001Good evening everybody. It is April the 25th or 28th, 2025. It is 5:32 p.m. The Mercer County Board of Education is in regular session. Four of the board members are present. I'm sure Mr. Hodes will be here shortly. Uh let's all stand for the pledge of allegiance, please. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. So, we're going to do our favorite part of the uh board meetings, which is recognizing all our wonderful students for all the good things they do. Uh I can say on behalf of the board, we are extraordinarily proud of all of you. You uh represented your school and your county extraordinarily well. Uh you know, counties, we're
002just like schools. We we like to compete with each other and and trust me when we go to to state board meetings, I let them know how great we are and I tell them it's all our students and all the work we do and and you know technical education is so critically important and and we so desperately need these these you young people to get in these careers so we don't have shortages. Uh and we appreciate all you're doing. And what we're going to do is we're all going to stand up here on this top row and you're going to be invited up and you're going to stand on the the stand or on the ground depending on where you want to stand. They're going to give you a nice certificate and then we're going
003to recognize you for your service and your work and everything you've done for us and for yourselves and we'll get started. We'll start with Okay. All right. Okay, as President Prudish said, it's always our favorite part of any board meeting when we get an opportunity to recognize um staff and students. And we are going to begin with a staff member for 110% club. Congratulations to Serene Lo, special education teacher at Pike View High School for being named the 2026 Mercer County Schools teacher of the year. So Serena, if you want to come on up. Miss Lok is deeply loved by her students and respected by her colleagues for her compassion, patience, and dedication. She has an extraordinary ability to meet her students where they are, recognizing and nurturing their individual strengths with care and understanding.
004Her classroom is a place of support, growth, and unconditional love, an extension of her heart. We are proud to celebrate this well-deserved honor, Serene Lo. [Applause] So, just real briefly, I want to say if you have any idea how this woman works, worked with her heart, not just her head. You just have no idea how proud we are. She standing example of being teacher. We appreciate you so much. Okay. Next, we are going to move to our uh board recognizes certificates of achievement for Skills USA. And as President Prudish said, we are going to call you all up as a group. So, if you'll hold your applause until we get the group up here and we are going to start um with the officers. So, let me do the introduction that tonight we will recognize
005the leadership and state competition winners of MCT Skills USA. Skills USA of West Virginia empowers its members to become worldclass workers, leaders, and responsible American citizens. Skills USA West Virginia improves the quality of our nation's future skilled workforce through the development of framework skills that include personal, workplace, and technical skills grounded in academics. Students who received a gold medal at the state competition will represent Mercer County in the national competition in Atlanta this summer. So, our 2024-25 MCT skill skills USA officers are and I'll name all of them if they can come down. We have Caitlyn Lowe, Casey McPeek, Gracie White, Ariel Bailey, Charlie Atkins, Darren Edwards, Dominic Hodes, Jonathan Meadows, Halen Robinette, McKenzie Hazelwood, Rory Rory Bailey, Star Elliot, Luke Pac, Elijah Wood, Bailey Staltz, Lyric Taylor, Corey Thornnehill, Mckenley Roberts, Danica Warner, Jelina
006Arbina, Ian Spade and Joseph Flanigan. Those are our MC Skills USA officers. [Applause] Everybody take a good look. This is what leaders look like. That's right. These young people are out there pushing it, doing hard things, doing the extra bit to be successful in life. And that's how you're successful in life. And they're going to be. We have great faith in all of them. We look forward to seeing you out there fixed and taken care of. whatever it is you're planning on doing for the rest of please stay in county because we need to hear. Thanks [Applause] everybody. Okay, next we are going to move to the 2025 West Virginia State Competition Medalists and this first group um are the gold medalists and again we'll ask you to come down as a group. I will
007read your name and category and then we'll take a a photo all together. Madison Whmer for photography, Rachel Powers for showcase photography, Gracie Anne Enus, Blake Bolton, Trenton Heel and Logan Cook for teamworks, Elijah Wood for CNC2, Daniel Kenny for Emanuel La, Caitlyn Yearout for dental assisting, Brianna Harmon for dental assisting adult, Leah Johnson, Leah Pennington, and Mackenzie Huffman for career pathway showcase. Case Health Sciences. Savannah Collins, medical math adult. Ashley Burks, medical terminology adult. Matthew Pucket, Gracie Holddron, Caitlyn Denham, and Lance Croy for health knowledge ball. Adult. McKenzie Carroll, practical nursing adult. Matt Williams, industrial motor control adult. Alan White, basic residential wiring adult. Logan Vanat, showcase carpentry adult. Brianna Harmon, dental assisting adult. Brody Taylor and Dawson Peterson for Mobile Robotics Middle School. Aaliyah Lincolnis and Silus Hodgeges for Urban Search and Rescue
008Middle School. These are our gold medal finalists. [Applause] If you're instructor, John, too. If any instructors are here, please come up for the pictures. If we have any instructors of these programs, please come up. Danielle's calling you out. Anybody else back there? Here. I can't do that. Mr. Jones, Mr. Jones, can you come over this side? Everybody say gold medal. [Applause] We we want again to tell you how proud we are of all you're doing, all the work you put in. These are our skilled workers of the future. These are the people we need to take care of us, fix things for us, and take care of our homes and our businesses. Without them, we can't succeed as a society. So, it's critical what they're doing. The fact that at this young age, trust me,
009you guys are young. Uh, at this young age, doing all you're doing is impressive. We are so very proud of you. We will keep bragging on you till next year. All right. Thank you. [Applause] Okay, we're going to move to our West Virginia State Competition medalists. These are the silver medalists. And again, I will call the names and the category and we'll take a picture of the group. Um Jordan Hawks, Dominic Hodes, Sydney Meadows, and Owen Wood for entrepreneurship. Rory Bailey and James Wyn for additive manufacturing. Star Elliot, James Godfrey, and Audrina Ellison for engineering design. Kaden Klein architectural drafting. Sloan Hatcher and Bryson Thompson for entry level carpentry. Hannah Sparks, CNC3, Ariel Bailey, early childhood education. Lillian Sparks with model Kylie Fields, nail care. Abby Gano, medic medical math adult. Jessica Bole, medical terminology
010adult. JC Hefner, practical nursing adult. Reed Mitchell, Dylan Donathan, and Augustus Frink. Team Engineering Challenge for Middle School. And again, these are our silver medalists. [Applause] Am I a broken record, but I'll keep doing it. We're so very proud of all the hard work you guys are putting in. I heard carpentry in there. Uh, you know, that there's a shortage of carpenters. Ask the parents if you can go get something fixed real quickly partner. The answer is no. I don't work through the summer. I'll get through in the fall. So, what you're doing is very important. It's needed and we're glad you're succeeding at a high level. And again, we'll keep on doing a great job. [Applause] Our next set of state competition medalists are bronze medalists Hannah Harden with model Kay Katie Steel for
011aesthetics adult Anderson collision damage appraisal Deuce Rompen collision repair Chris Childers automotive refinishing Alexis Wit Early Childhood Education Jaden Alustin extemporaneous speaking Charlie Atkins Gracie Wit and Gabby Taylor, career pathway showcase, human services. Matt Murphy, medical math. Lyric Taylor, Darren Edwards, Jonathan Meadows, Jelina Erbina, and Scotty Miller for quizbowl. Ian Spade for masonry. And then we have Jonathan Meadows. Meadows, elected state skills USA officer. These are bronze medalists. So, what are you guys doing? Tell everybody what you're doing as far as you Okay. educator. Awesome. So, we got engineer and educator. Continue pushing forward. So, very proud of all you're doing and keep doing your hard work. Keep succeeding in life and we're very proud. [Applause] We are going to drop back. I know we've had a couple of people that have came in after
012we started. I know I see Mr. Hodes back there and that Silus Hodgeges with Alina Linkas, urban search and rescue gold medalist for middle school. So, Silus, you can come on up. Are there any others that came in after we got started that we don't want to miss you? Got it. And a gentleman back there. And Corey Thornhill. You'll have to tell me when you get up here. I can't. Okay, Corey, let me find you. We just want to make sure we recognize you and get your picture made with the board. Did I hear urban rescue? Now that sounds like a really What did you have to do in urban rescue? So, robotics and law enforcement and rescue all at once. What you do, young man? Um, I did animal CPR. Animal CPR? What kind
013of animal? Or a golden retriever. Oh, wow. We actually purchased a phone that they could do full CPR on. Not a really but it has everything. So we're again we're so proud of both you excited to hear all these new things we're doing and all the opportunity you get. Thank you guys. Did we miss any Skills USA before we move to the next recognition? We don't want to miss anyone. We know sometimes parking is difficult and things like that. Our next is um a surprise one that we wanted to do. This is a board recognizes 110% club. And I think that everything we've done up to this point in the meeting um will support our next one. Uh this is for Miss Heather Odel, marketing teacher and Skills USA adviser at the Mercer County Technical
014Education Center. and she is nominated by Danielle Farmer, director of the Mercer County Technical Education Center for going above and beyond to work with the students, school, and community. So, Heather, you can come on up. I'll keep reading. She teaches marketing and organizes the Skills USA chapter throughout the year, organizes the National Technical Honor Society, and she also runs the McTurk MCTech Merkantile store. Miss Odel is meticulous about details, creating a bolder and timelines for all students and staff attending the competition trips. She works with Skills USA state chapters and organizes the trips to m maximize MCT's ability to compete and to have positive student representation. She also mentors students who are running for Skills USA officers at the state level. In the past two years, she has been chosen as adviser of the year,
015received the community service award for MC's donation to flood victims, and has had three state skills USA officers over the past two years. Miss Odel is notorious amongst the skills community for finding answers and working hard to ensure success at the state and national competitions. She mentors new skills USA adviserss across the state. This year 130 students went on the trip to state competition to compete in 57 categories. MCTech meddled in 31 losing my voice. You wrote a lot, Miss Farmer. Um, in 39 of the 57 contests, this was largely because Miss Odel took time to print each student their technical standards and to meet with them regarding their competitions. She also organized flood re relief donations for our chapter which earned the community service award for MCTech. Miss never does the bare minimum. She
016works hard in everything she does and represents MCTech well. She works with staff members to ensure success at Skills USA but also assists new staff members that are transitioning from industry to teaching. She represents MCTech at on the national business teacher front being asked to present at national conferences about her marketing class. Congratulations and thank you to Mrs. Ogal. Yeah, Danielle, come up. Do you ever eat and sleep? Rarely. So, you obviously are busting it and we really appreciate that. You talking about going above and beyond. That's going above and beyond and it's see the result. I love MCT and everybody that works here knows that I love I love school USA. I love seeing our kids achieve great. So I really appreciate you. [Applause] Okay. Next we are going to move um away from
017skills USA but to certificate achieve of achievement for MCT's um participation in the educator rising competition. Uh this is a series of events where students develop and showcase their teaching skills, talents and passion for educators. It aims to help students explore careers in education, develop leadership skills and connect with like-minded peers and mentors. Educator Rising gold medal recipients who qualified will compete in the National Educator Rising competition this June in Orlando, Florida. And again, um this it doesn't state this here, but this is our grow your own students. This is our our uh creating our own teacher teachers and I've had the privilege myself of seeing them in action. Um and they are an incredible group and we're very proud of them. So, we're going to name each of you and your categories and we'll
018have you come down and take a picture as a group. Ariel Bailey, um, gold for lesson plan humanities. Casey McPeek, gold lesson plan, STEM. Eden Basile, gold lesson plan humanities JV. Ava Adair, gold TEDtalk. Caitlyn Lowe, silver ed rising moment. Emma Blankenship, silver lesson plan, STEM. Jillian Spencer, silver lesson plan, CTE. Larry Taylor and Ariana Allen bronze for ethical dilemma. These are educator rising students. [Applause] I think Mr. Farmer should come up too. Yeah, somebody didn't work. If you know, you know, we have a severe disorder, not in the United States. So, we decided we're going to grow our own. And one of the things we discovered was we asked teachers in group how many of you grew up here or lived here if you like about 80% of them are from here. So we
019know that if we teach them here we grow them here we'll lose some a lot of them will choose to stay because it's really a better place to live here. So you heard that right? So uh we're very proud of them for what they're doing. The program is is packed with rafters. Uh we probably more if we had room and teachers to do it. So, we're excited about this program. The other good thing about this is the parents know that everybody else may not know is they're getting college credit for all this. So, they won't have to do four years at Concord or Blue State or Carolina, wherever they choose to go. They only have two years if they work hard. That's that's money in the bank, ladies. So, good job. We appreciate you. [Applause]
020Usually I get up there and say that if you want to stay, you are welcome. If you want to go, you got five minutes. There they go. Yes. Okay. That was nice. That was a much more efficient way to do it. Amen. We could have been here till 6:30 reading one at a time. off that we were on after a brief recess. Uh we are back in session. Uh we are now at the superintendent uh remarks and presentations. Dr. Atkins. Yes, sir. Uh, President Prudich, I am sitting in for Mr. Toman this evening. He is with uh, three other educators at the AASA uh, transformation innovation consortium uh, trip to Google headquarters in Stanford University. And that I think they left early Sunday morning and they started yesterday evening. He's with Kelly Stanley, principal at
021Princeton Primary. Kayla Harden is a TIS and Jason learning coach and Derek Belchure is assistant principal at Princeton High School. um they all flew out um yesterday morning and they were at Google bright and early this morning which they are three hours behind. So trying to keep that in my brain as well. But from the pictures that I've seen and the texts that I've read, I think that they're seeing some incredible things and and learning a great deal. Also want to welcome our four Concord students here on the front row. They're future educators. Um I told them they were still sitting here after the recognizes, so I assume they were here for a different reason. And uh we appreciate you all being here. Being Concord graduate myself, we we value that and know that you're
022that you're want to be great educators. Also, uh the happiness advantage orange frog train the trainer workshop April the 29th through May the 1st um in Alexandria, Virginia. And we have a group that left this afternoon to drive up there. Jordan Angel, she is a professional accountant um in Leslie's department. Uh Dr. Phil Peek, our HR director, Emily Huddle, our special ed director, and Amber Reefe, our elementary supervisor and pre-K coordinator are heading up there. And this is uh uh the orange frog is based on positive psychology and something that uh we're looking to do with our administrators in the district next year. Top scholar banquet is tomorrow evening, April 29th at 6 PM at the Chuck Medina Center. teacher of the year banquet is next Tuesday, May the 6th at 6 PM. Also at
023the Chuck Mathenina Center and the deadline for Western Teacher of the Year application uh is May 12th and that is why we did something different this year with the announcement. Um referred to it as the publishers clearing house version, actually went out to the school and and recognized the teacher. Um we had uh several board members and central office staff with us and it was really special uh to be able to see her students reactions and you know her building administration and then that gives her more time to prepare for the state competition and we felt like that would give us a better chance and have more time. Last year we had a few more days and obviously our Kim Yaya did excellent and was a finalist u but we wanted to give her a
024few more days. update uh the Timberwood Elementary School tour with the media on April 15th at 10:00 a.m. last week and uh the board members and all some central office staff went up and then we picked up several media. We had um WBVA, Fox 59 and Bluefield Daily Telegraph all there. So, a lot of uh really um good experiences there and communication to our community about what that school looks like and the opportunities that are going to be available there for those students. And then last Friday we did the same thing. Uh but we took the staffs of Blue Well and Rush Fork Elementary in which most of those will be teaching or working at Timberwood next year last Friday and went up there and on a school bus again. So that was a lot
025of fun. And we started Blue Well and picked them up uh picked up Brush Fork and then went over and I think we had we invited the media again. And I think we had one outlet, maybe Fox 59 came on Friday. West Virginia School Board Association end of year training Stonewall Resort on Saturday, May 3rd. I think some of you all plan to attend that. Um before we go to Timberwood update, just want to share uh an update that that we learned late this afternoon. Um we announced last board meeting that we were denied our calendar waiver um that we submitted to the state and we later learned the parameters were were focused within the federal disaster declaration. So we asked again if we could submit again and they said yes you can and so
026uh Amy and I worked on that submitted last Friday and we were received an email this afternoon that we were granted um one day waiver because we only had one day that we were closed during that federal disaster declaration. Uh so we'll get something out probably tomorrow that the students school year will end one day early um on June 10th. Is that correct, Amy? Rather than June 11th, of course, that does not affect employees. They have an obligation to their 200 day contract or more if they have one. And uh we will convert that to a a curriculum development day uh on our calendar. So, we were very excited that, you know, we didn't give up. We went again and tried again and we asked if we could do that and uh so we appreciate
027uh being granted that waiver of one day. Um, any questions about any of those updates? And then Mr. Atkins, any updates on on Timberwood Elementary? Mike, Amber, Amber, nothing more other than I sent out the photos this morning from last week. Uh, you all got opportunity to tour the facility. I think the teacher tour went a little better. I was a little more prepared. Uh, I got on the bus and was able to explain to them. I wanted them to follow me, not to go wrong. You all did. And, uh, we they had a lot of questions and Jean Bowers, our clerk of the works, was there to answer a lot of them. And we were we were able to answer most of the questions along Dr. Atkins and I spoke prior to and it
028was a good opportunity for Dr. C to get together with the the staff for the next school year and bring them all together. So, uh they were a lot of smiling faces, a lot of uh size and uh good deep breaths of moving moving on and moving to better places and just a good opportunity for everyone. So, no, other than that, everything's good. Got a uh our progress meeting next Monday. I won't be able to make it, but Leslie's going to go to my place. So, everything is is going well. Question board. Okay. Thank you. All right. Thank you. policy 2322. The only thing that I was going to share is that we are beginning uh GSA season, the general summitative assessment and looks like most schools are going to start that process next week
029and then we'll just go around the room. Um starting with Miss Mitchell if you have anything to share for 2322 this evening. saying right now we are I I have met with each of my principles and gone over what the goals were at the beginning of the year and where do we see oursel now um when we meet for the a final evaluation you know where do we want to go from here what have we done this year and where can we go to make things better um the only other big thing is the spring 2025 SAT scores are being released um I think the first ones were sent to students on April 3rd um they have different dates depending on when that test was taken that the uh results are out and then they
030will be sent out for educators to look at as well. So Dr. Von has been monitoring that every day to see if we're getting any of those in yet. Leslie, no. Shannon Amy, yes, Amy does have something. Good evening. Um, I would like to talk about our AI presentation to our administrators last week during the admin meeting. Mr. Toman talked to them about some of the AI platforms he learned about when he was in New Orleans. When he came back from New Orleans, he was talking to me about them and I just, you know, got online and started looking at them and thought, "Wow, this could really change some things." So, uh, I I'd been working with those. Dr. Atkins would come in and give me ideas of what I needed to uh try out
031and see what we could do. So for the admin meeting uh we were going over policy 5310 which is um personnel evaluation and we used AI to do that um that present pres presentation. It's called notebook LM. You upload the information, you ask it exactly what it is you you want them to present and it forms a podcast where two people are talking to each other uh very and they're very entertaining about the policy. But another part of notebook LM is you can actually join the conversation. So if there's something specific or if someone in the audience has a a particular question about policy 5310, you can interrupt the two podcasters and just say, "Okay, well what about this?" And then they will come back with an answer. Um everybody seemed pretty floored. Yeah. And
032uh people were saying, "Can I use this for book studies with our uh teachers?" Absolutely. Um, it can save a lot of time for uh email um answers to to parents, to uh teachers, to everybody uh to create presentations uh to go over policies with staff and and any kind of professional development. Um even the central office staff, I think they were pretty amazed, too. Yeah. So, this is something that we're just um gearing up with. Uh we're learning a lot about it. I know that it's going to change quickly and we're going to try to stay on top of that. And in fact, that's what they're talking about out in California where Mr. Toman is right now. AI is one of the big platforms there for their training. So to be clear, the two
033podcasters were computer avatars, right? Yes. And they are much cooler and more entertaining than Amy and I. So So it it just, you know, it just we're using it we're at least cooler than me, but we're using it just to enhance you know what we're doing to make us more efficient and enhance what we plan to do and an increased engagement. You know, it was uh it was incredible. And then we're going to do something with this. We are presenting um at the AASA conference at Stonewall in June. Yes. Great. Mr. Toman just pushed Dr. Atkins and I right out there, didn't he? That's right. That's what we do. Anybody else? Okay, then we'll go into our business meeting. Um, we've got a minutes for approval. April 1425, April 1425, one is student discipline. April
0341525, April 1725, student discipline. Is there a motion to approve the agendas? So move. Is there a second? Second. There a motion and a second. Any questions, comments, or discussion? Then on the motion, all in favor signify by saying I. I. Oppose. Likewise. Motion carries. Five in favor and none opposed. We'll now go into the consent agenda. Board memo number find it here. 335. Yeah. Me number 335 is elevator ma elevator maintenance services. This is cooperative pricing. Uh this is from TK elevator corporation for preventative maintenance and inspection services for Mercer County school lifts and elevators. There's a bunch of the schools. I won't mention them. Uh the TK elevator submitted a 5% increase in pricing. The comparison is shown from 2425 to 2526. It's about $7 more a unit. Uh hourly rate jumped good
035bit more than that. The expenditures for 2324 were $48,57.31. Superintendent recommends the award of the elevator maintenance be made to TK Elevator Corporation for elevator maintenance and prevention services and this is excess levy funding. Board a memo number 336 is contracted services agreement for physical therapy. An agreement's been drafted for phys physical therapy services with Dr. Green for the 2526 school year. Uh compensation is $80 an hour for direct and indirect services. evaluations are $150 per evaluation. She is required to submit proof of current lensure and insurance. Uh previous year amount paid was about $77,000. A year to date, we're at about 43,000. Superintendent recommends approval of this agreement with Dr. Renee Green for physical therapy services for the 2526 school year. Board memo number 337 is bid number 969, which is boiler replacement at
036Princeton Middle School. Uh we issued competitive bids for the purchase and installation of a new boiler from Princeton Middle. We received two bids. Superintendent recommends approval of bid 969 bowler replacements Princeton Middle to Casto Technical Services. The low bidder at $107,000. This is capital improvement is funded through the excess levy. Board a memo number 338 is the placement of a student from New River Community and Technical College. They are requesting to place a student to complete 10 hours of field experience for an education course uh for the 25 20 for the spring of 25 semester. They'll be placed at Lashmoka in Glenwood. As always, placements are are contingent upon the appropriate forms, acceptable background check, and the university name with site supervisor. Superintendent recommends approval. Board amendment number 339 is RFP 324 drug testing renewal
037number two. This is renewal pricing for RFP 324 with Q Labs to perform individual drug testing as requested by Merch County Schools. This covers all employees and students. There's no price increase. Uh fiscal year 2324 the expense was $8,275. This year it's $15,770. This is excess funding leving funding by the excess levy. Superintendent recommends approval. Board amendment number 340 is a memor memorandum of understanding between Merch County Schools and SCSC for bus operator training services for the 2526 school year. SCESC will provide that to Mercer County Schools and the funds will be paid out of general funds. Superintendent recommends approval. Board amendment number 341 is paving bid number 971. Uh paving was issued for competitive bidding for the following locations. Bluefield Intermediate, MCOM High Softball Field, Spanishburg Stley Transportation, and the new parking lot at
038Princeton Primary. Uh we got three biders on that. Superintendent recommends bid number 971 to Southern West Virginia Paving Mount Hope, West Virginia for $460,000 to low bid. Funding is excess levy. All right. Board me board memo number 342 is coffee paper. Quotes were obtained from vendors to purchase 400 cases of copy paper. The low bid was BW Wilson. Superintendent recommends uh the approval of purchase of 400 cases of copy paper to them for $12,700. Funding is excess levy. Board memo number 343 is the payment of invoices for the month of April. These uh uh the amounts and vendors uh have been available to you on your uh agenda. actual checks have been written or being held in the office of treasury pending consideration by the school board. Superintendent recommends approval. Last item on the consent
039agenda is board number 344 which is the pecard transactions. Uh you also have those transactions in your agenda. Superintendent recommends approval. Is there a motion to approve the consent agenda? So moved. Is there a second? Second. It's a motion and a second. Questions, comments, or discussion on the consent agenda? Yeah. Um what's the the Q labs what students would be would we be like from when we have disciplinary hearings those types of issues suspicious like drug testing we also do students at MCT random just random testing who who it's a company company does drug testing yeah that's basically what they do well they do co testing testing It's a live local company. I was just interested. I know being on the the committee or the board day report center was hoping to bid on drug
040testing. So I guess this excludes them. They're going was there any bids or any question anybody offered? Well, this was the second renewal. We we typically bid one year and then we have two renewals if there are no problems. So we have had problems with them. So, we recommended that's our recommendation is that we stay with them um as we initially bid and then next year. Okay. Next year is it be them again or next year you No, next year will be a new bid. Okay. One for one and then we can renew it up to two additional times for a total of three years. Okay. Other questions on the concern? How is there a $65,000 difference in the paving between southern West Virginia and J&M? Any Tom is I think it's due out microphone,
041but I think it's due mainly volume of work and some people are and I got too much to do like said typically we're we we generally have one we have the paging company has won the award many many times before but they they're covered up. Tom, while you've got the mic, Casto Technical, um, have we have we used their services before, I'm guessing? That's my knowledge. That's what I was wondering. Yep. Cuz I know the other bidder we've used quite a bit. Yes. Okay. It was a third cheaper, so it was it's pretty much a no-brainer. And it is in state, so it is. They're very excited to get to work. They are which may explain may explain the lower bid. They want the work. Yeah, definitely. I want to comment that the PE cards
042seem like we're getting a whole lot more people using that. So, we are. Okay. Yes, we we are. We still are encouraging people to use the PC card. Um I actually got a text from the group that's up in DC asking a a question. They had a pec card and and it makes travel so much easier. Um, it makes up Skills USA. There are so many different things. Schools are are using them. All our secondary schools use them as well. That's a good thing. We also get rebates for use of the PECAR. Yes, we do. I can't remember exactly what we got last year, but but it's a good reason to do it. Yes, it it it was very significant. We're the highest rebate still um in the state. We still get the most usage
043and the best rebates. And there's a lot of training in using PECARD. We don't just send people out with them. No, 100%. Everyone who has a PC card has to be trained, sign an agreement. They understand that misuse of that PC card is a felony. They'll go to jail. Um it that is outside of our scope. That is um you know that is the law when you're using a governmentissued credit card. Damn, you're rough. Excuse me. I just wish we'd find another name for a PE card. I didn't create that. I know. That's funny. Anything else on the consent agenda? No. There appearing to be nothing else then on the motion. All in favor signify by saying I. Opposed. Good. Same sign. That motion carries. Five in favor and none opposed. We are on to
044additional business. First being board amendment number 345 which is additional costs for orange frog. We've approved this before for training purposes. This has to do with what is required to complete the certification. The onfrog team must conduct an on-site training session. Uh the board's responsible for covering those expenses. There's also 100 training kits that are required. Uh, since this exceeds the amount that is allowed by policy to be approved, the board has to approve it. Superintendent recommends approval for a $25,000 purchase of 100 training kits and for the cost of travel and accommodations for the Orange Frog staff for one week of on-site training. Is there a motion to approve? So move. Is there a second? Second. There's a motion and a second. Discussion. Yes, sir. Yeah. Go ahead. How come was was this expense
045provided to us or told to us prior to approving the trip to go up to wherever they went for the training the trainer? Were we given a full cost of the entire program to start with? We asking I don't believe it was it was an approved. Well, I got a problem with that before. I think we should have kn I think we should have known the entire expense from A to Z before we approved anything like this. Um, and am I correct that we still don't know the full expense? Well, and then we Lesie, when we when we agree to have someone come on site, I mean, all it says is we're responsible for the expenses. Do we put do we have an allowed pdeium? Do we put them up at the at you know
046at the day's end versus the the Hampton in? Do they have a daily pdeium for meals? I mean this is just I'm not comfortable with approving this. So I I did when I became aware of this I did ask for that information. So for every training we prepare we provide um so we will get a hundred but if we provide additional trainings we would have to order those kits that are $250 as well um to actually do an official training with that. Well, so if we don't approve this right now, what we're out at this point is the expense to go up to that whoever the three or four people were that went up there and something we might be able to do at a later time if we don't do it right now. And
047who who are the who's the intended targeted uh participants after the fact? This will be um this training will be offered to central office and school level administration. And it's posit based on positive culture psychology. Um probably 10 years ago we did something with the energy bus which was very similar. Um it's the positive uh experience. It's a fable and then it's based on scientific research but I think the target audience will be um central office administration and building level administration. Just a couple things. Correct me if I'm wrong but we don't typically approve training. We we approve travel. Am I right about that? If the training's under 25,000, it that's an administrative matter. Correct. So, we don't approve that. Yes. So, that's why we didn't see this before now. Correct. Correct. I'm I'm sorry.
048I I didn't say that as well, but yes, you are absolutely right. I think it was more of a um almost more of an update before because it was under the limits and was not required to be reported. Yeah, I remember we discussed it. Yes. So if I'm correct, this is not giving him dollar amount for travel and accommodations. Have we already done that? Are we not just voting for pick and post? So that is how the contract is written is that we will reimburse for travel. They did not give us a price for that. They said we wave the professional service fees to for the training here, but so we won't have to pay for that training. We would just pay for their hotel accommodations and then the cost for the kits at $250
049each. And they is the orange frog. Yes. So, how do we know how many people come? I wonder who's that. I think there were no four. I'm sorry. Four train. Wait, that's four trainers at the train the trainer that that are there. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I meant how many people orange frog sends to us. I'm voting against it anyway because we're going to vote. I want to say too I thought we was going to get trained and do it ourselves. Well, we are getting training. So, they have already had this is a really really extensive program. They've already had teams meetings. They've had to read a book and had meetings about it and and things. So um that is part of the the whole entire trainer train the trainer process. So they are going
050up there to be trained but then they'll come back down here train and and then these trainers from orange frog will come and observe them and certify them as trainers. So they're learning there and then they will come here do the training and be certified while they're observed and coached etc. Well, then here here's when I looked at this. I know we discussed the $25,000, but there's actually more in this than $25,000 mo which we're not seeing. Am I right about that? I mean, then it is over $25,000 if we vote in the affirmative of this because it's going to be over 25,000. Well, that's why it's on here because it's at least So, we don't know how much it is, right? Well, it it is $25,000 plus reasonable fees. We would we will we
051would work that out. They would say at a a hotel, you know, I I would anticipate it's a week. Well, it's not like we have the register or whatever here to stay in. So, I mean, it's limited option. I would just ballpark it. It's not going to be more than $3,500 in a generous week for two people. Agreed. I was going to say 2500. That's that at at most. You know, we'll pay mileage. We'll pay pay the mileage and hotel accommodations. I'm sure they'll be as economical as possible. But it does, you realize it does open the possibility that they could go up there and go crazy and party and all kinds of things. We're not limited in any way. Well, that's them coming here. So, there's only so much you can party here really.
052Yeah, that's what I said. It's not like anybody has room service for not our people for their people coming here. We're paying our people. We are paying out of professional. Well, actually, we're paying for that out of step seven. So, we're not approving that. Yes, we did approve that in advance. Yes, that was put on a PE card. All that was put on the P card already. We the board 25. So, we don't need to do that. It's below 25,000. We don't have to approve it. I I get the feeling I think what some are thinking here is is because this is part of the cost of the whole package. It's exceeding 25,000 is ultimately I think the concern. Am I correct? That was my concern. You mean the part that's already been spent? Well,
053you take that and add it to this and it exceeds 25,000. Correct. I think that's the concern. That that is a good point. That total was about $14,000 for the I thought we paying our people. Well, by the time the registration, we already did that. We didn't have to prove it. It was about $14,000. By the time we paid mileage and premiums, it will be about $14,000 for that. So, typically when when we approve expenditures over 25,000, is that usually like individual payments or programs? That's why I don't maybe that's the confusion. I I think that's a a valid point. I don't think we looked at it from that perspective. Is that typically what we do is approve it as a whole program? Yes. And we didn't do that this time. Okay. Got a question.
054In addition to this program being off for administration, central office people and administrators, that's that's pretty much it. Um, I mean, who determines the hundred people? Let's say we've got a 100 books we paid for. Who determines that? You and and Rosemary and Mr. Toman or Yeah, that would be that would be a decision of an administrator. Yeah. Yeah. That's a that's day-to-day operations. That would trade administrators. I didn't I didn't expect it to come from us. I was just curious. So, and if we run into having that list is more than a hundred people, then we're on the hook for more books. But the the the training kits are those for the trainers though, the ones that will be training, the 100 training kits. Yeah. The the training kits, those 100 kits will be
055the recipients of the training, right? The administrators. Yes. Right. And then they would work with their their staff. Yes. And then they could just share what they've learned and apply it. You know, this is certainly this is more leadership training. So, it's certainly not for every Mercer County employee. So, if we tabled this tonight, what what would that problems would that cause? Any brought it back the next meeting when Mr. Toman's here to maybe address the issues and we could get some more details. Yeah. I I know they planned to book it while they were there, which is why um I Is there a discount while they're there? No. Okay. No, I think that's just normally the process. I I can just let them know. I was just asking if that was an option. I'm
056not sure how what everyone's thoughts are, but I can I see everybody's point of view on this. I I look at it both ways. Uh my own opinion is is we've spent a significant amount of money getting them trained. We need to finish up the training and then we need to look at what happened here and make sure it doesn't happen again. It's not a it is not a waste of money. I'll start there. If if the belief is maybe we're just throwing money around, it's not. When we train in these programs, uh it benefits the people that are being trained and they also have the experience of of training others which benefits our our staff. When you're training, you're learning. It's something for our administrators because the later the training that's a little bit
057later doesn't include our administrators at all. So that's a large group of people that would not be getting any of this leadership training. Um and I think that's important. So that's a different perspective on it. Um it is something we need to clean up though. We need to make sure that if we if we have a training program we know the entire cost at the beginning I like to pursue the idea stable for next time. Again is there an issue with that because I think that's the way to avoid this happening in the future is to say no, we want the total cost or at least an estimate near estimate of the total cost up front before we vote. So I don't table if we if we table it, does that create a problem? That's
058what I was asking. Well, it it does from a parliamentary standpoint. If we table it, it can't be brought up again until the end of the the terms of the three sitting board members that goes up. When you table it, you're putting it off. It would be technically setting it aside for the next Well, there's is there another term we setting it aside. Okay. It's I don't know the right term. I'm using the concept. Somebody says, well, you tabled it and you know what that means. I don't know what that means obviously, but whatever term you think is appropriate. I don't I was just thinking that if I mean I wasn't saying that's what I thought we should do, but I wanted to know what the options were if we do so, but I would
059think that it would be okay if we, you know, can't schedule it at this time. I would think that it would be okay. I can get back look at the contract and and make sure that we are nailed down on exactly what the cost will be and go back to them if you need to and get some clarification. Yes, I'll do that on the additional so that we'll have the entire cost again. I I don't think it would be more than $2,500, but I'll find that out for sure. I mean, I'm not I'm not saying this was the intent, but it it could come across, which I think is what's happened. I'm not saying to me personally, but it could come across as a way to try to scoot the $25,000 limit when the whole
060budget is not presented up front. So, we want we want to, like I said, I don't I'm not saying that's the intent, but we don't want to give that impression either, you know. No, typically we we do our best to estimate the entire purchase. Um, we're we're doing that with te textbooks right now. Um, and actually a vendor asked one of our administrators, "Can we break it up by prek, KK K?" And she's like, "No, we cannot do that. We have to have it all into one. We have to look at it all as one." So that we do try that. Well, I mean, the fact that that's never come up in the entire time I've been on the board shows that you do do it well. So, no offense about that at all, but
061Okay. So, do we need a motion to put it aside or just do it? What I'll do then as chair is I will lay it aside until the next board meeting. We will take no action on the motion or the second. I'm not sure that's exactly the way to do it, but that's how we're going to do it. Put it back on the agenda for the next meeting agenda and we'll deal with it. Okay. All right. Board memo number 346 is a source quote for Princeton Middle School auditorium seating. As everyone knows, uh we had some flooding and it did some serious damage to Princeton Middle School's auditorium seating. So, we requested pricing from RM Huffman, which is a source well contract uh for replacement of the auditorium seating damaged during the flooding. Uh, as
062many know, we're entitled and allowed to purchase directly from a vendor without competitive bidding if it's a legitimate government purchasing cooperative, and in this case, RM Huffman is. The total price for the removal of old and installation of new seating is $286,97, which includes bonds. Superintendent recommends approval of removal of the old and installation of new auditorium seating at Princeton Middle School to RM Husman in the amount of $286,97. Excess levy funds will be used to pay any expenses not covered by our flood insurance and by FEMA. Is there a motion to approve? Is there a second? Second. There's a motion and a second. Questions, comments, or discussion? Are we removing replacing all the seating, not just the flooding? Is this This is the whole which is what Leslie had recommended before I remember. Yes.
063I mentioned that briefly in an update I think at the last meeting that the first 12 rows were damaged and they're that old they're very old probably from the 50s um kind of woven fabric so with thick cushions and so the first 12 rows they said they could not clean that you know it's the standard of care to dispose of those we can't get those same chairs back so my recommendation is that we pay the difference out of excess levy and replace all of those seats from 1950. Um, I will also say that Princeton Middle has done a lot of work themselves. They've raised a significant amount of money. They've um painted their lockers. They've done a lot with, you know, their gym. They've painted themselves. They they've taken a lot of effort. They're they
064just raised enough money for a new um sound system. And that bid was open this week. Last week, today's Monday. That bid was opened last week. So, they are investing in in that as well. These are very nice. They have there still be cushion, not the premium cushion, but cushion with panels on the side. If it is my recommendation, we can just replace the first 12 rows and revise this and I can bring it back next time if you'd prefer. If they're 70 years old, that's probably time to Well, and FEMA's going to cover the ones that are damaged. and our insurance our insurance and fever will cover the first 12 rows. Yes, 100%. I don't have I still don't have a a quote back or any estimate back from the adjuster to to know
065what that is, but we do have funds. We're working on the budget right now. We do have funds in the excess levy to cover this. So, um or I wouldn't be recommending that as well. Tom, if it damaged the first 12 rows, I've been in that thing. What was was the structural integrity of the the stage itself looked at to make sure it wasn't damaged also? Yeah, Surf Pro did some remediation underneath. They had to cut off the front and get up underneath and pull there really wasn't anything under. So, as far as the structural the front is more of a facade. Yeah. So, it didn't The structure itself really didn't get any damage. Gotcha. Some storage. They had some Christmas trees and some things under there that had to be thrown away. Nothing major.
066Nothing compared to Spanish. Thank you. What's the seating in that auditorium? How many seats are in there? Sixish. Six to seven. I think it's it's pretty substantial. It's a large. And how many students are currently at the school? Quite a fiveish resume. It's a little over 600. Okay. Any other questions? All right. Then on the motion, all in favor signify by saying I. I. Opposed? Likewise. That motion carries. Five in favor and none opposed. Board amendment number 347 is professional development with Mike Mcclanahan. At the board's request, we want to contract with Mike Mlanahan for plan two of ongoing professional development. It plan will take approximately six months to complete. It will include six large group training sessions and team coaching as well as individual coaching. The training plan is $21,000 in total and will
067be paid out of general board funds. Is there a motion to approve? So move. Is there a second? Second. There's a motion and a second. Questions, comments, or discussion? There appearing to be none on the motion. All in favor signify by saying I. I. Opposed. Likewise. That motion carries. Five in favor and none opposed. Last action item on the agenda is board amendment number 348 which is personnel. And you should have received when you got here today a personnel agenda. I'm assuming there are some addendum changes or not. There are not. There are none. Okay. Just for our just hard copy. All the decisions right. And and since the media is not here, we'll just put it out over streaming. You know, they said we cut 40 positions. Well, guess what? We're we're bringing people
068back. Uh it's it's a routine thing that happens year in and year out. And typically, when Dr. Philip says we have to cut 40, the first question she's asked is, "Will they have jobs?" And the answer is yes, we should have jobs for them. So, um they of course they won't publicize that we hired them all back. So, you know, it's frustrating, but it is how it is what it is. Is there a motion to approve the personnel agenda? Move to approve. Second. Okay, I guess that one's going to pass. Huh. Any discussion on the motion? Any desire to go in executive session to discuss any of the matter, any of the positions? Then on the motion, all in favor signify by saying I. I oppose. Likewise. That motion carries. Five in favor and none
069opposed. Last item on the agenda is discussion. That would be administrative updates. Thank you, President Prudish. I do not have any additional administrative updates and we'll just go around the room. Rosemary, do you have anything? Amber, you have anything? Danielle, are we getting a new program in here? you have your she has getting cyber security. All right. And are we doing something with uh esports? That is part of that position. So we advertise for coding AI and game design. That's the cluster and then there are two branches out of it. You can do esports and you can do cyber security. So we're hoping to get somebody that would be certified and able to teach both pathways. All right. And who are we working with on the the these programs? Are we working with a higher
070ed institution? Yeah, we're working with Marshall, but Concord actually reached out and we're going to tour their esports and then we're working with McDow. Um McDow came up and did some they they spent a couple days with us um on some CTE programs and they actually got a huge grant on esports. So, we're going to go down and see their esports esports facility and they're going to help us with that. And what about the A program? The position is advertised right now. We don't know what we're going to do about the greenhouse right now. It's looking like it would almost be more economical to purchase a smaller greenhouse at Pike View than it would be to take this one down, try to put it back up. The problem with this greenhouse is when they were
071building it, and you know, we had students that helped with that project as well. There are places that like to welding welding them. We had areas that they had to do welding to to get parts to stay together and to make things work. Um, and if we take it apart, it's going to be really breaking it down, cutting through all of that metal because it's not anything that's been fitted. Um, and it was built to stay, you know, that was the intent that it would stay right there. the baffling and the stuff that's on the outside of it that some of that is already in pretty bad shape at the point where we were needing to replace it. So, our hope was that we could get the frame part down, get it to Pipe View
072and reassemble, but it looks like what it would take to do that is not going to be anything that we could do as a school. We'd have to hire somebody to come in and professionally, you know, take it down um to try to move it. And in looking at cost, Danielle and and Anna have been looking at that and looking at cost. They could do a greenhouse that would not be quite as large and take everything that's in this greenhouse. You know, we have the grow lights, we have the hydroponics, we've got several things in there that could still go. Um, a lot of equipment because she had ordered like like a conveyor belt for things, several things like that. All of that can go, but the the greenhouse itself is it's become more of
073a challenge as to how we say if it comes down, it's not going back up. Could we and then if we did that, if we got a new one, would we take the current one down or we You could do that. You could let Princeton use it. Their greenhouse is in pretty rough shape. Princon could use it. My um culinary teacher would like to do like herbs and spices, smaller scale stuff. Um so she could do that in there. So, you do think it's still usable because it sounded like it was questionable. Yeah, we would still use it. It just wouldn't be for an A program. Yeah. And the egg program for the public is going where? It'll still be a a tech a CTE program. It will be a CTE and it'll actually be
074open to the middle school. Anna and Josh are going to talk about what that will look like, but a one can actually be taught to eighth graders. Like Spanish and algebra can be taught. So, they can get a high school credit in eighth grade for that. Yeehaw. The hardest part with this position is a is the one thing that you cannot pick a practice for. It is actually a degree, a teaching degree, and so you're limited to who can hire. We haven't gotten a grid sheet yet, but the job came down. So, I have a pretty good clue, but but tell me why. When you look at our A students over the past 10 years, I would say 80 to 85% of them came from Pike View. Oh, really? Um, the majority of students already
075came from Pike View. Pike View has all that land. They've got space. You know, we had chickens and a baby lamb out here in the middle of the compound on Stafford. Pike View has room for that. So, it just kind of makes sense to go somewhere with more room. Well, and if we can bust the other kids from the other schools to here, we can bust them there. I just big fields of corn and waving out there or anything like that. Maybe. I mean, you never know, but horse and cattle. A also does SAE um I can't remember what it stands for, but like work-based learning um for a and a lot of their experiences are in the Pike View area. Mercer Springs Farm, the Staffords, you know, those places already host interns. So it
076just kind of makes sense to be more on that side of the county because it's a lot more rural. Okay, makes sense. Lots lots of farms out there. Thank you. Cattle primarily. Thank you. I think Leslie. Yeah. So I do have a few things. Um, our child nutrition director has worked very hard with especially the city of Bluefield and to work on the summer summer program update. The city of Bluefield is giving her $10,000 to spend on um some non-p perishable foods for student this summer. So, she's worked with them. They're they've got a great program. They're going to um be in Bluefield Stley Avenue at First Christian Church. Greater Mount Zion in Bluefield. They're going to be at the Moka Fire Department, the Maltcom Fire Department, Bluefield Fitness, and Oakville Ruron. And then one
077day they're going to go to the Bram Bramwell train depot. So they'll take their trailer, their that the food truck. Yes, thank you. They'll take their food truck and then Bluefield is helping with some activities and and they'll have some people have some activities there that they'll advertise that. So, we'll be providing them reimburseable meals and she's using most most of of our food that we've bought from the USDA. Um, she got a grant for $2,000 from the state. She approached them for that. So, they gave her that. That'll cover the salaries of all the employees. Food costs should be minimal and um she's trying to cover she listened and last year to the board and we're we're going to hit other areas. So, we'll see how it goes this year. That's awesome. I also
078wanted to mention um some people have seen the article that uh surplus inventory was sold in another county on eBay and so Mr. Toman and I talked about that and I I went through our process with him again. Brent and I work very closely especially on IT um products. We use gov deals to auction our surplus inventory that you approved to be auctioned in in the p. We started that last year which was what most counties are doing now. And um we we have a a system of checks and balances in place related to that. Could it still happen? Yes, it could still happen. One of the things that I would like to do is by law, by code, we're required to do a physical inventory of all of our assets twice a year. We
079don't really have separate individuals to do that. So, the auditor, Chastity Whitlo, has been um it it was designed the positions were designed that the person that works with Tom, the coordinator of services, and the auditor do those. that's been kind of a revolving door in that position. So, we we did do an audit last year with with those two. However, my recommendation is that I would like to to take this I know you can't take action, but I will be bringing this to you as a recommendation that we outsource that you can do half every year. So, we can come up with a rotation. We can do but I do think that that is something and Brett and I discussed it as well as Mr. Tman and I that that is something that we
080would like to bring to the board that we have an an accounting group. Some counties use settle and stomach out of Charleston. We depend on who who bid, but that's what we would like to look at doing as well. One thing that I also wanted to mention is we finally we we did get at the end of the legislature sessions the legislative sessions we did get our final um numbers for budget we're working on that would wanted to know if you all would like to have a work session we could we will not be bringing the final budget until the 27th the meeting of the 27th it has to be finished 10 days before that. So if you want a if you want a work session to to discuss this, we could either do it
081before the board meeting on the 12th or sometime that week of the 12th. Last year we had it after that um after the the meeting on the second Tuesday in April, but we we didn't have any numbers yet from the state. What day are you thinking about? I mean, I would be fine before that before that board meeting. We probably need an hour at most. Um, so we'd start our board meeting at 5ish, depending on how much That's not the other one. We're starting early already, is it? Okay. It it would depend on on We need to make sure that we don't do a large group of of um presentations. If we do that, then starting early is not a problem. Everybody good with five o'clock on the 12th? May 12th. Is that what we're
082talking about? Yes. Yeah, that's what I start 27 26 26 27th 27thmorial. Yeah, we bumped it Tuesday because of the holiday. Everybody good? Five o'clock from the 12th. remember. Okay, that works. Anything else? Thank you. Anybody else? Anyone? Let's talk about something. Well, I do want to mention something in in as regards the uh work session and that is we do need to have a work session sometime and I'm going to leave it to administration to decide the best timing. But before we roll into the next uh school year, we need to be talking about how we're going to handle u expulsions moving forward because we we've all kind of gotten dissatisfied with the process we're doing right now. and and not in terms of deciding it, but the the outcome and the numbers. Uh
083there's a better way. We just need to figure out what that is. And there's enough smart people around here to figure out the best way. Uh I have communicated with community connections and they're certainly willing to do uh education courses for the kids and we have the drug court in Mercer County we could utilize. Um so there's alternatives to doing this. We just need to sit down and work it out. And that's a work session type of issue. That's something we need to sit down and work through. Absolutely. We're going to have another legislative spring break. That's on my list. The legisle didn't do us any favor. No, they didn't. I mean, they're saying cell policy. They turned around when we already have in places more. They didn't create a cell phone policy. They said
084basically you can get rid of phones if you want to. It's up to the local, right? We're not going to do anything to aggravate anybody. We'll let you do that. So, they probably did do us a favor. They left it up to us, right? They left it up to us, right? Yes. They don't want to be I would say they did us a favor. That's what we want them to do with everything. I wish they did that with everything, but it's only the things they're worried about that they don't want to do it with. Except for the financing. That's my Anything else to come before the board this evening? Move. We journ. Any objection? We're going on.