001States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Can I have a motion to approve the agenda? >> So move. >> Second. >> M. Murphy. All in favor? >> Opposed? Motion carries. Um, next on the agenda is caring educator, Mr. Cutler. >> Thank you, President Long. Uh, good evening everyone. S members of the board, Dr. SA, Dr. Sax, senior staff, and guests. Gives me great pleasure to introduce a recipient for the month of May. This is to you. Was born and raised in State College, Pennsylvania. Uh she's dedicated 28 years to the field of education including seven years of special education uh six of those which were in Pennsylvania. She transferred to Berkeley County. Her first year was also teaching special
002education in Berkeley County and her the next 21 years uh were at Burk Street Elementary as a kindergarten teacher. Uh Mrs. Bell is a graduate of Penn State University where she played basketball for four years while earning her bachelor's degree in elementary education. I told her we won't hold that against her. She later earned her master's degree in special education from Mercy Hurst University throughout her time at Burke Street Elementary. Mrs. Bell has taken on numerous additional roles. She has served as faculty senate president, contributed as a member of the LSIC committee, the report card committee, and designed the school yearbook. She also previously led the Burk Street responsible student program. Mrs. Bell is an exceptional educator who sets high expectations for her students and consistently encourages them to give their very best effort. She
003creates a structured yet nurturing classroom environment where students feel safe, valued, and motivated to learn. She is skilled at differentiating instruction to meet the diverse needs of her learners, ensuring that every child, regardless of ability, has the opportunity to to succeed. Her lessons are engaging, purposeful, and thoughtfully designed to build both academic skills and confidence. She builds strong, meaning meaningful relationships with each of her students and fosters a sense of respect, responsibility, and curiosity in their classroom. Mrs. Bell demonstrates patience, flexibility, and creativity, adapting her teaching to help students overcome challenges, celebrate their progress. She communicates effectively with families and colleagues and she is a collaborative team member who contribute contributes positively to her school community. Her dedication and proactive approach to addressing challenges have played a significant role in her student success. She prioritizes
004their well-being while delivering the standards of voters curriculum that supports the growth of the whole child academically, socially, and emotionally. She also brings joy and humor into her classroom, enjoying light-hearted moments with her students to cherishing the light bulb moments when new concepts truly click. Outside of the classroom, Mrs. Bell enjoys teaching water, gardening, spending time with her family, taking part in activities by the river. She is especially grateful for the support and understanding of her husband Bo and her cousin Billy as they support her long dedicated duties. Thank you, Mrs. spell for your continued dedication and commitment to Burk Street Elementary. Your contributions to our students, families, and community partners are truly good. Please join me in congratulating Mr. Bell. >> Reach preach. [laughter] All I was going to say was um thank you
005to my husband and my cousin obviously because they live with me and they lived through my chaos of being an educator and bringing all my stuff home. Um and my whole entire Burk Street staff that's right here standing with me and the former student out there >> and my Bible study peeps are here too. I couldn't do it without, you know, giving my glory to God first and then I couldn't do it without any one of these people that are standing right here beside me tonight. >> Well, thank you so how many people from Burk Street are here? Would you raise your hand? >> Yeah. Um, >> and all my years here on the board, one thing I've noticed, smallest schools have the largest turnout of support amongst their parents. >> That's because we're family.
006>> I know. I've been over the years, >> too. >> And uh I just want to say that we uh appreciate what you do for those little rascals that you have and and that the the legacy of that building uh you've made a major contribution to it success. I love watching the scores come in in the spring. Burke Street bricks up there and your liberties. Thank you for you have to stay. I do. Yes. I was catching >> you back. Next on the agendas, um from elementary and we'll be honoring the student of the month. >> Hi, good evening Dr. Snacks, board members, senior staff, honor guests. It is truly an honor to stand before you tonight to recognize an outstanding student from Mor Elementary as Burger County Schools May Student of the Month, Broady
007Gator. Brody's journey is a special one, not only because of who he is as a student, but because of the legacy he represents. The Kindred family has deep roots at Marlo, Brody's father, grandmother, and even great-grandparents who attended in the 30s, 1930s, and 40s, walk the same halls he does today. >> Wow. >> His older brother is also Marlo graduate, Aiden. and his younger brother is currently building his own story there in kindergarten. >> That kind of connection across generations is rare and meaningful and Brody carries it with pride and grace. For the past four years, from preK to now, his final month of second grade, Brody has been a shining example of what it means to be a Moro student. And tonight it's especially meaningful to have those former teachers and current teachers here.
008All who have played a role in shaping the young person he is today. I'm going to share a few words from each of his teachers. If you guys wouldn't mind, you're going to love it. Uh prek, Miss Amanda, Miss Mandy, and also Miss Denise. Birdie was we are so very excited and proud of you for receiving B County School student of the month. You have been an exceptional student, classmate, and friends as you join our classroom in prek. You always brought a joyful attitude and kind heart to school each day. We know you're going to continue to do great things as you learn and grow. Wishing you a super big congratulations. Love, Mr. Danny. >> Brody showed up every day with a smile on his face and a goal to attain. He was excited to
009learn and always gave 100% to any task he was presented with. He was a star student and I am so thankful to have been his kindergarten teacher. Brody showed up every day with a smile on his face. Sorry, your daughter. >> Congratulations, Brody. You are a very special student who works hard and enjoys learning. You are funloving, kind, and respectful, and certainly welldeserving of this honor. And I am so proud of you. >> Second grade, Miss isn't able to be here with Mrs. Mrs. Kra's here. Brody is a kind, caring, and wonderful example of what a student of the month should be. I truly enjoy seeing Brody's smiley face each morning. He comes to school ready to learn every day and always tries his best. Even when he is faced with challenges, he builds positive
010friendships and consistently gives his best effort in his schoolwork, making him a joy to have in class. Each of their words paints a consistent picture. Roy is kind, hardworking, respectful, and brings joy into the classroom each and every day. He is the kind of student who not only strives to do his best, but also lifts up others along the way. Brody, what stands out most is not just your academic effort and your cyber skills, but your character. You treat others with kindness. You face challenges with determination. And you come to school each day ready to learn and grow. Those qualities will take you far, not just in school, but in life. As your principal, I feel incredibly fortunate to have been a small part of your journey. You represent the very best of Marlo, our
011history, our values, and our future. Congratulations, Brody. We are so proud of you and we cannot wait to see all the great things that you to accomplish. And so we want to present with soccer ball from his classmates. Congratulations. Bernie when I uh contacted what I have to say that >> that way when you get all that those accomplishments and hugs and I just wanted to tell you when I uh contacted your principal Mrs. Worthington and I said, "Give me a few things to say about Brody that the tons of other things." And she said, "You have such a positive attitude every day and your willingness to go far and above with helping others and and how you do your best every day that you come to school." So, if all of our students were
012like that, we would have A+ A+ A+. Thank you so much for just being a great student of the month. Thank you. There you go, buddy. >> There you go. >> I think Mr. Murphy wants a high five, too. >> Mr. Wright wants a high five. >> It wasn't built by the county at the time. This school was built by the parents >> of the kids back in 1922. >> 1922. And I think they ran out of money for a roof, but uh they got the money, but if anybody in the reality is available to help you, I say they we'll give you an address. [laughter] >> Such a wonderful history there. >> Oh yes. Very nice. >> Thank you all so much. Congratulations, Brody. >> Next on the agenda is superintendent announcements. Dr. shotgun.
013So that makes you want to wear yours. >> Well, good evening board members, President Long Wong. Um we have several uh updates for this evening. Uh the first is uh we have um actually that's last. I apologize. So there we go. So we'll come back to that first one there. So it's teacher appreciation week May 4th through the 8th 2026. Um and I want to thank every teacher across Berkeley County Schools. You are the heartbeat of our school district. you do the daily work that isn't always visible, building relationships, pushing uh learning forward for our students and supporting students through every kind of circumstance. Uh as we celebrate all week long, I also want to recognize one exemplar uh of our of our school district and that is Mrs. Nommen who is our Berkeley County
014Schools teacher of the year. Mrs. Nommen teaches baking and pastry at Muscleman High School. She is an inspiring example of passion, creativity, and dedication and action. And the impact she's having on students is exactly what we want to celebrate. So, um, if you see Mrs. Nommen, congratulations. And to all of our Berkeley County teachers, thank you for showing up every day and changing lives. And I am sorry. I think you have the wrong presentation. You have the wrong update. >> The one baby. Um, hang on a second because I want to make sure we get this right. So, I need you to if we can just take a pause for a second. >> Yes. >> Can we get Carla um or Jess to make sure that Leah has the right one? >> Jess, >> I
015know she's virtual. She not virtual. >> Yeah, if you don't mind. [clears throat] >> Let me make sure that I apologize. Okay. Excellent. Thank you so much. Um, apologize for the technical uh, issue there, but our fearless uh, leader, Leah Bass, was able to solve the challenge. So, thank you, Mrs. Bass. >> So, now we get to recognize Mrs. Nommen um, our Berkeley County Schools teacher of the year um, for a job well done. And again, we want to congratulate and thank all of our teachers every single day for showing up, changing lives, and being a differencemaker for our students. Um, also over the last two weeks, we've had the opportunity to celebrate two exciting signing days for our students across Berkeley County Schools. One for Aviation X and one for Med. Those events were
016a great reminder of the kinds of opportunities we're trying to build for students in Berkeley County schools. And tonight, I'm also excited to highlight a new pathway with Blue Ridge Community and Technical College in industrial maintenance. Altogether, these programs reflect the direction that we're headed. More opportunity, stronger partnerships, and clear pathways into high demand careers for Berkeley County students when they walk across the walk across the graduation stage. We recently held a signing day for the inaugural class of Aviation X, and it was exciting to see the students officially commit to this new opportunity. Aviation X is a forward-looking investment in both students and the Eastern Panhandle workforce. Students will engage in aviation learning on site at the airport with hands-on experiences, industry recognized credentials, and internship opportunities built right into this pathway. I also
017want to emphasize something that's very important and that is that the staffing for aviation X is being provided by our university partner through Marshall University as part of our partnership agreement. That's a major advantage and helps ensure quality and sustainability as we launch the program into the future. We also recently held a signing day for the newest class of med students. This year we were able to expand the program beyond just two high schools to all four and it was a great event celebrating our students stepping into a meaningful healthc care pathway. Med continues to be a strong example of what happens when education and industry partners well. students are able to combine classroom instruction with real world experience in the healthcare setting, giving them exposures to careers that they may one day pursue. I
018also want to again thank WVU Medicine Berkeley for being a strong partner in this work, including recently partnering with us on the funding support for this position so we can continue to expand this opportunities for students um into the future. Also this week, we were able to announce um and highlight another major announcement that connects directly to our school bond and to our long-term workforce strategy across Berkeley County. Again, if our bond passes, WVU Medicine will expand its nursing education presence within the walls of our new CTE center. This matters because it creates a true healthc care pipeline for our students. Students can be inspired and exposed to healthcare careers while they're still in school, and they can pursue advanced nursing education opportunities after graduation right here at home. I also want to be clear
019on the financial structure, though. WVU Medicine will pay for the full buildout of their approximately 15,000 square ft within the facility, not the school system. And beyond the buildout, we also have an agreement for a long-term financial partnership that will continue to support investments in CTE for staffing, resources, and program strength over time. This is truly the kind of partnership that helps a facility become a hub of the of hub of opportunity for our students and the community. Alongside healthcare though, we're also expanding high wage, high demand opportunities in manufacturing. So, I want to share our new industrial maintenance pathway with Blue Ridge Community and Technical College. So, with that said, I'm excited to announce a new early college opportunity for our students at all four high schools in industrial maintenance through our expanded partnership
020with Blue Ridge Community and Technical College. This has actually been something we've been working on over the course of the past year. And again, this is the kind of program that gives students a real payoff while they're still in high school. They can earn high school credit, 28 college credits, and build valuable technical skills in areas like uh mechatronics, welding, electricity, fluid power, and mechanical systems. Students will also have the opportunity to earn industry credentials and essential employability skills that position them well for both continued education and directly into the workforce. This is a pathway into high demand careers. And it's another example of how we're aligning student opportunity with our regional workforce need. And what's great about this is just like Aviation X, the staffing for this program is being provided by our college
021partner as part of this agreement, which is a major strength of the model. We also have a campus tour scheduled for May 7th, so our students can get a firsthand look at the program with the full launch being planned for August in the fall. We also want to recognize um a uh board members, you have a calendar invite for this event, but we will formalize entrance into the med. Um let's see here. I apologize. Um I'm sorry. Uh BCS students are going to receive their graduation stos at Blue Ridge Community Technical Schools this week. And so we're really excited to be able to share that with the grow your own pathway through the Department of Education. We're going to be recognizing those students who are advancing their pipeline into the education field. And so we
022are so excited to be able to recognize these students who again have been uh participating in the grow your own and are ready to again work in education which is another obviously high demand field. When we look at graduation, um, it's right around the corner and I want to celebrate some really cool statistics as we think about what we're doing as a school system to prepare students again to walk across that graduation stage being uh, college and career ready or military enlist and military enlistment ready. Spring Mills High School's graduation will be May 21st. 241 seniors pursuing college entry through nine different institutions and li 11 military enlistments. Martinsburg High School is Tuesday, May 26th, where we have 123 seniors pursuing college. Um, and that's in any college, university, or institution. There are 39 different
023institutions that our students are have gained entry into so far, as well as seven military enlistes. Hedgesville High School graduation will be May 27th. 202 seniors are pursuing college in 27 different institutions and five military enlistments. And then finally, Muscleman High School, Thursday, May 28th, with 175 seniors pursuing college 30 across 38 different institutions and 14 military enlistes. I was so privileged to be able to um attend Muscleman High School's college signing day where I was able to see all of these students be able to um be recognized for the the institutions in which they've signed with as well as the the military branches in which they've signed with. This is just one example of how um the pathways that we are providing students, the learning that we are providing students from from preK all
024the way through 12th grade are making a difference for our students um as they as we prepare to to wish them well into the next chapter of um their of their life. As we think about um these workforce pathways and preparing for graduation, I think that they also reinforce a simple truth and that is that strong programs require the right spaces and our [snorts] growth and capacity pressures are very real here in Berkeley. And I think that that's a good transition to our May 12th bond election and what voters will be asked to consider next week. So, as a reminder, I want to be very clear about what's included in the bond order. And this slide represents the full package as it appears. Um the reason I want the full list to be visible is
025because the needs of the county uh across the county are immediate and this bond addresses real day-to-day capacity and facility issues that affect our students and our staff right now. So, as we think about these projects, the new Hedgesville Middle School, uh the additions and renovations to Martinsburg South, which has an entire 7th grade wing, which are in mod in in modulars. Um 82, I think it's 82 or 87, I forget the number, I apologize. 87 modulars are in use every single day across Berkeley County Schools. uh expanding cafeterias uh for uh and kitchen spaces at Muscleman High School and at um at Tomahawk, the Spring Mills Road campus improvements, the kindergarten classrooms at Rosemont Elementary um that are in portables. Um again, the cafeteria and kitchen renovations at Tomahawk. Uh classroom additions at Hedgesville
026High School that have eight classrooms that are in modulars. of course HVAC uh improvements to Martinsburg High School and those athletic improvements at Muscleman as well as uh the CTE um initiative that we have to be able to again expand workforce development opportunities for our high school students. So, at this point, I'd like to invite Executive Director Andy Neptune with the School Building Authority, who has uh graciously uh come to speak with our board this evening and our community um to share a few words about the SBA partnership and what it represents and why this level of commitment truly matters for Berkeley County Schools. So, uh Executive Director Neptune, thank you for being here with us today and uh again, we appreciate you coming and speaking to the board. >> Well, Dr. Sachs, thank you.
027Board members, thank you for the opportunity and the invite to come over. Um, I brought with me uh Dana Wac. Dana is our director for architectural services. Covers a lot for the school building authority. A lot of knowledge that goes on uh inside those walls of of the school building authority. I will uh say this this is a little bit different for me in the four years that I have been at the school building authority. You see we're coming up and celebrating and putting the shovel in the ground or we're cutting a ribbon in different locations. Dana and I have traveled to 40 I think 40 48 counties now in our state and we have made several visits here to Burgundity County because there's a lot going on. Very excited about being here and about
028excited about what's going on. uh to the point where I it it was almost I probably I don't know how many months ago I was visiting somewhere Mr. Delator said can I tell you about Berkeley County? Okay, tell me about Berkeley County. And then times would lapse and we would cross roads again and pass and I'd say how are you? and he stayed very well. Can I tell you about Berkeley County? If in case you need any other additional person for your public relations as far as this bond project and what's going on in Berkeley County, Ernie Delator is the man because I know every inch and respect what's going on here as a result of the visits that I've had with him to the point where I said, "Dang it, what do I going
029to need to drive out to working?" And that's when Dr. Sax said, "We'd love to have you at a board meeting." And we really kind of came to answer some questions maybe that you might have or the community might have concerning the school building authority. Uh it is fabulous discussion that's going on that reaches all the way back to Charleston and it has our attention and it's such positive. But I was, you know, relooking the list that you have going on here with this bond and such opportunities that's involved uh for the students here in the county that it it's worth us coming out and spending a few minutes with you all uh out out here. Um, I really kind of just wanted to touch on the fact or ask, you know, if there were
030any general questions that either myself could answer or Dana could answer. Uh, we're not afraid of anything that y'all might have to ask or anybody else that may have. That's why we're here to try to help along, you know, the process along. So for that I'll pause for a minute and ask if there's any questions board members might have folks might have feel free go a long way. >> I don't have a question but I do want to thank this SBA for what even considering our projects um to us they're the most important in the state but everybody feels their projects are the most important in the state. So whenever you consider us and uh provide us some funding to be approved at a later date, that's just icing on the cake. So because we
031have so much need here as you've seen. >> Yes, indeed. >> We're very thankful. >> We're glad to help. >> We try to help as many as we can. >> Yes. >> That comes to us with the amount that we have that has been given to us. So uh but we appreciate that. Yes, sir. probably shouldn't ask this question, but I'm sure people in the public are probably gonna um message me afterwards. Why did you ask this? >> Okay. >> But if the bond doesn't pass, how much does that hurt our any consideration from the SBA for a future bond? >> Well, I to be honest with you, I I don't believe uh that that would factor in. You know, we we evaluate the need as it comes across our desk. Uh, and so without
032dwelling too much on if it doesn't, but when it does, >> right? >> But, you know, I think that uh I would hope that maybe this board would would be reconsidering uh attempting again uh given the list that I saw. Uh so, you don't really want to say, well, that hurts that need or or whatever. That's that's the need that comes across and that's the desire of each county and we evaluate that and look at that, you know, very serious and not the fact that uh well, it didn't pass the first time so we're really not that interested. No, we we don't evaluate that way. We look at that and uh we try to we try to do what the best we can uh and and we're going to hope for more positive the fact
033that when it does pass >> but it would not factor in we evaluate we weigh it the same every time it comes across the desk. So, in that spirit of positivity, when it does pass, just to remind the public that uh when it passes, the that's the fast, we'll be able to get our students out of so many >> trailers, or just even our regular schools that are so overcrowded now that it will help our community. You [clears throat] don't understand when a school is overcrowded, that impacts the staff morale. they get burned out more and it increases student behavior because if you're clumped together then you're more likely to get a little heated at times because somebody's right next to me all the time, right? >> So, just as a reminder that these things
034are aren't just helping, they're helping a multitude of things. Um and especially it can help with student discipline and with our staff feeling a little more at ease especially in a maybe a more climate controlled environment or with more space in their classrooms. Well, to that I mean, you know, when we're traveling across the state, you know, I tell folks all the time, need is defined differently. >> And, you know, you can travel in the south and northern panhandle and look and see what their needs are. Maybe older facilities, things like that. Population could get involved. I said, when you look at the eastern panhandle, you look at they need more chairs. >> Wow. >> They need they need more chairs. So need is not, you know, doesn't have a weight to it, right? Across
035our state, need is need. Uh and and when you look at that and you hope that the community uh supports things like bonds or or levies, things like that that help along the way. But um you're right, you know, it it and I have had the opportunity on multiple occasions uh to travel with Dr. Sachs Dana and I Mr. Delator saying on on different schools that y'all have and I've seen I've seen the cafeteria where the gymnasium is. I've seen the trailers out out on the side. Dana and I have traveled around. We have seen that. Uh and so we understand uh the need when we saw some of the list here uh of what Berkeley County needs in hopes of when this bond passes. Well, just the fact of trying to um I mean,
036when the cafeteria is not large enough at a school, when you have over 1,700 kids and can't get all of them in there to get their lunches served, I mean, there's there's a lot of factors, not just in the classroom, but it's everywhere in the school. >> Exactly. Exactly. Yes, sir. Uh back in ' 84, long back the way I was in the legislature and we were in a caucus and the speaker at that time, Clyde C was running for governor and he was trying to get us to and we did uh replace the hospital with water. So this was a college issue. No, don't forget. But he was he was advocating for a new hospital to replace the old old being was built in 1955. Well, those of us who were on the education
037committee would lose status. So wait a minute here, 55, that's a new building to what our schools are. And so historically uh with the SBA being ramped up, I don't know if you'll see the existence that or not, but um you have you and your predecessors have addressed a lot of health and safety issues, the growth issues over here. And if that wasn't going on to any extent by the state, maybe legislator got it in the budget on the lottery or something. I I don't know. But the formal process that the SBA established has gone a long way and it has helped local communities offset the entire expenditure by putting that money in at the state level. So, uh, it's it's more like a primer, uh, priming the pump and and you all have done
038a great job for Bland County over the years, and you have a a good >> good initiative in this, uh, bond for us to vote in deposit and get a sizable commitment from the state. So, um, I I just was sitting here thinking about that real old hospital in Morgantown built in 1955 and legislators are standing up and say, "Well, I have something was built in the 1800s and it's this and that." So, u I can only think about and say, uh on a whole state how appreciative I am that the speaker was trying to get a new hospital and we got a a sound organization established that's helping all of the counties in the state. >> Right. Just to quote the record, 1984, I was a sophomore in high school. Clarify that >> and
039I was a freshman. No, you you are right and really as a result of that as the uh the SBA came together that is a lot of how you know Dana has three folks that work for him and done a lot of the traveling around and look and Dana and I do the same but it's part of our evaluation process the health and safety like you were mentioning those protocols that we look at when we're scaling projects for them. >> Yeah. Um, when if we have to run the bond in November, when would the SBA consider approving uh >> I think we um [clears throat] go ahead, Dave. Go ahead, >> Dave. Would we have to wait another year? >> No. No, ma'am. So, so what you'd have to do is go through if you
040if this bond doesn't pass, then you would have to re-evaluate your bond, maybe new language, maybe if you're going to change the scope, then you'd have to present that to our authority like you did this time. And then you could still make the uh September submission to submitting it and then pass your run your bond in November and then you'd still be available for the December funding. >> Okay. It's good to know. Thank you. Absolutely. >> I wanted to say thank you for coming up all this way. Um, not just for ribbon cutting and for, you know, breaking ground and all that, but making yourselves available to us, talking with us, answering questions, um, but also just listening to what our needs are. Our needs are definitely different than we and we acknowledge that. you
041know, we we get together with other school boards in in the in the state and we hear some of the troubles that they are also going through and it's definitely a lot different than what we are. Um, and we sympathize with them in that, you know, we don't understand their difficulties. They would rather have our difficulties in some ways. Um, I I what I wanted to convey to you guys, you guys weigh a lot of of things. You have a lot coming across your desk, a lot of asks, and I I know that there's a lot vying for your attention. And so, I just wanted to say thank you for considering all things. I know it can probably weigh heavy at times. Um, and I want to acknowledge that and thank you. >> And I
042I appreciate that. I I uh I changed the tempo a little bit when I came to the to the school building authority. I promised both administrations, both governors, but I told him I said if if if you're looking for a man to sit behind the desk, I I I'm not your man. We will be out in the fields. We will be out in the counties and if somebody in administrations uh ask us a question, we'll be able to tell them because we saw them and we've been out and we, you know, we've laid eyes on them. we've heard it. Uh and and that's what makes it tough when we have to make those decisions. Uh I am a 35 year veteran of school system in Marian County Schools, born and raised and came up through
043that system. So I understand needs. I understand boards of education. I understand all of that. Uh, and it does make you walk the floor when you have to make those tough decisions. You see what what the need is. So, we appreciate that comment. You know, I don't know if Damon likes getting in. He drives all the time just about. And so, we we've been everywhere uh to try to try to lay eyes on things and and we appreciate that comment very much because we take it very serious, very serious. >> All right. Thank you. anywhere that you come into this county that you I'm sure every time you've seen new housing developments or >> Yeah. >> new town houses. Yes. Whether you're coming from Hancock or that way or in through Hedgesville or 81, >>
044right? >> I want to piggy back off this car for a second. Um sometimes Berkeley County our citizens we feel ignored by Carlson sometimes especially with our growth and sometimes our needs are felt ignored especially the locality pay for the rest of the state. So, I mean, it's since I've been on the board, it's been so refreshing to work with the SBA since working with the 2022 bond, largest SBA given grant at that time and all the MIP grants that we've received and this opportunity that we have in front of us now. It's we're speaking for myself as a board member, couldn't be more pleased with what SBA's done for us and the opportunities they've given us up here in Berkeley County with because we are the economic engine of the state at this point.
045Yeah. >> Um, historically not, but here we are in um, Charleston's giving it back to us. >> It's refreshing to see us go out into the schools and also see someone who's in Charleston coming out and walking what what we see every day. I mean, I was in a school that couples with cafeteria as well as the area for teachers to prep. I mean, I can't even imagine, you know, that the cafeteria is also the teachers prep areas. Like, it's just it boggles my mind how they're actually able to use that. >> And it's also the gym. Yes, it is also the gym. So, I mean, it's it's just it's it boggles my mind how they're able to do everything all in one area. And um it's it's refreshing to when I'm when I'm walking
046through that space to be able to say, "Hey, this is on our bond. this is an area that we can address and and this quite possibly could be an area that you guys are going to be working with us on and you guys are actually boots on the ground with us. So, thank you. >> We we we appreciate that and I like I said I it's a little bit different. Uh I didn't think it was would be such an attention getter coming from the world that I came from, you know, but when uh I said to Mr. Delator one evening and I said because I know he's he's very works very close Dr. Sax and y'all on the board. I said, "Tell him we'll drive out. We'll answer some questions." And he was like, "Well,
047what?" I said, "We'll drive out. We'll see what's going on and answer some questions and maybe bring it a little bit closer for the folks in the community to see that to have a chance to, you know, to ask questions from, as y'all like to say, Charleston." And so, you know, we're here. We're that's that's our job. That's what we're supposed to do. So, anything else? >> What legislatively? What should we be asking them to support for enhance your performance? >> Well, I think >> I know it's money, but >> we support. Yeah, I think uh the last uh groundbreaking that we had uh I made reference to the fact uh that we were very fortunate this year uh again kind of an unprecedented area that the legislators uh approved and the governor approved in
048his budget $10 million additional to us. So not a one time but an additional. Uh that's huge. Uh, and so, uh, I had had some goals and still have some goals of where I would like the SBA to, you know, to be, uh, when I start maybe not slowing down and not traveling down to Charleston. I live in Charleston through the week. Uh, but that that was a big step for the last three years. You know, I personally three and a half years I advocated when we go Dana and I go in front of House Finance, Senate Finance, and we, you know, we say we got been having the same number, 51 million, we have 170 million in requests, and y'all can help us, you know, and finally somebody heard us and made it and
049made it and pushed it through and got 10 billion. Once that got into that line item budget, we appreciate so much, Governor Morsy, to sign that for that and and not take that out. Uh, and so we're going to move forward. So that that's we'll take little steps with that. Not not coming from a political world. I may have wanted to take a little too big a steps, but we'll take those little steps in time and try to improve it as we as we go along. >> 20% more than what you got before. >> Yeah. True. That's correct. Well, the one thing the one thing I've learned in working with executive director Neptune is he knows that um he likes to take big steps and so do I. And there has not been uh an
050executive director of the school building authority authority that has been a better friend to Berkeley County Schools than Mr. Neptune and his leadership. So, thank you, sir, for uh I just echo all of our board members sentiments. Um, and as I think about the proposal and the partnership that we have uh on the ballot, so to speak, uh, for next Tuesday, um, I just want to remind voters that, uh, you know, the the partnership that, uh, the SBA has is sort of walking with Berkeley County Schools. Uh, there's, uh, you know, two projects specifically that that we're looking at as the total bond package, right? U the South Middle School project and then the larger chunk is the career and technical education center. And I know that um you know thinking about responding to our
051constituents across Berkeley County schools um the growth is is just tremendous and our schools are either at or or over capacity. And when we think about uh getting students out of modulars, I know that that was very important to our conversation when we thought about structuring this partnership. Um and then of course the capacity challenges we have in our high schools, you know, where the the uh center, the CTE and workforce development center could alleviate 800 seats across those high schools. And I just want to say thank you uh once again for uh walking this road with uh our team here in Berkeley County, our board and our community. And um we look forward to pushing some dirt over and getting some getting some things started very soon. And again, I think that that's um
052it comes back to again executive director Neptune being one of the the the best friends from the school building authority that we've ever seen. So thank you, sir, for your leadership. >> Uh you know, it was an awful pretty day today. and we were out and about and enjoying it today and I was thinking how do how do I end you know this discussion with the community and with the school system and I thought to myself you know there there's an old saying about luck luck is when preparation meets opportunity and I thought boy how how that fits into Berkeley County's dream of this new bomb you know Dr. Sachs got the right superintendent, the board members, the community that has done the preparation staff is involved in this board office, right? Architect man here
053for this. The preparation's finished. Now, the opportunity lies into the voters's hands, and we certainly hope that those voters take advantage of the opportunity that the preparation has gotten ready for because the luck are the little ones that were here. They're the only the lucky ones that benefit from that and that will all come together with that. So, I wish this county the best. I hope the support will come through for y'all and maybe after it's all finished, we'll sit down and we'll talk a little more. >> Well, I will say and I'm sure Mr. Murphy can echo this. I I in all my years in education, I don't ever remember seeing hardly anybody from the SBA visit this end of the world. >> Mr. Murphy, >> Mr. L. >> Yeah. Well, >> member but
054>> thank you all for having us. Thank you. >> We appreciate you. We appreciate it. And uh maybe we'll talk a little bit later, but thank you all. It's our honor >> to be here to see everybody. Thank you all. >> Thanks so much. >> Madam President, board members, uh my final um final update is that our next board meeting will be um on May 18th at 6 PM right here at the district office. That concludes my update. If there's any questions, I'm happy to answer them at this time. >> Board announcements. >> Um, just a reminder, tomorrow, May 5th, at St. John's Lutheran Church from 5:30 to 7, believe it's the last uh candidate forum. So, you can sit down with the various candidates that are running again tomorrow, May 5th, from 5:30 to
0557 at St. John's Lutheran Church, March. I just want to uh echo what Dr. Sax said about teacher appreciation week. Um I mean the reason we're here is for students and teachers and all our staff, but this is a week that we honor our teachers and I can't tell them enough how much we appreciate them what they do for our kids. So thank you again. Anyone else? >> Senator Perfect, Madam President. >> Next on the agenda, citizens forum James Miller. I hate to tell you this, but you have three minutes. I know that's difficult. >> It's fine. I think three minutes. >> Hello. Um, I'm coming on behalf as a music coordinator and I wanted to um back to the good old days for a second and the one room schoolhouse with the wooden floors
056that creek when you walk in a stove in the corner doing a teacher who somehow taught every subject under the sun before lunchtime. Yeah. >> And in there there was reading, writing, arithmetic, cursive, and music. And music was not a reward. It was not an afterthought, but it was part of the day. Just as important as everything else that was being taught back then. Music wasn't just in the classroom. It was everywhere in the home. Many have the Kimble Pianos that you play on that a lot of people now use as bookshelves. on the front porch where he would play guitar with grandpa um in church where he would actually look at the himynelss and the community gatherings was in the culture. All the parents enforced it. Even the things kids watch reflected it. All
057the cartoons including tunes and all of those had songs, rhythms, melodies that you could remember without even trying. You learn something and half the time you didn't even realize it. Folks didn't debate whether music had a bad back then. They lived it and they were part of it was fully ingrained in the culture. Story of music is also the story of history. You could chase generations, movements, struggles and celebrations through song religions. That's how you that's how you learn the the story of of God and you learn it through hymns. And long before textbooks are updated, songs you're telling people who they were and where they came from. And it teaches in a way that sticks with you. Try to remember your ABCs without singing the ABC song or the 50 states without singing 50
058United States. That's the quiet power of music. Somehow across the US um everywhere we begin to treat music a little differently now. is gradually deteriorating and losing its equal footing that it used to have back at the time when we used to sing the alma moers and it was a fully part of your school culture. As we move forward, there's lots of things. We've had aviation x and medex and all these lovely CT programs. I'm here to present to you an opportunity that I think um would be great and something that I am going to start working on and that is a CT initiative that combines CTE and music for music production. So there is in California there is a school that um that and that one of the options is music production and this
059will help it will help trickle down um for everywhere. Um and it's just uh emphasis on in demand careers in today's world. So it's not just performance but sound engineering, digital production, media creation and the kind of skills students can take directly into the workforce. Because music today isn't just something you hear. It's something you build. Lives in studios. It lives on your laptop that films gaming and broadcasting. It's a growing field that blends creativity with technical skill and aligns directly with the goals CTE. So instead of seeing music as separate from that work, I think we have a chance to put it together. And maybe more importantly, this is our chance to shift how we see music in our schools. Not as something extra, not as specials, not as any of that. Not something
060we just roll out on Friday night for a football game or a Star Spangled Banner before performances, but as a subject that stands shoulder-to-shoulder with every other discipline we offer because in the good old days, they understood that music was just as important. It's vital in education. And so, I think this would be a great thing. And I'm going to send you guys that that school um that had that. But I think this would be something that I would like to work on and I think that would be a great opportunity for us to share. >> Yeah. >> Thank you for your time. That was under three minutes, wasn't it? >> Yeah. >> Did you get it all set? >> I did. That was it. >> Um, we want to make that motion. Oh. Um,
061Madam President, I'd like to move that we move item 10.1 um before before item B 8.1 the next to be the next item. >> It's part of the action items. Um >> yeah, >> board pleasure. >> Okay, we will do that. Well, 10.1 is the naming of the um Raymer Center. Uh can I have a motion to move 10.1 to ahead of 8.1? >> Second. >> All in favor? I motion carries. So that is next on the agenda. >> All right. >> And who's presenting that? >> I'll go ahead and present it. Thank you, Madam President. Um I would like to see is Mr. Green is Mr. Green in the room. >> Yeah. >> Mr. Green, can you would you mind stepping stepping up if you don't mind? Um Madam President, board members, I'd like
062to recognize Mr. Green uh who uh brought to me um the possibility of uh naming the Raymer Building Gymnasium after Mr. Leonard Harris. Um and I I think it's quite poignant if possible for maybe Mr. Green for you to share a little bit about why you nominated him and how the board is taking this under into consideration. But thank you. >> Like like I said, my name is Patrick Green and the reason why I nominate Mr. Harris because I was looking around the community and I seen different things named after people like Lambert Park was named after Mr. Catholic and other things streets named after people. But I noticed that Mr. Harris did many things in this community than many other people. One thing is that for land department and Franklin manor they didn't have
063no affordable housing for certain people. So he helped he helped with that. Uh he got a committee together went to the Berkeley County and also the state and that how affordable housing came to Berkeley County with Leland apartment Franklin manor and other things. Not only that, when Rain school, summer school get ready to close up and close the door, he put together a committee to keep it open. If it wasn't for him and a few others, Raymond School would have been closed. Not only that, Lambert Park, not that I'm saying, Memorial Park back in the day only Caucasian people could go there and in the early 70s it had it had one girl 1969 she drowned in the Pamic River and black people only thing they had to swim at that time was creeks, uh,
064ponds and quar. So he petitioned uh Memorial Park and he got that everybody can go there equally and he fought on that and many other things he did uh when a lot of kids his own wife Dorts a lot of kids in Martinsburg especially college kids black kids whatever you want to call them they didn't have no way to go and see outside of Martinsburg they used to power people in their cars and take me to Baltimore Warriors game. They fed them and everything else. That's the first time they got out of Martinsburg. I was one of those kids. That's the first time I seen outside Martin. And once I seen that, see how other people live. I said, "Wait a minute now. It's a better life than Martinsburg, what I seen, especially with some
065of the black people's going through." So once that happened and I seen a different life, you know, once I graduated from law school, Mr. Harris taught me, hey, there's a better life out there. I joined the military. I joined the army and found out there was a better life out there. So many other things that I send y'all when he died. And you know, once you look at the notes, once you look at the notes, I don't want to hold y'all, but once you look at >> You take your time. Yeah. >> No, that's my front door. I apologize. You can see and I'm my phone's on the south see everything done. Mr. Harris is not a teacher and I think we all know that but he does give class on black history around Martinsburg
066at Raymond school. So to me he is a teacher but he taught many people accounted everything about Burkeby County and what went on Burkeby County but y'all did catch me off guard [laughter] >> and I am a little nervous. That's okay. Well, you did a wonderful job. You did. Keep going. >> But like I said, y'all got most of the names that uh >> I asked y'all to look into and I put a petition in name Raymond School at least give that much credit after him. Raymond School J, [clears throat] you know why he is living right now. He is something some you know through some medical conditions and I like to see him get this before something happened to him. >> Yes. Yes. >> So, I thank him for the time. Appreciate it. >>
067Patrick, you're one of my earliest photography students. >> Yes. I remember. But you failed. You failed miserably here on one thing. >> What is that? >> That was a Dr. King scholarship dinner that he and Roosevelt worked together to get started. And they have spent more than a quarter. They are have generated more than a quarter of a million dollars in scholarships for both black and white students in Berkeley County. And Berkeley County has benefited by many of their graduates being teachers in our system. So I will open up. >> Okay. But I but I do want to make sure that the record and I also ask that Leonard's wife, Helen, please stand up and be recognized. She's so Mr. Murphy. He had that on his list. You just didn't get to it, did you?
068>> See, I'm sorry. >> I said you had that on your list. You just didn't get to >> Thank you for Mr. Green. Mr. Green, Mr. Green, >> I want to first first of all, I want to say thank you for bringing this to our attention and bringing it forward for us to consider. I'm sorry that it took us this long to consider something first and foremost. Um, but the next thing I also want to say is thank you for your service. Thank you for serving. >> Yeah. >> More more than anything, I my son's in the army. Um, anybody who served, you've got my heart. >> Thank you. >> So, thank you. >> Thank you. >> You're also retired from Walter Reed. >> Yes, I did. >> You spent a career in getting from
069here to serve with veterans or active duty people. >> 20 years. >> Thank you. Thank you so much. >> Appreciate it. >> Good job. >> Thank you, S. With that being said, uh, any other discussion for the board? Can I have a motion to name the Ramer Gymnasium after Leonard Harris? >> Second. >> All in favor? >> I oppose. Motion carries. Congratulations. >> Miss Harris and Mr. screen, would you please come up? Um, board members, I have a a small token um of appreciation for the Harris's and specifically to uh recognize the new um Leonard Harris uh Raymer Center gymnasium. So, Carla, if you can come up and um we have until something a little bit better can come along, we have something that we're ready to hang in the gymnasium. And so, down. >>
070Yeah, >> there we go. >> Oh, let's >> I'm gonna have you guys come down here and I'll I'll stand on the edge. And Mrs. Harris and Mr. uh Green, why don't you stand on each side here and uh Here we go. >> Helen, would you like to say if >> Well, I don't usually dress like this for presentations. Let me say that first of all till I am caught off. [laughter] But um this is welld deserved. Um I would say the middle initial is wrong. >> It should be an R. >> We can fix it. We'll fix it. [laughter] >> But um can't even begin to cover all the stuff Letter has done. >> Yeah. >> And has done for the betterment of this community and to make people aware whether they like it
071or not or get upset. He doesn't care. He's going to speak the truth no matter what. So, um, yeah, and he has taught me. So, I do what I do because he has taught me how to do it. So, we thank God first of all to give us for giving us the energy to continue to do what we do. >> So, thank you. >> He can't sing as good as you. >> Well, [laughter] tells people he taught me better, right? I'm not going to tell him that. [laughter] >> We'll do a photo, but then I think maybe we'll do something a little more formal at the gym and we can do a better photo there. >> Okay. >> And we'll fix we'll fix the letter. >> Thank you all so much. >> Thank you. I
072really appreciate >> it. Thank you so much. >> Thank you. >> Take care. Thank you. You're welcome. Next on the agenda, uh, as a monitoring items, >> that's going to be me. >> Oh, okay. >> Would you like to run the clicker or I should >> I can I can run the clicker. I'm not me running the clicker. uh for our Murphy County Schools program, Dr. Saxs. >> Thank you, Madam President and board members. Um I am uh really pleased to be able to come this evening um for the instructional update. Of course, I'm on the other side of the the deis this evening. Um and that is to recognize just some really fabulous um folks within the Berkeley County School System who have really stepped up. uh they applied to be a part of
073Aspire BCS which is the superintendent's executive leadership fellowship. Um and so as we think about the uh executive leadership fellowship, it represents our in uh intentional approach to developing the next generation of executive leaders within the Berkeley County School System through a focused immersive experience. As we think about There we go. As we think about um Aspire BCS, it is designed to proactively build uh internal leadership capacity within our school system. We are identifying high potential educators that are already serving in our school district and preparing them for a future of executive responsibilities as the complexity of district leadership specifically in our public school systems continues to grow. This fellowship uh provides a true front row seat to district level leadership. The participants move beyond a single school lens to engage with systems level thinking,
074real time district challenges and then of course executive decision-m through direct mentorship within the school systems central office here. Sorry, there's a little bit of a delay. Oh, thank you very much. Leah has come to my rescue once again this evening. Um, so as we think about uh the the cohort framework here, you're going to see how fellows are uh intentionally paired across instruction and leadership. This structure strengthens uh interdep departmental understanding of elementary, secondary, the office of assessment, prek, early childhood classroom assistant teachers, otherwise known as ECATs across the system, organizational development, student learning experiences, fine arts, while also ensuring that fellows are supported by senior leaders through the experience. The uh core of the fellowship is the problem of practice sabbatical. Fellows identify a real district challenge aligned to our strategic plan, embedded
075alongside a cabinet member or director for up to three to four weeks and designed a scalable solution. Uh this slide highlights tangible outcomes from Aspire VCS work including projects focused on assessment design, standards alignment, and data systems that directly support instructional improvement across the school district. As we think about how these systems work, uh, fellows influence classroom practice through professional learning design, instructional leadership, and then scalable initiatives. When we think about the road map uh for our fellows spanning from October to May, this fellowship centered on a problem of practice capstone. Following a high level kickoff with cabinet in November, fellows engaged in mentorship and immersive sbaticals. Tonight's capstone uh symposium represents the program's finale, featuring formal presentations of their findings to our elected board. Here we share current operational highlights including coordinated shadowing, initiation
076of problems of practice, and recognition supports that reinforce the importance of the fellowship. As the fellowship concludes with the capstone symposium where fellows present their solutions and leadership reflect reflections directly to our BC our Berkeley County Schools board members. Aspire BCS is a long-term investment in the future leadership of Berkeley County Schools. And uh at this time I I I hate to put the cart before the horse, but I will. I want to congratulate each of our participants in the inaugural class of the um the superintendent's executive leadership fellowship. And with that being said, I'm I'm prepared to turn it over to our first fellow. And I believe that is Dr. Emit Trudeau. So Dr. Emit Trudeau, the >> the clicker is yours. >> Hopefully. >> Um good evening. Um, so as my problem of
077practice, I've focused on academic excellence as it ties to the strategic plan of the Berkeley County School. And as a former primary teacher and primary principal who now works at the intermediate level, um, I believed that looking at a system of readiness with the implementation of the third grade success act would be uh, something to focus on. And that is what I have done. So I will share kind of where my brain went with this. Um but the purpose of my problem of practice was to assess student mastery of second grade college and career readiness standards. Um but not only assess that but then align that with report card grades and support readiness aligned to the third grade success act. So essentially uh big picture looking at strengthening our early literacy systems and improving early
078identification and intervention um before it becomes a problem in third grade. [clears throat] So currently um we do not have any aligned readiness data between K2 and 35 except for I ready the diagnostic um we have inconsistent grading systems. So, kindergarten, first and second grade use standardsbased grading, and third, fourth, and fifth grade use letter grades. So, there's a discrepancy between the two grading systems, which is often confusing for parents. Um, when they get to the intermediate level, we get a lot of questions about um, you know, what that means in third grade compared to previously. Um, there's no common mastery measure before third grade. So again we look at our uh GSA scores at the intermediate level but the only thing that we kind of have that is consistent at the primary level is
079I ready diagnostic. And then um one of the things that we have kind of discussed and heard through the grapevine but was confirmed with some of my data was that there was inconsistent implementation of the report card rubrics in K2. So one teacher might use one set of um data or an assessment to grade their kids one way with a a teacher down the hall doing it completely different. So that is a little bit of an inconsistency with how we are determining progress and proficiency at the K2 level. And then now we are looking at this risk of retention starting in 2027 with the third grade success act. So why does this matter? Well, um, some of the data that I'll show in a second shows that students are entering third grade underprepared. And when
080they are underprepared, we know that those gaps will continue to widen over time. Um, and currently the way the state looks at it, that accountability falls on third grade. So, this potentially delays communication to families about deficiencies. Um, and again, that retention risk will start next year. So basically I'm looking at moving from third grade accountabil uh third grade um just accountability essentially to being proactive starting earlier. That way we can shift that remediation in third grade to prevention in second grade. So, at the beginning of this year, um the I Ready data for all third grade classrooms from these six intermediate schools indicated that 60% of third graders were below grade level in reading and 92% of third graders were below grade level in math. And again, the only measure that we have to
081determine proficiency at grade level is the diagnostics through I Ready. So this data obviously um is alarming when you look at it you know individually. Obviously we know students are much more than this but this is what we have to go off of in terms of accountability for the state and intervention. We also know that there were significant vocabulary gaps um with our incoming third graders which impacts their comprehension and math readiness was inconsistent in place value and fluency. [clears throat] So all of these things kind of come together to create um the implementation plan that I found with this uh problem of practice. So the very first thing that I did was I sent out a survey um actually to principles just saying hey how interested are you in piloting some things to see
082you know if we can make something happen and um to be honest with the amount of change and different things that have happened this year I didn't expect a lot of participation um but I ended up with six schools who volunteered to pilot some of the things that I'm going to talk about in a minute so I was very excited to see six of the primary schools um participate and that was Bunker Hill, Winchester Avenue, Opekin, Berkeley Heights, Hudesville Elementary, and Bennington. And in total, we had uh about 20 teachers count those six schools. Um so what we did was uh we worked I worked with Dr. Woods, um, Robin Lopez, Lewis Mullenex, Dan Laskkey, and D. Panel to create, um, a pacing guide that allowed the teachers to teach for 10 to 15 day
083cycles, and then we would administer the standards mastery assessments, and I'll explain what that is on my next slide, but the goal of this was datadriven reteing and then PLC alignment uh, for the teachers that were involved. Right now, there is currently a post survey out to the teachers who participated in the pilot. Um, and I'm meeting with them, the team is meeting with them next week to get their final feedback on how this process impacted their instruction. >> CPLC, could you explain what that stands for? >> Yep. Professional learning communities. So, our data the data team meetings that the teachers uh would have, which is the ultimate goal. This was only piloted during the fourth nine weeks. I forgot to mention that. So, um I think it definitely that's the goal overall with implementing
084a common formative assessment plan moving forward. Um that's something that was kind of at the forefront of this project. So, this is an example of what the pacing guide looks like for math. Um and this was aligned across all pilot schools. It was focused on our state standards and we embedded those assessment checkpoints to ensure consistency. So you'll notice that we started on March 16th and the teachers would teach uh several units before we would assess them. And these standards mastery assessments are done through the I Ready platform. So it's not a new tool. It's not something that they had to learn all over again. It's something already embedded in our current curriculum. And we made sure that we were selecting assessments that were aligned with what they had just previously taught. A lot of
085times um when we're doing assessment checkpoints or progress monitoring, the data is just a data point. It doesn't necessarily drive instruction. So to be able to pull these specific uh standards mastery assessments from I Ready that are aligned directly with the standards that they had just taught would hopefully give them a better understanding of how they needed to retach students who were not proficient. Um and this the standards mastery assessments were six questions in total. So they would spend um anywhere between I guess it really just depends on the student um to answer six questions but they the questions mimic the West Virginia general summitive assessment questions um the students actually were in the platform that also mimics the platform so they had to provide answers. [clears throat] Um it was rigorous with multi-step options
086for um answering questions. Um and we just tried to make sure that it was not just assessment after assessment after assessment. We did, you know, uh make note of the mid-unit assessments that come with the curriculum, the unit assessments that came with the curriculum. We also had to build in time for the endofear diagnostic assessments. So there's a lot um going on in the classrooms and we wanted this just to be something that was short, quick hopefully um but just to grasp retention of the standards that were previously taught. [clears throat] So what this cycle looked like for me um was we started with the pacing. So that would be consistent pacing for all. Um, and one of the things that we discovered when looking at the the surveys that were administered is that we
087actually had some teachers who were interested, but because they were not on pace with where they should have been at the time of implementation, they were not able to participate. So, that was something that actually came to our attention as potentially a problem if we have teachers who are significantly behind pacing of where they should be at this point in the school year. So, that was one thing that came out of this when we were developing the pacing guide. Um then we would move into the instruction which was aligned with the state standards and the curriculum and then move into that assessment piece. Again after teaching those focus standards it would be every 10 to 15 days depending on the calendar and then moving into the data piece um where the data would be reviewed
088um determine which students were below standard um and then have conversations with parents if needed as well. is proactive, avoiding no surprises for parents who didn't realize that their students were not meeting uh grade level proficiency, moving into those professional learning communities, um sharing that data with their teammates, and then hopefully discussing best practices and resources, and then moving into how do we fix the deficiencies that we're seeing in class? So, what best practices can we use? Uh what is Mrs. Ferguson doing down the hall that's working for her kids, that's not working for me? So, how can we communicate to make sure that all of our stu students are moving towards set rate level proficiency and then it would start all over again with the next uh cycle. So in a perfect world uh
089why this would work. Um the goal obviously was to align instruction, assessment and grading and that is one thing um especially at tomahawk this year that we have worked really hard to do to make sure that parents really see the big picture um that our ready scores are aligned with the grades that they are seeing in the classroom and hopefully GSA will align with that as well. So being more um objective with what we are doing, making sure that those grades reflect true mastery of grade level content. And that's where I think some of the inconsistencies come with grading is that if we're kind of just picking and choosing, it's difficult to show that students are um mastering grade level standards. Again, increasing that parent communication about student progress. It's not going to be a
090surprise in third grade when we say, "Hey, your student is significantly below grade level." Um, and you know, not only is I ready showing that, but also now we have these other assessments that are showing that as well. Or the opposite. Sometimes you have students who do well in I Ready, but it doesn't necessarily pick up everything. So then you're just kind of waiting until the next diagnostic to see where they fall. the consistent implementation of these little progress checks will be more impactful for teacher planning and also parent communication and then driving those real time instructional decisions. Um strengthening effectiveness of our data teams and again that focus on those focus standards. So which standards are we lower scoring in terms of the GSA? Um and that's really what we kind of tried to
091focus on with this and then building that consistency across schools. Um the third grade success act is is huge for us right now and part of my motivation to look at this. Um I was sitting in a third grade team meeting at the beginning of the year and we were talking about the third grade success act and what this is going to look like and my teachers kind of went into panic mode like this is all going to fall on us. And I'm like, well, um, the way that this is written, you know, yeah, they don't pass the GSA, we're going to have to be the ones to basically say, sorry, your your kid might not go to fourth grade. So, it had me kind of thinking, what systems do we have in place that
092kind of prepare students for standards mastery before they get to third grade? And aside from I Ready and our intervention programs, we don't really have common formative assessments that are consistent um and collect data that help drive that instruction. So the alignment to the third grade success act would hopefully identify those gaps well before third grade. Um and Berkeley County Schools is currently working after revising the MTSS framework, which will certainly be a big piece of that as well. um but to reduce that retention risk and then create a shared accountability from K3. Um and assure that readiness, ensure that readiness for GSA. I was a former second grade teacher. Um and Laskkey was in the room right now. She'd be really upset with me, but I had years where I was like, I can't
093get to fractions. I'm not teaching this. Um so we're just going to skip this. And I didn't think of the impact that would have on those third grade teachers the year after that. And I'm not saying that that's how things go. Our teachers work miracles every single day. Um they are fighting, you know, attendance issues and lack of accountability and just parent issues that they they that come to them and they have to figure out how to handle. So this is just one small piece of that. Um but we the third grade success act is a real thing and it's not going anywhere. So we have to figure out how to make sure that these students are prepared before they get to us. Um and then second grade because to me it provides like a
094proactive gear to identify the risk. Third grade is too late in my opinion to be retaining students. Um I think if if we're retaining in third grade we have missed some serious gaps along the way. Um when we think about explicit phonics instruction that window of opportunity is really first grade. So, if students are getting out of first grade and they have not mastered those phonics skills, it's really really difficult to go back um and retach or try to get them to understand those those skills that are aligned with the science of reading um in third grade. Um so again, just the expected outcomes for this and I only implemented this for the fourth nine weeks. I would like to continue this next year with some schools um if you know we don't have a
095permanent plan in place because I think the longer we are able to implement this the the more we will see in terms of uh progress but that early identification as I said the diagnostic does not always catch everything um actually it misses a lot or you know some kids are good guessers so it doesn't really give the full picture >> um improving that instructional alignment to make sure that those content standards are mastered um increasing mastery, reducing retention rates and I think the big thing is clearer communication with families as well. I mean not the like the big thing but it is a huge thing. Um I have had more parent meetings this year, more staff meetings this year I think than any other year in my admin career because parents were just confused um
096as to why their child was not doing well in third grade. So, it's that we've had a lot of tough conversations this year about what mastery of standards looks like and how we're not grading for participation. We're actually grading for mastery. And um we we have I think my teachers have done an exceptional job with implementing some of these changes. Um and as I said before, we just sometimes we just have too many data checks. Currently, we're doing growth monitoring and comprehension checks with our um intervention. And for the teachers, they just view that as a data point that they are just kind of tracking. It's not necessarily driving instruction. So if we were to move forward with doing something like standards mastery, and this is not perfect, I'm sure by any means. There's flaws
097with everything. I think we have to make sure that what we are doing is intentional and that it is driving instruction. Um, >> so this work just shifts readiness from that third grade responsibility to a K3 system of accountability, ensuring students are prepared before those high stakes consequences occur. That was the goal and um I'm still getting data in. So I will be happy to share those results when the surveys are done. >> Great job. Questions. the IEPs um will the students with the IEPs be held to the same expectations for mastery as the students? >> So when we were administering the standards mastery assessments, we also administered the accommodations that those students receive with their IEPs. So students um with IEPs are still held to grade level expectations, but they just have those accommodations
098in place. then those were administered um during this this assessment. >> Okay. And can you just give an example of what like some of those accommodations may have been? >> Um having the questions and answers read aloud to them. Um having a separate setting, a smaller group environment to take those assessments. Um and them only being six questions. I know at my school we've actually been implementing standards mastery with third, fourth, and fifth graders as well um for the majority of this year. If a student has an IEP tomahawk, their case manager is administering this assessment with them. So, they're taking it in the special education classroom, not uh in in the classroom with their peers. >> And my last question, um Berkeley Heights couple years back, we were getting information about school by school
099retentions >> and Berkeley Heights, I think, was meeting I think they had 30 soon. Are you following or is someone following how those students have repeated um the grade? >> That was just last year. So we after this year we can take a look at that. >> Yeah, that was just last year. >> That sounds like no. >> Well, I mean I know 30 was last year. I would say that the the school is absolutely monitoring those students and that's part of what we do with the diagnostic is that every we administer the diagnostic three times per year. Our instructional intervention teams meet after those assessments and we look at the progress of every student. >> Yeah. I I saw Berkeley Heights is one of your public schools. Yeah. And I was just wondering if
100that data is spanning out as far as there's students who were retained and and you're they're in the mix now. So there's more than just the middle of the year, beginning of the year end. >> Yeah. But I would say with certainty that the school's certainly monitoring those students. >> Other questions? >> Yes. Go ahead. You might as questions and then I start asking sorry you're looking that way so I might come. Anyway, >> I talk this way and then I don't >> um you mentioned already a lot and of course it's a lot of uh concern with learning that type of use of technology. >> That's right. >> And especially when you mention that >> third grade of course we're getting grades in the K through two there's lots involved with with that already.
101So do you have suggestions on well one do you think we're using it too much and is there an alternative method that you feel would you get some consistency on that's another thing you mentioned this a lot of inconsistency >> so personally um I think paper pencil assessments are certainly the way to go for students especially if they're having trouble focusing that's just my personal experience um I I think I ready is kind of it can be what what you make it. Um, you know, we stick to the expectations and we really try to limit screen time. Other than that, our teachers are very paper pencil when it comes to writing and reading and math. Um, so our kids are not on devices all day. I don't I don't think this is the perfect platform.
102I don't think anything is perfect. Um, but I only went with I Ready for the standards mastery move because it was something that we were already doing and I didn't want to have to give the teachers one more new thing at this point in the school year. Um, so I think there absolutely are some other things that would should be considered. Um, I know just from my experience working at the primary level, our kindergarten teachers in this county do an exceptional job of creating um, common formative assessments for their students. um they are constantly just looking at you know letter sound fluency um CVC words they they really go above and beyond um just by listening to students read and and taking notes and documenting things. Um, so I think that, you know, just thinking
103of kindergarten as an example that that works perfectly and they had to do that because the state started implementing their ELRS assessments um, you know, years back and I think there are 52 different standards they have to check on each kid in kindergarten um, as part of that report. So that always stands out in my brain as a really great example of what common formative assessments look like. and I think they all came together and created a checklist and kind of shared that stool to school um kind of on their own which is nice. So, but I'm certainly not advocating or not advocating for I Ready. I just we used it because it was what we were already using >> in in terms of getting consistency because you mentioned how it's it varies. Sure. Which
104we don't want because >> you want Johnny at this school or Johnny that school. It's an A. It's not a you know. So, yeah. How do we how do you propose we get there? >> So, I think having the conversations um which the district has already started to have just by you know implementing common curriculum um that expectation that everyone will be using the same core curriculum I think certainly has changed things. I mean I know for myself I've had conversations with teachers in my building about how that is a great way to be consistent when you have a sibling in one class and down the hall so they're doing the same thing that's easier for parents. Um, I do think there has to be some autonomy there as well because not every kid learns
105at the same rate. So, I think teachers should have some autonomy with how they implement certain things. But I think the big thing with consistency is setting a pacing guide or an expectation and telling teachers like, look, this is the guideline and the road map of where we need to go. Here's where we're going to collect that data throughout the way through along the way. And as long as we get to that end point together, then that's what we're aiming for. like we're all going on the same path and it might you know deviate a little bit here or there depending on your students but I think we have to have a pacing guide that flows with the standards and also aligns with the curriculum which we we've done a good job this year I
106think of implementing as a county. I don't know if that answers that but >> yeah something else that you talk a lot about is growth and I mean we but it's not showing up on um like the GSA when we take the GSA we see all this growth all the time. Something else that I already has that's kind of like the next layer. Um like at the end of the year we all the kids took the assessment. A teacher can go in second grade and up and you can print every standard that a kid has mastered or has not mastered. And that is so impactful for a teacher. You can do that even as a class look at your class as a whole. So it it really is breaking it down standard by standard. So
107if we're teaching to the standards, right? >> Even though you see growth, you should see mastery. I'm just going to say there's a the principal that reached out to me that said, "Hey, can you take a look at this particular teacher predominantly green all the way across?" So, I dove deep to sight and let me see like there were only one or two standards that those kids did not know. That teacher taught every standard at that second grade level and those kids in their classroom knew every single standard by Harmony standards. And that is amazing. One thing that we found that was not taught wasn't in our curriculum. So that even helps us to dive a little deeper to figure out if the teacher's teaching this curriculum. Remember it's only 80%. This one particular standard
108was not even covered in second grade. So we we missed that. But you know what? I guarantee you the teacher will have that next view. But they have that aspect of I already say not just that growth report, but do they actually know the standard? >> And I and I'll say that that report also we've been printing that and giving it to parents when we go to SAT meetings. Um, we've had lots of third grade sat meetings this year and we've been printing those standards reports that show from kindergarten which state standards their child has mastered and which ones they have not. And it and it is eye opening for some parents because they don't realize that this is not just third grade standards, they have mastered second grade standards as well. So um that's
109more information than a report. >> Absolutely. >> Um I don't want to [clears throat] rush us u but we have some others. I I did have one quick question. >> Sure. >> You mentioned that the K um five the K2 and the 35 don't report card don't align. And so since we're going to K5, do should we re readjust that report? >> reevaluate how that >> personally I think yes. >> I mean that's something for us to look at. love to see standardsbased grading at intermediate as well since, you know, that's ultimately what we're aiming for with proficiency. Um, but I don't get to make those decisions. >> [laughter] >> Well, the input the input is definitely um appreciated and I would say that that thinking about how you can do a shift from traditional,
110you know, grading to standardsbased grading does require um a strong level of of um [clears throat] communication, roll out, understanding with families because it can be a shift. The good thing is is that we're already doing it to primary grades. So it may it may be a more natural shift, but I think that's something that we definitely want to take a look at and um get you know some collective input from our uh our intermediate leadership as well. So definitely open to that conversation. >> One more question on the pacing. >> Sure. Um, has the pacing increased the stress level of the staff? And if so, is there room for adjustments? >> I absolutely think there's always room for adjustments. I think some of the challenges this year with pacing weren't necessarily the pacing itself,
111but more so the change in curriculum and change in pacing. Um, so I think you know our our teachers they started a curriculum in August and they implemented that until December and then after Christmas break we implemented another curriculum. So I think the pressures of just all the things this year certainly have led to some stress. Um, but I I think um it sounds like our leadership has been receptive to some of those challenges and it looks like something next year. >> Thank you. >> Yeah. Thank >> Mr. Berg >> Dr. Imitra set the bar high. >> So thank you so much for the opportunity to present to you my problems of practice. As you can see, um I'm focused on u the prek collaborative and instructional framework and that comes in part uh due
112to my upcoming move to um in my early learning academy which I'm very excited um to do and uh just already thinking ahead um which uh perfectly lent itself to what I'm about uh to tell you about. Um uh so what uh I worked with Mr. Molx with Sarah W um who is our new director of course and then also um Dr. from Amanda Stevens who is the specialist for our early childhood um oh my goodness I always mess this up teats yes but it I like to give them their title but it's because it's assistant teacher instead of teacher assistant which is what we call them >> but um uh again just so we have all the pieces that come together and um and serve our students uh the way that we want to
113so uh what we decided did was um because of all of the changes that have come about and also because with Enwood Early Learning Academy opening and of course the Hedesville Early Learning Academy opening um it would be in our best interest of not only our teachers and families and students but just to present this as a roll out. So we're here tonight to talk more about a deep dive of what it's going to look like. Okay. And so the way that um we have designed this is to be a professional development framework um and then u focus on focusing on our key our co-eing plan for prek and so included in the packet I'm sure you've seen um that we uh went ahead and made some artifacts um some exemplars some things to start
114with um much like Dr. immo we did uh we will be starting with the survey and that will be coming out here in May before we go on summer break I they've had the benefit of everything that we have done this year the the uh the implementation the creative curriculum that we are continuing to use um that was adopted for another seven years we're going to see sorry okay that's Did I say that wrong? Um but we're going to continue to use that. Um teachers know that uh and is already going to be part of the framework from which they approach this. So the survey is going to ask them to self assess their level of expertise and knowledge with um co-eing. And the reason that we've focused on co-eing is because in that prek
115classroom in particular, the teacher and the ECAT, they need to be working together. Um hopefully we see that across grade levels, but in particular with prek when our students are this is their first opportunity to be in a classroom to have structure to have uh exposures to um any type of curriculum per se. we really need to be um feeding off of each other, anticipating each other's needs, those types of things. And so um we're focusing on three um three types of um co-eing in particular, but um I wanted to make sure that we had exemplars of what those are. And I will tell you that it was quite challenging to find good exemplars of that of um of co-eing in pre-k level. And so uh what we have what we decided to do was
116utilize the experts right here in Berkeley County Schools. And so, um, we, uh, were, uh, this next school year, um, Miss Amanda Robinson, which she was here from Marlo Elementary, um, she is going to be our prek academic specialist. And so, we very intentionally chose her to model those uh, examples that we are talking about because uh, there was actually a couple of reasons that we did that. First of all, because we wanted teachers to be able to see someone who has recently done the exact same jobs that we're asking them to do. Um, show those examples. Secondly, we wanted them to feel like she's approachable. I can ask her these questions, get the support from her when she's in our school buildings. And and then, as I said, she modeled those things um very
117very well. and we could not find a lot of examples of that. So, I was really proud of that. Um, here in Berkeley County, we were able to find what we were looking for in our own classrooms. Uh, so, all right, let me click here. Um, so much like um all of our our project, we are tying this into the strategic plan for Brookley County Schools. And so for preK uh how we uh present those limitless opportunities in multiple pathways, we're looking at our promise to support student growth in the cognitive communication, social, emotional, adaptive, physical health and development, fine and gross motor skills areas. And the collaborative engine is the is that teacher and that teacher assistant in the classroom. What are we doing? How are we working together? what is this going to
118look like when our littlest learners come to the classroom for the first time and are um exposed to um how we're going to um be presenting curriculum. So there are certain roles of course that the teacher must do the lesson planning, the parent communication, the formal assessments like the ELRS which again Dr. um Trudeau exposed us to. Not only does uh prek do that, but we also utilize that in kindergarten still. And then our teaching assistants um you know, they help with the meal distribution leadership, the active hygiene assistant, and then combined together, you know, what are they sharing? the instructional duties, the uh the the switching of roles throughout the day, conducting informal assessments, choice time. How do we actively engaging children during not only instructional times but meal times and play times, um
119motor skills times is what we call it in prek. And so what we decided to do was to tailor the approach to the objective of how um how our teaching practices show that we're collaborating. And we focused on three particular types of collaborative instruction. Uh one teach one assist, station teaching and alternative teaching. And we do have video examples of those each of those. Um so the one teach one assist is when uh we are on the spot is a the teacher is is um presenting a topic of curriculum and the teaching assistant is circling through perhaps helping one little student who is off task perhaps pulling someone to the side and saying asking those questions do you have any you know you have any concerns what's what's going on you know those types of
120things that someone is um not allowing the whole group to move along as we would hope. Um station teaching have involves the independent rotation of many lessons. So you'll that is um many times what we have called center times or or small groups. You you'll see them moving around u prek has choice time and so student has a lot of choice in what they do. Each of those centers should be on the overarching goal. um alternative teaching is differentiated for a large group and small group. So what you will see is that the uh the skill is the same but it is approached in a different way. So the teacher will have a group and the teaching assistant will have a group and it will present the same content but in a different way. And
121what we wanted to make sure is that when we do walkthroughs um and principles uh do walkthroughs, our leadership, they do walkthroughs. It should be evident that the teacher and the teaching assistant are working together during those group times, child choice and um the meals and snack times because that is also a learning opportunity especially at pre-tail level. So when we uh do a deep dive into one teach one assist, you can see that the educator the it is usually the teacher takes the um primary instructional lead and the other circulates around to provide targeted on the spot intervention and support when we use that. So when we're teaching some of you maybe it's the first time that um this content has been introduced. So we get us we get us all together. We're on
122the same page and then we're supporting anyone who might be struggling with that new information. So the key benefits you'll see the delivery of instruction remains uninterrupted. Um it diminishes it diminishes the students frustration because someone is right there seeing oh I'm struggling with this. Um how how can we help with that? Um, it allows the lead teacher to continue with those who are understanding the task and enrich that. And then it requires a low amount of co-planning time to execute successfully because there are moments in time when we just need to do up the business of presenting instruction and sometimes we need that one teachers at one to do that. When we talk about station teaching, you will see that we have the teacher led, assistant le and then there's some independent time that
123um that comes about when students are um have understood the content. There is something that they um can can do in a small group center time. They're moving into ownership of that content that they have mastered. And so we have opportunities to use it when for for example we have um a story a sequencing story we are talking about main characters we're role playing we have puppets we have all of those different opportunities for them to demonstrate their mastery and it allows our four and 5year-olds to move around the room which we know movement is so very important um lowers the studenttoteer ratio for targeted guidance so again I'm at I'm at one ation with um with a group of students who have questions while my teaching assistant might be over engaging in that dramatic
124play. And yet another group is uh has have gone into model building or um you know drawn pictures things like that. And with our differentiated or alternative teaching, um this is when we have the two distinct groups like I was explaining that the teacher takes uh one group, the teaching assistant takes another group and we're teaching that same skill but in different ways and that directly tailor to the multiple abilities of so many of our students. um it's present to them in a way that reaches them where they are, which is so very important across grade levels, but most especially when we're news new exposures to learning as we are with our three, four, and and 5-year-olds sometime. And what we've also uh spent some time talking about is the the the time that it
125takes to plan all of this. Of course, um when you're working together so closely, there are times in the day when you have uh a lot of time to work together, but there are other times when you have to again, like I said, be about the business of teaching the lesson and moving on. So, it allows some flexibility for the teacher and the teaching assistant to decide together which way we're going to u best approach this content. what we're going to utilize to measure the uh the impact of our focus with this professional development. Um we already have uh a prek universal walkthrough and so we are going to continue to utilize that and be targeted with what we're looking for when we do those walkthroughs. And and I did want to make sure that
126we spent some time understanding that when we do walk through this, it is is not a panel. It's not evaluation. It is for us to get information about how we can best support from a principal role. I know when I see things that um you know when a teacher I go into a room and the teacher saying, "Oh, well, I you know trying to going to explain to me what I'm about to see." I love that. But also, I want them to know I'm here to support you. So, when when you explain that to me, how can I help this be the way that you want it to be when you present it to our students? And that's exactly what we're trying to do with uh with gathering this information from the the prek walkthrough
127and also the teapot, which is the teaching pyramid observation tool. We do that once a year. Um and that is a very lengthy evaluation. Um we we spend a minimum of 90 minutes in in a teacher's classroom monitoring several things across um uh the uh instructional day, but it does absolutely u focus on instruction. It's already built in. It's not something new. We want to utilize what we already have to target that uh collaborative instruction and these are the tools we're going to do to use to do that. Oh, I jumped ahead of myself because that this is more fully explaining the teapot observation. What we are looking at with behavioral instructional those um the timelines upon it to when to use it, why we use it is to make sure that we are um
128maintaining and ensuring high high quality practices. The goal is to are we are we keeping fidelity to what we're setting out to do and the output is a detailed report that is shared that um our director of Sarah Wolf reviews um principles review and then we can talk to teachers about it and again support them with what they need to make sure that we are all getting what we need in order for our students to succeed. We talked um some more about uh how this professional development ties into uh the regional, state, national opportunities for our teachers to go and be exposed to all of these things with early childhood education, the research, modeling behaviors, inter interventions. Also, um meet those people who are out there um doing the job that we do and doing
129it well, sharing, networking, getting those connections made. So we um continue that work. I know I I know this was shared with you, but each of those um links are live. The first one is that survey that I referenced. The next three are the um are the videos that we created. Uh and so that was quite that was quite an adventure because uh I went and did those videos uh myself. And so it was uh it was so fun to be in another um prek classroom seeing interactions that are very similar to what I've seen on the south end of the county because of course Marlo is in the north end of the county. Um but being able to show uh that we here in Berkeley County are doing exactly the things that we are
130focused on. um improving, maximizing, um creating that network of someone you can go to. I have a question about what should um choice time look like. We've got an example of that. And the last is just basically a written plan, an implementation guide. >> And yes, go ahead. >> Last slide. Yeah, that was the last slide. So, recently I believe cover so many different topics to the board. Are we not going to a 4 day briefing? >> We are. Yes. >> Will this what you're talking about be >> well honestly it's going to create an even better opportunity for us to collaborate to have a a day not daily but a weekly um opport a day each week that we could even explore a particular instructional model. um we could have this conversations that professional
131learning community that uh we have established in uh across other grade levels again bring to prek and and are we are utilizing them now but to have it especially in centers that are prek that are one instructional level it's going to be very powerful for creating those environments and opportunities for our our smallest learners and our teachers to work together. >> The second question, I know West Virginia's prek program ranks high nationally, but I was in a classroom with >> me, >> Miss [laughter] with me over there. And uh it just seemed like chaos to me, you know, when you say free choice, >> you say free choice and it it looked like we're witnessing it. It just seemed like chaos. >> Well, >> why do we rank so high? >> Because when they have
132that choice and they go to those learning centers that are um built on that same content in just different ways to present the skills that we are because of course we're following the standards too. And um you know they it that choice is so very important to them because each of us have the modalities that we prefer. And so setting it up as okay this is a dramatic play and this is an art and this is a building block but it's all all that same skill. Yeah, it does seem chaotic and it is a little loud and all that, but it allows them to tailor to what they might not even realize is their preferred learning style. We are creating the environment to let them learn in their best possible way. So, yeah, it's not
133always going to be, you know, oh, uh, you know, quiet and and that type of thing, but they they learn a lot. And um the growth in a prek classroom from the beginning of the year to the end of the year is just exponential. >> Other questions? >> I have one. >> Okay. >> So, um what you described this is all of these things that we're we're currently doing. You're trying to make them even better, >> right? Because what has happened with uh with staff turnover with uh you know trying to get um more and more uh certified teachers in positions. It's letting them see that we have the supports in place that we have um experts in our county that are the ones that you can go to. All of these things really h
134make people feel supported. We're doing the right thing for kids. That's why people get into education. They want to do the right thing for kids. When we set it up so that they have a go-to, they know that we're doing it the right way and we're presenting things in the way that students learn best, that's when it works. >> Um I I know I ask this all the time, but will we be providing a PD for these these ECATs? And >> I'm glad you asked. >> So they will know what they are actually co-eing. >> Absolutely. Uh and that is why um Dr. Stevens was part of my um group here. Um she and I have are we have met multiple times. Um we have she's going to be part of our professional development that
135starts as early as August. The our um teaching assistants are also part of the survey where they self-reflect what it is they need to better understand the collaborative models that we're presenting. And the support is going to come not only from the principles in the schools on those day on those Fridays that we have but also supported by Dr. Stevens as she comes to support them throughout this um the school days and throughout the year. >> Okay, good. >> Thank you so much. >> Thank you, >> Michael Napper. Hello everyone. I'm just back from New York City with our jazz band. I wasn't supposed to be here today, but I got here and we had a wonderful trip. And my presentation is differentiated instruction. I did a video media. Um, so Leah, this is on
136the next slide. >> That was me. >> Yes. And first of my findings, my qualitative data is in the video. So I'm words are going to play and you can ask me questions out. That looks like it's my problem is focused on identifying ways to help educators address the pressing challenges in today's classrooms. I began to notice a consistent pattern in my lung that maintained a human set approach and proved effective for my eyes. That pattern was differentiated instruction. Differentiated [clears throat] instruction means adjusting what we teach and how we teach it so every student can learn in a way that fits their needs, interests, and skill level. >> Yeah. Carol Tomlinson is a leading scholar of differentiated instruction whose work developed into a widely used model. She defines DI as teaching with the children
137in mind and created a practical framework that helps teachers respond to students differences. >> Differentiation provides an opportunity for individualization. When you have groups of students working together and you empower them to lead and have um student structures in place, they are able to kind of work on their own to where if you need to individualize your support with a smaller group and kind of give one-on-one feedback, they're able to do that with structure and great classroom. >> I conducted qualitative study interviewing unified arts educators, academic coaches, and coordinators. This approach allowed me to capture teachers lived into experiences through bridge facetoface interaction and provided me deeper insight into the ways DI shapes classroom climate between the words instruction is forced to teaching. It is a mindset that recognizes that students learn in different ways
138and that teaching must be flexible, responsive and creative. The environment requires us to observe our learners, adjust our approach and design multiple pathways for success in unified arts classroom. This mindset thrives naturally strategies uh that enhance those individualized learning higher scale and all of that. What do you do that day as teacher teachers? you're already constantly doing instruction with our students um very harmony parts choir they have all different ability levels directly sing. When a classroom is structured, supportive and predictable, students feel safe, are happy to learn, explore, and take risks. Structure is not about control. It is about creating an environment where equitable learning is maximized and every student can grow. The WVTSS framework emphasizes a whole child focus for all learners. It supports students mental health, academics, and behavior. A DI mindset helps
139teachers meet this state focus by responding to individual students needs and differences. >> Look at the differentiation. We're looking at um some technology options. I think a choice is huge for student success that once they have some buy in you know choose this on a project or choose this project but um teachers have the authority to not make every choice what knowledge and and that would be I think that's very with technology and >> practices practices change pre and post um just in terms of of how much students attention spans have changed the way that their social needs have changed and you can't approach the problems in the same way diagnose accommodations the wrong way around you can't Um then you also have to progress the the unspoken suit. >> Here are some research findings
140on the challenges teachers are currently facing in the classroom. Educators report increasing behavioral needs, widening academic gaps, and growing social emotional concerns that make daily distraction more complex. Ideal mindset helps teachers cultivate strong classroom relationships. The mindset centers the learning and encourages teachers to know their students well. Here's a quote from Chad Spencer that offers guidance and encouragement for educators. Let's navigate developing a DEI mindset. You may think that a rigid approach protects the lesson plan, but a flexible approach protects the learners. By planning thoroughly yet leading with responsiveness, teachers can adjust pacing, clarify expectations, and meet students where they truly are. >> When building a DI mindset, teachers must first unpack their standards. Know your subject deeply and show genuine enthusiasm for it. Because when teachers are excited about their content and know it,
141students become more excited to learn. The high impact instructional practices provide an organized way to sort and deliver learning expectations throughout a unit. The following slides highlight how theater teacher Chad Grab applies these practices with clarity. Learning from colleagues is an effective way to identify DI strategies that work for you. Observing creative teachers and asking questions about their approaches provides insight into practices that support diverse learners. These experiences offer opportunities to reflect, learn, and grow as an educator. >> So, when teachers use diverse learning strategies to educate their students, me personally, it makes me feel so much more engaged with the teacher on such a more personal level. When I walk into a classroom and the teacher is using something like a PowerPoint and just kind of reading a script, it very feels more robotic
142and doesn't feel as connected like they actually want to be teaching. And to me, that just kind of ruins the experience. It makes me not want to learn from them. And so when I go into a classroom, especially their arts, it feels more connected, more feel more personal. It makes me actually want to learn because I feel like I am learning from someone who deeply cares and is deeply passion passionate about what they're teaching and it makes them seem so much more knowledgeable and intellectual and it makes them seem more such interest. >> Got innovative in your lessons through DI engage with thoughtful reflection. Asking yourself questions during planning or whenever you have a moment to consider how you can improve the delivery of your objectives and instruction. Reflection helps you identify opportunities to refine
143your approach and better meet the needs of your learners. >> Um when students work together or just uh they really can share their thoughts together. Um, it helps them compare their ideas, decide what is the most useful for the project or whatever this task is. And it really helps them think more. It boosts creativity. Um, I think that [clears throat] students working in groups have a more enjoyable time doing their assignments. It helps them be a leader in with themselves and also learn how to collaborate with other leaders. Group collaboration was a powerful tool strategy. Here's the breakdown of peer collaboration that I used in my classroom. We will then hear from Melissa B take on a role in my classroom. So, and I like the students to make decisions um on what they're going
144to make or what they're going to use to make it. So in your classroom um it lands to differentiated instruction where I usually have one learning goal um that everything's working forward but there are lots of different ways to get there. So I like the students to have that ownership about how they're going to get there when they make a choice um as to what medium they're going to use or maybe like when we draw one perspective. We practice one, two, and three point perspective and then they come to decide which one fits better for them. >> In my group work, I allow leadership roles to emerge naturally. This slide outlines my organic leadership approach. Once you are comfortable with TI, creativity begins to thrive as you tailor new lessons. When this creativity is combined
145with solid routines, the classroom becomes both fun and effective, encouraging students to return globally, excited to explore what comes next. This approach helps reduce it and increases both >> achieve that and now we're going to add some creativity and so creativity I find is a challenge um for all kids um even the most creative you know running what should I create and they like to be able to get that input from their classmate other similar thing so they can bounce those ideas Keep in mind that business need help with keeping motivation up instead of scale. >> When you talk about differentiation, I want us to think beyond strategies. Differentiating instruction is really an attitude, a mindset we carry into our classrooms every single day. It begins when we truly consider our diverse learners to recognize
146that one sizefits all teaching was never designed to serve every student. I hope my qualitative research helps shape a human centered teaching attitude. One that influences how you teach, how you manage your classrooms, and how you [clears throat] keep students engaged. With DI, confidence grows, student motivation [clears throat] thrives. And in your classroom, students feel empowered to express themselves towards [snorts] sense. >> When you see the whole the whole job, you are better equipped to make intentional choices that give students the opportunities they need to grow in your philosophy. In both precedes, the students feel seen and valued. They are willing to explore their risks and build new skills. We work together and become more invested in learning. >> The result of DI is all of us feeling accomplished. You have the power to unlock
147your potential on any stage. >> Learning that lasts beyond your classroom. >> Your support matters to them. >> They smile knowing your classroom is a place they belong. They support one another and celebrate success together. Differentiated instruction is about equity. It's about creating a classroom where every student feels seen, challenged, and supported. When we embrace DI as an attitude, we don't just teach content build environments where all learners have the opportunity to grow, contribute, and succeed. Thank you for the opportunity to share my research and explore a problem of practice. It is my hope that both my research and my teaching experiences have offered meaningful ways to shape classrooms that support and honors the whole child. I was searching for my problem in practice. I wanted to thank everybody way. Um I was trying to
148just to help looking at the postcoid problems in the behavioral management in the classrooms and I noticed a lot of my self-eing I had some solutions I wanted to share by creating a DI mindset. So I wanted to help a lot my mentor mentor coaches that help me create something solid that hopefully that I can actually tweak or help other colleagues or mentor other teachers coming into the county or just um someone going into education. We don't want anyone to feel defeated even our own student we want them [clears throat] feel accomplished leaving any stage. So I think that going in and understanding that one size fits all does not work and it's not designed uh in in the classrooms. And I wanted to piggy back off of your differentiated structure. It was a great
149segue coming into um my problem practice. So I hope that was able to shed some light on what the TI mindset is and what I use. I think that you'd probably say that the Muslim band program has been a very successful uh gold standard of music program within the county and um it's what I've learned from the professional development that I received 30 years of teaching and going to conferences and actually being having the courage to go and ask questions from successful teachers. I think in that helped me develop the collaboration, the workshops, the ideas to create the DI mindset that works for me in my classroom and evolve my classroom to the 21st century. >> Questions for Mr. >> Go in my head. I'm sorry. [laughter] >> Have that music. >> This is creativity
150really helps with the gates. When you come into the classroom, there's those established routines and you do it creatively. The kids are very excited. Not just because it's music, but they know what to do. And so that you can get to that next bell and and you that class goes very quickly because it there's so much learning going on, especially for all the diverse learners. >> Great job. Yeah, thank you so much. >> Thanks. Thank you for >> Sand the buzz on the right. Right. I have the power. >> All right. Good evening, Dr. Saxs, um Dr. Woods, Dr. Fully, all executive directors, um, uh, President Long and all board members and everyone who is is here tonight and listening. Um, this actually meant a lot to me. This is my second year in Berkeley
151County Schools. I am Sandra Pollser. I'm a student assistant facilitator. I oversee daily operations of special education for two schools, First Street Elementary and Eagle School Intermediate. Um, a special thank you to Dr. Woods and Robin Lopez for helping me with my problem and practice. Um, and also I want to mention I am a Shannondoa University graduate student and I have commence commencement this Saturday. >> Oh, congratulations. >> So, thank you. >> It took me a couple years but but I I did it. >> So, my problem practice is really near and dear to my heart. My focal point was Eagle School Intermediate. And I truly hope you like the story about an underdog because this is what it is. It's going to have some twists and turns. Um we we learned a lot about
152each other in this this journey that we went on together. Um but my journey really started with um data. So I started talking to Dr. Woods about Eagle School Intermediate and what did the data look like? What did the data show as far as like for example ELA and the WVGSA, the state test? Um, I'm a big curriculum person. Yes, I'm in special education right now, but I've been in education for 18 years, a science teacher. I was a science teacher at Hedgesville Middle School. And these numbers mean a lot to me. And when I started looking at Eagle School Intermediate, I thought, "Oh my goodness." So the trend data shows, well, we're we're pretty low. We're in like the 20% range. We're pretty low. um our third graders are functioning some most times actually
153two grade levels below. They are struggling with phonics and things. So I thought you know what there's got to be something we can do about this. I I'm not going to take no for an answer. I'm going to say we can do something about this. And so my purpose was to create common formative assessments to provide real time evidence of what students know and can do to empower students to take ownership of their learning year round to practice taking the test before the actual WBGSA and to drive teaching to raise test scores. Now, as a former educator, I hated to hear, "Okay, we're going to teach to the test." I just was kind of cringeworthy for me. I'm like, "But I'm already teaching the standards." But actually, we kind of do want to teach to
154the test because it's teaching with standards. So, we actually do. And to measure it along the way makes sense in my head because then by the time we get to the WBGSA, these kids are not going to be in those 20% ranges. we're going to be prepared for something better and something bigger. So the nuts and bolts of my problem of practice was I got on the Cambium platform. So the Cambium platform is really um what the WBGSA and estate test uses. So I got on that platform and I created common formative assessments which are little snippets of that last test. So I created that from the Cambium platform so that it would really mimic that end test. Little snippets of three to five questions uh given and administered every 10 days. Okay. So I
155did this for grades three, four, and five. And I really want to do it for middle school as well. And I'm I have I'm not going to stop here. I feel like I'm going to continue with Berkeley County Schools. Paid or unpaid, I'm ready to help you. [laughter] But these little snippet tests given every 10 days should get us to that finish line a lot better than what we're doing now. So, for example, for grade three, just so you know, um that first CFA test um for lessons one and two, so I don't want to get ahead of myself here. The standards are aligned with their curriculum. Their curriculum is um magnetic literacy for ELA. So their standards are within these lessons one and two. And if you look at lessons three and four, the
156standards match. So 3.1, 3.2, 3.3, 3.7. So for CFA 1 and two, it was the same standards and what we need to be doing at the beginning of the year. So it's those very early standards. Now, Eagle School's been going through lots of change. I mean, we really started with this new curriculum with magnetic literacy for lessons 1 through 4 in January. So, we really didn't start in September or August. We started in January. So, I'm like, "Oo, I don't know what's going to happen with these tests, but I know that we're going to give it a good try." So, the next step for me in my problem and practice, and problem practice is really new to me, but I'm never afraid of a challenge. Um, was teacher buying. In your heads right now, I
157want you to think for a second. So, I gave out a survey requesting participation. Oh, I gave it away, y'all. I [clears throat] only had one teacher say that she would participate >> and it was with stipulations. It literally was with stipulations. But again, that doesn't scare me away because I am determined to help this building. So, I was on a mission. We can do hard things. Our kids created this and I used this in this uh presentation tonight and I made it. I was on a mission. So when I found out I only had one teacher participating in in my CFAs, the next day I put on I don't have running shoes. I have high heels every day. So in my high heels, I ran down the third grade wing and I'm like, "Okay,
158you answered my survey, but you had stipulations." She said, "Yes, I do." So I'm like, "Okay, can I talk you into it? You don't have to do anything but give a test. I made it." She goes, "Okay." I went to the next third grade teacher and I said, "Can can I please talk to you for a second about these CFAs?" And I talked to her and she goes, "No." I said, "Okay, no problem." Went down to the next teacher until I got my second teacher for third grade. Next thing you know, I'm running down the fourth grade wing looking for teachers that could possibly take part in this CFA pilot because this is important for this school. And so I got two more teachers in fourth grade. I ran down fifth grade. Guess what? I
159caught him in the lunchroom. So then I had I had a larger audience. So I said, "Okay guys, I need to talk to you a minute. This is really important because we need to do this as a school." Next thing you know, I had three teachers. So guess what? Eight teachers. I started with one a tentative one and it turned into eight. Um so two at each grade level. So we had cameo training for teachers. Thank you, Robin Lopez. She helped out with that. Um, we set the dates for the CFAs 10 days apart for grades 3, four, and five. Um, I put together the testing packets. We talked to them about standard test conditions, and the test begins at 9:00 on that first CFA. Everything's perfect, right? What do you think? >> What do
160you think? >> Uh, we thought it was going to be perfect, but then a lot of things hit at Eagle School. The schedule was changing. People were going on field trips suddenly. Um there were so many things I'm like, "Okay, just stay calm. We can get this done. I want these kids to take these tests because I want to prove to you that Eagle School can make a difference. We We've got this, right? Okay. Test day one. How do you think it went? >> Fair. Okay. This is one of our kiddos. Um, what I saw was a lack of structure. Please nobody panic. We did try to get this set up. And teachers, I love you if you're watching. Um, what I saw on test day one was there were a lot of questions. Teachers
161suddenly had a lot of questions. And I'm like, okay, we're we're supposed to be giving a test right now, but I'm going to answer your questions. There was a lot of nervousness going on. The teacher's like like walking around going, "What what do I do with this board?" I'm like, "Okay, calm energy. We got this." And I got got it up on the board for them. The kids were all ready. I went into one classroom. Students were talking during the test. Like, okay. I'm like, "Guys, hello. Let's We now have to take a test." So, I I helped them get that together. Then the CFA didn't release. So, now I had um fifth grade students all seated waiting waiting for the I got it to release. No problem. I got that to work out. There
162was a waiting period. I thought they took it in stride. There was resistance and personal challenges. So, if you think of our demographics, um I got a text from a teacher that said, "Please, Miss Puler, come right away." I came down. I said, "What's the problem?" And he just pointed and I I've really got to know the students over a year. And I thought being a new administrator, um I thought, "Am I really going to get to know these kids?" And I really have. But I know the demographics. I know that there were a couple of kids that had been homeless and so they were not interested in the test. So then I got down on their level and I said the first thing I said was are you okay? And yes. I said okay.
163So the first one I said would you mind to do you want to go in another location with more quiet? And she said yes please. I said, "Okay." Got her situated. Got to the next boy. Got him situated. And you know why? Because people matter. Kids are people. These CFA tests are really important to us. And they're starting to realize why. You're going to find out at the end of my presentation here soon that the kids finally suddenly realize something. Okay. But we also have to realize that there are people and we have to help them overcome challenges every single day. Um, and I already talked about those scheduling issues. We got past that as well. Now, testing day two. What do you think that looked like? >> CF day two. >> Much better. >>
164Tada. Guess what? We've got structure [laughter] experience, excitement, motivation. I seriously had my own personal stand and deliver in some of these classrooms. Literally, I stood in front of these kids and I said, "Can I talk to you before you take this test? You all don't look serious. Let's talk about why this is important." And suddenly they were just like, "I'm going to take this test. I've got this. I can do this." But the second day for the CFA tests were so much better. Oh my god. It was like night and day. And then the data. Now, this is interesting. It's not just, "Oh, we took a test." Okay, can I tell you something here? So, if you remember at the very beginning of my presentation, their test scores were low. Every grade level is
165like in the 20% range. Look at this. 30, 40, 50, 60. And guess what? My CFAs were better than the power-ups. Better than the power-ups. Cuz I know we were doing the power-ups. Guess what? My state bay started blowing them out of the water. Why? There are a couple reasons. Kids have different motivations. Extrinsic and intrinsic motivations. Yes, they do. We have we have a demographic of kids that we have to understand and know what makes them tick. Well, guess what? Can I point out Mr. Ree? So, red is CFA1 and blue is the second test. But Mr. Reese here on the red, the 60, that's where I did my stand and deliver. That's where I did my stand and deliver. They didn't even know me that well in the moment. Now when they see
166me, they come running to me. They hug me. They know me by name. But my first stand and deliver, boom, he had the highest percent. Think about this. What if I had done that in every classroom? What if we had done that in every classroom? Would that make a difference if schoolwide we made this thing so important that we all want to do it as a team? So then interesting Miss Cherry, okay, look at her second CFA. She had the highest percent increase at 19%. And guess what? You're going to laugh at this. I said, "Hey, Cherry." I got on the phone. I called her. I said, "Tell your kids that if they get the highest percent increase, I'm going to buy them breakfast tomorrow." And she did that. Guess who was buying them breakfast
167next day? [laughter] [gasps] I did. But they she had a 19% increase. What is motivating these kids? My stand and deliver breakfast. Okay. Another food for thought is third grade. These first two teachers were third grade teachers. Their numbers both went down where everybody else was increasing. Think about this. These kids are really struggling. They're functioning almost two grade levels below. They are struggling with phonics things. Now, after interventions, here are my fourth grade teachers. We are doing better. Our interventions are working. But you couple those interventions, you couple those interventions with stand and deliver with let's let's get breakfast if you are the winners. Let's do something else for you to excite you about this. Boom. We get much higher scores. Much higher scores. I did have one teacher drop out and he was
168new and and he did not know this is the my lowest score, how to give a test. So, I went in there. It was very unstructured. And that explains this low score. Um, and then you have lastly, Griffin and Reed here. Boom. They both had 12% increases. Both are phenomenal teachers and those kids are motivated to please them. So, a lot of things are affecting the But look at these scores. Those are not in the 20% range. So I did give out a teacher reflection survey where the teachers gave me feedback on some of their concerns, demographics, dissection. Can we think about dissection? Well, I was a science teacher, so yes. But so what we did was the the one teacher, she actually dissected the question, and that was also the teacher with a 19%
169increase. You have to dissect the question and teach the vocabulary. You have they have to know how to read that question to take that test. So dissection is important. And this is how I got to be the high had the highest percent increases um in West Virginia for science in Jefferson County. But dissection matters and vocabulary matters. Um they had there were some barriers. We talked about some fears and then the pacing. So then they thought the teacher said, "When are we starting the CFAs? We start them in the fall." Well, we start in that first week of school. And they were kind of worried about that. Should we have our first week alone with our kids teaching them like procedures and things like the methods? And I said, "Yeah, I do agree with you
170on that." And possibly meeting a excuse me, waiting a couple of weeks before we actually started those tests. We probably should wait a little bit than starting right out of the gate. Although we need a baseline but we are doing a baseline diagnostic with I ready. Okay. Key takeaways. You have to explain to the kids why. Why are we doing this? And why do you want to do well? We need to know what you know. We need to know if we're doing our job well. Are we teaching those standards? Should we teach the test? Absolutely. We need to know if you're teaching those standards. Absolutely. Relationships matter. And I want to tell you something about Eagle School. We, you know, we've been through a lot over at Eagle School. We've been through a lot of
171change. Just like the butterfly, we were going through this big, we are going through this big metamorphosis. When I walk down those hallways now, third, fourth, fifth grade, they welcome me in their classroom. They want to talk to me. They want to ask me questions. The kids run up to me. They hug me now. They want me. I I had a kid who who's having a lot of problems. He said, "Can I have a timeout? Can I come sit here? I feel safe. So, this was a true metamorphosis of a school becoming a family. And I think that's one of the biggest takeaways here. Yes, my CFAs were important, but being a school family is even a little bit more important, right? Also, kids have many motivations as we talked about, and we need to
172tap into that. And I think as a school we can continue to thrive and do so much better than we've ever done. Practicing CFAs can improve test force. Yes, they can. You've got to dissect those questions. Teach the vocabulary. And lastly, never give up. I never gave up. We went through some hard times. I never gave up. The teachers, we didn't give up. They didn't give up. The kids didn't give up. We did not give up. We became a family and this is why we do what we do. This is we move mountains at Eagle School Intermediate. You need to know that we move mountains with each other, with our community, with our stakeholders. I have included and I have called and talked to our community members and our stakeholders and our families who were
173rallying behind me. So I have really raised up helped to raise up this community and this school. We are rocking these tests and I can tell you this if Eagle School can do it all of the schools can do it. You have to have that right attitude. But thank you very much for listening to my presentation. >> Questions? >> That's I appreciate the patient. That's that's it. Very impressive. >> Very best. >> Yeah. Great job. Thank you very much. >> Thank you. >> All right. And >> our final um fellow is our principal of the year, Mrs. Alicia Rickman. >> First of all, I want to thank everyone for having this opportunity. It really pushed me to step out of my comfort zone. It was um something that I've been really wanting to learn about
174and dive into and this opportunity motivated me to do that. Um as uh you've heard from everyone, you've heard a lot of mastery. You've heard a lot of differentiated instruction. Mr. Neper, I really like DI because that is a mouthful to say that word. Um you've heard that from all of us and my uh presentation is going to also reflect that but from the high school level. um we give the PSAT and we give the SAT at the high school level. Uh so what I wanted to do for my problem of practice is math con academy which is what we use uh to prepare for the PSAT and the SAT to our high school math and English standards. I do want to thank uh Mrs. Holly Klepner as well as Miss Jennifer Brooks uh our
175academic specialist for math and Mr. Chad Spencer. you've heard from them uh during other presentations as well. They were such a help and they'll continue to be a help. Um my project isn't completed yet, but it it will be um and ready to roll out to our teachers. So, my purpose is I wanted to align uh COD Academy to our West Virginia College and career readiness standards. Uh this would ensure a guaranteed rigorous and equitable learning experience for all of our students. a direct alignment between instruction practice and our standards, targeted support for different differentiated and interventions, stronger preparation for the SAT, which is our state test, and postsecary success. Um, this is this is our why. This work guarantees that every student, no matter where they start, has the opportunity and support to succeed.
176uh aligning it to our district strategic plan. We uphold high standards for each student and staff member. We promote rigorous instruction and commit to academic achievement. So why Khan Academy? Uh we did last year and um we were using Khan Academy as well. But the reason uh we want to use Khan Academy at the high school level is that it aligns directly to our standards as well as our state testing. The PSAT 9, the PSAT 10 and the SAT. It provides personalized learning. Um every student um can learn at their own pace with Khan Academy and it aligns with the PSAT and SAT score. So once our our students complete the PSAT in the fall, it automatically integrates into their Khan Academy and we can figure out where their learning gaps uh and we can
177work with Khan to fill those in. Mastery B based progression. So what our and I'll show that a little bit later. Our teachers can immediately see if our students have mastered that standard um as we're doing walkthroughs and observations. That's something that we ask teachers constantly. How do you know they mastered the standard? And again, this loops back to their problems of practice. How do we know they mastered that standard? And it provides real-time data not only to our teachers, but to our administrators. I could quickly look at a da my dashboard and I could see this teacher, they have mastered this standard. This percentage of students has mastered the standard. So quickly we can see where our students are at any time. Um, and this is how we move every student forward. So, as
178I as I mentioned, it does align to um the uh West Virginia standards alignment, ensuring a foundation for all students. So, I'm going to show you and you have this um this is what we're working on. And I only added algebra 2 for this presentation um because this is why this this is our juniors. They take the SAT. So, if you look, this is our standard. This is the West Virginia standard. This is the Khan Academy course. Now, what's interesting con spirals. This standard is actually covered in algebra 1. So, you don't do this in isolation. As our teachers are teaching the curriculum and there the standards, they may have to dip down to algebra 2 or they may have to go up to trig. So again, it's constantly spiraling those standards. This is the
179Khan Academy unit and this is the exercise that they can assign within con. Now I want to make it very clear con is not the curriculum. Con is to support our teachers with mastery. The curriculum is the textbooks that we have adopted as accounting. Con is to see if what they are teaching the students master it. So they may have a student that takes the exercise and they're they start with four questions. Student can take the question, master it. we may have another student that's struggling. So I want to make that very clear that con is to support mastery of the standards. And I do want to thank Miss Brooks. She was instrumental in helping with this alignment. This is a screenshot from Khan Academy. So if you look here, this is algebra 1 or
180I'm sorry, algebra 2. This is the standard. They start with an exercise and there are this is all the items within to support our students. This is also helpful if a student is absent. Um there's videos that show them how to um videos that show the standard as well and then it moves on to the next standard. So when we look at our mathematics alignment, oops here, math is a progression from found foundational skills to real world readiness. So we get students in ninth grade um that have not mastered any standards sixth, seventh, and eighth grade and they failed three years of math. if they don't have the foundation of number sense, how are we going to expect them to make it to data analysis? And um this year at Muscleman, we we uh have
181a um program um a class of ninth graders. We looked at their GSA scores. Um they do not receive any special education accommodations. These are just general education students based on GSA scores. And we piloted it and we rolled it out that they were chosen. We didn't want it to sound like a remedial class, but they were chosen to be in here. And we had um a couple of students that increased their PSAT scores by over 100. >> Oh, wow. >> And we're going to loop them with the same teacher next year and we're going to try to keep them together and see then their SAT scores. But what she had to do with con is she gave them the course challenge and found the learning gap >> and we had to assign them um
182sixth grade math for some of them. No, >> but we were able to take the grade level off and that way they didn't know what they they didn't know that they were doing sixth grade standards. >> No, but that psychologically taking that off. Oh my gosh, that's huge. >> Yeah, it's been a huge success. Um and we we just got our PSAT scores. I don't want to I don't want to take any of Miss Lopez's, but I'll tell you. Um >> I think was that what was we already shared, didn't we? >> Yeah, we already know they know how you blew it out of the water. So, >> um I'm going to go to English. Um I will say English and con um there's a little bit more work to do. Math is pretty well
183seamless. English. Um there go to this English we have a little bit more alignment to do but there's lots of resources on con with writing so that they can help uh they can give them a writing prompt and you know we're all battling the AI age. So they can actually lock down things in con and help them learn the writing process within this platform as well. So again, we have the English 11 standards, the description, we have linked study sync, that's their curriculum, and then the con unit that supports that. And they don't always necessarily go in order. This is unit two, lesson three, lesson four. But the important thing is it aligns the standards. But when we when we look at, can I ask a clarifying question? When we're talking about con you're not
184you're you're exclusively talking about con academy not anything with con mingo though correct >> con mingo also our teachers use it some >> okay >> u English uses that a lot as a writing writing platform >> okay yeah >> is what we use to align standards >> okay very thank you just wanted to make sure the board understood the difference between con and con mingo >> they interrated so con mingo is another side of Academy. >> Thank you. >> Does that answer your question? >> Yep. >> Um I want to show the alignment. So our priority is teaching the West Virginia standards. That's what we've been uh uh that's what is required by the West Virginia Department of Ed. The pacing guide is what we are guided by. So the pacing guide is the standards
185but where the teacher should teach throughout the year. So it's it's divided by first nine weeks, second nine weeks, third nine weeks and fourth nine weeks but it's the standards. And then we have the curriculum study safe McGraill the curriculum and textbooks. And then we have our support. So it starts with our standards. We're guided by the pacing guide. It's delivered through the curriculum and we use con to support that and fill the learning gaps. It's a continuous loop ensuring that instruction practice and support are always alive. So this can continue over and over. Can I maybe I should ask it at the end, but um can con just be used for high school? >> It can go It can actually I think it goes clear down to third grade. >> Oh, >> yeah. >>
186Okay. I'm just >> We're going to have our eighth graders work on that that are topping out. >> Yeah. Oh, good. Because that's a concern. >> That's going to be part of that's a part of it for next year. >> Yeah. when we look at the that MTSS period is being able to have a a menu >> of resources based upon the ability level of the students >> because that's a big concern so that's great sorry I interrupted you >> no that's okay that's all right um our instructional model is daily integration so we this year we have asked our teachers to work on mastering two skills a week or 30 minutes for uh English and math they can also small group. So if you have a a group of students that need to master
187this content standard, you can actually use it um and again that circles back to what the other problems of practice reflect. And then you can use it for intervention. And this is where we really used it to help students who struggle to catch up while reinforcing skills through tailored practice. This is what we've really used for the math class I was talking about. and that we you have to dip down to lower levels and assign them the practice. So data monitoring we get real time insights particularly with the dashboard. Um again I can go in for student school staff and I can see exactly what students have mastered the skills data driven decisions. we can immediate look um and ensure that our instruction aligns with our student needs and enhances our learning outcomes effectively. Um
188I talked about the tracking we can master by student teacher and school who has mastered the standards and then continuous improvement. you know, we want to constantly look at our data. Uh, on our PD days, we will pull this data and our teachers are constantly going in there and looking at what they need to assign for each of their students, especially once we receive our PSAT data. Once we receive our PSAT data, they go in and they pull all of their students to their rosters and then they link that with Khan Academy to figure out what they need to assign. PS that's given into 10th grade, >> Ninth and 10th, >> fall and spring. >> And then our implementation plan this year we was our our first year with con. So we want to make
189sure it's um you this year we sort of had puzzle pieces. We had our curriculum map, we had our standards and we had our con and they were sort of separated. So that's what when when you looked at the alignment, we want to be able to give all of our teachers a pacing guide with the standard and the con for first nine weeks, second nine weeks, third nine weeks, and fourth nine weeks. We want to be able to give that to them as soon as possible. Particularly for new teachers, they'll have um what curriculum they're using, what standard, when they're to teach it, and the con lesson to support it at the beginning of the year. So, our expected outcomes, I've touched on this, improved proficiency rates, enhanced student growth. Um, and on on the
190PSAT alone, one of our schools had four increased 43 um points from f from spring of last year to this year. every high school um increased significantly from what um from our scores from spring of 25 to 26. Um and I do believe it's being more intentional and making sure teachers are teaching the standards and we're using con to support that learning. >> So when we align the right tools of high expectations, every student has a map to success. And I think this quote um is exactly what I just presented. When we have everything in line, the teachers have a road map, particularly at the high school level that assigns with our assessment, then we are going to have the we want. >> I think that goes for every every grade level. >> Absolutely. >>
191Yeah. >> Well, well, board members, uh that concludes the presentations uh from our leadership fellows. Um, I hope that, uh, one of the things that this leaves you with is is that as you think about, you know, our our goal, uh, from the time that I became superintendent was, um, to make sure that we we have instructional leadership in our buildings. I think this just speaks volumes um, to the work that these fellows have have completed over the last several months. Um, the sbatical experience, but really digging into these problems of practice. Um, I will tell you that that every single one of them that presented this here this evening left me with um a moment or two of aha um and it really speaks volumes I think with the leadership that they're providing um
192and their own individual growth mindsets um to prepare them again for you know executive level leadership um and I I would I would challenge that each one of these individuals as They go back um into their their field of practitioning um as whether it be school principles or uh leaders within their school communities um or or or classrooms that the experience that they had from the the the uh fellowship opportunity is going to improve something uh for their students and it's going to make them an impact. And I will just say how honored I was to be able to see these leaders present here this evening and how proud I am of each and every single one of you all. So congratulations. Thank you. You have I am so impressed >> and so pleased. >>
193Great job. >> Fabulous. >> Next on the agenda, I don't know how you're going to follow this up, Mr. Tyson, but >> thank you all. >> All right. Well, good evening everyone. We're going to switch gears now for for for a moment from instruction to construction beginning with the Hedgesville Early Learning Academy. And as you can see, we're still in the progress of finishing up all the perimeter sidewalks that are just going all around this place. Uh the picture on the upper uh right hand side shows you the uh concrete that's closing in around the playground area. And if you look real closely, you can see it's starting to look like a prek school with the uh playground equipment has arrived and they're beginning the installation of the playground equipment uh this week actually. And
194of course there are the other updates. Painting is progressing throughout with the finish coat. Um all the mechanical trades are on site and they are hanging a lot of the um the ceiling grid and some of the ceiling tile and the Battoic Epson company contacted me earlier um last week actually and said that it's looking like May the 7th for this building to be energized which is the Lena district. Yes. Okay. >> So that's uh that's a little bit little bit better than miday which is what previously we were told pretty close. >> If everything goes right then May 7th this building will be intercast and that's very important because once we can get the HVAC operational then that will bring the climate inside that building and get rid of the moisture in the concrete
195so that they can begin installing the flooring. And uh so that that's a critical sequence in this construction that Uh the lower right is just uh standing taking a picture all the way down the hallway giving you a glimpse of all of these systems that are up in the ceiling that are such an ongoing process of mechanical installation. >> That that hallway is not that narrow. It's just straight. >> It's not that narrow. Uh you know the picture because it's such a long stretch it appears more narrow than it is. But that is a main hallway. Off to the left is actually the office spaces and off to the right there's an opening that takes you down the first wing. Um so yeah it kind of difficult to tell from that picture but just showing
196an image of all that those mechanical systems that they're still wrapping up in those ceilings. >> When did you say I'm sorry when did you say pto? >> I think that they should be there on May the 7th. >> So that's like >> that's like this week. Friday, Thursday or Thursday. >> Yeah. Right. >> All right. Next [clears throat] project is uh a project that has come to completion and a few of you were there today for the ribbon cutting ceremony at the Martinsburg Auditorium. Uh this space is essentially complete. There are still a few items like some handrails to be installed that have been on order, but the auditorium is is complete and is ready to be used uh by this school. And the um the only piece that remains is remember we uh
197got approval from from you to expand this scope of work out into the foyer area and the materials the doors that are needed for that space have been ordered and that work will be wrapping up this summer in that fouryear area space. Okay. Mountain Ridge Primary School. this project. Uh, one of the main things was getting all of those geothermal wells completed and that has uh been finished. All the the wells have been drilled and they began installing the lateral lines that connect from the school to each of the wells. I gave you a glimpse of I mean there's kind of what it looks like. There's multiple lines that [snorts] are running to the school through that entire geothermal system. So that is where they are now with the geothermal installation is connecting laterally all
198of those uh vertical wells. The block lane is continuing both interior and exterior and the brick veneer is very much in progress. You can see from this picture the base coat of painting is taking place as as wings are closed in with the roofing system and they're moving in with all of the um the painting and as much as they can finishing type of touches and the um the other day I put on this you know all the mechanical system trades on site at our last meeting there were 70 vehicles there of contractors and subcontractors at this site 70 on the day that we were there for our uh meeting and the roof membrane is being completed from one wing to the next. So um hopefully all this holds as true and the project will
199be complete August 7th and I think we made some pretty good headway on the water uh water line dilemma that we've brought up in the past and uh we should have uh I think we've cleared that hurdle and tomorrow is the bid opening for the the road entrance along Jaredtown Road. So, I'll be coming to you at the next board meeting with an update on on the contractor to present for for that project and the schedule shows that they should be able to complete that uh road entry by August the 1st. >> And I think it's also important to point out there will be a change order on the water line because the water company asked us to increase the size, the diameter, and they're helping pay the difference of that. So, >> yes, and
200I think I should have that at the next board meeting as well. Boy, they've really moved along. >> They very much has. >> Yeah. Wow. >> Yes. >> It's because Mr. Tyson and Dr. Skoolie have been putting that pressure on >> that. That pressure flows downhill sometimes. thumbs up. >> The um the Inwood Early Learning Academy uh tomorrow is the preconstruction meeting with McKenna Architecture and the contractor uh on site at uh the Inwood location and uh after that meeting we will have a construction schedule and that construction is going to begin real soon like within the next two weeks. See there's the end for you. Falling Waters Elementary. Uh I haven't updated that uh slide since the last time I saw you. Um we're still in the process of preparing to embid the site
201work. Still working out some details with geotechnical type of information. And as soon as that is uh wrapped up, then the site package will be advertised. Right now we're just waiting. >> Are the tires gone? >> Tires are gone. >> Thank God. >> All 120 tons of >> Oh my god. feel about rumble thing. >> We're talking the three dates here 50%. >> Those are the McKenley architects drawing updates. This is how they are progressing with the the actual drawing of the building and as they go through certain percentages, we have a meeting with Mckenley. We review things and then they move on to the next sequence of completing those drawings. >> There is a thumb on this one too. Very much so. All right. And then the last slide I have for you is
202just to give you an update. There are a few projects that have been completed. One of which is the Martsburg fine arts edition. And so uh from the 2022 bond, there are 105 of the 112 projects uh complete, which is 94% of those projects. And you can see where we're at. Uh at the end of this summer, these two schools will be complete. Also, by the end of the summer, these two schools will have begun construction. And then when Falling Waters is complete, then we can move in and do the remodels uh for Bennett and Mar, which also of course were on that 2022 bond. And somewhere in this mix, there is a Hedgesville High School uh at the track soccer complex. Uh restrooms, remember, were part of that bond. and the uh the drawings
203are ready and so we're just waiting for the right time to advertise that and complete those track restrooms. So there's there's what's remaining from the 2022 body. >> Good. >> That is all I have for you. >> Questions turned out really nice. Yeah, very nice auditory. >> Beautiful. >> Absolutely. >> Congratulations on that. Thank you. >> Yeah. All right. Thank you. Next on the agenda is the consent agenda. Have a motion to approve. So move. >> Second. All in >> favor. No stop for you. I I was I just I looked at uh 9.9 on the agenda and I'm just I know at this time of need a lot of people won't look at policies out for review because they're so busy with the end of the year activities and take credit for the text.
204But I think I see inconsistencies between it and I just hope staff reviews some of this. For one thing, I don't know if it's geared for a particular grade level. Uh if it is, it should be noted. If not, uh but I just it's something I think we should take a close look at. It's a good idea, but we should make sure it's it's neat together. >> I do think there's some inconsistencies in it, too. I thought that um in some areas it didn't it was repetitive and it didn't um make sense to what it was referring to. I thought if I'm wrong, >> I know count I want I just want to make sure we >> Well, I think you don't problems because of conflicts in in the language. >> Well, what I would
205I would say is that if there's something specifically that as a board member you see that um you'd like to point out for us to take a deeper look at, we will absolutely do that. Obviously, this is a this would be a brand new policy, so it's not a revision. Um, and um uh I don't I don't want to speak on behalf of the creation of the policy. Um I want to give uh Mr. Wright that that opportunity, but I think it's important to note that um that we did we were able to take that draft. We had council look at it. They did make some suggestions. So, if there's something that as individual board members you would like to see um revised, we can definitely do that. Um and perhaps there would even be
206an opportunity to to uh workshop the policy if we need to. Um just food for thought and um I'm happy to I'm happy to make any edits. Um, obviously with approval this evening, this would put this out for comment for people to provide some feedback for the board to consider in in considering whether or not this policy um would be amended or approved or or what have you. >> I think my biggest concern is um the definition of substantially disrupt. >> Well, one thing it's a concern there's it's not defined. >> Well, that's it's loose. >> Well, it's defined in discipline policy. That's that's where a lot lot pulled from is from our current discipline policy. Um, so that's where a lot of the details come from. >> Well, but is that reflected in this?
207>> I can't remember. I looked at it. >> I guess what I was going to say is >> I think there is a reference to the okay to the policy blah blah blah. at one in one part of that it says um student code of conduct in line 18 >> but I guess what I was going to suggest is that >> not to have a lot of dialogue tonight about it to wait till it comes back in comment okay and then we can insert our comments and discuss it more then what's your thoughts >> because that's why I didn't >> is that permissible >> yes >> with everyone I just need >> so take her to let's put it out for comment review and then when we get that back we will you will do
208your due diligence um when it comes back and >> we'll make our comments and readjust if need be. Okay. >> Okay. Um >> you still need a vote. >> Yeah, we have a a motion and a second. >> Correct. >> Yes. All in favor of approving consent agenda say I >> oppos motion carries. Um next on the agenda is uh crowd strike schooly first. Is that correct? >> Uh no crowd >> strikes. >> That's what's on here. >> Oh my apologies. Greetings. Dr. Sachs, President Law, members of the board, thank you for having me this evening. I bring you the next three action items uh for your approval. The first one is our Falcon Crowd Strike renewal. Um and you may remember after we had our alleged incident back in 2023, it was the recommendation
209of Brim um to put a another uh anti virus type of software on all of our devices. We use this in conjunction with the state's free Microsoft advanced threat protection. Um, this software actually looks for data anomalies, which is how a lot of those attacks happened. Um, I cannot speak highly enough about CrowdStrike. They have helped us this year full reports on our Windows 10 machines and we've gone through with the help of the schoolbased TSS and updated we're probably about 95% of the PCs in our environment to Windows 11 with our health. Um, and they were also able to help us pull Mac OS updates that were necessary. Um, lots of times end users will just close those MacBooks and don't realize they're they're not restarting them. So, they fall out of date pretty
210quickly. Um, they do offer they are full-time around the clock, so their catch is always, you know, the tech department's asleep, but they are still actively watching our environment. um they will remote in and actually remedy PCs or MacBooks that have downloaded something and they do that I would say probably two to three times a week. Um if it is an advanced threat they'll actually pick up the phone and call us. Um we've had I believe two of those phone calls which is pretty good since last summer. So so that's pretty good. Um this is funded through step 7B. There was a price increase of $3,000 this year. went from $267,000 to $270,000. So anybody have questions about crowdspray? >> What happened to Jeff County? Is that covered >> in Jefferson County? >> Yeah, the
211u the >> closing of schools, >> all the swatting. >> Oh, I mean does this sort of thing catch the source? >> It does not. No, that that >> that's nothing on our PC environment. That's a good question though because you know lots of times when stuff like that happens it's it's again a threat actor on the other side you know spoofing >> because I guess it could what he's referring to can come through the computer >> it could indirectly but that's a good question I could actually ask her out >> here something smart I was amazed >> you're amazed indirectly it just prevents >> I'm impressed >> threatening software used for attacks like that from the other end. >> So I'm out in the league now. You go ahead. >> Michael, it's nice to
212be young. [laughter] >> I am. >> That's an excellent question. Yeah. >> I'm sorry Leah. We to be fair. So >> no, that's good. No, I had to think about it full circle. >> I move we approve crowd strike for total of $270,000. $270,500. >> Second. All in favor? >> I motion carries. Next on the agenda is um the discussion of power school uh schoolology renewal. >> Schooly. Correct. Um so as you all know, schooly is the learning management platform that we use. um um for grades 3 through 12. It again is not just a grade book. It's an actual learning management s system. So Carla can tell you that you can send messages securely through it um as well as postgrades. Um teachers can communicate with students. There is there are many professional development
213courses that teachers have built out as well as administrators. You know, anything from how to use schooly to, you know, teaching fractions. Ann will be happy about that one. Um it did increase. It looks like it increases about $7,000 a year. So this year it is $119,252.78. Um I we do have a new representative that has not spoken with me yet, but Dr. Saxs can tell you that I am adamant to get us some sort of discount at some point on Power School products in general because we use five of them. Um but as for this year, for next school year, that that is what we're looking at. questions about schooly. Are we happy with schooly? >> It seemed to be the staff was when they presented um >> yeah the last board meeting. >>
214I think it's always good to evaluate your platforms. So I don't think that's a question that that I can answer. >> No, it was more in general for >> Oh, >> I guess others in the room. I guess we that's something maybe we need to >> I think that um you know what we have found is that you know schooly has been a very good again it's a learning management system so it's it's a um sort of a sort of a centralized location for um grades for uh lessons for communication with families those types of things um I would say that schooly is much more liked at the um intermediate, middle, and high school level than it would be at the primary level. That's why at the primary level, we have Seessaw. Um, so, and
215I' I've experienced Schooly in K K all the way to 12. Um, and uh, and so I have not heard anything overly concerning or frustrating with the use of school. So, >> I apologize. And I'm just because it's 9:18. Um, I I've heard teachers talk about how, you know, they didn't have access to class dojo >> with, you know, their parents and things and they've had to rely on those the the alternative now with schooly and it's not as ideal as what it they used to have with, you know, class dojo. So, I'm just trying to make sure that are we using a good system that they're identifying with. I'm I'm just I'm making sure we're >> Yeah, it's a good question and I think that you know getting an opportunity to provide some sort
216of um rationale on that I think is important. So schooly always had a communication tool for families between teachers and families. We didn't really utilize it heavily. Uh most of the communication was sent out saying, "Hey, grades are posted or you know um you know uh uh the uh the syllabus or assignments are posted in this class so you can see what you're missing and those sort of things. But the reason that there was a shift and we have Carla here who can probably further elaborate on that is that some of those other tools that were being used were free tools. They also lack the ability to to have, I would say, um, safeguards in place, right? >> Um, to where if there was an a situation that was brought up as to he said,
217she said between the teacher and a parent or or what have you, we really didn't have the ability to to go back and and look at that documentation. Whereas with Schooly and Seesaw, we have that ability. Now, I think that the frustration for folks was the intuitiveness of Class Dojo and being able to communicate so so quickly between parents and share pictures and those sort of things. We've heard that. Um and Schooly is not the um the communication component of Schooly was not the primary reason that we we continue to adopt Schooly. Um it's a feature of the platform that we wanted to utilize. We also uh use heavily for our communication tools API. Apttoy is our website system uh for all of our school websites, our district website, our our mobile app uh for
218for families. So it's a it's a key communication tool that we have. Appe has a product called rooms and rooms I think really is something that is that it comes back to that more intuitive feel of what they they have with class dojo. It provides the guard rails to make sure that um messages are archived so we have those if there needs to be an investigation for some reason. However, again, we're very cautious as to how we roll something out. So, right now we are just looking at well actually we're not looking we are implementing rooms for um sports teams and extracurriculars. Am I correct? For next year um to make sure that those kinks can be worked out um because whatever we roll out, we want to do it thoughtfully and do it um
219in a more controlled environment so that there are kinks, we can work those things out so that when we roll it out districtwide um we've learned, you know, from some some of those rollout uh hurdles we may may see. So irrespective where we would be using schooly even let's say let's say and I'm just giving a a hypothetical here >> we use rooms let's say it goes great and we roll it out to the rest of the school system we would still need to be using schooly irrespective of and okay I'm just making sure and making clear okay >> y I also thought that dojo wasn't very safe that was the biggie >> that was the biggie I just I'm making sure because I I I I heard very clearly from staff that that intuitiveness
220to to what you were discussing. There's that it's missing in that communications piece and and I think >> I don't want to lose that voice that we're hearing from >> right now. That's all drift away from a county managed platform. We no longer have visibility into it. Not that we need to sit there and read every message anyone sends, but when there comes a question to one of us, he said, she said, and we have no insight whatsoever, that's when people can danger and we can't even flag. >> We need to have those secure guards because we do have laws that we need to have in place. it just I mean you need to make sure everything is secure >> and and I would also say that that um we took a look at things
221like uh class dojo parent square uh because they also there's a free version and there's the paid version. the paid version um you know uh while it may check more boxes that we would need, the cost was exponentially more than what we could be able to do with whether it be schooly or even with adding on uh rooms to our aptagy contract. So, um, the it was that's one of one of those things that that's where they get you, you know, as a in corporate America, they're going to get you because you like the free version so well. So, they're going to make you pay a premium on top of that in order to get some of the things that you feel like the things that are required by law and sort of those things
222is um, you know, tracking those previous conversations so that if there's a situation um, and it it really makes it cost prohibitive to do it and implement it that way. So, um, any other questions? I have a motion to accept, um, 119278 as for Power School. >> So moved. >> Second. >> All in favor? >> I opposed. Motion carries. Next on the agenda is um, new line. >> Yes, ma'am. Um, if you recall back in December, I said I'd be back for Orchard View. And you have two more in there as well. Um, this is to approve the purchase for the New Line Interactive panels at Orchard View Intermediate, Bedington Elementary, and Mount Ridge Primary. Um, there are multiple funding sources here. So, Orchard View Intermediate and Bedington Elementary are Step 7B funds, and Mount
223Ridge Primary will be bond funded. Um, we did hold off on Orchard View because when we initially did this project, they had the most current version of the viewboards. Um, so we held off on that building as well as Bennington Elementary because we didn't know at that point the beta Bington Elementary. Um, at this point those teachers are feeling a little bit slighted and I've talked with my team and even with remodels of Bington, we would end up reusing those boards. Um, and we bought several I think it was 10 mobile carts. So, in rooms that we think, you know, don't have the adequate wall space, we'll be able to put them on a cart, and that's worked out pretty well for us. Um, again, those come with a 7-year warranty. They do integrate with
224the Raptor system. Um, schools without intercoms. Eagle School was a perfect example when their intercom system was down. They were able to message. Um, there's also a platform to manage all of the new lines in a building. So if Miss Power was the principal of Eagle School Intermediate, she could log in and send messages to one classroom or the whole building. So that's we've had several principles use that as well as the text people to actually call kids down to their rooms. Um again, consistency countywide. Um these have proven to be a pretty solid device and we did buy the PC model with them as well. The price increased a little bit. They're about $200 more per unit overall. Um, and I don't know if you remember back in December, they were running a buy
22510 get one free promo. Um, our sales reps have been really good about letting us know when those type of promotions come along, but they do not have the promotion happen right now. So, this is to approve overall u purchase of new lines for those three buildings at $251,0008 $251,850. >> Questions for Leah? We we have 22 uh a total of 22 schools, primary and intermediate. And uh so how much did that be spent on the other 19 in this area if they have three schools that cost us 250,000? >> I don't have that number in front of me. >> Okay. Um, it was >> right around $2 million I think during the first time that we approved a purchase, but I can get that number for you. >> Yeah, I Yeah, I was just
226when I saw this figure for three schools, but why three schools and not all 22? >> We're just finishing up the project. Yep. >> Okay. Thank you. >> U, there's no other questions for Leah. Can I have a motion to approve the purchase of the uh contract to finish off Orchard View, Bennington, and Mountain Ridge? >> Second. >> All in favor? Opposed? >> Motion carries. >> Mr. Kamoski. Uh good evening members of the board andctions dated for Monday May 4th 2026 are as follows. Um this evening we have seven removals of coaches and nine coaching resignations. Um we also have five healthcare appointments this evening for your consideration. On lines 23 and 24 we have two unpaid leave of absences for your consideration. For professional personnel we have 13 professional appointments. On line 38, we
227correct an appointment from August to reflect the home school of that employee and we have also revised one appointment um with a new start date. We have three changes of assignment for next school year. Um unfortunately we have had one employee who has recently passed away. We also have one policy 5,000 hire for the 26 27th school year and we rescended one policy 5,000 higher and that employee will remain in their current position. Uh we have 17 professional resignations. We have six transfers for the 2627 school year and we've corrected one transfer for next year. Uh beginning on line 70, we have seven professional staff who have been removed from the transfer list and assigned a position for the 2627 school year and we have one revised transfer of the seat. For service actions, we
228have one correction of a change of assignment and upgrade. On line 79, we have the ratification of an unpaid suspension. That employee is Haleem Kresniki. On line 80, we have the ratification of an unpaid suspension or recommendation of termination. That employee is Megan Ste. We have two service resignations, two resignations of midday runs and one retirement of service personnel. We also have one transfer of a service personnel employee and beginning on line 87, we have two service personnel who have been removed from the transfer list and will remain in their current position. We also have four perh service personnel upgrades this evening. We have one new appointment of a substitute nurse that's pending Western Union Department of Ed approval. Uh we have two new appointments of substitute service personnel and three resignations of substitute personnel.
229And for professional substitute teachers, we have seven appointments of professional day-to-day substitutes as well as 22 summer appointments this evening for a total of 127 professional service and substitute personnel actions for tonight for your consideration with superintendent access recommendation. >> Mr. Kimlowski, you may have said this. I just wanted to make sure I clarified. is the recession of the that that one position um at Muscleman on here. >> I didn't see >> you know which one I'm referencing. >> I do. >> I didn't see it. >> I didn't know if it was going to be on this one or the next one. >> Might be on the next one because that's how we got to >> Would it be toward the end or >> It would be right in the middle. >> Oh, okay. >>
230Yes, >> It is. is >> what item number is it? >> Line 75. >> All right. Thank you. Um, board members, I just wanted to bring to your attention uh line 75. Um, >> that individual was on the transfer list. Um, >> sorry. >> And, um, as you recall, this was uh, for an art position at Musman High School. >> Um, there was a hearing on this one. >> Um, the the num the student numbers did evolve. Um some of that was because of um the to be honest with you is due to um med and due to aviation X where students were going to be coming off site more and so that changed some numbers to where it actually increased their art their art numbers a little bit at that site um from uh
231and so anyway the teacher agreed that she would prefer to come back because the numbers now are in alignment with being able to support keeping that additional art position. >> Okay. So, just wanted to share that with you. >> The uh bus driver hearings that we had >> that won't be settled until the fall when they have the enrollment numbers. >> No, that no, those will um as they can as they work to post the new routes, they'll be able to be transferred into those routes. So, am I correct, Mr. Camoski, on that? >> Any other questions for Mr. Tamarowski? Have you seen um I was trying to look at last year's main numbers for resignations versus this year. Have you seen much of an increase from previous years? >> Yes, we have. >> Okay,
232that's what I thought. >> All in favor of um a motion. >> Can I have a motion to approve the personal actions? >> Hold on one second. Otherwise, have you um received specific reasons it's more of this time more than previous I know there's still maybe or may not be submitting their um exit interview form but from those that have left if have you heard as to why the majority of them are leaving say 50% are paid um the other 50% it it depends varies Um, you know, some have to do with PA, some don't disclose. Um, some just say personal reasons. Um, but you know, we have a couple questions on the exit survey that address those things. Um, and I would say of what has come in so far, it's probably around 50%
233have said, "Hey, so that's it." >> Okay. What percentage is PEI? >> It's actually lower than you think. um the people that actually specifically reference PIA, the ones we've got then it's probably only I look today it's probably only around 25 26% of the people that are that are going are actually referencing specifically PEIA as a reason. Um it's you know a lot of it is still related to pay. I think it would be good for us to be able to prepare a report for the board. Yeah, I'd like to see, >> you know, that we can share with them uh sort of a a summary of the reasons and those sort of things. So, we can take a look at that. >> Sorry. >> I say 50% pay, 25% PI. >> I mean, I
234mean, I would say >> or both. >> Yeah, it's probably more of a I wouldn't say of the of the 100% that would make up 75% of the people. >> Okay. Um the way we structure the the questions, you know, there are different questions that ask different things on the exit survey. >> It could be both. >> Could be both. Yeah. Could be one or the other. But um you know, we give them a chance to fill that out and provide us with um you know, details. It's actually electronic now. So I've been sending it out to people electronically and saying, you know, this will help us gather feedback. >> Do you see a lot of expert surveys coming back in? >> I mean, now that it's electronic, we're getting more back than we used
235to. Yeah, >> that helps. That's >> And what about um school or county schools climate? Has that been a factor? >> Uh I would say for some people, yes. >> Yeah. >> Um don't think you know and I I think overwhelmingly what people have said about their you know about their school and their administration, a lot of them are are supportive of that. Um but you know there are things on the exit survey that that we get that have to deal with um you know questions regarding stakeholders and how they feel about things like that. Yeah, we do get feedback on that as well and I can I prepare a report for that so you guys can have >> Yeah, I'd like to see it. >> Yeah, >> the I was looking at at the
236experience level. would lose some some tal experienced people in this process. I would uh I I don't want to slay anyone, >> but I I I appreciate the service we've received from Mrs. McCoy. >> Yeah. >> And Mr. Pitargo and the job that he uh stepped into over at North. I'm sure I'm missing someone here, but I I do want I do want to point out those two people will be missed in respect of recent relief along with many others. >> Yes. >> What 17 each? >> Did we have a motion? A second. Can I have a motion to accept personal actions? >> Move. >> Second. >> All in favor? >> I opposed. Motion carries. >> Um, do we have a need for date session? >> Have a motion to go in executive session number
237six-9A-4 of the West Virginia code. >> So move. >> All in favor? I favor going into executive session at what L >> 9:37 >> 937 >> and Madam President I do not anticipate any uh action on the board afterwards >> so we can >> let uh we can make sure we record time we come out of executive 7 if that's okay it's up to you but yes fine yeah proper Yep.