the school a school and keep with maybe 55 employees. I can't imagine. I it the geek in me when I saw this actually I got a cold chill thinking that man, what a good job. Cuz it really is.
065Exactly. I hope you pass that along cuz And it it they do the work. Yeah. I will say And And And the teams that support us. Yeah, it is. And I agree. It's a It's a long a large group of of individuals. And we've added some additional um internal controls and checks and balances with our Title I secretary. And then also um with um Jordan Angel on Leslie's staff. And we do a monthly reconciliation for every school with every budget plus our district level. And uh Pam and Rhonda, I get the final one. And after I look at it, I give it back to them just so that we all kind of triple check each other and um it's it's a it's a team effort, no question. >> [clears throat] >> And the schools do
066an incredible job. Leslie's correct in pointing that out. The designated teacher, she's trained them twice that I know of on the SM process. You know, they had to learn all of that. And you have a Title I designated teacher. And then the uh Title I principals have had to learn a lot. Um but it's made us all more efficient. And I think that we can see the fruit of that this year more than ever that we're a couple years into that process of going from paper pencil to the to the um digital process has really, really made a big difference. Anybody else? Okay, it's time We have We have uh the McKinney-Vento subgrant. Still Okay, that's Alicia Crawford. So on that um that first grant or the the first monitoring on that one for um
067it's meets compliance with recommendations on professional development. I did want to touch on that just for a second. We have, you know, annual statewide or or system-wide McKinney-Vento training for all of us all of our staff. We have expanded role-specific training. So whether you're a custodian or a cook or a classroom teacher, you have training on on those ways to identify our homeless population specific to your role. Um and we've done a lot of development in that area. But what they're wanting to see is more um feedback to document that that growth. So we can see a big difference in our identification numbers over the years, but I am going to try to focus more on gaining feedback from the staff so I can tailor it even more specifically as we move forward. Um but
068the sub-grants that we're talking about, that's actually two grants that we received. Um and that's four different goals to cover um in this monitoring. So, we had the regular monitoring and then these as well. So, it's quite a bit all at one time. Um but one of the things that we did was recently you guys approved the homeless policy. That was part of the goals to create to create transparency with our families and have that consistency across our county. So, that policy is now in place and we also have a manual that will be used for our student support staff so they can be as independent as they can be, know where to reference um procedures and move things along as quickly as they can to meet the needs of our students and provide that
069stabilization um efficiently as as efficiently as possible. Another one of the goals um was the Mercer Mobile Student Health on Wheels and you guys have probably seen that on social media that it does a wonderful job. That's our partnership with the health department where we offer the immunizations and sports physicals and we bring that right to the schools. That way we overcome that barrier of transportation, which we know is a big issue for a lot of our students. That was one of these goals. Another one is the continued expansion of the eye care referral system and awareness of McKinney-Vento throughout our county. In the past, well, since this grant started, we've had a 60% increase in our eye care referrals. So, that's good. That means that our community knows that it's there and they're reaching
070out for help and if we don't know that the need exists, we can't help. We also have had campaigns that we run like the national um hunger and homeless awareness week campaign with the flags at the courthouse and McTigue was really involved this year and last year, too, on the students being involved in doing a graphic design presentation on homelessness um for our social media. We had a cooking class um at McTigue. Lots of things I could talk about with elementary, middle, high, all of them. But getting everybody involved for that awareness is really important because if we need our students and our families to know that it's okay to ask for help and reduce that stigma and then we can help if we know. So, all of these goals um have led us to
071where our identification is getting in better and better. Um right now, as of our October collection in 2025, we're at 745 homeless. So, I think that that shows over the years that we are better identifying, we're better serving, we're better meeting the needs of our kids. Um one more of the the great goals that we covered um was a family needs assessment, which actually evolved into what we call the family information exchange. And that is a tool designed for our student support staff to be able to communicate effectively between schools with permission from the family when they're working with the same family. So, that strengthens that response to meeting those needs when staff at different schools can also work together on that same family. So, it's a coordinated response. Um but really all in all,
072I think that the the monitoring went really well on this. Um I think that these goals are doing what they intended for us to do and is to better serve our students. It's 3 years, so I'll have to apply again next year. And it's two grants, yeah. Sure. 745 was our October collection. >> [clears throat] >> Sure. So, well, the McKinney-Vento is the the federal definition, right? And homeless has a different definition depending on what entity you're you're looking at. So, as far as the school system, we use McKinney-Vento. That's doubled up, meaning one family living with another with for economic hardship or fleeing domestic violence, living in a motel or a hotel, sheltered um or even unsheltered, meaning living in a car or substandard housing, which we do have a significant amount of substandard
073housing in in our area. So, all of those would qualify for McKinney-Vento services, which then help us to intervene, whether that's um helping with transportation for them to get to school or providing clothing and personal hygiene. Um and then also, honestly, working with um all these other amazing organizations in our community and partnering to meet these unique needs that we can't just do with McKinney-Vento. And that's where that eye care kind of bridges in. We use that to meet those fill in those other gaps. Thank you, Ms. Crawford. Thank you. Ms. Mitchell? Mr. Lippincott and Ms. Crawford pretty much shared what we've been doing as far as in our departments. Um I will say that with Alicia, there are so many things that go on that are kind of the behind-the-scenes things that I don't
074even know about. Um recently, we had a situation where we had a family that the power was being cut off that particular day. Um there was one issue that brought the parents in. Um in being there and talking to us and kind of pouring their heart out, we found out some other needs they had, went to Mandy, who went to Alicia and they started working on it and we were able to take care of those kids that day, you know, and so they do a lot of things like that that just you don't really know that are happening, but they're all good things. And I do want to say with Russell and Mandy and Alicia and Donna Brown, who's also in that department, um they spend a lot of time collaborating and it takes that
075collaboration in order for us to show the improvements that we got. And this year, one of the focuses for that whole department was on the attendance and how can we do things better and how can we support our superintendent's goal. And I think, you know, every month it's exciting when we hear a little bit more about what's going on with that and it comes from all of all these folks working together. Um we in we also um I was asked at I think it was the last meeting about the um if do we charge anything for students who are Hope students that come and play sports or a private school. Um what we have found out through SSAC is that that is a local decision and that um they are not involved in it at
076all. They uh the lady who is over that part of it said to me that she could not name specifically any county or schools that were doing that. She did know that within the state there are some schools that um do have a fee that they charge and that I found that out on Friday and so Friday was when I was in Charleston and so I have not been able to talk to other schools, but before the work session on Friday, I want to try to have some dollar amounts if I can find schools that that do charge so you you guys can have a little bit of a an idea of that. Um the other one of the other things we're doing today, our Argonauts, our current Argonauts were asked to uh go to
077Straley to do a presentation on what they have been doing and what STEM activities come from being in the Jason program and Amy went with them. I didn't go, but she said those kids were absolutely amazing. So, Amy, if you don't mind, I'd like for you to share just a minute on that and and I will say while she's getting the mic that tomorrow we are going to the schools to announce this year's um Argonauts and uh yes, and teacher Argonaut. Yeah, can't say who yet. >> [laughter] >> Um today at Straley, uh all I did was tell the current Argonauts, these are going to be grades 3 through 5. Make your uh presentation relevant to them and that's all I have to say. They take care of everything else. They walk in there. They
078tailored it to that grade level to those grade levels. The kids were engaged. They were excited to hear from them. Um they it was great to watch. Um one of them, I told him he needed to be an elementary teacher, but he told me no. But >> [laughter] >> But uh those kids asked them a million questions and uh again, I've seen them do this presentation multiple times, but they really changed it and the way that they spoke to make sure that those uh younger kids could understand what they were talking about and got them excited about applying to be a Jason Argonaut. And of course, they asked, "When can I apply? When can I apply?" And they and eighth grade, you have some time to to think about it. So, uh it it was
079it was a good day. Um and then um one of the things that we'll address on at our work session will be summer school because the way we are getting out this year, it's we're kind of an overlap of summer school starting before we ever get out and then it's finished just right before we start back. So, we need to decide, you know, if we're going to be able to do this and how we're going to do it this summer. So, that'll be something we talk about on Friday. Um the other thing that um I wanted to Oh, the mastery the mastery prep. We've been doing boot camps and that was all the last couple weeks and Amy took care of getting all that set up. We had a day for each school. Um the
080principals then are tasked now with identifying those bubble kids and reaching out to those parents to see what we can do right before testing time to increase test scores. Um I think other than that, everything else I can tell you we did get our um survey results. I have not broken it down yet you know, per grade level and who all was involved in this survey, but the survey for Montcalm Elementary to move sixth grade to um Montcalm High School, um it was in the in favor 72% of the people who served it took the survey wanted the move for the students to be and the greatest reason so far and what I have found has been the athletics. Getting those kids, you know, being up there with the other kids for the sports. So,
081I'll have more of that for you as well, but I did get those results. >> that survey conducted? It was done um online. Okay. It was yes, it was an online they I will >> on social media, one or the Is that the one you were saying? It's the one and the same and what they did they did it two or three different ways. They they tried to capture parents as they came into the schools you know, said, "Hey, while you're here, will you take a look at the survey?" So, some of them were done right at the school. Um others were done online, but they did do their call out from Montcalm Elementary and Montcalm High School to tell the parents that it was out there and asked that they participate in the survey.
082So, I'll have it broken down more for you, but that's where we are now. How was it school wide or grade level? It Well, it was school wide, but she when when Miss Stone sent me this information this afternoon, she does have grade levels and like how many in each grade level. So, I'll break that down so you all can have that. I didn't get that until right before we came today. Um so, I will have that and I want to brag for a minute. Um I want to brag on Danielle Farmer. She today is officially a PhD with curriculum and instruction >> [cheering] >> and school law. So, I'm very proud of her and school law and curriculum and instruction. She has a PhD. So, I'm very proud of that and very proud of
083her. So, she's she's rocking it knocking it right out of the park. So, That Yeah, that's right. School law there um Maybe I shouldn't have said that part. And we you all had the opportunity to meet um Dr. Mehra and his wife um and I'm so sorry. I just met you today, too, and I don't know what I can't remember what you told me your name was. Meredith, thank you. I'm sorry. I should have remembered that. I Listen, I've got a cold. That's why I'm sitting over here. The one thing I've learned is you know how you want some alone time and you don't get that ever, just tell people you have germs. And they're like, "Oh, we're all going over here. You stay over there." So, that's how you get alone time. Anyway, um
084we're very happy to have you. Um he begins his first day on Monday and so we we got a lot of exciting things going on. He's already we've been emailing back and forth, messaging back and forth and he's had lots of questions and I think I think he's ready to hit the ground running. We're very very happy to have you. Um his resume was very very impressive and he did an amazing job in the interview. We appreciate that and very happy to have you on board. Um I think with that, I think I'm pretty good. All right. Anything uh this is Wellman the 23 22 budget for Peck, anything with personnel? I know we've got our dates coming in set. We've got a few things going on. Miss Huddle? Miss Miss Harrison, anything you want
085to add from student planning? I know uh Mr. Atkins with facilities, I don't know how much 23 22 with I have one for our special education we were supposed to have the complete asbestos information back for our preschools. Yeah, the Bluefield roof on this evening, too. So, Yes, sir. Thank you. All right. Let's dig into our business. Um First item on the agenda for approval of the board is the minutes of the March 9th, 2026 meeting. Is there a motion to approve? Is there a second? Second. Motion and a second. Are there any additions, corrections, or deletions? Okay, the meeting is now on the motion. All in favor please say "Aye." Aye. Those likewise. I'm making sure there's five in favor and none opposed. We move to the consent agenda. On the consent agenda, item
086number 318 that 318 Um because it was actually replaced with 3.5. But the email that I got They came in Several came in really close together. >> Got you. But 318 should be removed. Okay. >> All right. When we get to there, I will make note of that. Thank you. When we make our motion, let's make note of that. So, board member number 311 is the contracted services for audiology services with Rebecca West for the 26 27 school year. Compensation paid at a rate of $550 per day or $275 per half day. Uh all providers are required to provide proof of licensure and insurance and will adhere to Mercer County Schools policies. Uh superintendent recommends approval of this agreement with Rebecca West for audiology services during the 26 27 school year. Board member number 312
087is contracted services for orientation and mobility with Dot 13 Vision Services for the 26 27 school year. Compensation will be paid at $150 per hour with a minimum of 5 hours. Uh they're required to provide current licensure and insurance. Uh the superintendent recommends approval of this agreement with Dot 13 Vision Services for orientation and mobility services during the 26 27 school year. Board member number 313 is contracted services for speech language therapy with Sarah K. Tender of Twin Cities Therapy LLC for the 26 27 school year. Compensation will be paid at a rate of $65 per hour with 1 hour allotted each week for documentation of therapy notes. The evaluation rate is $125 per evaluation. Uh required to submit proof of current licensure and insurance. Uh superintendent recommends approval of this agreement with Sarah K.
088Tender of Twin States Therapy LLC for speech and language therapy services during the 26 27 school year. Board member number 314 is contracted services for speech language therapy with LinguaCare Associates for the 26 27 school year. Compensation will be at $42 per half hour session with a guarantee of eight sessions per day. Maximum case load is 20 students if the contract unless the contractor travels to one school a day, in which case the maximum case load will be 15 students. Uh they are required to provide current licensure and insurance. Superintendent recommends approval of the agreement with LinguaCare Associates Inc. for speech and language therapy services for the 26 27 school year. Board member number 315 is physical therapy services uh for contract with Dr. Renee Green from July 1st, 2026 to August 14th, 2026. Compensation
089will be paid at $80 per hour for direct indirect therapy sessions, meetings, teacher training, and consultations. The evaluation rate is $150 per evaluation. Provider is required to provide uh submit proof of current licensure and insurance. Superintendent recommends approval of this agreement with Dr. Renee Green for physical therapy during the July 26th and August 26th period. Board member number 316 is uh statement student placement from University of the Cumberlands. They're requesting placement of a student to complete 20 hours of classroom observation. They'll be assigned to Montcalm High School for the spring 26 semester. Uh placements are always contingent upon completion of the appropriate forms and acceptable background check and the university naming a site supervisor. Therefore, the superintendent recommends approval. Board member number 317 is agreement contracted agreement for speech language therapy with uh Crystal Thompson
090for the 26 27 school year. Compensation is paid at a rate of $100 per hour for on-site speech language therapy sessions parent teacher consultations, IEPs, case management screenings, and telepractice speech language therapy services. Uh she will be required to provide proof of licensure and insurance. Superintendent recommends approval of this agreement with Crystal Thompson for speech and language therapy services during the 26 27 school year. As was noted earlier uh board member number 318 is going to be removed from the agenda. Uh Board member 319 is student placements for New River Community and Technical College. New River is requesting placement of students to complete observation hours in Mercer County Schools in the spring of 2026 semester. Placements are contingent upon forms, background check, and the university naming a site supervisor. Superintendent recommends approval. Board member number
091320 is serving counters for Princeton Middle School through a cooperative purchase. West Virginia State Code allows purchases directly from a vendor without competitive bidding if the item is available from a legitimate government purchasing cooperative. Uh we requested contract and pricing from HPS Cooperative for the purchase and installation of two new hot serving counters at Princeton Middle. The total cost is $37,695.37, which includes installation. Superintendent recommends approval of the purchase of the service serving counters for Princeton Middle School from HPS Cooperative for $37,695.37. The purchase will be paid for with child nutrition funds. Board member number 321 is a contracted service agreement for ABA therapy services with Applied Behavior learning center for the 26-27 school year. Compensation will be paid at $125 per hour for a variety of consultations, therapy services, and evaluations. A rate of
092$125 per hour for travel time if applicable. A rate of $50 per hour for registered behavior technician ABA therapy services. They will be required to provide current licensure and insurance. Superintendent recommends approval of this agreement with Applied Behavior Learning for ABA therapy during the 26-27 school year. Board member number 322 is to roof the remainder of Bluefield High School that was not finished the last time we worked on the roof. The maintenance department requested pricing from Tecta America Carolinas LLC under a cooperative contract to roof the remainder of the school's canopy, library, adjacent lower section of the library, and small sections behind the gym. A A 20-year warranty is included. The price is $452,723.94, which includes bonds. The quote received pricing certification from NCPA to ensure the cost is in line with appropriate construction costs.
093Superintendent recommends approval of the roofing of the remainder of Bluefield High School in the amount of $452,723.94 to Tecta America Carolinas LLC. Excess levy funds will be utilized for this project. Board member number 323 is auction of surplus items. Law requires us to identify outdated and no longer needed items and offer them for public to the public at sale. Mactec is providing an A tech press brake machine. Superintendent recommends approval to off this item as surplus item and for sale in a public auction. Board member number 324 is the request from Concord University we always get on Bonner Scholars. They're requesting that they be placed in Mercer County schools to complete their community service hours for the spring semester. Bonner Scholars are required to complete an average of 8 to 10 hours of direct community
094service per week. Superintendent recommends approval. Board member number 325 is yet another speech language therapy psychology services contract agreement. This has been drafted for speech language therapy services and psychology services with Best Life Therapy for the 26-27 school year. Compensation is paid at a $72 per hour rate virtually and $74 per person per hour for in-person speech services. Compensation is paid at a rate of $90 per hour for psychology services. They will be required be required to provide proof of current licensure and insurance. Superintendent recommends approval of this agreement with Best Life Therapy for speech and language therapy services and psychology services during the 26-27 school year. Board member number 326 is contracted services agreement with psychology serve for psychology services with Best Life Therapy for the remainder of the 25-26 school year. Compensation will
095be paid at a rate of $90 per hour for psychology services. They will be required to provide current licensure and insurance. Superintendent recommends an agreement with Best Life Therapy for psychology services for the remainder of the 25-26 school year. Board member number 327 is the payment of invoices for the month of March. You have attached the vendors and the amounts available. Actual checks have been written or being held in the office of the treasury pending consideration by the school board. The checks will be issued upon school board approval. The last consent agenda item is P-card transactions board member 328. You have those transactions attached to your uh board packet. Superintendent recommends approval. That being the end of the consent agenda, are there any questions about any items on the consent agenda? 325 326 and they're
096both for according to this psychology services. It's the same company. Why would there be these two different ones? One's for the rest of this year. Yeah, and then the one's next year. So we're we're going ahead and we're signing something for I want to get into the follow-up on that in your third year because my second year You know what I'm saying? I got you. Why is Mary No. So that's why they are all on this 40 minute I mentioned I appreciated the extra work. I'm sure she I'm not sure. Well, you may be in the first match. All of these psychology services all these services are approved. Um where in the budget bubble do they fit? Does that come out general fund? Does it come out of grants and money that come to you
097from the federal government? We do not use federal money to pay for I got you. So all of these speech and psych services bill Medicaid. So we cannot use federal money to pay for that. So Mr. Foley So is is there a good correlation between the Medicare Medicaid billings versus what we're actually paying? It is a very extensive process and um Ms. Huddle does a phenomenal job with her team. We have someone very well trained to do that. Um and they balance that those expenditures extremely well. They maximize what we can bill Medicaid for. And so then this additional services have to come from county funds. Are and Are the majority of these these children are they is this considered a learning disability where they have a 504 and an IEP? They would all be
098special ed. They would all be fall under a fall under federal law under special ed. So once you have a speech IEP or psych services, psych services we test sometimes for 504 kids pre-special ed. It's considered IQ testing, achievement testing, and all of that. So when and I saw you got some of these that there's a certain price or cost for virtual services versus in-patient. When they're doing virtual, let's let's be real, they're kids. Is somebody in the room with Is there an aide or somebody that's there to make sure that they're getting their stuff done? Yes, sir. But right now we're trying to eliminate that and do all in-person services for next school year to save the county money. But we have to approve virtual and in-person just in case we're not able to
099provide in-person. I was just glad to know that they're not by themselves. No, sir. But I hadn't thought I hadn't thought about that. It is an interesting So when we have an expulsion, wouldn't they have to receive if they're under an IEP, wouldn't they have to receive virtual? They have to receive services and so that I then they come back after expulsion and then the team decides what services is appropriate for that student. >> So they don't get the services when they're expelled? They do get services. >> That's what I'm saying. So So after they're expelled then the IEP team comes together to decide each individual kid's services. That don't make sense. So that some of those would have to be virtual then cuz they're not allowed on >> yes cuz they're not allowed on
100school property. So it might be in-person. They might go to their house and provide services. It It's based per individual kid. So every kid is different in Mercer County. Mr. I have three questions to leave my alleviate my ignorance. Uh New River had some kids that come to our school. Do they have a teacher education program? New River? For aides, right? They have an elementary ed associate's degree. What What kind of degree? Like associate's Associate's degree. Okay. What's ABA therapy? Is that the name of the firm or is that the name of the type of therapy? It's applied behavior therapy. Okay. I I thought that read two of them but then that's AB B, right? For T or it's not A. But anyway, okay, I'll take it. Um All All these services we have tons
101of services here in life as you just said. Are they effective? Do we check them? Are they effective? The kid gets speech therapy. Does he come out better? Yes. So we have to provide these services to meet all federal and state law. Yeah, I know we have to do it but do we do it well? That's what I'm asking. >> [laughter] >> Is it evaluated? Yes. Is it evaluated? Maybe is a better question. Yes. Our goal for special ed is always to get kids in and out. Is to work ourselves out of a job in special [music] ed. That is our goal. It'll never happen. But It's a goal. It is a goal. Some kids will get in and out though, right? Correct. Yes. For speech language our our goal is to provide intense services
102at a very early age and so then to to get their speech fixed before they go on into upper elementary and middle school. So a lot of this is elementary. Most of the Yes. Correct. Pre-K and elementary. Our most prevalent special need is speech services. Is that correct? >> Yes. That is our number our largest exceptionality is speech. Yeah, that's what I thought. Maybe why I have a hard time understanding them sometimes when I'm reading to them. He He Either that or bad ears. Anybody else on the consent agenda? Is there a motion to approve the consent Move we approve. With the removal >> the exception of 318. removal of 318 318 It's replaced by 321. I'll make a second. Is there a second? Any further discussion? And on the motion, all in favor signify
103by saying aye. Aye. Opposed likewise. Motion carries five in favor and none opposed. The next action item on the agenda is board member number 329, which is the budget supplements and transfers for October 25th to February 26th. Uh you have the Weaver's reports attached to your board packet. Superintendent recommends approval of the budget supplements and transfers. Is there a motion for approval? So moved. Is there a second? Second. Motion and a second. Questions, comments, or discussion? There appearing to be none, on the motion, all in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. Opposed likewise. That motion carries five in favor and none opposed. Board member number 330 is RFP 351, which is selection of architect or engineer for miscellaneous small projects ranging from $50,000 to $1 million range. Interviews were conducted with firms as required by
104West Virginia code. Thank you. Saw you coming out of the side of my eye there. So let me start over for those that might be listening. Uh board member number 330 is RFP number 351, the selection of architect or engineer for miscellaneous small projects ranging from $50,000 to $1 million. Uh interviews were conducted as required by West Virginia code to complete the evaluation and request for proposal number 351. Request for statement of qualifications uh were provided. As required, the interview committee established an interview was held with selected firms who expressed interest in providing all professional services. Uh the RFP was uh advertised in the Daily Telegraph. Uh eight firms responded. The selection committee held interviews with the top three firms on March 13th, 2026 and March 16th, 2026. Committee evaluated these firms based upon initial
105submittals and interviews. The Thrasher Group was ranked the highest with an average score of 96. Summary of the results is attached. Superintendent recommends approval of the award to the Thrasher Group. Is there a motion to approve? Is there a second? Motion and a second. Questions, comments, or discussion? >> [snorts] >> Yeah. Sure. >> [clears throat] >> Sure. Yeah. And I mean Yeah, if we have a larger project over a million, of course, I mean SBA's [music] involved and they would be going back out to bid. But yes, this is gives kind of gives like we had before with ZMM, we had all projects were through them, but now we're just kind of breaking it down so that we can we and they can manage our projects more efficiently. Good. Thank you. So there appears to
106be no time limit on this. Is it open-ended because I don't think under West Virginia law we can enter into contracts that last indefinitely. Am I mistaken? Um I don't remember what the bid said. I think it said 12 months with two renewals. I I'm I'm very confident that's what we did. 12 months with two renewals. All right. That's why Okay. And the and the renewals are up to us, right? It is. And again, that would just be new projects. So if we initiate a project now it it would be ongoing throughout that, you know, we would have contracts that might carry over, but no new contracts outside of that time frame. All right. How many people were in the interview? Three. For the small projects, it was Mr. Adkins, myself, and Lindsey Street, the
107the purchasing director. Okay. And if I understand your process, you each independently evaluate, keep your scorecards to yourself, and then you look at them together at the end of the all the interviews. Yes. Okay. We do discuss references. Um Mr. Adkins and Mr. Street B contacted references and and I will say Thrasher's references were phenomenal. Um very, very positive all around. Well, I think you just answered my question. You come to the top three by the individual score sheet. So how did you get the top three? The top three, we re- Mr. Street B and I reviewed those based upon the qualifications and submittals. And I will say we had just interviewed all of these other than Thrasher last round. When we awarded them a tech project Thrasher was late on their submittal, so we
108did not accept their submittal for the tech project. Um but Mr. Toman has spoken with other superintendents and etc. and and their proposal was phenomenal. They do a significant amount of work in McDowell County right now. And I think that that's one of the the best references. They're local. Less than five, I think, and they haven't done in the state of West Virginia, correct? Yes, the number of counties they've worked in. Right. All number five. Right. And this is a RFP that specifically requires an engineer. Yes. >> Right. It's not just an architect. Got to be engineering. Frank, I mean they're so connected, but the biggest thing is engineering work. Um but if we have a roof, there you know, there's some architectural and structural dynamics as well. But um restroom renovations plumbing issues, you
109know, those are the types of projects we have. We we have a significant need. Pike View Middle School's gym floor, they we had engineers do, you know, door changes when we go to storefronts, things like that. Okay. The office in Beckley also, I believe, is it? Yes, they have offices in Beckley and Charleston. That that are local. They are all over, but Any other questions? Then on the motion, all in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. Opposed likewise. That motion carries five in favor and none opposed. Board member number 331 is RFP 350, selection of an architect engineer for flood disaster recovery at Spanishburg. As with the prior RFP, interviews were conducted with firms pursuant to state law. Request for statement of qualifications for architectural engineering design services for flood disaster recovery at Spanishburg were
110made. Uh the interview committee was established, interviews were held. Uh I think one of the criteria was uh experience with FEMA. Am I correct on that? >> Yes. What I thought. Uh request for statement of qualifications was issued it and published in the Bluefield Daily Telegraph. Seven firms responded. Select committee held interviews with the top three firms on March 18th, 2026. Committee evaluated the firms based on their initial submissions and interviews. Thrasher Group was ranked the highest with an average score of 95. Uh superintendent recommends approval of the award to the Thrasher Group. Is there a motion? Is there a second? Second. Kick someone around here later. Okay. Questions, comments, or discussion? So Go ahead. I I obviously with our previous meetings, the FEMA is probably actually key. I would think at this point where
111we are in the process. And they were highly experienced with They have They They were again they're working a lot in McDowell County who experienced flooding the same time we did. Right. Um we did check with the state. Well, they couldn't give us with Dr. Jason Means, he could not give us an official [music] recommendation, but he conveyed that the candidates that we or the firms we talked to him about, he was very positive about all of them. Um I'm sorry. I was in a sidebar with my notes here. Not interested in the sidebar. >> [laughter] >> I'll agree, but it's important. So So it was necessary. Um So this is the either or. This could be just re-engineering, fixing, sure. Flood protection or new construction. Yes. Again, there's no mention of the date or
112timeline. Are we back to the 12 months plus two options? I'm guessing. Yes. All right. So Uh well, this is for the project itself. So if this project lasts 10 years >> a timeline. It does not have a timeline. This is this project. >> That's what I was getting at. So this is approval of this project regardless of how much time it takes. >> Yes. And they are aware of that and we're committed to that as well. All right. So since we know because FEMA's part of shutdown part of government that's still shut down, nothing is happening right now. No, [clears throat] it has been really nice. I'm not going to >> [laughter] >> but no, I'm kidding. But no, it actually gave us time to get this in place before they open back. I
113I I was thinking about that um well, actually this morning. And are they going to hold Is it our fault that they're shut down? I know we talked about all those timelines and things and the clock is ticking. It is. But we did meet all of the RFIs before they closed down. So they have all the information they requested at that point. Guaranteed there will be a significant amount more, but at this point we'll be ready to roll as soon as they have come back up. Anything else? You pretty satisfied with their FEMA experience? Yes. Uh Mr. Chapman now McDowell County had nothing but great things to say about him and how they navigated through the process. And he said they were there step by step. Jeff was one of the guys that we interviewed.
114He walked walked one of the baseball fields with the FEMA rep not too long ago cuz there were some discrepancies on how much it [clears throat] should cost as as how much the contractor was saying it's going to cost and they worked it out and moved forward. They're going to be playing ball there this year, just not starting the season. Well, but probably this project that's probably the single most important factor is FEMA understanding FEMA cuz otherwise we're going to have problems. Okay. Okay. Have you had any luck with anybody >> stepping up with regards to flood insurance? I don't know that we I don't know that we can get into that because of the open meetings. I know you ask her after the meeting when the other board members aren't present. >> [laughter] >>
115I mean I'm just we got to comply with the open meetings act. I want to see the donut. Me, too. [laughter] And by the way, who would bring donuts into a meeting? Kelly Stanley. Where is Kelly? She left. She knows it's my kryptonite, too. I don't know what the deal is, but I'll get her. I'll track her down. You sold her out real quick. >> I They'd already be gone if you put them over here. So, um on the on board member number 331, the superintendent's recommendation to approve the award to the Thrasher Group, all in favor signify by saying I. I. Uh opposed likewise. That motion carries five in favor and none opposed. Last action item the agenda is personnel agenda, board member number 332. You received a supplement which includes the principal at
116Bluefield Middle School and two resignations. Is that correct? All right. Is there a motion to approve? Move to approve. There's a There's a motion and there's a second. And I forgot to ask there was no desire to go into executive session. Okay, so we'll go back to the motion that's been made and seconded. All right. Any further discussion? Then on the motion, all in favor signify by saying I. I. Uh opposed likewise. That motion carries five in favor and none opposed. Now we can congratulate you because you've officially been hired. >> [applause] >> And as the the audience Dr. My Myers back there and I just wanted and he and his wife drove up, so I just want to welcome him and he'll start officially Monday, the 30th. And that'll be the the other principal
117will be the that'll be their last day also, so it'll be a chance to do a transition right there and any support that we can do also. So, welcome, sir. Congratulations and welcome. Bluefield's a great community. As with all schools, it's got its ups and downs, but it's a great community. You I think you'll fit in real well. Um so we're on administrative updates. I have none, but unless anybody else have any updates um The the sidebar involved need to go in executive session over the acquisition of property. So, uh if there let's do it in administrative updates, get those done, then we'll send everybody home. If there's nothing else Any any updates, Ms. Bowman? So, I do need to request a date for a budget workshop. Um if you want a budget workshop, we
118will have the budget the public budget meeting prior to um I think it's May 23rd, the last board meeting in May. Or Or no, it's the 26th, the day after Memorial Day. >> We need to have a workshop. So, if we need to have a workshop, I would like to get that May is really getting booked up. If we could Okay. We talked originally about April 20th first and 20 when we had that reconvene meeting, but that meeting may be several of us out for a a hearing. And my preference is May. I will have a little bit more done if we could do May. That reconvene meeting may be with a substitute in my place during that quick meeting there, President Prichard. Okay. Well, what about May 1st? I was thinking more like May
11911th. But >> Well, you tell me you tell me. I'm just throwing out dates. >> Okay. So, the reason being we get um budget items from the state and there are significant number we've not gotten yet and the longer we have, we'll have more accurate information. Um When's the When is the What's the date of the public hearing? That will be the 26th. Okay. May. Of May. So, what about the 8th or the 15th? The 15th would be great. I'm at ASBO the 8th, so that's to hear that. I can't be here on the 15th, but that's okay cuz Kate's graduation, but I mean, you all can have it without me. The 15th you're out? What about the 11th? The 11th is good with me. Everybody, 11th? Everybody? No, I never know till I get
120home. Okay. >> I'm pretty free. We're talking about morning of the 11th? Morning of the 11th? 9:00 to 12:00 or 9:00 until when you need me. Is that a Is that a regular That's a regular board meeting. Okay. That makes for a long day, but that's all right. Or do you want to do it before the board meeting? >> the big bucks. Do you want to do it before the board meeting? How long do you think it'll take? >> 2 hours, 3 hours. I I think a couple hours. Sorry. I think a couple hours will be good. We're meeting um again, we're doing a more detailed budget this year, so we'll have We have lists already of all the needs and priorities from the schools. So, I think it will be a couple hours will
121be good. What about if we did it at 4:00 before the regular meeting? Would that work? Yeah, we can do that, yeah. Continue it to the next meeting. And just continue into the meeting? Works for me. Everybody's good? Is that going to give us enough time, Leslie, if we have a meeting at 6:00? I I do. I We'll have it >> All right. Then 4:00 on May 11th, we'll have a work session on the budget. Sounds good. Anything else? 4:00. >> Well, we're going to I'm going to send everybody back. >> [laughter] >> All right, so before I get a motion to go into executive session to discuss the acquisition of property, I want to give everybody an opportunity to go home. You don't need to sit here while we're doing an executive session. So,
122we're going to stay right here. We're going to recess briefly while everybody goes because we're going to have our executive session right here. I think we need Tom and I think we need Leslie to stay and otherwise And Fred, I guess. And our assistants, yeah. >> You got to sleep sometime. I'll stop Kate while you're sleeping. So, we made a mistake and we want to clarify it for the record. There was no motion to go on executive session. What happened is we recessed and there was some confusion. So, we have not we did nothing but talk to people as they were leaving the room. So, now I need a motion to go on executive session for the sole purpose of discussing the acquisition of real estate. >> So moved. There's a motion and there's a
123second. There's a motion and a second. All in favor signify by saying I. I. I. Opposed likewise. We are going in executive session at 7:11. Again, we're sorry for the confusion. >> We're out of executive session at 7:18. The only thing we discussed was the acquisition of real estate. Uh we have no further action items on the agenda. Is there a motion to adjourn? Move to adjourn. Is there a second? Any objection? Good night. Everybody have a good evening.