Board of Education Meeting--February 16, 2026

001I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. I have a motion to approve the agenda. Second. Second. All in favor? I. Opposed? Motion carries. Our recognition is for Mr. Hopewell-Steed, Eagle School Intermediate. Good evening, everybody. How are you doing today? Good evening. Well, thank you. Good to see you. Um I I I didn't prepare a speech. You can just swing it. Well, I'll tell you why I didn't do it, because it's so easy and it's so natural to speak about such a wonderful, wholesome, inviting person. Yeah, when we come into our schools, we want them to feel We want people to feel invited. We want people to feel welcome. You know, I

002took on the great task of of uh taking over Eagle School a couple of years ago. Um I'd be lying to you if there wasn't some work to be done, right? But it's individuals. About halfway into the year, we brought in Portia Warmath, who's right here to my left. Um and I can tell you and I can I can tell you with uh strong vigor that when people walk into my building, they feel welcome. They feel like it's a place where they can be heard. And she does so much more. She's my financial secretary, but um you know, often she's the kind of person who uh she does things without me asking her to do them. Um or she'll be like she'll be proactive. She'll sort of anticipate the things that need to be done,

003right? And she'll And she'll just get right to it. And I'm just so proud to have ever been associated with her as a human being more than anything, because uh one, uh her father is willing to go to Topgolf with me. Um and um and also because she has a great family who have all come, you know, her kids have all come through Eagle School. Um and she is Eagle School through and through. She just wants to see our students be successful. They're on a road to that, I believe. Uh um and I couldn't be more proud of the role that she has played in that. Um so I hope that she doesn't ever want to go anywhere else. Uh within or outside of this county, because I can tell you one, I love Berkeley

004County Schools. I love Eagle School Intermediate. I've been proud to be its principal over the last few years. Um but as you know, as leaders, we're only as good as the people that we work with, that we collaborate with. And I can tell you that she is one of the greatest to collaborate with, and I can owe a lot of any of my successes, may they be small or large, to Portia Warmath. So I hope that was a pretty good speech off the cuff. Well, I'm honored to present her with this distinguished service award. Um it Awards mean so much more when also, right? When it's your peers that that select you for an award. So I just said, "Portia, if you want to come on over." I'm super proud to be able to hand

005this to you as your as your principal. And to uh to know that I'm not just your principal, but you know, um but a friend. And uh and a colleague and and everything in between. So thank you so much for your service, Portia. Well, Mr. Uh Hopewell-Steed, that was pretty good. You know, every now and then, right? Uh squirrel finds a nut every now and then. I This is being on the YouTube. I need to be more careful, I guess, about about things, but uh you know, When I spoke with you today, >> Yeah. uh glowing remarks. And And I I know that you are willing to be there to represent the school and what uh the secretary does. And you're not You're dedicated to this system, and we very much appreciate that. Plus, you're

006also a parent, nurse. Um um all that to those students. So I know you're staff. Uh We're thrilled that you're there, and we're very much thrilled that you are there. So congratulations. You get to represent that school in Berkeley County Schools well. And do you have anything to add, anything to add? You want a picture? We'll go out there. Okay. Thank you again, Portia. I just want to say It's absolutely It's been an honor. Um I came to Eagle School as a parent first, and it was under stress. And um when I came in and enrolled my students, the teachers took the time to help my children grow. And I felt so welcome and supported as a mom. Um that when I ended up serving at Eagle, I wanted to give that same feeling back

007to the families and the students that came through the doors, same feeling that I had when I walked through 7 years ago. And so every day, that is what I strive to do. And I'm just blessed to be surrounded by an amazing team that helps me do that. I love things a lot. Yeah. I'm sure your co-workers and it means a lot to us. Thank you so much. Congratulations. Yes, we appreciate it. Thank you for your support. Thank you. It's an honor. They are. It's hard. How much? All right, so it's actually it's not anybody here asked to sing, but Dr. Williams is filling in uh graciously, and he's going to do the superintendent's announcements. Thank you, President Lowe. Uh on behalf of Superintendent Sachs, uh this evening, uh we want to begin with um

008Before we move into our celebrations, I want to address uh concerns on behalf of Dr. Sachs and all of us here at Berkeley County Schools that have been circulating uh in the community and regarding potential student walkouts connected to the national immigration issue. We understand this issue carries strong political opinions of our community. Regardless of those opinions, our responsibility as a school system is clear. Instruction first, safety always. Our role is not political, it is educational. We are neutral on the underlying issues. Our schools are not organizing, facilitating, or negotiating any student activities. We exist to provide instruction in a safe, orderly environment. Clear guidance has been provided to high school administrators and staff to ensure consistency across the building. buildings. If students leave class without authorization, it will be addressed under the student code

009of conduct, just as any other absence from class would be addressed. There are no special rules. There are no special punishments. We are applying our policies consistently and proportionally. Our approach is steady. Restate our expectations. Prioritize instruction. Stay Stay Avoid escalation. Respond proportionally. That is how we protect our students, staff, and learning, regardless of the issue at hand. Uh we join Governor Morrisey in celebrating career and technical education during the month of February. Let's The governor signed a proclamation declaring this CTE month. CTE is a great way for our students to pursue education directed to at their passions and intended fields for those looking to enter into trades directly after graduation. And the proclamation from the governor reads, "Proclamation by Governor Patrick Morrisey. Whereas the month of February has been designated Career and Technical Education

010Month by the Association of Career and Technical Education. And whereas Career and Technical Education offers students the opportunity to gain the academic, technical, and employability skills necessary for true career readiness. And whereas students in Career and Technical Education programs participate in authentic, meaningful experiences that improve the quality of their education and increase their engagement and achievement. And whereas Career and Technical Education provides students with career exploration opportunities early in their educational experience which enables them to make informed and beneficial decisions about the academic coursework and to pursue pursue established programs of study and career pathways. And whereas the West Virginia offers 65 unique CTE programs of study in 16 industry career clusters to provide students with career exploration opportunities enable them to make informed and beneficial decisions about their academic coursework and to pursue established

011programs of study and career pathways. And whereas during the 24-25 school year there were 91,063 students in grades 6 through 12 who completed CTE courses. And whereas career and technical education prepares students for these and other fulfilling careers by offering integrated programs of study that link secondary and post-secondary education and ensuring that employers have access to a qualified and thriving workforce ensuring our nation a strong and competitive economy. Now, therefore, let it be resolved that I Patrick Morrisey, Governor of the great state of West Virginia, do hereby proclaim February as Career and Technical Education Month in the Mountain State and I encourage all citizens to join me in this observance. In the witness thereof, I here and to set my hand and cause the great seal of the state of West Virginia be affixed done

012at the capital city of Charleston, state of West Virginia this first day of February in the year of our Lord 2026 and in the 163rd year of the state. Patrick Morrisey, Governor and Chris of Warner, Secretary of State. We want to thank all of our career technical education programs and the outstanding work of our staff and the great things our students are doing for our schools and in the community. During that time a great example of the career and technical education is moving from our classroom to our cafeteria. I want to highlight the the great example of this initiative and partnership that's begun with an email from Chris Van Dyne, one of our agriculture teachers at Hedgesville High School asking simply but powerful question, could Berkeley County Schools utilize what the students are producing? Both

013fresh pork in their market hog program and vegetables in their horticulture program as part of our new meal program. That outreach helped catalyze collaboration between child nutrition department and the Hedgesville FFA executive director Jennifer Sutton and coordinator Christy Randall visited the program, saw the quality work of our students and are now moving forward with incorporating student grown fruits and vegetables into our cafeterias at select schools. It's a true farm to table model inside of our own district. Better freshness and quality for students and real world learning connecting agriculture, sustainability, nutrition and workforce skills. We're also exploring additional pathways like pork, sausage and expanded produce as partnerships grow. So we want to thank our teachers and our child nutrition department for setting a great example for that. Falling Waters Elementary, one of our 22 bond projects,

014we're finalizing design and the building is very really coming together of for us. The site package will be going out to bid soon um marking an important milestone in moving this project forward. We are looking forward to sharing the final look at the building with you as those design elements are fully locked in in the coming months. It's exciting to see this vision finally taking shape. Continuing on um feeling some of Mr. Tyson's thunder later in the evening. Uh the Inwood Early Learning Academy or ILA is officially out to bid. We are expected that the bid opening will be done on March 5th with the contract recommendation coming to the board on March 16th. We've tentatively scheduled a groundbreaking so if you mark your calendars for March the 31st assuming that we stay on that

015schedule. At the same time we'll be being intentional about the transition. We've been working with the architects on a plan to preserve a meaningful playground space for students during the final weeks of school and the plan will be to share with the school administrators in coming days. The school is also planning a homecoming and open house so the community can return, reminisce and take a final memories before the building is raised later this summer. We saw a great example this evening but this is service personnel appreciation week. This week recognizes our service personnel and I want to publicly thank our school secretaries, cooks, custodians, bus drivers, classroom aides, ECATS, maintenance staff technology personnel and so many others who keep our schools moving and operating every single day. Quite simply, our schools do not function without

016them and we deeply are grateful for their dedication and service to Berkeley County Schools. I'm proud to share the exciting news from Musselman High School. The Musselman High Jazz Band has been selected as the 2026 West Virginia Honor Jazz Band. Their third recognition in recent cycles, they'll perform in Charleston on March 5th and be formally recognized at the state level. Congratulations to our students and Mr. Kepner for the outstanding accomplishments of this Jazz Band. Moving on with some operational updates, we continue to work with Edulog and our transportation department is trained to develop the most comprehensive routing efficiency and analysis across the district. We are working closely with them as we look at the K5 configuration changes in the south end of Bunker Hill, Valley View and Mill Creek while reviewing transportation patterns across the

017rest of the county. The goal is to ensure improved routing efficiency, reduce ride times where possible and equitable services across the tenant zone. The long-term operate and provide a long-term operational sustainability. Edulog is currently finalizing recommendations, routing improvements based upon data analysis and projected enrollment shifts connected to the five the K5 restructuring. We will hold a public workshop on Wednesday, February the 25th at 5:00 p.m. in this room to review the progress and discuss next steps. The next regular Board of Education meeting is set for Monday, March 2nd at 6:00 here in the board room in 1453 Winchester Avenue. That is the superintendent's update and president. Thank you, Mr. Dr. Schoolman. I have a question. If um for the Inwood, you talked about raising the school. Have there been any requests from the community or

018staff regarding keeping any souvenirs or anything from the school? I know some people like to go and get like they have the floor or you know, a piece of the flooring or something like that. I haven't seen anything yet but I'm sure when we get into the planning for the homecoming some of that will come about at that point. >> Um when Dr. Blackson I met but different personnel that came in and some of that was discussed. I think that's that will be That could be in the plan. Yeah, that you know, that definitely is in the picture for Inwood but then you know, that's part of the plan you said. Sure. Yeah. Uh next on the agenda is board announcements. Anyone remember Yes, I would like to thank Ms. Power for comments this morning

019Appreciate the uh sincerity and uh many of the comments you made I I share. And I um just want to say that um on behalf of this board, myself and this board, that uh our students' safety is the top priority of all of us and we've had some issues this last week and um I just want to reiterate that um that is our top priority, our students' safety. Academics is right up there but um when you think of anything, our students' safety is at the top of the list so um anyone else with board announcements? I just want to encourage um Give me a minute. Doctor, please. Um Students affected, um you're not at fault by any stretch of the imagination. Um There is help for you should you need it. Um our community is

020strong and we back you no matter what. And to all the parents um we hear you. We understand the frustration. We understand the anger. We hear it. Um I was referring to a couple incidents but I totally agree with I So so we're here. Yeah. We're here. >> [clears throat] >> Anyone else? Next on the agenda is citizens forum and we had no one sign up. Uh next is non-operating items. Travis Williams, uh the FACE coordinator with the family and community engagement program. Who's the FACE out of FACE? Yeah. Good evening, President Jackie Long, board members. Dr. Schooly I see Dr. Long as well. I'm Travis Williams, family and community engagement coordinator. I'll be giving family and community engagement programs updates. Our first goal with family and community engagement was branded. Um with the help

021of the communications department, we were able to create this logo. We utilize this logo on all of our events, our promotional um material, and it's it's a really good way for our family and community to um put the face to family and community engagement events. Um and we're really proud of how this logo turned out. Um one of our bigger branding uh projects that we have this year is our family and community engagement bus. Um United United Way gave us $40,000 a grant of $40,000 by way of the Seely Foundation. Um this grant was to be for a mobile um learning platform, and our our uh communications director, Carla Chapman, had the wonderful idea of using these funds for family community engagement bus for a means of outreach. Um this bus will provide our families

022and communities with Schoology training, a way for them to enroll, um and many more uh um opportunities and services as well. Um this bus will feature three workstations. It'll have books a book section in on the bus. It would feature AC and heat. Um it'll be powered by a generator and it'll be wired for um all of everything that we have inside of the bus to be um controlled. Um Eric Keyser from transportation gave us a bus that was out of service, uh but this bus is um this this was Sorry about that. This bus is handicap accessible as well. That's a plus side, too, um the FACE bus. And uh we're using the same contractor that Jefferson utilized for their family and community engagement bus in Jefferson, and we're looking to get this project

023or the conversion kicked off next month in March. For our digital presence, we utilize communications as well to create a webpage on the Berkeley County website. You know, on this webpage, they can learn family and communities can learn about what FACE is, family and community engagement. They can also stay up to date with the events that we have, and they can also um we're we're we're constantly adding to to this website. We have a resource section. We're in the process of creating a video library where families can get on and view videos. One of the videos in particular, we work with special special education to create a video for House Bill 2499 to where families can watch and newly families entering the IEP process are able to watch that video. And it's just a it's

024a easy digestible video for our families to understand. And then that helps out with our branded videos, and I'll get into some more videos soon. And we also have print materials. We developed a pamphlet, and we handed these out at the Christmas parade. I handed these to you all. And that pamphlet discusses what family and community engagement is, um some ways that families can be engaged right now, and it also has a QR on the back which links to our webpage. Family focused initiatives. Um our wellness programs. We have recently um we've begun working on a meal prep night. One of our Title 1 teachers from Winchester Avenue had a wonderful idea of creating a meal prep night where families can come together and learn how to create meals on a budget. Um so we're

025utilizing our CTE program. Uh Mr. Ken Packer over CTE, and we're utilizing our FACS teachers to create meals on a budget. Um they're shopping at Walmart, shopping for the Great Value brands, or they're shopping at um Dollar General or the Dollar Tree to find these ingredients. We'll have sessions to where families will come into to the school. They'll meal prep um the meals that they'll be eating that night, and then they'll be given ingredient cards to where they can take that those same recipes that they learned that night with those ingredients and take those and make those same meals at home on a budget. So they'll be able to learn how to on a budget. Um we're really looking forward to that, and we have two FACS teachers who will be helping us launch that,

026and we're really proud of that. We have a yoga night. Free yoga nights coming up. We've partnered with Berkeley County's Parks Berkeley County Parks and Rec to offer free yoga nights utilizing um Mrs. Chrissy Bluwin. She's a self a teacher at South Middle School, but she's also a yoga instructor. She'll be instructing these free yoga nights. They're in 2 weeks. Um when we sent this out on the Intouch, this filled up our sessions filled up within about 2 hours. So this was very well received within the community, and we're looking to open this up some more um with the partner with Berkeley County Parks and Rec. We also have our healthy grandfamilies program. We received a grant from West Virginia State University where this is for help for grandparents who are raising grandchildren. Um and

027this grant is specifically for them, but attached with that grant, it comes with a um it comes with lessons to where you can teach the grandparents how to deal with their grandchild raising a grand how to deal be a grandparent raising their grandchild, um nutrition facts for raising your grandchild, mental health, and we've we've already had three of these sessions. Been well received, and we've developed a database um across the district for finding grandparents who are raising grandchildren. So we look to increase these numbers, and we used to we look to continue to have these sessions. Currently right now, our a few of our counselors have been the ones leading these sessions, and it's it's been very very productive. Um career and community. We hosted a family career fair. We received a grant from the

028Eastern West Virginia Community Foundation. Um Dr. Sachs had the wonderful idea with this grant to utilize it for a career fair. So that's what we did. We had a career fair. We hosted this at Martinsburg High School. In this career fair, unlike um some of the other career fairs where we're offering jobs for Berkeley County Schools, we had 22 vendors um from our from our county at at this career fair. One of them being Walmart, CMC, uh uh just a ton 22 of them. So um the biggest thing about this is we had over 100 participants at this event as well, so it was well received. And the grant allows us to have another one in the spring, so that date is coming up April 22nd. It's going to be held at Martinsburg as well.

029Is that going to be a Saturday or during This is during the week. Yeah, uh it's on a Wednesday. Oh, in the evening? It's in the evening. So it's from 5:30 to 7:30. Um we also uh the grant allowed us to have food for participants as well as the vendors, and we were able to give out free iPads. So that was a a big incentive to get the community out. Um we have a FACE 5K testing kickoff. We collaborated with our um assessment director, um Robin Lopez, as well as communication. And we just want to build some hype around some excitement around testing, and we're having this 5K at Poorhouse Farm. This will be on a Saturday. Um and we've sent this out on the Intouch, and we've already had about 60 families sign up

030for this 5K. So we're looking forward to this event. I we think this event will be fun, and we hope this is something that we can do year to year. We can have this testing kickoff. We're going to have um we hope to have some food trucks out there. It's going to be early, so we hope to get Tom's out there to provide some coffee. Um we'll have some music, and we're looking to get some bands out there some local bands out there to kind of um get the hype for the 5K and get it exciting for testing. Academic support um for the K-5 transition support, I will be assisting with that when the South End schools um switch to K-5. We'll be assisting families with questions and anything they have with principals. For the

031Third Grade Success Act communication, um we begin working with communication on a video for the uh Third Grade Success Act exemptions, just laying out for the community what the exemptions are for them. Um and we think this is will be a really big resource for the community. And actually, this is a picture of um me and Mrs. Caldaranco for the special education video that we shot for House Bill 2499. And this is just a video. We actually This is a real parent. We did it with a real parent. Um just walking through families navigating the IEP process for newly into it. Okay. Community collaborations. Who we've been collaborating with in uh community. We know Berkeley County Schools has partnered with Parks and Rec um before family and community engagement has come around, but we have

032partnered with them some more with the 5K as well as the yoga nights, and we look to continue that partnership and just um continue to develop that and expand it. Um at the career fair, we utilized James Rumsey's early childhood class to provide child care to parents who attended that career fair so they didn't have to worry about bringing their child around as they're talking to some of these vendors. And that was a big opportunity for these students as well as the parents who were able to walk around and talk to vendors and potential um potential opportunities for jobs. We partnered with Martinsburg Housing Authority. Um what we're trying to do is we're in the process of holding uh tutoring sessions at the housing the public housing community centers and instead of we understand that

033some parents or some students aren't able to stay after school cuz they might not have rides. So we're taking our teachers and bringing them into their community and having the tutoring at the community centers within the housing um district. So that that's something we really look forward to. Um we've partnered with the Martinsburg Initiative by donating food to them. We also collaborated with them on a family and community engagement um training for our Title I teachers. Have Have we um participated uh in the um bringing the teachers into the communities before? Or is it was that new? I'm I'm not sure. I I believe I spoke with some teachers who were helping develop this initiative and they said they have done something like this before. I don't know um how long ago. I don't know

034if it's something that our school >> don't remember but it's a great idea. Yep. Um wasn't my idea so I can't steal it but um I believe it's something that that has been done before. I uh grew up in the Porter Avenue projects and I can see where Um um bringing bringing the system to the neighborhood is less threatening to the parents and maybe would be more involved. I agree. I agree. And I think that's what we're trying to do. We're trying to break those barriers that they may have and um just bring the resources to them. And looking ahead, family engagement, we want to just expand our family opportunities for connection. We want to deepen our collaborations with organizations and we want to increase our online engagement channels. Are there any questions? What are

035some of your uh biggest challenges that you're facing right people right now that you're facing? I would say getting out and speaking to some principals. I think the biggest is kind of what Mr. Murphy had mentioned. Some families um kind of just have that guard up when it comes to um family engagement events coming into the schools. So the biggest thing is just finding that finding what can we do to break that um and just so families can feel comfortable in and coming in and supporting your students within the schools. Well, gaining their trust. Right. Um when will the bus be ready? So they're going to begin the the conversion next month. Um not sure how long that conversion takes but they will begin it next month. And it'll have all that logo on each

036side. Yes, they did. It's going to be fully vinyl wrapped. So it's going to be custom. So Berkeley County Schools with our base logo on it. So I'm really looking forward to this project. >> That's exciting. That's a great That's a great um endeavor. The video that you developed with House Bill 2499 uh I just jotted down IEP thing to give to parents more detail about what parents would see there. So parents would see a conversation between myself as well as special education um director Kelly Doran Co. Um it's a communication if the the parent had any questions about an IEP and us answering those questions. Um I'm not sure Kelly Doran Co can speak to that right now. Um she knows more about special education than I do but um So they can just

037click on that um there's a link. Yes, I don't The video isn't up yet but we are it's created and we're developing our video library to where that video will be housed. Yeah, that's ex- that's wonderful. Other questions? Have you been working with at all the WVE Extension Office? So the WVE Extension Office happens to um partner with the WVSU Healthy Grandfamilies. So that's as far as the collaboration has gone. Um I hope I think they I believe they helped create the the sessions that we offer to the grandfamilies but um I haven't partnered with them any further than that. I think after COVID before COVID they did a lot with like meal prepping. Okay. So I think we definitely I think they're trying to start back up and we got a new coordinator over

038there. Great additional staff member. All right. So I think it's a pretty good time I think you want to reach out to them. I might give you their contact. Oh, for sure. Be pretty good pretty good contact there. That would be great. Thank you. One of the programs that assists free to read aloud that you are Mr. Skelton here? Wait a minute. Read aloud. We have volunteers and it might be something that uh you might explore with going into the housing projects housing authority to uh go in and read to the to the underage children. Something else that William Bentley teaches books into the households. That's a great idea. I'll look into that. Thank you for that. Now, is the I I I think you said that the bus is not mobile. It will be

039mobile. >> It will be mobile. >> Yes, it will be mobile. Okay. So you could actually do like a library-esque type of thing. That's what I was thinking but I wondered if we have Don't we have those portable libraries? I don't want to step on anybody's toes. I know. That's where my brain was going. I don't want to step on anybody's toes, too. I mean What if You guys are working the same >> if you have a little section there with thing. library books or something? I don't know. Well, Title I is going to fund the books on the on the bus so we will have bus books on the bus. Okay, good. So they could come on the bus and at the very least they would be able to read while they're on the

040bus. >> Oh, definitely. Yeah. Okay. That's great. That's at least an an opportunity. You could do story time. Some level of story time on the bus. Somebody could read to the kids. Yeah, we have all kinds of ideas. Sounds like it. Yeah, we do. >> [laughter] >> We also get funding through the local library system as part of the access learning therapy. Maybe you need to reach out to the public library to see how you going to involve them in the system. I mean That That That could be something where maybe they could rotate some of the different books in in through on on the on the bus for you. I mean that could be something that that could be done as well. Right. I see that in the summer. Um Yeah, I don't know

041how how that would work. I don't know either. But it's But it's worth checking out. It's worth checking out. It is. Um I think a trip on WRNR could also be an avenue, too. I'm thinking. You know, to let the community know and get some support. I I I think the further you get with the the mobile ways further. But just just making the community aware. Yeah, that. I think I think What do you do? Who is the one that's responsible for the public library's contribution of our Title I money? I mean we are sending you guys I agree. You You You You got to do something or else they're going to get you. They're the math portion on the bus there. I love the logo. Great job. Keep going. Keep going. Keep doing. We

042might need a bigger bus than what we're getting. I know. I was going to say um maybe we need something with the air conditioning. Oh, definitely. Uh-huh. It's going to happen. Don't push it, Melissa. Oh, listen. >> I I always say >> got to dream. It's going to happen. >> dream >> Listen. It's going to happen. We got to dream. You got to start somewhere, right? It's going to happen. I think it's going to happen. If there's no other questions, thank you. Thank you all. Next on the agenda is um Mr. Frank Caler. This He's the counseling coordinator and he's going to give us an update on the counseling department. All right, good evening. Madam President, Dr. Schooly, members of the board. I'm here tonight to celebrate with you our Berkeley County School Counselors for

043National School Counseling Week which was held the first week of February. My name is Kevin Frank Caler. I'm the new School Counseling Coordinator for Berkeley County Schools. I'm replacing a long-time school counselor mentor of mine, Christy Hayden. I've spent the last 19 years as a high school counselor at Hedgesville High School and can tell you firsthand the need for and the importance of the role of a school counselor. I want to thank this board and our district leadership for continued support of our county school counseling programs. Now, being a native of Berkeley County, I can tell you that this that it was the value I felt from my school administration and this district that kept me here in Berkeley County. So what is a school counselor? Well, first of all, we're no longer called guidance

044counselors. According to ASCA, which is the American School Counselor Association, historically the term guidance counselor was used to refer to counselors who work in the schools. This term has evolved to school counselor as the scope of duties has changed and evolved. Guidance counselor is now an outdated title that represented a reactive response providing services to some. We now call ourselves school counselors and take a more proactive, data-driven approach. We develop and implement comprehensive school counseling programs for all students. Measured by achievement, attendance, and behavior data. School counselors hold a central role in the school improvement process and serve as school leaders helping to reach school strategic goals. I'm pleased to report to you that all schools in Berkeley County implement a comprehensive school counseling program. Our programs work to address the academic, career, and social-emotional

045development needs of our students. School counselors provide services across all three tiers addressing needs through classroom lessons, small group counseling, short-term individual counseling, and crisis prevention and response. Our school counselors work collaboratively with teachers, administrators, parents and guardians, community agencies, and behavior support teams. They track data on attendance, behavior, academics, and SEL skills. Program goals are to strengthen students' social and emotional skills and resilience, support academic engagement and achievement, increase career awareness and post-secondary readiness, and ensure equitable access to counseling services for all students, promote safe, inclusive, and and supportive school environments. I'd like to highlight some of our school counselors and show some examples of our of how our schools work to address these goals. What you see here is a scholarship club that Musselman High School put together. Miss Kristina Redstreet is one

046of the counselors at Musselman, and she organized this club this year. And in this club, these students work to uh learn more about writing their personal essays, who to talk to regarding scholarships, and gathering material that are needed to uh to complete scholarship applications. And in in this example, they're meeting with Kaden Miller, a university admissions counselor, to get some input from him. Here you see uh school counselor Seth Eddy. He is at Spring Mills High School, one of their school counselors. He's doing a great job up there. This year he organized a post-secondary scavenger hunt to where students who uh wanted to participate went around the school, and they were to go and find people that had knowledge on um anything with dual enrollment, scholarships, anything to help them pursue post-secondary plans. Then he

047gave away prizes for those. Um they had to go around and take pictures with them uh with their themselves and whoever they were talking to to get that information. Spring Mills High School put together a college and career fair. The last week of October, it was our county's um and the state lot initiative of our college application and career exploration week. And so we had a couple of our high schools put together a college and career fair. And this is just a few pictures of what uh Spring Mills put together. Hedgesville High School did the same. They had a college and career fair that week. Uh picture on the far left, those were all folks that came from uh college representatives, we had military uh recruiters there. We tried to cover um our school We

048tried to make sure our students were aware of all the opportunities that that are out there, not just the colleges. And and we had great participation with that, as you can see in the other two pictures. And then uh at Valley View Elementary, uh Briana Martin, school counselor there, she organized a Veterans Day breakfast um back in November. We had other schools do the same. This is This is just one example of the uh what Valley View did. And Valley View also organized Christmas gift preparations. Uh again, most all of our schools do this. They work with clubs and community agencies to help them gifts come in, and then they find families that would benefit from from those gifts. Um the main object provide them themselves or their or their children. Burke Street High School

049Elementary, this is an example of um collaborating with the Air Guard. You have a picture here of Miss Karen Zimmerman, one of Burke Street Elementary's school counselors there, and um they provided the Air Guard provided um support for 10 families from Burke Street Heights. Which is great great. They brought everything from uh bicycles to that that trailer load of gifts that you see in there. Also during uh college application and career exploration week, we also try to do fun things for the entire school staff. This is Miss Melissa Sherman at Eagle School. Um she's organizing a a faculty tailgate uh to kick off the week. And again, you have Miss Melissa Sherman and then uh Miss Kathleen Cunningham. Miss Kathleen Cunningham, she's actually a meeting the school site coordinator for Eagle School. We have Miss

050Kim Patton. At the end of the year, they organized a attendance video that was really great. It was superhero-themed. They did an awesome job on it, and their um their teachers presented this video to the students throughout the school, and it was really really well well received. They did a great job with that. At Hedgesville Middle School, um this is an example of uh a Sources of Strength club that they put together. Counselors there um partner with Lee O'Neal, a volunteer in the community, and she does this at multiple schools throughout the county. But this is just one example. This is their wall of strength that student members of the club put together. And uh the the purpose of Sources of Strength, their their goal is to build resilience, increase connection, and teach coping strategies

051for suicide prevention. And so this wall is an example of how they're doing that school wide. It's a great initiative. Also at Hedgesville Middle School and Burke Street, Miss Arlene Riggs, um she's in the bottom right corner along with her daughter. She has organized paint nights. These are family paint nights that they do at Hedgesville Middle School, and they also do this at um Burke Street with uh school counselor Miss Teresa Weller, where students can come and bring a family member. It's free. It's a great way to bring families into the school and do something fun. Want to highlight some of our school counselors. We're fortunate to have so many great school counselors in our county. And within the past just handful of years, we've had two go on and win West Virginia State School

052Counselor of the Year, which I think is an awesome accomplishment. Uh Miss Jody Williams from Peck and Elementary, she received the Elementary School Counselor of the Year recognition for West Virginia in '22-'23. And on the right, you see Mr. Chris Shaw. He was the West Virginia High School Counselor of the Year um year prior. So we're very proud of them. We're proud of all all of our school counselors. Um it was neat for me. Last week we uh put out the to the community nominations for Berkeley County School Counselor of the Year. Um that went out probably around 7:30 8:00 in the evening, and when I got back into my office 8:00 the next day, I already had 47 nominations. Which floored me, to be honest with you. And it was great to scroll through

053and read all the positive things that these kids, most of them came from students, parents, um they're very much appreciative of our school counselors and what they've done for their children. So it's really cool to see that. And I think we're up to 61 nominations now for that. And this is just a fun photo. This was the last year's state uh West Virginia School Counselor Association conference. Um the next one's coming up last week of February. Their their theme was uh superhero. So in summary, I can't tell you how proud I am of the school counselors we have in Berkeley County. I genuinely enjoy this group and appreciate the time and effort they put into not only their students, but their schools as a whole. I feel that it's easy to overlook the role of

054the school counselor. As much of their work is done behind the scenes, individual meetings with students and families aren't broadcast, and easily be overlooked. But their efforts make a difference. You don't decide to become a school counselor unless you have a big heart and a desire to help others. So tonight, I want to publicly thank all of our school counselors and let them know how much they are appreciated. I also want to thank this board and Dr. Sachs and our district leadership for the value they have placed on this very necessary and important role within our schools. Thank you. Do you have any questions? >> Questions for Mr. Frank Counselors? Sure. I have a couple myself. I don't necessarily have a question. I just wanted to and just give word of encouragement. Um we live

055in in a very tough time where we have a lot of needs from from our students and our families. Um keep going. Keep doing that. Thank you for showing them. Thanks for that. Uh we have social workers. I was just wondering, what's the I mean, I I I guess social workers, so far they assigned to individual schools? We do have social workers. Um we have probably more community and school site coordinators. Um the biggest difference, social workers, they they zero in with families. They spend a lot more time on working with with families to support the student and the needs of that family unit. School counselor role encompasses the personal and social emotional aspects of students, but also we have the academic and career part to go along with that as well, but school counselors

056and social workers, community and the school psych coordinator, they do work hand in hand and collaborate to provide support to students. And my second question is state is wrestling with the foster child program. And do we have a lot of foster children in our system? And are they within stable units or are they in hotel rooms like they are in other parts of the state there? I know I know we have to keep confidentiality here, but this in general, what is our foster child issue in this county if we have one? Well, we do have several foster children, and I can tell you from recently coming out of the schools, um a lot of times we get students from other parts of the state because of the lack of um opportunities they have for staying

057with a family closer to their home. And so, um you know, they'll put families in our community to take them in, and then they're working they're enrolling in school here. And of course, wherever I'm at as a school counselor, we provide our support we can to them. And we were told that I don't know whether it was from your office years ago or this meeting the night that the opioid crisis that seems to be increasing over the West Virginia branch, first in the nation, I think we saw some some mayor at a presentation over the weekend uh the opioid crisis it's it's having an impact in our classrooms where Yes, it's not just opioids, but uh drugs in general. We recently provided professional development to our school support staff, our counselors, our nurses. Um and

058we had um some folks from the Washington State Troopers and county come in and speak with them about um current drug trends. And um they're still very much out there, sure, and our families are still very much affected by it. And uh I think the biggest thing now that you see is vaping and how some of these different chemicals can be inserted in the vapes. And so, the fear is students not or just people in general not knowing what they're having in their vapes. And so, that's probably where the trend is starting to go more and more. And I know how they meter dot works a lot on attendance, but he has the support of school counselors. And every that's usually who's trying to get all the kids to come to school and everything, so

059that's uh Would you like to say anything about attendance cuz that's one of the big issues since the uh COVID? Sure, for sure. Yes, our school counselors do work with Mr. Vanmeter quite a bit. Um and our school counselors are on the front line. I know several of them especially at the primary level, I mean they're the ones going out to the vehicle to help encourage the student to leave mom and dad from the car to get them into the school or to get them from the bus to the school. So, they're that smiling face, they're that kind person to try to encourage them, "Hey, this is a a great place that you want to be a part of. You want to be here." And so, um they're very much active in in attendance and

060trying to get students in school. And my last comment is an observation that I'm sure is still true that children in my era went to church on Sunday. I used to say we used to have the sixth day of school when I had a Sunday school. And I know our counselors are trying to teach the lessons minus the scripture connections. How to interact with each other. And I I can well much remember telling our counselors uh you're here on the weekday, but usually back in the day you were the Sunday teacher back then. Like I mean, it's necessary. It's a void that the children need to be offered. And a lot of people would say they want to put the Bible back in the classroom, well, we didn't put the Bible, but we put the

061lessons being in the counselors back in the in the school. We're going to help you joy out those, so Sunday school included. That's right. Thank you, sweetie. Thank you. Do you have a question? I have a question. Okay. Go ahead. No, no. All right. Okay. Um when did you say that the college and career fairs uh happened? When did they happen? I I missed it. Uh so, the two I mentioned and showed were last week of October. Okay. And um I haven't heard of exact dates yet, but I'm pretty confident we'll probably have some in the spring too. They usually have um We have a lot of federal agencies around here. Do you ever get any um any of them participating? Um My experience last year at Hedgesville when I was there was our first

062year going after fair, probably career fair, right. And so, we we tried to incorporate people in the community, um state road, but they have such large need um within the prisons, uh you know, the corrections officers, they those are areas of high need. So, there are just some some agencies that we we partnered with, but any recommendations or names, if I had those, I would try to give them to the school counselor to reach out to. Um and the scholarship club um so, they were meeting with someone from Shepherd to help them through the process of scholarships. Is that club then or is it part of their their purpose to help their students in general help them learn how to do scholarships or is it just for the people in that club? I'm just going

063to guess on this cuz look, it's not my club, but um I think it's for those students who have more of a in-depth interest in learning more about how do I get these scholarships. Okay. Uh I'm confident it's open to anybody who wants to be a part of it. Um but scholarships are we make those available to all students in all of our schools. Right, right. And the school counselors have these conversations with students and their families to promote the scholarships, but um my understanding is for this club for students who want to come and join us and just get a more in-depth uh knowledge of what's required for scholarships to be a part of it. Okay. Um uh Mr. Martin and talked a little bit about foster population, but the homeless population, we have

064a large population of So, I know our counselors um work with those individuals without the embarrassment of making the students feel like that they're uh homeless. Yes. Uh So, we have a I know we have a large population of addicts. Yes, and um anytime our school counselor aware of a situation where a student might be displaced or family displaced, um and this is I don't know also a partnership with Mr. Vanmeter and our McKinney-Vento program Mhm. try to provide resources for those families, uh um the opportunity to get uh personal hygiene products, the school supplies from Walmart. We have funds for that that we try to connect with those families. So, um and a lot of times during our enrollments, students come in from um out of county or out of state and transfer in.

065Sometimes that's as a result of being displaced from somewhere else. So, when our enrollments happen, we get that um identify them too to get their students the resources that they need. So, how do we get that information out to the families? First thing in elementary school, is that just by um maybe the staff or the office staff or whoever realizing that that family might be in need or in a home homeless and homeless doesn't necessarily mean you don't have a roof over your head, except you're not with your mom or dad or maybe your mom or dad or with grandparents or whatever, but Right. It comes a lot of different ways. Um it comes from um teachers you know, you're hearing it, talking with the students, how do you get to know the students? That's

066why we really encourage a strong relationship with students as far as um that connection with teachers um to get to know them better. So, that's how a lot of them come about from teachers. Sometimes we'll have parents themselves reach out to the school and say, "Hey, this is the situation we're in." Um you know, maybe just occurred a house fire or something like that. And then a lot of times um new enrollments too, several of those families um we learn from just enrolling and getting their address and and learning about their living circumstances then too. But there are several different ways that we find that Well, my last question is uh we we promote college and career readiness, but I'm wondering if how do we promote uh CTE careers? Well, we um we try to

067promote all careers out there, whether it's CTE, military, um like during college and career application week later, we would have different members in the community come in. Uh I remember last year we had a real estate agent come in. We had um different programs from Brewers come in, some of the CTE programs. Um ProStart, we had uh Chef Weisman of Clover Hill come in. He does the baking and pastry program at Clover Hill and does a great job with that. He came in actually in front of the whole cafeteria during lunchtime do a a sugar sculpture, which you know, that gets eyes and attention. The students come up and ask about it. And that's CTE program. So, and then also the teachers themselves do a great job with that. You know, when they're running the

068programs and classes, um you know, the goal is also to promote their career that this goes and it feeds into Well, that's good to know because I've I've often wondered about that. We you know, we always talk about uh college and career readiness, but I didn't know how much we went in depth about uh of uh CTE careers. So, Yeah, and the neat thing about our CTE programs is they're they do a workplace simulation within each CTE program. So, within that, they're learning the careers that our CTE program can can lead into and they're getting jobs within the class. So, that that's in-house, uh a really great way of getting that information out, too. Mr. Wood, uh professional development, do you Does the county give you as a leader of the counselors the chance for

069all your counselors to come together and share updates and you know, what's working and that sort of thing? Yes, um we have some counselor meetings monthly. I try to bring in members of the community for that, um resources, share information. And then we also have professional development days where um uh this year we actually partnered with our nurses and the social workers and the community school uh psych coordinators and did some combined professional development. One of them being the uh direct transit in Bertie County right now. The the Earlier, you made a comment about counselors helping students who have personal hygiene needs and that sort of thing. Uh I >> [clears throat] >> My wife's on our church council and one of the schools, I'm not going to mention, had sent a letter to the

070council asking for money for such things and uh I told my wife, I said, that the county I think has this uh supportive thing is on campus right there. So, make sure all your counselors know cuz it makes the system look a little black and red that we're out soliciting support from the community. When we don't have agencies, there's times we need to Oh, excuse me. All right. Any other questions? Thank you so much. Thank you all for your time. Thank you. Next on the agenda is Mr. Tyson. >> [laughter] >> Going to do a bonding construction update. All right. Yes, good evening, everyone. I'm going to share with you the bond and construction updates starting with the Hedrick Early Learning Academy. And is this thing really complete? It is. All right. Hey. Um sorry.

071All right. So, here we are at Hedrick Early Learning Academy. The All of the concrete sidewalks around the perimeter of the uh the school are now complete. They were finishing those up uh this week, actually. And the um exterior metal siding panels are being uh being installed throughout as you can see in this upper left picture. Um there's a few entryways that have that metal siding panel kind of like on the motor skills side. So, I was just kind of giving you a glimpse of that. The last uh that last remaining section of the building um is closed in with the uh the roof decking. It's fully closed in now and they're going to start the masonry on that part of the building. And today it was it was like all hands on deck. I

072think every single mechanical trade was there. There's a lot happening to get this thing wrapped up and finished by uh May the 5th. Any questions on Hedrick? All right. Okay. Martinsburg Fine Arts addition, the lights are being installed throughout the space. You can kind of see them uh hanging down as pendant lighting in between the different acoustical panels. That's happening as we speak. The stage lighting is complete. Uh I know that um I think there was some previous questions about stage lighting. I think we were you were asking if it could be lowered and that sort of thing. It cannot. Uh remember we kind of decided that was not worth the expense. This is LED stage lighting. Hopefully it'll last a long time before there's any issues. We can reach it with a lift if

073necessary, but the stage lighting is complete. So, I just wanted to show you a few images of that. The uh the sound the PA system is complete. Uh so, the bells ring in there, the announcements sound in there, but you also have the option to to turn that off if there's a performance going on. But all of that is complete. The sound system is in progress and um the scaffolding has been up for several months. Every time I send you a a picture, you you'll always see the scaffolding in the background. And they are finishing up all of the higher level painting of the trim work. Uh took a glimpse of it here. You can see a lot of that uh trim work is the painting is finishing. And of course they're finishing installing the

074lighting using that scaffolding. On February 23rd, the scaffolding comes down. So, that's a pretty big moment because But then once that scaffolding comes down, then they'll be able to finish the uh some of the remaining plaster that they couldn't access because the scaffolding's in the way and of course finish the painting on them. And then um that would be ready just in time for mid-March the CD uh is going to go in. So, that's going to happen here in the next few weeks uh to be complete for April the 6th. Have you made the balcony door wider? I don't know about that, but I'll give you an update next time. I hear it every time somebody walks in. It just slams. I hear it every time somebody walks in. It just slams. I hear it

075every time somebody walks in. It just I see a service on the door. What's called adjustment? It's probably needs an adjustment. Anything else on the And you're just now saying something. He's said that a couple times. Okay. He's said it a couple Guys, I'm just now hearing this. He's only been over there viewing the auditorium. That was one of his questions about the We'll get that straightened out. on on the door. So, He was going to ask Uh Um I will say did we think it was going to take us this long to do this project? >> No, we did not. All right. Now, there were some significant changes of course because we weren't going to touch the ceiling except for the lighting and that of course changed I think even So, that was a

076tremendous change. I think even though we're doing the ceiling, I still didn't think it was going to take this long. No, I know. This is It was very extensive. Well, and and look what we had to do to after we found out about the ceiling and and how we all >> And the sprinkler system It was It was a very major upgrade once that happened. It's better to do it right than do it put all that money in it and do it half. That's right. All right. North Ridge Primary School, um on that site, the geothermal well drilling is in progress. They have 60 wells to drill, 400 ft depth for each one of them. This is going to take several months, but the process has begun. They do approximately one or two wells per

077day. That's good. So, that's in progress. The block laying and the utility rough in and the hanging of the duct work is is all happening simultaneously. They are setting the steel girder trusses. As the block layers finish the section, they're able to move in once it's grouted. You can see once they do the top row, they fill it with with grout for this extra structural support. As soon as that sets up, they roll in. Of course, Hillis-Carnes test it. You see all these Hillis-Carnes bills. So, once that's tested and approved, then the steel the guys come in and they're rolling right in behind as soon as they can. Uh of course, lately it's been pending the weather conditions, but uh anyway, it's happening. The rubber decking is in place as they are able to close

078in certain sections. And the uh Potomac Edison has been on site. They should have power to the building uh later this week, actually. And uh so, they don't have to rely on the temporary power. It will be in the building. And then um of course, the plan is to complete this project by July 31st. And of course, I left the schedule here from last time that I showed you regarding the brick uh entryway from Jerdstown. And we're on schedule? We are still on schedule. Oh. As soon as that changes, you'll be the first to know. It's not going to change. Yeah, sorry. I had to say that. It's not going to change. No. No, it's not. Exactly. Um Inwood Early Learning Academy, I think there was a a little bit of information up here earlier

079about this, but here's where we are. The project is advertised. The pre-bid meeting is tomorrow. And then the bid opening March 5th. And then I will be back here on March 16th to present the the uh the low bidder for this project. Groundbreaking ceremony is March 31st. And then early April, it's uh it's going to happen. We're going to start the site work and begin this construction process. And I think that Dr. Sachs met with Inwood on Friday, I think. Uh so, they let them know about, you know, the the playground and and changes and some things there. So, we're going to We've got some things in place. I actually talked to the principal today where we can uh you know, maximize their space so they still can have a recess and the outside play

080time since we're going to take over most of the playgrounds if we get the site work. So, all that is in the works. Yes. Um will it be eight or 12 classrooms? It's the 12 classrooms. It's essentially an exact replica of the Hedrick school project. The um So, there's a couple of differences. One is this one will be geothermal. Hedrick school is not. And of course uh you know, we had the issue with the easement. No issue with that here. So, everything else is very much a replica except for the color scheme and uh things like that. >> And the land that we purchased behind us uh is all resolved. That's all resolved. The trees will be cleared here in just a couple weeks on that piece of property. It's approximately 2 acres of trees

081that'll be cleared. That uh location specifically will pretty much be where the geothermal well fields will be. And then uh parking lot over top of it. Okay. Anything else for uh Hedrick? All right. And then finally Mountain View Elementary, uh the schematic design is about to happen. We're still in conversation with some some fine details. In February, late February, here in just a couple weeks, the site package is is supposed to go out for bid. Uh not the construction of the building but the site work. Uh that part will be advertised for bid. Um March is when that will open up and then uh tree clearing about 4 acres needs to happen. That's going to take place probably starting next week. It's tree clearing of the 4 acres of uh trees that are in the

082way of the the project. And then there's a you know, the house was on that property. A rancher is going to be demolished and and moved out of the way. And that also will happen in March. And then um as the bids open in March for the site work, that work will begin April through the summer. Putting in all of the the uh the platform as we'll call it for the building site. All of the uh the roads and different things around. All that will be uh put in so that as soon as the design is complete, you see there approximately July, we'll be prepared to bid this project and uh and then open it open the bid and then start the project in August. Keep in mind that all the site work will be

083done by then so that they can move right in at that time and begin the construction of the building. So, there's your timeline and the goal is to have this one complete and ready to open uh for 2027. I'm really anxious to see a um replica of what the school's going to look like. Yeah, as soon as I have that available, I will put that up here on one of these slides. So, probably maybe the next meeting or the one after. Questions for Mr. Tyson? Thank you. Next on the agenda is consent agenda. I need a motion to approve. I have questions for you. I just have a question for one of the items. Um All right. Is your consent agenda approved? I have a question. I have a question. What's your question? Okay. Uh

084my first question to you Mr. Shaffer and this it talks about card expiration. And I was just wondering, is this a um a uh background check card that they get? Yeah, the company that's done their volunteer background checks uh will not let them go in their system indefinitely. They recommend every year we worked it out that it's every 2 years. But the date you see there is the biannual date of the expiration of the card. So, on that third year, they would get a new background check cuz we know things happen within those 2 years. So, uh there is a time period that people have to reapply to get a new background check for volunteers. So, do they do they uh and the Shaffer and statement of the background check Yes. How much do you

085know off the top of your I believe it's around $22. Yeah, that's what I remember when It started out at 19 but just depending on the state, the cost has gone up. Okay. And my other question uh on the trips, the very last trip, Spring Mills high schools, they're going on a one-way trip of 253 miles to South High School. Where is South High School? Holiday Park for parking one of them in the opening. Mr. Maxwell's um Yeah, it is. The location is not clear on this on this list. It's for wrestling. So, you're probably right. Is it for It's uh February 12th. Uh Yes. Yes. Yes, ma'am. It was marked out earlier earlier earlier three. Okay. I I just wanted to do uh make sure we we knew where we were approving your trip.

086I I I just want to point out with all the turmoil going on over the one incident, when you look at the list of trips, Shaffer and trips, our employees assume big responsibilities taking students to baseball tournaments in North or South Carolina. I can't remember which one it is. Um they go to Pittsburgh. They go to Myrtle Beach. The this the state there Earlier we were talking about Mr. Nefford and uh his uh wrestling winners are going down to the capital because they're state champions. Our employees go above and beyond their normal work days. And it's unfortunate that one bad incident can throw a cloud a negative cloud over so much good going on in the system. This board will address that problem in an impartial and unbiased way that one incident. But I do

087not want to see this community be unaware of what our employees are giving to this community. And uh this is just one sheet uh indicating that uh our our school employees give back to their children un un measurable amounts of dedication. I don't want to call it free time because it's not free time. It's dedication. And uh it's it's it's unfortunate that one incident can throw a cloud over so much good that's going on in the Berkeley County schools. And I and I thought this this one sheet indicates just a tip of the iceberg of what has happened. All right. That was my editorial comment, Terry. I'll say Um on 9.5, use of school property requests, um there are several entries that are a year or so in advance. >> I asked Mr. Paxton to

088look into that. Um That was going to be my question. He didn't have responded I don't know the answer. I did ask him to look into that to double-check those for this year next. Yeah, there cuz their their statement in here is that they like to lock in a date that's each 10 months out for planning. Um so, I'm assuming that those dates are absolute. They're they're they're absolutely correct cuz they're trying to lock in but our policy states 6 months in only 6 months in advance. Um nothing further out than that. And then because we changed that just because of that reason. So, our our policy states that we only go 6 months from here out and um so, there's a few on here that does that including the Hedrick school youth football league.

089Um so, cuz that one has it from March 2nd, 2026 to March 2nd, 2027. So, they can they can do for 6 months but then >> was one of them cuz I corrected a couple of them. Okay. It's 6 months. Okay. Um but the Shenandoah Area Scouting America, they're they're specific to wanting to do each 10 months out. I don't know about that. Sorry. I'm going to have to pull that five. That's okay. Yeah. Which one was the one you said was the youth football? I'm sorry. The Hedrick school. It's uh February 3rd, 2026. Uh Hedrick school youth football league for Hedrick school March 2nd, 2026 to March 2nd, 2027. It's one Okay. I will have him uh reach out to them for one of those 6 months. Yeah, it just needs to be every

090just every 6 months. I mean, I'm assuming it's not a problem. I'm just we have to amend that. Um but the Scouting America, we have to go back to them and say He is like Mr. Paxton knows too. I just don't have an answer for it right now, unfortunately. Okay. We can um Can we pull those? >> them. Yeah. Yeah, we'll have to pull those. Otherwise, I'm not opposed to the list. I just we have to pull those. I have the same tickets. >> [clears throat] >> I had a couple I had a question. Uh are you finished now? I I'm I'm done for that. Is there any anyone one any other ones that are on this list? I think not about the dates, but I assume that it's Eastern Panhandle Hustle. EPH Hustle, that's

091what I call it. EPH Hustle, yeah. They have many many requests. I assume these have been run by the principals. Yeah, you'll see one I must have missed that has been denied. I've already done this with the principal. Denied that one. Yeah, I did see that. That's the clerk one at Mount Airy. So, you don't know what the big deal is. I just want to make sure they don't conflict with anything that's going on in the north. So, Carl, correct me if I'm right. If it says in progress, that means the principal has already approved it. Um I believe I think the form goes directly to the principal to check for a date availability. And then once the principal approves it, it goes to Mr. Pack for approval. For approval. Okay. Okay, that's just my

092concern cuz there was a lot of those on there. Any other questions? Um hearing those questions and concerns, we have a motion and a second. All in favor? All right, we need to note your vote. Well, she's noting those. Okay, but we need to I didn't know we need to mention that in the She'll mention that in the minutes. Okay. >> Jeff? Yeah. Thank you. But remind me, I'm sorry. I missed you second it. That's Oh, I thought my vote All in favor? All right. Opposed? Motion carried. Uh next one on the agenda is action item Um let me see where we are. Oh, Mr. Tyson. You're back there. You have a change order somewhere. Is it the one for I have like a listing of bombs that we are receiving. Okay. So, at the

093Hedgesville Early Learning Academy, I'm bringing to you tonight seeking approval for five change orders. One is relocation of the electric transformer and the the pad that it sits on. Um this was impacted due to the easement issue. It was supposed to be over where we had to remove part of the building and redesign it. So, it's now relocated to the back of the school. So, that's that first charge you see there for $36,900. Um I starred that because I'm sure we would keep a note that this is impacted because of the easement issue. Mhm. The second one is the cooling tower and the generator. Not those actual items, but uh concrete block paint. Um because we had to relocate the um cooling tower and the generator, we had to install a uh we had to

094change where we built a block wall. And so, in order to seal and protect that wall, it just needs painted. Mhm. And so, that's the amount of payment. We would not have had to do that if we didn't have to move it. So, that one also is starred for later reference due to the easement issue. The third one on the list is the kitchen equipment, the serving carts. This is I actually met with uh Rica [clears throat] and Jennifer sent me. Um the serving carts that deliver the food to the kids, um we didn't quite need the I was going to say the fancy type of cart that they had quoted. So, there's a credit for $16,239. This is a more reasonable cart that will very much serve our purpose of delivering food to the

095kids. So, we didn't need the heated seats. We didn't need that. Okay. And we need to and we and the carts are because students don't eat in the cafeteria. They don't eat in the cafeteria. The food goes to them. So, this is the change in the type of cart that's going to serve that purpose. To the school kids. And we so we got credit. That was a credit. Good job to the Rica team and Jennifer sent me. Nice. Uh and then the additional Let's see, this is number four on the list. Additional exterior sign lettering. When this project was advertised for bid, it was called the Hedgesville Learning Center. But then it changed to Hedgesville Early Learning Academy. So, that's more letters, therefore more expense. That's what that amount there is. I think the cost

096of the alphabet cost so much. Yeah, and then the the last one is I think that's all. When we when we did this project, it was kind of pre-night locks in our district. So, this school, of course, we wanted to have night locks same as everywhere else. So, that's the expense for the contractor to add the night locks. It's actually the exact same price that we paid to the contractor who did the whole district. So, total is $27,561.26 if you so approve all of these tonight. Um just one question. Um this is all for this subject, but were those night locks automatically being in the bid or in the budget or They were not Yes, they were in the one for Edward. They're in the And Mount Airy. And Mount Airy is the problem. Okay,

097just want to do Hedgesville and Hedgesville. Hedgesville. This is Hedgesville. Well, not not Hedgesville. For For Edward. For Edward. Edward. For which project is that? Edward is also in there. Yes. It will be in all future projects. It was just this was prior to us actually implementing that throughout the district. For Edward. We have to ask him. Questions for Mr. Tyson? Will be I was just reading through the language. The 15-ft separation between the diesel generator and the utility transformer. That we need adhering to that recommendation. >> Yeah, we have to do that for the the code. And so, yes, we have accomplished that. The painting I saw something $974. Check Mount Airy, sir. Yeah, the painting is the where they are putting like a a wall just to hide this equipment. That is a

098block wall. So, just want to paint it so it's sealed. Okay. >> That's what that is. We wouldn't have had to do that previously because it it would have been a different location. But because we are relocating it due to the easement, now we we now we have to paint this wall. Okay, my last question uh down at the the warehouse on the old route down the old Hershey school property line. Yeah. Uh we had we put in barriers protect our new refrigeration room or something. Is there Do we have any exposure to trucks running into any of this equipment that we should be putting barriers to protect them? I know this particular equipment is closed in with block and brick. And one side of the block, the interior side, where it's not as visible,

099that's the side that we need to paint. Okay, the other side has brick and then it has like a a metal gate on the other side. But no, it it's very well protected and not going to be hit. Okay, and it's secure from any vandals getting in, I assume. It's secure because the gates are lockable. So, you cannot access it unless you unlock the gate or Thank you. Yeah. Any other questions? So, we're going to approve those permits. Correct? Correct. And I'm a motion to approve uh Mr. Tyson's recommendation. So moved. Second. Second. All in favor? All right. Opposed? Motion carried. Next is the change order for the old playground. Okay, so the next one also is for the Hedgesville Early Learning Academy. When the playground portion of the project was advertised for bid, these

100First of all, the playground has a sidewalk around the entire perimeter. Basically, it's a track for the kids to walk or or ride their toys on. So, it's it's you know, closed with a concrete perimeter. So, then the playground fills up the entire space inside of that sidewalk area. So, the original square footage that Bluegrass bid on was 4,725 sq ft. It was kind of an estimate. Now that the project is there and the concrete is complete, and you can actually measure the actual square footage of that space, it's more. It's 5,244 sq ft. Therefore, that means more of that poured-in-place rubber surface. And so, the total difference is $9,082.50. That's the change order here is to we're seeking approval for that additional square footage of the poured-in-place surface. Questions? Yeah. I'm going to ask

101a couple questions. Well, I asked a lot. How did we do our math How How did they do their math wrong? I don't know exactly how they did their math wrong. I thought And how's it And how's our How's that our responsibility? I thought Dr. Sachs told me we made the area larger from when it was initially Yeah, there was some going back and forth as to where we put the connecting sidewalk. Yeah. Because, you know, they we don't have an image of it, but it's shaped like a U, let's say, where the playground is in that courtyard. And then there's a fence that's going to close in the back. I think that something there is where we it's a little different. I I really don't have that You don't you don't have you have

102the drawings from the previous version. Right. Yeah, you can probably see some drawings from the previous But as to how this discrepancy came about I really don't know exactly. >> I think that's what he told me when we when I met on the agenda. I don't know if I can tell you here. You know Well, when we get them I This is this is Ryan if I can help. Hi, Ryan. Hey, there. Yeah, so I would have to agree. I'm not exactly sure where the the math didn't come come up correctly. What I do know is that the I I'm not sure if maybe when Bluegrass had had done their initial estimate that maybe they had looked at an earlier version of the blueprints for the outdoor space and then they moved the sidewalk. That's

103that's my summation is is that perhaps they looked at something that was not in the actual bid documents and a sidewalk was moved maybe 4 or 5 ft. Um maybe it could have been because of drainage or something like that, but that's that's my assessment as to why there's a discrepancy. Um and so what we're left with is is that in order to, you know, maximize the amount of play space that is in the the the rubber surfacing um the the additional 500 sq ft is what's needed. And I think a lot of that probably has to do with um a couple feet here or a couple feet there, but over a long run uh for example. So, I know that probably doesn't, you know, completely clear things up, but I think that there was

104probably between the working of the two vendors uh was probably the challenge. Well, and and and I I I I will say I'm I'm hard-pressed to be okay with approving a change order for close to $10,000 um for this just because of a possibility of a couple square feet here and a couple square feet there. I'm I'm just being very transparent. Um I I would I'd almost want to go back and find out what the world happened. Um and what were they using and why did they use potentially wrong um site plans or um or whatnot in order to to provide us with the quote. And did we not catch that when they provided us the original quote um because that's that's a large amount of money and I don't think that that should be

105on the taxpayers' burden if if they did not do their math correct. I just would want to make sure that that that is something that should come out of the taxpayers' funding if if we didn't provide it right or did they read it wrong? Like whose whose responsibility is that? That's that's where I'm trying to figure that out. >> it >> That's all. >> Is it Bluegrass recreation or is it Sourcewell purchase? >> it's Bluegrass Recreation is the company who is doing the playground. Who's supposed to quote for the project? >> So, when So, when Bluegrass when we measured once the concrete is complete, the next step is, okay, we need to get the playground all that ordered. So, when they measured they were like, hey, this is more square footage than what we were

106originally told. And so uh we confirmed their measurement and this that's the difference. Um I think I think that Mrs. Power brings up a um a very warranted question. And um I think that uh we could absolutely work with McKinley to to determine what what blueprints were shared with Bluegrass and and with Bluegrass what what blueprints did you see in order to come up with that estimate? So that at minimum we can tell you where the breakdown in communication was whether it was um the incorrect schematic that was sent to Bluegrass or was there a um computing error between, you know, between us and them? Um and I'm I'd be happy to go ahead and and try to do that. Um Ty, let me ask you just um if we were to wait and put

107this on, let's say, Friday's agenda or um even next the March agenda, is that going to hold up the playground installation at all at this point? Um I I don't know that I'd have to confirm that. I did have a thought there as you're questioning and he's talking and I'm trying to remember things. So, here's here's a thought that I did come to me. When it's possible whenever we reached out to them that I I don't know if I'm right on this, but I will say it anyway. We only had eight classrooms and they were going to do an L-shaped playground. Uh-huh. So, then we added on the other four classrooms at some point Right. >> for the total 12 to kind of complete the U. So, then we shifted the playground to make it

108a square inside of there. Yeah. I don't know if that's the difference or not, but I do remember that happening. I did go back and forth with Bluegrass a little bit because of the L-shape. And then we switched it to this more of a rectangle, I guess. But what is the But I don't know if that's uh the difference in the square footage, but I will certainly check on it and find out. Someone told me that and I don't know who it is that the playground is is bigger than what the initially indicated. Well, are you referring to I'm not talking about >> the 500 sq ft? Yeah, I'm talking about just what you said. I mean I don't know where I got that, but Yeah, I mean the the only thing I know is

109it's approximately 590 sq ft bigger. Yeah. Yeah. I I'm not I yeah, I'm not aware that it's any larger than what the board approved. Um but I think maybe what the you know, to answer your questions, let's do a little bit more homework. Let's bring it back and we can easily uh we can table this till Friday's board board meeting uh for that special board meeting. We can absolutely add this as another agenda item. And that will afford Mr. Tyson um and myself and Dr. Schooly time to work between the two agencies and and determine what what was the reason for the delta there. Yeah, I'd be happy to know myself. Yeah, we can do that. I have a question on this cuz they're charging $2 less with change order than Yeah, it was a

110bit of a back and forth and it was like, hey, can you compromise with us a little bit? So, he instead of $17.50 a square foot, is that what it was? He dropped it to the 15 or whatever for the additional 500 something square feet. That is so that is so odd. I'm sorry. Yeah, I think I'm My guess is because of staging. You know, he he has a certain amount of money that he has to take to get equipment here um to do the install of that rubber that rubber uh playground and so since he was already on site, it probably lowered his cost for the difference is my guess, but we can get you we can get you answers to all that. We definitely don't want to pay for something that's not our

111our fault. I will get some answers. Yeah. Thank you, sir. Appreciate it. All right, have a good one. So, that's on hold. That's on hold. So, next on the agenda is uh Sarah Wolfe with a discussing 26-27 pre-K calendar. I'm seeking approval. Good evening, President Dr. Schooly, board members. I'm here this evening to provide an overview and seek approval for the proposed change to the pre-K calendar for the 26-27 school year that we discussed on this February 2nd board meeting. I believe does Leah have a copy of the calendar? We have it in our packet, so yeah. They each have it on the photograph of the packet on the You might want to pull it up, though. There it is. So, this calendar shows the four-day proposed pre-K model with the green days highlighted being

112that preparing for success day for staff, which would be non-instructional pre-K days. Um we would go 136 total days during the school year, totaling 50,160 minutes, which is 2,160 minutes above and beyond what the state requirement for pre-K is. Um our hours would be 6 hours and 15 minutes a day, which would be an additional 15 minutes than what we are doing now. Questions for Ms. Ms. Wolfe? Uh First, uh you have children as young as I have my youngest 2 years 10 months. Yes, that's right. So, there's so some of them are still in diapers and the sanitation issues and what have you. Uh how long does it take to transition a student who's unable to work safely with their classmates in the pre-K environment our period. So are you talking about how long

113it takes to help a student? >> I I know you I know the law says that we try to help students who are under four in order to try to utilize that time in their developmental stages. So but I know we've had trouble with with I remember one occasion and it took I remember talking to the principal is kind of old. I don't know So how long does it take to transition a child? What I'm My point is is that this Friday activity will allow that kind of paperwork and that kind of energy that you had to do when you're doing your Fridays. You would have time to work with on the benefit of this child. Yes. So the goal is with these preparing for success days that we would have school-based behavior teams for

114pre-K similar to what K through 12 does which would kind of expedite that behavior process where they can go ahead and start working as a team to get a behavior plan in place for that child as soon as possible without having to wait for a BCBA or schedule contracting BCBA. So the goal is to make this process faster to get those children that help. And related to the previous item on the agenda, I never realized that we were building classrooms for pre-K they are actually larger than the regular children's. The smaller the child, the greater the classroom. That's right. We have to have 35 square foot per child in a pre-K classroom. Any other questions? I I can go. No, I was just going to make a comment. I can totally understand the extra time

115that's needed to um work on Fridays to work on their IEPs to to get the centers together that they have to do all week. Um and the difficulty of it sometimes just to get those three two and a half year olds, three year old students that maybe they don't want to leave mom and dad and they cry for several hours and then you know that disrupts some of the day and um I I I understand that. So to have that day where they can prepare and get ready for the next week so that they don't have to do it on their evenings. There's a lot of There's a lot that when we've been in those pre-K classrooms, there's a lot there in those centers and um And planning for differentiation for these three, four, and

116five year olds that takes a lot of looking at observation notes, taking data, making individualized goals and supports for to meet all of the children in the classroom. And this is not something new. We used to have coordinated instruction. One of the items I was reading before the meeting here actually one of the things you failed to address is employee health. And you talked about floaters not being available to fill in for people to give you a break. Well when you when you're teaching all day without a break, it can it can impact those teachers. I don't know the details but I know I know you uh it's it's it can be a problem and when your people are trying to come to work and they're not well or as far as their health is

117concerned it's even a greater stress for addition. That uh uh their health is being impaired uh but they but you had a very good summary of all the all the other things that I had. But maybe you could have answered those questions. Well the the hope is too that that Friday preparing for success day would be a little bit of relief for employees maybe once um a week and work week. Sanitation is very important. If you have children in diapers, uh you need to have some cleaning supplies but the ECE apps but also by the custodian deep cleaning is necessary. Well I think pre-K program has changed a lot over you know the last several years to the I mean the number of students we have plus the severity of the students some of the

118students uh facilities that we do have which makes it pretty more critical to have that day off. I have one question and don't shoot me now, okay, for this question. Um I know that there are many many many positives and I can see all of those positives. But for all the positives, there have to be at least one negative. What is a negative to going going to a four-day week with one day off you know, where kids are not coming in? There could be potential where families may see that it's only four days and have some concern with that but already in our calendar we're partially four day anyway. Okay. And then then also to kind of remedy those concerns two of our daycares that we already partner with through our contracts have reached out

119saying that they would be willing to provide additional care on those Fridays and holidays. Um so we are exploring that option which would actually, if I did the math correctly, currently they are serving 80 students. Next year they could potentially serve 148 to provide that care for them that Friday. >> That was one of my concerns. I think when I answered the emails back to several people that you that written us That was one of my concerns of the things that I felt that were good about and my concern was that childcare that they thought of these parents. So And I think it is just easier for daycare providers to be able to say every Friday we have a program as opposed to one or two Mondays a month. They they just can't do that.

120And also as a parent finding someone that you know every Friday where they're going to be able to care for their child I think will alleviate. Mrs. Wolfe, could you further elaborate when you when you discuss that this they're already missing several you know, they're already doing four some four-day weeks in the month anyway. Can you just further elaborate as why that is and what that pattern is historically over the last year or two so that that there's some context there? Sure. Um so like I said, the state minimum is 48,000 minutes per year. We were going I believe 58. So the state does not require as many minutes because they understand that in pre-K there is extra planning, there is differentiation, they are doing dual roles as general ed and special ed. So I

121think they understood that so they gave us you know, some wiggle room. And so those Mondays, one or two a month, were set aside for professional development, data teams um kindergarten stuff, pre-K to kindergarten transition meetings that have to occur through policy um and then extra planning time. So this would just be giving parents and teachers that steady, consistent day instead of the random Monday here, two Mondays the next month, one Monday the following month. I have a question. You had something this morning, didn't you? Yeah, I have a couple to go over. Well go ahead. I'm just Well I appreciate that cuz I thought you had it. Yeah. Do you see an app of absence staff absence on those days that you now are allowing them to take off? So no, actually our Mondays

122are lowest rate of absence for pre-K employees. Fridays are highest. So when I did the math for this year, I think for our Monday absences and this is just for teachers. I didn't do the ECE apps because that would be a lot to process. Um but we have around 14 teacher absences on Monday this year. Um and then it increased throughout the week. So Wednesday was 26 Thursday was 30 and then Friday was up to 44. So no, we don't see a lot of those absences on those professional development days. >> it hard to get subs? Yes, it is very hard to get subs in pre-K. So what do you do on those days? Um the floaters fill in. The ECE apps? Yes. The ECE apps. And then um in our K through 12 schools,

123sometimes the principals will pull ECE apps from other grades to fill in. Our department tries to help as much as we can and definitely in an emergency situation where we don't want those classrooms to close, myself or our BC would go in. Right. Mr. Morton I have a list of questions. Yes, our special ed coordinators also. I will say questions don't take it as criticism well criticism as more public generality because I do support this but I guess the first question would like like I guess staff that can see the pre-K, what does that work look like at this point? So, are you talking about not being able to staff classrooms? Yes, so at the beginning of the year this year, we actually did not open two classrooms that were filled with students because we

124could not get a teacher for those classrooms. And that did result in around 20 kids having to be moved from one classroom to then having to be moved to another classroom. And I know in the one classroom half of them did not come because they wanted that spot at that school. And with with us moving on Friday and then going to the another update period, will this provide a cost to the district? No, it would be period >> probably period funding. With nutrition for the kids, they're missing out on Friday. Um do you want to address that when the same thing along those lines like with the backpack program? What the impact would be? >> Sure. And we've kind of discussed maybe having a couple of our centers that have cafeterias possibly having um an

125opportunity for um them to come in for that Friday lunch. So, we have these sports in those options. And also maybe partnering with Parks and Rec maybe to have a Friday program that's a little maybe more cost-effective for parents to make sure those kids still have a program to go to and and a meal to eat. I know with some some pro- some programs, I'm not saying that this is every program, but it's in order to keep a spot, you have to pay to keep the spot. Yeah. And it doesn't matter if you're going and using the spot, you have to pay to keep it. And so, using it every week consistently, you're getting at least some level of value for it. So, I know that that's I'm not saying that that is every place.

126I'm not saying that our parents are experiencing that. I'm just saying if they are that that at least alleviates that they're they're getting some value. At least Little Eagle has um said that they even though those those kids some of those kids would be going home Friday, that that's very much that they're okay with that. So. Yes. So, we are looking into the potential of Little Eagle and also Step Ahead Preschool. And my last question, like academic-wise, you said the state heavily favoring the four-day but obviously we're having a current pre-K general. Um can you address like the criticism of four four-day pre-K and state that's performing lower than other states with other pre-K and us at a five-day how is it? Sure. >> Is there a way? So, 44 counties in West Virginia currently

127go four days. And actually West Virginia is ranked um one of the highest in the country when it comes to pre-K quality. Um we're fourth in the nation for access to four-year-olds. We meet nine and a half out of the 10 quality benchmarks from the Nash- National Institute of Early Education Research NEAR. Um and that is something that West Virginia has held for a long time. So, the pre-K state ladies, they hold us at a very high standard. And we have rigorous um pre-K state reviews every three years that I shared the results last time. So, I I believe we will be able to to implement and provide a high-quality early childhood program. Well, I think we've all said this this isn't new to us and then we did it when we first uh initiated

128pre-K, that's where we were, four days. And then all of a sudden we went to five and then I I have a list of reasons. I asked um Michelle Martin if she remembered and she sent me a list of reasons why they went to five uh because I mean I was here then but I couldn't remember exactly what they were. And so, Dr. School Martin remembered. So. Um It had to do with um Head Start. Head Start increased their minimum requirements for um minutes. And then there was talk in the legislature that everybody was going to have to go five days in West Virginia in pre-K. But then there was a lot of um pushback from counties about how, you know, that fifth day is so important to pre-K that the legislature actually decided not

129to make it mandatory to go five days. So, some counties stayed. Some counties did decide to go ahead and go to five. Um some counties went to five and went back to four. And there may be counties out there that are four looking to go to five. But currently the majority go four and have been for a long time. Are any teachers um or or aides um not happy with the proposed four-day week? I have asked for feedback um and so far I have not heard any objections. >> We we've heard I mean I I can't speak for everybody else. I've only heard for for the four days. So, I can't That's why I was asking if if you've heard of any any I can't imagine that they would be against the four-day. I'm just

130asking cuz you never know. Yeah, that's right. The emails we got were supportive or supportive of it. There's been questions about, you know, quantity over quality. If their kids would still be getting what they need with the lesser day. But then we have the the quality Sure. conversation and I haven't heard anybody I heard that. There's a lot of criticism of four-day work weeks around the nation. But like there's you know staff that's still going to be working on the Friday. That's like the main message here. It's not like they're going to school four 10-hour days and they're off on Friday. It's that they're doing what they're supposed to do 6 hours 15 minutes and then they're still working Fridays. >> When you have lots of kids with IEPs and five fours in the classroom,

131double that with needing to do some other paperwork at at pre-K in and of itself a lot to do. >> And we will still have high expectations for them on those Fridays as it pertains to professional development. Um we're going to have data teams that happen regularly like I said the school based behavior teams, our professional development in smaller um more hands-on ways than what we can do with 160 uh staff all together at once getting a sit and get. So, they will still have some professional a lot of professional development available on those days. You have you are unique kindergarten through 12th grades solely by the State Board of Education. And our school is under another state agency as well as the State Board of Education and Health Department. >> Right. So, pre-K is

132a collaboration between the West Virginia Department of Education and then the Department of Health and Human Resources and then the West Virginia Head Start Association. So, we're kind of a three-pronged program. >> So, you have three crazy groups in charge of everything. But you should But you really answer to the Department of Ed. >> Yes. Yeah. Yeah. And their And their state team is comprised of the Department of Education um coordinators, the DHHR uh representative and the Head Start representative makes up that state team. Yeah, so if there's no other questions, we can All right, did you have any You asked all that. Okay. Um I have one more thing. With um Boys and Girls Club of the Eastern Panhandle, how do they get involved with us going forward? They they they have an after-school

133group. We've been there as well. Eagle School is here. Somebody that worked there sitting in the audience. So, I wish she was here now but uh I don't know. I I can't answer the question. But it would be one of the Boys and Girls Club um is involved. I know my church was at one time. I don't know that they um take students that young. I I don't I don't I don't think there's a daycare center in Boys and Girls Club. Is that what you asked? Yeah, what was that? Okay. So, yeah. The family will look into any and all opportunities for possible collaboration. Yeah. I did have a conversation with the executive director as she gets her new facility underway and once it's finished, she's looking at what she can do with her facility

134during the day cuz their hours are more of the evening activities. So, she'd already opened that conversation with Berkeley County Schools to work on what kind of programs can we bring to her during the day as well. So, some fish out facility setting updates. Any parents not like that? Motion. Second that motion. If there's no other questions, can I have a motion to accept the executive director pre-K calendar for 2026-2027 school year? So moved. Second. All in favor? Aye. Opposed? Motion carried. Thank you, Ms. Thank you. Mr. Chairman, I lost the personnel action. Being members of the board, uh Dr. Schooly, Dr. Sachs, the personnel actions dated for Monday, February 16th, 2026 are as follows. We have four coaching appointments this evening and one removal of a coach. We have two coaching resignations. Um tonight

135for your consideration, we have four new healthcare appointments and two resignations. Uh on line 15, we have one unpaid leave of absence. For professional personnel, we have four professional appointments, three resignations and four retirements. Those retirements are all effective at the conclusion of the school year. Uh tonight we We also have one transfer that is effective at the beginning of next school year and that is for the new principal of the Inwood Early Learning Academy and that is Ms. Barbara Ferguson. Um for service actions, we have one change of assignment and three resignations. We also have one midday resignation. Uh we have three service retirements and we also have one transfer of uh service personnel as well as two corrections of transfer of service personnel. Um we also have five service personnel upgrades tonight for

136your consideration as well. Uh this evening we have one appointment of a new substitute nurse and six new appointments of substitute service personnel. We removed three substitutes from the substitute list and we have one resignation of substitute service personnel as well. Uh for professional substitute teachers, we have five appointments of professional day-to-day substitutes. We rescinded the appointment of one substitute teacher and we have four resignations of uh professional substitute teachers for a total of 63 professional service and substitute personnel actions tonight for your consideration. The superintendent asks his recommendation. Question. All right. The uh service personnel, did they pass a law last year that some people, I think bus drivers, don't have to be high school graduates? Correct. Yeah, there's more. They extended it last year. Uh previously it was bus drivers and they extended

137it to cooks and custodians. So Which is very upsetting to me, by the way. Okay, my my question >> still have to be able to pass the competency exams. Pardon me? They still have to be able to pass the competency exams. Yeah, I would have to come up with those classifications. On the Friday newsletters, we usually get to see the number of professional vacancies and service. Do you know that number off the top of your head? Um professional vacancies, I think we have four classroom vacancies right now. Actually, might be three cuz we just filled our pre-K one. Um for service, we have 15 open service jobs, six open aide jobs, and two open bus operators. Last year we had a lot of retirement. Oh, not a lot of retirements, but retirements though a lot

138of years of Yeah. Yeah. Several. And I know those people that it's heart-wrenching, but I know they've um done their duty. Yes. Good. I have another question. Um line 20 of has there I don't know if I can ask this. We can't discuss this right now. Um have there been discussions about that person going back into the classroom and we'll be seeing that on a future Okay. All right, thank you. This person What? Who is going to Yes. Yeah. Yes, they are. I have a question. Generally a charter question, may I ask? Okay, um with the We're talking about the career fair earlier. Does BCS go to our high school ones? I know we go to our all district college Ladora has a presence in just about anything that she can get out to, to

139be quite honest with you. She was in North Carolina last week, she got back today and she went to Frederick uh Community College today. So yes, uh and her and I are going to sit down this week because I think recruiting is changing. Um and I think part of what we need to recruit probably goes back to the permanent sub um discussion and her and I are going to talk. We met last week uh Dr. Saxon and all this with a program called um Teacher Send West Virginia, uh which we will be working with them this year to bring people in from out of state. Um they're going to try to give them some additional resources. Uh they uh kind of are a spin-off of a program called Ascend West Virginia. If you recall during

140COVID, they were actually paying people to move here and work remotely. So it's all privately grant funded and we will be working with them. We have two slots right now that we can work with them on. Um it's a really cool thing. They've got um an office downtown. Um yeah, so uh we went and met with them last I think it was Friday we met with them or Thursday and uh talked to their team and um they're actually going to join us on a recruiting trip um in Pittsburgh in a couple weeks. So yes. Um if there's no other questions, can I have a motion to do the personnel actions as presented? >> So moved. Second. Second. All in favor? I. Opposed? Motion carries. Next on the agenda is a service special um meeting for

141action. I'm going to to go into executive session to discuss uh real estate matters and um pending litigation. Can I have a motion to go into executive session under West Virginia Code Section 9-4B and A? So moved. Second. Second. All in favor? I vote I. Opposed? >> Motion carries. Um but we will be taking no action No vote. Um no action will be taken, so um just when we get ready to we will give you the score, let you know. We will be >> have a question tonight. Okay, that's fine. I have one more question. >> Would we be able to Can I have a motion to close the meeting? So moved. I vote I. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. We're good. We will be adjourned.