Board of Education Meeting 4/6/26

001of America. And to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you. Can I have a motion to approve the agenda? So moved. Second? Second. All in favor? I. Opposed? Motion carries. Superintendent's announcements. Uh Dr. Schooly is out and both of Dr. Sachs today, so he will be doing his announcements. Thank you, President Law. Uh to begin with the superintendent's announcements here for Monday, April the 6th, 2026. It is National Assistant Principals Week. And we on this week we want to recognize our assistant principals and take a moment to celebrate their incredible work as across Berkeley County Schools. Assistant principals are the steady force behind the scenes and at the forefront of our schools every single day. They They balance leadership, discipline, student support, staff

002collaboration, crisis management, often all before lunchtime. They are real problem solvers, relationship builders, and champions for both students and staff. Whether it's supporting instruction, ensuring safety, stepping in the classrooms, or helping a student through a tough moment, their impact is constant and meaningful. In Berkeley County Schools, our assistant principals help create positive school cultures where students can learn and grow and succeed. They're trusted leaders who keep our schools running smoothly and compassionately. This week we thank them for their dedication, resilience, and commitment to excellence. Their work does not go unnoticed and our schools are stronger because of them. Please join me in celebrating and showing appreciation for our outstanding assistant principals week. And thank you, assistant principals. We want to remind everyone to join us for the winter and early spring recognition events. This is

003a reminder where we'll be recognizing our amazing students and staff who have reached a state or national level accomplishment over the winter and here in the early spring. Please join us for light refreshments in our ceremony at 6:00 p.m. at Musselman High School on April the 23rd. We will be ending with the exciting the evening with the excitements [clears throat] for the ceremonies of our counselor, principal, service personnel, new teacher, and teacher of the year. Um and to wrap up, we have upcoming board meetings. We have a special meeting where you'll hear from the faculty Senate presidents on April the 15th. That'll begin at 5:00 p.m. Uh but prior to that, we have a hearing. Uh we also have hearings scheduled for Monday, April the 20th, uh tentatively beginning at noon. And our next regular

004Board of Education meeting will be Tuesday, April the 21st. Um and all of those will be here in the boardroom at 1453. That's the conclusion of the announcements. Thank you, Dr. Schooly. Uh next on the agenda is board announcements. Any board members? Um I just want to remind the public there are going to be um forums for you to get to know those that are going to be running for election this year. April 13th, uh the Boys and Girls Club will be having one with the Stubblefield Institute at Musselman High School at 6:00 p.m. April 14th, uh the Education Association at James Rumsey. Uh so if you want to learn more, please attend those and ask questions accordingly. What time, Superintendent? 6:00. Anyone else? I would just like to second what Dr. Schooly and Dr.

005Sachs said about the assistant principals. They are a valuable part of our system and we couldn't run without them, so I thank them for what they do. Uh no one else and there's no one on for citizens forum. Moving on to items, um Dr. Branch on safety initiatives. Good evening, Dr. Schooly, President Law, members of our board. Um Yeah, tonight we're going to present some of the safety initiatives that we have undertaken this year. Want to thank Dr. Sachs and our board and their support for each of these as well as some of the other things that we're doing. You know, our department is small but mighty and there have been some big initiatives that we've taken on this year and you know, whether we're dealing with discipline or BHIs, Title IX, alternative ed, our

006nurses, each one of our goals is to make sure that students and staff feel safe, that our schools are a place where they want to be, and that our administration feels supported in the things that they do in their buildings every day. So tonight, Melissa Holland and Dean Olack are going to share with you some updates on some things that we've been working on. Appreciate you taking the time to to hear us out and be glad to answer any questions when we finish up. Hi. Clicker not working? I don't think so. There it goes. There it goes. Well, okay. Well, Madam President, Dr. Schooly, esteemed members of the board, thank you very much for having us. I would say other than our staff recognition moments that we have here together, this would be my my

007second favorite thing to talk to you about because it is so critically important. So just looking at this infographic up here, safety really encompasses a lot of what we do in in pupil services and has a place in all of what we do in pupil services as Dr. Branch mentioned. So what we are going to talk to you the the way we decided to to hone in tonight was to talk to you about the initiatives that either have been brand new or re-envisioned or refueled in the past couple of years. Uh just to kind of give you an update specifically on those initiatives that we have taken a strong look at in the past 2 years. One of the first things that that we dove into was the Berkeley County Schools emergency protocols and general

008safety expectations across the district. So on your right here, you'll remember that 2 school [clears throat] years ago we rolled out the revamped emergency protocols. We aligned what was new with what already existed so that our staff wouldn't have to make a gigantic shift. We felt that was very important, especially when you're thinking about safety. Um the things that were added were the graphics, also the quick and easy descriptions. On the right-hand side of each of those colorful bars, there's a description that law enforcement also uses, so it's aligned with law enforcement lingo and language. And then most importantly, it it aligns with the only response protocol that's that is a nationally adopted response protocol from the I Love U Guys Foundation. So whenever we're looking at safety response in schools across the nation, this

009type of language and this type of protocol is very common. Uh the second thing that we did was look to all of our classrooms to make sure that once we enacted emergency protocols like hold or like lockdown, that we could in fact lock down and hold the children in place. So in every one of our classrooms, we have a secure locking device and that was uh implemented and and those were put in place over this past summer. In areas like our libraries for instance, we might have safe rooms off of them. It just depends on how the room is built and how much glass surrounds it. But in every area where students are served, we have one of these locking devices. Okay. Thank you, Melissa. Um a couple other things that we've dealt with over

010the last year is first off, security film. We were honored a grant last summer and what we were able to do is place a 13 mm tinted security film on all of our man traps and on the majority of our full window doors throughout all of our schools through Berkeley County. That grant was fulfilled over the summer from a company out of the Carolinas that came up here and did that. Um in addition to that, if you see in the top left-hand corner, it's a Thrasher map. So over the past probably 6 months, we had worked with Thrasher to update all of our buildings, all of our floor plans for our buildings. Now, it seems like it would be a very easy process, but believe me, it's not. Um we renumbered every interior room in

011our in our schools, including closets, janitor closets, and restrooms. So they all have a specific number and you're going to see this later on when we talk about the mapping procedure. So from Thrasher, that's our architectural company, what we've done is we've taken their plans and we worked back and forth with them to make sure that we have a unique number for every single room in our schools, every single one of our schools. In addition to that, when we're talking about numbering, we also did numbering on the outside. And this is more for emergency response for law enforcement, medics, uh firefighters. And you can see in the middle, um it's labeled one and two. What we did what we've done is we've taken the International Fire Code um through uh their code system and we

012numbered every single doorway from the main entryway. And if you look at it like an overhead view, we went uh clockwise all the way around. So it's systematic throughout our whole county. So no matter if a sheriff's deputy or um a firefighter would respond to any of our schools, we know that number one is at our main entrance and then we go clockwise all the way around as an overview. Not only did we do that with large numbers, they're probably 6-in numbers. Uh They're visible from the nearest roadway. And then what we've done is we've also done the inside. So, we've marked the inside numbers, but instead of marking them on the top, which is clearly visible, we've marked them on the bottom on the interior side and on the hinge side. And the reason

013for that is if there's ever an emergency and there's a ever smoke filled in the rooms or in the hallways, you typically wouldn't be able to see it, so you'd be able to see it at the bottom number. Um so, we did on the hinge side as well, so they're not altered if people are walking through the doors and they're kicking the kick plates, those numbers would be able to last a little bit longer. So, we've we've taken care of that. That whole project is done. The only thing that is not done, we do still have some uh ancillary buildings like the press box and stuff like that that haven't been numbered on the inside, but all of them have been numbered on the outside as well. Safety officers. So, this has been one of

014my main initiatives since I was hired. 2024 when I got hired, it was just myself as a safety officer for Berkeley County Schools. To let you guys know how far this has come, we're up to nine now and myself will be number 10. So, I wanted to give you guys an idea of what we have covered in our schools. So, out of our 32 schools in Berkeley County, all of our high schools, as you guys know, we have school resource officers. Those are sworn law enforcement officers. We have Rocky Burks as a new for Martinsburg High School, Daryl Cox at Spring Mills, Calvin Wilmer at Hedgesville, and Will Henderson at Musselman. Um Rocky Burks is Martinsburg City Police. All three of the others are deputies with the Berkeley County Sheriff's Department. Since then, we've expanded

015our platform to have school safety officers. Our safety officers include Scott See at Spring Mills Middle, Mary Beth Cole at Hedgesville Middle, Brian Cox at Martinsburg North Middle, Robert Harvey at South Middle, Christopher Dove at Mountain Ridge Middle, and Crystal uh Tharp at Musselman Middle School. Last year, we we continued to adapt and continued to grow uh for this school year and we've added three more. Now, the intermediate schools, we have one officer that covers two schools, so they work back and forth with the direction of the principal of the schools to see what type of coverage is needed. So, Michael Cole covers Potomac and Tomahawk, Quintin Burner covers Eagle and Orchard View, and Jimmy Burkhart covers Mill Creek and Mountain Ridge. To give you an idea of the safety officers, they have to have

016at least 10 years law enforcement experience to even apply. So, they come with higher credentials typically than uh a normal law enforcement officer because they've served the time and they've already qualified. In addition to that, they qualify at least twice a year with their firearm that they carry inside schools, plus they have to have at least 16 hours of continuing education every year. Um the last thing I want here, as you guys can see in the bottom left-hand corner at your guys' approval at one of the previous board meetings, is a small little puppy there. Um You guys have approved this at at the last one, so just want to let you know an update on this. Our dog that we're getting, his name is Moose. He will be here at the end of April.

017He'll he'll finish up his training. He is currently with Robert Harvey. Robert Harvey's in Potomac, Virginia right now at training and he should finish up probably within the next two or three weeks uh at the canine school. So, we will have a non-aggressive black lab that is going to be in our schools. So, um how does that Mr. Harvey will be have the dog, correct? >> He'll he'll have the dog full-time at South and then what he'll do is probably work a schedule through me and through our principals to be able to spot check different schools throughout the No problem. I'm sure that's more to come. Yes. We all get that. And a Raptor. Um we started our Raptor deployment in August. Um on August 14th, our small but mighty department trained almost 3,000 Berkeley

018County Schools employees uh in in a day. Um we traveled the county and they met by programmatic or by by feeder pattern, I'm sorry, and we we trained all of those folks. We also handed out badges to all the school-based personnel in the system at that time. So, every employee that is in a school in Berkeley County Schools has a Raptor badge. Um one of the things that we worked on the summer preceding that training was putting beacons in all of our schools, which are small hockey puck-like devices that are in every single room or classroom or or ancillary room in our in our school district. We have met with Raptor since then over the Veterans Day holiday weekend um and also we met actually they're in town now. Uh they'll be in town over

019spring break. They come when students are not present and they check those devices in in our schools as part of their agreement. Uh Dean and I were with them most of the morning this morning and those checks are going incredibly well. Um one of the things that that is also going well, all employees have badges, but also substitute teachers have badges. So, there's an example substitute teacher badge up by Mr. Wright. Um and badges badges can be monitored by school personnel. So, the type of deployment that Raptor has as a company, I call it the Hansel and Gretel deployment. There are certain things that you have to do in order to do the next steps. So, there's certain things that you have to put in place before the next piece of the Raptor puzzle can

020can come out. And one of the things that we talked about was eating the elephant one bite at a time. When we were at the training in August, we explained to all district staff at that time, this is a huge project. So, we're going to work on it throughout the year. We're going to run regular tests in your building and those tests will be external both by the company, also by the Department of Pupil Services, and also by your administrators. Um part of that is to train you, but then part of it is to make sure that we're we're functioning at a high high level. So, for instance, when we first implemented the tool, um we started with just badge education. How do I use this? What do I do with it? And then we

021started with testing. Each employee trying out their badge. Next, we rolled out to administrators. How do you monitor this? How can you monitor it from your office or from your home at any time? Meaning they can monitor which of their badges have been pressed, which of them are active, what the battery life on each badge is. They can look at all of those things. I, as a building principal, can walk down my fourth grade hallway and say, "Hey, please uh you know, please press your badge, Mr. Smith. Let's see um how it's working today." And let allow them to use it in order for me both to test it, but also provide some reassurance to my staff that works. That piece for the administrator provides a little bit of reassurance by interacting with the badge

022and their employee is huge. Um when we've walked through those tests with our employees, they tend to feel better about it. They tend to understand that the system is working as it should. Um but again, they can be monitored now on all levels, which is pretty great, and we also completed the outdoor geo-fencing as well. One of our techs was at one of our intermediate schools today. They got um an addition and so as we're building onto our buildings, um you know, Martinsburg High School, the auditorium, Tomahawk in our new addition, they come back through as part of their service agreement and get those parts of the building up and running as well. So, employees have two options. They can do a three-button press on that badge or seven-button press. The three-button press is to

023alert the office of a non-emergent threat, but still a threat. So, if I am a classroom teacher and I'm in a situation perhaps where I feel very unsafe, uh many of our teachers have been in meetings before where where emotions ran high, things got escalated, and there's even been threats. Um some of our staff members sadly have been in situations before where there's maybe an aggressive instance between two students and they feel like that they can't stop that. They can't make the environment safe. So, what do they do? Those kind of more extreme examples would be why a three-button press might be put into action. So, I'm going to ask you with that badge there. Right now, you're in the Pupil Services School. So, Dean and Dr. Branch and I are administrators in Pupil Services

024School. And we have the app the Raptor app on our phones because I like good Berkeley County School employees who want the app, only if you want it. We chose to have it. You do not have to choose to have it. We chose to have it, but um as administrators, we think it's important to have it. So, if you could please we're going to have you do just a three-button press. And then you're going to pause after the third press. And sometimes employees are a little unsure. They're like, "Did that work?" But we know it works because it played a little song for you. It said, "Don't worry, somebody's coming." Those are the lyrics to the song. And then I'm getting the alert as a building administrator on my phone that Mr. Martin has pressed

025his Raptor badge. And I can also in a school setting see the location on a map of exactly where he is because maybe he's not in his classroom. Maybe he's in the cafeteria or on the playground. And so, my secretary is also monitoring the system because that's really best practice, right? Administrators sometimes are really really busy and they may be engaged with a parent or in an important confidential meeting. So, the secretary is also monitoring and you can get on a walkie and say, "Hey, we have a Raptor in the cafeteria." They ordered such and such room number rather than saying the person's name. So, there's all of this redundancy to respond. So, then we can respond and we can say, "Hey, you're right. You mashed your button." Accidental, I owe you an apology. I

026wanted to bring Matt and President, I wanted to bring you some chocolates tonight, but I didn't. I'm sorry, I forgot. Because you asked me >> [laughter] >> You asked me a long time ago. You're like, "What was that?" Well, that I I had an accidental press this, and I said, "No, ma'am, I don't think so." Um I was wrong. We had a lot of them. Yeah. But that That That's the complaint I have I've I've been hearing. Yes, well, I have good news for you. Bad news about the chocolate, good news about about the solution. Is I was so wrong, but I think that the company didn't know as much as they do now. I really think Berkeley High School has been an excellent client for them because we go very deep in these types

027of things. And um what we learned is that when our Raptor badges were worn without some sort of protective uh badge holder or something around them, yes, we had a ton of accidental presses. We were we were pretty frustrated. Um >> [laughter] >> and so, what we did is we bought badge holders for every employee, sent them out with a set of directions, with reminders that, "Hey, we're here for you. Thank you for working through these problems with us. And here's how you you can attach it to your existing badge." And we sent them the attachment and the badge holder and the positive note to every single employee in the district, at school-based employee, and said, "Try these out." Since we've had those extra badge holders and the Raptor badge badges have been slid in

028there, we have not had any accidental presses, which is which is pretty, yeah. Yeah, because we really had a lot of them. Well, that's what I had heard, and I thought, well, Yeah, which you know that and that that that does something to certainly the confidence of of our employees. And so, we we knew we needed to address that, and we we did. Um now, the seven-button press, what you heard on my cell phone was the typical sound that I get when I have a text message, right? Um we need to differentiate between a seven-button press and a three-button press. So, again, you are in the People Services School. A seven-button press is the worst-case scenario. So, if you wouldn't mind pressing and you can pass it down, maybe, Mr. Martin. Give somebody a chance

029to Thanks. I get the emergency button. Great. But you can press that to seven times. And one way that cuz who can count to seven when there's an emergency, right? But you can spell out maybe lockdown, l o c k t o w n, um something for you to remember. So, when you're ready. >> That would be worse for me, I would. I was going to say, "Now, ma'am, I am sitting down." It can be 10 as long as it's within a small window. Now, this time, it's not going to play you a song. Okay, but it's flashing green. Yeah. And so, that is definitely a very different noise, right? I'm still getting my text messages. We're all getting it at the People Services School. So, anyway, have you all passed it? So, it's like

030I should turn it over. I know. We're Where's Van up, right? Um So, what we had done um is we have we have tested both of those things in our schools. Now, when Mr. Garrett walks around and does safety walks, he will pick He'll go into any school yesterday safety walk on, which we in our department conduct four a year, and that's in addition to the one that the Capital Police provide. And when he walks into a school, he'll he'll address the principal and say, "Hey, I'd like to try, you know, two or three Raptors in your building, and I would like to pick different hallways than I did last time." And so, he'll walk to the third-grade hallway, say, "Hey, Mr. Wright, can you do a three-button press for me?" Just to check. Now,

031are there times when we learn that maybe Mr. Wright hasn't charged his battery yet? Sure. But so far, we have not had any issues with that because Dean is monitoring all the batter battery levels in the district. But that's just an example. And then when Damon realizes how it works and he can hear the sound >> [laughter] >> and he understands that's what's going to get me help, our hope is that he walks down that third-grade hallway and tells his friends, tells his colleagues, "Hey, this this worked. That guy from the board office came over and he had me practice, and it worked." Um but employees can practice anytime they're administrators, anytime. Um so, it's just a matter of kind of getting used to it. I think we're in a place where we're still getting

032getting used to it. Uh but we have come we've certainly come a very, very long way with with Raptor. Well, um the protective covering, is it Was that it? That that That's it? That's it? Just simple little badge holders. It was not simple easy. Yeah, very easy and very easy for us and affordable for us to replace. Um and then the substitute badges, of course, have that insert that has directions on the back of it. Um and I see them being used in our schools when I go in and out. How long does it take to charge? Um gosh, I've plugged mine in for an hour before and it's said. And we've only had to charge them over uh the winter break, and then we said in summer break. Twice a year is is enough.

033Oh, so it's not like you have to charge your phone every night. Okay, so that's good. >> understand charge. You know, like when they went went home in the evening, they charge charge them. Raptor actually recommends or they say that it could go up to a year, but we recommend doing it on Christmas break and on I get you. Yeah, just to be safe. The other thing that I wanted to mention is I purposely had my phone on vibrate only, and that alert overrode my phone and took over my phone, and then you were able to hear my notifications, which was Wheel of Fortune. So, it actually, if there is a Raptor alert, it will control your phone, and even if it's on vibrate, uh unfortunately, sometimes if you're in a meeting or something like

034that, it will take over. It will take over. It is a good thing. That's why I wanted to show because you were able to hear my text message as well because it does give you a text message in addition to the Raptor app itself. Mr. Martin, Sure. are are they employees turning these in at the end of the year? And so, our principal board It will be part of your typical employee device turn-in. So, any electronic device or your keys, those will come to the office, and this will come as well. Just in case cuz you don't know how somebody's plans might change over the summer, and it's really easy to reassign those. We've started to take our administrators who are really owning this, you know, and and they want to understand this inside and

035out. And those in particular, we we've taught them how to reassign a badge, you know, when somebody transfers to another school, here's how you reassign their badge. Um our hope is to give everybody an added administrative level ownership of that. And speaking of that, I wanted to give a shout-out over here to uh Mr. Slizak, Mr. System, Mr. Amoroso, and Mrs. Ryan. We had some administrators who just really took it and ran with it and made sure that they understood the the nuances of it, everything. And they did an excellent, excellent job. And and we are very confident that their schools are are um are confident in the system, which which is a big deal. Um the newest feature is the internal alerting, uh which which occurs, and right now, we rolled that out slowly.

036You can come and you can see that at Eagle School anytime you'd like to, but it is actually how the system will alert within the classrooms if there is an active shooter event because maybe not everyone has their cell phone on them or chose to have the app. So, definitely made some progress in those areas. Okay. Um I'm going to switch over to mapping real quick. Uh as you guys know, based on Senate Bill 3166, we are required as a district to have mapping by September 1st of 2026. Several months ago, we brought it to your attention, and we selected DataMark as our mapping company. They came in over the holiday in January for two separate weekends when no kids were in school. We asked our administrative staff to leave all of our doors open

037in our building. Basically, what this company did is they came in and they video mapped every single room, every single space in every single school, they video mapped. And the best way I could give you an illustration is a good understanding would be almost like Google Maps. If you click on Google Maps and you click that little person, you could sit down and you could look and you could scan around. And that's what we will be able to do. The only issue that I've seen with it is that it's only a time and place. So, whenever they mapped it, that's what we see. So, if something has changed, uh a teacher has moved desks around or changed this this structure of the room around, it may look a little bit different. The goal of it

038is to give an understanding to 911 and their dispatch for first responders to get into our buildings, to be able to understand how many rooms down to the right or what they look like live or at least at that moment in time. Now, it shows here that we've mapped 31 of 34 schools. The contract that we did, uh the grant that we were approved for through the state, was for 34 schools because we included our other schools. 31 schools are the ones that we've done. We had not done Inwood purposely because we knew that that was going to be demolished. The other three schools, what we've done is we've given them blueprints. So, they're going to use the blueprints instead of the video mapping, and then once they get built, physically built where they could

039come in, they'll come back and they'll video map them, of course. But they're going to give us a mapping illustration of what it would look like underneath of the blueprints that we submitted. Um currently right now, we are in the digitization phase, which basically means they've gathered everything they have, and they're going to put it together for us. They're going to put it together for us for gas shut offs, AEDs, opioid response kits, fire extinguishers, fire exit stuff like that. So, they're going to take care of that for us for the digitization phase. Now, we should be That's your girl from Grabber. So, we should be finalizing that within the end of this month where they should start to give us some of their maps. And when they give us their maps, people services, myself,

040and what I'll do is I'll coordinate with our principals to make sure that they review them for accuracy. To make sure everything that they have in there is what they need to the best accuracy that they can. Now, this is this slide right here was for our initial purchase of this when when we decided what company we wanted to go with. And the reason I just wanted to throw this out here is not all companies were created equal. By the the house bill or the senate bill 3166, it had minimum requirements. We chose Dadar because they had additional features that they were offering towards us. Unlike some of the other companies that just met the minimum standards for the state. So, that's the reason that you're seeing this. These are extra things that we decided

041that we wanted our standards to be a little bit higher. Uh Tell her to wait till you know get >> [laughter] >> Bill, we wanted to mix it up for you guys. Threat assessment. This is a project that we are incredibly proud of. Um and when we talked earlier about either it was new or it was refueled or refreshed, this is a process that has certainly been refreshed. So, Berkeley County Schools when referring to threat assessment in the past, we were referring to our threat protocols. When a student makes a verbal threat or even a physically aggressive threat, we have protocols in place. And we received those from the West Virginia Department of Education and of course we um added added more to make sure it was more of a thorough response here in our

042district. And all of that is still very relevant and still very much what we do when we receive a verbal threat or or are aware of a physical threat of some some kind. So, those steps are still in the place uh still in place, but we took it just a little bit further for a reason that we think is incredibly important. Since 2016 in the US, we've had over 1,800 uh school shootings on campuses. And when you think about that and you think about the potential impact on our community, on our children, you have to think about can we do more? Is there something that we can do that do to prevent this from happening here? And certainly all of those safety features that you have supported us on are huge. That is huge. But

043like all things with education, early intervention is key. So, we know we talked about it with math, we talked about it with reading. It is the same with threat-based behaviors. Um because prior to 2016, the numbers weren't really that high. As the numbers started to surge in the United States, the United States Secret Service uh put together a task force and they looked at, okay, why is this happening? What is going on either with the mental health in our country or with our children? What is happening that is causing this to happen? And so, when you bring together a former member of the violent crimes task force and a pro self-proclaimed nerdy principal who was kept up at night by these things, right? Um it makes for a good team scenario for us to really

044look into some of these reports and address this. So, the Secret Service worked with um a psychologist by the name of Dewey Cornell who studies behaviors in individuals and studied all of those those shooters in those active school shootings and came up with a behavior-based assessment that brings together all of those behaviors that were occurring well before the event ever took place. And if you think back and you watch the news and I'm sure you did and, you know, with bated breath, they always talked about how people knew and how there was a plan and how there were many behaviors that had occurred beforehand um that should have signaled something to somebody. And that school violence is rarely rarely impulsive. It's not a last-minute thing that happens. Um sometimes, but rarely. So, the concerning behaviors

045appear long before the serious incidents. Concerning behaviors often build with intensity over time. And answering a what what could be a red flag or a cry for help in advance, imagine what it could do to save our children. So, in looking at our threat protocols, we knew, okay, we have these protocols, but what are we missing? Part of the protocols was to look at the the child who had made this potential threat and uh utilize someone for a mental health evaluation. That's absolutely necessary. That's one of our threat protocols. But what what is missing in that is that you're taking the child and you are working with somebody um to do a mental health evaluation, which is frankly important, but that leaves out sometimes the voice of the principal, the school teacher, the counselor, the

046safety officer. So, many times you're you're providing information as a school to that mental health evaluator, which is great. But if you've never been trained in the type of information they need or the type of information that would be really helpful, then are we all consistently across our our district supplying that mental health professional with the same type of information? It's truly truly important. So, we established with a a team of people from the central office and our administrative staff an actual team threat assessment document. So, it is something that our administrators work through with a small team of people who understand the child, you know, maybe more so than anyone else in the building. This could be some of their favorite teachers and and staff members. If they work with a social worker, the

047social worker is a part of this team. They sit down and they work through Dewey Cornell's questions about potential precursors or potential red flags for violent behaviors. Once that team assessment is completed, it's a very simple form, it goes to our department. Um if it involves children or others in the special education realm who need to be informed, those folks are looped in by us. And then this whole report can be transferred and given to that mental health evaluator for that student. And we then we follow those normal protocols that we followed before, which might be disciplinary action, maybe it's an alternative setting for a period of time. We follow through with whatever we need to follow through with beyond that, but now our information is really consistent. Um another thing that we are able

048to do is market tag in Weevis that this child has a team assessment. And what that does is it allows us to understand, especially for our kids with high mobility rates. And if you think about high mobility and high aggression, sometimes those two go hand in hand, not always. But as an elementary principal who was working with a middle school principal once in my role of people services, I got lucky because I knew the child, not because there was a system in place prior to this. We don't want to get lucky. We want to have We do, but we want to have systems in place that make sure that being lucky isn't the only good thing that happens. And I think it's really critical that we've given a voice to the people in the school

049who know the child best. Um so, that's why I think this is a big big celebration. >> a question. Um so, with the mental health evaluation, noticed you mentioned a lot of the people that are involved in that. Is there any point where um a parent is involved in terms of cuz they may see things Yeah. If they're honest with the mental health evaluator, they feel my child has done this or that that they may not think is a big deal, but can lead to a better diagnosis or better uh plan? Yeah, so the the most beautiful example of this working the way that it should um was an instance where and and please understand like the mental health evaluation is still done outside by that credentialed individual, you know, who who does that as

050part of their profession and they've got years and years of training on it. And this team assessment is more about what we're seeing in school as school people, what we're experiencing as people people as kid people. Um but the best example of this really working fully was as soon as this happens, the parent has to be communicated with. And and it and most principals, that that is part of our threat protocol, you know, so so they automatically know that. However, at the end of this document, it also reminds them, we need to do a home safety check with law enforcement. Don't forget. Don't forget to contact the parents and ask these important questions. So, the parents automatically communicated with when this comes our direction. If it's something that we deem because there are two kind

051of avenues this could go down. I know that's difficult to see, but it's substantive threat and transient threat. Transient threat might be a little 7-year-old whose parents just got divorced, who's being bullied and he said, "I hate you. I'm going to kill you." He blurted it out, was incredibly remorseful. We don't see any any future action resulting from this. Uh it's out of character and there are some precursor emotional things going on. Substantive threat is we think there's potential for harm to our student body. Um and in that case, where our office is, Dr. Branch works through all of the threat protocols with our principals. And then our team of people contact the school, but we also reach out to the parent. And we say, "Hey, we've received this. This is what our our understanding

052is. Do you when we're working through this mental health evaluation, do you have someone? We have someone here." Um and a lot of times, depending on the relationship the administrator has, maybe they've already had that conversation, maybe we assist them in having that conversation. And in the case that I'm thinking of, the parent did want to use our resources, got some help and support for their child, and has turned some significant corners with their child. Things that they didn't know about that we found out, and things that they shared that was critical to the health and well-being of their kiddo. What about the student that is just continually destroying classrooms? And what about the student that is continually beating up the teacher? I'm I'm thinking of and I'm going to give I'm I'm going to

053share my own personal story just to give an illustrated comment, if you will, cuz I know that this is stuff that I hear from teachers often. Um I worked in a behavior classroom, and a child witnessed their mother overdose the night before. Very tragic um set of circumstances. Um was not the first time he had witnessed tragedy, not not an overdose specifically, but not the first time he had witnessed tragedy. Um not the first time he had destroyed our classroom, but I had I was in in trying to help get him to try and hold him down, and unfortunately, I got hit and I got a concussion. I still suffer from migraines that that came from that as a result of that concussion years later. There are there's staff that I know in our county

054that still deal with some physical injuries, ailments, what have you, from physical altercations that they've had with students. What does that look like when I'm looking at a threat assessment like this? What does that look like because these kids I mean when I say these kids, children that are re- repetitively coming back into the classroom, allowed to come back into the classroom, what does this look like? I mean cuz I hate to say this, but that that's abusive behavior, and we're saying it's okay for them to come back in the classroom. Are we saying that that's okay? Cuz I don't under- I I guess in my head cuz it was okay for that student to come back into the classroom way back when, and that was back in 2019, '18, '19. And I'm hearing it's

055more acceptable now than what it was even then. So, I'm just trying to understand, are we are we saying that's okay cuz I don't understand how that's okay. Yeah, and you know what um is exciting to me about this is that it addresses more deeply an issue that we hadn't addressed yet. You know, this was one issue that we really hadn't addressed. The issue you're talking about is one that absolutely we're making progress in in addressing, but I don't think it's it's where any of us want it to be yet. Um and you know, I have a a similar story and have, you know, lots of Berkeley County schools educator friends who who I know, you know, share similar concerns to what you just mentioned. Um and so, there's a couple pathways now that we

056didn't have that we now have, and pupil services didn't have this maybe as as part of what we shared today, but it was a huge it was another huge initiative, which was rolling out the process for Senate Bill 199. And so, legislatively, West Virginia did make some progress in that area with Senate Bill 199. And what it looked at was specifically behavior that was pervasive and violent to the point that, you know, it really stopped instruction. And so, whether that be on the school bus or in the classroom, then what do we do? And and there is a process that we have to run through with it, and federal law dictates, as well as Senate Bill 199 in West Virginia, dictate that we have to look at behavioral interventions for those students for 4 weeks,

057collect that data, reassess in a team meeting, have a deep conversation about it, and maybe do another 4 weeks. Um and then, at the end of that 4 weeks, we do have or 8-week period, depending, we do have the CARES Academy for those students who don't make any progress, which was gosh, a huge thing that had not always been around, and and the year you mentioned, it wasn't in existence. You know, so we've made so much progress in that area. Um and then, when you're looking at maybe you mentioned a particular special needs classroom, we do have programs now that didn't exist until the past year or two for those more extreme behaviors. I'm going to I'm going to rephrase this, Yeah. and I'm going to insert something different, because I think it's and it's

058it's the audacity of it. I'm going to tell an abuse victim, you got to go back to the abuser and stay with that abuser for 8 weeks and see if that behavior changes. I'm just I know it's a child, I get it, but a child can do a lot, especially if a child has a is is larger than average. We are we we've been instructed we can't put our hands on a child, we can't defend ourselves really in any way, form, or fashion, except to shield our head. I I'm just I'm looking at I'm looking at this from a victim's perspective. Sure. And I'm and I'm it's hard for me for my for my brain to wrap around that we're just fine that this is okay for our for our staff. Yeah, and I I

059don't know if you heard >> It's hard. Yeah, but you're you're in a different Here's a different scenario Yeah, here's a different scenario. Mine is different. Mine is sort of different. Mine is sort of Well, that's good for Yeah. We're we're really off the subject, but I know what you're saying, Deborah. Cuz mine can still >> not. No, it's not. Yeah, well, it is as far as the the threat assessment for the student. >> They're they're related. They're related, but we're we're not So, situations like that, we can have a team's assessment done at the school level. Um that it's hard to answer your question in general because there are so many circumstances. And our our department deals with, you know, one side of those um circumstances where it's easier to get students out of

060the classroom in those types of situations, but those the circumstances sometimes are are different. And so, if a student has an IEP or a 504, and there's behavioral there are some other steps that have to take place. Um often times that And our department has um begun this year collaborating with uh the special ed department, and they've done a good job, I believe, of inviting us into some of these meetings where we're discussing student behaviors and manifestations of those behaviors, where we can give a perspective from the safety side of it that often times maybe overlooked is, you know, they're looking at, you know, this one student and maybe what's best for that one student, whereas we can bring the other perspective where what's best for everybody involved. Well, that's my concern. What about the

061other kids in that room? Sure. What about them? What if they don't have a threat assess- Yeah. Right. I mean, they're being threat- To that point, and then I'm sitting there going and we're we're missing a big chunk here. What about the staff member who is dealing with PTSD going back into a classroom where they were just beaten up? And I hate to say that, but I can tell you it's traumatizing to have to go back into a classroom into an area where you were just beaten up by a child. And it's hard to rationalize your head around that. Yes. It It You know what I'm saying? I >> [laughter] >> I can do. I do. Which is why um you know, when we say, "Gosh, we can't put up with this. We can't stand

062for this." We don't. We don't. You don't, we don't, they don't, we don't. Berkeley County schools doesn't want this. And and for the very first time, I think I think we have to stop giving ourselves a pat on the back. We've never said at a manifestation meeting before or with a safety director position that didn't exist before and said, "Safety trumps in this case." But where we're at, where we are, is that we have federal legislation that says one thing. So, my question to the board is, how do we change that? And I don't know the answer to that. I'll I'll drive to and I'll I'll and I'll drive to Charleston, I'll drive the bus. That was that was my question, but because a lot of what unfortunately that we have to do is because

063of state and federal law that we we can't stand. I mean, I I I I I I'm standing in the gap. I'm standing in the gap. No, no, no. What I'm Here's the Here's the the I totally agree with you. The the I'm going to put it reverse side. If say we don't follow those state laws, then I I I know. we're in huge trouble. So, it's so it's like we're forced to do these things, but if we do them, we might bankrupt Berkeley County. We're in a catch-22 in a smidge here, but I sit there and I go, What can we do? Do as much as we can. We're We're We're not protecting We're not protecting our our staff, we're not protecting the other kids, but at the same time, are we really serving

064the child who is beating up the staff member? Are we really serving that child? So, I mean, we have to ask that question. And and this process gets us closer than we've ever been before. But I think we let ourselves to this. We're making Which Correct. I think goes back to this this thing this this chart this um assessment thank you I was trying I was blanking on the word I'm I'm just I'm trying to tie them together because I think they are intertwined I know that it's a little off topic however I think they're intertwined I think they go together very very cohesively and it's going to end up coming together but I just I needed to share that because I think that there's a lot of folks in our county who are very

065frustrated and they're tired and they're worn out and they're exhausted I don't know that what I don't know any other words to really put to that except what I've heard over the last few weeks. Well and it it has gotten worse and worse and worse and then we just have to keep taking it and taking and taking it and where do we draw the line? >> And we we can't keep taking it anymore. And this is let me that I want to give Melissa a lot of credit here because she has taken the lead and and maybe even pushing me in some directions that um outside of our department and collaborating with um with other departments and and kind of bringing safety into these other areas um Melissa really has taken the lead on that

066and just in a matter of a few months um we have uh we've seen a lot of of growth there so I think we're making some progress along those lines and um you know I I had told Melissa at one point like we we have enough to focus on but [laughter] um you know she is she's a go-getter and so um she has developed these relationships and um and we've been you know ac- accepted into like like we said some some meetings that we weren't part of in past and um you know that's what we call the term leadership. >> [clears throat] >> At the very top of your page here it says threat reported to principal by our staff. What and I was looking through the flow chart here and the parents are notified

067of the victim the parents of the boy the threatener uh are notified of them. What about the person who initiated the report of the threat? Do I see it am I overlooking? Maybe not on this particular flow chart but they become a part of that team and so that was something critical you know we talk about these individual situations that have happened and people that I will never discount they're they're so important to who we are um and what if that person ever had a seat at the table? So that person who's reporting it whether it be a physical act of aggression or you know a verbal threat um they are brought to that table. Yeah I I was just thinking of the teacher down in Virginia who was shot by the primary school student

068I guess the first grader I don't forget but but I'm thinking and I'm recollection that uh the teacher had expressed concern about Yeah yes. the the student and that's so that's what initiated this question here. What if the principal just says I'm overwhelmed today I've got too many things going on and and and and you and the employee doesn't hear anything for a week or two weeks and then says well what did you do? Yeah. So how do you track something like that? Yeah well and I and because it says the actual assessment itself which I call an assessment it's really a tool data gathering tool but it says um to whom was the threat reported and then you look and and we compare was that in person included as let please list the team

069members here because they have to be they have it's about giving a voice to the people who didn't have a voice on addressing these issues before. So this this this threat assessment needs to be acted on immediately. Yes I mean it can't lay on somebody's desk for a week. Agreed. Or in somebody's inbox. Correct. Um and does this does the assessment stay with the student as they move? So we are As you said they're tagged. Yeah so by the way when we're talking about counties across West Virginia to our knowledge we're the only ones doing this at this at this time and we have worked with the state to create a tag and Mr. Harper there's so many partners right none of the raptor stuff happens without the AS department none of you know all

070of these pieces this doesn't happen without Kevin Brunkelster and that department and our assistant principals at the assistant principal level. We whatever have the assistant principal all day every day like all of everybody has to be jointly working towards this but Mr. Harper helped us create a tag in WeeVas. So those tags do travel with the student and it can be a team assessment or anything but what that team assessment triggers to me as the building principal or an assistant principal or whomever when we pull off those tag reports so our department has taken responsibility to say hey we're going to run a tag pool at this time of year and this time of year make sure the schools have that is then we have to go into the active library of this information and

071read through this. Let's say the threat was three years ago still let's just read through it because that child had something happen to them at that point and you know a lot of times the children are the victims too so then we need to wrap our arms around this child who has the threat of a team assessment tag every year. That's the child that's the most important to check in with that's the child to make sure that they're safe at home like so this also signifies here's a here's a tier three social emotional child here's the kid who really needs us to make sure that we're looking out for them. I see a lot of victims though the child there are teacher Absolutely. I mean it's a combination of victims so where does this end?

072Yeah. Well I don't know but I know that until we identify you know it it's like when we're looking at our our targeted supports framework when we're looking at the kids who are struggling the most um we we have to wrap our ourselves and our resources around those kids um so that the kids who are not in that tier three can also be successful and safe and happy at school you know so it just identification step one. Uh Mr. Murphy Mr. White had a question and then really quick so um speaking of the team is there any training that's you foresee that the staff would need to take the cuz what I was thinking is um staff may take the threat from a boy but they haven't really done a girl she's like oh girls

073don't do that >> Right. and [laughter] and they just you know just discounted but in in not and so then that won't get reported and then something happen because we just you know just our biases may not allow us to consider it and it actually should be treated the same. Yes. So jot down the name Peter Langman if you get a chance. He was part of this group that studied and I can send this to you later if you're interested studied all of these school shooter incidents and um he's famous for it like Dewey Cornell is famous for the threat assessment tool Peter Langman is famous for understanding the behaviors that lead into this and so he will come we have talked to him in our department you know paying really well but he will

074come and give a district wide training to everyone um which is training necessary absolutely. Did we know where to fit it in this school year we we didn't um and also we didn't have the funds we sent Rick and Grant uh hoping that we'll get the funding for that um but that could certainly be a priority for the future I would hope uh to train our teams on this this process because it's easy enough also transparently as a school administrator if you get this training in August you know that you the nice I think the incredible thing about our department number one to push back you have to have a boss who is a good enough leader to let you exist like that so the kudos really goes to him um but number two the

075nice thing about our department is we're always answering the calls without judgment pick up the phone answer the call without judgment that's what we do so if you've forgotten how to do this from your August training you can just call us we'll drive over we'll help you out and it has been really powerful to sit in manifestation meetings those types of meetings and say to parents look at this perspective and here's a tool that we used that's research based and can you imagine if we continue down this path for your child and your family how it would impact you guys? Parents parents want support they want to know what do we do next so when we've been engaged verbally with the parents too who are who are suffering from cuz there are a lot of

076victims here and the parents too they they tend to want to know what the school system's recommendation is. Mr. Murphy The getting back to your chart but is this the Berkeley County? Or is it okay but second question before we go to the your area of work do we when something like this is initiated is there do we put it into WeeVas? Yes so there's the tag section and tags are great because we can identify if students in band, you know, choir. We can do We can do a lot of tagging of kids just to kind of get a clear picture of them very quickly. Now, Berkeley County Schools had to create the tag. You can create your own authentic tags. They goes into WVEIS, but this is something that I advocate for. The tags

077don't automatically roll over. Um that's just not WVEIS 2.0 hasn't done that, so we can run a tag report and we all have been cross-trained on how to do that just in case we run that tag report, and then when WVEIS rolls over to the next year, you go in and very quickly put in the tags. But one day it will roll over. We are hopeful. With that said, the state >> [laughter] >> And oftentimes this process is running in conjunction with the disciplinary process too. So, if a student has made a threat, you know, you asked about, you know, is has the teacher know that that's not being put off? Well, if they put the referral into WVEIS, they'll know if it's been addressed by the administrator. So, it it gets logged that way

078as well. Any supports systems out there for staff, whatever that looks like, I'm willing to help in any way, shape or form to get something put together foundationally if we don't already have something in place for staff cuz I know that that's sorely needed for for them. I think that would be really powerful. You know, right now we tend to dive in into the wraparound services for the student, um even the student who's who's aggressing or making the threat cuz we're people services, you know, that's where we go first. But I certainly think that would be powerful. I'd be happy to help. Yeah, cuz I think I think we're we do great when it comes to the the the students and the families, but we got to start caring for our own too cuz if

079we're not putting the oxygen mask on ourselves, we are no good for our kids. No good. And our human resources department does have um support for Yeah. for staff as well. Yeah. Well, and you know, even years and years and years ago when I was representing service personnel, you know, I was always with them when somebody came in because they were hit badly um punched and it's not changed much. And and you know, we're still kind of defend them too because they have rights when it comes to what happens to them also. And like I said, there's a lot of victims here, so. Yes. So, I had said to Dr. Branch that and we knew that I was at another little project I've been working on here lately, but I said I would like to

080go and talk about threat assessment on at the April meeting. And he's like, "You're going to be so busy. It's okay." But it's that important. It is that important. So, thanks. >> [laughter] >> I Um collaboration with community partners. Before getting into this topic, I wanted to to address Mr. Wright. You asked about the training. Um the Capitol Police School Safety Unit is hosting a training here in Berkeley County on April 16th. It is called BEETAM, which is Behavioral Threat Assessment Management. So, there is a training coming here. Um I'm not sure how many people were able to apply for or sign up for. I don't know. Some of our safety officers have applied for it already. They also have a one-day training in September. Uh I think it's September 24th and it'll be coming

081here to Berkeley County as well. It's It's taught by the state. The West Virginia State Police? Um it's Capitol Police, Capitol State of West Virginia. The School Safety Unit out of Charleston. Um so, back to the collaboration part. Um Dr. Branch talked about the collaboration with special ed when we do these manifestation meetings, and we're finally uh having a seat at the table, which is great from the safety side because we take safety seriously. Um this also part not only internal, um but we collaborate with a lot of agencies. And I just want to show you just a couple that we have here. This right here is showing you a Last year we put on a table top exercise, which was based on Berkeley County School District. And um emergency management put this on for

082us, and we broke into small little groups as you can see here. So, we're working with everybody, the director of 911. We have all police agencies from the state police, city police, to the sheriff's department, their SWAT team. Everybody worked on this table top last summer. Um so, what they've done is they've done a table top, which we we um were the main part of because it was at school. Uh it even though it wasn't physically at a school, it was at the sheriff's department, but we did the table top with our mapping. Next week on the 15th, we're going to do a full exercise based on our table top last year. So, it's not us doing it, but it's emergency management doing this. Uh Randy Lilly from emergency management of the state, they're putting

083up a full exercise together that we're going to partake in. So, we get along with all of our law enforcement responders. We get along with all of our first responders in general. So, it makes it so so much easier, and this is unlike other counties, and I I can tell you that because we have such a great relationship with the sheriff, the chief of police, the state police commander here. It it makes it um so much easier when we have to share information and collaborate with them. Even Jen Swisher from 911, it's so much easier to be able to go to her and see what they need. That's how we did our mapping. Uh it was a lot of her input to collaborate just to get the the best program for what we need here

084in Berkeley County Schools. So, um the planning exercise, the collaboration with outside agencies, I want to show you just another slide here. This shows you our reunification. This is at the bottom where we did a full exercise of reunification a summer two ago where we were actually able to participate, and we brought everybody from the board office to uh to the church out there, and we were able to do a mock scenario and work through everything. So, you can see all those pictures down there at the bottom, but it it makes such a big difference when we collaborate with all of not only inside our Berkeley County Schools with our departments, but outside in Berkeley County in general with all our stakeholders. Um go back to you, Jen. Yeah, that idea of a a table

085top, that was something that that I was a little bit unfamiliar with. You know, it's if this catastrophic event happens in a school, how do we all respond? And each agency represented had to talk about how they would respond and then find holes in the other agencies' responses, which was really interesting cuz then it created this interagency collaboration, things that you didn't know about this law enforcement group or things they didn't know about the school system. So, it's really really pretty fascinating and powerful. So, what else? This is just one slide. These were all the things we could think of very quickly, and we probably have an even longer list, but um we do we do a lot of things in pupil services including our crisis response plan, safety walk-throughs, disciplinary or school support investigations,

086Title IX support, BHI, alternative learning, health services, DHS mandated reporting. We are working on uh visitor safe as well. That will be a one of our new things that roll out. But when you look at all those things, you know, this was the first year for a full Raptor rollout. This was the first year for team threat assessment, um having a table top. I think that was our first. And so, then doing a full-scale exercise, even though we're not owning that, our emergency services is, which is kind of how it works. All these things are so new, so our our future projects list is a little shorter um because we have a lot of things to refine and make better. More questions? More of my concerns here as I was reading this is that and

087I know it uh DHS, they're undermanned and overburdened, I think. But I but I see I know our state police is undermanned. They they have I don't know how many they It's 15 or something like that. I I don't know how many they have, but I know it's more than the rest of them. Um they have the slots for the people. Um we have mobility radar. I was just looking at the resignations today of people who are resigning. Uh counselors, people who are mentors, mentoring students who are essaying and through the schools. And and I just worry um what you have here is good. I mean, it shows a lot of work. But the what it doesn't show are these internal weaknesses that we in this area have uh with with the the cost of

088living and the one salary one paycheck fits all throughout the state. So, I I just I don't know. It's not something you can solve on paper here, but I do commend the effort that I've seen. The questions, you know, where I had questions about um accountability. But but I just I but I just know from personal experience calling up DHS to report something, and you just feel you just feel like you've you witnessed something, and they say, "No, it wasn't a problem." And and um and and I know and and and I know somebody works in DHS. I I've talked to him, and you know, they're from here to Hampshire County room. So, it's what's good here, what's good on paper here, relies upon the implementers who are carrying it out. And I'm worried about

089I'm worried about the struggle for the people who work there trying to do this job. Well, we one thing that that we didn't jump into was giving credit to our other teammates, you know, who are not here with us today cuz they're they're doing all those things, too. And one of those things that you mentioned, at least Gregory and I went to DHS and we worked with the supervisors and we discussed if we have a team threat assessment in the school system and we report that to DHS. We want it to not be an option that you visit the home and provide resources for the family. So, how do we make that happen? And so, we're we're starting to reach out to those other agencies because you're right. And and those are some of the

090most wonderful people and they are so understaffed. And, you know, he deals with that a a whole lot of his former colleagues, too. And um I think it I think the only thing that's going to get us through all this is the relationships. Thank you. Questions? I think we've I have my Um Uh part of what you guys um call the technology I've seen in the school district and for y'all been running that. So, um Do we do like your spot walk-throughs still? Um I didn't know how that's been going this year. I don't know previous years. I don't know. Brent. I'll follow up on that real quick. And Yeah, so um Brent Garrett is one of our coordinators and he and Alyssa used to kind of tag team the the safety walks, but um

091Alyssa has taken on some other responsibilities. So, Brent has has been doing those and he gets through um He tries to do one a quarter. So, he gets into every school building at least four times a year. Um checks the doors, meets with the principal, talks about, you know, things that he's seeing um in the building. That's when he's checking our Raptor and doing the um you know, doing some spot checks with the staff members with that. So, um So, we still have him doing that. We also have a uh Chris Bradley from the uh Capital Police. He's our regional uh safety director and he gets in and does at least two um a year. So, uh So, we have double sets of eyes on those and we get copies of his reports as well.

092With With Raptor, when you with the lockdown feature with seven clicks, does that Is that send any signals to Berkeley County's emergency department at all automatically or like do we have to then send that off or after we That is part of that that hands-on Gregel rollout feature that that I know is so hard. We don't We don't roll things out like that in education, but a lot of tech companies that you're working with nowadays do that and they they phase it in. It's all about that waterfall development. They phase it in. Not a fan, but that's that's where we are in the outside world of education. Um so, we we have a stopgap system. Um we actually have a uh flowchart for for lack of better words and a process that we use no

093matter where we are. Whether we're on site, we we get these messages on our phones no matter where we are. I got it in a in a uh Tulsa airport. Okay, we we get them everywhere. So, there are specific things each of our team members have to do and a specific list of backup things that we have to do. So, we're reaching out to confirm if it's an emergency or not and we wanted to do that because of those accidental processes before we confidently rolled out to the next level stop system. Right. Yeah, and we are getting closer to that and our confidence is building. Very good. Thank you all so much. Very much appreciate it. You did a great job. Good. Mr. Tyson. Bond update. How about closing that door so the air will

094come Well, I'm only going to talk for a minute. Oh, yeah, I wondered. If you heard the home assessment, you got an issue. Hello. Good evening, everyone. Want to give you your uh bond and construction uh project updates. And is this thing ready to go? All right. So, the uh first project, Hedgesville Early Learning Academy, and you can see uh there's a lot of concrete sidewalk still in progress. I feel like I've had that sentence up there for quite a while, but it's still happening. And you can see by the pictures of it's expanded down into the parking lot area as well for the concrete sidewalks around the perimeter of different locations. Uh you might remember last time I was here, we had a slight issue with the uh brick veneer beneath this precast area.

095You can see the brick has been filled in and so they could complete the concrete in that region. The um roofing, I don't have this on my list, but the roofing has progressed on the uh front porch area. You can see the blue metal roofing going on. Uh that is uh that's in progress and that will be completed soon. The site grading for the roadways is very much in progress. Um the one section of the building that was delayed had a lot of interior block to be laid and installed. That is pretty near complete. That's the receiving area and the kitchen area. And that is almost finished with the concrete block installation in that that part of the school. Um all of the, you know, trades are on site. Um lot of people on this

096job site doing their thing, trying to get good things rolling and finished up. And a lot of painting is progressing as far as the finish coat with the ceiling grid uh going in in different spaces. And I think that pretty much sums it up. Completion is June the 6th. Great. All right. Next one. It is There it is. It's the Martinsburg uh Fine Arts addition. This project was supposed to finish today, April the 6th, but it's going to be more like April 24th. There's a lot of finished details that are in the works and happening as we speak. You can see all the seating is has been installed. They're still working on finishing up the carpet in different areas. There was some lighting that was delayed. It It has arrived and it's being installed. And

097there are things like um handrails that are uh still need to arrive to be installed. Uh some of the stair treads on the main stage were um missing because there used to be some type of a um like a lift there for a handicap access and that lift has been removed because now you can access the stage from the side on on the same level. And so, now we're putting back those stairs. So, there there are a lot of finished details going on. Uh so, need a couple more weeks for for that to happen and um should finish up in the next couple weeks. Beautiful. How many seats are these? How many seats will be in that auditorium? Do you know? Uh I don't know exactly. I feel like it's around 800. I think that

098is approximately how many seats. A little bit less than what was there because the stage was extended and there are not quite as many seats in the balcony area as there once were. But I think it's I think it's around 800. Okay. All right. Mhm. The Hedgesville Elementary School, uh I kept this on the list as well to give you an update on the geothermal well drilling that as of whenever I made this slide last week, they were at 48 uh out of 60 wells completed. They have started the lateral lines. Remember, each one of those wells gets a lateral line connecting it so it can have the loop system. Uh they've started that process. The block laying is one of those things that is continual ongoing. They are working in the interior spaces and

099the exterior. You know, the uh the parapet walls on the above the ceiling, uh they're they're kind of working up there, staying ahead of the roofing contractor. Uh and and then, of course, once they finish laying the block, they they have to pour a concrete slab of or not slab, but a concrete locking piece of angle. It's almost like a chalk that I don't know if you can see it in any of these pictures or not, but uh but all that is going on just ahead of the roofing contractors. I tried to get a good glimpse here for you of the roofing layer. You can see kind of see what these these roof systems look like, but they are of course the roof decking that you can see over here. And then there's a layer

100of gypsum actually that goes down, almost like drywall. And then the a membrane and then they stagger the insulation so that the joints are overlapping so that you don't have any direct air flow. It's an R-30 insulation value. And then you can see they cap it off with another layer of gypsum and then the membrane adheres to that. So, I thought that was kind of kind of a neat illustration to show you. That That's what our roof systems look like in our schools for the for these new schools. I was up there on Saturday. Yeah, were you up there? Yeah. On the roof? No, not on the roof. But uh but yeah, they they also this week have started laying the brick. This was the mock-up of the brick. Uh they do a mock-up showing

101the different flashing details and insulation um and all the different features that are required for the brick laying. And then the architect uh meets on site, uh gives the approval. And then but now, of course, it passed approval cuz they know what they're doing and now they're laying the brick. So, a lot of things are happening at this site. Project completion, August 7th. Sticking to the August 7th date at this time. And you can see I've updated the um the bidding process for the entryway off Route 51 off Gerrardstown Road. The pre-bid meeting is April 21st, bids are due May 5th, and then immediately after that there'll be you know, I guess I'll come in here to present that to you, and then they'll get that underway in the works. Anything else on Mountain Ridge

102Primary? Hey, are there these just require the roofs to have slopes? Yes, the roof does have slope. Um, I took this picture so you can see you can see this uh tapered insulation here, and it is tapered toward the drain system. So, they aren't actually perfectly flat. They are uh a sloped and tapered type of roof system. Anything else? Um, Inwood Early Learning Academy, of course many of you were present for the groundbreaking ceremony. I thought that was pretty neat thing to experience. It And this is my favorite part of this picture, you see one of our future teachers right there. I thought that was a neat reminder this is why we do what we do, right? Right? Look at that that little child right there. That kind of emotional. But there's the the statistics,

103Myers Building Systems are is the contractor. We actually had our first meeting on site today, a pre-construction meeting for the stormwater system, which is extremely important part, especially in this area. So, that was what we met with today with the Martinsburg storm or the Berkeley County stormwater fix, and reviewed the plan and the silt fence detail and that sort of thing. We have a meeting on Wednesday with the power company regarding both these temporary services that'll be needed and the permanent service. Uh that's um on Wednesday morning, and then toward the end of the month or at least by the first week of May this project uh will be started. And the schools, the present school will continue to be used next year. If needed. Um The plan is to tear that school down as

104soon as possible, but if Mountain Ridge Primary does not open quite on time, we might need to house some students in Inwood Primary until that happens. So, it's going to uh we're not going to tear that school down as a contingency plan, but just in case. But as soon as we move the students to Mountain Ridge Primary, then they will demo that school. All right? Uh Falling Waters Elementary, there's a a rendering that kind of shows you a pretty good example of what that school might look like. And right now the on that site, the tree clearing is complete. I think I already shared that with you. There's a good bit of cleaning up that needs to happen in that area, that is in progress. And they actually remember there's a house there that needs

105demolished, and that rancher house uh the demolition started today actually. So, if you went past there, you would see it. I think they were were removing the layers of brick in that house, and you'll see big changes throughout the rest of this week. And then that's the rest of that schedule is still as you see listed there. Uh with the site package uh to be out to bid, it says early April. I don't know if you have the exact date on that quite yet, but we're going to start with the site package and then progress from there. Anything on Falling Waters? And then the last thing is just an update on the MIP grant, which is the replacement window project of four schools, and only one of the schools we're doing this week. They actually

106are starting replacing windows uh in the Peck Elementary School. So, I I didn't have any pictures in time cuz they actually started this on Saturday, uh but if you were to drive past there, you will see some brand new windows in the in that facility. Uh they're working throughout this week, they'll actually finish up on Friday. The Peck Elementary project will be complete by the end of this week, and that's uh Brick and Helm to remember is doing that that project. >> Well, that should make a big difference even in the looks, so. >> It'll make a big difference, yes, in the looks. And well, especially since a lot of those windows were I'm assuming they're almost like a Plexiglas. >> Yeah, they were. >> they're like a Plexiglas. And so now they're going to

107have, you know, 1-in insulated glass with those uh shades like we talked about previously, so they can adjust the the lighting in that room in those rooms. That should help with heating and cooling. It will help with all this. It will certainly become a much more efficient uh school simply because it'll be 1-in 1-in insulated glass instead of that Plexiglas that has been there. And it is now two and thermal pitch as well. I can't remember if it's two and thermal or not, but I think it is. Yeah, I think you're right on that. Yep. And uh that's it, that's the last slide. Questions? Thank you. Thank you. Appreciate it. Next on the agenda is uh Mr. Horn with the Purple Star. Uh Scott Wright. Good evening. Oh, wait, wait, wait. That's I got a

108perfect consent agenda. Sorry, that was my fault, isn't it? Mhm. Can I have a motion to approve the consent agenda as as amended? So moved. Second. Second. All in favor? The reason I wanted to not now, I want to let him go ahead, but later on I'd like to come back to some points, but go ahead. We can go ahead and vote it. There's no questions about Oh, okay. No no change. >> Just I just wanted to make some comments about the parts of Well, why don't you do it now? No, I'd like to hear him. Okay. You want to hear him, Tyler, so we'll go on. >> Well, we can vote. I don't want to mess up Jesse to go back. All in favor of accepting consent agenda as presented? Aye. Aye. Opposed? Motion

109carries. Okay, Mr. Horn is going to present on the Purple Star. Uh good evening. Uh good evening, Dr. School of the Long, best president power, distinguished members of the board. Um in addition to my role in the communications department, I'm also the district liaison for the Purple Star Award program. And before you tonight is a resolution to help us maintain our school district status as a Purple Star Award district. Uh just a little bit of background about this program, it was established in 2021 by the Department of Education, the West Virginia Department of Education. And this is a recognition given to schools and school districts that demonstrate a strong commitment to supporting military connected students and their families. Uh to earn and maintain this designation, we have to meet a lot of a lot of

110requirements such as designating military family liaisons in every school in the district, that's me. Uh providing staff training on the unique needs of our military families and our students, and ensuring access to resources that support academic success during times of transition. Uh Purple Star Awards are valid for 3 years, after which schools and the district must have them re-certified. Schools are also required to host at least two events each year recognizing military families with one taking place during Purple Up Day in April, which is a part of Month of the Military Child. Across Berkeley County Schools, we proudly meet and exceed these expectations. Um if you've had a chance to ever go to any of our schools to see these uh a couple that I'm really proud of that stick out to me is uh

111we had a field day event a couple years ago at Mill Creek where members of the Air Guard came out and facilitated this event, which is really um heartwarming. We also had members of the military come to our schools and do read-alouds, um Veterans Day ceremonies at several schools. Um Berkeley Heights is one of our schools that actually sends um cards to vets who stay at the VA hospital here, so uh very touching and really a great way to show support to our veterans and our families. Um currently, Berkeley County Schools serves approximately 946 military connected students, and that highlights the importance of this work and the impact it has across our district. Uh we recognize that military families often face challenges such as frequent moves, school transitions, and deployments. Maintaining this Purple Star status

112ensures we can continue to provide consistent support, stability, and a welcoming environment for every military connected student that walks through our doors. This resolution is not only a requirement to uphold this designation, but a reflection of our ongoing commitment to those who serve our country and the families who support them. So, we respectfully ask for your approval as we continue to support working, and now take any questions you guys may have. Questions for Mr. Horn? Well, who's up? This is really this is really his home for two of us here, but I have my background and you you're the president. Yeah. But I when I read this, I ran into a little girl at Barbara. And I had my Marine Corps lapel thing, and she My daddy is in the Marines. And And I said,

113"Oh, I bet he's a brave brave guy." Yes, and I mean she This is a little first grader kindergarten. And And that's the first thing you know, I jumped and I didn't ask her because, you know, the two world wars were going on and everything, and I didn't ask her if he was gay or anything like that, but I just saw that pride in that little girl. And I am And then I then I started recollecting, I mean, back in my nowadays you can text. You don't I can't. But anyway, >> [laughter] >> So, you can text, and you have that instant communication, but I can remember the importance of mail call. And just getting letters. I mean, you'd write a letter, they haven't communicated. And you write a letter and ask question, and then

114you forgot the question cuz it took a week for the letter to get home, and then another week for her to, you know, write back to you, and and you're reading What's this all about? So, you didn't have that quick response. And then you have that homesickness. >> [snorts] >> I mean I mean if you have to live it to understand it. And and and especially if you're on the other side of the world, you know, daytime is there, nighttime is here. And and so you're you're you just have to have all this disorientation. And so when I read this, I I I thought of the things you were talking about. The the deployment of of our people. And the first thing I did when I showed this mom is Marine Corps. Well, nowadays the

115women are Mhm. are in the in the father is is the organizer of home. So so this is a this has a lot a lot of meaning to all of us here. But I but it just it just brought back a lot of the There is I had no idea we had 946 people. >> that's amazing. >> It makes you think that it seems like it's a small number but that's a good portion of our it's a lot. And also something that I didn't mention this really is a behind the scenes project in our schools. Just for your awareness this our points of contact in the school buildings can be anybody from a nurse school counselors those are your most frequent. We have some aids I believe still that are taking up this role. So

116this is a volunteer only and you know this was very much a baby when I had started and I didn't quite understand it but it's evolved. I can't remember off the top of my head how many school districts across the state are certified but is really important and some of the questions that come to my office are really with the transitions like you know my husband's being deployed we need to move to we're moving to Martinsburg to live with you know my mother-in-law you know how do I enroll in school who's in charge of this program and just that simple response of let me hear let me help you it just means the world to them. So it's been a humbling experience I've learned quite a lot and it really does make you appreciate the

117work of our you know active members and veterans. And I don't know if if everything's internal but you do have an active American Legion in this area and you might you might find some help there that they could have wanted to identify with what's what's going on. A lot of times uh Now I was married my last year of my enlistment but a lot of times there's career people you know they re-up and everything. And and they have and they move frequently we and and then and then they have and then you raised a good point a lot of times the spouse will come home to live with the parents or the usually it's a year that the other one's deployed. And it's it's just a it's a strange way of life being in the

118military and and then you throw in the danger of what the job entails both in combat also it's a dangerous job when you're just in there. I mean you're you're playing around with explosives shooting climbing things a lot of times you don't take the safety that you're supposed to do. I mean I I I can remember climbing a tower without any safety harness. I mean it was a tower with four legs probably spaced out so you could see all the way up to Washington DC from Quantico and we just climbed up there. I mean I was sore for a week but but we we had an antenna that had been hit by lightning and I told the other guy I said I don't know about you but I'm using my two hands to get down

119and we just threw that antenna off the top of the tower cuz I wasn't going to risk my life for a burned out antenna. But the uh but you you you just this just brought back so many memories for me and then I thought of the listener I thought oh my god she's going to be bald headed over there. Well you know I I've been trying really hard not to. Please don't You're entitled to you're entitled. Thank God hearing my dad tell stories I mean he was in World War II and was wounded and but you know you you don't there was nothing back then nothing for families. >> Just flying in the wind. Yeah exactly. No one knew you know it's very much not a lot of communication so to have something like this

120to do this for our families is just wonderful. Thank you well and I love to be at your next meeting and I'll write up and put together a little side chat and show you how much of an impact this makes in our local I really do commend our administrators for supporting us through this and all of our employees who have taken on the role of being that point of contact. Yeah please do that. I would really love to see that. It's you know it's more than I think than I lost even realized what especially when you said it was 900 and something. Oh yeah yeah quite a lot yes. students have impacted. Absolutely. Thank you so much. >> thank you Sherry thank you. Thanks Todd. I I'll defer to the list and make a motion

121to approve it. I have a motion to approve the Purple Star resolution as presented. So moved. Second. Mr. Marvin? Yes. Mr. Marvin? Yeah. All in favor? I. Opposed? Motion carried. >> Thank you very much. Uh next on the agenda is Mr. Keysacker with the declaring the surplus property. Following all of these presentations I I feel like this is nothing. Uh President Long members of the board and Dr. Cooley You're not going to make us cry are you? No no I'm going to make you think a little bit. I I don't think there's anything on I don't think anything on this list that made me cry. Yeah this yeah. But it made me cry because the Jeep on there is the one Jeep I used to drive but I'm here tonight to request the board's approval

122to designate the selected items on the list within the department's inventory as surplus properties so that we may be able to either sell it or dispose of it as needed. We are having the online auction April 17th through the 24th. Now how do we I know it's an online auction is it is it the highest bidder? I mean how does that work? Do we still get a lot of Central American people Not so much anymore. Not not so much. We've we've got a few local folks that are buying our buses and reselling them. Now who they sell them to I I do not know but I think the the the folks that were buying them before from you sending them to Central America I think they may have bought two buses last year but we

123haven't honestly we haven't been able to sell as many buses because we're just this is this is very exciting is that we are back on track now with when we order them and we get them within a year. Before we were about two years off because of COVID and all that. So we actually are receiving two deliveries of our orders this year. So we're just finishing up one and we've been told that all of our buses are on site in Parkersburg being worked on now and we should have them by the end of June. Oh good. >> Yeah. So we got to get rid of some buses cuz we haven't got room. At the end. So any questions for Mr. Keysacker about what's on the list? Not on the list but what does it cost

124about the cost of fuel nowadays? >> You know you asked me that earlier it's it's very interesting. I was talking to our staff on Friday because my my wife puts gas in our car so I don't really know what the gas prices are but I looked at at the when Wawa opened diesel fuel is $5.50 a gallon. So that made me think how much are we paying because we don't pay near that. So I went back to the original July invoices we were paying about $2.40 a gallon. We are now paying as of Friday $4.20. Oh God. So it has jumped 70%. Oh my word. So maybe two bucks and I are going to have that conversation you need to hear sound. Wow. Yeah it's it's phenomenal and we use anywhere from 12 to 15,000

125gallons of fuel a week. Wow. That increase because of standard deviation. Yes. What was that again? We only pay 0.314 we pay 0.314 DBA which is cents above what the refinery is charging now. Well that's what we approved. >> Get right back to you on that. On top of this. Yeah. Uh I have a question. Um Are there restrictions on who can bid? No. Anyone can bid. Okay I didn't know if school school employees or something were allowed or not. Oh okay. We've had school as a matter of fact one of our mechanics bought a bus and turned it turned it into a a business on the side for him so it works out well. Okay. Who can do that? Uh there's no other questions for Mr. Keysacker or if the auction is April 17th

126through the 24th it's virtual online. Um can I have a motion to declare the listed inventory surplus? So moved. Second. Second. All in favor? I. Opposed? Motion carried. Thank you. Next on the agenda is Mr. Keysacker Uh good evening members of the board and Deputy Superintendent Dr. Cooley the personnel actions needed for Monday April 6th 2026 are as follows. This evening we have five coaching appointments and one coaching resignation. Uh we have two extra duty appointments and one extra duty resignation. We also have 11 additional health care appointments this evening. Uh beginning on line 22 we have four unpaid leave of absences one military leave of absence and one revised unpaid leave of absence for your consideration. Uh for professional personnel we have three professional appointments. On line 31 we have rescinded an appointment of

127a teacher. We have 10 professional mutual agreements. We have six policy 5000 hires for the 26-27 school year. On line 48 we have one ratification of an unpaid suspension that employee is Alexis May. We have 10 professional resignations and we have one professional retirement and one transfer for the 26-27 school year as well. For service actions we have four new service personnel appointments. We have one change of assignment and we actually have 13 neutral agreements. We need to remove the employee on line 17. She is going to stay at Pike Side. We found that out today. On line 80 we have one ratification of an unpaid suspension and termination of an employee for your consideration. That employee is Courtney Millington. We have six service resignations and one resignation of a midday assignment. We have one

128revised retirement. That person is actually retiring effective today. We have 32 transfers of service personnel. We have rescinded one transfer as that employee has elected to stay in their current assignment and we have three individuals who received an upgrade for their to their service personnel title. We have nine new appointments of substitute service personnel and one resignation. We also removed one employee from the substitute service list. This evening we have for professional substitute teachers one appointment of a professional day-to-day substitute, four removals from the substitute list and one resignation for a total of 139 professional service and substitute personnel actions tonight for your consideration of Superintendent Saxby's recommendation. Questions for Mr. Kaminski? You were putting the years of experience retirements Novus in the space who were I should It's on the revised Yeah, revised Oh,

129okay. the public parade and stuff like that. I'm looking at All right. I know we need mathematics teachers and one who retired Mount Bridge Middle. All right. Some of these reached out to her and she was interested and talked to Ms. Toring and tried her out. Mhm. And uh if she might be able to help us out this year. So I I don't want to make make any announcements but I she was talking about something to me. You just did. I You just did make an announcement. Well, I've I've just I just I know she's interested and where it's going. A lot of those subs do a lot of people that are retiring they usually make a request or they retire to go on the summer festivals. So what we do is we have them

130apply because they have to wait 60 days from their retirement date. So that prevents him under the new code from even talking to her for 60 days after June 30th. Which is She cannot apply. She cannot do anything under the retirement law. So their retirement date is effective June 30th. So officially July 1st. So we really can't do anything with them till September 1st. Yeah. I hope you're watching. >> [laughter] >> Yeah, that's the retirement board's interpretation. Yeah, also They cannot apply. Cannot talk to them. So ridiculous. It's ridiculous. for 60 days from the date of their official retirement. Thank you. I wish I hadn't heard Us too. What's the next thing? So I'll go with that. Any other questions? The how many staff do we have that are doing like 9:33 with the split

131second third third grade? I would have to look to be exact. It's not many. Not many here. Can I ask another question? >> It's not It's not many. I think it's three. You know, we had to do that a couple schools because of numbers. We have a couple this year. Um I actually work next door. Um There's a woman in my department whose daughter is in one of those split classes and she seems happy with the >> I enjoyed it. When I when I was in a split class and I actually excelled. So it is three. Is it three total? I I thought it was three or four. So yeah, it's not very many. So it's not that bad or move the kids too. Yeah, we try not to do that. We don't do that.

132So it's nothing new but Sorry. I have one of the questions. The WVE position that was rescinded Mhm. What line? Um so I'm trying to find it. It's only the one It's only the one. Line 31 31. 31? Um has How has that ever been filled in for how long or We've been trying to fill that position all year. And this keeps getting accepted and rescinded? >> It's It's a confluence of factors with that. Okay. You know, it's for one it's a highly specialized position. Mhm. Um For two, you know, sometimes when you have positions like that you have people that apply for those jobs that weren't necessarily planning on going into education. So sometimes they may get in, start doing paperwork and get in and then that's the most of what they would actually

133need to do in order to get the teacher certification and they shy away from it. Um so what we've tried to do is be more transparent with candidates during the interview process so they know what they're getting into. Um >> [clears throat] >> You know, but it's not any one reason why we've not been able to fill that and we believe it we have tried. Okay. We are hopeful for next year of course but you know, we've been doing the best we can. Any other questions? I would like the the career fairs at colleges. How have they been looking at those schools? >> I just got back from Fairmont State two weeks ago. I probably talked to 30 kids. Now some of them were not graduating this year. Um we have probably focused more on

134in-state kids than we have in the past. Um when Lenora and I met to start this year I told her what I wanted to do was look at where we are going and and where we're getting people from. So you know, for instance last spring I went to George Mason and I don't think we got anybody. You know, cuz it's hard to pull from down there. So we have tried to focus our efforts on places that have traditionally been you know, strong selling points for us. Um she actually just came to me today. What What we offer kids is I call them kids but they're you know, college students. What we offer them is they can come over they can they will try to schedule interviews like a couple in one day and Lenora will

135actually take them around the county and show them around. Because what we've learned is if we can just get them here and see it >> and they can understand cuz they really can't wrap their head around what the hell Like when I was at Fairmont State my son was like you'll never be more than 15 minutes from Chick-fil-A. And and really for that I mean for us that's normal, you know, all the growth and all the things we have here but when you go to other parts of the state that that's really not what's happening. And so when you try to explain to them, you know, hey I'm one of the only counties in this area that's probably actually hiring people. Um you know, we did get quite a bit of interest. Some of it

136was from kids who may not graduate till next year. Um but we are I mean Lenora came in today and said she's she's already had people applying and expressing interest in coming to visit. So that is where our focus has been on places that have been what I would call quote unquote traditionally um you know, strong recruiting points for us and trying to get away from some of these places that traditionally we maybe have not you know, drawn from. Um so in-state we try to hit pretty heavy because you know, we are one of the the few places that does have openings. We We used to get a lot of teachers from State College Pennsylvania. Do we still I mean I mean just the last we used Pittsburgh? Yeah, I mean all lots. So two

137years ago Pennsylvania created a rule where if those kids student taught in state they paid them a $10,000 stipend. Oh. And they can't leave the state of Pennsylvania for three years. Welcome to the state of West >> And if they do they have to pay that back. So there's a lot of kids in Pennsylvania with no full-time teaching positions where they can't leave. So they're just substituting in Pennsylvania but they can't leave Pennsylvania because they would owe the state of Pennsylvania that $10,000. We found that out last year when we went to Perk. We were talking to kids and and they said yeah, we would like you know, we would love to look down there cuz you guys have openings but they could they literally cannot leave the state now. But the state but West

138Virginia is willing to pay people to move here. You could could they get the $10,000 from the state for that to pay Pennsylvania? I don't I don't think they would I don't think that's how it is. That's how it is done. state legislature Um in the state of West Virginia we would love for you to consider understanding the Eastern Panhandle when it comes to filling teacher positions. Please come visit. We do. We offer but like with that I don't We could not offer them reimbursement with that because that technically is not tuition for them. It's a stipend and the state is paying them to stay home. Um Thank you. Which is what we This is what our state would do the same thing you see. I I can't remember what year it was but you

139you know, they had the the program if you um I can't remember what it was called but if you taught here and you had to stay here for three years but That's not for us. The government still has a loan forgiveness program. You have the Smith Underwood scholarships there as well as our own tuition reimbursement programs. They all have that three-year commitment but you have to be hired and be taking coursework after that or something like that. So They're getting it to do their student teaching so they feel locked in. That's why they're just substituting there. Do we have how many are with the Smith Underwood? I don't I don't I mean from what for what? I mean those they're getting reimbursed. Oh, okay. >> for the loan forgiveness afterwards. It's not current people getting

140already had loans. I did um also speak to Ladora a couple weeks ago and she said she had positive experiences I think in North Carolina. Yeah, she she was here. Yeah, she's trying to get them up here. >> Yeah, trying to get them up here but I mean in the end but at least was more positive than some other Yeah, opportunity that she had so that was something good. I mean our selling points we do at job shows um you know and and like I said we we feel pretty good that we can get them here that we can we can keep them here. Uh which is why the visits are big if we can get people here just taking them around. Um and we've hired a couple people that way where they've just they've

141come here she's taking them around but they end up committing to being here. So you know it's it's the same challenge every year at this time. You know we have a lot open and we'll do everything we can to fill them. Yeah. One one of our resignations said you're you're getting the the exit surveys and I imagine call or salaries probably the biggest benefits. Uh but are we losing a lot of people who are recruiting from our area resign or is it people who were up here and just say well I'm going to go go east to Loudoun County or something or do you know? It's too early in the in the cycle to know right now but I would say it's probably a mix. Um most people that leave us are leaving because of

142the pay and benefits. Um and and they're going to you know other states to work. Um and you know with situation of PIA that's what we run into. Obviously the salary is what it is. So we've got to focus on other things to try to to try to keep people here. Um but I I would say it's it's a mix. I mean there there are people that we hire from Pennsylvania then we hire them and when they're younger and you know eventually they migrate back home. I mean that happens every year. Um but I wouldn't say that's an inordinate number of people. You know typically if we lose people it's because they're going to another state or you know potentially going to another field all together. But um actually um as far as hiring uh

143you know it's early right now but uh it really gets rolling. Um We'll have I mean we had a you know 140 is the most we've had in a couple I mean it's this semester got moms tonight and then it'll it'll just keep rolling. I mean I've listed all of our professional positions they come down tomorrow to give principals a chance over spring break to schedule interviews next week. You know we're going to we're going to pull people off the proposed transfer list hopefully and get some of them hired into positions and then you know there's a lot of movement that's going to be upcoming. It'll be I mean it'll be another busy spring busy summer like it always is but yeah once we hit May that's when it'll really be you know This list

144will be full. Yeah, I mean it'll be you know we'll be talking 300 400 names something like that. Well because like you said we'll take people off the transfer list and place them and they'll unless they're bidding on a year. It's I mean you can set your calendar by you know that's for me it's like I know what time of year it is based on what I'm doing with you know hiring and the different things. >> It's just leap now. >> [laughter] >> I remember it was This is right now during this week right now. Yeah, this is the last week of probably the last week of That's right. Any other questions? Hearing none I have a motion to approve the personnel actions as presented. So moved. Second. Second. All in favor? I. Opposed? Motion

145carries. What day is that consent agenda? Uh agenda Is he still back here? Yeah. Okay, you have left with the game here. Uh electric bills. I'm just looking at the amount of electric bill. If we get us some with things really jumping up do we I don't look at that detail. We'd have to look with C&P provider for the months of May so this is for the year savings contract. I didn't hear what you said but I don't know. Well just probably the cost sales yeah. And and um We we do pull the data that's not something I I was just I was just wondering because I know rates are going up and I was just wondering how it's impacting us. Yeah. And I I was talking to Mr. Brooks it's it's amazing. I was

146going through our invoices and it's amazing when he told me we spent about a million dollars Probably. just in one pay period for food. Oh yeah. >> And I was going through our account just for dairy products 100 Mhm. from from March the 10th to March the 30th we spent 154,000 to Gordon Foods 634,000 dollars. Lease Brothers 66 Kelmer 300,000 uh West Virginia Department of Agriculture I guess that's for surplus. Uh we have the USDA food program and then that's probably the delivery fees for that. Okay, that's 60 60,000. And spending a million dollars just in 20 days. Um and that's That's a lot of kids we're feeding. Yeah, well we're we're filling the big void that we have now. Hopefully filling minds is what the fastest do. But it's it was just impressive to

147to look at. That's that's all we did today. Enjoy the game. Um we have a motion to adjourn. So moved. Second. But All in favor? I. Opposed? Motion carries.