DCPS School Board Meeting - May 12, 2026

001being back to order. >> Mr. Mr. Chair, I move that we reconvene in open session and adopt certification of close session. >> Second. >> It's been moved and seconded that we uh reconvene in open session and adopt certification of closed session. All in favor say I. I. Uh, Madame Clerk, >> whereas the Denwy County School Board has convened a closed session on this date pursuant to an affirmative recorded vote and in 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 this school board that such closed meeting was conducted in conformity with Virginia law. Now therefore, be it resolved that the Denwy County School Board hereby certifies that to the best of each member's knowledge, only such business matters as were

002identified 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, >> I certify. >> Barbara T. Pitman, District 3, >> I certify. >> Mary M. Benjamin, District 4, >> I certify. >> All have certified. Mr. Chairman, >> thank you. >> Uh this time we invite you all to join us in standing for the pledge of allegiance. >> Do we have students for that? Excellent. >> We do have students for that and they're going to come in. It's because there was a >> So we're going to tell I think it's not I pledge alce to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stand and justice for all.

003>> Can you see me seated? be seated. >> This looks pretty Good afternoon, school board members, Dr. Weston, and student members. My name is Leanne Adams, and I am the proud principal of Demod Elementary School. My portion of this presentation is very short because my awesome, bright, talented students will be telling you everything there is to know about Demory Elementary. However, I wanted to take a few minutes, actually a few seconds, sorry, to say thank you to Mr. Moss for planning the presentation and practicing with our students. I would like to thank our parents for getting the the students here today. and I would like to thank my staff that have come to support our dees highlights. I am grateful and humbled by the commitment of our team at dees and I know that they

004will continue to rise to the occasion in years to come. Lastly, I want to thank Dr. Weston and the board for giving me the opportunity to serve four fantastic years at dees. It is a wonderful school and it will always hold a special place in my heart. So without further ado, I present our Dimwy Elementary highlights. >> Good evening board members and Dr. Weston. We are excited to have the opportunity to share a little bit about what makes Doney Elementary School a place we are proud to call home. >> During our presentation, you will hear about some of our family engagement events as well as an update on our DS house system. We want to start by telling you about our science night. DES was full of robots, experiments, and science fair projects. Our stage

005was the site of a mass scientist show that brought the house down. Students and families not only saw the hard work we did, but how science affects their lives every day. March was a very busy time at the dees nest. We hosted our literacy night on the 16th and had a great turnout. The event focused on this year's Virginia Reads one book selection, Charlotte's Web. The school was full of Wilbur and Charlotte and our students and staff put on their best for the event. Dr. Seuss week also focused on literacy and being yourself, the most suitical thing you can do. Students and staff dawned Dr. Seuss inspired costumes and even our eagle got into the act. On March 26th, DEES hosted math night for families and students. Families learn strategies to help their students succeed

006in math and went home with resources and supplies, including math games to play with their children. >> We have told you about our house system before and wanted to fill you in on some of the things we have added to the system. One thing new to our house meeting is the lantern ceremony. Each house is assigned a meeting at which the house leaders present a lantern to a staff member who has impacted them during their time at dees. Teachers have been recognized for helping students find academical success, for help for making students feel loved and care about and advocating for students and for many other reasons. The lanterns give us the students a chance to recognize the adults who make DSA a place that values students just beyond numbers. This slide shows the names of

007staff who have been awarded lanterns so far this year. We have one more house meeting, so new names will be added at the end of May. If you are a red winner in attendance, please stand and be regularized. >> If any of our lantern winners are here, would you raise your hand for us? >> Standing room only. >> Another addition to our house system is the awarding of the dees house jacket. Four students received the jackets this year. Staff members nominate students for the jacket and the dees PBIS committee votes on the nominations. Jacket nominees are students who have exemplified the best in eagle values and can be counted on to make good decisions to help others to be respectful of others and are frankly examples of the best of the best. We'd like to

008ask that this year's winners stand and be recognized. >> Many of them have their jackets on. >> Now, please sit back and enjoy a brief presentation of some of the memorable moments we share at dees this year. >> Thank you for sweetheart. Be here belong here. The nest is at its best when we are all here. You belong. You be here belong. You belong. Best is at its best when you're be here. Be alone. Thank you for joining us and for letting us share a little bit about what makes dees a place worth celebrating. Be here. >> Be here. >> Be here. >> Four birds. >> One nest. >> Mr. Moss. >> Yes, sir. >> You're awesome. >> All right. This is a tough act to follow, >> but I'd be remiss if we left

009without saying one more thing. And everybody in the room, all the students from DEES have something to say. And what is that? All right, we are going to head to the back. >> All right, so we're gonna we're going to take dees students right out in the hallway. If you're here with a dees student, we're going to get a picture with them while we take them out. >> Including you. Yes, sir. We'll go ahead and have a brief recess so that anybody that needs to slip out can do that. Uh so we'll take about a two-minute recess. We just want to thank everybody. Thank you, Mr. Moss and Miss Adams. You guys are awesome. back to order. And if anyone there are some seats up here if anybody that's stuck standing wants to uh move

010in and grab a seat. Um Madame Clerk, we got a little bit out of order here because of the uh crowdedness in the room. So we jumped over item 1.05 on the agenda. So the question uh do we have any amendments to the agenda tonight? >> There are no amendments to the agenda, Mr. Chairman. >> Mr. Chairman, I move that we approve the agenda as presented. >> Second. >> It's been moved and seconded that we approve the agenda as presented tonight. All in favor say I. >> I. >> Are there any opposed? >> The motion carries. All right. We have already um we've already experienced a tremendous highlight from Dway Elementary. So, we're moving on to item number 202 on our agenda. Do we have someone here from the homegrown Where's Clary? Yes. I know.

011>> All right. Good afternoon, chairman of the board, members of the board, and Dr. Wesson. >> So, I'm excited to present to you today our cohort three for the homegrown program. Again, these are seniors that are pursuing a education in coming in to education and wanting to come back to Dwey County Public Schools to work. Um, so we are very excited for that. But I'm also going to recap some of the process that it went through and then the students that we have from the previous cohorts as well before I introduce you to our new cohort. So, of course, the goal is to identify any high school senior who wants to aspire to pursue a career in education and establish the frameworks to encouraged to facilitate for them to return to Dem County Public Schools.

012Um, all the students had to complete the application. They had to write an essay on why they wanted to become a teacher. And then of course they went through a verification process of um attendance grades and then verification of being accepted into our higher institute to pursue their um bachelor's degree. So updates from cohort one. Um Morgan Tucker is completing another year at Virginia Westland University. She has thoroughly enjoyed her co um her coursework. She is also a member of the university softball team and just received the Old Dominion Athletic Conference Player of the Year. Um, so that is a huge highlight and congratulations to Morgan. She remains committed to her goal in becoming a teacher and looks forward to returning to Denwitty. Um, Scholar, who was also in cohort one, has completed another year

013at Longwood University. She's preparing to come home for the summer. Um she again has enjoyed all of her course work at Longwood and is still looking forward to returning to Denwitty and um hopefully participating in our IDCPS that we will have coming up in August. Malik Price, he is at VCU this year. Um he said, "I finally completed my freshman year at VCU. It went very well and he is heading towards a degree in education and he is also doing the program where he can get his masters in four years." >> Wow. Um, so he is thoroughly enjoying his coursework and very excited about coming back home. >> That's great. >> Uh, Johanna, so Johanna of course works part-time right now at Southerntherland as a EL tutor. she has thoroughly enjoyed this position and um

014after speaking with Miss Valentine, she says she's doing amazing work um with the students at Southerntherland and is thoroughly enjoying all of the work that she's doing with the students and is eager to hopefully start pursuing taking classes part-time um through a university. So now I'd like to introduce you to cohort three. Um these are our seniors that'll be graduating in just a few weeks. So, first I would like to introduce you to Ariana Boo. >> So, Ayanna plans to pursue her education elementary education. She is going to ODU. Her motivation to become an educator comes from wanting to create a supportive and encouraging environment for children inspired by love, guidance, and impact. So, congratulations, Ariana, on being member of cohort three. Corbin Dean, unfortunately, he had a baseball game tonight, >> so he could

015not be here. But Corbin would like to become a health and PE teacher. He plans to attend Shawan University and he has also signed with Shawan to play baseball there. Um he says, "I strive to motivate children to lead active lifestyles while instilling the integrity and respect necessary to become outstanding citizens in today's world." So we would like to congratulate Corbin and hopefully they are having much success at their game tonight. Caleb Tolbert So, Caleb wants to become a history teacher. He plans to attend VCU this fall. He says, "I want to empower students to love learning, think creatively, and explore the endless possibilities that is ahead of them." Congratulations, CALEB. Cameron Miller So Cameron has already passed her Dwey County Public Schools PAR Pro exam and will be coming to work for Denwitty in

016the fall as a PAR pro and she enjoys helping students learn differently and she wants them to grow to their full potential. So congratulations Cameron. I like to speak and say congratulations again to all of you. I will say it's been a joy watching all of you just throughout this year and over the past two years in the teachers for tomorrow program because seeing them and the lessons and the creativity that they came up with for the CTE village. I can say we definitely have some bright educators that's going to be coming back to Denway to work for us. So we are very excited about that. So at this time um you've already received the copies of your letter of intent before. You may go ahead and sign your letter of intent. ACT like All

017right. Thank you to our cohort three and again we are very excited for you and look forward to seeing you return back to Dewini County Public Schools. >> Um at this time I would like to invite Kenny Word to come to this um to microphone. Um Kenny is a um he works for RRMM architects um and he is coming to share a recognition with us this evening. >> Yes, I am. >> So every year about this time I drive all around the state and I Google job that is right. >> Um but seriously, yeah, my name is Kenny Warden. I'm with R and I'm architect business development director. On an annual basis, we recognize the regional superintendent of the year as well as the state super year. It is our way of giving back to

018the community, but more importantly and and very much more importantly, it's to honor these great educators for all that they do for their students, teachers, administrators, and local community at large. And so, without further ado, the region one superintendent of the year is none other than your leader, HARRY. The real the really cool part of this award is that the superintendent bestows this gift to a very deserving student and that student this year is none other than Ariana Bose. Now let's take a picture. >> Yes, we can. I just want to >> Great evening everyone. >> Thank you. I want to say that that is the fastest and best $1,000 I've ever spent. >> Yes. Thank you. Thank you, sir. Dr. Weston and board members, I am here to recognize our outstanding new teacher for

019the year. This afternoon, I am honored to share the criteria and the recipients for our Denwitty County Public Schools outstanding new teachers. This award recognizes an elementary and a secondary teacher who is making a significant impact on our students and in the school community. To be eligible for nomination, a new teacher must be within the first three years of their teaching career and they must possess a renewable Virginia teaching license. Our criteria for this recognition focus on teachers who exhibit strong instructional skills, who interact exceptionally well with their students, who demonstrate an excellent ability to communicate and engage with faculty, staff, parents, and the community, and who embody the DCPS core values of excellence, equity, and integrity. I am now excited to recognize our 2025 2026 outstanding new teachers. Elementary Haley Henshaw, exceptional education teacher

020at Denwitty Elementary. >> Congratulations. Okay. and secondary. Nicholas Leiddon, seventh grade math teacher at Denwitty Middle School. >> Thank you. >> All right. Thank you. Congratulations once more. Oh, Miss Clary's back. >> There'll be one more time after this. >> Um, so in February, we presented to you our first uh generals on the job spotlight students. So now I wanted to highlight for you our second semester students that we have for Deity High School. that went above and beyond and their work-based learning experience from January until now at the beginning of May. So, first we have 11th grade student Allayia Brown. So Allayia has worked in the main office this semester and her goal is to become an ultrasound technician. >> Another 11th grade student we have is Malachi Buford. So, Malachi worked in the

021college and career center and his goal is to become a general surgeon. >> Oh my gosh, AMAZING. >> NEXT, we have 12th grade student Crystal Holt. So, Crystal has been working in the counseling office and her goal is to become a flight attendant. And our next one that we have is Tyrese Brown. Okay, I'm Tyrese couldn't be here today, but he has been doing a lot of our promotional videos. So if you see a lot of the promotional videos that's been taking place on the demo Facebook page, he is he has been one of the ones creating them along with Na Winkler and his goal is to become a graphic designer. >> So at this time I would like to welcome Malachi to come and he's going to speak to you and give you just

022a few details about his workbased learning experience that he's had so far this semester. >> Good evening everyone. >> Good evening. Today I'm here to talk about my workbased learning experience. Before starting this experience, I already knew what I wanted to be in life. But this experience also helped me understand the much responsibility and hard work it goes into become going into my career. One career I'm interested in is becoming a general surgeon. before um oh I'm sorry during my work-based learning experience I've learned skills that will help me now and also in my future like communication teamwork responsibility and staying calm under pressure. I've learned that being dependable is really important because other people count on you to do your job the right way. This experience also helped me become more mature. At first,

023I was nervous about making mistakes or asking even questions. But over time, I got comfortable, learn new things, and learn new things. I realize learning from mistakes is a part of improving. Want to become a general surgeon means I will have to work hard in school, stay disciplined for a long time. Surgeons help people during the hardest moments of their lives. So they have stay focused, patience, and caring. My work-based learning experience showed me that I'm capable of growing and handling responsibilities, which motivates me even more to reach my goals. Next year, in my senior year, I plan on doing an internship with Broncore. I'm I'm excited for the opportunity because it allows me to get more hands-on experience of what I'm trying to do. I think it helped me prepare for my college and

024future career. Overall, this experience taught me that I can use both now and future for this experience. It helped me prepare for life after high school and remind me that success takes effort, discip discipline, and hard work. Thank you. Again, we just want to congratulate all of our generals on the job spotlight students from this school year. And next week, for the very first time, we will be presenting at the awards day. One of our 11th grade students will be presented the workbased learning rising star award. And a 12th grade student will be earning the workbased learning student of the year award. All of their supervisors completed paperwork and gave information and it went to a panel and that will be revealed next week at awards today. So, we are very excited for that. THANK

025YOU. GOOD EVENING. >> GOOD EVENING. >> SO, it is a pleasure to be here tonight and so um again, thank you for allowing me to have this time. I will not take as much time as I did on our highlight video because I knew I have learned that I needed an entire board meeting when you asked me to talk about the general. So, I will be brief. Um, but tonight I want to recognize and Mr. Gren who's here started this recognition with the hands-on award. Um, this particular person is, you know, what we would say is a part of central services. Um, but has made a major impact on the work that we do at the high school. I will say that this person defines what it means to go to high school. Um, the

026most important part of high school is the day after graduation. I always say when you wake up and the barbecues are over and the celebration, what's happening next? Um, so I I like to also call this person more of a difference maker. And I I want to read this little plaque that I do have for her. Um, a differencemaker is defined as someone who has a significant positive impact on people, situations or outcomes. Um, through their actions, leadership and influence, they create meaningful change, inspire others, and contribute to progress whether in work, community or personal relationships. They stand out through their dedication, innovation, and problem solving, leaving a lasting positive effect. Um, I I want to say that this person's hands have been an industry day, CTE village, reverse career fairs, interview days, numerous field

027trips, signing days, work-based learning opportunities, establishing business partnerships. Every time I speak with her, she'll go, "When it slows down." on and I finally looked at her recently and said, "I don't think you're slowing down." Um, she truly defines what it means to be hands-on. And ironically, tonight it shows. And I'm sure everyone already knows the name without me even saying it, but it's definitely Miss Clary. And of course I have a bag of all everything that's generals. Um but in here there actually is um $500,000 but it's and 100 grand. >> So if I could pay you that I would because this represents the careers that students are going into the post-secary settings that folks are going into. So, your work does equate to dollars um that will enable them to um have healthy

028families and all of those pieces to life. That's so important. So, thank you for truly defining what high school is all about. >> There's a blanket, so hopefully she can rest a little. Thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you. >> Good afternoon. >> After all of that, I had to get myself together. I didn't realize that I was going to come here tonight and cry, but um I've been I'm full of tears and very emotional. But I would like to present to you two young ladies that are going that they're going to come up and they're going to share with you about the pearls and make some presentation. Um, my two seniors, uh, Liliana Edwards and my very own Ariana Booze. >> Good afternoon, members of the Denw County School Board. My name is

029Arian Laboose, and I am a graduating senior from the class of 2026. I'm a proud member of Pearls, which stands for prepared, educated, acclimated, resourceful ladies of success. It is an honor to stand before you today representing a program that has helped shape us into confident young women prepared to lead, serve, and succeed. where many of us first joined Pearl joined Pearls as sixth graders, we honestly thought we would simply be in another extracurricular activity or personally for me or organization that my grandmother, Miss Yakes, said I had to be a part of or even just something to do after school. But where we but what we discovered was so much more. Pers became a place where we encouraged to where we were encouraged to step out of our comfort zones, challenge ourselves and believe

030in our potential. Over the years, it became a sisterhood built on encouragement, accountability, and leadership. I truly do call these girls my little sisters. Through this program, we learned how to find our voices and use them with confidence. We grew not academically, but personally as well. From middle school to now graduating seniors, Pearls has helped us shape into shape us into the young women who are prepared to leave, serve, and most importantly uplift others. The growth we have growth we have experienced through pearls extends far beyond the classroom and the lessons we have learned will stay for us for the rest of our lives. Good evening. My name is Liliana Edwards and I'm also a senior at Dimwy High School. One of the most meaningful part of Pearls for me has been the opportunities and

031experience we have shared together. Through community service projects, mentoring sessions, educational trips, and cultural experiences, we learned the importance of leadership, service, and giving back to our community. We attended workshops, the symphony, and even visited New York City and saw a Broadway play. Not only did we not only did we have the experiences, but we also supported the Christmas sharing program and read to elementary students. We attended events at Virginia State University and served during the unveiling ceremony for doc for the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. historical marker here in our own community. Each experience helped us grow personally, academically, and socially. None of this would have been possible without the support of our mentors, adviserss, school leaders, and the support of you, the Dewity County School Board. We want to sincerely thank Dr.

032Weston for supporting opportunities that allow programs like Pearls to survive. Most importantly, we would like to publicly thank our founder, Miss Yates, along with the Pearls mentors and coordinators for the countless hours, guidance, encouragement, and the love you have poured into us. Thank you for planning, organizing, and chaperoning the many experience that have helped shape who we are today. As we prepare to graduate and move on to college, careers, and future goals, we will carry the lessons and values of pearls with us. We are committed to leading with purpose, uplifting others, and continuing the legacy of prepared, educated, acclimated, and resourceful ladies of success. >> Thank you. Thank you. And at that at this time, if I could ask all of my pearls who are here if they would stand for ME and and this

033is just a handful. I have about 28 girls. Um they are involved in so many things and I am so proud of them. um and I want them to be involved and many of them could not be here because they are either at um practice or a fashion show or whatever. And I do have some of the mentors are here as well. So I'd like for you to see who they are as well. Thank you ladies and thank you to my pearls for making this such a wonderful year. And to my seniors, we have four that's going to be leaving us this year. and we all four of them have been with me since sixth grade even through co that we went on Zoom and we had pearl sessions. So I'm so proud of them

034and I'm full of tears tonight for so many reason. I don't know how the emotions came so quickly on me but they but they did. And we do have some um gifts for the school board members and for Miss Rainey who has been so supportive as well and to our student um supporters over here. So thank you all for this opportunity. You should be done. Thank you. >> All right. At this time, we are going to honor our retirees for this school year. Um we actually celebrated our retirees on last week and um some came out, some was unable to and we do have the gifts for those who are unable to come to the ceremony on last week. We have them present and so when I call your name, please come forward and please

035stand up front. Leanne Adams, 34 years of service. Elanora Ay, 21 years of service. Pamela Comr, 26 years of service. >> You got it. You got it. You're going to give it to him after. >> Okay. Sandra Crowder, 15 years of service. Benjamin Davis, 29 years of service. Betty Fogam, 20 years of service. Clarence Goodwin, 32 years of service. I'm sorry. Clarice Goodwin. Sorry, Miss Clarice. Donna Harold, 32 years of service. Elizabeth Harrison, 30 years of service. Patricia Massie, 25 years of service. Esther Agburn, 41 years of service. Aaron Perkins, 46 years of service. Robert Peterson, 39 years of service. Carolyn Michelle Powell, 38 years of service. Melissa Powers, 37 years of service. Alan Richie, 38 years of service. Elizabeth Smith, 17 years of service. And William Schneuteder, 20 years of service. All of our

036DCPS team members have a total combined years of service of 540 years. Thank you for your service. and we'll take another group photo once we res once we break. Okay. All right. Thank you. Today we would like to share that Denwitty County Public Schools has earned the 2025 2026 merit budget award from the association of school Business Officials International. This recognition celebrates the district's commitment to clear, transparent, and high quality budget presentations, reinforcing its dedication to responsible financial stewardship. This could not have been possible without two key Demi County Public Schools team members. And today, we would like to pause and recognize them both. Jessica EPS, please come forward. Yes. And Christy Flemens, please come forward. Thank you so much for all of your hard work, all of your time. Um, we're really excited. Dr.

037Weston, right? You want to share more about the recognition? >> I just want to say this >> about this. Um, it is something that I think that we've been working on a very the team has been working on a really long time and it it is quite an effort to um to get this award. very few school districts in the Commonwealth do um receive this award. So, I just thank you both so much. Um there were a lot of comments that they provide us about just the accolades about the actual budget itself and its transparency and how it was put together and >> um so they just said a lot of very positive things about our budget. So, I just thank both of you so much for your work in putting that together. >> So,

038thank you so much. Want to make sure we get a picture with the board as well >> once we >> to document this when we do a break. Okay. Thank you so much, ma. >> M madame clerk, uh if you'll forgive me, I am going to do something out of order again. We're going to um move item 3.01 to just before the board comments because there are some recognitions we want to make related to that item. >> Okay. >> So, if uh if if I could at this time entertain a motion related to the personnel list that we reviewed in closed session. >> Certainly. Uh Mr. Chairman, I move that we approve the personnel list as presented. >> Second. >> It's been moved and seconded that we approve the personnel list that was presented today.

039All in favor say I. >> I. >> Any opposed? >> The motion carries. Dr. Weston, I believe, is going to recognize a couple people on that list. >> Thank you so much. We do have some special people with us here this evening and I want to um be able to put faces with names. Um, so I'd like to start um with um the who's going to be the principal at Denim Woody Elementary School for the 2627 school year. Certainly big shoes to fill. Um but I will tell you um she's leaving the building even better than she found it. And um you know I just just you're going to find yourself very happy there. It's a great group of people, great staff, great it's amazing. So I'd like to introduce to you Miss Raymond Rhodess.

040If you stand please. Thank Sandy. I want to tell you a little bit about her um because I also think it's very important for you to know um a little bit about her. So, she currently is working in Chesterfield. So, we were able to snatch her from Chesterfield, but she's also served in Prince George. She's also worked in Henriiko and in Richmond. Um she's got a very varied background from um early childhood through um the um elementary years. Um she has a bachelor's of science degree from Virginia Commonwealth University in psychology. Um a master's of art teaching degree from Liberty University. Um she has her education leadership from James Madison University. Um and she's also a Delta. So we you get extra points for being a Delta. You're going to find you're gonna find that.

041Yes. Um we do that's the new thing. Either you graduate from Demity High School or you're a Delta. One of those things gets you extra points here. So, she is a Delta. So, we're so happy that you're going to be joining us. And so, do you have people that are here with you this evening? >> Well, can we see? Yes. Well, stand up because this really is a family effort. Wow. Wonderful. Well, we welcome you all to the family of Denwitty County Public Schools. Thank you so much. We do know it is a family effort when when one comes to work here. So, thank you all so much for sharing her with you. I promise we'll take very good care of her. >> So, thank you all so much. Thank you. All right, our next

042one. So, we have Dr. Sharon Gibbs. If we could have her stand, please. This is a very familiar face. Very familiar face. Sharon has been with us since 1999. So, been with us a long time. Um, when I was looking through I I realized Sharon, it would take me forever to go through all the um things she's done in her um educational career, but she does have a bachelor's degree from PE, health and PE. Okay. Then she has a master's degree in counseling. Then she um went to Longwood to get an endorsement in the education leadership. Then she went to AIT to get the ESL, right? Um and then she got her doctorate in curriculum instruction. So I think she's got everything covered. um but just an amazing background and I'm just so happy um

043that she's going to be our coordinator of accountability and joined um the team with Tony and her team and we're just so thrilled. We've been trying for a very long time to to snatch um Sharon and get her on on board up here at central services and we're so very happy that she's going to be joining us very very soon. So thank you Sharon. Sharon, do you have somebody you'd like to introduce this evening with you? >> My husband Rick is here. was here. >> So he's doing Yes. And he's also >> I want to thank Barbara, Randy, and Robbie for guiding me and directing me and helping me wonder with me tonight. Carly, Jamie, Chad, Caitlyn, Susan, Kim, Brandy, Jen, Lisa, Scott, Francis, Jared, Sabrina, Boozer, because for a quarter of a century in

044a home like high school friends. >> That's right. >> Family. >> So, if her family, her school family could stand, please. That'd be great. This is her school family. A thank you, Sharon. We're so happy that you're going to be Yes. So that we can be part of your family now, too. Um, I'd like to introduce to you uh Mr. Malik Dillard. Hello. It's nice to put a face with a name. I've heard so many wonderful things about you. Mr. Malik Dillard is going to be the assistant principal at Denwy Middle School. Um he also Yes. YES. EX. So we we we were able to get him from him. Reicho. I'm very happy about that. Um he has a lot of experience both at the elementary and the middle school level. Um and uh Mr.

045and I think you did some work in early childhood. >> Yes. >> Oh my gosh. I mean you rarely find somebody that massive experience. That's Sharon. Look competition over there just like you. Um so he has a bachelor of sociology from Virginia Commonwealth University. He's a master's of arts um in elementary education. Then he got his executive school administration supervision from Liberty. And now he's working on his doctorate in school administration and supervision. He's working on that. So I'm So we're going to start calling you doctor because we started calling Dr. Garn Dr. Garn before he became a doctor and it happened really really quickly. So Dr. Dillard, we're going to welcome you. >> Yes, we're we're calling it into existence. So we're so happy that you've decided to join us. Thank you so very

046you're going to love being on that team. It's going to be great. So thank you so much. >> Yes. And who do you have with Do you have somebody with you that you >> No, not today. >> Okay. Not today. Okay. Well, you do. You have Dr. Walker. You have You have your You have your work family with you already? Yes. That's great. That's great. Um and last certainly not least. So, we have another familiar face. Um we have Ryan Dunar. Welcome. Yes. All right. Mr. Dunar also has a very large background. He's been with us for some time now, but he's going to be the other assistant principal at Denmoody Middle School. He basically's been doing that job for quite a long time, but we're so very happy that we can officially now call

047him the assistant principal there. His bachelor degree is in interdisciplinary studies and he has a master's of education administration and supervision. He most recently he's done a lot of work in exceptional education. Um he has a great story to tell about why his passion is for special ed students and our students with disabilities and he has done amazing work. He too has worked in a number of school districts. He brings a lot of experience um here. He's done a lot of work with afterchool programming um and and work in Chesterfield and Richmond and Hopewell. Um but we're just so happy that now Denwidius is home and we're glad that you're going to be part of the team. So, welcome. >> And do you have is it just your work family? >> My lovely work family.

048>> Your lovely work family is here. Well, they work together an awful lot. So, it is that is your family. We're so happy. So, I just would like to officially welcome all of you um into your new roles and your new position and I know we're going to be in very good hands this year. >> Yes. >> Thank you, Dr. West. >> Thank you. >> Um well, we have seen and heard a whole lot already >> and so if uh there are any comments board members would like to make. Absolutely. I absolutely adore the recognition part of the meetings, especially when the children present. Tonight, it was really, really something else because it's the first time one made my eyes tear up. >> But when those students held up pictures of their principal, that got

049me. >> That was wonderful. So, there was so much good here tonight. >> Yeah, >> there had been awards. There had been special signings. It this was just a really great night already. Thank you. I would like to um welcome the new staff and I know you're going to enjoy working in Denwy, but also I'm so thankful for the those that are leaving us for all the service that they've given us and the >> in the um >> and and how well you have helped Dwitty County Public Schools >> and um we certainly appreciate it and I'm also excited that we've continuing with the program for their students to grow our own teachers. We have everybody all over the nation is looking for teachers. So, this is one way we can kind of assure that

050we keep the train rolling is to get them early and and sign them up. So, I'm I'm happy we'll continue with that. Well, I'm not going to repeat what they've already said, but I do appreciate um all the work that all of you do for our students. >> And um I I really admire Miss Yates because she did a lot of years herself in education. Then she comes back and work in the community with our young people after seeing a need for our girls. And I appreciate all the work that you do and the people who work with you. And for the new teachers who coming to and um administrators who come to Denwitty, I just want you to know that you chose the right place. >> Denwitty is the place to be. I I'm

051a champion for Denwitty and I always tell everybody I'm homegrown, bred and born in Denwitty County. So I love Denwitty County. But it is a good place to live, a good place to work, and you have good community of people. And I believe if whatever you need in Denwitty, you can find the people who can wrap you around their arms and just help you to grow. So, thank you and welcome to Denwitty. And thank all of you for coming this afternoon to support your family and your students and your teachers. We appreciate it. And your board because when we see you, we know somebody's doing something good out there. THANK YOU. DENISE. >> WELL, YOU GUYS BASICALLY HIT ALL the points, but I still want to add on to it. I feel like the main

052meetings are really the most sentimental and they really do really show the deep roots and great heights words of Denim Woody. You know, we're always constantly growing and achieving and putting back into our own community and it's really beautiful and so much good in Dimoody and I really like that about us. >> Amazing. I like that vibe, too. >> Um, I just want to again acknowledge what all of uh the other board members have have said. You know, we're Dwitty is a special place and and you know, I I echo the sentiment of Miss Benjamin. I'm a champion for Denim because I'm a product of Denwy. Um, one of the things that I love about Denim is is that we are family. Um and so uh days like this are really special and fun and

053u you know it feels good right now but uh you're going to spend a lot of time in classrooms and in offices and dealing with life and we don't get enough of these moments. Uh but please know that when you're in the classroom or when you're in the office or when you're on the bus or wherever you are that um we feel the same way about you then that we do right now. And so we're we're very grateful for the the people of Denwy and the the people that work so hard to serve our kids and we're grateful for the students. We just have an amazing community. So thank you all for being here. We're going to uh we do have some more business to take care of, but some of you didn't sign up

054for business today. You signed up to celebrate. So you're welcome to stay because it is a public session, but we'll take another brief recess just to give you a chance to slip out. I I know there was a desire to take some photos with a few of the groups. So we'll take about a 3m minute recess and then we'll come back to the This So, we are >> all right. We'll call the meeting back to order at this time and uh we're going to approve a couple of or we'll consider a couple of field trips for approval. >> Student matters. >> Matters. >> Forgive me. I got out of order here. I apologize, Mr. Bailey. Way better. >> We have student matters we need to uh deal with from close session. I'll entertain a motion.

055>> Okay. I Mr. Chair, I move that we uphold the recommendation of the administration and expel student number E-0526-1 because they pose a threat to the health and safety and welfare of others. >> Second. It's been moved and seconded that we uphold the recommendation of administration in the case of student number E-0526-1. All those in favor say I. >> I. >> Any opposed? >> The motion carries. >> Uh, Mr. Chairman, I move that we honor the parents request and release student number- 26-1 from compulsory school attendance with Denwitty County Public Schools. >> Second. >> Okay. It's been moved and seconded that we release student number rel526-1 from compulsory attendance in county public schools. All those in favor say I. >> I. >> Any opposed? The motion carries. >> Mr. Chair, I move that we honor

056the parents request and release student number- 26-2 on religious exemption. >> Second. >> Okay. It's been moved and seconded that we release student number 226-2 from compulsory attendance with Dwey County Public Schools on the basis of religious exemption. All those in favor say I. I. >> Any oppose? The motion carries. >> Mr. Chair, I move that student number-526-2 that we honor the request of the parents and release a student from compulsory attendance within the county public schools. >> Miss Benjamin, I I believe you meant to say three-3. Is that right? >> Dash 26-3. >> Three. Correct. Okay. >> Second. >> All right. So, we had a a It's been moved and seconded now that we release uh student number- from compulsory attendance. All those in favor say I. >> I. >> Are there any opposed?

057>> The motion carries. Thank you. And now we will move to uh approve or to review some field trip requests. >> I'm skipping stuff like crazy here, folks. Forgive me, Miss Bailey. That's twice. Third time. Three strikes. I'm out. Right. I apologize. >> Um, Mr. Chair, >> I'm just moving down the list. A >> I move that we accept the expenditure reports as presented. >> Second. >> It's been moved and seconded that we accept the expenditure reports as presented. All excuse me, all those in favor say I. >> I. >> Any opposed? The motion carries. >> And Mr. Chair, I move that we accept the minutes approve the minutes from April 14th, 2026 and April 28th, 2026. >> Second. >> It's been moved and seconded now that we accept the minutes from uh April 14th

058as well as April 28th of this year. All those in favor say I. >> I. >> Any oppose? >> The motion carries. >> Are we sure we're ready for field trips? Miss Bailey, I think it's time to talk about field trees. >> Excellent. Is this There we go. Thank you. I do um asking the board tonight for permission for two trips. Um the first one is for the FFA officer retreat. Um DenWoody FFA is hosting the officer retreat July 27th through the 29th. Um they will be staying at an Airbnb near Nelly's Ford, Virginia. Students will be participating in team building activities as well as planning their FFA activities for the year and goal setting. The trip does require a twoight stay and they will travel by using the activity bus. >> Where is Nelly's?

059>> I never heard of Nelly's. >> I've been there. >> You've been there. >> Put you on the spot. >> I would need my phone to ask Siri. We can do Nelson County. Okay. Cool. >> Are there any questions or discussion to be had on this >> matter? >> Mr. Chair, I move that we approve the field trip for the FFA officers. >> Second. >> It's been moved and seconded that we approve the field trip to Nellisburg, Virginia for the FFA officers retreat. All those in favor say I. >> I. >> Any oppose? The motion carries. >> Okay. The next one is the wrestling camp and that is at Liberty University in Lynchburg. Um the Dewey High School wrestling team would like to request approval to attend a wrestling camp at Liberty July 15th through

060the 18th. The camp is open to both um boys and girl wrestlers. So the entire program will attend together. Wrestlers will receive instruction from a variety of coaches throughout the week. Um compete and drill with other wrestlers, eat meals in the dining hall, sleep in the dorms while at camp. Um, we will provide transportation for the wrestlers for the camp, but each wrestler will pay their own registration fee. Um, the high school will submit one check though to Liberty that will cover all the expenses. Um, it is a valuable and team building experience for the wrestlers as they continue to develop and grow. The only cost to the county would be transportation and um, the coach will be driving the bus. >> We have a male and female going with the group. Yes, we do

061have um a female coach that would be attending as well, >> but the dorms are separate. >> Okay. >> I move that we approve the wrestling clamp at Liberty University. >> Second. >> It's been moved and seconded that we approve the wrestling uh trip, the wrestling team trip to the camp at Liberty University. All those in favor say I. >> I. >> Any opposed? >> Motion carries. >> Thank you so much. >> Thank you, Miss B. All right. And then we have a middle school. >> Yes. >> Good evening. >> Crystal Middle School. >> I think this is becoming a reoccurring thing that we're coming up looking for another field trip. But um I have with me my co-advisor for FBA, Miss Victoria Brown. And our FBA president, Miss Destiny Shan. We are very proud

062as we presented last month at your highlights meeting for Dewey Middle School that we had eight middle school students who competed on the state level and and actually won in major competitions and allowed them to place for national competition. So we are seeking permission to take eight um students and one additional student who's our next FA president, vice president um for next year to our national leadership conference. This will give those students the opportunity to compete nationally as they have earned that right and um also to attend leadership conferences and workshops on leadership. So it is a very valuable experience. We will be um traveling it via plane to San Antonio, Texas if approved. It is a seven seven day six night trip. So it is kind of expensive. >> Um >> but it's well

063worth it for those um who went and Destiny went on last year um to California. Um these are the experiences that students will >> will remember for the rest of their lives. So we're trying to make meaningful experiences but also grow and develop our identity students and al also we are working diligently to hopefully bring matching first. So we're keeping our fingers crossed there if allowed. Um, so do you have any questions for us? >> Any questions, comments? >> How are you doing on your fundraising? I mean, is it >> We're doing well. We're over halfway there. Um, actually Destiny accompanied us just this weekend to a golf um club meeting just to say thank you because they donated to our New York trip heavily and we walked out there with 1500 and more people

064pledging. >> Um, and we've we've raised over 6,000 ourselves um that we have in our budget currently. So, we're only a few um few thousand dollars short from the school from FBLA's ter. >> Excellent. Any other questions or comments? >> Do you have males and females going as well or just just fe? >> It's one male and we have a male shop. So, there'll be three shops. One is not a parent shop. >> Good. Thank you. Uh, I move that we uh approve the field trip for the FLA um training andor competition. >> That's a second. >> Okay. It's been moved and seconded that we approve the FBLA trip to San Antonio, Texas. >> All those in favor say I. >> Any oppose? Motion carries. Thank you. >> Thank you so much. >> Thank you

065all. >> Thank you. Very exciting. >> Now we'll have some discussion about the strategic plan. >> Yes. So, um, last month, um, Simone Carpenter and I, um, provided you information, our first glance at the draft of the two 2026 2031, uh, strategic plan. And what I'm asking is approval to, um, move forward with this draft. Um, specifically, um, inside of the strategic plan, we have the new profiles of the Denwy Learner that Dr. Clay and her team facilitated for us. Did a great job. We have a new mission and vision statement there. Um and we've identified five priorities. Learning and achievement for all, excellent employees, culture and of care and well-being, families as partners, and trusted governance and partnerships. Our next steps with this uh strategic plan would be implementation um identifying some um specific

066measurables um attached to each of these priorities as well as some initiatives and action steps. We're going to start this week and Dr. Clay and I are going to be meeting with the academic services team to start that work. We'll be doing it also with the principal group. So we'll be working with different groups of individuals and this summer we'll be working with the advanced leadership as well. So we will be coming back to you in the fall with much more information with regard to the strategic plan, but we'd like to be able to move forward with this draft of the plan and we'd be happy to answer any questions that you might have. >> So we approving this? >> Yes, I would like for the approval and then we're just going to move forward

067with this. But we will be bringing the one with the measurables and initiatives and action steps in the fall. But the actual um plan itself, the priorities, the mission and vision as well as the um profile of the Demity Learner, we'd like to go ahead and move forward with those. >> I move that we um approve the strategic plan as presented and as for the >> as as presented. Yes, ma'am. Okay. Thank you. >> Second. >> Okay. Okay, it's been moved and seconded that we approve the strategic plan >> as presented. All those in favor say I. >> I. >> Are there any opposed? >> Motion carries. >> Thank you, >> Jamie. This is your night. This is like Yes. >> And the award you get. I mean, it's just Yes. >> It's great. >>

068Okay. So, I want to give you a little background information um about the VSBA excellence and workforce readiness award. So, tonight I'm recommending that Dwin County Public Schools submit a nomination for the 2026 VSBA Excellence and Workforce Readiness Award recognizing the Geared Up Career Exploration event. Um this was a hands-on career fair held in Denwy Middle School bus loop for all seventh grade students. This modeled this was modeled after touch a truck format. The event brought 14 community partners across sectors including skilled trades, healthcare, public safety, agriculture, military, and entrepreneurship directly to students, allowing them to interact with real professionals and real equipment in an authentic setting. The program was developed in direct response to community and schoolboard feedback requesting expanded career programming at the middle school level and was shaped by the CTE advisory

069committee guidance and major clarity data showing students were not meaningfully engaging with career exploration tools. Following the event, 83% of the 233 participating 7th graders engaged with the major clarity platform and 73.6 completed or updated their career interest inventory. So this is concrete evidence that the experience activated a genuine career curiosity. Breitpoint community college served as a sponsor and Dwey County government economic development also participated reflecting community investment in the program. So I would like to have approval to submit this as our 2026 VSBA workforce readiness award submission. >> Any questions or comments from the board? We thank you for all that hard work and it's hopefully the SBA will recognize that. >> I move that we allow her to submit the application >> and Miss Benjamin has second. Okay. Um, the motion has been

070made uh to allow Miss Clary to present this as our >> entrance. >> Let me find my spot here. What are we calling it? >> VSBA readiness. >> VSBA workplace readiness. Is that >> award nomination? Did I get that right, Miss Clear? All those in favor say I. I. >> Any opposed? The motion carries. Thank you so much. I appreciate it. So, we are going to make a >> move on our budget. >> Christy Fleming. >> Miss Fleming. >> Good evening. Can you hear me now? Yeah. >> Um, we held our public hearing um two weeks ago on on April the 28th. um we bring on on our FY27 budget. There have been no changes made to our proposed budget at this time since that um presentation to you. So we are asking for approval

071of the budget as it stands today knowing that we probably will have to come back and have um you approve an amended budget once we have a state budget which hopefully may may be the end of this month. if not maybe early June. >> Um, but we do anticipate that they will be acting on it hopefully prior to the start of the new fiscal year. Um, we uh I did list here a couple highlights um that are included in this budget, but the whole presentation is on our website. Um, Dr. Weston's public, you know, the one the presentation she did at the public hearing does include at least a minimum 5% salary increase for all employees. We did work on the teacher scale um adjustment a little bit. So those r they ranged from five

072to like eight%. We did increase the full-time bus driver salary to start at $25 an hour which I think is probably one of the biggest highlights. And we did absorb 100% of the health insurance. Um most of this um pertains to fund 205 our operating fund but this budget does include all funds. The total is um expenditures are $83,67,374 and you have before you um a summary of the revenue and a summary of the expenditures that um are are there. So if you have any questions, please do not hesitate to reach out or ask. Um at this time, I'll be glad to entertain any questions that you may have. you guys do a great job of like watching Richmond. >> So, I'm just curious, do you see or hear anything that makes you think that

073what we're hoping for won't happen or I know you can't >> No, I don't I haven't heard anything that says no that honestly it's been very quiet about what you know is really going on behind the scenes. Usually, we do get information kind of bits and pieces either Dr. Weston through some um the assoc VAST the Virginia Association of School Superintendent or myself through our um VASBO our our our >> um Association of School Business Officials. But it's been very quiet. So, you know, whatever's going on is, >> you know, and it's not controversial, I guess, you know, because there doesn't seem to be a lot of back and forth. So we we we are hopeful that what they're saying we're actually hopeful that we're going to get more than what they have anticipate, you

074know, what we're thinking at this time, but we don't we won't know until, you know, it comes out for for for certain. So um that's all we can do at this time. >> So did did you say that we're at this point we're absorbing the >> 100% health insurance? >> Of the health insurance. Yes. But that >> that's great. >> We have to >> in order for Yeah. You know, Dr. Dr. Weston feels very strong, well, we all feel very strongly that, you know, if if you give a 5% raise and then you turn around and take it all for health insurance, you're really not accomplishing a whole lot. Um, >> but, you know, we healthc care is out of our control, so to speak. I mean, and actually people around us were getting bigger

075increases than we were. Um, so I guess, you know, 12 and a half% we were kind of average. We had one district close to us like at 32 or 33% increase. >> Yes. >> Yeah. We're in the 20s. Yeah. >> Yeah. So, you know, we were very thankful for that. So, we do we do feel like what we have is is is is very good. >> Yeah. >> Um and of course, we've got ideas for, you know, if they provide us with more funding, some things that, you know, we can do. >> Working on that. >> What? >> We already started working. >> Yes, we've already started working on that. So, we do, you know, we will have um some some ideas, but hopefully we can come back to you soon with um an amended

076budget so that, you know, before we really start our school year, we know, you know, what what our our our plan is. >> And I will say, Mr. Walters has shared with us that I think the raise in the bus driver pay has been very well received >> um by the drivers. They're very encouraged by that. And we have many more applicants than we've ever had before. >> So, because now we're going to be at the top versus at the bottom. We like the school board for I mean that was something they really were pushing. >> All right. Are there any other questions or comments about the budget? We need to act on this today. Correct. >> Yes, please. >> I move that we approve the fiscal year 2027 budget as presented. >> Second. >>

077It's been moved and seconded that we approve the budget for fiscal year 2027. All those in favor say I. >> Any oppose? >> Budget is approved. Thank you. >> Thank you. um from on behalf of all the employees, we we do appreciate everything that um you have provided for in this budget. >> Awesome. >> There's is there any there's no new business, is there? >> No, sir. >> Dr. West, >> Dr. Clay is going to come forward and talk to you about summer learning opportunities. >> Oh, okay. Well, she's gonna start talking. >> Good evening. Um we're excited to come before you this evening and talk about some of our summer learning opportunities. Um Miss Valentine and Miss Wolfick will be sharing about a a new opportunity or revised um summer school opportunity that we

078have. Um the first slide is just with the new strategic plan that you just approved. Um our summer learning opportunities do align with priority one, which is learning and achievement for all. And that's really important. the all parts, you know, we're we're looking really at students with the greatest need and trying to determine how do we meet um those needs to ensure we're setting them up for success. So, as an overview, um generally summer learning does support uh tier 2 instruction. So, again, the students that are not getting it with tier one, we're bringing them back to make sure that we reinforce some skills that they are struggling with. We do emphasize small class sizes. You're going to hear Miss Valentine and Miss Wolfick speak about that this evening, about the class um sizes for

079elementary and middle school. Miss Wolfick will um also speak about workforce partnerships during the summer. U and then some acceleration uh opportunities for our high school students. Um so to start us off, we have Penny Brooks to talk about kindergarten countdown camp. Good evening. Um we are really excited to um have our kindergarten countdown camp again this summer. We've been running this program since 2019. It was re originally funded um through United Way and um we've been very fortunate to receive the Cameron Foundation grant for the last two summers and they will fund it again for this summer. Our kindergarten countdown camp targets our rising kindergarteners with little to no preschool experience. Um we also allow students according to their kindergarten screener that score in the bottom quartile of that to attend our camp. It

080does run for four weeks half days in the summer. Um it is run we have two classrooms can serve up to 40 students. We have two certified teachers, two pair professionals that will be held at Dewity Elementary. Um, this summer our program is half day, four days a week. It targets kindergarten foundational skills, social emotional skills, getting them in a structured environment, exposing them to a school setting, walking in the hallway, meeting friends, all those skills that um will prepare them for kindergarten. Students do receive a free book once a week. We use that as an um attendance incentive. We start the summer off with really encouraging um students to follow our attendance policy, especially when school begins later that summer. Um children go home with a backpack filled with school supplies. Um we also

081they also get a cute little t-shirt or cute little camp t-shirt. Um we provide transportation, breakfast and lunch daily. We do kick off kick off our event with a parent parent night and that's been extremely um well attended in the last several summers and again that just tells them all about our program and things that they can do to help prepare their children for kindergarten. And then we end our camp with a parent event where we invite them back to join us for an ice cream social. Okay, that's okay. No worries. All right, so next up we have Miss Valentine to talk about our revised, revamped um elementary summer school. >> Thank you, Dr. Clay. And good evening, board members and Dr. Weston. It's my pleasure to come before you to talk about our elementary

082literacy academy and how it's going to look quite a bit different from summer school as we originally knew it to exist. Um, I'll just give you some of the logistical information first and then kind of expand upon that. So, the dates we're looking at will run from June 8th through July 23rd, 2026. We will be closed on June 18th in observance of Junth and then a break from June 29th through July 3rd anticipating of course going into the July 4th holiday. The location will be Deny Elementary. As you may be aware we typically rotate um from our biggest schools throughout our biggest schools. So, we've previously had it at Southerntherland Elementary and Southside Elementary and now um it will be Denw Denwitty also because it's they're the more centralized locations as opposed to busing out

083to Midway or Sunnyside. Of course, the transportation is provided at no cost and the meals will be provided at no cost of course to students breakfast and lunch. So, how and why are we transitioning from summer school to elementary literacy academy? First and foremost, us as an academic um services team under the leadership of Dr. Clay. Um just in much discussion about our students and their current state. Um we know with um the HQIM and the onset of the Virginia Literacy Act, much has been accomplished and there have been great gains and um an up if you will in student outcomes. And we're excited about that. Um our teachers and our students embrace our HQIM, high quality instructional materials with HMH. And again, we see in using that with integrity and fidelity that there are

084gains. But when we think about our most vulnerable students, uh we kind of have to move away from triage into intensive care. And so as an academic services team, we talked about this achievement gap that we see, especially as our students get older and they transition into middle and high school. That gap is still extremely wide. And in trying to prepare them for graduation, we have to provide intensive care to shrink that gap. And so again with our HQIM, our structured literacy, we are seeing those gains for our early elementary students, but our older students did not get that. So how can we kind of reimagine the supports that we're providing for them? So with that being said, typically we would have uh summer school for elementary run kindergarten through fifth grade. We are instead

085only offering it right now for grades three through five. Again with that intensive support in mind. Um all of our teachers, we rally around them. We have faith in them. We have great teachers in Deny County Public Schools, but for the particular purpose of that intensive care, we are only asking licensed teachers to provide instruction for this opportunity. Um so what can students expect from this opportunity? a fun and focused and supportive environment to strengthen their reading and writing skills. So, it will primarily be focused on literacy. Um, typically we focused on literacy and math simultaneously. Um, we're also looking to provide targeted literacy support, like I said, from our fully licensed teachers. Most importantly, we've heard from community members. We've heard from parents. We've heard from teachers. And most importantly, we've even heard from

086some students that they would like to see more interaction that does not involve devices. So, this will be a device-free, student centered and engaging environment. Um, we will also incorporate field trips. Some a few to name a few who will visit the local library, which I know is taking it back kind of old school, but making sure that our students have access to text and they're immersed in text. But then we're also fostering and facilitating that partnership with our local library. And some others to name a few would be Lewis Ginter, uh, gardens, botanical gardens, and also Maymont, especially for those grade levels don't that don't typically get to visit. We're also looking for experiential learning and projects. This is a way to kind of reimagine instruction. For example, with the um literacy instruction that

087they receive, it is scripted. It's engaging, but it is also scripted and very structured, which works and it's a positive thing. But again, this is a way to reimagine it to make it a little bit more student centered, a little more hands-on, a little more engaging to involve that project based learning and those um performance-based assessment um opportunities. Also, um for those of you that are math brains and you're thinking, well, they need math just as much as they need reading. We are going to implement a cross-curricular approach that embods the other subject areas such as math, history, and science. And this does take a special skill sets skill set. Hence why we're asking for our licensed teachers, fully licensed teachers to provide that. And overall, we're looking for a meaningful boost um heading into

088the next school year to set students up for success. Thank you. All right. So, um, the middle school I I'm not going to repeat everything that Miss Valentine just shared with you because it is similar in nature and our middle school team is really excited about planning a different opportunity for students with that 10 to one ratio um of teacher to student. We're really hoping to, like she said, have some field trips and um bring literacy to life. Uh at the middle school level, there will be a lot of emphasis also on the writing components of of literacy. Um and we do have a math endorsed person per grade level since secondary is a little bit different um as far as teachers endorsements. um that will be supporting our students with small group pull out

089or push in um when they need some math support which will allow our literacy teachers to maybe have some even smaller group conversations and provide feedback as they work within those rotations. So, we're extremely excited about um being at Dwey High School again uh for all of our secondary students um to continue to grow. I wish Mr. Barnes. I don't know if he's still in here, but when he pitched this idea, it was very exciting. Um because as a high school principal, he knows firsthand what it's like when his students get to the high school and are not reading on grade level. And so if we don't do something different and then find a way to measure that growth and those gains those students desperately need to be successful and walk across that stage, um

090you keep repeating the same thing and don't get the, you know, so we're trying to do something different and get measurable results that are going to make a big difference for our students. Um so our high school learning academy will be very similar to what it has been in the past. However, we have a few new things. Um we will still continue with our SOL remediation credit recovery and we do offer the alternative assessments through uh work keys but it is a little bit longer. Um so having two sessions that are three weeks each are going to really allow our students to kind of gain some of those uh necessary skills. I know our feedback from our math department often was that it's just not enough time in a two-eek session. Um, so, uh, Miss

091Sims is working hard to make sure that, um, we have, uh, wellorganized high school experience. Um, in the past, we've also offered the health and PE9 because our PE9 classes are so large, but we know a lot of our students are involved in summer recreation opportunities. And so, they get their health component through the online platform. they submit their AC their activities uh to Miss Wilson and then they come in for a day of hands-on CPR training to meet their graduation requirement. Um we have also been offering economics and personal finance and they can choose whether to take it through Longwind University as a dual enrollment opportunity or with our high school teacher Mr. Reling and Mr. Reling has just informed me that first round of wise testing he's at an 89% pass rate. So

092we almost have 100% pass in the summer. um he is extremely successful in getting our students um to earn that uh VDOE approved credential. And the last piece that I didn't put on here because it's not for course credit. Um we are investigating to see the student need for possibly offering driver's ed the classroom portion only because it's 36 hours required of seat time. Um and Miss Wilson has expressed um an interest in helping us with that. So that would reduce our numbers in driver's ed and uh they already have been offering the behind the wheel portion in the summer, but this may allow some of the students that want to take other classes to earn um to get the necessary classroom hours to get the uh driver's ed piece in. So for graduation, they

093could choose a different PE class to meet their two credits there. We have a lot going on. I know you heard um Miss Clary share uh but we had last summer 27 students. We are slated for 33 students to be uh placed in summer workbased learning opportunities in our county partnership. Um these were students were interviewed and selected during our teen expo event and we're looking at 90 to 96 hours so a six-w week paid opportunity for these students to gain valuable work experience. Um we met with u Miss Nichols this Miss Nicholas this morning um just to make sure that we had our orientation and all the things and job descriptions written out so that we can make sure that this is uh truly a meaningful work experience. We also have four students that

094are planning to um go to uh Bons Secors over the summer. So because of sports and things that they were doing during the school year they had a hard time getting in those um hundred hours that Bons Secors would like for them to get. So, they're planning to do that over this summer. And then I recently talked with Miss Prince with the expansion of our um sports medicine 2 class. Um some of our eight of our students hopefully starting in August will be supporting our football team on the sidelines. Um and so that will be uh they'll start working towards their hours in in their internship experience starting in August. So that'll kind of be more into the new school year, but I think it's very exciting. All right. And last, um, just summer food

095service program. So, as they mentioned, any student attending summer learning will receive breakfast and lunch at no cost, but Miss Elder also presented last month, I believe, about the direct to home meal delivery. So, I know more information is coming soon to families, and we're very excited about all of these opportunities. So, any questions this evening? question. >> So, is this um the summer school for the secondary? Is this longer than they've had in the past? >> For the high school, we're doing three week sessions instead of two week sessions. So, it is it is um a little bit longer. Okay. >> And we're even discussing ways, I don't think we've solidified that yet, but if there's a student who needs the full six weeks for a course, how could we possibly do some different

096things for students based on their need? >> Does the reason I was asking the question, does that change um how we fund and pay the teachers? >> It does not. So, I mean Christie could probably explain that better than I can, but when it's for like credit recovery or it's remedial, the state does provide us um funding for that. It's based on we have to make sure we get a certain number of hours in, but we'll be exceeding that number of hours with this. And of course, acceleration opportunities at the high school level. Parents pay for those opportunities. >> Is this something we need to act on? You don't need >> It's just for your awareness this evening. Thank you. >> Do they have any type of assessment at the end of the two weeks

097or three weeks? >> So, at the high school level, yes, because it's credit recovery, they're taking the test at the end for elementary and middle. Um, with this new model, they are working on a an assessment at the end to make sure students are making gains. I know one um thing Miss Valentine and her team are working on is possibly a project based assessment since it is hands-on, no devices. Um something in the form of a project that ties in different SOS. I believe the middle school team has talked about a portfolio with writing and different things like that for the assessment at the end. >> Yes, great question. >> What went on at the end? How do you know that they gain some >> That's right. knowledge of what they >> Yes. So, they're

098working on some creative ways so it's not just a multiple choice test on a computer. >> Yes. Okay. Thank you. >> All right. Lexi has been waiting over here for a long time. >> Hello. Good evening. It's so great to have the opportunity to be in front of you all. Um, I am Hannah Bishop. I know most people in here. Um, I have a very unique role in the county where um, I go into the schools and do programming. Um, but we also do a lot of other things. So, I'm going to take some time um I wanted to get in front of you all to just make sure you are aware of what we are doing um in 4 and have Lexi actually she's the one who requested that we get in front of

099the school board to talk about some of the great things that we are doing in 4. So, I would be remiss to not give a little bit of history and I know there are lots of school people here. Well, all school people here and I hated history in school, but it is important to have that information so we know, you know, how we got here. Um, so 4 in Virginia is part of Virginia Cooperative Extension. It's a partnership between our land grant universities and our local government. So in Virginia, we have two of those, Virginia Tech and Virginia State. So, we're really lucky to be that close to Virginia State and have more opportunities because of just being close by. Um, it was established by the Smith Lever Act in 1914. So, it's not anything

100new to Virginia. It's been around for over a hundred years now. And actually, Denwitty is home to the very first um club in Virginia. So, we had a corn club down in Mckini. There's a historical marker down there. It was a partnership with Dimwitty and Chesterfield. Um, so just a little, you know, something else we can hold over everybody else's head. But it's also, you know, if I were to like put a a hierarchy of people that are involved in extension, um, in as far as other organizations go, you know, USDA is a part of it, NIFA within USDA. Um, so there's lots of different pieces that come down from those places just as you all experience from the state level. Um, we get a lot of our policies and priorities from federal, state, and

101local um, sources. So, um, we're constantly there's a lot of moving parts with it. Um, but really the goal of Virginia Cooperative Extension is to disseminate that researchbased information to our localities. So we're taking the information from these universities where they are trying and testing new things and our goal is to get it to our communities. So there's generally a Virginia Cooperative Extension office in just about every county and city in Virginia. There's 107 total. So for the most part there's Colonial Heights and Hopewell do not have that. Um but all around us other than those um are covered with these programs. Um, so just to give you kind of what that looks like in Virginia, we are broken down into districts. So Denwitty is considered the southeast district of Virginia Crop of Extension. Um,

102but just to kind of point out some key things on here on this map. We also have six 4 educational centers across the state that we utilize. We are assigned to one of those for our summer camp. We are assigned to airfield and Sussex County, but we also have opportunities to send kids to programs at really any of the centers, but we're very lucky to be where we are because we're within an hour and a half of three centers. So, we have Airfield in Sussex, James Town in James City County, and um Holiday Lake in Appamatics. So, those are all very close by and offer lots of hands-on educational programs for kids and great opportunities for partnerships um with our schools and community. The other thing on here I want to point out is we

103have these agricultural research and extension centers that we we love acronyms and extension. Um AREX is what we call them for short. So, in Blackstone, you're probably familiar with the Southern Piedmont ARC that um hosts a lot of educational events and you know, I think a lot of people think of those for farmers, but they also do programs for youth and families as well. So, um, just to give you a little background, um, I'm only going to focus today on obviously the 4 side of things, but I want to make sure I acknowledge my co-workers who also work in our office in Denwitty. We have agriculture and natural resource as one of our core areas in family consumer science as well. So, many of you are probably familiar with Miss Jessica Jones. She's amazing. Um,

104she is our family and consumer science agent. So she and I work together on a lot of programs. We had a agriculture and natural resource agent as well. He just retired, Mike Parish. Um so that position should be opening up soon. And then of course myself um in the 4 role. So I want to ask if anybody here >> knows the 4H's. Was anybody in >> for hearts? >> What's the fourth one? >> Everyone forgets the fourth one. So, a little history. I know I said I hated history and here I am talking about history. It used to be hustle. Um, it is now health. >> Yes. So, head, heart, hands, and health are the four H's that we use today in 4. Um, so these are really just symbolic things obviously um where we

105focus on teaching life skills. So our life skills that you know you might refer to as a head life skill, critical thinking, heart, caring for others, hands is going to be service and health is going to be nutrition, taking care of our bodies, those types of life skills that we want to teach um kids to learn. Um we also so within that we kind of have four program areas that are represented here with these pictures. So, we're obviously known for agriculture. Um, that is our roots and we're very proud of those roots, but just as you know, everybody has to adapt to changing times. Um, you know, we don't have a full county of farm kids. Um, so we have to recognize that while we're still proud of that and we still teach and focus

106on, you know, where our food comes from, we also have adapted to offer more programs beyond that. Um so STEM is another area that we focus on. You know, science, technology, engineering, and math. We do um wellness programs, nutrition, healthy living is kind of a core area that we focus on. And then civic engagement is that fourth piece. So, um I'm obviously going to focus on the school programs, but I do want to acknowledge the other programs that we have, um just as kind of my chance to educate the community, um and be very transpar trans transparent about what we offer in the county. So traditional 4 looks like club-based programs and we have about 10 of those clubs in uh the in Denwitty and we have some club leaders here tonight um who are

107very familiar with it. Um those club-based programs are often focused on a specific topic. Um and they meet generally monthly. Some of our clubs actually meet twice a week. Um some of them meet every other every week. um depending on the time of year. So um those are our very what traditional 4 looks like. We also have day and overnight camping program. So like I mentioned, we have um those 4 centers that we utilize um as a place in a a getting kids outdoors. They have uh special offerings at all of these centers that really focus on removing electronics, hands-on experiential learning opportunities. And then of course, school enrichment is where I come in and get to do the fun programs that the kids are all excited about and then before things get crazy, I

108get to head out. Um, but really, really fun. Some of my favorite programs to do are in the schools um with um the partners that we have with teachers, with our principles, and um all the folks in central office. So, one of the initiatives that I wanted to just bring to your attention um because it ties into a lot of what you are doing and I want to see like I'm here in the community full-time like I want to support the students and the success of our community and one of those initiatives is the 4 beyond ready program. um where really the focus of 4 this is they've kind of they every couple years add a new thing that they want to push and beyond ready is the focus now and that is on workforce

109development. So um a lot of what you all are doing and have in place um we want to kind of help and be able to provide some more curriculum to get these kids ready for the workforce. I'm going to go through some of these programs that we're offering in partnership with the schools teachers and principles and just kind of show you um what's going on. So, just really to make you aware that this is happening. Um we have our reality store program which has gotten a makeover. It will now be called the reality fair. And this is a very fun I know several of you have helped with this before um where the kids are given a real life. They are supposed to jump until they're 25 years old. They're given a family situation, a

110career. Um they may have student loans, any sort of situation that you can think of that's realistic and can happen. Um some of them have child support that they have to pay. You know, there's lots of variations to this. Um, so some of them go through it multiple times, but they always have a different scenario. Um, but they then calculate what they owe in taxes and to determine what their family take-home is, and they go and spend that money at what we know to be our monthly expenses. So things like groceries, housing, furniture, child care, um, really anything that you see come out of your check every single month. So, um, a really great learning experience for the kids. Very light bulb moments. Um, I can I one of my favorite programs that we do.

111Um, I'd say my favorite quote was years ago a student came up to me and said, "I'm going to go home and hug my mama." I said, "Yes, you should." Because there's a lot that they don't know that their parents are handling in the background. Um, but this past year we reached about 406 students with that. There is another variation that we didn't do this year, but we've done in the past that focuses on middle school students um that's called Real Money, Real World. It's basically the same program just um from another extension uh state that designed it. And there's actually an elementary level one as well that we've wanted to do and just we're so busy. Haven't had a chance to really implement that one. We started to and then COVID happened and it

112just hasn't gotten back to it. So, one day, one day. Um, another fun fan favorite is embryology. Who doesn't like baby chicks in the classroom? So, we had all five elementary schools participate in this. Um, and we do two rounds. So, one round happens before spring break and the other happens after spring break. So, we we have a limited number of kits, which is why we kind of plan it out that way. Um, but yeah, they get to hatch chicks in the classroom. They learn about the life cycle and the process. We have curriculum that go along with it. Um, and the teachers are really the ones who implement this. So, I give all credit to the teachers because this is not something that they have to do. It's extra work. Um, so the fact

113that they want to do this says a lot about how much they want to bring joy to their classroom and bring these hands-on learning experiences. We also a couple years ago got a grant to fund the butterfly program. Um, we this year focused on second grade. We've kind of jumped this one around a little bit. Um, but second grade is when they go through um, life cycles. and all five elementary schools participated in this one as well. This year we added an additional um part to this. That was actually I think it was Lex's idea um to bring some of the teens from our teen club to come and talk to the kids while when we went to drop off the caterpillars. So they came and read one of the books that we um purchased

114for the classes. They did some hands-on activities getting the kids engaged. Um, so really really excited about that new potential there. I know the teens really really enjoyed it because they also got out of school. Um, but the teachers really said a lot about how well the teens, you know, it's just a good opportunity for them to practice public speaking. Um, and one of my favorite moments is one of the teachers asked actually Elio and I can't remember who was with him, but she said, "Do y'all want to be teachers?" Because they did such a great job instructing the kids and getting in front of, uh, the class like that. So really, um, that one reached 243 students. Um, another, these are really all my favorites, so I need to stop saying that, but yoga

115for kids, um, is a program we started, uh, maybe in 2018. Um, so it's been going on a while. All five elementary schools participated and we, uh, worked with preK on these. So I think we ended up meeting five or six times. Um and what the yoga program, you know, the focus is not just the physical aspect of yoga, but also the mental wellness and health part of yoga. And what I tell all the kids is, you know, my goal is to get you to fall asleep. So, they do the stretching um and then we do guided relaxation. And so they lay down and I read them a very visual story that goes along with, you know, maybe they're carrying a heavy rock up a mountain and they that rock is actually some of their

116worries and when they get to the top they release some of those worries and realize their backpack's a lot lighter. You know, those those types of things are what we are working on. Um, and some of them fall asleep, but you will be shocked at how well prek can follow these instructions. Um, and it's not you I can't even touch my toes. So, it's not about how well that they can do the yoga, it's the movement, it's the getting up, um, stretching our bodies and learning to take care of ourselves. Um, another program we did not do this year, but have done in the past is our drone the unknown, drone the unknown program. Um, so this is one that it's it's a very time consuming program. So that's why it hasn't been um something

117that we've been able to do every year because obviously um there's limited time to be in the schools um where they're not focusing on so prep and whatnot. So and this program is specifically for fourth and fifth grade. So, um, it can be hard for us to get the time in to do this program, but it's very hands-on. They focus on block coding. Um, and it's a six lesson program. Um, this particular year we focused on, this was 2025, we went to Southerntherland and did all of the fifth grade classes there. All right. Another big program, fun program that has been a long time coming. Years ago, we created an endowment for Denwitty 4 in honor of Mr. Alvin Blaha who's pictured there when he was much younger. Um, if you're from Denwitty, you know

118the name Alvin Blaha. And um, this was an endowment created in his honor. And one of the things that we wanted to kind of bring from this was an opportunity for students who might not otherwise have the opportunity to attend our 4 camp. So our 4 camp is a 4day five night or five day four nights um overnight opportunity that is it's $400 which is fairly inexpensive for what all it entails but $400 is not nothing. And that can be a lot for families especially when um you know they've got other competing priorities or multiple children. So the golden ticket program is something we established in partnership with our student resource officers and the school administration to help identify students who are really deserving of this opportunity um who might not otherwise get the chance.

119Um so this is a completely free ride to 4 camp. We pick two students from every school, a male and a female, to be able to go. Of course, we work with admin to get in touch with those families ahead of time with hope that the families are also committed because that's they they need to buy into it too um to know that their child is going to go overnight. Not everybody's comfortable with that. So, um, this year of the 10, nine are going, which is the first time we've had that many. Usually it's about seven or eight who, um, end up going, but, um, it's been growing and growing and we've had probably four to six of the students who have gotten them in the past actually come back the next year. um which

120is really really great and shows that you know they talked a lot about it really enjoyed it their parents thought that it was a benefit to them and they're now getting the opportunity to keep going. Then at the high school we have a flex club which stands for future leadership experience. This primarily is our teens who also serve as our 4 camp counselors and ranges our meetings range from anywhere from 15 10 to 15 students to as much as 40. Um they meet twice a month. Um and very very good group who want to do things they want to do things for the community. Um, but we have a school teacher who is our sponsor for that club to kind of make it a school club. So, Mr. Thomas Davis, who's one of our FFA

121adviserss, he's been helping with that um to keep that program running and um it's just been a really really great opportunity for those kids to be able to meet at the school um but do 4 things. So, I will talk a little bit about the teen leadership program because that all ties in and then I will let Lexi share about her experiences. Um, but this flex club and our teen leadership program is a very um how do I put this? Uh, high up there kind of program. We're we're one of the most sought programs in the state because of just the expectation that the teens have really created for themselves and for others. They hold each other to high expectations. So to be in our teen leadership program, there's an application process um and an

122interview process and 24 hours of training that's required. So it's it's not a you just show up kind of thing. you really have to buy into it and want to be in it. So, um, this program gives kids, the teens, opportunities to do a lot of things in the community, but it also gives them the chance to do things outside of the community to build leadership skills. Um, and just really to explore other areas of the state that they might not otherwise get the chance to. So, we have Lexi here, who I'll let share about that because she is I could brag on Lexi all day. She's um really has her hand in everything. Um I would call her Miss 4. She'll have my job one day. Um which is great and it I know

123that it is in good hands because she has been so involved and taken on so many roles. So, Lexi. >> All right. Well, good evening. My name is Lexi Shu and I'm a sophomore at Dewony High School and I'm going to talk about my experience in 4. So I started 4 when going as a going as a camper and I fell in love with the experience. I was all shy at first and then I became out um outspoken. I love talking now and I started to become a counselor and join multiple teen clubs. So I am the president for fores tangle mains and vice president for flex club. And in these clubs, I have multiple opportunities in tangle manes. I got to go to the Virginia State horse show. I was able to win champion

124in showmanship. And as a camp counselor, I started to expand. I went to Virginia State Congress. And this is where I got elected to be the southeast district ambassador for the state of Virginia. So I represent 4 as a state level. And with these experience, I just wanted to go into everything. So I got the opportunity to go to national events. So I went to national ignite conference. I've been to this event twice and in this event we learned how to bond with other youth that we don't know and more experience if that we are interested in. I also went to national conference and this conference it was amazing. We got to speak to the wild horse and bureau program in DC and we got to tell them how they could better their company and

125it was just an amazing experience. I got to work with people from Wyoming all the way to New York. It was incredible. And I'm also being tapped in this year as a all-star. And all-star is the highest achievement that you can get as a 4 member. And it's just an amazing experience. I've learned so much from it. I learned how to be a good leader. I learned public speaking. I don't think if you told me three years ago I would be speaking to 300 youth in the summer, I would not believe you. I would think you're crazy. I'm too. But it just it's such a great opportunity and I think everyone should be in it and I try to convince everyone I know, hey, you should join. >> Yes. >> Lexi. >> Yes. So Lexi

126has actually like I've never even been to National Ignite and National Conference. So when people are like, "Well, what do they do there?" I'm like, Lexi, what what do y'all do at that one? Um, so she's been a great advocate um and just a great example of somebody, you know, who is taking advantage of all those opportunities that are presented to her. So, we are really really proud of her. Um, so I I wanted to throw out some future opportunities um since I have a little bit of audience. Um, you know, if I had more time and more people, I could do a lot more. Um, but it's me and we have a part-time program assistant, Maddie. Um, so we we are limited in what we can do while we're we're trying all these things.

127There's so much more that we could be doing to help support the kids and bring some more educational opportunities. So, um, one of the things that, you know, I know you guys are already doing is, um, you know, public speaking contest, science fair type contest, you know, we have all of that in 4. And what I would love eventually to do is get some of these kids to our district level type competitions um to give them just that extra you know let me take this I can do this um going beyond just the locality another opportunity that oh in 4 camp um I did want to I've had this in my head so I'm going to put it out and eventually I'll figure out how I can make this work um but 4 camp is

128such a great opportunity. We're really, really blessed to have an amazing group of adult volunteers who come. I would love to have some teachers come to camp and actually teach classes. Um, I know that's what they do all year, so they're probably like, "Oh, that's I don't want to do that." But they're they're hands-on. They're fun outside um type classes that can be something that they're passionate about. So we are one of the few camps that brings in volunteers who add additional classes to camp. So we have our horsemanship class where um we bring in horses from the duelies and a lot of actually a bus driver, Miss Mary Hunt, comes um during that week and they teach kids how to ride horses and that's not something that other people are offering. We also bring

129in a fun with foods class, so cooking, making it fun. Um, but there's just so many opportunities of things that could be offered. And I I think of many teachers who, you know, I don't know the process. I'm not a teacher. I don't know the process of credentials, but could that be a credit to where they come and they teach something at camp and they get some kind of, you know, check mark? I don't know. Just an idea. Um, we also have the 4 mobile learning lab. So, this is a new, um, if you didn't see it at the fair, we had it at the county fair. It's a 40 foot trailer um that's a mobile learning lab and its focus is on health science. Um so this was something that was donor created um

130and it's I don't know if you've seen like at the state fair where they has a lab but it's very hands-on. Um we can get that to the schools for special days. Um, I think they have a minimum number of kids that have to come, but for any of our schools that are hosting events, you know, that's something we can definitely try to bring in from Blackburg. Um, and then just thinking about our partnerships again with the acronyms. Um, VSU I know is um working with some of our schools like the middle school. They have folks coming in to help um with Miss Surley, the a department there. or they're doing some programs. So, there's lots of programs that I can connect people with. I might not have a hand in um but they're looking

131for opportunities to do things like community gardens, um aquaculture, those types of programs. Um soil and water, we work with um the conservation district to do farm day where I think it's second grade comes to the farm. So, that's another great partnership. And then I also wanted to kind of share about the fifth grade a days that Denwy used to participate in at the southern Piedmont Are. Um and then the last I think since COVID we have not been back. Um but that's a very handson field trip where they go to the um spay wreck and they participate in a wide variety of activities. So, um, I just kind of wanted to put that back in the ear because we still are doing that and hosting it and I help with it as well as

132other extension agents in our area. Nawway attends, Amelia attends, um, and Lunenburgg I believe are the three others that attend. So, I would love to have Denwitty back. Um, the focus has been fifth grade. Um, but there are other opportunities there as well to partner and give the kids real good hands-on learning experiences. So, that is all I have and I'm happy to answer any questions. >> I love for camp. >> You want to come? >> It was camp no camp beach. They don't have it anymore, but Oh, that was wonderful. >> I don't question but your experiences look the heart >> yes it did wonders for you and I'm so glad you here to present it and I'm sorry the other young people were not we're not here to to hear the experiences you

133have you know got from working with 48 wonderful keep it up you are you're going to be an excellent speaker and I mean the crowd's not going to bother you at all. >> So that's I I that's wonderful. I like that. >> Lexi has been playing tennis for me for three or four years. >> Wow. >> I don't think I've ever heard her talk that much. >> So she's still quiet at the tennis courts, but she's she's fired up about four times. Pretty cool. >> It's pretty cool. >> Very proud of what she did here today. I know Miss Benjamin and I have um volunteered for your um programs with the the kids come in and draw a um draw, you know, a job and whatever. And this the last time I did it, I

134had this young man and he came through and he, you know, was checking all the boxes and whatever. And I saw him over at the last table and all of a sudden he came back and he said, "I have a question." He said, he was with another guy and he said, "Now his wife on his sheet works and my wife doesn't work. Do I have the right my wife go to work and he had run out of money >> and it said that his wife was stay at home and I was like that's between you and your wife. >> It was fun. >> Yeah. Yeah, that one's a lot of fun. >> It was fun. >> Thank you guys so much. Really appreciate that. Madam clerk, do we have any public comments? Anyone? >> No

135one has signed up to speak tonight. >> Um board comments. >> Any board comments? >> Well, it's a wonderful time of year when we get to celebrate all that we've been working on and and and the accolades and what the students have done. So, it's a it's a It's stuff that goes on all year, but it's wonderful to see the culmination of all of it. >> Yeah. Anybody else? >> It's information overload, isn't it? >> Great. >> Information overload. >> It is. >> The hour is getting late. So, um, >> hearing no objections. Am I allowed to do that here? >> All right. Hearing no objections, this meeting is adjourned.