DCPS School Board Meeting - February 10, 2026

001It's been moved and seconded that we return to open session and adopt certification of close session. All in favor say I. >> I. >> Any opposed? Madam Secretary, >> whereas the Denwitty County School Board has convened a close 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 the school board that such closed meeting was conducted in conformity with Virginia law. Now therefore, be it resolved that the Denwitty County School Board hereby certifies that to the best of each member's knowledge, only such business matters as were identified in the motion convening the closed meeting were heard, discussed, or considered by the school board. Dr. Ela J. Pearson, District 1,

002>> I certify. >> Dwayne G. Walker, District 2, >> I certify. >> Barbara T. Pitman, District 3, >> I certify. >> Mary and Benjamin, District 4, >> I certify. >> Jason El Brown II, District 5. >> I certify. All have certified. Mr. Chairman, >> thank you ma'am. Can we invite you all to join us now in standing for the pledge of allegiance? >> I pledge allegiance >> to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Madam Secretary, are there any amendments to the agenda? >> There are no amendments to the agenda. >> Thank you. >> Mr. Chair, I move that we um >> I think there are >> I believe that there are. We're taking ARGs

003off of the agenda. >> Sorry, I was incorrect. I'm sorry if you're right. We are taking the ARGS update off of the agenda under superintendent matters. Um, Mr. Chair, I move that we accept the agenda as amended. >> Second. >> It's been moved and seconded that we accept the agenda as it has been amended. All in favor say I. >> Any opposed? >> The motion carries. >> Mr. Chair, I move that we approve the personnel list as presented. >> Second. It's been moved and seconded that we approve the personnel list as it has been presented to us this evening. All in favor say I. I. >> Any opposed? >> The motion carries. And then we have student matters. Mr. Chair, I move that student number E student number E-02 slash26-1. We accept the recommendation of

004administration and expel. Find the student poses a threat to health and safety of others. >> Second. >> Right. It's been it's been moved and seconded in the case of student E-026-1 that we uphold the administration's recommendation. Madam Chair, can I request the roll call vote? >> Yes. >> Dr. Ela J. Pearson. >> I. >> Barbara T. Pitman. >> I. >> Jason L. Brown II. >> No. >> Mary M. Benjamin. >> Hi. >> Dwayne G. Walker. I >> u Mr. >> The motion carries. >> Uh Mr. Chair, I move that we accept the recommendation of the school administration and expel student E-26-2 for the health and safety of all. >> Second. >> All right. It's been moved and seconded that uh we uphold the administration's recommendation in the case of student number E-26-2. Madam Secretary, can

005I request a roll call vote? >> Yes. Dr. Ela J. Pearson. >> I. >> Barbara T. Pitman. >> I. >> Jason El Brown II. >> No. >> Mary M. Benjamin. >> Hi. >> G. Walker. >> I. >> Four to one. >> The motion carries. Mr. Chair, I move that we uh release from we accept the request of the parent and release from compulsory attendance on religious exemption students number two6-1 and student number recl. >> Second. It's been moved and seconded that we honor the request of the parents for uh to be released from compulsory attendance as a result of religious exemption in the case of number- two-26-1 and-26-2. All those in favor say I. >> Are there any opposed? >> The motion carries. Thank you. At this time we have some recognitions. Dr. Weston. >>

006Yes. Um yes. So I'd like to invite Dr. Paul Le um to come forward. Uh he is the principal at Romante Technical uh center and he's going to um provide us with some highlights about the great work that he is doing over there. Thank you for being here today. >> Mr. Chairman, Steve members of school board. >> Mr. Mr. Chairman, estee members of the school board, Dr. Weston, community members, all appreciate the opportunity to share some of the amazing things we're doing at Rwanti. It's always an honor and privilege to stand before you as their uh principal of the school. Last year about this time, I was uh fairly new to it and talk to you about some of the the uh days of old and the days of new. And today I want to

007share our progress on bringing Rwante into that new um generation and providing new opportunities, innovative opportunities for our students while continuing the legacy that we have on some of our other programs. With that being said, I'd be remiss if I didn't mention that uh in addition to many other recognitions, uh February is also National CTE month, so career technical education. Uh Rwanti is privileged to have Dinwi students um as part of our student body. Um, as well as just want to take a moment and thank all CTE teachers, counselors, administrations um, from Dinwy County Public Schools as well as Rowanti and all the amazing opportunities that they provide our students. A quick snapshot of enrollment and programs for the current school year. We have 245 students enrolled from three divisions, Denwitty County Public Schools, Prince

008George, and Sussex, of which a hundred of those students are Denwitty County Public Schools students. Uh we have maintained eight programs of study currently. Uh missing from this list compared to last year is we did uh pause our criminal justice program. Uh we had an opportunity in terms of with a teacher leaving midyear. We took care of our students to ensure that they had um dual enrollment opportunities with uh Breitpoint for the remainder of that year. But we looked at historic enrollment over a 10-year period of time um and wanted to make sure that our offerings were were were relevant and what have you. So with that being said, if you remember from last year, we we haven't really changed our enrollment yeartoear, but we did eliminate one of those programs and everything. And part

009of the fund that I get to present now is what the future looks like in terms of bringing back programs um in terms of number and uh the new programs that we're having. So looking ahead, uh the two main things I'm going to talk to you about this afternoon is going to be our program launch for our new engineering and manufacturing program as well as um having to update our nurse aid pathway. So in these two images right here in the bottom left um is actually a welding simulator being used at a college or university. Um it's a Miller uh augmented reality virtual reality um piece of equipment that is currently sitting in a shop getting ready to be installed um that will be used for all of our trades programs um especially with engineering

010manufacturing and welding. So, this is a great opportunity for our students to be able to try welding, perfect their skills, zero cost in terms of um being able to put them in an environment and kind of remove some of the how would you say kind of self-doubt and build their confidence up before they're in a welding booth and what have you. Um so, we're really excited about being able to bring that opportunity to all of our students. The image to the right is a innovative piece of equipment that's being used in a lot of neighboring colleges and universities. Uh what it is is it allows students in health and medical science classes to um use both um current files as well as if you have the digital copy of your own X-ray or MRI being

011able to bring it in and being able to take it through the different subsystems um and again just being able to offer students an immersive experience. We talk a lot about technology in our schools and um that our students are using technology more than ever and being able to capitalize that and bring learning to the foremost of it. So that's one of the avenues that we're hoping to explore in the future with our programs. Speaking about the engineering manufacturing program launch, so this is a passion project for me. Uh when I first came into education, I was a technology education teacher. Um so this is right up my alley with it. Uh I want to thank Dr. Weston for the introduction last September to the Cameron Foundation, which then led me to go Virginia. um

012as early as I think it was September of last year, I met these individuals and um they just loved hearing what we had in store in terms of for our community. Um so with that being said, I was able to write a grant and between the Cameron Foundation and Go Virginia, Rowanti was awarded $625,000 to be able to bring this engineering and manufacturing program to to reality, so to speak. Um, with that being said, uh, CCAM, which is the center, the Commonwealth Center of Advanced Manufacturing in Prince George, um, working with some of the individuals there, Lauren Sadell being one of them, um, who's very instrumental with Go Virginia, um, who I met originally as a student on a robotics team back in high school, um, being able to work through some of those relationships.

013They had a program that was no longer using equipment. So, Rwanti received over $400,000 worth of brand new electronics, educational trainers, and what have you, which means that 625 goes even further and allows us to be able to put in essentially a $1.2 million engineering and manufacturing program at Rowanti. Um, it's always fun hearing the oo's and the a's, right? All right. Did something right. We like it. Um, so with that being said, um, so we've already remodeled existing classroom spaces. We have a entire classroom ready to go. We've got a what I call a clean lab full of electronic trainers. Um, two of which are the yellow uh, Fanic robot arms right there at the bottom. They're used in the automotive industry, the logistical um, industry. Um, allows for additional um, high demand credentials

014which goes through our 3 school accreditation which we love. Um so that's been really cool. Um so a lot of our procurement that we've started is again equipment for that. So um just speaking quickly on it, it's going to be uh several CNC mills, CNC lays, CNC routers. So that's all essentially students design a part. We put a piece in there and essentially out comes the part. Um but in addition to that, um we had our um our desktop water jet delivered the other day. We'll have a 4ft x 8 ft uh laser cutter and engraver which would actually be also used for carpentry and again all of our trades um 3D printers what have you. So again as we build out this program it's not just for this one set of students but we've

015also been really conscious of being able to offer crosscurricular opportunities transferring classroom you know unused classroom spaces um to communal classrooms to be able to again bring innovative technology to them. Um, our first student cohort's going to begin in August. We're really excited about it. Um, with that being said, we are absolutely recruiting a teacher for that position. That's going to be a technology education licensed teacher um or someone that can qualify for that or an individual that has at least three years in the last 5 years of engineering manufacturing um experience. So, doesn't necessarily have to be a college degree. um happy to work with anyone interested in that and everything in terms of finding the right teacher and everything for this program. Something really cool in addition to this is um part of

016this plan is that with the demand of our students which between the three school divisions was over 300 students interested in this pathway in the next two to three years for the cost of an instructor we would be able to offer a secondary program using the same equipment. So again, doubling doubling down on it and not costing Denwitty, Rowanti, anybody uh capital budget and what have you and everything for that. So we're really excited for this opportunity. Uh real quick, uh BDE has reduced the number of hours associated with our nurse aid program. Essentially what they looked at is they looked at out in industry that if I was to go out right now and become a certified nurse aid um individual, I would need 140 hours of instruction including 40 hours of clinical compared

017to the 280 hours and two credits that were previously requested from BDA. So our health and medical science program isn't going away. it needs to be expanded because it's one of our programs that we have a waiting list of students and we want to make sure we're taking care of kids and exposing them to what they're interested in in terms of careers. Um so with that being said, nurse aid will occur at Rowanti without a hitch at all. Um the first semester will teach nurse aid. Our students will complete their clinicals during that time. The spring semester they'll also be exposed to the patient care technician and home health aid program. So again we maintain those three credits. Um, and in short, it allows our students to have expanded healthc care credentials, whether it's in

018one of those two fields, as well as increasing their awareness and different opportunities that exist in the health and medical science field. So, really excited about that opportunity for our students. In closing, our biggest thing is we want to empower our students through career technical education. My motto over the last past two years has been we want to be college and career ready. It's not an or, it's an and. So, making sure that we're exposing students to those different pathways in all all different types and everything. Um, strengthen our regional workforce, working with our community business partners, relationships such as with CCAM allowed us to be able to have such a a program and a product donation. So, again, just really capitalize on that and showing our workforce that with these programs, we're able to

019grow their workforce, sustain what they're doing, and everything um there. And again, just creating meaningful post-secary opportunities for all students. Any questions for um questions for Dr. Le? >> I don't have a question, but we really appreciate you um your looking to the future and um there's always got to be an adaptation of what what the workforce needs and what the training is for that. So, it's it's a constant change and that is that's what we're about in education is where are the jobs and how do we get kids certified to do those jobs. So, I thank you for that. >> Yes, ma'am. Thank you. >> I want to thank you as well for the time that you spent with me >> last week. Uh I had the opportunity to tour the school a little

020bit and see some of that equipment firsthand and I'm excited. >> Absolutely. I appreciate everything you've done over the last year. Looking good. >> Thank you. Thank you so much. >> And um I still want to see the plumber. >> I I've got all the stuff ready to go. If you've got the teacher, I I can make it happen for you. Yes, ma'am. >> Thank you. >> Absolutely. Thank you all. >> Okay. Um keep in keeping with that theme of CTE recognition, we're going to ask um Jamie Clary and Carly Wolf to come forward. Is it Jamie? Who? of Jamie's coming forward um to talk to us about the things that are happening with our young people here on our campus. >> Good evening, Mr. Chairman, members of the board, Dr. Weston. So, as you

021know, February is CTE month, and today I'm excited to share our updates on our career and technical education department and how these programs continue to prepare our students for college careers and after graduation. Our work focuses on workforce readiness, industry credentials, and meaningful partnerships within our community. So, our first event in October, Denwity Middle School hosted our geared up career exploration event for all seventh grade students. We transformed the bus loop into an interactive hands-on learning space with the help of 15 business partners. For example, we had Suds and Cuts, Turner Family Farm, Cockad Stables, Denwitty Government, Denwy Fire, and EMS. And these are just a few of our business partners that joined forces to make this event a success for our students. The students rotated through stations, explored multiple career pathways, and engaged directly

022with the professionals within our area. This early exposure helps our students begin thinking about future careers before entering high school. In no in November, we had government day. 25 seniors participated in government day where they received hands-on look at how the county government operates. Students work directly with county administrators and officials to develop budget projects. They then presented their propos proposals to county leaders, their peers, and built confidence, communication skills, and civic awareness. This experience connects classroom learning to real world decisionmaking. Industry Day continues to be one of our largest engagement events that we have here in Dwey County Public Schools. This year we hosted 44 business partners, offering 14 breakout sessions for for small group interactions. We were especially excited again to welcome six new business partners, expanding our opportunities for students. Events like

023this allow students to network, ask questions, and learn directly from professionals within the field. CTE certifications. Our students continue to excel in earning industry recognized credentials. This semester alone, we have 162 students that have earned their workplace writing their certificate. 165 students passed the Wise certification. 12 culinary students earned their Surf Safe Manager certification. Five students earn their PAR pro certification with an additional student passing the Dewey County Public Schools PAR Pro test. So these credentials give students a competitive edge and tangible proof of their skills that they're ready to use in the workforce. Work-based learning. I have to say that this has been a passion of mine for this year and seeing this program grow. Work-based learning is a key component of our CTE program. This year we significantly increased our opportunities across the

024division. Last year we had a total of 85 workbased learning experiences. And this year we have a total of 123 that count towards 3E and we also had an additional 22 students that are not yet CTE completers but they are working on doing that which is an increase of 45% compared to last year and our students are being placed still in internship opportunities today because I just had the opportunity to speak with Miss Colorth and we're placing three students at Southside. Um one started today and two more starting next week. So, we're excited to continue continue to expand our internship opportunities for our students. >> So, all our CTE courses begin with the same 21 required workplace readiness competencies. The students can earn the digital badge demonstrating their understanding of these skills by taking the

025workplace readiness test. Our work-based learning allows students to apply those skills in a real world setting. Students demonstrate critical thinking, professionalism, integrity, work ethic, and customer service daily, plus so much more. These skills are transfer transferable and valued by our employers across all industries, which has led to our new generals on the job spotlight. This is a new recognition designed to celebrate students who excel in their work-based learning placements and consistently go above and beyond. These students model professionalism, initiative, and responsibility. This recognition highlights the positive impacts that our students are making within our schools and community workplaces. And thankfully, many of these students are here today so that we can recognize them. And you have the opportunity to meet our new generals on the job spotlight students. I'd like to introduce you to first

026Marcus Williams. Chrysyn Wells. I'm not sure if she's here with us today. Ariana Boo, Dietrich Walker, Chloe Craftton, At this time, Chloe would like to share a little testimony about her work-based learning experience that she had in the main office. >> Good afternoon everyone. >> Thank you for giving me the opportunity to speak to you all today. My name is Chloe Craftton and I'm here to tell you all about my experience as a student who who was lucky enough to be a part of the work study position here at Denwity High School. Growing up as a year-round athlete, I never had any free time. To some, not working may sound like a dream, but in reality, I lacked the building blocks a young adult needs. Seeing that Denwiny offered an opportunity where I can gain

027the skills I lacked, I knew I had to jump on it. Although I was only working once a day for 90 minutes, I learned so much in that little time. I was positioned to work in the main office. I was very nervous first couple weeks, but after a while, I looked like a pro. When working in the office, you will see a lot, you will hear a lot, and you will be told a lot. It is essential that all information is kept confidential and held and handled with professionalism, discretion, and respect at all times. You will also learn how the office works and you will eventually gain a new perspective of teachers and staff. Before I never realized how much effort our staff puts into students like me. It's hard to put yourself in the

028shoes of someone who just wants the best for you, especially if they are not family. After being able to see firsthand how school runs from the inside, I can only wish other students saw what I did. I want to acknowledge four ladies who not only mentored me but have left a big impact on me these past couple months. Brandy Lipkcom, Fa Proise, Brandy Goodwin, and Tiffany Taylor. Although I worked as an intern for them, these ladies have given me the same respect as if I was one of their co-workers. that having that connection and growing a tighter bond with them has meant the world to me. I do not think I would have grown as much as I have as a person without them. Thank you, Denwity, for providing me with this opportunity. I'm beyond

029grateful. >> That's great. >> Lastly, this is just a list of our upcoming CT events that we have. So, the reverse career fair is coming up on February 27th at Breitpoint. A list of our testing that's coming up. We have another government day um coming up with Dewey County government on March 17th and then interview day, kindergarten a days, and CTE signing days. So, Miss Wolfing and I wanted to leave you with we have the newest latest edition of our CTE magazine that just hot off the press and came from the publisher. So, we hope you enjoy that. Thank you. >> Good evening board. It is now time to recognize our division spell and be winners. Um, this year's division spelling bee winner is Megan Tabamo. Megan is a seventh grade student at Denwitty Middle

030School. She is the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Mark Tbamo. Megan will move on to the regional spelling bee on March 24th um at Richmond Raceway. Is Megan here today? >> Okay. All right. Not a problem. Uh, next our division spell runner up is none other than Gabriel Salana. Gabriel, would you please come forward? Gabriel is a fifth grade student at Denmud Elementary School. He is the son of Crystal Mabry. And Gabriel, we have a little gift for you. YES. >> Thank you. We'll take pictures after. >> Um Dr. Weston, would you like me to move forward? >> Yes. Yes. >> Okay. Um, I'll move up in the agenda. Mrs. Branch will come after with teacher of the year. Is she him in the room now? >> Okay. You ready? >> She's right there. >>

031You ready? Okay. >> Good afternoon to all board members, uh, superintendent and everyone here assembled. It brings me great honor and pleasure to stand here to be able to talk about something good, which is um the teachers that we have here in Denwitty County Public Schools. I truly believe that Denwitty um has um hidden talents among us. We um are a rarity. We share something that is unique and special to this community. And I believe that by the end of this presentation, you will agree with me and you will understand why all of these um teachers here today were selected as teacher of the year. So, we're going to do our part and um share with you some pertinent details about them. But before they come up here, I want you to know that um

032many of our teachers of the year went through a rigorous process going through a selection process at their school level and then six out of our seven teachers of the year applied for the uh divisionwide teacher of the year which is based off of the state award. um it involves them submitting numerous essays concerning their philosophy on education, how they make a student impact, and their um personal um biography. So, with that being said, I would like to um recognize our uh first teacher of the year that we're going to highlight. And um as I read a few things, Vanna White aka Nata Robinson Williams will be assisting me this evening. Uh but first, uh we would like to recognize from Dwitty Elementary, Miss Molly Tomlin. Molly Tomlin, believe it or not, has 25 years

033of teaching experience and has taught from second to fourth and fifth grade and volunteered to go to kindergarten. She serves as a grade level chair and is the representative of her principal's advisory team. To her, the recognition and praise of her previous students and parents is her greatest achievement. Miss Tomlin believes that all students have their own unique ways of learning. Her proudest moments come from helping young learners build a strong literacy foundation. She loves seeing their progress and their growth and feels that this is her greatest achievement. For this, we salute you, Miss Tomlin. Congratulations. I did um forget to note that many many parents describe her as awesome, a heart of gold, and others say she is simply the best. From Midway Elementary, I would like to recognize Miss Melissa Watkins. Melissa is

034in um her she's accomplished six years of teaching. She's currently teaching in the second grade. And one of her students parents wrote that she consistently goes above and beyond to support her students academic and personal growth. She creates positive and inspiring learning environments and fosters a sense of belonging and acceptance for every student. She approaches them with empathy, understanding, and gives them confidence that will carry them on for life. She helps students see themselves as a valuable contributing member of their community. Thank you so much, Miss Watkins, for helping our students see their best. We'd also like to recognize today Mrs. Michelle Brockwell from Southerntherland Elementary. Mrs. Brockwell has an extensive resume and I know she holds great pride in her Rahoic roots that have carried her forward into her present location at Southerntherland. She

035has 34 years of teaching experience and her philosophy of teaching is to love them first, teach them second. She believes that a warm classroom environment is a must. Her efforts have been seen across the county as a 20 to watch in 2019, a mentor to many student teachers, and a plethora of many new teachers entering their first year of education. She served on our curriculum writing team. And she has also stepped out of her comfort zone and introduced the Sunshine Fellowship Group to Southerntherland, providing a source of inspiration and encouragement to many. Dr. Walker cited that she is deeply intentional about her instruction and ensures that all students, regardless of their ability level or background, are actively learning and making meaningful progress. This is demonstrated by her praising students and encouraging them when they have

036more to learn. I felt it was most notable to share that one of her former students wrote a letter on her behalf and said that he has never seen a teacher more approachable than Miss Brockwell. She is more than just a teacher to me. She's a role model, a leader, and someone that I still look up to. I couldn't imagine a better mentor to have to guide me at such a young age. And even this year, it was revealed that a student's parent was unable to transport him to school. And that student facetimed his grandparents and asked if they would take him to school because he didn't want to miss her class. 34 years ago, she started her career at Raoic. And today, she says she still made the right decision. Thank you for choosing

037Deli County Public Schools, MISS BWELL. I'D also like to recognize a dynamic teacher among us who is Miss Kimberly Scott from Southside Elementary. Miss Scott is known um to many particularly by her colleague Miss Kelly Pin Proise as an overachiever, a problem solver and an innovative thinker. She's a dynamic member of the Southside team and Mrs. Colbe, her principal shares that she constantly incorporates movement, visuals, and manipulatives towards building foundational academic and communication skills. She even goes beyond that and incorporates socioeotional learning strategies to help students resolve their own peer conflicts. And this is in kindergarten, I must say. So, she's helping kindergarten kindergarteners uh resolve their own conflicts and use strategies that they are taught in her class. It goes without saying that she builds a strong sense of community and families frequently share

038their appreciation for her responsiveness and her thoughtful communication. I'd like to close with a quote from one of uh Miss Scott's essays. She says that her passion for teaching began at a very young age. And while many children had an imaginary friend, she had an entire classroom. Even then, teaching was not just something that she did. It was also who she was and it's who she is today. I added that part. But her childhood passion has now grown into a lifelong commitment and she considers teaching more than a career. It is her calling. Your calling is that absolutely. So, thank you again, Miss Scott, for your wonderful service. I would also like to recognize one of our bright stars preschool teachers, Miss Melanie Easter from SUNNYSIDE ELEMENTARY. MRS. EASTER IS a member of the Sunnyside

039leadership team and is involved in many civic and community organizations. Her classroom received exceeds expectations from the Virginia quality birth to five system reflecting consistently high levels of quality as measured through performance indicators. And this has now topped her put her class in the top 3% of the VQB5 program in the Commonwealth of Virginia. So she's among one of 101 teachers in the Commonwealth that DESERVES SOME RECOGNITION. SHE CREATES engaging activi activities that honor how children learn best through play, relationships, movement, and meaningful experiences. Most notably, her unit on community helpers and our world has allowed her the opportunity to integrate math, science, social, emotional learning, and real world connections. Mrs. Brooks, the program administrator for the early learning and literacy program, states that Mrs. Easter has a bubbly personality and a smile that truly

040lights up the room. Students feel loved, safe, valued, and excited to learn. An unforgettable smile and an unforgettable impact on the students of Sunnyside Elementary. We salute you, Miss Melanise Easter. From Dwitty Middle School, I would like to recognize Miss Priscilla MacArthur. Miss MacArthur is a sixth grade science teacher and she has five years of teaching experience. She um was one of the founders of the culture club at the middle school, a sponsor for the recycling club, and is also a volunteer cheer coach. So, I can say one word, busy. She believes that every student is a scientist and is noted for her ability to provide differentiated learning through project-based learning and how she maximizes access to curriculum content for students. She's deeply committed to our English learners and above all she believes every student

041wants to be seen and heard. Being keenly aware of what it's like to be an invisible student, she has used those experiences in addition to socioeotional learning methods to have meaningful conversations and interactions about emotions, goals, and challenges. She feels that this has transfer transformed and shaped how she teaches today. She strives to be a teacher that students feel comfortable seeking support and guidance from. Thank you for being that source of support to our students, Miss MacArthur. And now we would like to recognize Mrs. season Klein Taylor who is a science biology oceanography teacher at Denwitty High School. Among our uh six uh teachers that submitted an application, Miss Klein Taylor was given the distinction as our divisionwide teacher of the year. Not only does Miss Klein Taylor, or as her students call her, Miss

042KT, she serves as an instructor by day here at Denwi High School. And then in the uh Huh. >> Yes. Okay. And then in the evening at J Sergeant Reynolds Community College. She's known for bringing an exceptional level of passion, expertise, and real world connection to her classroom. She's known as being deeply reflective and is always seeking ways to strengthen her instruction. Her principal, Mrs. Bailey, noted that she is a model and exemplar teacher. She is always in front of her classroom to greet students and she sets the bar high for students as well as staff. Oftent times submitting her work ahead of time and making sure she brings all parties to the table in a collaborative spirit. The closing quotation I'd like to share for Miss Klein's application is that she has a message

043not only to present educators but to aspiring educators in the future. She says, "Do not fear the rising expectations. Embrace them. Our impact as educators is measured in our ability to prepare students for the future, not just the present. We are not just teaching subjects. We are building thinkers, innovators, and leaders of 2026 and beyond. Welcome to the most important work in the Commonwealth. I charge you to rise to it, embrace it fully, and own it boldly. Thank you, Miss Klein Taylor, for setting the bar high for your students, for preparing them beyond high school, but making them responsible citizens and prepared for the world. I ask each and every one of you here, not just those standing before me, but that you take some of the words that Miss Klein Taylor shared through her

044essay, um, and put them in your heart and embrace your role as an educator, as a support person, whatever it may be, and own it boldly as she said. Um, with that, I close with all of my remarks for our Denwitty Teachers of the Year and I say congratulations to ALL OF YOU. WE ALSO REALIZE THAT their success would not be possible without the support of their friends and family members. So I would like to ask if there are any of you present that are here in support of your favorite teacher of the year, can you please stand so that we can recognize you as well? CONGRATULATIONS to all of you. This week, we want to shine a spotlight on our board clerk, Elizabeth Rainey, and our deputy board clerk, Hannah Bernett. Um, this week

045is school board clerk's week. So, thank you ladies for your dedication and your support to our schools. Thank you. We have gifts in a few minutes. Okay. Um, let's see. This month is also schoolboard appreciation month and so we are recognizing our very own DCPS school board members. We are thankful for each of you. Being a board member requires long hours, careful decision making, and a willingness to navigate complex issues. To our two youngest leaders, Janice, who is absent, and Jake Everett, thank you for bringing an essential and powerful perspective to our school board. Your voice matters, and through your participation, you are learning firsthand how governance works. On behalf of our students who um benefit from safe, supportive, and engaging learning environments, our teachers and our staff who feel supported in their work, and

046our families who trust our schools with what matters most to them, Reverend Dwayne Walker, chair, Miss Barbara Pitman, Vice Chair, Dr. Elaine Pearson, Miss Mary Benjamin, Mr. Jason Brown II, Janice Green, Jake Everett. We say thank you. I hope you enjoy your gifts. We put some thought into it. It's going to keep you nice and warm and it's made specially for you. For Reverend Walker and Jason, um you're going to be hip with the young guys because you have quarter zips in your bag. Okay. At this time, um, like I said, we have passed out gifts and at this time, I think we'll have other school administrators to please come forward with their gifts and if they have something to say, please come forward. board, Dr. Weston. Um, I don't know how I got nominated

047to be the spokesperson for this, but I told him I would go ahead and do it. We would just like to um say thank you so much for your support and everything that you do for our schools. And um the principles came together and we have a little bit of something for you. So once again, thank you for for your support throughout the year. >> Thank you. We also wanted to let you know that um you should look closely in the bag because there is a little bit of money that lovely little gift in there that um you can spend at the the best store in America, >> the general store. >> Yes. So, make sure you look closely in your bag for that. And then there's also something from each school. So, we kind

048of combined it, went together. So, you'll see lots of goodies in there and cards from um each of the seven schools. >> Wonderful. >> Okay, gotcha. >> Thank you so much. Um at this time, um >> we'll have comments from the board about all the things we've seen and heard over these last few moments. >> Um Dr. Pearson, are you okay if we start down there with you? >> Certainly. Certainly, I have enjoyed all the presentations. I was delighted to hear how enthusiastic some of our teachers are after they've been doing it for 34 years, they still show up the next day and give everything they've got. Personally, having had 34 years in education, I was with you all the way. That first September when the buses rolled and I wasn't on my way to

049school, I cried. I think it actually took me the whole month of September before I decided that it's okay. I can stay at home. I can still go to a game. I can still go up and walk through the halls. I can still serve on committees. I moved to Denwitty and I pretty much was at home. But I am so glad to have the opportunity to serve district 1 as their schoolboard representative. And I thank you all so very much. >> We all have such respect for our teachers of the year. It's uh when you're nominated and selected by your not only the principles who who are your supervisors but your peers and the children that you have taught and the parents that that whose children you have um dealt with. It says so much

050about not only your teaching abilities and your experience but it speaks volumes to your dedication and your character. So thank you so much for those of you that have been been selected. I'd also like to say to the CTE department, we are seeing um growth every single year and expansion and changes and that's what we need to do in this world of work and get students um qualified to either go to work, go into the military or go to college and we have made great strides in that over the years through through your leadership in the CTE department. And um to the spelling bee people, I just uh I don't even compare. >> I do well if I can get it right with spell check. So I have so >> so much respect for those

051children who can spell like that. >> Thank you. >> Okay. Good evening to everybody. I mean this recognition month is can be summed up in one word. Awesome. because when you're done with it, there's so much to say and we will be here a very long time. >> Awesome teachers and staff, awesome parents, awesome students and it all has been shown here tonight and I just thank you and appreciate each of you. >> Just recovering from a cold so bear with me. Um, but I guess I'll start with a little bit of vulnerability. when I came into our uh close session for the school board meeting, I wasn't in the best of moods today. Um, and I started to think back on some of my experiences while serving on the board. And sometimes it can

052be so frustrating when you want to have everything perfect, a perfect classroom, a perfect school, a perfect school system in a really imperfect world. I think parents can see that often when you're trying to raise your kid and give them the perfect environment. And then there are things outside of your control that tend to jeopardize all of that. Um, so sometimes I've had that frustration of wanting everything to be just right for our students and our families and then just something something comes up right and it's outside of my control. But all of that is kind of undone when I start to see our teachers who are committed to it. I've only been on the board for this is my third year and we've got teachers that have served 34 plus years. Teachers that have

053served 50 plus years, 60 I can't remember what the highest was when we uh had a retirement party. But that being said, there are people that are committed to it. And if they're committed to it, if they're just as committed to our students, um you know, that should encourage me and the rest of the board to do the same. Um, and I know that what we do can be very stressful work, but it's really only a fragment of what our teachers are experiencing, especially being on the front lines. So, if there is anything that we can do to help out our teachers, please let us know. Please let me personally know. I'd be more than happy to help out um to spelling me winners. I I love the spelling be. Um, I was a winner

054when I was a kid and um so I always like look forward to it every year and I wish they had it for adults. Give us a think I'd be pretty good at it. No. >> So, if anyone wants to sign up for that, let me um definitely congratulations to the both of you. Um and then for the CTA recognition, excuse me, CTE recognition and Rani, um thank you for the work that you're doing with our students there. Um I I know that when I was going through Dwitti schools, Rwani's uh had started to have some sort of a reputation of um just being like an alternative school, right? Um, and I have seen that because of the programs that we're putting in place and because the teachers we have in place there, it's becoming

055something where kids are saying, "This is the school for me." Um, and when you're able to say, "This is the school for me. This is the teacher of the year. This is my calling." Um, using language like that really shows that Denwi has something different that a lot of other school districts don't. So, um, thank you for that. Yeah, like Miss Benjamin stated, it is appreciation uh week. I don't know if I deserve all of these nice gifts we got over here. Um, thank you for letting me serve on this board. And I just want to give another another thank you to Dr. Leup, Miss Clary, and Miss Wolf for all the work they're doing with the CTE. Um, and uh I just want to have another huge shout out to our teachers and round

056of applause because they do don't GET APPRECIATED. YEAH, I would um just like to echo everything here. I I would like to thank um personally Dr. Lethrop. It's been a pleasure to be able to work with you. Uh he I get to be the superintendent of record for Rowanti and I think he thought he was going to get rid of me, but then when you stepped up to be the board chair, he has to put up with me for a whole another year now. So, uh we're going to continue to do work on the f creating the future over there. As far as the CT recognition, um you know, the work that we do is about what happens the day after graduation. Um and so everything that Jamie and Carly um and the team are

057working on is so very very important for young people because we want them to be opportunity ready. We want them whatever they decide to do, we want them to be ready for that. Um I was really surprised because I I thought Ariana I thought she worked at Dwight High School because every time I go there, she's got a different job over there. and she's always greeting people in the office. So, um, but I was excited to see that you're going into elementary education. So, we do have to make sure we sign her up before she leaves us to go to college. And then I saw Chloe, you want to be a surgeon, and I was just wondering, you had that on your arm. I've learned from you've been practicing. Just wanted to be certain that,

058you know, not to do that, you know, but it was um, but our young people general's on the job. I love that. and to see Annette Nicholas here. She's uh works for the county, but we do have such a great partnership with our county. Um and it it really is helpful for us to have um that support. I love that we're able to to collaborate on so many efforts because we all benefit as a community uh when we invest in the young people here in our community. So, I'm really appreciative of that. I believe that nothing in this school organ this school system is my time up. Is that you? >> Okay, I'm I promise Miss Sims I'm wrapping up right now. Um, the most important place that the work happens is inside our classrooms

059with our teachers. There's no other more important place. Um, and I'm so so very grateful for the teachers that we have in front of our young people. Um, and I'm grateful for their dedication. Um, for their service, um, for their they stick with it. Um, they care for our young people. You're absolutely right, Miss Brockwell. We have to love them first. Um, I had I was most recently in Miss Brockwell's classroom and so I did get to experience firsthand that classroom is truly a community. They call each other friends in there. Hello friend. I mean they the way they talk to one it's just it's such a beautiful beautiful experience. And so I just loved hearing it through the students lens. I love Miss Klein Taylor hearing what that young per young people call you

060and that how they talk about you. they don't forget. And I think teachers don't get to see um the evidence of the influence you have on a kid's life until much later. But I'm here to tell you that I will tell you that every educator, every one of us probably are sitting here where we are today. And we can give that to um that's a testament of teachers, people that have invested in us and spoke into our lives. And so if you have a chance to tell a teacher that you appreciate him, please don't forget to do that. And then finally, I just want to say that um we would not as a school district be who we are if we didn't have these board members um that we have because these are truly servant

061leaders. They believe in young people. They believe in grown people and they walk the talk every single day. Um and um um Jake had the opportunity to go um did you Anjeneise Juan Engine went to the U Virginia School Board Association and he said that when they came back they said that they got to hear from other young people talk about the school boards and then to come back and say man we love each other. We get along great here. It was so so different because across the Commonwealth it isn't always that way. They didn't get along. So, it is such a pleasure to work with people who truly know what their purpose is and they live in and they live it and they work in it every single day, isn't it, Jake? And so,

062I just want to say that we all appreciate you as a school board uh leading us every single day and leading us with heart. So, thank you for that. >> Thank you. >> I uh I would like to thank uh Miss Rainey, of course, Miss Goldston before her and Dr. Weston for the work that they do to um put together the agendas for our meetings um every month because they have consistently as long as I've been on the board and I think for years before that uh made uh student and staff recognition a part of our monthly meetings. Um and my colleagues on a number of occasions over the past three years have mentioned that this is their favorite part of our board meetings. Um and I would echo that sentiment. Um sometimes when we

063come out of uh closed sessions where very intense discussions are had um you kind of question why did you volunteer for this? Why did you sign up for this? And then you come in here and you have students and teachers stand in front of you and you're reminded this is why we're here >> and um you're reminded that there is a lot of good happening. So I really appreciate the work that's done to make that a part of our uh agenda each month. I think it's intentional but I think it's appropriate and it's important. um you know, we we exist for the purpose of students. >> Yeah, >> that's why we're here. That's our purpose. And so, it's good to see students succeeding, to see people in a work study program that's setting them up

064for success after school. Um to see students achieving things like spelling be champion Gabriel. Uh the first time the first time that I ever sat in front of this room was not two and a half years ago. It was in the spring of 1987 in a spelling bee and uh on three occasions I represented our county in the state spelling be I'll tell you a fun story. >> So um >> in uh >> in 1992 we'll have a showdown here. In 1992 I was in the last seven in the state of Virginia the state spelling be and the young lady that sat next to me was a young lady named Amanda Go and she won the national spelling bee. >> Wow. and was on the Jay Leno show that year as a national spelling be

065champ. So, what an awesome experience that was for me. And you're you're you're the next one. I look forward to seeing you and Megan do well in the spelling be and and going forward. Um but just seeing kids succeed, um it makes all the other stuff worth it. >> It does. >> And uh as much as the students are our purpose, I think it's important to note that the teachers are our heartbeat. U we have a lot of moving parts in this organization but the most important part is the teachers. >> Yeah. >> We don't serve our purpose if we don't have teachers. And I firmly and strongly believe that the teachers that we have in Denwitty are the best. >> Um and so we had some of the best up here in front but

066there are a handful of the best sitting in the seats today that didn't get up in the front. We don't have enough plaques to go around. Um and it's unfortunate that we have to pick sometimes. Uh, and we picked good ones, >> but there's lots of good teachers in this room and lots of good teachers not in this room that serve the students of Denwy. And so, um, that's, if I'm being that's why I serve. >> I serve for students and teachers. Um, that's that's that's my passion in in this position is to, um, do the best that I can to make sure that students and teachers have what they need and feel the support, they feel heard, and, uh, so we're grateful for you and thank you for being here tonight. Uh we really

067appreciate you. We have some more business that we have to take care of unfortunately and it is part of our open session. Uh and so you're welcome to stay but I know a lot of you don't want us to stay and so we're going to give you an hour. We're going to take a three-minute recess 3 to 5 minute recess so that you can slip out if you don't want to stay for the business and uh also so that uh Miss Robinson Williams can get some pictures in the hallway. So if you need to step out at this time we'll have a threeminut recess and uh we'll reconvene after that. Call the meeting back to order at this time. >> Mr. Chair, I move that we approve the expenditure report as presented. >> Second. >>

068Okay. It's been moved and seconded that we approve the expenditure reports that have been presented to us tonight. All those in favor say I. I. >> Any opposed? The motion carries. >> Mr. Chair, I move that the minutes of January 13, 2026 be accepted as written. >> Second. >> All right. It's been moved and seconded that we approve the minutes from January 13, 2026. All those in favor say I. >> I. >> Any opposed? >> That motion carries. Now, we have some board matters before us. first uh and improvement plans and grants for federally. Dr. Clay, >> good afternoon or good evening. Now, >> um I'll be presenting with Kevin Walker, our grants coordinator. So, this evening we are going to speak to you about school improvement plans and grants and kind of go through

069this process. Um, new this year from VDOE, the school improvement plans for federally identified schools do have to be approved by the board. So, you were given earlier each school's plan. There's a packet uh for the three schools uh for you to review. We're going to go over the main points of this in our presentation. So for our school improvement just in general uh we have talked about this before when we talked about the new school performance framework that there are certain schools based on the school performance framework and federal guidelines that the Virginia Department of Education federally identifies. Okay, this process did change uh a little bit this year whereas generally it used to be it was just about the pass rate for students in reading and math. This year they are using the

070Virginia school performance framework. Um so I just want to briefly explain that to you with this slide. So what the Virginia Department of Education has done with the new school performance and support framework is they are looking at what they call CSI schools which are comprehensive support schools based on federal identification across the state. Okay. They look at the school performance framework indicator scores for the highest performing CSI elementary school in this case and those scores are here on this slide. So this these performance scores are from the highest performing comprehensive support school. And if any elementary schools subgroup scores fall below this in all three areas, reading, math, and science, they are then federally identified for that subgroup. Okay? Uh we can talk about that more later if you want to and you can

071ask questions at the end, but just want you to understand that has changed a little bit. So for Denwiny County Public Schools, we do have three elementary schools that are federally identified um for the subgroup of students with disabilities and that is Denwin Elementary, Southside Elementary, and Southerntherland Elementary School. And just a reminder, the Virginia Department of Education has chosen for those three schools to drop their performance label one label. Okay, that is a choice that they have made. So when a school is federally identified, we do call that school improvement. There are some requirements that are now written into Virginia code. All right. So this slide kind of outlines those requirements and so they are written into the law. Now um needs assessment, a multi-year school plan, which is what we're going to go

072over this evening. The plan has to be created not in isolation but in partnership with internal and external stakeholders. at the school level. Um, schools must have at least two evidence-based interventions included. Again, it has to be approved by the local school board and it will be published then on the school division and the school's websites. The plans have to be um forward- facing and the plan must then be monitored by the school division. For the multi-year school plan, it is a three-year plan that they have written. Um, and their components would be a three-year goal, measurable objectives, and action steps in the area of reading, math, and science. Because if you remember that previous slide, they're not just looking at reading and math anymore. It's all all three of those content areas. Science has

073been included. They must include progress monitoring methods. So, how are we going to check that this is really happening and having the impact we want, basically, right? um measures of success for each action step must be included. Again, the evidence interv um interventions, evidence-based interventions for reading and math, science, they just have to have action steps. U the way the department of education looks at evidence-based interventions, the sites they have us use do not include science evidence-based interventions. Okay? And then strategies in general for science improvement. So, we will start with Denwiny Elementary Schools. uh plan. Again, you do have that in front of you. Uh what we're going to give you this evening is kind of the balcony view, the bullet points of what that plan includes. Okay. So, action steps or strategies that

074the school will put in place uh for students with disabilities for improvement will include professional development. Um they and they're already doing this. So, just so you know, um professional development on the reading and math evidence-based intervention. You see their EBI. So, if you hear me say EBI, it's about that evidence-based strategy um that works for student improvement. Uh there'll be PD on specially designed instruction for students with disabilities and just in general engaging hands-on activities that are aligned to the standards of learning, just good instruction. Uh administrators will meet with teachers during their professional learning community time. They're going to look at data. They're going to talk with teachers about the implementation of the strategies, get feedback from teachers, and see if the PD or the professional learning time is being implemented. Uh teachers

075and administrators will focus on lesson planning, lesson preparation, instructional delivery that's evidence-based, engaging, and again when you hear this, some of these action steps, we are saying, well, this is not new. Nope, it's just good instruction. So it's all of this is not things that are new to our staff. Exceptional education teachers and co-teers will participate in a book study on speciallydesed instruction. So specially designed instruction is instruction, you know, that works for students with disabilities. Instruction for students with disabilities should look a little different, right? Based on their IEP goals and uh things of that nature. All prek through fifth grade students are going to make math and science bags to take home that include a book, a science activity, a math activity because part of this is about family engagement um to help

076students. Teachers and staff uh will provide opportunities again for family engagement. They have a math night planned a little further down. They're going to have a science week and a science fair and a science night. I will say for Denwiny Elementary, those science activities and and their intentional focus on science created great gains for them last year. So, they're just continuing that work um because it is it it is working. Uh there'll be support for them from collaborative teaching and learning group CTLG. So, this is a consulting agency that's Virginia based um that works with schools across the state on um aligned engaging instruction. So, they will come in for math and science support, do observations with their administrators, and then sit with teachers during PLC to have discussions on, hey, what's working, what's not

077working, how could you do this in a more effective manner. And then the last two bullet points are just about the implementation of the steps will be monitored and how that will occur. Um and the school leadership team will meet regularly to go back to this plan. It's a living document. So they may have to make adjustments um to that plan. So they will come back to it. Um some of these steps are the same for every school so I won't read them all again. So basically many of the steps each school was doing because again it's things that are already working professional development time and PLC data review um lesson preparation that's aligned to the standards of learning. Um Southside also has a family focused science and math night that will be held that

078will have activities that are aligned to those EBIs, those evidence-based interventions uh to help families and show families how to help their children at home. Um, Southside, this one step is a little different from Denwy Elementary. Teachers in grades K5 will integrate that evidence-based literacy intervention into science. Okay? And they're going to do that through science trade books that are aligned to the standards, anchor charts, graphic organizers with that focus on decoding and comprehension. um CTLG is still in there and again the monitoring piece for them and the fact that their team will meet and come back to this plan and talk about the impact and look at data that is the same. So lastly, Sutherland's um plan. Again, a lot of these steps are the same because they're things that are already in place,

079a focus on lesson planning and preparation. Southerntherland will host a family focused STEM in the gym night as part of this to engage students and families again hands-on standards aligned science investigations and um math problem solving experiences to help with those skills. Um they are also uh integrating those reading or literacy EVIs into science with the trade books that we talked about. So kind of cross content and again those last three steps CTLG and how it will be monitored are the same. Okay. Then I will turn it over to Kevin for the money piece. >> Okay. Greetings board member >> members. Uh I have the pleasure of uh going over with you the funding. Right. We have the plan in place. uh we have been afforded the opportunity to get supplemental help uh from our

080state. So with this school improvement grant under section 103 funds which is a supplement to title one uh it is to supplement uh a title one grant that we currently already have. So this is a an additional piece to the title one part. All right. Um and these funds are awarded to local education uh uh local educational agencies or LEA uh and competitive bases to support efforts to improve the students outcomes that our school has been identified as targeted support and uh improvement. Uh activities supported with these funds must be consistent with the school's multi-year plan which Dr. Clay has already gone over. The schools already have plans in place and what they plan to implement. Um and under the ESA section of uh 10003 you know LEA EAS must assure that each identified school

081uh we serves the section uh funds will re the funds that we're receive all state and local funds it won't have uh received in the absence of the section 103b right so we're already using local and state funds to do what we need to do but as I stated earlier this is a supplemental piece of it. Okay. >> Oh, I'm going the other way. Okay. Sorry. All right. And as we are targeted support and improvement award, we can receive up to 45,150 per school. Um, and the period of performance of the award will run from October 2025 through September 30th, 2026. and the improvement all award school improvement grant funding we must have that encumbered by the end of September and all reimbursements uh put into the state system by the 15th of November. What

082can we spend it on? allowable uses of these funds uh which are already built built into the plan as as far as instructional interventions uh staffing and professional development that we'll be heavily using student support uh anything that we need there assessments data monitoring and any family engagement piece that the plans are stating that we will be uh doing for per each school. And this is an overview. These next few slides will be an overview of how the schools have built their budgets uh and what they have in their plan and everything is based on the EBI what we the EBI what we have uh per school uh breakdown. So as of right now Dway Elementary has budgeted $36,411. Uh she intends to use personal services for her working book study. Along with that goes

083employee benefits and then her supplies and instructional materials which she'll be using to purchase books, student materials and classroom supports. And then her purchase services which we will be using CTLG for that for any additional instruction supports and interventions. Southside total budget is $41,9627 and how she will be utilizing her budget for her support plan uh which is purchase services which most of all of them are using CTLG for their instructional support. Then she will be purchasing supplies and materials as well to go along with those um science and math nights that they have planned in their plan. and anything else to support their overall plan. And lastly, Sutherland, which has budgeted $39,61.19, and she plans on using her budget as purchase services of $34,000 and then supplies and materials of $5,61.19. in our next

084steps. Uh like I said, this is new this year where we have to present to you all and get your approval of it uh in our multi-year plan supports and our school improvement grant application. We have to put the package together to submit that uh get the budget submitted to VDOE. Uh put all of that stuff together, which we plan to do tomorrow. Our multi-year plan supports posted uh on our divisional uh school website. Um each school of course implements and monitors the school year support plan and as well uh in any division monitoring of multi-year supporting plans through learning walks, principal checks, connects and stuff like that and goes with the school improvement grant funding spending monitor. I have the obligation and duty to monitor how we spend the funds, what we spending the

085funds on and make sure it's allowable and we're using the funds correctly. Any questions? >> I have a few questions, Mr. Walker. >> Yep. >> Forgive me because they're probably not good questions, but >> hope this is just uh just to help me understand. So, when did we get approved for this grant? >> Well, we have to submit the application. We've been identified, right? But the process is we have to go through this. We >> We're already spending the money though or how how does it Okay, so this starts next year. When is this going to start? This year once we go through this and then we submit everything to VDOE, it's a lag. I know the period of performance says one, but with you get federal funding, it's typically a year, right? So, we're

086on VOE's side. >> So, we'll start spending it this year. Yes. But this money isn't in our budget that we worked through with Miss Flemings. Okay. And so, the other question I have is it says that all the receipts and stuff have to be turned in by November or by fall of this year. So is this just for one because it's a multi-year plan. So will we get additional once we get in the system will we start getting recurring >> the target what we have been identified under the targeted uh support will just be this spending is a one-time amount of the 40 what what what we will be applying for but your plan and Dr. Clay can speak more to it is a continuing ongoing plan. >> And the reason I asked that is

087because if we create a plan that's based on having this money and then we don't have it next year and it's a multi-year plan. >> I can speak to that. >> Okay. That's that's the reason. >> So I mean generally a school should be creating a multi-year plan just like we have a strategic plan that's over multiple years. Correct. So schools I will say from VDOE the identification did not come until right before winter break. That's when we received the information from that. We're kind of in a waiting period because before they'll tell you what to do, they have a webinar and they want to send out information. That happened right after sometime after winter break, early January. We had to attend some a virtual session with them. Then they send all the information. The

088turnaround is like super quick. Um, but to your point about the multi-year plan, like CTLG support, it's only until from now until September. So that's one little piece of their plan. So the way they've written their plan is things like the professional development time, looking at data, PLC time, align lesson planning and preparation. Those are the things that will be ongoing. So the CTLG support or the family engagement night has to happen this year. And so then next year what their team will do if they're not federally identified which is the goal. Yes. Right. They still have to have a plan because every school has to have a continuous school improvement plan. Right. VOE just provides this beautiful template for us. But every year every school has to have a continuous school improvement plan. So

089what their team will do is come back together look at that data in May or June. Hey, yay. We're not federally identified anymore. What steps do we need to revise now? because we're still going to do things that work for kids because we're always in a state of improvement, but CTLG may not be a part of this anymore. And the way we may not be able to fund a big family engagement night like this through SIG, but we can do something a little different that doesn't, you know, cost as much money as that. It's a great question. >> So, the other I saw that we were approved, if I understood this right, for up to 45,000 and some change per school. None of our schools budgeted for that. Does that We don't get it unless

090we find a way to spend 45,000. We can't find a way to I I told you I have dumb questions, but >> No, it's it's not a dumb question, but you want to make sure you utilize what >> you don't want to take not spend it because we're going to have to write give them an explanation of hey, you asked for 451, right? Why Why didn't you spend the all of it? Okay. >> Okay. Perfect. So, >> so Dr. Clay in our in our MTSS meetings that I think the word that we started throwing around because of me is educ >> for the for the sake of people like me who don't speak that language. >> Sure. >> Um help me understand the connection between this or the lack of connection between this and accreditation.

091>> Oh absolutely. And it is different now. I mean we for for my whole educational career accreditation has been about so scores until now right >> so accreditation is about the standards of quality now >> so it's um it's a various things there's a whole list that we've provided you can definitely look at that list again and talk more about that but accreditation is about a checklist are your schools doing >> so is this on the checklist >> yes it is >> so this is this is for accreditation >> this is part of the accreditation If you're federally identified, there are some things in there because remember in the beginning of these slides, they've now written this into Virginia code for federally identified schools. So yes, absolutely it is there. >> One more dumb question.

092Did all this happen because of a new administration? Only reason I ask is is this something that in three months is going to go away because it's so >> so federal identification. We had schools federally identified for the past two years. >> So this isn't coming from VODE or is it coming from federal? um it's it's connected. So it comes from the federal government and then the state has to um basically what does that look like in your state? So for the past two years it's solely been about pass rate. So um there I can show you a website later that has the kind of the benchmark or the cut pass rate I would say for every subgroup in reading and math. And it's this plan that goes this year here is the pass rate.

093Next year it goes up. Next year it goes up. next year it goes up. So for the past several years that's how schools have been federally identified. Now Virginia is saying this is where the difference came this year. We have this new performance framework. So we're going to look at federal identification a little different because every school division that's a public school across the United States has federal identification. >> How Virginia is doing it is based on this performance framework. So they're saying with this these indicator scores, we're going to look at this differently. And that's kind of that slide I showed in the beginning where they are looking at the highest performing and they do this for elementary, middle, and high. We just don't have middle, our middle, and high school are not federally

094identified. Um, so they look at the highest performing comprehensive support school. Comprehensive support school is a form of federal identification, but it is the highest form. >> Why are middle school and high school not federally? >> Because they were surpassed the thresholds. >> So all of their subgroups. So remember for to be federally identified, they're looking at an indicator score in reading, math, and science. Okay? It's based on the highest performing CSI school. And so for to be federally identified, your subgroups, students with disabilities, white students, black students, multiple races, economically disadvantaged, those subgroups have to be below those thresholds in all three contents. So, we do have schools that are below the thresholds in maybe two content areas, but you have to be under those thresholds that they put out in all three content

095areas to be federally identified for that subgroup. Next year, the thresholds will be different. You're you're aiming at a moving target and you don't know what the target is. >> The only the only subgroup we have an issue with right now is students with disability. >> That's correct. >> Is that anyone with an IEP or >> our 504 plan? Okay. Okay. >> That is correct. And I was saying, you know, this is an issue across the the number of federally identified schools across the state has dramatically increased. Um, and we have work to do and you know, these are federally identified schools, but I want to remind us every school has a school improvement plan that they have to have every year. >> So, we're all working on how do we keep getting better for

096students every year? How do we, you know, um, do things that improve their outcomes? Those are great questions, Mr. Walker, by the way. I mean, they are >> No, it's okay because I think part of the reason we present these things is we want you to understand uh the work that's happening in our schools because people are working really hard. >> But the goal is to get out of school. >> That's that is the goal. >> Right. We don't want TO BE >> WE DON'T WANT THAT, you know, identify. >> That's right. One of the nuances of this is how big the group is. >> That's right. >> Well, it depends on the subs. >> Yeah, >> right. That's a great point too, Miss Pitman, because with this, you have to have at least 15

097students in the subgroup to get that indicator score. So, that's a great point as well. Any other questions this evening? >> Okay. >> And we're always here to answer questions, even if you think of some after this evening. >> Apples and two months ago, we were honoring schools for things they've done. Maybe turn around the next one. >> That's right. That's right. >> It's confusing, especially for people that don't speak the language. >> Sure. And I I mean, also a great point because I want to remind us that each of these schools had growth. >> Like um you know, Southside's on that list of the top five schools in Virginia for English learner growth. Um Jim Elementary, I can't remember the points right now, but their science growth was phenomenal. And truly with the new

098support framework, they're on track. contract, >> but federal identification bumps you down, >> right? So, they all have things to celebrate. This is just like like Mr. Walker saying, we don't want to be federally identified and we truly believe next year we won't be, but there's work to be done. >> Unfortunate. I mean, but it's fortunate and and unfortunate. You know, the federal government sends this money down. >> States say, "Hey, we'll set aside this piece of funding." >> I mean, because then there political Yeah. Really, >> you know. >> Wow. >> Well, I appreciate what you guys have helped me understand here. >> Absolutely. And I do also just want to say to our principles, assistant principles, and their teams that have worked on this, I mean, they're very dedicated to improving student outcomes.

099It's been a lot of hard work. Um, and and they're dedicated to improving and and so I just appreciate the true care that each of them has and their teams um for this work. So I can't let that go unnoticed. >> Any other questions? >> So we do need approval this evening. >> I move that we approve the multi school year support plans that have been presented. >> Second. >> All right. It's been moved and seconded that we approve the comprehensive uh compensation plan and we we need to approve the the >> School improvement plan. I have moved down a lot. Yeah. All right. So, >> I'm going to let someone else talk about that. >> Yeah. We haven't even heard that presentation yet. >> So, it's been moved and seconded. Am I right, Miss

100Pitman? >> Yes. >> That we are are approving the federally identified schools improvement plans and their grants. >> All in favor say I. >> I. >> Any oppose? >> Thank you so much. >> Thank you. And now the comprehensive classification and compensation plan study. >> Yes, ma'am. >> Good evening, >> Pastor Walker. I thought, wow, I didn't have to say a mumbling word and I am approved. Um but I'm here today to speak to you about our um comprehensive classification and compensation plan study that we would like to embark upon. Uh I would um like to start my comments by saying that um it's been an honor and a pleasure to work with Mrs. Jenna Ay who is our new finance and procurement specialist and it was great to be able to work alongside her

101as this being um one of her first projects in the procurement area. So I do want to um say great job to you Jenna and thank you to the finance team as well for helping this be um a seamless process for us. Um, but I stand before you today because I'm seeking your permission and approval for us to enter into a classification and compensation study. Um, as you all know, I stood before you here in December and we um got approval to raise our substitute rates as a result of the increase to the minimum wage that was effective January 1st of this year. And um we also know that there are plans to raise our minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2028. Um so we um it's pivotal that we have some support at

102this time through the classification and compensation study to help us be able to chart the future for how we will prepare for those potential changes. Um, in addition to these changes from the state level, uh, we also have had a variety of, uh, challenges such as market fluctuations and being able to attract and retain the best talent in several key positions that we have here within the school division. Um, our last uh, compensation study was in 2021 and industry recommends that we do a new study every 3 to 5 years. So, um, we're at that point in time where it's time for us to revisit it again. So, um, what we're asking for in this compensation and classification study is to look at our unified pay plan scale as well as our bus driver scale

103and to um provide recommendations about our um, degree supplements among other things. Um we had about 18 offers that uh or proposals that were submitted in our um request for proposal and from those 18 we narrowed it down to six um companies that met our um evaluation process. We did those interviews on January 15th and then from uh those six interviews Baker Tilly Advisory Group LP was uh recommended as our consultant for this study. So um we have moved forward um in the next step of the process which was the notice of intent to award that was uh put out on Friday. We have a 10day uh waiting period that we must allow. So after that waiting period expires, we would ask that we would have your permission to move forward in having conversations with

104Baker Tilly towards us um being able to complete the classification and compensation study. Our hope would be is that we would be able to uh provide some recommendations within um next year's budget proposal. So that would be FY2028. Uh, so this would give us, you know, um, good opportunity to have, you know, some a launching pad, so to speak, to be able to thoroughly address our, um, needs and concerns and be able to come back with to you with a wellthoughtout recommendation. >> Is this a company we've used before? >> We actually have. Um, they were under a different name previously. They were under the name of Springstead. Um but though um Springstead was acquired by Baker Tilly. Um they worked with us back in was it 2016 or 2018? >> Originally 2008 >> 2007

105we did a study >> but it was it was never implemented due to the recession. >> Right. >> And then they did um circle back in like 2016 2017 >> with with some consulting. >> Yeah. Yes. And so um we feel comfortable because they already have some familiar knowledge um with their school division and with some of the challenges that we have. Um they also have the tools that we can be able to use to sustain us after the study is completed um for when we get into um challenging situations um such as the market fluctuations that I talked about and being able to be competitive. um we'll be able to have some of um those tools that we can use to help us be able to make decisions in the moment on, you know,

106what would be the best for us. >> Are there any additional questions? >> No, I think we need this. >> Ready for motion? >> Mr. Chair, I move that we um accept the report from um coming from Miss Branch comprehensive class classification compensation plan study and um approve that they move forward with it. >> Second. >> All right. So, it's been moved and seconded that we approve the comprehensive classification and compensation plan study with Baker Tilly, right? Is that >> Yes. >> All in favor say I. I >> any opposed? The motion carries. >> Thank you, Miss Branch. >> Good evening again. >> Um, so as you know, there's been some snow. I do want to start with whoever is like wearing backwards pajamas, flushing ice cubes down the toilet, praying for snow. You have

107great prayer. The Lord is listening. Please stop. Okay? >> Please stop. Take down your snowflakes, your snowman. All right? >> So, um we have missed quite a few days. As you know, our 2526 calendar did include nine bank days, uh, which is about 54 instructional hours worth of bank time, meaning a little extra time built in as a cushion. We have exhausted that time. Um, we missed four days uh for weather in December, in January, five more days and that that was it for us, but somebody kept praying. Um, so then February 3rd and 4th were also missed. And then there was a two-hour delay on February 5th. Remember, because we go with the hours, not the days. Anytime we have an early release or a 2-hour delay, we have to subtract those hours from

108the calendar. Okay. So, we are past our bank time um by I believe 14 hours. And you have this bulleted list um that you were given in close session. So, we're 14 hours past our bank time. Then on top of that, um, Sunnyside did have to remain closed two additional days uh because of the water leak in McKenna. They did not have water. Um, so that's an additional time on top of the time the rest of our schools missed. FDOE does have a weather waiver process. We had to apply for a weather waiver last year for Dewity Middle School because they missed in excess of everyone else because of the boiler um issue, the fire. That process does require evidence of efforts where we have tried to make up time. Okay. So, we do need

109to try to restore some instructional time to our calendar because we are past our main time. Okay. Um we do not want to take spring break. So we don't we we're trying not to take those days. We don't have a lot of days off left in the calendar. There's one teacher work day and we do want to protect that if we can, right? We have one more work day and then we have spring break and Memorial Day. So in order to protect that time, what we are proposing this evening is to add 15 minutes to each day beginning February 23rd. We want to give everyone some time this week and next week to kind of figure out the transportation schedule, principles to figure out the schedules um in their building and parents and families to

110adjust. Um 15 minutes is minimal in the big scheme of things, right? Um but that 15 minutes, if we don't miss any more time and we begin February 23rd, it will add 2 and 1/2 days um or 15.25 instructional hours. So, we're we're making up that miss time. We're showing that effort. Um because we will have to submit a weather waiver for Sunnyside. That's still not going to make up their time. So, we will still have to submit that. And in that, we'll have to show our effort to make up time. Um with the 15 minutes being added, we'll add that to the end of the day. So, the new release times would be 3:45 for elementary, 2:30 for Denwiny High School, and 240 for Denwy Middle School. Um, and so this evening, what we

111are asking is your approval of that additional time just for this school year. So, from February 23rd until we end in May, we would add those 15 minutes to the school day. Questions? Are we still earning bank time as we are >> or that night that? >> No, ma'am. >> That was counting already. >> Yes, ma'am. That that was all the bank time we had built in. >> So, if we leave early or come in late, anything else was >> we will, but you know, I would say we just have to show the effort that we're trying. Like, we're not going to come back to you and say, "Can we know I had 30 minutes?" We're not going to do that. We just have to show the effort that we are trying to make up

112time >> and then we would apply to >> that's correct >> the waiver and again we're already going to apply for that waiver for Sunnyside Elementary >> and also the um you know what we wanted to do is to be as least disruptive day as possible and this do that >> I don't have a question I just want to state this publicly because I know this is going to be a hot button issue >> because anytime we change the schedule for parents >> I love this idea because with attendance being >> what is the word we use? U one of those boxes we have to check. >> Yeah. >> If we took away spring break, I know there are a lot of families who wouldn't send their kids to school during spring break. This is

113a great way for us to do this without >> and protect that time. >> Yes. >> Yeah. So I think it's a great idea for that reason alone. Um so >> I'll vote on that. >> Yes. >> Okay. And again as Dr. Weston said it is probably the most minimally disruptive we could be and still show that effort. >> I'd be interested in hearing if any of the principles here have any feedback on >> the way to dive into other days that are already supposed to be calendar. >> How does this affect paying the bus drivers? >> I don't think there's going to be an impact there. Um, but I know >> Yeah, I would say that um, you know, bus drivers when they have not worked over the break, they no, they have not

114been paid. So then now their pay will be now um, absorbed. I mean, they'll get their pay for these extra days, right? >> There isn't any extra days. It's not extra day, but they're going to be paid for the time in which they work. >> That's right. >> They're just going to start their routes. >> Yeah. >> So, they just shift their routes later. >> Well, they're still going to start at the same time every day. >> I'm talking about starting >> Oh, the afternoon later. Yeah. I don't think there's an impact there. >> So, they're not driving any longer. They're just driving at a different time. >> That's right. >> We're assuming with this though that the preference is to stay later than it is to come earlier. That would be my preference. But

115I mean, you don't think that would >> We WE DID TALK ABOUT THAT. We We absolutely We talked about several scenarios, just so you know, and I apologize. I feel like that it's a hot mic this evening. Um, we talked about that and we even talked about do we add five minutes in the beginning and 10 minutes at the end. And we just kind of came up with it was easier just to tack it on to the end because secondary already comes so early. um we didn't want to have those buses come even earlier for that group of students and plus the students that drive. We didn't want to tack that 15 minutes on the beginning for them either. >> So the the the one upside to doing it earlier and I'm not because I'm

116ready to vote in favor of doing I don't want to get up any earlier but um the one upside to doing it in the morning is it wouldn't disrupt spring sports >> because we already have an issue with getting drivers back for spring sports. But I we have more drivers. We we you there was a report I think at the last meeting where you shared that we have some teachers and administrators that got CDLs. Will some of them be involved in >> Yeah, very possibly. We just heard Mr. Gregory just got his >> right I don't want to steal a lot. >> Any other questions or comments? I'll take a motion. I move that we um accept the um new release times provided where we have to make up time for where we miss for

117snow and and second. >> It's been moved and seconded that we approve the updated uh calendar and instructional minutes for the remainder of the 2526 school year. All in favor say I. I. >> Any opposed? >> Thank you. >> Motion carries. Thank you, Dr. >> Thank you, Dr. >> Clay. >> Yes. Um, so we're going to start today um with a report from a task force. I I want to just give some background to folks sitting here today that and I'm gonna ask Dr. Clay to come here. I'm going to speak from here. I'm gonna Is that okay? And you'll be okay. We're gonna tag team this. >> Yes. Um, so last fall we had the opportunity to sit with a couple board members to just talk out loud about like what's keeping you up

118at night and um and we just, you know, I want to publicly thank um Mr. Brown and and Mr. Walker for being very candid with us about the things that keep us up at night relative to stu students and bullying and um things of that nature. And I will tell you, you know, we, you know, you always think that you got everything covered, but then, you know, people, you you bring people to the table and you go, I hadn't thought about that or we hadn't looked into that. And so, you know, just really appreciated. Um, I think you all raised questions for us that we had not explored. Um, and so what we we decided to do was to bring a group of people together of unlike minds really, and say, okay, what is it

119that we're really doing well? what do we need to do differently? And so tonight, we're going to bring this forward to you. At the end of the day, what we're trying to do is to make sure that we are providing a culture of care. Um, that our schools are safe and supportive for all of our students. Um, and we will not be satisfied until every student can say that. Um, and so, uh, we're happy to share that with you this evening. Um, the goal being that, um, we decided to focus on a couple of different areas. One is that we are going to ensure that the educational environments that we have are fostering a positive, inclusive, nurturing climates free from bullying, free from a harassment and free from discrimination. And that's a tall order. We

120have, you know, 4,000 students. Um, but we are committed to making certain that every student um whether it's in the data or not in the data that they feel safe when they come to school every single day. And we wanted to focus on making sure that every school is a place where there's strong trusting relationships for our young people where they feel emotionally safe and um and their well-being is, you know, we're cultivating making sure that they're feeling well. So, I wanted to show you here's members of the task force as it stands currently. Um as a result of the last board meeting, we've had another parent volunteer. I do believe that as the work continues, we will see more and more. But you can see some of the individuals here, parents, community members, um

121some people wear dual hats. They're a parent plus they work for us or um so we we've have several people here um that have been a part of this work since last fall. Um and we really have appreciated that. But this this is not the work's not going to be just finished with this once and done because you're going to see here that we still have a lot of work to be done. Um, so as with anything, we said, "Okay, let's let's take a look at what the data is telling us because, you know, I'm an optimist by nature." So I was like, "We don't have a bullying problem. We don't have a problem with this." But however, you know, I what I've learned is you've got to look at lots of different data sources.

122And while our incidents looking at every month you all get that report, you know, you look at the incidents for this whole school division, but you also get be able you can look at the incidents by each of the schools. And you can look on there and it'll say things like um we have what bullying. We had six incidents so far this school year under the definition how VDOE um defines bullying. So that says, wow, hey, we're doing really great. However, if you look at the incidents from our um that um we use the code of conduct with, we've had um 166 verbal altercations in which students are feeling intimidated, people are calling them names, um kids are uncomfortable. So, that's problematic for me, right? And those are things that I think when you talk

123to students, they would say, "I'm being bullied because >> that's their perception. That's my perception >> that's making me feel fearful when I come to school every day, right? That's making me worry about I I can't think about learning because I got to think about what they're saying about me, right? >> We've also had 186 physical kinds of incidents >> in which students have either been touched, um >> pushed push, >> shoved, bitten. >> There was like a whole list of things on there. >> The biting is normally our younger. >> The biting's younger, right? Yes. But, you know, somebody's bumping into me every day. Somebody, you know, and so if if that's if if I'm that student, I could see where I don't feel safe when I come to school every day if that's

124my experience, right? >> And then there's 13 that have been written. Usually, that's a lot of social media we're seeing. Um, and I will tell you at the secondary level, we do see lots of um cyber bully. There's a lot of cyber bullying that comes into play. Mondays are hard for us because after there's been a long weekend, um you know, a lot of that talking back and forth either on the phone or through social media can be um very troubling for us. So that's just using our code of conduct. >> Um and so that's troubling enough. Yes. >> Right. So, we also participate in um the youth prevention needs assessment, you know, and I gave you a copy of this for you to read. We will not go through it tonight, but I I

125want to draw a couple things to your attention. This Miss U Gil, she um she brings this to us every year. Our kids, middle and high school students, that's right, >> take this assessment once every five years. >> Once every five years. >> Thank you. Yes. Um and actually it's for the entire essential region. So you'll see there are other school districts in here, but it's only our data that she's reported in here for us. She does give us some for um comparable reasons. You know, you can see some of data of the other school systems, but you can see Denwitty County in here and areas of concerns for Denwitty County. Um there's also really kind of exciting things in here too that one of the things that I noticed in here in the two

126year 2000 our graduation rate was 70% in county >> in the year 2010 our graduation rate was 80%. >> In 2024 it's 91.3%. So there are some things that are happening that are really are really great in Jim Woody County. However, when you read this, the perception of high school students that say bullying is happening in my school at the high school level is 29.5%. Now, they don't necessarily say it's them being bullied, but they say 29.5% of the students say it's happening at the high school. 53.8% of the middle school students say it's happening at the middle school. Now it might not be happening to them but they say that it is they think it's happening. >> Even more worrisome for me is the mental health challenges of our students feeling of hopelessness. 34.5%

127of our high school students say at some point if as a high schooler they have felt helpless or hopeless. >> Hopeless. That's a lot of young people, right? And it they they don't go into a lot as to the reasoning behind it. They don't dig even further about that. But they but they do talk about, you know, we all know what can happen when somebody gets to a state of hopelessness. >> And so that is work for us there, right? So what are we doing about that? >> Um and at Dewity Middle School, 21.7% of our young people said they feel a sense of hopelessness. That makes me so sad, you know, that our young people either don't have somebody to go to, don't have the support structure, don't have the resources they need, are

128feel they just feel hopeless. And I can't imagine trying to come to school every day if that's where your headsp space is. Right? So that further told me that we we have work to do here. in addition to this survey and I do I do challenge you to take a chance to read because when I read that Angel sent it to us over uh when we were out for snow and I just said when we emailed back and forth I just said there's there's so many this hurts my heart and there's just so many >> there's so much opportunity in here for us but we got to get >> because it also talks about risky behaviors in general there are young people I was going to say there's some tough questions on that survey because

129we had to go through Carly was a part of that team every question and so some of it's about risk behaviors. So there are we do have work and there are a lot of concerns there. >> Yeah. It was interesting to me that um on the lower end like we think there's like drug problem in the community there >> based on this there really is not but they do talk about alcohol >> right um they what I want people to understand is schools are open systems and so whatever happens on the outside finds its way inside. >> That's right. >> Right. So, what you're going to hear in a minute is we need help to do this work. Yes. Because we can only do part of this work, >> right? We need community. We need

130families to join us in this effort because >> I don't go home with young people and keep them off the social media. And I'm, you know, I need help in that that regard. So, >> may I just add, we always say schools are a reflection of our community. >> Absolutely. So, I just want to reiterate that like this is this has to be a partnership with the community, which is where like an angel young guild comes in >> and our families and we'll talk more about that, but it truly has to be a partnership. >> Right. Well, one of one of the bills that's been proposed for this round of legislation is a bill that's mandating screening for 6 through 12, I think, mental health screening, >> but there's absolutely no money suggesting. >> You're

131going to hear that um our team is already working on that work. So, for us here, um Dr. Gar, he's still in the house. So, he's gone. I'm calling it into >> exist. You're calling it into existence. >> But we're working on that here. But you're right. Um there Yes. Um there's a lot of bills out there that there's no money attached to it that we're going to talk about at the budget. >> Can you explain the >> the purpose or the plan of the task force? >> Like what will they be doing? And then are we open to adding parent more parents and students to that task force? >> Absolutely. Absolutely. We have a student advisory at the high school. Yeah. We certainly are open to adding any more students or parents that would

132like to be a part of that. >> I think and I I believe Mr. Brown feels the same way I do. I think we need more students, especially in both. >> Absolutely. >> Um, >> and parents, >> especially I, you know, especially as we work through the parts that I was just speaking to, we do need student voice. And you're going to hear >> um Dr. Clay's going to talk. We're going to get to the student voice part of that and why that's so um critical. And I'm sure Jay can also speak to that, but yes, we welcome that. This is um a team that is going to continue to work. their charge will be to make certain that it's being implemented. Um, of course, it's going to have to be on the ground through

133principles, through the schools, but um they will be the kind of conduit in which this all goes through, right? >> Like how are we doing? What's the data saying? Are we seeing a difference in the surveys? Are kids telling us that's different? you know, and um and having people report back >> because you see I mean we have somebody I think from every we have somebody from every school on the team and they all all have different job functions >> but that's the purpose but we would welcome any student any more students that we can have. Absolutely. >> Yeah, of course. No, I was just going to add on top of that. Um I think well I don't think I know um >> when we had initially discussed this idea and everyone had an open

134mind of okay you know what is it that we can do uh what is it we should do >> and for me I know what was really driving my philosophy behind this is that it's the people who are impacted by an issue that are most set up to tackle that issue and bring it on That being said, you know, I really wanted to see something that would be studentled. Um the it's running off of the decisions that are made by students. It's guided by the students because I'm a product of you sit down and you tell the kids do this, don't do this, and it's up to them if they're going to follow that or not. And it goes in one ear and out the other. And I'll say that as a student who was

135bullied. I mean, there were a few times I picked home some other kids, believe it or not, but whatever advice or things were told to us, it was like, "Okay, this is a this is a dumb coloring book. What does dairy even mean? What why do you have this dog here?" You know, all this stuff. It it was uh inefficient. >> But when you have the students actually leading it and being able to say, "This is how it's impacting us. Let me tell you what I need done to help me." Um, I believe that's where we'll actually start to see something very innovative and very different than what other school districts are doing and what we're currently doing. >> Um, so that is my biggest concern is that, >> you know, I I don't want

136it to be something that students are added on to. I want it to be the students are leading this and they're capable of doing that. And I think that what qualifies them >> and what makes them capable of doing this is that they are the ones that are impacted by it. Um because I mean I'm what I'm 25 so I'm like eight years removed from the school system. You know I can't even go back to these kids and tell them hey this is what we shouldn't do and this is what we should do right because even in those eight years so much has changed to where you know I'm now my opinions are irrelevant. >> Um but whose opinions are relevant are the students that are being impacted by it and the students that are

137seeing it. And based off of those numbers up there, there's a lot of students, one in every two at the middle school and one in every three at the high school that can tell you, hey, I've seen bullying or I've been bullied. So, let me tell you how we can resolve that issue. I know I'm sounding like a broken record, but I really just want to drive home that something that is studentled. Like this, the students are doing this themselves, I think, will >> really set us apart from anything that's ever been tried before. I think it's important to also remember that we got to work on the perception of sometimes there is the perception that we're doing this right or we're doing this wrong >> and there's not um provable evidence but the perception

138is important >> if you think that that's what's going on then then we have to deal with it >> that's right but in in a lot of cases I know with the um the needs assessment from from being having been a principal when we give give those needs assessments and you talk to the kids, it's it's anonymous. >> Yes. >> And um >> yeah, the surveys are all anonymous >> and so you have to deal with the fact that it's you know you're asking a you know 14year-old boy these very intimate questions. Is it really all what's happening or is it the perception of what's happening? I think that's a great point that we have talked about a lot is yes there is a department of education definition of bullying that we go by when

139you look at those bullying incidents >> perception is important too >> it is but any type of unkind behavior I think that's where we stand anything that's not kind is not okay >> right >> so even if it doesn't meet the definition it doesn't mean it's acceptable behavior so that's what we're working towards is how do we help our students understand that that kindness piece and the dos and don'ts and um to your point I mean students being involved in that work is important. Um so that's definitely something we can we can add to this. >> Well that's what I'm saying is that I think the being involved part I would say that's the bare minimum. It has to be studentled >> and that's what I meant. I apologize for my wording but that's what

140I meant Mr. Brown is, you know, we do have a few students on this task force, but you know, absolutely making it look a little different and more studentled is something we can do. And as you were saying that, I even wrote down what does the studentled part look like outside of this task force because it has to trickle down to the schools. And I do believe most of our schools have like a student advisory or things like that that can also be involved in this. And what does this work look like in action in every school as well? So when we get to pillar three, it's about student voice and engagement. And the definition of that is allowing students to share their expertise and take on leadership roles so they become agents of change

141rather than just compliant learners. >> And I think that's what you're trying to say is that you want them to lead it, >> lead the change here in the school district and be the leader of it versus >> us making those decisions for them. >> Well, yes. Yeah. But I mean there are like questions that I mean we haven't even gotten through the presentation. Yeah. >> You know I don't I don't know what's going to come up but >> there are questions that we're answering that I believe are better posed to the students and allowing the students to answer those questions for us. So you you asked the question of >> you know how do we implement this in the schools? >> We'll talk to the students and ask them how we can implement this

142in the schools. I'm not saying you, but just, you know, that's how I would respond to that because >> I mean, the students have to be the ones to tell us how we should resolve this issue that is impacting them. >> You know, there could be a hundred bullies in Dwey Middle School for, you know, all that we know. And >> none of us are going to be bullied by those students. I mean, some kids may like, you know, laugh at us or, you know, say whatever, but I mean, that's just kids being kids. But uh you know because we're not the ones that are being impacted by it, I think that whatever ideas we can come up with are never really going to match up to what the students would be able to come

143up with to again address this issue that's impacting them. And I think that that just goes across the board for for any >> change, positive change we try to roll out for people, right? Like if we want to say we want to do better for our students with disabilities, I wouldn't say let's put together a task force of individuals who aren't disabled or you know what who are removed from that situation and let's make these decisions. Right? You would want the students who have those disabilities to be able to tell us what they need for things to be better for them. Right? Same thing goes for black students. I mean, what is it? Race up there, 21.7%. And you know, I know we have a GSA or whatever at the high school and physical appearance.

144I mean, like you you have to bring in the people that are being impacted by it. So I I again I apologize for sounding like a broken record and I don't want to drag this on but I just I don't want us to miss such a ripe opportunity to resolve an issue that I had like everyone was telling me about it before I became a school board member that like I didn't even want to talk about bullying but then when I found out that everyone's bringing this issue up to me okay this has to be made an issue or not made an issue it has to be made a conversation u and something that we do need to tackle and I just don't want us to miss the opportunity of doing it right, doing it

145in a way that other school systems are able to look at Dinguy and say, "Hey, they resolved an issue that we couldn't get under control. And if they got it under control by doing something that none of us ever thought of, none of us ever thought to give the power to the students and let the students tell us what needs to be done, you know, and I'm not saying let the students go crazy, you know, anarchy all over the place." >> And Mr. around. You and I talked about this last last year when you and I met >> and my because I hear what you're saying and I >> I think it sounds great what I'm I'm struggling to connect the dots though like on how do we get get there? >> Um I guess

146the best example I can use in my home like I want to empower my own kids because one day they're going to leave my home and they're they're going to lead their own lives. But there there's lines I have to draw where I can't let them decide what we eat every day because if they did, we'd be eating Little Debbie snacks and you know what I'm saying? So So I I want to empower them, but I also have to give guidance to them. That's right. >> And so that's what I'm struggling with. I hear what you're saying and I love the idea, but in my mind, I'm struggling to connect those dots. How do we get to that place and still have structure and order that allows us to um serve the purpose that we're

147in the building to serve? Um so I'm not telling you I disagree with you. What I'm telling you is I would love to hear more conversation about how do we connect those dots? How do we give them that without, you know, for example, I just come home and say, "Okay, I'm I'm going to do what you got." Because if if I did what my son said, I wouldn't go to work. we would be going to the go-kart, you know, go-karts one day a week and we'd be going to the bat and cage three days a week and we, you know, so I I that's where I'm struggling. And so, it's not that I disagree with you. It's just that I still haven't been able in my own mind to connect those dots. And I think

148there's a lot of people that are in that same place. We want that, but we don't know what it looks like in real time. >> Sure. And I mean, you definitely want to be reasonable. I guess an analogy I would give is I mean, I'm no parent, so I don't really know how this would work. But if I were to have kids and and they were complaining and not cleaning up the house or cleaning up, you know, whatever their messes were and and all of that, I found that that was difficult to take care of. Okay, let me sit them down. Why is this so difficult for you to want to clean up? >> Right. Is there just do you feel as if there's no point to it? Do you not see why you should

149clean up after yourself? You know, just having that conversation. Okay, I hear what you're saying. This is what needs to be done. let's maybe figure out a system that works for all of us so the house stays clean and you know how to clean up after yourself, right? I think that's reasonable. Again, I'm not a parent, so if you think >> and I I don't I don't disagree with you. I just think um it's something that, you know, I say this all the time to people that I work with. We live in a world that wants simple answers to complicated questions. >> And 99% of the time, it just doesn't work out that way. And so I think this is one of those really complicated questions that we're not going to find a simple answer

150to. But that is not an excuse >> not >> to just turn the page and ignore the question. I think we have to answer the question and I like the direction that we're going. >> I just I feel your frustration and I'm frustrated in the sense that >> um I was hoping to I saw a lot of titles up there when I saw the task force. Now you guys are mentioning there are several students. I only saw one student up there, but maybe there are others that just weren't named for privacy or what I don't know, their minors, whatever. But, you know, I I wanted to see more students, but you're you're approaching it a little bit different. You wanted students to take the lead. >> So, I'm in I'm I'm I'm on the same

151wavelength maybe, but you know what I'm saying? Um, so I think we're moving in the right direction and I'm encouraged by that. >> Could I interject into this conversation? I read ahead in the plan that he's presenting and if you go to page five of your handout, there's a slide on student voice and engagement and it talks about the fact that we want within this program to create strong student leadership. >> Now, in order for any organization to function, the leadership has to be strong. So you can't just appoint anybody or allow any student to suddenly lead a group. They need to know what they're doing. And if you look at the strategy here, they're going to develop that. Once they develop that within the students, then you will have more student involvement, more student

152engagement because they're ready to take on those roles. If you put them into those roles too soon and they fail, they might never step into one of those roles again. And we don't want them to leave our school system thinking that they're failures at leading a group because there's so many opportunities out there to be a leader. >> So, I think this one helps. You get an input. Jason's um uh suggestion of that getting information from the kids that have been bullied is very valid. Well, just kids in general. They don't have to be the ones that are bullied. I mean, because like I said, one and three and one and two for the middle school and high school. >> These are kids that feel it's happening. >> Yeah, they said they happen. What Dr.

153Weston's point earlier in the evening was in in u Mr. Walker's point is it's a very complicated issue. So, the solutions are not just in the students. We have parents input, community input, teacher input, student input and each one of those uh is a different facet of this problem. Um there are kids whose parents um are very loud about bullying and then there are other people who are not. I mean you it's such a complicated problem that it's multi-layered and there is no simple solution but having different programs in different grades having layers of programs having uh a consistent approach that what happens at this grade what happens at this grade this is where we have them participate in role playing. This is where we have them um working in groups with guidance that if

154they've been bullied or how to how to comport themselves when they have been bullied. All of those are just little pieces and we do have a lot of stuff in place. Um >> and different schools have different different pieces in place and um you know what works with some kids doesn't work with other kids. >> So I mean it is it's multifaceted and very complicated and so we have to have layers of how we approach this problem. >> And to that end I think what I would like to see and I hope this is kind of moving in the direction of what Mr. Brown is requesting is I don't think we have clear terms and objectives. So like the goal we're all saying we want you know our goal is no bullying in our schools.

155That's a moving target and it's not a real clear target and uh I try to because I'm not an you know I'm not a real super intelligent guy. I don't think I I live by the KISS method or the KISS philosophy. Keep it simple stupid. So like the simpler we can make the terms like can we like set a goal not to use a single VDOE acronym or word let let's just use words the kids are using >> simplify the terms and clearly state the objectives like like I think Mr. Brown and I talked about having a like one of the clear objectives is to have a place or a person that every student can go to anytime they feel threatened or bullied or something like that. You know, that's um >> I think that's

156the beginning. I don't I don't know that that's the end. So I would just um so maybe if we get through the whole presentation >> because I think you're going to hear some of that and um and then at the end we could you might have some of your questions answered and then >> but I think that what's happened is the data for me I think >> it's doing the same thing that it did for us when we first saw it. >> Um so if we could just get through this part of it and then I think we can come circle back and say okay now what do you want us to do? >> And I also just want to say this is a beginning point. >> Yes. So this is a beginning point a

157committee you you know anyone that's been on a committee or done any work it doesn't have to be an education knows you can't have a hundred people on a committee. Yeah. >> Right. So, this is a beginning point and I think the thought process of this is we weren't just looking at bullying. We're looking at safety and culture and security from a broad standpoint, right? And then the goal would be absolutely I think we need to come up with some clear objectives and all those pieces and then maybe it has to trickle down to the school level and maybe that's where the studentled part comes in. Okay, we have these objectives now with that student group. let's work on what does this look like an action in our building um because I think that's where

158those other groups are going to come into play with the studentled piece of it um so this is kind of a broad beginning step >> well at the beginning of this particular committee we we looked we looked at buildings we looked at entryways we looked at >> everything we looked at lots of things and now it's coming down to the more softer levels >> that you know that That's right. >> That mattered to each person. So, we started off with the big parameters >> of, you know, what's what schools, you know, didn't have a a structure at the front door that stops people from walking straight by the office. Just things that simple as getting everybody everything physically ready to be safe. >> That's that was at the beginning of that. >> I did go

159ahead. >> Yes. So, I did tease out um data from our students and our staff participate in a survey from the Department of Criminal Justice. Uh this survey is called the Virginia School Survey of Climate and Working Conditions. A couple of things I teased out from there. It's a much bigger report, but one of the things that the students said was 83.3% of them felt like that they had a positive relationship with one or more staff members, so they had a place to go to. Now, I am worried about the 17% of them that do not have that, but that was very encouraging for me that they felt like they have a go-to person, which is very important. Um, however, 37.6% of them did feel like there's bullying happening in the schools. And when they

160asked the next question was why do you think the bullying has taken place? >> Six um 63.5% of them said about physical appearance. They feel like kids get bullied because of their physical appearance. Um 24.3% of them said because of a student's sexual orientation. 24 point excuse me 21.7 said because of a student's race. And the next one was about the money um whether or not kids live in poverty or not. That was the next one after that. So that that was what they thought like why bullying was happening in the school system. And then you know with everything we're also dealing with um qualitative data you know that tells us that there is a perception right because social media >> um can perpetuate the story sometimes that may or may not be true. >>

161Right. right? Oh, this school has a bullying problem. You don't want to go into that school. Well, they've never stepped foot in the school, but they want to sell the story as if I've set foot in that school and I know exactly what's happening over there. >> So, sometimes special, you know, excuse me, social media can or can it may or may not be true. I I would welcome people I'd say come into the schools, walk the schools, sit down with the teachers, sit down with the stu, you know, talk to the principal. Also, the grapevine, you know, I always say that this is the largest, smallest community I've ever lived in. You know, that because sometimes it's like, you know, let me tell you what I heard about this person or so and so

162told me about this. So, it's not necessarily a firsthand experience, but I'm going to just tell you what I heard somebody say about this particular school. Um, and then finally, we do have people like yourself who have lived experiences and lived experiences. We all bring our lived experiences to work every day and we bring them to school every day. And so if I'm a parent that I had that lived experience of being bullied when I was a Denwitty County Public School student, that's the f my first go that possibly could be my first go-to. The minute something happens with my student, there's a bullying problem because I was bullied. So lived experiences are big because we all see the world through our lived experiences, right? And we have to be mindful of that. >> Absolutely.

163>> Because people's perception is their reality. So that can be for students. That can also be for grown people as well. So this is the data we're using currently. Doesn't mean that's the only data. I I think there's a lot more to be had. What I I love the idea of sitting down with students and can you talk out loud to me? Let's tell me the stories, you know, let's let's hear more from kids. >> So, basically what you're going to hear tonight is just going to talk we're going to talk to you about some strategies that we've um have in place or we plan to employ to make sure that um our schools are safe and supportive. And we're using these six pillars. Um we identified six pillars for success. physical safety, social, emotional

164safety, student voice and engagement, family, community and community partnerships, staff support and training, and fin following finally monitoring and accountability. So going so I'm going to um um and then what we did was with each of these areas, we said, okay, what are we doing really well? What are our strengths already as a school division? Where are glows? But really more importantly, where are some opportunities for growth? Right? >> And so Dr. place going to walk us through these six pillars um and talk to you about what we identified as strengths and then more importantly what are our opportunities for growth. >> Sure. And just you know the pillars again we were looking at overall safety and security um to see what kind of came from that discussion. So pillar one is physical safety and

165so as a team looking at data and hearing voice on that team. Uh the strengths that we came up with were staff presence and supervision. Um SRO's in every building, SSOs at the secondary level, um safety and security plan. You've heard Mr. Walters present on that a lot. Um and just the work and the improvement that's going into that cameras in schools and on buses. And then just the code of conduct. You know, we've done work on that over the years. Mr. Garn is getting ready um to lead a code of conduct committee to look at that again um to see where are the places we can strengthen that. The opportunities the team found were radio communication in schools just better training and what does that look like? Uh entry protocols and procedures across schools

166just to make sure we're consistent. Some things we need to be consistent in. Uh and panic buttons for staff was part of the discussion as well. Um there are I guess are these really cool badges that they have now where staff can have panic buttons. So that was part of the discussion for that pillar. >> So with pillar two, social and emotional safety, this is an environment where students feel secure enough to express their unique identities, take academic risk and navigate social situations without fear of judgment, ridicule or punishment. So the strengths you can see here the opportunities are bigger than the strength column, right? Um the strengths were advisory period at Dewey Middle School. Um this flows from one of the proactive measures we'll talk about later. Responsive classroom um morning meetings at the

167elementary level. Again, part of the responsive classroom um initiative that we're part of counselors available to students. I think that goes back to that positive relationship piece we saw in the data. the majority of our students feel like they have a person. We've got to work on those people that feel like they don't have a person yet. And then we have amazing social workers um that are stretched thin sometimes but love our students and families and work really hard in that area. The opportunities here, more lessons on empathy, right, and things of that nature, promoting diversity and inclusion. Uh we do that, but I think we can do a better job of that. Additional social workers are needed. Um, trauma informed care training for staff. So, when we talk about trauma can be a lot

168of things, right? Um, things that happen outside of us, but it could be things that are happening in the building. It could be that student that's giving me a hard time like how do um the staff know how to deal with that and what supports to give students? Mr. Garn and the team of counselors are right now working on this social emotional learning screener. um looking at what other divisions have in place. This would not be anonymous because to support students sometimes it can't be anonymous but kind of as a proactive measure which students need support. So they're working on that now. And then resources for students who feel bullied, but I wish we would have put here too resources for the student that is the alleged bully. And we didn't put that here. We

169probably need to add that there. But just resources on both ends. Um because one, how do we support the student that feels again feels like they're being bullied and how do we support that student that's being unkind to do something different? Um so that came from this as well. Pillar three, student voice and engagement. So allowing students to share their expertise and take on leadership roles so they become agents of change rather than just compliant learners. And I think Mr. Brown, this was to your point earlier. So the strengths here, ways that we currently have student voice and engagement, student advisory group at the high school. I just want to say, you know, that there was a group of students at the high school that redid our um dress code. Like that was 100% studentledd,

170right? So >> we we've done something like that before and this is an area where we probably need to do that as well. student board representatives, workforce development, teen expo, clubs, activities, sports. Um, Midway and Dewey Elementary have a house system that has a lot of student engagement and and gets students excited about school, but also is kind of that proactive piece where they're earning points, you know, based on things that are positive, right? So, we're pushing kindness and things of that nature. I believe every school has an SCA. Uh student ambassadors uh at Midway and student workers at the high school. So opportunities the team found were student ambassadors should probably be at every school. Um more leadership opportunities for students and that can be certainly in things like how do we work on

171the bullying, the perception of bullying, bullying, kindness. Um so that's an opportunity there. more authentic recognition of students and then more use of surveys and suggestion boxes getting student voice there as well. Uh pillar four is the family and community partnership pillar. So collaborative reciprocal relationships between schools, families and local organizations that share a commitment to student success. So our strengths uh pastoral roundt we have a lot of community partnerships I would say um our resource guide that our social workers put out for our families just and this is a variety of resources from food to counseling to clothing needs and things of that nature. Uh community partnerships and sponsors. I believe Miss Robinson Williams has a whole list of those partnerships. Our community advisory >> um that we have and we meet every every

172couple of months I believe. um various other advisory boards from SEAK I mean there's a ton of them title one so we just didn't list them all here I was trying to conserve space on this slide Dolly Parton Library is a great initiative that we started this this school year I believe uh prevention services which is our partnership with the county early learning fair booster clubs and PTO's work-based learning opportunities I look at Miss Valentine that face position we're trying to get that back family and community engagement we have the position we just have not been able to hire some uh someone to help with that family engagement piece at elementary. Um more secondary family participation. >> Um it is as we know it kind of dwindles off in secondary. So how do we increase

173that? Uh more virtual opportunities for family and community engagement, family town hall meetings so they you know families can bring their voice to us um and talk about issues that are on their mind. family workshops and then tutoring was there as well. Pillar five, staff support and training. Uh so this is a commitment to providing our educators with the skills they need right and the resources. So strengths annual staff conference IDCPS professional learning plan that includes conference opportunities and professional development days. We have a transportation advisory, a superintendent advisory. every school is represented on that advisory. And then our principles have advisories opportunities here. Training plan for our employee groups. Just making sure every group is represented. Maintenance, um, nutrition, training for new administrators. We could definitely strengthen that. >> Um, staff mental health support,

174training on building relationships with students. I mean, I think that sometimes that doesn't come naturally to everyone. So, what does that look like and and what's appropriate there? and then recognition of best practices. And then the last pillar, uh, pillar six is monitoring and accountability. Um, so the ongoing process of gathering information basically is what we're doing working or not. And then we have to always come back to the table. You know, I like to call that the Apple approach with everything we do, education, academics, everything. We can never be complacent in what we're doing to say it's good enough, >> right? So Apple, as you know, keeps coming back to the table. There's no Apple product that's ever good enough. >> Whether there's making billions, they come back to the table to say, "Now

175what?" And I think we have to get that way as educ as educators in every area. Now what? How do we make it better? To me and to us, that's what this pillar is about. >> So our strengths here, you know, we note things in infinite campus. That's a monitoring piece, right? We have bus cameras with audio again cameras in schools. We have Delado which helps us monitor student activity on our um on Google like when they're doing email and things like that. Relationships with students and staff and this is new and I'm going to talk about this a little more on the next slide. Anonymous reporting form that came from this task force and we've created that. It goes live tomorrow. >> Yes. >> Um opportunities. We need to continue to update cameras and

176technology. Mr. Walters talks about this a lot and more training on Delo. All right. So, you know, part of what came from this with our data is certainly bullying. That's definitely something on the mind of this task force. So, I do just want to share with you and I think Miss Rainey's going to click on that website. Um, over the summer we did revise our bullying prevention website because when I looked at it, I'm like, "Oo, this might be from the 80s. Um so with collaboration um from other groups we looked at what we had uh on the website. So if you'll scroll down just a little bit Miss Rainey. So we talk about our commitment um kind of the same thing this task force is committed to safe healthy supportive learning environments um that

177are free from bullying. That's our commitment. We do have work to do there. Um, so we kind of state what we believe in and the impacts of bullying and what we're trying to do of creating that climate where bullying is not tolerated. If you'll keep scrolling and do you mind, Miss Rainey clicking on the pledge. So, one thing we started in October that is a year-long initiative and we'll go into next year is the Denwiny County Public Schools pledge. So, where there are three things that we talk about with staff and students. I choose kindness. I choose respect. I choose to carry the banner for others. So, you know, this is something teachers were explicitly teaching in their classrooms. Our principles and students were getting on morning announcements and talking about what this looked like

178in action. And then there were examples given of, well, what does it mean to be kind? What does it mean to be respectful? What does it mean to carry the banner for others? Um so all of our schools continue this initiative one to have students involved in it and teachers but just to explicitly teach and expect that. Um the next thing on the website we we give that definition right of bullying. Um but then we also say behavior that does not meet that definition may still warrant intervention and consequences because any type of unkind behavior is not okay with us. Um the next piece that you'll see that was added was prevention. So we do have things in place and we welcome feedback on what other things need to be in place. Um so the

179things that we currently have in place in K5 as a preventive or proactive approach are classroom guidance lessons uh social emotional learning activities through responsive classroom. Um all of our schools had an initial training but now we're doing kind of a deep dive training. So Southside recently had the deep dive training. Southerntherland will be in June. The middle school has had that um just to extensively train our staff in that. Um Botvenin life skills training. This normally happens in our PE and health classes. It it does include lessons about kindness, bullying, conflict resolution, things of that nature. Uh and then every school has PBIS or positive behavior and intervention systems where we're teaching those kindness and respect skills. grades six through eight has a lot of the same things um there. And so then the

180the high school has the botan piece as well um just again as proactive approaches. There may be some other ones some other things that we're doing but again we welcome that input into what else can we do. Um then how to report bullying. again the there's a new form that will go live um tomorrow that is an anonymous report form uh we use what some other localities had out there to create that so students families can click on that that information goes right to the school administration so they can uh investigate that now there is a caveat on that form that says if you don't provide your name it makes it very hard to investigate this right if we don't have information, it's very hard to investigate. So, there's a caveat there, but they have

181the option of adding their name, witnesses names, things of that nature. Um, administrators do have to investigate that within 24 hours and they do that uh thorough investigations and contact parents. And then the last part of this is just how can parents help? Um, so there's a lot of kind of um pieces and tips here because we do need their support at home, family support. And then at the end of this is just some resources for families on bullying as well. So I just would say you know we we know we always have room for improvement. When you think about that data >> you know we look at numbers but every number has a name. >> Yeah. >> Every name has a story and we believe every story matters. Um so that student voice is

182important. The parent and family voice is important and again we can't emphasize enough this has to be a partnership. Um, we can sit at a table and think we're the smartest people in the room as Dr. Weston always um says, but we we have to have a lot of smart people at the table, whatever the issue is to figure out that issue together and work to solve the problem. >> I just would like to um speak to um >> you know the about students. Um I I will tell you that a couple of things. One is that before students are ever going to respond to any of us face to face, that relationship piece has got to be intact. >> Yeah. >> We have got to as grown people, we've got to work with grown

183people to make sure that we build the kind of trusting relationships with kids so they want to talk to us about the things that are on their minds and in their hearts because they're not they um are not going to be readily giving of that information without it. And case in point, I will tell you, you know, when I had the opportunity, I mean, I'm at the middle school. I will tell you it's like a 360 over there because what Dr. Walker did when she first went there said, "We're going to focus on relationships with kids in this building." And that was said, she said, "That's what we're going to focus on." And you worked with the grown people and said, "This is how you're going to do it, right? You got to get to

184know kids and you got to start listening to them. Start building relationships with them. Be with them at the door. Greet them. How's your weekend go? Talk to them about just so those so I do believe that there's some grown people things we got to get in check before we can get to the student things. Um some of this training has to be in place too because we do have to understand stand kids developmentally and the like. Um, and so I I do think that's important. I we would be we've been doing a lot of talk about emotional intelligence and regulation of kids and emotions and >> and that's for grown people and for kids. >> Um, there are a lot of kids that have parents who can help to teach them how you regulate

185emotions. You typically learn that when you're little, right, from your parents. And you know when you I always say with my grandchildren, you know, they have big emotions. They're five and they have big emotions, but part of their parents job is to figure out how do you what do you do with that big emotion, right? But not everybody has that same experience. So when they come to us, they come with big emotions. So part of our job is kind of help them figure that to navigate those big emotions when they have them, knowing that everybody's coming to us with the best they can come to us with. And so sometimes because I nobody ever taught me about how to do that. I'm trying to as a parent I'm trying to figure it out, right? So

186I I think it is a very complex this whole thing is very complex. What I'm saying to you all, we're willing to do whatever it takes. We will bring anybody to the table who wants to come to the table. I do believe kids lead this because for anything to be lasting, students have to be the ones kind of leading the way or they well I you can't just go and say this is what we're going to do. This is what this is your plan now. We're this. So I hear you that that's got to be in place. But there are some things I think we can do on our end first and foremost to build the kind of relationships to make those things happen and the conditions we can make sure that we have the

187schools where those conditions um will make that even much more successful. That's why that um when we did the um um when we did the uh >> oh dress code >> the dress code when we when we asked the kids to come help us with that there wasn't a empty seat in the cafeteria. We said come stay after school if you want to be a part of you want your voice to be a part of that and it was our two school um schoolboard rep they invited the kids to we had them invite the kids to come so they sent out the email the blast >> and there was not an empty seat in there they did all the talking >> and now of course we met with them on the side because we said

188okay here are the structures here are the parameters I mean we can't go crazy here people but here's what is and they did a great job right so that's what I income here and you say that >> we can be the guides on the side but at the end of the day we want the kids to be leading this charge and that's what we want too I think this can be a win-win for everybody but just know that this was our first iteration >> that's right >> of trying to figure out what do we have currently >> and what do we need to do immediately next >> that's right >> and there are some immediate next steps in me because I do feel like we might have some kids in crisis immediately >> that we've

189got to get get to >> Yeah. And I I would I wrote down but I forgot to say like our teleaalth grant like there are certain things with the mental health piece that Mr. Garns and his team and social workers and counselors are working on. >> Yeah. >> So is that up and running the telea health? >> We're almost there. We're so close. I can feel it. >> Oh yes. >> We're trying to get a facilitator right now. But yes, and I think principles have identified students. So we're very close. Miss Pitman. >> So what I wrote down was we want more student le. We want to see more of this being studentled, student initiated, student change. Simplify, simplify, simple. I'm about a simple person, too. I can only do six lines, three points. That's

190about it. So, simplify. >> Um, I also wrote down Brook's door to practices. We're doing that. Um, emotional intelligence. So, and I think you've got some notes on yours as well, but we'll bring the team back together. Is there anything else that you all want to make sure we bring back to this team as feedback? I know I met with the parent from the last she's going to be a part of this, but we want more students. So, how do we get more students involved? And maybe it's the time of day. Maybe that's something Jake can kind of help us to think about when's a good time. Um maybe if you go out during the advisory period at the middle school, that's a great time to meet with those students because it's during the day.

191>> Yeah. >> So, if they want to be a part of that, but we'll work on that piece. other things that you would like to see immediately >> the uh the bully the website >> the website >> yes >> so that you have a link on there to report >> it will be live tomorrow right now it's a report form that we've used but we have created a Google form >> for every school >> I know Mr. Walters told us that they were or no Mr. Auntie told us that we're getting a new website. When does that when does that go live? >> Because I'll be honest with you, >> April. >> If you put that link on our current website, it's like putting the recycling bin in the back of a dark closet. Nobody's

192recycling. >> That's a great point. So, Miss Robinson Williams, when we make that live, is also making a social media post, putting a blast out to parents. Um, because it'll be live in a couple of places. I believe she's making it so that when you go to every school's website, it's at the bottom of that homepage. >> All right. >> Good point, though. It is hard to find things sometimes. >> School website and they don't go to Facebook. >> No, they don't Facebook. >> They go to Tik Tok. >> Where else? Snapchat. Snapchat. >> What do kids do, Jake? What do kids >> Where do we need kids? Where do kids get their news? >> Oh, Instagram. We need We have an Instagram. >> We have Instagram, too. So we can put it there. You

193know, it can also be something in collaboration with our leaders where maybe counselors talk to students about where they can find that. And I do want to say our first way we want people to report is to tell an adult >> because I just can't we can't stress that enough because you know that's the best way is hey parent call the principal >> student tell you know that your trusted adult. That's the way we want it to happen. But this is just another avenue if for some reason they're not comfortable or they don't have that trusted adult. But great point. So I think we can work with our our leaders to say how can we make sure students know where this is. >> Do you read your email? The class of 2026. Do you read

194that email? Because they usually read their class of email because that's when they'll they get a lot of fun announcements in there. So they do at the high school. They read those they read those emails. So each group is attached to a class. And parents get those emails, too. >> If we could, and I know we talked about this with the bus >> looking for drivers, >> if we could get a wall graphic with a QR code and put it on every wall in the high school and middle school >> and the kid can illegally pull their cell phone out. >> Oh my gracious. >> But just to make it easier to get to that and more >> I don't Well, they can't use their still have those drop boxes. >> We still have the

195middle school and the high school dropboxes because um when we did the um dress code, they made that anonymous. >> Yeah. So you could drop mail in there. >> We still have those too code. >> Anything else you want us to think about or work on what when we go back to this team? >> Speak now or speak later. You can You can definitely talk to us later. >> No, we all appreciate we all want the same thing at the end of the day. >> Yes. >> You know, and it's just how we get to that end. >> That's right. >> But we will not be satisfied till everybody every student feels safe >> and grown person does. >> That's right. >> This is for grown people too. >> Yeah. >> Thank you, Dr. >>

196Thank you. >> budget. >> Nope. Forgot we still have one more. Talk about complexity. Now we we talk about the budget. >> Just going to get you an update. >> Yes. Good evening. Um yes, we're we're in the throws of budget development. >> Is your mic on just because so the people at home can hear you? >> Yeah, I think it is. >> Okay. Okay. Okay. >> We are in the throws of budget development. Um deep into that. And you know, um, we did have some weather issues as far as our, um, budget work session that we had scheduled at the end of last month. But what I want to do tonight is just kind of give you um, a brief update of where we are and what the next steps are. So, regarding the

197current year, the year that we're in, our enrollment is still approximately 100 students below our budgeted ADM of 3975. But the good news is we are holding steady there. So, we are going to continue to monitor that as the year progresses. Um, as far as general assembly changes or go the governor's budget changes to the current year, the governor's budget did include a 2% bonus >> in that in in his um in his um introduced budget to be paid in June of 2026. Um, however, we are hearing that Governor Spanberger may be modifying this to be providing a flat rate of $1,500 >> um, as opposed to the 2% which >> most finance people would be in favor of because it's a lot easier to have the same amount for everyone. Um, however, this, you

198know, the state will pay their share for this and then we would have to pay the local um, funding of that. But we hope to hear more about that coming soon. As far as the FY2027 budget, Dr. Weston will be presenting her proposed op school operating budget on two weeks from tonight um February 24th at 5:30. And this will be the first draft of the FY27 operating budget. At this point, all stakeholders have presented their department budgets and we are working collaboratively to try and produce a balanced budget. We're not there yet because there's still work to do, but highlights of where we are at this point and what we are proposing um are we we are proposing to use an um average daily membership count of 3,850 students, which is where which is a

199reduction of 125 students from where we're at now. It's it's a little bit more conservative than where we're sitting. So, we can talk about that, but I'd rather be conservative than having to find revenue later. Um, it does include the adjusted VRS rates that I talked about at our last um presentation that the um governor's budget introduced and the VRS board has certified. It includes the return of remediation to the operating budget. As you know, um this has been funded by other sources since 2020. either COVID was paying for remediation or acceleration is what we like to call it now or um the all-in funding that was um in the bannual budget three years ago. So that is all going away. So we're having to bring that back locally. Increased utility cost, >> we know

200we are having to increase those. Um I think if you've been watching Facebook, people are talking about their electric bills. Yes. Um, so we have we have those costs as well. And where you know most people are probably the most interested in is is salary increases. Um, we are proposing in our first draft a 5% increase. >> The governor's budget did include a 2% increase. We have heard that the general assembly and the governor may increase that to 3%. Um, which would help obviously, but we are are rolling out our first addition with a 5%. What that would look like for teachers, um, it was a starting salary of $58,500, which is an increase of $2,500. And we also are working on that scale. We have adjusted the steps I mean adjusted the percentage between

201the steps in order to u make the middle of the scale more competitive. >> We have heard that that's you know an area where we do um have trouble competing and so we want to um see if we can address that and keep and retain you know our our teachers. The increases there would range from 5% to 8.65% 65% depending upon where you are on the scale. Our transportation we're proposing um transportation right now um it has four different scales. It has full-time drivers, part-time car drivers, and um bus aid scales. So, we are also adjusting those scales um the percent between for uniformity, which is kind of just a clean up, but we're also proposing to increase the starting salary for full-time drivers to $25 an hour, which is significant. But this would put

202us at the top in this area for all of our drivers and it hopefully would allow us to attack attack attract and retain um qualified drivers, >> you know. So that you know that's a punch. It's it's costly though. >> Yeah. >> Um just saying. So this would be for full-time drivers. The increase would range from 31.2% to 32.5%. >> Significant for them. the other scales um were adjusted um for a 5% increase for for those scales for all employees um and uh a minimum of 5% and we also uh adjusted the percent between those steps for uniformity as well for the part-time the car and the bus a so for the unified pay plan which is really all of our other employees um it it we increased the starting hourly rate to $1.71 um

203which is just a slight increase. There's no adjustment to the scale um as far as you know percentages between or anything like that. Everyone would receive a minimum of 5% increase. Now we are aware that this scale also needs adjustments. However, at this point, um, we are hoping that the compensation study that you approved tonight will be able to give us some guidance and assist us in developing competitive scales moving forward. And of course, this would be a major focus for the FY2028 budget. Um, we are aware that there is still a little bit of talk about, you know, a minimum wage increase um to $15 an hour, but we're thinking that that's not going to take place or hoping as of um January 1st coming up because that would be very costly for us

204and the state. So, um, but we'll, you know, keep our our ears open about that. So, we're still working on some things. Um, we had Rowani and ARS come in with a significant increase. >> Um, Rowani was $270,000. So, we are they are still working through their budgets. Args with 70,000. We have maintenance projects that need to be done, but we're, you know, looking at those and prioritizing which ones we can do. Other increases, you know, materials and supplies. We're looking at all of our technology software review. Um we're reviewing that to you know determine which ones you know are um you know being utilized and you know where is our our money being best spent and then our health insurance. >> So we have a preliminary renewal of 15%. >> We were promised that

205we would have um something more concrete u by the end of February but we have not received that yet um from Anthem. So, we're hoping to hear something soon. Um, and right now we have not we've not really added anything to the budget for increases to health insurance, but we know we're probably going to need to do that as well. >> Um, so this is where we are right now. It's just a little bit of information. Um, we don't, you know, we've still got to balance this budget before Dr. Weston can present it um in a couple weeks. Um, we welcome your feedback on anything, any of these items that I just presented, as well as any other priorities you would like for us to consider. We are required by the code of Virginia to

206um submit our request for local funding to the the county by February the 28th which after um her presentation on the 24th then we will make a determination of you know if we're moving forward with with what um she is proposing some key dates in between then um the crossover is next um Wednesday um February the um 17th Um the 26th is the deadline for each chamber to act on their budget. So hopefully we'll know where they stand at that point. And then March 4th is the deadline for um each chamber to vote on their budget and um or either to appoint a conferee committee and hopefully three March 9th is the deadline for committee actions. And I'm hoping that we will actually have a budget and not extend it into May, June like we

207have in previous years, but I I you know I don't have a feel for that at this point. So um that would make our lives a lot easier if we know you know what that looks like going forward. Does anybody have any questions for anything that I just said or presented or anything you would like us to delve into? Well, of course, we don't know what's coming from the state, but if we're asking for, you know, $25 an hour and $58,000 start and all that, we looking at how much more we're asking the county for or we not to that point that we can determine that? No, we we're not to the point where we can determine that because we're still going through some of the operational pieces of the budget, the non-compensation to really

208look at those um increases and, you know, prioritizing those and and determining, you know, where we, you know, do do we need this? Can we take this back a little bit? You know, can this be eliminated? Um we're still working through positions. We're, you know, still doing some of those things. At this point in time we don't have that number. Um you are you know right Mrs. Pitman in the fact that you know obviously that would take some additional funding. Um however we did I mean we we are even with based on the 3850 we are receiving an additional 1 almost 1.5 million in additional state funding >> from the state as it stands. proposals sound. Um, >> I like some of the proposals, especially for transportation >> and that that would help us out

209a lot. >> So, I'm hoping things will work out where we can kind of keep it >> the way we have. >> I think we'd be hot hot topic on in the area. I think everybody would want to come to >> D. Well, you know, if you could if you could get the salary per hour up that high, which would be wonderful, you would have more people internally who are willing to do it >> part-time. A teacher willing to do it or >> it it would incentivize it. >> Yeah. Well, at this point, we're doing this for full-time. >> Yeah. >> But for >> we want to make that attractive to people. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> We have an update from orgs. >> No, it's just for code RV. Okay. Miss Pitman is

210going to do Maggie Walker. >> Maggie Walker and Code RVA. Uh Maggie Walker was um u reorganizational meeting uh just like all of our local boards are this time of year. They did uh want to honor two employees, one of which was I mean one on the board was Linda Heislap when I hope passed uh away suddenly and she had been she had served for many many years on several of the boards that some of us served on. So we we all knew her. So that was a nice um tribute to her. And Maggie Walker actually had a gentleman that I knew and I don't know if anybody else knew him. His name was Jim Holddron. coached track for 63 years. >> he retired about 12 years ago but continued to do it as a

211volunteer. So he finally is stepping away. So that was >> phenomenal. Um >> and so um one of the things that I like about the Maggie Walker board, they always have a student presentation on each one and it's just wonderful to to just get a glimpse of what they're doing. Um they have uh wonderful activities after uh overseas trips the students can um sign up to do and they help them raise money for that and they get some corporations in on that and so it's um it's an eye openener it's a different situation different group of students but very very um innovative uh and code RVA uh is is at the point that they're still they've outgrown the building they're looking what in the world can they do as far as a new space is

212concerned Uh it's in a good location, but it's kind of locked in by lots of other >> things going on. Um that building is occupied on the floor above them. Uh and beside them by like Michael's uh plumbing, Michael and Son's plumbing and and above them is a very popular >> dance hall and bar club. the club >> and you wouldn't think that would matter, but if you have an evening activity >> or parent night or whatever, >> you don't have any parking. >> The parking lot's pretty full. Yeah. So, anyway, uh that's a long-term thing. And and the thing about that is that's that that school started so many years ago with these huge grants. It has $6 million federal grant now all these years later. How do you sustain >> without keep going

213up and up and um so they're really working hard on growth plans >> and they did organize and elect officers but Mary I didn't >> she didn't nominate you for >> Thank youelcome volunteer you >> I didn't volunteer you for anything while you Mr. Rainey, do we have any citizen comments? >> No one signed up to speak tonight. >> Thank you. Um, board comments. Anybody want to talk some more? >> Nobody. >> I did. I do. There is something I want to say. >> I I just want to make sure that um, you know, we were out of school for so many days. I just want to um bring awareness to the maintenance team and the work that they did. Um, Isn't it? Yes. It's one thing to deal with snow. It's a whole another

214thing to deal with ice. And so Matt and his team and even Jeff was out there. See, Jeff didn't put himself in that video. >> But they told me that Jeff was out there with the shovel and breaking up the ice and all that kind of stuff. And when I went out to check, they asked me if I wanted to drive the tractor. And I said no because people will know I wasn't helping. But um they they just did a phenomenal job. And the guys were like slipping and falling. I just don't don't know if people understand the amount of work that went in to get these schools and workplaces um back open. And I just really m appreciate your team. Um Mr. Tucker, you guys out driving around checking the roads. I mean, it

215really they didn't get to they don't have snow days um like everybody else does. So, I just want to make sure that we recognize these teams of folks who are essential. They don't have the luxury of getting a um get getting are able to stay at their stay in their electric blankets and Yes. like some of us can. Yes. Um I also just want one thing I have um I received a letter from a parent this week and it was a kudos for a counselor at the middle school and I think it's important to say those things when we receive them. And she just said, "I want to give a compliment to Miss Freds who's the eighth grade middle school counselor. My daughter has issues going to school sometimes from hurts and pains um she

216that she doesn't discuss from losing her father and her grandmother. She needs extra help and a boost to sometimes get her going. Today, Miss Freds came outside to talk to her and she got her to go inside the school. But not only did she speak with kindness and concern, but she also spoke with me as a parent and she had me in tears when I left. Um she's also still working with her. Um she went above and beyond and should be commended for the work that she did. She sended me resource, parenting resources to help me. Um, I just wanted you all to know that she the job well done and I was able to make it to work knowing that she was in good hands today. >> That is like that is so amazing,

217right? I just thought that was really and last, I just want to say to Beth and to Hannah, I think that sometimes the people that were the closest to, we forget to say thank you to them. And uh these two ladies do uh set us all up for success success every day. Okay, I'll tell you when I come into my office every day, the doors unlock and I may or may not have a heater going in there. Don't listen to that. Um, it's nice and toasty in my office when I come in. And then we had been out for snow and I had this sweet little note on my desk. Beth left me a note telling me she missed me when we were out for snow days. Isn't that sweet? But they're just so wonderful

218like that every single day. They just do so they they're quietly. They just do their work behind the scenes doing really sweet things. What did you say, Hannah? >> I said I'm sorry. >> Oh, that wasn't shade. I'm sorry. I didn't mean it that way. >> But I just think it's little things like that that we forget that people do and just to make work a great place to come. It's it's it it's really a nice place to come to work every day. And I just want to say thank you both for that. >> Yes. YES. Nothing else to say. I think we've said enough today. >> Hearing no objections, this meeting is adjourned. >> Can eat the rest of my cake. >> Yes, indeed. >> Were you out of work? You sticking out of