DCS Board Meeting - 12/16/2025

001call to order the December 16th, 2025 regular school board meeting. We'll have a moment of silence led by Commissioner Dave Stock. Is that him? Please stand for the presentation of colors by Dothan High School JOTC. Ready. And our pledge of allegiance will be led by Fain Elementary third grade student Malachi Austin. I pledge algiance 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. Forward [snorts] right. Again, the pledge was led by Fain Elementary student, Malachi Austin. Malachi, thank you very much. Now, we have the approval of agenda and proposed agenda modifications. Do I have a motion to approve the agenda and proposed agenda modifications? Madame Chair, I'd like to uh move that we approve the agenda

002with proposed agenda modifications. Do I have a second? >> Okay. Um is there any discussion? >> All right. All in favor? >> Yay. >> Okay. All opposed? Motion carries. >> Okay. Board comments. Anyone? >> Nothing. Okay, Dr. Jones. >> No. >> Oh, no. Okay. Board comments, anyone? Okay. >> All right. Superintendent report. Dr. Ascu. >> Okay. We're going to begin with school spotlight with Miss Caris Harmon. Maybe everybody. >> Well, good evening everyone. Today's superintendent spotlight highlights three things that make us incredibly There we go. incredibly proud at Dothan City Schools. Those things are service, student leadership, and excellence in education. First, we want to recognize the incredible generosity shown across our district this season. Our schools came together to support families throughout the wire grass during the Thanksgiving break, collecting thousands of food items

003and making a meaningful impact in our community. So, I'm just going to rattle off a couple numbers here. Dothan High School donated more than 1,200 cans to Wiregrass Area Food Bank. Selma Street Elementary collected 651 cans for the Salvation Army. Herd Elementary led the way with 3,131 cans donated to also the Salvation Army. Highlands Elementary, 423 cans to the Salvation Army also. And Morris Slingleth Elementary, 300 cans also for the Salvation Army. Hidden Lake collected 278 cans for the Salvation Army. And Dothan City Virtual Schools delivered 150 non-p perishable items to Mama Te's and the girls home. Now together, these efforts represent thousands of meals and thousands of moments where our students chose compassion, generosity, and service. So, thank you to every school that played a part in supporting our community. And we have a

004couple of school representatives here, a couple principles in the audience. Come on forward. You want to take your picture up on the stage? >> Uhhuh. Of course. Yeah. Come up. Come up on the stage. Go on the steps here. >> Is this the right way? Excellent. >> Okay. I want you guys together for me. Good morning. I was looking at >> Got two more. >> Okay, before our board members get too comfortable, we got two more. Next, we are recognizing a group of students and their coach who demonstrated leadership beyond the classroom and beyond the field. During fall break, members of the Dothan High School softball team volunteered their time at Heritage Baptist Church, which is one of the largest Operation Christmas Child collection hubs in the wire grass. As part of Operation Christmas Child's

005global outreach through Samaritan's Purse, these student athletes help load thousands of boxes filled with toys, hygiene items, and school supplies. boxes that bring joy and hope to children around the world. These young ladies lifted boxes weighing more than 50 pounds on their day off, of course, with smiles on their faces and hearts focused on serving others. Their actions reflected a true understanding that leadership means giving back. This commitment to service is no coincidence. Coach Donnie Bright has been involved with Operation Christmas Child volunteer efforts for many years, and he continues to lead by example, showing his players that character, service, and compassion matter just as much as success on the field. A special thank you to Coach Bright for his continued dedication to serving others and for modeling what leadership looks like beyond the game.

006Coach, can you and your players step on up for us, please? >> [applause] >> One, two, three. One, two, three. >> [applause] >> All right. And finally, we are proud to recognize an educator who represents the very best of Dothan City Schools. Miss Gina Berdeshaw, graphic arts instructor at Dothan Tech, has been named a clay Nobel educator of distinction by the National Society of High School Scholars. This national recognition honors educators who demonstrate outstanding commitment, leadership, and dedication to student success. Miss Beraw was nominated by one of her own students, Alexis Safold, who praised her teachers creativity, encouragement, and positive impact both inside and outside the classroom. As an award recipient, Miss Ferdshaw is now eligible for consideration for the PlaySt includes one $5,000 National Award and nine $1,000 awards. Her passion for teaching and

007her commitment to empowering students as learners, leaders, and innovators are evident in everything that she does. You can even ask her students. We are incredibly proud to celebrate Miss Berdashaw and this well-deserved national honor. And she's with us tonight. Come on. [applause] That's >> [crying] >> Thank you everyone. [applause and cheering] Oh, you're fine. Excuse me. >> Oh, no. I got >> Wait. Good evening. We have another recognition. So, um at this time we want to recognize our employee of the month um for the month of December. Um this month our employee of the month is Miss Jada Houston. She is a science teacher at Carver 9 and she was recommended by um Mr. Todd Mitchell, principal at Carver 9. Is Jay here? Is she able to be here? [applause] Come on. [applause] So, just

008a few words um from Mr. Mitchell here. Um Mrs. Houston consistently places students at the center of every instructional and professional decision she makes. When a teaching vacancy arose unexpectedly, she willingly adjusted her workload and instructional planning to ensure students experienced continuity, stability, and high quality instruction rather than disruption. Her flexibility, commitment, and student focused mindset ensured that learning remained the priority during a challenging transition period. Mrs. Houston exemplifies the professionalism and work ethic we strive to model at Carver 9th grade academy. Her positive attitude, collaborative spirit, and commitment to continuous improvement make her a trusted colleague and an invaluable asset to our campus. Congratulations, Miss J. [applause] >> No. Thank you. >> [applause] >> Stephanie, could you load the PowerPoint? point. Okay, good evening. Um, hard to believe, but a 100 days have already

009passed um for me for me here in Doan City Schools. Um, over the past 100 days, my team and I have completed five community listening sessions with nearly 200 participants. We conducted more than a 100 classroom visits across our schools, held focused one-to-one meetings with principles and school leaders, and engaged national experts in literacy, math, and special education to audit our curriculum, instruction, and student outcomes. So, my presentation tonight is the synthesis of this work. Um, I've collected a lot of data over about the past four months and I hope to share it with you tonight in a coherent way so that you can understand um, what I've been able to see in terms of strengths, weaknesses, and also areas for us to move forward in the school district. Stephanie, so I'll begin with the

010data synthesis of my entry plan. Take this clip off. When I started back in August, I had four goals in my entry plan um to help me gain knowledge about the school system and learn about again where our strengths were, also the areas where we needed to improve and then also the areas where we had the opportunities to move forward. As it relates to the first goal, next slide, it was to establish effective district governance. some of the strengths that came up in the data collection. Um the community definitely saw new leadership including the board and superintendent as a positive. Um we also have strong and active community partnerships. Um weaknesses that were identified was a lack of board unity, an unclear chain of command. Also, opportunities for growth included increased transparency within the community,

011expanded communication platforms, and leveraging analytics to be sure that we were connecting with our stakeholders and understanding who we were missing in our communications. Threats to effective governance included absence of norms and a lack of clear public-f facing board superintendent communication framework. >> [clears throat] >> Goal number two was for me to observe, learn, and assess the direction of DCS. Our strengths, we have a strong and dedicated staff that are committed to our students and our community, and that's something we should applaud ourselves on. Also, we've got an increasing graduation rate at the high school. Also, the leadership of our building principles and office staff and administrators was also recognized as a strength. weaknesses included a lack of vertical curricular alignment, and that's something you'll hear us talk a little bit more about as we

012get further in the presentation this evening. Student discipline concerns at some campuses was also noted as a weakness. A lack of comprehensive IT access and a lack of instructional rigor and coherence um were also noted as significant weaknesses in the district. Our opportunities for growth, excuse me, included examination of our pay structure and we are currently involved in a salary study and that information will be presented to the board in February. Um, additional funding for teacher resources was a concern. Creation of STEM programming and the elementary and middle grades was seen as an area for growth. Threats included charter schools, private schools, loss of student population, negative media attention, and lack of certified teachers. Goal area three was for me to learn about the values, norms, needs, and expectations of the community. And again, this

013was all from the data collection and my many meetings with public officials, government officials, faith [clears throat] leaders throughout the city, um, spending time with principles in the buildings. This is the data that I got back from that. Diversity of the student body was seen as a strength. Parental involvement and highly qualified teachers at select schools, and that's something we'll talk about. Community pride in the system was also seen as a strength. Weaknesses included poor reputation in recent years and a need for greater accountability and transparency. Our opportunities for growth included establishing new cultural and governance norms and increased parent and community engagement. I'm glad to say we got many parents here tonight. Um, also strengthening our district branding was seen as an opportunity for us. And then threats, again, negative media attention and negative

014public perception. Finally, goal four, my goal was to observe, observe, and assess the state of the current organizational capacity of the school district. What are we capable of doing? Dothant Tech was at the top of the list. um a tremendous job that we do over there with our students and staff and all the opportunities offered for our kids. Um the whole child initiative was seen as a strength. PBIS and improved transparency and accountability were strengths that came through in the data. Some weaknesses that were identified, staffing shortages, lack of certified teachers, and unequal access to fine arts. Opportunities for growth in this area included implementation of a coherent systemwide professional development framework and that's something we'll talk about as we move forward in the presentation and then threats charter schools private schools and negative public

015perception. Next slide. [clears throat] So all of the data once it was broken down into the goal areas um we went back and analyzed it again and looked for overarching themes throughout the school district. Those led to the strategic initiatives. There are eight um kind of like spark plugs in a motor. Those areas are literacy and school turnaround, school improvement, reorganization of key school-based positions and central office divisions, strengthening our behavior supports, technology improvements, governance, teacher recruitment and retention, and resource allocation. I'm going to begin with school improvement specifically in the area of math. um throughout the fall. If we'll go to the next slide, back up one. That's it. Um in the area of school improvement for math, we engaged with Swan Math, which is based out of California, Dr. Michelle James Ward um

016and her team came and did a comprehensive analysis of everything that we're doing with math instruction top to bottom um as it relates to curriculum, instruction, resources, observations of classes, interviews with principles, teachers, instructional coaches. Um her report is shared in the QR codes here as well as the presentation she did for our board at our board retreat back in October. Um I've invited her here tonight to share her findings with you and her thoughts on next steps for the district. Um, so with that said, I'll ask Dr. Cheryl James Ward to approach the podium. Good evening, board. Good to see you again, board chair, board members. Good evening to our families and staff here today. And another congratulations to those who were recognized. Um, I'm just going to speak briefly because we shared a

017lot of this before. Dothan, the school district, you have a wonderful group of teachers and students. I'm not sure if we can bring up this presentation. Stephanie, are you able to access it? Okay. >> As they do so, we did have an opportunity to visit uh roughly 40some classrooms from kindergarten through 8th grade. Um and our findings showed us Oh, here we go. All right. So, let's just get started. I'll move through this and uh we can talk about it as we go. All right. So, Dothan public schools has invested deeply in mathematics for more than a decade. Alabama the state has provided strong guidance including the eight mathematical practices systemic instruction multimodal teaching assessment feed fe feedback and mathematical language this district along with many others have received this uh set of documents and

018training from the state of Alabama systemic instruction multimodal instruction, mathematical language and assessment and feedback. There are videos on the state website supporting mathematical language. So the commitment, the time and care are evident on the preceding slide. Yet student outcomes have not improved at the level that the community expects. This is not a conversation about effort. It's a conversation about effectiveness. Honoring the work already done. If we could go back one. So we have dedicated district leadership and instructional teams. We have math coaches who are in training from the state in classrooms planning working together and also with their leadership teams to do what they can on behalf of teachers and students. We have invested significant instructional time and professional learning by teachers and the state of California. We have alignment to state frameworks and

019expectations and there's a deep commitment from the students and families along with the teachers. So the work begins with respect for what has already been done not only in Dothan but also uh at the state level in support of Dothan and other school districts. What the data is telling us. So we have the snapshot data here if that will come up. Can we click on that snapshot data? If not, I'll just talk about it. So, the snapshot data tells us that our third graders are at about 30% proficient. Our fourth graders are 31% proficient. Now, listen carefully. The fifth graders are at 24% proficient. The sixth graders are at 21% proficient. The seventh graders are at 12% proficient and the 11th graders and the eighth graders are at 11% proficient. So we see that we

020have a dip, right? We start to go up and then we continue to go down. And as we look at the recent data for the middle schools, we went from the uh August assessments to the midyear assessments. We had a downward trend there. And right now we have about, as I said, 11% of the middle school students who are proficient. So the trend points in the wrong direction. And there's a good reason for this. I'm going to move on from this when we talked about it. Uh first I want to make sure that there is no blame in this. Uh specifically many elementary and middle school teachers need deeper learning. When we think about elementary school teachers, they are generalists. They are not mathematicians. And so they need lots of support because the foundation of

021great mathematics begins in kindergarten, begins in preschool. So if we don't provide that foundation, then we're going to run into uh significant problems. Excuse me. Um, excuse me. If you drive a Lexus truck with South Carolina plates, you're needed outside. A Lexus truck with South Carolina plates, you're needed outside. I'm sorry. >> No problem. Thank you, Chairman Turner. Thank you so much, board chair. Okay, so uh specifically again going back to our teachers, right? The reality is most of our uh elementary school teachers are generalists and therefore needs lots of support in the area of mathematics. The state of Alabama also recognizes that with the coaches that uh are provided. And so teachers need the math behind the math assistance in designing instruction that moves students from the conceptual understanding to the procedural understanding to

022the application. Why conceptual understanding matters. Now, I don't think this link is going to go where it needs to, but I I I really want to talk about this. The state of Cal uh Alabama provides the 2019 Alabama course of studies in mathematics. When we look at that for seventh grade, it tells us that seventh graders should know proportional reasoning. Under that, it says analyze proportional relationships, which is nothing but fractions. But kiddos have problems with fractions starting in third grade, and it goes on to haunt them on infant item, right? um real world. So if we have problems with fractions, we're not going to be able to do that pro proportional reasoning. The next part is number systems and operations. Apply and extend prior knowledge of addition, subtraction, multiplication and division to operations with

023rational numbers. Now the truth is our kids are not able to add, subtract, multiply and divide. And so without that they cannot get to number systems and operation. Two parts to that equation is actually learning the basic facts but also conceptually understanding the basic facts which begins with teacher training. Algebra and functions create equivalent expressions using the properties of operations. Which means that we understand how to apply the order of operations. Solve real world and mathematical problems using numerical and algebraic expressions, equations, and inequalities. Now, our kiddos in middle school can get to the formulas, the algorithms, but they can't move through them because the basic facts are missing. And so, we say they can use calculators, but there's something called executive functioning skills, which means that we retain information and are able to use

024that for the next step. But each time you break up your thinking to get to the next step, we lose out on our executive functioning skills and our ability to solve problems. Again, leading back to those early grades of strong mathematics. The next area is data analysis, statistics, and probability. the Achilles heel of elementary school teachers and even middle school when we start to discuss statistics. [snorts] It's a scary word almost for everybody. And so again, without deep training, we're not going to be able to get there. The last part of that is geometry and measurement. I think we can get through this one at least in terms of understanding the geometric figures. But then when we get to solving real world and mathematical problems, we again struggle because conceptually we're missing information. When we

025look at that's the sixth grade, seventh grade is pretty similar to that. So that takes us back to why uh going back to the slide on why conceptual understanding matters. If that piece is not in place, our students cannot be successful. That takes us to our teachers. If they don't have that deep conceptual understanding themselves, our students cannot be successful. So the conceptual understanding allows students to explain their thinking, transfer learning to new problems, build lasting procedural accuracy. When this phase is rushed or skipped, well, the outcome is what I shared with you earlier. And when teachers don't have deep knowledge, that is the outcome that we get. Math is shortened. certain content areas are skipped simply because our teachers don't have the skill sets to be successful in them and that is not to

026blame teachers. As we go on to the next slide, we see the teachers have limited planning time. Math planning must be structured, therefore supported and purposeful. Teachers need support to design effective lessons, analyze student work, and use and adapt existing curricular resources effectively. And we see there are high quality support should simplify teachers work. It does not add to it. What teachers need to learn not just do. Sustained professional learning is needed in math content knowledge, conceptual to procedural lesson design, math talk. We know that students need math discourse. But in order to engage in math discourse, they must have deep math content knowledge, the vocabulary to engage in those conversations. They need the use of models and representations. Teachers do. And they need to learn about effective feedback. How do we support kids in

027their learning? We need that effective feedback which only comes with deep conceptual understanding for our teachers. And these are skills developed over time, not in one day or single trainings. Now this work requires humility. I started out as a software engineer for NASA Jet Propulsion Lab. I worked on the Mellan project that went to Venus about 10 years ago. There was a spacecraft that crashed before it landed on the planet. And the project manager was asked what happened. He said egos got in the way. So the work here requires us to set aside egos to put students first which means that we also put teachers first in terms of ensuring that they get the support that they need so that students can be successful. So who is Swan Math? Swenmath has over 20 years of

028mathematics professional learning. It is first and foremost a professional development company that was started by myself and Mr. Swan over 20 years ago in support of students who were not being successful. Over those 20 years, the folks who started Swan by and large have continued to be a part of the professional development team. The experience is across urban, suburban, and rural districts. And for students of all backgrounds, the core focus has and continues to be teacher learning, instructional coherence, and sustainability over time. Why outside partners can help here in Dothan. Effective partners provide a perspective without a local history in terms of themselves. Identification of blind spots and acceleration without politics. Strong partnerships honor local context build internal capacity and leave districts stronger than they found them. The goal is independence, not dependence. proven success.

029We look at Jefferson Elementary School. This is in Linux. And I chose this uh school specifically because over 90% of the students there are in free and reduced lunch. They've had a long-term partnership with Swan Math 11 years. The results driven by a coherent instructional model and fidelity to implementation. And I will say that without fidelity to an initiative, you are wasting your time. Twin Rivers uh school district uh in Northern California. Multipleyear commitment to mathematics improvement, teacher content knowledge, lesson design and delivery, data informed instruction. And we see here improvement followed coherence not quick fixes. The work cannot be done overnight. What successful districts have in common? A clear shared vision for mathematics, a commitment to fidelity, consistency over time, professional learning centered on teachers, incremental growth year overyear. There are really no shortcuts,

030only steady leadership. what this means for your child. Those of you here in the audience and uh on the deas our board members and the superintendent when math instruction lacks depth, students memorize but do not retain. And so they come back the next day and it seems like well nothing was actually learned the day before because it's memorized. It's it's not learning for conceptual knowledge. It's trying to memorize. And those who are good at memorizing seemingly do well because they are good at memorizing. But what else happens? Confidence erodess. Kids get to middle school and they say, "Well, I'm not good at math." When we know that every child actually is innately good at mathematics. They come to school in kindergarten, preschool, good at mathematics. They can tell you so and so has more cookies

031than I have. They are clear on these things. So the gaps widen each year. When teachers are deeply supported, lessons are clearer and more engaging. Students explain their thinking and learning transforms to real world situations. that one and I'll go ahead to our closing here. Uh Dolan already has the commitment and the heart. I want to thank the board members again for your time uh in October uh your comments, your support. This moment calls for deeper adult learning, strategic partnerships, and a steady leadership. And your students deserve nothing less. Thank you so much. Board members, if you have questions, Dr. Ward, could you hold on one second? [clears throat] Board members, if you have questions for Dr. Ward, now would be the time. >> I'll start off. Dr. Ward, thank you so much for the

032work you have done in our school system so far um with the analytics. Would you mind providing more um of your background? You touched on it. You started out in NASA, but can you please provide not maybe the full resume, but just some of the highlights of your resume? So, um, our parents and our families that are here can know the depth of your experience. >> Well, I did start out as a software engineer and I took a leave to teach. Went for a year, went back for the summer and then I quit. So, I was a math teacher for about six years. um a dean of students, a vice principal, principal, director, superintendent, charter school CEO, and over 20 years during the time as a uh CEO and superintendent of a secondary school, also

033a tenure professor at San Diego State University, recognized as one of the uh top tier research universities. um partnered with Doug Fiser who is one of the foremost educators in the world and now am Profet Professor Emiritus actually uh because I did uh officially retire although I continue to coach for the university in the National Center for Urban School Transformation. I continue to coach uh educational leaders, vice principles, principles, assistant superintendent. I continue to teach although retired in the DOC program which is where I taught before the doctoral program. Um, and I work with a national uh, firm that supports superintendent and boards. And there I coach uh, cabinet level individuals. And then I also do my work with Swan Math um, making sure that as many, schools, school leaders, teachers can get the support

034that they need to ensure that our kids are strong in mathematics. Math continues to be my core and when I was a student it was my first love. Others were out partying and I was at the library having a love affair with mathematics >> and that is me. >> Thank you. >> We'll shift now to the second initiative literacy and school turnaround. Uh, can you come back, ma'am? I I just want to say this to your face. I don't like you, but the numbers don't lie. And I don't need you telling me I need training. I don't like that. But it's absolutely what we need. And uh thank you for giving it to us like it is. Not what we hope for, but how we can get there. And anybody that does this business want

035to improve their craft all the time. You want to master your craft, which you're doing. And if we don't do that, then our children are not going [clears throat] to do it. They they won't be able to if if we can't show them how to master their craft. I thank you for being so blunt. >> You're welcome >> to to hear those >> Dr. As you have a question as well. Um, sorry. We've we've talked to you before, I listened to you before and both times it was a lot of information since I have been on the board for a few years that I knew I knew these were problems. I've talked to principles about these problems. I've seen these problems. I've talked to teachers about these problems. We know that these are the issues.

036What exactly? Because through my reading, even through your presentation, there's not a lot of how how these things are going to be implemented. And that's where my concern is is that a lot of us already know those these things. Not everybody not everybody's following along with this the way that that we do, but how do we get an improvement on the score? For me, there's got to be some kind of rubric, some measurement of how we're moving from here to here. Um, so what is that plan? Because that's what I haven't wrapped my head around. >> There's always data uh and and you have a lot of data to use in terms of measuring rope. But when we when we talk about how we move uh teachers, the first thing that we do is we

037understand what your framework and your standards is really about. So we start there to the extent that they can can grapple with that because there's so much. Uh the second part of that is mathematical grounding. So we look at math progression so the teachers understand the entire math progression and then where they are in that and then the basic fundamentals in terms of the conceptual understanding because that is what our teachers struggle with. And so throughout the entire process it is teaching in the conceptual understanding of mathematics. It is teaching in their grade level content. It is teaching in what came before, what came after uh or what comes after and is it is teaching in instructional strategies and then it is constant coaching. Coaching not only of teachers, coaching of the coaches, coaching of

038the principles, walking classrooms with principles, providing feedback to each layer of that information and then meeting with teachers on a monthly basis and providing next steps where they are on a monthly basis. It requires coherence. It requires a commitment from the district, from the principles, from the staff in following the plan to fidelity. We look at your tier 2 instruction. So instead of uh simply using when we get to that tier two, it's training teachers how to understand where their students are and what is the the push in to assist students. We talked about feedback. We teach again in conceptual understanding to address feedback. We teach in terms of where we know students will have mis um uh misunderstandings in their education and what's the feedback that we push in. We teach in terms of

039how we uh provide formative assessments and what that looks like in terms of the feedback again. So it's a constant uh teaching meeting teachers where they are and providing them with the next steps. There's uh professional development couple of days that starts at the beginning followed by ongoing coaching and then professional development uh during the summers and sometimes during the school year based on the needs of the specific school. Um and the in the the support is customized based on the data. The support, the professional development does not depend on the curriculum. It doesn't matter what curriculum you're using. We can go in and provide support in lesson delivery, lesson design based on what you're using. So we have talked to sorry we've talked to heard from you and then we we have also previously

040heard from the reading specialist. It will not be you correct that's here. It will be somebody else from the company. And will they stay here and do that or is it coming and doing professional development and then coming back for a couple days a month? >> So they're here, our model is once a month in any school, right? Uh so we're on the ground in any school once a month and we do the walkthroughs with the um principal. We visit classrooms. We provide the professional development, the uh sidebyside coaching, lesson demonstrations, data analysis, depending on what's needed. >> But that's not somebody that's here on a regular basis. That would be somebody that comes here to do those once a month. So wherever we are in the United States, we we uh push into those

041districts or to those schools on a monthly basis. If we lived here, we would be visiting you those same schools on a monthly basis. We're always available for discussion, but we visit schools once a month. If we were here, we would visit once a month. Um, and let's say we visit 10 schools. Each school we visit one full day a month. If a school needs more support, you can get two days a month of support. Um, but that's the same if we lived here. If we didn't live here, it would be the same. >> Uh, pardon me. Uh, Dr. Ward, uh, you've been here and you've had a chance to evaluate our district. Um, how many bodies do you think will be involved in this process? How many people uh in in your program? How

042many people? >> I can't. It depends on how many schools we're we're looking at and we're looking and which uh the level of support that each of those schools would need. >> Okay. So during your evaluation that you've been here and you've done that, >> you don't you you can't give us >> tell you from a general perspective. >> General idea, >> right? Yes. >> So you have uh and you know this because the state of Cal uh state of Alabama has pushed in. >> Not to cut you off, but we have six schools that are on the state needs improvement list for math. So you can speak from that perspective. >> Okay. Correct. >> Um so I was just heading there. Um and so we know that to be the case. Uh so from

043those six schools, we know that we have at least we should be pushing in twice a month to support those uh schools. Again, working with the coaches, working with the teachers, working with the principles, walking classrooms with the principal, giving feedback to the principal, giving feedback to coaches, giving feedback to teachers, and then the training with the teachers. Okay, thank you. >> Any other questions? >> Anyone else? >> Thank you so very much. >> Thank you as well. >> All right. Now, we're going to transition to literacy and school turnaround. I ask Dr. DeWalt um to come to the podium. Dr. DeWalt comes to us from Columbia, South Carolina. Um she's been working with our schools intensively um since about midepptember helping us align our frameworks um planning for resources and doing coach and leader

044training. Um hopefully um she'll be able to continue her work here in the district moving forward. But I'd like for her to speak now in terms of her findings um as it relates to Dothan City and the work she's done thus far. Good evening, Dr. Turner, to the board chair, to Dr. Ascu, and to the board members. It is great to be here. Good evening, Dothan. It's good to see you all. Um, I want to spend more time talking to the people in the audience because I have spent a lot of time talking to the board members. We had a wonderful time at the board retreat. We've been able to go through the data and talk about the things that I've seen. I've spent time with coaches. I've spent time with principles. I've been able

045to do a focus group here as well as conduct a survey and I've also had boots on the ground here in the district. And so I think and I've also written uh an extensive report um and provided a lot of information. So I'd like to spend time talking to the community. Um I'm not here to sell anything because I don't think literacy is something that needs to be sold. I think the uh what we see here is man on fire here in Dothan in terms of literacy and I think it will take um all of us everyone even if I'm not included um to get this thing back on the track. So I will answer questions at the end but I'm going to provide just a brief summary. And I realize um for the teenagers

046and the people are here that I have to give my street cred before I start talking. So um I'm Kendra DeWalt. I hold a bachelor's degree from Hampton University, a master's in education from the University of Missouri Columbia, a PhD from the University of Virginia. I have also conducted research in Europe and Radbod University, which is a major um producer of reading research. Um I own a reading center in Columbia, South Carolina. I have also been in charge of directing and running college level clinics at the University of Virginia, which is one of the oldest clinics in the nation. I've also run and manage a UFly clinic at the University of Virginia. At my clinic, we service students that have reading disabilities that are comorbid with language disabilities. In addition to that, I study systemic

047failure in districts for literacy to determine what factors contribute to that. My time is often spent with school leaders and with boards in determining what will be best practices to get them back on track. Good evening. All right, now we can have a real world conversation. We've done all of the semantics and so now we'll talk about the things that I've seen. My report says that over 60% of the students here in Dothan are unable to read on grade level. So if you are a parent or a community member here, if you have pen and paper, I would like for you to take that out so that I can give you some numbers that will make sense as we are walking through this conversation. So there's something called Lexile scores and the way we use

048those in education is that we look at those scores for us to determine how what books we can give to students or how we can reach those students in terms of instruction. So the very first thing that I'm going to give to you is a Lexile score. That Lexile score gives us a general understanding of what those students are able to understand, how they are able to comprehend. In addition to a Lexile score, I'm going to give you a fluency score. The fluency score tells you the rate at which your child is able to read. And if in fact your child is not reading at a rate that is sufficient, that child is going to struggle to comprehend what they are reading. In addition to that, what we know to be true is that if

049children are unable to decode words, that means that you see a word and you're able to read that word, a single syllable word. Words like cat, bat, sat, matt, mop. If you were unable to read that word in a quarter of a second, we know that there is going to be a problem. So what we do is we measure a string of words that students should be able to read and the rate at which they're able to read it. That has been well researched, well definfined. We have numbers for what that should be. We also have enough information to help us understand the lexile for which we should expect our children to read. It is a band. Your district has that information. You have people in here with sound knowledge that understand that. where we're

050having a breakdown is how we take that information and what we do with it when the children are in the classroom. So, if you have a child here who is in the first grade, please raise your hand. Perfect. Second grade, raise your hand. Third grade, raise your hand. Fourth grade, fifth grade, sixth grade, seventh grade, eighth grade. I'm going to stop right there. So, the sixth graders, you're working with Miss Adams over at D6. Seventh and eighth graders, you are working at DPA with Mr. Williams. What I want you to listen to for people who have children who are in middle and high school, I want you to pay attention to the numbers that I'm giving you because some of the students who are with Miss Adams and who are with Mr. Williams are reading

051on first, second, and third grade levels. So when I give you these numbers, you should write down the numbers for all of the children so you can determine where your child falls. If you are a first grader, first grade child, Alexa should be in the band of 100 to 400. By the end of first grade, we expect your first grader to read 40 words per minute. Second grade, that band should be 300 to 600. By the end of second grade, we expect your child to be able to read 94 words per minute. But when they arrive in second grade, we want them to read at 49 words per minute. In third grade, we expect their Lexile to be in a band of 500 to 800. When they arrive in third grade, we expect them to

052be able to read 73 words per minute. By the time they leave, we want them to read 114 words per minute. In the fifth grade, did I skip fourth grade? Listen, you guys, this is good call and response. Fourth grade, we expect them to have a Lexile of 600 to 900. They should be reading 87 words per minute when they arrive. When they leave, they should read 125 words per minute. In fifth grade, there is a ban of 500, I'm sorry, of 700 to 1,000. They should arrive in fifth grade reading at 103 words per minute. And when they leave, they should be reading at 137 words per minute. In sixth grade, here you go. We're at Dothan 6 with Miss Adams. They should read between 800 to 1,50 for a Lexile. They should enter

053at 123 words per minute and they should leave at 141. In seventh grade they should they should read between a band of 850 to 1100. When they arrive they should be reading at 126 words per minute and they should leave at 141. Now I'm going to give you a 9th 10th 11th and 12th grade band. But in the ter in terms of research, we do not have numbers that are wellstied in terms of fluency because we expect that these children should already be fluent by the time they get to high school. But they should be reading 8th grade. I gave you 8th grade already. See there? 8th grade 900 to 1150 arriving reading 125 words per minute leaving at 135. Now when they get to Carver 9, we expect that they should have a Lexile

054ban of 1,00 to,200. And I'm just going to end by the time your child is a senior, we expect their band to be 1050 to,300. I came here to do a literacy evaluation to support the 100 day plan to just find out what was going on here in Dothan. When I began looking at the data and moving through the data, I was able to discover that there was something different about Dothan that I had not seen in Maryland, in Delaware, that I had not seen in South Carolina, that I had not seen in Virginia, that I had not seen in the Southeast. And I wanted because of my curiosity to really understand what it was. I met with principles. I met with coaches. I met with leaders. I met with Miss Jacobs. I met with

055special education. I met with anyone who would talk to me because I really wanted to understand Dothan. And because the situation was so dire, building on fire, crisis, I stayed beyond my 100 days, but beyond, not my 100 days, his 100 days. I stayed to work. Now, I have other projects that are going that require my time. I have an office. I have children that come to my office specifically to see me. But I stayed here in Dothan and I put together a plan to work with coaches and principles first because before you can begin engaging teachers and going into classrooms and providing professional development, you need to make sure that leaders understand what needs to happen in the building and to make sure that they are seeing the same thing. A part of the

056work moving forward means that you all have to have the same language. You have to have the same norms. You have to have the same assessments. You have to have a general understanding of how you are moving forward. I went to eight schools so far. Two were on hold off because I had to come to this meeting today. So I didn't get to see two schools. But first we went to DPA. We got to DPA. Remember those Lexiles that I gave you? We had a cut score for children who did not fall within um they fell within the band, but they were not proficient. So, we decided that we were going to test those students to determine what their needs were. When we got to DPA, DPA has seventh graders. 471 7th graders are at

057DPA. When we got there, there were 26 students that did not fall within the band in the seventh grade. And so we wanted to determine what their fluency scores were. And if their fluency scores were below the level that we needed, we wanted to see if they had decoding skills. That means if they see cat, can they read C at say it right? And we want them to blend it, not just segment it. We wanted to see if they were able to read words like hike and bike, meaning that there is a silent e. What we determined is of those 26 students, we tested 127 of those students because we were concerned that they did not have decoding skills. That went on across several schools. And to not labor this point, what I want you

058to understand is that I met a fourth grader that had remember fourth grade. Who's fourth grade in here? Did everyone write down the fourth grade number? Right. Who wants to share it with me? What's the fourth grade number? >> 600 to 900. I met a fourth grader here in Dothan that has a Lexile of five single digit. that was not isolated. Now, not every child here has a fivelex out. Don't leave out of here and go back and tell your friends everybody down there can't because that's not true, right? That is not true. But what I'm telling you is that we have children that are in the seventh grade that are over at DPA that have a Lexile of what we call BR 100. That means that it's a kindergarten level. So that is the

059work that you see principles carrying out. And what I want you to understand is that I did not meet one person here. I didn't talk to one of these principles about their data and that they were not committed to rolling their sleeves up. This is how committed they were. In a two-week time span, we tested 1600 students. That means they had to turn their building over. They had to get ready. I was coming. And I touched every single one of those booklets to help determine what the next steps would be for those kids. So, if you are here tonight and you're wondering, "What is it that I can do to help?" What is it that I can do to help? Not the consultant, not the board, not Dr. Ask You, but what can I do

060to help? Children being unable to read is a crisis. It means they will not be able to work. If you are sitting in your communities and there are children here who are not able to read and they are graduating high school, you can expect that crime is going to go up. You can expect that the discipline in the schools are going to be out of control. You are asking children that cannot read to hold texts that are well above their ability to read. So as community members, what you can do is you can go to your school and you can ask your teachers or your principles, what is my child's lexile and what can I do? It's not just as simple as putting a child in front of a book and telling them to read

061it. Reading is a science. It is very complex. It requires a level of expertise. It's not as simple as looking at some scores and making a decision. It's not as simple as buying books and putting them in the classroom. I don't know if your district is going to have me back to do the work here. I know that you all are concerned about consultants coming, but I do have a recommendation. You have a lot of emergency certified teachers because you're having a hard time recruiting and retaining teachers, but you do have two elementary schools that are functioning well. That is Carver MST and that's Highlands. And they are filled with teachers who have certifications. So if you do not want to use consultants and if you have teachers who can form advisory boards to be

062helpful, then we can take some of those teachers who are certified out of Carver MST and out of Highlands and we can put them in places like Feain and like Beverly. We can put them there in places like Gerard and we can begin helping the children because in fact, Miss Clark is struggling to get people over to her building to help her. She has emergency certified teachers there and she has a number of children who are unable to read. She shows up every day to get the work done. Her coach is meticulous trying to figure out the next thing. If you really want to be helpful, you can get over to Fain Elementary where I met a child that could only read site words of is. You can get over there. That's where we can

063start advisory boards. That's where you can start gathering. And even if I don't come back, I'm happy to host a Zoom call and help you figure it out because this is actually dire. You have four schools in this county, in this city. You have four of them in the worst condition that they could be in based on federal guidelines. They are called CSI schools. That is Feain Elementary. That is Dothan 6. That is DPA and that is Dothan High School. And the reason is because you have over identification in special education. And that has happened in K through five. It's in my report. It's not hidden. I wrote it and I stand on it. If in fact you want to help your children go to their schools and find out their Lexiles, all of the

064work cannot be backbreaking on these principles and on these teachers and on these coaches. You're going to have to show up. These children cannot read. They will not be able to survive in this world without reading skills. I don't have to tell you as individuals what it means when children cannot communicate and that is what reading is. It gives them access to this world and when they are unable to communicate then they are frustrated and they are tearing these buildings up. People are running around and you're wondering why discipline is out of control. It is because instructionally these students are not where they need to be and you need to do something immediately. That's my presentation. Do you all have any questions? >> Do you have questions? I have the same question for you that

065I had for Swan Math is we know a lot of these things. They are terrifying. Um what are you going to do? What is more of the boots on the ground plan? I know it was a little different what we got of you marrying yourself to the system essentially staying here really working. What are those things that you want to implement into the school systems that will make these changes? Because I've heard things for years. What what's different about what you have? >> Yeah. Um thank you Ari for asking that question. Um first I guess the what I will tell everyone here that um Ari is speaking about the work that I do um I select um districts and places where I choose to spend my time. Um I have people on a waiting list

066and so I don't spend my time everywhere because I don't like for my time to be wasted. And so what I offered to Dothan is that I could come and serve as a literacy um a literacy expert and resident, which would mean that I would offer to your district 10 to 15 days a month. Um I would offer to your district 10 to 15 days a month. And I'm going to step over this way so everyone can see me. I would offer to your district 10 to 15 days a month. And my um model is about train, develop, and sustain. We've kind of started that now by making sure that we are all on the same page. in terms of um the data, in terms of the language that we're using and the assessments that

067we're using. In that 10 to 15 days, we will conduct data days. We will do walkthroughs. We will do training um in places where we need it. We've already started training coaches. Um as you well know, Ari, that the state of Alabama has the Alabama reading initiative and so there are coaches that are already coming into your district. one of the challenges of the coaches that have been coming into your district because there has been a lack of well there's been a lot of autonomy and a lack of accountability and so no one has been using the same language in terms of what the needs are and so what has happened here in your district is that we have abandoned tier one instruction meaning we have abandoned CKLA which is the core curriculum and we've

068started using EUFly which has come at the recommendation of the state yet no one has owned that quite yet um it has come at a recommendation and what we're doing is we're using it. So one of the things the first things that I did was to help establish what the tiers would be establishing a pyramid of interventions so that it looks the same across every school and that you're able to actually have an MTSS process to avoid over identification. So I would spend time initially like I have working with principles and coaches and giving the coaches the confidence to go through classrooms. We would have a look for a system to make sure that we're all looking for the same thing and we know what good literacy instruction looks like. That will happen based on

069the needs of the school. Today it may be Fain. Tomorrow it may be Beverly. The next day it may be Slingliff. The next day it may be I want to say Blair, but it's not Blair, it's Miss Blair. Um her school Selma. But that's what I get because every time I talk to someone, I've been calling them by their principal's name. and now I'm in front of all these folk in our businesses out in the street. But um so I would be attending those schools and helping the coaches to um develop strength. I know that one of the questions that you all had is um what happens when the expert leaves? What do we do? Um my work is about sustainability. So I don't go in places and do spray and prey professional development. So

070it is uh building and developing leaders and people inside of the system that are able to maintain the system which is why I do not bring people with me. I use the people that are here because that is what gives the system sustainability. Are there any more questions? >> Okay, thank you. Hey Scott, >> thank you. All right, next slide. Uh, reorganization of key school-based positions and central office divisions. Um, the QR codes are there essentially to do the work that we need to do in Dothan city schools. Um, our central office staff needs to continue to be built out. Um, I know that's an idea that might give some some concern or raise an eyebrow. Um, but as you've heard from the consultants tonight, there are many complexities within our system. And so, no,

071it's not just about having consultants come in and work with staff members, but we've also got to train up our staff members, as Dr. DeWalt referred to, so that when the consultants are no longer with us, they're able to continue to work and move it forward. There's some key positions and I'll try to go through them um briefly but in a thorough manner. First and foremost, uh we need an assistant superintendent for curriculum instruction. Um that position has not been filled here in Dothan City Schools, I don't think, in more than a year. Um that person is the person who drives the instructional programming, is the thought leader um within the school district as it relates to curriculum instruction and is key to school improvement. Um that money is already in the budget. that position

072exists. Um we do have a name that I'll present to the board tonight. Um hopefully it'll get approved. Also, executive director of schools and student support. Um one of the other key pieces um within the school system that we do not have is a principal supervisor. Um our principles and they'll tell you I've spent a lot of time with them over the past 100 days. I'm in and out of schools all the time. Um, but also my primary responsibility is to the seven folks up here um, sitting on the stage with me and I spend a lot of time with them as well. And so we need somebody who can be that day-to-day contact, that second to second um, when I'm servicing board members and talking with them and meeting with them about important things

073that principles still have a contact um, that they can go to. Also, our principal evaluation system. Right now we use the state system. Um, what I'd like to do is have, and this is related to the position, uh, us have our own evaluation system within this district that we can run, but we need a person to do that, a principal evaluator, because that's a full-time job in and of itself. Um, so we do need that position. Um, director of student and behavior supports and discipline, that's already in our system. A person's already in that role. Um, that would just be a name change or a title change. U director of counseling and health services. We already have that position as well. That would just be a title change. Um mental health um is another area

074of great concern across the country. Um here in the state of Alabama and here in Dothan. Um just since I've been here in the 100 days, we've had several significant incidents. Um one that was tragic um involving Dothan City Schools surrounding mental health. And so we need support. And what that'll do too, and that would be a new position. Um, but what it would do because we contract out a lot of services in that area now, we wouldn't have to contract anymore because we would have an in-house person. Um, hopefully that would be a hire that we can make in winter 2027. And then finally, a director of school improvement. Again, um once the consultants are gone, if we have them, um the work has to continue and there has to be a point person

075um to drive that work along with our assistant superintendent. Um that position would be title funded. So it doesn't touch um local funds. Only 10% of it will be local funds. 90% of it we could fund through federal funds. Um so that's another position I'm hope hopeful that we'll be able to add here in the future in Dothan city. I have it as a winter 2027 hire. And then of course behavior specialist. Um we've had some discussion around behavior um here this evening and we can't do it alone just teachers and principles. We need specialists in the buildings um working with our students in a clinical manner. Right now, we do have behavior specialists in four of our schools. There's five positions, but one of them isn't filled. Um, the work they do right now

076is more administrative. Uh, we need people who are going to be able to come in and equip kids with skills um so that they aren't having repeat offenses and being suspended from school or placed in alternative placements so that they have the skills to cope and operate within the school system. And so the new job description, which is also our strength and behavior supports, that's the item that's there for our behavior specialist, puts it in line with the PBIS model to equip our kids with um the clinical skills that they need via the behavior specialist. Um so those are some of the positions I feel that we need in the district to continue to move the work forward. Um I'll go over to strengthen behavior supports and I just talked about that one. If you

077click on the QR code, you'll see the proposed new job description for our behavior specialist. Um, shifting from the current description, as I said, which is more administrative, um, to a more clinical approach and how we work with our kids. And if we go to the next one, technology improvements, [clears throat] there's no money tied to this one. um is just really reframing our protocols and processes um as it relates to technology. During the data collection um there was a lot of discussion about teachers, administrators and staff not having ready access to the websites and online platforms and AI platforms that they need. Um so we want to look at or take a second look at our protocols as it relates to technology. And so these are some processes and procedures and if you go

078to the QR code um you can see it that we'd like to put in place um to make technology more accessible for our staff and students. The next one is governance. Um [clears throat] as it relates to governance, you know, um if you're not getting better, you're obsolete. So my goal for us um as a board and superintendent is to continually grow and get better as a working group. Um, so in response to the data that was gathered indicating past dis tongue tied, past dysfunctional board and superintendent governance, I recommend that the board and superintendent generate governance norms to guide our work. Um, these norms will address role clarification and communication guidelines. They're intended to foster trust, collaboration, and shared purpose in the school system and in the community. Then our next one is teacher

079recruitment and retention. Um there's a teacher shortage nationally in the state of Alabama here in Dothan. Um you heard Dr. DeWalt talk about emergency certified teachers. Um we'd like to approach it from a multi-pronged approach. Uh first the hiring and retention program just essentially at our schools that are on the state needs improvement list. um having the flexibility to offer a hiring or retention bonus uh for new teachers and critical needs areas in those schools uh to attract those highly certified and qualified staff um to work in those buildings. So that's one thing we like to do. Um also for our emergency certified teachers, we need to do a better job internally and there's no money tied to this or a small amount. we need to do a better job internally of developing our emergency

080certified folks um so that they do reach full certification. And so that's just really about putting a program in place to mentor them across the system. There are some schools that do a better job of that than others. Um but we're not a system of schools. We're a school system. So we need to do it holistically across the board. And then finally, the last one is teach Dothan International program. Um, we'd like to have access to international teachers. Um, it's something that's done throughout the country. We've partnered closely. Mr. Mallerie's had a lot of discussions with the Savannah Cadam school system. Um, as I was telling Dr. Turner today, no, we don't want to take a vacation to Jamaica. That's not what this is about. Um, but there are teachers in other countries who can

081be fully certified here in the state of Alabama, whether it's Canada, whether it's Jamaica, whether it's Ecuador. um but these folks in critical needs areas. So when we get to times say in the month of July and we lose a math teacher at D6, there's another pipeline if we can't find anybody locally or in the state that we can access. And so again and again I won't go through the whole document because it's available at the QR code on the next slide. But what this allows us to do basically for $6,000 is to access that teacher and to get him here in front of our kids. And there's an express processing fee as well. But as I said, Savannah who we partnered with it with this um they've got a large program. Probably about 30

082to 40% of their teachers um have come through the international program. So they've got it down to a science. Um and so that's something we'd like to explore. Again, not the majority of our teachers, but in critical needs areas. And then finally, resource allocation. Um, we certainly have plenty of funds to provide all the resources that we need for our teachers and there's a QR code there for the documents. Excuse me. Um, there's no reason our teachers should have to go in their pockets and spend their money um for things that they need in their classrooms. Um, we've got plenty, but we've got to be strategic in how we use our funds. So, this is just basically saying in this particular um initiative that we're going to require principles to set aside a portion of

083their title funding just for resources for teachers so they have the things that they need because we do have the money for it um to provide it. Pens, paper books, those kinds of things. They don't have to go in their pockets to provide that for kids. Um that's it in a nutshell. I want to thank again um Dr. DeWalt and Dr. award for coming uh to join us for our report this evening. Um later in our agenda, I will be making a recommendation to the board um hopefully to approve some of these. Thank you. [applause] >> Thank you, Dr. Ascu. Um I need to make an announcement. If you drive a white 4Erunner with the tag AOC93 P7, you're need to step outside. A white 4ERunner. So, you need to step outside. I don't know

084what's going on tonight. I think it's a full moon. All right, let's continue on. got to go. >> Um, all right. The monthly financial Oh, I'm excuse me. Minutes for the November 18th um regular school board meeting and minutes for the December 9th, 2025 special called board meeting. I ask for a motion to approve the minutes for the November 18th, 2025 regular school board meeting and for the December 9th, 2025 special called meeting. >> Excuse me. >> Yes. >> Oh, yes, sir. I'm sorry. I said I asked for a motion to approve the minutes for the November 18th, 2025 regular school board meeting and the December 9th, 2025 special called meeting to approve the minutes. >> I move that we approve the minutes for the November >> I move that we approve the minutes for

085the November 18th regular school board meeting along with the December 9th special call board meeting. >> Do I have a second? Second. >> All right. All in favor? >> Yay. All right. Motion carries. >> All right. We have our monthly financial reports, accounts payable, payroll, and certification of bank reconciliations. I ask for a motion to approve the November 2025 monthly financial reports. >> I make a motion to approve the financial reports. >> Second. >> Is there any discussion? All in favor? >> Yay. >> Motion carries. >> All right. Then we have donations. Do I need to read all of those? Okay. All right. I ask for a motion to approve donations. >> I move that we approve donations. >> All right. I have a second. >> Second. >> All right. Is there any discussion? All

086in favor? >> Yay. >> Motion carries. Head Start financial report. I need a motion to approve the November 2020 November 2025 financial reports for Head Start. >> Make a motion that we approve the 2025 November >> November >> 25 2025 Head Start financial report. >> Do I have a second? >> Second. >> Is there any discussion? All in favor? Yay. >> Motion carries. Head Start menu. I ask for a motion to approve the Head Start menu for the December 2025. >> Motion to approve the Head Start menu for November 2025. >> Thank you. Do I have a second? >> All right. >> Is there any discussion? >> All in favor? >> Yay. >> Okay. Motion carries. Head Start enrollment and attendance. I ask for a motion to approve the Head Start enrollment and attendance for

087November 2025. >> I move we approve the Head Start enrollment and attendance for November 2025. >> Do I have a second? >> Second. >> Is there any discussion? All in favor? >> Yay. >> And motion carries. Head Start monthly summary report. I ask for a motion to approve the Head Start monthly summary report for November 2025. I move that we approve the Head Start monthly summary report for November 2025. >> Do I have a second? >> Second. >> Is there any discussion? All in favor? >> Yay. >> Okay. Motion passes. >> Yes. >> Okay. Who seconded the monthly? >> I thought I moved. Yeah, I moved all of them. >> Start. >> All right. Okay. All right. Then we have the personnel agenda. Mr. Mallerie, I tried to get through it really quickly so we

088could get to you. >> That's okay. [laughter] [clears throat] >> All right. So, we have two deletions tonight. The first is E1, elephant one, and then the second is H three. Those are both the lesions. We have correction to previous action three non-acceptances one resignations 18 retirements one additional or temporary employment 19 transfers four reassignments 38 conditional appointments three appointments 35 Five, verification of higher degree 2, adjustments of pay 4. That's it. >> I ask for a motion to approve the personnel agenda. >> Madame chair, I move that we that we approve personnel as presented by Mr. Mallalerie. >> Do I have a second? >> A second. >> Is there any discussion? I have a question for you and I was going to ask you this before the meeting but I didn't see you when

089I was going through it. Um on the additional employments the 2 through 16 that's a lot of people for the same thing. Clarification on the wording. Um it says it includes all of the games is that every person is going to be working that every night or they have a different schedule. We're not going to pay all of them that every night. >> No, they're on different games, kids. >> Okay. >> Yes. >> Thank you. >> Uh I'd like to make a motion to pull um some items off the agenda to discuss in executive session. Um item K numbers 1, two, three, and four. >> I'm sorry. Can you >> Can you do that again? >> Yeah. >> Can I Is this loud enough? Okay. It wasn't close. Okay. Yeah. I want to pull item

090K 1 2 3 and four to discuss an executive session. Okay. >> And also item H4. >> Okay. >> Second. >> Okay. >> I've already made a motion to approve with the exception. So we discuss >> So we had discussion. We're going to pull items K one, two, three, and four and items H4 with the exception. >> Right. Madam Chairman, I would I make a motion that we approve personnel with the exception of K1, 2, 3, and four and H4. >> Do I have a second? >> Okay, >> Ashley. All in favor? >> Yay. Okay. Motion carries. >> Okay. Thank you. >> All right. >> We have um three job descriptions. Um these three job descriptions, the only changes that are made to those job descriptions are the reporting structure. Madam chair, I move that

091we approve the job descriptions as presented by Mr. Mallerie. >> Second. >> We're going to pull I'm going to pull those and just discuss it in executive session. >> Job description. >> Yes, sir. >> Okay. >> You got to make a motion. >> All right. I make a motion that we >> Well, I move it. I may I move that we um we pull these job description until we discuss them in executive session. >> Okay. Second. >> All in favor? >> Yay. >> Okay. >> All right. Strategic initiatives. Dr. rescue >> based on the findings and strategic initiatives outlined in the 100-day report and in alignment with the district's commitment to elevating instructional quality, strengthening organizational [clears throat] capacity, and improving student outcomes across Dothan City Schools. I recommend that the board of education approve

092each strategic initiative presented in the report as individual action items. The initiatives are as follows. One, literacy and school turnaround, which would be Dr. DeWalt. Two, school improvement for math instruction, Dr. Ward. Three, strength and behavior supports. Four, central office and school-based position reorganization. Five, technology improvements improvements. Six, governance. Seven, teacher recruitment and retention. And eight, strengthen resource allocation. This recommendation ensures that Dothan city schools can begin the necessary planning, communication, and coordination required to implement these initiatives effectively and on schedule. Final contracts for external partners and service providers will be brought to the board for review and approval in accordance with policy. >> I don't like that we don't have that. I don't like that. Um, I need a motion to approve the literacy and school turnaround initiative. >> Madam Chair, I move that

093we um that we approve the strategic initiative as presented by uh Dr. Escu. Okay. >> A second. >> All right. Any discussion? >> Now we have a motion to take one. So, I had um a few comments and if the audience can bear with me a couple of minutes. Um so, good evening. Um tonight's vote tonight is about leadership and responsibility. As a board, our role is to govern in the best interest of students, even when that requires difficult decisions. This discussion over the past month or so has definitely generated some strong opinions, but opinions cannot outweigh evidence and hesitation cannot replace leadership. Our obligation is to students and to the trust this community has placed in us. So I want to be very clear. My first point, teachers are not the problem. Our systems

094are. So we have dedicated educators working hard every day under challenging conditions. However, it is equally clear that the systems they are working within is not producing consistent academic results especially in literacy and math. Saying that is not an attack on teachers. It is an honest assessment of systems. Professional respect means fixing what is broken so teachers can succeed. That includes aligned curriculum, clear instructional expectations, coaching support, and consistency across all schools. Continuing to ask teachers to work harder inside a fragmented system is not respectful and it is not acceptable for our students. My second main point, the data requires action, not delay. So, as we've heard tonight, we have reviewed the data. We all have reviewed the report card. I know there was a lot of chatter on social media about the report card.

095We know multiple schools remain identified for improvement. So, at this point, the question is not whether improvement is needed. The question is whether this board is willing to act. Delaying action does not preserve stability. It preserves underperformance. Every year we wait is a year students cannot get back. And the longer we delay, the more likely the state becomes involved in decisions that should remain local. Leadership means acting before we lose control of the outcome. So a third point I like to make, literacy is a foundational predictor of future opportunity, not just a test score. So when students cannot read, and Dr. DeWalt touched on this, but when students cannot read proficiently, they struggle to access content across all subjects. And that just makes sense. Over time, that struggle leads to disengagement, widening academic gaps, and

096increased likelihood of dropping out. So, I looked up some research, and according to research from the literacy mids south, approximately, and Dr. DeWalt touched on this as well, but just bear with me, please. Approximately 70% of incarcerated adults cannot read above a fourth grade level. 85% of juveniles who interact with the juvenile justice system are considered functionally low literate. High school dropouts are three and a half times more likely to be arrested in their lifetime and 63% more likely to be incarcerated than individuals with a 4-year college degree. These statistics are not abstract. They reflect patterns that begin early, often with reading failure in elementary school. Low literacy limits access to opportunity with jobs and stability later in life. Improving literacy early is one of the most effective interventions we have not only for our

097individual students but for our community as a whole. The next topic is consultants are temporary but our capacity is the goal. So of course there's been a lot of discussion about consultants and I'm aware there's even a negative connotation around that word consultants. So instead of calling them consultants I'm going to call them what they are and they're experts. These experts will not be with us forever and I support that. Their time should be limited. Their role is to build researchinformed capacity within our staff so that when their work comes to an end, our systems ability to continue the work is embedded and sustainable for years to come. The goal is not dependency. The goal is durability. External expertise accelerates improvement, but lasting change comes from internal capacity. And that is exactly what this plan

098is designed to do. I have one final point and then I'll go to my closing. So central office support is not the problem. Lack of coordination is. So the argument that strengthening central office roles is inherently unhelpful because it overlooks what research consistently shows about school improvement. Districts that improve outcomes, especially in schools identified as needing improvement, have they have aligned curriculum. They have coordinated instructional support. They have strong instructional coaching and ongoing professional learning. These supports do not pull teachers away from students. They support teachers in classrooms. And when these experts time has ended, it will be our central office staff and school-based coaches who continue the work, who maintain momentum and sustain capacity within our teaching force. External experts and structured professional learning are effective because they rely on research and large sample

099evidence of what is known to raise proficiency in reading and math. So, in closing, I'd like to commend Dr. ask you for coming in and doing exactly what he promised he would do in the interview with his 100 day plan. In his first 100 days, he has completed over 100 school visits. And I can tell you the amount of educators that are constantly telling me how much they appreciate seeing our superintendent in the buildings on a day in dayout basis. He had five community listening sessions where he listened to parents, teachers, community stakeholders, and he coordinated independent evaluations by national experts in literacy, mathematics, and special education. So, our responsibility as a board is to act decisively when the evidence is clear and the stakes are high. Literacy is foundational to every academic outcome. And

100when we fail to address it, the consequences follow students far beyond our classrooms. [applause] Just a couple more sentences and then I'll be out of your hair. So we therefore have a moral obligation, a moral obligation to intervene early, to use what research shows works, and to put systems in place that give every child a real chance at success, not just this year, but for the long term. For those reasons, I will vote in favor of the superintendent's academic turnaround plan, and I strongly urge my colleagues to do the same for our students, for our educators, and for the future of our entire community. Thank you. >> Is there any further discussion? Well, um, may I Okay. Okay. I just wanted to, um, I'll be quick, but I just, I just wanted to say that,

101uh, you know, we hired Dr. Ascu for a reason. And my reason was about the turnaround schools. And I want to give him a chance to make to make sure that this happened in Dothan, Alabama. It is well needed. I see the children in the audience today. And I know that these parents care. So I would like to give him the chance to make this work for us. >> That's it. Thank you, [applause] >> Miss Jenkins. >> Um, I really like Dr. DeWalt when we met with her and what she has said. We all know that these things need fixed. I completely agree with Miss Walton that these things need fixed. I've watched these before I ran for the board, which is a big reason I ran for the board, as well as the last

102four years having all my children in the system. I've seen the discrepancies um with my own children and what they've needed help with. However, I feel like we need to look into the planning on this a little bit more um how these things are truly going to be implemented. Um 60 years ago, um Marie Clay sold a really good product to a lot of school systems that now has been proven 60 years later that it failed a lot of kids for a really long time. Um sold the story podcast, science of reading podcast, a lot of those talk about the correct way to educate our children and fill those gaps. Um a lot of people go around and sell these things to systems because they are needed. We know they're needed. none of us disagrees

103or disputes the fact that those things are needed. Um, for me, it's just researching and making sure that we're hiring the right people. Um, again, really like Dr. DeWalt, um, I really like what she was saying, but there I think needs to be a little bit more information, some more questions, a work session where some of those things are presented more deeply to us. So, I make a motion that we table this um, and have further discussion on it. We're going to have order or we're going to stop the meeting. We got to have order. >> Okay. Do we have a Do we have a second to table this? >> Second. >> All right. And so are we >> No, we had to u >> There's a motion. >> No, no, but I had made

104a motion to approve except for one. Do we do the open motion first? >> Yes, we do. >> I can't hear you either. >> We have to finish that open motion to uh to approve. There's a motion. >> There's a motion to approve and then we had a motion to table. >> Okay. >> All right. So, all in favor of tableabling. >> So, I guess my question is I I don't know if we had discussion on the table. >> Oh, okay. I'm sorry. discuss. >> So tableabling until when because we've had um Dr. DeWalt here and Dr. Asky, how long has Dr. DeWalt been here? I mean, she's been and she explained to the audience and she's explained to the board as well. Um that she's actually started the work, you know, without even a

105contract because she knew the dire state we were in with literacy. So table. So go ahead, Dr. Ask you. Can you please explain further about >> She's been working with our schools and principles since midepptember. >> But now this is not unpaid work. She's been paid. >> She's build us for the first part. The second part is to come. >> Okay. And so I don't so you know I wasn't saying she hadn't been paid. She does not have authorization to move forward with the the contract. So table this until when Ari >> the next board meeting or I would propose a work session before the next board meeting to do a work session board meeting. >> Okay. And so in this work session, I would like to know before the public hear specific deliverables that

106we're looking for because to me at this point we have the data and it it kind of feels like potentially a stalling tactic. So I would like to know what deliverables are you looking for out of this working session that has not been provided? actual end goals, rubrics to get to those goals, check-ins, what are you going to be working on with these principles, teachers? I want to see an actual plan, which I don't feel like we've actually seen. We were given a lot of really good information, but we weren't given an actual plan. And she said that she had created a plan. I would like to hear more about that each individualized plan on how that is going to be handled. Do I think this needs to happen yesterday that we are in an

107emergency situation? Absolutely. But just hiring somebody because we're in an emergency situation and not making sure that we're doing our due diligence to make sure that it's the right person for us, I think is not being a good steward over this position either. >> This meeting needs to come to order. Officers, we may need people to be removed if this meeting doesn't come to order. >> So, Dr. ask you um do you have further recommendations at this point? Because I mean we have been given data on top of data. I I feel like if they come in and show us exact I'm going to do this on day one, day two, day three, day four, it's still going to be something else. So what's your recommendation for moving forward, Dr. Ascu? >> So I believe

108what board member Jenkins is asking for would be the stipulations that would be in the actual contract. So what Dr. Dr. DeWalt or Dr. Ward would spell out in the contract are these are the things I'm going to deliver to the school district on these dates. So that's the contract, but as I noted in my recommendation, those things will come back before the board. What I'm asking the board to approve tonight is for us to move forward with the work with with her so she can come with the contract. the uh if we vote tonight, the problem that I have is that it approved. We we've been told this is all or nothing, the the entire plan, but we don't have any information about the terms, the cost. We don't know what we're going to

109pay. We were told that the total financial impact would be like $560,000 over two years and then somehow work its way down to 100. But each one of these decisions has a pretty big financial impact. I counted about nine different positions at central office we're hiring. But I see nothing that says pay, benefits, uh staff, secretary, overhead, all those things come with those positions. >> So we don't have ahead. Sorry. Yep. Wait, we're not going to interrupt you. We haven't been presented any parameters on the consultants. Are they going to be one year, 10 year, 100 years? Are they going to be 100,000, a million? We don't know. So, we would be completely irresponsible. The problem is we received this plan, I believe, an hour before it was sent public and we've never had time

110to have a work session on this plan. We're not say or I'm not saying this plan is no good and that there aren't I don't know 50% 80% 100% I don't know what percentage of it I would support but we haven't collaborated at all and gotten the information we need to be responsible with their money if we vote on it right now. It's a blank check that just says do what you want. be like the president introducing a bill on his first day or 100th day and every law he wants just gets passed. So we can't without knowing what the specifics of all that stuff's going to be. So that's the problem that I have to answer your question. U the financials have been shared with the board um multiple times through our board update.

111um there's a separate document and we can go back and I can >> I've never seen it's there um there's se it's been shared several times also um for the benefit of everyone as it relates to Mr. Child's question um as it relates to literacy for Dr. DeWalt. And again, this would all be title funds. Um, so it's not touching any of our local funds. It's money that the federal government designates for professional learning. Um, approximately over two years, $200,000. Could be less, could be at that amount, but no more. But again, the specifics of that would come in a contract. The deliverables, which board member Jenkins asked for. Um, math coaching as it relates to Dr. Ward. um in year one somewhere around $100,000 a year. And again, these would be title funds. Um

112and this would cover us pre-K through eight or K through eight, I should say. >> What title? >> It would be title two. Title two carryover. >> Title two carryover funds. Um for the reorganization and personnel adjustments for the assistant superintendent, that position's already in the budget. Um, so there's only about $33,000 in a supplement um that would be divided among the three positions that currently exist. Um, executive director of schools and student support approximately depending on years and we estimated on the high end of years in education for salary and benefits that person would be about $178,000 and $178,76 per year. the mental health coordinator. Um $40,000 of that person's salary would be federally funded. Um so for a total approximately of $96,960. The director of school improvement, the impact on the local budget

113is only about $27,000. Hiring and retention, and that again, we pitch that at the ceiling, meaning potentially we could offer these $3,000 bonuses up to 30 teachers, but if we only end up with 10, it's less. But the maximum it would be would be 90,000. The international teacher onboarding for that program again and it's approximately $6,000 per teacher. Um we're estimating but again it's all dependent upon the number of teachers you would get. The ceiling would be $130,000 but if we only hired five then it's 30,000. So it just depends. And then of course all of these hires are phased. So it's not like we're saying we're going to hire all these people tonight. Um, it would extend through winter 2027. And that's basically it as it relates to the financials and the full breakdown

114the board has received. You've had it over most >> and so >> I have a question. >> Go ahead. >> Thank you. >> You said the school improvement person only gets 27,000 >> 27,000 local funds because title one would pay for the rest of the >> Okay. All right. >> Madam chair, may I? >> Yes. Yes, please. >> Okay. And so >> in anticipation of this financial discussion, I have gone back through all of the approved motions that this board has made since we've been elected. And so I'd like to share some numbers on the motions and some of these motions were not advertised. they were brought the day of, but let's go through and I'll try to list them out um according to dollar amount. So, um in November's meeting, we agreed to bring

115outsource custodians back as full-time employees. That was $278,000 per year. I'll repeat that. bringing outsource custodians back as full-time employees, $278,000 that this board approved. In the same November meeting, adding additional bus aids, it is $268,000 per year. And on that one, the first year, um, fiscal year 2026, it would be $267,000. For fiscal years 27 through 29, the bus aids will be $442,000 per year. Um, additional local cost for buses, this was minimal. It was um $75,000 per year. I will, in fairness, I will say that the dissolution of charter school authorizer status gave us back 74,000 and that was divided over I think 8 to 10 people. So, um, those amounts alone equal $623,000 for fiscal year 26 and close to $800,000 for 2027 through 2029. Now, there were some motions that we

116really don't have an accurate estimate on. So, I tried to come up with some assumptions that I thought would be reasonable. So, for the board attorney contract that was approved, a five-year contract where we agreed to increase the hourly rate from $250 an hour to $300 an hour. This board approved for a buyout clause of $50,000 a year. So, if something happened, we would be responsible for $250,000 for the board attorney. So, I'm just going to estimate a number for that. Um, I think in the last year we paid the board attorney 115,000. So, I'm just estimating it would go up to 230,000 because we also approved that our attorney has to approve every contract. So, we really don't even know. There's no limit. I asked for um a limit on that. So, we don't

117know if it'll be 230,000 or 500,000 for the board attorney. Um, one other thing I just did an estimate on would be the motions for proper climate control and personal appliance use for staff. I just estimated a minimum 50,000 per year for that. Um, just to kind of throw a number in since we don't know. So, with all of those, I'm going to go back to these final numbers using those estimates for 2026. With the motions this board has passed in the what, two months we've been in office, 2026, we have added $789,000 per year for that year. 2027, $964,000. 2028, 964,000. 2029 964,000 and not one of the motions that were added that I've listed has put one scent in our classrooms, not one book, not one curriculum. So [applause] I I just I'm

118I'm at a loss. This is very disheartening for me. Very disheartening for me. But the bus aids did provide more safety for our students. >> And I'm not and I and I voted for it. So I'm not I'm not saying it doesn't. There are benefits, but I don't want to hear talk about a $500,000 contract over two years when we're talking about improving our academic proficiency. And we've talked about a million dollar a million dollars per year for these other initiatives. All right. Is there any more discussion? >> Again, I'll reiterate a work session which is how things are made to occur. >> I for one need more information. I did not receive any of this. Um >> it was he he provided it. He provided the financials. Yes, he did. >> And I notified

119y'all. >> Scott is not on any of those emails. >> How I was being left out of so many emails and I had no idea why. One of y'all typed my email in wrong or something. But I had missed all this. >> Okay. So y'all, it's not me. I don't know anything about you not being on emails, but it definitely has been provided numerous times. Beyond the money, there is the fact that this is all or nothing and there's a whole lot of whatever it could be that we don't know when we vote all or nothing. I never understood why everything was all or nothing in this and that's where the work session would come in. I may agree with all of it, but I need time to explore it. So for clarity in the

120recommendation, I recommend that the board of education approve each strategic initiative presented in the report as individual action items. So I'm asking you guys to vote to move forward with them as individual action items and I read them one. >> Why aren't they individually presented? >> I presented as a group, but you can vote on them individually. >> Then that's all or nothing unless we decide to pull them like we did with the personnel a minute ago. >> No, no, no. What I'm asking is, for example, number one, literacy and school turnaround. That would be an action item. We vote on that. Second one would be school improvement for math. Third one, behavior supports, >> but that's not how it's on the document. It's on it's on the agenda to be voted for the 100

121day plan to include all of those. They're not presented on the uh agenda individually for individual votes. But yes, we could pull them one at a time, but a work session where we pull them and work together to me makes a lot more sense because I may agree with every every one of [snorts] them. I didn't even know that this was federal money we were talking about until now. >> You're right. >> Thank you. >> So, I need more time. And if y'all want to meet tomorrow, I'm good. >> [snorts and clears throat] >> All right. Is there any more discussion? >> All right. >> And so I do have a I guess a final comment on this. So I definitely see we have you know our city commissioners here, former city commissioners. I see

122people from the chamber here. And so I know recently Dothan was approved as a super site. So I don't know the specific details, but essentially trying to get businesses into our community and saying this location um is ready for business. We're we're ready to receive you. And one thing I do know is that if we do not have a strong public school system with more than 40% of children being able to read, we will not be able to get those businesses here. And I am frankly sick and tired of these semantics, of this politics, of this posturing, of this power play. It is utterly shameful. is shameful. And I'm speaking as a board member and I'm speaking as a parent with a daughter in Dothan City Schools, fourth grade. So, we have a long way

123to go. I don't think any of us disagree that the work needs to be done. My problem and the reason that I would like to table this is that nobody presented to us how it was going to happen. They sold us a wonderful product without giving us the product. I'm going to sell you these windows to put on your house and I'm going to tell you all the great things about them, but I'm not going to give you the brand and the company of the window. That's what this felt like to me. These are great. No one can dispute that we want these changes to happen. The data says we need changes. We know we want them to happen. I'm not saying I don't want them to happen. I'm saying that the companies that have

124been presented to us, I need more not data. We have the data. We've seen the data. I've seen the data for years. What are we going to do? What have we been doing internally to fix it? What are we going to do internally when these people come in? What is the plan that we have once these people come in? >> She didn't answer any of those questions. I also have children in this system. I have concerns about how that's going to play out and to be good stewards of that money and of our finances. I want to make sure that we're not hiring someone who is going to hurt us down the road because that has happened many times in the past. So, >> Okay. May May I May I Madam Chair, may I speak?

125>> Yes, Miss Guilford. Miss Guilford. >> Okay. Okay. Um I'm I'm not quite understanding this. We have been in this situation where we have voted on consultants and we haven't had this big of an issue. I'm just wondering why now are we having such an issue. We have we have hired we have hired uh superintendent to make recommendations. He has shown us that he's gone through a process of getting experts to come in and determine what is needed in our system to make a change. And I think every person in this audience, whether they have children or not, want to make sure that our children get what they need. So, I'm not quite understanding why this why this a big deal about want to put it off and whether or not this is a stalling

126pro uh process or whether or not it's it's the presentation that you're not satisfied with. I think, you know, and I I I'll say it now that I we should go ahead with this and let the superintendent do the job. >> And we are not doing that. We are we as board members are not in control of this. We can either vote it up or down in any situation. We have hired a person to do this and let us let him do it. And that's not what's happening here. It's been going on for much too long. That's and that's that's just the way I feel about it. And I think I think we ought to think about this and look at the let look at all our past actions and look at the uh the

127presentations that have been uh done and we've not had a stepbystep uh we've not had a stepby-step road map about where how it's going to happen. >> Okay. And one final point for me, and I'm just passionate, so I know I'm talking a lot, but you know, when we touched on the low literacy leading to dropout rates and leading to violence and crime, um, when we were in the listening sessions, and it it's not hard to imagine, but one of the principles that's actually in this room mentioned he can recall specific students that had issues with, you know, literacy, low literacy, and then, you know, they eventually dropped up, dropped out of school, and then you would see them on the news for either crimes or they had, you know, been victims of murder or

128whatever. So, to me, we have a moral obligation. It's not just about all of this politic back and forth, whatever is being discussed up here. We as a community, not just Delta City Schools, we as a community owe it to these children to have a fair shot at a successful life. I I'm frankly sick and tired of watching the news, watching the news and seeing about shootings and killings in Dothan, Alabama. And it doesn't have to be this way. And we can all turn our heads and say, "Not my problem, not my kid." Until it is your problem, and it is your kid. Um before we vote, I too have a statement. Um literacy is very important. One of the master's degrees that I hold is in literacy. Um, and I will tell you, I

129smiled when Dr. Ward said that when all the kids were out partering, partying, she was in the library because it was a big joke. Um, because in high school I was in the library. I mean, I asked some of my friends, you know, did we go to the same high school? We went to Northw and I was like, did we go to the same high school? And they said, yeah, you were in the library. Um, and I'll be honest with you, there are several times that reading literally saved my life. And I understand the need for children to have to read. Uh, there is nothing more important than children knowing how how to read. Um, and there is not any way for a child to function in this life without knowing how to read. So

130that hits home. The part about this plan that we have to think about is we also have school choice coming and that's coming at us like a boulder. And I just this is just something to consider and I just want you to hold this in the back of your mind. If we lose two to 300 children next year when the income requirement drops out, that's going to be 20 teacher units that we do not get back. So we have to hold that in the back of our minds. Okay. So while this approach increases it's going look I know this will work. I know the science of reading and I know it'll work the problem and and I hear what you're saying then move forward and part of me says yes let's do it but then

131part of me thinks about this and I did write this out so I too want to be able to read what I wrote this approach increases the bureaucracy and cost without clearly demonstrating how it will result in direct measure Measurable improvements in the classrooms are meaningful relief for teachers. And let me tell you, we've got to take care of our teachers to retain our teachers. So, it's like a moving cog like Dr. Ascu said, and I know that it's gotten out about the community that I don't support this man. I do. He's a brilliant man and he knows what he's doing as far as school improvement. All right. But our educators are already stretched thin by increasing academic standards, behavioral challenges, and staffing shortages. And this plan adds layers of oversight rather than direct support.

132It risks further burd burdening school-based staff and diverting resources away from where they are most needed. Now, the sustainable improvement requires investing first in our classrooms. So, like the resources, I'm all for that. Um, intervention personnel, behavioral supports, com competitive compensation, not through administrative growth. We don't need anymore. We don't need any more of the bureau bureaucracy. So the plan lacks transparency regarding the long-term financial impact and clear bench benchmarks for success. What are our clear benchmarks in a year? Where do we want to be? We know where our Lexiles are now, but in a year where do we want them to be? Where do we want them to be? What are our goals? So, Dothan City Schools will move forward most effectively with a plan that's streamlined, fiscally responsible, and centered on schools rather

133than systems and remain committed to working collaboratively towards solutions that prioritize students and strengthens teachers and ensure that resources are directed where they have the greatest impact and that's inside our classrooms. So I too am torn and I know listen literacy I I get it. So I too am torn and I think that sometimes you've got to go slow to go fast. >> I want to do one too. >> I I have a quick um point I don't think I made when I talked about um the motions the financial implications of the motions. So all of those would have to come out of our local fund and that's essentially right now we have due to um the diligence of our CSFO we have $30 million in reserve. $30 million in reserve. We are required by

134the state to maintain one month of reserve which is $8 million. So all of those 790,000 for 2026 and close to a million for the remaining years would be depleting our reserve. So that $30 million we have and for this plan in case um just to make sure everybody is aware um Dr. Ascu has said that these will come from title funds or federal funding. It would not impact our local funds. So it would not be depleting our reserve that we have like those previous motions are doing. >> [applause] >> from someone who works >> in federal programs, you are not to rely that you will get the same amount of federal pro federal funding. >> We we can't rely on that money. >> Madam Madam Chair, >> may I speak? Madam Chair, Madam Chair,

135may I speak? >> Yes, ma'am. >> Okay. you know, and I I heard your plea and we can talk all day about being torn one way or the other. I'm not torn at all. I see the picture clearly >> and I know what is going to be best for for the children and I think that's what we need to look at. We it's been demonstrated it's been shown that you know the finance is not going to be the issue. So you know we can talk all day about how much we care about the children and what we want what we want to uh produce. But as a board your vote is going to tell us what you really mean. >> It's not going to it's it's it's not it's not what you say is what

136you do. And if that's going to be the case then everybody will know. And it needs to be clear. It's nothing you can do unless this board decides to go ahead and let the superintendent run the school. We cannot continue to we cannot do it. It's not for us. You know, this is not a board. Uh this is not for the board to run the schools. We must let the people we hire. you know, you don't go someplace and you have a person, you tell the the uh the doctor what to do. You know, you can only say something about yourself. You can't just tell him how he should operate. >> And so that's what we need to look at. >> Yes, >> madam chair. >> Yes, sir. >> Uh mayor. >> Yes, sir. Um

137this >> this board this board has this present board has not discussed children at any at any time. Uh and and what I heard from our presenters tonight was urgency. You know waiting. What is waiting going to do? Uh our children right now are failing right now and we want to delay. Why should we delay? And then we are talking about all children. You know when I used to say something you and everybody say all the children. Yeah. All the children but some are hurt more than others. And if you didn't hear the urgency, you know, and we're going to delay another semester, so we're going to lose this whole year cuz half is gone now and we're going to lose another half when we get people in here that can help us. I I

138know we got excellent teachers and administrator, but we haven't improved anything lately with all the competent people we have working. So, we need something else. >> And if you all got something else, then share that with us tonight. If you got something else that you know will work, cuz we got a man who has proven he has something that works. But what >> children? That's why we're children. [applause] and academic achievement. That's that's that's in our policy in the state. Academic achievement for that's our number one goal. >> Thank you. >> Yes, sir. >> I'm going to say one last thing. Um this is all about the children and saying the data, seeing all the things that we've been presented is wonderful. We need help. We know we need help. I know we need help.

139However, we are voting on not that we need help, but the product that we're going to use to help us. And that's where I still have questions. I don't feel like we were given a fluid enough plan with benchmark goals. Where are we going to be in a year? If we hire a consulting firm to do this, if we hire Dr. DeWalt to come in, what are our expectations a year from now? How are we measuring what success rates have happened? What are we looking for? What type of growth are we looking for? How is that going to happen in the classroom? We heard they're going to be training them. We heard that they're going to be mentoring them. How are those things going to be handled? What things are going to be used? Teachers

140can't teach when there's things like 504 in place, stealing away time from the students and rules put in place. There's a lot more things that are happening here that we see as a board that we know are happening as a board. It's not about I don't want this person and I don't want to help our children. I want to help our children, but I want to make sure that we're being good stewards of that and making sure that the person that we are hiring and the plan that we are going with is the right plan for our children. If we hire this firm right away and we don't have some of those things answered and a year from now we don't feel like we've met those goals, we're no better off than we are right

141now. I want to do a more thorough deep dive on this company and what these plans are. I don't feel like those things have been laid out for us. I'm not talking about how much money we're paying them. I'm talking about their actual plan. What are you actually going to do? They sold us themselves. They didn't sell us their their product, their how of getting it done. And I cannot vote on something like this without having more information on that. And I have voted down many consultants in the past. Many consultants that were not successful for our system that that got voted through that I voted no on. I'm not going to do that again. I'm not going to vote through something and watch it fail because we didn't do our due diligence to make

142sure that this is the right company right now for our children. Do we need one? Yes. Do I have the answers to what other company that may be? No. Is it going to be this one? Probably. I really like them. But I still have not seen an actual plan and benchmark clear benchmark goals for what they're going to achieve, how they're going to achieve it, and what's going to happen at the end of that. And so at this point, this will be my final comment. My final final final comment. [clears throat] I want to ensure that this board is not trying to undermine this superintendent. So the longer we delay, the more we can say he has not accomplished what he was hired to do. So then we can have a reason to try to

143terminate the contract. This is the the quiet part out loud. I want to ensure that this superintendent is given the same fair chance that all of the previous superintendent have been given. [applause] >> All right. If there's no more discussion, we need to do a vote on tableabling this. >> So, all in favor? Yay. >> Yay. >> Okay. All oppose of tableabling it? >> Nay. >> Okay. >> Nay. >> And then now we need to do the motion on approving it. >> Okay. All right. Um strategic um school improvement for math instruction initiative. Um ask for a motion to approve the school improvement for math math instruction initiative. I said I asked for a motion to approve the school improvement for the math instruction initiative. >> Well, we have to do each one individually. >>

144We don't have that. >> I don't even know what you're talking about. >> It's on my >> Oh, >> no idea what it is. >> Okay. Well, it says that I have to call for a motion to approve the school improvement for math instruction initiative. Do I have a motion? >> No idea. >> That's number two of the eight. >> No, we just tabled. We That was just a vote on the literacy. >> Now we have the math. Yeah. Now we're on the math. This makes no sense to me. You just said we have to vote on the whole thing and now we're going through every every action item. So, are there action items, initiatives that we can approve today? >> I think there are. Yeah, this is I'm just going by what was placed

145in front. >> It's not on the public agenda. It's just on your agenda. >> Yeah. I don't I didn't see >> I don't have a copy of it. When did that go public? >> Repeat. >> When when was that presented though publicly? >> Like when >> we can't change it right before the meeting. >> It wasn't today. If I recall correctly, it would have been Wednesday or Thursday of last week. >> Yeah, it's not on assembly, which is what we used to publish. And Dustin, that would not be legitimate. Correct. >> Yeah. I've been on assembly all day and I haven't seen it. What do I do? I don't know. >> So, it does not exist. >> Just go through and do whatever. >> No, don't don't go through it. It's not on the agenda.

146Just skip it. >> It's not on the agenda. It does not exist publicly. We have >> done something but not legitimately. >> Yeah. >> So, we're moving to executive. >> Okay. So, apparently what has happened, let me explain what's happened. Um, it was broken out for my script, but it was not published publicly on assembly. So, because it wasn't p published publicly, we can't go through. And so, um, we've had in previous meetings, we've added motions to the agenda. The four board members have added motions to the agenda the day of. So I move that we make a motion to add each of these initiatives to the agenda today. >> A second. >> I seconded it. >> I'm going to ask our attorney on that. We already moved to approve it. So can we still

147>> make those changes >> if we have a super majority? Right. >> So that means at least five of us have to approve. >> We've already tabled the whole sum. >> So after >> Okay. So when do we need a supermajority? Because I thought we needed a super majority when they added motions during the meeting. You only have to have four. >> Gosh, this is unorganized. Are you going to call for the vote so we can know where people stand and we already know where they stand but so it can be documented? >> You made the motion. I seconded it. >> Okay. >> So, >> is there any discussion? >> Motion. She seconded it. >> Okay. >> All right. Ty made the motion that we add this to the agenda. I seconded it so we

148could vote on it. >> So, are we adding the math portion to the agenda? >> We're adding the rest of them. Yes. Of the eight. >> Is there any way that if we do add these that we can have a copy of that >> before we can we get a copy of it the each one of the strategic initiatives? >> We don't have it. >> No, it's not on here. >> It's not in here. >> We have a public document that none of this is on. >> It's not in here. We can add it if we vote on it, >> but we need to be very specific with each item because it's it's new. It needs to be specifically detailed before a motion is made. >> Okay. Do you want to do you want to

149be specific on each one? >> I don't. >> Here you go. T >> my name. >> Okay. Let's see. >> All right. Um >> Gosh. So, um, I move that we add a motion for the literacy and school turnaround initiative. >> We already did that. We already >> Okay. So, the next one I move that we add to the agenda the school improvement for math instruction. >> Second. >> Do we vote or keep going? >> Okay. >> Or just keep going. Okay. The next one I move that we >> Wait a minute. We got to vote. Is there any discussion? >> No, we have to do them individually. >> Well, I think we have to do them individually so you guys can vote. Yes or >> we got to vote to add them? >> Yeah.

150>> So, we're in the discussion on that one. We're about to vote and add or not. >> Yes. >> No. >> We have to do them individually. I guess is that a question for legal? I don't know, but let's figure it out. >> Yes. >> Can we? >> Yes. >> Okay. Yes. >> Yes. >> We want to do it collectively. >> We can do it collect. >> Oh, this is this is interesting. Okay. I make a motion to collectively add the following motions to the agenda. Um, and some of them we may already have covered, but I'm just going to go through all of them. Literacy and school turnaround initiative, school improvement for math instruction initiative, strength and behavior supports initiative, central office and schoolbased position reorganization initiative, technology improvements initiative, governance initiative, teacher recruitment

151and retention initiative, strength and resource allocation initiative. So adding them collectively, I'm moving to add them collectively to be voted on individually. And that's why I would like a copy of them because that's a lot of things all at once that we're adding to do separately instead of one plan that we do not have in our agenda. >> It it's in the it's in what Lacricia printed out for us. He it is it's the 100 day plan that he published individually. >> They're all >> but individually as each individual initiative. They're labeled. They're labeled. >> I second. >> But it's not like in an order. It's each initiative on each page that you have. >> They're labeled in order. >> Hey guys, we've got to go back to the table and deal with that in

152the orderly fashion. >> So, you're going to have to go back to that motion. It didn't fail. >> She said it failed. >> A motion to approve the literacy. >> Okay. >> All right. Motion to approve. Um, we got a vote on the motion to approve the literacy and school turnaround initiative. All in favor? >> Which one is this? >> This is the motion. The literacy and school and turnaround initiative. >> And is this we vote? >> That's the one we voted. >> So, yay. >> Okay. >> I don't even know. >> It's the literacy initiative. This is the one that we voted to table and now we got to vote it down >> or vote it up. >> We've already tabled it, but we had a open motion. >> We t >> Yes. There

153was a motion to approve. >> Yes. So motion to approve the literacy school turnaround. >> All approved. So if you approve it. >> Yay. >> You don't approve it. it. This is for the reading initiative. >> We're we're voting on each initiative. So, this is voting to approve the reading initiative. >> Yes. Even though we had tabled it, she says we have to close out the motion to approve it. >> A work session would make a lot more sense. It would make us not look near as stupid as we're looking right now >> because we're looking Yes. Yes. because I'm the only one that has this. Nobody else has this. So, >> okay. So, we have to go back out and close it out where we tabled it. [cough and clears throat] All right. >>

154And I think Hold on. Can we do a quick recess because I think she's trying to show it to her inseure. Do I have a motion that we go into recess? >> Recess. >> Do I have a motion that we go into recess? >> I move that we go to recess. >> Do I have a second? >> Are you second it? >> Second. >> All in favor? >> Yay. >> Okay. All oppose. Motion carries. We're going to take a 5m minute recess. >> What the We're going back. Nice. I think I'm just going to like reason. But the problem, I'll tell them to I'm good. My husband said, We haven't done anything. You want to talk about all this wonder? Yes, she did. >> Daddy table. We voted to take I don't >> know. But

155it wasn't like that. adopted. What we're talking about right now that All of I've got three or four And that's what they're saying. I don't have My child 4Runner. >> If you are driving a Oxford 4Erunner, you need to move it, please. And we are if if you're moving if you're driving a 4Erunner Oxford, you need to move it, please. >> A white one. A white 4Erunner Oxford, you need to move it, please. And we're about to readjourn. We're about to call back to order. I'm sorry. Wishful thinking. wishful thinking. >> I'll be here all week. Hallelujah. They said they are a lot. All right, we're reconvening and we have some delegations. >> You need a motion, ma'am. >> Oh, motion to reconvene. I'm sorry. >> Madam Chair, I move that we reconvene into regular

156session. >> Do I have a second? >> Second. >> All in favor or discussion? Okay. Passes. All right, we have some delegations wishing to speak. Um, Anita Dawkins. >> She left. Okay. Um, take glasses off here. Um, Leticia Jackson. All right. You have three minutes, ma'am. >> Thank you for being here. >> Thank you. What we just witnessed is embarrassing. It is totally embarrassing and all of you should be ashamed of yourselves, especially those who are trying to delay this vote and not uh do what's right for our children. It is no wonder that our children are in such dire straits cannot re 11%. Did y'all hear those numbers? 11%. It's It's shameful. that we would not move forward. But I want to say a couple of words about Robert's rules of order. I think

157first of all that you all need a workshop on Robert's rules of order. You need to know how to run a meeting. The chair cannot vote. The chair cannot second a vote. Um and and when you vote on on a motion and that motion does not pass, you have to go back to the original motion. So I really really recommend that you all take a workshop. I'd be happy to train you um in Robert's rules of order because this is embarrassing. The other thing I want you to do is read the belief statements that you have up there. They need to be internalized not just for the students but for each one of you on on this board right now. You you are there. Read them. All decisions will be made with the best interest

158of students first. All students will be successful learners. All students will be taught to respect themselves and others. All students will be taught to communicate effectively. All students will meet and exceed high standards. F. Get a F in every last one of them. You get a F in every last one of them. Now, these numbers are not new numbers. And there are some of you that have been on this board a long time. So they are these are your numbers. You have to own them. And to try to delay after sitting up here for year after year after year after year and you want to delay what we clearly heard was something that needs to happen in this district. Shame on you. I can't say that we all wanted to delay it. And uh that's

159what I heard from you. So I just have to >> Oh, okay. Some of us who have been on here for year and year and year, you know, I I sort of heard that. But uh I I would I would like to go ahead and say we have not voted to delay >> to delay. >> Thank you. Thank you. We have white people >> to be learned to be people down here. >> They're you want to hear [applause and cheering] >> if we keep saying things like that are the problem. and it's going to continue to be a problem cuz that's not the problem. You you don't know anything about me or these other people sitting up here. So making this about race is what continues to make problems in this city. You know nothing

160about me. So claiming that it is a black versus white issue is very very disrespectful. I sit up here. I go into those schools. I see these kids. My son, my fourth grader is one of those failing reading students. He has a D. He has type 1 diabetes and he is desperately struggling learning how to read. My child, my white child is on that list, too. I care deeply about this system and these children and continually bringing race into this is incredibly disrespectful and gets our city nowhere. I really support Dr. Ascu. I support the people who came here and spoke today. But when we keep bringing race into this, we just keep creating a bigger divide in our city. >> All right. Order. >> The kids are 90% or more black. >> Okay, we

161got to have order. Ma'am, your your time is up. >> Ma'am, your time is up. We got to have order. All right, the next we have in India Rich. India Rich, she left. Okay. Um, Chenica Walker. [snorts] Sorry. >> Shenica Walker. Okay. All right. Thank you. All right. We have to go into exe executive session for um personnel and the job descriptions. Um do I need a motion to adjurnn into executive session? >> I make a motion that we adjourn into executive session. >> Second. Um, is there any discussion? I'll answer just second. Okay. All in favor? >> Yay. Okay. Motion carries. Um, before we do go back there, the vote the what what happened and let me go and explain it was I had a different agenda than was posted on simple. Can you

162explain it for us, counselor? Their agenda was different agenda. So if there's nothing voting on nothing, >> who's responsible? >> You can't vote on nothing. Nothing was there. >> Okay. It's not listed on the agenda, >> but like one person's agenda, but not the others. How are the other board members supposed to know what's on the agenda? >> Well, Dustin, remember it's the public agenda. It was not anything but the two words >> that I don't. >> We'll be back in about 20 minutes. Problem with that is make a move to adopt the prior make a motion to agenda prior to the agenda being adopted. >> Unless you guys when I understand my baby. You didn't have the same. So, how do we go back now? Yes, but I don't congratulate you. They did not

163get all of the doctor. So, how are you giving to the public? Sunshine did some Pearson. Nobody's given. I'm not commission. She just says, "Hey, nothing's under Nobody noticed. That's enough. What else? Cheers. So, we need to Have a good night. two. That's right. Hello. I get it. >> [cheering] >> Amen. Let's just go. >> Yeah. Okay. >> Bingo. That's what I That is true. So that doesn't misunderstand that maybe >> [laughter] >> Okay. Is that should have happened? No. I was born like the Flash. That's what's going to raise up. There's nothing. >> All right. I ask for a motion to reconvene into regular session. >> I make a motion to reconvene into regular session. >> Do I have a second? >> Is there any discussion? >> Seconded. >> Miss Miss Guilford. Okay. Is

164there any discussion? All in favor? >> Motion passes. All right. We went in for um personnel um action item C4. >> H >> I'm sorry. H4. Um do I have a motion to approve H4? >> I make a motion to approve H4 pending contract approval by the board. >> Do I have a second? >> Second. >> Okay. All in favor? >> Yay. All oppose. >> Nay. >> Motion carries. >> All right. We also pulled um items K 1 2 3 and four. Do I have a motion to approve items K 1 2 3 and four? >> I make a motion that we approve personnel items K 1 2 3 and four. >> Second. Okay. Do we have any discussion? Okay. All in favor? >> Yay. >> All opposed? >> Nay. >> Okay. Motion carries. All

165right. >> Okay. Um, if there's no new business, then we will announce the following board meeting dates. That's Tuesday, January 13, 2026, 5:30m special called school board. >> Hey, I'm sorry. >> We didn't we didn't move on those. We didn't do anything. >> No action. >> Oh, okay. We did pull job descriptions, so we have to vote on it. Okay. So, on job descriptions, do I have a motion to approve the job descriptions? That is item 11 A two. All right. Do I have a motion? Okay. >> Madam Chair, I move that we approve the job description. >> Do I have a second? >> Second. All right. Any discussion? We had discussed changing a little bit of the wording. Is that something that we can do after we approve this? >> Wait a minute. Do

166we need to do it before we approve it? >> Did you have questions? >> Well, we can. It'll have to get voted down and come back down. >> Okay. All right. >> So, if we want to change the wording, we just need to we need to vote it down. Then we would Okay. >> Okay. >> Or t Can we just table it, change the wording, and then bring it back? >> Okay. Okay, perfect. >> That That's right. I couldn't get this to work. >> I make a motion. >> Sorry, I turned it off. I make a motion that we table 11 A two to um discuss at the next board meeting. Discuss and vote on the next board meeting. >> Okay. >> Second. >> All right. Is there any discussion? >> All in favor? >>

167Yay. Okay. Motion carries. All right. Now, so our next board meetings will be Tuesday, January 13, 2026 at 5:30, special call board meeting for student hearings and Tuesday, January 20th, 2026 at 5:30 p.m. regular school board meeting. Do I have a motion to adjurnn? >> I move that we adjourn. >> Do I have a second? All approved. Is there any discussion? >> No. >> All approved. >> Who seconded it? All three to >> Yay. Amen. And hallelujah.