001Hello and thank you for being here to the Board Meeting for February 23rd of 2026. Before we get this thing, what do we do next? Let's call this meeting to order. I want to do that. Let's call it, I want you to say, let's start this more order. Do it. Good evening. Welcome to the Ori County School Board Meeting. Let's come to our order. Thank you so much. Now, I'm going to ask Mr. Cook on behalf of Ms. Edmonds to say the invocation. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Bow your heads, please. Heavenly Father, we come before you this evening with gratitude for the opportunity that you've given us to gather, serve. And to seek what is good and right for our community. Lord, we lift up every student, teacher, administrator, family that is represented here and
002across the county tonight. We ask for your hand of protection over them physically, emotionally and spiritually. Guard our schools, let them be places of sanctuary and safety, growth and encouragement. Lord, we just ask for your wisdom. For all of us board members. Lord, grant us clarity of thought, steadiness of heart. And discernment of every decision that we make. Lord, help us to listen well, to seek understanding of each other. And to act not out of impulse or emotions, but a patience. And genuine desire serve others. Lord, we acknowledge that our true wisdom really comes from you, Lord, and I just thank you for it. Lead us in that wisdom tonight. In Jesus'name, amen. Amen. Thank you, Mr. Cook. Now, I'd like to invite the Conway High School Navy JROTC for the presentation of colors. Please
003rise. Arch. Preset. Ladies and gen. He's on. And to be republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all. Carry. Cut. All right. Turner. March. Okay, thank you. You may be seated. Six on the agenda is the introduction of Board Member starting with Mr. Cook. Good evening, my name is David Cook. I represent District 1. That would be the Myrtle Beach and North Myrtle Beach Attention. My name is Debbie Edmonds, and I represent District 2, which is Myrtle Beach Area, and a little bit of Carolina Forest. Good evening. I'm Tracy Winters, and I'm Representant District 3, which is Carolina Forrest. Good evening. My name is Wendy Hodges, and I represent District 4, which is SOC T. St. James and Myrtle Beach. Good evening, Howard Barnard. I represent sign
004James Burgess and Slokiste. Hello, I'm Melanie Wellens District 8, which is portions of Carolina Forest Conway and Psychie. I'm P. M. Dawson. I represent District 6, and that represents St. James Saka State and parts of Carolina Forest. Good evening. I'm Janet Graham, and it is my pleasure to serve District 7, which is Conway in a portion of Carolina Forest. I also serve on the South Carolina school boards association as President - elect. And I serve on the South Carolina School Boards Insurance Trust as Chair. Good evening. My name is James Edwards. I'll represent District 9, which includes Green Sea Floyds, North Myrtle Beach, Loris. Small portion of Carolina Forest, and a small portion of Myrtle Beach. Good evening. My name is Neil James. It's my pleasure to represent District 10, which includes portions of the
005Lore's Green Sea Floyds Conway and Carolina Forest attendance area. And good evening. I'm Darrell Ricketts. I represent District 11, which is the ANR Attendance Area. Part of the Conway Attendance here in a small portion of the Floyd's area of the Green Tea Floyds, attendance area. Thank you Board Members, and my name's David Cox. I had the pleasure of representing the entire county. And we're so glad you're here. Now in a motion to approve the agenda. My favorite say aye. Aye. Who's like saying, hearing none, the motion passed. Next on the Agenda, we're going to approve the minutes from February 4th and February 9. So I made. Second, my favorite say aye. Aye. Pose like son. We're hearing none of that past as well. Then we move into discussion and unedmons, are you up for. I'm
006going to read a few things for everybody. Thank you very much. The Curculuman Instruction Committee met today. In the first video, with the only video was a beautiful highlight of how Principal Ashley, Arthur, engages parents, community members, authors at Daisy Elementary. It was really lovely that they have invited over 110 guest speakers in so far this year, and they're continuing on with that. So it's nice to see the rise with reading initiative continue to gain momentum and just grow and grow and grow and really feel the hearts and minds of our students and our community, and we appreciate that greatly. We talked about the textbook adoption process. And a couple things that are going to be new this year. First of all, there's only going to be the adoption of a couple of CTE classes,
007NailTech. Advanced placement, computer, and electricity. Um, what we're doing differently this year, we're really excited and proud about is that all of the parents are going to be invited to review the textbooks in the textbooks will be showcased at the school where they will be using them. It's whatever grade level ends up. This happens to be high school this time, and it's only at ATA, and I think Conway High School's the other. But all parents will be invited in the textbooks will be theirs. So that's a wonderful, nice change that we're making there. Um, the next one, the last things, it was absolutely amazing. If you did not see the video, I hope that you will go and watch it from the Curriculum Meeting. Ms. Catherine Roberts, who's the principal at Lakewood Elementary School came
008and discussed how the coaching cycles work in the school, but she shared her absolute passion and love and desire of teaching and mentoring and leading in elementary school setting. And what a difference it makes to children and the teachers and the entire staff in the school. So I hope you'll take a few minutes and capture that video and capture watching Ms. Roberts, share her love for her profession and each of the students'center school. And then we also got an opportunity to hear Mr. James talk about more than. I am so sorry y'all. More than 350 face - to - face learning sessions happened during our professional training staff day. And it was wonderful that we have that many options available to all of our staffs. And also the fact that the staff gets to evaluate
009it and tell what they thought was really great about it, what they would like to see improved, what they would like to learn more about into that interaction also of wells being able to have a voice in that of how you're learning professionally, and the professional development. I think is really important. So that was it. Thank you. Thank you. We do have, do you want us to show the video. Oh. Great. Okay. Lucas. Today, you see, we celebrate the national revitalize, which every day is naturally real day. Round. Two. Here. Todayaday, Z, we celebrated national read al day. Um, which every day is national read aloud day here, um, we've had community members all year come in and read to our kids. We brought in coastal Carolina athletes. We brought in local news media. We've
010brought in grandparents, parents, just pretty much anybody that will come read. We've offered. So I think about every one of our teachers has invited a reader into their classroom. But it just gets the community in here to see what we're doing here at DayZ and Promote Reading. So these are. The kids. Who. Picked up. The. Net. Well, I see as one of the benefits is it lets the students know that people outside of this building care about them. We'll care enough about them to take our time, our tunes, to come to see them and to bring it to them. I think kids can do book with people. I think they connect a book with stories, with vocabulary words. And I think it just enhances their overall learning experience. I think that principal Arthur does a
011really good job at bridging that gap between community members and the school itself. She asked anybody want to volunteer to read. And it made sense for me and my family. Um, to rise to that challenge, my 16 year old daughter as well also volunteered to read. So she's done it a couple of times. Um, but I do really feel like it's important to, as a parent and as a community member to be involved and kind of see what's going on in the school and help support any way that you can. My thing is just giving back to the community. To come and sit out of these schools, especially the ones that you can sat down with the kids and stuff and read a book to them and then open four for questions right now to
012try to reach and talk with these kids and stuff. I think it's a good thing for the kids to try to make, to make that mining contact with them. We went with a book that was more like virtue, character based. And it was called, when we meet in the middle. It met in the middle, but one side of the book was one character's perspective of the story. And then you flip the book upside down and it was another character's perspective. So I think the kids really got. An understanding of the essence of what we do in our careers, but through that book. And it also built character development. I mean, they were very excited about it. The students love it. It gives them a perspective about careers as well. And what else is out in
013the real world? Um, they, they are able to ask questions. And a lot of our, um, readers have told them, especially our authors like what it takes to write a book and gets into, you know, the process and that thing, especially for our older kids. I feel like it's very relaxing because like I could just have a break and be able to listen to a good book. I love that they're giving up their time to read to us when they could be doing anything else. It's not them just reading. It's like you can, it's like you're in your own world. And you're like imagining like you're in the book. I honestly love it because it gives me a chance to explore new authors and letting me see new kinds of books and other series. So
014I can definitely like have them on my own time and read them. And in our community, we just want everybody to see the importance of reading and bringing in outside community members, parents, grandparents. Anybody that's willing to come in and read dark class as the kids truly love it. And in turn that promotes reading. There you go. Thank you so much, Ms. Edmonds. Mr. James. Thank you Mr. Chairman. The facilities committee met earlier today. We heard updates from the Facilities Department on five topics. The first one was the baseball and softball project completion at both Conway and AINO high school. Very pleased to say both have been completed. Both were ahead of schedule and both were within budget. So our facilities department deserves a big round of applause for that. They are using that now.
015It's the prototype to look at the other schools. Our next topic was to find arts audit. We are going to take a look at all the fine arts that we have, the comprehensive list of all the fine arts we had and look at the facility needs that they have. So that is in the beginning phases that will be going forward. The next thing was a demo of our ARCIS or ARCInfo GIS system. Which showed the functional requirement, a functional capacity of each of our schools also showed the current enrollment and the percentage of the, uh, capacity used within the school. He also provided a facility's condition index report. If you haven't seen that. Lucas, could you put that up? Uh, this is the facility's condition index. You will see that we have over the years
016whittled down our gray and red schools. We only have two now that are in the red. We have a few that's in the yellow. But the majority of our schools are in the 90s and above. In fact, our overall average is 92. 1. So we have the money that we have spent to improve and replace our facilities have been used wisely. And it shows in the overall condition of our schools. We also look at the functional requirements, functional capacity of each of the schools. And it really highlighted. And you can see here what we already know. For example, the aner area. We know that they are nearing capacity, minute of their schools. That's why we purchased some land in that area for future. You can also look at the North Mort Reach area, see the
017same thing. So we have purchased land in the little river area to relieve some of the capacity concerns. You will also see at, um, St. James'elementary. You know, we are doing the right thing by planning to replace that school. Not only is it in need of a condition index replacement, but it's also in need of an upgrade from a functional capacity replacement. So in the future, that will house 1, 200 students. That'll be the functional capacity. So it'll relieve the overcrowding that we currently have at St. James'elementary. And the last thing that we looked at deals with St. James'elementary, we received the final schematic design. The Facilities Committee approved that design and have recommended it to the Board for discussion. It's actually under the discussion items that we will see in just a few minutes.
018But we believe that the architects, the construction, uh, engineers, our facilities department have taken a wise prudent review of the land that we have. I think they use the term surgical implant, the new facility on that campus. So they are making good use of the space and making sure that the school continues to operate while they transition into that new school. Those were the topics we discussed. Mr. Chairman, I'm a glad to answer any questions. Yourina. Thank you, Mr. James. Thank you. Next, we had the South Carolina school Board Association annual conference here in Myrtle Beach. This weekend. And several of our board members attended Christian M. Graham is the president - elect tonight like to ask her. Input. Thank you, Mr. Chair. It's nice to be voluntold, but I don't mind. With all the
019board members and Superintendents who were in the tenants, please raise your hand so people will know that you were there who you are. And I am just giving the highlights of what I and all of us took away this weekend. Just now, um, Principal Ashley Arthur said talked about the real world and that students were going to find out about real world jobs. But what we were reminded of again this weekend is really the magic that happens inside schools and how magical that territory is for children and what it does. And I, for one, had kind of gotten disconnected from that. So this weekend kind of brought all of that back together for us that we are indeed working in a magical sphere when we work in schools with our children. One of the first
020things that they talked about was that we as a board are held. We hold in trust. The education of our children. That is our job. That is what we do. We had some magnificent speakers. I will just hit highlights on a few. First of all, the state superintendent of education, Ms. Ellen Weaver, she came and spoke to Western on Saturday morning. And she talked to us about the state of education in South Carolina. And she highlighted some of the really terrific results that we've been having, especially in reading. And, um, she also talked about that we had good results in math, although they aren't quite as high as reading, but we're doing very well as a state. One thing that she did leave with us is that there is an upcoming initiative, which is very
021similar to the science of reading. And it's the science of math. And it's called OGAP, OGAP. So I'm looking forward to that. Uh, also former governor Beasley came and he spoke as well. Governor Beasley does a lot of work with the world food program. And he was very, very engaging and gave us tons of information, some of their highlights that he said was that there should be no R's and Ds, especially when we're talking about education and that we all need to find common ground and get along so that we can come together for the education of our children. What he said was that when there are no meals in the classroom that it helps to amplify division, student potential is diminished. And ultimately that it undermines peace. He was very good. One of the
022final ones that we had, not the final one, but I think the greatest one that we had over the weekend that just pulled at everybody's heartstrings was Ms. Lynn Huntley from Alabama. And she had had all the, uh, obstacles to come against her that you could possibly imagine. And Ms. Huntley showed us how just the school again was a magical place for her and how the school was her place of refuge that she went to and it bought, uh, that's where she received love. That's where she felt love. So she kept performing. And she did all kinds of great things. She is now a lawyer. Um, it was again, the highlight of the weekend. And she told us her story from behind the eyes of the child. And I think for me, sometimes I forget
023what it looks like from the child's perspective because we make decisions from a lofty place, but down there at the bottom is that child who is looking to us for rescue sometimes and help and education. And so her insight into that and bring it in all back home was wonderful. It was great. Just what I needed. We had a lot of student performances. They were awesome. We have some very talented students from across the state. And we even had our neighbor to the South Georgetown, Browns Ferry. They came and they performed and they got us all going. It was awesome. On the other side, because we went to, for the learning opportunities to learn to be better board members, to learn to sharpen our skills as board members, some of the things that we, that
024were presented to us were, uh, by our social media post. And we've had conversations about that. I learned that if you like something or you share something, it's just like you wrote it. So be very careful when we like and share as board members. We learned about finance and budgeting. We learn more about policy and what the difference between policy and managing our job as board members is governance. It's not management. It's governance. We learned about artificial intelligence, uh, business partnerships, so forth and so on. The networking opportunities were great. Uh, we met with everybody from across the state, Superintendents as well as other board members. And we got different perspectives on how to do things and best practices. And that's what it's all about. So if my colleagues have something they would like to
025add, um, now's the time. And thank you for the opportunity for letting us go. Do any of the other attendees have something to say, Mr. Cook? Just, um, reiterate a little bit. Ms. Liz Huntley, you know, she, to me, also was probably the highlight of the weekend. And what was really neat. So her kid, was it her kindergarten teacher, right? You know, kindergarten teacher, she still is connected with her kindergarten teacher. They do things together all the time. And it was something that she was, you know, it was, that was a safe place for her. And I think that, um, we don't always think about that. You know, we don't think about, you know, what's happening at home, uh, the teachers we have are just like that. I mean, I know that, you know, my
026grandson's teacher is somebody who's just like that, you know, and he's having a bad day. She's just, you know, snuggling up and, you know, wanting to know if, you know, what's going on, you know, everything's okay. But that was just huge for me that she did that. Then she started showing all these pictures through the years as they were grown. And there's a picture just not very long ago. She had just taken with her. It was pretty amazing. Um, it was a very good conference. Uh, definitely, um, well worth our time. Thank you Mr. Cuck. Anyone else. Hearing nothing. We will move on along to ask Mr. Generette to come up for policy revisions. Good even Chairman Cox. Vice Chair Wellens Board members. Mr. Jones. As far as review of potential policy changes for the
027Board, uh, through the Policy Committee meeting, we have made several efforts to, uh, look at Board Superintendent Relationship or What's BSR for in reference to the authority of the Superintendent have come up with some language that is a most suitable and agreed upon by the, uh, the Policy Committee to share with the Board is in draft form, uh, for your, uh, vote on upcoming meeting, but we do have that available for you. And, um, if you have any questions, I'll be happy to answer those at this time. Any questions. Okay. Thank you. Mr. Burch, come up and show us the schematic design of St. James'elementary. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. Hopefully my voice will hold out for one more round. So you should have in front of you, um, the final schematic design layout
028for is the new St. James Elementary. I'll be referring to, uh, during my discussion. Um, I didn't project anything. Is that a right. Okay. Um. So after many months of working with the design committee, school administration of both the existing elementary and the middle school feedback community members, internal discussions and feedback and planning, we are ready to wrap up the schematic design of the new St. James elementary. Site and circulation plans. Um, we've done our best. To save existing circulation, parking, and playground space for the existing school to utilize during construction. And this final site design does this. Uh, you may have noticed that we have consolidated our parking lots. Which has allowed us to delay adding some final ponds. Until the van so that the large existing back playground can be utilized throughout construction.
029Uh, to give you a little context on play space and why we work so hard to maintain it. Uh, a Midland school district. Not too long ago did a major rebuild on one of its campuses. And that we visited. And from what we understand they had to do without playgrounds, parking and play fields for several years. Uh, they actually had to shuttle people back and forth from area churches and businesses where they had to park. Uh, because there was, there was just no, nowhere to do it. Um, so I just emphasize that to let you know how very fortunate we are. That we were able to avoid that. Um, but in some cases it could be reality on an onsite rebuild. Um, also finally, I want to commend our design team district and school staff.
030We're working so hard with us to get this plan realized. It's been an ongoing back and forth of ideas, planning and figuring out what works and what doesn't. And Jerry looking at all our options to get to the end result. So our goal today is for you to consider this on one final time. Uh, we've passed it to you through the facilities committee. And we would like to answer any questions you may have tonight. As we prepare for a vote on this on the next Board Meeting. I'm going to answer that. Hearing none. I thank you, sir. Thank you. Thank you, Joe. And next up, our last various leader, Mr. Cliff Jones. Well, thank you chairman Cox. Vice chair Wellens Board members, members of the public. Tonight I want to do something just quickly and
031that is thank this board. Board members. The way you represent our district and rooms where the future of public education is being shaped is not lost on me. Your shared perspective from the fastest growing district. Almost in the nation. And managing its complexity with focus and discipline and what's best for kids. Is something that I just love and admire. Our focus on literacy, expanding innovative programs, discipline fiscal strategies. Those aren't just strong local values. They're becoming quickly strong values in this state. And thank you for your leadership there. Equally important as our focus on a strong child. The Board remains anchored in what matters most. Students who are happy, who feel loved, who have relationship, students who achieve not only growth, but also achievement as it relates to the state and to the nation. This
032type of opportunity is not something that happens once in a blue moon in this district. It happens every day across all of our classrooms. Your leadership is not only positively impacting Ori County. Trust me when I say, and I've traveled this state and I've traveled the nation now after a year. Conversations are different because of your leadership here. Thank you for tackling the hardest problems. Thank you for your grace that you show me. And to others. And thank you for expecting a lot of me. As your sole employee. Your expectations of me. Raise the bar for this community. That allows me to raise the expectations for my team and for the principal staffs and communities with professionalism, unity and vision. And I assure you that the best days are truly ahead in Oriente County schools.
033At this time, I'd like to call forward Ms. Lise of Orsir to the podium because we have a few outstanding Recognitions: at this time. Thank you, Lisa. Welcome. Good evening Chairman Cox and Vice Chair Wellens Board members and Superintendent Jones. Tonight's Recognitions: we begin with the HCS National Merit The National Merit Scholarship Corporation announced the names of 21 Orey County School students as finalists in the 71st annual National Merit Scholarship Program. These students will have an opportunity to win one of over 6, 900 National Merit Scholarships worth a combined total of nearly 26 million dollars. Air finalists are from the Academy for the Art Science and Technology in St. James High School is Vivian Xiao from Loris High School, Caitlin Black and Alistair Rigglesworth from North Myrtle Beach High, Matthew Carter. From Scholars Academy High
034Amelia Bunker, Charlotte Carter, Ryan Cox, Stone First, Anthony, Jorlando, Samuel Hitt, Jolen Wing, Robert Hooks, Jocelyn Livingston, Blake Mallet, and Alexander Nikolov Xander Spear, Margaret True Luck, and John Veed. From Sockisty High is Landon Brungard and from St. James High is Banks, Waits, and Nicholas Nook. Less than half of the 15, 000 finalists will win a national merit scholarship, earning the merit scholar title. These Designees are based on their skills, accomplishments and potential success in Brigorous College Studies. And the 2026 National Merit Scholarship winners will be announced in four nationwide news releases. They begin in April and then we'll conclude in July. Next, the champions of the Ori County School's HCS Middle School Basketball for the girls'category where North Myrtle Beach Middle School, while the Boys category was won by Myrtle Beach Middle School, you
035would like to congratulate all these players and their coaches, and especially a heartfelt thank you to HTC for once again proudly sponsoring this championship event. And then finally this evening, we had a very busy weekend. Uh, we did have some state wrestling winners to announce. We would like to congratulate Twin's sisters from Conway High School. Ella Shepard was the winning state wrestling champion for the 105 - pound weight class and Emma Shepard for winning state wrestling champion for the 110 - pound weight class. And this sport has been sanctioned by the South Carolina High School League for just a few seasons with 2023 being the first ever girls wrestling individual state championship sanctioned by the South Carolina High School League. So again, we'd like to congratulate the shepherd sisters. And lastly, we would like to
036congratulate Preston Crohn of Carolina Force High School. I'm capturing the Class 5A state wrestling championship and the 157 - pound weight class division. And that will conclude tonight's Recognitions: Mr. Chairman, that's it for Superintendent's comments. Thanks. Short and sweet, that's perfect. Okay. Let's go to public comments, Ms. Wellens, if you would. Yes, Mr. Chairman. At the appropriate time, our speakers will be recognized by the Board Chair, and you will be given up to a maximum of five minutes to speak. Depending upon the number of people who have requested to speak. A maximum of 30 minutes during the regular Board Meeting has been allocated for citizens to speak and will speak in the order in which they have registered. In cases of abusive or vulgar language profanity, threaten and remarks, or comments of purely personal attacks
037on students, staff, or board members, the chair will rule the person out of order and require her him to relinquish the floor. In cases of speakers promoting unsolicited commercial services or products, or if speakers promoting political candidates or related political activities, or confidential information about students, employees, boaard members, or others, the chair will roll the person out of order and require her, him to relinquish the floor. Please note that the purpose of public forum is to give the public an opportunity to make the Board aware of issues the administrative staff have been unable to resolve or to express a viewpoint concerning BoardSNIS. The Board will listen to the VOIN Express, but will not respond to the individual at the meeting. The Board will direct the Superintendent to do so within two weeks, if possible, or
038needed. Thank you, Ms. Wells. Boy read. And next, uh, we begin this. There are three speakers. They get five minutes each. And Ms. Patricia Melly would be our first speaker. Thank you. For having me, Mr. Jones, Mr. Cox, Ms. Welles, and all of you. I tried to help our school district. And I'm concerned about abuse. And since we don't agree on abuse, I decided to ask the community what to be swuassed. Now, as you know, abuse is the mistreatment of, well, child abuse, a mistreatment of a child. So I went to the little river Patriots, and I asked them to less define abuse. So we discussed things, and they decided that children arriving on the school ground before 8 a. m. is child abuse. That children being in a classroom from 7. 15 or 8
039o'clock until 12. Without an outdoor break is child abuse. They decided that not having 30 minutes of lunchtime is child abuse. So there were four factors. There's another one they decided, but I have 15 items that I feel are child abuse. And one of them are books that are on their frustration level to me best child abuse. I have 15 points. I don't have time to go for all of them. But I'm sending this abuse. Around the county and around the state. And it's not just an O - Re County problem. My cousin in Columbia last week. Had lunch with the first grade teacher, and the teacher told her she would be doing something else that she could make a living. That her first grade little child hold her, little girl, told her she wanted
040to cut her up into little pieces. Now children. Normal children don't say that. That child's been abused, and that she feels like that teacher is abused at her because of the schedules at what she's put under. So what happened was that in the late 190s, the state took the regulations off of the school boards telling you what you had to do. Now, according to the governor's office, all you have to do now is meet P. E. in language arts requirements. And the rest of the day is yours. And if you took in at eight and let out at 2. 30, you would be under the requirements. So is the state's fault for not governing you, and it's your fault for abuse in the children. Because I've gone back and forth for 26 years before I
041could get it straightened out as to who is telling the truth. So the point is, you're responsible. You're responsible. The state is responsible for not governing you. So I have a state representative that's going to help me. And Jay, Kill Martin, in Lexington County, is going to sponsor ReeseSbill. That's first, but you have the authority right now to start school at eight o'clock and let out at 2. 30. You have the authority to give them a lunch 30 minute launch. You have the authority to give them a morning break, and an afternoon break. You have all that authority. So to me, the abuse is on your hands because you're letting. These poumata finests and blue ribbon schools and money for test scores. Govern what you do. When actually. PES scores as sick competition. Children schools
042do not have the same average IQs. Children are not, you can't compare a 60 IQ kid with 130 IQ kid. None of your competitions make sense. It's sick competition, and it needs to stop, and you need to immediately make healthy happy schools for our children, because you have the power to do so. That's my point of view, Oed. And you can blame the parents all you want to. But you have the children most of the day. And Deuteronomy 6 says to teach the children about God, morning, noon, and night. And you have them for most of the teachable moments. So you can put these books in the schools and let everyone that wants one, have one. We have freedom of religion. Not freedom from religion. So every child should have one of these books. It
043makes them humane. The Bible says thy word have I hid in my heart. That I might not sin against thee. So these children, they need hope. They commit suicide and they're sick because they've lost hope. So I want you to give them hope. I want you to get them a happy school. I want you to give them happy playgrounds. And by the way, a school should never be more than 600 kids. I'll come back next month and tell you why we should not build any schools larger than 600. So if any of you have any questions or anything about it, I feel like I know how to grace children. I've taught children for 66 years. I have three of them pound. Thank you. And I plan to continue. Thank you for listening. Thank you, Mr.
044Pat. Is Mr. Alexander Rice in attendance. CalleySpeiser. You're up. Thank you. First, thank you for the opportunity to stand here and talk to all of you. We really appreciate it. Um, I am a parent here, sockey high school. I have two students there. And I'm actually here just to raise something that I feel like I need help with. Um, and it's really a documented failure in policy enforcement. Um, I'm asking for help because I feel like, um, we have to safeguard. There's safeguards in place for students. And I feel like it just was not followed in this case. So I think I'm just going to say it, um, hopefully that's okay. But let me know if it's not. Um. Student and student information, their names, their photos was shared from a previous fundraiser last year.
045It was reused for an athletic fundraiser. And it was used without consent. There was no authorized reuse. I've looked at different privacy policies. I've looked at the school's privacy policies. Um, I also looked at the software that's being used. And this reuse, in my opinion, is, um, a data breach or a data leak of FERPA? Because it is using personally identifiable information, including the student's photo. Um, in my opinion, this is a data breach. It was, it happened. And then there was not a initiation within a 72 hour window. We let the principal know we let the athletic director know. We let the coach know, um, as of yesterday, I was still receiving an email asking for fundraising for my student who isn't even on the team. Um, so as a parent, I'm ultimately asking,
046um, for help. Like I had to initiate the notification process myself. So just to give you kind of a sense of what happened, um, February 6th is when the data breach happened February 7th is when I notified the athletic director February 13th, I verbally notified the principal and the athletic director and really nothing changed. The emails continued. The text messages continued. Like I said, even receiving one yesterday. No point were the affected families notified that this had happened. Again, it's reuse of information. And at no point were the recipients of this fundraiser notified. The administrative response focused on redirecting the funds that were raised to go to another sport. So taking one of our funds were raised and saying, Hey, we'll take it from, you know, track and field to tennis or, you know, obviously
047those aren't the sports. I'm trying to make sure I protect the people involved. But anyway, so while they may have addressed the underlying issue, which to them was fundraising, I don't think that the student exposure and that data was addressed appropriately and still hasn't been addressed appropriately. There's no evidence of, you know, containment or corrective action or communications. I'm focusing on the data breach because this I can actually prove. I can show you the emails. I can show you the correspondence. I can show you that this happened. I can even show you the FERPA complaint that I had to file myself. Um, but to me what this reveals is a bigger concern as a parent that when there's no clear policy, um, and there's no way to contain it or correct it. It does raise
048reasonable concern whether there's other safeguards in place, especially related to student health and wellbeing and disciplinary discretion and how it's enforced. So if you're, in my opinion, so flippant with, um, a fundraiser and PII that what other policies are you not, um, following. This I can't prove, but again, I'm asking for help and support. When it comes to the athletic policies that are outlined. And the responses that were taken for, um, athletic policies and procedures, um, again, nervous about saying specifics, uh, because I know you all said not to, but, um, but it does, in my opinion, appear to be a policy violation for some seniors that are going to miss out on a milestone like magical moment this year. Another area where I think policy will matter deeply is student health and wellbeing, again,
049out of respect for that student. I don't want to go into detail. But I just don't think that, um, the policy was followed and that the appropriate concern when brought up was actually handled. So I'm not asking for the board to make any like individual decisions in terms of like, you know, you got to fire this person or, you know, et cetera. But I am asking for help ensuring that when policies are created that they are enforced. Thank you. Oh, sorry. Okay. Thank you so much. Appreciate it. Okay. Next. We need to go into executive session. And we need a motion. Move to go into executive session. Second. Favor say aye. Aye. Post like saying hearing by the way it will be a Potential Sale of Property and legal advice, which is overall. Thank you.
050Hello, Ms. Welles. Hello, Mr. Chairman. Glad to be back. I'd like to note that during our executive session, no votes were taken. No decisions were made. Thank you so much. I moved would come out of the executive session. Second. Okay. All the favor say aye. Aye. Who's like, son. We are now in business. We came Anderson. You're up. OE4 personal administration. Good afternoon. We're good evening chairman caught. Spice chair well in Board members Mr. Jones as presented at the previous meeting, OE4 personnel administration was for your review. There have been no changes, but if there are any questions, I'll be glad to entertain them at this time. Changes. Move to approve Mr. Chairman. Second. Okay. That's vote. All right. Thank you, Ms. Anderson. Mr. James. Lee James move up. Mr. Cook. He was thinking. Good
051evening. Chairman Cox Box Chair Wellen. Board members and Mr. Jones at your last, uh, Board Meeting. She had a presentation regarding our four social studies monitoring report. And there have been no changes since that time. Second. All right. Let's all vote except Mr. Cook. Thank you. Thank you. Okay. Who's up next? Uh, Ms. Scott. Good evening chairman Cox Last Chair Wellen's Board Members Mr. Jones. At our last meeting, we shared a request from Myrtle Beach High School in Sockisty High School for National Competition Funding per hour procedures. In the materials provided for you for our meeting today, let's see that we're moving forward. That request. Be happy to answer any questions you may have at this time. So move. Okay. No, don't say the word. That's fact. Thank you. That's good. Okay. Thank you Ms.
052Scott. Next we move into the consent agenda. Second. The favor say aye. Aye. And finally motion to adjourn. All in favor say aye. We're adjourned. Thank you.