001and it is 6 o'clock and I'm going to go ahead and call this meeting to order. Uh, four out of five board members are present. Mr. Summers is absent. It is the practice of our board of education to begin our meetings with prayer and the pledge of allegiance. We invite you to bow your heads in prayer and stand to join us in the pledge if you so choose. Lord, we respectfully ask for your guidance and your wisdom as we proceed with the business before us. Keep us mindful of our purpose of providing a quality education for the students attending Taylor County Schools. Amen. Dr. Schlings, are there any adjustments or addendums to the agenda? >> In fact, Miss Garvin, there is one. I would ask all the board members to find item 5620. Yeah, >>
002it is somewhat of an encyclopedia this evening. 5620. Please simply remove the word unpaid. Just remove that completely from that item. >> No replacement, simply a removal of the word unpaid. >> It will just imply it is a paid position. >> It's a renewal. >> Thank you. That is all. Superintendent respectfully requests approval of the agenda as amended. Mr. Daddy moves. >> Mr. Taylor seconds. All those in favor? I opposed. Motion passes. Moving us directly into the 1000 series information and a recognition of the Taylor County Middle School golf team. Miss Garvin, it's my pleasure to introduce to you the Taylor County Middle School golf team and coaches who uh are present with us this evening. And as most people know, we didn't always have a golf team from Taylor County Middle School. And these
003young people, and I'll call the coach young, I suppose, have proven themselves beyond capable. And we have a certificate that says the Taylor Congratulations to the Taylor County Middle School golf team and coaches for your impressive 224 record and 17 team end of season tournament winning the 2026 season. So if they will please come forward and coach if you will join them we would like to recognize you. >> [applause] >> Well, actually, coach, I was gonna I'm going to ask you to tell us a little bit about this amazing group of students and athletes that you have here. these kids uh actually put the work in >> throughout summer, winter, and all that. I'm very proud of them. Uh first year, you know, we didn't win a match. So, we got a young team and
004they put the work in and that's what it takes. So, I'm proud of them. How many how many students did you have? How many golfers? >> I had 14 this year. >> Awesome. So, um just want to say congratulations to you guys. That's a really impressive record for being a young team. And um you know, when this was brought before the board a couple years ago of this idea, you know, we were really excited about it. Um, and really happy to see everything come to fruition and really thankful for you, Coach Dver, and uh, and your team there. And really looking forward to seeing even more success with this. And then, you know, with the sport of golf, you know, folks, that can take you you can do that clear into your 80s, 90s, your
005whole life. It's it's really a sport that um you can stick with and a lot of bonding and friendships and and networking and things. So, good job. Thanks. >> Golf is a skill and uh it's a skill you can take with you as Miss Gallow said through the rest of your lives. Uh, I hear there's a lot of business deals made over the golf course. So, uh, you guys can have, uh, have this golf business, uh, f feed into a lot of other parts of your life as well. So, congratulations on your winning record and congratulations to the coach and thank you for your hard work, too. >> You guys are amazing. Such a young team, such huge strides. I think it was Mark Twain who said, "Why would I play golf? It ruins a
006perfectly good walk. It sounds like you guys are proving him wrong." Um, and I love that. So, also spot on. You guys look so polished with your hats and your polos and just together and I love it. It's a an excellent way to represent. So, thank you. Thank you. and we're going to do businessy stuff. So, if y'all want to, you are excused. [laughter] >> Miss Garvin, I do have one additional uh adjustment and I apologize for that. I've written it one place but not the other. If you if the board members would please find item 5693. mid page. I need to have you add the name Zachary Shoemaker to that item, please. So you can strike the last four words and simply add those name that name. >> Um all right. Um motion to
007accept the second uh adjustment to the agenda. >> Mrs. Gallow moves. >> Mr. Taylor seconds. All those in favor? >> I opposed. All right. Secondary adjustment accepted. >> Thank you. I apologize again, members of the board. >> All right, moving back into the 1000 series. Uh, looks like we have a presentation from the Preston Taylor Community Health Partnership and director June Griffith. >> Hi, good evening. So, I see that you do have a full agenda, so I don't want to take up a lot of your time, but I had spoken with Dr. stallings and thought it might be worth um coming and letting you all know and many of you I think he's informed you that we wrote a grant application in order to um help support our efforts with the partnership that we have
008with the board of education for school-based health services and through that application we won a mobile unit and the grant application was written in a way that we knew that our long-term goal was to support all the schools in the county and with facility constraints and with our own structure of our employees that was probably going to be difficult. So through that application, we actually it was a nationwide application and I think the pursuit of trying to get a mobile unit for our organization to help support the schools. We were awarded that. Um, some of that statistically comes from, I'm sure, the need that our school children need. And a lot of that was stressed in the application. And that for primary care services, dental services, vision services, all the services that Preston Taylor Community
009Health Center offers, um, we can extend those to the school children and help support our mission, which is providing, um, everybody with health care regardless of their ability to pay. And the vision to make sure that kids and our communities have access to health care and I'm appreciative of the fact that we're able to support that. But I wanted to come before the board to let you know that because we will have our mobile unit parked on your school properties and um we'll ensure that and we are working with the mobile mission medical group and that is the group that awarded us um the unit and we're doing some strategic planning. So, we want to make sure that we hit the mark and we market what we're going to do and we have a schedule
010of where we're going to be, when we're going to be there so that um our families and children are feel supported in their in the know of what those services will be. Um, and I guess to come before you to make sure that you didn't have any questions in regards to what we're trying to accomplish. I didn't have any questions. Um, I just have been hearing about it and it's been very exciting what I've heard and um, you know, I think that this is really good for rural counties. Um, you know, to have this, um, this service and, uh, just thank you to those who really dedicated that time to writing that grant. I know that that that takes a lot of um you know, a lot of time and and effort in making sure
011that you're covering all bases and stuff. Um so really I'm really excited to hear about it. So if any of you were at Thank you. If any of you were at the Memorial Day parade, it did make its debut through the um parade and we're excited about what we can accomplish moving into the next school year. So, we'll be planning over the summer months. Dr. Stallings and I have been working together to try to appoint somebody to our strategic planning um committee so that we can hit the fall. I know it it also made its debut at the high school um before the end of school was out. I think they went over for one day and completed 51 sports physicals um by operating out of the two units and meeting the children where they
012are. I think all the school-based health statistics will support that improves your kids in staying in the classroom um staying focused on their learning and really as a partnership of Preston Taylor we're here to support you and your efforts of teaching these children and I think as the healthcare entity in the community we can continue to try to do that our kind of our vision is that the unit will arrive with the two units we'll have primary care in one unit we can offer dental um screenings dental work We've already been conducting some of that at the middle school already. And then we are adding an optometrist to our practice. Um so then we can offer some opto some vision screenings to the children too. As you know statistically we live in an underserved community
013and any offering that we can give in order to help assist parents to keep their kids in school, help parents stay on the job. Um we're just here to meet that need. We're not here to take over any kind of control of k kids and their healthcare. But if there's a need, we want to be able to assure the kids that they will receive the care. Um we're also the FQC in the county that's working on um the new build out in Blueville and some of that comes from not only do we want to support our kids, but we want to support them through their education as well. We have a relationship with the Taylor County Vocational School um in order to take on the CNA students that they offer. they can come do um
014like internships, shadowing at our facility. And so I think um that will only improve kids. We want to participate in the career fairs and the things that you put on in the county so that they know that healthc care professions are an option for them. Um our pharmacy program runs a technician program that's an on the job training um to help promote that to kids that maybe don't have a career path of going on to school and you get a national certification. So, I think with that and the new facility that we have, we can double the capacity of what we're going to deliver to um for healthcare in the community. So, we're happy to be here. We're happy to be a partner with you. Um just wanted to let you know that there will
015be maybe some electrical requirements like if we had a hookup or something at the schools, but I'm sure we'll work. But other than that, there's not much obligation on your side other than just create a couple parking spots for us. And I think the plan will we'll keep probably a room or so at the middle school because we're not sure what we'll do in the winter months when the unit isn't as able to travel. But I think those are all details that will be worked out moving into the future. And I guess I also want to open the door if any of you have any thoughts. I know Dr. Stallings has my contact information. Please feel free to reach out to me to email me. Um let me know if you have a a plan
016or a need in the school system and we'll see if we can try to meet that need. I did have a question. Do you do you anticipate or do you already have NT like mental health services available with that? >> Yes, I'm sorry. And I I should have added that to the four lines of service. We do um conduct behavioral health therapy at the middle school and that could be another line. Um confidentiality, those are all details that we have to work out. I think the unit is um I think we can deliver that care in the unit but you know if we also have to create a a an avenue for that in the schools we'll be open to that as well. >> This is going to be uh item three of the process
017we started at the middle school uh actually item two because we're about to open the new anarvis elementary school that also you'll remember has some space for the clinics extension there as well. Correct. Yeah. >> Exciting. >> We agree. >> I think June is downplaying the importance of the what she put into the grant proposal and it was narrowed down to uh we were competing andor with nationally but also we West Virginia and California were the two >> yes >> and identified sites. So I guess um from my understanding is they had 600 applicants across the nation. They had narrowed that down to about 60 that they really had their teams reviewing statistically, you know, making sure that it met the mark of what they wanted to pass on for the for the delivery of
018a free unit, which is quite a financial investment. Um and then it did. We got a call that said we were one of six that they were going to choose from. Our feeling was they were going to tell us, "Okay, now here's your next steps. You got to do this in order to apply or to continue the application." And um then they told us that they were speaking with the winner of the unit and that it had boiled down to um our center and a center in California. Um, and if you ever want to follow Mission Mobile Medical on social media, they're quite an organization, very mission-minded, but this is how they deliver care, and they think this is a way to deliver care into the future is that you meet people where they are.
019And for our school kids, we have I think it's proven school-based health services. And actually, in West Virginia, we lead the nation in school-based health services per county. Um, there's only a couple counties in the state that do not have school-based health services. And that's because you have to meet your kids where they are in the classroom and keep them in school because you know if you get kids that have an appointment, they miss a half a day, they miss several periods. So by supporting that with delivering the care on campus, I think we could we're better suited to do that. >> So >> indeed, thank you. >> Yep. Thank you all for your time. I just wanted to show up. We are closing up our fiscal year and at some point I can come
020back or send them through Dr. Stallings to share some statistic of what we've accomplished. We've been in the school since March of 2024 delivering behavioral health services and primary care services and each year we're doing a little bit better. So, we want to set some goals and objectives that we know we'll be able to meet with the mission with the mobile unit. So, >> yep. I thank you all for your time and your partnership. >> Perhaps he might be able to schedule a visit with your mobile unit for the board, too. >> Oh, absolutely. Um, especially here over the summer months, we can bring it up and you all can walk through it one evening when you have a meeting if you just let me know a date and a time. >> Yeah. >> Thank
021you very much. >> Thank you again. >> Yep. >> All right. That Sorry. That moves us into the superintendent's updates. >> Thank you, Miss Garvin. Uh ladies and gentlemen of the board, you will see that I have, as I typically try to do, you have a sheet there with the updates that are just a brief overview of what was what's been going on. Uh starting with the new Ana Jarvis Elementary School as promised. Um the uh actually the staff development took place at an Jarvis recently and that's delineated there and I uh uh have indicated that there have been a number of meetings that we had with them. Uh that was prompted by what we call the diagnostic review that took place earlier in the school year. Um we have met uh actually Dr. Decker
022and Mrs. Roberts were helping to facilitate with the school uh routine Wednesday meetings of their leadership team to review that information and they were tasked with making decisions that were intended to uh be leading the rest of the faculty and staff so that there would be a fidelity to those decisions. Uh and I have information for the 8000 series we'll discuss a little further when I when we get there. the new construction. Uh that facility continues to have the addition of the exterior brick portion as I indicated last time we were here. Uh we've gotten mixed reviews of the turquoise sealant that's going out on the outside of the building. The kids are telling me they love their school's new color only to be disappointed when we tell them that's going to have beautiful new
023brick on top of it. But they are accepting and still looking very forward to the new school. The second floor of the west wing continues to be addressed and that's the they're finishing up with the new roofing of that and as indicated earlier now the school is officially out of the forthcoming for the forthcoming summer break. Plans continue to be made with regard to redoing the main driveway being graveled which is more construction site like so that they can continue to prepare uh that information. It's also anticipated that the progress of the new building will move a more little bit more quickly once we're once everything's under roof and the brick is out on both exterior and interiors. With regard to Flemington Elementary School, academically they just recently closed their building, but prior to doing
024that, they had their annual wax museum project that was there. And that's where the students are are given a task of portraying studying about and portraying individuals both from history or an area of interest for careers that they might have and that's facilitated by their school counselor Miss Lori Matheni. She does a great job with that. With regard to facilities, I wanted to mention that it appears that work on the concession stand that continues as we've seen or noted that the construction materials have been used to address the exterior of the building. Um, with regard to Taylor County Middle School, I've included a packet of information provided behind my update cover sheet from Mrs. Fluhart Guthrie and she will be looking to help explain some of that per your request. Uh, Grafton High School with
025regard to academics. I just want to thank you on behalf of the t of the Grafton High School faculty and staff for your participation in the recent commencement ceremonies which somehow happened between storm seasons and Taylor County was blessed with a beautiful evening and everyone was commenting about how nice that was. Um, we're also still awaiting word from the school building authorities decision pertaining to the request of support funding for the Grafton High School uh HVAC system that's supposed to arrive sometime in June. This is sometime in June, but we still are waiting for that answer. And lastly, but certainly not least, the facilities at the new transportation department building phase two uh has begun. And as you have noticed, we've also parked some of our school bus fleet on the property with plans to
026include adding a sign indic indicating the practice that we typically have of advertising for new drivers. So in addition, as I mentioned, you have updates from Taylor County Middle School and Miss Flu Hardy Guthrie is here and I'm hoping would be able to speak to some of her statistics as she has been invited to do. While she's coming, there's also an update at the back of that bit of information from Grafton High School regarding their use of the weapons detection system prior to the end of the school year. It's >> all yours. >> Good evening. I was told I was going to do this last minute. So, the last hour and a half, I have been talking to myself in my office to prepare for this. So, we'll see how smooth it goes. Um, we
027do have some exciting things that's going on at Taylor County Middle School. We have made some uh huge strides. Um, the first thing that's on the handout that I I I gave Dr. Sings three updates because Andrew Moore kept updating things for me. That's the first one on there. Okay. So, the first one um that I'll try to go in order is the one that talks about our athletic teams and their GPA. And um it's convenient that we had the golf team here and if I was going to say something about them, I'd never see them in the office, which is a blessing. Um but for the majority of our students, the behaviors are changing. The athletes represent the school no matter where they are, no matter what they're doing. Um but the GPA speak
028for themselves. They range anywhere from 3.9 to 3.97. So we have all those athletic teams broken down for you to review. Um and you can see the top three. So we have girls basketball, girls cross country, and girls soccer. And then um he has also some highlights where they have four teams have earned a GPA of 3.9 or higher. 11 teams have earned a GPA of 3.6 or higher. Every team finished with a 3.2.5 or higher. Um our coaches do a phenomenal job working with them. And we know that it it takes a lot to be a student athlete because you travel, you get home late, you're doing homework on the way, you're doing homework on the way back, you have very little sleep. So, I applaud all of our student athletes and our coaches
029for staying on top of that and understanding the importance of academics. I have another sheet that Mr. Moore also worked on and this is talking about our attendance um and some of our other goals. So our attendance this year was 93.9%. We had 15% chronically absent. So one of our goals that we're going to set for next year is to be at 95% and 12% chronically absent. The one thing that we have worked extremely hard on this year is our discipline and it has dropped in many categories. Um we're extremely proud of that. We are incorporating the capturing kids hearts into all of our classes. We're following those guidelines. But I would like to say that we're taking a lot more time on getting to know our students. We're talking to them. We're asking them
030questions. Why do you think this is wrong? Why do you think you should not do it again? We are building relationships with them. Our teachers are building relationships with them. If they get called to the office and come back, the teachers can automatically see that they're upset. They connect with them. They find out what's going on. And I think the connection that we're making with them and letting them really know that we want to build a relationship with them is helping with our discipline. Um our from 25 to 26 from 24 to 25 to 25 to 26 we're down 89 referrals which is 11.7% for office referrals altogether. In ISS we're down 3.4% and in OSS we're down 29.8%. and our insubordination has also dropped as well. Um that was one of my personal goals
031when meeting with Dr. Stallings in the early in the year. Um but I believe that the connections that we're making with our students, not only on behalf of the admin and the teachers, but we're also reaching out to the parents and we're asking for the parents to get involved. We're asking for them to come in and have meetings with us. We're we're sharing information with them that they probably wouldn't find out unless they heard it from us. So, we're all working together as a community and it's really making huge strides on our discipline. Um, this next sheet I have here for you is the I Ready results and we have made huge strides with I Ready. The one thing that I don't want you to panic about is if you see something in the negative,
032that's not a bad thing. That is how much we have reduced by. So, it's minus 14% we've dropped 14%. So in that category for an example for fifth grade for the growth from the beginning of the year to the end of the year one or above grade level we have increased that by 10% and 12%. So 10% would be in math and 12% would be in reading. Then if you look at the very bottom section where you see the negative, I want to make sure I explain this to you that we have dropped that number by 14% from the in math at the beginning of the year and we've dropped that number by 15% at the end of the year. So um with the help of Helen Roberts as well, we've had several speakers who
033have come in and have done multiple presentations and workshops and PDs with our faculty and staff and she's provided them with additional tools that they can use in their classrooms and they're really tying that in with the curriculum and we know our students don't enjoy doing I Ready, but we're [clears throat] adding things to make it more um intriguing for them. and we're having like individual competitions and group competitions and they love that. So we are seeing huge results with our I Ready as well. >> Miss T. >> Yes. >> Can I interrupt just for clarification? Sure. Apologize. >> So when you say that that number has gone down and we're in a negative, what you mean is at the beginning of the year we had 30 I'm making up numbers. We had 30 kids
034that were two grade levels behind. When we got to the end of the year, we're down 14%. So now we only have 22 kids. >> Correct. >> So we're And those as they move up, the kids in the were only one grade are also moving up. >> So all of this builds. >> Yes. Correct. >> Okay. I just want to make sure that I understand. >> Yes. >> And we did and we broke that down for sixth, seventh, and eighth grade. So you could see all of the improvements in that, too. Um, I'm prejudiced when I say this, but I think that we have one of the best librarians in the county and Lynn does a phenomenal job for us. But the next item, um, I don't know if you have a copy of this.
035I can get you a copy of this. Um, but she did this on her own. It's on our Facebook page as well. So, she has a breakdown of what she has done in the library this year and on my original notes that I sent to Dr. Stallings. Um, just to give you a recap, sixth grade led the year in circulation. So, that meant sixth grade had the most checkouts of the books. Um, with 1,260, which is amazing. Love that. Um, she does an amazing job with the book fair as well. It's a success every year. Um, fifth grade was in second place with 920 books and graphic novels was our number one um, in circulation. and um over $2,000 was also raised at the book fair. Over 480 books were also sold at that book
036fair. So, she does an amazing job for us. That information was the bottom of that cover sheet that you received. And I want to give one additional shout out to um sixth grade as well. Um the last nine weeks I recognized them and they were so excited. Um we do the best attendance for each nine weeks for each grade and for the last nine weeks, sixth grade one for best attendance, but also sixth grade one for the least amount of discipline referrals. So they were extremely excited about that too. Um and we're just doing amazing things. We're making huge strides. um progresses and we're a team and we couldn't do it without each other. >> Questions? Sorry. Thanks for explaining that about the results. Um that's very helpful. I did have a question. Um just
037and I think you and I have kind of talked about this a little bit. Um, we've had some [snorts] parents that are a little apprehensive about coming to middle school. It's a big change, right, from elementary to go to middle school and it it's a tough age for kids anyways and hormones and changing friends and changing classes and so forth and everything. Um, what would you tell new parents with students coming to the middle school to help alleviate those fears? Are there any things interventions that you guys are working on? Like I know you have back to school night and things like that. Are you having anything for the parents to kind of help alleviate some of their fears? >> Mr. War and I actually met about that right at the end of the school
038year and we are going to offer a parent invite with their child before back to school night. We do not have that date yet, but we are going to open it up to the public, have them to come in. We can give them an additional tour um without a bunch of other students in there at the one time and we will it will be an open answer question session. We Alyssa, Mrs. Waters will be back at that time too, so we'll be able to answer questions. Um, I just think, you know, they're going through a lot of changes in middle school and that's their biggest fear coming in in fifth grade. Um, it's a new environment and um, it does it doesn't take our fifth graders very long to become accustom. I mean, they're there
039in a couple weeks and they're ready to fly down the hallway. So, I I it's it's just that first initial step. And our fifth grade team is phenomenal and showing those students where to go and how to deal with things and um, helps them with their lockers and combinations and binders and all that stuff. So, but we have decided that we are going to offer that. I do not have the date. When we do have that date, we'll let all of you know. Um, and that way we can answer any questions that they might have that will help ease that process a little bit more. >> That's awesome. And just encourage parents to get involved and, you know, maybe we could get the PTO back up at the middle school and and that I think
040would help alleviate a lot of concerns as well, too. you know, if we could get some more parents involved and things like that. And we did have a lot more involved for bumpup day, so they love seeing them out there and they got involved in the activities and stuff, too. So, um, we did have more from last year. Um, and and I do see a change in that and we just hope that that continues to increase, too. >> Thank you for sharing all this. This it's really good. Um, especially with our academic success of our um of our teams and stuff. It's impressive. >> Very good. >> All right. Thank you. >> Anybody else have any other questions for Miss T? >> Thank you for your time this evening. >> Yeah, I continue to be
041amazed at the progress the middle school's making. >> Thank you. >> All right, Dr. Stallings. What's next? [laughter] Do you have anything else? >> Actually, no. I think we're ready to move on. >> Very good. Uh, do we have any board member updates or board committee meeting reports? Hearing none, we will continue on into the 2000 series. Superintendent respectfully requests approval of the minutes from the regular meeting of May 20th, 2026. >> Moved. >> Mrs. Gallow moves. I will second. Questions, comments, concerns? All those in favor? I opposed. Motion passes. We have a number of policies and codes on the first reading. Another number on the second reading. No action is taken on the first or second reading unless there are questions. Hearing none, we will move into policies and codes on the third reading.
042Superintendent respectfully requests approval of items 2301 in the 2000 series. >> Mr. Taylor moves. >> Second. >> Mrs. Gallow seconds. Questions, comments, concerns. >> Hearing none. All those in favor? I opposed. Motion passes. Resolve that the bylaws, policies printed and codified in the comprehensive document entitled bylaws and policies of the Taylor County Board of Education are hereby adopted. that all bylaws and policies hereto for adopted by the Taylor County Board of are hereby rescended. Further, it be it resolved that in the event any policy, part of policy or section of the bylaws is judged to be inconsistent with law inoperative by a court of competent jurisdiction or invalidated by a policy or contract duly adopted by this board, the remaining bylaws, policies and parts of policies shall remain in full effect. >> Moving Miss, sorry,
043Miss Garin, I apologize. I did have a question um on the first reading in policy 2288 uh board owned personal electronic devices. And this may not be information that you have tonight, but I just was curious how many um individuals have those board owned devices. Is it just like our administrators, our directors? >> I don't have the full number for you. Right. I can find it for you. >> Okay. Thanks. >> You want the total number of faculty and staff that that are provided them? >> Yeah, because we're we're supplying that. Right. >> Right. I can get I can get that distribution number for you. >> Okay. Thank you. >> All right. Uh continuing on through the 2000 series, a number of contracts and agreements there. Uh superintendent respectfully requests approval of items 2302 to
044through 2324 in the 2000 series. >> Mr. Taylor moves. >> I'll second it. >> Miss Scallow seconds. Uh questions, comments, concerns? Yes, I do. Go ahead. And I have no idea what number it is right now, but I'm just um question on the quote for the um bleachers. I think that's part of this series. Might be. Yeah. under maint quality installations. It says >> 2318. >> Yeah. GHS gymnasium two indoor bleachers. I'm assuming that's both the Scotty Hamilton and the ClareB >> right there. >> And that is just for inspection, right? That's not cleaning or such nature like that, right? >> Those are just primary operational inspections. They don't do the cleaning that's expected of the building. >> Okay. Just maintenance, >> right? >> Okay. Um, I have a question on make sure I have
045the right one. Yeah. 2324. Um, the dropletbased unlimited for the form implementation for electronic form implementation. Uh, that's a significant increase. Is that a significant change in the scope or is that um >> Mr. D? >> It wasn't an increase, it was a decrease actually. >> So it must have been misworded. >> Okay. This says this says renewal of the previous agreement at an increased cost of $4,800. >> I I'll accept responsibility for not proof reading that better. >> Okay. So it it used to be It was I believe it was 24,000 24 $25,000 last year. >> Oh, >> 254. >> Okay. Was 254 is now 26. All right. Um >> so we can >> My apologies. So we'll have to >> never mind. >> Um motion to amend the wording on that to uh
046replace with decrease. >> So move. >> Okay. And I will second that. Okay. >> Concerns. All those in favor? >> I opposed. Outstanding. Adjustment stands. >> Who seconded that? Was that guy? >> Miss Garvin. >> Garin. Sorry. >> Thank you. >> Okay. >> We do love a decrease. Uh, any other questions for this part of the 2000 series? >> All right. We have an open motion on the floor. >> [laughter] >> Yep. All right. Open motion on the floor. All those in favor? >> I opposed. Motion passes and we move into the 3000 series. Continuing through purchase orders, consent calendars. We got an overnight trip and some facilities use and a couple of chaperones. Uh, all right. Superintendent respectfully requests approval of items 3208 through 3241 in the 3000 series. >> Moved. >> Mrs. Galla
047moves. Do you have a second? >> Mr. Taylor seconds. Questions, comments, concerns. All those in favor? >> I opposed. Motion passes. Moving us squarely into the 4,000 series financial budget supplements and vouchers payable. Tell us some things, Mr. Dolan. >> Absolutely. So, this evening uh inside your packet you received, we had uh several uh budget journal entry supplements uh for this uh for this meeting. Um the first part [clears throat] of them were just to uh increase the the supplement amounts uh on the budget amounts. uh either they wasn't something we had budgeted for or we were getting close to what we had budgeted so we had to uh increase some of those amounts just some routine routine things there uh we had two uh actually we had one CPR grant uh there for the
048high school uh we had two West Virginia impact uh grants that we received one for the um the approval of the individuals that for those positions and travel for for their uh setup, travel and setup uh for meetings over this summer uh for those individuals. And then we received our fresh fruit and vegetable grant for our child nutrition department. And that was all for budget supplements. Uh the next part of your packet um items one through six inside that packet uh were checks that had already been written since the last board meeting. Uh those were checks for certain grants or not grants my apologies um for certain contracts andus that have been approved by the board uh and payroll items. The last part of that packet is part number seven is a schedule of checks
049to be written upon your approval this evening. Uh items inside of that packet uh include uh drug testing, transportation, technology, uh warehouse supplies, and travel reimbursements. Does anybody have any questions? >> Uh, and we are still working on an alternate more um general human friendly version. >> Yes, I plan to have that for for the next meeting. I know that the board member that requested that said he wasn't going to be here this evening, so I was holding that off till the 23rd. >> All good. We'll have that verbiage on that agenda, right? I did have a question on the capturing kids hearts the 1150. Is that a like a monthly payment or what? It's on the first page or second page or third maybe third. >> I would have to I don't see exactly
050what that payment was for. Like I said, they sent us a bill. >> It could have been. >> We We don't really pay monthly. We pay for activities that they do. And there was uh and Mr. Dolan can work with Mrs. Roberts on this. There was an overcharge on something that they were going to give us a credit for. So, that could be what that is. They were there was a mischarge in something and when we were balancing all that we had approved, there was a they're correcting that for us. >> Okay. >> So, >> that's what I thought because I thought >> we did it in a >> package. package some and that's what I was wondering. Thank you. >> All right. Any additional questions for Mr. Dolan regarding the finances? >> All right.
051Hearing none. Superintendent respectfully requests approval of items in the 4,000 series. I'll move. >> Second. >> Mrs. Gallows. Any additional questions? All those in favor? I opposed. Motion passes. Moving us into the 5000 series, student matters, personnel, and legal matters. Got some employment resignations, a whole bunch of extracurricular, extra duty, whole bunch. Um, some substitutes, some summer employments, some abolishments, creations. >> Miss Garbin, >> yes. If I could, I would like to um make a motion that 5614 and 5640 be voted on separately since they have their own number. So that I can recuse. I'm sorry. 5614 and 56. What was the second one? >> 40. All right. Uh we have a motion to vote on those two items separately. Do I have a second? >> Mr. Taylor seconds. All those in favor? >> I.
052>> Okay. So those 5614 and 5640 will be voted independently. Um and we will go ahead and take those now at the beginning of the section. So all right >> and I will second questions, comments, concerns. All right, hearing none. All those in favor? >> I opposed. All right. 5614 and 5640 approved. Somebody wants to wave at Mrs. Gallup. Thank you. All right. Um, the superintendent respectfully requests approval of items 5573 through 5697 with the exception of 5614 and 5640 in the 5000 series. >> Mr. Taylor moves. Do I have a second? I'll second. Questions, comments, concerns? All those in favor? I oppose. Motion passes. Moving us into the 8000 series board member comments and discussions. Uh first piece on that discussion this evening is an update on the school safety concerns at Anna Jarvis
053Elementary. There's a lot of colorcoded folders over there. >> [clears throat] >> I want to start with the uh an update regarding Anad Jarvis's uh the progress that's being made in an Jarvis Elementary School. And as you can see, I provided a a sequential listing of what has been happening since the fall of 2022 and more recently fall of 2025. uh prior to uh my arrival andor back in 2022, the school was identified as a school improvement school and with regard to a subgroup from special education and that prompted ongoing support from West Virginia Department of Education and the Taylor County Office of Special Education. progress being made and then subsequently in the fall of 2025. The uh school was also identified uh as the subgroup for uh special education and low socioeconomic status subgroups
054within that prompted the need for additional and continued support as follows. In October uh 2025, October 8th actually, a meeting was held to the leadership of the of the school now identified categories. January 7th, 2026, the State Department provided us support to conduct what they call a diagnostic review that involves a dayong visitation data collection on scene observations of instructional programming and progress and process as well as individual interviews with faculty and staff of that facility. The next day, Dr. Decker and myself and the directors of the academics that's both regular and special ed would be Mrs. Roberts and Miss Fischer met with the State Department representatives to uh hear of and leadership members of uh the school to hear of the results of that diagnostic review. On the 14th uh there was the initiation
055of ongoing weekly Wednesday meetings with the Anna Jarvis leadership team. uh and that was determined the school determined their own membership uh and the central office staff led by Dr. Decker and Mrs. Roberts. Uh the intent of those ongoing meetings was to restructure the leadership team, establish clear understandings of a universal expectations for all areas of the school and establish a system of accountability with regard to fidelity to all behavioral and operational procedures and areas throughout the building. This included an establishment of a universal why for the school uh which is just what their purpose was and identify their their universal expectations of one another. The team chose to focus first on behavior and the importance of understanding and implementing clarity regarding the West Virginia MTSS or multi-tiered system of support for students when addressing
056students exhibiting inappropriate behaviors. As decision consensus was reached by the school's leadership team, each member of the team was then to meet with his or her emp area of emphasis colleagues to report on the same information with the expectation that fidelity to those decisions would be enacted with suggestions and requests for any adjustments being taken back to the leadership team meetings as appropriate. As time passed, uh those things uh were implemented uh with uh I'll say some conditional but not uh universal uh fidelity. And in May, as you'll recall, we received a letter May 11th, I received a copy of a letter of concerned Ana Jarvis faculty regarding disact dissatisfaction of the school. And so then on the f that was a Monday and so u the next I received that and then I called
057for a meeting the following Wednesday of the same week on the 13th and I was accompanied by Miss Fischer and Mrs. McCarthy uh and during that meeting we did some brainstorming discussion of the letter and the concerns being raised. Notes were taken and shared to the building administrators and later as a part of my updates uh on June 4th. More recently, yet another because the board had been you had still received some additional requests of concern. We we scheduled uh primarily it was on the fourth because it was the last day for faculty but students were already gone. So it afforded us a much len more lengthy time with faculty and staff to conduct a meeting uh and it started with uh representation from our board office. Uh Dr. Dr. Decker, myself and the other
058directors were present to help with clarification of the diagnostic review purpose and results, opportunities for faculty input pertain to their own perceptions of the school's operations as well as expectations regarding the universal fidelity to the process. Uh because we were explaining to them that fidelity is essential. uh included in what I just pro provided you also had um their own the the copy of the focus diagnostic report that we received from the state within it are the different pieces of interview uh components I just mentioned and evidence that was found and the school action steps that were recommended immediately following that information there are some colored circles from a survey that was conducted during during the meeting we had on on the 4th and those responses were selfentered as a part of a mini survey
059by all the staff. Uh and as you can see the concerns continue to be there because if you look at the questions regarding the the perceived condition safe, supportive and orderly environment and 79% of those that were participating uh felt it was that was not the case. Likewise, Santa Jarvis the state being a clear expressive expectations that all teachers use in the school and students understand. There was an 80% feeling that that is not the case. In addition, it says policy 4373, the one that's used as a state behavioral process, one of them uh is implemented consistently at an Jarvis and the feeling was 79% felt that that is not the case. Hannah Jarvis has a clear open two-way communication. Again, 70% of those respondents felt it does not have a two-way communication. Next on
060that she on those pages you have the fifth question that was posed to them that Anna Jarvis has clear open two oops that's the same ones to repeat and lastly the anarvis staff was provided opportunities to participate in decision making. This felt a little bit more split indicating that 46% of them feel that's the case. That is not the case and 54 felt it is the case. The next question uh all leadership and staff practice confidentiality an Jarvis an essential that I'm just making an editorial comment that is an essential component and it is felt by 64% of the faculty and staff who participate in the survey that that is not the case. Uh and lastly the faculty and And Jarvis adhere to decisions or practices made by their leadership team which we learn through
061the diagnostic review is an essential. That's where the fidelity comes from. The purpose of the leadership team is to determine what's in the best interest based on contributions and questions and discussion. Even that felt the that 71% of the faculty and staff uh do not feel that that is occurring in the school. that leads to the the concerns that not everybody at Anajarvis happens to be on the same page and we are trying to address that with them. Hence the meeting we had on the 4th to bring that more to the to the attention of everybody. Um we did then go over we had information that was referenced. The next page I provided you is a copy the one of the things that's dealing with the MTS M MTSS framework and is an essential component
062that should be provided and considered when we have students with behavioral issues. And then those two pages are there intentionally that's lifted from page uh from policy 4373. And lastly in that packet um there is a sequence of information from the PP PPIs with clear guidelines for classroom management expectations that we were providing and going we'll be providing even more training for the staff and it starts at the top of that page and goes down as you can see the indust the the different levels of expectations that should be taking place. uh we believe that or I believe or I think we more than just me believe that we are discovering that that fidelity is the most important missing link. Um and so therefore um we will be providing them continuous continual support and training
063that is in the offing for the forthcoming August and other training dates. In addition to those things that I've shared with you, the the full faculty that were in that were in attendance on the fourth were also afforded an opportunity to will be and continue to be provided opportunity to list areas of training requests that they have. Uh some areas, some different components, different people within the building will feel certain components are more essential to their job performance needs. Um that's just an over of what we have done so far. You had requested that back at the last meeting. So we are we are ongoing training with the staff providing clarification. Um it was not a good report from the state. Um and we've discovered some of that based on the lack of fidelity to
064the cause or the or the movement that we're trying to have established. That was a recommendation from the state when we did that diagnostic review. And as I mentioned, those things that took place were observational things taking place during classroom instruction, individual interviews with faculty through the building. Um, I've lost my thought just to figure out the um universal expectations and whether they were established yet. The one of the things that was focused on by the leadership team and I don't want to put Dr. Decker on the spot but I'm I'll say it if she needs to clarify that for me was that the me the leadership team was tasked with the responsibility of helping figure out what their why is. I mentioned that a moment ago so that they could target what that start
065with that and figure out what is it that not everybody is understanding. Part of the process that they work through or tried to work through was the clear expectations. Clear so that everyone understands at the adult level. Clear so that every child understands it. So in an age appropriate way. And then once that's determined that that the teachers could go back to their classrooms and help explain to their age appropriate level students what the behaviors are supposed to be in the classroom and in the hallway, in the restroom, in the cafeteria, wherever. Uh so that once the students uh better understood that, we would be able to expect that they would comply. I don't like the word comply. That means it sounds like a dictate from some warden in prison, but the expectation makes it
066much more clear. So that just like everyone's been taught rules for classrooms shouldn't say you can't, you won't, don't, but giving them positive messages that they this is how we do it. This is what a good person looks like. And again, age appropriate wise. I hope that's information is helpful. Um I have a couple of questions just >> we have this flowchart with that says it's from PBIS. It's from Senate Bill 199. >> Sorry, >> this one. >> Senate Bill 199. That's a >> I call it sister document for 4373 is the two. >> Okay. Um and then we've got the inappropriate behavior and meaningful intervention consequences chapter two. And then we've got capturing kids hearts. And then we have the actual PBS. And then we have everything that started in the fall of 2022
067in terms of this group came in and said do this and this group came in and said do this and do all of those things line up. You know what I mean? Like when you change a manager and you change a manager and you change a manager and you change a manager, all of a sudden your Chuck-E-Cheese kids are wearing um like Yankee uniforms. Like the it gets lost because you're doing what you thought you were supposed to, but then the rules changed and half the rules changed and half of them didn't. So >> actually if I >> did we scooch the fidelity because there wasn't continuity because these systems don't line up or does this really all line up and we just >> I believe the the intent is that they all should line
068up. I think what you're questioning is when there's another one provided such as the more recent one, Senate Bill 199 for instance, it's the most recent. There's a tendency, it is my perception, there's a tendency for people to be seeking certain components within and not using the entire document as it's designed. Did you want >> Yeah. So, so Senate Bill 199 should not change the expectations that are happening in your building. That just says if these expectations aren't being met, what steps you can take to assist when those expectations aren't being met. The number one clear thing, as you see at the top of Senate Bill 199, is that we have to have clear, explicit expectations that our little babies and our adults in the building know what they are and they know what it
069looks like, what it sounds like, what it feels like to be in the hallway, what it sounds like to be in the cafeteria, what it sounds like to be in the bathroom, what I do when I go here. And if we don't have that, then we're not going to have continuity and we're going to have behaviors. And that's that's where we are. And so Mrs. Roberts and I spent several weeks with Mrs. Sinclair and her team to establish those very expectations with the group. We we we we did a Dr. Stallings Wordsmith like no no one else could believe. So we we were clear and explicit like what does it when they would say this, I said, "What does that mean?" like what does a kindergartner think that means when you say this like I
070need to know what they what that will mean for them it needs to be very clear and we we did that so we created them every area in the school and so that everybody was on board to know what that looks like so that's MTSS tier one that means what we expect everybody in our building to be able to do so that's that's tier one that's PBIS this is what everybody gets uh now when we have kiddos that are having a difficult time meeting those, then we step up to tier two and then we step up to tier three and we have to have those those outlined. But it but the first thing that we have to have is that we have to have clear explicit expectations that everybody just knows what to do. And
071the staff is telling us that they're not doing that. The state department told us it's not happening. That's our number one problem. And until we fix that problem, we can't fix all the other problems because we have to have kids knowing what we want them to be doing in all all the areas. Or if they don't, then we're going to see some issues that we're seeing. And so that is where we have to get everybody on board to buy in to this is what the hallway needs to look like. This is what the bathroom needs to look like. I mean, you're doing what you're doing in your classroom. You're teaching. You're doing your thing, right? and you're doing so capturing kids hearts is not is not PBIS. It is about building strong relationships. That's what
072Mrs. T talked about, right? That's what they're doing. So that I know that when John comes in my classroom, I can tell if John might be off when he's coming in because I've built that relationship. So that's what capturing kids hearts. It's it's ties into your PBS because you're doing it for everybody. It's a tier one, but it's really about, you know, checking in, being a family, checking in. Hey, so and so, this might be happening. Let me check on you and see what's happening. That's what capturing kids are. It's really just about building strong relationships with people, not just kids, but with each other. I mean, Miss Dolan's here, you know, they have they've been selected as a all-star of capturing kids hearts. And that's really what it's about. It's about, you know, I
073care. Miss Garvin's coming in. I can tell she's having a bad day as the teacher. I check on this garbin. You know, kids can do that. Adults can do that to kids. That's capturing kids hearts. But the very first thing that we have to be working on, and that's what we talked a lot about on the fourth, is that we are all Anna Jarvis, everybody together, and we all need to be a team to figure out what works best for our team, our kiddos, that what what those kids need. And so that's really where we we were with that. And that's the difference between M MTSS PBIS. It's really MTSS just says you have to have a strong tier one level one. What you're going to give everybody what your clear expectations and then when
074that doesn't work for Jod because Jod's having a bad day, what are we going to do to support Jod and that to get her back to where we need her to be? And then if that still doesn't work for Jod, what are we going to do for tier three to get her back? But we can't get there. If we don't have a tier one, we're not getting to those other steps. >> And are are those consequences are those um subsequent action steps laid out at tier one for or both sides of the behavior. Um, so if if the expectation is my classroom walks down the hallway this way and your class walks down the and I step out of line and punch Michelle is obviously the consequence is for me because I'm the aggressor is
075what is the support for her um as being the recipient of that poor behavior? Are those outlined as well? And do we know? >> Well, there's a lot that goes in that question you just had because if I have clear expectations and I'm and I'm >> that's part of 4373 which is a part of those two pages that we went over of what what we do when a student doesn't meet the expectation. Uh that is clearly outlined. There's nothing outlined in any code or policy that says if I punch John what I what happens with John? That's just being a good um Jod's words here. That's just being a considerate human as to how I take care of John, right? I'm going to make sure he's okay. I'm going to do all the things that
076I have to do. But as far as a code or policy in West Virginia, code or policy, no, that's not outlined in any code or policy. And so I think making sure that we are communicating clearly and effectively is obviously we're not we're not communicating clearly and effectively as we're not all on the same page here. So that's where we have to get we have to get to that piece. One of the things I wanted to mention um also is that those expectations with regard to fidelity, especially for the children, uh sounded kind of crazy for the superintendent to stand up in front of the faculty and say, "I'd rather that you not try to do academics for the first couple weeks of school so that you take time to practice and practice and practice
077so that all the kids have muscle memory with regard to how we expect everyone to behave or to act as opposed to behave. behave because good behavior will come as a result of that. Uh we have a colleague here that was once given teasing criticism by her colleagues because they were in that book day one or week one and she spent more time focusing on the expectations that rules at the school only to find out the overall benefit was her class was the better behaved. And ultimately once that was established as that muscle memory concept they performed better because they sp they focused more on schooling not behavior. Um and that's one of the things that we believe is bubbling to the top is not happening. >> You hit John. Yeah. I want to see
078that in action. No, >> please don't ask her to reenact that. >> The instinct is to >> to repeat what she said. Just how did you say that? >> I mean, what I would do if I if I were the person in charge of John, is that what you're talking about? I mean, again, care for that person, right? You you offer the care that you believe that they need. You check, are you okay? you need this and and communicate to those that need to communicate it with. Uh but there's nothing in the code that says what you do with that. That's kind of what >> So there's nothing in the code. >> I guess my question is are we capturing that when it happens and are we embracing that and are we moving forward with
079that? Are we taking care of that when that incident happens? >> That's a that's a question that we need to >> where's where's our John right now? I guess that's the million-dollar question that I might have. >> Yep. >> Or where's our Michelle if she gets hit in the line? Um, you know, I'll tell you what I did as the building principal, but I can't speak to what everybody does. I mean, as the building principal, I would bring that person in. We would have a conversation. We'd call him and we'd say, "This is what happened today. John's here with me. John's good." Blah, blah, blah. That's that's what I'm talking about when you would make that genuine next step for that. Um, is that documented in uh in a weeus or in a code? I
080would not call out John as being a victim as we would not victim identify who that is. Uh, as that could also carry a record for John in Weeus, which I I do not believe that's appropriate because um that's leaving a Weez. Yeah. as that. Uh, but I would definitely have that follow-up piece and I think that's the expectations that need to be outlined. I will I will say though I really hope and my my hope is that if we have clear explicit expectations and I don't I'm not even going to go with good behavior. That's not that's not my frame. That's not how I frame things. I frame is that we're we're making good choices because following our expectations and sometimes we we make a poor choice. Um and we have to retach what
081that choice might look like. Um and so if we are having clear explicit expectations, we will see fewer and fewer and fewer instances where we are talking about that happening. Now I will say this and I shared this out at the meeting in Taylor County. There is only one student that's identified as a behavior disorder student in the entire county. So when we're talking about behaviors I they are taught we need to teach what we what we expect them to do. They're babies. We need to teach them what to do and how to to do those things. And so I feel like that's where we have to get back to. And of course there are going to be those outliners that that don't fall in the tier one all the time, right? And so we
082have to figure out how to meet that those those people. >> Uh I'm hearing that everybody hasn't been trained in tier 2 and tier three yet. Is that part of the plan for training before the next school year >> 4373 and that is part of the the plan. Mrs. Roberts is working on some of that. We don't have all the exact details but yes that is part of the plan. And deescalation I think is really important is that the goal is that when we see Jod starting to have a difficult time that we have strategies to be able to to um to get Jod deescalated or deescalate into a different spot so that my friends aren't being impacted by Jod. The expectation is the expectation is also that more people will have a better understanding
083of that and as opposed to saying I have somebody needs to come here and deescalate the student so that it's more immediate and that training is part of the information that's going to be provided to them. That's the kinds of things we were learning in our meetings with them. Uh some of their reservations, some of their concerns, not everybody has had the training. um etc. And so that's in the offing. That's what she's saying. Mrs. Roberts is currently working on those things. Uh we have earmarked a couple days already in August where that will be provided to them. Just trying to get my words together here. I I also I'm sorry before while you're thinking of that I I want to explain what this was. So this there's a two-piece survey. You only have one
084piece of it. So the first that was what you have is what we called the pre-ervey. So we did a pre-ervey asking them uh about their perception of Anna Jarvis. And then we did an individualized self-reflection piece where we asked the exact same questions about I I set clear and explicit expectations in my classroom. And at first we had the complete opposite answers. So my response was if every if all the if all of you are setting clear explicit expectations then how's Anna Jarvis not? Because Anna Jarvis you can't be having both because we all are Anna Jarvis. So >> are we setting clear expectations? Are we not? Are we? And so the point of that was to open up some real honest conversation and dialogue and that's what it did. So that is their
085perception of when they're looking at at Anna Jarvis kind of sitting outside of it and looking in. But then when they were asked personally um I set clear and explicit expectations. I maintain a safe environment. All those things we just took out you know Jarvis and put I and we got the complete opposite answers complete which is what we thought was going to happen. It was to open up to say for us to say so how can we have this over here and this over here >> everyone is doing it then how is the physical right not having >> if if you all are saying you're doing this in your classroom how are you then saying Anna Jarvis is not doing this because everybody in this room is Anna Jarvis and and the goal was
086so we could have some honest dialogue as to what we needed to support and and how we could and that's how we got to those conversations. So that that is a little bit of a false sense of it of what that data is. Um because once we got to the second piece, then more honest feedback came and and I'll be honest, some difficult conversations happened among people at times. And that's the the goal is that we have to get past that and ha have a mutual respect and a mutual understanding of what why we're here. Remember why the Anjarvis why is so that the anarvis family is safe and and learning. That's the Anna Jarvis why. And so that's our goal. Everyone's safe and everyone's learning. And so everything that we do, every decision that
087we make needs to be centered around the why. And so it it it was that kind of conversation that happened. So that's that. I just wanted you to know that how we use those two those two surveys. [clears throat] >> This is not an end all of where we are so far. start >> to try to address the concerns. >> So, I have a couple questions. Um, in regards to the survey, we have 56 responses. What's the total number of staff? >> Well, u, >> did everyone participate? >> Everyone did. Everyone couldn't participate because we didn't have enough survey space for everyone to participate. I will say that everyone that was in the building was there on that day and gave feedback to us. So, do you know your total number of staff? >> About
08885 with all cooks and all the everyone included. >> Okay. So, go back to the fall of 2022. And then just looking at this timeline, it looks like in January there were weekly meetings happening and then here we are all the way up to June and just my perception it's a lot of meetings happening. What action is happening? I mean, because we've had incidences where our kids have been hurt. Like, I I I mean, it just astounds me. Like, I I understand we're talking about more training. We got to find out the issues, but you know, you can train and train and train and educate, but where's the accountability? Where's the trust? Where's the Yeah, this I mean I appreciate the work that's going into this, but just from what I'm seeing here, there's lots
089of meetings. I need to there needs to be more interventions, more more happening. So, so my response to that is in 4373 it clearly outlines the expectations of what the staff in our building should be doing if students are in a moment of crisis and they need to be doing that and they they admitted they were not and it's because I think they're they're not properly trained on how to do that and that is what we need to support them in doing. So that is where we we needed to we need to provide them the supports to do that because that's what 4373 outlines is what you do. >> So this training that's going to happen is going to be mandatory. Who else going to be involved? Is it all job roles? Who who will
090receive that? Dr. What's the plan? >> The plan would be That's why instead of having discussions I mean it we've had good teachers, good personnel leaving students getting pulled to go to other schools or homes. or wherever. this. Um, I have a question that's maybe slightly outside of this. Um but maybe so in terms of how teachers or other staff or parents or a community member can interact with this. >> Um like I know if I see something that's wrong, I can call my child's teacher. I can call the building administrator. I can call you here. Um I know there's a safe schools hotline. I know that there's the book of face. Um there there's a a bunch of ways for m communication or some level of information to be disseminated. How does that get
091collected and how does that get reconciled? So if I called safe schools because whatever how does that come back to who sees that? What's that level of >> I can speak to that for you. I think >> anonymity andor accountability >> the uh when a report is submitted to that the uh the IIU the internal investigating unit will send a copy to my attention I typic uh this is being done one is the other is this is receive received and no additional information is being brought to your attention. However, no additional uh action is being taken at the IIU level. I immediately forward that to the attention of the building principal requesting clarification about what progress or what is being done in this regard with regard to that particular instance. And then I get a
092report back from the the principal then provides responses what they've handled how they've handled it including then asking and making sure it's being entered into weas. And is safe schools only used for um interaction or is that like I don't like the way the parking lot at the not quite a construction site elementary school or I don't like the way the snow didn't get shoveled at the high school or I don't like the fact that there aren't lights. Like is it just behavior? Is it just >> interaction? I think the safe part is more about the the behavior and interactions as opposed to facilities. >> To date, I've not received anything other than >> the question. >> You're talking about two separate things. >> Well, I guess like you're talking >> from the outside like
093I'm seeing this says safe school hotline. That is an unsafe situation. I'm going to call. Are we getting that or are we just getting Bobby Joe got beat up by Cindy Lou on the bus and nobody did anything? >> More of that. or the Bobby Joe issue you just mentioned. >> Okay. So, we investigate and then if if the camera shows then we deal with Bobby Joe and Cindy Lou. Those are not the same names I use, but you know what I mean. um or or that gets kicked back to the bus driver or like >> well typically it is my understanding that typically when I when that comes in the building principal has already investigated that with the video to see what's happening with that >> once it comes to their attention typically >>
094it comes to their attention before it even goes to the IIU report. So, >> because there's they they should be and typically are writing a an what's called an incident report. >> Okay. >> That's then investigated and looked into through their video um as best as we can >> and and we have a running record of >> right that both both those things are then entered into uh weeas. >> Okay. >> The West Virginia Education Information System is what we means. >> Yeah. just wasn't sure how how all of that >> that's the state then can deter can pull down information about the frequency of those kinds of things per school etc. >> Okay. >> And the expectation is that's done with regularity by the principal. >> Okay. I think that answers that question or
095at least reframes that conversation. Thank you. >> Um I also had another question. Our behavior interventionist I know that that is to be that individual is to be shared. >> She is being shared >> across the county, right? >> Elementary and middle. >> Okay. Is is that happening or is is that person primarily been >> at Anna Jarvis? She's been a busy individual and I would say probably more often at Anna Jarvis, but she's been reporting to the other schools with some scheduled regularity >> for the most part. >> Was that the position that we created an additional person for? >> Yes, >> but we just we don't have the additional person or >> No, she's so we have two people. >> Just one. >> But we created an additional >> No, we only have
096one. >> But I thought at the beginning of the year we created another one. >> No, sir. What position was it that we created another? >> Well, we >> behavior specialist that was mentioned in code. >> Yes. Because we had >> the dean of students and then >> we tried to fill a counselor. We never felt that was it. >> Thank you. [clears throat] >> And we're still actively >> posting that or just >> No, we have not. That's we have not posted that because we didn't have it filled and we had to riff position the other positions. So we have two administrators and then the behavior interventionist is spending majority of their time at in Jarvis. Correct. just also thinking about that resource for other schools um as well. And then it's just concerning
097that we still have this much of an issue. I said, and it's just concerning that we still have this much of an issue when we're really supposed to utilize that resource across our county, but you're saying the other schools have not needed that. I mean, are we >> they take they take advantage of it, >> but not the degree of >> Okay. I would uh well not sure that's reasonable for me to do, but I would propose that going forward we continue to keep this as an 8,000 series. Um and we get >> I would also like to ask um you know as one of the superintendent schools part of that is safety and when you give us the updates um I think it would I think it would be important to include safety in
098each of those updates as well for across the county. >> Yep. >> I have a specific issue that really applies to all three of these discussion items. Uh there is in some of the information that you handed us when we first started this uh a specific student who was seven times cited for battery of other students. Uh and that was a Anna Jarvis first grader I believe. Uh, I'd like to know how that falls in our discipline matrix. I'd like to know how that falls in school safety. And I'd like to know how that student is not already in an alternative learning setting that protects the other students from that student. Uh, I I I just can't hardly believe that if I were the parent of the student who was battered the seventh time that
099I would be very well pleased with that. Are you wanting a response from me or what we do with what why why that child's being reported in that way? >> I I I certainly would like a response of some sort. Yeah. The the fact of the matter is that battery is not acceptable. I I think just to piggy back off of this and a little bit is that we're all saying essentially the same thing that we just aren't seeing the safety and we're understanding how Miss Dr. Decker has has presented that I we have the ethical obligation to have that safety of the kids and I'm not saying that it's not happening 100% but it's not happening 100% of the time and I think we just need to see that and you are supplying the
100the methods and You're telling us, you're telling us what the plan of action is. And just to to sum up what Mrs. Gallow said, you know, let's just see those bullet points of action and that and that's that's kind of where we're at. I that was I know what Mr. Taylor was asking that that's a hard question to ask and ask and ask of you for an answer and that's why I kind of wanted to piggy back off of him. I don't think I could get an answer from you for that tonight. That's a little bit of a hard question to throw at you and receive a response for because you were just presented it. I just want to encompass what everybody is saying. We've had a lot we've had a lot over the last
101six months, >> right? >> Just bullet points of action. I I think that I think that if we if we have that and going forward and I know you're I I will say this in front of on live stream and in front of everybody. I know the two of you and the ones that are there are working on it. I just need we just need to see it written out and and I know I know you're doing that. I know you are. >> Thank you. >> And I think the ones I I think the biggest thing that we need is the peace of mind of the ones on the other end, the John's and the Michelle's and the ones that are getting hurt. I need to know that when I talk to those parents who
102are the constituents and they're coming to me, I can say Mr. and Mrs. Grafton, I that we are taking care of this. You know, we we are we are taking care of this as best we can as opposed to saying I don't have an answer yet, but I will. You know, that's that's what I want to end my term saying is that, you know, we we had a situation, but we [clears throat] were able to take care of it, and this is what we did. So, >> thank you um both for that question um or all four of you for that question. I'm not sure how to pose that. I do want to say that uh and I appreciate the acknowledgement that we're trying to work on it or we are working on it. It's
103not. We're just trying. But um I I want to remind everyone and I want you to hear the whole explanation so that it doesn't sound like well kids be kids. I'm not going to say that ever. We are also faced from time to time with some of our behavior issues that are met with uh manifestation. And there are protections for students with disabilities. And I'm not excused. An injured child is is not a good thing. But some of those consequences uh also have, you're not going to like what I say, but they're safeguards for the aggressor. If in fact it can be de demonstrated that his or her behavior or his disabil his or her disability manifests means because of his or her disability, you can't you have to have different responses and ways of
104addressing that. You just can't punish someone who doesn't uh have that kind of control or understanding of those actions. That does not by any means minimize anything that might have happened to the the uh person who received that student's inappropriate action. Um and it is very frustrating when it comes to that. But that exists you uh and to clarify for everyone we were even I was with some of the board members at a training where we were actually clarify that once we identify a student as having a concern about his or her behavior be it as a 504 or SAT team once that starts the process then he or she benefits from the potential u protections that I just tried to explain. That does not say and so therefore you that child his the person
105who received his or her actions wasn't hurt or influenced or suffered the suffered the discomfort of whatever took place. I don't want to leave this conversation with you thinking that we are championing those kids because they got away with it. That's not the right word. U that Those protections are there for a purpose. And what we need to do is better clarify the things that Dr. Decker and I have tried to talk about this evening with regard to deescalation training, doing a better job of realizing it's our job, not just wait till somebody else who's been hired to be the deescalator person, but uh uh not but and we are trying to do that. It is not nearly as fast as it should be or could be especially in the eyes and the minds of
106the parents of that child who just suffered the consequence of the other students inaction or inappropriate action. Part of it is ownership universal ownership those expectations that Dr. Decker has been working with getting that universal expectation. Uh I don't want to disparage anyone individually, but if we have a staff and faculty that has a tendency not to feel any universal obligation as that team she's tried to describe, there lies a in the armor to protect our children at any given time. Uh if if as if and as soon as we can get the staff to rally around that with more fidelity like I mentioned, I believe that'll start minimizing, decreasing, eliminating those kinds of unfortunate circumstances. That's that that that's the best I can offer as someone who should be overseeing the safety of our
107school system. And I don't believe we are there yet. As Dr. Decker said on the fourth we had a discussion with faculty and some of them were clearly not taking any ownership on that and as the conversation proceeded and we clarified those kind of things about the example is guess what that's you two if it's a negative thing about Anna Jarvis on social media which has a life of its own they're really talking about every one of you and Anna Jarvis. They're talking about Dr. Decker and Dr. Stallings who are the superintendents and assistant superintendents of the school system. By the way, that includes Santa Jarvis. And so the public's opinion, I have to carefully say this so I don't offend anyone, is not the most important thing to me. It's the support and progress
108to pro protect our children. Um, social media, like as I said, is um not as helpful as social media tends to think it is. There are people on there that don't help. Um, but those those me the message has got to be we are not ignoring or dismissing the importance of safety in our county school system. I can't say that s sincerely enough. Um and we are working within the confines or the parameters that we have to work with not with fidelity yet and I believe that is the most important in the armor to protect our children and we are working on that. I don't particularly look at an alternative learning setting as being a punishment. But if you remove a student from the environment where he or she is hurting other students and put
109them in an alternative learning setting where they are less likely to hurt other students, it seems to me like we've protected our students thereby. And I've talked to several of the teachers at Anna Jarvis and they feel like an alternative learning setting is appropriate for their school or for their level. And we we have it at high school and middle school. We do not have it at elementary school. And I feel as a board member that we should I know you've brought that up before and I know we've kind of talked about that before. Um I think it's certainly something I think we should consider explore. I would remind you as the board that the expectation for these other procedures includes one of the issues that seems to have been taken out of context is
110to remove the student period such as what you're suggesting. The expectation is that the student is to be given uh the teacher and the behavioral specialist and the building administrator are to work together to create a behavior plan and to return the student where the behavior plan would be enacted and that's to be enacted for two week period at which time It's they're to be rem returned or the meeting is to reconvene to determine the status of the success of that behavior plan at which time if it is successful it continues. If it is not successful it is revised. My point is there seemed to be an immediate response taken out of context that teachers have the right to remove the kid from their student from their classroom. End of story. Never to be seen
111again. But that's not the interpretation or the letter of the policy. I'm not arguing with you, but I I would suggest that if you create an a location such as you're suggesting, Mr. Taylor and some of the teachers that are feeling would be the best answer that we have skipped several steps. And if you were to do that, skipping steps or not, you could potentially create a population in which you would need more and more staffing to uh shepherd those students that have now been collected in one location. >> Yeah. I don't I don't see an alternative learning set setting as a permanent solution. It certainly shouldn't be. The behavioral plan could go on and attempt to eventually reintroduce that student to their >> That's the language of the environment. >> That's the intent of
112the policy I just procedure that I just shared with you. >> That's what this chart is that you kind of described 199 chart. So that's the Senate Bill 199 she's referencing. >> So this has dovetailed nicely into a much wider conversation encompassing the next two points because we have these safety concerns on a broader picture. Um, is is a behavior that appears at this school met with the same consequence when it's at this school or at this school? Is that matrix determined by um programmatic level and student subset? Is that um determined by classroom, by department, by by overall programmatic level, by individual grade level, by like if a fifth grader says, "I'm going to blow up her locker." Is that met with the same level of internal awareness, severity, consequence that if a high
113school senior says it, does it does it carry the same weight? Because if fifth grader is at this overall cognitive, social level and a senior in high school is at this. >> The expectation would be because of what you just said, their minds aren't developed as well at the younger level as the older ones. the intent intentionality has got to be a consideration. >> So for our system, for our district, our county, are are our programmatic levels aligned across the county? The the matrix is the same for Flemington, for West Taylor, for Anna Jarvis. >> That would be the expectation as to whether or not they're enacted that way. That would be the question. >> So uh as that steps up. Okay, this behavior happened in third grade. The same behavior is now happening in
114seventh grade. Different student. We'll say it's a different student. Um the severity of the consequence steps up with the emotional and intellectual acuity. True or false? >> I would believe yes. Should is that yes, should is great and ideal. Is that really what's happening? Like I don't know what our matrix is. So I'm asking that question which is maybe I think why we dragged all of our principal friends here, our administrators out on a lovely Tuesday evening to say yes, we do that with fidelity and good faith. >> I'm looking at them and I'm seeing affirmation. Yeah, go ahead. Speak. I invite Mr. >> Please know that Mr. Knop, the principal of of the Grafton High School, is now coming to the podium. >> All right. As always say, my dad was a preacher. I
115love to speak. So, I learned at a young age. So, um, a couple years ago, maybe three, uh, the leadership team met, um, at the board office, um, and we created a county matrix system. We felt it to be very important that we align, um, our expectations with each other. And when we created that, um, we pulled, uh, state policy, um, to look at their expectations and then obviously that can be very broad. So then we had to work together um to formulate a a tailor county kind of what we would do as a group. So to answer your questions, yes. Um when it comes to the elementary level, um there was a matrix that was formed solely on the basis of elementary and as we go through the different disciplinary uh actions and and
116issues that we that may arise during the year. there was a very well and I've got it in my notebook in my office um well-laidout matrix that was provided and created um when it came to the middle school and high school we aligned our matrix uh with each other as as when it comes to secondary education and um I know that uh when we have a disciplinary issue that arises in the school um it's extremely important for me to pull that document out um if we need to share that with you all I'd be more than happy to um and it's it is a wonderful document and um it allows us to really make sure that we're staying consistent because consistency is extremely important and um you know I know Tracy and I talk all
117the time uh it's important for us at the middle school and high school level to be consistent to align our expectations because as we travel through uh fifth grade through 12th grade and um go through that process um we want students to know the expectations and what is uh again, I'm going to say that again, expected of those specific students as they travel through our schools. So, I just wanted to speak on that um that part of it. But um I I hope that kind of secures some of the things that you were asking. Um but again, um that is something that uh Mr. McCarthy, Missstead, and myself uh practice on a daily basis. We we have to be consistent. Um we preach it at the school. We preach it with our teachers. Um that
118we are following the matrix. Um that is their supportive document. It is something to support and for students to understand uh what the expectations are and if they do make a mistake and I say this all the time uh students, we're not none of us are perfect. We're not perfect humans. It's about uh when we make a mistake understanding [snorts] that we're going to be held accountable and be consistent in that accountability to make sure that we don't have holes within our system. And um that's what we again I can only reference uh Grafton High School in that nature but um there is a document and it is being used at least at Grafton High School and I think it um it works well. >> Thank you. >> And do you find that you're running
119into any kind of behaviors that >> you didn't plan for with the matrix? There there's there's always those those those So the thing we just had a leadership team meeting at the high school and um there was and I'm just going to give an example. Um someone said, "What if a pencil is thrown and it hits someone?" Um and that doesn't we don't feel like that is truly a classroom disruption. That's more than that. um as an administrative team, we're always looking to to to look at different issues that arise and make adjustments to our individual um school matrix to meet those needs. So there are absolutely it is not a a failsafe document. We have to be open to new um things and that do occur um throughout and we got to make adjustments.
120If we try to just like a a good lesson plan, right? If we teach the same lesson from 10 years ago, um life has changed. we need to evolve um to the times. So, yeah. Any other questions while I'm up here? All right. Thank you. You have any other questions, concerns, or do any of our administrative friends have anything they would like to say about either the matrix or the ALC? >> Well, I have some questions >> that you can say in a live stream. Yeah, I have some questions about the ALC's. Uh, are >> Mr. Knob, how do you how do you use the ALC's? >> Yeah, please. I'm I'm sorry. I thought we were on the discipline matrix and I didn't want to broaden it yet. >> Repeat with Miss Shoemaker, but I'll
121try. She she's she's very good at uh communication. Um, so ALC uh if we look at the high school, there's two different sections, right? Um so well the first one obviously is after school. So that is when we have a student that that has been expelled. Um we do have a program of support if if students so choose to to still be uh educated with the public school system and not go to homeschool. Um that has worked very well. Um they come in of an evening, they sign in with their parent. Um the uh teacher meets them in the main office um and escorts them to the room. And obviously if there's special education, we also have a special education teacher there to to develop that support system as well to give them every chance
122every chance to be successful while they're in that program during their time. So depending on the length that is so chosen uh by by the board. Um also obviously there is a daytime type of position. Now that is mostly inschool suspension. Um ISS allows us to keep students in school. That's important to to us at Grafton High School. I can only speak of Grafton, right, High School, but it's important for us to keep us in the school, keep them in the school when we start uh suspending students and they're outside of school. Um we don't feel like we can have the educational impact on that student that we can when they're still in at at within the building. And um so ISS has been a a godsend for Grafton High School. We do appreciate you
123uh supplying the funds for that position um as we've seen it very very worthwhile in our in our discipline matrix. Um Dr. Solings is is exactly right though as he spoke upon um using the SAT committee is what we use the SAT committee student assistance team um when we're looking at students that are exhibiting uh hab habitual uh behaviors um you know is it's our job to support teachers right and it's our job to make sure we're keeping safe classrooms and classrooms that were able to educate in. So, um those students are put on a behavior improvement plan. Um it's one that um is looked at after two weeks and then adjustments made. um as we go through that process um now we haven't got to that point um just yet but as we go
124through that process um I do um encourage or entertain the fact just as an idea that and again just um it's obviously just my thought um that uh if a behavior improvement plan that has been adjusted multiple times does not work that there possibly could be an exception to a to a 15 to 30day a um type of setting to allow students the opportunity to try to understand at in an alternative type of setting um kind of the expectations of the school before putting them back into that environment. So again, that is just a suggestion that I would put out there as as an alternative to try to to support and and help but also keep students within the building. >> Hope that helps. Do students have to be expelled to go to the alternative
125learning center? >> The evening alternative learning or or courtordered um is sometimes linked to that as well. Um for the evening side, yes, it's usually the expulsion or or the court ordered is what I've seen personally up to this point. That's only by experience. I'm not obviously privy to say whether there's other things that could be added to that, but that's what the experience has been so far since I've been in in Taylor County. >> Do you suspend students and then just put them into ISS or what? >> So the ISS program >> suspended. So the the suspension would be just a suspension if it's just they would be an OSS day or three days depending on the matrix. If it calls for a suspension um that would just be an outside school environment uh
126type of suspension. They would not go into ISS. Um but a lot of our disciplinary actions can link to ISS. For instance, skipping skipping class would be an example. We're not going to suspend outside of school for that. We do feel that that is a a concern that we need to treat very much in line with with ISS. So we make those adjustments when we when we need to. But uh the evening ALC has been traditionally expulsions um or court-ordered type of things. uh currently um is there some flexibility that maybe a daytime type situation could occur uh if students are put on behavior improvement plans um and go through that process um to give them an alternative setting for a set period of time. Maybe that's something that that possibly could be looked at.
127>> So I have a question. Um, Miss Garvin had kind of talked about this a little bit earlier, but in regards to ISS, >> yes, >> in school. Yeah. >> So, if you have a student who you're seems like you're continually putting them in ISS, >> do you at that point escalate it to out of school because of the repeated behaviors or how does that work? >> So, we have a tiered system. Yeah. So, so um when we get in insubordination orbitual violations, obviously we go through, you know, incident one, incident two, incident three and as we work that system, it does elevate in um decision- making on that. So, so could ISS and and when it comes to certain behaviors lead to OSS? Absolutely. Um that is kind of just the progression within the
128system of the matrix and and I can definitely at any time provide you Grafton High School's matrix. I I believe in I think it's probably I've been in three different school systems and it's the best one that I've ever been a part of and and um I think it it works well if used uh correctly. So >> I would like to see it if >> absolutely >> that's okay. >> Yeah, I'll send it to Dr. Stallings and he can go from there. >> Actually had a note a copy for any other questions. Could we hear similar comments from the middle schools? >> We have an evening ALC. Uh it the times are 3:30 to 5:30. It is Monday through Thursday. Um, we have had six students placed in there this year and they have all
129been court ordered. Um, no students from the school specifically. Um, we we do have an ISS. We do not have it set up as a day ALC. Um, and normally if I go to place students in ALC, um, I compose an an email with all of the disciplinary concerns um, regarding a student. I send it to Dr. Stallings. send it to um our safety director and they make a decision as to whether or not that student's going to be placed in ALC um for a certain amount of time. Um we follow the discipline matrix. We meet with those students um if it's a threat for an example um it can be 10 days out and then further down it says andor ALC andor expulsion. Um and those are the emails that are sent on to
130Dr. Stallings and Jenny McCarthy to make the decision as to whether or not that student's going to be placed in ALC or we do an expulsion on that student. >> You have your ISS as well. You still have ISS, right? >> We do. I said that. >> I'm sorry. I didn't. >> It's just it's not used as ALC. >> So, could you outline maybe a little more succinctly what happens in ISS then? So ISS is normally our students who um their writeups would not be a threat for an example to a teacher or a student. Um it would be like similar to Matt it would be skipping class. It would be um if they continue say they're at lunch and they continue to act up at lunch. We give them lunch attention. Next thing you
131know they're pushing a student, they trip a student, etc. and their behavior continues to elevate. we do ISS and then after so many of those we then revert that to OSS and then if that behavior becomes really threatening then we talk the discussion about being placed in ALC >> but your ISS still has a supervised educational component >> 100% we have a full-time ISS teacher >> okay >> um yes >> that's because you don't use it as an ALC and we all automatically went ALC See, we're still learning. Okay. I wanted to make sure that ISS was still supporting that piece. >> Yes. And we do try to do ISS versus OSS because they are in school learning versus being outside and and making sure that some student some parents don't want the iPads at
132home. It may be a technology concern for them. So, they have to come and pick up the packets, take it home for the kids to work on. Um, so we would rather have direct instruction. in the in the past when we have had students assigned to ALC um from the board office, their grades do improve and their behaviors do improve. So ALC placements have worked for our students, even the ones that are there that finished this year um that were court ordered um their grades did improve. Um, and even if it's for a limited amount of time, we do have a chance to work with their behaviors and and have a chance to work with academics as well to see changes. >> Great. Thank you, >> Miss Hardy Godfrey. I just wanted to commend you
133on your discipline because uh your data that you shared with us earlier, you have tremendous improvement. You've had less referrals, less kids in ISS and OSS. So that that is really good because I know you know that's always a challenge and um so I just wanted to commend you and your staff on that. >> Thank you. And like I said, I really think with the teachers engaging a lot more in the classrooms and the hallways and also working better with the administration that that's helping us make those changes. >> My guess is that comes from that universal why expectation wise. >> Yeah. too. >> Moving on down the line, would the elementary principles like to comment on what they feel the usefulness of an ALC would be at the elementary level. Before I say anything
134about um what an ALC would do at the elementary level. I do want to mention that with even having an assistant principal at Anna Jarvis, we're we don't have the same setup that the middle school and the high school is able to do for the kids with ISS because we don't have an ISS teacher. Um, prior to having the behavior interventionist, which we're very thankful that we have the behavior interventionist. I think it was very much needed. She's doing a wonderful job. Um it aligns perfectly with the Senate Bill 199. She's doing everything uh with us that we're supposed to do with these kids who have these extreme behavior needs. Uh but we do not have a setup to be able to provide in school suspension similar to the middle school and high school. And
135here's a couple of reasons why. At the elementary level, we really need um any consequences to be as immediate as possible so that they can align their behavior to what what happens then. And if um the assistant principal and myself were to do an inschool suspension, we're we have to sometimes schedule it. It may not be that day. It may not be the next day. It might be the ne the day after that for example. And it's a valid complaint of the teachers that when we do that it's really not having an impact which we want our consequences to have an impact. We want the consequences to uh motivate our children to not make those choices in the future. So are we do positive things to try to entice students to make the good choices
136but we also have the consequences such as what was referred to in the matrix. So at the elementary level we have the consequences of similar to what was mentioned we do a lunch detention. The teachers have uh classroom is issued consequences when the teachers can handle the discipline at their level and they'll do a lunch detention where you there might be a student that doesn't get to sit with their class that there's a different table. They'll sit away from their class. When a behavior is referred to us in the office, we'll do an office lunch detention which means the student is no longer with the other students. uh they are in the office uh to spend the lunchtime um mostly sitting silently eating their lunch. But it is a time for us to review uh
137the behavior that happened and you know why did it happen? What was something you could have done instead? What's going to happen next time? um like what choices will you make next time and as a consequence what would also happen next time if you choose this behavior. So um I just wanted to explain that and also that out of school suspension many times is looked at as a reward to students because being in school we try to make it fun but it's also challenging and many students don't like to have the feel of that productive struggle. They want to avoid that. They they want to feel good. They want to um be at home because they can do things that make them feel good at home instead of um be in school and be challenged
138to be um more academically successful. Um and so we try not to do out of school suspension when possible. Um when we have behaviors that are unsafe, we do consider and give out of school suspension. Um but as Dr. Decker and Dr. Stallings have mentioned about once we've identified a student as potentially having a problem with behavior um we go into the SAT process to say hey we can't figure this out the teacher by themselves now let's look at this as a team and once they're in the SAT process we handle those situations differently because they have the 2419 protections. And so if we wanted to talk about, you know, how would an ALC uh be utilized or be found helpful at the elementary setting? I'm just gonna be honest and say I don't know
139enough about ALC's and how they're utilized if if they are utilized um with students with disabilities. Um I've been in situations before where we have had a manifestation uh meeting or meetings for students where the services for those students uh were changed. you actually have a new IEP. And so you can provide a different setting for that student through those means rather than saying, "Oh, we're going to utilize the ALC." Um, it's been many years ago that that's happened, but there is a process for that as well. Um so having a student with disabilities have extreme behaviors doesn't mean that that student is required to remain in the school during the school day. Um there are steps to takes to take uh with that but you always need to consider the least restrictive environment. So
140you have to step back and do all the things that Dr. Stallings and Dr. Decker was was talking about do have we really created um a behavior plan for a student where we've looked at what are the triggers. Did we do a functional behavior assessment? Um there's many things that you need to look at and try this. Let's look at what might the child w work towards and let's come back and see is it working. Okay, let's figure out why it's not working. Maybe we need to give some incentives that are more frequent. Um maybe we need to come up with some bigger incentives or um maybe we need to I don't know have a have a peer buddy and you know just look at something from a different angle of how to help a
141child to get to be more successful with behavior. Um it's a lot of work to go through that process and we have been going through that process. You know I I have thought over and over and over. I have spent hours thinking of what would I say if I were to come as a delegation or ask you to put on the agenda because with everything that has been going on for months, one of you mentioned six months maybe that we've been discussing the behaviors or you all have been receiving communications about behaviors when When our team takes a look at our students and our data, our student behaviors, it is in a typical school, you may have 15% of your population who are in the who are considered for tier 2, whether it be behavior
142or academics, and you may have 5% in your tier three. Do you want to know what our numbers are at Anna Jarvis? We have I I believe it's 3% in the tier two and about 1% in the tier three. But when you when you're hearing about, you know, all the behaviors at Anna Jarvis, it's just a very few number of kids that are um being identified maybe as what's causing the staff to talk about why can't we have something different than what's going on right now? Because, and let's think about it because most of us have had children. When a child doesn't get what they want, they ramp it up to get to see see what they can get away with to get what they want. Um, and then they keep going and then they
143keep going and they keep going because many kids learn from a very, very young age that if I just push hard enough, somebody's going to get worn out and that I'm going to get what I want. And then they come to the school setting and then they have to learn, oh, it doesn't work that way. So, you might have a child that is going to scream at the very top of their lungs for as long as they think they can hold out and do so until they can wear down whatever adult is trying to teach them. That behavior is not going to get you more playtime. It's work time right now. Um, I just wanted to give an example of that because I just want to put it out there that it's not the school
144in total chaos, which is how this might be coming across to many people. It is not that the majority of our students are following those explicitly taught expectations. the majority of our students and it's going really really well for those students. But we have the very very few who are falling in our tier 2 and our tier three that we have been working on how to get them to learn the appropriate behaviors. And with some children, just like when you have those who are receiving special services for academics, it takes a lot longer time and a lot more uh lessons of not this, yes, this in order for those behaviors to be actually learned so that they can demonstrate that they understand how to manage their big feelings. Um, I hope that helps. Um, again
145about an ALC, we may have a student or two who may benefit from having a different environment than what they are in right now at school. But we are going through those steps. We are meeting with the SAT team. We're meeting with the behavior interventionist. We're creating behavior plans. We're seeing if it works, if it doesn't, we're trying it again. And it does take time. Um, excuse [clears throat] me. We we do meet with students uh with disabilities to have a manifestation meeting and the entire team determines is this the best least restrictive environment for the child or do we need to consider something else? That's that is following 419 and we have determined as a team um if yes we are still going to um have the student in the school but let's see
146if we need to change the environment in the school. Um so I want you to know we're following the processes. We're reaching out for support from the county office. They are they are helping. We've had an amazing amount of support from the central office working through these things, but it's not an easy task and not everybody understands the process, which is a big part of the issue I think that we have here in continuing to get messages about this is going on, that's going on because [clears throat] people don't know what's protected information about students. they just know what they hear going through the hallways. Um, and we can't share that information. We shouldn't share that information. Um, but it is it is frustrating and I can understand that for people not knowing and Dr.
147Strongs, Dr. Decker and you all are hearing from people saying why isn't anybody doing anything? Well, there we are doing what we're supposed to be doing and we're meeting with the teams. We're reaching out, getting support from our from the central office. Um, but they are large tasks that take a long time. So, I hope that was helpful. Any other comments? I think um Mrs. Sinclair brought up a good point about the consequence immediately following the behavior. So, you know, I don't know that an ALC would be the right option because that would be, you know, time lapse there. Um, I did have a question though for our other elementary principles as far as ISS cuz you guys are the administrator in the building. So, are you scheduling ISS like that or do you have
148help with your counselor behavior interventions? Like tell us who does that. Okay. >> Okay. >> The following day. >> Can you Sorry. Can you share up here? >> So I called the parent immediately and I tell them that the next day this is what's going to happen. >> Okay. >> The teacher gets their work ready that that afternoon and the next day when they come in they just come straight to my office. >> Okay. And then as far as you know I talked to Mr. Knop about this when he was up here like those repeated behaviors. Do you see that that much in the middle? Okay. never come back. [laughter] >> It's not fun. >> Yeah, >> there's a lot of crying from both of us. >> So, it's not fun. >> Okay. [laughter] >>
149Yes. >> So, I would say then it sounds like you don't have it very often. >> I don't. No, because usually it's fourth graders and then they go back to the classroom, they're like, "You don't want to do that." >> And then I don't have any more issues. Yes. [laughter] >> Okay. Similar for you, Mrs. Knots, then. Okay. >> Sorry, Mr. Taylor and I were determined to get >> I know. >> I just want to make sure that we all have a good picture of here. >> Miss Dolan and I, we do handle the discipline pretty much in the same sense. Um, mine's a little bit different. Um, I'm not sure what's going to happen this year with us losing the halftime counselor because of course, Miss Cochran was my backbone to help me with
150other things if I'm tied up with a student. Um, usually mine happens immediately. Um, usually either one of us can pitch hit if we need to with that student. I immediately bring the student to the office. We talk about what happened. I don't call home and tell the parents. I have the student call home and tell the parent what happened. This is what I did. um and we talk together on the speaker phone and they tell them what's going to happen next and that we're going to take some time to reflect and we're going to think about what we're going to do to make better choices about our behavior. Um if there's another student involved um of course separately um we call home together and we tell what happened and we tell the whole story
151so that story doesn't get changed between school and home and we let I always let the other parent know that you know the behavior is being handled. There is a consequence for the behavior but I'm also like Nolan once they come and they spend a day they don't like it real well. It's not you sit down, you're doing your work, and we're going to be together. I'm not taking my eyes off of you, and this is what's going to happen. You You chose this, you made the choice. Um, usually I try to really come off in the beginning very, very tough and very upset because they chose that behavior because they weren't safe or they put somebody else, you know, in danger. And I don't like that. And I'm very blessed at West Taylor that
152my faculty and staff, we all share the same beliefs. And the number one thing is to keep everybody safe and we share the same expectations out of the students. When you walk down the hallway, you don't touch the walls. Now, some people might think, well, that's crazy. But I explained to my students, if every student walked down the hallway and they put their feet or their hands on there, the building that we have that's beautiful will no longer be. And you know I think a lot of times the problem is is you know when when students you know have a behavior that is unres you know undesirable you you got to talk to them you know you got to explain it and that's what I do usually you know when we get to the tears
153part either them or me um we wrap that back up and I'm like buddy come over here we got to fix this we can't do this we cannot we cannot be upset with each other and we cannot go on like this. Okay. So, what are we going to do together to fix this? And usually they already know the answer. And then I tell them that's what I expect of you. You know, we always go through the scenarios. What would happen if I went and I hit Miss Cochran? I'm an adult. What would happen? And they know, well, you could go to jail. Well, yeah, you know, but you don't learn to do that. You don't keep doing it. So, that works. Just a real quick note on your ALC. Um coming from Harrison County schools,
154I was a part of a elementary ALC. It was called back to basics. Um we had students that went there, students who returned from there. Um there was a lot of positive points, but there was a lot of points that I I think uh reintegration back to the school. Um you take a student out, we had some students that came to Nutter Fort from residential facilities. when those students came from residential facilities and you place them into a public school, that's a huge difference for these children. So, usually when the behaviors become very harmful and they have to be, you know, um the application process and the process that we had in support of, you know, the back to basics program, they would go there um they would work with, you know, almost one-on-one or
155a very small group. But then when they integrated them back, we were going from a whole another environment back to an environment of, you know, 15, 20 kids in a classroom. Well, that's not what I've been used to for the last six weeks or the last four weeks. Now, you're expecting me the behaviors I showed here with five, six people in a room. You're going to want me to to do that in a room full of, you know, 15 or 20. And and I think that was a little bit of the breakdown of the program was that we didn't realize we might be teaching them good things at you know an ALC or at a you know back to basics. Um but the integration part was really important with elementary you know there such a
156developmental stage that we need to look at that what that is for them you know being from one environment going to the other. Okay. >> Thank you. Do you have a tiered system like they do with the >> Absolutely. And um Mr. Kn, myself, it was before Ginger, it was um Miss Sinclair and at the time it was Melissa that was out of Bloomington. We all sit down and it was actually before Mr. Stallings or Dr. Stallings, we were um uh Christina Miller. We all got together and we worked on the different levels. We also have that matrix for the elementary level and it is laid out. We went with the policies we picked out. And of course, my student who decides to smack another kid in the pre-K classroom is not going to get
157what Mr. Nop or Miss Flu Hardy has in the in a fifth grade or a ninth or tth grade student that decides to put their hands on each other. So, it's laid out differently. Um, but it is the, you know, the tiered and it is, you know, a matrix. It's pretty easy to follow. But again even with that you know it's subjective a little bit and and you have to take situation the type of student you know is this you know our job I believe and and Jinger and I I know we we follow a lot of the fa same philosophy is you know we have to teach them what behaviors are desirable and when they have a behavioral a behavior that may be desirable at home or maybe with older brothers or younger kid
158or whatever. Okay, we're in school now. We we do not touch. That is not allowed here. And um you know, I I've been very fortunate and very blessed that I have a very supportive community of parents and um and staff, faculty and staff. Everybody there is, you know, so you know, it's worked for us. But I do pull that matrix occasionally because I'm thinking, okay, let me just go down through and make sure I'm right. You know, like I said, mine looks a lot different than what middle school or high school would look like. Um, and I just realized that Miss Dolan does not have that matrix, so I'm going to get that to her tomorrow so she'll be able to see that. >> Dr. Stallings, could we get a copy of the matrixes that
159>> actually I just made a note that said obtain copies of the behavior matrices for the board members. >> Thank you. >> And um I get what Miss Mrs. Gallow was saying about this not being an ALC not being an immediate consequence. [clears throat] But to me, I wonder at what point does it become more important to protect the safety of the other students than it is to worry about the consequence and whether or not it's immediate. And that's the that's the usefulness of an ALC I see. And I I also get the reintroduction of the students back to the normal classroom may be difficult too, but somewhere I mean isn't one of our first priorities to protect the other students and how many times do you get to hit or batter another student before
160we protect the other students is our first priority. >> You mentioned the word subjectivity. So, what's what's the hard stop on that? Okay. If I'm in the back row and I'm tossing my pencil and I'm tossing my pencil, I'm distracting. >> It's repetitive, >> right? >> I'm not hurting anybody, >> right? >> Now, I throw my pencil >> and I maybe intentionally, maybe unintentionally hit Mr. Dowy in the head. >> So, where Is there a point before I actually hit somebody else where you're like, "We're going to move this behavior over here and address it versus Melissa, hush now. Melissa, refocus." because I know we re-engage, we refocus, we readapt, we >> Well, I will say at West Taylor and I can speak for my teachers and uh you know, most all classrooms, most all
161teachers share in the same policies and the same different type of classroom um management styles. So I know myself personally if I'm in a classroom and I've been very blessed to be at all, you know, different levels of school, but my first thing is proximity usually, you know, I'll go I'll stand by them. Um, if it's a problem in a classroom and the teachers tried everything and it doesn't work and I'm brought in with that, okay, first of all, am I allowed to do that? And they'll be like, am I? If I go to Dr. Stalling's office or I go to Dr. Decker's office, am I allowed to sit there and am I allowed to do that? What do you think they would do? I don't know. Do you think I'd be, you know, and
162sometimes it's you you have to talk to these kids. Um, so many times I I've seen to where we get kind of blindsided. Okay, you did that and now you're getting this. And there's so much more to teaching the whole child, you know, and it depends on, you know, are we talking pre-K? Are we talking fourth grade? Now, if I got a fourth grader, then I'm I might say, "What happened? What happened today?" Because you don't do that. You You're being disrespectful. Is that what we do here? Are we allowed to be disrespectful? And they already know the answers. I'm asking them questions I know they know the answers to. And a lot of times there's a reason for that. Now, if it's a student who does it every single day, guess what? You're not
163sitting in that class flinging that pencil. you're not going to sit there and disrupt the whole class. You're going to sit with me and we're going to work together. And they're like, "What about recess?" I said, "We will have fun." What about lunch? I like to have a lunch date. And you know, I mean, those are the things that I try to do with my students is, you know, base it around what's real life and what's going to happen. These are consequences. Now, if it's somebody's safety's in jeopardy or they've hurt someone or intentionally hurt someone, then of course that's where the matrix comes out and that's where we, you know, go a little bit more in depth that there's going to be a a big consequence. Now, time away from the classroom and time
164away and spent with me or spent, you know, working on what the root cause of this behavior is. I mean, we don't always have to be punitive in what we do with our kids. I'm not always punitive with my children that I've raised. You know, um you you know, I try to take what I've learned as a parent and help with my students at school. You know, a lot of times we just have to talk to them. What you know, I understand there's sometimes that students have disabilities and they do have problems. Um, in my whole 11 just finished my 11th year of administration, I've had one student that went to residential or went to came from residential, ended up at ALC one. And his problems that he has were a lot more than should
165have been put in a public school. Um, you know, I suffered myself physical abuse from him and um, re-entry was not the answer either. other things happen. But on our daytoday discipline and behavior, you know, the matrix is helpful. It's a guide to us. It's a quick guide. You just pull that thing out and you can look real quick and think, okay, and that's where I say, you know, do you want to sit here for three days? Is that what you want? And usually they're like, no, you know, this is not fun. Um, so that's how I handle at West Taylor. Um, like I said, it's more about, you know, teaching the whole child. And I try not I try to stay away from a lot of punitive because I think if if I do
166my job as an administrator and I try to um correct these behaviors and let them correct them their behaviors and make better choices, then when I send them to middle school and they go on to high school, they have a good foundation. So that's just what I do there. >> You're welcome. I have to say that uh my history as an administrator at an elementary level was similar to having the student call home with me and it was an extremely effective method because usually I would ask I would dial the number. I would speak to the parent and indicate that I have Michelle with me and she is safe but she and she has something that she wants to tell you and then she would be the one that would actually explain what took place
167and that became an very effective first step because even as Miss Knots has alluded the kids talk and they don't want to be they're quick to share with their friends you don't want to have to call your mom. I had to call my mom. And for the most part, I had parents that were very responsive. And uh they talked about they would help take care of that as well. And um rarely did I have a repeat offender of any kind when they went through that experience. Um it's good to see that that practice is still happening. I didn't invent it, but it seemed to be effective. Maybe I was me in initially thinking maybe we should just ship everybody to Miss Dolan. The way she said they I didn't want to maybe investigate Miss Dolan's
168disciplinary actions when they're with her. I'm teasing, of course. >> Yeah. as I'm sitting here listening and just thought of another thing um that's worth a discussion um surely it would be with Dr. Shellings and Dr. Decker first, but a question that keeps coming up um from the staff in the many dealings that we've had with kids who have difficulty regulating their emotions. Um so we have, you know, I believe it was you, um Mrs. Garvin that asked the question about you know we've got 4373 and we have the matrix we have capturing kids hearts and you listing all the things and do they all mesh together? Uh one more thing that I thought of was the training that we do um with CPI which I'm going to guess is what is going to be
169utilized when we're training everybody um at the beginning of the year. We've used it for years and years and years. The first part being um deescalation strategies. But in CPI um you learn deescalation strategies but then you also uh learn about safe handling of students. Okay. And the training for that is you don't handle students and physically unless it's as a last resort. And one of the questions that comes up frequently from our teachers is, "So, how many times are we going to let somebody tear up our classroom while we're waiting for the child to deescalate?" Because I've been in a situations where it's went over an hour um of trying to help a student to deescalate. And so then there's that question because if you're going to remove a child from a classroom, if
170they're not deescalated, they're not going to go willingly. So if they don't go willingly, then that means you have to physically escort them out. Okay? And so who's going to make that decision? Um, there's not a lot of people that are going to volunteer to want to be on that team to help somebody to be removed from the classroom because it could bring other things nobody wants to deal with. But then you have the teacher that's, you know, the kids have made all these beautiful art pieces or I worked really hard on these, you know, 10 math problems and now they all got ripped up. You know, how many times are we going to have the class experience that with their items? So, that that's a question we've been talking about. Um, and I also
171would like to um mention about what has been named the reset room that you received information on previously. Um, I want you to understand that the room was used for students safety in mind. Um during the whole time of utilizing the reset room, the student has said what or is has been told as soon as you can show me that you are calm, we can go. We can go out of here. And it's a place that has nothing to climb on because I've used a regular classroom before and there has been the heating and air conditioning units that the kids can climb up on that's over by the window. That is not safe. Um, so it's a room that has no desks, no chairs, nothing to throw, nothing to climb on, and it's used to
172allow the child to deescalate. Um, we we don't want to um be physically involved. Um that there are some students with special needs that I know need some compression. So I might use compression like up the arm uh because they need that um input to help them regulate their emotions. Um that's completely different. But I know this is something that has come up many many many many times and you probably have had communication about that too. But it's something that we need to talk about about what are the what are the parameters that we want to work into. Do we say if if a child, you know, has thrown a chair, then they should immediately be removed from the room or if they've thrown a pencil or if they've actually hit somebody with something or
173um if they're destroying items in the classroom, then yes, let's make that decision to remove the child from the classroom. Um, but leaves most everything up to the principal's discretion. And the matrix that we made falls within 4373. There's nothing that's in that matrix that doesn't align with 4373. It just pulled the borders in a little closer. Would you agree with that? I mean, we we're not allowed to make anything that's not aligned with 4373. Um, but still within the matrix, there's room for principal's discretion, but it doesn't answer these questions that I'm sharing with you right now because in our building, that's a question that's being asked often. And since this has come to your all's attention, I figure it's worth a discussion about that because if we want to close the book on
174this chapter um we need to have those things identified so that we can move forward um with the expectations, clear expectations um of what's expected of the staff, of the administration, Um because again with 4373 leaving many things to the principal's discretion, this has become outside of that now. And so I feel we're at a point now where I'm asking for outside input since this has now become outside of the school walls. Um that's that's all. Thank you. All right. You have any other specific discussion? This is a phenomenal amount of information and a lot to process for this evening. Does anybody else have anything that we would like to add to the 8000 discussion 8000 series for discussion at the next meeting, right? Um, >> continuing updates on >> said I don't think so
175because yeah, we're keeping the >> maybe not specifically the disciplinary matrix in the ALC, but continuing updates on school concerns and the forward motion of that progress. >> Uh, I'm not entirely sure I'm through talking about ALC's either. >> Are you through for this evening? for this evening. >> Very good, sir. Um, July, go ahead and put that on July. [laughter] I see what you did there. >> [snorts] >> Uh if there is no other discussion for this evening, I'd like to thank all of our administrators um and adult, parent, guardian friends for spending their time with us this evening and facilitating this conversation so that we all have a better understanding of how we are moving forward. >> Wonderful. >> Hearing nothing else. Again, thank you very much for the principles that came out
176that your your input is highly appreciated. >> Sorry, >> that's okay. Hearing nothing else, we'll move on to the 9,000 series future meetings. June 23rd, 2026, 6 o'clock here at the board office is the last meeting for this fiscal year uh and the last one that we're approving on this board's agenda. Hearing no additional need for any additional meetings, I will call for a motion for adjournment. >> I'm going to go with Mrs. Gallow moves and Mr. Dowy seconds. All those in favor? >> I opposed. Thank you all for your time, your effort. Go safely and enjoy the fading remains of the sunlight >> time. >> Oh, 8:47. >> Thank you.