001So, he's going to talk. Okay. Good evening. Would like to reconvene to public session at 7:06 p.m. And if you would stand so we can salute the flag in a moment of silence. >> Pledge of 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. >> Please be seated. [clears throat] >> Recommend approving tonight's agenda as submitted. >> First, Mrs. Isler, second, I believe, Mrs. Pew. Mhm. >> Roll call vote. Mrs. Sizzler, >> approve. >> Mrs. Pew, >> approve. >> Miss Ralph, >> approve. >> And Mr. Nichols, >> approve. >> Still approved. >> Recommend the approval of the minutes of the board of education regular meeting of February the 18th, 2026. >> So move. >> First,
002Mrs. Isler. >> Second. Mrs. Pew. Roll call vote. Mrs. Isler, >> approve. >> Mrs. Pew, >> approve. >> Miss Rouse, >> approve. >> Mr. Nichols, >> approved. >> So approved. Recognition of guests. L High School RIA student presentation. >> Good evening everybody. Can you hear me? >> Yes. >> Uh I believe uh Mrs. Giles shared with me that um that Mrs. Miller uh would be coming up. Mrs. Miller, would you come up please? As she makes her way up, I will let everybody know uh why we are here. We're here to honor the Rotary Youth Leadership Alliance. And here to tell us more about that is Miss Millins. >> Good evening. Um, I'm going to start by being brutally honest. There are not a whole lot of people that can get me up off the
003couch on a cold March night. Um, but there's not much I won't do for this group right here. Um, they are certainly some of Laurel's best. And I think even after this event that they might be just a little bit better. So just to give you um a little bit of a background um every year, well in my three years that I've been at the high school, we have been asked um by the Nanakoke Rotary Club of Seafford um to get together a group of students to participate um in their Rotary Youth Leadership Awards. Um, these awards are are held every year in Ocean City and they ask for us to um do I do this with this button or somebody else doing it? [clears throat] >> You. Okay. All right. So, on this screen,
004it gives you a little bit of detailed information about um how we choose the students. Um, but they have to be in the upper um portion of their class. All of these kids fall in the top 10. Um, they have to have leadership ability. that are involved in their schools and communities. As a matter of fact, we had some come from a ball scrimmage tonight. We had some come from swimming lessons where she teaches. Um we had uh one student take a CNA exam with Sussex Tech Adult Ed today and she passed. Um just kidding. We had students that are that are involved in our upcoming um Wizard of Oz performance and in our in our band. So these are really busy um kids and they do a lot for our school district. Um, so
005they were selected to attend this year and as a matter of fact, um, I work closely and I'm I'm going to try not to butcher her name. Um, but it's Dr. Sharon Djaralamo. I call her Dr. D because it's just a mouthful. Um, but and I don't want to ever offend that wonderful woman because she's a wonderful human. But anyway, she contacted me this year and asked us if we could send four students. Typically, we only send three um because one of the other local school districts could not get a group of three together. So, I was super excited that we got to send four students this year. Um, but they offer it every year and um it was held at the carousel um on February 13th through the 15th. Um these students were assigned
006roommates. Two of them were together, but the other two were with students from um other schools across the state and the Eastern Shore of Maryland. Um there were no out-ofpocket expenses. It was all covered by the Rotary Club. So, it was an incredible experience for them. They had a weekend with a schedule packed full of activities. Um, and they did things like uh learn to develop strategic plans. They addressed critical local issues. They packaged meals to feed families in the area with food insecurities. They um did a lot of team building exercises, public speaking exercises, interview preparation um and addressed uh lots of ethical dilemmas. Um and I'm going to let all of them share their experience in a little more detail. I'm going to start with um Elizabeth. I guess I'll introduce all of
007them first. This is Elizabeth Quinn. Um this is Devon Buyers, this is Micah Nibblet, and this is Kaylee Moyer. Um all of them are 11th graders up at the high school, and they all got to participate in this event, and I'm going to let them speak about um their experiences, and then I'll wrap it on up. So, come on. You want me to hold that? Hi, my name is Elizabeth Quinn and I was at the um the Rya event that happened a couple weekends ago. And some leadership skills that I developed through Rioa was combining different ideas and trying to divide and conquer between who was going to do what. So over here we have each of us had to make a flag. Each of our group made a flag and this flag was mine.
008Um so I did most of the drawing and then I had somebody else work with me in color. Um, and then some of our other team members, they were doing like our slide because we had to do a Google slide and then a flag. So, we divided and conquered between who was going to do the flag and then who was going to do the slideshows. Um, I also got to develop a relationship between other peoples with different backgrounds. So there was multiple people that spoke different languages or came from a different part of this of the United States and we all had to work together and kind of come up with one one solution and how we were going to do this with different perspectives and we had some control between ourselves like you know
009there wasn't many much arguing going on because we all knew that we were going to have to do different roles. We couldn't all do the fly. We couldn't all do the flat or the slide. So we had to divide between who was going to do what. Um, some challenges that I had to grow as a leader was we had a short amount of time to do a lot of big things. So, you [clears throat] saw the schedule that we had. We didn't have a lot of time to do some of like our events that we were doing. Like one of them, we had an egg drop. So, we had to secure an egg and we had to drop it from a couple stories and it not break. So, we only had 30 minutes to do
010that. And it was very quick on your on your feet. And it also made me think outside the box because we all had to do an um like an event where it would help the community. And we had to think of stuff that hadn't been done before, which was very quick because we only had two days to come up with this. And it also really made you think about what was already out there and how we can better the community. One thing I did not expect from to gain from Ria was how to not break an egg because that was I did not know how to break an egg. um it could not be boiled and it was it was a raw egg. Um so we had to kind of figure out how this egg
011was not going to drop from a fourstory building. Um public speaking, we had like a little activity with public speaking and how to publicly speak correctly, how to not use filler words and working with limited amount of time because normally you don't have to work on a limited time. You can use as much time as you need, but since we only had a certain amount, it was very crucial to think what we were going to do and how we were going to do it. [applause] >> So, when at Rio, they had us on our feet almost the whole day, starting from 7:00 in the morning to 11 at night. They had constant activities and group building activities that really brought us all together. Um, some of those activities that really had an impact on me
012and some of us would be those team building icebreaker activities. They brought your group together and taught you how to work together. For example, one of them was a nonverbal untangle. Basically, your whole group creates a circle. They all put their hands in and then they grab somebody's hand without speaking. They have to untangle the group to make that circle again. And I have to say from experience that was one of the most difficult things I ever did and the most uncomfortable. But with that I feel like it challenged me in a lot of ways. But one way that really impacts me would be to connect with people in such little time. We were on our feet like I said all day but only for three days. So within those three days, you had to
013get to know every single person in your group, people even outside your group, and you had to learn how to work together and communicate. And usually for me personally, it takes me a while to get to know you and share things with you. And this really just pulled me out of my comfort zone. So with that, one thing I didn't expect to gain would be the ability to connect with people in such little time and be able to get to know them so well. >> How's everyone? Um, I think the biggest thing that I take from this is learning to connect with people that you don't think you'd normally agree with or associate yourself with. Um, one way this experience changed myself as a leader, I would say you can't be afraid to share your
014opinion or to lead. Most leaders stay in and they try to lead by example, but this always doesn't work. you had to step out of your comfort zone and share your ideas to be able to connect with your group and also lead them. Um, I was never really like I've always been a leader by example, but I never led with my voice. And I feel like this uh leadership conference definitely helped me learn how to lead with my voice without putting people down or um making them angry or upset. Uh, one lesson I think will stay with me long term is to be confident in yourself and your ideas. What you think is more than likely a great idea. There is no bad idea and you just got to be confident. Another thing I learned
015is to be open to feedback. Everyone had great ideas the entire weekend. Um, there was definitely a lot of different opinions and different ways of looking at it, especially because we all came from different backgrounds. Another thing I learned is to push others to be successful. And this is another thing that comes along with leading. You can't just not push your own teammates to succeed and guide them to whatever it is they're doing. And leaders have to lead. You got to lead. You can't call yourself a leader if you're not going to lead people. Um, one thing I didn't expect to gain is close friendships. Uh, a lot of the people that I associated or was around the entire weekend, I'm still in contact with today. One kid, my roommate is from Sussex Tech. We're
016talking almost weekly. And another thing I didn't learn or expect to learn is my confidence in myself and my leadership and understanding a service mindset, which that kind of means like as a person, you got to think how you can help others or your community. Thank you. >> [applause] >> As you can see on the screen during Rio, we gained a lot of key skills. Sorry. As you can see on the screen, we gained a lot of key skills during Rio, but also leadership roles and communications. As we were talking, we had to be in groups with a group of people that we don't know and we had to communicate with them, but also non-verbbally. We had to connect with them on a different level where we're uncomfortable. Sorry. Where were uncomfortable and we might
017not because it was only three days we were there. It was a lot of people that were meeting left and right. Some people I didn't even catch their names, but it was a lot of meeting people and getting to bond with them and communicate with them, but also gaining the skills to be able to communicate with them, but take that in a small group and problem solve. An example of this, like I said, was the nonverbal communication activities we had to do. That was also ice breakers. We had to do these which as Devon was talking about where we had to move around in a circle holding someone's hand but not being able to use your voice. Something unexpected that I gained from Raa was an action plan. We got to create an action plan
018where we're in a group of people and it's not only your perspective and point of view that's being seen. It's also other people's ideas and opinions that also want to be heard as well. You have to be able to listen everybody and hear everybody and then create a plan on what to do. But this, like I said, also goes along with an action plan where we had to be able to create one that could you could be able to problem solve and find a solution when you hit a brick wall and just being able to come back and make it work. With that being said, on the behalf of all of us, I would like to thank everyone for the opportunity to be able to participate and gain the knowledge to be able to make
019a better community and become a leader for our community. Thank you. [applause] >> So, I don't know about you, but they make me really proud. Um, I skipped past the slide earlier uh by accident that had their schedule on it. I don't know if you noticed it. I was I was clicking through, but they were busy every second of that weekend. Um, and they were so excited to come back and tell every year the kids are, but they were so excited to come back and tell me all of the things that they learned and all of the things that they wanted to do in the school. Um, and I'm just so proud of them and those ideas and I look forward to seeing if we can put some of those things um into into action
020here at the school. But um I do want to and we will be presenting at a Nanakoke Rotary Club meeting too um next month. But um I do want to publicly thank the Nanakoke Rotary Club for consistently providing this opportunity for our students. Um and the feedback that we get from the students every year is always positive. Um it's by far from the feedback one of the best events um that they get to participate in and they they love going. They come back inspired and full of ideas um to share with their peers which is great. Um, so and we do want to thank um our school and district leaders um for encouraging our students to take advantage of these opportunities and then allowing them to put those creative ideas into action in our schools.
021Um, but I look forward to seeing what these four accomplish um as they go into their senior year. Um, and I think they've got some pretty exciting things up their sleeves. So, thank you so much for having us. We appreciate it. just >> I do have a question. How did you drop that egg from four stories? >> I have a question >> without breaking. >> One of the teams. Which one of you came in second? Didn't Didn't want >> Did the egg drop? Did any of you win that one? >> Your egg didn't break. Okay, come come tell them how you did it. So your egg didn't break. >> That's what I want to know. >> So we were in a group and we the bubble wrap everything was priced. So you couldn't just buy
022anything. You couldn't just grab any material. So we drew out a plan of what we thought would be effective and we made a parachute, which the parachute was very effective. And then we had um we used I think I believe it was straw in the bottom of the egg so when it would fall it wouldn't roll and all that stuff. So and there was indoor balconies and we had to go on each floor and drop the egg onto a tarp a target and see if it would break. And I know Quinn's broke the first round and I think even Micah's but. But we actually made it all four floors and but we didn't win because we didn't get like the closest to the target. But I believe we won because our team made an effective
023egg drop, you know. >> So they were strong. >> I do have to say our team got first place in acting minus the egg. >> She got >> we got I got the force over me. Our team should have definitely won the acting, but we also got second in the presentations out of every group. [laughter] >> Actually, we got first place for the presentations. There we go. Three, two, one. to keep her off the roof. >> No doubt. Yeah. Great coaching. >> That would be cool to get a tall tall ladder and have them do that here. >> We can make that happen. >> Make that happen. >> Before you guys leave, um I have superintendent remarks, but I'm not going to say anything superintendent. I'm gonna talk about what you guys just did. Um,
024it warms my heart. It really does because when you when you look at some of the changes going on across the high school and I credit the high school administration, you know, we've got mock trial, we've got Wizard of Oz, the play production going on. We've got, you know, the Rotary youth leadership and this is these are things that matter. These are skills that matter. You understand? I mean, servant leadership, how far you going to go in life servant leadership, how problem solving, communication, all these things. You guys are my heroes. So, thank you so very much, Mrs. Miller. Thank you for keeping an eye and ear out for this opportunity. Thank you so much. [applause] >> I was telling Mr. Giza, we need to figure a way to get a tall tall tall tall
025ladder in here and and have you demonstrate the drop in the egg. >> We can make that happen. >> A boom truck. Maybe do it outside. That would be cool to see. Really? Okay. All right, let's see. Uh, public participation. I have Mr. George Lato. He's a councilman that would like to speak. You would go over, please. And I'm sure you've heard this here before, but I need to read this. Um, you'll be allowed three minutes to speak. Uh, if you want to speak longer, you must arrange for a place on the board's agenda by contacting the um superintendent in writing of what you'd like to speak about. The board president will have authority to terminate the remarks of any individual who does not adhere to the above rules. Persons appearing before the board are
026reminded that although requests may be directed to the board, action and answers to questions must be deferred and board consideration. As soon as you begin speaking, Mrs. Hler will set the timer. >> Okay. Thank you very much. Like to thank the the board for the opportunity to come out here and address. Uh there are two things happening in the town that I'd like to address. One is that we started up a communications committee. It's to identify opportunities for the town council manager and Laurel citizens to enhance our communications. The committee is looking for ways to explore to connect with residents through the town website and other social media platforms and newsletters. It will also look to engage oral schools more actively in town hall meetings, community events. We plan to meet once a week until
027it's completed. I'm here to ask that maybe we could get somebody from the town um board to join our committee to try and bring the school and the town together. If not, somebody from the board, maybe a student would like to join the committee. The second thing is the uh Laurel Police Department is putting together a citizens police academy that will start on April 1st through May 20th from 6:00 p.m. to 9:00. Uh it's going to be put together to resp uh to try and educate the public on what the police uh do in the town. There'll be DWI in inairment studies. Um, I know they have a K9 demonstrations, a DUI simulator, firearm simulator, SWAT presentation. Um, I believe it's a it's a good opportunity for the public to find out what's happening with
028the police force and have a better education for that. If there's anybody that's interested in either one of these committees, please contact myself or town hall to uh get more information on that. Also, I know um Councilwoman Rajane is putting together a student youth council to mirror our town council and that's another thing you can contact the town hall about. We're looking for students to join her youth council. Thank you very much for your time. >> Thank you. >> Okay, we're going to move right along. We're going to uh skip uh the board participation reports. We have none. Unfinished [clears throat] business. We have none. Um, new business, school choice. Recommend approval of school choice as a group. >> So move. >> Mrs. Pew. >> Second. >> Mr. Nichols. Roll call vote. Mrs. Pew. >>
029Approve. >> Mr. Nichols. >> Approve. >> Mrs. Isler. >> Approve. >> And Miss R. >> Approved. >> So approved. >> I recommend approval of school choice as submitted. >> Mr. Nichols. >> Second. >> Mrs. Pew. Roll call vote. Mr. Nichols, >> Mrs. Pew, >> approve. >> Mrs. Isler, >> approve. >> And Miss Rouse, >> approve. >> So approved. Fundraisers. Recommend approval of fundraisers as a group. >> First, Mr. Nichols. Second, Mrs. Isler. Roll call vote. Mr. Nichols, >> approve. >> Mrs. Isler, >> approve. >> Mrs. Pew, >> approve. >> And Miss Ralph, >> approve. >> So approved. Rec recommend approval of fundraiser as submitted. So move >> first Mrs. Isler >> second Mrs. Pew roll call vote Mrs. Isler >> approve >> Mrs. Pew >> approve >> Mr. Nichols >> approve. >> And Miss Ralph
030>> approve. >> So approved. Rentals recommend to approve request of Jeff Hill Laurel Fire Department to hold training on elevator rescues stairway as ascension. Is that how you say that? >> And stand pipe training on sprinkler connections. No water flow. At Laurel Elementary School on Monday, April the 6th, 2026, which is during spring break, so no children will be present. No equipment is requested. and civility of li certificate of liability insurance not provided. >> I recommend approval with use of facility fee custodial and costable fees leave. >> Okay. First by Mrs. Isler. >> Second, Mr. Nichols. Roll calls out. Mrs. Isler >> approved. >> Mr. Nichols >> approved. >> Mrs. Pew >> approved. >> And Miss Ralph >> approved. >> So approved. recommend to approve the request of Jamie Gordy, Law Youth Basketball, to hold
031law youth sports basketball season at Law Middle High School on from December the 5th, 2026 to April the 17th, 2026 on Saturdays. Begin 7 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. Mostly in the Law Middle School gym. Cost is $3 per person, $60 per team, equipment requested, six tables, and 26 chairs. The constable is on site as a coach. Certificate of liability insurance provided. >> I recommend approval with use of facility fee. >> Custodial and costable fee w. >> Okay. First one, Mrs. Isler. >> Second by one, Mr. Nichols. Roll call vote. Mrs. >> approved. >> Mr. Nichols, >> approve. >> Miss Rouse, >> approve. >> Mrs. Peele, >> approve. >> So approve. Professional trips recommend I'm having trouble with that word tonight. >> Recommend approval of professional trips as a group. >> First, Mr. Nichols. >> Second,
032Mrs. Sizzler. Roll call vote. Mr. Nichols, >> approve. >> Mrs. Sizzler, >> approve. >> Mrs. Pew, >> approve. >> And Miss Ra, >> approve. >> So approve. Recommend approval of professional trips as submitted. >> So move. >> First, Mrs. Pew. >> Second, Mr. Nichols. Roll call that Mrs. Pew >> approved. >> Mr. Nichols >> approved. >> Mrs. Sler >> approved. >> And Miss Rout >> approve. >> So approved. Uh we have the first reading of the 2026 2027 school calendar as submitted and found on the district website and as found at the law school district sites. The school calendar will be available for review by the community at the law school district buildings and on the district website. Community input is welcome and should be directed to the superintendent of schools. no later than Monday,
033April 13, 2026. We have no presentations or review of policies. So, executive session items, personnel attachment, professional staff, recommend to approve the personnel report with recommend recommendations as discussed in executive sessions as listed attachment A. >> So, >> first, Mrs. Sizzler. >> Second, Mr. Nichols. Roll call. Mr. Sizzler, >> approve. Mr. Nichols, >> approve. >> Mrs. Pew >> approve. >> And Miss Rout >> approve. >> So approve. >> Personnel attachment B. Cafeteria recommend to approve personnel report with recommendations as discussed in executive session as listed in attachment B. >> So move. >> First Mrs. Pew. >> Second. Mrs. Isler. We'll call that Mrs. Pew. >> Approve. >> Mrs. Isler >> approved. >> Mr. Nichols >> approve. >> And Miss Ralph >> approved. >> So approved. Personnel attachment C coaches recommend to approve the personnel report
034with recommendations as discussed in executive session as listed in attachment C. We are tableabling number three. Do I have first? >> So move >> first. Mrs. Isler second >> second. >> Mr. Nichols. Roll call vote. Mrs. Ller >> approve. >> Mr. Nichols >> approve. >> Mrs. Pew >> approve. >> And Miss Rout >> approve. >> So approved. Personnel attachment D. Support staff recommend to approve the personnel report with recommendations as discussed in executive session as listed in attachment D. >> First, Mr. Nichols. >> Second, Mrs. Pew. Roll call vote. Mr. Nichols, >> approve. >> Mrs. Pew, >> approved. >> Mrs. Sler, >> approve. >> And Miss Ralph, >> approved. >> So approved. Personnel attachment E. Administrative. recommend to approve the personnel report with recommendations as discussed in executive session as listed in attachment E. >>
035First, Mr. Nichols. >> Second, Mrs. Pew. Roll call vote. Mr. Nichols, >> approve. >> Mrs. Pew, >> approve. >> Mrs. Isler, >> approve. >> And Miss Rap, >> approve. >> So approved. Future agenda items. Uh, next regular board meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, April the 15th at 7 p.m. right here, L Middle High School cafeteria. Do I have a motion we adjourn? move. >> First, Mrs. Isler, second, Mr. Nichols. Roll call vote. Mrs. Isler, >> approve. >> Mr. Nichols, >> approve. >> Mrs. Peel, >> approve. >> And Miss Ralph, >> approve. >> So approve. We are adjourning at 7:35 p.m.