DCS Board Work Session - 1/13/2026

001call to order the January 13, 2026 board work session. Um, I ask Miss Viv um, Commissioner Vivian Daniels. Is she here? Yes. I ask that you come give our moment of silence, please. Yeah. Unity together. and staff at the center of every conversation. Everyision and replace it with understanding. Remove and replace it with our words. Our actions be amen. >> Amen. Thank you. Please stand for the pledge of allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Madame chair. >> Yes sir. >> Uh before we before we uh hear from our principles and focus on the main part of this uh meeting, I would like to address the board with some facts

002that might help us to function as a governing body. >> Yes ma'am. >> Okay. As was said in our first meeting after we took our oath of office, training is a must. We have training made available through AASB. In-person training takes place in January and July. Online training is also available. I know that Franklin and I have gone through several time several uh of these trainings and as new board members I'm encouraging everybody to go through the training. Taiisha uh was able to attend last week and speaking to her she found it quite refreshing and beneficial. Another fact that I want to mention is that we have four educators on this board. That would be Franklin, Julie, Scott, and myself. Not saying that it's necessary to be an educator to be on this board because

003it's not a requirement. However, I think each of us have been teachers before and being a teacher or administrator will not prepare you for boardmanship. I think the four of us as educators can clearly see that like any new position, orientation is a necessity. In orientation, the primary focus is on rules and regul rules and responsibilities of board members. I'm going to cite just three or four things that I want board members to evaluate for themselves so that we can get on the right track and be effective board members and um we won't go astray. First, the board and superintendent work together as a team. Secondly, the board is a governing body, which means that if we make a vote, even though we might vote in different ways, we are a body. So that means

004that those city school board voted for one thing or the other. All right. The role of the super uh board. We are neither responsible nor involved in the dayto-day operations of the school system. Board members, we are falling short in this area. The role of the board is to act on the recommendation of the superintendent in a timely manner based on student needs and finance. This is not being done. Procrastination has taken its place while our children suffer. This board by majority vote has usurped the job of the superintendent and other administrators. As a board member, our role is to recommend recommend concerns to follow a chain of command and that is not happening which is documented by emails that we have received from each other. Making demands on administrators is not our job. This

005board only supervised three employees and that's is the the attorney, the superintendent and the CFO and we should keep that in mind. Another thing that we should keep in mind and then I'll be finished with this is that we must look at the timeliness on which we are emailing our superintendent and administrators. Some of these emails are even at 2:00 in the morning and I ask when do we sleep? I have just mentioned a few things that we need to work on as a governing body. Please, please refer to the governance act of 2012. Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you. >> All right. Um, we will continue by calling on the DCS principles and staff on literacy and math consulting from Dayan Preparatory Academy, Dr. I mean, Mr. James Williams. Madame Chair, before we get

006started, I just have a a question for clarification. I know you sent out an email today um with the board conduct according to Robert's rule of order, and I just want to make sure that we're all on the same page. Sure. >> In the attachment that was listed, um there were certain things like um we can only ask two questions or two comments per question. And I thought the purpose of this was for it to be an open forum so we could understand, the public could understand. The board voted on it being an open forum. The strategic plan that was on November 13th, we did open forum discussion. So I just want clarity on that if you don't. >> Okay. That is for our board meeting. This is a board. >> Okay. I just wanted

007to ask clarity since you Okay. Thank you. >> Yes. Okay. And as Mr. Williams approaches uh the microphone for the audience's benefit on the screens are QR codes that do reference both Swan Math and the Reading Center which are the two consulting bodies that are being discussed tonight. So any reference information you need regarding them etc um is available through those QR codes. >> So first of all greetings to Dr. Ascu uh Dr. Turner and our board members and this body of Dothan City community members, educators, and everyone this afternoon. Greetings. Uh, a sidebar, I know I look cool in my glasses, but there to cover my eye because I have a little situation with my eyes, so I would not stand up here in dark glasses just for the sake of standing. With that

008being said, I want to begin by thanking each of you that sit on that stage for the job that you do because I know it is not easy. Uh it's not easy making decisions for a large group of people because everyone has their opinion about what should be done and what should not be done. And so I wanted to begin by saying thank you for the work that you do. uh as well as I want to thank all the principles and all the teachers and all the educators that are in the room and thank the parents and whoever else that's here. So there is not a flow for me because I everybody know me know I'm a talker. So for me I stand and I can answer whatever questions y'all ask but this is where

009I am. I'm going to go back five years ago. Uh I was appointed to Dothan Preparatory Academy. So, I get to Dothan Prep and it's no secret. It was a hard hard job. The reality is this. Very little good was ever said about Dothan Prep. So, you take and I have some people here with me. I didn't do this work by myself. Dothan Prep people stand up. And there some more people that would be here, but that's some of our folk. And so, I didn't do this work by myself. of these people and others got behind us and we figured it out. We figured it out without a lot of support from people. We figured it out without a lot of support from the community. We just had to figure it out. And the first

010it had to figure out was how to get kids in the building and even make them think about learning. And so we maneuvered, we did some in-house training, uh, trauma in the brain, we did a whole lot of things on campus and we worked really hard, but we never saw the products of our labor and it's been discouraging. And so we worked and we worked and we worked and Mr. Longore is no longer here with me. Uh so we sat and looked at data and we saw the incoming students at that time from the different elementary schools coming in to us and we realized the reason our job is so hard is because the kids that are coming to seventh grade are coming and yes they're coming from A schools and they're coming from B

011schools and they're coming from C schools and that top number looks really good but when you look at the proficiency we're getting 13% proficient in math and 20some percent proficient in reading. And the reality for us is is a secondary school and the teachers in secondary I'm elementary trained but the teachers in secondary school have not been taught to teach reading. They teach content. So they don't teach reading. And so when kids are coming to a seventh grade classroom and they're not able to read fluently, my teachers are coming to me frustrated and I don't have the answer because as much as I know, I didn't know what to tell them. So Mr. Long Shore and I, we sat and we looked at the data and we realized, okay, we really have a reading proficiency

012problem as well as a math proficiency problem. And then here's the backdrop. out of the teachers that are at Dothan Prep, many of those teachers, especially our ELA department, they came to us from other professions. They're not trained educators. They have not gone through an educator program. So, in addition to us having to train or teach students, we're having to train teachers how to teach. That work has not been easy. And so then you mix that with turnover and the negative talk in the community and it has been overwhelming. And so you go through the years and go through the years and you fix the you address the discipline issues but the academic part still is missing. Now personally I think I'm a great educator. Anyone that knows me, they know that I don't have

013I'm not short on confidence in my own self. And I think I have great educators with me and I'm not I'm very confident in our ability to do what we can do. But I'm also a realist to know that no one person specializes in everything. And so with that being said, fast forward to Dr. ask you bringing in the consultants and I can only speak about Dr. DeWalt and the reading portion because that's the only person I've worked hands face to face in the same room with. So she comes in and she shares with us the things that we already know which makes me feel like somebody else gets it besides DPA. Um then she not only shares that but she shares with us and shows us she builds capacity in my admin team. She

014builds capacity with my instructional coaches on how to look at data from a different viewpoint and really identify what children are lacking. I have this maps data that we looked at today and for years we looked at maps and I always told central office that the maps data does not help us at Dothan Prep. I just I could not put my finger on it. It worked in elementary school. I could understand it. But when I got to Dothan Prep, the MAPS data did not help us. So Dr. DeWalt came in and she shared with us okay the dark red it means they need intervention but there are decoding issues there. Now, when you say decoding to a secondary elementary or secondary teacher, you're speaking a foreign language because now I'm asking and most of my

015secondary EL ELA teachers are not educated are not educators by trade. They came from different backgrounds on alternative route on emergency certificates. So, I tell them that a child has decoding issues, they're looking at me. Um, I tell them they have blending issues. They're looking at me. So then we take those books and to watch Dr. DeWalt take my instructional coaches and show them and work hands hand by hand side by side with them on how to look at this data, how to read this data, how to interpret it, and how to um use it to drive instruction. I shared with several people. It brought hope to our building and that's what we need is hope. And I have a ELA teacher. Wave your hand, Mr. Vigiano. I have and Miss Burns. I have a

016ELA teacher here. We've had these conversations. So, it gave us a little hope that okay, now at least we have a starting point. Well, the conversation may be their teachers and they should know how to teach reading. There's a difference in teaching reading and teaching a child how to read. That's a big difference. I can teach a child how to read, but I cannot teach as many children that we have at that school how to read. So once again, that gave us hope. It built some capacity. We were able to take our master schedule, make the adjustments, move some things around, and the teachers, and I give y'all take the microphone if you want it. um we were encouraged or have been encouraged about the possibilities that lie ahead. Now, let me say this as

017board members, I can appreciate your need to have a deeper understanding of what's going on because education does do that. We swing back and forth and we jump on everything that's a good idea here. we jump on it and then we do it and it does not work and then we jump on something else and no one wants that. I don't want that. Teachers don't want that. But if I did not believe that this work that we embarked on in the first 90 days of Dr. Ascu's work is valuable and would make a difference. I would not stand up here and waste my time or yours. Um I gave up my Bible study tonight to come and speak to this board. I have a whole church of people waiting on me and I text them

018to say I have to speak to the board tonight. So there's no way I would give up that to come sit or stand here to blow out hot air if I did not believe in what I'm standing and what I'm saying. Um so I looked at our reading data and just with some of the things that Dr. Walt has shown us in this short time and she does not get all the credit because my teachers have been working, my instructional coaches, my APS, the principal, we have been working in that building. And so when I looked at our reading data and this is the first time in five years this has happened. Uh I have level ones from the winter to the fall we decreased in level ones by 31 students. No, don't clap. Just

019listen first. Just listen. Don't clap. Just listen. We'll get sidetracked. Uh, in level twos, we increased by 10 students. Move into level two based on maps. In level three, we increased, and my teachers don't know this yet. In level three, we increased by 60 students. In level four, we increased 40 students. So, we've seen movement at DPA. Y'all can clap for the teachers now. We have seen movement at midpoint at DPA for the first time since I've been there. And I think the difference is that we had someone to come in and say to us that you can do it, but these are some steps you need to take. I'm not for people coming in and telling us what to do. I'm not. We are a CSI school and I told my staff and I

020know we're live that I am not going to let the State Department come in and tell us what to do. So, we're going to get a good plan together and when they come, we're going to tell them what we're doing that's researchbased. And no one can argue with researchbased practices. We're going to tell them that based on the changes we've made this year, these are the gains that we're seeing based on these things because I don't believe in people coming in. I'm very protective of my teachers. I don't like them overworked. I don't like them overwhelmed. But I think I can say I have them on board with this work. And there's a sense of urgency that we feel, but there's also a sense of hope that we feel because it's discouraging to work in

021this city. I don't live in Dothan. It's discouraging to work in this city and be the black sheep of the family. And DPA has been the black sheep of Dothan City Schools. And the reality is this, Mr. Williams has taken the credit like a champ for it. And it has not been my responsibility. It has not been my or our teachers fault. We have played the hand that we were dealt. And the hand that we have been dealt has been a difficult hand to play. But we've done the very best that we could do with it. We've given our students the very best. We have trained teachers to our very best. I tell secondary teachers, I cannot teach your content. I cannot go in that math class and teach math. I can't teach that science

022content. I can't do those things. But I can teach you good instructional practices because good instruction is good instruction from kindergarten to college. Uh active engagement is active engagement from kindergarten to college. This thing for me is about us as a city respecting the work that y'all do and it's about y'all respecting the work that we do because I believe in my heart that everybody in this room wants Dothan City Schools to be successful. Like I just believe that. How we communicate that and how that comes across is different. But I think at the end of the day, if y'all would not have run for office, if you did not believe in what you're doing, and I don't think there's one principle that's going to speak behind me, there's not one teacher that has taken

023time out of their day to come here at 5:30 and on on a Tuesday afternoon when it's cold outside. If we don't believe in the work that we do, do we need help? Yes. Does does that help mean that we don't know what we're doing? It does not. It just means that there's an area in education and I've been doing this now for 20 years. Education has changed. I taught third grade. I taught fourth grade and fifth grade. Children are different. Principles are different. Parents are different. Society is different. What it takes to educate middle school kids in 2025 is different than what my teachers had to do for me in Hetland, Alabama whenever it was in the '9s. What I did at Beverly Elementary School and what I did at Selma Street Elementary School,

024it does not work anymore. So, there are some underlying issues that we need help with. We need our capacity built. And I hear I read the Facebook things and I respect it. How long is this person gonna be here? How what what are we going to get? I hope we get capacity that when they are gone and when we're all gone that I can take a teacher or I can take one of my APS or I can take an instructional coach and we can build capacity in the next set of leaders for this system so that as these kids keep coming we can fix the issue. We can give them a better sense of hope because the reality is this and I can't stand this. Y'all shouldn't have given me the mic. This our children

025stuff. All these kids are our kids. Like this is not a white black thing. This is that that is a trick of the devil. This is about the life of children in this city. I share with Dr. Ascu that I was speaking with some of my EL students and it sort of hurts my heart. We're talking about the e students who are also struggling and I can't even have a conversation with them. I can't even help them because I can't communicate with them. So, they're sitting in a class and they probably feel like Charlie Brown's classroom won. And we expect them to sit there for 60 minutes. And so, it's not about a race of children. It's not about me pointing fingers at anybody of any of us pointing fingers. It's about all of us

026have a heart to do what's right for the kids in this community. And so for me, I'm speaking for the middle school and I think I can speak for the people coming behind me. We just need some help. >> [applause] >> And I guess do I answer any questions? >> Does anyone have any questions for Mr. Williams? >> We gonna ask we we're going to ask these questions after each one. Is that [snorts] what you want to >> Is that what Yes, that'd be fine. Yes, ma'am. So, you have the floor. >> Okay. Um, Mr. Williams, >> did we say that? >> Okay. Sorry. sorry that you had to sit down, but um I just want to ask this one question. You did a good job of explaining and uh I think I understand quite

027uh well what you're talking about at your school. Okay. How consistent is implementation of intervention programs across the grade level? >> So, so the reality is this for us there hasn't been a lot of intervention because we haven't in secondary schools RTI is really good in elementary schools should be at the secondary level talking intervention talking 60 minute blocks of time there until we work with Dr. DeWalt, there has not even been an intervention block in our schedule because it just has not been built in. Since we work with her, we have built in to our schedule and my teachers, I have to salute them of how great they have embraced this uh change in the middle of the year. Seventh grade now has intervention built in uh every day for 86 minutes. I think

028we start at 159 to 3:20. or 3:25 have to calculate the time but sixth period has been designed now or redesigned to be intervention and we're teaching small groups and I have secondary teachers teaching small groups and centers like that's major that we're doing centers in middle school and then 8th grade uh because we don't have as much time eth grade teachers have agreed to do a skinny day of intervention and so we had our first intervention day in eth this past Monday and it's from 8:25 until 9:25 and so but that's only one day a week but we're looking to increase it but we we're just not getting started with it. >> All right. Thank you. >> Does anyone else want >> Miss Davis? You have the floor. >> Thank you Mr. Williams, you

029don't have to get back up. I just wanted since I have you here and I have so many of your staff here and we have an audience. I just wanted to point out your success. I've had children in your school for almost solidly five years now. And the difference from when we started at DPA and now is night and day. You have you and your team have done a phenomenal job at taking control of the discipline issues and the organization of that school. So, I just wanted to commend you while we have an audience and we have your staff here and say thank you for that. [applause] Miss Jenkins, you now have the floor. >> She's before me, so she got to say it before me, but I wanted to piggyback off that. I've had

030a kid at DPA since he became DPA. So, I've been through all three principles at DPA, and Mr. Williams has taken countless hours to sit down with me. There was one day he let me shadow him the entire day. And that man runs. He goes, he goes, he goes. Um, I've just been very impressed with what I've seen and the growth that has happened there. I know that we need help. I've got my own children that need help. And every year that I've sat down with you to talk about my children that are going to be there and what they need, you've been very receptive and very helpful. And I am very grateful for what y'all have been able to do at DPA. Um, I've seen the difference. So, when people complain about it in

031the public, I'm like, "Do you have a kid there? Have you ever sent a kid there?" Because if you haven't, don't say anything because you don't know. So, thank you for all that you guys do and for the change that I've seen. Um, and the public perception is changing. I'm seeing it personally that the public perception is changing. So, thank you for what you guys do. I know it's not easy. My daughter comes home and complains sometimes. She complained about the the intervention happening that started yesterday and I'm like, well, baby, this these kinds of things have to happen. It's something new. You got to got to get used to it. Um, but I appreciate what y'all are doing. So, thank you. Anyone else? Okay. All right. Now, I call on um Miss Christina Johnson

032and she is from Beverly Elementary. My colleague is a hard act to follow. I appreciate you know does a wonderful job. Um good evening madame board chair, distinguished board members and superintendent ask you. My name is Christina Johnson. I am the principal at Beverly Intermediate School. I've been there for two years. My team tonight consists of Mr. Matt Smith, assistant principal, and Miss Cheyenne Self, our literacy coach. On behalf of the students, the families, and the team members of Beverly Intermediate School, we are here to respectfully request that you support the initiatives proposed in Dr. Ascu's 100day plan. These academic proposals are designed to enhance student learning, engagement, and preparation for secondary and postsecary success, ultimately supporting the development of productive citizens in our community. Currently, Beverly student achievement data shows where additional support or

033enrichment are needed. Based upon our annual state and federal report card, 44% of our students are performing at a sufficient, not proficient level. We have increased our report card score this year by eight points. We're very proud of that work, but there is so much more work to be done. Our students of capable are capable of learning and growing as our academic growth rate or percentage of students who demonstrated growth in English language arts and reading is currently 88%. Further proving that our students and all students can reach their potential. In order to do this, however, they must be provided with diagnostic assessments and prescriptive programs based on personalized academic support and be instructed by educators that are trained in research-based programs that specifically target individualized students areas of potential growth. Good evening. Under the

034direction of Dr. DeWalt, our school was able to use our Lexile score data gathered from our early years assess assessment, which is MAP. We identified 262 students or 78% of our school that required further diagnostic testing using an oral reading fluency assessment. After examining that data, 169 of our students were given a phonics inventory. [clears throat] Data was supported with Dr. Data was sorted with Dr. DeWalt into two of our categories. 27% of our students needing intensive phonics intervention and 73% needing significant development in fluency and automaticity. This work directed by Dr. DeWalt demonstrates the need for detailed and prescriptive plan of action for each individual scholar. Our request is for the support and endorsement of the next steps to follow up the work that has been curated thus far. In addition, our students in

035our district are in needs in our district are in need of instructional support. A current challenge is the specific reading support waines after third grade, which means that older students do not have the opportunity to strengthen skills they have not yet mastered. Older students still need explicit teaching and reading skills. The extensive building and confidence in repeated opportunities to re-engage with learning. The opportunities provided in the proposed plan would also impact upper grade level teachers with the muchneeded and professional development strategies to dramatically impact their classrooms and ultimately increase student achievement and success. As demonstrated by our current AAP scores, we continue to grow in math achievement at Beverly. However, we are still far below where we need to be. and updated benchmarks like the fractional reasoning screener given in January. A majority of our

036fourth and fifth graders are below the basic and and basic ranges. Our most recent MAP data also indicates that trends tend to be on the lower tier. Third grade map data shows that 72% of our scholars fall below the 40th percentile. In fourth grade, 71% and in fifth grade, 79% of the scholars demonstrated the first through 40th percentiles. As a school and as a district, we must address these identified areas for growth. We must have a well-developed plan of attack as the one proposed by Swan Math. Similar to what we have done with reading, all students must be assessed and diagnosed for intervention based upon their individual and specific needs. We must also strengthen our teachers conceptual understanding in many mathematical areas. This is very significant as our school at our school 44% of our

037classroom teachers are not traditionally trained. This was previously mentioned by my colleague. Teachers that are not traditionally trained are learning on the job and often are not familiar with these certain techniques or strategies that would be beneficial to increase student growth and engagement. This requires our coaches to spend time on strengthening content depth rather than developing more advanced instructional skills such as systematic differentiation to address individual student needs. The professional on-site learning component of the proposal would be of great benefit to our educators. Additional leadersship coaching will also impact overall institutional effectiveness with regards to leadership. The virtual and in-person parent workshops that are proposed will allow for a greater degree of family engagement. >> Good evening everybody. Proud to be here. I want to go over some of the discipline stuff. I know they've

038talked about math and reading a little bit. Um, with our approach that we have, we're seeing 75% of our classroom referrals are coming from disruptive behaviors. Um, the others would be from buses and that sort of thing. Um, but 75% of our referrals are coming from the disruptive behaviors, more than likely from the teachers not having the tools in their toolbox. Um but this is just a sign that students are struggling with the material being taught. Uh we know that students they they tend to act out a little bit when they are not getting what they need and understanding what they need. So that can disturb the uh classroom environment. In addition to this, uh we with the proposed trainings and help provided by the suggested consultants, we could potentially see a decrease in behaviors

039um because those teachers will learn to confidently facilitate this course, model multiple strategies and effectively deepen conceptual learning. So with this uh in the 100 day plan, I think it would be a great opportunity for our teachers to get that professional development and uh grow to help our students grow. As previously stated, large percentages of students lack proficiency in reading, which negatively impacts their ability to know success and growth in upper level courses, in math courses, and work in their secondary experience. Out of 340 students enrolled at Beverly, there are currently 95 students receiving special education. This is 28% of our total student population. We believe that programs based on prescriptive and targeted interventions as those outlined in the 100day plan will provide our schools with effective sustainable interventions that will allow every learner to

040thrive. As we close the learning gaps, we will ultimately decrease the number of students referred for special education services. We can do this work. Dothan students and educators can do this work. We just need more guidance and tools to assess the work. This proposal is an investment in our students future. These are the reasons that we are humbly requesting your support of the proposals as outlined for the reading center and Swan Math in Dr. Ascu's 100day report. Thank you. [applause] >> Does anyone have any questions for Miss Johnson? Anyone? Can you tell how often are students assessed um for needing to change in between intervention groups like the different tiers? How often is that being done? >> Currently, >> probably not as often as it should be. Um one of the reasons for lack of

041sustainable and effective intervention was mentioned as the lack of training for our teachers. As my colleague stated, many of our teachers are coming from other professions and have not been traditionally trained. Therefore, they do not have the strategies, let's say, in their bag of tricks that would allow them to effectively and easily move from one strategy to another to address deficits. Um, the data is another point we are working to engage our teachers in looking at the data and using the data to be prescriptive. This is something that we really saw with the proposal from um the reading center as we received that data, especially the Lexile scores and we were able to learn how to actually take those and break them into groups and address the specific and targeted needs of those students. I

042think that intervention will become more effective. Currently with that plan, we will be assessing students every 14 days with data meetings on the 15th day for reassessment of group placement. But I yield to my reading coach if there's anything that needs to be added. >> We're on the same page. >> Perfect. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Does anybody else >> you you referenced the reading center, but what about Swan? What exposure have you had to them so far? They have come in and worked with us on observations at our school. We have had meetings with them for principal input. There were surveys and there were also um teacher and coach input sessions that were conducted. So it's been more limited but we look for that in the future to understand more about next steps.

043>> Mford. >> Okay. Madam chair speak. >> Thank you. Uh um Miss Johnson and the rest and I can't put your names together right now, but thank you all for your presentation. It really sounds well and I'm looking forward to seeing those changes should we be able to proceed with this matter. But the question I have for you at this point is, are you able to identify any strategies uh any instructional strategies that have shown the greatest gains? Have you are you able to identify any instructional >> strategies uh as far as reading? >> Yes, ma'am. One of the things that I think we'll see the greatest gain from is the fact that we have recently implemented a differentiated instruction block which includes 60 minutes of our school day. We put that schedule into place

044on Monday. That 60 minutes includes time spent at a teacher table working on diagnose specific needs of each individual student based on the scores provided to us and helped to be diagnosed by Dr. the wall. We were able to form small groups. Each teacher is responsible for specific skill instruction. And students may even travel between classrooms to be in a group that is specific to their needs. That 60 minutes also includes silent sustained reading to improve comprehension and automaticity. It includes time on technology with ISL and it also includes the focus on CKLA and language arts strategies. >> Thank you. >> Does anyone else like to ask a question? Okay. >> For those extra 60 minutes, where is that coming from? What are you taking that from to implement that? And then I know some

045of our schools have art or music, some of them don't. Do y'all have art or music? >> No, ma'am. We did not have the monetary funds to support that at the beginning of the year. We didn't. We had art last year, but we do not have art this year. Money was allocated for additional instructional units and for an instructional interventionist to provide additional support to our students at most need tier three. So, we were able to carve out and let me be very clear that was not an easy process. late nights, blood, sweat, and tears. Even after the heat was turned off one night, I mean, it was it was it was hard work. We all came together. And I would like to also acknowledge our math coach who was very instrumental in that process,

046Dr. Alexia Thompson. And we worked to carve out every single minute that we could to provide effective instructional time in that DI block. We have moved um our PST meetings to our morning time. We have now changed our morning procedures to where our students gather in the gym and have silent sustained reading or SEAL instruction on topics provided by our counselor or our behavior specialist. And that allows teachers to meet and go over data, look at tier 2, tier three instructional plans and be more effective during that early morning time. We did have a pack program that address SEAL. We will pick up those skills in the morning time and our media has been cut back to fewer um fewer opportunities during each week and now it's about every other week. But we were able

047to carve out the 60 minutes by being very intentional and using time that was not otherwise used for meeting or instructional purposes. >> And who's leading those? Are they with their teacher and that's being led with their teacher or is that something completely separate >> on the differentiated instructional block? >> Yes, ma'am. That is led by every single classroom teacher in the school in Beverly. Since we're three through five, we're a little bit different than K through five and we do classes. We do a lot of pairing and team teaching. So, even if you're a math teacher, you now have a DI block and you're being instructed on how to help support reading for every student in our school. So, every single teacher has a DI block and individual teachers have been assigned specific skills

048and those groups that come to their room and meet at their teacher table will get the benefit of that assistance. >> Thank you. >> You're welcome. Does anyone else want the floor? All right. Thank you, Miss Johnson, and appreciate your team coming as well. >> Thank you. >> Um All right, Miss S. Clark. Well, let me start by saying I'm scared. >> I know. >> All right, let me let me get started. Okay, my instructional coach is not here because she thought she was having her appendix removed tonight. >> Oh, no. >> But that's okay. That was just a good excuse. So, I'm gonna have her give me her doctor's report tomorrow. >> Okay. Yeah. >> Uh, >> tell her she's got to send it to >> All right. I'm sort of going to go

049off script. >> Okay. >> That's scary. Um, what I want you to know, and it breaks my heart, I have been in Dothan City Schools for 38 and a half years. I know I started when I was 12. Uh, in the I started out as a first grade teacher at Grand View Elementary back with Theodore Whiting and he was my mentor and I told him I said, "You know, I think I want to be a principal one day, Mr. Whiting." Some of y'all know him. He said, "Sure, Miss Clark. I'll be glad to." Little did I know that meant with Theodore White that you did programs while you still taught first grade. Okay. Little did I know that meant a lot of extra bus duty. And little did I know that you had a man

050that had power that said it with few words. But when he spoke, he listened. And I appreciate Mr. Whiting, even if I did take his table from him as I was a classroom teacher trying to get my room organized. And he did a call and said, "If anyone has collected my table, please return it." And I said, "I am so sorry." Anyway, I went down the rabbit trail. But the point is, I've been in it long enough. You know me long enough. If you look around, I'm old. I get it. But I still have a passion. Anybody that's in education, you have to have a passion. You have to keep your eyes straight forward because if you start going down rabbit trails, that's when you lose the focus of our children. Okay? I was one

051of those children in school growing up. I got overlooked. Okay? But I had parents that instilled in me, you do your best. You do your best. That's what I can truthfully say at Gerard Elementary. Okay. All I can talk about is my porch. And what breaks my heart is when our parents hear this data. And they say I I feel like I have a good relationship with them and they trust me because I'm old. I I I'm old. The guy in the back, he came up and hugged my neck and he said, "Do you remember me?" And I said, "Well, I did the SRO." Okay. He was in third grade when I was principal at Montana. And he said, "Thank you for the passion that the teachers had." The teachers still have that passion, but

052it's like Mr. William said, "The way we educated children when I was in first grade, teaching first grade and what the other grades, it's changed." And when I look at my parents and they hear this data and they're thinking, they said, "Well, Miss Clark, we thought you were here." I mean, they're not going to say it to my face, but what's wrong? Because it it's sort of a distrust thing because the parents send their children to you to educate them. And then when our system gets this data, we've let them down. I'm embarrassed because when I talk to my parents and I know and I know my teachers, we have a good group of teachers. We get together. I'm my team. I'm not going to introduce them because I got to go back to work

053with them tomorrow and they'll fuss at me. But the point is, we're building that trust with parents because we want them to trust us and have that rapport. But when the data is saying we as a system are not performing, it's embarrassing. I know on Friday I have a letter that's going home to my parents that are telling them I'm considered a failing school and you have the right if you choose to to go to another school. What does that look about our teachers? Are they working hard? Absolutely. Are the teachers at another school that they're going to are they working hard? Yes. But they're not working any harder than mine. But my data shows it. So what it tells to me, the data, the way that we're getting there is wrong. It's broken. All

054right. So it's broken. We all know it. We can't hide it. But what like do Dr. James, I call him my golden child, Mr. Williams, when Dr. Dewal came in and I clicked with her because she likes paper pencil. When you look at data, all right, let me just tell you this real quick and we'll go on because I know you got other people. We had 66 kindergarten students that took math testing. 66. It's on a computer. It's not on an iPhone where they can click and do their games. They have to take the little finger and move it to answer the questions kindergarteners. So of course our data is going to be low. Okay. But when Dr. DeWalt came in and doing it through they didn't do that they did letters and sounds for

055kindergarten later on. They did much better because someone was actually looking an individual with a student going over. Can you recogni? Could they recognize the letters? This is kindergarten. Could they recognize the letters? Could they tell you the sounds? They could be successful. That as a first grade teachers, I used I used to say, you teach the kid the alphabet and the sounds. I can teach them to read. Okay. But see, we've got to get them back to that point. You can click, click, click on a computer. Sometimes you get lucky. And sometimes it's not. Okay. So, when Dr. DeWalt came in, she looked at our data and we started what we call dibbles. And we did dibbles years ago. That's when you have someone like with kindergarten, they identify the different uppercase, lowercase letters.

056You know who knows it. Then they start making nonsense words. That's when you start deciding, do they know how to sound words out? Okay, that's what dibbles is in doing it for first through fifth. They read passages. There's a certain number that they have to read. Well, our children, what we're finding is they might can decode. I'm going down different rabbit trails, but Dibble shows that more clearly and then you're able to work with them and get them where they're going. So, with what Dr. Walt DeWalt's saying and it's paper pencil people doing it, you can fix the problem. Okay, it can be fixed. But it's when you're trying to look at all of that on the computer, it's just not a true it's not a true picture of their assessment. Sometimes it is, sometimes

057it's not. All right. So, getting back to the curriculum, our school system adopted CKLA, which is the reading program, and I'm a rule follower, and we did it faithfully for what, four years? four years. Everybody else said, "Oh, this isn't working." Well, after two weeks, you couldn't say it wasn't working. But after four years, I could say it wasn't working. And I'm like, "Okay, I'm going to be the rebel and I'm going to get off." Well, the only thing else we had, you've heard the word you fly. And I'm like, "Okay, I'm old. What are they going to do?" [laughter] So, I'll go to you fly. So we started that this year. Well, what we're seeing is we're seeing improvement in our children decoding. But when you go back and you're looking at the Lexiles

058like you're seeing on the map data, then that gets into another level of comprehension. You see what I'm saying? You've got to teach them how to decode, but you also have to teach them how to comprehend so the data will move consistently up. So that's what Dr. DeWalt and the program that she It's not a program, it's a process. Not a program, it's a process and that you move together and we move together as a system because at Gerard for various reasons our kids are moving all the time. So if they move from Gerardi, go to Fang, go to Hidden Lake, go to Herd, if we're all on the same place, like when we were doing assessment, we're all going together like soldiers. So when my child leaves and goes to Fain or Hidden Lake,

059you're going to be able to catch them up. They're not going to miss a beat, okay? You're going to get them where they're need to go. And then when we do all of that, it swings up. It moves up to D6. I know what I sent to D6. They didn't have the scores that they needed to, but they couldn't stay forever. All right. So D6 does what they do. We know what D6 sent to DPA. It it's a process. So if you start with what we're saying, teaching them to code, comprehend, move on up, then they can read subject matter on grade level so that they can pursue the grades anyway. Anyway, so I support that. So I'm going to stop at this and say we all see this was my reading this morning. We

060all have signposts in our life, right? When we came to work or like let me just say when I go to work down Gerard Gerard Avenue, there's a sign that says speed bumps. So when I get to that speed bump, I got to slow down. So I what I take that says we're slowing down. That's a sign. I keep going and there's another speed bump. Okay, I'm telling you, you got to slow down and get it right. The part that we've been having is we have the sign that says there's some falling rocks. Okay, it's falling. The sky is falling. You cannot tell me that the children in Dothan City schools are incompetent children. They are not. What has messed them up is the process. No fault. Nobody came up and said, "Oh, let me

061go to Dothan City and let them turn into a failing school system." That was not the intent. We do what we think is right. But we're also told when we know better, we do better. So when we think about those signposts, we are at a dead end, folks. It's time to pick up, shore up, and do what's right. And let me put another thing. A Okay, today's January 13th, right? At Gerard Elementary, we're starting AAP testing, which is where we get our grade for the school on April the 7th. So, January, February, March, last week of March in that spring break. Okay. All right. Okay. So, we're we at Gerard Elementary. I don't know when everybody else doing. April the 7th through the 16th. When we finish that on April the 21st, we're going to

062go back and do the math testing for reading. Okay. All right. Then on May the 4th, we're going to have our data meetings and see who was really like third grade. Have they made the cut score so that they are going on to fourth grade? Are they staying? So all of that is being said, there's an urgency here. And as for the math, I just had contact with Dr. DeWalt. But what I when I heard the presenter, what impressed me with the math, they the way I understood it is they're not going to change our program. They're going to change in how they help educators teach those math processes correctly. So, we don't have to get a program. We've got what we need, but we just got to learn the process. But I charge you,

063we are not dumb children. We have the ability. Nobody's done it on purpose, but we've got to stop it and get it fixed now. That's all I got to say. Oh, one more thing. This is a good thing. Those are somebody's glasses. Thank you for bus aids on the bus. Oh my goodness. The kids say this is funny. Why aren't you riding with us anymore, Miss Clark? I said, "Oh, baby, I don't have to now. I'm just putting you on that bus." But you know what? You know what? Miss Williams doesn't have to enter all those bus referrals. And see, this is this is like I was telling them, if you have AIDS on the bus, first of all, you got a bus driver, you can get bus drivers better. We haven't swung over to

064that part, but it's going to get there. I'm faithful. Bus drivers can drive. Kids do not get kicked off the bus because they were eating or throwing those Takis at somebody or somebody got somebody's Takis. [laughter] I'm serious. That's what happens. Takis are serious. So, they get to stay on the bus. They get to school and then when the parents are late, it's like, "Baby, all you got to do is put them on that bus and we'll educate them. We got bus." Okay, enough said. Thank you very much. >> Any question? >> Thank you, Miss Clark. Does anybody have any questions for Miss Clark? All right. Thank you, Miss Clark. >> All right. Now, I call on um Tina Garst. Good evening board chair, board members, Dr. Ashcu. Thank you for having us and listening

065to us this evening. I'm going to start off with just uh a little bit of data. Um we had an 11 point increase at FA this year on our report card which was tremendous. We had 88% growth this year which was amazing for our students to grow that much. Um we have taken our maps beginning of the year. We've taken our middle of the year and we've met with Dr. DeWalt as well. Uh we have done our dibbles. Uh we have had our reading coach, our teachers, myself, our interventionist meet with her to come up with our groups for intervention. Uh moving forward, I will tell you that at our middle of the year MAPS test that we just finished, I was looking at our data the last several days between grades second and fifth,

066we have students that need intensive intervention and that is out of 130 students in those grades. That's massive amount of children that need intensive intervention based upon not only their MAP scores but their Lexile scores as well. Um we have put into place our interventions. We have been doing UFly since last year. However, that is not a whole group intervention program that's meant for more of a small group tier two. So, having Dr. DeWalt, the reading center, work with us and our teachers to guide us and train us on the things that we need in our building to help our children learn to read um is very important to us at Fang. very important because we've got to get the number of children that are in need of intense intervention way down. Our children can

067read. They want to read. Um, a lot of our discipline, and I will tell you, our discipline is not what it was when I came to Fang two and a half years ago. I walked through the door two and a half years ago and had 847 referrals at the end of my first year. Last year we cut that in half. We are sitting at less than 150 referrals right now midy year. Um it's taken a lot to get there. It's taken a lot of explaining the expectations of our school and what our teachers and administrators expect. Um but the inability to be able to inform uh perform academically is what is causing a lot of the discipline issues. Now the desire to want to escape because they can't read or they can't do math. I'm

068going to turn it over to Grace Gain. She is a first grade teacher at Fain. And I will tell you, we work hard at Fain. Our teachers work tirelessly every day and turn it over to you. >> Hey, good evening. Um, I've been a teacher for 12 years. Uh, the majority of my career has been at Fain. It's my love, my passion. I love those kids. It's it's just what I love to do. Um but with that being said, we have 24% of our kids in our school is special ed uh considered special ed and then 116 out of 30 need intensive instruction but we as teachers are expected to teach the tier one curriculum um which is above their uh ability to right now. So we need to get back to the basics of

069teaching them how to read so that then therefore later on they're able to comprehend. Um you know with under Dr. DeWalt's plan uh she has um went to the state department and asked that our school in Gerard Primary do bookworms. And so I've been investigating bookworms and um reading about it and I think what bookworms is is it has a differentiated instruction component. So it would be a solid 60 uh minutes and under this component of there's so we would give a baseline assessment. Once you give that baseline assessment to the kids, it would break it down into where their deficiencies are. So when you know what their deficiency is, you're able to group them better under the skills. And then under each skill, there is the lessons. There would be 15 to 30 lessons

070that you would teach each group under that specific skill wherever they scored on their baseline. All right? So you do that for 15 to 30 days each. You're going to have you could have up to seven groups depending hopefully the lower grades we could only have four groups, you know. Um and what it is is to just help them close the gaps. Um because a lot of the kids are coming to first grade on a on a pre-K level, but we're expected to teach them. They're they're supposed to already be able to read and we have to go on with the grade level standards. But this is what's going to close the gap so that when they go to second grade, when they go to third grade, they're not having to teach they're they're able

071to teach their content standards and the children are able to read. Um so bookworms is 15 to 30 lessons based on each skill. Then every uh three to six weeks we would progress monitor. Based on their progress monitoring skills uh hopefully they uh can go on to the next uh continuum. Um and hopefully they've mastered that skill, but it's more explicit. It's um it's repetitive. It is exactly what our kids need at Fain. Um, we do have 43% of our staff that is uncertified. That that's that's a little bit hard because like Mr. Williams said, you're having to teach uh teachers how to teach on top of all this extra. So, when we have a I like to call this a I guess it's a process in a program, but this program I think is

072explicit for our kids. It's repetitive. It's what's it's going to be the same for each grade level. And all that's changing is the skill. Um CKLA does not offer in a an intensive program, but like uh Miss Gar said, we've been doing um UFly as tier one instruction. Um and it's it's not it's really a tier three program, but it works and it's closing the gap. So we we at this point have to do what what's going to get our kids on grade level and that's what we have to choose to do. That is what's best for our kids. That's what I'm fighting for. That's what I'm standing for and I'll say that until I get blew in the face. But thank y'all for listening. Um I appreciate it and I know my thoughts are

073all over the place. Um but yeah, thank you so much. Thank you. [applause] >> Okay. Does anyone have any questions for Miss Gar? Okay. No. Okay. Now I call on um Miss Gun. [snorts] Good evening, madame chair, board members, and superintendent. Thank you for the opportunity to speak this evening. I am here to recommend securing strategic instructional support and both literacy and mathematics to strengthen teaching and learning at Hidden Lake Primary where I serve as the principal. Recently I participated in a professional learning experience led by Dr. Dewalt with principles and instructional coaches from faculty shows elementary and east side elementary in Georgia. These schools are serving highly transit populations as do we. Their title one populations are also much like our own. One of those schools was recently named a literacy leader in Georgia

074and the outcomes they shared were compelling and measurable. What stood out most was not a program but their testimonial about the systematic approach to literacy. This work is built around short intentional 15-day instructional cycles, precise skillbased grouping in decoding, fluency and comprehension, and frequent progress monitoring that allows the schools to quickly respond to students needs. Teachers see growth cycles. They see growth cycle by cycle, not just at the end of the year. With that said, then they can actually target instruction in real time and that visibility build strong buy in and accountability. School leaders were very transparent about the fact that year one required a significant mind shift. They described it as turning the teacher's worlds upside down. However, as students moved from red to yellow and from yellow to green, teachers became invested, behavior

075issues decreased and engagement increased because instruction was finally aligned to the students needs. Yes, we do a lot of great things in Dothan. What I feel has been missing for us at my school at Hidden Lake is targeted differentiated instruction to meet the needs of all students, not just closing the gaps. Equally important, success did not just depend on adding programs or large numbers of staff. Dr. Dr. DeWalt supported leaders in maximizing existing resources, aligning principles and coaches, protecting instructional time, and ensuring fidelity of implementation. The results from what I'm told through these testimonials was sustainable improvement driven by leadership and data, not just compliance, not someone coming in just to check off a box. At the same time, we recognize that literacy and mathematics must advance together. To that end, I strongly support securing

076a partnership with Dr. Cheryl Ward from Swan Math to strengthen mathematics instruction at Hidden Lake Primary. Dr. Ward's work emphasizes emphasizes conceptual understanding, student discourse, intentional planning, and strong tier one instruction. All of which aligns with our instructional priorities and the Alabama Numeracy Act. Justice Dr. Dewal's expertise supports a coherent literacy system. A partnership with Dr. Ward would provide the same level of clarity and intentionality in mathematics, helping teachers move far beyond procedures to deep understanding while using data to guide intervention and acceleration. Again, targeted differentiated instruction. Key words, targeted, differentiated instruction to meet the needs of every student. The parallels between the schools that were invited to share and Hidden Lake Primary are unmistakable. Our data, demographics, and challenges align closely where those schools began. What we need now is expert guidance to help

077us build disciplined data-driven systems in both literacy and math systems that support teachers and accelerate students learning. Board members, I firmly believe that partnering with Dr. Dewalt for literacy and Dr. Sure award through Swan for mathematics represents a strategic investment in our students, our staff and our schools longterm success. Again, the key is building capacity within our schools so that is sustainable after this work is done. I respectfully ask for you to support in moving forward with these partnerships to strengthen literacy and mathematics instruction at Hidden Lake Primary and all my sister and brother schools. Thank you for your time and continued commitment to the success of the students of Dothan City Schools. Do you have any questions you'd like to ask of me? Would anybody like the floor? >> Anyone? >> I don't have

078any questions, but I'm just going to take this opportunity. So, um, my daughter came through Hidden Lake Primary and I was one of the parents that had, you know, significant concerns about Dothan City Schools and my husband and I went back and forth, you know, for a while about whether to put her in. So, I said, "Well, let's just go talk to the principal." And I came in with probably 40 questions typed out. And when I say Mrs. Gun just knocked my socks off, she, you know, walked me around. She cares about those teachers. She cares about those students. So I said, well, we'll just give it a try. If it doesn't work out, you know, we'll pull her. Needless to say, she was there the entire duration. I became the PTA pre PTO president

079for three years. So, I just want to give you your flowers while you're up here because you made a world of difference. My daughter has had a strong foundation and I'm truly grateful to you. >> Thank you so much. >> Does anyone help have questions? >> All right. Thank you. Um, now I call on Miss Montala. Good evening, Dr. Ascu, superintendent, Dr. Mullins, board chair, and all of our board members. Uh, my name is Monica Montavo, and I am the principal at Kelly Springs Elementary School. I'm in my fourth year, and I just want to start off tonight. I did not type anything because you know this is advocating for my students and for my teachers. It's what I'm passionate about. I'm going to tell you a little bit about our school and a little

080bit about my background so you understand where I'm coming from. So, Kelly Springs, I don't know the numbers as of today, but I know starting this school year, we had the largest elementary campus here in Delin. And not only was it the largest elementary campus, we have the largest population of um e students. I think We are standing at about 80 or more e students and that's students who are learning English. We also have a special education population of 25% of our students. It's about 100 students 125 students and so those are very large numbers. I started here in Dothan like Mr. Williams I do not live in Dothan. I live in Enterprise. I started here in Dothan as a fifth grade teacher at Grand View Elementary. We know that Grand View was a very

081uh it was a struggling campus, but I absolutely loved working there. Every single day, my eyes were opened when I walked into my classroom, a fifth grade classroom. I was so excited. I got my first job teaching. I had just moved here from um we lived in Germany. My husband is retired military. We decided to retire here because I love the area here and I love the work I get to do. So, we were transplants via the military. I started as a fifth grade teacher and I was so happy to be building my classroom and I'm I'm an avid reader. I've always loved reading. I built my library for my incoming students and I got my star report beginning of the year. We want to know reading levels. We can get our students going. My

082mind was blown when I got that star report and I'm looking at these numbers and of course I'm brand new so I'm asking what is this 2.7 mean? What does 2.3? What is 1.4? Well, that tells you that your students are reading at a second grade level during their seventh month and I was crushed because I was expecting to teach fifth graders and they were fifth graders but they're not reading on level. And so that fueled me as an educator trying to teach math as well. I did not know how to teach struggling students because I didn't understand why they didn't get it. I have four students, four four children. Four children of my own. They were my students. I was their first teacher. I sent them all to school reading before they entered kindergarten.

083I They knew math. They knew everything because I was that parent. But it blew my mind when I met kids who couldn't do it. not because they didn't want to or because their brains weren't allowing them to. It was because maybe they didn't have the same opportunities that my children had. So, with everything in me, I forgive opportunities for my students and and all of my students, past and present, I firmly I feel like they're my children. Okay. So, I was a fifth grade teacher at Grand View. We worked extremely hard to to push our children to the next level to even motivate them to want to learn. And it it was hard. My heart broke when they closed Grand View. But at the same time, I knew that's what my kids needed because they

084needed to see somewhere beyond what they were seeing. And so it was a hard time for me. Um but I wanted them to get out of that place because many of them said, "I haven't been here. I haven't been there. When I grow up, I'm going to be this. I'm going to They can only what they see and I wanted more for them. So I left and I was also the reading coach at Grand View. So I do have you know some reading history there. But now as a building principal and been at Kelly Springs we have seen over the past few years that our population of students is changing. Our demographics for uh title one is increasing but that doesn't mean that our children can't um learn at high levels. Last year, I'm sorry,

085I think it was August, ARRI sat in my office and we were talking about our third grade data and they said, "Miss Montto, do you know why we scored at this level?" Yes, there are several reasons. We have a large population of EL students here and they don't get all the supports that they need. I feel like we need more. We have a large population of special education students that we need more supports for them. In addition, our students, some of our students leave second grade and they go to another school and these are higher scoring students. So that does impact our data. I'm sorry. My mouth is just Okay. And so it there are many things that factor into our data and what impacts our data. I'm a firm believer though that even with

086the data, everybody's looking at data and I see the numbers, but in those numbers, I also see our children. And that's what my advocacy is for, our children. Even before Dr. DeWalt came to our campus, me and my instructional team, we had sat together to talk about, you know, what's going on. We're not seeing the gains that we want to see. Thank you. I apologize. We're not seeing the games that we want to see and we're putting in the work. My teachers are working hard and it seems like everything we're asking them to do is we're putting more things on their plate. One thing we identified was what happened to the old things that we used to do like working with manipulatives and math. What happened to progress monitoring every two weeks or every week

087for our intensive students like we used to do with dibbles? um what happened to all of these things? COVID happened and then we all came back and a lot of the best practices that was working, we put them on the shelf and then forgot to take them back down. So, we had already said, you know what, we need to start progress monitoring because we can't wait for four weeks or six weeks to see student data to come and make a plan. We need to be more strategic. And so, we had already started doing that this year. Dr. came in and it was very eye opening for me. I I love to read the data because it tells me a lot about our students and we have data meetings and we have these discussions and we're

088talking to teachers about interventions and and making those goals for them and how are we tracking and documenting and um you know we have tutors in the building providing them with the support they need because it's a lot for a teacher to have to have 20 kids in the classroom and you have 15 different levels or their their deficit and all these different skills and we're supposed to differentiate, but at this point differentiation is still a little much because now we need to be more individualized. Not necessarily the red, blue, and green group anymore. We have several different uh levels in the classroom. And so we're talking to them and we're making these plans and our teachers, y'all, they work hard and they're overwhelmed. And when I'm asking them, we need you to progress monitor

089your students. And that's things that we're supposed to do. And and I feel awful having to say, we need you to progress monitor, too. And they said, when are we supposed to do that? Well, you know what? I'm out there progress monitoring. Miss Taylor, my assistant principal, she's out there. We're progress monitoring. We're using our coaches and anybody else that's available. We're using everybody to help teachers to make sure we're getting the data consistently for our students so that way we can meet their needs. And so when Dr. DeWalt came in, it was eyeopening because she taught us how to look at map a different way. I never heard this. We have had math in this district what five or six years now and Dr. DeWalt taught us to look at it in a different

090way. We saw Lexile levels. I can do a lot with Lexile levels. But when we saw that list for my students again, we opened it and over 50% of my students were under red. I had fifth graders reading on beginning reading levels. And I sat with that and I chewed on that for a while because these children are sent to us. They're in our care. And how are we sending them back? Not reading. Reading is the doorway for success. And if they can't read, they will not be successful later on. And so we sat with that and we first thing I did is we showed our teachers, this is what we're dealing with. What do you all think about this? What are your thoughts? What can we do? And so right way. We put a

091plan into place because we know Lexiles, we know they need to be reading. So, I start pushing reading, pushing reading. We have AR. I need these children reading every day. And the teachers, Miss Montavo, where do we get time at for them to read? Call me. I'll come read with them in their classroom. Send them to us. I'll go do this. I'll go do that. We're on the floor. We're reading with kids. I built a whole reading center so kids will be motivated to want to read. And so, because I feel like this is not something we can sit on. Dr. after the walk came back and we did all the screeners. I have an interventionist uh and a reading coach. My math coach jumped in. And so when she came back, she touched each

092and every booklet for every student. And we were working hand by hand, side by side, and she's teaching us, okay, here are the students here. I want you to look at this uh reading passage. What do you think is wrong here? So she's training us all to be able to diagnose the specific deficit a student has and then group them according to what they need. And in a group you're going to have three to four students. And now that's what we need because in groups we have 10 and that's too many because there's too many different deficits there. So in the group you're going to have three or four students that you're working with. It was eye opening for me. It was eye opening for our assistant principal, for my coaches, my interventionists. And I'm

093going to share a few numbers with you and then I'm gonna let my assistant principal share some things. Um because once I learned about Lexiles and what they and how we can use these Lexiles to target uh the interventions that our students need, then I knew we were on to something and we started reading and we started assigning reading based on what they need. At the beginning of the year, our data stated that our second grade, I had 73 second graders out of about 85 that are reading at that strategic level of intervention, needing that level of intervention. Over 70 I had 70 second graders, 71 third graders, 50 fourth graders, and 76 fifth graders. That's a total of 270 students. That's over 50% of my population because we're over 500 mid year. The first

094thing soon as they took their MAP assessments last week, uh the week before we left out for um Christmas, we took the math assessment and reading. Well, my second grade that was at 73, we've decreased that by 23. We're have we have 50 students that still need that high intervention. 40 students from 71 in third grade, 28 from it was 50 in fourth grade and 28 from 76 in fifth grade. So we went from needing 270 of our students in that high the severe intensive need for intervention to 146. And that's just from the things that we've implemented in that short time. And I'm not going to stop until we get zero kids in that level needing that level of intervention because I feel like every student can learn and every student deserves the opportunity

095to learn and to read because that is like I said the doorway to opportunity. All of our kids deserve the opportunity. And I feel like um I started off saying that I do not live here but I know God sent me here and I won't leave Dan City until tells me that my work here is done. So, because I'm here, I'm here to serve our students. I'm here to serve our community. Um, and I'm here to serve our teachers. And our teachers need help. If our teachers were here, they'd cry out to you. We don't know what else to do. And we can't do it all with the resources that we have now. So, I do appreciate you all and the work that you do because uh you all come here and you have to

096listen to the you get complaints from parents just like we do and you all have to make decisions that are best for our students. Um, but and you'll I'm a person that you'll rarely find in my office. I'm always on the floor. I'm always in the classrooms. We're working with students. And um I invite you all to come in to our school. If you just want to see what goes on at Kelly Springs, we try to provide the best environment for kids to be loved on while they're learning. So, I invite you all to come in and see the work that we do and get your hands dirty uh with us because I mean it's all about our children. And I'm going to have Miss Taylor here share and that is a hard act to

097follow, Miss Montabo. So, good evening, Superintendent Ascuard Chair Turner, board members. I am the assistant principal at Kelly Springs and I also tutor after school. I would like to share a unique experience that I recently had. Um so one day after school I was tutoring um a e student um second grader who was struggling with reading letters and sounds second grade reading letters and sounds. So as good educators do you go home and you try to research and look up ways to help um your students to succeed. So, one day I was on the phone with my sister and I called her who she lives in Georgia. Um, but she recently taught here in Doan City Schools for 10 years. So, I reached out to her. I said, "Hey, Mon'nique, I need you to help

098me. I have a second grader that's still struggling with letters and sounds." So, at that time, I didn't know the program that she used, but she shared this short mini lesson with me and said, "Hey, take this lesson, take it back to your school and do it with with your with your student." So, hearing about Dr. DeWalt's program. I said, "Oh, this sounds a little familiar." So, I called her. I said, "Oh, I text her. I said, "Hey, Mon'nique. Um, do you know Dr. DeWalt?" And she said, "How do you know her?" And before I could respond, she called me on the phone. She said, "The the lesson that I shared with you is also the lesson that Dr. DeWalt does in her school." So, she said, she said that I was blown away. I

099said, "How this connection happened right then and there? Why?" I felt like it was a God thing at that moment. I believe that God set that conversation up so I could see the impact that that program had to make that it had on on students and I could share it with others who had the power to bring change to to our school. My sister has seen strong results using this program. While teaching in Georgia, her school has improved from a D to a B and she has watched students who began the year unable to read grow into confident readers. She als she also shared experiences from other teachers friends who report similar success especially with students who struggle the most some of our English learners at the upper level. She said teacher teachers report improvements

100in reading conf confidence, understanding and overall growth when using this approach. Students are exposed to books to meaningful books and make steady progress over time. They also said that the program is not perfect but the consistent feedback had a positive has had a positive impact and it points to real gains in student learning. I share this not just as as an educator but as someone who believes deeply in the potential of every child. This program is more than an intervention. It's an opportunity for our students to thrive and to gain the confidence they deserve. I truly believe that the with the right support, our teachers and students can achieve incredible results. I also believe that God set that conversation up with my sister. He set it up so I could come back and share it

101with you guys because our school system is in need of support. So, I hope that you guys take time to consider this program because we've seen she's seen positive results and we can see the same changes here in Delton City Schools. [applause] >> Would anyone like the floor to ask questions of Miss Montela? Okay, Miss Jenkins. I want to say Miss Taylor because that's what I've known for forever, but that's not that's not correct. Um, what district do you mind telling us what district your sister's in? >> I'm not quite sure. >> She works at >> Okay. >> Thank you for that. Also, I had children at Kelly Springs for 10 years. I was the PTO president when Miss Montavalo came on and I've seen she was a hard woman to find anytime I was

102on that campus because she was in the classrooms and I do greatly appreciate that and and the changes that I saw in that. Um we have wonderful principles. We have wonderful educators. I know that y'all need help. Um but I appreciate the work that you are doing. I know that none of this it feels like it's on you. Miss Clark talked about that you feel like a failure and it's not on you guys that you we have some incredible educators. I've seen them. The the Kelly Springs teachers became family members for us. So again, not Miss Taylor, but that's not it is Miss Taylor, not Miss Mitchell. That's what I always write down. I write down Mitchell. And then I'm like, "No, no, no. It's Taylor." I even said to my daughter, I was like,

103"Look, there's Miss Mitchell." And she's like, "Mom, that's Miss Taylor now." And I was like, "I know. I know that." But anyway, I appreciate y'all. Thank you for that. >> Would you would anyone else light the floor? All right. Thank you very much, ladies. Now, I'd like to call on Mr. McCay. Hello everyone. My name is Darius McKay. I'm principal at Morris Slingliff Elementary School. Uh thank you for the opportunity to speak a little bit about uh my experience with Swan Math and our work with Dr. DeWalt. Uh both consultants vi visited our schools, had an opportunity to talk with them, meet with them, they visited our classrooms. Um [clears throat] Dr. DeWalt spent a considerably amount of time more on our campus than uh Dr. Ward did, [clears throat] but I enjoyed listening to

104her report here a few weeks ago uh concerning what she found. Uh it's consistent with the conversations that I've had with with our teachers. And so when I have a conversation with our teachers and I say, "Hey, what subject matter do you feel most comfortable teaching?" And it's a overwhelming similar answer. they feel more comfortable teaching reading versus or in English versus teaching math. And I think what it is is that you heard this word all night, capacity. And capacity means that they, you know, someone doesn't feel adequate or prepared to teach that particular subject. And so what I keep hearing and it aligns with what Swan Math is saying that our teachers need training. They need capacity built in the area of math. They want to, but they just don't have the foundation needed

105in order to move students forward in the right direction. And so that's what I I I've heard. And Dr. Ward as you know is an expert. San Diego State has done all different types of things uh in corporate America along with on the academic uh level. Another point that I would like to make is that everyone here most of you have probably heard of ARI. Am I correct? All right. So ARRI has been around for a very long time. And so their job is to help support and train teachers in the area of reading. We've got we've gotten that training here in Dothan and around the state for many many years. And so therefore that could have contributed to our teachers being more comfortable teaching reading versus teaching math. And so now we have a

106new uh organization that's surfaced in our state department called the Office of Math Improvement, but they've only been around for a year or two, a couple of years. So our teachers, they don't have the foundation. They need professional development in the area of math. And so it was a breath of fresh air to hear Dr. Ward have that conversation to say, "Hey, your teachers need training. they need capacity built in order to move your kids. And so that was my uh observation and assessment of my visit with Miss or Dr. Ward. So Dr. DeWalt um and I made a very special connection. Uh, one of the things that I could say about her and I and you hear this word and this phrase around in the community and around the world, boots on the ground.

107And what I mean by that is that she's not just giving you what should happen. She's going to be right there beside you working along the way. Now, let me mention this. And because I've connected with her on an emotional level, let me tell you how. Miss Sherry Corbett called over the Christmas break and she said, "Uh, Mr. McCay, uh, uh, Dr. DeWalt wants to meet you on December the 29th, which is Christmas break. She wants to travel to Dothan so she can get sling lift ready to go by the beginning of the year." Am I correct when I said? And so I thought to myself, I said, "Who does this? Who does this?" number one. And so that that let me know number one that that she was concerned that she cared that that

108that that's who we need. That's who we need to help move our students forward. And not only is she concerned, she's passionate about the work, but she's skilled. She's skilled. And so it's my recommendation that not only do we go move forward with the work and the suggestion of our superintendent Dr. Ascu to contract with Swan Math, but also to contract with Dr. DeWalt. That's my presentation. Would anyone like the floor to ask Mr. McCay any questions? All right. I call on Miss Valer. Listen [laughter] to all that cheering going on. Miss Blair, to the board chair, Dr. Ascu, superintendent and board members, Mrs. McElddery, my reading specialist, and I thank you for the opportunity to represent Selma Street Elementary School. As not to prolong the time, we too strongly agree with all that has

109been said in favor of the consultant's work and feel that their partnership within Dothan City Schools is vital towards helping to close the reading and math gaps, producing successful readers and mathematicians within our district. In the area of reading, the deep dialogue regarding curriculum and resource alignment among elementary schools, increased reading intervention time to support the work of tiered instruction, and assessing all of our students within our schools and the district for the targeted work ahead coupled with the intention of progress monitoring every 15 days has already begun. We ask that the work be allowed to continue to truly realize what we know will be benefits for all of our students under the guidance of the consultants. Back in September, Dr. Dewalt and Dr. Ward were retained by the superintendent to execute an academic audit

110of our system. And boy did they do just that. The findings from the consultants report, we know this from the 100 day report, truly lifted the veil for our district and plainly outline gross deficiency data in reading particularly and math across our system. It did not feel good, but it was ours to own. I acknowledged it and I owned it. However, I know that we as a school and a system have the capacity to do better towards equipping our students, but it will only happen through expert support. In my opinion, the wound is too deep for what our present skill set is able to remedy in a quick fashion. We need fresh eyes offering the truth and researchbased targeted practices with coaching. Being a very reflective person of my work and assignment, I have thought

111often about the conversations that I have had with each of the doctors and my reflection has always circled back to this expert practitioners. The definition of the word experts. Experts clarify the work. They strengthen the practice and elevate outcomes helping individuals and te teams move from good intentions and in my opinion this is where I think we are to measurable success where we can be. Will this happen overnight? Of course not. Time will be a very important factor in our equation. But it is better than our present academic circumstance as a system and offers inspiration and a positive outlook for what we can achieve which is success. So I welcome the needed shift that the consultants work will bring. I truly believe that the turnaround needed in Dothan city schools calls for expertise and the

112experts. The partnerships the partnership through support is dire. Aligning our continued work with the consultants in Dothan City Schools will open the door to accessing the highest level of expert coaching. Coaching that transfers into better strategic and measurable classroom practices. empowering our students to become true scholars who can not only read but they can compute, they can think and succeed. Thank you. Would anyone like the floor to ask questions of Miss Blair? Okay, then I call on Miss Fleming. >> Good evening, Dr. Turner, board chairman, board members, and Dr. Ascu, Dothan City School Superintendent. On behalf of Herd Elementary School, my assistant principal is here as well, Mrs. Faulk, and our amazing as well, our reading coach, Miss Thomas. Thank you so much for giving us this opportunity tonight. Many have gone before me to

113share the experience with the literacy work that Dr. DeWalt has brought and the numeracy work that the Swan Group has brought to Dothan City Schools as well. I will not keep you long, I promise. As I explain the impact of this experience and what this hard work looks like at herd and will look like for Dothan City Schools. We are so thankful for this work as it has helped us support our scholars in becoming proficient because that's what we want. the Lexile levels referring to the literacy work that Dr. DeWalt has discussed and additional testing and training for myself as well as our reading coach Miss Thomas has allowed us the understanding where instruction should begin and how this will impact and change proficiency through this work. Our schedule currently reflects an intervention block and

114I'm referring to reading for 60 minutes. Again, we've heard from several principles that this was difficult work that will be dedicated for our scholars to get what they need. The 60 minutes will consist of the following. CKLA, a reteing of CKLA, a teacher table where they'll be providing direct instruction to our scholars. also technology where they'll be following a plan on for their needs as well and silent sustained reading which provides decodable text for our teachers to read with our students. Again, a lot of work and planning and preparation has gone through into this hard work and we look forward to producing proficient scholars at Herd as well as Dothan City Schools. Everyone in the room is in the work. Again, I'll say everyone in the room is in the work. Is a part of

115our norms at Herd Elementary School. It takes all of us. Again, it takes all of us doing this hard work to make us successful. We thank you for your role you'll play in what we need to do to make Dothan City number one. Thank you again, Dr. Ascu, for your work on the 100 day plan. We really appreciate this dedication to making us prepare our scholars for this hard world ahead of them and again thank you for including us in this journey towards proficiency in Dothan city schools. Thank you. >> Thank you Miss Fleming. Does anybody have a question for Miss Fleming? Anyone? Thank you Miss >> Thank you. All right. Now, call Miss Adams. Good evening, Dr. Ascu, Dr. Turner, board chair, and board members. You did say Miss Adams, but I'm Kiana Coachman.

116I'm the instructional coach, and I'll go first. I'm very visual. So I have a a I brought some visuals to go along, but I'll get through this in four points if you will. If you will. So we're here trying to answer the how. We're confronting our literacy reality. And I'm going to do this in four points. Point number one, it's not an ELA problem. It's a system problem. by that as you all heard from all the schools our ha over half of our sixth grade students are below grade level Lexiles. This impacts every content area science, social studies, math, word problems, assessments and graduation readiness. Our teachers are working tirelessly modifying instruction and meeting students where they are. But effort alone cannot replace specialized literacy expertise. The data from our schoolwide screenings made one thing

117clear. This is not a motivation issue, a curriculum issue or a teacher issue. It is a skill deficit issue that requires precise diagnosis and targeted or targeted intervention. Dr. DeWalt brings the depth of knowledge we currently do not have internally to help us identify why students are struggling and how to systematically address it. So that's point one. Point two, we are staffed but not supported. What do I mean by that? We have dedicated teachers in front of students every day. What many of them lack is deep training in di in diagnosing reading deficits and delivering targeted literacy intervention just like we heard from the other schools. However, passion that we all have it cannot it cannot replace expertise. My last point on this one my role we don't have a reading coach. We don't have

118an we don't have a math coach and we don't have an interventionist. We have one instructional coach. And so to get the maximum reach, it will help tremendously for us to give teachers exactly what they need buildingwide. We're getting to point three. And as you see, it's no words here. This is just a visual, a visual of how we felt when hope showed up this day. And when I say hope, I mean the sweep team in Dothan City Schools. So this picture at the table, you see every coach, every interventionist, every reading specialist in our district showed up and it felt good. And we have 20 home rooms and every coach took one home room and they took the students out that were flagged one by one. and we did this dibbles test and I

119know you've been hearing like dibbles dibbles dibbles can so can you go to the next slide so this is the paragraph our students had to read and so when we hear the word decoding when they're trying to read and they're trying to say Helen Keller and they have one minute but they keep they're stuck on keller and by the time they do this over several words the minute is up and so that's how we get to that fluency issue and the decoding issue and the words correct per minute. And so when you heard those numbers low as from the last board meeting, this is that paragraph. So from this initial assessment, this is the what the data revealed. 247 of our students were assessed from that assessment. We learned that 190 students had a decoding

120issue and 57 students had a fluency issue. So what what do you mean by fluency, Miss Coachman? Fluency is when they read really fast, but when they go to answer comprehension questions, no one has really taught them how to slow down to be able to correctly answer those questions and think about those questions. So moving from the 190 students that have a decoding issue, part two of that is well what is the issue? So this is where the IDI came in and the IDI simply means informal decoding inventory and I want you to see how important look at the words. Now the board you all have those tangible items. I put a study sync book up there and inside the book you have that paragraph and that idea sheet is behind it. So if you

121would take a look at that and so the first we have five categories short vowels and these are like sat, pot, rip, cat, you know those kind of words. And then we go to consonant blends and diraphs and R control vowel patterns and vowel consonant E and vowel teams and it just made it just came together. If we can't we we have this is the foundation. This is once they once they can decode because of course with science of reading when you take all the decoding you taking up storage in your brain time trying to decode words it takes away from the comprehension. So you don't remember what you read because you were putting all in your energy and trying to pronounce words. So until we get this foundation together our students will be able

122to read. I just wanted you to see the visual the visual the vision here. And so my uh before we even get to why Dr. DeWalt and why now I wanted to say one thing about our curriculum. If anybody could just hold up that book, this is our curriculum resource. It looks like an encyclopedia. So just imagine and this is our non-negotiable. This is our mandated district and state uh curriculum that we use in the classroom. So, so just imagine if you saw what we were stuck on, imagine trying to get through through our stories and our lessons and and our and as sixth graders, you know, they're older now. They have pride. They don't want to feel, you know, like they they know they can't because they they're old enough. They're old enough. Excuse

123me. So they act out to escape. So my last point, point number four, why Dr. Dewalt? Why now? Dr. DeWalt does not offer a program. She offers diagnostic clarity, teacher capacity in the building, meaning she's going to equip us. She's going to teach us what to do. And systems alignment, meaning all of us at all the schools, we're going to do the same thing. So if you're if you trans transfer from this elementary school to this elementary school, it's the same. When you come to D6, it's the same. [clears throat] She brings the depth of knowledge we currently do not have internally to help us identify why students are struggling and how to systematically address it. We need expertise that move us from identifying to closing. Every semester we delay this intervention compounds deficits that

124are exponentially harder and more expensive to close. And I'll close out with this last picture before the Christmas break after the part two was done with all the IDI. All these paper all these represents the four dens the four content dens in our building. If you look at every stack on the table, these are students. We're waiting. We're waiting for next steps. Would you please partner with us so we can proceed and go to the next step? Thank you, Mr. Does anyone have any questions for Mr. >> Is Miss Adams going to speak? Okay. >> Thank you, Miss Adams. >> Thank you. Good evening to the already established protocol. I am Celeste Adams, the principal of Dothan Sixth Grade Center. Thank you for the opportunity to speak this evening. I will briefly provide context, outline

125the instructional need identified at the Dothan sixth grade center, and explain why targeted support is necessary to address student outcomes in reading. Because of Dr. Ascu's 100day plan, we now understand what our students at D6 actually need. When Superintendent Ascu asked Dr. DeWalt to conduct an audit at D6. She helped us see beneath the surface of the data. What we discovered is that over half of our students lacked foundational reading skills, specifically decoding and fluency. These are not enrichment gaps. These are access gaps. If students cannot decode multi-elabic words, recognize CBC patterns automatically, or read with fluency, then comprehension, math, problem solving, science, and social studies all suffer. In the fall, my staff and I were informed that we are again a CSI school, a compreh meaning a comprehensive school in need of support, but

126this time we were not just a CSI school. We were informed this fall that an R had been added, meaning that we are required that we have to have this comprehensive support and improvement because we failed to exit the three-year cycle this past fall based on accountability results from previous school year. For instance, upon analyzing the data from our MAP winter benchmarks, we tested 421 students in reading. 333 of them are nonproficient. We also tested 417 students in math and 388 of them are nonproficient. What Dr. DeWalt did for us was she did not just bring a diagnosis, but she brought direction. She has the expertise to help us align instruction and intervention to the science of reading. She is able to help us or to train our teachers in explicit decoding, multi-elabic word work,

127fluency, and comprehension strategies. She's able to help us support the implementation and monitoring of interventions so they are consistent, effective, and measurable. She's also able to help us build district capacity, not dependency, so this work lasts beyond one year. We already know what the problem is. What we need now is support in how to fix it with fidelity and urgency. This is about equity. It is about ensuring that students at D6 and across the district are not promoted without literacy skills required to succeed in middle school, in high school, and in life. Bringing Dr. to wat on as a consultant is an investment in student outcomes, teacher effectiveness, and long-term district improvement. Simply put, our students cannot wait, and our teachers should not have to do this work alone. This recommendation is grounded in student

128need, instructional impact, and long-term capacity building for our district. Thank you for your time and your consideration. Thank you. [applause] Would anyone like the floor to ask Miss Adams any questions? Okay. All right. Um, that concludes the section on the re literacy and math consulting except for >> Oh, I'm very I'm so sorry I didn't see you. Um, good evening. My name is Dr. Cosper and this is my 35th year in education. I joined Dothan count Dothan City about three months ago. I'm serving as a leadership coach for Feain Elementary School and my full-time job I am a college professor. I'm the director of education for elementary, middle, and high school. And I also am in charge of all elementary and school instruction. Out of my 35 years of instruction, I have 28 years of

129elementary expertise. I've served as a principal at the elementary level at multiple schools as well as a high school principal. With that being said, the the proudest moments for me are the 13 years that I spent teaching elementary school. I have taught every grade in elementary school, including kindergarten through fifth grade, multiple years. As we have looked, if we continue to use the processes that we have and we don't move forward, we're going to continue to have the same results. And it's so important. I was asked to come to Fain and take a look at the data and work with Miss Gar and her teachers. I love Fain. I love the teachers there. Those teachers work so hard. Guys, we cannot ask teachers to work any harder. We've got to do the right work, though.

130And we've always heard work harder, not smarter. I'd like to show you just a small demonstration to talk about the gaps it'll bring into the AAP results as well as grade level as well as dibbles, information, and lexiles. This was demonstrated for me. I was trying to think maybe 15 years, maybe 20 years ago. It was the most compelling thing that I saw and I was a principal. I have served for 17 years as a school administrator or district office administrator. Can I please have Gerard and DPA and Sling help me? Okay. All you have to do is All you have to do is pretend to be students. You have to pretend to be students. And if you you have to go up on the stage. I need you to go up on the stage.

131>> I'm tier one. >> Okay. I need you want to be tier one. Hey, I chose three names that I listened to and I got your names and you and I needed three gray levels. Okay, if you will turn if you will turn please and if you will turn and face that direction please. If you will all line up in a single line like a line this way like not We're going to pretend you're third graders. So we have one above, one on, and one below. You're representing your whole tier one, tier two, and tier three in your building. That's what this is. So at the beginning of the school year, this is sort of how your school looks. It should look, okay? You're expecting tier one, tier two, and tier three. However, we're fixing

132to move forward and back, but you have to listen so you'll know what to do. Okay? And I'll call you by your school. That's Gerard Sling and DPA. Right. All right. Here we go. So, in a few years time, I would like to show you Gerard, you have finished the year. You have moved three steps forward. No one else moved. On grade level, you have moved two steps forward. Tier one, you didn't have a coach. You didn't have a process. You did not have decodable text. And by the way, at Dothan City, I have not seen decodable text yet. Maybe it's here. We do not have it at Fain. So that's this is one year. We're going to stop here. They're going to start fourth grade right here. You're gifted, so you're going to move

133ahead. So I'd like you to progress three more steps. And so you were actually on grade level, but maybe you moved. you went to a different school and then you may have had a teacher that's on maternity leave. So instead of getting to move all the way forward, you move one step forward. And my tier one student, you possibly had an emergency certified teacher. I do not say that to criticize that. I want to talk about the depth, capacity, and understanding and learning. Now you have to take two steps back. Yeah. [screaming] ALL RIGHT. YEAH. All right. Now, this is the beginning of fifth grade. We have gone from third grade, fourth grade, and fifth grade. And that's where we take our A cap the state test. Now, here we go. Are you ready? Now,

134you on grade level, you've had a fabulous teacher and she's given it all she's got. And you've got intervention. and you got this processes going. I like you to take your three steps forward. This is how you close a gap. Now, Gerard, you're still doing exceptional. I'd like you to take four steps forward because guess what? You had a teacher that had the processes, the supplies, the materials, and the knowhow. And we're going to combine instruction and assessment together to make our data data meaningful. So, please step four steps forward. Okay, you're good. Now, we're back here on tier one. This is the beginning of fifth grade. So, tier one, you have had a reading coach and a reading interventionist. Now, you've had decodable text and you've had processes and we've done the dibbles on

135you. You've been progress monitored and you have move been moved every 15 days. And every time you step out in the hall, you have a colored index card that asks you, "What's your Lexile level?" So when somebody sees you, they go, "Hey, Mr. Williams, what's your Lexile level?" You tell them because we make Lexile goals. And then guess what? Everybody walks in the hall has a Lexile. Lexile is just like grade level. Lexile is just like an AR level. It just tells you the level of fluency. Now, you've had great success this year, so I'd like you to take five steps forward. >> Okay. Now, this looks much better. We're closing it with those. Now, let's go ahead. We're fixing to go and I want to piggyback on just everyone has spoken. It's been wonderful.

136But Mr. Williams said something that's very important. He talked about his teachers when he talks about decoding. And I'd like to say a few words. And does anyone in the room know what a macron is? A brie. Okay. She's a reading coach. Those are normal things that we say in kindergarten and first grade. And so I'd like you to know from a college perspective what teachers are actually given or what we're actually expected to do in college. Elementary teachers in college, you have three classes on teaching reading. You have teaching reading, you have a diagnostic class, and you have an environmental class. If you are a middle school or high school teacher, you have zero teaching reading classes. The only people that are required to take the teaching reading classes is early taught elementary and

137elementary education. And so when your teachers are looking, they when they're saying we need to decode, they're content specialists and they have not been given the opportunity. But when we finished college, every educator in this room can tell you we thought we were ready. We were ready and we had all that And we were ready until we got to that first year of teaching and we realized we were just beginning to learn. Where the real work begins is when our boots hit the ground as educators. This can happen. This can close and close. You still may what's the beautiful thing about this is if you look at the advanced student, this student is not hindered or held back. We have kids like that in Dothan City that are just like that. Exceeds. We have grade

138level. We have below grade level. The greatest part of my teaching philosophy is all kids can and will learn when they're given the proper guidance, teaching environment, love, support, and motivation. We must move forward with expert help. And I do not say these next few words to point to anyone, but just to the heart of the matter. at Feain Elementary School in the year school year of 2425. Feain out of 667 elementary schools in the state of Alabama, Fain was dead last. We were number 667 reading. Fain was number 664. The entire school, guys, it had been an F-rated school. Miss Garson, her teachers working very hard. They made 11 points gain this past year. We've moved from a F to a D. I want to be there to see that D to go to

139a B just like they've shared with us at elementary schools that Dr. DeWalt has partnered with. You can come down. I want you to I have reviewed the data and I most I spent most of my time just on fame. But when I've reviewed the data, the data is is sitting stagnant and you're looking at five, six, and seven years of little a little progression to little to no progression. Thank you so much. Do you have any questions for me? >> Does anyone want the floor? >> Okay. Thank you. [applause] >> Would anyone like the floor to ask questions on this portion of the plan? >> Would anyone like the floor to have ask questions on this portion of the plan. >> I have a question. Okay, just one minute before we go to the

140to uh let me see the next se sess. >> Okay, before we go to the next session, I have a question for Dr. uh Ascu. >> Yes, ma'am. And of course, this is uh about the turnaround school. And I and I for one was that was one of the reasons why I did cast my vote for you because of uh your experience with uh struggling schools. And I'd like to know if you can and I would like for you to to explain what turnaround schools in what your experience with turnaround schools in the past years. >> Sure. Um so three times in my career I've been involved in school turnaround. This is my 24th year. Um when I was a high school principal u my high school was Lithia Springs High School u which is

141a part of the Douglas County School System. I heard someone mention Lithia Springs um earlier in the presentation. Um when I took over as principal at Lithia Springs, it was one of the lowest performing um title one schools in the state. It was in the lowest 5%. Um we had a grant um at that time the government was doing race to the top and through that grant we were able to do turnaround in the school. Uh we got that school off of the state needs improvement list. Um but more importantly the work that we were able to do for kids in terms of sending kids to college um in a place where at best community college was the outcome for most of our seniors um we started sending kids to four-year universities um some of

142the most prestigious schools in the United States um from Emory to Duke um Clemson you know and this is in engineering and as well as biio medicine were the two areas um Auburn as well and various other schools and Princeton I don't want to forget about them um on full scholarship. And so that was the proudest moment I would say about that, sending those kids off to college in the big scholarships that they won and then us getting off the list um and improving by two letter grades. Um so and I was, not to toot my own horn, um a finalist for Georgia High School principal of the year because of the work that we did there. Um progressing from that, um working in the Palton County School System, which is also in the Atlanta

143area. Um it's a system of about 32,000 students um which is where I first encountered Dr. DeWalt um we had a systemwide um literacy initiative um all the way from K through 12 um much like Dothan city at the beginning of that initiative um our Lexile scores our student achievement it wasn't near where it needed to be um working with her throughout those four years in Paling uh we were able to do a total turnaround not just in the elementary schools but also in the secondary schools Milan High School that's a component of the work that she does um but for us here in Dothan and I know the principles know this um we got to start with our core business and it starts in elementary school and so that's where we've got to begin

144our work and so that's where I first encountered her and we had tremendous turnaround in Paulin um and then the third time in my career turnaround uh in the Clark County school district under Dr. Robbie Hooker. Um, two things that we did there to affect turnaround and increase student achievement. One is we did a total revamp of our instructional framework as well as our staffing model. And so that was the third time in my career. >> Thank you. Uh, how does how does this relate to urban schools? We are becoming more more and more urban here in here in Dopan. >> Sure. So that just really speaks to the complexity of our school system. Um we've got about 8,000 students and they come with many needs. Um poverty is one of the overarching factors that

145impacts our kids and because of the complexity of the system. Um we do need specialized services in many areas, not just the reading and math. You know, we could talk about special education, you know, we could talk about mental health. It goes across the spectrum because of the needs that our kids come to the schools with. And that's what makes our urban system more complex. And that's just really what it speaks to is the complexity and the diversity of the system versus a system that may be um more homogeneous in terms of kids needs and the backgrounds that they come from. >> All right. Thank you very much. >> What do you want? >> Oh, I'm sorry. I have a question as well. So, Dr. Ask you in the turnaround at Lithia Springs High School,

146how much was spent on those academic turnaround efforts and how many students were there? >> Sure. um to kind of cut to the heart of the matter. So I had 1500 kids at Lithia. Um we had $6 million over three years. >> And that was a race to talk grant. >> It was. >> And so I have a follow-up question if that's okay. Sure. So if the literacy and math proposals are not approved, what are our next options? What would next steps be? So, and one of the speakers alluded to it earlier, you know, the two state programs are ARRI and OMI. Um, and we have been in contact with both, and I will say both, and they met with both consultants are in support of the work that we want to do. Um, the

147one thing I would say as it relates to the state, um, the level of support that they're able to provide, um, it's just frankly not enough and I think the principles would agree with that. Um, and a part of that's reflected in our data. um the consultants will help us to continue to elevate and accelerate um the work that we're doing with our students, but if we don't get this help, then it'll just be ARRI and OMI. Um and we understand what the results have been so far. And that's not a shot at the state. That's just saying it's not enough in and of itself over time because this is a problem that's persisted over multiple administrations. I'm not the first superintendent here. over multiple years. >> Anyone else would like to m >> Yes,

148ma'am. >> Absolutely. Um we've got title two funds. Um right now we're sitting at about $600,000 um in carryover that we're able to use and those monies um are specifically granted to school systems throughout the United States mainly for professional development. So we certainly got the money to support it. >> Sorry. Okay. I thought I had my mic on. I was asking do Dr. ask you that we have the data and I wanted to know if we had the finance for the And you heard his answer, right? >> And madam chair, I have one final question for him. Um, so we have been hearing and we kind of heard some of it today. Teachers are tired of just different initiatives, you know, before one can fully be implemented, they're moving on to something else. So,

149how will this academic turnaround plan be implemented where it's kind of based on existing work and it just doesn't feel like one more thing added on to teachers plate? Yeah. So, for the consultants, um, they are skilled and experienced. So, this isn't their first time leading district-wide turnaround. Um, it's about the customization at the building level and making sure that they're paying attention in terms of pacing, you know. So, that's really what drives it. >> M I'm sorry, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, may I >> I'm sorry. Yes, sir. >> Yeah. Um, I'm I'm excited for one thing. I had some questions, but Mr. Williams almost answered all of them in in his presentation, but Dr. Escie, are there any things you would caution us about in going forward, you know, to make these changes in

150our district? >> Well, it's like I said previously, it's just the pacing. Um, but again, for the consultants, it's not their first rodeo. Um, so they know how to do this work and doing work at scale is very different than doing work in individual classrooms. Um, so they're experiencing that. It's really about the pacing and customization uh to the needs of the schools and monitoring the data. >> I I would like to say to our administrative staff, um, I hate acronyms. Um, but this evening, you all have enlightened me. I I I wrote about 10 of them down as I went through the material. Uh, I'm I'm very serious. I wrote 10 of them down before tonight. and you you define each one of them except for the COS uh the IDI and I heard

151about Dibbles years ago and I can't remember what it was but you know of this list I have you answered all of my definition you know for these acronyms and I like words but these these alphabets don't do much for me but I but I must confess that after your presentation tonight I am more literate than I've ever been you you know, understanding what we've done and what you do now for our children in Dulton City School. And I just want to thank everybody that presented tonight. Uh when people stand before me and we I'm I am a cry I am a crybaby. And it took all my manhood to keep me from shedding tears with our professionals. And and to see the demonstration about closing gaps kind of confused me. I know we get

152better, but the gaps didn't seem to close. I might want to talk to that professional from the State Department to help me out on that. But there has to be a way that all our children can experience the same success. I know it won't be just like, but they got to be better. And this world has changed and it will fail with change. And therefore, we we must change. And I I I promise you, I heard you. I heard every word and I thank you for what you do. Thank you, ma'am. >> All right. Would anyone else like the floor? >> All right. Then I'd like to call on um the school board um attorney to speak to the um literacy and math consultant contracts. [snorts] >> Good. We've been going back and forth on

153some contractual language to make sure we stay within our budget and there's no ambiguity in the terms of the contract. I got it from one of the companies today. I got an appendix back, appendix C that was changed because it could be left open to interpretation and we do not want that. We need to know what our ceiling is, what we're paying for, and what we are getting for the amount of money. So, we're going back and forth on that. Okay. Would anyone like to ask a question? Okay. M. >> So, I guess the question is when do you estimate this will be finalized? Because are we needing those? We'll need those contracts before the vote on the 20th. Correct. >> Right. >> So, when are you anticipating this will be finalized the negotiations? I

154guess when both sides reach an agreement of what ambiguity of certain language is and how it plays out. >> Um, Mr. Jenkins, >> just to clarify some of the ambiguity on that for myself, there's not schools listed in the contract. It says we're paying on one of them that we will be paying for them to do the work in five schools, but that's not listed in there. there's a long-term data hiring for them, but then it also only says through October of this year. And so those are some of the questions that need to be addressed to me in the contract is who are you actually working with? Because one of them says 10 schools, one of them says five, but we don't actually have the list of those schools in the actual contract. Um,

155and then an actual end date on it. Obviously, we've not also received the full financial on some of that. So, just over the last couple weeks, some of those I know have changed just going through the contract negotiations. But for me, my biggest concern right now is that we do not know who they're working with. Um, that's not a complete contract to me if we don't know what schools they're actually going to work with. So, >> I I would agree on that issue. We're trying to hammer some of that out as well. >> We need more of a specific plan with taxpayers dollars of what we're spending within our budget and where it's going to. >> Okay. Miss >> Madam Chair. >> Yes. >> Um is that something Dr. Asky you can speak to the

156schools that they would be working with? Um and Ari, were you referring to is it reading or the math contract? >> Neither of them actually have the schools listed in the actual contract. We've gotten um the five targeting schools and then one additional school um for the math and then we've gotten the 10, but it's not actually in the contract. And even with the reading the schools we've gotten, there's a list that has eight, another list that has nine, another list that has 10. And so just the clarification and it actually being in the contract is my concern. >> Anyone else would you like to do to that? >> That would be an easy fix um to add those names to the contract. >> All right. Then we have the discussion on governance initiative. Dr.

157rescue. >> So, board members, I think you do have in your packets um a list of 12 themes that I'd like for us um to commit to continue to explore as a team so that we're able to function better as a governance team um as we serve the school district. And I'll just go through the themes real quick. um they'll be up for a vote obviously and we'd have to agree on a trainer um to do this work for us whether we pick someone say from the education sector or maybe an education related attorney. Uh but the themes are role clarity and governance discipline uh board norms and unity of voice, agenda development and meeting management, legal compliance and ethics, public communications and social media governance, civility and conflict resolution, student outcomes and strategic monitoring,

158data literacy for governance, excuse me, teacher and principal support alignment, talent strategy and workforce stability, partnerships, procurement and fiscal stewardship and Superintendent Oversight. >> Thank you, sir. Does anyone have any questions? >> How many did How many did you name to ask you about? I >> believe there were 12. Let me check my math. >> Okay. >> One, two, three, four, five, six, >> 12, >> eight, nine, 10, 11, 12. >> To be voted on. >> Okay. >> Anyone else? >> Next week. >> Yes, ma'am. Excuse me. >> Anyone else? Miss Jenkins. >> So, are we voting on doing one of them? We would vote to decide which one we were going to do or to do all of them. I know we need to vote on who would be teaching us those things. I

159feel like this is kind of multi-layers of what we're voting on. So, can I get some clarity on that? >> Sure. So, I think the board would select at its pleasure which ones you want to do training on, whether it's the whole list or whether it's individual items. And then after we commit to doing the training, which is what you would vote on and which items, we'll come back and figure out who's going to be the trainer. >> Also know the state requires that we have certain trainings as a board every year. Will these count towards that? Will the hours from this count towards that? >> So the good thing is with our retreat, you guys have already completed your mandatory six hours. Um, so this would be in addition to, but I can check

160and see certainly if we could get credit hours for them. >> All right. What do you want? Slide the floor. >> Okay. Um, moving on. Um, we have um discussion of um the reorganization of key schoolbased positions at central office divisions. Dr. So, there are a few positions um that in my plan I'd like to add in the school system to continue to help us build capacity and better serve our schools. Um board members should have obviously the reorganization explication of positions. And that's a quick summary. But then also in your packets, which will come up for the vote next week, are the job descriptions for each of the positions. I'll just go through them one by one and you can certainly ask questions. Excuse me. The first one is executive director of schools and

161student support. Um in summary, this position will be new in DCS. It would combine the current student services division along with all schools except those in our innovation zone which those are our most critical title one schools. Um student behavior supports and discipline, school principles, counseling and health services, parent involvement specialists, and title N will all fall under this executive director's purview. the person will directly evaluate and support principles in the district and the position will be funded with local funds. Um, one of the things I'd like to highlight there is us bringing our principal evaluation um back in house. This will give us the capacity to do that. Um, also for the PR for the principles, it'll provide a full-time um dedicated principal supervisor. Um, I'm kind of wearing both hats right now, so

162that'll give you some guy I'm in the buildings of course and that won't cease. Um, but you'll have a full-time person. Um, as well, another thing I'd like to point out about this particular position, um, it would allow us to eliminate criterion. Currently, we carry a contract with them for about $30,000 each year. We wouldn't need to use them anymore. And it'll also allow us to grow towards potentially having our own principal evaluation system, moving away from the state system. And that's projected as a winter 2026 hire. Excuse me. But the first step is we've got to get the job description if the board approves um approved at the next meeting. >> Would anyone like the floor to ask questions? Okay, moving along. Then we have um the discussion of strengthening behavior supports initiative. Dr.

163As you >> I've got a few more I've got a few more positions. >> Oh, I'm sorry. >> The next I'd like to add um is mental health coordinator. Um, this position will be new in Dothan City Schools. It supports the director of counseling and health services evolving responsibilities by providing more direct support to students, families, and schools. This role will support and guide school counselors, provide our schools and families with mental health resources, and oversee the design and implementation of mental health programs. The position will be funded with state and local funds. That's a projected winter 2027 hire. Of course, the first step would be to get the job description approved at the board meeting next week. One thing I want to point out too, as it relates to this position, just as we

164would be saving with the executive director, a nominal amount, 30,000, as it relates to the mental health coordinator, there's a greater savings for the district. Right now, we do contract with Spectra Care for most of our mental health needs throughout the district. Um, to date, from the beginning of this school year, we've already spent $235,54.97 with an additional $117,8349 remaining in that budget. Am I correct in that, Stephanie? So by bringing this position inhouse, we would significantly reduce um if not eliminate um the need for spectra care and the money that we're spending there. >> Any questions on that one? >> The next position is the director of school improvement. Um, this is a new position in Dothan City Schools or would be. Um, this position will work with all title one schools focusing on

165school improvement and intervention services, ensuring that evidence-based practices, targeted supports, and innovative models are implemented to accelerate student outcomes, strengthen leadership capacity, and close achievement gaps. In addition, providing strategic leadership and oversight in the development and implementation of a comprehensive vision and improvement strategy aligned to district and state accountability goals for all title one schools. This position will be funded almost entirely 90% through title one funds. So the impact on the local budget will be extremely limited. This would be a projected winter 2027 hire. And so there's been a lot of discussion tonight about capacity building and what do we do once the consultants are gone. So this position is the person who would be the tip of the spear as it relates to continuing the work and making sure that we maintain fidelity um

166within the system with the training that we receive after the consultants are gone. >> And what year were you projecting that person be hired? >> Winter 2027. Any questions? >> You do. >> Jenkins. >> So would you anticipate then that the Dr. DeWalt, Dr. Ward would not be here after winter 2027 because the new person that we would be hiring for that? >> So 18 to 24 months. And I think the contracts and Dustin, correct me if I'm wrong, are at 24 months. Is that correct? So 18 to 24 months. So that would put us right at winter 2027 or spring somewhere in that time frame. >> Okay. Some of them said two and a half year max. Some of them said 10 month. So I know there's again we talked about the contracts and

167what what's going to go in there and what we have. Um this director of school improvement it says that 10 90% will be funded with title one funds and 10% with local funds and that it will be $27,000 to our local budget. If I'm doing the math correctly, that's $270,000 that that position would receive if we're paying 10% and 10% is $27,000. >> That's salary and benefits. And that wouldn't be a 270 position. Um I think Lee could speak um Miss Jacobs more precisely to the number it was calculated on the salary and benefits. I think it was like 99,000, but I don't want to steal that from Lee. Okay, we have to I have to just take a a guess of who it would would be because I don't know who's going to get

168hired if they have a EDS a doctorate if they have come with 25 years or 15 years. So I just have to take a medium and kind of give you the worst case scenario than the best. So that would be someone at a high level that's in the high 20s, a doctorate, but you're talking about all benefits as well in that. So when you add up to 25% onto onto a salary, that's I'm giving you the full thing, not just what the person takes on, but what the cost will be to the employer. >> Does that make sense? >> Yeah, that makes sense. is my only concern with it is we know that our title funding changes every year and so this could be something that not necessarily this particular position but different positions that

169right now local funding will be this amount but then in the future it could be more than that and so that's just trying to wrap my head around what that could be even with salary benefits everything like I I see that on there but that's a large number so that's why I was I was asking thank The next position is behavior specialist. Uh we already have these in the system. Um this school-based position is not new in the district. We currently have them in five schools. Beverly, Carverine, Kelly Springs, DPA, and Dothan High School. Four of the five positions are filled. Um we're reconfiguring this position to ensure that our current staff are doing the right work. And so we've had some conversation about that um tonight as well. Um right now our behavior specialists

170function more in an administrative capacity. Um we want to implement significant training form in areas including conflict resolution, deescalation strategies, restorative justice and development and management of student behavior plans. Um really more so in an alignment with the PBIS framework. Um so that the behavior specialists are working with our kids in a more clinical fashion um than an administrative capacity as kind of like an assistant to the assistant principal. Um, we'd like to add four additional behavior specialist positions in our schools, um, with the greatest need to support student success. Targeted schools would include D6, Pass Academy, DPA, and Feain Elementary. Um, and we would look at those as potentially summer 2026 hires. And the thing that would be on the agenda for the board next week would be the approval of the new job

171description, which would then fit with the training that we want to do for them, which would then fit with their new role in the school. Okay. Does anyone want to pull for questions? Miss Jenkins. >> Um, on that one, is that something that we can vote on yearly to keep those positions? Because again, we know the funding is going to come in and out. Hopefully, we continue to have it. But my concern with a lot of this is voting it in and then losing the funding and now we're going into local funds. And so, I feel like not every position, not everything, but there are some where I feel like it needs to be more on a year-by-year basis. We could write it that way. And then the last position is BCBA, board certified behavior

172analyst. Um, right now we contract for this service um through our special education department. Year-to date from August to right now. Um, we spent about $56,57.80. Um, this would be a new this would be a new position in Dothan City Schools. So, it would allow us to eliminate that contract because we'd be doing all the work internally. Um, as I said, we currently contract for it and for registered behavioral technicians RBT services. Hiring a BCBA would significantly decrease our contract service. Obviously, um, the contract service would only be used for RBTs. The BCBA is responsible for conducting functional behavior assessments, writing reports, developing individualized behavior intervention plans, BIPs, and providing direct student services for special education students with clinical behavior diagnosis. They design data collection tools, regularly review skill acquisition and behavior data, and modify

173plans or programs as needed to ensure student progress. In addition to direct student support, the BCBA provides training and ongoing coaching for staff in the implementation of VIPs and applied behavior analysis strategies. This position will be funded through IDA funds, so no cost to the local system. Um, we project that as a winter 2027 hire as well. >> All right. Does anyone ask questions? >> How many of those would require a secretary office expense, stuff like that? >> The only one on here that might be a stretch to say we would need administrative support would be the executive director of schools and student support. Um, that might be a position where we would add a secretary, but other than that, the others wouldn't require any support. >> Anyone else? I was just going to ask

174um you know if you hear the listing of these roles it may feel overwhelming to people um the number of positions. So how have you seen this work successfully in your previous districts? >> Yes. So it goes back to what we talked about about capacity um and us having 8,000 kids to serve and the complexities of that. And so we need these positions to support like if you talk about the executive director of schools and student support that proi that provides a full-time position to support principles in schools and then also direct supervision for the other departments um that were named there. So that's important in terms of capacity building and accountability and allowing us potentially to move to our own principal evaluation system. Um the mental health coordinator obviously there's a need for it

175in the district. Um we've had a number of incidents this year, one tragic. Um and so the need is there and we currently the money we're spending on it in my opinion is outrageous to contracted when we could hire a person and do it internally. Um director of school improvement, we talked about that. Um once the consultants are gone in 18 to 24 months, we need to ensure that the work continues and so that person would be the tip of the spear for that. U behavior specialist, we already have them. We just need to change the work that they're doing. And then um the BCBA is the same thing. It's work that we're contracting for when we can have a person internally to meet those needs. >> Anyone else? >> Miss Jacobs. >> I'm sorry.

176Sorry. I see what you're looking at, but I want to just clarify. Okay. If you take what they would make plus the benefits, okay, it's more than just a base. You also got to put the supplement in there. Okay. So 90% from Title One would be around 135,000. and then 10% from your local which would be around 27,000. That gets you around 162,000 as a whole package. All right, that's the base, the supplement, the benefits, insurance, the whole thing. All right, that's putting at someone um around 22 to 25 years. So that 27% 27% 27,000 is not technically a 10%. It's the 10% of the other number plus the supplement and benefits. >> It's a FTE. So you do a 90% as called a 90. Yes, I understand what you're >> That makes a lot

177more sense to me. Thank you. >> All right. If there are no more questions, we'll move to the next one. One more. >> Okay. Yes, Mr. Ch. [clears throat] So we redefine our behavioral specialist role but currently they basically serve as APS and that's we can't do without that. So if we redefine them for what they were intended we create the void in leadership. So what do we do there? So to your point, and it was even discussed some earlier tonight, um as our kids begin to rise academically and as we begin to equip kids with the skills that they currently may not be coming to school with, like the conflict resolution, um the restorative justice pieces, as we begin to do that work, the discipline naturally, which any administrator knows that's a big part

178of what you're dealing with, that day-to-day churn, that's going to go down. And so that void of the assistant not having an assistant um is going to decrease because we're serving our kids more effectively. But we have schools here tonight, correct me if I'm wrong, where there's a principal and a behavioral specialist and that's it. >> Is that right? >> All schools have assistant principles. >> We Every school has an AP and then a behavioral specialist in addition. Some >> Not all schools have behavior specialist, but they has a principal and an AP. >> Yes. All right, Miss Jens. >> Um, my concern on the job descriptions on those that you have given us is the BCBA I feel like needs to be they're going to be over the behavioral specialists. Correct. >> No. So,

179they would report directly to if the position is approved, the executive director of schools and student support who also has underneath which is an existing position. Let me find it. I printed them out. One second here. >> The BCBA is special. >> Oh, I'm sorry. You're right. Out of So, it's only for children. >> You're correct. You're correct. >> My >> So, the behavioral specialist would report to the BCBA. Okay. So, my concern on that is that we we basically have >> No, no, no. Okay. We You confused it, Lee. So the behavioral specialists do not report to special ed. The BCBA is special ed. That person reports to the director of special education. The behavioral specialist and the new and that's why I was looking for the >> here >> the breakdown >> the

180new hierarchy >> to the director of student. >> Yeah. I'm just trying to find the document >> behavior specialist for all children. It's approaching a holistic approach >> with the whole child where BCBA is more therapeutic. >> Okay. >> If that kind of helps tell you a little bit. >> Yes. So my concern on that is it's the same degree requirement that we're asking for and I would like a higher degree requirement than just a bachelor's degree for someone that's going to do our BCBA. I feel like that is something that would need a higher >> no degree and that's something we can revise. >> Anyone else with questions? >> All right. The discussion of strengthening behavior supportive initiative. >> Sorry, I did have another question. I'm sorry. >> Um on some of those things

181with the training and everything, whole child goes into that too. There's one uh $39,000 training that would be done for PD. Um then we would also continue to pay for whole child in addition to that next year. Correct. If we implement all these that continues on. >> So the whole child contract continues as well as the additional PD. >> Correct. >> Okay. >> All right. Anyone else? All right. Now, discussion of strengthening behavior support initiative. >> Okay. And this one we've kind of talked about a little bit already. And that's really just uh revising the job description for our behavior specialists, making it more clinical in line with PBIS versus the role that they have now. >> Is there any questions on that? Okay. Any questions? It's hard to hear from side to side, I

182know. Okay. Um the discussion of the um technical improvements initiative. That's um Mr. Green and Dr. Aski. >> Yes, Mr. Green, if you'll come to the podium. And this one costs no money. >> Good afternoon. >> Good evening. We'll uh talk just a second about the technology improvement initiative that was part of Dr. Ascu's 100 day plan. And uh I want to start out by covering that the overall theme of this initiative is to develop uh improvements that are in designed to increase instructional access while strengthening accountability, data protection, and compliance across the district. There are three parts to this initiative and we'll start out with the updates uh policies and procedures. So what we're doing is we're modernizing our data governance policy and our acceptable use policy to clearly define responsible data use cyber

183security expectations and how new tools are approved and adopted. What this is going to do is it's going to create consistent standards for staff, students, and vendors while protecting the district. The second step in this plan or this initiative uh is to improve transparency and collaboration. So, we're strengthening collaboration between technology and curriculum by clearly defining shared responsibilities. So the way it'll work is curriculum will identify the instructional needs. The technology review committee will review the platform for security, privacy, and compliance. And finally, the technology department will ensure a smooth implementation of the platform through a public list of approved applications, clear review pro processes, and tools such as a shared approval dashboard and streamline privacy agreements. We will both improve visibility and reduce delays in adopting instructional and operational resources. The last thing u

184that's part of this initiative is adjusting our content filtering rules. So based on district feedback, we have refined our filtering approach to allow broader access to legitimate educational and professional resources while maintaining strong protections against unsafe, non-compliant, and high-risisk content. Access will be paired with clear user responsibility which will be outlined in the data governance policy and the acceptable use policy for using only approved tools and protecting student and district data. So I want to end with this. The goal of technology is not to restrict instruction in any way, but it's to open access responsibly while protecting students, staff, and the district. By modernizing these policies and improving transparency and collaboration and clearly defining shared accountability, we can create a safe and flexible digital environment that supports both teaching and compliance. >> I have a

185question that's technology is a little bit off of this topic but it is technology. I noticed in this plan that we have joined a data consortium. Say that again, please. >> I've noticed in this plan that we've we've joined a data consortium. >> That's correct. >> Okay. Can you tell me a little can you speak a little bit on that? >> Well, there there's actually there's actually two. Uh one is a company. It's a it's nationwide company. It's a Forl. >> Okay. And what that does is part of the responsibility of the technology review committee is reviewing the acceptable use policy, the the terms of service, um their licensing and stuff like that. And what this really does is that is a very long drawn out process. For example, like if you ever installed a

186piece of software on your home computer, >> certainly >> you know when you're installing it, you get this long dialogue. Most everybody scrolls straight to the end, clicks next to install it. So we actually have to read through that and make our best judgment of interpretation of how that developer or uh vendor wants their product to be used to stay within their rules for licensing and stuff like that. So that is a very very tedious process and the purpose of all of this and in joining the consortium is to reduce the time that it takes to adopt new educational and operational platforms. Right now the committee meets four times a year and so you know there there's a review and vetting stage and then there's getting the data protection agreement signed and executed and returned

187and then you've got all the other stuff. you know, you've got the purchasing, you've got the training, you've got integrating it into curriculum and then actually using it in the classroom. So, we're trying to cut down on a lot of the mundane task and that's what these consortiums helps us do. So they go through and have a national data privacy agreement that is already vetted and used across the country and it's specific to just educational entities and um it covers all of the stuff that you know a a regular memorandum of agreement or it's called new a data privacy agreement would entail uh some of the stuff that our previous MOA or DPA did not cover. And so it's a very very inexpensive service. I think think we pay what $300 a year to be

188a member of this. And the time saving that it you know not only saves the committee but the schools and the departments as a whole is well worth it. The other one is one edte and what that does is help the committee to so when I mentioned that we have to go through the review process um we look for things like you know do they store data outside of the United States like you know if they're storing our student data on servers in China there's no reciprocity they don't have to follow our laws and stuff so this company once again it's just for educational entities specific K uh for K12 they also do higher ed colleges and stuff also use it but it goes through and common educational applications they already have it reviewed it

189saves a ton of time of having to go through and read all of that fine print they say you know this educational product is used for K2 it's used for math and then so when we receive the request from the school for this we can get through this review process a lot quicker so that the schools can adopt it and start using it in the classroom. >> Thank youelcome. >> Actually, we're not supposed to store any data or we could lose our federal funds if they store it out overseas. Yeah. All right. Thank you. >> Anybody else have anything? >> I do. >> Okay, >> Madam Chairman. So, I have an ask regarding this policy. Um, there's nothing in there I object to, but when it's presented to us, and I know y'all got the

190agenda out today and I haven't had a chance to look at it yet, but when it's presented to us, if you can list the current policy reads this way, and we're changing it to this so we know exactly what we're voting on as it's presented, I have no objections, but I need it to be specific policy language of what policies we are changing. >> Are you speaking to the data governance and acceptable use? um everything that is in that section. Yes. >> Okay. So, those are going to come before the board as as a separate item. This is just saying kind of the high level overview. This is what we're doing to try to achieve these goals. But, yeah, those policies, we already have a full redline edit that the technology review committee is reviewing

191right now uh for the data governance policy. After we finish that, we hope to have that finished and ready to present to the board within the next 45 to 60 days. And then we're going to start on the acceptable use. The data governance has a ton of supplemental documents that are added to it like the artificial intelligence guidelines, equipment purchasing, disposal. It's it's a massive document, >> right? Okay. That that clarifies what I'm asking, but maybe it complicates it a little more actually. So, I don't understand what we're voting on. I like the idea. So, we're just voting do we like this? Because we're not voting on a change in policy on this. Am I correct? >> Correct. You would just be endorsing the new procedures, the administrative procedures. >> Are there existing procedures though

192that we're changing? >> Uh, not really. >> Okay. So, they're not they're additions. >> These are additions. >> Okay. So, can we have them listed as they'll be listed in board policy or will they are these these are board policy procedures, not code of conduct or they both? >> These are internal administrative procedures. Correct, Mr. Green. >> Correct. >> Okay. I need them listed as rules in order to vote on them. >> Can we get them in that language, Mr. Gr? >> Absolutely. >> Because I like the ideas, but I don't understand we can't vote on a This is a good idea. >> So, sorry, M. >> Jenkins. um in moving forward with it. Is that what essentially what we're voting on is that we want them to move forward with the collection and the

193thing he's going to present to us in 45 to 60 days with Is that what we're voting on and then we would revote? Yeah. Tell them we're voting yes. Go do the work and then come back and present to us. >> You would be vote voting yes or endorsing the new procedures and embedded within that would be the work that Mr. Green is talking about that's going to come as the additional item. Is that correct, Mr. Green? >> Yes, sir. That's correct. All we're asking is just this is the kind of the nitty-gritty details of the technology improvement plan that is in, you know, Dr. Ascu's 100 day plan. The the policy and procedure, you know, the policy update is going to come after this. This is just saying that what we're trying to do

194that you agree with and support is my interpretation of this. Correct me if I'm wrong on that, but that's we vote on policies and hiring is we don't vote on whether we like something or not. So that I think that's where we're coming from is that we don't really understand fully what we're voting on if we don't have those policies moving forward yet. Like I have no problem in 45 to 60 days you presenting and then voting, but I'm not entirely sure what we're voting on next week. So it would be an administrative procedure and a lot of board policies and I've noticed with our policy like we don't have adopted administrative procedures for a lot of things many boards do. So this would be an administrative procedure probably the first one in Dothan city

195ever or at least in our current policy. So it's an administrative procedure >> is that what's going to be outlined for us next week is the administrative procedure correct difference. Okay. >> Correct. >> Um I have a question for you Mr. green. Um, how long will the process take to get once all this is done? How long will it take to actually get it out, educate the schools? Because I'm assuming things are going to change on some of that um to get that out. What's the process that you have in place or is that something you will present to us in the 45 60day plan from now? >> Yes. So, the the policy revisions uh that that are outlined in the first step, those are going to take the longest amount of time. Um, I

196know that, you know, even after we finish all of our review process and getting the red line edits ready for you, you still have to table them for 30 days. Then there might be revisions that you request. It's hard to put a definitive number on that. The improvements on transparency and collaboration, we can turn that on at any point. We've already started moving towards um doing some of this. It's just things that we should do. Um, adjusting the content filtering. We've already made to the content filtering to try to open up access. Uh there's a few things that you know with with the collaboration with curriculum and refining the processes for the technology review. Those are things that we can implement as you as soon as we get your blessing. I mean it's those are

197very quick things for us to start doing. >> Thank you. >> Does anyone else have questions for Mr. Green? All right. Thank you, Mr. Green. >> You're welcome. >> All right. Um, next we have the discussion of teacher recruitment and retention initiative. Mr. Mallerie, >> I thought everyone was here for that tonight, but clearly they were not. >> I don't understand. [laughter] >> So, [clears throat] thank you guys. Um, I know you guys have looked at the um the updates to the to the teacher recruitment and retention initiative. Um, basically there's three parts that are involved here. You have the hiring and retention bonus program. Um, and then you have um the emergency certified teacher development and certification pathway. Um, and then you have um the third would be um the international teach or the

198teach doth and international program. um key parts of each. The purpose with a hiring retention bonus program is to recruit and retain fully certified teachers in designated target schools by offering prospective [clears throat] performance-based financial initiatives. Um this would be a $3,000 bonus that's paid over time. 60 days into first semester and um May 1st we have added into um that initiative to include um the current staff at um those identified schools. So it would be um for um new hires at those designated schools and for the existing teachers at those schools. That [clears throat] would require a three-year service commitment um with a a prrated repayment if obligations are not met. Um, these bonuses are forwardlooking, non-recurring, and compliant with Alabama law. Um, as far as the the value involved, improves hiring success in

199hard to staff schools, increases year-to-year retention um, and instructional continuity, provides a physically controlled, legally compliant incentive model. Um, as far as the emergency teacher development and certification pathway, we're already doing some of these things. We are working through the process. Um, when I first came and we had we were hiring emergency certified teachers. Um, they were just here. They were on they were not working towards some kind of a permanent certification. This would just strengthen um working with a new assistant superintendent of curriculum and instruction and that team um along with Britney with our certification would work to strengthen the training program that goes along with it. The financial impact would be the potential they are identified and allowed to have um a mentor that we do get some funding from the state. um

200what we're asking for within that specific initiative would be the potential to add um additional mentors as needed. So if it is, you know, if you're on a four-year plan and you're working through the process and you have two years with a mentor, well, you may have two years where you don't have a mentor. So this would help fill that gap so that you would continue to have a mentor working hand inand with that emergency certified teacher. Um the third part um is the international or the teach doth and international program. Um this program is based off the Savannah Cadam. They have a similar program in Savannah. Um I've been in contact with those guys. We've gone back and forth. We've had Zoom meetings. We've met. Um we've talked about how their program works. Um

201the cost that's associated with what they do and how it's set up and something similar. um we would be able to do with Dothan. It's roughly a let me find the numbers here in front of me. I'm sorry. I don't want to misspeak. So the financial impact there are the numbers that are involved. Um it's roughly about $6,500 per employee for a H1B which is an employer paid. There are some additional um premium additional amounts for um to expedite the certification for those individuals. It's roughly about $2,85 currently. That is employee paid. Um at the end of three years, if we wanted to extend that teacher, it would be $460 per teacher to extend. So you're looking at a cost roughly [clears throat] about $6,500 total that would be due from us if we hired

202one of those teachers. Again, that's includes all the processing, all the paperwork that goes along with making sure that they are um you know certified and able to work um in the United States and in Alabama. So um the candidate would cover all their travel, housing, independent costs. Um we have looked at different um different countries where um and spoke with Savannah chat them back and forth on where they've seen the most success. They have candidates primarily that are coming from Jamaica from that program and then they have um some that's coming from um Canada. Um so it's not just um one source that they're pulling from. they have given us some guidance on where to kind of stay away from. There's some um some countries and some programs that come with a handler type

203fee. So, there's money that goes in and you have to pay for the person to fly back home so many times a year. Um but they have been really good at helping um workers, you know, kind of go through the process and show us the direction there. So, we would be modeling off of that program. So that's basically the three initiatives that we have um from the recruitment and retention side. >> What questions do you guys have? >> Okay. Does anyone want the floor to Okay, Miss Jenkins. >> I have several so I'm going to ask them one at a time. Um all right. The first one on our in our packet it says that we anticipated this was prior to adding in the current teachers that we anticipated about 30 teachers a year. Do

204we have a new estimate on that adding in current teachers? >> No. Um, we just [clears throat] started looking at that yesterday, I think, is when when we added that in. So, I'm going to have to know which schools that is. And we're going to have to go back and look um how many certified teach or how many positions we have. We'll also have to take into account. We're just looking at the budgeting for next year. So, what do those numbers look like? You know, how many units we're going to have at each school. So, I can get that for you, but I just I don't have it tonight. And that's something that they could sign up for or opt out of if they're existing that I know it says they have to sign different

205agreements I'm assuming about the repayment. Um is that just going to be automatically embedded in those schools or is that going to be something that we offer them? >> Again, that's something we just started looking at. But um if you're going to take the money, part of the part of the money piece of it is the commitment piece because that is key to the retention piece of it. So um if they were um to take the money obviously um they would have to commit to that. Now whether we say it's, you know, this is just what we're doing at each school or if we're going to open it up to that, I think there's some we certainly want to offer it to every teacher. We don't want to get in to a situation where we're,

206you know, discrimin discriminating against someone because we're not offering it. So, um, but again, I mean, this is just this change just happened yesterday. So, I'm still working through all the details on that end as far as the current. >> Okay. So, if that it says in our packet as well that it's based off the superintendent list that they put out. My understanding is that this the state superintendent's list that they put out. Are we doing a separate one from that or are we going off a state superintendent list? >> State superintendent's list. >> Okay. So, if those change and the teachers at one particular school with that, but then that school is dropped from the list, >> will they still retain that amount? >> Yes. >> If they're partway through retention across the board,

207too. So, I mean, if it changes, then we can certainly look at broadening the program and going there if they're not a part of the program. But we're once they sign the agreement, they have the money in place and they're working for us. their commitments three years with Do City Schools. >> Okay. So, it's not just at the particular school. If they're say it's sane and we transfer them to another one. Okay. >> All right. Um, second part on the international teacher program. I have some serious concerns about what our president is currently trying to do with that. So, that's where my concern. I think it's a great program. If he changes it to $100,000 per visa, that's no longer a program we can do. So voting in that right now with that being up

208in the air is a concern for me. >> So I have that concern as well. Savannah has that concern as well. You know that was one of the things that we talked about with them. They feel like um there is a ruling coming that is going to um should be in the next month or so that's going to clarify that. So that should be um we should be okay in that area. Now, the one thing that I will say with this program and one of the things that Savannah urged, we're looking forward with with this, this is not something that we would just be able to go out and implement next month if you guys decide to do this. The ideal timeline with this is on January. So, you have it all in place in

209January and then your cuto off date is going to be around July because it is a five to six month process to bring someone in. That's not to say that there may not be someone that's already in the United States that's already certified that we could start looking at bringing someone to Dothan, but as far as the design, the first step as far as bringing new people into the country, we would need to have a window of about six months to do that. Um, so the recommendation has been that you start in January with that and then you shut that down in July for that year. and then you open back up the next January ready to go based off of what you're looking for for the fall again. So it wouldn't be something that

210you would just vote on at the next meeting and then we start doing it. >> Yeah. how you pay which [clears throat] we would have to do wage and hour in the United States when they're here but there may be some tax implications and stuff that's being a foreign national I guess in yeah >> so I guess that's where my concern comes in is a lot of these are not taking effect until 2027 yet we're wanting to vote on them next week so something like this is this something we can wait and vote on once this this particular part of that until we know what's coming down the pipeline with the president since it's not something we're putting in place yet. That is just a lot of these we're not hiring for another year and

211a half but yet we're voting on them now. So that's just a concern. >> Understood. Um and I think a part of it goes back to what Mr. Mallerie said. The reason we're asking for these now because you have to plan in advance like you said the January to July window. So if we wait and then let's say if we run into more technical difficulties, you know, and the vote is later, we may miss the window again next year. We've already missed it for this year. As Patrick said, there's nothing we can do this year, but if we don't get going on it, we won't be able to move forward with the work else window. >> Once [clears throat] you vote, if we have people that are already here in the United States, we can

212start. We have had individuals that have applied with us and they've said, "Hey, I want to come work for Dothan City Schools and, you know, they say, "Hey, I'm on a visa." Um, we have just not moved forward with that at this point because of, to be honest, the uncertainty around what's going on with immigration. So, we wanted to hold off and do if we're going to do it, it needs to be something that the board approves, we vote, we put a plan together, and we move forward with as opposed to just saying, "Okay, you're already in the United States, you're cleared. Alabama says you're cleared." We want to make sure that that it's done right. >> But is that if we're not starting this till next January, is putting it off another month, >>

213gonna hinder that? >> I guess where where I'm coming from and and maybe I didn't say clearly, but we if someone's here in the United States and they apply and we go ahead and we approve, we could potentially hire some individuals in the fall. But as far as starting a new program from scratch and going and doing the recruiting on our end, we would need to do that like January. But if we agree, let's say that um in the next few weeks, every the ruling comes that that's potentially coming um and someone comes to us in June and has all of the proper certification, they're already here, we're not having to make this other investment, um they already have a visa, then we could bring them back, you know, on sooner. >> Okay? >> We

214just wouldn't go out and start the program and start recruiting. So, I feel like the wording needs to be very clear on that when it does come to us is I'm not going to vote in a $100,000 visa. I'm not that's that's insane to me. So moving forward on something that may change that wording needs to be very specific that if this does change that what we're now voting on that this is we're voting on currently $6500 for the visa and if that changes then it needs to be a new vote because I can't in good conscience vote in something that we know >> politically could be changing in the next month. um where you're coming from on that people who are already here who have the visa. I feel like that's a complete separate

215>> It is separate. That's why I was saying >> so having that worded that way for us that we can even vote on those separately. Is that something that we could vote on? We want to move forward with this portion. >> I feel like there's so many moving pieces to this plan that could be or should be broken up. Um because one part of it is I think will function really well and the other part we just don't have all the information on yet. not just on on the retention piece, but just all of it. Um, and that's one that I feel like >> if we separate that out, that's a lot easier way to say yes, let's move forward in this, but we don't know what's coming down this pipeline yet, so we need

216to wait to see. Does that does that make sense? >> No, I understand what you're saying. I think from the the immediate [clears throat] need is going to be obviously I mean the hiring and the retention piece of it. We're we're coming up really quickly on budget and we're going to know this is how many units the schools have. We're already starting to plan those meetings now and then we're going to come back together after spring break and we're going to have the the who numbers of of what's left and what that looks like. So, we need to be able to plan as we're looking at those numbers and they're putting the financial piece together on those units. Okay, we've got X amount of teachers. Now, we also have, let's say, we've got 15 teachers

217that, you know, are 20 at Fain that are that are going to be returning. We got $3,000 we per person, we're going to have to commit there. And then we've got, you know, five more coming in or, you know, we're looking if we if we look at um, you know, we got five non-renewals because they didn't, you know, perform well or whatever, we're going to have to know exactly how many people were were hiring there. you're capped. Um I have not obviously we got our packet for next week when we got here, so I haven't gone over that, but are these things broken down that way in next week? Will we be voting on them all separately? voting on the $3,000 the mentoring program each >> separate are listed as individual line items. >> Okay.

218>> And I think when you're looking to at say number two which I know we haven't really had any questions the emergency certified piece really the only there's some of that that's already going on. It's just enhancing it better. Um the biggest piece of that is just making sure that we've got the money available for to be able to pay a mentor for that person and that'll that'll be as the money's exhausted from the from the state. So really third year if you're on your your third year or your first year of your second emergency and you stayed long enough to work through that process that's when that additional money would come into play. >> Okay. So it says in our packet that it's up to and anticipated around 20 staff members. Is that something

219that we feel like as we see how it works? Yes. Would increase? >> We can reevaluate and increase what we're hoping and what we're looking at. So like right now for instance, we have a number of of the ones that are on emergency right now that are in the process of converting. So, you have several schools that may have three or four emergency certified teachers that were showing up in December, but by the end of January, they're going to either be fully certified because we're waiting on practice results, or they're going to move on to a to a more permanent certification. So, we have some that are already coming off. So, we'll know by the summer where we're at because our number should be unless we lose more individuals. Our number should be beginning to

220stabilize more. Um, but that's just a rough estimate because you're not always going to have, like I said, the first and second year we're already going to have a mentor from the state. So, if you roughly said half of those individuals or, you know, 15 or 20, that's why that number's there. But there in the policy that we vote on, there will not be a cap. It won't say up to 20 mentors. It's >> we can however we want to word it. I mean, >> I would like there not to be a cap. I would like for us to be able to have the ability to hire as long as we feel like we need >> You're talking about a nominal amount. I mean, >> in the grand scheme of things, and you may be

221talking55 to $10,000 per year total to be able to have a mentor for. >> So if we do hit that amount, is that something that can come to the board and we can say we do actually want to fund that? Right. >> So we would find out what is going to be paid mentor-wise from the state and then we can say we actually want to go ahead and use our local funds to supplement the difference. Okay. Thank you. >> And the state's looking at at how they're paying mentors and who's eligible for a mentor because there's there's some there's some stipulations around how it is now. I think that they may look at changing. So like for instance, if I was a if I was a teacher one first year teacher at another district and

222I come to that I'm not eligible for a for a mentor. Well, you know, I think they're going to look at how they're they're changing that so it may be um in the next year or so that it may be funded for for all levels. But this is a stop gap just so we make sure as we're trying to move people through the process that they have a certified teacher there that's kind of helping them guide them through the process. >> Can I say one thing on what uh board member Jenkins said? This immigration is very fluid. You are correct about that. >> Mr. Mallerie was talking about we're waiting on rulings. That doesn't mean the president can't issue another executive order that you got to challenge through courts again. You have no idea which

223court is going to rule which way. You have no idea if the Supreme Court is going to grant certs issue. You have no idea what laws Congress may pass. You don't know if an executive order is going to come down on that. what she's saying has a lot of merit at this point. Immigration law with all the three branches of government involved >> is very fluid at this point. >> She's right about that. >> Have you heard anything on the ruling that's been that's supposedly out there that's coming in the next few weeks? >> I haven't. But that doesn't mean if the president or Congress gets a ruling they don't like. >> Yeah. They change. >> They can go back and issue another executive order or change the law. It's all they got to do.

224That's when we got to checks and balance the system of three branches of government. What she says has a lot of merit and could cost us a lot of money depending on how the courts rule, the president issues an executive order or how the judicial branch rules. That's something everybody needs to be mindful of. Miss Walton. >> Um I'm just trying to make sure I'm clear on this. So Dr. Ask you if the rate goes up um from the government to whatever 100,000 the program is just dead. Correct. >> Exactly. >> Okay. Okay. But we have to put the wording in there is what I was saying. The wording has to be we're capping it at 10 or whatever we decide we want to cap it at. >> Yeah. We can just put that in

225the wording whenever it's presented that if if that penalty comes into play, >> then we're not doing >> what they're saying though is there's a what there is is there's a penalty and it's not per employee. It's like if you're hiring someone that's on an H1 visa and you're going to utilize employees outside the United States, you're charged a I think it's a flat $110,000 as an employer. We would just have to write in there that if that is in fact right. >> Well, it's not an agreement [snorts] or >> before we start gambling with six digits with visas with fluid disease, that stuff has to be in writing. >> Yeah. I mean, that's that's asinine not to do that. If we start sponsoring somebody and the government says it's going to be $100,000 for

226a person and we've done sign a contract to bring them over here for six people, for example, we're on the hook for $600,000. >> Yes, I think we all agree on that. >> It's $100,000. I mean, I understand what you're saying. It's not a per >> Not if you brought six people over. >> It's not a per person. I don't think it is a one. It is an employer fee >> as of right now. >> Yeah. What if that changed and we're lining up this many employees? >> So, we we would need an immigration attorney. And one of the reasons we selected Savannah Chadam, they've been doing this many years and they have an immigration attorney that advises them on that piece >> and that's great. But unless they can predict what a federal judge

227is going to do or what the president is going to do on executive orders, if that changes while this is going on, we're on the hook. >> Understood. But they could clarify what the fees are. So is it 100,000? >> It needs to be in writing. >> So part of the plan is to hire an attorney for that. I think that's futile to hire an attorney for that if that ruling does come down and we just decide not to move forward. So that's what I'm saying is I think there's too many pieces of that particular part right now that are unanswered and voting to hire an attorney, voting to go forward with this plan is not being good stewards right now when we don't when there is so much up in the air about it.

228Um I hope that this stays low but we don't know and so voting to hire somebody to be our attorney and then move forward with that. And just to clarify on that situation too, you're not actually hiring an attorney. They process like for instance the one that Savannah Cadam uses for theirs. They're not employing an attorney. An attorney that attorney is clearing people as they come in and there's a fee that includes that H1 visa that's built in. So you're just paying $6,500 to that organization that has made sure that those individuals are vetted and that they have their visa. So it's a per person cost, not like we're employing an attorney. We're paying this organization or this group that is that has a um I mean that's all they do is immigration. >> Let

229me let me say what Dr. Ask you or Superintendent Asked you would say and Mr. Maller say if that's the case and you're that confident on superintendent ask you then there needs to be an identification clause that if it if let's see how serious they are. If it goes up $50,000 and this Satam Chadam group they pay us that if they're that sure it's not going to go up and they've got the premonition of what the president's going to do, federal judges are going to do and what Congress is going to do. >> I'm just going to put it simple. Put your money where your mouth is. If it cost us $100,000, they need an innification agreement on that to reimburse for us because we're paying their services for only a $6,500 fee. >> There

230needs to beification on that. >> That's fair. And I'm sure they probably got all that in their paperwork. >> Yeah. And and they and that's a fair point, I think. However, I mean, and it may change. I mean, you're correct. It could change, but I know there's there there's situations where they're grandfathering people in too. So, you're not said here like if we had five people here and then they all of a sudden said, "Okay, now this." There has been windows where they grandfather individuals in. Now, that doesn't mean it won't change, but that's >> as long as this group will admify Open City Schools and they'll put it in writing. >> Yes. >> I don't care if it's a million dollars a person. As long as this group backs up their guarantee that we're

231on the hook for X, if we are above X, Savannah Chadam strokes a check to us. >> Yeah, >> that would solve >> Yeah. >> board member Jenkins's problem. >> All right. Is there any are there any other questions? >> Sorry, I have one last question. Yeah, >> the attorney since the people you were talking about earlier that may already be here may already have a visa, we don't have to go through the attorney on that and pay that visa fee since they already have their visa. >> If they're already here in US. >> If they're already here in the US. Correct. >> Correct. >> Okay. Unless well and again we have identified countries where we would probably not want to partner with because there are some things that would build in travel and all

232that and handlers and all but um as far as those countries that like Jamaica, Canada, if they were already here and they already had that visa then we would not have to pay that. >> All right. Anyone else? Okay. Um now the discussion of resources allocation initiative. Um Miss Jacobs and Dr. Thank you Mr. Mel. Okay. Mine costs zero money. All right. From the beginning. No money costs, no no budget lines, nothing. It is really basically a best practice or framework. Something that we do with title one schools is they do an annual meeting every year and a midyear meeting and we do that face to face. Um we go in great detail about what your data is and how you're deciding how you're going to use your money and how it's placed. What we

233would like to do is somewhat take that framework and apply it to principles and department leads. And I'm really looking from instructional point of view. You'll see in that document I talk about uh CTE sped curriculum and instruction and our principles they have multiple fund sources and sometimes when you're budgeting it's really hard to put all the pieces on the table and figure out what they are. We like to bring this framework where they can start working on planning and have purposeful planning when they're doing it and they start at the beginning. And so I created a document where they would be able to start that planning process and track their money every year. To be honest, a lot of people do that. It's a ledger you create when you're doing your POS and purchasing.

234It's just trying to put good practices in place to ensure that we are using our money like we plan to do, like our needs say we're do, like your budget committee say you do. but also we will be able to categorize it and say how much of this are we putting towards direct student services and how much are going directly to teacher resources. So one thing I would recommend that we do and I I explain it is when we do this is just for title one schools once they budget for their they have a parent set aside that goes off to the side and they also have staffing after that for them to look at at the top let me take 5% of that and that's going to go directly to teacher resources that would

235be supplemental to what the PE cards are okay so they have pec cards that comes from the state this would be additional funs that would be given to teachers for direct teacher resources. Okay. Then we would put 10% towards student direct resources. Okay. We don't have a problem doing that one. Okay. That that happens a lot. Um but to be a little bit more mindful about the 5% going directly to teachers. Um so this would be a practice we would put in place. I know y'all were talking about policies a minute ago. I would not recommend that this to go to the DCS policy. I would recommend for it to go into the accounting manual. That will be something you will see coming up in the next school year. And those are procedures and practices

236that we put in place. So that would be my recommendation um for you to support for us to go ahead and continue to develop this practice. I'd like to implement it next school year for the next budget, but we can work on it. Uh one thing that we started this we have our midyear reviews coming up in the next two weeks and this is where we do carryover funds. We We look at data. We look at technology needs. So you did see two spreadsheets in there and they were just for title schools. It's the beginning of the middle year. They have like a series of needs assessment questions they have to complete and then they do a budget. This year we added another layer to that which was a alignment. So a lot of times

237when you're budgeting and then you have to go back and write your ASIP, you start thinking about where did I put that? So while they're budgeting they're aligning their um activities along to every budget line. It's a practice that we're putting into place just so they're more efficient in their planning. Does that make sense? Any questions? >> I have a question. [laughter] Sorry. Um for that 5% that's being set aside, I know that the cards can be a pain in the butt sometimes because they're very limited on what can be used. So, will there be more freedom with this 5% on what they can use? How are we going to allocate what that 5% can go to? >> What does it look like? Okay, so your your PE cards are all of your state funding.

238That's they're like your teacher unit money that they get because they're a unit. This would be title. I do not and I'll be honest, I don't feel comfortable putting that on a PE card. And let me tell you why. Because there are some things you cannot spend with title money. And when that P card gets charged and you bought a chair, I can't go back and tell you like I'm gonna have to ask that teacher to cut me a check now because you can't do it. So, we have protocols and procedures in place with federal funds. We'll have to go through a PO system like we do and it needs to be approved by the proper chain so we can ensure that we're meeting all the federal laws and requirements. Um, but what I'm going

239to suggest a lot of times, and I will say most of our principles do this. They put out like, "Give me a wish list of things." Let me use Ryan Richards for a minute. He makes a wish list that's beyond a wish list. Okay? I mean, more than we would ever need. And so, he goes off and goes, "I need you to rank it one down." And he where he can take his money, he just starts taking it off the list for each one of them. I'd recommend that we try to start doing a little bit better of that and supplement that teacher that they're getting in addition to Okay. >> Okay. That was my question. I didn't want it to be PC card. I wanted there to be more freedom with it. So, it

240would but I just want to know how that was going to happen. >> Submit a PO like and it will go through that and then we'll order. >> So, the principles would submit that to you. So, their teachers would come to them with what they felt like they needed, >> right? And they'll have to they'll have to tie it to ASIP, which they do one and and I always encourage them to like state the teacher's name for classroom so then you know where it's coming or going. And it kind of helps out too. But as we track it, we're going to do some extra coding just so we can track that and be able to say, "Miss Jenkins, how much you're a principal, how much of your title money did it go directly to teacher

241resources?" And I could run that and say, you know, it might be more than 5%, it might be 12%, it might be 20% this year because it's based off what your needs for your school are. So, >> but we're wanting with this a minimum 5%. We want you to Okay. All right. And is it worded? It is worded. Never mind. I just I saw my highlighted the word minimum. So, never mind. It is worded that way. Thank you. >> Any other questions? >> Can I see? So, I'll go ahead and ask the obvious question that I'm sure a lot of people already know, but could you, and I know this is going to be different for every school, but could you give me a ballpark of how much that 5% is going to be and

242how much that 10% is going to be? >> That would be really hard to tell you. Let me just give you an example. Like, um, Dothan High gets a little over $500,000 in title one this year. Well, he takes out salaries. He spent probably 425,000 in salaries. Then you take one before he did the salaries, he's done his 1% for his parent involvement. So really left him with only maybe $44,000 between October and carryover. Now when his carryover comes, that's a different pod, but it's still a number. Um, so it could be it could be as something as small or big because some schools don't have as much salaries and they're they have a $100,000 that's dedicated to PD and materials. So it would really be hard for me to tell you that just because

243it's going to it's going to fluctuate every year too because people cost more or they cost less or you maybe staff four teachers this year but maybe next year you only staff three teachers out of title fun. So um I have a unfortunately I don't know how I can answer that without being all over the place with that number. >> So, you're saying 5% at the initial um allocation or are you saying 5% at carryover? >> I you would start at your start at your initial I mean we could start with that but I think carryover needs to be added into it when we come back. Okay. You see what I'm saying? And like bring it together as even though it's two different pots, it's still one. >> Yes, I understand. >> But I just

244we might start small and have to grow a little bit. >> Gotcha. If there's nothing else, I adjourn this work session. That's a lot.