001Good evening. It is 6 o'clock and I'm going to call this meeting to order. Mrs. Knots, Mr. Taylor, Miss Garbin are present in person. Mr. Dowy is on the phone with us and Mrs. Gallow is unavailable. 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. Please bow your heads. Lord, we respectfully ask for your guidance and 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. I aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation
002indivisible with liberty and justice for all. Dr. Stallings, do we have any addendums or adjustments to the agenda? Yes, Miss Garvin, we do. There are two. If you would please remove item 5539. [Music] Just one name. The name Jennifer Mey. Remove that from that item. 5539. Any other? The second item I need you to address is the uh removal or just simply strike the item in the 1000 series. Rebecca Bartlett. She is no longer needing to address that. The 10,00 right there in the information first sheet about 34 of the way down. That item has already been addressed on a previous agenda. So, she and I spoke and we realized we didn't need to have it on this one. Very good. Thank you, ma'am. That's all we have for this evening. All right. The superintendent
003respectfully requests approval of the agenda as presented. Mr. Taylor moves. Mrs. Not seconds. All those in favor? I. Motion passes 40. takes us to the 1000 series information and we begin with the American Legion. Good evening everyone. We are here to uh do a ceremony for you. Uh last week we presented a flag to the board of education to fly over their building and we also they had a flag in this building that was here for a long long time and they wanted it retired. So we put it under glass and we presented it to them that way. We asked at that time if they would like to have a another ceremony and they said yes. So we'll go ahead and get started with that. We're here today to make sure that everyone knows that
004there are Americans around the world who are being held against their will, not accounted for, held prisoner, held hostage, and some of these and never make it home. We also need to let everyone know that the reason we have these type ceremonies is to make sure we never forget, never stop remembering we have heroes around the world who need a proper accounting. We call these individuals MIA and PS. Some people ask us why we have this ceremony. We don't have P camps around the world anymore that we see in the news all the time. Occasionally you'll see an American was taken prisoner or captured, but not as much as we used to. This ceremony is so we never forget these Americans that are still out there. Some of you may know this and some of
005you may not. In 2024, there were five MIA PSWs from our great state that were repatriated. They were finally identified and returned home. Private First Class Moss E. Vance from McDow County returned home after 80 years not knowing where he was. Lieutenant J. Ross Mano from Kingwood, West Virginia. 80 years and then he got to come home. Corporal Howard Godwin Jr. from right here in Grafton. After 74 years he was returned home. Sergeant Kester E. Hartman from Smithville, West Virginia. 73 years and then he was returned. And Corporal James C. Bowman of Jordan, West Virginia. After 75 years, he was returned home. The families of these servicemen finally got closure for their loved ones. We can never forget the sacrifice that these men gave America and what their families had to endure while they were
006gone. This ceremony is about honor, sacrifice, and closure. That's the reason we have this ceremony. I have a pamphlet that I will leave here if folks want to look at it. It is the uh five individuals that were returned and inside it has a little write up about each one of them. I will leave it here if you would like to see that. We'll now have a special ceremony to honor the servicemen and women who are sometimes forgotten. If you notice, there's a flag up front by itself alone. This is the missing in action and prisoner of war flag. This ceremony is for those MIA and PS. I call your attention to the small table that's behind me. It occupies a place of dignity and honor. It will be set for one symbolizing the fact
007that members of our armed forces are missing from our ranks. They are referred to as MIA and P. Remember, we call them comrades. They are unable to be with their loved ones and family. So, we join together in a humble tribute to them and bear witness to their unyielding absence. Remember the is small, symbolizing the frailty of one prisoner alone against his oppressors. The tablecloth is white, symbolizing the purity of their intentions to respond to our country's call. Remember The single red rose in a vase reminds us of the families and loved ones of the comrades in arms who kept the faith awaiting their return. Remember the red ribbon so prominently tied around the vase is reminiscent of the red rim worn on the lapels and breasts of many bearing witness to their y unyielding
008determination to demand a proper accounting. Remember the slice of lemon on the plate reminds us of their bitter fate. The salt on the plate is symbolizes the tears shed by those who wait. Let us remember the glass is inverted. They cannot toast with us. The chair is empty. They are not here. The candle is reminiscent of the light of hope which lives in our hearts to illuminate their way home away from their captures to an open arms of a grateful nation. Let us remember the American flag, the armed forces flag, and the MIAP flag remind us that many of them may never return and have paid the supreme sacrifice to ensure our freedom. The Bible reminds us to pray to the Supreme Commander that all of our comrades will be back soon within our ranks.
009Let us remember and never forget the sacrifices. May God forever watch over them and protect their families. We'll now have a short prayer for our veterans. Heavenly Father, we thank you for the brave men and women who sacrificed through the years defending our nation. We ask that you bless them all veterans, past, present, and future. And we ask this in your name. Amen. This concludes our ceremony. I would ask if you know a veteran or you see a veteran, thank them for their service. And also remember those who cannot be with us because they're missing prisoner, hostage, or have given the ultimate sacrifice. Thank you very much for having us again. Um, I just want to say that May is going to start soon and May is a very important month in Grafton if you
010don't know. Uh, there's a big parade. There's two national cemeteries here and there'll be some ceremonies that you can see there. So again, thank you so much And thank you gentlemen for your service. Thank you very much, gentlemen. Um, and we are going to continue in our pursuit of being wildly patriotic uh with the VFW and the VFW auxiliary, the Patriot Pen. I'll start with the Patriots pin. It's a contest held every uh for sixth through 8th graders. And this year uh our third place winner was Julia Rosie. Is she here? Come on up. [Applause] If the winners could stay up for a moment, please. Second place is Ava [Applause] Leard. In first place, Julie Hall. [Applause] I also understand that third Miss Scubis is here to this evening if she would like to come
011forward as well. I would just like to say these three young ladies are very bright, intelligent girls and uh the theme of this essay was the voice of democracy in America and their papers reflected as eighth grade students, how do you have a voice? You have a voice in speaking up for each other. You have a voice clubs in classes you join and you also have a voice in everyday life in your community. So you don't have the right to vote yet, but every day in your life you have a voice and you can make that voice in making your world a better place in your classroom, in your families, in your friendships, in your society as you know it. And they did a very, very well done job. Thank you, girl. And if you
012wouldn't mind, I'd like to get a picture of you. So, stay put. Did the board want to say anything to Yes. Would you like to? Yeah. Sorry. Um, so ladies, thank you for using your voice to remind us that we have voices and don't lose that voice. It's more important than ever. Um, so I am proud of you. Excuse me. And I think we're all very proud of you. And go forth and do wonderful things that make you proud, that make your parents proud, that make Taylor County and the USA proud. Well done. [Applause] Good job, ladies. That is one of two contests that we have in the fall. Uh in the spring we have the patriotic art contests and we had two entries. Our first place winner is Casey Alexander and you can stay
013up here as [Applause] well. And our second place winner is Kenzie Person. Is Kenzie here? And I also in addition to uh working with the VFW auxiliary here in Grafton, I also have the honor of being the state uh department scholarship chair uh for the auxiliary this year. And while the judging is still going on, I can say that there is a good chance that we will have a state winner as well. So great. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Do you want to go ahead and stand up? Very proud of you for putting putting out the effort. We know this is an addition to everything else that you do. And you have to have a passion to be able to put you put um the effort and the creativity into this contest. And just
014like we've said all evening, you know, this is a very important part of our community and we're just very proud of you that you take part in that and hopefully that you will continue to be a very big um a big part of our community as you move through your life. and don't forget about where where you've come from and um your roots here and always support your hometown. So, congratulations. [Applause] As noted uh prior to to this evening, we did an addendum that was the additional piece for the 1000 series and that's recognizing the uh play the theater production recently provided to us at the Grafton High School auditorium. Um so I am delighted to be standing on this side of the counter tonight because these 39 kids are amazing. They showed up. They
015kept their grades up. They I don't think any of them were involved in just this that everybody was here and there and FFA and tennis and HISA and extracurricular and social studies fair and and and and and and like just listing that makes me tired. Um they did a phenomenal amount of work in a very short time really and I think gave Grafton a wonderful performance indeed. So, I'm going to read all of their names. Some of them are here. Some of them, I'm sure, are off doing other things this evening um because they don't stop. So, um from the high school, we have Nvea White, Ian Phillips, Greer Taylor. Come on, stand up and get up here, y'all. Julia Shay, Lindsay Supin, Jaden Young, Abby Swigger, Cali Kelly Boliard, Evan Weatherbe, Isaiah Moore, Jax
016Austin, Emma Male, Leona Delaney, Jayla Blackhurst, Analita, I still don't say her last name right. Starts with a G. I apologize. Sophia Pollinsky and Cali Copelan. Um, these are my high school kids. Some of them were on stage, some of them were backstage. They're rock stars from the middle school. Oh, and Sarah Moore. This is why I need Sarah to make the list for me. She's my stage manager. Um, and and an absolute rock star. Um, she ran the show. She called every queue in the show. She said, "Sets, go, lights go." She made sure quick changes were happening. She was backstage, eyes and ears all over the place. Absolutely awesome. From the middle school, I have Brooklyn Ever, Abigail Ashby's, Aiden Erie, Arya Hill, Audrea Sto, Bristol Dunham, Kad Cadence Holmes, whose name I
017also always said wrong, Genevie Mahon, Jake Davis, Jenna Bolyard, Lily Snyder, Lily Shifflet, Mackenzie Bolard, Quinn Brasher, Brashier, Sophia Espinosa, Raquelum, Zayn Beverly, Anthony, Carter Gwyn, Zoe Garvin, and Emily Leech. Um, again on stage and backstage, we had fifth grade through 12th grade well represented and watching them support each other, watching them step out of their comfort zone and really push to make this the biggest best that they could. um is absolutely the most dynamic thing I have seen in a while and I am so crazy proud of every one of these kids. With every one of these kids came a phenomenal set of family. Um so we are really really blessed for that as well. So for my seniors big tier for the rest of you I expect to see you again. Okay. So,
018ladies and gentlemen, part of the cast and crew of the 2025 Legally [Applause] Blonde and I would be foolish to say that I was the only adult in the room. Dartha Male from the high school, Clayborn Coot, uh, who is also involved with the entertainers and Mike Garvin who did a phenomenal amount of work on our scenery. And again, I not make my list properly. We also enlisted Mr. O's construction construction technology class and Mr. Wilson's welding class and they built some scenery for us. So, we are phenomenally grateful to them as well. I love you besides me. Well, well, oh, you're going first. I had the pleasure of watching your play. Boy, did you guys do a phenomenal job. I mean, outstanding from top to bottom all the way across. I I really enjoyed
019it. I mean, and I I've been to a lot of plays at Grafton High School. So, you know, you you guys are at the top of the list. Good show. I mean, I unfortunately could not watch you this year. I had my daughter was in some things as well, so I needed to go be with her. But I heard a lot about it. And one thing I want to say to you guys is what you start with and what you end with. What you built, you guys built it. You guys made it what it was. Um, and you you it's it's music, you know, it's dance, it's memorization, it's it's it's studying your script, right? I mean, it's everything that you put together from you had nothing in the beginning the first day she brought
020you in the auditorium and in the end you built something together. You had to make sure the stage was where it was and how I mean it's just everything comes together and it's being able to see that accomplishment in the end. I want you to remember um it's something that you made and that's something that I want you to remember for the rest of your life. It's what you make of it. It's what you did. And to be able to see the fruit of the fruit of your efforts is just amazing. And um be proud of that. Be very proud of that. And hopefully you guys will come back next year for those of you that can. And there's many similar opportunities out there um that you can enjoy so in life. So congratulations on
021a job well done. And thank you to the for probably uh bringing them to the school, late night pickups. You know, some of them may have been driving, but some probably had to be picked up a lot, right? Especially middle school. So, I know that late nights for parents are hard. So, but thank you to the parents for allowing that and encouraging your children. And thank you to you. This is my love. Yeah, these kids are my heart now. So, on that table belongs to somebody because I know I didn't buy it for the show. So, make sure you take a look. [Applause] I'll do her first. All right. Um, yeah. So, anybody who would like to is welcome to uh leave at this point. And that takes us to, unless I'm missing anything, the
022superintendent's updates. Thank you, Miss Galler. Miss, excuse me, Miss Garin. Thank you. Um, I do want to start with a recognition. Uh Mrs. Roberts is here to help with the uh this gallery is still full of a lot of faculty and staff if you probably noticed and we're pleased to have you here. Uh Mrs. Roberts is going to help me with the one of the very most important parts of the updates and that is shoutouts for uh recognizing the 2025 staff of the year and service personnel of the year. and I will hand the mic over to her. So, um, we did a process very similar to last year where we opened it up to the public, um, to our families, to individuals from the community, colleagues to, um, recommend our service as well as
023our teacher of the year. So, we had 74 recommendations for teacher of the year, and I think that speaks volumes about the teachers that we have and what our community and our families are seeing. Um, Mrs. she had 19 um recommendations um for service personnel of the year. So once again, I feel like that really speaks volumes of what our community sees. Um so we then um notified those individuals of this uh recommendation and then we asked them if they accepted the nom nomination um and wanted to submit an application. Um we had 27 uh teachers submit an application and um five um service personnel to submit an application. And one of the things we have had administrator reach out and there were several teachers and service staff that um because of time restraints and
024so forth they could not submit an application but it it really made a difference and it really made them feel like they were making a difference by just being um told hey someone thinks highly enough of you to recommend you for that honor. So, right now we want to ask our um individuals that were nominated for teacher of the year if you would please stand up so we can recognize you. And those um individuals nominated for service person of the year, if you would please stand up. [Applause] Thank you. So, as you can imagine, um it was a very difficult decision. Um you can see we have so many wonderful dedicated individuals and it was difficult. Uh we used the rubric that the state department provides in terms of helping us kind of look at
025those applications. Um here in just a moment, um Dr. Charlins will announce the um teacher of the year as well as person of the year for Taylor County. These two individuals will then um be encouraged to complete the application for the state department and then go on to um potentially be considered or be um selected as the West Virginia Teacher of the Year. So, I will now turn it over to Dr. Stallings. Thank you. The envelope, please. Very good. Just adds to the excitement. Very good. And so it's my pleasure to introduce to you the 2024 2025 teacher of the year, Cherry Charity Carowski, English teacher, Grafton High School. Charity, you get to stand up. [Applause] And of equal importance, it is also my privilege to introduce the 2024 2025 service personnel of the year.
026And that individual is Elizabeth Beth Yokum. kindergarten instructional aid at West Taylor Elementary School. [Applause] permission. [Applause] First off, I want to say congratulations not just to our winners, but to every single one of you that have been nominated. Um like like she said, I'm sure the um selection process was tough because every single one of you are top-notch. we have the best educators and service personnel in the state all put together in one county. So, and and I truly believe that I've had three kids go through this school system and a lot of you have had them as well as grandkids and kids of the rest of the board members. And um we can't say enough about what you do for for the kids, not across the county and every school that we have.
027And I am just super proud of everything that you guys do. You guys pull together anytime that needs to be pulled together. You pull together every day. you're doing 100% top-notch work. So, picking one teacher of the year and picking one service personnel of the year just seems crazy because everybody's just awesome in this county. So, first off, congratulations to everyone. And secondly, good luck at going to the state. We know that you're going to shine. You're going to represent our county tremendously. So, just congratulations. We're very very proud, very proud of this county and very proud of all of you. Yes, as she said, congratulations to all of the nominees. Certainly, uh, that someone thought enough of you to nominate you is an honor. Uh, and to our winners, way to go. Uh, it's
028it's a good thing. Uh it's it's good thing to see some familiar faces out there and uh uh congratulations to our winners and go for the states. The level of dedication, determination, love tempered with the right level of crazy because y'all are amazing. Um, so thank you for everything you do every day and coming back on the days that are hard. Um, so that we get to these days that are amazing. So because that group before you, all those awesome kids, that's y'all's fault. Okay. Thank you so much. I just want to say, Miss Garvin and board members, that it is a pleasure to serve as a superintendent with staff such as these people that are in front of you. uh we do hear time and time again of all the wonderful things that take
029place in your classrooms and as you're working with our children in their various various capacities. Uh that doesn't I don't say that lightly. I've spoken to colleagues of other counties and their stories to us talk about negativity and we don't experience that in Taylor County and I'm very thankful for that. Uh I'm proud of the fact that we can say, "Oh, that's too bad. We don't we don't experience that very often at all. Taylor County must be different and I believe they are. You are. We are. and I thank you for that as well. Thank you. And we don't have a bell here, but y'all are dismissed. You can hang about if you want, but is that saying a bit rest of our business is boring? They leaving. Thanks for being here, folks. Thank you.
030Jeez, that was that's small writing. The remainder of the updates that I've just handed you were not sent electronically uh for a couple reasons. uh everybody was very busy, myself included, and I uh there were some updates I wanted to provide you uh and I needed to include them as of as of today. So, um if you will go with it, I won't read them specifically, but I'll give you a quick highlight of each of those items. The update that we have is that we were um still working on the concession stand at Flamington Elementary School and I, as you know, I'd copied uh some questions that had been posed to the gentlemen that were working on that initiative. The response I received from them uh has been attached to your updates. That's the second
031sheet of paper and the information is in red that Mr. uh Mr. Shaw and the his colleagues provided in response to those. As you review that information, you'll see that there are still some concerns that they have been shared that have been shared with them that they have shared with us and uh some decisions need to be made about uh the various uh expectations that both the fire the uh health department and fire marshall and sanitation individuals are expected to have in place. Once we have more specifics about that, we'll continue to work with our maintenance department as well uh to see where they're how that's working. Um there are some yet to be determined information that we have not received from Mr. Shawl and his colleagues. Uh the envelope project about which you are
032familiar uh we did have the the pre-bid meeting on the last time I gave you an update. We did that and uh scheduled tomorrow um not April 230. That's a typo. April 30th. It is I'm going to interrupt you. We appear to have lost Mr. Dowy. keep talking, but I'm going to call him back. Certainly, the envelope, the bid opening for those people that were present for the pre- bid meeting dealing with the Flemington pro envelope project is scheduled for tomorrow at 1:00 where they were we'll find out who has actually gotten the bid for that project. Uh that's been under the coordination of Dr. Decker um and Greg Martin, but she's she's been overseeing that for us. And I think we're still on schedule for one o'clock tomorrow. Correct. Very good. Um transportation maintenance
033departments we are we have uh the process for purchasing ordering and purchasing the fuel tanks that we need there has been started. Uh as soon as we have that anticipated delivery date we will then proceed with the the need to uh install. Okay. Okay. Okay. the uh I now know what you where you are in the paperwork. Um anyway, then the uh once we do the full evacuation of the current in um buried tanks, we'll then continue to work with those projects that were re recommended by Mr. Martin and the architectural firm. Anna Jarvis continues to work on that project. If you've been by that recently, you know that they are getting uh much much more land preparation completed. Uh things are clearing out and uh it's scheduled we have a meeting in fact tomorrow
034where we're we were asked if we could move up a little bit of the the planned step. We're going to discuss tomorrow how to practice utilizing less and less of the front parking area as the construction area grows and spreads clo closer to the current building. And we'll start when I say practice, we're going to do a dry run. We'll discuss that tomorrow about the details so that we can start uh relocating and send a message to families about start utilizing the our bordering property that we uh with the Catholic property Mount Calvary where we were they were gracious enough to let us become a part of that process. Uh the feasibility study uh we met with the uh Mr. Sterm and his representative um last week um and we're we learned more about that
035process and some of the uh plans that they had. And it seemed as we were looking at our our current information from the original uh benefactor that gifted us one of the the piece parcels of property back in 1938 that some of that language had restrictive expectations about the utilization of those pieces. I became uh intrigued when we started looking at the tax maps. And so I went to the courthouse and with the assistance of Christa uh Kinsey, the assessor, who was very gracious in helping me figure out what was going on, I discovered that there are in fact nine separate parcels that make up that area that we call camp tolls. Uh subsequently we discovered there was not a survey that had been done of all those pieces to bring them together at least
036to have a full perimeter survey completed. We have made arrangements to have that started in the very near future. Um so that at some point we can say oh that's all part of camp tolls not just a sliver here and a sliver there. I also don't I don't one of the pieces I discovered that a good portion of the property or the road before we actually get to what we consider the entrance gate of camptos is in fact a part of what used to be was intended to be a railroad and part of the parcel that we have uh that is we own you own as the board uh includes what was supposed to be a railroad that was never developed and so uh Christa Mrs. Kinsey and I were thinking were figuring out that
037that parcel must have been created as a road over time back when it was originally deed to us. Um and then lastly on the second page that Miss Mrs. not Scott to a moment ago. Uh we started looking at the logo that uh has existed in the county for a while which was the globe and suddenly it was the globe sitting in the middle of a book as you recall. We disco if you look at that it was it was not there it the the globe had uh it was it depicted Africa. It had nothing to do with the United States. And so our directors and myself started looking at that and uh took some initiative to create something that was a little bit more indicative of what Taylor County schools really should be doing.
038Uh also as a part of the discussion for the strategic plan. This was incorporated in there. So this evening I have an example I want to unveil what we have as the and I'll explain it to you because it's it includes multiple components and there's intentionality in the design. So hidden next to me I'll pull that out now so you can see what we're looking at. One of the one of the renderings um looks like this and it will be part of our uh you know we have a new glass door on the front of our entrance. We're going to try to have that piece with the help of Stacy Ward from the high schools program business program who does those but we'll be introducing um this logo and so it'll be part of our
039letter head etc as well. But you'll notice and this is it. So you'll notice that this reflects a book with three pages or three layers of the book. The intention there is representative of each of the three programmatic levels, elementary, middle, and high. The uh there are five stars in that depiction that represent of course the five schools that we have in the in this county. And then um coming up from that educational experience is the graduation. So uh the learning, achieving and aspiring will be the the expectation. So that is what we're uh introducing to you this evening. We're we're getting rid of moving away from the globe of Africa. I I don't know. It was I I inherited it when I was here. And some people say I think the phrase is it
040was on fire when I laid down on it. And as we started looking at it more carefully, everyone started saying it was a head scratcher like is that Africa? And so why it's been around for ever that who was the artist involved in that? We uh hired a graphic artist and his name is Rick and Amy is not here for me to remember his last name. Um I apologize. I should have credited him with that. Um, but he he was the gentleman that created the the graphic design logo for West Taylor. I believe he's a resident of the Northwest portion of our county. A local gentleman who does that as a business. Is that Nick Frier? Nick Frier. Frier. Yes, sir. Thank you. Do you know him? I do. He's been nothing but great for
041us and working. This is yet another piece of I think that's a nice piece of work. I really do. He was Very good. I have one other piece I want to show you. So, can it be round instead of square? Yes, there are lots of options. There's a branding guide that gives us a variety of options. Here he goes. He's gonna pull out the round. I like it. I just I just I don't know. Maybe I'm just used to the round. Yes, there you go. This is what we were thinking would be behind you. Okay. You should have showed us that first. I like that. We can share the whole branding. You can do it in multiple colors depending on what you're putting it on. There's a whole branding guide that's that you can see.
042So the intent I like the blue and gold and white. I do. I do too. This is really really fantastic. I like that. I I like a little bit of red in it, too, but I I am fine with exactly what's there. I like it. Thank you. Glad you I like the round. Yes. Very nice. We'll have that. Like I said, I thought we would do this on across the glass of the front door when you walk up to that. Not this, but just having this. You'll see the glass on the inside. And these are these are just the same two pieces. I like that. I don't know what it is. the other one. It's the fact that the word Taylor is lowercase and everything else is uppercase, which is what is offputting for me
043about the original. I like it, don't get me wrong. Um, but I like the all capital circular better. Now, what were you saying? What were you saying? Um on the she's indicating this is lowerase and this is upper case. What do you like? Do you didn't like that? I I prefer the round in all. Yeah. But between the two the rectangle and between those two Oh, just I was showing that it included these two included both examples. Oh, I see. I like Okay. I also like that to be put on the front door. I don't know why. I like that right there. What you have in your hand? Yeah. I just like that whole thing there because it gives you the I don't know. I like that. I don't know. I would do one or
044the other. Yeah. You think? We can have both examples. Yeah. First, my preference would be we stick with the round and use it everywhere. Yes, I agree. Well, the round doesn't fit as easily on our uh the spacing on our website and our letter head. So, we'll be using the one that talks about the tailor on on our letter head because it gets it up out of the way. So, but that can be one of the only places that shows up. That's why we, as Dr. Deckers indicated, he's given us all those options. Um just it's similar to what we did at Grafton High School where certain colors are font font all that that is branded branded I was going to say patented but branded that's what we've done. So that's the intention of that.
045So, and and so that's the last of the uh updates other than to remind you that uh for those of you that are attending in person and those of you that are doing it virtually, there is a training for the superintendent and the board members at Ron at uh Stomal this Saturday. And uh I believe the more recent um communication we've received from Mr. around is that he will be sending a link for those people participating virtually to watch in your emails for that. He did, but I thought I was going to cancel that last meeting. Your participation is canceled or the meeting is canceled? No, my participation because I'm going to do one hour. Okay. Online. And I have a question about your something in your presentation. Okay. Um the Anna Jarvis parking lot
046just because you mentioned it. It reminded me of something like how you said that construction is getting like closer and closer. It's growing. It's growing. Um, and you were worried about the pickups and the drop offs, right? Is that what you said? Right. That's what we'll be discussing tomorrow. The, uh, the roll out of how we'll do our practice. Originally, the idea was that we wouldn't be doing that until summer. Yeah. Uh, interestingly enough, they found that they are moving a little faster. Believe it or not, they were moving a little faster. And would like to do a practice run now so that they can uh, have people used to that shift. I was just wondering. I went through there last one day last week right at school release and parent drop off. Crazy. It
047was quite crazy. Just wondering how that's going. I mean, are you guys seeing any issues at all? Is it smoother than what it looked like it might be by just a passer by a passer by it was like, "Wow." Smooth is a relative term. I was coming back from someplace. Uh I think I was coming back from the high school and I happened to go through town to drop something off the post office. And so I I went through town and came up and got in line at the Chryslit property and waited my turn and I knew I looked at the clock and realized what was happening and I waited and um currently the the parents are still pick are still lining up and they everybody still wants to be there first, right? Um, however,
048like I said, we we've arranged with theou for the uh Catholic dascese. They're allowing us to take advantage of their property to do the drop off sur that's one of the things we'll practice. Um in addition uh the third of the theus is that's been issued with the trustees of the church of the good shepherd uh has been edited in accordance with their their request and that is simply just in the offing uh that's designed so that as people are lining up on the Mount Calvary property as they as any overflow may occur the uh occasional overflow will be on the Church of the Good Sheeperd property as a staging location merely to drive in, watch, and then move from Lucas Dairy over into that so it stays off of 50 as much as possible.
049Have we at all encouraged parents if they can use a bus that will definitely be tomorrow's pract discussion will help us craft the messaging and that is definitely going to be uh what we're going to encourage them to do. That was my first thought as I drove through there last week. I thought man, we need to encourage parents if they can. I mean, I know there's some that are still feel the need to pick up and drop their kids off. And I get it. I completely completely get it. But um and I understand we could encourage them to use the bus if possible. It might help a little bit. That's in that's in the offing as well. I'll remind you that when I first started here, uh I stumbled on that issue at Hannah Jarvis
050before one piece of dirt had been moved. And uh when we still had what I called the rec the perpendicular lot, that was the location where we did the gr the uh cornerstone ceremony. When that still existed, parents were still filling up and out and spilling out on 50. And so yes, I made the naive decision to go stand in the middle of 50 in direct traffic one day. Was quickly reminded by both of my sons, don't do that anymore. Um people were very helpful and cooperative. I just thought that's what you did. But apparently that's not appropriate. So I haven't repeated that process. But indeed um as we narrow and narrow the available space for them to access the what we call the main entrance to adjarvis, it becomes more and more difficult to
051get that many people through. So we will be encouraging more and more people to take advantage of as much of the bus transportation as possible. It does seem like they back up on Route 50 pretty much. So they certainly do. and we shouldn't cause that kind of a problem for other people who are not picking up kids. That is correct. Um our goal is to figure that out and we're working on it as we speak. If we could figure out a way to do it otherwise, I think the difference is simply this. We're building a piece of we're building a school on our own front yard instead of building a school someplace else that we will eventually move to. I know Bridgeport did that. Um, they experienced some traffic differences, but were able to navigate
052that successfully, and we think we can do that as well. I have not had one instance where anyone became argumentative of anything when asking them to uh to be patient with us, unless it's happening without involving me. I I'm pleased to tell you that because it could be ugly otherwise. Good. That's all I have. Thank you for your patience with that report. And does that take you through everything? Ma'am, you takes you through everything. Yeah. So far so good. Okay. Uh board member updates or board committee meeting reports. All right. That brings us to the 2000 series minutes, policies, contracts, and agreements. Superintendent respectfully requests approval for the minutes the regular and levy meetings on April 15, 2025. Motion moved. Mrs. Knots moves. Mr. Taylor seconds. All those in favor? I. We have Mr. Dy
053back. We're going to say motion passes, I think. Yeah. Daniel, can you hear me? He's must be gone again. All my lights are still on. So, last time I lost him, it clearly hung up. Mr. He cut out again. He said the Oh, means maybe I And then four, five. Are you back? I'm back. Okay, thank you. Um, you good with the minutes? Yes, I am. Okay, thank you. So, that motion passes 40. Um, moving down in the 2000 series, we have administrative guidelines on the first reading, several policies and codes on the first reading, policies and codes on the third reading. Superintendent respectfully requests approval of items 2263 through 2273 in the 2000 series. Moved. Mrs. KN moves. I'll second. Questions, comments? All those in favor? I I. Third reading passes. Resolved that the
054bylaws and policies printed and codified in the comprehensive document entitled bylaws and policies of the Taylor County Board of Education are hereby adopted and that all bylaws and policies hereto for adopted by the Taylor County Board are hereby rescended. Further 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 is invalidated by a policy or contract duly adopted by this board. The remaining laws policies and parts and policies shall remain in full effect. Okay. Continuing into the 2000 series, we have two agreements. Superintendent respectfully requests approval of items 2274 and 2275. Mr. Taylor moves second. Mrs. Not seconds. Questions. Happy happy about 2274. Was that a It was a mumble. Sorry, I didn't
055hear you. I just wanted to make sure. I said just makes you happy to see 2274 on there, too. Yes. I was just going to say we were successful so far. That will give us successful success with now three of the five locations so far. Y very good. All right, we have a motion on the floor. All those in favor? I I Motion passes 40. Moving into the 3000 series consent calendar. This was intended to uh reflect what you had indicated when we spoke last time. um including the extra the additional date or two that you had mentioned uh when we were discussing it in their previous meeting. Well, I've changed my mind. I'm kidding. Oh, I'm kidding. All right. There are several purchase orders and a request to use facilities as well. Superintendent respectfully
056requests approval of items 3182 through 3186 in the 3000 series. Move approval. Mrs. not moves. Mr. Taylor seconds. Any questions? Yes. If you've went over this before, I apologize. My brain doesn't always keep everything in there. Where is the parking lot going at West Taylor? Have you told us that? I'm sorry if I forgot. It's okay. It's actually when I was absent from I was ill and I was texting Dr. Solings during that meeting. So, it it is going in front of So, the grassy area on the opposite side of where there's like four or five parking spots in the front. Um, it's going to be up against the building, but not right up against there'll be a sidewalk to walk, but additional parking in that front area. So, when you pull in, we just
057we built that other parking lot here to the left. Is it near it? Pull in, go around the loop, and as you go around the loop, it's going to be where on the side of the building side, so it'll kind of match the Wait a minute. The island that you drive around in the main entrance. Yeah. As you as if you're going to exit the those few parking spaces that have always been there will be on your left. They are staying there. Okay. That's in that island. And a portion of the grass that's to your right closer to the building. Oh. By the classroom. We're going to increase some of those. We're going to harvest some of that grassy area and make it parking spaces. So, you'll have the option of either pulling to the
058right or to the left as you come around that main loop. But, wait a second. Can I Can I Can I We're not losing the whole front yard. We're just addition adding some additional parking there. It just concerns me a little bit of the parking spaces being that close to the windows. There'll still be a sidewalk. it won't be right up against that. So, there'll there'll be a continuing sidewalk from um the other parking lot that you first mentioned um to connecting. So, someone can still park on that and get connected all the way to the front of the building in a straight line there. So, they won't be right up against the building. They will be there'll be some space there. We had an engineer go out actually and look, Mrs. not have requested
059this because they're having a difficult time when parents come in for meetings for them to have a parking spot that's not in the back side of the building because there's not a way to allow entry and for visitors on the back side of the building. They have to come to the front. And so they they discussed some other options on the other side of that front lot where the sign is and also as you're pulling in to the right, but it was found that that wouldn't be an structurally that's not the best place for it due to water due to some runoff those would not be the best place for it. And so that was the recommendation of the engineer to put it place it there and closest to the building for entry for visitors
060who are visiting the building. There's still grass between the cars and the building. It'll be a sidewalk mostly. Well, mostly I mean there'll be grass in between the sidewalk in the building and then a sidewalk and then the parking lot if that makes sense. It can't be very much. Yeah, it won't be it won't be a ton, but there will be grass then a sidewalk and then the parking lot. So So we couldn't have people parked still in the loop? There's only there's only Well, two handicap like along the curb area. No, not so when buses are there. I know. That's my next question. Yeah. So, when buses are there, someone couldn't be parked in the loop area, but someone could still be parked on that side, right? But when they're parked there, the buses
061pull in, they're going to be blocked in. They would be. And how many spaces is that? You keep saying parking lot and that conjures a very specific maybe eight to 10. It's it's not going to be huge. I mean it's from I'm this is from memory how many spots they'll be but about eight I'm thinking 8 to 10 is my memory. So basically doubling what they have in the front section for parents who are coming for meetings or into the building as there's only really two that are not handicapped for visitors to come in the building during the day. I wish I would have remembered that. I'm not so sure how I feel about that. Can I I pulled it up on maps. Can you just confirm that I'm looking at the right thing? Absolutely.
062Yes. from the side of that tree tow. Let me see exactly because where I'm thinking it might be might be to the tree. Yeah, that's where I thought those are the winners. It's not right now. It's going to remove some green space, but I think it's necessary. And this is not request. This is too mushy, too wet. Yeah. All the other areas we considered, I go out there for chest from time to time. on Thursdays and I usually find a place in the loop while the buses are lining up. We need parking. We do need more parking out there. I'm not so sure I agree with I would like to see a bigger parking lot period. I don't know where we would put that. The other thing I thought depending on where that parking lot
063was going to go years ago when we started doing parent pickup and drop off or especially drop off in the morning. Now they have it to where you go down one lane because that was some a big issue that I saw when I was driving my kids off have an outer drive around. You know what I mean? And instead of going through the parking lot at all to drop kids off or line up, pave an outer round, you know what I mean, around the whole thing. So then they the parents stay out of the parking lot period when they're going back there. Do you see? Do you know what I mean? Y um that was something. But I was kind of thinking if it was going to be a bigger parking lot in the back,
064we might be able to manage that. Okay. I guess I'm going to vote on it. Okay. I don't like it. I I don't know. I think this the way the school is, it's just I just hope it looks right. That's all. That's all. I don't want it to hurt the visual. You know what I mean? The I will say Mrs. Kn was included in all those conversations about her her original where she we considered again it's just too wet and then we talked about all the other options of runoff and so she did it's going to look it's going to try to match the other side so it looks like it was there to match that makes sense okay and this will be done by next school year that yes that was the when we
065when that was part of the contract it would be done over the summer so it wouldn't interfere Okay. All right. Any additional questions on the remainder of the 3000 series? All right. We have an open motion on the floor. All those in favor? I I motions pass. 4 Z. Moving us into the 4,000 series financial. And Mr. Mr. Dolan, you look like you have a number of things for us this evening. I guess first thing we'll talk about is the budget. Um, inside your packet, uh, you should have received a copy of the FY26 balance budget for the year. Um, so just some key features of or key things to point out. Um the total revenue for for the year for fund 11 12 and 61 those are our our three main operating funds uh
066is 37 thou million451,55818. Um 28,868 of that is in fund 11 which is our general general um revenue fund. Uh 3.9 million of that is from our excess levy and 4,678,000 is in fund 61. Um the bond um the bond fund which is fund 31 in your packet are the proceeds from the bond um bonds that we sold last year for the construction of the Anna Jarvis project. Uh, in addition, sorry, $19 million is what is currently what we currently have in that bond fund. Um, we also have an additional $7 million from the SBA um for that project as well. So um the total salary expenditures for FY26 school year um that includes the salaries, supplements, um health insurance, all the overhead cost for the board of education is 26,748,310. This accounts for 72%
067um of the county's overall operating budget. Uh the remaining 28% of the budget is divided up amongst educational supplies, operating expenditures such as water, gas, electric, and building and ground maintenance. Trans. Also included in that is transportation costs such as new bus replacement costs, fuel, and vehicle maintenance. The general fund uh includes the additional funding for the third degree success success act which um the board implemented last year to get ahead of the potential hiring barrier uh that we may have encountered with the neighboring counties. Plus, it got us ahead of you know providing that assistance to all the students of Taylor County. Um the budget also includes the 14% increase that uh PEIA u provided everybody this year. Um I'm looking forward to see I keep uh keep hearing that the governor's may call
068a special session uh to help improve the funding for PEIA. So I look forward to see if um that that happens as well as the potential updating of uh the school funding formula to help provide um more uh more funding to all 55 counties. uh fund 12 uh or our excess levy. Uh even though the projected revenue was affected by the revaluation of gas wells, um we are still projected to receive uh $700,000 more than we the levy calls for. Uh those additional revenues are broken up at per the levy call for the 503020 split between maintenance, technology, and the board discretion. Fund 61 is our special revenue fund which is comprised mainly of state state and federal grants. Given the current political climate, the state has been hesitant to provide preliminary numbers for some
069of the fally funded programs, but have been told that we should be receiving these in June or July. So, we've been instructed to use the figures that we've been provided for this school year for our budget purpose. June or July, huh? That is. And it's typically June before we receive those anyways. Okay. But like I said, given with what's happening in the federal government, they they really aren't giving us a whole lot. So, um I passed out the uh salary supplement book for the year. Uh there was there there was not a state increase to the salary to the salary pay tables. Uh so they look very similar to last year's. Um inside the book is also the um academic supplements for the year for um national boards, certified counselor, speech pathologist, our extracurricular supplements.
070Um There is a correction that needs to be made on the next to the last page under the extra pay assignments which I'll have corrected for for the presentation for the final presentation in May. Does anyone have any questions at this time? How long has it been since we've taken a look at our supplements? No, for um we did that. Was it last year or two years ago? Last year. It was a couple years. That was two years ago, right? Oh my goodness. Yeah. The extracurricular supplements we did, we increased those. We increased those last year. It was two years. Did we do coaches, too? Um, the last time we did coaches, I believe that was the It's been a while. Yeah, the 20 the FY23 school year. Uh, that was the uh Maybe that's
071the one I'm thinking of. Yeah, that was the first the first year that How about [Music] um I'm glad you bring that up. Uh we did include a um a little bit of an increase this year for for the high school ad. We were approached and asked about that here recently. So I put that dollar figure on there for your consideration. Um yeah, two $2,000. 2100. Yeah, sorry. I'm okay with that since our supplements have been looked at the last few years. Any other questions? All right, that concludes the budget part um salary supplement part. Um we had a couple of uh budget supplements. Uh we received um I think four grants here recently um for various things. I believe the one is for a u a grant that was received by the special ed
072department for a the purchase of a vehicle um for for our project search program. So we're looking to try to find the a vehicle that um in that price range. So it was 39 a little over $39,000 we received for that grant to be spent on that particular vehicle. So that was one of the budget supplements that I provided in in your packet. And then besides the budget supplement or the additional supplements were for the um the parking lot at West Taylor to provide the the funding for that and for the tennis court project. Any questions on those? I know that we're resurfacing and do we need to do anything else to the tennis courts? I say hesitantly knowing that that's another can to open. I I'm sure there there will be an ask um
073for lighting at some point. I we investigated that last year. Um and you we're looking into the cost of of what that might be involved which an additional can of worms. If I can weigh into that a little bit, Miss Garbin, uh resurfacing the the tennis courts is is is certainly needed. Likewise, uh tournaments or um an appropriate playing surface for our student athletes is absolutely paramount for their safety. And lighting, lighting, sometimes the the matches go beyond they don't start till after school typically or or mid afternoon at the earliest. And sometimes when you have multiple schools together coming together for some of those matches, it takes longer into the evening. And we would then be able to be hosting those as well. Well, I was going to say we have had a lot
074of issues with those tennis courts. Yes, we have. And for as long as I can remember, it's been a while. I'm wondering if the best thing to do isn't to just do them all over again or if we're continuing to resurface and continuing to resurface. I mean, is that even the best um route to take or I mean, I don't know. I'm not a I'm not an expert. Or is it to start from scratch, dig them up, redo them again? I I don't know. Or is this just something that's normal wear and tear that we should expect? I I'm not sure, but I feel I have a responsibility to question it. Would you like me to speak to that? Well, yeah. I we again we we did we did investigate that last year uh when
075we you know we we looked into what what would be best um and we had a company that did come in and provide us an estimate to to do just that. completely rip it out, start from scratch and go over again to the you was going to be somewhere around $700,000 to project. Remind me of that next year when I asked the same question. So that was the that was why we kind of held off on that. So the the resurfacing part of it was and this is a new company that we're going to that we've not used before. So, we're hopeful maybe this service it's also who has done our track, the baseball field, and now the football field. So, hope we're hopeful this might be a better product. Okay. Remind me of that
076700,000 when I asked that next year because I probably will. Okay. All right. Do we have any other questions for Mr. Dolan? Thank you for all your sense, comment and otherwise. You're welcome. Good. Thank you. Thank you, John. You sit there and hold your breath on how many questions. The superintendent respectfully requests approval of items in the 4,000 series. Mr. Taylor moves. Second. Mrs. Not seconds. All those in favor? I I I. Motion passes 40. Moving into the 5000 series, student matters, personnel, and legal matters. Item 5522. April Bidd is requesting permission for her son, who is homeschooled, to be able to attend Grafton High School in order to enroll in the following classes: coding, app, and game design, too. This request is for the 2025 2026 school year and would be dependent on class
077availability. Superintendent respectfully requests approval of items 5522 in the 5000 series. Move. Mrs. KN moves. Mr. Taylor second. Questions? Yes, I have one. So this says uh dependent on class availability. So say all of them are full. Would we permit that child to go I mean would he I don't think we need to permit because of the way way it is now with the state but he can go to any school and try to pick those up in different school system different county. That's an excellent question. I hadn't anticipated that one. open enrollment. That's what I mean. There's no permit anymore. I mean, yeah, the open enrollment option that what is the likelihood of those being available? It's hard to say when we don't have all the scheduling finished for the next year. Were those
078classes full this year? I can't answer that question. I don't know. Okay. will keep us informed in that. Yes, ma'am. Mr. Daddy, did you have something? I do not. Okay. All right. Any additional questions? We have a motion on the floor. All those in favor? I I Motion passes 40. Continuing in the 5000 series, professional personnel, employment, renewal of contract, extracurricular, extra duty, professional subs, summer employment, professional resignation, service employment, service personnel, summer employment, creation of a part-time summer feeding cook. Superintendent respectfully requests approval of items 5523 through 5540 in the 5000 series with the exception of the name struck uh from 5539 moved. Mrs. Knots moves. Mr. Taylor seconds. Any questions? All those in favor say I. I. I. Motion passes 4 Z. Bringing us to the 8000 series board member comments and discussions.
079The first thing on our discussion list is a discussion for the A and B options of the 2025 2026 schedule of meetings for the Taylor County Board of Education. You should have in front of you a copy of two options, an option A and option B. And the focus is merely on the meetings scheduled for October. Somehow it looked like we inadvertently uh did not follow the second and fourth Tuesdays of October. So option B reflects that I believe and I think option A with what we talked about last time for some reason shifted those separating them. Um do I have that right? Let me look at my counter again. I have that backwards. So rais So which one do you want? True. It is not up to me, Mrs. KN. It's up to what
080you're Indeed. Um, I just was trying to keep you on the every other week. So, the 7th and the 21st would be the first and third as opposed to the second and fourth. Um, I'm okay with option A. Option A is what you prefer then. Option A is fine. As long as option A has everything we requested on it from last time. Everything is the same with that one question. Let's do option A. Yeah. Okay. Option A. It is. You need a motion on that or something? I move option A. Mrs. KN moves option A. We have a second. I'll second that. All those in favor? I I thank you. A thank you for your clarification. Moving to our next discussion point, a discussion regarding the new House Bill 2003, cell phone use in schools.
081So you'll notice that the uh about almost to the bottom it looks like to pick a or another A or B option. Uh, one is the definitive no no f my lord. No cell phones permitted at all and or um on school property or the other is personal electronic devices permitted to school property provided that students may or will be required to store them in devices or containers or pouches provided by the county board during the instructional day. I prefer option C. Oh, the option. I mean, this says personal devices will be permitted and required to store in containers or pouches provided by the county board. I I think that's an unnecessary expense. I I I think if they're required to be in their backpacks and stay there and not visible to a teacher ever,
082then that ought to be enough. I agree. Are we talking like the Faraday bags? Are we talking about that shoe bag that's sitting on the wall and I'm number eight, so my phone goes in number eight when I walk in the door and I'm like, I'm fine with the shoe bags. Pick out number eight. Like what kind of container? Well, Mon County had these little p pouches that they purchased last year. Is that what you're talking about? Yes, ma'am. Oh, no. I'm not doing that. I don't I won't vote for that. However, I'm okay with like she said, just have a collection area in the room or they keep them in their backpacks. That would be my How much How much are the pouches? How much would this cost be? I don't begin to know
083what that would cost. This just came to us from Niola for you to consider. What What do you think? Well, I think uh policing students and and most students will be responsible and follow the school rules. I think the difficulty they have with some of their findings is that It's difficult to police uh and or students are finding ways to there are some students finding ways to uh subvert that exp that requirement. Well, I think you're going to police them if we buy the pouches anyway because they're just not going to that maybe they won't use the pouch and they won't put it in the pouch or they'll lose the pouch. Yeah. something or um or if the pouch stays in the classroom and the kids pick a pouch up when they come in the
084door and put their phone in it. Okay, but then what if kids are like, I'm not putting my phone in that pouch. They're going to police it anyway. You see what I mean? Or are you giving the pouches for them to take home and bring to school every day? I don't know. I just think I don't like the pouch idea. the the pouches. No, we haven't. The only thing I needed to hear from you was whether or not you wanted to restrict them from being in the schools at all. I do not. Wait a minute. Let's back up. You do not. You need to make a motion. Let's back up. I didn't get to read I didn't get to read everything about what was passed today. Okay. So, I'm going to have to go in.
085I know we got an email on it, but I didn't read it. And I know this isn't even listed as a third or first or any reading. It's just floating out right the governor signed. So can you tell me exactly what he did sign because we may not have a choice in anything or I don't have a copy of that that he just signed today. Okay. We had just prepared this but I was our our goal was this is what was provided to us initially and it clearly goes in one of two directions. It's either flatly no school nothing on school property or a different direction. So I was just trying to get a read for that before we even put this before you as a first, second or third reading. Uh, I would move
086we use option C where we require cell phones to be either in a backpack or in a teacher provided teacher provided uh shoe bag or whatever that the cell phones could be kept in one or the other of those. Yes, I I second that because I still feel the same way I've always felt about the cell phones. I don't feel that we should be using them during instruction time. However, I feel they should be available unless the state tells us they can't come in at all. I mean, then your hands are tied. We we don't have a choice, right? Which I have to I want to really read what I didn't get to really sit down and read it in depth. It's it's my understanding that the new law says that we have to have
087a policy but does not dictate that we have to have a policy that there are no cell phones. All it says is banning the use of personal electronic devices during instructional time. Okay. Then I am fine with what Mr. Taylor has proposed. I will second that. That's not the whole bill. And I feel that if children and kids and especially high school students are using them in the hallways between classes, I'm okay with that. Um, at what point in the calendar do we have to have a definitive policy in place here regarding this? Yeah, we'd have to check the date of his his effective date on that. I've not seen that today. Okay. We'll have to look into that. So, I'm getting I I hear your preference. Well, and I think we might want to
088just think about it, too. I'm okay with what Mr. Taylor has proposed, but maybe think about it. We've got a little bit of time, right? You sure do. Typically, these are 90 days at the soonest from the date of signage. you know, the takes effect within 90 days unless he some unless there's some language today that says effective immediately, but I feel like we'd hear more about it dramatically. I'm sorry. I feel like that would have been a more dramatic announcement. Yeah. Than says by July 9th. There you go. Okay. So, we could have by the end of the school year. You still have time to do three readings of whatever that needs to be before the end of this school year. So, we got them effective July one if you prefer or in accordance
089with what she just said. I I I know that we our hands are tied on this. It was signed by the governor, but I just kind of feel like doing this is going to tempt kids to use them more because they know now that they can't. And I just that's how I feel. I know how kids are, you know, and and and I also feel like electronics is a huge part of life now. And if we don't get kids accustomed to having them intertwined in their life of when you use them, when you don't use them, um when you put them aside, when you can, you know what I mean? and so on and so forth because they're going to go get jobs after they're got out of school, whether they go into college or
090whether they go get a job. Even if they go to college one day, they're going to get a job, right? Um, and they need to understand how to use electronics, when it's appropriate to use them. And if we can teach them at a young age, I think that's a good thing to get accustomed to. Well, for the for the record, I'm a proponent of responsible use of phones because I believe instruction can include requirements. That's what I'm saying. Responsible use. Yeah. However, we we have see what the governor is dictating that we those requirements that Dr. Decker is referencing. So, there are some minimum requirements inside of the bill that have to be specified by you. Those are probably things you want to look at before. Yeah, I think we need to think about it.
091This is an excellent starter. Um, And I also didn't open that. What did you say? I also did not open the email that we got. So I haven't had a chance to like actually read every line. I mean, here's my here's my take tonight. I agree with Mr. Taylor, but I really feel like we need to take a closer look at this before we make a decision. Agreed. Yeah. response. I'm not surprised you had that definitive response, but we just thought, well, let's see what they prefer. If they if you're absolutely saying nothing in the school, then we would know what direction to go. Not being surprised if that's not the direction we're going. Well, like we were all saying, we're all agreement. It's kind of hard to make a decision when the his decision
092and his signing was hot off the press as soon as we walked in the door today. May I just say amen to that, please? All right. That was not a partisan statement. I'm just saying amen to that. Thank you. Do we have anything else for the discussion series? Uh I asked at the last meeting that we at a future meeting put a pool on our discussion section. So I would like to have a discussion of plans possible plans for a indoor pool uh under discussion for us to at least start exploring. We have started looking into that Mr. Taylor just so you know that we did not ignore your comment. You did say the word you said was future meeting. So we did start looking at some information. You provided us some information as well.
093Uh the question most important question I have is not so much if or when but where. So be mindful of that that we don't have a piece of property that I'm aware of. I think we have a piece of property. Oh, that's going to be vacated. The bus garage. I even No, I'm not going to put a swimming pool on top of an old gas tank. There's so much in the ground there. I I also want to remind you the the require it is my this is my very limited knowledge so far. The requirement for a competitive size pool that you're suggesting would be about 80 feet wide. That's just the water part. Beyond that would require the surrounding decking I guess is the best word for that. Beyond that would be your uh spectator
094sections and beyond that would be your facilities for uh the maintenance plant I guess the whatever that's called. Uh in addition to your restroom or changing facilities for your competitors or your swimmers. Uh in addition to that don't forget we would be expecting some parking that would be hopefully significant enough to accommodate that. Am I opposed to a swimming and swimmers and that kind of competition? Absolutely not. I just know that you're talking a significant purchase and the property that's you're suggesting would by no means begin to accommodate that need. It's not even level enough to make all that work. Um, so I'm not opposed, but I'm just cautioning that before we before you uh as you continue to discuss those possibilities that there's going to be a pretty sizable challenge. Well, I'm going to
095um I'm not going to disagree at all with Mr. Taylor because I would support a pool in our county andor for our athletes. However, I'm not going to do it before we give our music program everything that they need first. That's going to be my priority before that's just how I feel. I think we've got done and and John and Mr. Taylor, I'm in agreement with you because for our our um swimming students, we do need to explore that because you know what? We could utilize that for a lot of different, you know, and we could even go in with the county and try to come up with some sort of sports complex. You know what I mean? We can do that. Well, I would full support. That's that's why I wanted on for a
096discussion kind of thing so that we can explore options which is not really appropriate for us to do since it's not on the agenda and that, you know, I want it on the agenda so that we can have that kind of discussion. And I think we should and I'm I'm I'm not hung up on a time frame. I don't think it should be done yesterday. Well, it should have been done yesterday, but you know, I I I think we have time, but we ought to explore it. And uh there are other players that could be involved, but that's part of the discussion we need to have. For the record, I am not against improving our students future and I cannot wait to discuss this in more detail. It's not on the agenda, right? Can you
097put it on there so we can actually uh fuss at each other? Yeah, there you got it. We enjoy that. Duly noted. Thank you. All right. Anything else for the discussion or potential future discussion? Awesome. Moving into the 9000 series, future meetings. May 6th, 2025, 6 o'clock here at the board office. That's a special meeting. May 13th, 6 o'clock here at the board office. May 20th, 6 o'clock here at the board office. June 3rd, which is the superintendent suit evaluation, six o'clock here at the board office. June 10th, six o'clock here at the board office. and June 24th 6 o'clock here at the board office and the one week that we don't have a meeting we do have a graduation and please not say you need to schedule another meeting I'm sorry you don't need
098to schedule another meeting right no ma'am thank you delightful not tonight all right uh with no additional meetings being required we'll entertain a motion to adjurnn Mr. Dowy. Mr. Dowy who's been hanging in there the whole time. Is that what you've been waiting to do all evening is just that? Huh? Mr. Dowy moves. Mr. Taylor second. All those in favor. I. And we are adjourned at 7:41 p.m. Thank you all very much for your time and for everything you do. Bye, Mr. Dowy. Good night, Daniel. Bye, Daniel.