001To 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. >> Please be seated. >> Review approval of agenda. recommend approving tonight's agenda as submitted. >> Submitted. >> First, Mrs. Isler. Second, Mrs. Pew. Roll call vote. Mrs. Isler, >> approve. >> Mrs. Pew, >> approve. >> Mr. Nichols, >> approve. >> And Miss Ralph, >> approve. >> So, approved. Um, we are going to table approving the minutes from March 18th, 2026 meeting. And that those will be approved in May. And next, we have recognition of guests. Dr. Mayor Morton. Good evening everybody. >> Evening. >> One more time. Good evening everybody. >> Good evening. >> Thank you very much. Uh tonight we get to highlight something we value very
002deeply in this district. Our students love of reading. As part of I love to read month, we want to recognize not only our students top honors, but also the incredible work of our love of our I love to read committee for creating opportunities that spark that passion. I'd like to invite principal Michael Reed to come forward to recognize our students and staff and share a few words about the impact we're seeing. [applause] >> Good evening. Uh, thank you. If I could have my members of our I Love to Read committee come up and join me. Uh again, I'd like to thank the school board uh for inviting us and recognizing uh our top readers and our top classes for I love to read month. Uh North Laurel, uh one of our biggest priorities is reading.
003We love to read and we want to instill in our students that we want to read and be continuous readers. um for our life. I'm so excited that uh our families have joined us tonight. We'll be honoring you uh shortly. Um but first, none of this would be possible without my I Love Reed committee members that are here this evening. Uh there are several others that were not able to attend tonight. Um but leading them off, I'd like to uh thank uh Miss Jenny Beck. She is our reading specialist and the chair of our I love reading hall. [applause] So, those of you who want, we had a theme. We had camp read lot. Um, that was our theme uh that the committee came up with and we did a lot of camping activities and
004we had decorations throughout the building. Um, all of our teachers uh were in uh cartoon. We had little uh camping leaders, our teachers, and we had little boards all over the school to keep track of our readers. Um, and so um tonight I'd like to also thank Miss AMBER JUSTICE [laughter] >> [applause] >> MISS MIA BROWN, [applause] [screaming] >> MRS. Jordan Whley [applause] and Mrs. Stacy Perto. [applause] Like I said, a lot of the other members were not able to attend tonight, but um it was a building effort, including all of our grade level teachers, uh that all month long uh we made little fun things um encouraging to read. Um, and for numbers, for the month of February, our students read 13,951 books. [applause] If you do the math, [laughter] that means our students
005at North, every student in the building was reading one book a day for the month of February, which is amazing. Um, and we hope um with the support of our families that that love of reading keeps up even when they leave us and they walk across that stage as 12th graders graduating from Laurel High School. So again, one book a day for the month was amazing. So now we want to recognize uh our winning classrooms by Green. Again, some of these teachers were not able to make it tonight, but I'm going to honor them um in case they're watching online. For preschool, we had Mrs. Feifer's class, and her students did 628 books. [applause] For kindergarten, we had Mrs. Steele's class. Her students read 1,731 books. [applause] And first grade, we had Mrs. Terry and
006Miss Elliot with 1,480 books. [applause] And those classes will all be recognized in the next few days um as a class. But we have some top readers with us tonight. So I want to recognize our top readers and more importantly their families. Again, uh parents, thank you so much for your support. Thank you for instilling that love to read with your children. And I know these top readers, they love to read and we hope to keep that up. So, we've got some visitors here tonight and we're going to call them up and give them a certificate. [snorts] In our preschool, we've got Raiden, Raven in preschool, and we've got Savannah that are here with us tonight. [applause] All right, our kindergarten visitors tonight. We've got Storm, we've got Levi, we've got Kubai, and we've got
007Jace, and we've got Tailani. Come on up and get your participants. >> [applause] [laughter] >> Yes, that is so cute. >> And our first graders here tonight, we've got Jackson All right, first grade. We got Jackson. He's excited. He's up here. >> We've got uh Joshua >> and we've got McKenzie. >> [applause] >> And Hazel, don't sit down. Hazel. Hazel just showed up from kindergarten. Hazel, come on down. [applause] [laughter] [applause] I did it on days. No. [crying] >> So, this is just a small sample of our top readers. Um but again, um these are our future bullups. Um it the future looks bright for Laurel School District. Um and again, thank you parents so much. And we're going to get some pictures. I [laughter] [snorts] >> think we had one more. One more that
008just came in. >> Hi Lani everybody. Mrs. Iani. [applause] >> All right, everybody smile big. All right. >> All right. Ready? One, two, three. >> [applause] >> Thank you to all my bull pups. Thank you to the school board. Thank you to parents. >> [clears throat] >> Good. >> Yeah. >> [laughter] [laughter] >> Okay, we are going to move on. Ladies and gentlemen, tonight we are also proud to highlight the work of our mock trial team at Law High School. This group represents the very best of our students, critical thinking, collaboration, and competence and action. And it's made possible by the commitment of both students and staff. I'd like to invite Laurel Patrina Giles to come forward to say a few words and help us recognize the students and staff who make this program possible.
009[applause] Good evening everyone. >> Good evening. >> I want to first thank the board for inviting us another opportunity. I know we [clears throat] came here two months ago to talk about the mock trial and this being our first year, which has been an exciting year um for our students. With that being said, tonight I want to recognize those two individuals who pretty much ran the show and the students in their um dedication and commitment to challenging themselves. um I didn't have the opportunity to go up when they um presented and I want to thank the parents who went to support they really had I think each student had a parent that came up if not more and then Dr. Mo who wrote up as well. But one of the things that has been shared
010with me um regarding the most impactful um um experience for the students is the opportunity in those two days. They had four trials and again [clears throat] this is the first year. the growth that they were able to make within those two days to be opportunity to be present their case, hear their case, and being able to reflect, plan, and then go back out there. Um there was a lot of emotions, um high and low, but our kids, you know, showed up and they did so well. And I'm just I can so excited because it's a young team um how much more um developed they will be next year and prepared for this experience. Um, at this time I would like to invite um, Miss Benado and Dr. Nibblelett up um, who spearheaded the program
011and making sure that this happened. [applause] I would like to recognize and thank you for agreeing to [laughter] lead this charge and Dr. Nibblelet for making sure that um um Miss Bonado felt supported, the students felt supported and making sure we had funding to send the students because it was um not free. I will call up the competitors and hand out the awards and then they have some words to share with you all too. Okay, first up, Fatma Dolma. [applause] Leila Gainer. [applause] Gavin Mariner is not with us. I don't think I see him. But I want to all I want to recognize um G [applause] [snorts] Shelley Perez RUBIO [applause] Elizabeth Quinn Quinny [applause] Our next competitor is not here with us this evening as well. Jonathan RmIrez Perez. Let's give [applause] them Antonio
012Ross. Oh, wait. Antoine. Yeah, Antonio Ross. Antoine. [applause] >> [clears throat] >> Scarecrow. Yes. Rachel sing [applause] and Zayen West. [applause] We had two competitors who um had best witness during trial. Leila Gainner and Zayen West. [applause] [clears throat] Best council during the trial. and Twime Walls Scaffro. [applause] >> At this time, each of them will share um their experience with you all. >> Actually, I'm going to talk first really quick. I promise. Um so, first I want to thank the board, uh Dr. Laramore, Miles, Dr. Nibblelet for asking me to do this. Um, it has been such a wonderful experience. I got to work with some of the best of Laurel. Um, I think I can confidently say that. Um, watching them not only juggle cuz we have not only do we have our
013scarecrow, we have our tin man and our Dorothy on our mock trial team. Hold on. HOLD ON. NOT and not only did we have three leads, three out of the four leads in mocktra, we also had um two in our ensemble playing the mayor of Munchkin Town, Uncle Henry and uh the guard. Sorry Z, I almost forgot. So, [applause] and then on top of that, we had someone doing uh her CNA uh training and she received that. So, we got to that to celebrate as a team. Um, and then we have people who are in other clubs, other sports, and they are juggling all of this, and they make it look easy. I don't know how you do it. You're all wonderful, and carry that into your future cuz it's going to take you far.
014Um, so, uh, as we have already addressed, here is our team. Uh, one member of our team who is not here tonight is Mr. Tom Stanton. He was our lawyer coach. He is the gentleman all the way on the other side. Um, but this is our team. As you can see, Gavin and, uh, Jonathan are both pictured in here. Um, and as you can see, there are their roles. Um, and then our purpose here today, um, we want to I want to I talk a lot. I'm a teacher. I talk a lot. Um, I want them to talk tonight. Um, I want them each they're going to come up. They're going to introduce themselves to you. Um, and they're going to explain a little bit about what this experience meant to them. But you're first.
015>> Yeah. Also, she's our only senior and we're not happy to lose her, but we're happy to see where she goes in her future. So, yeah, you're awesome. A little short. Hi everyone. My name is Fatma Darmas. I am a graduating senior this year and I want to talk a little bit about the teamwork and leadership that um we were all able to No, it's okay. Thank you. Uh that we were able to build through this experience. Um so how did we work as a team to prepare for this competition? So it took us about uh f four or five months to prepare for this competition. We got together every week, two times a week. It was about two hours. It took a lot of dedication. Like Miss Bonado said, all of us are dedicated
016students with sports and clubs and um other extracurricular activities and family responsibilities. And I felt that we all even though we aren't very well known each other, even though we're all like in different grade levels, we were able to um make great connections and prepare for the competition. I just don't have a lot of work. [applause] Hi, my name is Leila Gainer and I am a freshman. Um, I played Sam Silvercreen, which was the the defense witness and the one who was kind of being attacked on the stand. Um, how has mock trial improved my speaking or my presentation skills? Um it was definitely I would like to thank my previous experiences from my pageantss. Uh it was definitely a refresher and it kind of reminded me about how I needed to annunciate my words,
017speak clearly and definitely speak loudly because the room was huge. Um and then what strategies helped me communicate clearly and confidently? It was probably the repetition and the memorization. when I know what I'm talking about, I know what I'm talking about and I can speak on it like I am playing that role. And going a bit off of just communication, I would like to thank my fellow teammates and Miss Bonado. I definitely couldn't have done it without them and I will forever be grateful for this experience and being a part of the first mock trial laurel team. Thank you. [applause] OKAY. Hi everyone. My name is Shelley Pres Rubio. I am currently a sophomore at Laurel High School and I played an attorney role and I was also uh I played a witness role in
018the case. And how has my confidence changed since joining mock trial? Well, since joining mock trial, I've been I've learned to trust myself more and knowing my things well since we had to almost memorize our lines and essentially we had to memorize a script of events of mock trial. It was hard sometimes, especially juggling school work and extracurriculars. But it just helped me in the end by realizing that I could do it all. And um the results were just well even better than I expected. And if I could share a moment when I realized I had grown. So we had four rounds during the first day I believe on Saturday when we competed. And the first day I played an attorney and I was very timid and I didn't know what I was expecting and
019I felt as if I was just drawn onto the podium. And following the next day, well the afternoon, I was able to play a really good role, my attorney, and I ended up winning um the best attorney role for that round. So, I was really happy that my hard work paid off. But again, that couldn't that wouldn't have been possible without Miss Bonado, um the advisor who's helped us and my teammates here today who have um been through it all with me. So, I'm very grateful for them and this experience in the mock trial team. Um, it's a very new experience and before I didn't know if I'd like mock trial, but now I do and I'm very excited for what comes next year. [applause] [laughter] Hello, my name is Elizabeth Quinn and I was
020the defense lawyer. Um, Matra was a very important opportunity for us because I feel like we definitely got to speak out about how we felt. Like, you know, if there was an objection, you had to be quick on your on your feet. Like, if you thought something was wrong, you better say it now cuz if not, it's going to be too late. And [laughter] something that I would say to encourage other students is just do it. Like, you can say you did that, you tried it, you didn't like it. I don't want anything to do with law. I don't understand law. I couldn't even say the word prose prosecution first. >> [laughter] >> Um, but yeah, I tried it. I liked it. I think I would do it again next year. And it also gave
021me the opportunity to dig deeper and to put yourself in somebody else's shoes. And some challenges that I had of mock child was definitely understanding what was what. Like what did I have to support and who was I supporting? Like I didn't want to go against my Sam and say that she did burn the building down. Like you know what kind of lawyer would that be? And another thing that was kind of hard for all of us was definitely juggling school. and I had night school so I had to leave at like 4:00. So like I really appreciate you guys working with me to be able to do all this stuff and all of us like a lot of us were in the play so we also had to juggle everything on how we were
022going to prepare for this um competition and we all worked together and I think we did a really great job. [applause] Uh, hi. My name is Antoine Ross. I am a junior and I played the role of a defense and prosecution attorney and I would just say it was an overall really fun and stressful year. Um, the funner parts were bonding with the team and Miss Bonado and Mr. Staten and you know like the time that we would spend together was like really precious to me and one of the most stressful parts was like getting the material down and then you know like having to think of things like on the fly like in the middle of the case you know like you're juggling through papers trying to find stuff and overall I would just
023say like it's it was a really fun experience and I can't wait to see what you know turns out to be next year. >> [applause] >> Um, hello. My name is Rachel Singh, but I also go by Anna. Um, there was a lot of surprises that I felt during this experience. Personally, just like Quinn, I do not want anything to do with law. I'm not really that type of person. I'm more of a science medical geek. Um, but I am still a great debater. I love debating. So, I was like, "Let me join this team." Um, what really surprised me though was the schools that we went against. I wasn't really I knew we were going to have a challenge. Obviously, this is our first year, but the first day it was kind of like
024it was pretty easy. Like, we're going against teams that were kind of at our level. And then the second day, it kind of surprised me how like we went against these really, really hard teams who are a lot more experienced than us, but we still persevered. Anyway, another thing that I didn't really know what a trial is like. I had a little bit of background knowledge. Um, for AC, the Supreme Court would come down, put on a court case for the like kids and then they pack it up and it was always like really calm. It was never like intense like mock trial was, but that's because it's the difference between a Supreme Court and a trial court. And then the one key takeaway that I felt from this is assertiveness is a trait or
025quality that every attorney should have. The problem is you shouldn't there's a fine line between assertiveness and just being rude. You want to make sure you have a certain line of professionalism when you're being an attorney. Thank you. They obviously saved me for last for obvious reasons. I'm going to say um but unlike these people, I actually wanted to do law uh for a long time. I always wanted to become a defense lawyer. Um and at first I was so close to going to tech after my eighth grade year. I was like actually like um what's it called? I was think I was thinking about applying but then I didn't um because I you know I like all the people here and then [laughter] uh mock came up and I was I was honestly kind
026of mad about how it was only 10th grade but uh they pull some strings they let me in you know [laughter] then once I got in uh it was really fun and for me being uh into law I understand it pretty well. Well, I try to understand it and um yeah, I I really liked it. I'm glad I met all these people, got closer to everybody and I'm so thankful for Miss Bernado for you know, you know, really doing this. [applause] [snorts] I was sharing with Miss Jaws, I I was very blessed and had the opportunity to go and spend the two days in the night with them. And you know, I've been in education for 28 years in the classroom for 18. And I have to tell you, as an educator, I have never
027and could have never imagined the amount of growth that I saw from the first trial to the last trial. And it wasn't because someone was teaching them in between or there was instruction. It was because after the first trial while everyone else, all the other hundreds of kids are eating pizza and giggling and we have pictures um of this team nose down in the legal pads talking to one another and on their own outside of the feedback from Miss Bonado and Mr. Stanton, they [clears throat] were reflecting and revising and adjusting. And I don't know if I will ever see um for the rest of my career the amount of growth that these students showed on their own in a 24-hour time period. And I will never forget that. It will forever be one of
028the very finest moments of my career. And it was such an honor. Dr. Lammore, thank you for bringing the idea. Miss Charles, thank you for sharing it with me. And of course, Miss Bonado, without you and the endless hours and commitment. And it would have never been possible without some of the bravest students I've ever met. You went in completely blind against districts and schools that have done it for 20 plus years. And boy, you made us proud. My only regret would be that all of these people weren't able to be there with you to see what I saw. So, thank you for your commitment and your bravery and for representing Laurel and Laurel High School as well as you did. We will forever be grateful for, you know, leading the way and making a
029way for future students at Laurel High School. [applause] And just so you all know, the picture on the other side, that's them working through their lunch. Heck yeah, they they work their butts off. Beyond proud. Um, all I want to say is just thank you. Thank you for your attention. Thank you again to the board and everyone up here because this would not have been possible without all of you. Um, and of course Mr. Stanton and the two young uh men who could not be here as well as families, siblings, cousins, Miss uh Mrs. Stanton's up there. She came to support us as well. Um, it it was truly a remarkable experience. I'm I'm proud of you. We're all proud of you, but you guys should be all proud of yourselves genuinely. Um, they received
030additional each one of them received an additional star award from the DelRack um department, the people who run mock trial for their excellence in joining a 35-year uh long competition as a brand new team going up in our last round the third best team in the state. Woo! Congratulations on a wonderful season, GUYS. [applause] THIS WAY. All right. All right. One, two, three. [applause] All right, we have uh one more presentation that we're very proud of this evening. We want to recognize the power of student voice and the impact of adults who are inspired. Through the leadership and encouragement of Mrs. Jumari and Mrs. Hastings, our students have taken the initiative to begin an inclusion club, creating a space where every student feels seen, valued, and connected. I'd like to invite them both forward tonight
031to share more about this meaningful work and recognize the students leading the way. [applause] [laughter] >> Hello everyone. I'd like to share a story behind something that has become incredibly meaningful to our district, inclusion week. It all began when we were invited to attend the Special Olympics Leadership Conference. While at the conference, we had an opportunity to meet and collaborate with students and teachers from other districts across the state. Together, we shared ideas, learn from one another, and focused on one important goal. How can we create more inclusive environments within our district? But the real impact of that experience didn't end when the conference did. On the way home, inspired by everything we had learned, a group of our students started talking. And that conversation quickly turned into an idea. The idea to bring inclusion
032to life in our own school in a bigger way. That's when we had the idea to start the inclusion club. The inclusion club is made up of Ty Jefferson, Carson Pete, and Brendan Thompson, also known as Buggy. It has become the driving force behind inclusion week. Their passion, creativity, and their leadership have helped turn ideas into actions. Each year during the first week of March, inclusion week is celebrated in our district. It is a time where we come together to promote acceptance, celebrate differences, and remind everyone that every student belongs. So throughout the years, we have found meaningful ways to bring inclusion into our district, not only just this week, but all year long. some ways including hosting special Olympics botchi. We have done it um for the past 3 years. Um where students of
033all abilities come together and compete the same team, building friendships through sport. We also hang inclusion pledge where we make a pledge um to have a commitment to kindness, respect and acceptance. We also celebrate rock your socks where students wear bright mixed match socks to raise awareness and show support for inclusion. We also continue to expand opportunities to unified track which we just started this year um where students with and without disabilities train and compete together proving that teamwork has no limits. We started as a single conference opportunity that has grown to do something much more. Um a movement within our district that continues to make a lasting impact. Um inclusion week is just more than a week. It's a message and a mindset and most importantly it's a commitment to making sure everyone feels
034seen, valued, and included. Thank you. >> [applause] >> Um, I do want to take the time and I want to introduce the three members of our inclusion club. I have Carson Pete, Ty Jefferson, [applause] and Buggy Thompson. [applause] [clears throat] Yeah, I just said if I can start. >> Okay. Hi guys, I'm Carson P. I'm a junior here at um Laurel High School and I'm planning to pursue occupational therapy. I first want to thank um Dr. Lamour. So, right when we got back from our meeting, we knew that we wanted to bring it to our school and Dr. Dr. Lamour has been extremely helpful when it came to how to bring it into our school. So, we first asked if we could set up a meeting with him. Immediately next week, we were meeting with
035him. He invited us onto his show um to go to district office and talk about more in depth of what we planned and what we wanted to do. Um he's efficiently implemented all of our ideas. You know, some of them have sounded crazy. We did a whole spirit day where we dressed as superheroes and he was all for it and even had a superhero shirt on that day. So, we also want to thank everyone in the district for the support that we've had um all of these opportunities to go up to do for the day to go to these conferences. It wouldn't have been able to happen without transportation, without the allowance to, you know, miss that day of class to go and learn this. Um through the district, I've been able to go over
036to Nlea and Job Shadow um to learn more about my future career in occupational therapy. Um none of that would have been given to us without the support of, you know, our principles, you know, Dr. Nibblet, Miss Giles, Miss Teagle, um Miss Hastings and Miss Jay. We really couldn't have done this without the full support of everyone in this school. It's important for kids to have a voice when it comes to, you know, clubs and how to include everyone, especially when we're speaking for those who can't always speak for themselves. So, we want to just really thank everyone for giving us the opportunity for just speaking up for those and implementing more inclusion into our schools. [applause] >> How you guys doing? My name is Brandon Thompson. Uh, I'm a sophomore. Uh I wanted to
037pursue uh field and chicken farming. Um [laughter] >> uh I wanted to speak on behalf of our unified sports clubs actually. So um coming back from uh coming back from the conference. We had a lot of ideas and one of them were to start a sports club or some start some kind of sports club and uh a lot of ideas came up but we did not know how many rules there were including doublea. So uh there were a lot of rules a lot of those ideas were shot down. Um so we came in there with a full head of steam wanted to start football clubs um basketball clubs track clubs not really knowing uh how much of a process it would be. I am very grateful to say that we are now starting a unified
038track team. And we had our second practice today where uh one of our kids like really excelled in throwing a shot put. [laughter] >> He has a great support team behind him. First of all of all um so grateful to see our kids excelling and growing and uh getting out of their comfort zones and feeling included in our school. [applause] Hi everybody. I'm Ty Jefferson. I'm a sophomore. Um I'm here today to talk about our inclusion club and how we brought it to life through our school. Um I also want to uh share my experiences while I've been doing Special Olympics and the inclusion club. So over the past years I've done Special Olympics. We went to do and these experiences have helped me a lot by just basically coming out of my shell and
039just being more of a person and talking to everybody else. These um I think when I'm around people now I feel as if I can speak freely, be myself and not have to put on an act and hide. Um, I think that through these experiences I've learned the importance of inclusion and acceptance even when people have differences from me. THANK [clears throat] YOU [applause] [laughter] GUYS. He's kind of okay. One, two, three. [applause] Thank you. Um, communication announcements. [snorts] You done? >> I just have uh one. Can you guys hear me? Uh, celebration of life for Sudar now will be held on Saturday, April 18th at 100 p.m. at Laurel um Elementary and excuse me, Laurel Elementary and Intermediate School Cafetum. Sue dedicated more than 30 years to Laurel School District as a beloved educator.
040She began her career teaching first grade at Dunar Elementary and later served as a reading specialist until her retirement. Beyond the classroom, Sue was passionate advocate for educators, serving for many years as both president and vice president of the Laurel Education Association. For anyone planning on attending her celebration of life, we ask that you please enter from the back of the school which leads directly into the cafeteria. >> Yeah. And that's going to be on Friday, >> The 24th. On Friday, April the 24th, uh we'll be having a small dedication uh for Marshia Murphy, who spent about 30 years as a district office secretary in various other roles. Uh so if anybody would like to join us there, it'll be on the front of the district office steps there in front of the new dogwood
041tree that is now starting to bloom. So that'll be Friday the 24th at 11:00 a.m. Thank you. >> Yes. Okay. Uh public participation, I have no one that signed up for it. So, what superintendent's already spoken? >> Board participation. Miss Ralph, you have anything you'd like to say? [snorts] >> No, I'm good. >> Miss Pew? >> No. >> Okay, my turn. >> Okay. It's so funny. I was sitting here and I looked up at those young students sitting over there and I thought, "That's a scarecrow." >> Yeah. [laughter] And then I thought, that's the that's the lion >> and that's Dorothy. >> And I thought, was there anybody else sitting there? That was some somebody >> Rachel was the tin man. >> Okay. The Okay. And I thought, I don't know if you got to
042go see that, but I don't know what they're going to do next year, but I know they're going to do something. >> Um, make sure you go. It was phenomenal. It was phenomenal. But it's funny because I couldn't I cannot tell you those students names. [laughter] I just know that that's the tin man and you know all that. But I mean it it was phenomenal. It was well worth it. I >> saw Dr. Lammore. He was there when I went that night and um >> but it was it was really it was good. It was good. And Toto I like how you know Toto [laughter] he was you know thrown out there [clears throat] and everything. It was cool though. Okay. Miss Isler, >> I just want to say I am like really really happy
043at this moment. So many negative things are [clears throat] always being um like put in the news and always being highlighted about our town, Laurel. And tonight from our preschool all the way up to our high school, we have heard such marvelous and wonderful things. So I just want to, you know, I'm just like, yay, yay, yay. Cartwheel, cartwheel, back flip, [laughter] back flip kind of thing on the inside. >> I wish [laughter] that I I mean I truly I'm like I'm so happy on the inside. [clears throat] Um I just want to encourage all of our students to keep on keeping on keep pressing and go for the gusto that there is not a star that you can't reach if you put your mind to it. And there's plenty of support. I'm seeing the
044night there are people everywhere all over the place in all of our buildings that have your back. So continue to keep doing the positive things. I am very proud of each and everyone, like I said, from the preschool students all the way up to the high school. I love love love hearing wonderful things about what our students are doing because we hear so much negative and every time I hear something positive, that little wheel starts turning in my heart. Makes me happy. So, thank you to all of our students for the wonderful and great things that you are doing. Keep on and keep on keeping on and continue to do great things. I got you back. >> Thank you. >> Okay, Mr. Nichols. I I had to go up here to get the pictures taken.
045I felt like I was following a yellow brick road to [clears throat and laughter] and I was tickled to death about it. I mean that I have we have tremendous facilities here for productions. >> Mhm. >> And I think we have tremendous people to do it. I mean it's it's quite it's quite an undertaking to do something like that. I mean I'm I was rather impressed with with what I saw. >> Matter of fact, I was tickled to death. I mean, it's like having a buying a brand new hammer and never using it. You're putting the nails in with your thumb because you don't want to scratch up your hammer. >> I think that was the main thing when we built this school. >> Yeah. >> Or was supported that, you know, to build this
046school that we wanted a nice auditorium. >> We've got it. >> You know, we wanted a nice one for all the different productions that, you know, can go on here. So, looking forward to next year's already. I've already let Miss Giggle know. [laughter] to, you know, be [clears throat] I want to say they started like in September. >> They did it with all of it. But it was good. It was It was phenomenal. >> Okay. Reports. Financial report. Go ahead, Miss Morphy. >> Good evening. >> Evening. Time for the most exciting presentation of the evening. >> I'm all excited. [clears throat] >> So, tonight I thought I'd do things a little bit differently. Um, I didn't have a whole lot to report on, but you do have um in your packets the financial position report
047that needs to be approved tonight. Um, so I thought I would go into just a little bit about what the financial position report is. Um, so that you have a little bit more understanding as to what it is you're looking at. Um, it is required by Delaware Code three times per year. It's prepared by the district CFO, approved by the superintendent and the board. It's then submitted to the Department of Education. The department of education also turns around and submits it to the office of management and budget and the controller controller general's office in do what it is is a projection of revenues expenditures and payroll regarding our local funds division 2 which is our energy and all other costs our division three which is equalization and also any cash options and educational sustainment funds.
048Um the report is used to ensure that the district has sufficient funds to cover local payroll costs uh generally for one month. Um so Laurel's local payroll costs right now are about 540,000 a month and our projected balance right now exceeds 4 mill 4 million which is all of those funds up there I previously discussed. So we're in good shape. Um if we were not um if that number was not sufficient to meet that one month of local payroll, we would have to provide an explanation as to what steps we would be taking to help alleviate um that shortage, whether it would be um delaying some expenditures or uh cutting costs, you know, whatever it is that we determined that we could do um to help support that fund. Another thing that um is included
049in code was that we could or the district any district could request a loan from the state um but it must be repaid by November 15th and it would also include interest. So just a tidbit for your your enjoyment. [laughter] So um this is the reserve and local fund um as I track it during the month. So, we have a little dip there. So, and that was expected. So, okay. Anybody have any questions? >> Yes, Laura, you know I'm all into this. Um, so we've got a little over 4 million right now. >> Yes. >> And we have to have a month's payroll. Correct. >> One month >> ahead. Now, we're going to be in a deficit of 875,000 almost 876,000 >> by the end of the year. That's going to have to come out
050of that four million. Correct. >> Yes. >> Okay. So, it might look good right now. >> Correct. >> But we could we could be up to a million by the end of by June 30. >> So, that's our projection right now. So, we have we still have the 2 million in reserves and then we have the about 2 million in our in our local our local our local balance. So, that totals about 4 million. So if we end up with that projected deficit, then that would reduce. Instead of 4 million, it's going to be closer to three or just over three, >> right? Which we could be up to a million or even more by June 30. It's possible we could climb more. >> I hope not. [laughter] >> Well, I know. >> Yeah. >>
051But it's possible. So then we're looking at a million or more next year also. >> Could be. Yes. >> What is your recommendation on on tightening funds? Well, we've been discussing that um we want to make sure that we are well within our our allotted units that we are um provided, right? And that depends on our unit count as of September 30th. So, we want to make sure that any positions that we earn are the ones that we're going to fill and then we're not going to [snorts] be able to go over that amount. If we go over that amount, then we have to pick up the entire cost locally and that's a substantial amount. had shared that more even with us tonight. >> Yeah. >> With that and that there are >> the great
052possibility that some positions >> may be cut >> through that would be more people that are already leaving, >> right? >> Um that have found other positions or retiring um what we call attrition. Um >> right. the the issue that we were stressing especially during the referendum was that we are losing some grant funds that we are paying some of our employees from especially like two of our constables. So we are going to have to find units for them to go into. >> Okay. Um, so that's going to be where where the challenge lies is where we're trying to keep those positions that we really really need and trying to get them in to fit into our our units that we earn. >> Okay. A lot of work ahead. >> Yes. >> Okay. Okay. Thank
053you. >> Thank you. >> And I believe this is the sheet here. I only have one. So, if you could, you know, even email this to me because I've got to give this back to you and Dr. Lammore, he's got to sign it, too. >> Just for the record, because there's there's so many people probably watching at home, right? you know, we, you know, next year, um, you know, we fully anticipate being able to get our unit count back in line with just, um, not replacing the attrition, not replacing retirees here and there to get us back to our unit count, what we earned, uh, which we are just a few units over. To be quite honest with you, >> we need to spend 2627 going back out for referendum. It's got to it's got
054to happen. We've got to convince this community because if not in 2728 there there will be some drastic cuts um if we do not pass one and we've got two opportunities to pass one next year. So we all need to get together. We all need to bond together and we need to make it happen and we need to show this community just like tonight there's great things happening uh in this school district. Uh but for next year um it's not that large of concern. We're we're just trying to get back within our unit count. We're a few units over again. We believe that most of that can be covered with retirees not filling those positions here and there. Uh consolidating some positions just to get back within those couple units that we are over. Um
055but if we don't pass a referendum in 2627 then 2728 we are looking at some substantial cuts. Um so I I say that to rally the troops. I say that to get everybody on board. Um just can't be a few of us out front. It's got to be everybody. It's got to be everybody. Thank you. Thank you for clarifying all that too. >> Okay, so the financial report recommend the approval of the May 1st financial position report as submitted. >> So move. >> First, Mrs. Isler. >> Second, Mrs. Pew. Roll call vote. Mrs. Isler, >> approved. >> Mrs. Pew, >> approved. >> Mr. Nichols, >> approved. >> And Miss Ralph, >> approved. >> So approved. The second reading of 26 20 2027 school calendar as submitted and found on the this policy is available for
056review by the community at the law school district buildings and on the district website. >> First Mrs. Isler >> Second [clears throat] Mr. Nichols. Roll call vote. Mrs. Isler >> approved. >> Mr. Nichols >> approved. >> Mrs. Pew >> approved. >> And Miss Ralph >> approved. >> So approved. School choice recommend approval of school choice as submitted. So move. >> First, Mr. Nichols. >> Second, Mrs. Pew. Roll call vote. Mr. Nichols, >> approve. >> Mrs. Pew, >> approve. >> Mrs. Isler, >> approve. >> And Miss Ralph, >> approve. >> So approved. Fundraisers recommend approval of fundraisers as a group. [snorts] >> First, Mrs. Pew. >> Second, Mr. Nichols. Roll call vote. Mrs. Pew, >> approve. >> Mr. Nichols, >> approve. >> Mrs. Isler, >> approve. >> Miss Ralph, >> approved. >> So approved. [snorts] Recommend
057approval of fundraisers as submitted. >> So move. First, Mr. Nichols. >> Second, Mrs. Pew. Roll call vote. Mr. Nichols, >> approve. >> Mrs. Pew, >> approve. >> Mrs. Isler, >> approve. >> And Miss Rout, >> approve. >> So approved. Rentals. [snorts] Recommend to approve request of Suzanne Barger Western Sussex Charter to [snorts] hold bike ride 5K fundraiser at Laurel Elementary School in North Laurel Early Learning Academy parking lots on Saturday, August the 22nd, 2026. This event will start at 6:30 a.m. and end at 10:00 a.m. No equipment is requested. Certificate of liability insurance [snorts] has not been provided yet. I recommend approval with use of facility fee cost excuse me with I recommend approval with use of facility fee custodial and costable fees waved. >> Okay. First, Mrs. Isler recommends approval with the use of
058facility fee, custodial and constable fees waved. Second, Mr. Nichols. >> Okay. Roll call vote. Mrs. Isler, >> approve. >> Mr. Nichols, >> approve. >> Mrs. Pew, >> approve. >> Miss Ralph, >> approve. So approved. Recommend approval of professional trips as a group. >> So move >> first. Mr. Nichols. >> Second. Mrs. Isler Ller. Roll call vote. Miss Mr. Nichols. >> Approve. >> Mrs. Isler. >> Approved. >> Mrs. Pew. >> Approved. >> And Miss Route. >> Approved. >> So approved. Recommend approval of professional trips as submitted. >> First, Mr. Nichols. >> Second. Mrs. Pew. Roll call vote. Mr. Nichols. >> Approve. >> Mrs. Pew >> approve. [snorts] >> Mrs. Z is >> approved. >> Miss Ralph >> approved. >> So approved. Executive session items. Personnel attachment A. Professional recommend to [snorts] approve the personnel report with
059recommendations as discussed in executive session as listed in A. >> So move. >> Second. >> Okay. First, Mrs. Isler. Second, Mr. Nichols. Roll call vote. Mrs. Ller, >> approve. >> Mr. Nichols, >> approve. >> Mrs. Pew, >> approve. >> Miss Ralph, >> approve. So approved. Recommend to approve the personnel report with recommendations as discussed in executive session as listed in attachment B. [snorts] >> First, Mrs. Pew. >> Second, Mrs. Isler. Roll call vote. Mrs. Pew, >> approve. >> Mrs. Isler, >> approve. >> Mr. Nichols, >> approve. >> And Miss Ralph, >> approved. >> So approved. I'm just looking for something. Okay, so approved. Attachment C. Coaches recommend to approve the personnel report with recommendations as discussed in executive session as listed attachment C. So move >> first Mr. Nichols >> Second Mrs. Isler. Roll call
060vote. Mr. Nichols >> approved. >> Mrs. Isler >> approved. >> Mrs. Pew >> approve. >> And Miss Ralph >> approved. >> So approved. Support staff recommend to approve the personnel report with recommendations as discussed in executive session as listed attachment D. >> First Mrs. Pew, second, Mr. Nichols. Roll call vote. Mrs. Pew, >> approve. >> Mr. Nichols, >> approve. >> Mrs. Isler, >> approve. >> And Miss Ralph, >> approve. >> Okay. Mark off E. We have no E. >> Sounds interesting. >> This is where I'm Yeah, I was looking here just to double check. >> There is no E. Future agenda items. Regular board meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, May the 13th at 700 p.m. Uh, right here. And do I have a motion we adjourn? So move. >> First, Mrs. Isler, second, Mr. Nichols.
061Roll call vote. Mrs. Isler, >> approve. >> Mr. Nichols, >> approve. >> Mrs. Ralph, >> approve. >> And um Mrs. Pew, >> approve. >> So, approve. >> So, >> approved. Adjourn at 8:06