001water. Good e good evening everybody. Uh it is April the 14th, 2025 and it is just a little past 6 p.m. Uh all board members are present along with the superintendent. Uh we are in regular session for the Mer County Board of Education here at the tech center. Um, let's do the pledge of allegiance. 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. Our favorite part of every board meeting is when we get to recognize our students for all the wonderful things they're out there doing. And tonight we've got some athletes we want to recognize. So if the board will come down in front, we'll do our recognitions. Did you want water? No, I'm
002good. Thank you. Paul need one. I got one right there. Paul needs one. You need one. You're welcome. have. Okay, as President Prudich said, our favorite part of any board meeting is when we have the opportunity to have board recognizes. Our first for this evening is certificate of achievement for the 2025 Western State basketball tournament. Montcom High School's boys basketball team had an amazing basketball season this year and made it to the 2025 West Virginia State Basketball Tournament. This is the first time since 1978 that Montcom's basketball team has made it to the tournaments. We want to recognize each of you for your hard work and dedication that you showed this year. Go Generals. So, I'm going to call all of you down. Want them all at once. Whole team. One at a time. One
003at a time. Yeah. Okay. BJ Allen, he's a baseball game. Sorry, Tristan Klein. [Applause] I think I knew that. Okay. Landon Clower. [Applause] team up. was pretty much successful. Next we have Logan Clower. [Applause] Hey, Tyler Hagermanerman. [Applause] Isaac Moore. [Applause] Corbin Nun also at baseball. Donovan Reed. [Applause] Congratulations. Tyler Stevenson, another baseball player. Dylan Thomasson. [Applause] and Xavier Willis. [Applause] I'm hearing your own. I didn't say that. I don't know. Okay. We'd also like head coach Adam [Applause] Havens. also have assistant coach Cory Walker. [Applause] All right, everybody take pictures a little bit. So, uh, let's see. So, Mr. James is at a ball game this evening. So, he and I got to go up and watch the game as he only two living around here, members of the 78 team that that went
004up. And I'm telling you how excited we were. We could not expect it. We were so thrilled uh for the generals to go upstate and and tell you the crowd was awesome. The kids were awesome. They played intense to the very last minute. It didn't matter what school was. They were busting it to the very last minute. They did everything they could do to be successful and they were. And we are so very proud of you guys. Uh it's it's good for the community. It's good for the school. It fires people up and that's what we want. Now, how are all your grades doing? All right. I like hearing that. I like hearing that. All right, guys. So, we're we got one senior on this crew. Oh, yeah. So, we got one senior in the
005group. So, we're anticipating we'll do this again next year, guys. We we have a whole faith of you. You're going to grow and be better and work all summer and get get better. So, congratulations and we're very proud of you guys. really good picture. Okay, look at [Laughter] one more. Okay, our next award is certificate of achievement. West Virginia Class doubleA all state boys basketball first team. Bluefield High School student Jace Smith has been chosen as a member of the West Virginia class all state boys first team. Congratulations, [Applause] Jace. All right. Now you see the real deal. What year are you? You're a junior. So you do this again next year. We're not done yet. A little bit. So you enjoy basketball? Are you great? Doing good with your race. I love that. You
006keep working hard. You keep doing what you're supposed to do. We're very thrilled for you. He lost his sophomore. Well, you know, you can't make up for it next year. Congratulations. [Applause] All right, folks. We're going to give you a minute if you want to leave. You are welcome to stay. You want to go? Now's the time. See y'all. Thank you. Ow. They're good looking. They all are. Going down. asked the reed kid if he was relation to Willis boys. It would have boys were teasing still dumb. But they were a good job. Really did a good job. All right, we're ready to go back on. Uh we've done our recognitions. We're now for superintendent's opening remarks. President Purich, I want to let you know Dr. Atkins and I went to the WBASA and the
007professional development the general meeting and that was uh last Thursday and Friday and we had mainly was focused on facilities in the SBA and and uh from the state department and u this year I I don't know if Tom uh Mr. Atkins, I'm going to give you guys this piece of information, but they're going to High County is going to host the facility conference and uh they want to know if anybody else was interested and uh somebody mentioned my ear, boy, that'd be neat. Mercer County and then I let it out. So, we I said we'd be willing to host the following year the facilities and we'd have two newer schools. We have the Chuck Mthena Center to do anything. So, uh we may uh they said they'd look at that and that'd be something
008to bring down. have uh the northern panhandle have hosting it this year and then we do something. So the gentleman from Mr. From that's over the facilities in Ohio County schools is the gentleman I spoke to and um um gosh I can't think of the one guy with the facilities um with the facility department not um yeah Ken Huger I known Ken for um almost 25 years uh being around Ken Hugert. So he I mentioned him along with the SBA with um Andy Neptune and uh maybe we'll host that. Uh but we'd have some work to do, but that'd be pretty interesting to do to host the state facility director's meeting. Um pretty uh proud of uh what Dr. Philip Pek and a few uh extra help that she had with that with Jenny Collis,
009but we hosted or we was at the Bluefield State uh University annual spring career fair and that was a pretty neat setup. and had a chance to walk through and see everything going on there. You know, they do the recruiting and they u gear up even brought over what grade was that? Eighth graders and they did some parts along with the adults going through uh different things of uh career opportunities out there. But it was a good day. Also, Kim Williams from Bluefield High School was finance secretary was named P personnel of the year, service personnel of the year, which you guys all attended. Just want to state that we had a nice training uh on March 26th. Uh Mr. Hodgeges, Mr. Bailey, and President Prudich attended, but we had Mike Mlanahan with a purpose
010driven management training that took place with a lot of our central office here, and it was a good uh solid two hours training. And uh I thought it was very wellreceived and a lot of little things that we talked about and what was our takeaways and things like that. So, uh, I thought it went very well. A little pivot. Teacher of the year deadline was today to get to us and that was due to Mrs. Harrison at 33rd 3:00 today. Uh, change in the announcement. If we had the announcement on the 6th, the state package is due that following day on the 12th. So when I get that uh selected by a group of art leaders from our office, we're going to do something different on that selection because the that day it's just too
011quick. I think it's like a 4 day or was a six day turnaround to do that. So the name of the winner will already be known that day of the 12th. But we're going to do like a publisher clearing house surprise visit and announce it that way. And I'll let you all know to see if you're available to do that with us. We don't have a date. We want to surprise the teacher of the year and do it that way. So, wanted to let you know that change. Tomorrow we have um the Timberwood Elementary School tour with the media. We have a bus that's going to pick uh anybody up here from as you all if you wish to and then we're going to pick the media up. If they don't meet us here, they'll
012meet us at Brush Fork Armory on a bus that tour the uh facility. We do have um the Blue Well Elementary and Brush Fork Elementary staff is hungry to get over and at least take a peek. So, we said since we invited the media, we're going to do that on Friday and that's going to be at 10:00. The bus is going to pick up the staff so we don't get all the different cars up there with the possible nails or anything with construction. Bus is going to pick start at Blue Well that morning and then pick up brush fork and they're going to be up at the facility at uh 10:00. I believe I'm correct on all that with M. Dr. Atkins and Mr. Atkins. So, gotcha. The calendar waiver was verbally denied through a
013text message from I was supposed to know Thursday night and then they said see us uh Friday morning, but uh state superintendent uh sent me a text is denied. They looked at flood issues. Um I asked for official letter that they said they get. I haven't received it to this date. I did text uh Jeff Kelly this morning to see and I have not got a response back, but they said they only looked at flood issues. We had, I believe, only the one day. Is that correct? That we had one out of the the days. The 19th was, is that correct? What day was it? Yeah, 19th was our only flood day. They said they specifically looked at flood days on that. So, right now, once I get official that, I'll let you know, but
014wanted to put an announcement, but then I was want to make it official to do that. Didn't want to shoot it out on social media with a denial. Uh, but wanted to say that here for this date. So that Wednesday of spring break, Thursday and Friday will be full days for staff and students. So wanted to share that with you. Also on the 25th through the 30th, that's where uh Mrs. Stanley, Mrs. Harden, and Mr. Belchure and I will go to u the ASA transformational innovation consortium trip to Google headquarters in Stanford. So I got that coming up. also have four of our staff uh Jordan uh Angel, Dr. Philip Peek, Mrs. Huddle, Miss Huddle, and Mrs. Reich will be doing the happiness advantage, the orange frog train to trainer. I have uh witnessed some
015of that through my years with ASA and uh it's very much supported by the Association of School Administrators uh group, but they're will be going to um Alexandri, Virginia on that April 29th. It's a three-day training, train to trainer, and we'll come back and implement it throughout our system. Uh the orange frog that I gave you, I think books on that and uh few things. End of the year training. I believe Mr. Bailey and Mr. Prudish will be attending that along with myself. It's a one-day training, end of the year, wrapping up what happened with the legislature and all those things going on. I think it's mainly through Howard Sufer. We got the teacher year banquet on Tuesday, May 6th at 6 p.m. And then updates from flood damage of Spanishburg, Oakville, the board office.
016Anything else? Um, Mrs. Wellman, Mr. Atkins, you want to add on that? We was waiting for some adjusters information from the insurance, but some of those things we got to do at our bottom floor of our uh of U the board office. We got some stuff at Princeton Middle in the auditorium. A few things there I may have missed, but u anything else you want to add on that? We're still waiting on some information on what the repairs and when we're going to do that. Correct. is on what isn't covered by policy. I do expect that same half million coverage will be also covered. Um so we we are waiting just to get the final report from the insurance company um just to see exactly how much damage but we we have already started I
017contacted an engineer to ask them to come down and help us write specs to get the fitting started to redo all of the construction. We'll have sheetrock and floor tiles and um various things like that at Spanishburg and Oakville. Um have we FEMA does flood remediation in places that are subject to flooding? Spanishburg would be a trip, but I think Oakville probably could get some remediation that might help. We did talk about that and I actually contacted Thompson and Linton. I think five times to try to get them to um contact me back to see if they had someone since they're local, but I never had someone call me back. So, we will have to advertise probably for that if we want to to do remediation. Okay. Um they they did help us. Thompson and
018Linton helped us with the flood mitigation at Princeton Middle. I don't know if you remember that was when I first started like 2012. And we did that. We did a good job. We really did do a good job. Yes. We we just have a little bit more there and it would have kept it out of there. One of the things at Princeton Middle, we do we did lose the first 12 rows of chairs. So, we've gotten quotes to replace those, but of course, they're not going to match. So, one of our decisions is going to be, do we just replace the 12 damaged or do we replace the entire auditorium? My vote is going to be the auditorium. I will tell you because it's going to be mismatched, but that's something that, you know, to
019to do all of those chairs, it's about $250,000. So, we'll have to talk about that. But that's those are the types of things we're starting to look at. Okay. Thank you. Is there a time window on remediation? So, they told me FEMA will take three years. Three years. Three years for FEMA. And and they said don't expect it to move quickly. Um, keep moving forward. and it's a reimbursement situation as well. So, they would reimburse us for the work that we would do. Anybody else? And the last last piece is just the update on uh Timberwood Elementary. You have that. And also, you've received some updates from Mr. Atkins this morning. Uh he beat me at my six o'clock time. I think he was like 5 minutes till or something, but that dinged on me
020on purpose. I I know you did. They beat me and I thought, you know, today's the day. I got you. I woke up a little bit early on. You keep winning. I love it. It was in my drafts. Okay. It was in our my drafts in my email and I was like, you know, we'll get it. Go ahead and get it. We'll get it today. Good. Um, you know, things are still progressing well. We haven't made any uh final decisions on what we're going to do on the back slope where it's slipping a little bit. But, you know, excited for the the visit tomorrow. Uh, everything's going well. We've been working well with Maxim and uh water new gas company. We're doing all the final tins right now trying to get everything up and running
021and um it's really looking amazing. Hopefully everybody can come tomorrow. If you can't um you're it's it will be a prime time. We're going to have the news there and everybody all the all the uh DCI showers I'm sure will be on site uh willing to help us and navigate and Mr. Bowers. He knows the ins and outs of the school much better than I do. But we'll be on site and uh just excited to show off what what we've spent our money on and SBA's money on. How muddy is it up there? Do I need to wear my boots? I wouldn't think so. Okay. Not not today. You going to go run up the bank? We've got You never know. The groundbreaking was pretty rough, wasn't it? So, it's pretty good. Yeah, that was
022pretty that was treacherous. The governor had his Yeah. When he comes pull pulling in that terrible. I've told so many people that story. That was a lot of fun. Right up to drove right up to his chair, didn't he? Yep. Our generator and everything. Yep. Right over top of it. Yep. Still on there. We still on on um schedule? Yes, sir. All right. I I guessed as much, but I just wanted to check. Um, anything else from anybody? No, sir. All righty. Then we have no citizens inputs this afternoon. So, let's get into policy 2322. Dr. Atkins, yes, sir. He turned me off. Um, for elementary, just wanted to note that we have finished up with the Well, this is elementary and middle. Um, finished up with the I Ready EOI testing for grades 1
023through eight. Um we'll be working on kindergarten after um break. We did that a little bit later this year based on curriculum associate research that for kindergarten you start them later in the testing process. So the uh purpose of doing it at this time we do the 12 weeks between uh beginning, middle and end of year and then uh teacher request for a lot of teachers particularly middle school they like to have three or four weeks to know what those final deficits are to target for the GSA. Most schools start GSA that first full weekend in May. I think it's May the 5th or 6th or the week after that. So that gives them time to do that and they'll have that data to really focus on the standards that they may have missed or
024that the kids may have struggled with that they've already taught. That gives them some time to do that. Anything else? Questions of uh Dr. Atkins? Anybody? All right. Well, we have um we finished the boot camps that we had and finished the mastery prep testing and every school did increase from the beginning of the year to the end of the year in math and English. So, I'm real pleased with that. It's not giant steps by any means. Um I've met with each of the principles individually last week. Um I had um the secondary supervisor and the test coordinator in with me and we just discussed their school specifically and the items that the kids had done well on the ones that they had not done well on. Um and they are getting ready for the
025SAT tomorrow. They'll be given with makeup days the next two days after that. Um, I do think that the boot camps proved to be a good thing because we've had parents calling and wanting to know if they could is there any way we can purchase one of those workbooks. The kids used a workbook with some of the activities. They also are because of the interest, they're going to come back. We're going to have a June 16th and an August 11th boot camp days um for any of the kids that would like to come back if they want to redo the SAT in the fall. um or for any of the ones that have not taken it yet just to get ahead extra step up on that. But um I mean I am happy. Bluefield High
026School um actually has come up uh 72 points from the beginning of the year to the end of the year overall. So you know again it's not anything that's great strides but it is improvement. And I do think that um after talking to the principles that the teachers have um accepted the mastery prep and are using it better than they did because you had several with Horizon that just weren't using it. They've all had to use it as part of their evaluation this year. So they're using it some better than others. Um but it it is something that they have in their um in their schedule. Um the other thing let's see we we will have the state department is doing a SAT monitoring around the state this year and we do have one person
027coming um Dr. Von Rudy will be at Pipe View tomorrow while the SAT is being administered and it's just to take back some information of you know what they have been trained on if we're following the procedures and that type of thing. So I think they're they're anxious for him to come. They said they were welcome would welcome him tomorrow. Um, and are they going to go to our two private schools and monitor their SAT? I wish I wish they would just just say and we want to even play. Oh, I agree with you 100%. And I will tell you that hope is not looking good. We we've gone up a lot. We're we're over 470 students right now that have applied for hope for the fall commercial and we have three something this year.
028So we if we can do something to keep selling here, that's what we need. anything we can do that will bring them here. But we have seen some improvements and that's good. Of course, Dr. Atkins mentioned the I Ready and the middle schools have have done well with it and I think that's been an important thing. But other than that, I think that's much where we are. Mrs. Wellman, I think Mrs. Wellman was going to give an update. So, Mr. Dr. Toman asked each of us or the directors to look at policy 2322 and how it pertains to our specific areas. And so I just wanted to briefly tell you how it applies to finance and what we're graded on. Um there are actually 16 factors that the WVDE Office of School Finance um scores
029us on and most of it is is timelines. Our budget has to be submitted by May 30th. you know our financial statements have to be submitted by September 28th. Do we have you know the number of changes in our budget has to be less than three. So there are various factors that they do that one there are three different criteria that focus on our audited financial statements whether we get our unodudited submitted but also that we have no findings another that um we have no repeat findings that we have an unmodified opinion. We met all of those criteria. Um, it includes training that I'm mand that I mandatorily have to attend. Um, if I don't attend, they deduct points for that. All of our submissions throughout the year are graded, whether we submit those on
030time. Important is that we have to have at least 3% of the revenue budgeted um in reserve. If so, we get 10 points for that. we get an additional 10 points if we meet the WVDE and the um government finance office association recommendation of 16.67. So um that that's really the goal that they they encourage us to try to reach is that 16.67. We have to draw down funds quarterly. We do that monthly. We have to do journal entries, bank reconciliations. Our service personnel overtime has to be less than 5% of the regular compensation. We have no problems meeting that. We manage overtime very well. Um and then one of the final factors is that your treasurer has to be here less than or more than three years. We do not get those points. So
031we automatically lose 10 points for that as well. But um basically we have to have out of 150 possible points we have to have a 105 to be able to maintain our positive rating for 2322. Um we did last year. Our our goal is of course to meet that. We're on track to meet that or you know we will not have a perfect score but but we do not expect to have any deficiencies there as well. Great questions. Okay. Anyone else on 2322 and ready? Some of you huddle. Um so we did receive our ADA results um last week and so I cannot talk to the results yet they're considered embargoed. We have met with our steering committee and when those are publicly released then I can share our our scores with you on how
032special ed is rated. We did receive a grant. We wrote a grant for um a work a simulated work environment and we did receive it. It's $39,875. We will we're working with Don Green to place that out on a bid and we will place that classroom at Bluefield High School. So, it's a work environment for all of our special ed kids to go into and to practice job skills. That's great. Yeah. Any questions? And that's the first in Southern West Virginia that'll have that. So, that's great. What did you say? I'm sorry. How would the transportation be handled? It's just at Bluefield High School. I can write a grant next year for the other high schools, but we placed it there because they have a high number of special ed kids versus some of And
033Princeton High has the greenhouse and some of those things for our special ed kids. And then from my understanding, you may be getting the agriculture program. Is that correct? We hope. Um so some so our kids can go into that. That's great. That's great. Congratulations. Thank you. I believe that's it, isn't it? 23:22. All righty. Thank you so much. We'll move into the business part of the agenda then. Approval of minutes for the March 24, 2025 a.m. meeting, March 242 p.m. meeting, the March 31:25 meeting, and the April 7 2025 meeting. Is there a motion to approve? Is there a second? There's a motion and a second. Are there any additions, corrections, or deletions in the minutes? There appearing to be none on the motion. All in favor signify by saying I. I. Oppose. Likewise.
034That motion carries. Five in favor and none opposed. We have one item under old business which is policy board member number 272 and it's the second reading of policy K5, parent and family engagement. Uh it's being considered to update policy changes, uh clarify language and make grammatical changes. No comments were received while it was out on public comment. Superintendent recommends approval. Is there a motion to approve? Move. Is there a 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. Oppose. Likewise. That motion carries. Five in favor and none opposed. So, let's go through the consent agenda here. All right. My computer's a little wonky this evening, but we'll get through it. So, board memo number 307 is
035RFP number 329, which is a renewal one of local and or long distance. Renewal pricing was requested from Frontier Communications under RFP 329 for local and long distance. Uh, Frontier submitted renewal pricing with no increases. Uh, the fiscal year expenses for 2122 was 29,58319. Superintendent recommends approval of RFP number 329 to local for local and longdistance renewal one to Frontier Communications for that amount. Board memo number 308 is bid number 945 bread renewal number two. Uh this bid was received from Bimbo Bakeries to pro to supply bread products for breakfast and lunch for the 2526 school year. There is no price increase. Superintendent recommends approval of rule renewal number two bid number 945 to Bimbo bakeries expenditures for the 2324 year were 50,23321 year to date we've spent 29,83952 board amendment number 309 is a
036placement of a student from Liberty University. They're requesting a student be placed in Mercer County schools to complete hours for applied research uh in education course. Individual will be placed at Bluefield Intermediate and as always, placement is contingent upon the required forms, an acceptable background check, and a university naming a site supervisor. Board amendment number 310 is a resolution that I'm going to read here in just a second. It's a declaration that the first Friday in May shall be designated as Mercer County Schools school on our school calendar as Mercer County Schools employees day. A day to celebrate and reflect upon the good work all our employees engage in in our public schools. Superintendent recommends approval. So, let me get down here where I can read it. Actually, I got it right here. Whereas the
037employees of Merch County Public Schools work tirelessly to improve the lives of our children through education and support. Whereas the first Friday of May provides an opportunity to reflect upon the good works of these dedicated employees. Whereas recognizing and celebrating the contribution of these professionals encourages continued excellence in their work and serves to convey our appreciation for their tireless commitment to the education and well-being of our children. Therefore, be it resolved the Mercer County Board of Education declares the first Friday of May as Mercer County Schools Employees Day to be celebrated annually to honor and recognize the contributions of all public school employees, including teachers, administrators, support staff, and others who work diligently to ensure the success of our students. Be it further resolved that the Mur County Board of Education encourages all citizens to
038join us in recognizing and thanking our public school employees on this day for the significant role they play in the success of our community. Signed April 14, 2025. Gregory S. Prudish Mer County Board of Education. We got to vote on it first. I know it's going to pass, but hey. Okay. All right. So the next one is board member number 311 which is a proclamation for teacher appreciation week May 5 to May 9 of 2025. Uh it is May 6, 2025 is national teacher day. The entire week is is proclamation for appreciation week for teachers. The proclamation reads as follows. I, Edward Toman, superintendent of Mer County Schools, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the board of education, do hereby proclaim May the 6th, 2025 is National Teacher Appreciation Day and May
0395th through May 9th, 2025 is National Teacher Appreciation Week. I call upon students and parents to recognize the hard work and dedication of our county's teachers and to observe this day and this week by supporting our teachers. Therefore, I, Gregory Prudich, on behalf of the Mercer County Board of Education, do affirm the proclamation that May 5th to May the 9th, 2025 is National Teacher Appreciation Week, Sunday, the 14th day of April, 2025. All right. Board amendment number 312 is purchase of mastery prep materials and boot camp sessions using Gear Up West Virginia SVW funds. In compliance with policy, uh, Gear Up, Southern West Virginia seeks approval to purchase mastery prep materials, including SAT workbooks and boot camp inerson SAT prep sessions, uh, for their cohort students. This cohort includes classes of 2028 and 2029. Total
040cost for,300 student workbooks and 13 in-person SAT boot camps is 65,000. The funding is provided through Gear Up uh, South Southern West Virginia grant. Superintendent recommends approval. Let's see here. Board memo number 313 is a request from ACDS for observation. The West Virginia apprenticeship for child development specialists uh has requested apprenticeship program uh Dr. Pamela Wadd, instructor to observe the following students for at least one hour during the spring semester as part of course requirements. Uh the students must be employed in the field of early childhood education and working directly with children for a minimum of 20 hours per week. Board memo number 314, which is the last item on the consent agenda, is addition to our approved reading list. Mercer County Reading List Committee would like to add Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingolver to
041the 12th grade approved reading list. Uh you had me sold when it said it's set in the mountains of southern Appalachia. Uh, it's a story of a boy born to a teenage single mom in a single wide trailer. Um, the novel was excellent choice for 12th grade literature class due to its literary depth and contemporary relevance. Superintendent recommends approval. So, that's one I got. The next one's payment of invoices. Okay. It wasn't on my It's not on mine. I had a I had a glitch, guys. I'm I had a glitch today. So, it's fine. We'll we'll we'll add it. No problem. Forward member 315 is payment of invoices. Attached is a list of the invoices for payment of the month of April. The vendors and amounts are available on your screen. Actual checks have been
042written are being held by the office of treasury pending consideration by the school board. Checks will be issued to vendors upon approval. That completes the consent agenda. Thank you for that. I didn't want to have to go over that twice. So, uh, is there a motion to approve the consent agenda? Is there a second? Second. There's a motion and a second. Any questions about the consent agenda? There appear to be none. On the motion, all in favor signify by saying I. I. Oppose. Likewise. Let's go right ahead. Yeah. Well, I won't say anything like they're already making 600 times what they did just four years ago. So, did I say that out loud? I'm sorry. Yeah, you got to take what you can get right in this day and time. All right. Under additional business,
043board amendment number 316 is a one-time voluntary extension of PEIA coverage. So PIA coverage is offered to employees on a fiscal year basis July 1 to July 30th of each year. Western Code permits an extension to professional employees affected by RIFFs through August 31st. However, PEI offers the board the options to voluntarily extend the coverage for 60 days to service personnel also affected by RIFFs. Employee would continue to pay their portion for July and August and the board would pay our portion. This allows additional time for employees to be placed in full-time positions at the start of the new school year. Superintendent recommends approval of voluntary extending PEIA coverage through July and August of 2025 to service personnel affected by riffs in 2025. Is there a motion to approve? Is there a second? Second. There's
044a 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. All right. Here we go. Okay. Board member number 317 is a resolution for enhancing collaboration with military organizations and providing supports to military families. Mercer County Schools is proud to announce our application for designation as a Purple Star Award District. A recognition that signifies our commitment to fostering a supportive and welcoming environment for military connected students and their families. By earning this distinction, we would be designated as the Purple Star Awards School. Uh reinforcing our dedication to honoring and assisting those who serve our nation. As part of this initiative, there are certain requirements we have to meet and we
045have to actively participate in the in the Purple Up Day, a statewide observation. The resolution reaffirms our district commitment to creating an inclusive, understanding, and resourcerich environment for military families. Superintendent recommends approval. Is there a motion to approve? So move. Is there a 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. Oppose. Likewise. That motion carries. Five in favor and none opposed. I think that's particularly uh important for West Virginia since the data still shows we're one of the highest uh per capita states in the union joining the military. Um, and also, President Pidge, Robert Malice and and Jessica Lynch has just become part of that uh process to to promote that. And Canala County just got
046awarded uh just the other day, we tried to beat them and hurry up and get this done, but we're in process of becoming a purple star county. And um to my good friends in Canoa County, it doesn't matter if they got first, we'll do it better. Exactly. And then uh you know also Jenny has the military recognition day that for our students we have that coming up that uh Jessica Lynch is going to be our guest speaker event. Oh we do here now. I was wondering what the time was for that but I see it on the new calendar. What Miss Carus started on that u that's not happening anywhere in the state and uh we was told that just recently when you put that together last year that that's a first and they're not
047aware of doing things like that. So that's a huge thing. That's another checklist on the purple star award to be what we're doing. A lot of our schools are doing a lot of activities. So we just got to document and submit it and that's what the process is for that application. Is that correct, Mr. Collison? Anything. Thank you. Very good. All righty. So we're getting so close to Timberwood, it's time to start talking about technology. So board amendment number 318 is the purchase of networking technology. Our director of technologies requested that we purchase networking hardware, cabling and licenses for Timber Timber Timberwood. This includes nine extreme networking switches, 54 extreme wireless access points and so on. A lot of uh armored fiber. Uh the cost of this equipment and installation and a one-year license is
048$180,324. Pricing is provided by Advantage Technology using the uh 21st uh using the using the you can just put a dollar in the jar. Um that's AI at work right there. Uh that's AI at work. That's a little freaky. So this is under a department of uh education uh contract. 21st century technology grant will be used to fund the purchase. Superintendent recommends the purchase of networking hardware installation in the amount of $180,325 for Timberwood Elementary. Is there a motion to approve? Is there a second? Second. There's a motion and a second. Questions, comments, or discussion? Uh, they do the install, too. Okay. So, all we got to do is watch them, right? Okay, good. Is are is there cabling already in the building for this or this is the this will be the cabling. Okay.
049All right. Any other questions by anybody? Then on the motion, all in favor signify by saying I opposed. Likewise. That motion carries five in favor and none opposed. Board memo number 319 is a playground equipment for Timberwood Elementary. Um, in compliance with our policy, the purchasing director is seeking authorization to purchase playground equipment for Timberwood Elementary from Game Time and Care of Cunningham recreation for $299,24.77. We have two sets of equipment because this is a preK5. One is for preK and kindergarten and other sets for grades 1 through 5. It includes all equipment, benches, engineered wood, fiber, uh, safety surfacing and installation. The principal has worked with the representative to ensure the needs of students are met. Uh this is based on an Omnia contract uh which is the largest purchasing cooperative for public sector
050procurement. Uh and under the under state policy, if if we're using a cooperative, we don't have to bid it out. Excess levy funding is used for this construction. Superintendent recommends approval of the purchase and installation of playground equipment benches and wood fiber to game time care of Cunningham recre recreation. I'm going to say recreation just cuz I tried to. in the amount of $299,24.77. Is there a motion to approve? Move to approve. Is there a second? There's a motion in a second. Questions, comments, or discussion? Is is this something that we budget for when we build a new school or is it just something that comes up at this phase? Well, we didn't it is not included. So it's not included in any of So the SBA does not fund any of the playground equipment.
051So we always know that we have to do it for Mountain Valley series just had some nice equipment that the community had donated. So Dr. Acres had us move that up there. Um for Bluefield Primary, we purchased that after the fact, too. Um so this we try to get a little bit earlier. We we learn every school we've learned better. So, we're trying to have this installed and then the fencing installed by the contractor DCI. Okay. Thank you. Great. Any other questions? Then on the motion, all in favor signify by saying I. I. Oppose. Likewise. Motion carries. Five in favor and none opposed. Board amendment number 320 is the vision plan compliance and recommendation for section 125 S FSA integration. So, it's necessary to update our current self-insured vision plan. Uh the vision benefit is
052funded through excess levy and is not compliant with section 125 of the IRS code. So we're going to resolve this and get into compliance. Uh the v the vision benefit must be either managed by a third party administrator or administered through section 125 flexible spending account structure. After consulting with uh our agent on these matters, they have recommended transitioning the vision benefit to be funded through a limited dental and vision FSA plan under section 125. What this allows us to do is maintain compliance with IRS, ensure proper management of funds, provide consistent tax advantaged benefits to employees. Under this structured recommendation, $100 will be transferred annually to an FSA account for each eligible employee independent designed specifically for vision expenses. Uh, this will be continued to be funded through the excess levy allocation. It'll just
053be administered differently. Superintendent recommends approval because I'm not going to read all that again and there's no cost associated with administration of this plan. Is there a motion to approve? Is there a second? Second. Motion and a second. Questions, comments, or discussion? Leslie H. This is one of the things that we finally got up to. How would you miss not having section 125? It's the way it's always been. I'll do the hearing last. I'm going to do personal. I'm going to skip over it. I also want to have an executive session about they're going to manage it and put us make us in compliance, provide us with the documents we need to have on file. Yes. Yes. that that is it. There is a really old plan that was written that we do have it.
054It's literally on typewriter space um before any of the current legislation became law. And and I just want you know again there are so many things to do. I'm not criticizing anyone or any anyone in the past but we we did become aware of this and we bid out the section 125 administration. That was one of the criteria is that you help us become compliant with the vision plan. So in in summary, it would be what really just what we would do is right now employees turn in a receipt to the business office and we make the call whether it's eligible or not. We're not trained to do that. We're not qualified to do that and it's not legal for us to do that. So we want to to do this. We will just fund
055employees a card, a debit card or you know basically that's what it is is a debit card and they will have their employee amount as well as their dependent amounts. We'll take care of that from the business office and fund that. Then they'll just submit their receipts just like if they use an FSA now it will be the same. They can just use it for two things. It's a limited use FSA account because we do have some employees that have a high deductible account. So, by law, they're not allowed to have an FSA account unless it's limited use. So, again, having someone who's an expert in this Yeah. just protects us. Well, your agent, whoever it was at the time, should have told you anything that's that's being done like this should be pre-taxed and
056you should be covered with the document. Okay. Thank you. Any other questions? Can I just add one thing, please? What we do plan to do is send out notification. If you approve this, we do plan to educate our employees on this. American Fidelity will be coming in and helping explain how this will work to all of our employees. We will have um some electronic sessions. We'll have teleconferences. We will we will educate the employees on this if if you approve it. Okay. Um any other questions? Okay. There's a motion on the floor. Uh all in favor signify by saying I. I. Oppose. Likewise. That motion carries. Five in favor and none opposed. I'm going to skip 321 because I need to step out for personnel. Uh because my daughter is on there and she lives
057in my house and she's a teacher. So I actually help support her a little bit. So uh I need to be off here. She's a she's a two before. Is it left one or two? That it doesn't matter. Right. You need to do the hearing before the one or two. Yeah. Oh, we do need to do it. Which one? One or two? one and two. Okay. The effects if not it's a termination on one and recall on two and then unless you want to pivot and do those No, we can do the hearing because I'm it has nothing to do with I just have to step out for the personnel agenda. So, it's fine. Not a problem. All right. So, we're going to move on to a problem. Kathy's Kathy's on there too. Personnel hearing.
058So we need uh that well the question becomes does the individual want a closed or open hearing that's the question first question closed all right so only the interested parties need to be here seems like there'd be a better way to do We don't need anybody hanging around that doesn't have to. Okay. So, the first matter relates to Sun Valley and the um issue of a gym. Okay. You should have received an email and I'm not going to go into the details of it because it does relate to bids and it relates to construction and it could affect any bids going in the future. Let's just say that my first view was as is typical of architects, they overdesigned. They gave us more than we asked for, which is not unusual, but but we have
059to keep that in mind. Uh, so my thought was that we sat Miss Horn down with Lesie and discuss what they need and and Mr. Atkins and discuss what they need, what they can get away with, and then we figure out from there what we want to do. because I had a brief conversation with her husband today and his statement was that's way more than we were expecting or even thinking that we wanted. Um, so that's already understood I think there we just need to figure out how to get this thing down considerably less than what it is because it's it's really a lot. Um, it does have a wood floor and it does have emulated. All right. That Mike, I tell you. So, I did on um actually, do you all want copies of
060what I have? We all got emails. Did everybody look at them? Okay. So, I did at the bottom of that of that reduce it by about a half a million dollars if you saw that. I saw that. Sign up. So, I do know that it does have a wood floor and that, you know, is a couple hundred,000. We could go with a sim a surface similar to what Mercer and what um Staley Australia has. So, there are some reductions. I I feel I feel confident that 3 million is what we're looking at, though. I really do. The costs of construction, I mean, look at at Timberwood. We went from 12 to 13 million at Bluefield Primary, a very similar school to 24 million. Construction costs after CO have just gone through the roof. And I
061and I don't disagree with that, but I also think if we act as our own contractor and we bid out the separate pro parts of the project and we I mean I just when I saw the price, the first thing I did was Google metal buildings and I can get a metal building as big as Straley's building for a whole lot less than what they're talking about. Now what you got to do to add on to it is going to increase the price. Understood? But I don't think it's going to increase it to $3 million. I just think uh we need to figure out a way to provide the school with what it needs. Uh it doesn't need a gym the size of the one Melrose has. It doesn't have the population that they have
062there. uh my perspective in in talking to Miss Hornworth's thinking more like what Staley has that size that's going to reduce the price quite a bit. Uh because the one that I'm looking at looks like Melrose size. That's a big gym. Um it's an elementary size gym. How much does Melrose cost? Just out of Melrose after all everything was said and done about 12. Okay. 1.2. Again, that was in 2019. That's precoid, right? We also need to talk with our funding source that is going to help and see what they're willing to do at this point. Give them a general idea of what prices we're looking at uh and see what they think they can swing and then I mean that might solve our problem. I don't know. They might be very generous. That could
063solve our problem right there. I do want to give a shout out to the community and to to the the principal down there. You know, they've raised $50,000. They have busted it. uh if they're willing to put in the work, then we got to figure it out. That's just my view. I I'm only one vote up here, but that's my view. Um they've worked hard. They've done the part we asked them to do, and so we have to figure out something. We got to we got to do something here. Uh and I I think with the brains we've got here, we can figure something out. I really do. I I'm I'm optimistic that there is a there is an approach that we can do to uh provide them with with a uh a with what
064they need with what they need for the for the uh community down there. Uh again, it's it it was I don't think it was ever the vision of the board that they would have a um middle school size gym or a gym that large like they have at Melrose because the Melrose has elementary. They don't have they just have the elementary size gym. They don't have middle. It's bigger than the one at Staley though. Australia doesn't have an elementary size gym. They have more like the a room, right? That's what I'm getting at. And and you're looking at more comparable purpose room is what Staley has, but you're looking more at a comparable um population, student population with between Staley and and Sun Valley. Mercer's bigger than Straley, right? So, but I also watched a
065little league basketball game at Staley and it was it was fine. It worked fine. There was a large crowd. There were kids playing basketball. It worked fine. It did. Yeah. My my daughter went there, too. Played there. So, yeah. Absolutely. We were just told to go after similar to me and that's and that's fine. That's absolutely fine. We, you know, it's a it's always a work in process. It's you've done this long enough to know both of you. It's always a work in process. I was talking about Oakville and how it started at one point and we just kept cutting off things and uh well, we can't do that, we can't do this and and that's the approach we need to take. So, we'll just keep working it. We work the problem, we'll figure it
066out. Was there something else? Anything from Mrs. you want anything from her? And then you have Does anybody want to anybody else want to say anything? I just wanted to let you all know we did have a job fair, totally different subject on a April 4th and we had 31 um service employees to show up. So that was pretty incredible. We had arranged for three hours and we ended up being here six. So that was a good thing for us. Um hopefully we can get all of those individuals on board and and be our sublist be increasing um over the summer as well. Awesome. Pass the mic back to to to Miss Horn. I did not see her. I have I have my glasses off because I can't read with them on. So I did
067and of course Dr. Philip's kind of right here. So, I didn't really notice her. Uh, you're fine now. I know she's back there now. So, u just, uh, any any thoughts or comments? She's not turned on. That's wonderful. you you've done the hard work and we appreciate it. We appreciate it. And the other two discussion items, just to give you an update from the expulsion information that Dr. Bowling put together from last year to this year, you have that chart if you want to look at or if anything you want to discuss, just have it as a discussing item. It's in your packet. Uh right here, offer is that it? Yes, sir. if you want to review it and come back to you if you something you want to look at. But just the difference
068of uh right now we're currently at uh 55. Last year was 56, but we have a few. Crazy because it seems like more, but I guess it's cuz it's been all recent. Yeah. And then we have some that's coming coming up soon that you'll get notice of and I think we're trying to set meeting dates. But uh again the uh THC vapes and other other items that you have sometimes u behavior issues or things like that that we bring to you but just want to information to you this information um something I'd be interested in also you'd have to probably I don't know if it's it's probably not documented but calling the kettle black uh something I'd be interested in in addition to this is um how many times we've had to have uh EMS
069services at the schools, especially because of the vapes. I think it's important for our community to know what we're facing. Um, I I made the comment today, it's about time to declare war because I feel like our students safety and that's always been important to me and our kids need to be safe and I feel like right now with the current situation with some of the things going on with these things and how they're obtaining them is not a safe environment for our kids in our school and they're keep in mind they're we are their parents in location while they're in our school building. So, it's important that we try to get something done. I don't know what it's going to take, but uh it's just a matter of time before we lose a child
070because of either they're driving or we have a really adverse reaction. So, I think I'd like to see that. Also, I was trying to think off the top of my head. I'm thinking five maybe six is in that area from my notifications but I don't know Mrs. Mitchell, any idea like thinking of what we get calls on that and sometimes I send you all a text just to give you up to date when we do have an ambulance coming. Sometimes like today we had one where the parent took the child and that wouldn't be EMS but they still require medical attention. Yeah. Well, I can tell you this. The board is at the point where if we identify a location that sold it to a minor, we will take some action to embarrass, to publicly
071reprimand, to do everything we can to that business location. All we got to do is identify them. We'll be there. If the five of us have to pick it, we'll be there. What about something I could take to the stores or something? We talked about that. You have a problem with that if we I don't have any problem with that. We have a we have a unintended consequence to the medical marijuana problem and that is is these kids surprise surprise are getting their hands on on uh uh they call them dab pins. They're they're THC pins. They're scary. And some of them are synthetic THC which is illegal is my understanding. So they're not getting those from the these these places that are selling medical marijuana. They're getting them from these shops. If we find
072out who they are, we will do everything we can to make them pay because I tell you what, you want to get parents fired up and you want to get the community fired up. Let let them find out that's what's happening. And because that that synthetic stuff will kill you. It'll kill a child. It's it's not a it's not a game anymore. And you know, we did really well. We we put hammer down. We told them we're going to expel and then it just kind of went away. And then spring of this year hit and it's like all of a sudden everybody needs to be stoned for some reason. Um Mr. Gby used to call it the spring offensive and it's it's sprung. It's hit hard and obviously part of the problem is the availability.
073Um, I'll wait on that of these substances and we uh that's it. We uh as a community we need to put our foot down and I really believe that and it's like Mr. Brutish said, I think that if uh the community kind of knows what's going on, I think that possibly the right pressure will be applied that uh so that we can take care of it. I mean, we used to have issues with businesses selling alcohol and tobacco products. Um and I know Mr. trackings there. We We had a couple situations with alcohol that uh probably needed some medical attention. Correct. Oh, yeah. And not us personally, but students. But that's right. But uh we we had help at that in those days. We we could get help where they we had people come in
074and make buys. And those businesses, you all old enough to remember know that businesses were publicly it went out in the public and they they suffered financial consequences. Part of the problem is is the as we understand it, the penalties for selling these pens to minors is not very substantial. So that's part of the problem. I mean, you know, law enforcement, they're so busy and they're so understaffed, they're going to go, "Well, you know, I got to go deal with this theft or this murder or this domestic violence. I'm not going to go worry about the kid that got a vape from one of the local vape shops." U you know, one of the things we talked about with businesses, it's always about money. Uh if you if you told them the first time it's
075a $2,000 fine, second time you lose your license to practice to sell in the state of West Virginia, they would stop tomorrow. But the legislaturator's got to do that. We can't do that. It's another example of us not having teeth to to manage a problem that is in our face. Um, we are going to ask our our administrators to try to come up with a more effective approach than just expelling kids because it's it's not it's not effective. It's not the best way to do this. We've got to come up with something better. I think we'll we'll think of something. We we we need to look at it obviously at the state level but also you know these locations they have to have business license. So what's the process that they get these business license?
076What hoops do they have to jump through? Um we are going to figure it. We're going to figure it out. Um I can offer one something I think from the board of control meeting um with all the other principles in the state and Nitro High School in Canal County. They suspend for five days, but they call the police and the police put them in like a drug court. So for six months they get random drug tests before they can tap out because I try to talk to everybody that did different things and that's something they said. Now of course they went which county was that? That was Nitro in Cana and Nitro High School and um they said now their school does it a lot. Some other schools don't do it as much, but it
077works for them. And so that way the kids only miss five days and then they have to deal with the court system and all that money for all the tests and stuff and make it harder on the parents. And it's been very successful for them. One of the things again doing it for been doing this for a long time when we had the smoking issues uh early 2000s uh let I guess legislation was passed where they started firing the parents and our smoking in the boys' room so to speak but in about three months it disappeared because when you get into the uh you know cigarettes Sadly to say, I think the marijuana is just as available as the cigarettes was back in the 2000s, but but it stopped. I'm sure they students were still
078using tobacco products, but they weren't using them in school. And it's hard for I I I hope that we can do something like that in our community or at the state level to try to save some of these kids. When you carry one out on a stretcher that's seasoned or whatever, it's scary. And look, you hope that the other kids would see it, but when we're that age, I think we're Superman and Superwoman. We don't think it's going to happen to us, sad to say. I want to go back to the Sun Valley real fast, please. Uh, the proposed what ZMM gave us was uh 7350 on square footage. Mercer Jim was 70. Pulled her away. Uh, Australia, Staley was 7,100 and Mercer was 7450, I believe. So, it's it's in between the two. Okay.
079And Mercer is not that much bigger than Straer. Okay. So, when we're looking comparatively, I think Melrose was 95 9600 ft. So Mars is quite a bit bigger whereas what they've kind of designed is very similar to Mercer and not much bigger than Straley currently. When when when we're looking at that I know one of the issues that we've had previously is the actual ground surveys and things and making sure that the you probably Mr. trackers know more about that, but that the area is prepped properly and then make sure there's no underlying problem. So, that could substantially raise or Well, they did they put in our site work and of course that's on any job. And there are things that pop up um every time when you're doing any kind of site work. But
080um on a sidebar here, Leslie and I were talking about the proposal and I think they've still placed it very close to the septic tank. So where they've even proposed it, I don't feel comfortable with them building it there. So it would have to move in my opinion. Okay. We have problems with the leech lines already. They're completely stopped up. We're gonna have to try to replace them this summer. But we've we've had to pump it what three times least it this year and it's just not leeching out. The septic's not leeching out like it's supposed to. We have to have it pumped. How old would that system be? When school been built. That's Yeah. long time ago. Okay. Uh do any other any other directors want to make any comments or anything else to
081come before us on that? That was from Gear Up. Just call us you, Mrs. Web. Anything about the book that you gave us? I'll let Gail do the talking. She's our talker. Not after all this stuff was with me. Mr. Hodes and board members, Mr. Toman. We had a an event on April 3rd where the author of the book came and spoke to the all the students from in a grades eight and nine. And then that night we had a an event where the parents were invited and we were pleasantly surprised. We had almost 200 f uh parents attend the event and that's really good for secondary education. We were thrilled with that. So um I hope you enjoy her story. Have a couple of questions. I bought this book early and read it like
082$17. Did I have to pay that much? No sir. We paid $12 and you should have waited. I didn't know. And what what is the lesson you hope that you We have five different themes and I don't know if I can name them right off the bat, but we're working on a curriculum guide. She's actually coming back this Friday during the um faculty senate day and we're meeting with a cohort of teachers from all four high schools to develop an across the curriculum guide for the book. And the basic lesson is that the students through resilience can overcome adversity in their lives. But we also have a whole lot of literature, history, art uh objectives in there also. Okay, we're going to do a personnel hearing. So, if you don't belong here, you should go
083on home and you can go home. You don't have to stay. [Music] Well, but she just didn't we have a matter to come before us as in terms of a personnel hearing and the individual has requested that the hearing be closed. So the board meeting will go into a closed session for the purpose of a personnel hearing and we'll come back out to do the last action items on the agenda which is personnel. So, we're going into a closed hearing. I don't know. I don't remember that. Yes. All right. We're back from a uh personnel hearing. That was the very insightful and everybody handled themselves very well. U I have to excuse myself from the personnel agenda vote. However, I am going to ask the question, Dr. Philip, is there a position that you need
084to remove from the two personnel agendas? Um yes, I would like to agenda. Okay, then I'll let the rest of the board handle that. I have to recuse myself. My daughter is on the agenda uh for tutoring, which means she has a vested interest. My daughter lives in my household, so I'm going to recuse myself. And I'll have to step out also because my wife's on the list and I live in her household. And at this point, I'm not on your list. Okay. So, on board memo number 322, which is personnel agenda number one, do I have a motion for approval? Second. There's a motion and a second. Any discussion? All in favor? Okay. All in favor indicate by saying I. I. So that passes three to zero with two non voting. Okay. Then we
085have personnel agenda number two, which is board memo 323. Do I have a motion on that one? So move. Thank you. All right. Motion in a second. I'm assuming no discussion. Mr. Hodgees has had enough. And all in favor indicate by saying I. I. That also passes three to three to zero with two not voting. Ready? Yep. He just turned his head. Okay. Thank you. There are no no other action items on the agenda this evening. Is there a second? Is there any objection? Good night everybody. Thank you all.