001Mhm. >> session and adopt certification of closed session. All in favor say I. I. Any opposed? Uh Madam Chair, Madam Secretary, I'm sorry. Whereas the Dinwiddie County School Board has convened a closed session on this date pursuant to an affirmative recorded vote and accordance with the provisions of the Virginia Freedom of Information Act, and whereas paragraph 2.2-3712 of the Code of Virginia requires a certification by the school board that such closed meeting was conducted in conformity with Virginia law. Now, therefore, be it resolved that the Dinwiddie County School Board hereby certifies that to the best of each member's knowledge, only such business matters as were identified in the motion convening the closed meeting were heard, discussed, or considered by the school board. Dr. Elaine J. Pearson, District 1. I certify. Dwayne G. Walker, District 2.
002I certify. Barbara T. Pitman, District 3. I certify. Mary M. Benjamin, District 4. I certify. Jason L. Brown the Second, District 5. >> I certify. All have certified, Mr. Chairman. Thank you so much. We want to invite everybody to stand with us as we open with the Pledge of Allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you. All right. Madam Secretary, do we have any amendments to the agenda? No, there are no amendments to the agenda this evening. >> Excellent. Uh I move that we adopt the agenda as presented. Second. It's been moved and seconded that we adopt the agenda as presented. All in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed?
003The motion carries. We have some recognitions. Yes, Ms. Robinson Williams. >> [clears throat] >> Good afternoon, everyone. Tonight, or this afternoon, we would like to recognize uh three of our Dinwiddie County Public School students. Um they participated in the VSBA Student Art Contest. And first up, we would like to recognize Lola Sky Brown, fourth grader at Dinwiddie Elementary. >> [applause] >> Please come forward. And we'll take photos after. Next, Elise Allen for a recognition award for the VSBA Student Art Contest. ELISE. >> [applause] >> AND OUR second place winner. So, Jake uh Boe is an eighth grader at Dinwiddie Middle School. Jake won second place in the middle school level of the VSBA Student Art Contest. Jake, PLEASE COME FORWARD. >> [applause] [applause] >> ALL RIGHT. AND I'M NOT sure if I mentioned Elise is
004an 11th grader at Dinwiddie High School. And so, um after we take intermission, we'll take photos together, and we'll also spotlight their artwork and their photos on social media. Before I leave the podium, um Dr. Wessmann, I would like to bring to your attention that today is Bus Driver Appreciation Day. And so, uh we've spent today highlighting our transportation department as well, so. That's great. Thank you. Thank you. >> [applause] >> WELL, DO ANY OF THE BOARD MEMBERS HAVE ANYTHING YOU'D LIKE TO SAY to these uh artists? >> [laughter] >> It's wonderful to have that kind of talent, and we hope that you uh will uh nurture it and keep going with it and make it a part of your life, or make it a part of what you do if in the future. I
005would like to mention one thing on the recognitions. Dr. Wessmann was nominated for The students to know that we're very proud of them. When we go to look at the art, we don't know who who did it. We just look at it. And it's amazing sometimes the ones that we choose, this number one, this number two, and it's ours. So, we know how to recognize good work when we see it. So, congratulations to you students, and keep it up, and as Ms. Pitman said, it may become a part of your life as you move forward. Thank you. Ms. Pitman had another comment. Yeah, Dr. Wessmann was nominated for Superintendent of the Year in the state of Virginia, and she went to that ceremony this week, and she was the runner-up, but she's our SHE'S OUR
006SUPERINTENDENT. >> [applause] >> THANK YOU. ANYBODY ELSE? REALLY GREAT WORK TO ALL of our student artists. Please keep it up. Continue to hone your skills. Hone your skills on them, and uh if your parents need some art supplies or anything like that, you've got a whole community around you that can help you out with that. Um so, yeah, continue to work on your skills and and develop them and share them with other people. I enjoyed it. The rest of us that had gone to the event had enjoyed your artwork as well. So, there's a whole world of people that are ready to enjoy your art. Absolutely. I just want to say you guys are immensely talented. So, it's pretty cool to see you represent our county and our school system with your art. Also want
007to thank for the mention of the bus drivers. We uh they are the unsung heroes, and we talk sometimes about the fact that they're the first face and the last face that our kids see every day, and their's is a very challenging job, so I I do want to publicly appreciate them. Dr. Wessmann, did you Yeah, I I just would um echo all that you said. I I think the bus drivers definitely um you know, are people that I think sometimes we fail to recognize enough, and um also I'd like to say to the art teachers, um we have amazing art teachers here um that our young people get to work with all the time, and we had an opportunity in March to go and see all of the artwork from our students um across
008the county, and um just was so impressed um by that, and so I'm very appreciative of a board that does recognize the talents of our teachers and our bus drivers, and we have a budget that really does support that. And um so, I'm excited to talk about the budget a little later, too. But thank you all for the for the grown people that do help the young people be the best they possibly can be. Awesome. Yep. Um we do have more business that we're going to handle in just a moment, but because there are a few of you that came here for recognitions, and you may not have signed up for a business meeting, we're going to we're going to take a a brief uh recess, uh and in that time you can take pictures
009with Ms. Robinson Williams in the hallway. And if you want to stay, you are welcome to stay. This is an open session. It's open to anyone that wants to be here, but we want to give you an opportunity to slip out if you need to do that. So, thank you again for being here. We'll we'll recess for about 2 minutes, if that's okay, and then we'll call the meeting back to order. We're going to move into our closed session report. Uh we'll entertain a motion at this time related to the personnel list. >> Mr. Chair, I move that we approve the personnel report as presented. Second. It's been moved and seconded that we approve the personnel list as it was presented to us this evening. All in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? The motion
010carries. Thank you. Announce student matters. Mr. Chair, I move that we uphold the recommendation of the Chief Academic Officer for student number LT-04/26-1. Second. It's been moved and seconded that we uphold the recommendation of our Chief Academic Officer in the case of student number LT-04/261. Madam Secretary, can I request a roll call vote for that? Dr. Elaine Pearson. Aye. Dwayne G. Walker. Aye. Barbara T. Pitman. Aye. Mary M. Benjamin. Aye. Jason L. Brown the Second. No. 4 to 1. The motion [clears throat] carries. Thank you. Now, we have uh some board matters uh that we need to look at. First, related to instructional time. Mhm, Dr. Clay. Dr. Clay. Good afternoon, everyone. Um so, I come before you again this school year to talk about instructional time um in our calendar. Um so, just for
011a little background, I mean, I think we all know in Virginia Code, um we all school systems in the state of Virginia are required to either have 180 days or 990 hours of instructional time. Our calendar is built with bank time. Um however, this school year, due to weather and other circumstances, we did exhaust that bank time. Uh on the sheet that Ms. Rainey is displaying, uh the days are listed. I will not read all that to you, but those are the days listed as a school division that we missed due to weather. Uh as you recall, I did come before you in February. We added 15 minutes um to the school day, and at that moment, that would have made up all of our time except at Sunnyside due to that water outage. They
012would have still been an outlier. Okay, but in that moment, that would have made up our time. However, after that, um on February 23rd, we did have a 2-hour delay due to weather, and then on March 16th, as you know, I think every school division in Region One closed um due to the forecast of severe weather on that day. So, that put us again at a place where we're not going to meet the 990 instructional hours. Also, after I presented to you, Sutherland Elementary um experienced an experienced an incident where their students had to be released 3 hours early on March 19th due to a Dominion Energy Transformer malfunction, which caused a surge that led to a circulation motor catching fire. So, then Sutherland um had additional hours that needed to be make up made
013up. Uh we did submit a weather waiver as we had done last year for the middle school, but this year we submitted a weather waiver as an entire county for every school. Um the weather waiver was for as a as a district 6.75 instructional hours. That's how much we were going to be behind the 990 requirement. Sutherland, uh their waiver the request was for 9.75 because of that additional three they missed. And then Sunnyside, uh because of again the time missed due to the water outage, um 16.75 hours. Uh we submitted all of our documentation for that. The waiver was denied. We appealed that denial um with and had a I had a a virtual meeting with some VDOE representatives uh where we reviewed what had occurred. Uh we reviewed remote learning guidance. I know
014that's always a question, and that's a question they had. Why didn't you do remote learning? Once we reviewed that guidance together, they agreed that due to our infrastructure with uh lack of internet throughout the county, the fact that we do not send home devices with elementary and middle school students, we truly do not meet cannot meet the criteria for remote learning. They agreed with that. However, they still denied our weather waiver in an official letter from the state superintendent. So, because of that, we do have to find ways to make up the hours that I just listed to you as a district, and then a few more hours for Sutherland, and quite a bit more for Sunnyside. So, because of that, um two things that I'll be requesting for approval this evening. One um is
015that the last day of school, currently May 28th, is an early release day. So, we are requesting that that now be a full day of instruction. That makes up 3 hours as a district, okay? The other um piece that needs your approval this evening is because Sunnyside has missed so missed so much more that May 29th, which is graduation day, which is a teacher work day, um will need to be a full day for Sunnyside to recover 6 more hours. So, you're saying, "Well, that math is not mathing, Amanda. Uh that's only 9 hours." So, the other um thing that we have done with each principal is we have gone through their master schedule um several times. And I'm calling it dead time. So, what they have done in their schedule is picked up some
016dead time that was not allocated to be instructional time. Uh and maybe it was being used for instruction. I can talk through a couple different scenarios. The high school will be an outlier. They truly reallocated some time in the morning to be instruction. Uh and that began every other school was April 20th. I believe the high school was April 23rd they began that. When we calculate that time, then um we will make up all the time that I have listed here, and just so you feel, you know, we we always want to be secure in what we're doing. I am a rule follower by by nature, some would say a a bit too much sometimes. Um so, when we came up with this plan, I did reach back out to the Virginia Department of Education
017to say, "Here is what we're doing. Uh are we thinking about this correctly?" And they did agree, "Absolutely, yes." Um you know, you look at every minute in that day. We look at Virginia code. Recess time counts. Transition time between classes counts. Um so, what we're doing will all these pieces together will make up that instructional time. For the high school, when I say dead time, um uh most students, when they get off the bus, are there and I believe Ms. Bailey's in the room. Maybe not. Um are there about 15 to 20 minutes before first period begins, and they're just kind of not going to class. So, it's it's been an issue we need to look at anyway. So, starting April 23rd, they said, "You must, when you get off the bus, get your
018breakfast. You must go to first period." And the students that are there, teachers are not starting new instruction, but projects they have to work on, missing work, help they need, review is what is starting in that time that we're recapturing as instructional time. For elementary school and middle, it was really like that morning meeting or gen time. Students were truly already in there. We just weren't counting it. Um and are not to towards our 990 hours. Any questions? Is is this something we need to take action on today? We need to You need need to take action on two things. The reallocation of dead what I call dead time, you do not need to take action on. What needs action is making May 28th a full day for students, for all students, and May 29th
019a full day just for Sunnyside Elementary School. Before we entertain a motion on that, um could I ask you to speak to Of course, we hear from parents sometimes, and there were questions this year about asynchronous learning. And we've talked about that, but if we can maybe make a statement publicly here Absolutely. >> about what the state requires in order to claim asynchronous and why that wasn't an option for us. >> have that the exact things with me, but I can tell you a lot of it. So, that's that remote learning piece I'm speaking to. There are a lot of requirements there. You provide meals. Um counseling is available. Students that have an IEP or 504, they must be able to get their services and accommodations. And it speaks to teachers and students having an
020environment that is conducive to learning in their home. Um and part of that is access to internet. There are many people in our county who do not have access to internet, including some of our employees. Um reliable internet. Right. I think the other piece is we do send devices home with high school students. We do not send devices home uh with elementary and middle school students. So, you know, many times when people talk about remote or asynchronous learning, it's like, "Send a packet home." Right. No, the guidance is much bigger than sending a packet home. And this is the the piece that I spoke to that I had a virtual meeting with the Virginia Department of Education, two of their representatives. We went through that guidance. Uh and again, um it's not just packets. It's
021all these other pieces that a teacher must be available if a student needs help, and that could be office hours, but there's a virtual aspect to that, uh where internet and a device would be a need. So, just to be clear, um I'll I'll say it back to you. So, we we cannot claim asynchronous learning in Dinwiddie County largely because of the lack of internet access. So, other communities that have claimed that, that's between them and the Department of Education. I I Yes, you are correct, and I will say one of our core values is integrity. >> Um so, you know, for us, we want to make sure this is where I'm a rule follower, Pastor Walker. >> that. Um I want to make sure when I ask Dr. Weston to sign off on something
022that we have done it with integrity, and that's not speaking to what other divisions are doing, but for us, as we review that guidance, we cannot, with integrity, meet all of those criteria for every single student in the county. That's the struggle that we have. I will say the state mentioned that maybe they're going to review that guidance. I did volunteer to be a part of that. I said, "I'll I'll join that committee because I would love to be a part of that work." When you think about rural divisions that, you know, do not have the same accessibility as some larger divisions, right? Sure. So, at this time, we need to act on May 28th for the entire county, and May 29th just for Sunnyside. So, we'll entertain a motion if someone would Mr. Chair,
023I move that May the 28th move from a half day to a full day, and that May 29th be a full day for Sunnyside. Second. So, it's been moved and seconded that we declare May 28th will be moved from a half day into a full day of instructional time for all schools in the county. And that May 29th would become a full day of school for Sunnyside Elementary. All those in favor say I. I. Are there any opposed? The motion carries. Thank you, Dr. Thank you. So, just a clarification, the 29th would be teachers and students at Sunnyside, but a teacher work day for everybody else. That is correct, and it's graduation for the high school. So, we'll work with Sunnyside and Ms. Hawkins about, you know, teachers getting those end of the year pieces
024done. She We'll work together on that. Thank you. And then the other thing, I guess, would be there's anybody that works at Sunnyside who has a kid graduating. Yes, we're She does know to make that allowance for them. Absolutely. We are going to need to make a change to the agenda. There was a misunderstanding about the teacher sponsor for the FBLA conference. So, we'll need to move that to the May agenda. This This isn't my normal meeting for us, so in her mind it was during one of the first meetings of the month, so. So, item number 4.02 is being removed. So, we need to make a motion to amend the agenda. >> agenda to remove that. To accept the amended agenda. I move that we adjust the agenda to table number item number 4.02
025with the Dinwiddie Middle School field trip for FBLA to the next meeting. >> Yes. Yes, ma'am. I second. All right, it's been It's been moved and seconded that we amend the agenda to remove 4.02 from this agenda and add it [clears throat] to our next board meeting. All in favor say I. I. Any opposed? The motion carries. Okay. So, now we have direct-to-home delivery of summer non-congregate meal kits. A lot of words. That's a lot of words. Mhm. >> [clears throat] >> Hello. >> [laughter] >> Okay. Um in years past that we have had um a centralized location for parents to come by and pick up meals. I think there's been like one or two. Um a parent have expressed dissatisfaction with the fact that they haven't been able to get there to get those
026meals to take home to children. Me being one of them. Um so, now with this, we're hoping to um get a vendor to come in to not only prepare the meals, but package them up in boxes and have them delivered directly to the homes of these children, which is super cool. Um with that being said, we did put out an RFP, and we got three vendors to reply back. Um we had a committee put together um of three individuals, and we decided to move forward with a company called Pepsico Foundation. Um we have offered them the intent to award, um and they have accepted that, and then um through you all's approval on May 4th, we will be able to officially award that to them. I know that was a tiny little spill, but if
027you have any questions, Mary and I are happy to partner together and answer those questions. What was the cost of this? Um cost, let's see here. I've got that. So, for the uh 7-day meal kits, that would include three hot meals, that's $54.10. And then for the 10-day meal kits, which I think is what we would like to do, um we're looking at four hot meals with a cost of $73.80 per kit. So, the families are paying for this. Is my understanding that right? I'm I'm sorry, forgive me. You're okay. We will be covering it. Um parents It's still a free service to parents, and they have the option to get the number of meals that they need, but we'd like to we're hoping and that they would opt to do the 10-day meal, but
028we get a reimbursement back from USDA for the number of meals Okay, I get it. So, they're responding for it. >> Yes, they're responding for it. Yes, sir. And then the other beauty of it is students have the opportunity to have meals the whole entire summer from June the 1st through August the 21st, where before it was in pockets. I understand. So, will parents sign up for this? Yes, ma'am. Parents will sign up for this. We will get the information out once, you know, well, hopefully we get the approval, then we'll have all the links and everything to send to the parents so they can sign up. So, they would get a package that has 10 meals Yes, ma'am. 10 breakfasts, 10 lunches including juice, milk, and then we opted with the company that offered
029hot meals as well. So, it stays in the refrigerator for 2 weeks, and they I mean, something that's hot, what is it in? In the freezer. It's going to come in like the like a Yes. Yes. See, freeze dried or something along this during the summer. during the summer since they use it. That's right. And then another beauty is that it's for children 1 to 18. So, if they if a grandparent lives in one end of the county and parents at the other end, when the parent signs up, they can have the food shipped to the grandparent's house or wherever the child would be, they can use that address. Can I ask a question? Um we um The question was that we have uh students that are here during the summer months for extended periods
030of time, like with the sports teams and things like that. Can they get fed while they're here at school all day? >> Yes, ma'am. We will still have the summer enrichment, so the students that are participating um during that time can get meals at Dinwiddie and at the high school. So, we still would have that service for those students. for middle, it'd be at the high school. But yeah, but I was talking about, you know, Ms. Carson had uh spoken to me about whether or not the the kids that are here for conditioning in the summer >> Yes, ma'am. They can They can. So, they'd be serving traditional lunch every or breakfast and lunch each day Yes, ma'am. We will still have the wider than summer school. Yes, ma'am. She'll be very happy. Yes. While
031[clears throat] we're on the topic of the meals that are being provided, um I know with Richmond Public Schools this year that they have provided meals during Eid because they do have a number of Muslim students that aren't eating during Just wanted to know, I know that's not a big demographic here, but is that something that we've ever done in the past um trying to provide like take-home meals for some of our Muslim students that aren't eating throughout the day, or um is that something we could consider going down the road? >> We can consider going down the road. You know, I know like with the backpack meals and things like that, but that's something we can also look into. Okay. And then another thing too with the program that we if we um are
032able to do this with SFSP, I'm switching over from SSO, SFSP allows us to do different things with meals like doing school closures and other options as well. So, we have a bigger variety of options that we can provide meals by going with SFSP. So, we get completely reimbursed for this through USDA? We get complete uh We get reimbursed for each breakfast $3 and want to tell you correctly. I have my papers here. $3.70 for each breakfast and $5.60 for each lunch. So, how much of that does it cover Does that cover all of the Yes, sir. It'll be a like I know we're not not for profit, but we'll make about $14.90 off of each meal. Wow. Okay. Good. So, the only criteria is that they have to be our student. Our student or
033if a parent has a if a grandparent has a child is visiting from out of town. Any child 1 to 18. So, are we bringing employees of our own? No, sir. This is coming directly from the vendor. Our employees will work in the summer learning. Which they've already been doing. They've already been doing, but this also frees up some time for our employees because they were working, working, working, and needed a break. And then also some of them we've ran into some staffing issues in the past where we didn't have enough in pulling in others, but our employees are working for summer learning, but this is going straight from the vendor to the parents' home. And the vendor and everything is included in that price. All of that's in shipping, handling, delivery. When Ms. Elder
034says employees, she means her and Ms. Robinson-Williams because they [clears throat] were the ones all last summer going to everybody's house delivering food. >> [laughter] >> And then also too, um for every meal that's being sent to a parent's home, I'm going to have a meal sent here in case there's a damaged box or whatnot. The company will cover those in the meantime, but just in case it takes a while, it'll be a box of a food here that parents can pick up if it's a if it's something damaged. Yes, ma'am. Another question that I had, we are This is not an automatic sign up for parents, correct? This is something they have to opt into. Yes. Okay. So, what are we doing as far as advertising this? Once we get approval, Ms. Robinson-Williams and
035I have worked on a flyer to go and get sent submitted hopefully tomorrow. Okay. The only request I would make, and maybe you guys are a step ahead, so I'd just rather hear from you all. If we could possibly have a translation of it in Spanish because It's one there. No, okay. >> [laughter] >> Yes, it's one there. And then the company has so many incentives for parents each month. I mean, each I think it's each week. It was each week. Our parents have opportunity to um win for gift cards. It's all It's so many incentives that parents have. This nutrition education. It's so many things that this company provides, you know, as part of it. That was one of the reasons we went with them. Um but the but the beauty of it for
036me is being able to have the children have access to meals all summer. Absolutely. So, we're going to be informing the parents by how? Uh we're going to send out uh our message through Blackboard, social media. We're going to do flyers. Okay. I was going to say some parents don't do the emails, so you need to do it multiple ways to contact them. And then I have too, a menu, you know, if you all wanted to see a copy of what I mean, it's name brand foods. If you all would like to see what the menu looks Sure does. Why would we say no to this? Exactly. This is such a great idea. Thank you. I know what they're thinking. Especially if it's Does the delivery have to go to a child's home? Does the
037delivery have to go to the child's home? It doesn't. Wherever the child is. I'm wondering are like our daycares in the summer that >> can sign up for Isn't that great? Wherever they are we can get it to the address. We can get it to them and then again, if I find out or we find out that there's a a child with the the parent I feel comfortable with sending to it, they will get that sent here. They can then I can Miss Robinson Williams and I'll get it delivered. So all children will have access. The only the downside but it's also a good side. The children who are enrolled in summer learning cannot enroll because they're already getting the hot meals from the school. But when they're out during that break, you know, we
038got that little break then the parent can sign them up to get that so they still have continuous access to meals. So some families though may have a child in summer school and and children at home. They still but you sign them up by the child's name. Okay. So they get for both. That's great. Any other discussion or questions on this? If not, we'll entertain a motion. >> [clears throat] >> It's been moved and seconded that we award the RFP to Pepsico for the direct to home delivery of summer non-congregate meal kits. >> [laughter] >> All in favor say I. I. Any opposed? The motion carries. Thank you guys. Thank you so I guess it means they're individual. All right. So we are going to again adjourn. We've scheduled We're We're on time. Good stuff.
039We're We're scheduled for a public hearing uh related to our budget at 5:00 and we have to honor that 5:00 uh schedule because it's a public hearing and we've advertised it. So we we've got about 8 minutes that we will uh we'll adjourn and then reconvene in in about 8 minutes for the public hearing. Thank you for being here. I guess we need a motion to adjourn. A motion. And uh the regular meeting second. You second that. It's been moved and seconded that we adjourn from the regular business meeting board meeting. All in favor say I. I. I. We're adjourned. Thank you. >> meeting to order. Uh Madam Chair, I move that we move into the public hearing portion of our meeting tonight. Second. All right. As we don't we don't need to take Miss
040Your turn. We don't we don't need to take roll for this as well. It's a separate meeting, do we? We don't have to do the certification because that's just the thing. All right. Okay. Okay, so good. All right, good. Um Oh, great. Dr. Weston. Yes. Um members of the board, I'm so happy to be here this evening along with my colleague Christie Fleming to present to you a balanced budget. Um we're we are being cost cautiously optimistic, but we're feeling very good about the budget that we're providing you this this evening. Um we are going to present to you some of the things you've seen already as far as the operating budget goes, but mostly we'll be paying it uh closer attention to the grants and other funds that we have um in our budget
041for the upcoming school year. All right, I just checked this. That's We're going to skip all the way to slide 33 since you've seen everything else. I saw it it looks like Okay. Okay, there it's working now. That's me. Okay. Um I don't think I have to tell you all this, but public schools do really matter when you talk about the health of a community. Um they do a lot of uh great things. So as, you know, businesses move into our community or as people um buy their houses, they always want to know, you know, how healthy is the school system. And so you can see there um they increase property values and provide places for young people and essential community services. Um and so it's very important that um there's an investment made into
042our public schools. The reason why we're here this evening or the reason why we do the work that we do is that um what we talk about often is not just the day of graduation, but really what happens to our young people the day after graduation and can they um walk into a viable career or go on to continue um higher ed or go into the um to the services, but our job is to make certain that our children are opportunity ready the minute that they walk across that stage. When we met with the Board of Supervisors, we talked a lot about what our vision is, not just what the vision of Dinwiddie County Public Schools is, but what is our vision for our community? And interestingly enough, there's a lot of similar statements in
043our both of our vision statements. You can see there Dinwiddie County's vision statement, um we cherish our heritage, embrace opportunity. We talk a lot about of our students being opportunity ready and offer an extraordinary community in which to spend a lifetime. Part of that extraordinary community would mean excellent and extraordinary schools. And then the the statement at the bottom is our vision statement, our new vision statement for our school system, together we grow a tutorial blazing school system where every student is equipped to thrive in college, career, community, and character. DCPS graduates are resilient, ethical, skilled, and opportunity ready with a plan for lifelong success. So you see there's lots of similarities between the two vision statements. Um the the Dinwiddie County uh went through um a they just finished their comprehensive plan in the
044last couple of years. And what's interesting about their community survey was that the school system was mentioned as a priority for the members of this community whether or not they had students in our school system. Um here are the things when they asked what the three top value attributes are of this community, the education system was listed as the top three. When they talked about the three top concerns of our of our community, they talked about the quality of our public schools being at the top three concerns. And when they talked about the community said that the top three focus areas for the future for Dinwiddie County should be improving its public schools. And so as you can see, not only it is the school system and the quality of the school system and our
045education system our priority, it is the priority of every person, every community member. We also did an internal um budget uh survey. We wanted to know um you know, what do they want our internal stakeholders, what did our parents and our internal stakeholders want us to focus on. We also did a needs assessment for our strategic plan and the top four areas of focus for the future were student achievement and opportunities once again, excellent teachers, which I believe that we would all agree with that, cult having a culture of care and well-being for our students and for our young people, and finally making sure that our facilities are updated. What drives our budget is really how many students that we have in our school system and um our average daily membership. You can see here
046over the years uh we've dropped somewhat and that really is that's really where the money part of our the revenue part of our budget and also our expenditures um that number comes from and you can see there for the 25-26 school year, it's a 3871. So you're going to see what we based our budget on in just a few minutes. You know, it's interesting because a lot of people are saying, "Well, so many people are leaving public education." Well, the research isn't really um saying that it's about people leaving public education as much as they're saying that what they're seeing now is the generation are not having as many children as previous generations. So I think that there is um a lot of things going on. It's not necessarily that people are running from anything
047or to something else, but there're just a lot of factors that are coming into play and one of them has to do with um childbirth. They're seeing a decline in childbirth. Okay. We um no matter how many students sit in our schools, we provide a lot of different personal learn personalized learning environments and with that come costs involved and you can see a lot of the programs and a lot of the opportunities that we provide our young people um and you'll see the um you see you know are very familiar with the costs that are associated with all of those things as well. But we really pride ourselves on being able to meet the needs of our students um where they are and being able to accelerate them to where that they want to go.
048Once again, here is our enhanced vision and mission for the school system. Um I've already spoke to the vision statement, um but I also want to speak to the mission statement, rooted in community, grounded in care and committed to every child's growth. And I believe that we have a budget that really is going to speak to that that we cultivate learners to become confident, compassionate, and prepared to reach great heights in life beyond graduation. So everything we're doing is about making sure that they're ready for life beyond that day. So our budget priority is really around three things. It's about students, it's about staff, and it's about operations and making certain that whatever we do in this budget is going to have the greatest impact on student success and make sure that we're prioritizing their
049needs um the needs according to for student learning. Um one of the biggest things that has the greatest impact on student learning has to do with the people sitting in our classrooms and standing in front of our our students every day. We have a total of 663 employer employees currently. 427 of those are instructional positions and as you know, the state doesn't fund all 427 positions, but all are very needed. Um they fund 340 of those positions. We have 236 support positions and um 131 of those are support positions are funded. So what that means is that we have to find the funding, we have to lean on the county to assist us in funding the other positions. And so when you see that the compensation that the state provides us um for our employees
050for a 2% increase, a 3% increase, it really is for those SOQ and funded positions and not for all positions. So when we talk about our staff, we got to make certain that we can afford our staff. We got to pay I believe that smart people can work anywhere and it's important, you know, and I know it's a it's a priority of this board to take care of teachers and you've often talked about the bus drivers as well. So this budget really is heavy in those two areas. Um to do the increase that we'd like to do for all employees, it's going to cost about 2.1 million dollars. Um for the 663 employees that we talked about earlier. For teachers, uh they're going to see a pay increase anywhere from 5 to 8.65. Uh what
051we've been able to do is to take the teacher scale and if you remember there was a little compression happening in the middle years uh with our teachers, so we've been able to fix some of that. Um we've been able to raise the starting rate uh for brand new teachers to 585. For bus drivers, I think this is so very important. Uh we are probably the least competitive in our region for bus drivers. We are proposing to raise bus driver salaries uh to $25 an hour which I think puts us near the top in this region. Um I know that we're getting a lot of um applications now of bus drivers wanting to come and work for us here in Dinwiddie which is wonderful. Um so they'll see anything from a 5% increase to some
052of our drivers will see a 32.5% increase in their pay um and that's going to cost us about $337,000 to do that. And then for all of the other employees who are on the UPP scale, they'll receive between a 5 and a 5.15% increase and that's going to cost us about $622,000. And I I think I failed to say that the teacher part is the largest and that's 1.6 million dollars to do that pay increase for them. I mentioned already where we would be as far as the starting pay. I will tell you that um as far as region one goes right now, um I'm not for the most part I've you can see there. I know all of those districts there with the exception I'm not sure about Richmond, but I know that the
053others listed there are not doing um they're doing the we're doing a 5% increase. Most of them are doing our 2 to 3% increase. Um but all of the others there um you know, will not be coming anywhere near that. So hopefully that's going to make us far more competitive than we've been in past years when we're talking about teachers. Okay. And that makes me very excited. Um so as far as benefits go, I know the other thing that we had talked about is that our health insurance increase this year was 12 and a half percent. Um and as you can see it's a large large part of um of our budget. Um you can see the school operating fund there. 59% of the operating fund is compensation. Uh and that's just the salary and
054the like, but benefits are about 23% of the budget and you can see there in benefits um has things to do like um social security, the Virginia retirement system, group life and like um and just to note there and Christie found I was able to calculate this for us. Health insurance has increased 87% since 2019. That is unbelievable. I don't know if you know, if you're experiencing the same thing. And then the rest of the budget, the re- the remaining 18% of the budget is everything else. So everything in our budget is primarily 83% of our budget is about our people. And making sure that we're paying them and taking care of their health care. Um I really do applaud the the board because um we talked about when we give people a raise, if
055you try to push out 12 and a half percent of health insurance to them, it doesn't feel like they got a raise, right? So we have been able to um take the 800 approximately $800,000 that it was going to cost us for the health insurance and been able to put it inside the operating budget. So you can see there that this year just the health insurance alone in the budget is 7.1 million dollars. But that's so our employees do not have to absorb any of the cost. So they'll still get the raise and then health insurance will be taken care of. And I really do applaud the board for that. So hopefully we'll be able to to do that. Any questions about compensation before I move on to the others? Um yeah, of course. So
056you addressed the compression in the teacher's pay scale. And I was approached by a bus driver recently and their question was with the increase, will that create compression or is there going to be Um so it will scale out with the Okay, good. Yeah, they've gone through everyone. Yes. Okay, thank you. But thanks for asking. You think. And they would get be getting that information soon. Yes, you know, they are paid you're saying you're raising theirs to $25 an hour, so but they're not all paid at the same rate, right? It just depends on But it's an even percentage between I mean well it's it's it's it's a gradual percentage between, but it it will not create any compression. >> So if they have eight years experience, that will be reflected in their in their
057increase. I got you. So that they'll have a higher increase, but yeah. It starts at 25 and goes I I don't Yeah. So the beginning driver would get 20 bucks. The beginning driver will get 20 bucks. >> Right. I can look up We have some that have been with us a long time. 20 year driver or Yeah, to give you an idea of that. I don't know, you don't have to look it up, but I'm just making sure that there is a difference between the 20 year driver and the new driver. [clears throat] Yeah. Yeah. Um and the drivers are very very excited about that and are very appreciative of your um being a champion for them in the work that they do. We shared that with them. Yes. Um earlier when we first started
058talking about this, too. They're they're very excited. And as I said, we are getting a lot of applications from other districts of people who want to come here to work, which is great. Any other questions? Yes, how do you Mr. Walters and his team? Yeah, I I like that, too. It's like a walking billboard I mean a driving billboard. Come work with us. Drive with us. Yes. I like that, too. Yeah. Okay. There are some required increases which you know inside this budget with tuition for our students. Um we did put the employee compensation because in order for us to accept this money from the state department, we do have to provide the increase for employees. Um we have instructional academic supplements in this budget, a lot of contractual services which go up every single
059year, our utilities and once again health insurance is 12 and a half percent. Um but and once again I do applaud this board for um not having employees have to absorb this. They did have to absorb some of last year's and so um I think it will feel like that they receive the compensation that they uh truly deserve. All right, so under student achievement and opportunities which is one of our priorities, um all of our regional programs are costing more money this year, so our exams Maggie Walker and CodeRVA. Um we also have students that take dual enrollment programs at Brightpoint Community College, so all those are increases for this year. Um we did have to add a couple of positions, but these are all positions that are at the school level. Um three teachers,
060a kindergarten, a first and a fifth grade teacher that really is to make sure we keep those class sizes especially in K1 um down. We'd like to keep them as close to 20 as possible. Uh we needed to add an autism teacher. Um that program is continuing to learn to um to get larger and then also early learning and then to make sure that we could continue to have our student support specialist for attendance and he works in the middle and the high school directly with students. We did reclassify four positions. These are existing positions that we have. Um as you know, we have three schools that are currently federally identified for special education, so we know we had to do something different to be able to support our teachers, but also our students and
061those positions will work 10 and a half months instead of 10 months to assist us in those areas and then the academic stipends um that you see there. Now since the last time that we came together, here's some of the adjustments um since we met with the county. Um we have some additional revenue um that we've been able to in in our work sessions of a $779,000. We did increase our ADM by 25 students to 3875 and we feel pretty confident that we're going to be okay with that which brought in an additional almost $300,000. Um we moved the state share up to 3%. What we're hearing from Richmond right now is that we believe that the House and the Senate are going to compromise at 3%, so we're feeling pretty confident you know pretty
062confident about that. Um we did and now what we did with the General Assembly uh budget, we took the what the House was saying and what the Senate was saying and instead of choosing either side, we tried to kind of find a place in the middle cuz we know we're going to get some additional funding, but we just don't know how much it's going to be. So we're a little conservative and we added um we did a little bit for the at risk and the exceptional education as proposed cuz I don't know if you remember but one was like 1.8 million dollars and the other one was a whole different number and so we basically met in the middle somewhere and so you can see that there. We actually decrease the local transfer by 158,000
063dollars to reflect the 650 that the county is proposing in their budget. We did some expenditure adjustments. We changed it so that we would absorb paying the full increase to the health care. We did some put the additional teaching position there but we did eliminate some vacant positions that would not have impact on our schools. And then Midway gym floor asbestos removal is included in the county CIP and then we also materials and supplies we made some reductions there as well. May I ask a question? >> Sure. Rebecca up to the um we increased the ADM by 25. Where do we stand now versus where are we? 3871 is our enrollment now? That's ADM. Yes, ma'am. Okay. And we're going to go up by 25. Yes, because before when we brought the budget to you
064previously we actually had it at 3850. So we pushed it up cuz we're at 3871 so we went So we're at 3871 so we went ahead and brought it up so we could that brings us some additional revenue. What? But knowing if we start the year right cuz remember you know when we do the September 30th I mean we're going to watch it and you know there's always vacant positions and things like that but in order to get the budget balanced right now we feel okay about raising that by 25. How did we what we proposed last year started with and what we ended up with? But we're about 100 Yeah. So about 100 100 students. Less. Mhm. And this time we're going to guess 25 more? Well, our budget was built on 3975 last
065year 3975 so we were taking it down to 3850 in our first proposal to you which is 125 students less. Now we feel like we can we're taking it we're taking it down 100 students from where we budgeted last year. But we're we adjusted since the last time we came to you. We went up 25. By 25, yeah. Cuz we're at 3871. than what we budgeted in 26. Last year. Okay. So basically when we go up the 25 we're 75 less. No, no, no. We're at 3871 currently but last year we we had dropped it 125 students from last year to this year. So instead of going the full 125 we backed up so it's just 100. So we basically it's 100 it's 100 difference of 100 students from last year to this year. Do
066we do we have any projections on the kindergarten enrollment? We do not. Typically it's around 300 but we have not enrollment for kindergarten comes in really slow for us for whatever reason and Penny does a they do a great job trying to get um Shiner and Penny they really try to get the enrollment. We typically August before we really get a clear idea about kindergarten enrollment. It's usually around 300 kids. Size of the senior class? It's right at 300 maybe a little bit less than that this year. Every class is about 300 give or take we sometimes sometimes have smaller classes. Okay. But we wouldn't do it if we did not feel I mean we've dropped it by 100 you know um 25 kids I do feel like in the budget there are going to
067be places in there that if it comes back that we needed those 25 kids finding 269,000 dollars we would typically have vacancies and things like that in the budget to cover those costs. Okay. Thank you. Yes, yes, ma'am. Any other questions about that? Okay. You'll recognize these numbers we've just adjusted them to match the 3875 that we talked about so they do look a little bit different but the total increase in state revenue that we are going to receive would be the 2.3 million dollars from the state. This gives you a shows you over time what our increase has been or excuse me our what our revenue has been over time our state funding increases. So for example this year it's going to be about 5% increase and as you can see it's based on
0683875 students. Um there. Right? State funding and compensation increases once again on the left hand side there you see the state SOQ funded pay raises the governor's budget said 2%. We feel like the General Assembly is saying 3% and that's what we're leaning toward as far as the budget we put together to balance right now. And then the Dinwiddie teacher raises there you can see what we've done over the past few years and this year we're proposing 5% to 8.65. Are we okay for adjusting if the General Assembly just comes through with two? Well, it's going to require us to come back to the table and make some other adjustments in there. It could be at some point that we have to go back to that health insurance and say a certain percentage might have
069to go out. Right. That's probably would be the Wait cuz we have cut we have made a lot of adjustments in this budget. So and we haven't made any um we haven't put things in any place. So the only couple places it would happen would be positions for example if somebody were to leave and let's say the kindergarten kindergarten numbers were low and it was kindergarten teacher that left. So we might not fill that position so that might be something we can do or the health insurance might be another area. Um So I mean I think we'd have to go back to the drawing we're going to have to we're going to have to bring an amended budget back to you one way or the other. Based on what it comes out of Richmond. So
070the contracts that went out that have their annual salary don't say anything about the health insurance piece. It does not. That's something that we have communicated to them and you know um I'm sorry. I did put in the letter to Yes. Mhm. Hopefully. Hopefully. Well, there is the disclaimer on their contract that said all of this is pending you know funding from Richmond and which would cover that as well. It's you know everything's pending funding you know whether it's from the county from the locality or from the state. And so we certainly you know it's it's unfortunate that we don't have a budget out of Richmond yet. We did have an opportunity yesterday to hear from the governor directly. She was at our conference and she feels very optimistic that we will have it very
071soon and it will be a favorable to public education and so I think most superintendents are moving forward you know that that she is a strong proponent of public education and especially when it comes to teachers and employees so I do think that it will be favorable. You know I don't think she would be coming with that message if you know she obviously knows more than we know. So we're but you're right it's it's those those small print says if the funding you know is there to support that. But that's a great question. This has to do with the county's request of the transfer you know we did request 808,000 dollars initially to support the half teacher raise. We have received news that they're willing to support the 650. I do I'm very grateful to
072the county they're a good partner to us and I'm very appreciative of their support of our school system and both in word and deed and this certainly did help us in making certain that we could provide the teachers with the increases that they deserve. And there you can see the local transfer over time what that's looked like. So for the for example from the county we're asking support for 17.3 million dollars which is increase of 3.9% for the upcoming school year. Okay. Here [clears throat] are some of the other other revenue sources that are in our operating budget to very familiar with Rivermont as one which is new story drivers education fees Chromebook insurance vision grant and then there's some other federal grants that are also in that included in that as well. So here's
073our revenue summary. From the total from the state 72% of our budget comes from the state as you can see there. The local transfer is about 26% and you can see the amounts there. So these are the revenue the sources that we get to build our operating budget. Okay. This is our expense summary and you can see where how we spend the money in the budget. 70% of our budget is spent on instruction. Whether it's instructional positions but also just instruction in general. The next largest category would be maintenance which is no surprise when you have aging facilities and lots of things that need to be taken care of and then transportation is after that, but then you can see the other areas um that um are taken care of in this budget. But the
074largest amount, 70% once again being in the area of instruction. So, our operating budget is $64.4 million. We expect to receive that in revenue and we expect to expend all that before the end of the school year this year. By the end of the budget year. Any other questions about the operating before we go into small capital projects? We certainly can come back to it if you'd like as well. Okay, for small capital projects, um Mr. Walters does a I'm sorry. Um Mr. Walters does a really great job um and has done a great job really um identifying projects that we can take care of um with um minimal funds, but um but these are very important projects. The county has agreed to once again uh maintain the $300,000 that they were giving us for
075small capital projects, which they increased last year, so I'm very excited about that. Um they also going to in their CIP is uh 142,800 for the Midway gym floor um and bus seat replacement at $400,000. So, for the um fund 302 is um $840,000 there. Yes, sure. About the Midway floor. Yes. Has that been on there? Is that relatively new to that? It [clears throat] was on there. It was shy of $100,000, so I agreed to take it off. Mhm. Then I went back to the contract cuz the the bid was put in probably 6 or 7 years ago, so I said, "Let me just make sure it's still shy of $100,000." And it came back at about 140. Does that 142 is to replace the floor, but also for a abatement? Yes, it's every
076it's everything. Okay, got you. They're going to abate it. And redo the mondo floor, put mondo floor on there. Oh, good. Good. Mhm. Yes. And that is the you know, the thing that they we risk sometimes when we put these things on our project. We think we can on our um plan, we think we can cover with small capital, but the longer they wait, it starts to cost more money Yeah. for these projects. And so, we're trying to you know, make sure that they're aware of that. The longer we wait, things do cost a lot of money. Here's some ongoing projects that we're currently working on. Um and these are projects that were funded in a previous year, but we are going to have some expenditures for fiscal year 27. Uh the tennis court, which
077I know Mr. Walker's happy to see that. Um it's something but also our community cuz our community uses that tennis court as well. The soffit repair is something we've been waiting for for a very long time and you can see the work's already started over there. Um there's make they're making progress. They're making progress. I saw a fence up, so that makes there's progress. Uh the annual uh the annex roof replacement and then the Midway auditorium, I'm not that's another place I'm very excited about and that's going to also require flooring and things of that, but also we're going to have chairs there that fit bodies that are bodies of today and not bodies of the 1900s, you know, cuz they're like little teeny chairs for little teeny people. Um so, we're going to have
078chairs that fit everybody. Could I ask about the annex roof? Yes. >> Um obviously, capital projects, I mean tax money is tax money. It's not our money and their money. But um it's in our budget and what's in that building is not necessarily school. I mean, Christmas sharing is a county thing uh uh We have the um food banks. >> Food bank. And the pantry's in there. Can is the county kind of helping out with this a little bit since it's not a school thing? >> Yes, well, these are Yeah, they're providing the funds to take care of this. >> They did all the legwork. Oh, they did. Okay. getting the getting the initial quotes and all that. Okay. >> And our finance department asked if I would mind doing it and I don't mind
079at all. It's it's we're working with our normal architect RMM. And actually, I just got an email sitting here that that looks like that's going to probably go out to bid uh 15th of May. So, it's not They did all the hard work and now we're doing we're just closing it up so we can kind of Okay. And they're paying for it. Yeah. Okay. I mean, >> [clears throat] >> Um and because there were other similar projects that they're doing in the county, so I think it's kind of a collection of I'm embarrassed to ask this if it has been done. Is the cafeteria over there demolished yet? No. No, next year. >> Next year, okay. That's something that keeps getting pushed back. But they also have some other buildings that they're going to do
080as well. So, the sheriff's department uh yeah, the old They're going to do this house that's over here behind the actual sheriff or the fire department's place. Yeah. So, they've added a few things and they're going to do them all at the same time. But it's still there. Thank you. Uh-huh. Okay. So, here's school capital. Our beginning balance right now, we project it $5.6 million and that's just because a lot of things have already been funded. Um they're going to transfer an additional $540,000 in addition to the $300,000 um for the small capital. Um we expect to spend about 5.2 million and the end of the year um about 1.2 million dollars. Textbooks um speaks for itself. You can see what's in textbooks. Currently, we have about a million dollars in that fund. Um and
081you can see what what is also included in that and the revenue that we receive from the state. We do expect to be an expenditure of $1.1 million this year $1.1 million this year and we would end with $557,000. This is a fund that we can continue to roll over from year to year depending on when we need to do a different textbook adoptions. School nutrition, you can see that a beginning balance of $708,000 um and the revenue we expect to bring in at $3.1 million, expenditures 3.4 um million dollars and you see there she's also going to do a 5% salary increase, but food supplies, repairs and maintenance um there and an ending balance of $352,000 for this year. And here's all the other grants that you get all the reports on and the
082presentations and you can see the grants there to the right. Um we have a beginning balance of those grants of $556,000. Um we do have to do a transfer from the school fund because we are required to do um a local match for a lot of these grants and that's $469,000 from federal and state and other revenues, probably around $5.2 million total expenditures 5.9, ending balance $256,000. And you can see the grants there. Can I ask a question on we still okay on the we still doing the same on the school nutrition as far as all students are eating? Yes. We have the We still qualify for that. Okay. Yes, ma'am. Thank you. Mhm, sure. Um debt service, um you can see here um beginning balance at $3.2 million, revenue at 3.8, um ending balance
0833.7 um and some of the debt service that's being paid for um the county is paying on our behalf after doing it like the high school and Sutherland um and some of the refinance projects over the years that they've had um and regardless of what the payment um is, they continue to pay the same rate that they the same payment that they've always paid, so they're kind of building up funds for us in this account. Um so, when we get ready to do things like maybe the middle school, um that's kind of the next big project, um there will be uh resources available to us, which is quite smart. Here's a summary of all the funds. We expect to have about $11.2 million of all funds. $78.5 million all revenues. Um $83.6 million in expenditures
084with an ending balance of this year at $6.2 million. And here you can see a a chart or graph of the all of the revenues that we receive and where they um where they come from. Okay. And then all of the expenses and where the expenses come from or where we're expending our money. And then finally, um the the last things we're waiting on is just the General Assembly to finalize their budget. We the county is going to approve their budget on May 5th and then we'll bring back to you on May the 12th um approval for you all to do the approval as well. And we feel most likely we'll have to come back to you at some point to do an amended budget. Um depending on what one comes down to the General
085Assembly. Happy to answer any questions. We have members of the team here also happy to answer any questions from different departments. Any suggestions, but you know, this the purpose of this time would be for us to take any public comment not only today, but from anybody at home or as we go through these next couple of weeks if they have comments about the budget, they should pass those along to any of us or to you um so, we can make sure that those things are included or documented. I appreciate all the work you guys do. >> Yeah, it's a great team. It's a great big puzzle and it's uh um a lot of people to help put all the pieces together and I appreciate all your work. And I thank you for providing us this
086much information. Yes, ma'am. It is and I think, you know, um it's something that I think we keep learning, you know, and um but you know, we all I just I really applaud you all because I think you from the time I arrived you've always made it about people first and foremost and I think this budget really speaks to the people in this community that people that are serving our kids and that's what's most important in this moment. And I know the teachers are very appreciative and um So, I'm very happy about this budget. So, with the uh it's called small capital the fleet the fleet man where we're one full year into that and that's unfolding the way we purchased the rented seven new vans. Yeah. And this Yes. And then this coming school
087year we'll purchase Uh we'll probably purchase three. Three. Okay. We did eight over two years which was a little ahead of what I was hoping. I was hoping eight over two years. Okay. But does it look like it's um doing what we thought it would do financially what you thought it would do financially? Well, if I'm being completely honest I'm not I'm not happy with the rental but I live in finish our obligation there but we'll be purchasing vehicles from now on not renting. Okay. That's just cleaner and easier for us. What I mean renting meaning lease? We will Leasing excuse me. Yeah. I mean I'm I'm meaning to say lease not rent. >> Right yeah. So, everywhere I said rent Yeah. So, so we won't work with Enterprise anymore after this or how will
088that work? I think that's Yes. I think yeah and I think we My only logistics issue with the leasing. I think we're one year in and I think one of the things is everything we've learned some lessons in this one year um and I think at some point when we have the data to be able to show you about why this works better than this cuz I think what we had initially was what we thought was the best move to make and I think now what we're seeing is a different direction maybe better for us both fiscally and One of the selling points of that if I recall was something to do with equity in the vehicles and whatnot and Yeah, but we we're going to maintain that equity value in the vehicles. Yes. So,
089now now we can determine when we want to get rid of that equity instead of waiting till the end of the contract. Yeah. I like to be well, we like to be a little more in charge of our fleet >> Sure. Yeah. >> Got you. Makes sense. But we still do have five seven vehicles that are going to have that lease equity at the end of the lease. >> Okay. So, when we get that they'll just send us a check if we decide not to go back with So, this coming year we'll go ahead and start purchasing is that the idea? Okay, great. Well, you know, the state has these rules and regulations about how many miles and so forth that they can be on a bus. Do they have the same thing on cars
090and vans? They do not. Mhm. coming from a person that drives vehicles with a lot of miles and >> Mhm. They do a really really good job of rotating them. I I had no idea that the intricacies of rotating these vehicles You know, a van that drives to Richmond every day this year will not drive to Richmond every day next year. Right. It'll be more of a local van. Chuck Talton does a great job of keeping track of that. >> Okay. Yeah. Makes sense. >> Thank you Dr. Weston. >> Yeah, it's the team. It's this whole team here. It's all systems. And um >> strategic advisors is what I I'm still working on that new name. That's strategic advisors. But [clears throat] um it it is a lot of work. You see all the numbers,
091people and and I think you were saying that we have our people in that we so requested years back you know that we have some mental health people in some nurses in >> Yes. and counselors of the people that we really need and the state is saying that we must have them. So, thank you. >> And actually in a lot of areas we exceed what the state requires for that because we felt so strongly that we want to make sure those folks are in the building. So. And also the CTE people that also providing the upper classmen with financial information. >> see those numbers as well. >> looking at a piece today that um over that number has gone to over 3 million over the country. So, I said we are right in that number.
092So, that's appreciated. Yes. They're going to teach them how to use their finances before they get into the world. >> Absolutely. It's so critical. >> Thank you. Yes, thank you. Madam Clerk, do we have any public uh No one has signed up to speak. >> would also like to say I Dr. Garnes is in the building. I just wanted to publicly acknowledge him and um thank him for being here. They know ABOUT YOUR SUCCESS. WE'RE SO PROUD OF HIM. CONGRATULATIONS. Forgive us if it takes us a little while to remember to refer you at refer to you as Dr. Garnes but we're going to get it. We're going to get it. Yeah. Um Are there any board comments? I do want to say we have Dr. Clay. Dr. Clay. Dr. Clay, thank you for volunteering
093to work on that committee because we we always leave the rural people out and they don't you know, people who serve on committees don't know the the problems and the things that we endure by living in the rural area even though we choose to live here. We love it but we have some challenges and I thank you so much for agreeing to work and volunteer to work on that committee. Anybody else? I'll just say and I appreciate Dr. Weston touched on it um you know, we're looking at numbers as far as dollars and cents but really this is all about people. It's about number one making sure that the the kids have what they need and are getting the education they need but also taking care of the employees. And so sometimes we get hung
094up in the intricacies of the budget but we have to remember it's about people. And so um I appreciate the fact that you guys have done that. There are faces behind those numbers. So, um hearing no objections the meeting is adjourned. Yes, sir.