001Right. >> It's all I can do to try to do half of what Betsy used to do. >> Okay. >> I'd like to call the regular session of the Mory County Board of Education to order. If you please stand me 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. >> Thank you board members. >> You know, in light of capturing kids hearts, you know, we talk about always starting with a launch and a good thing. Mhm. >> Everybody know that. Well, today we're going to start with a good thing right off the bat. Uh joining us today is Jocelyn Smith and her family. >> And we want to
002take a minute here to recognize the amazing work that you have done. Um it's hard to not see Joselyn over in Pawpaw whenever you're out and about. That's an understatement. >> I believe she had a sash on Saturday that said Miss Paw. >> I mean it just there's no way to get around it. >> So please, Mr. backs. What was yours? >> So, I think we all are very much aware of Joselyn's accomplishments at school, which we're definitely going to highlight, but you may not be aware that she also does a lot for the community, and I'm going to highlight that tonight. So, Jocelyn Smith is a junior at Paul High School. Um, her GPA really needs a lot of work. It's a 4.1. 4.1 GPA. Um Joselyn has been to the state track meet
003twice. Um last year um she went in both the shot and the discus. She meddled in the shot put sixth place and she got ninth place in the discus. Um another thing I did not know about her till I did a little research is that in her freshman year she qualified for the state science fair which is a really big deal. It's not easy to qualify for the state science fair. Um, Jocelyn wants to be a veterinarian when she gets out of school and I'm sure that she will be the best best veterinarian there is. Um, with all that said and all her great accomplishments in school, I was at a meeting a few weeks ago and they were talking about her, a lot of adults sitting around the Morgan County Partnership meeting and they
004put a picture up of the wall in Palpaw that she uh helped coordinate and I think did most of the work herself. I'm not sure about that. and she's going to also talk a little bit about the gardens that she helped coordinate. But that's the picture up there that um it's on the corner of uh Winchester and River Street in Paw. And our tech guy is so savvy that he's going to be able to show us the whole wall by scrolling through there. So this is what she did to give back to her community. >> Is that painted? You paint you hand drew >> nice. >> Very well done. >> Beautiful. >> So I'm going to ask come up here please and stand beside me and I would like you to talk a little bit
005about the garden project and this project how you you know got the idea how you organized the people and anything you'd like to share with the board please. So the idea came from something just to make the town brighter. I mean you came up to the wall and it was something that had cracks through it. It was molded and everything else. So it just needed something brighter. And this was one of the ideas I came across on the internet and it was the first idea that I took to uh the empowered me group and that's how this started. When this idea came about, I ended up finding a grant that I wrote for and I ended up getting that grant which I was able to use to make the gardens as well. These gardens are
0064 by8 that are just on top of the hill that you can see in the picture. and they're going to be able to supply the um people in the apartments and the people of the town of fruits, vegetables, anything that may they like. >> Cool. >> And when are you getting started on that or have you already started? >> We already started. >> Already started. When do you estimate that's going to be completed? >> As soon as the plants start coming up. >> We need rain, right? really desperate brain. >> Well, how I don't I don't not not every student has your ambition to do well for their community. So, can you talk a little bit about that? What makes you so interested in helping out the community and brightening things up? >> I just
007want to give back to the town. I mean, the town's always giving to me. So, I just need to give back to the town. >> And I've always wanted to incorporate more of the kids. I want the kids to be able to do the same thing I'm doing. And especially the teenagers, and there was a lot of them that said, "No, I don't want to do it." They just looked at me like they were dumbfounded, like I was a complete idiot walking the street and ignored me for what and they just trying to put on the street and work towards the town. >> Did anybody join you as you're working through it that said no to begin with? to be interested in. No, that's disappointing to see whatever you had, what was going through and
008what was going to turn out to not generate something true just community spirit. That's >> disappointing. I tried to persuade them throughout the process to get them to join and it just continues to >> go down the path with help. >> What was the origination of the grant? >> Um Tina Badley sent me a link to it and I was like I contemplated it for a week and a half or so and I was like, you know what? I'm going to do it. >> And I wrote it out. I wrote the ideas of the mural, the gardens, and everything. And we ended up getting all the money we asked for for it. >> Wonderful. >> Do you know how many students, adults too, would drive by that and just say, "Oh, that looks terrible." And
009never think once about doing something about it. and you recognized it, saw that the whole town could use a pickme up and you did something about it. It's amazing. >> You probably track your hours. How many hours do you have in the mural so far? >> I didn't track. >> No, [Laughter] I didn't track any. >> I can't imagine. It's countless. That's why I was curious if you just start at the beginning of tracking. I'm sure you would have lost track on the way through how long that would have taken. That's look beautiful. >> Yeah, if I would have kept track, I definitely would have >> You'd be shocked. >> Yeah, >> you'd be shocked. >> So, what's next after the gardens? Or don't you have anything to learn? >> We'll see. I mean, cuz
010the very first part before we even started the meal was cleaning up trash and everything. So, if we can get some more projects like that here and there to keep the town >> clean and motivational, then >> that's how we're going to keep moving. >> You're such a bright spot and we appreciate you coming tonight. Is there any anything else you'd like to share with us before we get a picture with you? >> That's it. >> How about your family? Is there anything you'd like to share tonight? >> Proud man. She has a definitely a lot of hours into not just that, but every project that she's done, you know, as well as her school work, college classes, she's doing it all, >> you know, along with the track. It's just >> You ever have
011any downtime when you're just like chilling out and not doing anything? >> No. Well, bedtime, but no, my down time's working on track. So, that's how I >> calm myself down. stand before you. [Applause] [Music] >> Let's do it. They don't want to be with it. >> Y >> good. >> Thank you. >> We're very proud. >> Thank you. >> And you're just a junior, so much more to come. >> That's what we always say. Just a junior. You all are welcome to stay for the durations meeting. >> Mr. Go ahead. Apologize. >> I I got to know Jocelyn and her family um last spring >> and just the enthusiasm and support we had at the state meet. Got to know the parents well at the state meet. We probably had as good a day
012as Paul Paul sports ever had when you look at all the championships. I know Joselyn had had a rougher first day in her events and she came back and she handled her nerves well. And I'll tell you, when you see some of those kids throwing the shot and they're going over here instead of here, you have these nice walls up here protecting them. But then when one girl does that, you know what everybody else starts doing? She doesn't, you know, she had wonderful composure. Um, and you talk about multiaceted. You're an all state athlete, but you can't stick around too long because you've got to get back to Paul because she was uh at the parade that day. Had to be back that day. So, it it was so it's really been great getting to
013know you all and I appreciate all your support. I'm going to do the best I can for you as well. So, thank you so much. >> It's a it's a real great winning story in every aspect you can think of. I would love to kick off every meeting with something like this. That would be a wonderful thing to be able to do and recognize and have that kind of effort put into things would make a huge change to everyone's community. So, thank you very much. >> Lord members, I'm sorry for I apologize cutting off. >> Just keep that spirit, that giving back spirit. >> We We need more of that. >> Don't let the naysayers get you down. Just keep on plugging away. Yeah. >> Yeah. >> They're just jealous. They don't know. >> Exactly.
014>> You know, the ambition that she has. >> Don't know where she gets it from. >> Well, I've got a feeling the young man on on your all's left is going to be quite an asset to our school system, too. He's did well in middle school. I saw his name in in and events and he'll be a varsity athlete this year. So, best of best wishes to you as well, my friend. >> You're welcome to stick around for the next hour and a half as we're doing our general items, but I'm sure you have more productive things, productive things to do with your time. >> So, have a blessed one. Have a safe trip back. >> Thank you. >> Those are good ways to kick off meetings, aren't they? >> Oh, yeah. >> The best.
015Absolutely. >> Oh, back regular business board, you do have an agenda and agenda in front of you. Uh there is one item to strike on the agenda. Draw your attention to A1A. Uh it's just a duplicate that is already on the agenda. So I'll make a motion to amend the agenda and agenda as I mentioned. >> Second. >> Thank you. Any comments or concerns? All those in favor of saying I. I was nay. The eyes carry it. Presentations just as riveting. >> It's in color. >> That's a good thing. >> Mhm. >> This doesn't This doesn't look handdrawn, though. This looks like clip art. >> Same clip art for [Music] All right. >> Yeah, actually this is a good thing. Um, and we're very blessed to have it that way. A lot of counties don't.
016So, we're so it is a good positive presentation. Figure out how to do this. Look at that. All right. Like I said, I'm going to try to make this as painless as possible. It's just a very brief and quick overview of our financial statements that for the year ending 2025, June 30, 2025. Uh this slide just tells us what we're doing. Uh we're required by state code to uh prepare financial statements uh 90 days after the beginning of the fiscal year. Um they need to be submitted to the department of ed also published uh for one week and signed by both the uh board president and the superintendent. Um I'm not going to go through all this. This is what the complete statements consist of. Uh they're actually 125 pages if you include all that.
017Um 75 of those are the basic statements and the other 50 are other stuff you got to send along. Um, and it's about 80 Excel word worksheets to complete this. So, it's it's quite the task. Um, next we want to look at what's new for 2425. Um, Gatsby 101. Gatsby stands for the governmental accounting standards board. And I just can't really imagine what these people look like or do for, you know, what they uh think about how to report things financially and make changes. And this I don't know how they come up with it all, but uh Gatsby 101 is our new one for this year. If you remember in past years, uh included on our statements were was the value of the vacation leave we had on our books. So that if um everyone
018left today, this is how much we would have to pay them out on in their vacation. Gazby 101 changed that and now we have to report what's called convertible leave. And convertible leave is any leave on our books that cannot be used when you retire to buy additional service or insurance. So that boils down to the value of leave for anyone in the what's called retire two or the defined contribution system because they cannot use their leave for anything and any employee hired after 2015 who's in retire. So to give you an idea reporting just our vacation this year gave us a liability of 113,000. Reporting this is $1.6 million. >> True. So again, it's a number and this is in our districtwide statement which includes everything. Um again, it's just a number. It's nothing
019that really affects the bottom line for us, but it's something we have to present. And in order to compare last year to this year properly, we also had to restate last year's net position and figure the same number for last year. So that's all built into our net position. So, it's going to be a question kind of just a clarification to make sure that I'm on the same page and understanding this as well. So, we have an employee who takes sick leave and is using their sick leave while they were gone. We are charged for that. We're paying for their time off. We are not be able to send that money back that request back to state no matter where they acrewed that sick and vacation time. >> Correct. >> Okay. And then we are
020also funding the substitute to put into that position. >> That's correct. >> Okay. So a person that was basically garnered leave in let's say Berkeley County of 100 days and they decide to use 100 days in Morgan County we are paying twice the substitute and that leave. >> That's correct. >> Okay. >> Because you can take all leave with you. >> Take all leave with you. Okay. >> Except vacation while vacation doesn't. >> Now my accurate also say we are not transferring any of that. Do we transfer that leave when in a journal entry if that employee leaves us into the calculation of this moving forward? I've never never thought about it. I guess we could. Um, but then you have counties doing the same thing back to us. It's sort of like billing for
021transfer students. Just a um >> a gentleman's agreement that we don't do that because it kind of goes both ways. But that that's a great point. That's I'll ask that question. >> Okay. Okay. >> It's would probably be really difficult to try. >> It'd be very difficult. But it goes back to my original question of whenever their sick leave is built up if that the state is basically promising that as a benefit. >> Yes, >> that should be something that the state has a fund for that they are paying versus us having to pay both places. >> Well, we don't actually pay anything for this. This is just a it's on our district-wide savings. >> This isn't but I'm saying in general whenever we cut a check for them to be paid, we're paying. >>
022Yes. In that situation, yes. >> Yes. >> Anyway. >> Okay. any idea why they are asking for that now as opposed to >> I think it's in their minds it's a more accurate representation of the absences we have the value of the absences we have >> so no thought yet about using that as a benefit like it used to be >> it has come up >> like we like we've had conversations before >> it's coming up in the past few legislative sessions and >> okay so that's what I was wondering if that's something they were possibly looking towards They could be. I mean, the gad this is federal. This is country while the Gazsby folks, >> but they have thought about it. I think this is just my opinion. I think it comes down to
023it's just they can't really afford it. >> Yeah. >> Once someone retires >> because it does increase your annuity a bit to save those days. >> Shame. That would be a great benefit, too. >> Yeah. You can't it you haven't been able to buy insurance with your leave since in the early 2000s. That's went away a long time ago. >> Yeah. My that's how my mom retired. >> Yeah. Yeah. >> That was online too. >> Yeah. And that's in in my opinion is a great benefit. >> The state's books look worse whenever you do that. >> Oh yeah. I mean we've we've talked to >> your bond rating everything is affected by that whenever you >> go down that road. >> Okay. Any other thoughts or questions on that? Okay. And the other thing is
024fund 71 our which is our art money that expires September 30 and I know we're all aware of that. So this will be the last time uh that will appear on any of our statements. Okay. So the district-wide statement that's the first thing we're going to talk about and again this is what I was referring to with these different Gazsby rulings. This take this is everything we own versus everything we owe. It's things like this vacation and leave balances that we'll never really have to pay that aggregate amount. Um you talk about the retirement uh liability. That's Gazsby 68. Gazsby 75 is OP. That's our liability for PEIA. And it's just the amount we have to carry in this statement as if, you know, we just have to show it. We'll never really have to
025pay it, but it's our share of the liabilities that the state carries. So anyway, with all that being said, our total net position this year is $25.5 million. Um and with the restatement of last year comparing last year to this year actually that is a decrease in our net position of 253,000 which is which is very minor. Uh again I think once we get a few years with this Gazsby 101 that that's going to even back out again. It was just it was just the change. Our capital assets uh went up 2 and a half% to a little over 14 million. Uh this year we bought some security cameras, a lot of network upgrades, Chromebooks, some kitchen equipment, and two buses are the crux of it. Um and also we didn't retire any assets this
026year, meaning we didn't sell them. So that uh caused our total fix assets to go up. Uh looking at it just graphically a little easier to maybe grasp and understand. The last two bars compares this year to last year and you can see just the very little change that it was. I said the 253,000 is really insignificant. Uh and again looking at it graphically these this is again our district-wide revenue. That's our total revenue by the different source codes and our unrestricted state aid is the highest followed by property taxes. And what's interesting just looking at numbers, uh, the operating grants and contributions was actually 3% higher and the state aid 3% lower last year because the effects of our ARP money and and now that that's gone, you know, that was a large chunk
027of change. You can see it's kind of regulating back to what it used to be. Um, again, our expenditures, district-wide expenditures are 34 million. Uh, as they normally are, we spend over half of our budget, half of our funds on instruction. And next to that is the uh things that support construction such as technology and uh things like that. Okay. Our governmental statements are the ones that are are of more interest. This is actually uh what we're looking at as our fund 11 which is our operating fund. And this is our day-to-day operations. This does not include any of the OPED or pension or absences or any of that stuff. This is actual uh revenue and expenses. At the end of last year and in fund 11, the end of 24, our fund balance was
02812,532. And this we ended this year with our funding balance of 11,948. So only a 50 this a little short of 52,000 difference between this year and last year which I think is is great. Um comparing you know that we're again don't have all of our art money and everything is going up. Uh we finished pretty much just the same as we did last year. So the unreserved fund balance is the amount out of that 11.9 million that we that is basically spendable. It doesn't include anything we already have set back for step seven or school allocations. It's not designated to any uh pro project. So taking that number and subtracting the encumbrances which are the things that we knew we were going to spend at the end of June and we already encumbered to
029spend in in 25 that brings us down to 6.498 million. Going down to the next u next bullet point there if you subtract the 2.3 million that we budgeted as a carryover gives us 4.15 in reserve for contingency. So that's um what is basically not spoken for that is just in our reserves right now and that is 12% of the general fund revenue and we are recommended to have 3 to five. That did decrease a little bit from last year but we're still actually in really good shape. Really really good shape. Um just going down the special revenue fund which is fund 61 that has all our uh federal projects, state projects, all that money is 1.9 and that's a slight increase from last year. The school activity fund is the money that's kept at
030the school level from their different activities. It's it's down a little bit about 18,000 and as I said our art money is zero and capital projects is 669 669,000 and that is because we've transferred to that fund the 300,000 for matching funds for the Woodmire HVAC and also the Gford Springs High School roof. So that's what's given that it is surplus even though we haven't those projects are just getting started. So that money is still there waiting for that. Uh looking at our fund balance graphically, the tall blue line is the total uh unreserved fund balance and the green line is what we have in reserve for contingency. It's unencumbered and unbudgeted. So again, yeah, looking at that, like I said, it did come down slightly from last year, but we're still in excellent condition
031financially. uh this uh graph which compares in again in the general fund our revenue and expenses. Uh you can see there that's where the $51,800 shows in our red line expenses. You can see it just almost as equal to revenue and and we expected that. I mean, we knew again with we had our uh loss of our art money that probably everyone has forgotten by now, but in FY25 professionals received a $4,000 raise. I'm rounding that number off. Service uh $1,400 raise. It's just everything just was more expensive. It went up. Uh the bulk of the increases in their salary, >> right? Bulk of that grab going up so steeply. is the two ra two raises back to back >> raises two back to back raises. Yes. >> And we've also added cash and we
032just got too much. >> Yeah. I I did a little um kind of a rud rudimentary um research on that. This is probably not totally precise, but I think I'm pretty close because we don't have the certified list done yet for this year. It looks like we were uh in total we're short funded a little over four positions in our ecats in total for the three years. >> Okay. Wow. >> How many total ecats did we overall add? >> Hang on. >> Maybe >> for this year you mean >> I mean in general we're talking about first, second, third. >> This is how I did this. Like I said, I just try to I looked at when we started in 22, >> we had seven ECATs. >> Okay. >> And based on the preliminary certified
033list for this year, we have 32. >> Wow. Wow. I knew there I knew there was a lot. I wasn't going to guess 20. >> Yeah. And we were funded and actually it was a a declining amount you were funded for basically in the bill. The number of positions they funded you for um it was right around three per thousand. Okay. >> Yeah. >> But we have to put them in our each of our first, second, third grade classrooms, no matter if we are below that ratio or I should say above that ratio. Excuse me. >> Yes. >> Right. >> Yeah. Um the first year we weren't funded for one and a half, 1.06 the next year and it looks like 1.41. For this year we will not receive funding. >> Okay. based on different
034class sizes to the size of what the state requires post. >> Yeah. When and when you have smaller schools too, um that impacts this because they're just taking your number of kids, >> right? >> And they're figuring it out based on your number of kids. So obviously Pleasant View and Paul would have smaller class sizes and that's why u they're not funded at the full amount. >> Yeah. In in 23 24 we added nine and we were funded for 7.45. Last year we added eight and we were funded for 6.94. It looks like this year eight and funded for 6.59. Again I just looked at October one. >> That's a great question. That's that's a great close enough was what I was kind of asking for. Yes. And again, this is something I just like
035to show the board. Uh we're doing great with our child nutrition program as well. Um we our sponsors contribution total of 822,000 this year and total costs were a little over 2.2 million. So even with the rising food cost and actual lower reimbursement from the federal government, uh we still did good there and basically stayed the same as last year with what we had to support that program with. >> The um lowering of the reimbursement from the feds, is that going to be a trend or is that just politics 101 or what's going on with that? Um, I think Angie would know more about it, but it's my understanding and maybe you do too, Dave, um, that it was during the COVID years and right after that it was a higher reimbursement and now we're
036getting back to Okay. what it used to be. >> That makes sense. >> Yeah. I I don't know how they come up with that number overall either. >> Um, all right. Last but not least, our long-term debt. You can see there what we paid for um our energy performance lease and our QAB loan this year and what we will be paying next year and that goes until 2032. Increases every year. So we still have six more years on those loans. >> First time gone. >> Yeah. >> Wait to get my age. six years. >> All right. So, is there any department or any questions comments? >> No, I had all my comments back when we first looked at this back >> months ago. >> Thank you for all your hard work. >> You're welcome. >>
037Question, Mr. Banks. Any comments? >> Yeah, I'd just like to just add a couple things. First of all, we we know that or we knew that the ARP funds were going away. We had to make some tough decisions and as a district, we don't need all the things that, you know, uh people feel like they have to have. And we've been, I think, very good about prioritizing and channeling our resources towards a few key initiatives and also being able to set aside money to keep our uh facilities upgraded and our grounds more recently. And I feel like we're in a really good place and and I also believe that we have the best CFO anywhere which helps keeps us in line and she she knows how to say no when uh she needs to say
038no and that's very important too. So >> thank you. >> Well I just had mentioned Ann before the meeting Mr. Banks and I have similar education backgrounds with masters in educ in in administration and we took some finance courses that really were not terribly informative to say the least and I've done some through the principal ship of course. What you've given all of us is a real gift because um >> it's something we can bite into and understand and >> make sense out of it. I appreciate that a lot. >> Well, you're welcome. Thank you. I appreciate you saying that. >> Yeah. Prior to actually right before I took the job in 2014, and it was a statewide decision. We weren't under the governmental counting standards boards. Our statements were just basically done from the
039Department of Ed. And there was a back in those days there was a a vote and they switched and that's what's caused a lot of this and caused them to get a lot more complicated than they once were. And some of those numbers actually in at the end of the day are a bit irrelevant and don't really affect the bottom line but we have to report them. >> There's a push to go back [Music] >> you said that the payments go to 2032. Is that both the CMTA thing and do that or is that just >> Yeah, that's both of them. >> Yeah, they were both taken out at the same time for the energy management. >> Oh, well the other one for building is that matter right now. [Music] >> Thank you and very
040much appreciate that. >> Yours isn't as pretty. Mr. Thanks. I got news for you. It's very It's much shorter and not as pretty. >> Thank you. >> Less variety in colors. >> Totally short. >> Oh, yeah. >> Well, my presentation is very short. So, that's good. >> All right. Um, so I'm going to be presenting not the entire strategic plan because like Ann said, how many pages was yours? >> 125. >> Yeah. Ours is about the strategic plan rival that I'm going to present to you just a summary of our goals and a few action steps. So, um start off with the goals um that are included in our strategic plan. Go to the right thing. >> Yep. I'm good. So, uh the first goal you'll note is very similar to the goal that a
041superintendent goal we set last time. By June 2026, more county students will improve regal math scores by 10% um from BYO as measured by benchmark and state assessment. So um not a surprise most districts have a similar goal like that. I would also say though that most districts don't have a 10% goal. It's usually five or less. So we're up to the challenge. Uh chronic absenteeism. By June 2026, one county schools will strive to have fewer than 15% of our students chronically absent. And I don't I don't think I need to go into that definition of chronically absent. I think we've probably all heard that. But uh that is a challenge. Uh we've got some some work to do in that area. We went up some this past year and Mr. is all over it
042this year and we very fortunate to find a a good attendance coordinator to help us get where we need to go. And finally, graduation rate. More schools will improve graduation of four and five year seniors to 96% as measured by the cohort data. Those are the goals that are part of our county strategic plan. Now, this one, that's why I emailed it to you because this is straight from the document that we use to submit our strategic plan. So, you're not going to be able to see it um on the screen. Maybe I'll stand. Kate, do you have a copy of this? probably don't have a copy of the do not okay I'll make sure you >> um so our first goal there um student achievement um progress monitoring is there and then uh over
043the next category is really what I want to spent the time and that's the uh the strategies so datadriven instruction um personalization uh strengthen famil family's knowledge and skills uh compl liance is next section and curriculum instruction initiatives. Um extended school year which is our summer program that we're going to talk to you about next time. Uh focused professional learning. So all the all way on the far right are the action steps that we are taking as part of each one of those. So you'll see county data analysis. We're always looking at data and how we can improve and then we make our decisions from that. And one thing I'm really impressed with is every quarter we have our principal's data review meetings uh where we as a team review the data with each principal.
044They take that same data back, review that with their their leadership team and we really encourage our principles to own the data and I feel like in Morgan County our principles take that ownership. Um monthly uh interventionist meetings which is something new this year. So, one of my goals uh is to have every category of people in our school system have a go-to person at the central office. And one thing I noticed that most of these were already in place. For example, all our secretaries have Joan Smith and they meet with her once a month and she's their go-to person. So, if they have questions, they go through Joan Smith. interventionist. There's no better person than Michael Powell who understands the whole process of uh WBTSS. And so our interventionists are meeting once a month
045with him to standardize our process across the schools and also for people to understand what their role is because sometimes we get a little lost in that what what is the role of an interventionist. It's also to help make our district more change proof so that when new interventions come in, we can just plug them in and they know uh what they're doing and they also have a contact person at the central office who can guide them. It's really a bit unreasonable for a principal to understand everything that a person in their building should be doing and how they're supposed to do it. So in the absence of that um we need to have experts here in the office. So that's I want to spend a minute just talking about that. um spring math. Um
046under personalization, we have been blessed to have a great coach come on board, Tiffany, who's been really working and zeroing in on IE at all three of our secondary schools. So, she's been a great addition. Uh MTSS, which is also called WVTSS, which is a big um push for us to make sure that all of our people understand how that works. Um just skipping down through there. um the summer and after school programs. Um we also have extended school year for students with IEPs. Um I you're going to see the data from our summer program uh is much improved over the previous year. Our attendance is up. Um our score, our assessment from the beginning of the summer program to the end is is really good, too. We're going to be sharing that with the
047curriculum and instruction team. uh committee next week. Um focused professional learning. Um this is a challenge. Um and I'll tell you why. We want the absolute best professional learning for everybody. Sometimes it's really difficult to um individualize training for certain groups of people. And so we are really counting on our people. Like for example, our counselors, Candace Pennington is an absolute blessing. She is one of the best counselors you'll find anywhere and we want to empower our people to be leaders. So she is in charge of professional learning for the counselors and there's no better person to do that. Somebody who doesn't necessarily understand all that a counselor does and they're planning professional development may not hit it on the mark but Candace can certainly do that. So that's the kind of model that we're
048looking for. Um, and I think we're making some progress. Um, sometimes with professional learning, we contract with some of these companies like instructional empowerment or I ready and you get the person who comes and I wish we had a little bit more control over who that person was and the quality of that person, but sometimes you're at their mercy. So, professional learning is a big um very important to us. um home visits and MDTs. I think that's something that our CIS workers have been working on. Mr. Douly really encourages that and mult multidisciplinary teams, that's what an MDT stands for, really get together and try to figure out what issues a child or a family might be facing to help break down the barriers. um schools all create and uh implement the quarterly title one
049um incentive program. So all of our schools are required to have an attendance program whether they're title one or not. And that's been a big u focus of Mr. Dies and the principles this year as well. I'm seeing it just fine by the way. But >> title, sorry. >> Um, the climate and culture. Um, so Capturing Kids Hearts has been with us now for I think this is the fourth year. Um, we have three national four three national showcase schools and we're hoping that we have all of our schools as national showcase schools this coming year. It's been a great program for our district and we continuously do refreshers for our new people on that too. Um, uh, you'll see under personalization for graduation rate, instructional empowerment has been very helpful. Um, our engagement in
050the classrooms is going in the right direction. U, we're making some progress at PAPA already. We just had our first meeting with the staff and the IE people this this afternoon and things are going really well in Palp. Um and then finally uh the last part which we can't emphasize enough is a culture of high expectations and that's sometimes difficult to define but um we have to have that. Um sometimes we think our kids can't do it. We think our families can't do it. We think our staff can't do it when we have when we put a long-term sub in a classroom that may not have the same qualifications as our regular teachers. And I beg to differ. I think that we we can do it. Our kids, our families, our staff, we can do
051it. We just have to work a little harder. We have to start from scratch with some of our long-term subs. We have to believe in our kids. Um uh with high expectations comes high levels of support. So those who can't make it, we have to make sure that we have the support in place. Big reason we're focusing on our interventionist is so that they can offer that support to kids who who fall short. So that is our strategic plan. This is what kind of our go-to that we use. Uh we expect our our schools to have a similar plan. Theirs is obviously modeled after ours with very similar action steps. But again, I didn't want to go into the whole thing, but that's kind of a summary of M County School strategic plan. Any questions?
052>> Board members, comments or questions? >> Well, I think I know the answer to this, but maybe it's just good that the public hears it. If we have, and I had this at Greenwood, u couple children who uh parents were artists, they went to Florida for the winter. >> Mhm. >> They sold their wares down there and produced some more. Uh they got their assignments, they came back, they were tested, did extremely well, top-notch. One is very successful businessman here in Berkeley. But by definition, those kids were chronically absent, would be chronically absent all those days. >> Um, unless they're part of a virtual school, which in some cases that could be. >> Okay. >> Um, it's a different now. Of course, we have a virtual school on West Virginia. The state has a virtual
053school as well. So, that would be the exception that I can think of. Maybe you want to expand on that. >> Yeah, there could be a couple different routes. They could they could um they could withdraw home school for the month. in Florida. Parents provide that instruction while they were there. Um they could also enroll in the district in Florida that they were living in at that time and then reenroll with us when they move back here. A couple different things in that in that scenario. We would work best for the student in that. >> That's and and those are good options. I'm glad you brought those up. I just hate to see the school system get hammered on things that >> that's not chronic absentism. They're they're out there learning each day and doing
054well. Uh it just some somebody's got too much time on their hands on that one too when you get right down to it. >> Okay. Any other questions or comments? Just I like the comment you made about expectations because research shows that in in when you talk about parenting and everything parents expect expectations is the single biggest guiding guiding principle and how the kids will perform. >> Yeah. >> And it's not dictated by the your name or where you live or what your income is. >> Um I'm an example of it really. I had a grandmother who was tough and I'm glad she was, you know. >> So, >> yeah, it's a good point because we we looked at data from all across the state and some of the highest impoverished schools have some of
055the highest data and that just >> well right here in Morgan County for many years, Paul Von Greenwood were the most impoverished and our test scores were always very good. >> Thank you very much. board members reports and communications. Uh I've got uh two things. Number one, they're filling a bus up at Food Line. So if you stop by there, take a sheet, go in and shop. Food Line's got some nice wonderful things set up right there to walk outside and >> give to our realiz. >> Uh number two, November 15th, the first can't say first, next board of education training is up for grabs. Uh, and a reminder that we are to have 12 hours of training this year and not seven as in years past. >> What was that date? >> November 15th.
056>> Okay, that's the one in Stonewall. >> That's the one in Stonewall. Five hours. >> Yeah. Okay. Thank you. >> Who do we let know? >> I'm getting ready to ask Mr. Max. >> I don't know. Betsie's not here. >> That's the best answer I've got. >> I was Let's let Betsy know. Let's let Betsy know. and and Betsy can work on that. >> Okay. If we send an email to Betsy somebody, >> she'll be she'll be here. >> Yeah. Thursday, I think. >> And that's virtual or in person. [Music] That's all I have. >> Do they consider that the winter as the winter? >> There'll be there'll be additional winter one like in December, January. >> No, it's usually February. >> What do they call this one? The fall. But I thought they were
057going to do more this this time because we have more hours >> as well. >> Yeah. >> And years past they also offered a couple of self-paced things I believe for two hours. >> Okay. >> I don't know if they'll do it again. >> There were some podcasts that you could get that would give you like half hour >> which I did a bunch of those at one time. >> Correct. So um still to be determined. And they used to do a spring. They would go to the different regions so we didn't have to travel. They didn't do that this year, did they? >> They didn't do this this past year, >> right? >> Sometimes we went to Martin. >> Yeah. What they have listed right now is just the November. Then February winter conference,
058>> May is statewide training and then June is new is the the new member orientation. Wow. So >> but anybody can go >> to that one quarter tasting. >> Keeping in the theme of Jocelyn Smith, I'll mention that Audrey Helm has already won a college cross country race for the first time. >> Wow. And uh Donnie Tanoway in his first race running for Fairmont State finished in the top five and set an all-time Fairmont State cross country record timewise. >> Wow. >> I'm not surprised. >> And when I talk to him, we talk athletics and then we talk academics >> because he is a student athlete, not the other way around. So back. >> So this is Constitution Week, September 11th through the 18th. Tomorrow is Constitution Day where schools are doing activities, especially in
059social studies classes, but not limited to that. Um, also wanted to mention that we did our architect interviews for Berkeley Springs High School building a roof. We had four architectural firms that interviewed. We are currently checking references. I was very pleased with the all the interviews. I thought they were very well prepared and um we I don't think we can go wrong. But Mr. Douly, do you have anything else that you wanted to add that >> the same thing? All four did a very good job. Uh, also as we continue to work through um upgrading some of our uh grounds, buildings and grounds, um the Berkeley Springs High School field, um I think the sound system on first listen is very clear, much clearer, but it still doesn't have the umpth to get the sound
060to where it needs to go. So, Mr. Shade, it's been a little little trial and error. I think we're going to add some additional speakers or bigger speakers to help get that sound across the uh field and especially to the other side. Um I had the pleasure of going to the football game Friday night and watched Berkeley Springs beat Clear Spring. It was an exceptional game. >> Really good crowd, great environment. >> Um really proud of the the work that has been done on the field, the paint. We wish it was had some more green grass. There's a lot of >> like kind of like pigment from Charlie Brown. There's a lot of cl dust, you know. Um but uh we need to get a little bit of rain for that to to happen. >>
061Um other than that, uh I I do want to mention that we're constantly having a need for volunteers. Um whether it be announcing or running the clock or running the 25second clock. and uh we're going to get that message out a little bit more than we we are currently, but I I know there are people who would love to help out. Um but we uh are again we didn't have a volunteer for the 25 second clock this past past football game and we really would like to have that so that the officials don't have to be the ones keeping track of that. I mean they have to keep track of we want the fans to be able to see that >> as well. >> We really haven't had anyone to announce either. >> Yeah. Yeah.
062She's been kind of filling in, right? >> Ally did a good job filling in. But >> yeah, we're looking for a voice of the Indians. Maybe we should put out a RFP or something for the voice of the Indians. That sounds That sounds good, doesn't it? >> It does. Yeah, it does. >> Students should be able [Laughter] >> somebody in the drama class. That would be >> who would those people find if they want to be in the voice of the Indians? Where would they go? Who would they talk to? >> Mr. Chad Bringer, >> athletic director. >> Yeah. >> She gonna put it out there though. >> That's all I have. >> Any questions? Next. >> Item eight, consent agenda. The superintendent recommends approval of the following consent actions as presented. Minutes of the
063September 2nd 25 regular meeting payment of bills, budget, adjustments, and volunteers. >> I have a motion for the consent agenda. So move. >> Thank you. >> Second. >> Thank you. Any comments or concerns? All those in favor of saying I >> oppos. I carry it. >> Professional personnel recommends approval of the following personnel actions. Mr. Good evening guys. Um so on the agenda there under professional personnel we're bringing on a substitute teacher which is needed more than ever. Uh we're also bringing on a restricted substitute teacher and just as a reminder restricted substitute teacher has associate degree uh they can be in a classroom for 10 days no longer than 10 days at a time. So that's how it works. So that's the difference between but uh the next thing there is we're bring uh
064specialized healthc care procedures at Pall schools those two individuals and then also the individual there at Whitmire and then we're asking for pre-post supervision at Orange Springs Intermediate School there with that individual under professional staff development we're asking for those three individuals for new teachers academy training and then also under two under number two the same the new teachers academy and vote from step 7D. That's it for the agenda. All right, over to the agenda. So, under professional personnel under number two, just going to restructure the executive secretary position here at central office to a professional administrative assistant. Uh both of those positions, one would be 255 days, but that also as professional administrative assistant here at the central office. Um we are reclassifying long-term substitute teacher at Berkeley Springs High School to firsttime full-time
065permit science teacher at Berkeley Springs High School. There's another one of our folks going down that pathway of getting fully certified. So >> I just had two more of those forms sent to me today. So, we are we are well on our way to getting some folks that have been long-term subs for us uh into that pathway to where we get them fully certified. >> Um, under service personnel, >> uh, I was so close with the lighting in the tunnel, I had to put my sunglasses on, but now I'm back in that tunnel again. Um, so we have a resignation there about special education aid at Whitmire and then we also have a Cook 2 resignation at Whitmer as well. um under employment. Uh just so you guys are aware of this process right here.
066This so we are really really happy to be bringing on uh one, two, three, four substitute aids uh for us and then also a substitute cook and then also that fifth substitute aid. So, we posted those positions back in u June through July and finally got all the uh background checks and all that stuff back. And then we the next meeting we should be bringing on several secretaries and clerks as well. So, and we're also posting another round of all subs uh all subclassifications next week to do about a two or three truth run to where we can bring another crop on hopefully in November or hopefully late October November. So this substitute aid is kind of like the ECAT. >> Yeah, they can they can be. >> So that's why we need so many
067more substitutes because we have so many more. Gotcha. >> That's correct. >> Um over on uh under the next thing there is those folks are for uh specialized healthc care services. So that individual springs high school uh Paul schools Pleasant View. Uh you'll see this person's name twice because uh they're a bus aid to their transportation in Whitmer. And then we have a transfer from it classroom aid at Berkeley Springs to teacher aid ECAT at Whitmire and that will be effective October 8th. We're also bringing on a head girls basketball coach at Orange Springs Middle School. And then under temporary part-time, we're bringing on a math coach that we funded through the Cely grant. And then we're also bringing on the title one interventionist as well at Pleasant. Any questions? >> Just add one thing.
068Um, so sometimes you'll see a transfer of an employee and a date that's down the road and not immediately. And sometimes that's because we want to fill their position first before we allow them to transfer. Thank you. >> I move we accept the personnel as presented. >> Second. >> Thank you. Thank you. Any concerns, further comments or questions? >> All those in favor of saying I. >> I. >> Motion carries by majority present. Uh finance. >> I just want to say one other thing too. Um in the interest of personnel, we are really uh in a place where we're desperate need of substitute nurses. uh we have a lot of students who with with some really uh high needs and uh in many cases a nurse needs to be present throughout the day every minute
069of the day. Uh and so you can imagine that strain when somebody needs to be off when one of our nurses needs to miss a day or miss an extended leave. we uh rely on our substitutes and we our our pool of substitutes is very very thin right now. So, um I'm worried about that and we're going to do the best we can to try to get that message out. We're going to be advertising in football games. Um you know, a a nurse at the school level has a lot of advantages in that you have the same schedule as your child does. And obviously, if you're working in a hospital, the salary is more. We all know that. But there is a benefit in that you have the same schedule that your child has if
070you're an RN or LPN at the school. So, um we we just need to get the word out even more so than we are. But, um I just wanted to let the board and public know that I am worried about that. Um especially as we approach a few that may be taking some leave for u you know from medical illnesses. So >> a comment I have in regards to that same light is that hospitals are desperately need nurses as well and they are using a lot of what they call locoms and so it may be something you may need to investigate as well. >> What is that? >> Is that the travel one? >> The locoms is similar to a traveling nurse. Uh they have a service that's a head hunter. They're kind of a
071conglomerate where they have they hire all the nursing staff and then the employer goes to just like we do for speech therapy similar to that same kind of vein. >> Yeah. >> So maybe something to investigate to see what they would charge for coverage for us if we need to. >> It will be more than a person that we have to hire though. >> I we've checked into a couple of those and at least the ones that we've checked into they're not in the business of wanting to help out on a dayto-day basis like hey calling up that morning we need somebody. It's more like long-term kind of things where you have a vacancy. >> Um there may be some um some agencies that do that kind of work, but we we haven't found them
072yet. So, >> well, maybe somebody for a vacation. If you have someone out for a week, you may >> thinking outside the box whenever we can for today's staffing issues for all employment. It's not just the school system, but school system being one of the large employers will be hit hardest by our current predicament of binding employees. >> And I just want to reiterate our nurses are phenomenal. Um I said that a few weeks ago, but they're just doing such a wonderful job. Was really pleased how they put kids first and their job is not easy. It's very difficult job. >> We voted. >> Yes. Yes. >> Yeah, we did. Thank you. >> Uh finance and budget approve financial statement for fiscal year 2425 for publication and submission to West Department of Education. I'll make
073that motion. >> Second. >> Thank you. Again, comment and thank you very much for your effort. Thank you for your presentation. It was very informative and I put you on the spot for a couple of answers. So thanks for being ready >> and accomplished questions. All those in favor of saying I post nay. Eyes carry it. >> Program planning second reading and approval of policy 5310, policy 5320, policy 5321, policy 8450, policy 8453. Entertain a motion to approve those as read. >> So move. >> Second. >> Thank you. Thank you. Any comments? Anyone knows about Betsy? >> No. >> Okay. All those in favor saying I. >> I. >> Oppos? Nay. I carry it. Uh item B under program planning approved. Jamie Harrison. You have to help me on this one. To present and on
074WSMS teacher to >> be in the one. >> Okay. to make it short. >> And a and a WSMS teacher to attend AMLE25 conference in Indianapolis, Indiana, November 5th through the 8th 25 funding source WBDE grant specifically for conference registration and travel. >> I move we accept Jamie and a teacher going. >> Thank you. I'll second that since I since I edited the motion. Any comments, questions, any concerns? All those in favor of saying >> I no. Eyes carries calendar events. Go find yourself an assistant. And you're going to be playing a hot cocoa social here soon. >> You thought it was bad up to this point. >> Motion to adjurnn. >> So move. >> Thank you. I'll second it. >> Any concerns or comments? >> All those in favor in favor of saying I
075>> oppos? Nay. >> We are adjourned. Sorry folks, I've got to run to Hancock for a volleyball game that's going on.