Board Meeting Regular Session - 8/25/2025

001Mitchell. >> Derek, are we on? >> Okay. Good evening, everybody. It is 6 o'clock p.m. It is August 25th, 2025. Mer County Board of Education is in regular session. All board members of the superintendent are present. We'll have our 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. >> That puts us on the superintendent's opening remarks. Yes sir, President Purich. Few things on my list and then we have a couple presentations but uh just want to let you know we did have all staff return last Monday and we had staff development u CE on Monday and Tuesday then the prep day on Wednesday and our kids returned on Thursday, Friday. This is uh the

002first full week of our kids being back and I'm telling you in my experience it seems like it's the smoothest uh opening that we've dealt with. I don't want to say that too loud. We already started but uh we don't want tomorrow to be Thank you, Miss Jones. Thank you. But uh a wonderful u wonderful u opening at all levels and then also with the kids coming back we did have a bus that had um break issues. We had to get another bus and then they had another bus uh issue that we had to run another bus also. Other than that, everything went well with our transportation also. So I just want to share that with our opening. You have the GSA proficiency level rankings. I did email those to you when I got them

003uh from Matt McBride with the I Ready Curriculum Associates that has some rankings. You have those all the way back to 2017 18 to current and math and English uh language arts. You have Mercy County Public Schools GSA data comparison. I sent those to you also. Uh did you get those email? >> Okay, good deal. Okay, got that. >> Um you have a copy of the Mercy County goals to approve. You have a draft u of my superintendent's goals. They're in your packet there, but they will need to be approved by um September 15th of uh so we got a meeting before that. The superintendent's goals. >> You got a paper copy? Yes, sir. And I can get you electronic copy, but I just printed that off. I got to you today. Monday, uh September

0041st is Labor Day, no school. That's next Monday. And then also you guys had the school boards association fall conference se on uh Friday September 5th and Saturday the 6th. I wanted to share that with you and Mr. Prudich is on the executive committee there and I think you started a little earlier that day. Correct. >> Going down Thursday. There was a meeting. Yep. >> And with that we have uh two presentations and M. Mitchell do you want to lead that and intro? I had two young ladies and secondary schools that were actually invited by the state department to come and part of her group. So I'm talked about this last time and so she's she's a part of all that and the founding part of it but she did a little more than what

005the others have had to do. They went as trainees she went to learn even more. So, I'm gonna let her go over what she did and then Tiffany was invited to come and do work with the social studies roll out for the civics. So, we're proud of both of them. >> We need a point. Well, good evening. Um, my name is Brienne McKini and I teach English language arts at Wfield High School. Um, and I was asked by Susie Garrison at the state department to come and share some of the things that I do in my classroom at the sale conference. And one of those being uh living literature. Now, living literature, I do this a few different ways. I have one overall main project that I do that is a very collaborative project. It's

006inclusive and I have a video from one of my students that I'll share with you where she gives a basic explanation of what this project is. Mr. I have videos to share. >> They worked on my computer. Okay. So, with this living literature project, um, I do it with my honors classes and then with my juniors, and it is all-incclusive and collaborative. And what I mean by that is we work with students of all ability levels. Um, and my ninth graders, they are my honors group. They actually team up and work with Bluefield Middle School students in special education classrooms. So, we do that using Zoom. So, my students will have small collaborative groups that they are assigned to and then we pair them up with the students from the eighth grade special education classrooms

007at Bluefield Middle School and they use Zoom then to work with these students each day in the classroom setting. And you can see here I have some photos of what that looks like inside of my classroom. So you can see that the students are actively engaged. They're actively teaching these students the many lessons that we do. So with the project itself, students use children's story books. They get to choose three children's story books um and they take these stories and they have many lessons that they do along the way with them. So to start with they get their three classic stories then they go to complete their many tasks and that's how they get their grades. So the first task is each group reads their three stories. Then they take book notes from a graphic

008organizer. Then they brainstorm. After they brainstorm together as a full group, they will write a script. Now, they will combine all three stories into one original script. And then we actually perform these plays live at Blue High School and invite the elementary school and primary students to come and watch their plays on stage. When it's all said and done, the students then write a reflection essay. So that is how they get their grades. It's broken down into different components. So that incorporates so many content standards along the way. And a lot of times the students don't even realize all the different skills that they're learning along the way. So this is what a Zoom day looks like in my room. You can see the students have um their computers up. They do use headphones sometimes

009if it's if it gets hard to hear from the middle schoolers end um or on their end. Everybody is assigned their own pair of earbuds. So, this might be one assignment organizer, um, booknotes, and they would use this for each book as they go through. And this is what performance day looks like. So, they create their own backgrounds. Each background is created on a PowerPoint. Um, and then those are projected onto our big screen in Bluefield High School. Um, as the students perform, they do costumes, they go all out. And then the final piece is that reflection essay where they have to tell what went well, what could have went better, was it enjoyable, did you like collaborating with different groups of students? And they're very honest usually in their feedback with me. Um, I

010had one, um, I think I put it in this example. She actually told me, "I felt like I was doing more of the work than some of the other people in my group." So, it's a time for them to be open and honest, and I tell them that I want to know what's going well. I want to know what's not going well. Um, so that is a huge overall living literature project that I try to do with my students each year. um so that we can include everyone. And we do work with uh Bluefield High School special education department as well. Those students come actually come down to my room and work directly with my students during that time period. Um there's a couple other ways that you can bring literature to life without doing

011an all-encompassing project and I just wanted to share those with you as well. One is when I do my short story unit with my 11th graders. There's three short stories that I love to teach every single year. And with those short stories, they are to pick one story, one scene, and then they have to recreate that scene in film version. So, not only do I get to see then what their perspective was of the text, I also can check for comprehension and understanding at that point as well. So, they will actually film one scene from one of the short stories. Propaganda is one of my other favorite units to teach. Um, with this one, my students, um, we go through the various types of propaganda. We define them, we do all of that, and then

012they actually have to take a product and create their own commercial. They have to create a product and then they have to create their own commercial and then they actually shoot their commercial and submit it in video form. Everything that I do as far as living literature, I do use a rubric um as far as the grading process that's given up front so the students are well aware of what things I'm looking for, what must you have um in your videos and your presentations. Also with plays and scripts, students will take parts. They interpret their favorite scenes. Um, if any of you've ever taught ninth grade English and you get to the Shakespeare unit with Romeo and Juliet and you have kids now, they're like, I don't understand this. What are they talking about? I

013can't understand the language in this. So, one, we work to break down the language, but then at Bluefield, we have this lovely front area in front of our school that um is has nice like little concrete patio area with benches all around. And so, when I get to that unit, I introduce that as our very own Globe Theater. and we go outside and sit around on those benches um like they would in Shakespeare's time at the Globe Theater and we take parts and read those parts out loud and then they get to pick one part that's their favorite and reenact it for us right there in the center at our Globe Theater at Bluefield High School. um that usually gets them more involved in the Shakespeare unit. It also helps them to better understand the

014language as they're interacting with each other because I'm like, "Okay, what do you think this scene might mean? Tell me, explain to me." Okay, you think you have it? Show me. Reenact it for me. And at the end they do an overall Romeo and Juliet project where they actually become the actors in the Globe Theater and they do a mini film and they have to incorporate the language from the Shakespearean period as well. So we have a lot of fun. Um I think that's part of it is just making it meaningful but also making literature fun for our students. And I wish my videos would play and I'm so sorry that they don't. But I'll leave you with um a quote from Elizabeth F. Barkley. This one of my favorites. Student engagement is the product

015of motivation and active learning. It is a product rather than a sum because it will not occur if either element is missing. So I think sometimes just getting that motivation from your students where they may not be apt to work with you as much on pen and paper or they may not want to just read and write or read take a quiz. But if I found that if I present things in different formats, then I tend to get more participation from more students, especially those who struggle um or those who seem to lack self-motivation. They're more apt to get involved in the group work, in the collaborative work. Oh, I can shoot a video, so I can do this. Yes, you can shoot a video, so I can edit that. Yes, you can edit that.

016They edit them, they add sounds. Um, so that is just something that I do in my classroom. One way that I try to bring literature to life and make it more meaningful to students. >> Are there any questions? >> Board members. >> Yeah. Do you you shared this with us? Do you share this with other teachers? Um I have I have talked about it with some of my colleagues and uh I asked them on performance day to just you know pop in the auditorium and take a look and see what we're doing and um usually most of them will come by sometime on their planning and take a look but I haven't shared it with countywide teachers. No >> might be a good idea to think about. >> Okay. other members. >> I'm just glad

017that the students today get as much out of Shakespeare as students in 1977 did. >> I didn't understand a word of it until my English teacher, God lover, put on that little red record and played it and then I heard it and it started making sense. Yeah, >> I tried to read some the other day and honest to goodness, if I didn't know what was happening in the scene, I could have not told you what was going on. >> I mean, seeing the scene does give you an idea of what they're talking about. >> That matters. >> It does. It does. the ninth graders when you first started and you tell them this is what [Music] so you know then we make little poems little um stories and we write them in that together and

018we go into it but yes they're an overall project they do a film of a scene but they have to use the language >> but we appreciate you bringing literature to life for them >> why absolutely Yes. >> You want the introduction for next >> up there behind the flag? >> And I got to say, thank you, Rosemary, for introducing me as a young lady. >> I'm getting some mileage. So, my name is Tiffany Jones and I was selected to attend the Civics for All of Us by the National Archives Institute. Um, I went in July. It was a wonderful, wonderful, wonderful experience and I cannot thank Angie Gross enough for forwarding me the email on this opportunity. Um, and actually when I came back, I told her that next year the email really needs

019to go out to everyone, secondary and elementary, because they do two cohorts. there was one elementary cohort and one secondary cohort and they do both of those during both sessions and hopefully this will be something that will not be on the chopping block um because of doge cuts because this actually comes from a private foundation so they expect the f this to actually be able to continue in the future. So I had to apply in January or February and I found out in late March, early April that I had been selected to attend this and I was obviously as a history teacher extremely excited to get to go to the archives and see what type of um opportunity he offered through this conference. Um and those included I'm going to try to keep it short

020even though this was originally designed for a 30 or 40 minute presentation. I'll move quickly. Um we got to tour a lot of primary source documents. Um there were literally probably between 80 and 100 that he showed to us. So um the ones that I've included in the slideshow were the ones that I thought were kind of the big bells and whistles, but um they had Hamilton's letter in defense of the Constitution, the Pearl Harbor radar plots from 1941. Um and then George Washington's inaugural address. You also had Andrew Jackson before he was president opposing the whiskey um the whiskey tax. Uh there was a letter opposing women's suffrage from a woman. And then in 1972, women got to finally wear pants to f their federal jobs. We also learned a lot about the presidential

021libraries and the resources that are open there. And you know, my big takeaway there with there are a lot of opportunities to be able to zoom meeting with these historians if you plan it in advance. And interestingly enough, um while all of these are physical libraries, Obama's library is a completely digital library. It has no no physical building to it which was kind of interesting. Um the Johnson Library each of the historians just to share this quickly with you um were asked to bring with them a um object that they thought kind of demon showed the power of that presidency or the president as a human being. And the historian for Lyndon B. Johnson brought this um beautiful quilt and held it up and started telling the story about how when these orphans from Saigon

022um had to be evacuated and how this administrator in Texas at the hospital where they initially came to have medical clearances before they were farmed out and adopted by American families. Um she collected all the clothing from these refugee children and she turned it into a quilt. And there was a woman sitting just, you know, two rows in front of me and she just had tears streaming down her face. And we found out after this presidential historian finished presenting that she was actually one of the orphans who had arrived in Texas and been adopted by an American family. And you know it just totally changed the course of her life and the opportunities that had been provided to her. So it was really kind of a a you know little moment where you you got

023the chills all over you kind of thing. And I've got a picture with Teresa a little bit later in this. Um but that was just such a sweet presentation. Um, a lot of our history teachers already use this doc um.com which is a fantastic resource and they're going to be constantly updating it because this is the 275th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. We got to take little mini field trips where we got to really examine the Capitol Rotunda looking specifically at architecture. Um, I've been to Washington DC with two student groups and I had never had the original stone area pointed out to me that they have kind of encased in the capital where you can look down and see what color the capital was before 1812, the War of 1812 when it was

024burned to the ground and a lot of symbolism with the emphasis on agriculture with corn and wheat and a lot of the Corinthian columns. um the emphasis on reliefs and the importance of analysis of artwork and pulling that into your classrooms. There's a great um uh presentation area called the record of rights that is in the archives itself and it literally walks you through the Magna Carta that it covers like continuity and change over time elements again using a lot of artwork and architectural analysis um to broaden that understanding. We covered civils, civil rights, marriage rights, rights to protests. It had a great democracy lab. And I'm hoping that I can get our graphic organizers. I've actually got one of my students already kind of helping me with this a little bit, telling me what

025I need to purchase so that they'll be able to hopefully recreate this for me. But this creating compromise is a great way to force kids into compromise and discussion because you had to either increase funding, decrease funding, or keep it the same. And there were impromptu questions on the back of each tile um that let you kind of hammer that out with your peers. Again, if you plan a trip to Washington DC for your students, you want to make sure that you include a stop at the National Archives because that is where they will see the Declaration of Independence, the Bill of Rights, and the Constitution. All very important documents obviously to the United States of America. Another area of the um capital if you can arrange it on your tour is there originally the

026Supreme Court chamber was in the capitol. They did not have their own building. So any case he heard before like 1898 was decided in this chamber. Anything after that went to the Supreme Court building itself. But it was very eerie in here and you could honestly almost feel the ghosts of Dread Scott and Pie versus Ferguson just hanging over your shoulder a little bit. So again, you know, the masonry, the fresco, the storytelling around the rotunda, um, all just a lot of emphasis there. We had several field trips. Um, we the American Indian Museum was just absolutely beautiful. Again, a lot of emphasis on art analysis and the Smith, they actually sent us copies of all of the analysis sheets that they allowed us to participate in as as if we were students so that

027we could reproduce those for our students. And you can do these a lot of these on virtual field trips as well. So probably for me the biggest takeaway were the people that I met. Um this is Teresa Flapholder and she's from Texas and she was the woman who came from she was part of the evacuation from Saigon. And in the center you actually can see Julia here better at the end. I don't know why I couldn't get that to crop the right way, but um as soon as she said I'm Julia Loving, I kind of turned around and said like as in Loving versus Virginia and she was like my uncle. You know, I like did you people put this stuff in your applications? I think I would have. Um and then this was our

028informal selfie. I made several really good friends. Um I consider them good friends. One from Bristol, Tennessee. His name was Daniel Day and I took to calling him D-Day. Uh Nick Quintterra was from um New Jersey and people kept mistaking me for his mother and Teresa was closer to my age and she was from t central Texas and she was a wonderful lady. She was a media center teacher. Um so Mary Stimson was also in my group and I also said Mary Stimson as in Secretary of War Henry Stimson and Alfred Lumis and she went my grandfather's brother. How is this so weird? Look at all these famous relative people I'm hanging with. Um, and then probably most interestingly on Tuesday night, you can tell we had been walking all over DC. We were a

029hot, sweaty mess. And Nick says, "Let's go to this Capitol Burger. I hear it's really good." And so we take a seat and we're there for probably about a half hour, 40 minutes. And then comes this elderly gentleman with a younger guy and D-Day kind of leans over and it's like, "Tiffany, is that Mike Pence?" And I was like, Maybe, maybe. Not sure. Might be. So, we sat there and devised a plan to where we walked past his table, I was I was assigned to go, I'm sorry to interrupt your dinner, sir, but has anybody ever told you you are Mike Pence's doppelganger. And that was going to be our like, yes, it is Mike Pence, or no, it's not Mike Pence moment. And uh he kind of looked down and smirked and said, I

030am Mike Pence. And so, yeah, we had a moment there. And once we said we were teachers, he actually became very complimentary of us and uh offered to take his picture with us. Handed my cell phone over to his son-in-law and this is Dan, my son-in-law, you know, kind of moment. And super nice man and um you know, definitely praised all of us for being on the front lines and said that, you know, we're the ones who deserve the kudos more than anyone else in in in the institution gig. And his wife was a teacher for over 31 years, which I was not aware of. So that was very nice. Um, but that was a moment. You can imagine us us four poor history geeks. I mean, we're outside of Capitol Burgers jumping up and

031down like we've met Justin Bieber, you know, kind of moment. And I actually have a friend who's from Bluefield who works for the State Department, um, Carl Ashley, and we went out to dinner on Wednesday night and he was real interested in what we were doing at the archives and what we were learning. And I was letting him look through my pictures and he stops on that one kind of is that Mike Pence and I was like it is Mike Pence and he was like I've worked for the State Department for 27 years and lived in Washington DC for almost 30 and never had anything that cool happen to me. So so I felt like oh we've been touched by the gods of the archives. Um plenty of extra time to go. You know I

032had opportunities to go to the portrait gallery. Um just walk around the city. Um and we tried to go to the Washington Monument. Unfortunately, by the time we got there, they had closed it because of lightning strikes. So, we only got to take some pictures outside of that. And then that was kind of the conclusion for that was my whole cohort um in the middle of July. And there was a second cohort. But I would like to encourage any teachers, you know, to um take part in this. It was just such a fantastic opportunity to learn. Um it reinvigorated my love of history uh for certain. I try to never wayne from that too much. Um, but the power and light exhibit, I'm actually dumping that into a PowerPoint for my sister who teaches West

033Virginia history because when I got there, it actually said that that was closed on July 6th. And one of my colleagues in the cohort was behind me from California going, "You checked out the power and lighting. It's just so cool." And I went swiveled and was like, "Wait, the power and light's still up. It said it closed on July 6th." Oh, it's still up. So, I ran over there and got tons of pictures from Wyoming County, Logan County, Mingo County. So, it's kind of cool being a West Virginia girl and that's the big thing on exhibit at the Smithsonian is power and light. Um, but also interesting, um, in the upstairs of the archives where our conference rooms were at, I was in the Jefferson room most of the time, but right outside in the

034lobby was a was a Remington statue, Frederick Remington. And I was like, well, this doesn't happen every day at the office, does it? Kind of moment. But that was just it was just such a wonderful wonderful opportunity. And if you have history teachers at your school or know history teachers, please, please, please encourage them to apply for this next year. And if they need any help with the application process, please tell them to email me that I'd be happy to read over, you know, tell them kind of what I put and, you know, hopefully that'll get them in. Um, but I do want to also say that there were multiple teachers. I thought this was a situation where we'd only have some from each state, but like California had six teachers, Texas had eight, Florida

035had five, uh, Georgia had four. So I mean it's something that you know if you apply to it more than one pe person from a state and more than one person even from a district could be chosen for. So excellent opportunity. >> Thank you >> Dr. Ed. Thank you >> wonderful >> questions. Do what? I know. That's what I thought. He would like that trip. He could spend a long time. >> I've kind of done a lot this whole week. >> Well, I've chosen the Ray Hall. Spent a whole week in Congress up there. >> My My only other piece that I wanted to let you know, the enrollment. We've got the first day count and the third day count. I missed that on my superintendent update there. The first day count and third day

036count of enrollment. And uh different figures there without the prek and the early learning. um those collaborative numbers and all that, but still looks like a lot to uh difference from last year. So, anywhere from uh 400 to 600 when you're looking at those numbers that way. So, that's uh that comes into uh at one point in my career, you looked at $8,000 a kid. And looking at that, you could be anywhere from 4 million to $5 million of of loss. So, I just wanted to share that with you all. >> Yeah. Hopefully the prek and the collaborative will puff the numbers up some here. >> Yeah. So, we're not it's it's down, but it's not down those kind of numbers, right? All right. So, we have next on the agenda, we have some citizen

037input. Uh, first person on the agenda will be Dale Lee. Mr. Lee, if you'll come up here to the the uh podium. Just a reminder, the policy is three minutes. Uh I'm not a like I don't time you. So uh you know Braxton County only gives you two minutes. >> Yeah, I took more than that. >> I'm not shocked by that. >> Of course, it doesn't surprise anybody. First of all, thank you for the opportunity to come and speak. >> I am Dale Lee. For the next week, I'm the president of the West Virginia Education Association. And then beginning Labor Day of all days, I'll be the co-president of Education West Virginia, the emerged organization with WBEA and AFT West Virginia. I came tonight to talk about all the changes that have happened in public

038education this year. We know that the governor's vaccine policy is going to court. We know there's changes to PEIA. We know there's changed to elementary discipline policy. We know there's now mandatory reporting by our educators when it comes to a student requesting to be called by a separate name. And there's all kinds of questions about the newly emerged organization as well as questions that you have in your county. One regarding the uh policy that was just passed about the reporting policy and there are a lot of questions about that particularly when it comes to disciplinary action. And while I know that uh public employees are not covered under NLRB in this NLRB makes it clear that the ary action is to be in effect then you have the right to report it how we're holding

039our educators to a higher standard a more strenuous standard than that is simply amazing to me but the reason I came is I went around the state I said speaking in a number of opening schools beginning schools we have one in Mercer county in staff development I understand that we asked to set up a table so that beforehand or when they were going in, I could answer questions for people particularly about these policies about PEIA and different things like that. Before I came on, I think it was on Monday. I was asked to give the superintendent a call which I did. We spoke again the following day. We spoke the following day. I got the voicemail the first day and he explained to me that this was an inservice and that no one would be

040allowed to set up a table taking and that because he didn't want the teachers going in late or being distracted or anything like that. I assured him that that was not our intention. Our intention was to give an information table and that no one would be late and I would come down and man the table so no of our members would be late going there. And he said, "Well, we're not having anybody there." I said, "Let me make this clear. I'm not to come to Bluefield." And he said, "I would rather you did." And then made the statement, "Now, what are you going to do? Call your board members like you usually do?" The answer to that's no. I didn't call any new board members. I decided to come here and speak myself and speak

041to you face to face because that's the way it's got to be. See, we have some problems now. We have some problems here in the county. And we know that people have a ton of questions on different things, policies, lesson plans, different things. We have the right to answer those questions to our educators. We have the right for our members to go in and answer questions that they may have. And it's like that in in everywhere. So, I know that things are not good when our relationship or my relationship here in Mer County, which makes me sad because it's my home count. And yes, I know I have relationships with many of you board members and I could easily call, but I chose not to because of that statement. I wanted to come and speak

042to you individually and speak to you as a group right now. We have problems we need to resolve. We are here for our educators. We are here for our students. I travel the state bragging about how good our schools are. You saw two examples of that right before I spoke. And I know my time is up. So I have one request. We need to get this resolved. I recommend and would love to have the opportunity to go into executive session so that we can work out our differences, work out our problems for the good of the students, for the good of the educators in Mercy County. I know you can't make that decision tonight, but I would love to be on the next board agenda. I'll do whatever I need to do to come down

043and speak to a delegation as a delegation again. Thank you. >> Thank you. The next speaker is Betty Pal. Stand behind this, but I'm not sure if you'll see me, but I sure you will hear me. My name is Betty Pal. I'm the financial secretary at Princeton High School. And my main concern is I have worked multiple secretary positions. Um Bluefield High School was where I was first hired on and then I moved over to Princeton Primary as a financial secretary. Then I transitioned over to Princeton High School. I was the front desk secretary there. Felt like a traffic director there, but still that's the position I would. And then um a few years ago, Mr. Atkins kind of convinced me, persuaded me to move over into the financial secretary position because that particular position

044was like a revolving door. And somebody, and I can't even remember who, asked me, why do you think that position is a revolving door? Well, after having been in it for several years now, I know why. You can make the exact same rate of pay sitting out there signing kids in and out every day. I leave when I was in that position. I left every evening, no stress. I leave every evening in my job with more weight on my shoulders than I could ever imagine for the same rate of pay. I do audits twice a year because for some way somehow the state always manages to randomly pick Princeton High School. Not sure why, but I'm okay with that because I'm in I'm I feel very confident in the job that I do. If there

045is a mistake, it is a mere accident and it's nothing that I I feel like I can usually justify if there are mistakes. Thankfully, we had a very successful year and no audits. I think a lot of that is to do because we switched over to digital ticketing because that's where a lot of my audit violations came from was ticket sellers. But I just really I know that there are times that you all can come up with different titles uh position titles for jobs. Um I ask that I know that I can email legislators and ask them to add I guess a position to recognize financial secretaries because there's not one. That's taken care of. But I ask that you all at least try to come up with something that might work a little faster

046because I'm sure my email will fall on deaf ears. I'm just a little secretary at Princeton High School, but I can assure you that I carry a ton of weight to just be a little secretary. And I think that we could probably come up with a solution. And is it adding more days to my contract? I don't think more days is the the pro the solution. I don't because that's not compensating me for the level of work that I do. That's just telling me here's your more days to work. That that's great. And if you want to do 261, I'm fine for that, but don't come at me with 230, please, because that doesn't benefit me at all. That just tells me work a few more days longer, but that doesn't doesn't reward me, I

047guess you would say, for the job that we actually do. Several of the other financial secretaries are all in agreement. They understand this. Why they didn't come, I don't know. But I know that I can't complain or fuss, grumble, and growl, you know, about it if I don't try to do something about it. So, I have sent a few emails and I I think I spoke with Mr. Toman right after he got hired when he said, "Sure, I'll meet with you." And little did he know, I was really coming in there to say, "Hey, can we do something here?" I just ask that you all please try to come up with something that will recognize the financial secretaries because I mean I feel like I'm one audit shy from being a CPA and it it's

048not it's not easy. So that's that's it. >> Thank you for your comments. If you if you go back and look we can't really do anything this evening but if you go back and look at prior meetings it's been the conversation. >> So we're aware I hope it continues to be >> we're aware. >> Thank you. >> Yes. Thank you. >> All right. >> 2322. >> Mrs. Mitchell or Dr. Atkins? >> Uh, presenter on 2322. >> They're dead. >> Are they not charged or batteries? Okay, just briefly I wanted to mention as Mr. Toman said, we did have a very smooth start, including Timberwood. Very proud of the uh staff there and what they've accomplished. It's a big transition from what most of the people that works that building are used to with much smaller

049schools and particularly in the area of uh dismissal. You know, that's always a challenge in a larger school, but we've had a very very smooth start. We're very proud of it. Always things we can do a little bit better and today being only day three leaves a lot of time and room to do that. But good start. Um did want to reflect quickly on August the 18th PD. We did something a little bit different differently this year and I know that Emily Huddle did the same with special education teachers. We had prek through three ECATs the assistant teachers with their teachers for training that day. so they all hear the same message. And then in the afternoon for grades K through three, we actually um talked about their roles and uh what it means to

050be an assistant teacher and how that's different from an aid and then what their role is to support the classroom teacher and I think it was very wellreceived. I was with the third grade because they are brand new to that. This is the first year of having that and we felt like that it went very well and was very well received and our fourth and fifth grade teachers don't have ECAT so we did writing training on that day. I will give you copies probably the next board meeting for the first one in September about our plans for PD for the fall. We have few tweaks to make but per our outcomes on the GSA we're going to try to support math more and then also do more opportunities uh with teachers and cats together >>

051questions for >> well you yeah you left it open and we we touched on this before but I want to talk about it in an open meeting rooms the the we talked about it opening smoothly. That's not been smoothly. We've had a lot of issues with rooms. So, what are we doing to address it? >> I think that's something that Amy or Brent are the ones that have been working on rolling that out. I do know that um when it was presented to administrators, it was wellreceived, but um I can't speak to. I've not had any conversations or many conversations with anyone about rooms. I'm just talking about the opening of schools and uh the process of school and that type of thing. So they may speak to that when it when >> we can

052talk they can talk about that at the end then when we have >> not had much um >> okay >> dealing with that at all. Um and I want to say we had a great start. Secondary um started out with lots of cheerleading and excitement and um we had all four schools, all four high schools represented by the cheerleaders and different groups that came in. Um our speaker was Weston Kishnik who I'd never met and had never heard but was so impressed with him and he was able to come to us through the Gear Up program that we have. And so he did a big kickoff speech on different ways to reach kids instead of the old, you know, this is a program and this is what we do. It was what's its purpose? What's

053its goals? You for years we looked at essential questions and every teacher would have an essential question on their board as soon as you walked in. And he said don't give the um punchline away at the beginning. Let them figure out what you're trying to do. So he gave us new ways of looking at how we can go in and teach, how we can plan um and how we can work together as groups so that we're um providing the best for the kids and letting them think a little with higher level skills. Um in addition to that, we also from this summer and those folks the folk last time about the instructional rounds. It kind of goes hand inand with what he practices. Um, it's the problem of practicing and not this is the program

054and this is what the standards are and this is how we do it. It's let's take those standards and see what we can do with them so that they make sense to kids and the kids buy into it and it becomes theirs and you have better input and kind of that same thing if kids know you care about them and that you're working with them for the right reasons they'll think you walk on water and do a lot of things for you and and very very positive. But probably the most exciting part for me, I got up at one point and was just videoing everybody in the auditorium just because it's it was so unusual for me to see secondary people that are up and dancing and cheering and hollering and they were and we

055had everybody involved. It was it it was a great start. It was very positive. Everybody left happy. I had a teacher come up to me who's taught for years in the county who's a phenomenal teacher who said, "You know, Rosemary, I was going to retire at the end of this year. I don't think I can do it now. I think I'm gonna stick around, which is a win for us if if they stay. Um, so anyway, we got a very good start with that this Wednesday for all of my secondary principles. We don't we weren't bringing in the assistance this time because we're going to host a meeting at the uh conference room at the board's office and we have Dr. Steve Payne coming to speak to them. um you know he was essential on

056the standards for effective um schools that we use those seven standards and so he's going to come and share some things that he did that um helped with test scores on SAT and what kind of programs he had in place and then how he utilized those standards to you make the school system better and stronger. So we're excited about that. He's coming around 3:00 on Wednesday and we're going to meet up there. Um, we also that's a good chance for us to get to show off the the data board that we have that some people have seen and some haven't, but you know, it kind of gives it perspective when they can look at that board and see what the results are. So, we have that Wednesday. Um, we have uh boot camps planned for

057this year again and they'll be in September and October and depending on the size of the school depends on how many days that they'll go on. But last year we had um the students bust over here to the tech center and did everything from here. This year we're going to the schools. We're going to do it there at their school for and Bluefield is the first school and theirs for an example is from September 23rd to September 25th. They'll be there those different days meeting with different groups. And the purpose of the boot camp is to teach the kids how to use Mastery Prep and how to prepare for that SAT. So, it's geared toward the SAT um test. Um we also are of course are doing the hour ready um with like the elementary

058through grade 8. We are not doing in the high school this year simply because we did not teachers just felt like it was too much. They didn't have time with the mastery prep and they are using the mastery prep. Um you know we had lots of stories about the horizon when we had it and some used it and some didn't but they're using the mastery prep. Um then we um set our calendar basically from now until December with the different opportunities that are going to come up in addition to like the boot camps. Um we are we have a new program that's called pocket PD and it's a secondary program. We're going to introduce that at our breakout session. And my secondary team is going to do the 10-minute mini lessons on professional development on

059how you can better handle your classroom or how you can better prepare or how do you observe so that you're observing the right things, not just going in and doing a checklist. And so we're going to roll that out by us demonstrating to the secondary people how we're doing that. And then they will um take it from take it from there. Um we're doing the networking with the new teachers and u Dr. Ekins and I met today with with uh Miss Reich and Miss Gross Close. Um we're looking at what they can do together and then what things they need to do that will be elementary based or secondary based. Uh we start our beginning of the year benchmarks on September 2nd. And I guess the the one thing that I was very very pleased

060about and and to be honest kind of surprised is I haven't and I'm knocking on wood real real hard, but I haven't had any complaints about putting the cell phone policy in place. It has I I know I said I said that today. I said I'm gonna beat on the bottom. I'm beat on the top. But you know it I really did I felt like there would be a lot of questions and people would have but so far I mean and I've talked to the principles and you from Friday and or Thursday and Friday and then again this morning the kids are coming in and you I've had a few kids say you know we don't have that box yet. We just put them in a cardboard box where we go in and we put

061our name on them. We get them out and we leave but they're fine with it. I mean they're good. So it that's very enlightening I think that we have that support and and obviously the parents are backing it or we would have push back I think so we're excited we're off to a good start members >> Rosemary >> yes sir >> appreciate those comments um it's amazing when you set expectations for students >> they can rise >> most of them can rise to the occasion >> and I too also had some uh feedback from from teachers, former teachers about what a nice day and what a more pleasurable experience it was to have kids give that they actually felt that they have their attention >> and I think the kids >> I can imagine being

062a teacher I would have blowed >> well that was a different time. >> Yeah, I I was with you Mr. Godfrey, how are you? >> You know how I was. It the number one thing was important was what was going on in that room and the cell phones would have >> I probably would have blowed a fuse a long time ago, but I appreciate the comments from the teachers. >> Yes. >> And I think hopefully it'll continue to go well and and make an improvement to our test scores and our attitudes and hopefully our social skills for our kids because I believe they're lacking and I I really attribute that to a lot of the ills we have as a society today. And and I I will compliment the the principles as well because they,

063you know, made sure that that was a topic of of uh conversation at their trainings when they met with their teachers and how to roll it out. You know, don't make it a negative thing, but this is why we're doing it. Good mental health, good involvement, engagement with the kids. So, you know, I think that helps too. When we when we present something in a positive way, then we can expect a positive outcome. So, >> but there'll be hurdles. I guarantee it. >> Oh, sure. And there will be the kid that'll get his out or her, you know, and we know that. But as far as, you know, the opposition type thing, we so far have not had it. And the the kids seem, like I said, they seem fine with it. I've had I've

064seen several different kids out over the weekend and and from different schools and, you know, like I said, one of them told me, "We just have a cardboard box. We don't have a a little one of those little bucket things or cubes or whatever." So, you know, they were willing to do that, but they they seem to be okay with it. So, I'm very I'm very pleased. >> I think it helped that everybody knew it was coming >> and have had summer time. They've had summer time to think about it. >> Yes. >> Uh and and and I I too have spoken to a few younger people and they're like, "It's fine." >> Yeah. They don't see. It's like, "Okay, you told us we needed to do it." And like Mark said, >> they just

065I just envision going back to a day when they passed notes. Can you imagine? Oh gosh. We wouldn't know what to do. >> Anything else from any other board? >> I do want to comment the the We didn't really go over the test scores and I'm sure we'll do a deep dive. >> Yes. >> Soon, but the glide path is up and that's good. You're going to have dips in places and you're going to have situations where things go down. But when you look at them in an overall overall we're on a glide path to success, I'm not a huge I promise you I'd never say it, but I'm going to say it anyway. Um, test scores are what they are. I I don't know if they're a fair way to evaluate a school system.

066I prefer the or the people graduating and getting jobs and succeeding. That to me is success. Uh but if this is how we're going to be measured, then we'll tackle it and we'll be successful and we are we're doing better. So I just wanted to comment on that because I know a lot of work's gone in not just at this level but at the school level with teachers. >> Everybody's busting it and it it's it's it's showing. >> Thank you. >> And that needs to be that needs to be reminded to people u >> because not everybody as we all know is evaluated or assessed uh and we don't know how they're succeeding or not succeeding. I I'll two that I agree. I do think it's a measure of our schools in some regards and

067our success, but it's not a measure of our individuals, >> right? >> Our individuals. There's a lot of ways to succeed in this world rather than a test score. >> Agreed. >> Absolutely. >> Anything else from anybody? >> All right, then. >> We will. Anybody else got any 23 22? Nobody. Don't hide behind anybody now. Don't. >> Okay. Well, then we'll move on. So, we're on to the matter of the approval of the minutes for August 11th and August 15, 2025. Is there a motion to approve? >> Is there a second? >> A motion and a second. Were there any additions, corrections, or deletions? Appearing to be none. Then on the motion, all in favor signify by saying I. I. Oppose. Likewise. Motion carries. Five in favor and none opposed. Under old business board memo

068number 46 is the prek collaborative contracts. Uh attached are the contracts for 2526 with case West Virginia the learning tree house Imagination Station and Lifeline Child Care. Uh each is getting a set amount per child and based on the fact that some have more children than others. Their contracts range from Case West Virginia which is 910,000, Learning Tree House is 140,000, Imagination Station 70,000 and Lifeline is uh 56,000. The funding is provided in 10 monthly payments. Uh okay, I didn't mean to do that. Um this has been contrary today. Um funding for child nutrition also will be uh uh dealt with under reimbursement. Superintendent recommends approval. Is there a motion to approve? >> Motion. >> Is there a second? There's a motion and a second. Questions, comments, or discussion? >> Do Do we have numbers

069from the collaborative yet? >> We don't. We still are. We're estimating, right? Okay. >> Seems to be >> co do most of those programs seem to be pretty full. I mean, are they typically pretty full or >> We are pretty full countywide in prek. We have a couple of spots that are low >> in house >> inhouse and um Amber Reich's not here to speak, but case is always full >> and because they have protocols for that, but I think that our lifeline learning tree and Imagination Station are close to full as well. So, seems like prek is larger this year than what we've had the last several, which is good for our future. >> Yeah. And I think next year may be the same. I agree. >> Okay. >> It's next. >> Is it

070still black? >> No, it came back on. >> Okay. >> You probably It's probably a setting on the screen when it times out. >> No, it's actually >> Okay. Well, you hit a button. You shouldn't do that. Don't do that. Okay. Any further discussion? Then on the motion, all in favor signify by saying I. I. Oppose. Likewise. >> That motion carries. Five in favor and none opposed. >> Now for second reading is policy is board memo number 32, which is policy D9, non-public student participation in NC MCPS. That's Mer County Public Schools for those that don't know. One comment was received. The superintendent recommends approval. Is there a motion to approve? >> Is there a second? >> So motion and a second. Questions, comments, or discussion? >> I do have one question and it's kind

071of where the rubber meets the road on 4.3. Um, and this is just throw out audience here and 4.3 by the end of school year. It would be the following year. We will track it in the accounting department whether we receive payment or not and we would communicate that out to the respective ads or whomever would would be relevant at that point. >> Well, can I ask a follow-up question and that would be why would we let them in the class before they pay? >> Because we will not receive payment immediately from hope. >> Um, one of the questions was what will happen if we let them in a class? Are we going to remove them from a class if they haven't paid in 30 days? And no other county that that I spoke with

072is doing that. They're doing this. They're letting them stay that year. And if the following year they haven't paid for the prior year, they cannot do it again. >> So when do they get the hope money? Do we know? I thought it was pretty much upfront. It >> they release hope funds twice a year. >> Beginning of each semester. So if they want to take a course first semester, they'll have the money at the beginning of the year, will they not? They should. >> So again, you can't get into Disney unless you pay upfront. >> Uh >> well, I have to say that that you know, sometimes it is hard collecting from students and and even our own personnel when they receive overpayments. Um so this is what Cana County is doing, what Raleigh County

073is doing. This is their their recommendation and I feel it would would be the least disruption as did everyone else who reviewed this policy >> with the money is being released soon. Thank you. >> Soon soon. Well, I'm assuming that the parents if if they were going to use it for first semester, then do they apply before first semester starts or do they go ahead and and begin and then apply for hope? Because as I read through it, it said if there was money left in their account, >> it could be that they've used that those funds for something else. They could have um used it for, you know, this is not just hope scholarship. This is also anyone who receives hope or anyone who's a non-public school student. We we have homeschool students as

074well who participated in various band MCT sports etc. >> that were not receiving the hope scholarship >> that are not necessarily receiving the hope scholarship. This policy would affects all non-public school students. I guess the reason why I went down this path is um the more I thought about it I I well and I know we're on our second reading but more I thought about it I'd like I was wondering if maybe some act action would be in the policy or would that be a policy you know we talked about the difference between policy >> and procedure >> well >> would that be more of a procedural question >> that's more of a procedure and it be up to the >> So then we still have the door open. We can adjust our procedure. This

075is a new policy, correct? >> We really don't have a procedure, do we? >> We we we don't. Uh I I'm just struggling getting past the idea that we're going to exclude some of our kids from our program possibly because we have weight lists at MCK now, do we not? we may exclude them and then our kid doesn't get in and a homeschooler, a private schooler gets in because they do interviews now. I mean, it's it's it's a job. It's it's you don't just get to walk in and then we don't get paid and we exclude one of ours. I I I have an issue with that. You know, we public school is essentially free to a person that wants to come to public school and and if they make that choice, that's fine. But

076that's a choice they made. it. The only thing I could think of, again, it probably would be procedural, would if there's a grade or something involved, uh, can you hold the grade until until payment is received? You can pass all the law or whatever you want to, but unless it's got a little bit of teeth to it, it's meaningless. >> Well, this is based in state law, right? And state determined that we had to charge Correct. >> This wasn't a choice Mercer County made. Every county in the state has to charge back against hope. >> I understand that. But >> so what do you do? Let them come to school for 10 days or two weeks or 30 days? What do you want to do? >> I don't know that I have a good solution.

077I'm simply saying it if if we're going to exclude public school students from participating in lie of a homeschooled or a private school individual's child, then they need to pay when they enter the amusement park. I guess you don't get to go into Disney and say, "I'll I'll pay next week or I'll pay in 30 days." They go, you can't come in. And I'm not comparing us to Disney. I'm just going to be saying when you get a service, you pay for it typically at the time of the service, not eventually or someday down the road. And that's that's my concern because I know we've had an issue with computers now for five years that we don't get paid back for when they're damaged. So, I see this as just an extension of that. >>

078That's kind of what I was talking to, >> you know, and it and it's it's like what do you do? I mean, you can't come back next year. Well, I I was a senior last year. It doesn't matter. >> What is Do they have to pay only if they get this money from the state? >> They have to pay no matter what. >> So, if it comes out, if they don't get from the state, it got come out of their pocket, >> right? I can't tell how much money is in their HOPE account. I just have I can issue an invoice, but I have no idea whether there's money in their hope account or not. I I was thinking you probably typically cannot depend on the state to get you your money on time. So,

079they may not have it, but >> except in the case of hope, in which case they're breaking their back to make sure that >> everybody's got it and it's well known to everybody. Um, >> it's kind of like going to the to the doctor's office that doesn't have a contract with your with your network. So, you pay upon service, you get an invoice, and then you send it to your insurance company, and then they reimburse you. I think that might be a solution. Uh, like like Greg said, and I know it's not Disney World, but at the same time, if we go anywhere and and and approach or make the make make application for something, and if they're not a Mer County public school student, then they've got hope. Daddy's got deep pockets, wherever it

080might be coming from. But if they want if if Jimmy wants Kathy to be in this class, then he knows upfront that he's got to pay and then reimbursement can come from the form of an invoice from you or whatever. Some notification that then they can apply for reimbursement. >> Well, they're already getting hope money. They wouldn't have to apply for reimbursement, would they? They're just >> he's saying that that we would require them to pay up front, not bill. >> But they but he's also saying they would have to bill hope, but they're already getting the full amount of hope directly, right? >> It depends. >> Okay. >> It depends. >> That's what I'm asking. So, it wouldn't necessarily all of hope doesn't necessarily go to the parent if the school system hasn't requested.

081>> They they only release by semester. >> Yeah. So, we could potentially take some of the funds that were if they're going to a private school for the second semester, for example. >> Well, let's just let's just throw a hypothetical out there. You know, lawyers love hypotheticals. So, I'm a senior and I want to play football and I bump a public school student. I want to play baseball in the spring and I bump a public school student. That's two. and I want to come here and do some dual credit engineering programs and I bump some students and I graduate that, you know, you might owe six, seven, $8,000 and you just look at us and go, I'm not going to pay it. Don't have it, not going to pay it. That's the problem I have

082with waiting and not asking for the money up front. That's just a fundamental view I have. And it's based in the fact that we have fought for years over broken computers and people just refuse to pay. That's not near the amount of money we're talking about here. >> And the other side of that th this isn't by our choice. Like you said, the states uh >> created this and they want to treat us some I mean there's money involved. Treat us like a business. Well, then maybe, you know, do we need to act like a business and different businesses? So, but anyway, I didn't mean to really sid rail the policy here, but I do think procedural wise something since it's a new policy that we definitely need to look at. >> Well, we have

083our opinion. What about the people that are doing it? What what say our administrators and uh we don't have any coaches here, do we? We have any coaches? Nope. No coaches. What do you think? >> Well, who is going to be responsible for collecting from like parents? Is that your office? So, that's not going to involve the administrators really. >> Have you? >> That's what I was thinking. Yeah. >> Have you spoken with your cohorts and these other counties? Have they explained their reasoning? >> I'll hold the vote till you get out. So for sports, they don't want to bill until the SSA and and that's in this policy as well is that they wait until rosters have been finalized before they even issue a bill for sports to make sure that they have made

084the team. Um and and again some of it's just personnel as I said we have about five employees we're trying to track down to repay us for things right now. It's just difficult sometimes. Then who's going to tell them that they can't play that sport or remove them from the class? There will have to be a lot of work up front. If if this does happen if we're not going to allow them to take the class until they've paid, I don't know what the turnaround time for hope is. Never logged into the system. I haven't I will have to learn how to use it and invoice them. This is new to us. >> And how would you handle sports? If a kid comes out, he tries out for a week or something and then it

085gets cut but he can't try out pays up front. >> I can absolutely distinguish that but I can't distinguish the class >> because there's no cutting. Once you get in the class, you decide to stay or leave it. It's not a it's not a you're not cut. I I do understand the difference with sports, but I I I'm >> just I know as an administrator, former administrator, um especially with sports, particularly one I can think of who's cheerleading and and we'd love to have every single kid that goes out for cheerleading be able to make it, but we don't have cheer uniforms for every single kid. And if you know how much uniforms are, it's not something you can just point. You can't even buy them anyway because they may be two years old. And

086so then they're going to be difference. And so like you kind of pointed out, you kick off, you got this all world cheerleader that's an at home student and they come and kick off one of your that truly means one of your public school kids don't get kicked out of the the ability to cheer. >> Well, that could be true for a lot of sports. >> Well, I know that. I just throw that as an example. I I we had we had that happen often with cheerleading and a few other things where you don't have so many uniforms. >> Well, that's more it's more likely to happen with the homeschoolers than it is the the private schools because they do have sports, but they don't have every sport. They don't have football, for example. Um

087so, u I don't know. I don't have a a good answer except that I um I don't want to sound like broken record, so I'll end it there. Yeah. It was 27 yesterday. So 26 home private school. In talking with some of the parents, they chose to go home or they chose to go to private schools. Those private schools are charging them the full amount even if they're half. So when they start getting build, they're going to be less likely to take our program because they're going to have to pay. You know, they're only half a day at one of the private schools. They're still paying full tuition even though they're only there. >> And do those take most of hope those private tuitions? I don't know. They do take the majority or all of

088it. >> I feel like that's probably going to eliminate. >> I would say you're right. Are are you saying that you're concerned that's going to harm our technical education center? >> Oh, you're just pointing it out. >> I'm just pointing that out. Okay. I >> I feel like that will be a barrier for I had a parent ask me for a letter saying that the student was going to attend time and I provided that letter, but then the private school tition. So when we did our We did applications and interviews for all mer County students first. Everybody that wanted to apply, we interviewed everybody and then it was after those classes were chosen that we allow school. >> Okay. All right. Well, maybe that's >> I was going to ask you if we had any

089priority for our own students. Okay. That was going to be my question. >> But what happened was like as people moved in or oh, I changed my mind now. I want to do this. Then of course some of those homes So it could potentially >> Okay. Well, that's good to know. What I mean, there is always the option to since Leslie's research this and and she's the one that has to deal with it to try this way this semester and see what happens. I mean, I wouldn't go beyond this year with this format without a serious evaluation of how we're shaking out. that how much is it per class or per sport? What do they pay? So that's gonna be $4,000 >> for right >> for MCT that they probably don't have laying around. >>

090That was right. >> So 1,000 >> per year. Okay. All right. So that's $2,000. Um I'm skeptical that we'll see the money, but it's just me. We we're having trouble getting $25 for broken keyboards. >> Well, I think >> that is different. That is at the school level, not at the school. >> Oh, I'm not. This is not a It's not a But the problem is is we're not going to get in the business of suing people that, you know, that's pretty ugly. >> There's not going to be enough money probably to sue. >> Well, I mean, you take them court and you can do it. Yeah. I mean, it can be done, but it's just ugly. And you don't want to get in that in the habit of suing children because that's ultimately where

091you're going. So >> I understand how if they're half time at a school how they can get full time >> because it's a private school and they get to do what they want. >> They can do whatever they want. >> I mean they can get that full amount to homeschool and not put them in any school. So for hope they can get it and I mean so I don't think that that's >> I don't understand how you can have it both ways. I mean, how can you take it all whenever that child is being educated at another facility also? >> Because that's the that's the entrance fee to the private school. If you want to come to our school, this is what you have to pay. >> Yeah. I'm going to say I'm sure I'm

092assuming their argument is you're taking a spot for half of the day and we can't fill it. But >> I'm say I'm not making a judgment. I'm just telling you it's it's what you pay if you want to go to the private school. I mean, homeschool is so different because they don't have the tuition. They do have costs, but they don't have that tuition. >> Well, yeah, we we can go down that conversation. >> So, but that decision's been made. We have to live with what we got. So, um so are there any other comments or questions? Any other statements? Are we really ready to So if I understood and I appreciate what Justinda said and Leslie's done all all the work and then some to get to this point. Are we going to go

093ahead and consider and I say stuff wrong all the time. Are we going to are we going to consider approving this as it's presented with a cautisle? >> Well, there's a motion in a second. So I mean we can change a policy at any time. Well, we got to do look at superintendent and go, we want to see that policy again. We need to adjust it or change it. >> Well, also we discussed about a lot of that being procedural, not policy anyway. What we're talking about, right? >> Well, it is procedural in the sense that she has to collect it, but it is policy if you decide when they have to pay it. >> Yeah. >> If you say you got to pay it up front to get in the class, then that's a

094policy. That's a that's a determination. If it's if it's uh bill them later and figure out how to collect it, that's that's procedure. >> Leslie, do you think you'll be able to assess how well it's going by the end of the semester or do you think it will take until the end of the year to make that assessment? >> Right now, >> if we have enough students, I think we'll be able to at least hopefully how quickly we can get those. >> So, when we build for hope for this semester, we're really taking money from next semester's hope money because they've already gotten this >> they've already gotten this semester. >> So, can we go ahead and bill for when can we bill for next semester? We can't because that's all >> the following semester,

095which is if they're seniors, >> assuming that they're still a student, right? as soon as second starts. >> So, how many did you say how many homes school and private school students do we have here? >> 26. >> Do you have any idea from the high schools how many are taking classes or participating in sport? >> Do you with classes? with the class in that neighborhood that we're going to be getting >> to get for dual credit for dual credit. >> Oh, for dual credit. But that's not But that includes the ones that Danielle's talking about, too, I guess. That's $125,000 for one semester. >> Yeah, >> that's for one semester. It's $125,000. >> There in lies the rub. Again, I go back to it. When you look at your child and you say, "If

096you make this choice, you got consequences." You know, if you make this choice and decide to go private, >> you said the child's not the one deciding. Well, but but the parent but the parents made the choice. There's consequences for making that choice. >> Well, it it's it's going to be a learning process. >> Yep. >> You'll learn >> that one kind of surprised with this policy a lot >> in in a vacuum. I understand it totally. It's just how it's going to work in the real world. That's that's my concern. All right. There's a motion and a second. All in favor signify by saying I. >> I. >> Opposed? Nay. Carries. Four in favor and one opposed. All right, let's do the consent agenda. Those off so I can actually see what I'm doing.

097All right, let me beat that dog to death. Theou Southern Highlands. I have nothing. It's blank. My page is blank. >> No, I mean the memo's there. There's nothing under it. Yeah, same. >> This was southern high. >> It just saysou date and re nothing after that. >> But then there's nothing. >> I don't have any I don't have also what you guys can answer. Go ahead. >> My mind was way I downloaded it. >> Mine has it. Just one second. Pull mine back up. >> Straight to school. >> All right. I don't know why it's highlighted. >> Before you tell us anything, let me get it on the get it on the floor. Okay. Uh board member number 53 is anou with Southern Highlands for the fiscal year 2526. Attached is anou between Mer

098County schools and Southern Highlands for the school year. It continues school-based mental health services for Mercer and Bluefield Intermediate with potential expansion to other schools. Services include individual and group counseling prevention, early intervention and treatment with coordination. funding is through insurance reimbursement and expanded school mental health grant with inind support for Mercer County Schools. The agreement is effective 9125 and may be terminated by either party within 30 days notice. Superintendent recommends approval. Um someone feel comfortable making a motion to approve? >> Yes. >> Oh, I'm sorry. >> Oh yeah, I'm all I'm publed here. Let's move on. We'll get back to it. Board amendment number 54 is RFP number 331, prime distributor for child nutrition pro food renewal one. Uh this was requested from Gordon Food Services uh which covers the 2526 school year. Uh

099Gordon submitted renewal pricing with an average increase of 6.97%. Uh for fiscal year 2425, the total bill was 3,652,813. Superintendent recommends approval of renewal one for RFP 331, prime distributor for child nutrition food to Gordon Food Services. Board amendment number 55 is a placement of student from Grand Canyon University. They're requesting that individual be uh placed in Merch County schools to complete 50 hours of creating and managing equitable and engaging learning environments that be placed at Glenwood School contingent upon the appropriate forms acceptable background check and site supervisor being uh recommended. Superintendent recommends approval. Board amendment number 56 is bid number 979 HVAC repairs to BHS and Mercer Elementary. Uh all units on the auditorium fine art wing of the building at Bluefield High School will be replaced. Uh new piping for the condensate lines

100at Mercer School was included as well. Uh we were advertised in in appropriately and we had two bids. Low bid was Dowardy Company Inc. for $738,800. Superintendent recommends bid number 979 for HVAC repairs to Bluefield High and Mercer Elementary to Dowardy Company for 738,800. Board amendment number 57 is purchase of a used 23 Ford Transit 350 XL van. Uh Mer County Technical Center has located a 23 Ford Transit van with 24,000 mi priced at 44,94048. Uh, it has a remainder of its threeyear 36 thou,000 mi bumper-to-bumper and its 5year 50,000 powertrain warranty. Internet search concluded this was comparable to pricing and it was very competitive. Superintendent recommends the purchase of this van. The amount of 44,94048 from Ry Auto Group. Uh, purchases will be funded by MCTech. Board memo number 58 is the renewal of

101the college contract for placement of students for clinical experience in 2527 26 20 2526 typo. Um the the enclosed agreements with college and universities are established responsibilities relating the placement of student observers andor student teacher candidates for their clinical experience placement in Mercer County. Uh all teaching student teaching placements are pending the receipt of background check and a site supervisor being named and this involves Marshall University and counseling and social work placements. Superintendent recommends approval. Board memo number 59 is the placement of social work students from Marshall University to complete 450 hours in advanced field practicum. The individual will be placed at Princeton Primary School under the supervision of Amanda Shoalter. Placements are contingent on the forms background check and site supervisor being named. Superintendent recommends approval. Board memo number 60 is a system. It

102says PA system for MCTEK. The director of technology seeking authorization to purchase a new security system from Cox Security. The awarded vendor for security access control maintenance RFP. Total cost is 71,97456. Superintendent recommends approval of the purchase of the security system from Cox Security and that amount funding will be provided by 21st century technology grant and the excess levy. Board amendment number 61 is the paging and bail system for MCT. Director of technology is seeking authorization to purchase a new paging and bail system for MCTech in the amount of 71,97456 from Communication Consultants Inc. Uh superintendent recommends approval of the purchase of the security the paging and bail system in that amount to communication consultants uh is paid for by 21st century technology grant and the excess levy >> amounts are both the same correct

103>> it those two I have to say those two uh memos are confusing but we'll get to it here in just a minute. Uh board amendment number 62 is cellular phone services with AT&T uh pursuant to state code which allows uh purchasing directly from a competitive coop or from a cooperative if without competitive bidding. This is source well contract uh with AT&T total expenditures for 2425 or 47,9849. Superintendent recommends the award of cellular phone services to AT&T FirstN Net through June 3026 under the Sourcewell contract. The funding is provided by the levy. Board amendment number 63 is payment of invoices which are attached. The checks have been written or being held pending consideration by the school board. Checks will be issued to the vendors upon board approval. Pecard uh which is board memo number 64.

104the register for PECARD transactions attached for your approval. Superintendent recommends approval. That is the end of consent agenda. Is there a motion to approve the consent agenda? >> Is there a second? >> Second. >> A motion and a second. All right. Now, questions. So, let's start with Southern Highlands because we were getting ready to do that and Ernie got the light straight in his eye there. So, fix it or not. I was just going to say I was just read the same >> Bluefield Intermediate and Mercer have done for years. >> Yeah, we've been doing this for a long time. >> Right. Right. And I think they're looking at adding a couple other schools, but I can't remember. I think they were secondary, maybe Bluefield Middle and one other. >> No change in theou from

105previous years. >> Not that I'm aware of. >> Same responsibilities from both parties. Okay. So, how about this >> 60 and 61? >> Well, one says PA system for MCT and it's actually a security system. >> One says paging and bail system and then it talks about security. So, we're a little confused here. >> I think there was a typo on the >> memo. I think 60 should have been the security system. So, you think it's correct? Just the title? >> Yes, the title. >> The security quote is 22,229. >> The wrong title and the wrong amount. >> Um, the >> She's made a mistake. >> Yeah. The other one is um $71,97456. >> So, what was the first one? >> U hold on. >> 20. What? >> Let me get you exactly. Stand by.

106$22,229 is the security quote. >> Okay. >> And that's all that's labor materials and that's all in. And then the um and that just gets building security. Um the other one is for the paging and the bell system. That's $71,97456 and that's also includes labor and all in. Okay. So, just the memos were a little kurfuffle, but that's all right. We figured it out. >> Okay. >> Um, >> any questions about that or any other part of the consent agenda? Item number 57 >> maybe have a plaque or something on it insurance and such >> that include driver drive. >> Whatever. >> It's a good thing. >> Anything else? >> 62 contract. Who are we paying for? >> Maintenance personnel. >> Sorry. We have cell phones for all maintenance personnel. all bus drivers, um certain

107administrators and other employees. >> Anything else from anybody else? Then I need uh Jim and Justinda to amend their motion on number 60 to correct the amount to 22,229 instead of the 71,000. Do you accept that adjustment to your motion? >> Goodness. >> Second. All right, then we're adjusted then. >> All right. So, with that, all in favor of the consent agenda, signify by saying I >> I oppose. Likewise. >> That motion carries. Five in favor and none opposed. All right. We're under additional business now. So it's actually new business but additional it doesn't matter. Bo number 65 is the first reading of policy G11 supplement for coaches and leaders. No actions required at this time. Mr. Tone >> you have a I think the can't remember the red that was in that Dr. Phil

108but it was the U >> tennis. It was the tennis assistants and then also the uh early learning >> position was part. >> So this is just for the assistant coach for tennis right now and then adding uh on one of the charts an additional person and basically we have a lot of students that are going out for tennis. Um so we need an assistant coach at the high school level and so um we added that to the the program scheduling cost >> and that'll go out for commute or public comment and we'll see it back here shortly. Board amendment number 66 is a first reading of policy G28 seniority rights and reduction enforce professional personnel. Mr. Toman, >> go ahead. Dr. Phil, you have that with the principal prek principle that you added there.

109Go ahead. >> Yes, that is the addition of the prek principal um that our laterality policy and and then our speech assistance. And I think that's it on that policy. >> All right. For first reading, board member number 67 is policy G9 substitute procedures. Mr. Tobin, >> that's the uh >> is that the yearly adjustment we have to do or >> Yes. Then you have the additional red. So, this one is just for substitutes and how we we assign them or um how they are listed as uh substitute personnel and what they need to do as far as um applying for a position. But one of the things that has changed as you all may know is that a high school diploma is not required for all uh classifications now. So, we needed to put

110when required. Um, and the last piece of that, we added a little statement in there. Um, in SF or the smartphone express substitute callout system, individuals can control their calendar. And so, they'll mark themselves off for a month and if we reach out to them, they won't have an explanation or they won't correspond with us. So, we added the statement u making yourself unavailable for extended periods of time without notification and writing to the human resource director. And Rachel deals with this a whole lot. And so that's a recommendation on her part. So thank you for that um to this policy. >> Okay. Anything for anybody? Well, that'll go out for public comment. We'll see it back for amendment number 68 is the first reading of policy G23, retirees professional substitutes. I think this is

111one we see every year. Is that not correct? >> Yes, that is correct. Um, this one we just added the driver's ed and prek special needs as one of our critical needs areas. Changed the year and then we added the inter the information that we received this year about the bonafide separation where we have to have that 60-day window. Um, so that's in this policy um in red. >> Have you ever got a hint of why that was changed like that? The only thing that I know of and that's just coming from the webinar that we evidently this was going on on all over the nation and so West Virginia was supposed to have been doing this all along but we had not and so now the retirement board's gone on board with what nationwide

112people are doing. Is that correct? Right. One thing I see, maybe it's to clear up issues where the employee makes sure they understand effect or affect I always get on their retirement pay. Would that be possible to get have a window there between retirement and because you have to go through these little hoops that it mentions in the policy. >> Well, we have to clarify that they understand, >> right? >> Yeah. >> So, you know, as of July 1, uh 60 days until they get their first retirement check. And so, they're getting those first retirement checks now. So, a lot of them are checking back in saying, "Hey, I want to be added to the sub list now." Um, so it does give that bonafide separation which supposedly is good not in my world but

113in in the business world but um we've added that to the policy so that it is in policy for people to read. >> Okay. Any other questions? Then we'll get that one back after it goes out for public comment. Forward memo number 69 is first reading of policy G40 critical need shortage substitute bus operators. first time. >> Go ahead, Dr. Philip Peek, if you want to answer that one also. Those are all yours, aren't they? >> Yeah. And this one just that actually adds the same kind of uh verbiage in this policy to say, you know, there's got to be a bonafide separation and changing of the year so that we can have this approved by the state board. >> Okay, >> that one will go up for public comment. We'll see it back. Board

114amendment number 70 is the request to approve the removal of accountant three position currently signed to the business office. Uh we're operating with 49 excess service personnel and this is part of an organizational review. The treasurer and the superintendent have discussed it and have determined what we're going to do for now. That may change in the future. Is that not correct? I think everything in there is correct and anytime you have a retirement you try to look at what you can do and reorganize and unfortunately in West Virginia with 18A it's it's difficult to do some moving around and when you look at riff and transfer so this is an opportunity for Mrs. Wellman to look at that and see what if she has to uh re-evaluate and come up if she has to do

115something differently this is an opportunity so you have a timeline that you have to at least abolish a position because the timeline to replace a position is what Dr. Phil pick 15 to 20 some days after a vacancy. >> So um the law states from what I understand is that >> thank you. From what I understand they encourage us to post promptly as as we should. Um but after the position has been advertised on that fifth day you start counting the 20 days. >> Okay. >> Is there a motion to approve? >> Is there a second? Hold on. >> No, this is this is this is board me. >> This is board memo. >> You want to stick with that motion then? >> Yeah, I agree. >> I'll second. >> There's a motion in a

116second. Any further discussion? >> All in favor signify by saying I. >> I oppose. Likewise. Commission carries. Five in favor and none opposed. Board member 71 are the is the attached goals for the 2526 school year that we discussed at the work session. Uh thoughts, comments, adjustments. I thought I'm good with it. Paul >> move. >> Okay. Well, that worked out really well. >> I thought he was right. >> Okay. There's a motion and a second. Any any further discussion? Then on the motion, all in favor signify by saying I. I. Oppose. Likewise. That motion carries. Five in favor, none opposed. Board amendment number 72 is MCTech phase 1 needs project. Uh we will be submitting assuming the board approves it. Uh we need to submit by September 12th, 2025 our needs project. Uh the

117MCT phase one needs project is what was discussed last year. Uh uh the revised budget is lower by about $800,000 which is always a good thing. Uh to 15,43 323 due to lower material cost of all things. >> Hard to believe. >> 15 million. >> Hey. >> Yeah. 15. Did I not say 15 million? >> 15,000 I think. >> Okay. Well, it's 15 million, not 15,000. We could cover the 15,000. Um 15 million 323. Um superintendent recommends approval. Is there a motion to approve? >> Do you want to >> Is there a second? There's a motion and a second. Any further discussion? >> Did you want to approve an amount that you're submitting or anything like that present? Pretty also we got the shop foundation that we just submitted also. And then also you have

118another board meeting before the 12th date if you wish to bring it back on the 8th to finalize. Here here's my thought on this is let's approve this and then let Lesie do her magic >> and come back at the next meeting and tell us what we can do. >> Um we'll go from there. >> I mean she's got I know you got an idea but you know you need to crunch your numbers and make sure you feel comfortable you know because we trust you to tell us when we getting in overhead. Okay. >> U all right >> good deal. So you >> Well, you know, that gives us another good thing to tell the tell the uh SBA is look, we're saving you another $800,000. >> Huh? >> How how are we doing that?

119>> Saving the money materials. >> They said the bid. >> Yeah. And then the bid comes out and it's $3 million over, right? >> Yeah. >> Yep. Been there, done that. >> You got a couple smiles back. >> All righty. Then on the motion, all in favor signify by saying I. I. Oppose. Likewise. That motion carries. Five in favor, none opposed. Last action item on the agenda is personnel board member number 73. >> And you have a new list. >> You should have a new list in front of you. There were a few little things changed. I think um and I like this at the top. That's nice to see what may be filled before the meeting. Um I'm assuming none of those were filled. One, two, three, four, maybe five positions were filled out

120of that list. >> Okay. >> And I'm I'm not going verbatim lime for line, but I'm thinking about five. Don't count them, Greg. >> I'm not counting. Don't do that. I'm just making sure I didn't miss anything. I'm like, okay, I was mistaken. I need to find out what I missed. All right. Yeah, I see. Okay. >> All right. There's a motion. Is there a second? And there's a second. Any further discussion? Any executive session to discuss any of the matters on the agenda? All right. Then on the motion, all in favor signify by saying I. I. Likewise. That motion carries. Five in favor and none opposed. um for discussion the purchasing policy. Um so what's the current minimum now? Uh Leslie >> 25,000 I I think that given the uh and it it's some

121of this is coming from Dr. recall and some of it's coming from other board members that I talked to, not just here, but other places. Uh the desire to have more oversight is a big thing now. I mean, that's we're getting pounded with that uh from everywhere. So, uh it's not an action item, but it's just discussion thinking about if we want to keep it there, want to raise it, want to lower it. Um so, you'll see it on a future agenda just so it's out there and you know it's it's a conversation piece to be had. All right. Uh administrative updates. Mr. Tobin, >> any uh Mitchell, Dr. Atkins, any updates you guys have from your 232? Anything? Any other administrators? Mr. Wellman, Mr. Atkins for rooms. Yeah, as I said before the meeting,

122I was just passing on the the trauma that I was hearing from people. Uh, and of course, it was the first few days of school. So, you know, trying not to be a shock >> and the first few days of school, you know, I I remember what it was like. It's it's completely hectic. It's nuts. Um, I remember thinking, I just need to get through the first week so that my students can realize that I'm not a crazy scatterbrain old lady that actually know what I'm doing because that first week is rough. and we do take that into account. Now, Rooms, um, as we talked about a little bit before, um, it's an addition to what we already have. It's it's the company that runs our website, >> right? >> Uh, handles all of our

123social media posts, all of our all calls and texts, things like that. They reached out to us about this addition. Uh, it's a service that they also provide called Rooms, right? And it's a way for uh teachers and families to communicate that is archived and kept and it's something that we can use to go back and look at if we need to if if certain issues arise and it's also a way for teachers to highlight what they're doing in their classroom. It has almost kind of like its own live feed like on our Facebook page where they can say today in class we did this and have some cute pictures. kind of like a class dojo but systemwide. >> Exactly. And there is a behavior component that has to be turned on and that's something

124that I can emphasize with them again as well. >> The main I was jotting down some notes here. The main issues that we've been having with employees and Brent, you jump into. Uh the main thing is a lot of teachers haven't logged on yet, which I understand like I said the first few days of school hopefully that they'll be able to log in. We've had some parents uh contact us saying, "I see two of my kids." I was able to log in. I see two of my kids, but one of my kids is missing and after we researched that a little bit, it's because that particular kid's teacher hadn't logged in yet. So, one and so we just let them know it's been the first few days of school. Teachers are still getting it set

125up. Once they have it set up, your kid will show up in the app. You'll be able to see them. Um subs, we have some long-term subs that need access to it. And that was uh an issue with the data coming from Weeus. And I think Brent has that figured out with his contact with Weeus. And it seems like some of our MCT tech teachers are having a hard time too. So we've got to figure out what's going on with that. Now family issues. The number one issue of why they're not able to get on is because their cell phone number, their contact number in Weez is no longer valid. Um so a lot of times their phone number might change. They don't let the school know. So, it's not entered into Weeus, the real

126phone number. So, that is the information that's coming over to the app. So, it's trying to contact them through a number that's no longer valid. So, as they're contacting Brit and me, we're going in and changing it so that they can get access. That's the number one thing with parents. I have run into a few where the guardian data, the parent and family data to a student didn't make it over with the student. So, that's something that we're going to have to get with API about. We do have a call with him tomorrow to talk about some of the issues that we're having and hopefully we'll get it hammered out. >> So, is this something that's required of all teachers? >> And the the the complaint is is they can't they're not to use a

127different >> right >> app and they really like the classroom zoo >> and the the way that we look at it is some teachers use Remind, some use class dojo. There are four or five others that coaches use. This is a way that parents, if they have kids in multiple schools and multiple grade levels, they can get all of their messages from our Mercer County Schools app. And you know, once we get through these growing pains and work out all the kinks, it's going to be great. >> That is nice from a parent perspective. >> Yes, it's going to be great. >> And I don't doubt that >> it is. >> I think where we aired and we all aired was not saying let's ease into this and start at the beginning of the second

128semester. So everybody has some time to look at it because we kind of >> here's the paperwork, you know, >> log in, get things going, and you're kind of like, >> well, we're just we were worried that if we didn't start it at the beginning of the year that it they it wouldn't get done. They, you know, they would start using their other app and I >> and then we wouldn't >> I get that. >> The beginning of the year would have been better. >> And it's going to be good. >> Don't have to do it for second semester. That's when you'll start doing it and you have the same problem again. >> Well, but then but see but then you then your complaint is gone. You don't get to say I didn't have enough

129time or I didn't understand it or I didn't get to really look into it. And I think >> the roll out has been the issue and it's it's it's technology. I mean it software and >> and the things you're talking about those are the issues that we face and and it's um >> my thought was a little bit different in that Maybe we should have got the teachers trained slash on it before we tried to roll it out to the parents. >> See, we've got 10 or 12 of them sitting back there right now and >> the features should be frustrating. >> I'm just saying hindsight's 2020, but >> Well, sure. It always is. That's the That's the perfection of hindsight. Uh >> and I I can guarantee too that there's still going to be

130issues with teachers using them. Let's hear from >> what Amy said. I mean, we we have the product. It's it's ready. And we had 16,000 and a few odd users, including parents and students on active today that I watched. So, I mean, it is definitely working. It's got some issues as any technology will have. We're just asking for some patience as we work through those issues. Amy set up an email account that goes directly to us if there's any issues and we're looking at each one of those. So, with some growing pains, if we can uh and be patient, the benefits will far outweigh the the negative aspects of of this. We've got parents right now that are using it. It's working great. Teachers, it's working great. Uh we just got to get everybody on

131board and some consistency. So, it's >> just relaying what I'm told. >> So, are we directing teachers and coaches, etc., not to communicate with parents in any other way. Is that what I'm hearing? Or I don't know. I'm just >> ask >> because I know with sports it's almost a different one every sport. >> It is. >> Just about. Well, I don't like that one, so we're going to use this one. And I don't like this one, so we're gonna use that one. So that I get it just Yeah. and and it does law. It does document everything, so that helps. Okay. Um, other administrative updates. >> Any other administrative updates? >> I'm sure you heard there was a a waterline break between Montcom High and Montcom Elementary this morning. Uh, I didn't find Dr.

132Atkins texted me early. Uh, I called the Bluefield or Blue LPSD and uh, the boss, he was actually out caring for his wife. But um I got in touch with the guy pretty quickly. Um they they got me pretty ac accurate information. We felt confident that uh we could we could get the kids there and and get them water and get everything health. I had great conversations with the health department the whole time. Both the uh principles we were in conversation with. We had um bottled drinking water and gallons of water delivered to Montcom Elementary before the majority of the students arrived. and Makom High never went without water during the instructional day, but once they did repair the brake, he called me back and said that once it got reressurized, it had broken again

133about 2 feet downstream. So that they that's when we had to I called Dr. Akens we had to do a little pivot there on on school today and we and and everybody was talking about what a great start it was. I thought, well, you come come work my job for a little bit. But uh no, we and we did have a a schoolwide HBAC issue at um Bluefield Middle School last week, but working with a local partner, we were able to get that uh fixed before launch. >> So, I don't know if this is true or not, but I heard this through the grapevine. >> It's probably not true. >> The shelving for the copers at Timberwood. >> Yes. >> The top is too low. >> It was can't get the copers in the shelf.

134>> It was >> Who did that? Um, well, there was a misinterpretation of the blueprint. Uh, we had the blueprint called for seven feet um, in between the top of the counter and the bottom of the shelf or the bottom of the floor and the and the top the the top of the floor and the bottom of the shelf. There was a uh specification written in one of the notes that said that it needed to be eight foot, but when you added up the diagram, it only added to seven. So, the contractor did what it was and there was just a conflicting information on the blueprints. So, ZMM and and DCI worked it out and they got them fixed Friday. Oh, he's gone. Friday morning, I believe they were fixed. >> Okay. >> And patched

135and repainted and everything. >> Good. Yeah. Then that the grape vine was right. Well, if that's the biggest issue, then we're pretty lucky, honestly. >> Yeah, I mean, it is. The only other crazy thing is how low the I know why they did it, but how low the the uh the uh pass key is. >> Because of that concrete, I mean, you're looking at it, you're like, you couldn't come up with you. Just put a gap in the concrete. Put that in. >> Oh, norm. Yeah. Normally, I get like I keep mine in my pocket and I'm usually carrying something so I can just like scan it as I go, but can't do it now. It hurts my back. So is Montcom Elementary to go tomorrow? >> Montcom Elementary is ready to go tomorrow. They

136will be able to boil water. They have they have bottled water. U unfortunately Montcom Elementary is used to this. Uh but we got that information. We got him the water. Um and Mr. Wright has the he has the contact information to the supervisor I spoke with today and also the boss of that branch of the public service district. But, um, Larry was a gentleman I spoke with today from the PSD and he said it was restored >> on the, uh, HVAC issues that we voted on tonight. I think one was Bluefield. >> Bluefield immersion. >> What's the timeline on those? >> Do uh, well, we had to wait till tonight to get board approval for them to order the units. We're hoping before Christmas, but probably not. Uh we're talking eight rooftop units for Bluefield

137High School and there's just a there's just a substantial lead time still on those. Uh we got uh they're they're eight pretty large >> Tom. >> We right now Yes, we have a little out of eight we have three that are working. >> But December wise when they rent it out to the >> Yeah, the Nutcracker. Sure. Uh we're we're hoping that we have heat or we have a situation where we can get auxiliary heat at least during that time. Yeah. I mean that that was a we stressed that in the pre- bid. We talked about it and uh both contractors that voted they they could not guarantee a lead time or a finish time before Christmas. And then Mercer's just a couple we had a mer we had a steam lake under the floor

138at Mercer last year. We really didn't want to dig up the floor on the bottom floor. So, we decided to go with a couple condensate traps and we're just trapping it and piping it over the ceiling and back to the uh holding tank. >> Anybody else? >> I have a question. probably is not appropriate and you just tell me you won't talk about it but somebody mentioned shot foundation made me think would there be any movement any possibility you get in mind with the sun team where we >> ask that after the meeting's over ask Lesie after the meeting's over >> okay >> because it's not on the agenda so we shouldn't talk about it >> although we've already acted on it and we really don't have anything else we have to do but it

139could you know open meetings law Right. Okay. So, you were right. Okay. Anything else? Uh, >> you need that motion. >> I do. >> Yeah. He's getting ready to make the motion. >> Move it go executive session for personnel. >> Motion in a second. And there's a second. Okay, folks. We have no other action items on the agenda and it's just easier for us to stay here. So, we come we're going to come back out and adjourn. >> Uh so, if everybody could get >> with dispatch. >> Yes. While they do that, I'm going to go talk. >> You go right ahead. >> Get your answer before you forget. You got your mic on, Mr. Hajes? >> We are back. We are back on and >> got your mic on. >> As we said when

140we left. Okay. >> We have no other business tonight. >> Move. >> Is there a second? Second. Any objection? Third. >> We're glad to do something. You got that or