001open session and second. It is moved and second that we are wait P Reconvene in open session. reconvene to open session to adopt certification of close session. All those in favor use the usual sign. I I none. Are there any opposed? None opposed. Motion is carried. Certification of close session. Whereas the Dewity 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 Dem County School Board hereby certifies that to the best of each member's knowledge, only such business matters as were identified
002in the motion convened in the closed meeting were heard, discussed, or considered by the school board. Dr. Elaine Peterson, District 1. Pearson, I certify. Dwayne Walker, District 2, I certify. Barbara Pitman, District Three, I certify. Mayor Benjamin, District 4, I certify. Jason Bram is second. District five abstain. Madame chair four certified one abstain. All right. I'll ask you now to rise um for the pledge of allegiance. I aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you. Madame Secretary, are there any amendments to the agenda? No. Madame Chair, I move that we accept the agenda as presented. Second. It has been moved and second that we accept the agenda as presented. All of those
003in favor? I I it is moved and second that the agenda will be accepted as rent written. Madam chair, I move that we approve the uh personnel report as it was presented to us today. Second. It has been moved and second that we accept the personnel report as presented. All those in favor use the usual sign. I opposed. One abstension. One extension. Okay, it has been approved. The next board matters. Um, yes, ma'am. Miss Benjamin. Um, I'm going to bring before you tonight um a a budget for your adop adoption based on the December 2024 governor's budget. Uh we still do not have final word out of Richmond. Um the governor has until May 2nd uh to respond once again. Um and so we're still waiting. We're optimistically waiting. Um but having said that, we
004do need to move forward with um approving a budget. What you have in front of you uh tonight though is um a shorter version of the budget that I presented at the last couple of meetings. I just want to bring your attention to a couple of pages in here um so you know exactly what it is we'll be approving. Um, having said that, um, we will be coming back to you once the c once the governor has officially put out his budget, once the county has put out their budget. We know that there going to be some changes to this budget that you're going to have to approve in May. Um, so we will be back as soon as we know that and we'll get you that information just as soon as we know. I
005did number the slides this time so it' be easier for us to follow along. Um, and so I just want to bring your attention over to slide number six. um talk to you a little bit about the priorities that are in this budget. Um so you'll see slide six. Um priority one is compensation. Um we are we still have in the budget the 3% increase for all employees and there you can see what it is going to cost us for the 3% increase for all employee groups. Uh we also have in our budget an additional ESL teacher and moving a part-time speech pathologist to a full-time position. We're also asking the county to move all seven of the SRO's to the county operations budget. Um so that would also come out of our budget as
006well. Um and so that's on page six. Priority two in our budget is the safety and security. And you'll remember that um we have presented at several meetings. We talked about the um security systems management um system that uh Mr. Walters um talked to us about um we still have in the budget right now $667,000 this year to put that into place. Um you remember we did talk about that the systems we currently have in place are becoming very obsolete. Um we do need to improve those. This would put in a plan that is very s it is actually comparable to what the county has in place and allows our two systems to talk to one another um which is um optimal um in this uh setting. Um, so all in all for the county
007revenue that we would need for fund 205 would be $18.3 million. For priority one, we would need an additional $1.5 million. And for priority 2, we'd need an additional $667,000. Okay. On slide nine and 10, it just shows you what that how that is broken down. Um the revenue that we expect to receive is $62 million and the expense that we expect to spend is $62.5 million. And you can also see the greatest percentage of our expenditures um is in the area of instruction as it should be. Um and then from that you can see um maintenance is 13% of our budget and then transportation is 6% of our budget. Um, and then technology is 4%, administration 3%, and attendance and health is 2% of our budget. Page 11 shows you then, um, we do
008expect to sp um, end this school year with about $500,000, which, as you know, we typically go to the county and talk to them about returning that money to us for capital projects. U, we have a very long list of projects that need to be addressed. Um, and so there you have that, um, that figure there. So the addition the change in the expenditures and the revenue is the $500,000 we do expect to end the school year with. Okay. So that's fund 205. Then fund 302 is the small capital fund. Every year we have been given $150,000 to address projects of a smaller nature, capital projects. This year um as we've done in past years, we did ask them to increase that amount to $300,000. Um so um we could take on some things with
009fleet management, with painting, with um um furniture and on a regular basis. And so we've asked for to increase that small capital transfer on slide 14. And there you can see on slide 15 some of the large capital projects that we are looking to have funded this year and then all the small capital projects that I just referenced. So the the capital that we're looking to gain from the school system, excuse me, from the county would be $3.4 million. Um and as you can see the large capital there, uh the dees which you're going to hear more about this evening. um boiler replacements, the key cards, parking lots, deferred maintenance, um the annex roof, which we have a lot of county services there currently. Um and then buses, um and then I spoke to you
010about those small capital projects as well. And we have a plan, and I know you have a copy of that plan. So, if you flip over to page 17, that just gives you a the school capital fund, the 302 fund. Um we we expect to start with $5.1 million in that fund with a transfer of $3.1 million. Um $300,000 increase in the small capital revenue transfer from the school fund the end of year balance $500,000. We expect over the next school year to spend $7.6 million in capital projects with an estimated ending balance of $1.4 million. Okay. Okay. And then it goes into some of the other funds that we have. You see there on slide 18, it talks to you about the textbook fund. All of these funds are very specific in nature. They
011can only be spent on what they're intended for. So you can see that the textbook fund we expect to start with $1.5 million um and then in with $800,000. Slide 19, we expect to start with the school nutrition fund with $600,000. Um, and as you know, her budget is a standalone budget and expecting to end the school year with $145,000. Okay. And then slide 20. I know we've had a lot of conversation around the grants. These have the grants title 1 2 3 4 6B special education and preschool. Um, and then there's also um early reading Virginia preschool initiative project graduation and security and all-in funding here. beginning balance we expect to start with $938,000. Um and we expect though um we'll get additional revenue in the amount of $4.3 million, spend $5.4 million and
012end with about $149,000. Um for example, the all-in funds will go away next year. So we have a lot of plans for those and we'll be coming back to you very soon with that um with what what plans we have for the rest of those funds. On slide 21, you can see our debt services there. And then slide 22 gives you a summary of all funds. Uh beginning balance um about 11 million 11.3 million with the additional revenue of 78.1 million expenditures of $83.7 with an ending balance of $5.7 million. And there you can see on slides 23 and 24 all funds combined. You can see all revenues there. um 79% um is about the school operating um is 79.3% and then um there you can see the expenses there at the bottom. Um, so
013what has to happen now is we do need to ask you to approve this proposed budget um, as it's presented to you this evening. Um, knowing that we're going to come back to the table to talk about changes once we get to see the governor's final budget and once we see the county's um, final budget as well. So, I'm asking for approval this evening or I'm happy to answer any questions that you might have about this. And anything I can't answer, we have strategic advisors here um that are happy to do so as well. We to the point to issue contracts but with a disclaimer in case the state doesn't Yes. So we are we do feel confident um Miss Branch has been working with her team and we all met as a team. We
014are going to be releasing teacher contracts this this week. Um it there is all always a disclaimer in all contracts that says as long as the funding is in place. Um but we are going to release the teacher contracts this week. Um and then her team has already started to work on the other contracts. Yes, ma'am. We're going to go ahead and do that. But we we feel pretty confident in that and we're going to be able to take care of that funding. I have a question Dr. Weston. Now maybe I missed it. Debt services. Yeah. do want to know the kinds of things that are in debt services. Would you like to talk about Christie a little bit about what's in debt services? So in the in the debt service payments are the payments
015for the high school and Southerntherland Elementary mainly. Those are the two biggest pieces of it. Um also there is um right here there's also some funding from previous projects um that we have I just want to make sure I knew what it is. Right. Is it Is the Hback from Southside in there? No. Okay. Um I Yes, there's $5,000 is in there for for Southside, but it's m mainly the new elementary school, the new high school. And then we had in 2012 we had um some loans um from previous projects. Some of it is I'm sure the work that was done at Denwy Elementary. Um and so the county refunded that and um well refinanced it is about what most people think of it as. Um and so there's still some money left being paid
016on that every month. I mean every year as well. So, um, how many years are left on that do we know? Okay, so the, um, elementary school and the high school will both be paid off in 2028. Oh, that's good. Um, the refunding of um the 2020 2012A um is will be paid off in 2034. And then the um there's also money that we borrow from um BPSA which is um the the state sells bonds for construction every year and you can apply for those. Um the maximum is 7.5 million that you can get towards a project. So when we built um Southern Elementary and Dwey High School we of course um applied for those because they come at a very very small interest rate like less than 2% I think is what we paid.
017So um we're still paying those back as well and they will be paid in 2028. Thank you. So the biggest part of those two schools and that's why when we met as a capital improvement team with the county we talked about 2029 being a very good year for taking on any big projects uh from the school system. Thank you. Thank you Christie. Other questions? Are there any other questions? Anyone has any concern? Madam Chair, I move that we approve the fiscal year 26 school budget. A second. It has been moved and second that we uh approve the FY2026 should I say proposed because we may the school the school budget. Yes, the school budget. All those in favor I I So it's been in extensions. Budget is approved. Thank you. The next board matter that
018we have, I'm going to ask Mr. Walters to come to talk to you about um the exterior repairs at Denwy Elementary School. Good afternoon. Good afternoon. Um Dewy Elementary School, we've been working to uh to get that job done. Um it's been several years on the uh we got money for it. Um and we just haven't had a lot of luck. We've had some bad luck with it, but basically we got we took bids. We brought to you uh in I believe March and we were really excited about getting the job done and then we got a call from the vendor that said that they had um under bid. Uh it was a mistake made on their part and they had under bid the job. So what we had to do was um they said
019they could not do the job for $522,000 which is what they bid. um they gave us a price of a million dollars um which is obviously 100% markup. So a couple things with that is um number one that was still less than the second the second bid that we got which was much higher than that but it also was against uh Virginia state procurement law to just accept that bid and move on. So, we did get some legal advice from our from our lawyer and um basically the lawyer said that um the Virginia Public Procurement Act section 2.24309 uh modification of the contract states that a contract may be increased by 25% or $50,000 without written approval from the governing body and adequate consideration from the contractor. So, this increase was, you know, 100% 576,000.
020So we had to get written consideration from the contractor in order to move forward. So what we ended up doing was meet myself and Miss Fleming uh met and uh Brenda Austin the procurement manager met with um the contractor and the contractor agreed to do the job for 1 million uh 89 I think it's 1 million89 $1,98,74 which um the fair market price that would basically he took off took off his 8% profit markup. So that was the consideration. He's basically doing it at cost for us. Um so we were able to come to to terms with him. We did get the written consideration. Uh this the lawyer our our lawyer did say that she thought that was a fair consideration and that we were fine to move forward with this job. So I'm bringing
021this back before the board to ask for uh approval to move forward with this job. And it's still the contractor also said he could start June 2nd as we scheduled and still get the job completed. Mr. Walters, do we have a an ongoing relationship with this company? Is this somebody that's done work for us before? They have not. Um the the the reason we don't is because they're a very specific type of contractor. They do a lot of uh they they they do a lot of work where they restore things back to their original. A lot of times when you do restoration, you update them. Well, Dimity Elementary School being the type of school and you know historical building. It's not officially a historical building, but it has a lot of historical aspects. We wanted
022it to look like it does now, but be fixed. So, um that's why it was important that we met with uh the contractor face to face. It was PBI environmental. Um he quite honestly u he came in and took full responsibility which was a big thing for me. He took full responsibility for the mistake and wanted he wanted to work with us. he did want to start a relationship with him with his county public schools so he could do work for us. Um, so that that this will be our first. The only reason I ask is cuz I mean I I I'm aware that sometimes contractors under bid, but that seems like a huge goof up. It was. So, and I didn't get into the details, but I can. Um, basically, they had a guy
023who was a seasoned worker for them that um left right before the bid was due. He he worked the whole contract, worked the whole project and then took another job and left like in October when the bids were due right right at the end of October. And so they had a younger guy step in and he made a lot of mistakes. Um and it was again the company's mistake. Uh the second lowest bid though um was considerably higher than the 1,98. So while we felt it was low, we felt that the second number that PBI gave us was uh was in the ballpark. Was was correct. Did we just have one other bid or We did. Okay. Again, it was the specialty type of this job. It doesn't get a lot of people. It's not
024the average uh builder. What is it we're fixing? We're fixing the facade of of Doom Elementary School next to the roof. The roof, the uh the lentil, the uh the all the masonry work, all that uh the concrete work at the top, the window sills. The big thing uh that if you ever look up there, the dental work around it, it's all wooden. We want that to look like that. you know, that was a very unique building built by the Works Progress Administration. So, we'd like it to look exactly like that, just not leak. So, it's a lot of uh refabricating things that they don't normally do because they don't make them that way anymore. So, and the big thing is that this building is really getting compromised by water infiltration. So, and Pastor Walker
025to comb any anxieties and my full-time job, I've had to create quotes for a number of things. And I can tell you that just one formula being wrong in an Excel spreadsheet or something can like double or cut a half. So absolutely this is kind of normal. I'm not, you know, taking up anyone's offense, but I've seen Well, and the big thing for me was the guy said, "Look, we made a mistake." You know, he didn't come in and fight it. He didn't come in and say, "Look, it's on you." He said, "We made a mistake. We want to make it right." And that maybe it's personal, but that meant a lot to me. Sure. That's hard to do for some companies. I just want to make sure that we don't get taken for a
026ride once once we start work. We're locked in at that point, you know, and then they start coming in with change orders, you know, that that could be Yeah. And I don't want to speak too much about the other company that bid, but I can tell you it was still about 80% more than what we're paying, the other company that does this professionally. So to me, like I I would feel more confident with something like this if we had a third bid. But if it's hard to find people to bid on this because if theirs is that much higher, then does the possibility exist that this company is still way off and they're going to get into a job and then realize, hey, we we we're still under bid, you know? That's that's all. But
027if they're locked in with a contract, they're locked in. Yeah. Were they not locked in at the other number? They were locked in at the other number, but you know, I mean, I don't want to put anything out of words. Well, yeah. Full disclosure, he he would have closed his company. So, he did ask us to negotiate it. I don't want to do that to anybody. I just don't want us to get Yeah. And this was not just somebody who he had coming in and doing prices. This was the president of the company that came and met with us and he said he had personally done the numbers himself. Okay. You know, so at this point, man, I I don't even want to think about him not doing it now, but at this point, if
028they can't do it, well, we're going to have to move on. I'll make the motion that we go ahead and approve it. I don't I just wanted to No, I agree. I agree. Yeah. Yeah. We want to get it done, right? So, she second. It has been moved and second that we accept the um that we approve the um report coming from Mr. Walters to do the exterior repairs to Beni Elementary School. All those in favor use the usual sign. I I extensions hearing none. The motion is carried. Thank you. Thank you. Superintendent Matters. Yes. Uh so the first uh we have this evening um the academic services team is coming to talk to us um about textbook adoptions that are scheduled for next year and update to curriculum resources. You guys have had a
029busy couple of days. Yes. All right. Well, good afternoon. We'll try to be brief and we have a a presentation just to kind of give us an overview of where we are with our resources. Um, as you know, the state has changed their timelines um since co it used to be that it was one subject every about six years and so we could kind of follow along and we didn't have multiple standards coming out in the same year, but that all changed. And so um what you have here are kind of the updated timelines and when VOE has released things for each core area. So even though we will be looking next year to have full implementation of the 2023 history standards, uh VOE has not yet released an approved textbook. um they just released
030our instructional guides in April so that we can start working on that curriculum work over the summer. Um our mathematics standards will be tested this spring for the first time. Uh and then we are in our final year of the Savas textbook adoption. So, we did request those to review as well as some of our new list uh approval that the state just gave out this month. So, we'll be looking at those. Um and then you'll see for English and science, we are in those full adoption years and the new science standards um will be coming out. But per VDOE, the 2025 science standards of learning are very similar to the 2018 standards. They're just looking to enhance the instructional guides, but it more affects the high school level um because they came out with
031the level two courses. So, biology 2 anatomy, biology 2 genetics, um and our environmental science. So, all of those second level uh courses at the high school level are more defined um in the science area. So, I'm going to hit on um the secondary side and then you just plug in whenever. Uh I think you know after Miss Valentine and I have talked to different divisions, we've looked at different resources, we feel pretty confident that f five ponds press uh will be the direction that we go K through eight just because of the um rich resources that they have historically produced. uh they are aligned to the 2023 standards. We have received sample copies and our teachers are in the process of starting to review those now so that we uh can roll into the
032curriculum writing piece of that to make sure that our teachers are prepared for the fall. high school um is a bit more tricky because we have um we don't have an approved textbook list and there's not many publishers. Um you you have to kind of pick and choose based on what is the most uh aligned to your specifics. So right now we use the SAS pub publisher for government. um the instructional guides that the VDOE is producing is supposed to be hyperl and active and to where there's primary documents, secondary documents and things and resources that teachers are supposed to use, including some of those partnership opportunities with historical societies, u museums, and other things like that. So, um I will come up with an update as we know a little bit more about how
033history is going to look at the high school level. Um, but that is the direction we're going for there. Anything on elementary part? I have a question. So, are we we're buying the rights to the books and downloading them on the computers or are we buying books for classroom sets? So, I like for uh K8 primarily there to be a physical physical book. Okay. Um the both history um we do have the physical book for the five ponds press um and there is an online version as well and teacher resources. So what the teachers are using right now to get full access and see all of the pieces um is is digital but I think it's helpful to be able to start looking at that now before the school year ends. But we do plan
034to have the physical book for the students in the middle school and elementary school. Okay. Yes. And to reiterate what Carly said, uh, as much as possible in each content area, we're seeking to adopt, um, something that has both the digital and the print version. Um, as she stated, we're excited about in elementary having an actual tangible textbook because what they currently have right now leaves much to be desired. is much more of a resource rather than a textbook. So, in the previews, it's very age appropriate, kid-friendly. Um, it is aligned, which is the the number one thing that we're looking for, but then it also provides those print resources like she spoke of, so that teachers actually have something that will supplement the actual curriculum and the units that can be utilized as a
035grade. Um just as a reminder and we will come back before you shortly in fifth grade we will we will be embarking on the fifth grade um dimwitty history. Um and so K through four um the adoption for five ponds press mainly aligns with that. And one of the things that we also talked about was um our HMH our materials for English. There are some connections to history and science. And so to make it easier for teachers, we have been exploring ways to show those cross-curricular pieces um which I think is going to be really beneficial to both teacher and student. Um mathematics is our next area that we're looking to update. Um and like I said, this is the last year of our current adoption. So we will review what we have, but our
036teachers at the secondary level have been piloting math space. Uh, a lot of our teachers go to professional development conferences where they're able to engage with the VOE updates, but as well as, you know, the publishers putting out their information and seeing the demonstrations to see what is going to be um, more engaging for their students and get their perspective. So, they are piloting that right now. Our students I've gotten to watch firsthand where they have gone in with the digital side of the mass base textbook to manipulate shapes and um be able to see how it affects surface area and volume and things of that nature. But it also has print materials, worksheets and things like that that the teachers can use to supplement their instruction. Um so like I said, we have tons
037of boxes that we will be putting out for display for uh the Savas as well. Um and then you guys have a few things for um elementary. Yeah. Yes. And I apologize when we updated the slide presentation it did not update um to the lovely ladies here. So for um elementary, our math curriculum team um and our adoption committee has been hard at work narrowing down um the most effective that we feel is the most effective in rating those um based on different things like alignment um also same things I spoke about earlier just kid-friendly um engaging and the resources that are available making sure there are quality resources available and attached to it. So those were narrowed down to KDUm and STEM scopes math for elementary. And then the next um part of the
038process will be um parents, community members, so on and so forth will have will have an opportunity to come in and look at those um textbooks um to preview them, provide feedback. Um there will be a QR code. I may be jumping ahead um but there will be a QR code available for them to be able to provide that feedback. But most importantly, our number one stakeholder um aside from our students are teachers and giving them the opportunity to provide feedback on those as well. So our hope is to narrow down between um these two that are listed, the KDUm and the STEM scopes to just one and then compare and contrast that um to the SAS that we currently have. And so, um, for science, as Carly stated, our curriculum teams will continue that
039work during the summer, um, to continue to build and enhance, um, curriculum with more hands-on experiences. Um, we are currently utilizing in K through eight STEM scopes. Um, and so for elementary, I'll just say while I have the microphone that as much as possible, our curriculum teams, especially as it relates to ELA, with HMH, we are trying to map out and align the ELA, the science, and the history to in reinforce that crosscurricular focus. Um, also because we want science to not be uh in history for that matter, to not be the area that we don't get to because we're spending so much time focusing on history, I'm sorry, English and math. Um we want to help to reiterate that all of the subject matters are important but when we took a deep dive into
040the data we found that um we have a lot to of work to do in the area of science and the main component that we're missing is that hands-on experimental piece. All right. So, English I think we've kind of hit on um but our high school is currently in their final year or will be going into their final year of the current adoption which will give them the opportunity to spend the year really uh digging into the resources and finding the one that they would like to adopt moving forward. um the new the curriculum that they are using has been uh compared to the new updated standards so that they knew any additions of subtraction whatever that they had to you know consider when they're preparing the for the new standards. So our current curriculum
041is written with the SAS textbook and even though that was our um adoption before the standards changed, our curriculum is written to reflect the new standards. Um so we will be using all of next year to evaluate the adopted or approved resources for ELA for the high school and then I'll make a recommendation for that for the next fall. So, moving forward with our process and timeline. Here we are right now looking at the review of the potential texts, we will be putting a nice display out front for anyone that wants to review any of the materials um specifically the five ponds press uh for history and the math space for math as well as we'll be seeking some samples to have out display for elementary math. um we will make a recommendation based on
042our feedback from uh you see the QR code there but it just goes to a Google survey where we'll allow anybody to identify are they a community member, a parent, teacher um and at what level and then provide that feedback for our curriculum teams and textbook review committee to consider when we make our final recommendations so that we can spend this summer making sure that we embed those resources into our curriculum teacher website. That's where we are. Any questions we can answer for you? There any question for Miss Valentine and Miss um Carly? All right. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Miss Benjamin. We just have one more presentation this evening. We have Miss Valentine, I believe, going to come back up and um this has actually been a conversation and
043a um a lot of research has gone into this for quite some time. So, she's going to come and engage you all in the literacy discussion around Midway Elementary School. Board chair, vice chair, board members, and all in attendance. Good afternoon again. Good afternoon. And as Dr. Weston stated this um is a point of um discussion that has been considered for quite some time. Um but before starting I do just want to stress that is just that a discussion. So um no official decision making is required but more so just points presented for your consideration. Um and so we will be looking at um a title one discussion and literacy needs as it relates to Midway Elementary School. Um, so when we talk about Title One, um, unfortunately out in the community, sometimes um, there's
044just a negative connotation or a ne a negative stigma attached to it. And so that's because sometimes people don't understand exactly what is Title One and what does it entail. So we wanted to cover that Title One is a federally funded program. Uh, the purpose of it, it's designed to provide additional resources and support to schools that are serving high percentages of lowincome students. So what are the goals of title one? Uh first and foremost, it seeks to improve academic achievement for all students, provide additional supports, resources, and interventions, and strengthen parent and family engagement. So why are we having this conversation exactly? Um currently, four out of our five elementary schools in the district already benefit from title one support. Uh what we have observed recently is an increase in the community eligibility provision
045also known as C um considered to be the poverty rate. So in 2020 you see a small progression there um kind of a timeline if you will. In 2020 specific to midway we were hovering around 40%. Um 2021 again hovering around 40% not much of a change. Again 2022 around 40%. uh 2023 45 and 2024 uh close to 46%. So while it's not a significant increase um you do see that it's trending upward. Um also we observe the need for additional academic support and intervention programs and also a growing student population with diverse learning needs. Um overall this data is comparable to title one schools to to the schools that are title one within the division. A lot of this is not a surprise because we are postcoid and we don't like to talk about
046postco but I would be remiss if I didn't say that it has done a number not just on the acade academic needs of our students but also on the economic needs of our families that we're serving. So that's first and foremost why we're having the conversation the economic piece and then the academic piece um where students are demonstrating a need. Um, also there the link that is linked there below um links to a spreadsheet that compared the uh falls fall vows assessment for our K through three students for all five elementary schools. um for the sake of time we don't have to get into that tonight but um I believe you do have access to that and you will see we first started to have this conversation around the fall of the year when we
047first began to embark on the vows assessment and the interesting piece is is in some areas um midway fell below some of our other schools that demonstrate an even higher academic need. I do want to say that is not a bad thing that is in no way a reflection or related to instruction. We have wonderful, hardworking teachers in every elementary school in our division. Um, but as you know, there were some growing pains at the start of the year. Teachers had a lot on their plates. Um, there was a new curriculum that really wasn't new, but was new for some. And so, we had to go through implementation. Um, so just like any year, any assessment, we want to start where we where we start, good, bad, indifferent, the goal is to grow. Um so
048when we saw those uh initial fall scores that's what prompted the conversation. Uh when you access that link you will also see midyear compared and you will see that there was an increase. So we're going to continue to review the data. That's why it's just a discussion right now. Um and so we are eager to look at the spring data as we get it in. Um so if we were to pursue this, what will this mean for midway? Um they would have more access to family engagement resources. A requirement of title one is that we have to utilize funds to promote family and community engagement. So that can look like events, that can look like um providing parents with literacy resources. Um it will also include additional literacy supports. Um this does not mean that
049it would necessarily be an additional literacy person. Um anytime we bring or consider uh positions to the table, we have to look at sustainability. And so we would never want to put someone um in the grant and the ne in one year and the next year not be able to um continue to keep them. So we would have to get creative with what that looks like. Again, not necessarily another person, but that could look like, for example, um I'm at school A and I go over to support school B in the area of literacy. Um it would also look like potential support from our lead title one literacy interventionist, which is Miss Irvin. Miss Irvin is instrumental in our title one schools about going in and actually modeling what these lessons look like, modeling what
050it looks like to util utilize high quality instructional materials. Um because a lot of our teachers now we have the implementation down, they know it in theory and we're helping them to move to what does this look like in practice. And so she's been instrumental in um modeling that for them. Also potential support from our behavior specialist, Mr. Timmons. If you know anything about Mr. Timmons. He is phenomenal. Um he is definitely a blessing. Um and his focus is not just teaching appropriate behaviors and how to um deal with challenging behaviors. He does not focus on the student per se, but more so helping to build the toolkit of the teacher on how to address those behaviors in a productive and positive reinforcement way. Um please remember again that this is just a discussion and
051no final decision has been made. Um, overall it's also important to remember that as a county we will not receive extra funding if we did include midway within our title one budget. That would just mean that the current funding that we have, it would be based on school allocation amongst all of the schools. So that would mean essentially that some of the funding that is currently provided amongst four schools would be taken from them to include Midway in in the equation. If that makes sense. Where do we get the information that tells us the poverty level? Is that great question on lunch tickets? Great question. So, previously it was based on the uh free and reduced school lunch application since we no longer do those applications and we have that grant where everyone receives free
052lunch. That comes directly from the Virginia Department of Social Services. So, essentially, it's based on the amount of families that are receiving assistance. Okay. And it's interesting that you brought that up that, you know, we do have some new numbers that are getting ready to they're trying to they're trying to verify right now, which would actually put us in a higher bracket in this community. for Yes. for people living in poverty in this community. So now the money that we get, you said we wouldn't get any additional money. I mean, we could potentially lose, you know, so what would happen is the same amount of money that we always receive for title one would then now be distributed amongst the five schools but based on a percentage is how it would be calculated. So the
053question I have about all this is if there's no additional money coming in, why do we pursue we we can just spread what we've got now without pursuing the designation, right? What what is the point of pursuing the designation? That's a wonderful question. So um as it relates to title one, title one is considered to follow the book bag as um not just the state but also the government likes to refer to it. Um and so with that um is based on again on the students academic and and economic needs. And so with that we have to ensure that we're going above and beyond for those students that qualify. So, we are literally receiving the question from the state, what are you doing to make sure that you're going above and beyond for your title
054one students versus your non-title one schools? And so, I'll give an example. Um, in many of the initiatives, especially literacy initiatives that we embark on, our goal is to never leave any child out or leave any school out and to provide, you know, equitable and quality experiences for all of them. So for example with that we would never want to say we're providing this for for example these four schools and not providing it for midway but when we do that we kind of bring attention to to ourselves. So there's no mandate that requires us to pursue title one but because we pursued it for other schools we've kind of put ourselves in a position where we need to pursue it. But also though, if it's not designated, could could we legally take the person that's
055being paid by title one funding and send them over there? No. Answer is no. So, we don't need to. We need to sense, right? And I think to Dr. Weston's point, um, and I didn't want to include that or speak on that too much right now because they are preliminary numbers, but the C numbers that have been, um, that we have received, they have to be they were sent in on April 15th. They're currently being voted on. So, we're waiting for the official word. Um, once we get that, if those are approved, the increase is significant, which means um, again, we're seeing the academic need. Granted, I do want to say not as significant as some of our other schools, but the economic need is staggering. And so, not to generalize or stereotype, the concern
056is if that continues to trend that way that it's going. um then of course we can anticipate that the acade academic need is going to continue to increase as well. And so I think um the threshold and we can I can provide those numbers for you all but the threshold midway has essentially um over the last few years been just a bit over what is needed for the academic and the economic need. But again, as we continue to increase and stagger, um the concern is okay, do we need to revisit this conversation? I think the other piece is is not just one data point to consider. Um for example, wonderful teachers, experienced and veteran teachers, but then also what does that look like as they begin to retire and fade out? Um are we going
057to see even more of an academic need um at that time? But great questions and that's why it's just a discussion. Um, when you start to look at the data, you can see it either way. How how does this affect our teachers? Like are teachers typically in favor of being designated a title one school? Great question. So, we recently went to Midway to present this exact presentation to Midway teachers to get their feedback um as one of the most important stakeholders and they asked the same questions that you all asked um and they know that it's being been a reoccurring conversation year after year and so for the most part um they were in favor of it. I didn't experience any that um were against it or saw saw anything wrong with it. I think
058also they're at the point where any assistance they can get they appreciate it because um as you know prior to this year they went without a reading specialist for some time. So um you know they also want to feel like they're getting what they need and and as far as the family engagement piece as well I think they're blessed because they have a lot of family involvement and parents that are very supportive. Um but they also have to rely on their PTO a lot for a lot of the events that they would like to carry out. And so with this, it just also helps to promote consistency. That's not the number one reason for considering this, but um the goal is to take a little bit of the load off them and not to have
059them to feel like they, you know, are are responsible for the instruction, but they're responsible, you know, for coordinating these and paying for these events because a lot of them are a part of the PTO as well. And it could be that we decide to move in this direction and nothing changes for good way that the resources that they currently have are the resources they'll continue to have with with the exception I think of the family engagement. Correct. So it could be that nothing changes um because we do have some pretty substantial needs at some of the other schools as well. But we won't know until we move that direction. Correct. And um I'm not sure if I covered these or not, but I'll go through them just the same. Um, some common questions that
060we receive. Will Title One change our curriculum? No. It enhances what we already offer by providing more resources and instructional support. Um, does this mean that our school is low performing? No. Title One is based on student needs, not school performance. Um, not in this county, but I've received, you know, different comments being made like, "Oh, if my school is Title One, it's going to bring my property value down." not true because you will find title one schools in affluent areas, in rural areas, in urban areas. Um, so that's not accurate. And how does title one impact parents? Um, parents will have greater opportunities to be involved in school decisions, workshops, and student learning. One piece of title one is we also have a parent advisory council that we meet twice a year and it
061goes out in our survey information. Um we have again they help to plan our title one events. Every title one school has to have a schoolwide plan. So they help to inform those decisions as well. Um and that's just another um piece that those parents will be able to participate in. And so um what's next in the discussion? As I alluded to earlier, the school eligibility is determined by the student economic data. So as soon as we get those official numbers, we will share those with you all. Um we will continue to get input from teachers, staff and parents. Um typically we gather that through a form of a survey. Um if we chose to move forward or if you all chose to um move forward with consideration of that and application has to be
062submitted for title one designation. U the funding is then allocated and the support programs begin. And of course, uh, we're here to get your input, um, as a school board and, um, if you would like to discuss that at a later date in more detail, especially after we received the updated numbers, we would love to do that. Now, I don't have any questions. I think this has been good for me also that it's really explained. Yes, ma'am. Well, and I think you're doing it going about the right way, which I I would know you wouldn't do it any other way that you go to the teachers, the parents, and all them know that it's not because some people do have a negative view of when you say title one and you start with all the
063titles and they say, "Oh, no, that's that's not good." But you have explained it well and I think I thank you for that and for me also. Thank you all. Are there any other questions for Miss Valentine? Is there anything else where I can't find my paper? Thank you all. Thank you. Thank you. So that's it. We will entertain a motion for adjournment. So moved. Second. Okay. Remove