001I like to call this meeting of the Monongalia County Board of Education to order. Uh it is 5:00 p.m. on April 14th. Please rise for the pledge. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thanks to everybody for coming out tonight. First off, one of our favorite things that we always love to do is recognize our students. And the board would like to congratulate Mountaineer Middle School student Nerav Marta Yes. for being named the Charleston Gazette Regional Spelling Bee champion. Nerav will proceed to the 2026 Scripps National Spelling Bee in Washington, D.C. next month. Over 200 regional champions will compete in the 101st year of the competition, which is nationally televised on
002ESPN. This is Nerav's second year qualifying for Scripps National Spelling Bee, excuse me, placing at the impressive 58th place last year. We look forward to to cheering you on again this year. Congratulations, and if you want autographs, you better get them now before he's going to be pretty famous. Yeah. So, uh board member Shawn, if you would What's wrong? I thought Jerry had it. I got Golsby. Oh. We can do them both, then. Okay. Perfect. We had our picture together last year. This is not his first rodeo. I've been around the block for a minute. >> YEAH. YEAH. NEXT YEAR. >> I KNOW HIM AND HIS FAMILY, his dad, he doesn't want me to talk about it, but his dad is the chair of the industrial engineering department at WVU, and he gives back to
003the students. I get to see him in action as a member of the academy there, and uh I just love their family. They're so good for our community, and I can't Stay there, Dr. Potts. And we have assistant principal Dr. Potts, which we're going to put on the spot. If you want to say a few words, it's optional. Oh, uh we're super excited. Just hold hold the microphone. Yes. We're just very, very proud of Nira. He's worked very hard, and we're super excited to see him go back to the second time to the National Spelling Bee. We're really excited to see how he does, and just proud of all his efforts. So, he's a fantastic kid all around. We're happy that he's a Mountaineer. Yeah. THERE YOU GO. THANK SO, SHAWN, IF YOU'RE GOING TO
004TALK THIS TIME, USE THE MIC. OKAY. All right. You You know better. I typically don't need one, but I get it. It's only It's recorded, is why we wanted to make sure everybody was on the mic. Okay, next, the board would like to recognize Morgantown High's Golsby Polat. Golsby is a 2026 West Virginia Poetry Out Loud State Champion. She will also be heading to Washington D.C. this month to represent West Virginia in the Poetry Out Loud national finals. Competition will be live streamed at poetryoutloud.org. Congratulations, Golsie. We'll be cheering you on. And we have MHS assistant principal Josh Underdonk. I think he's here. Oh, there he is. I will say also Golsie is a friend of my daughter's and I get to see all of her talents. She's also last year's Mohegan Idol. This lady
005is just full of talent. She Oh my gosh, if you ever heard her sing. You You want to talk about autographs? You better get your You better get your autograph There'll be a day where we wish we would have got an autograph tonight from both of them. So, thank you for a just wonderful wonderful talent, wonderful student. We love having you. And Mr. and Mrs. Leon, you you all are special to me. You know that. And thank you for being part of our community. And we also have MHS teacher Chase Leon. Right here. Hi. Golsie here has been working on Poetry Out Loud for about 3 years now. She's really been focusing on it. It's a national competition. It happens every single year. We go down to Charleston with one student competitor. And we've been
006getting really really close the past several years. But 2 years ago, Golsie came top 10 in the state and she left and the next day she came to my classroom and she'd watched hours and hours of recitation videos of previous winners and she had notes about it. She'd studied so hard. So, she did a tremendous job. She is absolutely Mr. Smith is absolutely right. She is probably one of the most talented young individuals we've ever met. So, Golsie, thank you so much. You are going to be a fantastic representative for all of West Virginia in Washington D.C. in 2 weeks. Yes. Mr. Underdonk, Underdonk, you like Yes. Yeah, Josh will get in there. Yeah, great. We don't let anybody speak. Josh realized that Chase did so good. You you had The mic's yours if you
007want to say anything. All right. Chicken. Thank you. Thanks to all and you can hang around if you want or you can leave if you want. We're pretty boring from this point on. Best of luck. See you guys. Thank you so much. Thank you. Okay, we have no delegations. So next we have There it is. Reports. Follow up action discussion. So I'll leave that over here. Doc, you can carry on. Okay. I know the the board had requested that we put um this item on tonight's agenda. That is the middle school schedules and I'll just preface preface any board comments. Um this is something that we are going to take a look at administratively. Um really it came as a result of our deputy superintendent uh her curriculum audits this year. Many of our middle
008school teachers had some concerns about the the middle school schedules and the block. And so she brought that back to the team and said that that needed to be a priority coming out of the the curriculum audits that we take a deep dive into those middle school schedules. Um to see how we can better serve our students at the at the middle school level. and so that is something that's on our radar. We have obviously the curriculum audit has just concluded here within the last week or so. So we haven't really had a chance to begin that deep dive and we'll sit down with our principals, we'll sit down with our teachers and begin working on that and I was having a conversation with our vice president Haggerty today and and you know she reminded
009me which I agree with her wholeheartedly that that you know changing a a school schedule is no easy task she was right at the heart of probably one of the original adjustments to our middle school schedules when we double block language arts and mathematics at at Westwood so she knows what's involved in it she knows again that it's not something that happens overnight it involves personnel changes master schedule changes but there's a lot that goes into it but we need to we need to really dig into that and see how we can better serve those middle school students all the way around so that is the commitment of the administrative team is to to take a hard look at that and and come up with a plan moving forward as to what adjustments we need
010to make and how we can make those adjustments and when we can make those adjustments so I don't know that we'll be prepared to provide you with much more information this evening but we certainly will listen to any of your concerns that the board has to share and and we'll take that back to it back to the drawing board when we go start looking at the schedules so with that said um I'll turn things over to the city the reason that I wanted this on the agenda was I've gotten a lot of comments from the band families so to speak and I don't mean families in terms of mother, father, but the and the instructors, band directors, and all of that because of block scheduling with music at the middle school level. And I don't
011want to get get in any detail right now because you haven't even got to that point, so No. >> My My question would be to maybe kind of keep us abreast as to how that all transpires as we move forward and make a We're happy to do that. >> Cuz at, you know, the high school level kids already know how to play the the instruments and so forth, where at the elementary and the middle school they're still they need to be blowing on those things, you know, at least every day. So, anyway, that's just my comments. If anybody else has If you need any help, I It's my favorite kind of puzzle. Well, you know it well. It's one thing I miss. It's a weird little thing I like to do. I'm weird like that,
012too. I love schedule. We know It's fun, fun. Yeah, I I trust the band directors in in that I I didn't teach band or music, never played an instrument, but if if they think that the kids are slipping in skill because they only get to meet every other day, I think that's something we need to visit. Absolutely. Yeah, I agree with that. The same here. And I'm not sure Woo. 90 minutes, middle school block I don't know how that works. Well, let's say since you brought it up blowing on a horn for 90 minutes is it's better than It's already in the time. I'm just I'm just talking 6, 7, and 8 90 minutes. >> That's what I'm saying. Yeah. 6, 7, and 8 90 minutes is what we did at Westview, but only for
013math and reading language arts, and the rest were 45, and it worked really well because they needed the extra instructional time. >> a modified block. But like block scheduling, sixth graders are still babies. I mean, they're they don't won't like me saying that, but coming directly out of elementary school into a high school schedule seems and confusing and Mhm. disconnected. Like they need that continuity, I think. Yeah, and you can split it 45 and 45. Get creative with it, I guess, but There's been pros and cons over the last year as I've served on the board with feedback from the different middle schools and the different teachers. Some like it, some don't. The The feedback is the ages. Right. Who does well and who doesn't. I understand um I had lunch with Vice President Hagerty
014I don't know over a year ago. Talked about scheduling and stuff and the puzzle pieces of this. It's not easy. I've never done it. I deep dove into it a little bit over the past few few days. Um there's no consistent findings in the scholarly literature about the effects of block scheduling on standardized tests or regular grades. Um so there's looking at it from that perspective, there's no um better or worse from a block versus a true a traditional schedule. And I will out myself in saying that uh the only experience I've had as a parent is with the modified block schedule at Mount Rainier Middle School, which is 10 periods in the double block for math and ELA. Um it also makes me wonder and um about how we are setting up certain kids
015for struggles, especially kids who are neuro divers, kids who have ADHD, especially in those middle school years, um being able to sit through a 90-minute class, cuz I'll be honest with you, I teach college students and college students think 75-minute classes are too long. And so I I can't imagine looking at 11, 12, 13, 14-year-olds and saying that they're ready for that as well. I also think about how it might be better for retention if they meet every day, especially in sequential subjects like math or foreign language. Um also, if you take math in say fall 25, then you take math again in fall 26, you're having a 9-month gap there. So, how would that work and how would students retain that, especially in those middle school years? Um and so >> use a traditional
016block. No. >> Which is what you're talking about. >> Yes. Ours is a modified block. So, it's AB. So, they would have math all day. >> They would have it all day. Okay. Okay, all year. All year. That makes me feel better. >> Yeah. Um I also think um and I'm thinking about this in relation to what we're telling our our levy voters, right? We're telling our levy voters that we support the arts, that we want our students to uh not just get skilled in the arts, whether it is band or orchestra or choir, but also we know that learning music leads to higher test scores, leads to higher grades. And so, anything we can do to promote that and promote that skill. And I will also add myself as a choir and band kid.
017Um my kids are not in band, but my kids are in choir. Um but but I can't imagine taking that away from from students. And I know that the shift has happened in some schools, but I also see how strong the program is at Mount Airy Middle. They're the only school that hasn't had students drop from those three programs um because of the block scheduling issues. So, that's something to think about as we move forward. Anybody else? That was good. All right. Next uh You're on the end, though. Okay. Appreciate those comments, board members. Uh next up is a student expulsion. Um this is number 10-2025-26. Uh superintendent recommends uh that this student uh be expelled from school for a period of 365 days for violation of the Safe Schools Act, specifically second offense possession
018and/or use of a controlled substance. Do I have a motion? Can I um that's not what our >> Right, it says 365 days. 365 days. That's school days. This yeah, it's school days. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Got you. Thank you. Okay, I have a motion. So moved. Second. Let's let's rewrite this a second. Just go with that one, that's fine. Okay, cuz we had a motion, okay. Okay, we're good. Wait, it's been moved and seconded. Any conversation? All in favor signify by aye. Aye. Opposed the same. Motion carries. And just as a note uh for the record, the parents uh do not want a hearing with Board of Education, obviously. Okay, next we have I think awarding of contracts. Yeah, let me make sure I got the right one here. Um this is our group purchasing
019uh for our food products child nutrition program and that is that's the Mountaineer Highland cooperative uh the uh um let's see, uh that's the Gordon Foods, right, Nicole? Okay, yep. Um superintendent recommends that this bid go to uh HPS Gordon Foods uh for our uh food uh child nutrition program. Do I have a motion? So moved. Second. Second. It's been moved and seconded. Any discussion? All in favor signify by saying I. I. >> I. Opposed the same. Motion carries. Next up, MHS cafeterias renovation phase two. We're jumping all over the place. Should have put my papers in order. Okay. Item B here is for the Morgantown High School cafeteria renovation phase two. Uh award that contract. Superintendent recommends that that contract be awarded to FMS Construction at a cost of $929,065. They were the lowest
020bidder. Do I have a motion? So moved. Second. Second. It's been moved and seconded. Any discussion? We've had previous interaction with this group and it's been all good, so. All in favor signify by saying I. I. Opposed the same. Motion carries. Again, for the record, they were the contractor for the phase one. And they did do an outstanding job. Under time and under budget. Yes. And they were thrilled with the work that they did. All right. What do we have next? Uh this is our produce bid. Um Superintendent recommends that the board approve West Virginia Harvest uh for that bid. And you can see the detailed information in your executive content. Do I have a motion? So moved. Second. Second. It's been moved and seconded. Conversation? All in favor signify by saying I. I. Opposed
021the same. Motion carries. Next, we have new contracts. Hotel Morgan event agreement. Uh yes. Superintendent recommends that we approve um that contract. This is for the Morgantown High School AP testing. Uh it'll serve as our testing center. And again, I recommend that you approve that contract. Do I have a motion? So moved. Second. Second. It's been moved and seconded. Conversation? Is Is the room rental for Is it $2,000 for that one day? Am I looking at that right? Yeah. Well, they got us a break, aren't they? Jeez, Louise. Is that Is that still Was the waterfront not available? It will be up on the on the next board meeting. We just got that one. Okay. Anybody else? No, sir. All in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. Opposed? Motion carries. Uh, next Next is the
022contract with Gotham Artists for Kevin Elko. Uh, superintendent recommends that the board approve that contract as presented in your executive content. Do I have a motion? So moved. Second. >> Second. It's been moved and seconded. Conversations? I have a few questions. Um, and and I want to make sure I'm reading this correctly. So, we have at point five the total compensation. And at point three, we have the expectations that this person will basically do about an hour and 15 minutes of a keynote and Q&A. But, that's it. Right? For the total that they're asking for, plus maybe up to two nights in a hotel room for about 75 minutes of work. And I know that there goes there's prep preparation that goes into presentation, and there will be travel from Pittsburgh and all this and
023that, but it seems a little high considering our presenters from last year included all their expenses into their total. And also that they're not even doing a half day with us. Working with this group, it's almost identical to the presentation that was done earlier this year with the service personnel. Same time frame. Okay. >> Same amount of So, basically, you're right. It's all inclusive, the travel for these individuals, and the cost is almost identical. Um so, Now, I have heard him speak and he does stay a little longer than that and you know, interacts with the participants, but the contract is exactly what you said, so that would be um uh what he's required to do. Okay. Uh but it's also this exact same uh arrangement that was done earlier this year with uh uh
024Gary Brooks for another group of individuals. Mhm. That's it. Yeah, I agree. I think I think it's a lot of money uh for just a very short period of time. Okay. Anybody else? I'm going to roll in with education. Right. Okay. All in favor signify by saying I. I. I. Opposed the same. Nay. Okay, let's do the hand raise. He's I'll be I. Yeah, we're the I's. Okay. And the nays. Two. Okay, motion carries three to two. Next up is International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers. Yes. Superintendent recommends that the board approve that agreement MOU as presented in your executive file this evening. Entertain a motion. So moved. Second. Any conversation? All in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. Aye. Opposed the same. Motion carries. Next up is Lakeview Golf Resort contract. Superintendent recommends that the
025board approve that contract as presented for UHFSAP testing. Do I have a motion? So moved. Second. Conversation? I'm just going to ask a question. Uh has anyone been out to Lakeview and looked at their meeting facilities lately? Is it It's It's adequate. >> It's It's adequate for >> Oh. Yes. Um that's what I was worried about. >> Yes, I I agree. Structurally safe. Mhm. Structurally safe. I'm not I'm not going to go down there. All right, so. Cuz they're asking for $2,800 for rentals. Okay. All in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. Aye. Opposed. Nay. Show of hands the ayes. And the nays. Motion carries 4 to 1. The motion passes 4 to 1. Next up we have council payable. And I'm will have to recuse myself from this cuz I have a business relationship
026with this vendor. So Vice President Haggerty I'll ask you to take over. >> Okay, this is accounts payable addendum A. I would recommend that the board approve that as presented in your executive content. Can I have a motion? So moved. Second. Any questions? All in favor say I. I. I. All opposed same sign. Carries. Thank you, Mrs. Haggerty. Consent agenda. Superintendent recommends that the board approve the consent agenda as presented this evening to include items A through H, which are item A is expenditures exceeding $3,000. Item B, the payment of salaries and accounts payable. Item C, our field experiences. Item D is the minutes of your March 24th, 2026 meeting. Item E is the renewal of probation officers agreement. Item F is the early Head Start social emotional plan. Item G is the Head Start
027social emotional plan for '26-'27. Item H is the early Head Start and Head Start practice-based coaching plan for '26-'27. And I believe that's all. Yes. Good. Do I have a motion? So moved. Second. It's been moved and seconded. Any conversation? All in favor signify by saying I. I. Opposed the same. Motion carries. Policy. There's only one. Uh yes, just one um this evening. Uh this didn't come with a the regular packet, so it's it's going to be outside the the bounds of that. Um this is uh policy for first reading and it is a new policy. Uh this will be labeled as policy 6320.001, instruction manager at risk CMAR procurement. Superintendent recommends that the board approve policy 6320.001 for first reading. I'll have a motion. So moved. Second. >> Second. It's been moved and seconded.
028Any conversation? Okay, all in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. >> Aye. Opposed the same. Motion carries. Personnel list. Okay. Um let's do the regular personnel list first. Um I do have one change. Um this sounds funny. Just shows you how big the personnel list is. If you go to page 20, please remove the name Given, Kimberly. That's on page 20 and it's Given, Kimberly. Uh with that one deletion, uh I recommend that the board approve this evening's personnel list as presented. I need a motion. So moved. Second. Second. Any conversation? Questions? >> Yeah, I do want to point out there's a typo on page 16, line four. It should read 2026 instead of 2026. We'll get that. There's also a question um on page two. Yeah, there's a duplication of uh two teachers in
029the same position. One has resigned and one is new. So I don't think they should be included. The new one is okay? Okay. The other one is not. The project lead the way. Project lead the way and I think we're listed twice. Yeah. The page? Two. Page two. She resigned in August. That's what the problem was. Do we have it? So what's the question? I'm not sure. The initials Uh about midway down the sheet like elementary last name L, first name R. Yeah. Okay, that should be removed. Yes, she resigned in August. Okay. Can we talk about Sorry, I didn't know what I could say out loud and what I couldn't say. Okay. Do we need to change >> our motion Jennifer if we go I'm going to say he would change his recommendation. >>
030Yes, as amended. So who made the motion? Probably me. So if you take your motion away, he can correct his recommendation. Okay, two meetings in a row I had to take my motion away. We'll give it back to you. Yeah, I'm going to quit giving them. Did you say are you a cupcake so you feel better about yourself, okay? We'll let you do that. All right, so then I will amend my recommendation with the deletion of they're not lines, so I don't I don't it's under section 13. Um Page two. We'll delete the name Um where am I? So sorry. Uh LaBeouf Rana Yes. Uh teacher project lead the way launch at Cheat Lake Elementary. With that, I will recommend that we adopt the professional personnel or the uh personnel list as presented. So moved.
031She stole it from me, didn't she? So we we have a move and a second over here. Any other discussion or any discussion on that one? The other discussion was for the previous one. With that said, all in favor signify by saying I. I. Opposed the same? Motion carries. Thank you very much, board members. Now, new positions. Uh we do have two. Um The first is a professional position that needs your approval. This is for a new second grade teacher, 200-day full-time at Brookhaven Elementary, and this will go uh as a plus one on the county expenses. Okay. Do I have a motion? So moved. So moved. Second. It's been moved and seconded. Any conversation? I'm assuming we have extra students, that's why we need an extra teacher. >> That's correct. All in favor signify
032by signify by saying I. I. Opposed the same? Motion carries. Personnel list addendum. Uh now we got one more here under uh new ones. Uh we do have a service position that we need to add as well uh in conjunction with that second grade position. Uh this is for an ECAT two aid, uh grades one through 3. It will also be 200-day full-time at Brookhaven Elementary School and it will be an additional plus one for the county. Okay. Do I have a motion? So moved. Second. Any discussion? All in favor? All in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. Aye. Opposed the same. Motion carries. Now we can go to the addendum. Yes, we can. Uh no changes to the addendum that I know of. Um superintendent recommends that the board approve the personnel list addendum.
033I'll entertain a motion. So moved. Second. Okay. Any conversation? All in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. >> Aye. Opposed the same. Motion carries. Excess levy update. Uh I don't really have anything other than to say that um uh uh Sunday was uh amazing. First time we've ever done anything like that. I want to thank the the committee, um all of our administrative uh staff, uh the school-level administrative staff, all of the teachers, the students, the parents that brought the kids out. Um it was just an amazing event um at University High School, that showcase of of excellence and it really was a showcase of excellence. So um uh outside of that, I know the board's continuing uh the um uh the committee continues to work hard in this final push um and I know
034they've got some other things uh scheduled and and on tap, um but uh they are doing a wonderful job and uh um as we get closer to that um election day. I was really impressed when I rounded the corner and I saw all the cars parked and I thought, "Oh, it must be something sports-related going on also." And it wasn't. I mean, there was just that many people there. It was It was amazing. What a great way to showcase our students. And that was very nice afternoon. Casey, did I forget anything? Okay. Thank you. Anybody else have a update they want to I you know, I thought the showcase was fantastic. It was I was trying to make it to MHS for drama club bingo, purse bingo, which I did. I did make it. Didn't
035win any purse that day, but I made it. And but I'm trying to leave UHS and everyone just wanted to keep talking and they wanted to talk about stuff. Wanted to show off and it was I mean, it took me an hour to get out of there. It was so so it was awesome awesome turnout. A ton of people there, a ton of people supporting. Some people asking questions how they can help. So really really really good. >> You know what my number one response I was getting from people was, "We should do this every year." I said, "Well, all of these people were volunteers. You need to talk to them." Um also just as an update, I think everyone knows Mohegan Idol raised almost $40,000 through MHS student council for for for children's hospital.
036So really really Yep. Another good venue. I guess it seems like it was a while ago, but I did get to go to and I'm going to forget the name. I got to go to Charleston with the teachers and they're all super excited. Somebody remind me of the name of the thing though. Ignite the classroom. Yeah. Um and I think they're all excited to go. Awesome. And oh, and I don't know if you guys know this part, but they found out when they were there they get an all expense three days in Atlanta at the school that looks a little bit like Harry Potter world. A lot like they even get to like if they choose not to take the stairs because it's that kind of day they can go down a slide. They It's
037just wild. Yeah. And they function in houses. They He said something like where four houses, one home, which was a nice way to put it. Okay. But, should be great training for our middle school teachers. >> Yeah, that's cool. So, hopefully eventually they can all go. Nice. I just want to back up the the levy event at uh University High on Sunday was was uh was very impressive. I mean, if we can get everybody there voting age to vote, I think we'll be in good shape. And if they bring friends, good friends as well. Uh because we just do so much and people don't realize uh what the levy goes for. I mean, it's 20% of our budget, and almost all goes to the classroom, extracurricular, athletics, seeing to entertaining entertaining arts, uh just Yeah,
038I don't know how you vote against it. I was uh always intrigued when we do these types of things cuz a lot it gives the public a chance to come and see our schools. Right. How How many times is it just the average public that they've their kids have already went through the school and all that? So, it's nice. I mean, you can go for a sporting event, but you send it you just send see the uh gymnasium or the football field. This is a way we can get them into the schools and I think it's nice showcase, you know, any of our schools. I'm proud for any of them. Take anybody in any of the schools here. They're just great all around. Okay, that is it. Uh nope. Oh. I I was at the
039All County Choir uh concert on Thursday where my daughter and Amber's son uh sang in the choir. Um and this year uh Miss Alex Jackson from Milan Park was the director. And I'm just amazed. This is my second or third concert that I've gone to as a parent. Um but I'm just amazed at how they're able to meld those kids from all those schools in one six-day one six-hour day rehearsal along with the two hours that they do throughout the semester. Um they blew me away. They absolutely blew me away and and I think it was just another another great night for Mon County public schools. I love seeing our children and what they can do and then it just made me so happy. Proud mama. Yeah. Well, I'm proud mama but also proud of
040all those like what hundred some kids that were on the stage and My wife would say proud mama means all mama all of them. >> Yeah. Yeah. And all the mothers are like that, you know. They care as much about the one sitting beside their child as as their child. Okay. Anything else? Legal updates. Think we have anything new for you. No. It's okay. Guess what's next. You have nothing else? Do we not have a board meeting next week? >> Yes, we do. Yeah. Next, yeah. Yeah. We have back to back to back this month. Yeah. That's what That's what I had on my calendar but Yeah. Next meeting is April 14th. 21st. That's right. It's It's the 21st. Today's the 14th. I'm sorry. What happened? Oh, that's me. Sorry. You caught me off base
041there. I'm so sorry. I'm This month is so crazy. That's all I can say. I was on that same page. I was reliving tonight. Anyway, next week. Next week is the 21st. Okay. I'm in trouble. I'm waiting on a Shawn to tell me to adjourn. Uh motion. Thank you, board members.