001um they know the lady that's being the new principal at s so they came and supported her I was working on it just now I was like okay this is a discussion that I can't contribute to so yeah forward to seeing it I'm sorry I would look forward to seeing it excited for it it's it's much needed and I think my Approach of students are impacted by this issue they should be leading you know the charge I think it's so unique because everything that I can think of that has to do with or usually teachers are faculty saying do this do this this program students AR order and entertain a motion to convene an open session Madam chair I move that we convene an open session second there's a motion and a second all in
002favor signify by saying I I are there any opposed motion carries Miss goson certification of closed session whereas as the dewi County school board has convened a closed session on this date pursuant to an affirmative recorded vote and in accordance with the provisions of the Virginia Freedom of Information Act and whereas paragraph 2.2-cu 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 we it resolved that the Dy 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 this closed meeting were heard discussed or considered by the school board Dr Elaine Pearson district one I certify Dwayne Walker District Two I certify Rob Pitman District three
003I certify Mary Benjamin District Four I certify Jason Brown the Second District Five I certifi Madam chair all certified thank you very much at this time would you please stand for the Pledge of [Music] Allegiance I pledge Al to the flag of the United States of America and to the repblic for it stands one nation God indivisible with liy and justice for all thank you you may be seated um approving the agenda Madam chairperson I move that we approve the agenda as presented second and a motion in a second all in favor signify by saying I I are there any opposed and that motion carries are there I should have asked you this before are there any changes to the agenda it's a good thing since we already approved the agenda under the Clos session
004report uh Personnel list Madam chair I move that we approve the Personnel list as presented second and we have a motion on a second all in favor signify by saying I I are there any opposed and Dr Weston has an announcement to I do I I have someone that I'd like to introduce you to or reintroduce you to I'd like you to stand up please this is Dr Brandy Walker um Dr Walker is the principal of Southerland elementary school she has over 20 years of experience in education she has a bachelor's degree in Psychology which I'm sure comes in very handy every single day from the Virginia Commonwealth University she also has a master's degree in curriculum instruction which also is very uh important and um from Virginia Commonwealth University um and she has a
005EDS in administration and supervision from UVA and in an effort to um to coordinate all this she has her doctorate um in leadership and policy studies from Virginia Tech so UVA and Virginia Tech so that's that's a great place to be that's awesome um she has worked in um Petersburg Colonial Heights and most recently she was the assistant principal in Richmond County Public Schools and I'm just so happy that now she's found home um here in Den Wy County and what's interesting about um this is um I sent a message last night to the principls and I said P Sherry sent me a nice little email to say this would be a really nice thing to do we always have to people that set us up for Success Sherry set me up for Success yesterday
006um to um let the principals know um that they could stay at their you know schools and get ready for open houses this week and when that'd be great so I sent the message out so I was surprised when I showed up and they were all here and they were all here because Dr Walker felt that she was supposed to be here this evening and they all came to support her and that just speaks to um the team that we have leading our schools and I'm very very happy to have you thank you for being here so when they make a fast exit out you know they're going back to get ready for open house this week well we certainly do welcome you Dr Walker and thank you for the your family's here yes please
007introduce your family yes please do oh nice to meet [Applause] you oh we need to speak to her where's Emily we need we need to speak to you about that we heard about you both in the interview it's nice to meet you face to face and thank you for for sharing her with us we just come that's right well we'll be coming over to get you that's right yes well Dad you have two wonderful girls there so and thank you for yes thank you for being here this evening appreciate you so much thank you for that yes please do and now you may exit yes now they can exit thank you all so much thanks for coming guys appreciate you and student matters Madam chair I move that students number R l08 24-1 through6 the
008be moved that we honor the parents request and release from School attendance based on religious exempt exemption correct second we have a motion and a second all in favor signify by saying I I I are there any opposed and those motions do carry the expenditure reports Madam chair I move that we accept the expenditure reports as presented second we have a motion and a second all in favor signify by saying I I I are there any opposed motion carries and minutes from June 11th and 25th Madam chairperson I move that we accept the minutes of June 11th 2024 and June 25th 2024 as presented second we have a motion in a second all in favor signify by saying I I any opposed and that carries um board matters tractor operators contest at the Big E
009where's the Big E the Big E uh the Big E is in Massachusetts oh gosh um so it is uh held annually in West Springfield uh there's multiple FFA compet uh competitions help for state qualifiers we qualified for this um competition so we haven't gone to this one in a long time I think Thomas told me it was about eight years since we we've qualified since the last time but we had a student qualify um and they're going to Res represent Virginia uh they won the Southeastern area here and the state FFA contest contest um so the trips overnight out of state obviously a substitute's going to be required for Thomas uh for two days the cost of the trip now is uh approximately $555 for the hotel uh and then housing block within the
010FFA uh a charter bus is being funded by the FFA uh Foundation but Thomas said they're looking into flights as of right now to possibly so they could get back earlier um he's working with the FFA foundation on pricing for that um but I'm here to ask for approval for this trip for our student to go represent Virginia and in with in this competition who's the studenter of course I have a question just cuz I inquiring minds want to know so they go and someone else provides the tractors so they're all driving the same tractor yes so what if it's not attracted that they're used to driving do they have some practice time on the truck usually I minutes do they know what kind of tractor it is in case they can find one around
011here oh surprise I'd like to know what do they do with I mean what what does the what skills yes oh required come up here you can tell we know nothing we don't know anything about tractors but we just know so at the state contest they run two different courses one with a regular just two wheel trailer and then one with a four-wheel wagon like a hay wagon um so they have to back them maneuver them through different areas they have like one spot has like a 14t or I think it's a 8T width and it's like a six foot trailer wide so they only got a couple feet on each side um once they move to the contest at the Big E they do add a component where they have to operate a Skit
012Steer um and move around a pallet into different locations so and our student has practiced been practicing can he practice that he practic pretty much every day so he should win then hopefully so yeah he should win great experience amazing thank you that's good information any other questions about the tractor why do they call it the Big E is it East Coast eastern states exp it's Virginia up to Maine top nor eastern states I got you any other questions about the tractors if not we need a motion and a second Madam chairperson I move that we approve the tract operator contest at the b e for our Dem student second all in favor signify by saying I I are there any opposed that motion does carry thank you welcome back I know we never sto
013working welcome back adult meal prices is is the micro is the microphone on it is not than thank you I'm standing before you today as part of the application process for the to for us to participate in the National School breakfast and lunch program is a part that we have to increase the adult meal prices um the prices have to be sufficient enough to cover the full cost of providing lunch and or breakfast meals including food labor and supplies the recommendation is that the adult meal price for the upcoming school year breakfast would be $3 for adults $4.75 for lunch and after school snack a125 and there were some guidelines that we had to follow in order for us to come to this these prices and these prices also include the um paper goods as
014well so for approval are there any questions about the meal prices no I still think the prices are extremely cheap because you couldn't go any place else and get a meal for that you can't go to Route One and get a sandwich for 475 just no you can much less Manana pudding that's right if not no if there are no questions we need a motion in a second Madam chair I move that we approve the price increase for adult meals second and all in favor signify by saying I I are there any opposed and that motion carries thank you very much crisis management response got do homeless first I'm sorry home homebound instruction I'm sorry y don't want to leave you out all right good evening um so there are a couple policies that we
015need to update in regards to providing homebound service services to students um it's just some wording changes basically as far as who is allowed to um sign off on the medical certification I'll wait for Bonnie to get that pulled up for you guys um will we open the other one first Bonnie or no never mind that is correct yep um so the first one is just in regards to um the way that the current policy reads um states that a physician assistant or an advanced practice registered nurse can be the ones that sign off on the medical certification of need but the way the department of Ed guidelines read um and the way our updated procedural manual reads which I'm going to give you guys a copy of that um it has to be a
016licensed um physician or a licensed clinical psychologist um and so in working with our Schoolboard attorneys we um or our school attorneys we asked or they requested that we update these policies um and then there's just one other word I think that we deleted and then there was a policy that was attached to it that said homebound instruction but when they reviewed it it really had nothing to do with homebound instruction it was for um correspondent correspondence courses and alternative means of instruction so again they just asked us to clean those up so that the the policies that are in place in regards to homebound are accurate um and then just a little additional information for you guys um my team has been working with Sans Anderson um this spring and this summer to make
017sure that we have in place um homebound procedures that we can follow and so there's clear-cut guidelines as far as what we as a division are doing when we're approving students for homebound Services um and that did come out of um a situation in another School Division where um a student who had been on homebound um there were maybe some things that weren't followed by their procedures that should have been that maybe could have possibly prevented some things from happening so um we've worked very closely with them um they actually sent one of their um attorneys out to do training with our principls assistant principals and schol schol counselors and school social workers today um and the feedback I've already gotten from some of the people that were at that training was that it was
018just very helpful for them to understand and to really know you know what it is that we're doing when we're providing homebound services to students so I just am asking for approval of the those few wording changes in the policies and then like I said I did make you guys a copy of the procedural manual that will be posted on our website um as well as we're just making some updates to our forms to align with the new procedures so so we were already using licensed doctors and psychologist but but our manual just didn't say correct correct it well it allowed for some other people to um to um sign off on those medical certifications of need and those are people that shouldn't be able to to sign off on them thank you any questions
019no I I think that's um to make it accurate and more definite is what we want to do and then we don't have that little vague area in it it and I think it's good yeah um that we did that yeah thank you any other questions if not we need a motion in a second to approve Madam chair I move that we approve the um the homebound instructions report I don't have coming from Miss Peters sorry I have a motion in a second all in favor signify by saying I I are there any opposed that motion does car thank you so much thank you ma'am thank you and now the crisis management Response Guide Mr Walters good evening good evening um each year um the uh Boe and the DC CJs requires us to come
020before you with our crisis management book or manual um and have you take a look at it and approve it and then they require us to have the superintendent of schools and each building principal to sign a approval acknowledgement knowing that it's been approved and this this will be the uh official plan for the year um I believe Bonnie U made copies for yall yes so um it's a lot of information um what I did this year was I took last Year's format which we last year we used the uh we tried to mirror the uh County's emergency crisis plan this year the DCJS came out with a fillable document that I liked a lot better I thought um fit schools more uh the counties obviously fits the County government this one fit the school
021um so I changed to this one uh filled our information in um and so now we have a school crisis Emergency Management and medical emergency response plan um it's a mouthful but um um the code of Virginia 22.1-cu shall ensure that every school that it supervises shall develop a written school crisis Emergency Management and that's what we have done what you have before you is the uh Dy County Public Schools crisis management plan each school also has a crisis management plan that acts in coordination with this plan um and those will be approved within this um after it's approved it'll be distributed internally to senior division Administration and building level Administration and then it'll also be distributed externally to local fire and EMS sheriff and public health administration and um I I'm I'm sure that's
022it's a lot of information and I don't know if you've had the chance to fully look over it but um what we do require and is to have it approved in Open Session and it's a fluid document if you should want to change something at some point we can always make changes to it so absolutely and it will um certainly change year to year but um um you may or may not have had time to look over it I know that we got it this evening but please do look over it and then if there's something that we need to adjust to bring it to everybody's attention absolutely but we need to approve it to put it in place as the starting point Yeah so basically we'd be adopting the plan and then we could
023adopt any amendments or changes that we have to make in the future and as we as it goes into effect you will be able to find any areas where it wasn't sufficient or something needs to be changed and that would be a good way to fix it too absolutely we and we've that's actually happened in the last couple years you know as we had minor emergencies we had to deal with yeah and as we go know it's going to be some more because some we haven't even thought about absolutely and um am I in order to Sure Madam j i mov the wi accept the um the risk with risk management report coming from Mr Walters I have a quick question before we sure um so for lockdown drills that would include school shootings AB
024that would be considered absolutely I was trying to find that specific yeah the lockdown drills um we we have there's kind of a little bit of a state of flux right now with what schools are adopting some schools are adopting after the Virginia Tech you know incident they're adopting less of a lock drown and more of a you know if you can run run if you can you know but right now officially the DCJS approves a lockdown so we went with the lockdown drill so is it specific to the context of why you're locking down the schools because so it has it as uh let's see lockdown drills will be held at least twice during the first 20 school days um with at least two additional drills being conducted in the first 60 so that's
025four in the first 60 days um so our teacher saying okay this is what you do if there's an active shooter or this is what you do if there's like we don't delineate whether it's what the lock down drill is for we delineate that it's a lockdown drill because shelter in place lock down um takes the same the same uh it looks the same in a classroom regardless of what it's for um the only thing that we do is a difference between is a health emergency and an intruder um and you know when we do the lockdown down drills we do them as Intruder drills yeah and and the reason for that is because we want them to off the lights and practice you know getting out of the eyesight and get the windows covered
026and things like that and lock the doors so but if it's a medical emergency they would just close their doors and continue to teach so it would be the when it comes to a lock down drill let's say a student brought a gun into the school versus an intruder that's coming into the school with a gun or what have you um it's the same well obviously everything is based on the situation but if an intruder brought a gun into the school be full lockdown and then you know obviously depending on where he whether he or she was with the gun is how you would react um if a student if we found a gun in the school with a student uh that may be handled a little differently if it's contained and we're able to
027get that student with the SRO and the SSO and get them into an area uh we could certainly continue to have class in the other parts of the building we would still lock the building down and keep kids out of the hallway but we don't want to interrupt instruction if we don't absolutely have to and obviously with an intruder we would but if we have a contained situation with a report of a gun we we could search that student and take care of that without interrupting instruction in other parts of the building so it unfortunately there's not a clean answer because every situation is different right yeah but um that's what I wanted to make sure that it wasn't like a cookie cutter okay if something happens just shut everything down regardless of the no
028and as a matter of fact um a lot of schools add little things into it U not just with Intruder drills with fire drills you know they may block off a door and say look the fire is right here you got to figure this out on the Fly um and we encourage them to do that and talk to them about that you know you got to be ready for that cuz it's not always going to be an easy cookie cutter situation for you know it's always going to be different so we got to be ready for that M Mr Walters I haven't had a chance to read through the whole thing I'm curious does this plan include the process for notifying parents when there is an emergency um so for example we'll just stick with
029a lockdown thing if we have a lockdown I know in the past the previous plan parents got notified abolutely um has anything changed with that part of the process well there's two sides to that on on lockdown drills we require schools to notify parents in advance so that they know it is a drill you know there's nothing worse than getting that phone call for an actual lockdown though for example we had a number of occasions last year where there were medical emergencies and we went into lockdown I heard from a handful of parents that there was confusion because there weren't a lot of details given when the notification went out so some of them thought there might have been a shooting at the school or something is there any change in that well we do
030ask we do ask principles when there's a lockr down and that's usually coordinated through Dr Weston and the communications team but we have to be careful with if it's a medical emergency about what we say but um we try to give as much information as we can to make sure that parents know that their child is safe and that it's not an intruder now if it's an intruder you know we're going to be transparent about that also because we're training to deal with that stuff but um yes we will send a phone call home so the parents aren't wondering absolutely but it's usually handled through the Communications Department is that this plan though that is included in this plan2 take you back was that yeah page 34 um so it's the way that I'm reading
031it is that the school principal will report that incident to you and then you're communicating that out or like what's what's the window of time well the window of time is almost instantaneous you know usually when the school principal when there's a lockdown drill they're going to have an assistant principal call me um and then my job is to make sure I'm communicating with Dr Weston and her team because they're dealing with the situation I can run around and tell everybody and get everybody in the know and mobilize and maybe go to the the site if we have to but um once I get the information it becomes my my my job to make sure that everybody down in this Administration knows um and the word that's going out to the public then we'll start
032working on that almost immediately through the communications department and then we'll keep track of changes keep track of information we have so that when it does go out we have the most current up-to-date information that we have that that's available and just to follow up on that so A word goes out that there is an incident and then hopefully we have word going out after the incident that is concluded and everyone is safe a second communication yeah usually um you're not you're not able to get enough information to give an accurate story until much later pretty much it's over you know so um you want to be careful not to put out something wrong obviously which is why we're all we all start working on it immediately uh whether it be with Dr Weston or
033you know anybody else involved with or Miss Robinson Williams and in that communication that goes out is there something in there that sort of suggests the parents don't come to the school because they're going to do that sometimes it falls on deaf ears but yes we we do and I get it you know parents they're they're babies you know they I get I get that but we we do ask them to please let us do our job so that we can make sure that everybody stays safe and then emergency rescue teams can get in if they need to or whatever the other thing that the schools been um working on is reunification drills so that they can actually um practice with the kids going to the spot parents would pick them up so that's different
034yeah yeah that's that's quite a task but they've been working on it and they we've been thinking about it and talking about it um and sunyside actually modeled it a couple times last year did a really nice job of it any other questions for Mr Walters I'll second the motion that's already been made so we have a motion so Mr Walker is seconding that motion and all in favor signify by saying I am adopting this Response Guide I are there any opposed and motion is carried thank you very much thank you a community needs assessment hello good evening I don't is it on going to give you a hard time this is m hello there go guess it goes off automatically good to see you good to see you miss Angel young thank you all
035right so I'm here again it seems like you're just here yeah feels the same to me so I appreciate your partnership through this and um we're seeking actually to continue our partnership with the schools and the school board as well as our Board of Supervisors uh it's an annual well it's more than an annual event but every five years it's required that through the state uh child children services act that we actually do some type of an assessment and our community needs assessment is what we have used before uh and so we have worked uh really well with that we've done it in several years the last one that we had done was 2020 uh so this one is due right around the planning stage which is now 2024 um it's every five years so
036the completion of the report would be 2025 uh so I usually partner with Marie um Mar grants our grant writer and and community and information coordinator and together we kind of work through the whole process with that um what we have used um during the five-year period was uh required because Social Services uh children services Juvenile Justice in our schools have mandatory criteria where they have to have some type of assessment done to see the needs that are occurring in the community and then so part of that would be uh our survey that talks about prevention needs assessments and it's scrolling up there on the screen for you all um to see they have a copy of it as well right and so we're looking at the the U survey covers the weapons violence and
037bullying feelings of hopelessness suicide and tobacco alcohol drugs sexual activity body Imaging um diet nutrition and physical activity uh along with that we also try to pull in some focus groups from different components in the community and based on the focus groups we get some interviews connected with that and we use that information as part of that segment to create the document that we have and then we also look for social indicator data uh collections from comparisons from before over the last few years to now and then we also are the the bigger part of that would be our youth risk behavior survey and usually we can get that through the CDC we usually pull that in uh and use Survey Monkey to actually put it in on electronic form so that way the kids
038can actually the youth can actually use that service um part of that is done and it's posted electronically as a survey online for our Schoolboard um link as well as our Board of Supervisors so it's an open open um open survey so people can actually see the results as part of that um so we've only over the last few years used the high school level n9th grade to 12th grade just to make sure that that's the way it's been done um and that grade level usually had in the past had been done through the English classrooms um I don't know if that will work for you all again I guess you'll let me know um we had about 1,526 kids that students that actually participated in the last one and it showed over about 600
039students that actually completed it successfully there and just two opt out situations and I know I talked to Mary uh about that so we actually are looking at the opt out form so that if parents don't feel like they want their child to actually participate in this process then they can sign the for and opt out and then they won't be a part of that survey at all so that's something we've used um don't have a whole lot of kids that actually opt out or parents don't um opt their kids out for that which I think is a learning experience overall um and then pents will cons will obtain the consent form in order to do that so we'll have that available when it's closer to that time uh we're looking at definitely have reliable
040collection of survey data along with that and we want to use that for some recommendations for changes so I'll kind of refer back to our recommendations that we had from before if we can kind of scroll to that section some of those ah you got me on that one let's see let's go to page 25 the other parts talked about the methodology and all that which we kind of talked about there so if you scroll a little bit more recommendations and you also have charts that you can look at the other parts so the recommendations uh from the past had been one would be developing a guidance based classes for counselors related to students in kindergarten to fifth grade that's not the one it's page 25 yep almost there there you go one more there
041you go if you can go down little bit yeah so that's that's what's showing there also to provide Law related education for youth that is uh is administered by school resource officers who are sworn officers of the Court this is available for three uh of the of the elementary schools Middle School and High School Youth and then the education of Youth and families about domestic violence through classroom presentations number for was Target bullying initiatives and we know that's what we always try and work on because that's always the key issue not just with kids also but adults as we know um District 19 Community Service Board uh they still working with us with prevent with suicide prevention committees and working on services with that I haven't seen them do too much lock and talk since
042covid too much so but I know they're out there working in other ways trying to work on Mental Health um as we know we all have staffing issues with everything these days and then we're also looking at collaborating with others to create a mobile unit uh that's equipped to staff the middle Health needs of that so I think that's still kind of pending to our new governor working on that process and then expansion of broadband which the county and you all know that we they've been working hard on that with different various areas of how they get that set up in people's homes and in in the schools and then research and investigate opportunities for regional programming to address common needs needs of Youth uh we usually do that as a regional partner so we
043partner a lot sometimes with Petersburg Colonial Heights Chesterfield you know some of the areas that are closer to us in Poria Greensville some of that as well and then we confer with our local Health Department which we know there is challenges there with Staffing but you know they're still available as needed to just kind of educate kids on the the activities of sexual activity teen pregnancies sexually transmitted diseases and to prevent um prevention key vention areas there and the last two on there is it's um prevention efforts related to Alcohol Tobacco and drugs and the school and community and of course I think we all know the big trigger these days is vaping uh and also the marijuana that's allow um pretty much um it's not for youth but at the same time people are
044using it and you smell it everywhere um then the last part there would be the expansion of opportunity for non-technological technological like video games computers smartphones electronic devices physical activity among Youth and educating parents and caregivers on the importance of just sleep-based levels as we know a lot of people just want to stay up on electronics all the time and not really give themselves some free time mentally maybe read a book or you know something else like that so those are the things that we're looking at doing um and that's part of what we're geared to set up for this um so we're coming to you to ask you all if you are willing to work with us to allow us to reset this up in a survey type component and look at a time
045frame that were a time frame that would be great for you all to kind of do this usually we've done it in October um that seemed to be a a pretty good time frame for it but you would have to let us know if that would work and if so how that would go about we'd have to have some other discussions on how we would roll that out and how we would get that set up in surve a monkey and and give parents and and teachers and staff uh and and and administration the opportunity to figure out how that's going to look in the system now I know five years is a big amount of time and things have changed a lot over the years especially since Co so we have to walk through that
046any questions that you have for me that I can answer is there any way that we can as individuals get involved in this part of the reason I ask that is one because I'm interested in this um uh it touches on a lot of things that you know I campaigned on and a lot of things that are part of my vision for a school system and then it's interesting we said October as well because I SP to Dr Weston about um creating an anti-bullying task force and I have a proposal for that that I'll be hopefully presenting in October and so I'm wanting to make sure that you know I'm not doing work that someone else is already doing so that I can learn from you and youde to inform you know what it is
047I'm trying to do here so any way that I can get involved well we're all for the anti-bullying yeah that's something we definitely advocate for and yeah that would be a good talk to maybe get together and see what you can come what we can come up to with on that maybe you can get Marie involved in that if there's something we can kind of look at for funding to kind of assist with that so I think that's we we we do get the results uh after she does the survey and they disaggregate the data we get the results and and you know it's um sometimes it's uh what students answer on those questions is might be far to the right far to the left and sometimes the treats in the middle um but um
048they're pros at dealing with what's the norm with that I live action okay all right I've got your name down here any other questions or comments I have a question on the opting out piece is it done with when we have our code of conduct there's a op in opt out in that you you have a different form or you're using ours I think we're using yours isn't that what we talked about Mary okay yeah okay so when those things go back to the individual schools we have to be very very careful if there's a parent that has opted a child out because a child is not going to say so right he's right a child probably might not know what they mean by opt out either true that's true yeah so um and then
049that would just need to be sent to us to let us know who we need to make note of usually they sign off on it we get a copy of it or you ask keep a copy as well so we'll have that and we have had parents to ask to see the survey and that's fine and it's online it's been online uh since it was created so um you just go to the website and they just go to Children Services and on the website you will see the different question the the the the most recent Community needs assessment yeah yeah any other questions or coms how often do you all update the question well um the CDC does a part of that so we look at the new data in the CDC and we use
050that and compare that to what the current one is and we see where it goes up or down and where the changes have been in areas and all those different areas that we just mentioned so for example 10 years ago vaping probably wasn't on that survey but it is now it will need to be here and then the the access to marijuana I mean how do you kind of describe that in A needs assessment now when it's legal you know in some ways true down other questions for Miss all to do the survey so we need a a motion and a second to participate with the survey Madam chairperson I move that we participate in the community needs assessment we have a Motion in a second all in favor signify by saying I I are
051there any opposed that motion carries thank you for your work and thank you if you all just let me know what days in October would probably look like that we can get that out so that parents can start um reaching out and letting you know that so are we still just surveying High School age kids we don't do middle school yet I mean we if you're open to do middle kids in middle middle middle school kids we did before but it just wasn't last time but probably because it was also Co and everything else was going on but I think um we should add them to it I think it's open because right now the Middle School's have more challenges I think than the high school any data we can have about our middle school
052students and even if it's not the full school if we have reasonable sampling would be good the older students right so we all of the Middle School the six to six to seventh and eth grader seventh and eth I mean I'd make the recommendation that we do sixth or eth I mean even looking at suicide rates or attempted suicide it's much higher in Middle School than it is high school and Elementary so I mean just getting all especially adding sixth grade into it allows us to see that transition period between okay you're a fifth grader and now you think you're an adult you know what's going on little Gap six through eight I and we have the six though is there there's questions on their sexual behavior questions on there do you make them age
053I mean cater to age because I mean things do happen we can look at that and mestation or access to pornography what have you we have them sign off when it comes to their CHR books something that they have access to yeah we probably look at that part and on the CDC if it's age appropriate and see if it's age appropriate if not then maybe pick out certain questions that might not be as intense as the high school do you have that capability to add take things out um we should be able to that would be good not wording wise but just pulling one part from it choosing not to what is it we're trying to find out yeah okay any questions comments thank you all right thank you all I'll wait back to hear
054from you all have a good day you too thank you uh back to school bash the enr first oh enrollment I keep looking down it's my bifocals don't that's okay totally understand that I think I talk L enough that you don't need the microphone but I'll turn it back good afternoon good afternoon so I'm here to give you an enrollment update of where we stand um hot off the press today um as of um yesterday in our schools the enrollment overall um we're at about 4,037 students not counting preschool because we our ADM is is based on K12 um which is is about 63 under our budget right now at 4,100 um however one of our challenges is where these students are being located in which schools and which grades you know um so that
055has you know caused us to look at numbers I know Dr Weston is looking at these um every day and trying to make decisions about class sizes we're also required to meet the K3 class size initiative which means that kindergarten through third grade in um our elementary schools can only have a certain number of children actually sitting in the classroom so um that has also been a challenge as of right now however we're not real sure um what's going to happen in the next week as well people tend to um enroll late but we'll also know that on the first day of school we'll have some kids that will also withdraw because they're in another School Division but have never sent their information to us to withdraw them and the other school division will will
056do that so um this is where we stand today um at this point in time um we're recommending that we just kind of sit tight and see what actually happens when um School opens next week and then if we need to make some decisions after that we can do that do you have any questions at this time go ahead J do you have the number on how many students are in our heal program has that number gone up 13 last count we had about 20 pending and then we had some new ones coming in so when we say they're pending that means that we had to screen them within the first 30 days yeah oh yeah right about the same think we ended up like2 okay so some exit as they gain proficiency yeah and
057gradu yes I'm graduated yes is um 63 off concerning bigger smaller than we normally have this time one week out it is a little bit larger than I think we've had over the last year or two um I didn't do a comparison on that Miss Pitman so I don't want to speak out of turn however um we also have some vacant positions we haven't filled um so we we we've got some things you know in the back of our pockets um to be able to um kind of pivot and adjust to this if necessary I'm really hoping that what we will see is you know um this will get closer to 4,100 students um if possible um La last couple years we've kind of gained actually as the fall yeah um went through and and
058and students kind of came so um you know we we yes it is concerning but um I don't think we're at the point where we need to like make some knee-jerk reactions and say we're going to you know not spend this or not fill this because I think we need to um you know um go ahead and and try and put as many um teachers in classrooms as necessary and we of course we have to comply with the guidelines or we don't receive the funding for like the K3 class side yeah um so is about is kindergarten about what we thought it would be or are we running low on that kindergarten is at 282 about 300 yeah last year was 306 so that's us L our graduate classes too yeah and you know that
059again people tend to wait till the last minute to do things as well so um I'm pretty sure that we will get um some additions to this in the next when we have the advance for the board in a couple weeks maybe we can um also have this by school show them where all that because by then the kids will be back too so you'll kind of know exactly where the right challenges are yeah I was just looking to see if there was any anomaly anything that I could there's no spot that we know of that would be like there are too few fifth graders in this school and we're going to have to let it it's not it's not as much of the Elementary level as it is at the um Middle School okay
060that's one place um you know the other thing is based on the so the um we're supposed to have like our English classrooms have to be below 24 we're trying to get make sure that's right so right we've been working on a lot of that this year that we so when you move one thing yeah yeah but then finding teachers has also been a challenge yes it has because we want to make sure they're qualified teachers in the classroom with children yes so yes more more information to come and at this point in time you know I think I think we just sit tight we're okay and we'll definitely have a better idea when we meet at the end of August yep great any other questions thank you thank you so much thank you so
061much okay bash um I'm not Miss Robinson Williams but I've been asked to um share information about The Bash um it will be held on August 23rd from 5: to 7: rain or shine just so you know our hot weather or cold weather doesn't matter um we have a plan B if we if the weather is not cooperating so we will hold that um regardless and um we've been able Miss Robinson Williams has been able to reschedule everything we'll have everything from haircuts to clothing to um supplies to shots yes there'll be shells worked out so we can get shots there so anything parents could need to bring their children to school will be available to our parents there we will have food trucks there um also so they can get dinner um so there'd
062be a lot of great things happening there wonderful so rain or shine questions about the bash there's always huge attendance at that always attendance there's some recreational things that go on sometimes you have the rock wall that you can climb and the bouncy house as well as all the other stuff that you might need lot of our Community Partners are there and it's really a great time is Gon Do we have citizens signed up to speak no um board member comments we will start on your end Mr Brown what do you want me to reverse Crea well that's okay we can flip and go down this end I'll begin um I wish there were more teachers here tonight just because last week when we had the Convocation at the high school the guest speaker was
063absolutely outstanding and she shared with us which many of us also have personal experiences with the fact that our teachers were our hearts Our Hope and our heroes I'm a I became a teacher because of a teacher and I think that was a very strong point to make it was very uplifting and I really wish to thank the committee Dr Weston whoever got that speaker for us those of you who were not able to hear her she was fantastic she was thank you Mr Walker um well first of all I just want to say that this is an exciting time of year yes I think New Beginnings are always exciting you get a clean slate so I look forward to seeing what happens in the coming School year but I do want to I don't
064know I'll just ask for forgiveness later because I don't know if this I put my foot in my mouth a few times we hope you out if we had a Rowan meeting that wasn't originally on the schedule and I won't go into the details there were some issues at rante that we had to address unexpectedly yes but I'm only bringing it up because I was so proud to be from dwy County at that meeting because you know there are several school districts involved at rwan but miss Fleming I I don't know what we pay her but if there's a way to give her if there's a way to give her a raise she strikes me as someone Char that she uh she pays for herself so um and what she along with Dr Weston was
065able to do for ranti we we probably um averted a serious crisis over ranti because of their work and and I just I thought it was cool that I could say there with me so um I appreciate the people that that work for school system and we have some really good people really good people here and that's why I'm excited about a new year so thank you Mr you can always say wonderful things about our team yes they're amazing yes well um Dr pearon Jeff have said it all welcome back and hope to be seeing you soon around County he said one thing uh Dwayne most people are glad they are from didn't MH and I'm glad you found it out quick we're always glad to be from Den with it but we do appreciate
066each one of you those who are here and those who are not here we appreciate you and I know I'm speaking from my part of the community from District 4 they think we're doing great things and they don't just think we are doing great things thank you um for all those who worked at the um a convocation thank you thank you thank you and for all the great work you're going to do because you always do and I know you're not going to do less this year thank you Jason that's BR all right had some time to not improvise um but no yeah like like Miss Benjamin said thank you to everyone that's public facing and everyone that's behind the scenes with all the work that you guys do um I I truly believe that
067everything that all of you all are doing is like super important that's why I've tried to schedule meetings with each of you one onone to try to figure out you know like how can I get involved D um because everyone plays a role and you know the vision that that I have the vision that we have for our school system um for the next will soon be three years um and one of the things that I was thinking about is when we first came onto the board um Dr Weston and our close session I believe had us write down like okay you know what is your why like you know why are you on the board why did you run you know what is it that you're trying to see accomplished and I think going
068into this new school year this is our first full school year that we're going into um that why is going to be tested that Vision that we have individually and collectively for the school is going to be tested um so I think it's just a a good call for just reevaluation of what everyone's individual why is and what's our Collective why you know deep root and Great Heights but that that has to be tangible you know we have to experience we we all experience the Deep Roots because we're here we're the roots but as far as this Great Heights and Greater Heights you know that's something that's to be experienced um and so just figuring out how can we make that a tangible experience like think is really important so if there's any way that
069of course I can be of help I'm always willing to be of help um expect emails from me please uh because I will be throwing out a bunch of things um I've been trying to this year first year on the school board just be investigative I'm someone that you know day one I wanted to run out the gates and do something but I realized there's so much that I have to learn so that when I try to do those things I'm doing them properly I'm you know communicating things to the right channels I'm asking the right questions and so I think I'm prepared as as time goes on and we get closer to December um into the middle of the school year that that investigative stage will turn into something that's a little bit more
070experimential and Pari um and so the anti-bullying task force proposal I'm really really excited for that uh um please again expect emails from me because I'm going to have questions for everyone from it on to the E program and so forth um and then everything else has to come after that because this is a living experience you know we're learning empirically we're learning as we experience things so uh thank you for everyone that's been instrumental and making this such an easy transition for me going from being a Community member to now being a Community member that's serving other community members as well thank you uh I opening a year is always exciting but it's always also a lot of work and a lot of man hours and um we have many many people have contributed
071to a successful open and so thank you to those who are working on that and it's uh it's a it's a labor of love it's something that you you have to do because you love it because sometimes it's uh laborious so thank you to those of you that have been putting in those hours and we have many new staff and that is both exciting and concerning because when you have so many new people but lots of new teachers and support staff you need to help them you need to support them you need to follow up you need to make sure they're they're comfortable and doing what they're supposed to be doing so um I think that might be a one of our bigger challenges coming up is to is to be able to support all
072those new staff and every school division is going through that many people are retiring you know before they have to and um we have people that are you know have taught for a while and are deciding to do other things so it's just what we're all going through um but however we can help and support that um hopefully we will and and we will help do that as well Dr Weston okay great um I wish I could um it's so interesting to me when I have interactions with people in the community I wish I had like a dollar for every time somebody said boy aren't you aren't you glad to have a break well the summer is our busiest time here at the central office so it's always funny to me when people think that's
073what we do here all summer is just break you know that there's really nothing going on because there's no kids but this is when the the heavy lifting goes on so I want to make sure that um we do spend our Summers um making certain that we as a um a team here are smarter that we're more informed about what's going on and we're ready to do something different as a result um and so we've spent this summer doing that um um shanaria and Carly and Penny they've been leading curriculum writing teams like all summer long um I don't think we've had teachers that have gone home they hit the ground running from the day after the last day of school to all summer they've been here um every single day writing curriculum so that
074our set our teachers up for Success um very I'm so pleased with the curriculum doc Dr Clay and just so so pleased with the curriculum the work that's been going on in that team and um I we also spent um assistant sorry about that Mr Pitman um um we met with principles assistant principles and we've been working on continuous Improvement so we could bring that down to the school level um doing some really smart work there this year we've assigned all of we've tiered all of our schools um and we've assigned each principal with a um central office person that's kind of their connect and check-in person that kind of you know so to help to support them um there's just been a lot lot a lot of things going on we did you talked
075about the conference last week unbelievable I want to recognize Betty again in her leadership she hates that that's why I always like to say it because you know when people are that humble about their work you want to make sure you recognize them often um but that team put together a phenomenal um two-day event don't not think that anybody understands the magnitude of the planning and preparation that goes into that I think there were about 20 plus people that were on that committee that all had different roles to play to pull that off unbelievable and you know I do think the opening speaker I think what her message for us was to remind us about to see our work through the eyes of a child we're dealing with children right so we should always think
076about our interactions with children Through The Eyes of a child right and um I just you're right Dr Pearson it was um we all have a story and I think we got to be mindful of that too the grown people come with their stories to work every day too um just want to remind you that um you have your advance in a couple weeks so we're going to be spending some time and the team will be coming to work with you all and doing some goal setting for this year you all can lay some goals out for us and to talk about the Deep Roots and Great Heights that you mentioned and what's Great Heights going to look like this year um and what are going to be those measurables that you want us to
077be working on in the year ahead um I also want to say about Mary Peters um you know I think you're only as good as what you don't you only as good as what you know right and we have really had some challenges with special education Staffing and Mary's been here for about a minute about about a minute and um we met with her and I was like okay you know because if I don't have information I go we can just move this person here this person here and I want you to know that Mary went through every IEP every student's IEP in this district and put together um a um it's a worksheet for every school so we can know the student and I heard something we don't call them disabilities we call them
078abilities their abilities and about you know what their plan for support is what their needs are who their case worker is all everything so we can pull that up and when we're making decisions now we can make decisions I mean that that's that's servant leadership and she did it on her vacation I just want you to know that I did not ask her to do that on vacation I just want to put that out there too but I do appreciate that because now we have more information about about our special education students than we've ever had I appreciate that um wait I don't want to miss anything I have written on here um Jeff told us we will for the parents at home bus routes will be at your schools tomorrow tomorrow so please join
079us at the secondary schools tomorrow night for back to school night from 4:00 to 7:00 for middle and high school and on Thursday the bus routes will be there 4 to 7 on Thursday evening and I will just remind you that the last thing is Friday Night Lights begins August 30th looking forward to it that's right right football starts August 30th I think it's the 29th oh I'm sorry I had August 30th but yeah I think it originally okay okay August 29th whatever day it is it's that last week in August Thursday or Friday but we'll have it on the website so you'll know exactly which one it is that makes sense because I think that's Labor Day weekend and go Friday that makes sense Thursday night okay we'll figure it out it'll be on
080our website and Mr Tes will push it out to us all but that's when it all starts the ACT the action starts right right Bonnie yes we love we love Friday Night Lights so that's more than you probably wanted to hear that's all right all lot of good stuff inform great people uh any other comments or things that we need to discuss if not we appreciate all your input we appreciate your attention to all of the task that have had to be done since we met last and uh there is an adjournment listed on our agenda so that there is no objection we will adjourn thank you very much