001Second. >> Are we on? Okay. Good evening everybody. It is uh November 10th, 2025. It is 5:31 I think. No, it's still 5:30 p.m. and we are ready for our public calendar hearing meeting uh which was noticed earlier and uh we will turn this over to Miss Harrison who will talk to us about our calendar. >> Hello everybody. Uh the first thing that we're going to start with this evening uh are the survey results. Uh we put out a survey for community members, families to answer questions about their preferences of start dates, end dates, things like that. And we do the same thing with employees. And as you'll see from this uh survey comparison, our parents and community are right in line with our employees as well. Uh the first question was for the next
002school year, when should it begin? and the parents and community overwhelmingly chose the latest date possible of August 24th. Same question for employees, there was a little bit more of a a cut there, but the majority still said August 24th. Uh for the parent and community feedback, Thanksgiving break, they all agree that it should be a full week and the employees feel that way as well. uh spring break and I made sure that they understood that spring break could be used to make up snow days if needed. Uh but all of them wanted spring break to be a full week and so did the employees. We asked about non-traditional or re-imagined days to be used um in instances where the weather was too bad for buses uh to go and pick up students and transport
003them to school, but would be safe enough for employees to arrive two hours late and they would learn online. Uh as you can see, the parent community feedback was yes, they like those and so do our employees. And the next thing that I'm going to show you is a video that explains our school calendar requirements as set forth in West Virginia State Code. Are there any questions? >> Yeah, I have one. >> Yes, sir. >> Is it possible? [clears throat] I know it's impossible, but if people could think like I do, is it possible you could have a year legally? Is that possible? >> Yes, it is actually. you got your speaker on or your microphone. >> Uh, however, that would be something that we would have to uh get with the community way ahead
004of time because it would change everything. It would change sports. It would change it all. Um and and I think that a lot of the systems that have gone to year round have changed back or it might just be one or two schools within a county and that creates its own problems because a parent may have a student in the year- round school and a student in the traditional school year and uh it it's just difficult to do. Now we have had um some people in the surveys you know say have we ever thought about a balanced calendar? It it would be very difficult. I mean, it could be done, but it would be difficult. >> Okay. Sometime when I get my votes back, I'd like to speak on why we should, but I'm not
005going to do it tonight. >> Okay. Any additional questions? All right. Thank you very much. >> All right. We'll go into a brief recess. Our regular meeting starts at 6 PM. We'll start up at 6 PM sharp with regular meeting. Good evening. After a recess from our uh calendar meeting, we are now back in regular session. Uh four of the board members are present. Miss Santon Smith is sitting in Reagan International Airport due to the government shutdown. She's apparently had a interesting few days and travel. Uh, so she's not going to be able with us tonight. Uh, so let's have the pledge of allegiance, please. >> 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
006for all. also failed to note that it was November the 10th, 2025 and it is 6 o'clock. With that, uh we will move on to superintendent's opening remarks. >> Yes, sir. President Purich and I gave you a list there. I just want to give you an update. We uh presented at the needs project last Tuesday and uh President Prud member Mr. Bailey, assistant superintendent Mrs. Mitchell and majority whip delegate Gearhart showed up but uh did not speak but I just wanted to let you know we presented we'll wait uh and find out the selection is on December 15th Monday at the lottery building at uh in Charleston. Also we have uh Mike Mccleahan's uh leadership large group session this Wednesday work. Also we have administrators meeting Thursday uh November 13th. The school board's training is
007uh this Saturday and uh Mrs. Smith and uh I will be on virtual. Mr. Purich will be uh in person. That's at Stonewall. >> And then also I put on there the consideration for November and December only have one meeting. Mr. Prudich may address that at the end of the meeting uh yesterday. >> Yes. >> And then uh also if any any uh Mr. Bailey, Mr. Preach, anything you want to state about the school board uh or the uh school building authority meeting? Uh >> well, the just want to share that >> the uh presentation went well. We gave them the reason for our needs. We believe they're substantial. Uh we believe that they uh will impact uh probably a larger number of students than any project that they were reviewing. Um we gave adequate
008justification and uh they were receptive and they liked CTE. They they uh we're facing a lot of of consolidation projects uh a lot of smaller projects uh and so you know we're realistic but we're hopeful. So, we we will trust and rely on the the school building authorities uh wisdom and hopefully they will fund us if not in full at least significant so we can get our projects taken care of. >> That's it. >> All right. So, there's no citizens input this evening. So, we're going to talk policy 2322. Mrs. Mitchell, Dr. Atkins, who wants to go first? Okay, our favorite part of any board meeting is when we have the opportunity to rep to recognize staff, students or community members. And we will begin this evening with uh 110% club. Our first recognition is
009for Greg Puit. He is a bus operator nominated by the transportation department. Greg Puit's dedication does not stop when the bus engine turns off. He teaches many classes every year, including transportation aid training and bus operator training. Recently, he has made a big impact on Mercer County students by teaching them about school bus safety with Buster the Bus. Mr. Puit shows up early every day to do a thorough pre-trip inspection, ensuring the safety of every child on his route. He greets students with a smile and he knows each one of them by name, creating a positive start and end to each student's day. When challenges arise, like bad weather, route changes, or students are having a tough morning, Greg handles it all with patience, professionalism, and compassion. He takes the time to communicate with parents
010and assist his co-workers. Great job, Mr. Puit. Greg Puit, bus operator. Our second recognition is 110% club for Sarah Jones, bus operator, nominated also by the transportation department. Sarah Jones dedication goes beyond driving the school bus. She teaches classes regularly during the year, including transportation aid training and bus operator training. Recently, she has been assisting Mr. Puit in a teaching Mercer County students about school bus safety with Buster the Bus. Miss Jones is early every day to perform her pre-trip inspections to ensure the safety of students of Mercer County. By greeting each student in the morning by name, she helps the students feel welcomed and helps start their day with a smile. Thank you, Mrs. Jones. Sarah Jones, bus operator. Our next recognition is 110% club for Melissa Meechum, culinary instructor, nominated by Danielle Farmer,
011principal at the Mercer County Technical Education dinner. Melissa Meechum consistently goes above and beyond to support her students, colleagues, and the culinary program. She devotes personal time outside of her work to prepare for events, lessons, and competitions, ensuring everything runs smoothly. Her initiative and willingness to use her own resources show her deep commitment to student success. Her positive energy and professionalism inspire others, and she eagerly takes on additional projects. Recently, she spent over 18 hours on a weekend preparing students for a culinary competition. Proof of her dedication and passion, Melissa proudly represents Mercer County Technical Education Center and Mercer County schools through her leadership and community involvement. Her students frequently cater board of education meetings and school events, showcasing their skills and building community pride. Melissa Meechum truly exemplifies the 110% club spirit through her
012service, enthusiasm, and commitment to excellence. Melissa Meechum, culinary instructor. Oh, I just don't leave that on and cut it off when I don't need it. Come here. One second. Well, you'll be back. >> No, I won't be back till >> 6 o'clock, 7 o'clock. It's It's till It doesn't end till 3. It ends at 3 on Saturday. We're going to wait a moment till our our board member gets back so we can begin policy 2322. Okay, after a brief recess to let the room clear out, uh we're going to move on to policy 2322. >> Thank you, President Prudich. Just wanted to share a few updates. Um for elementary we did um finish up all of our principal and supervisor goals were submitted and approved to me on or before November the 1st and of
013course those are aligned with the board goals with superintendent goals and all the way down and we all have the same focus. We did have our federal programs monitoring on October the 27th and that was on titles one, two, three, four, five, McKenna Vento and CSI. We do feel that it went very well and we should have a report back from them by mid November is what they told us. Saw today that they changed uh in GPS to uh where they're in there actually doing their responses and and those types of things to the monitoring. We had a CSI visit last Wednesday, November the 5th, for our two newly identified CSI schools, and that's for the 2025 uh through the 2028 three-year designation. That's Mountain Valley Elementary for their special education subgroup and Bluefield Intermediate
014for their multi-racial subgroup. and they visited both schools that morning, met with the principal and the school counselor, looked at uh some data and had some conversations and then they met with our district team that afternoon. Uh Michelle Moore Left Leftwitch is our WVD CSI coordinator and she is someone that we have worked with before does a really good job and look forward to continuing to work with her. I know that she can help us do do very good things. Um there is a follow-up conference in Morgantown on December 2nd and 3rd. It'll be for school teams. Um Amber Refe is our identified CSI school improvement coach, so she'll receive additional training. She'll be going as well. Uh and I may possibly go um if if there's an opportunity. Also, um we have the additional
015um target support schools through CSI. We call those uh yellow schools. It's a a warning schools. We have that for Athens, Melrose, and Spanishburg for the special ed designation. And then we have Mercer for the special ed and multi-racial designation. So if those schools don't make a measurable amount of improvement in the next three years, then they could be a designated CSI school in 2028. So we do plan to have a roundt discussion this Friday morning, November the 14th with those schools just to discuss strategy and uh methods to use to uh have that growth for that subgroup. Um plan to utilize uh Mrs. Ashley Smith, principal staley as she was very was very successful in having strong growth with this subgroup during her CSI designation the past three years. That's it. Mitchell. >> Yes,
016sir. >> One of the schools was kind of identified as a special needs. What is multicultural? >> Multi-racial. >> It's students that in Weeus uh their uh demographic designation is more than one race. So you you have you know you would have white or caucasian, you would have black or African-American, multi-racial, um Latino, there are yeah the the different ethnicities. So that is uh one of the demographic subgroups that uh >> what do they expect? What's the purpose behind identifying those subgroups? >> Those are groups that did not make measurable progress for three consistent years. So then you target those groups and and what we found what Mrs. Smith found um and and Dr. Gross at Bluewell both were extremely successful when they're with their designation Dr. grosses was actually for the economically disadvantaged is
017you still targeted as a schoolwide improvement effort. And uh that's what we want to make sure that that this group of principles understands as well. And you know, you you're mindful and conscious of who the students are in that subgroup, but the improvement efforts are schoolwide. And so and honestly, um you know, uh success stories with Blueie um actually just applied for an exemplary school designation. I feel like they deserve that. I don't know if they will be selected for that but it was a process and what a success story for a school to go from a CSI designation to applying for exemplary in three years but um very very proud but yeah it's just it's just an improvement effort and again we are fortunate to have Michelle Moore Leftwitch extremely knowledgeable and experienced from
018the state department someone that I've known and worked with for a long time and I think all of us have Rosemary's working with her as well with a different project and I really think she can help us. >> Thank you sir. All right. >> Thank you. And with secondary um we as well did their goals and and we all from the secondary group everyone focus is focusing on attendance and the chronic absenteeism. That was one goal that we all are going to work towards together. Um but that we did do goals got those done by November 1st. Um, in secondary we also had some of the yellow designated schools and that was uh we they were consisted of Luthl Middle, Pipe View Middle, Princeton Middle, and Princeton Senior High School. Um, Montcom High School um
019is an ATSI, which means that they're that yellow, but they um will be monitored more regularly over a three-year period and could go back to being a CSI school if they don't get their scores up. Um, and we're looking at each of those. It's special education with the exemption uh exception of Bluefield Middle, which is special ed and African-American. Um, the rest of them are all the subgroup of special ed. One of the things that we're doing is we are um meeting with the principles and attending LEA committee meetings to make sure that in their strategic plans, that's one of the things they have to do is um address their need and what they're going to do to fix it. So, we want to make sure that everybody's on the same page with that. So,
020we're we're doing some meetings with the LEA committees as well. Um, most of these schools um well, not most of them, all of them. They're um going to use the data that we get from the beginning of the year, middle of the year, and end of the year in order to keep growing. But we've created a template and we've created a rubric to go with it so that everybody's looking for the same type of things and knowing how to judge it. that seemed to be one of the issues that what one person thought was important in one school may not have been so important in another. Whereas we need to make sure that we're moving them all in the right direction. Um we're doing individual meetings with our principles. Um Russell is doing that with
021attendance as well. Um the schools that he's been out, we did see an improvement on our October um monthly attendance. So we feel like it's working the direction that we're going in. Uh we're doing um the grow the gear up program is using an incentive for attendance and it's an attendance wars is what it's called and they're doing a monthly attendance um uh competition and they get prizes or they could get a trip at the end of the year. So the schools are really playing into that and it's funny how competitive they've become. So we've done that for two months and it'll go every month for the remainder of the year. >> Just two grades though, correct? Does that >> ninth and tth grade are the cohorts for this year? >> Middle school's done it
022in the past, so they're still doing it, but they're doing it on their own. It's not with the gear up funding. Um, we and of course we are doing the prizes. And we have Desmos training, which is a math training for the way they're using the calculators and those things now on on testing. Uh, we start Desmos training next week for each of the high schools. We have a different one every day, Monday through Thursday. On Thursday evening, there will be a meeting with Desmos for any math teacher in the county that wants to attend from 4 to 6. Um, just for their chance to sit down and and work as a cohort together on things that they're doing. Um, let's see what else. Oh, we're getting ready to go to a Strive conference. It's
023November 17th and and I won't steal um Miss Huddle's uh thunder. She's the one that organizes. She's the chair of this, but it's strive and it stands for strengthen behavior response through targeted assistance to promote regular attendance, increased achievement, validated practices, and empowered support team. So, it's just bringing everything together for special ed a little tighter, a little closer. And so, she has a committee that she organized. And so we we're going to go for um to I we go to Lewisburg for that for that for that training. Um and that's pretty much where we are. >> Questions? >> Yeah. What is best mode? >> It is just it's another program that we are using. >> It's the name of the program and it it is what they're using in the math classes in the
024high schools. Um and honestly in going into some of these classrooms we were surprised at how much the kids are using it. they're they're pulling that calculator down. You have that Dropbox and they can pull it down and use it and that's what they use on the state assessments and those things. So, we've got to teach them how to correctly use those tools and that's what that's what it's about and it's geared toward math. >> Anything else? >> One thing I'd like to share with you, >> please. >> I'll come back after I pass these out. I have um our rooms update on usage. Um Act sends me at the end of each month uh what the prior looks like to give you an update on that. >> Excellent. Thank you. >> Um as you
025can see each month we get a little bit better. um teacher engagement you see that uh activation 674 of 868 teachers that's 78% who have activated the rooms accounts. Now please keep in mind that in rooms it has all teachers including inclusion teachers who may not necessarily have to have their own account. They can just go into the regular teachers account to send any kind of message that they want to send. Also, and something that I need to ask them about, it has all of us in it. It has all board members. It has everybody at the central office. Leslie, you have one. I bet you didn't know that. >> No. [laughter] >> So, that that's something that I'm going to have to talk with them about to to look at at those numbers. um
026lots of engagement as far as them posting on uh it kind of looks like a social media page announcements for the class, you know, to remind parents and students uh when tests are, when things are due. Um and then as far as private messaging, uh that's going very well, too. So, uh, as you can see, staff sent 8,97 me77 messages in October, and that's up sharply from 6,730 in September. So, parents and teachers are communicating with each other. This is a very easy way for them to do that. And it tells you who our leading users are. Uh, the parent and guardian engagement, uh, up 62%. 62% um, have at least one guardian with an active rooms account. more than a 20 point increase since August. Uh 78% of activated guardians exchanged messages in October.
027And it gives you some more details down below that. So, uh it did start out a little bumpy. Um those first few weeks I was spending most of my days helping parents get logged in and and troubleshooting and things like that. I rarely get any uh emails regarding that now. Um, every so every couple weeks I still go ahead and send out an invitation trying to capture those that haven't logged in yet. Um, but I'd say that we've rounded a corner and it's going well. >> Thank you. >> You're welcome. >> Anyone else have any >> she bringing that up yet? Mrs. Wellman or >> 23 22? >> Yeah, Mr. >> Okay. I just wanted to mention that at the fall ASBO um they did present a new finance metrics that they're going to be
028rolling out this year the points changing so that we whether we um fall into the watch category from a financial perspective but and I'll do a presentation for you all later as soon as we get the official but one of the things that that I did I've already told Mr. Prudish and u Mr. toman is that they actually have a criteria that um if your fund balance from the prior year drops more than 5%. You lose points going forward. Um so we already especially this year lose points because this is my third year as treasurer and as a new treasurer we lose points. So we'll automatically lose points if we drop our fund balance more than 5%. >> You lose points for having a new treasurer. Federal actually special special ed's the same way. We
029lose points if you have a new that >> qualifies as one of the dumbest metrics I've ever heard. >> So if you bring someone that's been a a treasurer in another school for 50 years to your school, you get dinged for it. >> Well, I'm I can't say that. I I am a new treasurer in general, so I get dinged. I I think if you were a treasurer in another county that you wouldn't >> You get dinged for just a status. Yes. >> Yes. And again, they're trying. >> You did, too. >> So, again, they're their their argument is, you know, we need to watch more closely. And in my case at least, they give us a grant for a mentor. So, they are training us while they're doing that, too. And that's been in
030invaluable. >> But unless you make mistakes, why would they ding you? They're dinging a status. It's the It's really a dumb measurement for determining whether a finance or special education department are doing their job. Oh, you're new. We're taking five points. >> That's just dumb. With all due respect to the state board, whoever came up with that one, you need to go back and rethink it. Um, so again, I I'll update you when we get the official new metrics out. I'll update you in more detail, but I did in particular want to point that one out. >> That's an example. >> Actually, no. The the the biggest change we had is they've raised construction to 50,000 versus 25,000 before we have to do certain bidding and put it in the paper and things like that.
031So that was a positive for us that they've adjusted for inflation. So that's the only real major challenge um that that we have. >> Thank you. Anybody else? All right. Then we'll move on to the business portion of our meeting. Approval of minutes of the October 23rd and October 27th, 2025 meetings. Is there a motion to approve? >> Is there a second? >> Second. >> Motion and a second. questions, comments, or discussion? And on the motion, all in favor signify by saying I. I oppose. Likewise. That motion carries. Four in favor and none opposed. >> No, you're you're fine. Three in favor, none opposed, and one not voting. All right. Consent agenda. All right. Board member number 189 is the placement of a student from Liberty University to complete 45 hours for one of their
032courseworks for the fall 2025 semester. The individual will be placed at Lashmate Moka School and placements as always are contingent upon appropriate forms receipt of acceptable background check and the university naming site supervisor superintendent recommends approval. Board number under 190 is the auction of surplus vocational items. Uh, MCTech has identified the below attached items which are outdated and no longer needed. The items have been offered to other CTE centers but were not claimed. MC would like to auction off these items to make room for new and updated equipment to better serve the students. I'm not going to go through the whole list. Uh, superintendent recommends approval of these items. Board amendment number 191 is placement of a student from Southwest Virginia Community College. They're requesting that an individual be placed to complete 20 hours for
033coursework uh for the fall 2025 semester. They will be placed at Timberwood Elementary contingent upon the appropriate forms, acceptable background check, and this university naming a site supervisor superintendent recommends approval. Board amendment number 192 is the auction of surplus buses and vehicles. The transportation department has def has identified a list of bus vehicles that are no longer considered useful. They're obsolete and can no longer be utilized by Mercer County Schools. The superintendent recommends approve approve to declare these items as surplus and to offer the items for sale at auction through govdeal.com. Okay. Board amendment number 193 is a placement of a student for Bluefield State University for coursework uh in the fall of 2025 semester. They'll be placed at Bluefield Intermediate and Bluefield Middle School. Their placement is contingent upon appropriate forms, acceptable background check,
034and university name and site supervisor. Superintendent recommends approval. Board memo number 194 is RFP 344 engineer water runoff stone water storm water management and wastewater management uh as required by West Virginia code. This RFP was issued to select an engineering firm for for these reasons. It may be necessary over the next year with an option to renew for if necessary for two years. We published the RFP in Telegraph and the Charleston Gazette papers. Four engineering firms received we received responses from four engineering firms. A committee was uh convened to consider the the firms. Two firms were asked to present to the selection committee. Thomas and Linton was of 96 of 100 PL points. Superintendent recommends approval of the award to Thomas and Linton, Princeton, West Virginia, for future water runoff, storm management, and wastewater management
035engineering services as necessary over the next three years. Board moment number 195 is bid number 978, school bus parts. Bid 978 was issued to obtain guaranteed discount agreements with multiple vendors for school bus parts. The discounts calculated uh based on retail prices or established catalog pricing. The bids were advertised in two newspapers. Cold truck parts give us a 57% discount on filters. Interstate batteries a 52.3% discount on batteries. I say batteries on the first one. Filters batteries on on the second. Matheni motor track truck a 25 to 35% discount on all parts. Worldwide equipment a 5% discount on all parts. Superintendent recommends approval of the agreements with the listed vendors for the guaranteed discounts on purchases for school bus parts. Forward memo number 196 is HVAC hot water pump at Pike View High School. The
036maintenance director uh pursuant to policy DO4 is requesting quotes for a new hot water pump for HVAC unit at Pike View High School. Uh three vendors submitted responses. Superintendent recommends purchase of the new water pump for Pike View High School from True Tech Mechanical in the amount of $18,000. Accessibility funds are being utilized for this purchase. Board a memo number 197 is the payment of invoices for the month of November. Uh the actual checks have been written or being held pending consideration by the school board. Uh you have a list of those on your computer. Uh that is the end of the consent agenda. Questions, comments or discussion? Yes, I'm sorry. >> [snorts] >> Oh, wait. >> Yes. I did. >> Uh, no problem. Uh on board a member number 190, uh going through the
037list of surplus vocational items, most of them don't look like they could be utilized by any of our schools, but the HP poster printer, when I saw that, I wondered if that had been offered to other schools in the county. That might be something somebody might want. It's just one of those things, you know, you get some teacher at a building that says, "Oh, yeah, I'll do that." Because I'm assuming it is what it says it is. It makes posters. Okay. I don't think any schools are going to want a Grizzly joint planer, but I thought they might want that one. Um, all right. Are there any other questions on the consent agenda? There appearing to be none. Is there a motion? Is there a second? A motion and a second. Questions, comments, or further
038discussion? Then on the motion, all in favor signify by saying I. I. Oppose. Likewise. That motion carries. Four in favor and none opposed. The next item on the agenda is the board memo number 198 which is going to be altered a little bit. We're not adding anything. We're taking away. Uh you should have Did everybody get the email? >> Okay. So, everyone should have received the email. And what we're doing is we're pulling out the director. It's the the current memorandum is director of purchasing and payroll based upon the email we received today and the information it should just be director of payroll uh with the reasons explained therein um uh to get it on the floor. Is there a motion to accept the board memo as >> the board memo as altered uh for
039198? >> Okay. All right, there's a motion and there's a second questions, discussion. There appearing to be none on the motion. All in favor signify by saying I. I oppose likewise. That motion carries. Four in favor and none opposed. board. >> Yes, that is um Michael Lauren, as you may know, Lauren left after the last board meeting. We she was appointed that same night as the treasurer in Summers County, and that's where she was. It's a great opportunity for her and definitely great for Summers County. Um Lauren had extensive payroll experience. She had done payroll for 10 years and so she really helped here and did some taxes and things like that that typically fall under payroll. I'm not an expert in payroll. So after much discussions internally, what I would like to do in
040the in the past is really not replace Lauren per se, but just have more help. I do plan to bring to you a director of purchasing at the next board meeting slashprofessional accountants. So, they will also help, but I will take over most of what Lauren did. Lauren did, you know, a great job and and it's it's time and and I can do that as long as I give up some of the purchasing responsibility. I'll still be involved, but you know, going out and working with FEMA and spending, you know, several days out on the field is and meeting architects and engineers, >> it never seemed to be a great fit. I mean, we appreciated your hard work, but it doesn't seem to be what a treasurer. >> It's not should be doing. >> It's
041not. But I I will be honest, I needed Lauren's skill set at that point in time. It was just it just made perfect sense. I said it's kind of a season. It she was here for a season to help us with that. and now I have the other under my belt and I'll take that over and try to turn over the pay the purchasing and payroll um at that level. >> All right. So, we voted on that one. Uh the next item on the agenda is the first reading of policy IO8 Mercer County Esports. Mr. Tomman. >> And yes, President Fruits, you have the first reading there. And Mr. Farmer is here if anything needs questions asked on that. If you guys have any questions regarding the first reading, any other questions? >> It did.
042We my first question is did we utilize some other county's policy on esports to create the create what we have and then change it to suit our specific situation. >> Okay. >> All right. >> Okay. That makes sense. So it it was it and that goes back to comparing them to athletics and the coaches and the way we do athletics >> right now. >> All right. has been discuss >> so have there been any >> having reviewed it are there any specific questions at this point or uh because if not it's going to go out for uh public uh consideration and we'll see it back for second reading after the public's had a chance to comment. I mean, it's got [cough] different looked it up. I didn't know Have they had competition yet? >> Have
043they have been competing yet? >> Yes. I get to each other. number one. >> It sounds like it. in personal, >> but these they go and they sit in assigned areas and play as a team against other people sitting in their assigned areas. >> I got >> There you go. several others. >> Not to mention the fact that it's a multi-billion dollar industry now >> and people are making a living doing this. >> As amazing as that is, >> people are making a lot of money playing these games. >> We we visited University of Cincinnati two years ago and they had an incredible esports lab of probably 50 seats chairs and it was it was very amazing. Cole is withd us involved in the streaming side. So even the students who don't play games are
044even >> you have to have people behind the scenes and in front of cameras for sporting events and that's what that is. >> That's really crazy, isn't it? >> Mr. I just >> I'll share my contact with you too. We got a good contact through a U innovation transformation consortium I've been on. So it's pretty good. reverse to Cincinnati. >> Wasn't there a young man? >> I'm not sure. Well, you know, there was a time when uh computers were new and we were still trying to figure out how you could have a career in that and how in the world you could possibly make money doing that and all the richest companies in the world are directly involved somehow in computer industry or streaming or whatever. So, Awesome. >> That's awesome. Okay, so it's working
045the way we want it to. That's exactly right. Good. So, the next item on the agenda and the last action item in the agenda is board amendment number 200, which is the personnel agenda. You should receive an amended agenda and as we pointed out to you the only change is on page six under resignations uh the custodial position uh effective November 6, 2025. Superintendent recommends approval. Is there a motion to approve the consent agenda or the personnel agenda? >> Is there there's a motion and a second questions, comments or discussion? Then on the motion, all in favor signify by saying I. I opposed likewise. That motion carries. Four in favor and none opposed. That leaves us with some discussion items on the agenda. Uh Mr. Tob >> and uh discussion items you had on there.
046U facilities of Spanishburg on Spanishburg. >> We need to hear from uh >> Mrs. Wellman on that. >> Yes. So, we did um complete the initial claim from FEMA on Spanishberg and the final piece that we were waiting was on how much the peers are going to cost to to fix that section that we consider the new section and that came in at $916,000. Um in addition to the fact that that doesn't include the gym floor and and finishing that portion that actually did flood inside. If you remember, this just affected the structure. So, um, FEMA asked me for an update last Thursday and Lauren was leaving. So, I really haven't spent a lot of time on this to be honest, but I printed it out. They um our representative from FEMA wanted wants us
047before they will move any further on this project to meet with the the flood plane administrator in our county which is Keith Gano and said that there are multiple things that we need to keep in mind and meet with him. Primarily this isn't a floodway and there are rules and regulations that the federal government has to follow before they can invest funds in this. In addition, any work that we do, we will have to get a flood plane permit from him before we can do anything on this as well. So, um I'll pass this out, let you read it, and then what I would like to do is ask that he meet um with someone, whether it's the board or me or Mr. Atkins as facilities director, so that we understand [clears throat] what the
048what what's required and and what his thoughts are. I will tell you that while we were there, FEMA said there is really nothing we can do to mitigate that. It is a flood way, not just a flood plane. And there's really other than trying to keep water out of the school by putting some um inflatable things in front of doors that that's really about all we could do. There's just no way to divert the water away from the school in that situation. So just again because I like to comment on sometimes the foolishness that I hear from the government. Uh you could you could absolutely build 10 foot 12t BMS around that facility that would make it floodproof. It would take a larger flood than the one that hit us. But they don't want to
049spend money on that and that's fine. They have their rules and we can live by it. But to say it can't be remediated is inaccurate. >> Yeah. >> I mean, >> well, for 159 students, I think the cost effective measures is what they were referring to for that size of facility and that few students. If it's a town, that's one thing, but this is a a school with 159 students. Um, so I will also add to you as well that we're having these same issues at Princeton Primary and we expect the estimate to be very similar at Princeton Primary as well. As we mentioned um that the that's going to have to have peers installed and built as well because it was not built on deep foundations. The original report that we found said they
050did not recommend building a two-story building and if we did build we needed deep foundations and we built a two-story building on the the just the two-foot foundations. Um so we're going to be having to do this at Princeton Primary as well. So my my request is that you do you want Mr. Gnau to come meet with you all? Um, >> I I think that he should meet with with uh Mr. Atkins and you and discuss the the logistics of it and then you can report back to us what his findings are. Then if we need to discuss it with him, we'll get him in a board meeting and >> Okay. >> conversation. >> Okay. >> Yeah. We'll get to that. >> Okay. Is that all you have to have for us? >> Yes. Okay.
051That's it. >> All right. Um in terms of the discussion uh of the work session agenda which is Friday week. Um at this point what I have planned is discussion of moving forward on the the renovation of our policies uh with the new process and the new setup that we've been developing uh with the SCSC uh expulsions. Um there's been a request that we discuss the uh whatever you want to call them wish lists from that we received from the schools um from the LSIC's uh and um other subjects. I don't want to load too much because my guess is the policy conversation won't take very long. The expulsions is going to take a long time I suspect. >> And if we need any update on because a board meeting right there. >> Yeah. The
052the plan at this point is to use that work session as our final board meeting for the month of November and in lie of that. So any business that needs to be taken care of will be taken care of in that session as well. >> Uh so even though it's designed as a work session, we should probably call it a special session. And that way we >> special meeting SLwork session. >> Yeah, that that works fine. Um, if you have something in mind, get it to us this week so we can get it on the agenda. Uh, I have some other ideas, but I'm still not sure whether they need to be here or or somewhere else at this point. Um, okay. So, that takes care of that item. Uh, last item is administrative updates.
053Any other administrative updates from any of you? >> Thank you. >> Uh there has been a request for a executive session for the purposes of discussing personnel uh pursuant to West Code 69A4B2. Uh and there will be one issue to be discussed and that will be it. And it'll be a personnel matter and uh we will come back out of that session and we will adjourn. Do you want exit or you want back there in that room? >> Uh, let's just let everybody go home except of course the person managing our streaming. >> You'll have to step out. >> So, everybody can head on home. We're going to go into executive session briefly. We'll come back out and >> we'll be done. >> If y'all want to hang around while we're doing this, we'll go
054back there. Yeah. come back. Amy, I'll get the whatever. We are back out of executive session at 7:15. Uh, >> there's a motion to adjurnn. Is there any objection? We're adjourned. Good evening, everybody.