001Mhm. >> Fireball? Everybody on? Yep. Ready? Okay, we're going to go ahead and call our regular meeting of the Wayne County Board of Education to order. It's 6:00. If you'll stand, we'll say the pledge. Shane, you want to lead us this evening? 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. Shane Nelson? Shane? Nothing. All right, and let the record show that all board members are present in person this evening. I don't think we have any recognitions this evening, so we can move on to our presentations, our academic spotlight. >> Which are recognitions. >> [laughter] >> Yeah. Very true. I think YOU SCARED EVERYBODY. I THOUGHT YOU WAS TEASING FOR A
002MINUTE. THANK YOU FOR COMING. >> [laughter] >> LET'S DO THE RECOGNITIONS. >> [clears throat] >> SO, we did combine. Usually, we do an academic spotlight on the first board meeting of the month, but we also wanted to take this opportunity to recognize the 18 Wayne County students who placed in the county level West Virginia Young Writers contest. So we decided tonight that we would combine combine those recognitions and actually make that our academic spotlight because what better to recognize and shine a spotlight on than our very own students. So since 1984 the West Virginia Young Writers contest has celebrated student writing in West Virginia. This contest grows out of a deep commitment to writing in all subjects and to the publishing, displaying, and celebrating of student writing. Leaders from the Central West Virginia Writing Project
003which is located at Marshall University judge student entries. The student entries come from the students who win first place in each of the different grade level brackets in each county in the state. In Wayne County we actually utilize retired Wayne County teachers, several of them middle and high school English teachers even, to rank our entries anonymously and the winners for the county competition come from those rankings. This allows the process to be completely anonymous and non-biased. So with that said, our winners this year for Wayne County are beginning with grades 1 2. In third place, The Chaos by Noah Adkins at Lavalette Elementary. >> [applause] >> IN SECOND PLACE FOR GRADES 1 2, My First Airplane Ride, Cadence Ord, Buffalo Elementary. >> [applause] >> AND OUR FIRST PLACE WINNER for the first and second grade
004bracket, from Wayne Elementary, Carson Artist. >> [applause] >> My favorite place. >> [applause] >> Carson not only placed first for the county competition, but Carson also we're going to turn you around and >> [laughter] >> Carson also placed first IN THE STATE. >> [applause] >> WE'LL GET A PICTURE AFTERWARDS. Moving on to the third and fourth grade bracket. In third place from Wayne Elementary is ZARA DARNELL. >> [applause] [applause] >> IN SECOND PLACE from Buffalo Elementary MISS LYDIA MOORE. >> [applause] >> AND HER STORY IS CALLED THE Mysterious Door. >> [applause] >> And in first place for third and fourth grade is Stella Harris from Lavalette Elementary and her story was My Perfect Day. >> [applause] [applause] >> And I should say that Stella's story, My Perfect Day, was spelled p u r r r
005f e c might be able to guess >> [laughter] >> what her STORY WAS ABOUT. >> [applause] >> ALL RIGHT, MOVING ON TO THE FIFTH AND sixth grade bracket. In third place, from Crum PreK through eight, >> [snorts] >> for her story or her essay Inuit Tribe, is Joelle Doss. >> [applause] >> IN SECOND PLACE, for fifth and sixth grade, for her story The First Day, from Pritchard Elementary, Miss Ella Plovdin. >> [applause] >> AND IN FIRST PLACE, FROM Buffalo Middle, for his story The Big Move, Shane Nelson. >> [applause] >> OH, YOU'RE ALMOST TALLER THAN ME. >> [laughter] >> ALL RIGHT, moving on to our seventh and eighth grade bracket. In third place, from Crum PreK eight, for the s- or the story More Than Just a Game, ELLA PERRY. >> [applause] >> IN
006SECOND PLACE, Nora McCormick, from Buffalo Middle, for her story Last Summer at Home. >> [applause] >> AND IN FIRST PLACE, for the seventh and eighth grade bracket, from Wayne Middle, Paisley Adams, for her story The Way I Used TO BE. >> [applause] >> MOVING ON TO 9TH AND 10th grade. We did not have a third place placer this year, so we'll go straight to second place from Tulsa High School, Destiny Smith FOR HER STORY >> [applause] >> THE LAST OF THE FATHER A TRAGIC STORY. >> [applause] >> In first place from Spring Valley High School for her story The Mother She Needed, ADDISON GARDNER. >> [applause] [cheering] [clears throat] [laughter] [applause] >> ALL RIGHT, AND MOVING TO OUR final grade level bracket for grades 11 and 12. In third place from Spring Valley High School
007for her story The Accident, it's Reagan Spore. >> [applause] >> THANK YOU. IN SECOND place from Tulsa High School for his story Signal Detected, IT'S HUNTER FITCH. >> [applause] >> AND IN FIRST PLACE FOR grades 11 and 12 from Wayne High School for her story A Big Red Bow", Chloe Buzek. >> [applause] [applause] >> ALL RIGHT, BEFORE WE BRING THE students up, we just want to say that the first place winners, as we said before, um their essays were submitted to the next level of the state competition, and we also mentioned that this year we did have a young man win first place, Carson Artist. We mentioned Wayne Wayne Elementary, and Carson will be recognized at West Virginia Young Writers Day in Charleston on May 8th, as will all of the other county first place
008winners. We're very proud of Carson and all of our Wayne County Young Writers. Oh. >> [laughter] [applause] >> Students for "My FIRST AIRPLANE RIDE", >> [applause] >> SO, WE ARE VERY, VERY PROUD OF ALL of our young writers [clears throat] and the hard work that they and their teachers have done. So, we want to bring them up. Do we want to go out on the sidewalk? You think it'll be easier? It might be. Okay, let's go out let's go out on the sidewalk. out front on the sidewalk. >> [laughter] >> I'm sorry. Hey, uh Dennis, you want to mute that mic? Just hit it once. >> Mhm. >> Okay. I'm all right. That was not very good though. Great. Well, that leads us into our next topic of good news. All right, so we're going
009to um along the same lines of what we just saw, uh later on in May, we're going to have an opportunity to recognize five Golden Horseshoe winners. Wow. We just got word yesterday that we had five Golden Horseshoe winners. And they are being notified. They announcements went out today, but I'm not sure that they all know, so I won't read their names yet, but we'll we'll recognize them at an upcoming board meeting. How many is [snorts] one? How many are in there, Ben? Right, Randy? Pardon? Did you get to recognize your winners? I was, and we had five that year because I think three of three three of the five they had the same score, so I'm guessing they had at least two at the same score this year. Cuz normally it's four. Right. Okay.
010And then on Monday on Monday we had the signings for the students that are entering the medical explorers program with our partnership with Education Alliance and the Department of Education and Marshall Health. And so we had how many how many think? Right around 15, 18, something like that. 28, 29, 35 total I think, weren't they? Yeah. Uh, students that signed up and they are beginning that program, so it's a really good opportunity for students and that signing was Monday, so we really enjoyed that. It's all I have. All right, anyone else good news? [snorts] All right, let's move on to our informational items. Special board meeting on Tuesday, May the 5th beginning at 4:00 at Spring Valley High School. And we're we are going to do that same evening. We want to do Pritchard Elementary.
011At 5:30, so we're going to double up that evening. I think their date was originally to be determined. I can't remember why it was, but it was originally to be determined and and so we'll we'll fit them in on May 5th. Mandatory. Yeah. Me, too. >> [laughter] >> Our regular board meeting on Wednesday, May the 13th beginning at 6:00 here in the conference room. A special board meeting on Tuesday the 19th for Wayne Elementary. And then a regular board meeting on Tuesday, May the 26th at 6:00 here in the conference room. >> [snorts] >> Any special LSC work? You can go. Got you. Let's move [clears throat] on to our construction project update. I provided you an email. Um this is from NeighborGoal and it's an update on the uh CK Alumni Gym project. Uh
012the fire marshal inspection has occurred. Uh that that went well. Um our uh HVAC engineers were on site. Everything was reported as good. They're going to add a couple additional receptacles. Um the uh on today, they were scheduled to be here. The state department was going to be here for the HVAC training as well as our crews. And so all that was scheduled to take place today. And then um you have approved a separate contract for asphalt contractors. Uh we just tagged on to the work that they were already doing at the school uh for NeighborGoal. Uh they're going to fix that area out back at school that really needed addressed. And then uh through this project, um they're going to have to upgrade the service to the Alumni Gym. So we're working with AEP
013and AEP's been on site in that with that. So it it it's going to be June or so [snorts] before that power upgrade happens, but that project is winding down quickly and will be off the list quickly. Okay. And then the only other thing I wanted to mention was May 13th is going to be the bid opening date for the Buffalo project. Uh some of the contractors uh requested an extension, so we pushed that date back pushed that date back. Okay. So at your second meeting in May, we will uh we'll have a discussion about those prices and about approval of that project. Got you. >> [snorts] >> I don't think we have any delegations to see. So, back to superintendent reports. Uh LETTERS training and I'm going to ask Tonya to give you some
014information on the LETTERS training. If you remember when we were at Fort Gay LSSCE, they brought up that they have a number of students participating. It's a science of reading back training. So, I'm wanted to to share some information with you about that. All right. >> [clears throat] >> So, in your folder you have a one-pager on top that just is entitled LETTERS by Lexia overview and impact and it just gives you a brief overview about key points with LETTERS. So, LETTERS stands for Language Essentials for Teachers of Reading and Spelling and it is offered through a company an educational company called Lexia. And so, you have a definition or an explanation of what LETTERS is, what LETTERS does, what the research tells us about LETTERS. Um there's a section called Why a District LETTERS
015Facilitator Matters and I'll come back to that one in a minute and then key takeaways. The big thing with LETTERS is that it is considered in the education world the premier um science of reading training program. It's research-backed and um is recognized not just nationwide but worldwide. If you guys have followed any of the reading success of the state of Mississippi um and if you have, you'll know that Mississippi has gone from being right almost at the very bottom to now they are in terms of their reading growth. It's been phenomenal. Um, West Virginia has also been getting recognition mostly through the initiatives and the movement and the traction we've gained from the third grade Success Act. Um, but one of the things that Mississippi has done that has given them even greater impact is
016they've required all elementary teachers to be trained in letters. So it's not just one training or a professional development. It's a two-year very intense course. Um, you know Aaron is currently one of the teachers in Wayne County who is taking the letters course and it's it's very very intense and very involved. We have 63 Wayne County employees involved in the two-year letters cycle. Um, one of the things that happened through the third grade Success Act is the state legislature put funding in place to pay for three groups of teachers statewide to participate in letters. So we've got three essentially essential essentially we have three rolling groups of teachers um, and administrators. So we have eight elementary principals going through the administrator training in addition to um, Nona Newsom at Crum who actually did the training
017the two-year training on her own um, and she finished it about a year and a half ago. So she had already done that training on her own as an administrator um, before uh, the state even looked at the funding. So and when you look at the success that Crum has had and the traction they've gained in their scores um, she's put a lot of initiatives in place through that LETRS training for administrators. She is now enrolled again in this um offering that the legislators have paid for the legis- the um That's right. Yes, has paid for as a teacher doing [snorts] a second 2-year round from the teacher's perspective. So, we have 55 teachers going through this right now and we have eight elementary administrators. So, we have a really significant um elementary group in
018Wayne County who are undergoing LETRS training. So, um the first group that started, they finished year one um at the end of December. Group two will finish year one at the end of July and group three started in January. So, and we have these varying um numbers of teachers in each of those three groups. So, this information not only gives you the key points Yeah. with LETRS, but also if you look at the next three pages, this is a uh fact sheet, a frequently asked questions sheet that was put out by the State Department of Education >> Wow. uh in partnership with Lexia to answer questions that teachers and principals had regarding the LETRS training. Um and so, it really explains it thoroughly, any questions that you might have. So, I wanted to include that.
019And then the final thing that you guys have that's in the board member packets is one of the requirements for the Third Grade Success Act is um when you look at there are six pillars or six areas, and one of them is family um communication. So, one of the big requirements that has to go in place this spring is we have to send communication home to second grade parents because the final rolling element that goes in place next year under this piece of legislation is the retention piece for third graders. So, the whole point of this was was came about because we saw what the research said or what the state saw what the research said about the importance and the indicators that go along with students reading on grade level by the end of
020third grade. [clears throat] And so, there is a retention element in that legislation and it will take place next year. So, in 1 year with those students. So, this group of second graders who will finish third grade next year, they'll be the first group of students who went all the way through kindergarten through third grade with all of the different um elements of support that were put in place through the third grade success act. And so, the expectation is is those students must be performing on grade level. So, we have to send home communication and do everything in our power to make sure that parents understand the significance of that and the importance of that so that there are no surprises for families when their students finish third grade. And so, what you have here
021is a letter that um Mr. Alexander did a draft of a letter several months ago because we knew this was going to happen >> [snorts] >> and we have bounced it back and forth and I want to say this is our fifth or sixth version. Correct, Mr. Alexander? >> Yes. We just kind of kept tweaking it and really trying to um get everything important in that letter. So, this is this is what we've settled on based on all of the important elements in the legislation and this will go home with students Wow. um this spring. The current second graders. So, now the final piece I wanted to circle back to is on this front sheet you had in your folder, it said why does a letter a district letters facilitator matter? So, one of the
022final opportunities provided through the the the legislators and through the State Department of Education this year was we were given the opportunity all counties were given the opportunity to apply for a grant to have a person from the district travel to Texas. It'll be required two different rounds of training and be trained to become a certified letters facilitator. So, as intense as it is for an educator to go through that two-year course to become a certified facilitator is even more intense. And so, we were given the opportunity to apply for a grant. We were awarded $38,000 from the West Virginia Department of Education and that will allow us to send Rhonda O'Neal, who is our district um ELA curriculum specialist who also has been was letters trained previously in Cabell County and is in group
023one finishing the training is in her second year redoing the training for Wayne County. She'll be traveling um this July and you're going to see we actually have a request for travel um in the packets for tonight's board meeting and it's for her to become a letters facilitator and that's completely grant funded through from the legislature and the Department of Education. And that will give us an in-house expert to support our teachers and our schools and of course ultimately our students. That's great. Thank you. Do you have any questions? Right. Thanks. You got it covered, Tonya. My husband says when you talk and I eventually people's eyes glaze over and they don't want YOU TO TALK. >> [laughter] >> SOMETIMES THAT WORKS TO YOUR ADVANTAGE. JUST KIDDING. >> [laughter] [clears throat] >> All righty. All
024right. Brings us up to date on that. Uh board directives or board reports, I don't think we have any of those. No unfinished business. We can move on to our new business consent action items. Superintendent recommends approval of the following action items. Additional items received prior to the time of the meeting may be added. Discussion and or separate action of items may be requested by members of the board and or the superintendent. Items are subject to change. Any blanks will be filled in prior to the meeting. And in the event a nominee withdraws, we reserve the right to put the next candidate in the position. Number one is consider for approval the recommended personnel matters. And that's pages 1 through 7. I believe we also have a revised copy. I'll make a motion to approve
025it as revised. Second. Motion by Johnny Davis, second by someone. Just a few things I'll go over. At the top of page one is the appointment of Jeb Rider as the treasurer of the board. And this is required in West Virginia code that a treasurer should reported annually. Yeah. Um item number two is a suspension. It's a suspension of a professional employee for 10 days from Tuesday, March 24th through Monday, April 13th and reassignment of the employment until June 5th, 2026. Um that I provided you the information regarding that item. And we are required to report the name at the at the time of the board meeting. So that name is Mary Thomas. And then the fourth item down, you'll see some rescind terminations. And again, these weren't typical terminations. [snorts] These were terminations due
026to reduction in force due to personnel not through any fault of the employee, uh but there's a number of positions here that we are rescinding that action on, and that's because these folks were uh bumped by Title 1 uh positions uh that um had initially uh lost their positions. The budget has came in for Title 1, those positions are put being put back in place, so then the need to clear out a spot for them has went away. So, you have uh you'll see you have eight people here that will come off of that riff list and will return to their spots. Um and those tied to, if you go down two more spots, you'll see the rescind the abolished position. Those were the Title 1 positions that we had eliminated, those people had bumped
027that group up above, if that makes sense. On page two, um again, those uh at the very top, the rescind the countywide transfers, those were the Title 1 teachers that were transferred and that were going to bump into those available spots from page one, so this is all tied together. So, these Title 1 positions will be put back in place. And then um the countywide transfer list, at the last board meeting you approved the transfers, and those uh folks that were uh put on transfer were removed to unassigned, and uh now we are assigning them to a specific spot. Now, again, they do not have to stay in this position as jobs uh become available as we start posting the first week of May, they can bid on other positions, but this is their guaranteed
028spot if they choose not to bid on any other position. And then you have the probationary contracts beginning on page two. Yep. So, employees in their first 3 years are on a probationary contract. They move up through those levels uh so that you see them labeled as P1, P2, and P3. Those that are on a probationary three contract this year move to a continuing contract. So, the ones that we are recommending for renewal are here. Uh there there will be uh a few that we do not recommend uh renewal on, and those folks have a chance to request a hearing in front of the board Right. um after after this action tonight. >> Okay. And then it repeats for service. Service goes through the same process. On page seven, there was uh the reason you
029have a revised copy, there was a date changed here. Uh the request for leave of absence uh was originally through the end of this uh fiscal year through June 30th. That's been shortened to April 23rd. And then uh Mr. Stacy was not an unpaid volunteer. He was uh his his resignation is from >> Okay. an assistant uh paid position, so that had to be corrected. >> [snorts] [clears throat] >> And then all the corrections we had, so any other questions or concerns? None of others. All in favor of personnel matters? Aye. Any opposed? Motion carries 5-0. And there was something I forgot to mention under superintendent's reports, and it was actually right behind the uh revised agenda items. You remember a few years ago we entered into a lawsuit that a number of districts did
030in the state of West Virginia for the vaping company Juul. And we have received another disbursement from that lawsuit and we're going to be receiving $20,595 as as part of that disbursement. So I wanted to include that information this evening as well. And that that money has to be spent specifically on education. Yeah. Yeah, we we use that for prevention services. Got you. Okay. Uh 2 3 4 it looks like we can consider those collectively for the minutes of the board. I move to approve. I second. Give to Dennis. Okay, motion by Randy second by Dennis to consider the minutes collectively. Uh any questions, concerns on any of the minutes? None heard. All in favor? All in favor. Any opposed? Motion carries 5 to 0. [snorts] For 6 consider for approval the purchase requisition order
031and quotes in excess of $5,000 pages 36 through 39. Motion? Motion. Johnita? Second. Second Dennis. Questions or concerns on those purchases? HVAC work. Yeah, that was HVAC and keypad work on page 36. Uh page 37 that progress learning that's the new testing program that we use for the high schools. And that's out of title funds. Um page is uh technology at grades. And then uh page 39 is a CTE purchase of a Powermatic table saw. Um, that table saw was on sale. And so, I had them go ahead and turn that. Um, And so, that's why you see the note on there, "Please turn immediately." >> Got you. Any other questions? Is the, uh, repairs and the keypad replacement, is that specific schools or just overall? That's Four Oaks Day. Okay. Okay. I got four
032minutes. Anything else? All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Motion carries 5 to 0. >> [clears throat] >> New business, separate action items. I consider for approval the purchase of five buses for the 2026-2027 school year from Worldwide Heritage as follows. We have three 84 CE school buses at $164,188.86 each. One 78 CE school bus at $160,149.86. And one 54 CE special needs school bus, $158,565.52. And this is >> And then, yeah, these these would be funded by the bus replacement fund. Have they, uh, been, uh, one in one county and the others? Yeah, they're they're state bids from all the companies on this. So, they're all approved. I I'm want to pull this for right now. Um, Jeb and I have been working on the budget and until we This doesn't need to happen. We
033don't get this money in until July 1st. If we approve the purchase early, we can get a commitment in. And uh, it helps us get the buses early. Um, but as we're going through the budget work, I'd rather have the budget finalized before we consider this. So, we'll we'll pick this up at the end of in May once the budget's in. >> It means we'll still probably do it before the next school year. >> Yeah. Okay. So, [clears throat] Hold that for a later date. Okay, number two, consider for approval the MOU of the '26-'27 school year between administrative office of the Supreme Court of Appeals, West Virginia, Wayne County Board of Education regarding employment [clears throat] of a school-based probation officer funded by Wayne County Board of Ed and West Virginia Division Diversion and
034Transition. Motion. Second. Motion by Randy, second by Dennis. Questions or concerns on that position? None heard. All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Motion carried 5-0. Number three, consider for approval the contract between Wayne County Board of Education and the PowerSchool Group for SmartFind Express Substitute Callout system for the '26-'27 school year at an annual cost of $17,942.86. Is that the one we've had for a while? Yeah. Yeah. That one that I had trouble with when I used to sub. No, it wasn't when you subbed. I was a redneck back then. I was going to say Dennis >> No, Dennis is Not a user prize. >> [laughter] >> Lori. They need to make that user friendly. >> [laughter] >> Is it But I Oh, we haven't made a motion yet. Motion. Thank you, Randy. Second. I'll
035make Dennis. No questions. Is it really working well? Yeah. Okay. I haven't heard you know, not one complaint. Okay. Okay, I just want to put this one. Oh, it's probably a breeze for these younger teachers. >> [laughter] >> Just not you, Dennis. I was just teasing, too. All right, any other questions or concerns? All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? >> [clears throat] >> Motion carries 5 to 0. Number four, consider for approval out of state field trip requests for Gate Pre-K, um, eighth grade students to travel to King's Island in Mason, Ohio on May 20th, funded by the school's eighth grade account. Tulsa High School JROTC to travel to Camp Dawson in Kingwood, June 6th through the 11th, and that's funded by CTE transportation. Tulsa High School ProStart students to travel to King's Island, also,
036on May the 14th, and that's funded by Tulsa ProStart account. And Wayne High School students to travel to Cincinnati Museum, um, in Cincinnati, Ohio, May 8th, and that's funded by Pioneer Pride account. So, moved. Um, Mark. Second. Johnita. There's one we'll have to pull off of there, and that's the very last trip, the Wayne High School students to travel to the Cincinnati Museum Center. That trip was going to require four school buses to go. Oh, wow. And, um, Okay. Yeah, we can't we can't Yeah, and they're not going to be back by the end of the school day. Oh, dear. Yeah, so it Oh, I think I read about that. Yeah, that that Yeah. We can't lose four buses at at at once, or we're we're not going to be able to complete our normal
037route, so I think they're revisiting how they're going to make that trip, so we'll bring that back to you. Okay, so we're Okay, so we're pulling that one. Yeah. Got it. So, Mark made the motion, and Johnita made the second for the other three trips. Yes. Any other questions or concerns? All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Motion carries 5 to 0. Number five, consider for approval out of state travel request two employees to travel to the 26th ASCA National School Counselor Conference in New Orleans, July 10th through the 15th, funded by Title One, an employee to travel to attend the training on letters in Dallas, Texas, July 13th through the 18th, and that's funded with the WBDE grant for letters facilitators. Motion. Second. Motion by Randy, second by Dennis. Any other questions or concerns on
038the employee travel? After the presentation, it'd be very hard to vote against it. >> Right. You wouldn't turn him down, would you? >> Yes. All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Motion carries 5 to 0. Number six, consider for approval the adoption of the policies listed below. These policies were placed for a 10-day comment public comment period, Wednesday, April 15th through Tuesday, April 28th. Motion to approve. We didn't get any comments? No comments. No comments. Okay, motion to approve. No public comments. Motion by Janina, second by Morgan. Any questions or concerns from board members? None heard. All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Motion carries [clears throat] 5 to 0. Number two, consider for approval the revision to existing policies for um further administrative review, further board review, or 10-day public comment. And that is um We
039put these out We haven't put these out. And no and I thought we could put them out for a 10-day comment. Yeah, and let me let me point out that at the bottom of that page, the first policy listed is policy 4123. Yes. That policy actually made this list twice. Okay. Um it is found further on uh I think two pages over to the very last item listed. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yes, so just going to strike the Strike the first bullet Okay. and we'll keep the last bullet. Okay, hang on. Let me get this. Okay. And if you're okay moving it to 10-day Yes. comment, we can do that. Anybody else good? They're okay. We should be. So, is that okay with everyone to move it to 10-day comment? All right, so those will be
040put out for 10-day public comment. Now, are we talking about number six? Number seven. >> Seven. Seven. Okay, good. >> Seven. I need a motion for 10-day comment. >> Motion. I just need a second. Yes. All right. For 10-day comment. >> Yes. All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Yes, I take the motion carries five to zero. Potential items for a future agenda. Uh we've talked about a few things throughout the course of the meeting that will be on future agendas. We're getting ready to do the budget workshop up next, so I think the focus of our next two agendas will be budget related. Uh we're going to go over revenue this evening and then at the next meeting we'll go over expenditures and then at your final meeting in May will be the budget approval.
041Um so those are the pressing matters that are coming up over the next few meetings. And we'll have a budget workshop at each of those meetings uh before you see it as an action item for your approval. Any other potential items? Getting into that budget workshop then. Except for the next meeting. Yeah. That's enough. >> Ready, Deb, whenever you are. Well, let me mention one more thing under the potential items. There's There's been a lot of publicity about um AstroTurf. Mhm. I've heard that. >> Money coming in for AstroTurf at the at the three high school fields, so um there's a turf company that's going to come down and take a look at the three high school fields to to give an estimate just on how much it would take so that everybody's aware of
042what kind of money that we're talking about. I I I think that everybody does have a pretty good idea, but we do need to take a closer look at that. So, um we need to make sure that you know, we're following all of the uh regulations for the state and through the approval process because it's board property that's going to be worked on. And so, I think that we can work through those hurdles, but um we do have to work through that process for that to be able to happen. So, as we move forward, I'll keep you updated um on how that's going and if whether it's going to happen or not. Okay? Jeff, all yours. >> [snorts] >> So, the first page sheets that I gave you, you've seen this before. This is one
043of the pages in the budget budget book. >> [snorts] >> Um This information comes trickling in It we just every so often from the state. The estimated This thing starts off with the estimated beginning balance. That's just a projection. Looking at the financials or financial situation right now, that is our projection. As you recall, we finished the year last year, we had a beginning fund balance or an ending fund balance of 1.9 million. Where we started this year with the 1.9. I'm expecting that to go down about a million. Be conservative. The way things things are shaking out right now, it's better to be conservative. Tax collections You've seen that. We've gone over that past couple of board meetings [clears throat] through the levy rates. Uh other local sources, that's just miscellaneous items that's come
044in. Grants, donations, that type of thing. Uh state allocation That's a group of items. Uh you'll see the detail on the next page. You notice that state allocation makes up about 72.1% of what we our revenue and tax collections make up 26.1%. So that is that is where our revenue come from in the general fund. >> [snorts] >> So the total number that we're going to be working with here through the next month that's the 76.6 million. On the second sheet um basically the same information only we're comparing '27 to FY '26. >> [snorts] >> Again, we started off with the estimating estimated beginning balance of 950 950,000. Um Tax collections, that includes the regular levy and excess levy. Same number for other local sources and it breaks down the state allocation. You have your
045basic state aid, for on behalf of retirement, they call current, for on charter behalf, for on charter on behalf charter, OPEB commitments, for on behalf retirement, for on behalf PEIA, well, and then you have total state allocation. >> [snorts] >> As you work your way across to the second column, you [snorts] can see in FY 26, we had an estimated beginning balance of 3.7 million. And we just said that our true estimated our true beginning balance was 1.9 million. So, you see that you see that highlighted Yeah. in red there. >> [clears throat] >> And as you work your way, you see that the tax collections, we had an increase of 591,000 projected for this year. Other local sources were predicting to stay the same. Basic state aid is dropping 287,000. Retirement current is dropping
04625,000. Uh on behalf charter, it's going up 19,000. OPEB commitments going up 295,000. On behalf retirement, it's dropping 1.7 million. >> [snorts] >> And on behalf PEIA dropping 432,000. >> [snorts] >> So, in total based on the original estimate and we're 4.3 million down. But, if you plug in the the true beginning beginning balance for FY26 the the true balance is we're down 2.4 million from last last year to this year in expected revenue. Yeah, so again just to cover what he just said that estimated beginning balance is covered in revenue, but that's that's you know money that we have already that's uh labeled as revenue. And if uh we started we just had the audit report that had to set 1.9 million at the at the end of last fiscal year. So, that was
047the that was the beginning balance. So, the true beginning balance is 1.9 million. So, that takes us down to the bottom the revised total based upon that number being reflected accurately uh we're losing about 2.4 million dollars in revenue for the uh coming year which is why we've had to make Nice job. the cuts and the closures and everything involved with that. And so, that is uh that number again the 76 uh six number uh that that is there on the revised total on the left for projected revenue that's the number that we've got to get everything to fit within uh for you by the end of May so we can submit a balanced budget. Yeah. Make some good So, at your next meeting, what we'll be taking a close look at is expenses, and
048we've already started that process. And of course, with the uh with the reduction in personnel, and if you remember, personnel is about 85% of what is spent. With the reduction in personnel, um that was uh that was uh several million dollars that have been removed from expenses. So, we will uh bring to you at the next meeting uh look closer look at the personnel numbers to what they're going to be for the year, and how those expenses fall in line with this projected revenue. Now, one of the challenges is that um uh part of this revenue, you know, we ended up with a 2.4 uh million dollar decrease in in revenue, and uh a big chunk of that was the uh big chunk of that was the state allocation, which uh went from 57.3 million
049to 55.2 million. Uh but you have to remember that that that state allocation, that 55.2 number that we have, that includes the 3% raise for all the state funded positions. And so, um we actually looked if if you were comparing apples to apples, it it was truly a if it wasn't for the 3% raise, we would have seen about a 4 million drop um overall. And uh so, with the 3% raise, it it raised uh the amount that we were receiving from the state, uh but that also adds cost to us in other locations that the state doesn't fund. So, that's that's what we're working with now. Any questions? Does OPEB commitments um um is that something that did did we used to have to account for that before and then they stopped making us
050account for them and now they're making us account [clears throat] for them again. Is that why we went from 78 thousand to this? Okay. To the 300,000 cuz that's a almost $300,000 right there that was taken from us that >> [clears throat] >> or put somewhere else that should have been in our general fund. Right. And then if you remember, you know, earlier in the year we were we were talking about the uh uh you know, the projected loss and uh we knew with the I think we had put the number at 1.3 million. Well, if your beginning balance is shrinking about a million, then you have a 1.3 million. That puts you at about 2.3 million. So, those numbers are holding tight. >> Right. Uh with with this estimated 2.4 million dollar reduction. I
051shouldn't say estimated. It's the numbers that we have now. Any other questions? No. Okay. We will hit the expenses at the next meeting. Motion to adjourn. Oh, we've got one more item. Okay. Okay, legal matter. I'm sorry. Yes. Discussion of a pending legal matter. So, this we need to do an executive Yes. Um All right. Let me [clears throat] read through this. Okay. >> Legal matter may involve an executive session as provided by West Virginia Code 6-9A-4B2A personnel exception and or 6-9-8-4 matters involving attorney client privilege. Perp Peters versus County Commission 205 West Virginia 481 in 1999. A majority of the board members present must vote to have an executive session. No action will be taken while in executive. So, I need a motion to second. >> Motion. Second. >> Randy. Second by Jonita. >>
0522066 We're going to do executive for legal matters, so all in favor. All right. Any opposed? Mhm. Motion carries 5 to 0. It is 6:59. >> [clears throat] >> You'll mute your mic. >> Mhm. >> Okay, all yours. All right, I'm going to place. Hold on. I know. I think we're at the end, so it's your it's your show, actually. I need a motion to return. Motion. Second. Thank you. Motion by Johnina, and second by Mark. All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Motion carries 5 to 0. It is 7:22. Motion to adjourn. Motion by Johnina. Second? Does anyone want to say anything for or against? I'll say it. Yes. All in favor? Aye. I'm done. Any opposed? Motion carries 5 to 0 again. It's 7:23. You know, come July, we'll get to the end of
053a meeting. I don't know what to do. You said it. Yep. You just have to pray to her to show up when we need her.