Board of Education Meeting--January 5, 2026

001I aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Thank you. >> I have a motion to approve the agenda. Secondly, all in favor? >> Opposed? Motion carries. Recognitions hearing educators. >> We'll present uh >> Sorry, we were waiting outside. >> So, you only heard half of what I said. >> Yeah. Good evening everybody. My name is Mark Salby. I'm principal at Stillless High School. Uh we're honored to be here tonight. Um I'm honored to be here this evening to present uh the caring educator award to Mrs. Mindy Seismore. Uh Miss Seismore epitomizes this award in so many ways. She's an incredibly talented educator and she's able to engage her students at a very

002high level with instruction. But more than that, she's one of the most caring and thoughtful people that I've ever worked with. Her kindness permeates through the whole building, and her students feel that. I was trying to come up with the perfect example for why she was our nominee, but honestly, there's too many to just share one story. She deserves this award because of who she is, because of what she does for every student in our building every single day. Uh so from all of us at Spring High School, we appreciate Mindy so much. We're so proud to work with her. We're very proud to present this award to her tonight. >> Oh my word. They came with me. Um, thank you, Mr. That mean a lot. Um, I'm lucky to work at Spring Mills. It's

003a school that puts kids first, and that's the most important thing to me. I love my students. Um, they make me laugh and they keep me on my toes and it's an honor to be their teacher. So, thank you guys for the recognition. I really appreciate >> and thank you Mr. >> Could you please tell us the subject areas you're teaching? >> Yeah. Um, I teach art art one, art two, and a ceramics class. >> Ceramics? >> Yes. >> So, you have kils and everything? >> Yes. See, I have one kil that I um run almost every day. It's very busy. I'm lucky to be able to have that ceramics program and that um is a lot of Mr. Salia being very supportive of our department. So, I'm very lucky to be at Spring Mills

004um for lots of reasons, but that's one. And the kids love it. I always say a kid can't be on their cell phone when their hands are covered in clay. So, that's pretty awesome. And yeah, it's it's a great schedule and my students are amazing. So, >> we should admit our cellul do they do the round toss. >> Yeah, we have um I have four pottery wheels. So, I'll have to send you some pictures, but that's really fun. Very messy. So, uh this is about as clean as I get. Normally, I'm covered in paint or clay or something like that. So, >> so exciting. Is it a short class period or is it >> No, it's it's four to five minutes. So, um, it takes a little while to get them used to it, but

005it's a very student-driven, um, class. So, once they kind of know the basics, they hit it and they come in and get their stuff and get going. So, it's very cool. >> Exciting. I didn't real I did not realize that was ceramics class. >> Yes, it's awesome. And the kids I have a list of kids that want to take it. I I have one class period a day, so it's very popular. >> I'd love to see what they do. >> Yeah, I'll definitely send you guys some pictures. >> Yes. Well, you you definitely make a profound difference in the lives of our students. And the fact that, you know, Berkeley County Schools and Spring Mills can offer a program like ceramics, uh, a program that gives all of our students the opportunity to explore something

006in the arts, um, and foster that creativity, um, and that skill that honestly they can use to benefit themselves, uh, for a lifetime makes a really just a huge, huge impact. And so I can't say enough about how proud I am of the work that you do and that the school district continues to support the arts in all of our schools. So yes, congratulations. >> Thank you so much and thank you for the recognition. Appreciate it. >> We're very proud that you are in our system very much. >> Appreciate your dedication. Thank you. Want to [laughter] make sure there's yours. >> Thank you. All right. Thank you guys. family. >> Could you introduce your family? >> Oh, sure. This is Rosie. Roselina, my husband Dominic, and my son Arzio. He's a kindergartener and um so

007he's doing he was student of the month in his class. Wow. >> Pretty proud to have >> clear that excellence is bread into the family. >> Since you have a backlog on that surrounding You might ask when they asking for input from >> he's probably so happy that I got to speak and did not ask for money. That's a rarity from Mark. >> I'll hold it in today, but I'll keep that money. >> That's next month. >> Yeah, I'll be back. >> Thank you guys so much. Uh, next is students of the month and that would be Min from Mosino High School. >> Good evening, Dr. Saxs, President Long, and members of the board as well as our um guest tonight. I have the privilege of recognizing the January students of the month. And I

008want to recognize two of our Muslim students whose leadership, empathy, and commitment to others have made an meaningful difference at Muscleman High School. Sophie Carpenter and Owen Freeman exemplify what it means to lead with purpose through their work in our diversity club and our diversity committee on our of our leadership class. Throughout this school year, Sophie and Owen have gone above and beyond to ensure that every one of our Apple men feel seen, valued, and celebrated. They have worked tirelessly beyond school hours and and weekends to highlight and honor the many cultures represented within our school. They p they hung flags around uh the world um representing all of our countries. They've created thoughtful and beautiful murals for Hispanic Heritage Month and Native American Month. and they organized a holiday cultural showcase during the December

009lunches where they placed the tree and made sure um every holiday was celebrated. Beyond these visible projects, Sophie and Owen consistently create welcoming spaces during lunchtime where students can learn from one another, ask questions, play games, and share food and drinks from different cultures. Their kindness, openness, and genuine care for others have fostered greater understanding, connection, and inclusion across our school community. Through their actions, Sophie and Owen consistently show what it takes to be an Appleant. They lead with integrity, compassion, and respect for others. Not only do they come up with ideas, and sometimes they're big ideas, they always follow through. and they want to make sure that we also follow our Renaissance mission of making sure that every single one of our students that they're noticed and appreciated and our staff um often they'll

010come to my office and and have ideas. I try to never say no. Um and some of their their ideas have just been fantastic. They painted um a spot out in our cafeteria with post-it notes for students um just with little u messages. You're awesome. You're kind. and students, it's it's neat to see them take a note or they can leave a note. So, um some of the projects seem small, but they've made big impacts. Um Sophie, if you follow our social media, she is our artist, our office windows, the paintings. Um she also volunteered the Jefferson Dave Report Center. Did I have that correct? >> Um children's home. >> Children's Home Society. she uh went and um painted their windows for the the Christmas party. So um and the same with Owen, not only

011do they make a difference within our school, but it reaches beyond into the community and and uh they reached out to me asking if I have students. Um so they consistently show what it takes to be an Appleman. They lead with integrity, compassion, and respect for others. Their dedication has helped shape a more inclusive and caring muscleman. and they are truly deserving of this honor. I'm just so very proud of the the trails that they've laid at Muslim and they're unfortunately seniors, but I know that their legacy will carry on for many years. So, join me in congratulating Owen and Sophie and Sophie. I had the privilege of talking to Miss Rogman before the meeting and she said exactly every single point um when I talked to her. Um you guys are just model students

012for Musclemen. I'm a Porter Musman student so I'm a bit biased but um you guys are doing great things and just spreading the cultural awareness of diversity through Muscleman. Super important. I know how important the leadership program is in Mustin as well. So you guys are going to do great in life. Um, do you want to introduce who you have here tonight? Um, >> I have my mom and dad. >> Um, I also have my mom. She's the teacher at Muscle, but my dad >> I also have >> um um you guys know what you guys are going to do after um just graduation. Um well right now I'm submitting applications um I've been working on an application to Brown to pursue their um BRD program which is in um they work with the Rhode

013Island School of Design Brown and Rhode Island School of Design they um select it's very selective they select 20 students um to participate in their program and I'm trying to so >> um I'm also applying to colleges right Now, um the main one I'm really looking at is the University of Delaware, an American University. Um I don't know exactly what I want to do in life, but I do want to major in international relations, so something global. >> Well, don't feel bad. Some of us are still working. >> Continue to learn. >> Yeah. On behalf of myself, the rest of the board, congratulations on being the January month. >> Thank you. I look forward to seeing. >> We'll be anxious to hear where you both of you land us. Thank you all so much. Superintendent's

014announcements. >> Thank you so much. Um, we had some guests that were with Dr. Woods. I think I just want to recognize them here in a second or if you could just make sure that they're coming this way. Uh, thank you, uh, Madame President and, uh, board members. Today uh we officially began the roll out of uh magnetic literacy as our tier one literacy resource uh for K5 uh in the district. It's important to point out you know that this transition was very thoughtfully planned by our division of instruction leadership. Um and it aligns closely with the science of reading something that in the past uh was sort of a mark that we were missing. Um and and particular attention is uh being paid toward strengthening vocabulary um and comprehension across our system. Again, as

015as we as we dig into the gaps in learning um from previous years, these are key areas in which we knew we needed to strengthen. And that's what this program um really helps support is a um a a continuum of of aligning the um reading and ELA instruction to the science of reading. I had the opportunity to join uh training sessions today at Eagle Intermediate, Rosemont Elementary, and PTOAC Intermediate. And I must say um I was tremendously encouraged by the high level of engagement and professional professionalism that was demonstrated by our educators as well as our administrators. Um as I like to make sure that they're referenced as instructional leaders um of each school. um the engagement and the um the thoughtfulness that they had as this we rolled this out was just very very

016appreciated and um um I'm very proud of them. And so I think it's important um that as we think about this pivot uh in our in our during the school year, we are at the front end of implementation of magnetic literacy. um not just here in Berkeley County but for the entire country and I don't know that really people understand that uh for a long time it was magnetic reading um and so we were an early adopter and the reason we were an early adopter was because we recognized that we had holes in some of our curriculum resources and we did not want to wait um we didn't feel like we should wait for our students and so again this was a very intentional well-thoughtout process and by showcasing that today was the first day

017of our implementation that that was initiated with a 2-hour training for our teachers. But it's very important that I emphasize that um be through this intentional investment of sustained professional development um we will have daily support throughout the semester for our teachers on the implementation of this new curriculum. our academic specialists and our Ames will continue working directly with our schools and we will also have daily ELA implementation support from Curriculum Associates which is the I Ready program uh through Blanca who is one of our professional learning specialists with Curriculum Associates. She's actually going to be in our district every single day working with our teachers and she's assigned exclusively to Berkeley County. We also have because ELA is is obviously our focus here, but I also wanted to point out we also have professional

018learning specialist Dr. Ed Mitzell uh with Curriculum Associates who is helping our K5 focus on mathematics instruction in our classrooms as well. And so these folks um are are embedded to be able to help model lessons, be able to help support uh teachers during implementation um uh roadblocks or speed bumps to be able to flush out those challenges and make it as smooth as possible. So we definitely appreciate them being here as we as we um work through this uh implementation of magnetic literacy. And really, you know, this support is designed to ensure strong implementation and long-term success for our students in reading and mathematics. Uh the investment we have made uh in the curriculum and resources for our teachers um we hope is is definitely valued and appreciated and I think that it will

019pay dividends in the long run for our students. Um we um also um just to sort of bring to closure uh we are getting very close to the budget budgeting process and this is one last reminder um I think as Jess said it that this was this was a message to everyone but Pat and Jackie >> um [clears throat] that if you have anything that you would like to be considered um in the budget process um if you could get those to us uh you know as soon as possible definitely Wednesday at the latest. That would be very helpful. Um um and and of course uh it doesn't mean that things can't be added as we go through it, but if we could have it on the front end, we can make sure we investigate

020the you know costs and those sort of things. Um we are also in the month of January, which is schoolboard appreciation month. And as I thought about showing or or or giving an an explanation of what I think schoolboard appreciation month really is. Um I I had to reflect upon actually uh a sermon by my pastor this past weekend. um and he talked about parables and how parables um can really have a cross-section of both your faith and the work we do as humans. And so I wanted to share a story to uh to highlight what I think it is that this board does every single day. Uh there is a story of a growing town divided by a wide river. On one side live families with deep roots, on the other families that had

021newly arrived. Each wanted the same thing for their children, a safe and steady path forward. But the river stood in the way. So the town appointed a small group of citizens not to cross the river themselves, but to build a bridge for everyone. These citizens did not lay every stone, nor did they decide who would cross first. Instead, they listened. They planned. They debated. They sought wisdom. and often they worked quietly long before the bridge was ever visible. The work was slow and some days the progress could not be seen. When the bridge held firm, few noticed who built it. But when a plank weakened, everyone surely recognized that. Yet the builders returned each day, not for the recognition, but because they believed that the future depended on steady hands, shared vision, and service greater

022than self. First Corinthians reminds us, "For we are co-workers in God's service. No one builder could claim the bridge of their own. Some planted, some built, some maintained, but together they created something strong enough to carry an entire community and precious enough to entrust it with its children. And when the bridge was finished, it did not bear their names. It carried something far more important. It carried hope, opportunity, and the promise of the next generation. And that's exactly how I see our board of work of education working. During schoolboard appreciation month, we take time to honor our board members for their dedication to public education, for ensuring quality learning environments, for settling district go setting district goals for success, and for representing the voices of our community. On behalf of this administration, I want to

023thank each of you for your partnership, your faith in this work, and your commitment to serving our students and our families. We are grateful to work alongside you as we continue building a strong future for Berkeley County Schools together. >> Thank you. >> So, thank you board members. >> Thank you so much. >> We have a board work session next uh Wednesday, January 14th at 5:00 pm. At that board work session, we will be giving a budget preview uh for you to consider as well as we will be discussing some bond priorities. Uh and my hope is that we can flesh out, you know, some of the larger bond priorities for us to put in um for an official bond call that we will bring to you on February 2nd for official approval. Our next

024regular session um will next regular meeting will be Tuesday, January 20th at 6 PM right here at the Winchester Avenue Board Office. Madame President, board members, that concludes my updates and I'm happy to answer any questions. >> I just have concern about what time we're going to start on the 14th because it since we're working on that's going to be a lot to get through. I was wondering if we could start at 5. It's scheduled for >> five. >> Anyone else have any questions about the seven? >> I don't believe we have any more seven >> announcements. >> Well, it's it's not really an announcement. It's it's a just a request for for the community to really keep uh the staff in in your m minds pray for them because um you coming to the

025last half of the semester it's a lot of stress. Uh a lot of them are dealing with home issues as well as your students. So um it's a lot on people. So please pray for their mental health u because that's definitely appreciated. There's a lot of people that are dealing with a lot of stress and strain and we don't want uh we want them to be able to reach out to have somebody find some support and help when they need it. So just please break that. >> Anyone else? >> Okay, next citizens is um Steven Wagner here. Hope he's here. Oh, are you? Yes. Sure. U Mr. Wagner, you'll have three minutes to uh make your presentation and if you would refrain from any derogatory comments regarding staff or students, we would appreciate that. >>

026Absolutely. Should I set my clock so I don't respect everybody's time? >> Thank you. >> All right. Well, first of all, thank you for uh the opportunity to speak today. Um you know, I'm coming in on a positive. Um I'm the president of West Virginia soccer. We're a soccer club located in the eastern panhandle. And a quick little bit about us as an organization. Um we provide soccer uh programming for youth players, boys and girls anywhere from, you know, five, six, seven years old all the way up to the uh pre-professional college level. One of the really exciting things that people may or may not be aware of as well is uh we're in partnership with Major League Soccer. We're the only club in the whole state of West Virginia to have a program with

027them. Um, so some of our higher level teams, they play teams against, you know, for example, like DC United Academy, Philly Union, New York, or Red Bulls. And so the part of the reason why I'm here is partly because of that. Partly it's just the average player, whether it's Wreck or it's just, you know, a local travel team that's looking for, you know, resources to play at a higher level. So, um, the simple takeaway is, uh, we're the the challenge here is just access to resources. We don't have a lot of facility options. Um, and so one of the things that we've done is we've reached out and applied and we have gotten approval. We just can't seem to move forward with the dates and times for the turf fields. Obviously recognize that the school

028would have priority but outside of that um so for example like Hedgesville Martinsburg has been fantastic. Um uh so Hedgersville Muscleman High School just to name a few. So what we were hoping is to figure out what the next step for what that looks like. Um, some of the concerns that have been brought to our attention are some of those facilities are brand new and we want to make sure that those facilities, you know, are taken care of. Um, I just want to make sure everybody understands everybody that would be out there would be a a licensed coach with US Soccer Federation, background checks, the whole nine. A lot of our parents uh are lo, you know, they all work locally, you know, their teachers in the community and so forth. In fact, that's part

029of the reason why I'm here. uh they recommended, hey, can you come speak to the the department of of uh education? So, that's really what we're here for is just to try to identify what are next steps for that. Um, and I will say this, there's a lot of kids that as they start to do the sport at a higher level, they have to leave. They have to go to Virginia or Maryland to get the same level of a program. And I think this is a great opportunity to one take care of everybody that's in the community, but two, you'll naturally have other people spending money here that want to do more things here, whether it's more high-profile games, tournaments, all those types of things. Um, you know, so I think the big thing for

030us is just one to provide that access so players can stay here, but then two, you know, it's kind of, hey, what are the next steps to make that happen? Because we've been working on it for uh I've been involved for three years now. It's been it's been a challenge. Um, and I would say over the last uh I got about 19 seconds. Over the last uh year, we uh especially over the last six months specifically, we've put in the applications, everything's approved. We just can't seem to get dates and times. And so I'll end with this. Leagues are looking for 6 to 12 months in advance for for games. So like when you have a league and you have to put those in, so we can't do it last minute. So that's part of

031the challenge. It's just training times, locations, and games. So anyways, hopefully that gives a little bit of background and uh nothing but good things to say. We're appreciative of the opportunity. Just looking for, you know, what next steps look like. >> Mrs. Clippner will be able to talk with him. >> So perfect. >> She's standing up back there and so she'll be able to to address some of your concerns. >> Thank you. >> Next on the agenda is our monitoring items. Uh professional development Dr. Matthew Woods and Dr. All of us. >> Good evening, uh, President Law, Dr. Saxs, other members of the board. My apologies. I was actually out there with the academic specialist. So, they'll be rotating in and out. We have a big crowd today. Um, but I'm here tonight to um

032provide an instructional update regarding the professional development that we've been engaged in for most of the year. I know in Dr. from Sax's update uh this evening. He also alluded to some of the professional development that we did today with some of the the members of Curriculum Associates, but um myself and other members of the team are going to join me in a little bit to just give you an update over the things that we've been putting in place since the summer and also be able to answer any questions you might have. Um so our purpose today um like I said to highlight the uh priorities to to review the instructional um priorities that we've been engaged in as we talk about the five hips um our literacy initiatives and also um to kind of

033get you behind the scenes on some of the things that we're putting in place as it relates to the third grade success app. Um, as you know, that goes into full swing next school year, but the team and I have already been engaged in putting some of those foundational steps into place to uh better prep us going into next year. >> Okay. Okay. Um, also >> no, you're fine. Um, also to showcase the support. So, um, to share some professional development and the coaching we've been engaged in. Um, like I said, I have some of the academic specialists here with me tonight. And um we also have some of our uh principles here as well that that might chime in on some of the things that we're doing. Um and then last but not least

034to kind of preview next steps as we uh transition back with our students uh tomorrow and hit the ground running on second semester. Um so just kind of a recap our district instructional priorities. Uh one of the things after the um the uh work work session that we did with you all this summer is really kind of think about the work and how we want to ensure that as a district we're all moving toward that common goal of high quality um instruction and high quality literacy. Um so we had developed these what we call these five uh hips the five high impact instructional practices. um you know starting the ground running. We were really concerned about making sure that everybody had access to the proper curriculum that um everybody had firm understanding of how the

035curriculum aligned with uh our state standards. Um then how we craft those performance-based instructional objectives to kind of lead uh those conversations in the work daily in our daily instruction. Um diving into vocabulary for practice three. um as we know that that has been one of the uh big domains that we've struggled with um in the district the last several years how it relates to comprehension um uh practice four when we talk about student independence through u the five E and gradual release. So making sure that all of our uh teachers certified and non-certified have a firm understanding of um high quality instructional frameworks in their delivery. And then last but not least, um five, when we talk about how all of that translates into high quality learners that we should see every day in

036our classrooms. Um so like I said, our once again, those are our four focus areas. How that's been guiding our work and the ways we've been going about supporting our teachers this year is um really diving into when we talk about whole group professional development. So, making sure that we're exposing all of our teachers, certified and non-certified, to this high quality professional development, but then also building in uh strategic points to check in with them, not only at various stages throughout the year, but really kind of meet them where they're at and how do we kind of scale that work. So, like I referenced before, we started the year when we talked about, hey, we want to ensure that everybody has the proper exposure to the curriculum. everybody has the resources that they need and

037then from there in the conversations that we have with our principles how do we then start building on that? So some of our buildings right now um for example have already been engaged with um for example HIT 3 when you talk about vocabulary exploration um some of our our schools today that was part of the professional development that they rolled out today and and that's okay. Those are the conversations we're having with the principles because it really is that kind of give and take and really um myself other members of the instruction team working with them side by side to really meet those folks where they're at and how we scale them up. Um when we talk about excuse me the coaching cycles and that'll be a little bit that the academic specialists talk a

038little bit about as well. Um our academic specialists that we deploy throughout the district um working in tandem with our with our administrators and our teachers. Um, some of it can look like one-on-one, some of it it's small group coaching. Um, some of it is not even just during the day. They've been doing uh professional development and workshop chef sessions, excuse me, after school as well, the beyond the bell. But having a variety of ways to ensure that the professional development that um that we're modeling out that we're providing, that teachers have constant examples that they can fall back on and utilize. and also ask for support. Um, when we talk about the PLC support, um, that is actually one of the things that we're going to be hitting the ground running with as it

039relates to our upcoming instructional meeting with our principles, um, here in January, making sure that the the components of how we lead our PLC's at every school is very consistent um, and that we're doing it in a way based on a lot of their schedules. So, one of the things that has come out of the work um during with the walkthroughs being in the schools having these conversations with principles and teachers is some of the conversations as it relates to master schedules. And why that's very important is because when we talk about how we're deploying some of these resources um based on some of the schedules, we've had to to go back and really kind of fine-tune and tweak because um if certain things in the schedules aren't very consistent, it makes it hard for

040us when we for example to deploy academic specialists or to um have conversations with our friends at um I reading curriculum associates about how we could um deploy those facilitators to help model and co-e and provide support during like teachers planet periods. So, um all of that then kind of feeds into I know the walkthrough tool which I know for a lot of us we remember that was kind of a sore spot if we're all being transparency at the beginning of the year. Um, but I I do feel like from the feedback that I get from from our principles, from other members of the instruction team, I know myself, the feedback that I get from teachers, folks have really bought in and understand that it is not a value. It is all about just coaching

041people up. Hey, giving the support. Hey, here's what we're seeing. It's a small snapshot. It is it is not an observation. So, it's definitely not evaluative, but it's just constantly giving that feedback on the PD that's being provided and what that support will look like. >> I I really I feel like I need to say something. You you had mentioned Dr. that the BCF walkthrough tool. You said if I'm being honest, it was a little bit of a sore spot. And I I I do think that, you know, if you think about I'm going to use a metaphor. When you work muscles, you know, when you go out and you work out and and you're you lift weights or you exercise, you work those muscles that haven't been worked in a while, what happens the

042next couple days? You're a little sore. You know, you're a little uncomfortable, right? And I think that that has been sort of a metaphor for some of the work that we have been focusing on this year is is that we are asking our folks to work muscles that maybe they haven't worked in, you know, for some time. Um and but the thing is is that we have those coaches right there to help them. Um and I think it's also really important as we think about the whole group professional development, the coaching cycles we have in place, the professional learning community support that that Dr. Woods was talking about that we have also asked um our principles um our building leaders, our instructional leaders to take the lead on this work in those schools and uh

043that that is stretching a muscle. Um and I am so proud of not just the work that that that you all have undertook. I'm not going to say I'm proud of the work that's been accomplished yet because because I think that that story is still being written. Um, but I am so proud of the work of our principles and our teachers for their receptiveness to stretching these muscles. I think it's really really important. And um and and I think for a long time what we would have is we would have folks that because it was an uncomfortable place they would say, "Well, I have a I have a coach in the building that will lead that professional development." And we've really pushed back on that board. Um I I want you to know we've really

044pushed back and we've we are emphasizing that that is the role of our principles in our schools and their role is also to build those other leadership structures with ABS uh maybe even some of those coaches that can go in and help reinforce it. But we are and I think if you remember um at the beginning of the year Dr. Woods used the the rubber band metaphor. you know, we're stretching a little bit, you know, you know, we want to be cognizant that we're not breaking anything either, you know. Um, and it is a it is a balance. Sometimes we get it right and sometimes we get a little bit wrong. But we listen and we're in it together. And I think that's really really important. And I just felt like as superintendent I needed

045to make that statement as it relates to how we support our teachers, the intentionality of trying to support our teachers. Again, um, we have a great team that Dr. was going to bring up here in a second to talk about the work, the actual work where the rubber meets the road. But I loved your metaphor. Yeah, I was a little sore. That's cuz man, we're stretching those muscles. >> So, we're working those muscles. >> So, I'm going to see if beef up. >> I know. >> Say that one more time. >> Use those muscles every day. >> There you go. So, um I asked for some of the principles. I think we we have uh some here. And I'm actually going to, if it's okay, turn it over to them for a couple minutes just

046in case if you all want to ask them some some questions about it. So, um, if you recall, this was kind of a very tentative outline district-wise of how we would like to to shift the the district. And what I mean by that is tear everybody into it. So, like we wanted to say like district capacity where where we're at. Um but if you recall we had we were all very transparent and we said hey this is a very aggressive timeline um and also in conjunction with with our principles we want to meet people where they're at schools where they're at. So as you can see this was our tentative um our tentative outline. But as the principles up here know, um not everybody is at some of these levels, right? You know, to be

047transparent, not every school um met this mark and and that's okay. Those were conversations that that I would have I know Miss Clutner at secondary level, Mr. Molx at the elementary level would have with those principles to say, "Hey, you know, tell us what support that you need like like where are your teachers at when we come in and we're doing walkthroughs with you. um are we seeing folks picking up the capacity that we need? And if we're not seeing it, what type of pivots do we need to make and supports we need to provide to to get you where you're at? And um like Dr. Sax has said, you know, the principles have been amazing helping to lead this work in their buildings, but have also been very transparent with us about where their

048buildings are at, what they need support-wise to to get them to where they're at. So, I'm actually going to kind of turn it over to them real quick and just see if you all have any kind of questions for them kind of either about this outline and some of the work so far before then um I have the academic specialist kind of go a little bit more in depth. >> We're all here together. We're buddies. Come on. >> We have very far apart perspective too. Um, are we you want us? >> Yeah. Do you have any questions about like what it's looked like in the school from the principal standpoint? >> Well, I I have a question if it's okay. Yes. Just to start off, >> do you feel as I as I talked about

049that you as as instructional leaders in your buildings um in your staffs that you have that you have been um challenged or stre or stretched um in your own growth as an instructional leader this year? >> I definitely feel that way. I I can talk a little bit being the new one to the group. Um, I know there were a lot of things just looking at it from the school lens versus the district lens where I was previously looking at it from. So, I've had to kind of drill down a little bit further, especially with the addition of Khan Academy. I've called on the specialist quite a bit to say, "Okay, here's what we're seeing. What pivot do we need to make? We're noticing in this classroom we're super successful. We're seeing gains. We're seeing

050success. But in this classroom, we're not. Let's get in and look at." And then I've been able to kind of go with them and say, "Oh, I like this. I don't like this. And they've been able to not only coach me but also coach our assistants and then coach our teachers as well. So that's been super helpful for me personally. >> Mr. Murphy, >> the um are you given a a quot of walkthroughs? >> There's a guideline like we've done 780 of them so far. >> Okay. But let's say in a week >> in a week we're supposed to get 10 per administrator. So I have five administrators. So we get about 50 a week and we've made more than that. We didn't do them during the exam week because we wanted to protect that

051time, but it's been really kind of cool because then we did we introduced number four today, but as we're going through number three, I'm like, "Oh my gosh, I know this teacher. I know this teacher." It's really kind of put an accountability piece on me to make sure I'm in there. Make sure I'm monitoring and making sure that I really have a good pulse on, wow, this teacher's really good at this. Oh my gosh, I didn't realize how good this person was at this. Like when we were talking today, it was really easy to go back and say, "Well, when we were in this co-op class in science, they were doing this lab." You were and Dr. Woods were actually in that class. I was able to pull back because I'm in so many places.

052And I think it's been good for the kids to see, too. >> Well, I I'm not arguing about it. I I just worry because you're at with Hedgesville High. >> Yes, sir. >> And you you're you have five people doing and you're you have two two of you or just one? just one. So you have 10 that you have to do and you're in a smaller school and I'm even thinking of Burke Street which is even smaller and these this frequency of contacts that you're having versus what else you have to do in the office. I'm just wondering u do we have this one sizefits all but it's more of a burden to the small school than the large school. >> I mean that's a that's a fair question. Um, and I wasn't sure what

053was going to look like to be beginning. Walk course has always been a priority of mine is I mean that's the most important thing is to be in the classes and see what's going on with our students. Um, but I'm I'm blessed with a student assistant facilitator. So I'm able to have that more of a focus to be able to be that instructional leader and to be in the classrooms and to get those 10 walkthroughs in. >> I was just but I was just thinking >> frequency >> the frequency of contact with the teachers. you are having more contact with your teachers than the large school and is it necessary? >> It's not uncommon for me to be in the classrooms. So, I mean I'm I'm in the classroom. So, I wouldn't say it's I

054mean it's it's part of my job. It's what I do is I'm constantly in the classrooms. So, I I think it's it's worked out. I was skeptical at first to see, you know, the walkthrough piece of it and that was going to be cumbersome. Um, but now that I understand more the platform and what it looks like on my end and which components um, I need to take care of for each hip, it's it's actually it's been it's been fine. Yeah, I was just concerned about the small school versus the larger school and we have have this ratio that I'm worried that that you're not able to do some other jobs because you're you're the learn ranger in your school >> and it does get tricky when we have you know different assessments or assembly

055a certain day but there has been nice flexibility within my supervisors where if I don't reach the 10 due to doing other activities if it's okay. And so I think there was concern with that beginning like it's 10 no matter what you must get the 10. Um again being a sole principal administrator that was a worry of my mine and my colleagues as well because there are other things that take place you know obviously throughout the the u the weeks and each day but knowing that there is flexibility and understanding that I may not reach that 10 due to participatory running an assembly or >> you can have one student tie up 80%. Sure. Sure. >> Sure. [clears throat] >> Do you think um all of you feel like that we are getting an honest

056feedback from teachers? I mean do they tell you one thing and then do they share with their other cohorts the different >> My teachers are very vocal and um it's a blessing sometimes and sometimes it's not. Um, but I actually do appreciate their honesty, but I, you know, I don't know what they say to other people, but they're very open with me and very honest. >> Well, I would hope that they would be able to feel share exactly how they feel because that's the only way we're going to know >> if something's working or isn't working besides the outcome. What are some concerns that you made that you or have you heard any concern from the staff regarding either the walkthroughs or and are we still hearing concerns about um planning time and things like

057that as well? Like I know we heard that a lot last year and previous years as well and I wanted to know the walkthroughs and all these changes what feedback you're getting. I think time is always going to be of the essence right you know we don't have an abundance of days where we can spend like we did today we spent all day today really diving in really rehashing we had data to look at really good conversations our for our school we are on hip three we had to do some level setting with hip one and two we took things a little bit slower because we really wanted to get it right and we did a lot of of diving deep and that that's always a concern I hear from teachers I wish I had

058another day. I wish I was able to plan more with my colleagues, all of our algebra 1 teachers getting together, not during just their planning time. I think that's always that is always a concern that we do that we do hear from them for sure. We had a lot of concern at the start of the year with Khan Academy because it was new and it's been we were able to preserve a good at the secondary level. We were able to preserve a lot more I think time for teacher support and things that first week when they came back. And then our academic specialists are in our building once a week and they've been really good with my English and math especially going in with study sync our English books and saying hey do you need

059help with this because special ed hasn't always been party to the same support and I think that I mean our academic specialists have helped a lot in English and math especially special ed and the Khan Academy and the Texas so just being able when they needed it I think it's been a little less right to the last. >> At the beginning of the year, I really had to um talk my some of my teachers off the crook, you know, with the walkthroughs in their print and everything. I've had to bring them down and just build a relationship of trust with them and me. And because I have that relationship, we are starting three as well this week and we talked about it at our staff meeting today. And there really weren't that many questions. We

060had reviewed it before today. um they used to go to wait time or there question um and there really were and I'm trying to still trying to understand why they're either they weren't awake or they just they just trust me I you know not using it as a gotcha and they know that um we're using it as growth and I've said to them you are already doing this this is just best practice you're not going to teach something and not uh explain a word that you know they don't know or even you know that you think they don't So, um I think that helped them because my staff is mostly veteran. And so I think HIT 3 has been the smoothest transition so far. >> I I think piece of hip three is so fun

061though because then when you start going in they're like they're ask they're gonna ask the kids get all in on getting ready. [clears throat] >> I I have to agree to Jackie at the beginning in August. >> I I know my staff likes to be prepared. They want to know what's going on because they're perfectionists and they they are incredible what they do. >> And so when you look at that, that's overwhelming to to an educator who's been successful for many years. >> And so I said, "We're not going to reach this timeline. [laughter] we're going to get there, but we may go at a different pace because I wanted to go at a pace that was comfortable and suitable um for my staff and that made everybody feel comfortable and on board and that

062we're being thorough in this and not trying to be the first ones finished because that's not the goal I want to accomplish. I want to make sure everybody was on board, we were together and going through this process together. >> That kind of leads in from into my question actually sort of Dr. was like from today do we is there any like areas that we could pivot from that we've learned from the discussions from today or the past month on this or anyone can ask >> yeah I um one of the things that I'll tell you that was a pivot that um I didn't really anticipate initially was as it related to curriculum um some of the initial professional development um I guess styles and what we had kind plan back in like July, August,

063um when we started getting the feedback and then even as we rolled into to to August to be transparent up until September, the first couple walkthroughs when we saw how much work we needed to really invest in the curriculum as it related to um staff that just needed access to the curriculum. um having great conversations with our principles where we ran into situations about for example like outdated pacing guides um and maps that we had to kind of revamp. Um I would be lying if I didn't say initially that was something we knew that work needed to happen but maybe not at the magnitude that that it needed to. Um, and I feel like I can speak for members of the instruction team and then also with the principles when we kind of all had

064to kind of get together and like Katie had alluded to like, okay, I can already now see this is going to extend this outcome or two. Um, but that's okay because we're making strides to where we need to be. That would be the biggest >> to the to the principles. Um, I was in church. I go, but anyway, I was in church and at the beginning of the year, school year, and one of the people told me, you know, this is my last year. This is it. And I was just wondering what was the morale like at the beginning of the year when this was rolled out in your in your schools in general? And has it improved as before? >> I can tell you my morale was it was rough and um I really

065believe that this is just my second year here and my second year in primary. Um and [clears throat] I just had I really had to talk them down and just say this is what we're going to be doing. It's going to be okay. You got to trust me. Not going to do anything to harm you. I know you guys work hard. Primary teachers, you know, sorry, secondary, some primary teachers work so hard. Um, and they're so dedicated and um, so it was just really building that relationship and having them trust me that I wasn't going to ding them or out to get them, you know, that I wanted to work together and work. But it was it was hard at first >> and now >> it's great. I mean, like I said, staff meeting today,

066no questions. So I [clears throat] it was I'm I'm excited to go in and start with the history. And one one thing this board has been pushing correctly because we've been watching you know West Virginia ranks last close to it and we were sliding to the bottom of the bar uh over the years and so between the recruitment of our superintendent and questions we're doing but are we are we at fault for not getting that message to you all. >> What message? >> The message of we want to see we want to turn it around and and uh we're we're not in the classroom. It's not our job as board members to be telling you how to teach that we wanted to change the direction that we saw in the performance of our students and

067uh so have we failed or was there a better way that we could have done things? I would have liked to have seen some training in the summer where teachers got paid their hourly rate or whatever assignment to come in for some couple of days of training and kind of ease them into it so they knew what was going to be happening. We said, you know, the first week we got back. >> Now, they did have at Hedville High an Academy. Remember that? >> That was and I thought I saw some of this going there. >> Yeah. Dr. Woods came and did the presentation and I think that >> I was lucky I had a lot of teachers there. >> Yeah. because it was at my school >> and I know that his sessions were

068full and I mean I had questions after the initial principal meeting and he was there who was standing in the back of the door and I was like I have got to ask questions because I am writing all these things down and I really I don't want to mess this up >> because I have a really good relationship with my staff going in and and they do we had that trust because I was an assistant so long so we were familiar but >> it was a big change. He sat with me for three hours to make sure that I knew exactly what my expectations were and I would ask a question and you would answer and then that gave me a lot of information to share with pockets of my staff. So we pulled in

069and we did little meetings. I was able to start getting that message out a lot. So I'm going to say no, not necessarily because I think the teachers all agree because when they like certain ones of my teachers are sitting down and my English department, wow, writing, you know, like the English department came to me today and said we're still just not getting where we need to get with writing. They they realize that we have to change and it's just all of us together having to >> change is hard. >> It really is uncomfortable and hard and it's just all of us having to work together and get where we need to go because it's all about kids. >> Well, just a comment. One thing I was worried when we first started all this that

070that younger new teachers, >> but then what I heard was, well, that's all they know. That's >> uh and really the hardship was maybe for the >> veteran teachers. >> I think they were 12 kids. >> Yeah. >> So, and I was kind of thinking of the opposite way. >> Well, but then we've got tools like the instructional framework. Did you guys get to look at that? Like I was going through that today with some people and that's been super super great to use with some of my perm subs and some of my younger teachers. He's like it is it's all they know. But it very clearly says, "Okay, we're in a 612 math class and we're looking at this. This the teacher is going to be doing this. This is the kind of thing

071that you should look for for the kids." So it kind of lowers that anxiety like, "Oh my gosh, am I doing it right? Am I doing it right?" So it's not always just us. Do this, do this, do this. It's okay. I can reflect a little bit. Like I actually had several teachers that came and said, "Hey, can we look at this again? Can we go through this again today?" Which was kind of cool. >> Well, I don't want to rush this, but I know Dr. Woods has more slides to go through. Thank you. >> So then, um, like I said, last but not um, I brought, like I said, we have our academic specialists here. Um, if they, the specialist want to come in here. um they just have a a collection of some

072of the things that they've been engaged in um throughout the district at some of the schools. I think for some of them they have some either some of the strategies and some of the spotlights. So um like I said, I know it's it's it's a large group of them, but I just wanted you all to have an opportunity to kind of see them and hear from them very briefly about the the work that they engaged in. Um, like I said, I think they're just pretty much gonna kind of give just a quick 30 second spill, but um, collectively here, unless y'all want them, but um, >> yes, sir. But, um, but like I said, they're all here just to get if you all have any questions about what it looks like in a dayto day

073for them as the academic specialist. Um, because they do work at different levels. Um I I I know that I think like as long as I know when we've done um some walkthroughs together, I think you might have seen some of them kind of coming in and out the building because they're they're usually zipping around a couple buildings every day. Um so we definitely appreciate the work that they do. Um I'll just turn it over to them, let them kind of speak and then like I said, if you have questions for them or myself, I'll be glad to answer it again. Hello F panel and this year I serve as the K2 math and science specialist. That means I support teachers across all 15 of the primary schools. My focus is improving student achievement in

074math and science by strengthening daily classroom instruction. I work side by side with teachers through job embedded support, meeting them in schools during professional learning and in classrooms, often through co-planning and co-eing and collaborative problem solving. After professional learning, I move directly into classrooms to support implementation. This ensures new strategies translate into student centered instruction, increased engagement, and deeper understanding. We celebrate successes, address challenges in real time, and continuously refine practices so instruction better meets the needs of all of our learners. So there are two pictures on the slides. On the left, you see Kimber Skagg's kindergarten classroom at Rosemont. After a quick session on try it, discuss it, connect it strategies from our I Ready Math curriculum, Kimber is showcasing her learning by leading a strong lesson that emphasized student thinking, multiple strategies, and

075rich discussion. And then on the right, you see Angel's classroom at Berkeley Heights in second grade. Here we co-taught a lesson together using the thinking classroom model that gave students opportunities to collaborate, share strategies, and engage in our West Virginia habits of mind. Through these experiences, our focus is clear. We empower teachers to deliver highquality instruction that drives meaningful student learning. Thank you. Hi, my name is Rachel Yates and as the academic specialist for grades three through five math and science, this is my first year in this role after spending 15 years teaching fifth grade. That classroom experience guides the way that I support teachers with practical effective instructional strategies that strengthen student understanding and achievement. In August, I supported teachers in using Twix science resources to build strong standards aligned science instruction. In September,

076we used our ready data to drive math instruction, plan small groups, and target specific student needs. October focused on classroom discussions that center on student thinking and the development of thinking classrooms where students explain their reasoning and learn from one another. In November, we emphasized the CRA model and how to effectively use manipulatives to move students from concrete understanding to abstract understanding. I also supported an extension of the regional math training focusing on grades three through five math standards and the intentional use of manipulatives. I have modeled lessons and co-taught in various math and science classrooms to help build teacher capacity. For example, Miss Britney Baker, third grade at Orchard View, attended the regional training with us and is now using manipulatives to help strengthen her students understanding of multiplication and division. The third grade

077team at Eagle School has been participating in PLC's to discuss their student achievement and work to focus on best practices that support student growth. Overall, my work centers on building teacher capacity and improving outcomes for students in math and science. Thank you. Hello, my name is Rachel Garlington and I am the K2 ELA and social studies academic specialist. My work directly aligns with the district's high impact instructional priorities and through individual and team based support. I am able to strengthen tier one instruction by ensuring curriculum alignment with standards, developing clear performance-based objectives, supporting intentional vocabulary instruction, and guiding datadriven small group instruction and planning. Much of my work this year has focused on clear communication and providing teachers with the resources and guidance that they needed to bridge instruction from August until the launch of

078our new curriculum tomorrow. support has helped me. This support has helped me improve consistency and alignment across our K2 schools throughout the county. In collaboration with my counterpart Heather McCain, we have facilitated monthly ELA cohort meetings where teachers engage in meaningful professional dialogue, examine high impact instructional practices, and align state and county expectations with our new magnetic literacy curriculum. This year has presented a lot of challenges for elementary teachers and I'm grateful for their dedication and their willingness to adapt as we work towards greater consistency and effectiveness across the county. Is there pictures more? >> Good evening. My name is Heather McCain and I am the 35 academic specialist for ELA and social studies. This fall I delivered a series of professional learning sessions across our schools focused on strengthening core instruction in literacy and

079supporting three high impact instructional practices. In August and September, I provided performance-based objectives training and school AI instructional framework lesson planning to ensure instruction begins with the standard stays aligned to the curriculum and includes clear objectives and success criteria. In September and October, I supported phonics for reading implementation for teachers and interventionists and delivered dexia dyslexia screening training. From September to present, I have facilitated professional learning communities to keep instructional decisions data informed and standards aligned. In October, I led science of reading vocabulary across the curriculum training through a whole school PL day and additional sessions throughout schools and helped to host a beyond the bell vocabulary PD with academic specialists to deepen consistent vocabulary routines. In November, K5 teachers engaged in explicit vocabulary morphology best practices through our reading cohort, as Rachel explained. And

080in November and December, I worked with Blanca Kuna, our curriculum associate specialist, to provide a three session magnetic literacy overview and transition planning to ensure continuity and alignment of instruction. Together, these efforts strengthen grade level teaching and learning by aligning what we teach to standards, clarifying learning targets, and intentionally build the academic vocabulary students need to access complex text and demonstrate mastery. >> Good evening everyone. Dr. Amanda Stevens. I am the academic specialist for the ECAT. So I serve K through three ECATs in all 21 elementary schools. Um and mostly though this is brand new this year. So one of the most exciting things has been just getting our ECADs access to their resources. Getting them on I Ready getting them to be able to explore and play and understand what their role is and

081what resources they can use from there. And then we're moving into things like doing readalouds and how to help run their guided groups. The goal for our ECATs is that they be a support for the teacher to then extend the support for our students in the classroom. Um you can see some of the great um ECATs and some of the work they're doing anywhere from onetoone intervention to small group writing. And one of the things I've noticed about our ECATs is one they absolutely love the time to learn and two they know our students. they are a hidden resource that I don't think we always realize just how well they know our students. So, it has been very exciting for me to to open this up and thank you to Lewis and Dr. Woods for

082turning me loose on this brand new project. Um, and as we move forward, we're going to move into more individualized PD based on school and ECAT needs in classrooms. >> Hi, I'm Teresa Campbell. I am the middle school academic specialist um English language arts and social studies and uh I am new to this position after 32 years of teaching uh and 26 of those from Berkeley County. Um so this year I have had some wonderful experiences. I've been teaching uh teachers how to use the textbooks, the curriculum. Uh social studies had a new adoption this year. So I've been able to help them go in learn the platform online the textbook as well as ELA with our new teachers the study sync platform also online in workbooks and the hardback books. I have uh created

083vocabulary strategies and I've brought those principles and the middle schools. In fact, today I spent my morning at Muslewood Middle and this afternoon at North Middle going through five vocabulary strategies to support their hip-free movements. Um, I've also been involved with creating and presenting the um afterchool beyond the bell presentations. And in my pictures, you can see that I have been working in North Middle um with Mrs. Smith and she's doing the close read. I did a close read professional development in September and I walked in one day and she was doing it and I snapped the picture. I was so pleased and in the bottom picture I was at Mountain Ridge Middle School and Mrs. Neimodowski was doing a phenomenal job of annotating her objective for the lesson. I just happened to walk out

084and she's done a great job and that's what I have done this year to help support our schools and teachers. Thank you. Good evening. I'm Jenny Brooks and I'm the math and science academic specialist for high school. Uh some of the work that I've done this year is going to the classrooms and helping teachers with their out of the box activities like this teacher who decided to make human graphs from the quadratics that she's working with one of our students. I've also gone in and helped model some different things like annotating the performance-based objectives and then being there as teachers do it themselves so that way they they have questions they can ask. And then a lot of professional development such as vocabulary which is tip number three. I was at three different high schools

085today doing those vocab practices with them. And then also a lot on Khan Academy and Conigo and how to look at that data and use those AI tools to help our students. Thank you. >> Hi, I'm Chad Spencer. I'm the high school ELA and social studies uh academic specialist. um moved to this job after spending 21 years as an English teacher at Musman High and two and a half years as an assistant principal at Mount Ridge Middle. Um just some of the highlights of things that uh I've been involved in uh beyond the bell sessions for those um talking about building stations in classrooms at the elementary, middle, and high school levels. um Khan Academy, helping teachers and administrators uh implement Khan Academy um and how to use it effectively and efficiently as a supplemental

086tool. Um as Teresa did with the middle school ELA and social studies teachers, uh I worked with the high school teachers in those same subject areas, working with Study Sync implementation, uh showing teachers the online tools that they have to help make their jobs more effective and more efficient. uh vocabulary three. Jenny and I worked on that this morning. We were both uh at all three or three of the four high schools. Uh working on multiple strategies um how to [clears throat] impressing upon teachers the idea of frontloading um so that growth is shown later on down the line. uh and talking about testing and talking about how we can make the SAT and other uh state testing uh a positive experience for students so that whenever testing time comes um students are ready for

087that and they're actually ready for it in a positive way. Thank you. >> Hi, I'm Veronica the final academic specialist. Um I am over CTE and fine arts. Um throughout the year I've supported instructional um practices in the classroom through professional development um as well as data analysis and helping curate curriculum curriculum maps. Um so a couple of the professional developments that I have assisted in was the beyond the bell um CTE accountability and data. We're currently focusing on improving our work-based learning hours and CTE. I've done a lot of one-on-one and groupled instruction to kind of allow us to get that um those hours embedded into NATI. We've also today actually we did a deep dive in our NATI pre-esting data. So, I'm happy to report that uh Hedgesville High School and um Martinsburg

088High School already postested their CWST students. Hedgesville had a 90.9% passing rate and then our um Martinsburg High School they had a 96%. So very excited about that and hoping that we keep that traction going. Um have focused on vocabulary strategies uh the fine arts curriculum maps and standards and also helping with station rotations. Um and finally I've also assisted with some of our community partnerships such as the snowman contest. So if you haven't voted make sure you vote it ends on Friday. Thank you. >> And board members, the Beyond the Bell, I just want to make sure we we've referenced that. I just want to make sure that you're aware that's an afterchool virtual sort of like a opportunity that teachers can dig a little deeper and hone those skills. And I think we

089had four of those in first semester. Um >> six. >> Um and I know some focus on a whole plethora of different things. So, um, really appreciate the work on that as well. So, I know you heard from all of them and I know it seemed like a lot. It was like a factory line of the, um, specialists coming through, but but we're a very large district, if you know, with 32 schools, so you can imagine how how often folks are running around. Um, and we really couldn't do this work without them. they they support us uh so much because I think we all know especially with professional development you know it's one thing to to model and give the professional development but like you heard from some of the principles then then how what

090does that coaching look like where did that support come from and and they're the ones that that we deploy um they're they're in schools constantly the the really only time they check in up here is on Fridays usually if they have um presentations or PD that they're working on or for a lot of times if myself or Louisis or Holly, we need to kind of debrief with them on things that we're seeing and that we want them to come support on. So, do you have any like general big questions? >> Go ahead. Go ahead. I just want uh and this is I've thought about this all year and I I think I know the answer but do you have all of you have u many of your teachers come to you I mean with or

091do you question >> okay we were just talking about it out there sorry my answer to that question would be in in terms of the teachers they don't hesitate to come and my schedule is full I'm actually overflowing with teachers coming and say hey can you come do this. Hey, will you help with this? So, I think we're pretty well received among the teachers and they're not afraid to ask us to come and help and get better at what they're doing. >> Can you explain that in just a little bit more detail? So, like give them give the board an example of your day. So, you you you're going to have a I'm not trying to put words in your mouth, but you're going to be stationed by the teachers know your schedule is you're

092going to be at this school this day. Just walk them through what that means. Teachers coming to you. >> Okay. So I get there the same usually by 8 o'clock I'm there um walking in the hallway saying good morning letting them know that I'm there in case they forgot because they get busy. Um I can start out usually debrief with the principal touch base make sure there's nothing else. I can some days I do PLC's so I'm meeting with teams throughout the day during their planning. Other days I will start when they start instruction at 9:00 I go from classroom to classroom co-eing modeling working with teachers following up with them during their planning. Um, I rarely have a day that I'm not going from beginning to end because they come and find me wherever

093I'm working or I go down the hallway and they catch me and pop in a classroom for something else. So, some days it's PLC, some days it's modeling and co-eing with them in their classrooms. >> You today I had the pleasure of being with several of the academic specialists at Eagle School today and it was a very open thing that the teacher was saying, I don't know enough about can you come and tell me and sometimes it wasn't even about this group here. It was about I think Derek Oldfield will be able to help you with that. We'll get you the assistance that you need, but they were very open to say I need support with and I I love that because again, none of us know everything, but what can we find how do

094we get better? And it was definitely evident today at Eagle School. >> Do you find um that there are people that don't come to you, but do you see that maybe they need help and you go to them? >> I can um lots of times that I do a professional running for everybody. I open it up and I'm like, "Guys, let's see what this looks like in the classroom." And um some people are hesitant, but once they see me in multiple classrooms, not just certain ones, um they're more open. So, it takes a while to build that relationship and that trust, but once you open the door and and you get in a classroom beside them and problem solve with them, it opens the door for more opportunities. So it just takes some time but

095it it does happen. >> Can I put a little more pressure on for a second? I apologize but you know one of the things that we often see at the at the elementary level because a lot of our schools were title one at the elementary level. Our elementary teachers were used to having coaches that would be in the schools where we didn't often see that was at the secondary level. So Teresa could you give anam could you answer Jackie's or Mrs. uh mom's question from your perspective of the well I just one of the thing and the reason is I know what she might talk about that is is the study site because that was a resource that you know when we did our our audit that we had said oh oh my goodness it's

096not being utilized we still have books that are still in packaging and there wasn't that continuity to bring on the new teachers or the current subs and those sort of things and so could you just give a perspective of how you seated >> am I okay to stand here Oh, okay. >> As long as you're staying, I guess you're good. >> Yeah. It's no problem. >> So, yes, the study sync was an issue at the beginning. Um, study sync was adopted in 2021. COVID um the training that rolled out with that was not the best and our teachers truly were just trying to survive that year. Uh so they sort of relied on the previous textbook and then um as things evolved we weren't using study sync as much as we should have been. So

097my biggest job at the beginning of the year in August was to take teachers through the study sync trainings um show them all of the resources that are online. show them how to put Study Sync into Schooly and streamline it so that it grades things for them so that it's one-stop for students. They can just open up Schooly, click on the lesson, click on a quiz, click on questions, even a video, it'll read it out loud to them. So, I have been able I spent oh my gosh, the very first three weeks of school in all six middle schools with all of the ALA teachers. Um I did like sixth grade group, seventh grade group, eighth grade group uh each time that I went out and then I would go into different teachers classrooms who

098needed a little more support because it is a lot of technology. It is a lot of clicking. It's not easy to remember everything when you have this platform to look at, this platform to look at, and this one. So I'm always happy to go out and now as Doy said, I've built some great relationships. they can just shoot me an email and if I can't get out there to them, I'll either stop and make a video of exactly what they're asking and shoot it out to them, I can usually respond, uh, well, usually that same day, but with a text, uh, an email, or send them a video. So, I feel like we've made great strides with that this year. Um, and as I showed you, when I did the close read stuff and walked

099in and saw a teacher doing that, I was >> I I know. I was like, "Yeah, >> did that help?" >> Yes. >> Great exam. >> Mr. Spencer, you feel the same, right? >> Yes. Yeah. I had to do pretty much exactly what Teresa said, uh, at the high school level as well. Um, working with teachers individually. Sorry. Working with teachers individually, um, particularly newer teachers or teachers that had transitioned from one career to another. um you know going through just like here are all the things that the textbook offers. Uh and like Teresa said the the technology part once I went through you know the the book will annotate all you have to do is click a button. Um you know the reading it reads at different speeds. Um, it it does things that,

100you know, if you have an IEP for a student that says they need these three or four different accommodations, the book will do that, but teachers didn't realize that with the click of a button. And so, it made reading levels um much easier for teachers to differentiate instruction. Instead of them having to spend hours and hours and hours of extra planning time, the book does it for them. The lesson plans that are in the book are super um specific and includes scaffolding, differentiation, everything is built in. But teachers didn't know that because as as Teresa also mentioned um the initial roll out because of the time period um didn't allow for really a deep dive into here's how we use this curriculum. So, um, once teachers found that out, they were like, "This is amazing."

101And, um, so it's it's been wonderful to see those things happen. So, and history has been the same way as far as the roll out of their their new books this year, too. >> Are the are the are the teachers one of the things I remember is you traveling from here to here in your lesson. Is that still being is I mean if it's over in this book if your lesson part book should say to page 423 >> are we still doing a lot of redundancy with our teachers >> uh the the first we're treating everyone like they're going to be absent for 180 days >> when when if if they're if they're faithfully there I think they ought to be able to do their own lesson plans without having all this Sure. I the

102the way the book is set up, the way the curriculum is set up is teachers could use that lesson plan verbatim if they chose to. Um, but the the nice thing about it is they can just pull bits and pieces that they feel best fit the needs of their kids without having to just copy verbatim um and sound robotic. >> Um, they they have the freedom to jump around in a lesson plan without losing kids. Um, it's more about the tools that the the curriculum offers that helps teachers and students. Um, you know, >> what I'm trying to do here is make the point that if it's there in this book, you don't have to write it all in your lesson plan book. You just sit there and say, "Look at page the TM." I

103said, "All right, catch." I I see this for seven and I and I want to say I think one of the things you can tell that the impact that they've had on that work is if you remember at the beginning of the year when we had the conversations about curriculum how it it raised a lot of concern a lot of folks had anxiety but and I know the principles as well had shared with me as folks really started diving into for example the work that the academic specialists have engaged them with but most importantly just making sure folks feel comfortable with the curriculum regardless of what level we're talking about, primary, intermediate, or in this case, secondary that how that that um that nervousness, that pressure went down because like you're saying, a lot of

104the things are built into the curriculum and the resources that you all have helped us purchase for the district at all levels. Um, a lot of those requests I know the principal told me went down because then as folks started engaging for example like Teresa said with study sync then it became very overwhelming. There's more resource resources in here than I even know how to use. So that kind of goes back to the comment I made earlier about I think what Mr. Martin had asked about any pivots or things that we noticed initially. That's why the professional development those first couple of months uh really were just more focused on curriculum because we started the the feedback that we got from from teachers. They shared with me the principles um the specialists that they wanted

105to to have more in-depth dives into the curriculum and those resources so things wouldn't filter. One one of the observations back when North Middle had all the problems before a lot of people and a lot of you all sitting up there the board came up with some individual ideas first off and uh President Hardesy said he didn't think this board could do it and so we we took up the challenge and we made suggestions and one of the suggestions we made was and we heard it, Miss Long and I heard this uh when we visited with the principles that we did that they did not see the board office out in the county at that time. And now and so one of the items we made recommendation was we need to get the board office

106out into the into the county and we caught some back back pressure. I'm sorry, Miss Power is not here because she and I specifically had a confrontation with one of the central people about that. And I'm glad to see I mean we didn't we didn't punish or have reprisal against the criticism, but we didn't back off. And now we see you all in here one day a week and you're out there four days a week. and it's having an impact and it's it it's one of the problems that I've seen as a former classroom teacher and as a board member is in the past you had us against them both ways. the rank and file looked at the board office for hostility and the board office for some reason had a big negative attitude toward

107the rank and file and we're seeing through this model and I I have something I wanted to talk to you about later Dr. sex, but we're seeing a shift and we went through it last spring when you had this big shuffle and you had people having to reapply for different jobs and eliminating other positions and switching to corrective like we're seeing here. And this has changed. I I don't think people realize the amount of change this has brought into the county. Now, we have to wait and see the results. And I'm and I'm talking about the test, but we're going in the direction where we're at least attacking in the right direction of trying to get as a team the instru the focus on instruction and how to get a change. Unfortunately, and it was

108brought up earlier, it's a it's a change and it's a comfort thing. If I have had a choice of changing next year or doing what I've done for 20 years, I want to do what I've done, what I want to wear the shoes I feel comfortable with. And that's and that's the abrasive thing. That's why I asked the question about But we are getting the board office out there and I think we're creating more of a team. We're all in this together. Let's do it together and solve it together. And that's and that's just a compliment we're experiencing. >> Um not to um cut you off at the knees, but um we need to go to our next >> Yeah, I was going to say and like just to kind of wrap up, apologize. I

109know the um it's kind of jumbled there. um the the spring semester, what we're looking at is uh continuing to help our um u schools throughout the district as they kind of transition into those next steps. You heard from some of the principles where they're at. So, so the schools are at very different levels and I know as we've like for example been unpacked in their midyear data that is actually something we've been looking at like what school is where um based on this progression compared to others. Um, as we even drill down even more specific, where are we seeing those those those those highlights with some of our teachers and who are those folks we can wrap our arms around to use them to kind of help model the things that we would like

110to see as we keep moving forward. Um and then like I said, just continuing to review what those uh PLC cycles look like, how we help our um principles, especially as we come back from break, how we make those um appropriate midyear pivots in those respective buildings to get them where they need to be. This a question you ask me is close reading something new or is it just a new terminology for something we don't read >> on my back >> I was reading what it is and I'm like well I did that when I was little but >> when you did you guys up there when you did close reading when you were little what do you remember doing? Well, no. I just want my parents taught me. >> What did >> just basically

111um how to break down sentences um get the context of what you're reading, things like that. >> So, okay. Yes. Very much similar. So, close reading now is teaching pre-teaching the vocabulary before the students see it uh in the reading. Um and then they're doing one read. So, they have a first read and then they take a skill. Um, it could be like if you're looking for theme or if you're looking for irony, some sort of element of literature. Um, and you're doing a second read just for that skill. And then your close read is your final read where you take the first read information like your basic level. Can you answer who, what, when, where, and why. And then that second read gives you that skill. And then that close read is that third

112read or that um yeah third read that puts the first read and the second read together and that's where you get that really deep comprehension. So can you figure out why there is irony in this story or this um text? So that's what it is but it it's a very good process. Um, and Study Sync has it set up seamlessly. So, when our teachers use it, they've discovered it's um, it's very good. It's very positive for our students. They're getting a lot out of it that way. >> And it's also a skill you can use in probably they do it most read. They read it multiple times if they thank all of you for Mr. We're here for the presentation and anything that can do for us. It's we're anxiously waiting on the results. still

113have one more thing for instruction. >> Well, before we go to the special, can we close the door? Because I don't think the heat shut off since we >> No, I don't want to let the heat in, but I think it will turn the air the off. What do you think, Justin? >> I mean, it's not shut off. I think we definitely impose right here. >> Well, I mean, >> that's what I heard. >> So, it's not >> Mr. Dill, we're going to go into the overview of the significant disproportionality determination letter and the CCS profile. Thank. Um, basically this presentation is about equity, equity across our across our county. And basically what we're looking for is uh the invocation of our students into special education, the appropriate placement in those classrooms, whether they're getting

114the right amount of percentage of time in whether it's code talk classrooms or in inclusive classrooms. And then also in equitable um discipline these um but this data is looked at over a three-year period not just one year and then it's all done. So it's more of a um more of a more complex look at our equity in our schools. What is CCIS? is a comprehensive coordinated early intervention services. Probably couldn't say that with without stuttering again be quite honest with you. But um it is district that's required by the district when we're looking at significant disortality over time. uh what examines of special education like I the like I said earlier identification um the categories and placement and the discipline um and districts are only when this portionality is sustained over multiple years. So

115this kind of letting you know what we look at I want to kind of jump to something here. Okay. So, we're in the ending of my presentation, our uh program, we were not identified with any disproportion disproportionality. Sorry, I'm having a hard time talking tonight. Uh our at risk factors, what we're looking at here is anything that's a three. And as you can see up here, uh few years ago, I don't know what happened in this data range, but we had a 3.79. So we actually had what we would consider a risk factor. Now in my mind this could be a good or this could be a problem or might not be a problem. But the reason we want to look at this is because it is over a three. And probably sale size had

116a lot to do with that. So we're probably talking about a small number of students but yet it shows up as a large number due to the fact that you had that small cell size. Okay. Um, once again, ratios, we want to try to keep them around one. And we'll start I'll start showing signal data here in a few minutes. Um, needsbased identification. The reason we do this is uh to look at our race and ethnicity in our county and making sure that we are meeting that standard. Like I said, this is all about equity. This is nothing about blame or anything like that. And we also want to look at positive trends. And earlier we had some patterns that were up and right now we have stabilized and we're looking very good for the

1172425 school year. Okay. uh steady progress over time uh stabilization and we're looking at strong root growth around early inventions such as our focus classroom some of our RBPs or BCDAS that sort of lends into how we're meeting the needs of our students in that discipline area. looking at our practices around this for example where we're looking at our students how we're identifying them what um what percentages are there once again we had an area here in 2022 2023 seems like that was a tough year for some reason but we were identifying more black Africanamean students than what we probably should have at that point in time but we have since then dropped down As you can see, uh, we've become more steady as the years have went on. And we were actually looking at,

118uh, actually pretty much, if you look, we're pretty close to ones all the way through in this 2425 school year. If you look, so we are, so what that's telling us is that we're doing what we're supposed to be doing when it comes to the history. Are we are we including in these numbers the students that we send out of state? >> There is a that is a part of the placement. Yes. And I'll be getting to that here in a few minutes. >> U here we go. Placement uh discipline outcomes. So here's two of the categories that we also look at. Uh our demonstration of consistent implementation of policies, procedures, and fair balance data information. So we're looking at our data, we're making the right decisions around our students, make sure that we're identifying

119those students and where they're properly being placed. So, uh, as we move through this, our data supports our district's focus around this, and we're trying to stay within that IDA and state equity requirements. Um, and then we're going to be moving into our discipline here in a few seconds, and I'll show you those data as well. But once again, those significant disportionality identified. Now, this this is about our how many students our students in the classrooms and where we're meeting those numbers. As you can see, we're 1.28. We're sticking around at one, which is where we need to be. Um, if you you talk about residential schools and the schools that this is where we're at here. So, we're actually showing that we're also meeting those needs as well in those those residential schools or

120room. >> How do we uh I'll let you maybe I should have saved my question for the beginning. >> That's fine. >> I just wondered how we u monitor and survey those results if they're not in our facilities. >> That's >> Does that make sense? Well, but so this this is all through Weeus. So So yeah, that's they're pulling this from Weeus. Um and so they're being identified from the services, their IEPs, their you know, they look at it. It's a global look at what we're what we're trying to do. >> On your previous slide, blue blue top. >> Yes, sir. >> Okay. Why under Hispanic you do not have any emotional disturbance reported? Uh, it's either these are not probably not zebras, but these are probably the cell sizes are smaller and they're not

121being identified in that ED classification. that that they are before and after. I mean, autism or intellectual >> dis but the numbers might be smaller that you don't you need a cell size of I think it's at least 10 to 30 and there we just might not have enough students in being identified in that particular area. That would be and I just want to clarify it. We wouldn't have enough students being identified as having emotional disturbance under the Hispanic Latino >> right in that size. I'm sorry if that was clear. >> Seems to go against what our president is trying to sell us with. >> Excuse. >> Okay. Now this is looking a little bit of our discipline and um this is um OSS which is out of school environment. Uh as you notice this

122is uh under 10 days and this is over 10 days >> and as you can see we're still staying within those categories around one. We do have a two there but that's that was two years ago. So, like I said, that year seemed to be a problematic year for us. And this is ISS. We're looking at those numbers as well. Once again, our numbers are staying pretty close to that around that one period that we're trying to target. So do you see like our CARES Academy and those sort of things >> that that's some of those your early interventions that we're doing that's helping us around our discipline helping us make sure that our children are being educated the way they need to be open at the least restrictive environment. >> Okay. Um like I

123said ris risk ratio one of what we're trying to do to try to keep under that three which is just kind of reminded for us. Um this is removals from school. So this is our ones that we move to I would think transition school and as you can see we're still below where we're needing or we're needing to be. Now why does this all matter? uh confirms balance and consistent application of our policies across our student groups, demonstrates our compliance with IDUA and our state requirements and validates districtwide systems places are are effectively working. Okay. Um so this is what's we believe is driving some of our results. early intervention, making sure we're addressing those students so we find them well on. our BCBAS, RBTs, that's just part of this. The CARES Academy, our um

124focus programs are all helping us keep our students where they need to be and getting them the the support that they need to have and improve supports, enhancing instruction, um intentional uh process. And we'll actually have you want to talk about the principal meetings that you have with the >> monthly around your monthly meetings. >> I think that the intentional process is one of the big things when we're dealing with perhaps a complaint or concern or review is are we consistent in our processes and our decision- making. And so in order to make sure that we are consistent not only each school but districtwide, we have a monthly special education administration meeting, meet with our administrators, any updates the state gives us with regard to processes or expectations. Um we talk about that. We go

125through the process. We model what it could look like. For example, last in November, we talked about discipline processes, which is obviously one of the things that they look at. We talked about some alternatives. We walk through the positive steps all the way to if we do get to the consequences, what that should look like in terms of implementation, recording because as Dr. Saxs mentioned earlier, this is drawn from we miss. So it's really important important that we're consistent and everyone is reporting data in weas um in the same ways as well. So those meetings have been pretty helpful. The other thing is with regard to identification andor over identification is really important in making sure in the SAT processes we are talking about what data should you be looking at whether it's academic or

126behavioral. um are we implementing our interventions? Making sure that's what the coordinators do when they receive that information. They look at what SAT has looked at. Do they have enough data? Does it meet policy? Is it consistent with our expected procedures to make sure that we stay in line with um expected outcomes with these types of proportionality reports? >> And our last thing is student engagement. just basically focusing on how students are engaged in addressing their needs early and that's part of what we do and that's been my presentation. >> Questions? >> Any questions? >> Mr. T. Well, just on the process when you're have you made any modifications so it's not such a drawn out process and I'm thinking of prek and how long it it appropriate is taking to give a child a

127dress without having so many children. We we saw we saw a school this year where we had to cut a person because enrollment went down and I believe was because of the previous years just one student uh hardly any other students that we saw the enrollment decrease. >> So I think we're continuing to do things. Um I I think it's twofold. I think it's making sure that our process of identification is in place. Um, and we've talked about this a little bit in some of our prek um, monitoring time. So, we're up here. We have to make sure that we are following what the identification process is so that we are following that process and we're not rushing without providing support to that student. Also completing staff training and also making sure that we're adding

128in the appropriate behavior support. Um we have had some difficulty with trying to get um prek BCBA support. Um you know our K12 model is working really well. Sarah and I are working together on that. But I think some of those things and we have someone now um a BCBA. We have some an RBT. So I do think that we are addressing those. that particular situation I think was um a notable standout and it magnified a lot of things, but overall the processes have been working really well across the board and I think the prek team is is really cohesive and consistent with responses and support and evaluation times. I I do think that particular situation did did highlight um an issue there. Well, I'm just worried about the safety of the of the classmates

129in that school. >> Sure. >> Or in any school >> this year, um we've had some turnover and change. >> We've really had um a lot of positive turnout. Sarah Wolf had Marshall come and provide some intensive ECPBIS training to follow up with things that she had done as well as uh participate in a pilot program with Marshall on behavior data, behavior collection and interventions and that seems to be working well. We've gotten a lot of positive feedback from our prek teachers on some of the success of that. >> Other questions for Mr. Gillan and staff? Thank you. >> All right. Thank you. >> Bond project and construction update. Mr. Tyson. >> Yeah. Good evening. I'd like to share with you the bond construction update starting with Petersville Early Learning Academy. Uh currently at that

130location in the front office spaces, all of the drywall is being installed and finished. And they're able to do that because uh you know none of the heat pump units are are hooked up yet, but they have uh put a temporary heating system into the the building so that they can move forward with the drywall and the painting and that sort of thing. Uh so that's where we are as far as the interior. The roadway around the perimeter of the school, which would basically be the parent uh drop off lane is uh it's all stoned and in progress, as well as a lot of the sidewalks that are going around the perimeter of the building, that is all taking place and in progress. And the uh the last section of the building that had to

131be closed in um this was probably before Christmas when this picture was taken, but that uh show showing you that is pretty much closed in and they we will start sending the steel uh roof trusses uh throughout this month to finish closing that section in and then everything will will finish up one time. Um any questions on Edgesville? >> I like how you include the power lines. Yeah, that that wasn't intentional. >> They're there. >> What's the corner of the building? >> The corner of the building is this. This is from the inside looking out. This is the corner that's being reconfigured. >> Okay. >> Uh and it's on the opposite end from from where this picture is taken. How's the timeline look for like handing the keys over to us? It looks like it'll

132be in May when this will wrap up. >> It's not the one that makes my nervous one should be fine. >> Anything else on Heavensville? >> The next one is the Martinsburg High School Fine Arts edition and this week um the acoustical sound panels have been delivered and they are starting uh the installation of those sound panels. A lot of the painting that is needed up in the upper part, which includes painting the duck work and all the other details, that has been complete and they're working their way down. Uh they were still finishing up a lot of the uh the finishing touches on the plaster. You can I try to get some pictures of the different plaster repair that's taking place down the space. There was a lot of that that needed done because

133of uh a lot of it was where there were windows and the windows were infilled and now they're making it one continuous plane of plaster. A lot of that is complete and is finishing up and they're starting to do the painting on those sections as they finish them. Uh some of the ceiling grid, this is actually a view from the uh the sound booth or lightning booth and the very upper balcony. So, you can see the ceiling grid is going into that space and the um like I said, the acoustical sound panels will be installed throughout this month. And uh once they finish that, the the guys who can go in and install the the pendant lighting that will hang in between all of those that have will also happen throughout this month. Any questions

134on Martinsburg? This one is still on schedule to finish up April 6th. >> We are going to need a nice group of tanks here when this done. >> Absolutely. Yes. Absolutely. All right. The next one is the Mountain Ridge Primary School and it's uh pretty much the same thing that I always say. They're still working on block. A lot of block work is happening, but it's uh it's closing in on on a finishing touches of block work. Um actually starting tomorrow, they're going to begin setting the steel girder trusses in a lot of these spaces where the block is finished. Um you can kind of see right here you can see the gymnasium how they they're finishing that part in. Kind of neat to see that that happen. Um the site lighting is is going

135on around the uh the perimeter. There's a picture of some of the light poles that will be kind of near the parking lot area. Uh and of course ongoing as they do the block they also do the electrical and plumbing rough end. So those teams are all coordinated working at the same time. You've got the black layers and the plumbers and electricians all working simultaneously because you have to put that in as the block are going up. So that's kind of what's happening here. And um I know we're crossing our fingers, but the plan is to finish this up for July 31st. >> And as of this moment, we're still on schedule. >> They are really moving on. >> They're moving along. Yes. >> What about the um roadway? The roadway is they took it

136to within maybe 75 ft of Jartown Road and then we have to finish up the EO permitting and I guess the pricing on that and I don't know if we quite have the pricing complete on that but it'll be coming soon. >> Wait, we got but we got well >> so I want to clarify. So the DO has given them approval for moving forward. Um and then so we got that preliminary approval. So, they're designing it and um we have a contract with the architect to be able to design. So, >> okay, >> that that part is am I correct? Okay. I wanted to make sure I clarified that. So, there's not a contract for the work to be done because they got to finish the the engineering of the of the design. >> What

137about the water tank? >> The water suppression tank that has been ordered. Uh remember that was one of the change orders that were presented in one of the previous that has been ordered. So that I remember that was like a 32- week lead time or something like that. Uh that is in in the works. And the only dilemma with that is they have to determine if it's best to use a diesel or an electric uh pump with that system. And I don't know if that's been determined yet. At our last meeting, they were fine-tuning that adjustment. And then once that is finalized, then the other piece of it is they have to build a shelter or a house, I guess we'll call it, for that fire suppression system. Uh so all of that is kind

138of still in the design phase. It's likely that that'll be wrapping up uh in August. Um but it won't impact the opening of the school. >> Okay, good. >> Anything else on Mountain Ridge Primary? Did >> I just hear another change order? >> Not on Mountain. Uh >> not on Mountain Ridge. There's one tonight on Pendisville talking about here in a few minutes house for the fire. >> Oh yeah, there will be a a change over on that. Yeah, I haven't presented anything on the details of that yet. We're still waiting for them to finetune that and then I'll be presenting another. And then the last one is the Winchester Avenue retaining wall. project. Uh, all the concrete work is complete and after I type this, I said the stair railing is on order, but

139the stair railing um will be installed actually later this week and that that that project will be finished. >> Don't the steps look like they're crooked? >> They're level. They are actually level. >> They are actually level. The sidewalk goes down at an angle. >> It's an optical illusion. >> Okay. You need I think I think that the steps are nothing to the V8 ink fix. >> Yeah. >> You remember the old V8 commercial do is go over stand on the left and jump >> Ron Branch. Where is he when you need >> uh that that was all I have. Anything else? >> I wouldn't show that picture much. I was kind of proud of that picture. I had to actually go across the street on the neighbor's property. >> SC. >> Thanks, Mr. Pson.

140Uh, can I have a motion to approve the consent agenda presented? >> Actually, Madam President, um, if I I do have a thing that I wanted to say, and I believe that Mr. Murphy you want to do? >> Well, I mean, we >> before you go approving it, I just wanted to make sure that the board realized that um the policies that are within the consent agenda that um they're going to be out for public comment through January 21st. >> Um they've been out for a while, but the time frame was apparently not updated when we posted it. So, I just wanted to clarify they have been out, but we're going to make sure in order to, you know, make sure we've done everything the right way that that these policies will be out on

141comment through January 21st. Correct, Jess? >> Yeah. >> Okay, great. >> So, you they'll be coming back to you at the >> February 2nd. >> The February second board. >> Okay. Several questions. That's fine. >> You want to walk now or later? >> Okay. >> Well, >> okay. Can I have a motion? Well, I I on policy IB, I'd like for us to >> I I just think even though the council said that it's found in other policies, >> I think in looking at this policy, not we shouldn't keep it as it is, but we should hang on to it and modify it because I think it's summarized is what we're trying to do uh in the county in its structure and I'm talking about the educational goals and I even though it's it's distributed

142in other policies and and also it's it say council says it's a lack of any legal requirement but the county can go above and beyond what is legally required. park and I think that this policy would serve as a good vehicle to bring together what we've been trying to do for all the presentations tonight and everything else. So, >> would you say again the policy? >> It's the educational goals policy file for county file 9.14. >> It's not what I have. >> Well, I have it. It's 917 but you're on >> but I'm on an old I'm on a >> I want to see it again before >> you look at 9.17 you have >> you want to come back to February >> oh there it is >> I think this this policy merits a

143work session at least a comparison to what the uh school board effectiveness policy comparing it. I think there's a lot in here that's not in the schoolboard policy effectiveness, but uh this this policy I think we should retain because of what we've been trying to do. >> Well, why don't we have um staff present our >> Well, I don't I don't want to run it rush it because this is something that should have broader. I agree, but I don't know if we need a work session on it. >> What I was going to suggest is why don't we have staff do a comparison and show us that comparison this policy versus the other policy for discussion? >> Yeah. Well, I think that at some later point we probably will have a discussion, but I think

144>> but that would be a good starting. >> Yeah. You feel? >> Yes. Yes. I I just think that we shouldn't abolish this policy. >> So, you want to pull it? accept your suggestion. >> Uh you Yes. >> Okay. I do. >> And Madame President, uh board members, I'd be happy to do one of two things. Um if the board, you know, pulls it uh sorry, the board is pulling it. Um and what we can do is we can develop a crosswalk uh between um the schoolboard effectiveness as well as this and then also identify where things are not. Um, and I think that um, actually after you had had said to me that you may you may want to consider pulling it, it got me thinking about uh, some of the work we're doing

145even on our pupil progression plan and making references in this around student accountability in in this as well. So, I think that there's a way to meet both initiatives here. >> Well, I don't I don't want Mr. Murphy to think I didn't think it was important that we should have a work session, but to do some homework before we got to that. >> You're correct. >> Oh, absolutely. Yes, I agree with you. Good point. >> Um, anything else before we >> because we're coming back later, right? Is that correct? Okay. >> Well, they're in percentage of how we coming back. >> Well, these are going to be posted, correct? So, they're >> sent to the review and comment. >> Oh, you mean they're coming back to us later? Yes. >> No, there's nothing in here

146other than the abolish we're abolishing. The other ones are review so they'll be coming back for adoption. >> So I need a motion to accept the consent agenda with the removal of 9.17 out of the educational board. >> 9.14. >> Yeah. I'm so okay. >> Yeah. The the other policy I just want to comment on but not if it's going to be out for comment. It's talking about when our employees are engaged in outside employment and I uh many of our employees I I don't know how many but I know some of them have to have a second job in order to survive >> definitely >> being a a teacher or bus driver or anything else but uh uh and when they're working the bus our teachers have to take work home with them and

147grade papers on their time, do lesson plans on their time, and when they're working, that is that is impact. And uh I just think I just wanted to make a comment that uh we as a board are not trying to say they can't work because we want them to be able to work for us. and sadly they can't afford to work for us sometimes and and live in this community at the cost of the cost of everything. So that's lazy. But, uh, I that's just something I wanted to point out that we're we're looking at something here, but we don't want to say, well, you either work for us or you're going because we can't afford to see some great teachers leave, great bus drivers, cooks, everyone else because they have to work in order

148to survive. >> And I think that that policy is pretty >> Yeah. I just Yeah. >> Okay. Um, you heard the recommendation with a consent agenda. Can I have a second? I have a motion. >> I'll make the motion. >> Second. >> All in favor? >> I motion carries. Next on the agenda is action items. Um, discussion and possible action on you change order. >> Okay. >> That that came too soon, mister. >> Yep. All right. So this change order is a result of a slight pickup in the advertising of the project or the bidding of it and then the review by the West Virginia Department of Education. After the project was bid and awarded, then it was reviewed by the Department of Education resulting in a few changes that are listed here. And these

149are changes that um I said they they were reviewed and recommended and required essentially by the WBDE. So if you see a spreadsheet I listed for you, it's kind of a one pager uh that was summarized by CMTA uh that basically gives you a brief description of of the resulting items from that review. And each of these items is mechanical, electrical, plumbing or technology. Um, some of them are credits, some of them are no cost, and then some of them are additional costs. The total of the additional cost is $45,7856. So, that's what I'm seeking tonight for this particular change order. >> Questions for Mr. Well, um, when we build the end with prek center and we're using this Hedgesville early learning academy is a blue right? >> Uh yes that is correct. >> We

150and on the page prior to uh we we have >> Yeah. We have a total of >> half a million dollars in change orders on this facility. Right. >> Uh yes. Currently we do. Uh, of course 414,000 of that is the paradigm issue. >> I know. I know. And that is that issue aside then these other items won't appear as change orders in the next school. >> That is the plan. We have made tremendous uh detail of notes of things that we have observed and noted and some changes that we've made throughout the project at Hedgesville uh to be directly applied to the design of Inwood. So the goal was to have a very smooth operation during that time. >> That that was 20% and and noted >> the half million 400 of it was

151that power >> that we are contesting. >> Yeah. Yeah. That is true. >> That we could get back some of that. >> Yeah. Yeah, if it wasn't for that, I mean, it wouldn't be quite that that bad really because we had a 350,000 contingency allowance that we really wouldn't come close to except for that. >> So, yeah, that was it. The uh the issue was the timing of the bid and then the WVDE review and the result was that amount there that I shared tonight. >> You've heard Mr. the president's recommendation or proposal and the superintendent's recommendation to uh for change order to modify the MEP work at Hor for the amount of $45,78.56 move >> second. >> All in favor? >> Opposed? Motion carries. Okay. Um personnel Uh, good evening members of the board

152and Dr. Saxs. Happy new year to all of you. Um, the personnel actions dated for Monday, January 5th, 2026 are as follows. Tonight, we have three coaching appointments and eight extra duty appointments. We also have three new healthcare appointments. Uh, for professional personnel, we have one 17th day appointment, five professional appointments. Uh we rescended the appointment of a teacher and we also revised the start date of a school nurse. Uh we have two resignations and two retirements. Those retirements are effective at the conclusion of the school year. Uh for service action, we have four new service personnel appointments and three midday appointments. We have two change of assignments and two resignations. And we also have seven transfers of service personnel and six service personnel upgrades. This evening, we have six new appointments of substitute service

153personnel and one resignation of a substitute service personnel employee. Uh for professional substitute teachers, we have two appointments of professional day-to-day substitutes and two resignations of substitute teachers for a total of 61 professional service and substitute personnel actions tonight for your consideration with superintendent tax's recommendation. >> Questions for Mr. >> We have a retardant Mrs. Ever. >> Uh yeah, Miss Evers at South Middle >> and Yvon Welsh which we just got today. We're getting to the point where they have to turn a retirement in before is in February or March 1st. We sent that out. >> This is the second this year. So, >> Dr. Sax just just a suggestion. >> Um, and I haven't talked to the lady. She is a strong math teacher and she was one of the gift teachers but in

154that shakeup I I I would talk to her and see if there's any extent you could get out her expertise. >> Sure. Absolutely. I I hate to see us lose such talented people or if there's something else that you can work with. >> Absolutely. Be happy to >> I have talked to her so she may have sorry you heard Miss Kamoski's presentation. Can I have a motion to approve the personnel actions? >> So move. >> Second. All in favor? >> Opposed? Motion carries. Thank you. Legal update. Um, we need executive session. >> Yes, ma'am. I'm requesting one. >> Can I have a motion to go into executive session to discuss possible real estate related property matters? >> Second. >> All in favor? We'll be making >> we won't be making any decisions. So we will

155adjourn. So if everybody wants to thank you.