001Dr. Arch, would you lead us in the pledge? I >> pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> I'd like to welcome everyone here this evening. Thank you for coming out. Can I have a motion to agenda? Second. >> All in favor? >> I motion carries. I also neglected to make the announcement that Mr. Martin is on virtual with us this evening. So having said that um recognition the ACE award school nominated. >> Yes. Um so good evening members of the board, colleagues and guests. Um it is my honor tonight um to recognize one of our most dedicated and compassionate team members at Eagle School Intermediate um Miss Amanda Frink who has
002been selected as the recipient of the caring educator award. Um this board is reserved for educators who demonstrates unwavering commitment um to their students not just through academic instruction but through the meaningful relationships they build um the support they provide and the care that they show every single day. Um, Miss Fig embodies that all and more. Um, she was nominated for her determination, her ability to connect deeply with her students, and her consistent presence as a source of encouragement and stability. U, Miss doesn't just teach, she uplifts. Um, she sees her students for who they are and who they can become. Um, as she walks beside them with both compassion and high expectations. Um, it's not uncommon to hear stories about Miss going the extra mile. Whether it's staying late to talk with students um
003who need someone to listen to or reaching out to a family to celebrate a success or offer support during a challenge, she understands that strong relationships are the foundation of student growth and she builds them with care, respect, and purpose. Miss Fink, your work has had a longl lasting um impact not only on the students that you serve, but on your colleagues and our entire school community. You lead with heart and you remind us all what it truly means to be an educator. On behalf of the board and then everyone here today, congratulations. This recognition is so welld deserved and we are incredibly proud to have you on our team. >> This is for you coming up. You display this proudly. Absolutely. Congratulations. >> Congratulations. And Miss Bank, I I just wanted to tell you
004that I've uh a time or two and I'm going to tell you your name is just it's always high held in high regard and I want to thank you from all of us to you. Thank you for your dedication. Thank you for your hard work and for the love that you give to your kids. >> Thank you so much. >> You're welcome. And there's someone that will take a picture in the post orighty >> is that yours as well? >> No, that I thought it was Next on the agenda is October student of the month. Um your principal Dr. Craig. >> Madam President, esteemed board members of course Dr. Sax. It's a privilege to be here in your midst this evening to spotlight a student at a intermediate that represents the best of what we
005have to offer. Duty Trib is an outstanding student whose character and work ethic sets a strong example of local peers. She consistently demonstrates academic excellence, curiosity, and a genuine commitment to learning. Beyond the classroom, Study shows kindness, integrity, and quiet leadership, contributing positively to the PTOIC community. Her respectful demeanor, reliability, and willingness to help others reflects her maturity and compassion well beyond her fifth grade years. Study embodies the best qualities of students at the as well as the values of dedication, empathy and excellence that we seek to encourage in all of our students. It is an honor to nominate student as the BCS student of the month for month October. >> Hey Judy, on behalf of the board, I just want to say congratulations. It's a wonderful award. I've heard a lot of wonderful things
006about you, not just from people at your school, but also Dr. Murphy. I mean, sorry, Mr. Murphy as well. Um, one thing I did hear is that they wish every student could be like you, but you are such a great example to so many of your classmates. So, congratulations. >> You have a speech, a little want to say anything? I'm sorry. I didn't pick her. >> That's what we love about her. Quiet leadership. She couldn't be sharp. >> She she uh I spent the day in her classroom. So, I asked her to come up. She was quiet and you know, she everything they say, which doesn't draw your attention to them. And I asked her, I said, "Where where did you sit?" She said right in front of me. I can attest. But I'm I'm
007glad to hear what what they're saying about the other things. It's pretty spring and she's in a wonderful class. Many grace students. >> I agree. Well, Study, I want to congratulate you also and I just want to say what a bright opportunity, bright future full of opportunity you have and um so congratulations and on behalf of the office of superintendent, we want to give you the superintendent's point of excellence. So congratulations. >> Can you tell us who you have with you? >> My sister, my dad. >> Well, it's wonderful to have your sister, my dad, and mom, too. So, thank you. >> Yeah. Congratulations. Thank you. Students shake your hand. >> Congratulations. >> I'll get another handshake. >> Mr. Martin gives you a virtual handshake. >> Thank you so much. Next on the agenda is
008superintendent announcements. >> Thank you, Madame President and board members. >> October is National Principal Month, and I'm proud to recognize and celebrate uh the princ the incredible principles of uh Berkeley County Schools. Our principles are truly the heart of each of our schools, leading with dedication, vision, and a steadfast commitment to student success. Every day, they seem to balance the roles of instructional leader, mentor, problem solver, albeit even fireman, um, and while ensuring that our schools remain safe, safe, welcoming, and uh, supportive. On behalf of Berkeley County Schools, I want to extend my deepest gratitude to our uh principles for their tireless leadership, their resilience, and their unwavering service to our students, our staff, and our community. This month, and every month, for that matter, we honor the difference that you make uh in the
009lives of our children and families across Berkeley County. So, uh, I want to ask that the community and our, uh, teachers, our service personnel, our, uh, district leaders, and again, our community, uh, we give every, every one of our principles a big, um, high five and a big thank you for the what they do every single day. We also, um, are proud to announce that we are continuing to hire. Berkeley County Schools is hiring. Please mark your calendars for October 8th. Um, if you're out there and are looking for a job, 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. at 401 South Queen Street, which is, uh, our operations uh, board office um, in Martinsburg, we look for we're looking for instructional aids, custodians, secretaries, cooks, and bus drivers. Uh, come meet our team and explore different opportunities to
010join the Berkeley County Schools community. Um, and I must say it's an organization that continues to make a difference in the lives of children and our community every single day. So, we would love for you to join us. Again, that is on October 8th from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. at 401 South Queen Street. Um, we would also I want to give a shout out um to several schools uh for being recognized as Special Olympics Unified Champion Banner Schools. These are this is a a a national award and we want to congratulate Hedgesville High School, Muselman High School and Spring Mills High School. Um from unified sports to inclusive youth leadership, these schools are building a culture where everyone belongs. One way that we showcase our students incredible talents is through our annual Botchi Ball Tournament.
011A celebration of teamwork, skill, and unity. We want to congratulate our students, staff, and community for leading the way in creating schools of acceptance and respect. Some dates to remember. Um, we have October 2nd is we just celebrated National Custodians Day. So, we want to thank our dedicated custodial staff uh keeping our schools clean across Berkeley County Schools. We have National Instructional Coaches Day on October 6th. October 5th through the 11th is National Fire Prevention Week. And I know that we've had students busy at work on um the uh fire prevention posters and we certainly hope that we have some state finalists as well as we celebrate and recognize National Fire Prevention Week. October 9th through the 13th is school lunch week. And what is the theme? Do we know the theme? >> It will
012it will be coming. I will I will announce the theme here in a second. We'll have a drum roll and I I I will break I'll have breaking news. Um but we also have on October 13th National >> Taste the World. >> What is it? >> Taste the world. Uh so that will be our our theme for school lunch week. We also have on October 13th National uh Indigenous People's Day followed by October 16th through the 20th bus safety week and October 23rd through the 31st Red Ribbon Week. So, as you can tell, it is a month full of celebrations and recognition. Um, and there's a lot to be celebrating here in Berkeley. Kevin, >> what is what? >> Uh, Red Ribbon Week is >> a drug. Yeah, drug, uh, it's it's drug drug prevention
013awareness uh, week. Yes. Thank you. Uh, our next regular meeting will be Monday, October 20th u right here at the Winchester Avenue boardroom at 6 pm. Board members, if there's not any other questions, that concludes my updates for uh tonight. >> Board announcements. >> Moving on. Uh we have no citizens forum tonight. So monitoring items. Uh Mr. Ken Pac, director of CTE will provide an overview of career and technical education in Mil County Schools. >> Thank you. We have some feature going here. Come on in. Come on in, sir. >> Madam President, board members, Dr. I'm excited to be here to introduce this recognition from the state of two of our high schools. CT is held accountable by the state board of education by six accountability indicators. Let me list those to you. Participation of
01455% of our students enrolled in a high school have to be a C taken a CTE class. 22% of our students have to have taken at least two classes in a high school. 12% of the student body has to have been a completer. Completers taking all four classes. Students have to have work-based learning experience. Those are hands-on simulated work experiences, not student I'm sorry, not teacher directed, but student led. And then also they have to take the performance test. And the performance test is the noi test in their concentration of the students that are completers. Once again 60% have the score higher than the workforce industry set standard. And then teachers have to be endorsed. Edgesville High School and Muscleman High School have achieved this. And not only have they achieved it, they exceeded it.
015They're recognized by the state board as a top five high school in CTE. This is only possible through strong administration, great teachers, helpful guidance department, and students willing to do what they need to do to prepare for the future. Very good. here the um the indicators I has mentioned. So let me tell you the the concentrations and CT programs that we offer in all of our high schools particularly the two that we're recognizing is Muslin and Hedgesville. I want to thank the board of education, the senior leadership, Holly Clutchner, our executive director, secondary education and our academic specialist with the help of the guidance of our CTE programs. As we have here, as I mentioned, is our CTE uh concentrations. Thank you. >> So, here tonight I want to recognize the principal of Muscleman High
016School, Mrs. and Wrigleman and unable to be here tonight uh from Hedges High School's Angie Milan and some of their CTE students and teachers to receive this award from you all. Well, congratulations. We are so proud of each and every single one of our uh career technical education programs at both Muscleman and Hedgesville. want to thank our principles uh for leading the way with leading and making sure that the opportunities for students to enroll in um and to have the right career guidance um to ensure that they're becoming completers and then being able to have uh job placement is so important. Um, and of course, none of that would be possible if it wasn't for our dedicated uh teaching staff in these programs because it is truly a uh calling and to go from industry
017to teaching um an upand cominging workforce is just uh truly commendable. And the fact that what you are doing in the classroom every single day um not only is reinforcing the academic skills that our students are learning in their core classes, but you're giving them the application opportunity to be able to apply that to real world situations and to build skills that are uh going to serve them for years to come after high school. Uh truly, you're providing them very unique opportunities. So congratulations to our two schools board members. I couldn't be more proud of these two high schools. And I would be remiss if I did not also say that um the work that Mrs. Kleener and Mr. PAC have taken to ensure that these programs um are well supported um and are growing
018and are providing more opportunities than ever before for our high school students to enter into and learn a valuable skill. Um it wouldn't be possible if it wasn't for these these two individuals over here with that vision. And thank you to the board for continuing to support um our expansion of CTE programs across Berkeley County Schools. Um you know, starting these CTE programs is no small undertaking, and it requires a deep commitment um from the board, to the administration, to the community, and to our business partners. Um, and so really this is an award that the entire county um can bask in because it it wasn't one individual person. It was a group of people um that made this happen. Um so thank you so much for everyone involved. very proud >> and I have
019certificates for uh both Hedgesville and Muscleman. Was anybody here from Hedgesville? >> Yes. >> Excellent. So, um I'm going to come up here and Mr. Pat and Mrs. Cleverner and um >> would would it be Harland? Can we do one in here? Sure. Okay, let's do one in here. Um, so if Mr. Pac, if you could come on one side and Mrs. Clinton on the other and then we're gonna ask Hedges will to come up first and then we'll follow up with muscle if that works. >> I would just like to say we have a board and I know that they they can speak for themselves and will how proud we are of both of these schools and what you all do. I've I've seen those programs a in action and what does what you
020all as students do and the leadership that all of you give to those students it's amazing I'm it's just so proud just proud moment gives me chills so >> in high school in high school I actually graduated from a technical program and so I can tell you firsthand how imperative it is that the the impact you guys are going to have, you know, on our society as a whole, but our community. And I just I thank you for your heart in wanting to do this, not just from the educators perspective, but the hearts of the the kids that are here. I just thank you so much for wanting to do this and and for excelling. >> That was awesome. The only the only thing I want to say is u I'm really disappointed in Muscleman
021because I went there on a third day. before they opened up on a Friday. I missed my opportunity to get some treats like Friday. >> Yeah, it's Friday. I'm like, man. >> No, it it was great though. I was able to tour and and get a look at everything getting set up and the students were so excited about the next day on the first day of of the cafe opening up. So, that was really exciting to talk to the students to see that excitement. They just they just could not wait. I love it. >> That was so something tells me they'll have you back any day. >> Mr. Turkey and I had the pleasure of visiting Mitchesville and and work with you or we didn't work with you trust me were watching you or what
022the students do and pack and bellyish on that more but I had no idea what kids did like that but the depth the depth of what they do it's amazing. >> I have a question. Could you elaborate on the B test? You said that >> it's an industry recognized test that's specific to that concentration. So every the test really different from a baking pastry, from an A to a business. So those students, it's a several hours long test. It's at least two to threehour test that those students as a senior will take. Um it's just the same as it's any same as a standardized test. It's given by a non-partial person a teacher and that a lotment of time is for that student once again it's the willingness of that student to come in and
023take that test seriously to score. We had some of the highest scores in this state, in this county, which is just remarkable knowing that students admire our teachers enough to excel and want to do well on those tests. >> I'll be glad to give you a blueprint. It's called a blueprint that the teachers have that kind of is their guide um helping those students to that test >> and and they have they have to pass a certain percentage of the people who are in the field. Yes, >> of those four classes, it's usually our seniors. It could be juniors. So, we test every student that has completed those four classes. And again, the state requirement is 60%. And we went well beyond 60% of our students scoring the it's called the workforce entry score. >>
024So, we've exceeded that, which is remarkable. And they have to have a certain score on the knocking in order to pass them up as well. Even that says a lot for the students, but it also says a huge shout out to the instructors. >> Yes, we could get the general assessments. >> We're working on it. >> I was going to say we're working on we're going to get there. >> We have Beth McDonald that does our cafe baking and pastry and is our um agriculture and you just got a new class today, right? The program studies. Yeah. for what's called >> which will count as a fine arts credit. >> Correct. >> Well, that's awesome. >> Yes, it is. >> Yeah. >> All right. Well, >> watch the sign up for >> No, I didn't.
025>> I usually like to be >> in the middle. >> I like you can go over there >> because you're on my right side. My right hand. I'm used to >> McDonald and I have brought back probably 40 and 50 years. I've been in assistant for 41. So yes, >> President Long, could you take a step to the left? >> We're good. Thank you. You know, >> you know, I took I took Well, see, I took Florida and and so I just want to I need to I need to see if I can myself in front of my wife, you know, but >> we're not I'm a conservator in the middle. >> Now I have a here. >> Gentlemen, >> would you mind that? Just keep it up above this so that uh all the
026board comes out to this end. is >> not >> and actually if a couple of you could come in front of the table >> you know what Damon just I really can't see. Oh, Dr. Sax, if you could just move to your right. >> Perfect. >> Okay. Thank you. Congratulations. >> You want her to introduce you? >> Yeah. Would you? Yeah, please do. >> I've asked I've asked Miss Brigleman to introduce the folks she has here this evening. >> Yes, definitely. >> I'll start with um everyone knows Mrs. Nom and she is our baking and pastry teacher. Joshua Dur. He's the sandwich artist. >> And let me tell you something. I've had his sandwiches and they are excellent, by the way. >> Mr. Engel, he is our new building and maintenance operation teacher at Muscleman.
027Um, >> Donovan D'Vor, he is one of our building and maintenance students that's under Mr. Engel. Um, so we're really excited um for the projects they've done. And um you know when we talk about CP I think one of the biggest things is we we talk about the environment and if it wasn't for the environment that our teachers have every day these students would wouldn't want to be in there. Um and you know I I can't say how much I appreciate them and the hard work and dedication. These two teachers they don't have a planning period not telling me their classes are at Muscleman. So we are humbled, we're honored and um you know I couldn't do it without the great staff and students at Muselman. Thank you again. >> You want to say something?
028to me perhaps. >> Next on the agenda is operations update on the Scott Leold will with HPM will find an update on the CFP process and Dr. Saxs. >> Yes, thank you Madam President. We have been working um very actively in um getting input for updating and prioritizing our facility uh needs in Berkeley County. Um, as you may recall, um, and the and the community may recall, the 2022 bond, um, was a major, um, step in the right direction for the school system to address the CFP that was established in 2020. U,, that 2020 CFP, which is a state requirement, is a 10-year facilities plan. And the 2022 bond completed uh were was uh set to complete 103 projects in Berkeley County schools. And a majority of those projects have already been completed. We're down
029to the just the last few which are the the big ones. And so if you're in the community and you've been paying attention, you'll see that we've uh we're very active at Hedgesville Early Learning uh for the prek center there, which was a bond project. We also have Mountain Ridge Primary under construction, which was another bond project. Soon, we will be going to bid on Inwood Early Learning Academy, which is the prek uh that will replace the current Inwood Elementary uh because Inwood will be going Inwood Elementary be going to Spring, I'm sorry, to Mountain Ridge Primary. And then Falling Waters will be soon thereafter. So, we're actively in the design phase of those two projects, working with stakeholders um and we hope to be able to take those projects to bid um in the
030next couple months. So, we're really excited about that. However, what that means is that we need to take a mid mid CFP pulse check to see the remaining projects. Are those still the highest priorities that we have or have things over the last five years risen to the top? And so Scott Leupold with HPM has been facilitating the community conversations uh from our educational futures conference that we held a couple weeks ago to the steering committee that we've established uh which again is made up of stakeholders. There's parents on that that committee. There's educators, there's teachers, there's service personnel, there's principles, there's um uh uh again a number of stakeholders that are on that on that steering committee that are helping inform the recommendation that I will bring to the board on November 17th. Um,
031so Scott Leupold with HPM, um, I've asked that he be here with us this afternoon or this evening to just give you an update on the process, where we stand, and what you all as a board and the community should be expecting in the weeks to come as we start to hone the plan uh, that I hope to be bringing to you on November 17th. So, Mr. Leold, without any further ado, >> great. Can you all hear me? >> Yes, we can hear you. >> Okay, excellent. Great. thanks for making this happen virtually. Uh this is again our overall timeline that Dr. Saxs has talked to. Uh this is just for the committee. We have met with the committee actually three times already. We started with a virtual meeting on the 16th. We have meeting
032every Tuesday since. And so great group to work with. Uh really the the main purpose of our meeting tonight is I want to kind of give you guys a preview of what we'll be taking to the community next week and we'll be launching an online survey. Uh at this point in the process, we're not asking people to pick what is going to happen. We're simply presenting some options to facilitate some conversation and collect some feedback. Uh the committee will evaluate the feedback from the uh from the uh community and then it'll ultimately make recommendations to the superintendent and the superintendent will make recommendations to the board. Um we'll be launching a online survey and that will be out at the very latest Friday of this week. I'd like to get it out as soon as
033possible. And this online survey will have a presentation with, you know, narrated videos embedded within it. So you don't have to hunt for other documents as you're trying to fill it out. Everything that you need to kind of form an opinion will be right there in the survey. Um, if you want to come to an inerson opportunity to have some group conversations and consensus building, we've got two opportunities next week. On Monday, we'll be at uh Hedgesville High School in the library. On Tuesday, we'll be at Muscleman in the cafeteria. Uh the meeting format is we'll have a presentation of the process and the options probably 30 minutes tops and then we'll get into kind of small group table discussions and we'll report out and it's going to be a very similar format to what
034we'll have in the survey. So anybody can share their feedback on the survey but if they want to have that extra touch point they're more than happy to come to the community meetings and all of that information will end up going back to the advisory committee again which will discuss that feedback and develop recommendations on the 28th. Uh we hope to have the survey open uh through at least the evening of Friday the 24th. So it'll be open at least a full two weeks. Uh I'm not going to spend a lot of time on this, but this is our overall uh plan major plan project from the CFP that Dr. Saxs just kind of went over. The main purpose of this project is to kind of revisit or main purpose of this process is to
035kind of revisit what we have on the bottom half of this chart. are those still the priorities and are they in the you know correct order? So to just uh kind of get through um what we've been working through, we've kind of broken it up into elementary, middle, high, and then there's also some other uh general questions that we'll ask the community. So kind of our first scenario that we'll be asking feedback for is to construct a new intermediate school in South Berkeley to relieve Spring uh Mil Creek Intermediate. And this could be a K5 if that's the direction that's desired. benefits. It will absorb long-term growth in the area. Some challenges is that there'll be boundary changes required and our cost estimates are about 39 million for that. Um just some other pointers here.
036Most of the projects again currently underway are at the elementary level. So we don't have a lot to do uh at elementary. There's been a lot of discussion in the committee about whether or not we want to stick with the K235 model or if we want to start building towards a more traditional K5 model. Uh but that would not include the campus campuses that we have Spring Mills and Mountain Ridge. Uh moving on to middle school, we've got two different scenarios here. Scenario A would be to replace Hedgesville Middle School large enough to relieve Spring Mills Middle School. So between 950 and a thousand students. So long-term this would absorb growth, some growth in the area. could include some additional programming there and it would probably uh provide a larger site for Hedesville Middle School.
037Challenges, we'd have to have some battery changes uh required to reduce enrollment at Spring Mills. Our cost here would be about 67.3 million. And uh we did include some demolition costs for the current Hedgesville Middle School building if we are going to replace it on that site. Um and again, we just wanted to include the costs in there. Doesn't mean that we're necessarily going to do it. The building might stay. wanted to make sure that we accounted for the cost. Additionally, in this scenario, we'd have an addition on South Middle School to reduce those portables. So, it would be a portable replacement project for 13.2 million. For scenario B, uh this would instead renovate Hedges Hedgesville Middle School. We'd keep the school at the current location. Uh the challenges are that we're still keeping and
038investing in an older building. Uh we'd also be constructing an additional middle school in the following waters area. This provides more long-term uh reliefs for Spring Mills. The challenges are we wouldn't have a new middle school in the Hedgesville area. Uh our overall cost uh for this one is 95.5 and that would also include still doing that add that portable replacement edition at South. Now, as we're sharing this with the community, we're not really asking them to pick one. Uh we're just asking for their feedback on both of them. Whether they oppose it or support it, they can oppose both of them or support both of them. Uh it doesn't matter. We're not asking them to pick. Uh we're just looking for that general feedback. And of course, um we'll give them the opportunity to
039provide general comment. So if they think that, well, I think it's a combination of A and B. think it's maybe short-term replacing Hedgesville uh large enough to relieve Spring Mills and then long-term as more growth comes also doing the additional middle school in the falling waters area. So we'll have that flexibility in the survey instrument. Uh for high school we've got again two scenarios and again we're not asking people to pick they can again support or oppose both of them. um they don't have to pick one over the other, but we're asking for scenario A, we would construct a fifth high school in the Mount Ridge area with a core capacity of 1500 with an initial capacity of a thousand. And so what that means is we would build those interior core spaces of the
040building like the cafeteria, the gym, the administration area large enough to accommodate a future capacity of 1500. Uh but we're not incurring all that cost now. So we basically be building it with a addition in mind down the road because we wouldn't need all 1500 capacity immediately. Uh this will absorb growth long term and it may include some additional CTE spaces uh in that facility. The challenges that we have with this one uh major boundary changes uh impacting all high schools. And so it's not like it's just going to be uh you know boundary tweaks to Muscleman and that's it. it's going to have cascading changes going all the way all the way through and impacting all high school boundaries in the county. Um it has the highest costs when we're looking at these options
041and it also adds some significant operational expense because we're adding a fifth administration at the high school level. Uh estimated cost to this point about 83.6 million. So scenario B is to consider adaptive reuse of a commercial building for a CTE center. And so this is something above and beyond what we already have at at Rumsey and this would be exclusive to Berkeley County. And so this would be an expansion uh on Rumsy would not be a replacement of Rumsy. Rumsy's got its own board and its own uh you know mandate and everything. So this is all supplemental to what was already available at Rumsey. This will provide additional opportunities for students. It would not require any boundary changes. Uh it would have lower costs compared to the fifth high school. could be more centrally
042located and it would expand CTE programming to 9th and tth graders. Uh currently at Rumsey that's only for 11th and 12th graders. Some challenges, it does add some additional operational costs. Uh and it would require that students choose to leave their current high school in order to relieve overcrowding. And so our overall costs for this one are about 57.2 million. And again, this is this is intended to, you know, also have some core academic spaces. And so students could take their general English, general math, general science classes. Uh they wouldn't necessarily have to travel back to their home high school for that, but they would again uh if they wanted to participate in the athletics, they would go back to their home high school, one of the four. Uh the advisory committee also discussed an
043option to construct additions at Hedgesville and Muscleman high schools and that was on the original uh 2020 CFP but there were concerns about the feasibility of adding on to Muscleman and so we kind of struck that from what we're going to be asking of the community to discuss and share feedback on but again they'll have the opportunity to provide additional feedback and comment for prioritization. This is really the meat of what we're asking for. I think that you know a lot of the scenarios that that we're talking about many of them are needed uh but what's the priority and so we'll be asking the community to rank these so you know based on what they think is most important so increasing high school capacity through fifth high school in the mountain ridge area replacing Hedgesville
044middle school adding a new middle school in the falling waters area creating a new CTE and workforce development center designed specifically for Berkeley County students expanding high school capacity and providing career focused pathways beyond those offered at Rumsy. Uh also moving towards a K through fifth grade configuration and then adding additional elementary and intermediate capacity in South Berkeley. And the way that this will be set up in the survey is that it's going to be a rotating battery of questions. And so everybody that takes a survey is going to get these in a different order. So there's not going to be any, you know, ordering bias where, oh well, they got tired of it and they just left them in the order that they were. Everybody's going to have a randomized order when they take
045this because this is a very important question. Uh, additionally, just a couple other questions that we'll have sprinkled throughout the survey. Uh, should CTE be centrally located? Should we consider adaptive reuse before new construction? And then we're also going to go through an exercise where we list all the possible CTE programs and ask the level of interest. And this is something that we also want to uh ask the same question of students. And so we'll kind of have a parallel student survey that won't be as um as wide as the general public survey, but we do want to get some feedback directly from students. And so we comp compare what the students want to what the parents and other stakeholders want as well. Uh, and finally, should Hedgesville Middle School be rebuilt on its current
046site or another site site that the district already owns? And so, again, I just wanted to kind of give you guys a taste so that there's no surprises uh, you know, when you start seeing uh, things pop up uh, in the community that, you know, we're asking for this kind of feedback. So, at this point, I'm happy to answer any clarifying questions you might have. >> Scott, this is Jackie. Mhm. >> Uh I I just want to make sure that when we send a survey out that the public realizes that these aren't concrete. >> Um >> these aren't concrete. Period. >> Absolutely. >> They're not picking one over the other that other things can come off that might supersede either one of those um suggestions as this committee goes forward. So I just That's my
047concern. >> Absolutely. >> Hey, Scott, is there an I know that we've talked about a lot of things with the survey, but is there a place in there that as we talk about, for example, the middle school uh issue that there's also a place that if they pick a com A, B, a combination of A or B, that that there's a place where they that we could say, do you have another idea that we should consider? Absolutely. >> And then Yep. Great. >> When I make it, it'll be as flexible as we can make it. >> Okay. On were there any discussions about um I don't with the other meetings that you've had, has anybody brought up the fact of the overall decreasing state population and how it could potentially eventually come our way? We
048have been growing, but some of our population that we've been growing have been maybe some people that are closer to retirement rather than starting new families and how that may impact our decision to build or not build. >> Uh so we've been utilizing the demographic report that the district has uh throughout the process. Um, again, any planning process that we go through is going to have to be flexible and be able to adapt to changes. Uh, much like, you know, what we're doing now as far as revising our 2020 plan. We might be back again before 2030. I hope not, but it's something that we have to keep an eye on and uh, you know, take that into consideration. We're ultimately considering recommendations. >> Yeah. And I um uh board member Wright, I also want
049to uh share that when we as a steering when the steering committee has been looking at the those um growth uh >> the growth trend that were provided through the report that that Preston Smith had provided is that there's the low growth, medium growth, and high growth. And one of the things that in that report it indicated was is that we were starting to level off, but then at some point it's going to start moving back up. And even this year, I will acknowledge that our enrollment has definitely uh slowed. In fact, it's actually we we actually lost a little bit of enrollment this past year. Um and the Preston Smith um uh report uh what do we call that? Was the It was a analysis. Yeah. Yeah, the study thank you um also concluded
050that uh housing construction that there was not as much of a correlation to increased student population with the houses that are going in. it's more about the businesses that and the job creation that um for every 10 jobs that's created that really adds about uh I think it was either two or three students to the school district and so a better indicator is actually job creation than than than housing. Although we still recognize that when houses go in, families move in sometimes whe whether they be um new families or retired folks. And so, um, taking a look at at what is the real driver of enrollment increases. And so, when we have talked about the pressures on our current buildings though, one of the things that we're we're talking about is what does the growth
051look like, low or high, but also where are our facilities currently in capacity? and and that has actually brought up the the point that many of our we have we have I don't say many um we have a significant number of buildings that are already over capacity and so I think that you know with falling waters uh elementary coming on board that that is going to alleviate a lot of the pressure from PTOAC and spring mills and and that sort of area. Um and so but our focus thinking about high school capacity, if we were to do nothing and even be on the low growth side or or even say stagnant, uh we still have capacity issues in our in our buildings. And the same thing sort of applies for the middle schools. Um Spring
052Mills in Spring Mills Middle School was I think I don't know, Scott, you'd have to you'd have to look at it, but I want to say it was like at 109% capacity already. So those are the things that are really driving the conversation. We recognize and I think that that's also why we put some other options in here to consider as to well here's what we could do now to alleviate pressure but but still have something in our peripheral that in the next 10 years we may still need as an example building out CTE programs for 9 through 12 to alleviate current pressure from high schools because maybe we're not ready for that that fifth high school yet or we know at some point we may need a falling waters middle school but they may
053not be the need. The bigger need might be a new Hedgesville Middle School that that takes a little bit of the enrollment from Spring Mills through redistricting again so that we're applying I would say a uh a moderate approach as opposed to a severe approach to handling something because of that because of that very point. >> Yeah, I do appreciate the um slides showing the pricing so that the community doesn't get sticker shot. They they this is correct. >> I I like that. >> And and even with the high school um when we're talking about out further as far I mean not further years uh it could even be >> Yeah. The one of the Yeah. One of the examples we showed the steering committee was is that the new Herbert Hoover in Canal County
054while it was a federally funded school was for 800 students and it was 102 million and that was just finished two years ago. So um you know this this is a a pretty um conservative number um that that we're using here too. or give us a different name of Christ. >> The uh one factor we're not considering is that we're also going to be offering burdens which may entice people to reenroll in the public school system especially as ninth graders. they see these options uh other than college or general ed that will be offered. So we may see that being a magnitude rural students back into the department school system. >> Yeah, I I couldn't agree more. Um and you know Berkeley County schools becoming you know we just had we recognized two schools for
055their exemplary CTE programming. Um, you know, wouldn't it be, you know, a wonderful feather in the cap for the Berkeley County community to have um the workforce development uh you become the hub of workforce development um for the region uh whether it be high schools u or other or other programs that have become available. Um, and not to spark any other things, but we're also working on our 5-year strategic plan and finding ways that perhaps the public school system, Berkeley County Schools, can work more with our families that have chosen other options to give them opportunities with the resources we have in house um to build back those relationships. I I I also think there's some opportunities for as well. So, Do we have any other questions for surveyor poll? Just had one. Um in
056in looking at who's getting the surveys, are these just those that are attending the community meetings or are these is this open up to the general public? >> General. >> Correct. General public. >> Okay. And >> um go ahead. Sorry. >> And we'll we'll have demographic questions on there. So, we'll ask people, hey, are you a parent? Are you just an interesting community member? You know, district staff. So, we'll be able to slice and dice the results and uh see what they look like. And also, we'll we'll encourage students to fill it out as well. >> The the thing that I'm thinking of in the back of my head, Dr. Sax, is, you know, a few of us have have Facebook pages and social media is a platform that we could reach people that maybe
057might not ordinarily be reachable. And I didn't know if there was something that we could all share that would be a link or something that would go to these surveys that maybe we can encourage others to to get to if they're not necessarily always seeing Berkeley County Schools. You know, there's algorithms on Facebook. There are, you know, can be a little wonky. So, um I'm just thinking out as much reach as we possibly can. >> I guess it's like anything else that we you put out there. We can share that. >> Exactly. So, I just want to make sure we can >> coordinate some of that. Yeah. >> Cool. Awesome. >> We'll share with you um once it's once it's gone live, we'll share it with you so you can just so that you're aware
058and where to find it. >> Um because there'll be a big push. >> Yeah. Yeah. Other questions for Mr. Leopold? >> Um Mr. Leopold, are you able to send us those slides? >> Those first uh uh Dr. schooling. We'll send it to you right now and I'll send it to all the other board members. So you have >> Perfect. >> Thank you. Good presentation. >> Yes. >> Great. Thank you. >> Other questions? Thank you, Scott. >> Next on agendas. Oh, >> I'm sorry. We still have we still have operation. Am I correct or no? >> Yeah, that's what I was. >> Oh, I'm so sorry. Going to the consent agenda. I got too excited. Uhuh. >> I was and you messed up my introduction, Mr. >> I was just gonna say the illustrious executive director
059of maintenance, Mr. Tyson. >> He is illustrious. >> All right. Well, thank you. >> Have your updates for the behind the construction projects that are happening throughout. Uh first one is the Heavensville Early Learning Academy. And uh as you can see from some of the the pictures, the uh the painting of the primer is continuing throughout the stasis. All of the HVAC electrical and plumbing is in progress. Trying to capture some photos of that. Uh the good news of course is the site work is is underway for the corner that had to be redesigned. So we're back on track for that part of the building. And you can see uh the one picture shows a window the window installation is in progress and the place getting closed in. So uh yes. Well, this this question
060is not about the building itself. We developed the philosophy. Um I know was when Dr. Murphy was here and we're trying to free up spaces in our schools where we have prek room. Why is the prek program the standalone program itself? >> Uh I'm not sure why it's a standalone. I'm assuming so that we can pull the kids out of the schools that they're in because they're kind of kind of everywhere, high schools, middle schools. >> If would if you permit me, one of the things I I think is is that it is unique to Berkeley County schools. It sort of like the the primary intermediate concept to be honest with you. Um I think that in Berkeley it was done it has been done out of necessity of space and um to create because
061because our prek programs in West Virginia um is uh universal meaning that it's open to anyone from and and so you don't necessarily get into the school zone that you're that you you live in. Now, we try to get you as close as possible, but because we're at capac we've been we've had capacity issues and adding on wings here and there for prek, some schools, they just don't have the room. Um, and so I think that the previous decision makers um opted to go in this direction to address the overcrowding of our primary schools and subsequently intermediate schools. um because we even have preks and high schools, you know, in Berkeley. So, I think that that I think that that was the reason, but it is something that's very special to Berkeley County schools. Um
062I know that in my previous district what we would have and very similar to other schools in the state, but you have to understand those schools were dealing with declining enrollment. So, they had declining enrollment. So they had classroom spaces available to modify for pre-k classrooms which was not the luxury that we have here in Berkeley. Um and in in Caval we actually had an old middle school that when they built the new middle school they actually cut half of it off and made them into pre-K classrooms. And so it became the prek center for part of the district. But most of the elementary schools that we would build um had prek classrooms built with them. Um and so they were much more part of the school community. Um and I I so that is
063the reason um as to the direction that we've gone here in Berkeley though. I I was sitting there thinking we have Epic as part of the transportation system for Easter plus a lot of them are self self delivered the parents school >> and the other thing is that the health department is so involved in the organization pre kindergarten right >> no not necessarily only for child care centers but we're not child care centers so >> thought they had somehow gotten into mix. >> And my and my recollection of the very early days for prek is that actually Berkeley County was the leader in um getting those preks we you know as many as we had at that time and just like with prek just like with kindergarten we didn't have much room for those um
064classes to go. So they were either some of them were in modules like they are now or um or just it it became a unit on itself. And that's what I that's that's what I remember about prek program. It was a a unit itself that slowly grew and grew and grew and you kind of >> it just seems like there's a different philosophy with prek. I know you and I visited kind of like they do their own thing the children >> but I don't think that had anything to do with whether they were in the school you know not in the school that's just the philos yeah the prek philosophy which is for example like family style dinners where you eat in the classroom and it's more like you know family style um down to
065the the curriculum which is very much more monastery hands-onbased uh uh what they call um uh instructional play or or you know active play where they're learn or like applied learning play I think um and and so there are a lot more different concepts compared to let's say kindergarten uh one of the things I will say though because I'm since I've transitioned to Berkeley and I'm in my second year and I've seen firsthand the planning that's going into these prek uh centers a lot of which, you know, I've been able to work through and flesh out. Um, I think that this is actually going to be one of the things that is going to be a model for future prek or three-year-old prek, which I think is coming at some point uh for the entire
066state, albeit for the country. and that is is that these learning centers will be focused around that type of prek phil prek educational philosophy with these activity hubs um where students can engage. And I I really think that it's going to be something special that that anybody that has a child that is prek eligible will want their children to go to these facilities because it's just going to be exceptional opportunities. um very enriching, very inviting um and uh and so it is different but I think it's different in a very special way. >> Thank you. >> And so uh for this particular building, it's still scheduled to be complete March 31st and open up in August of next year. Any other questions on Hedgesville? Um >> you ever show us a picture of the corner
067that was cut off I mean, as it's finished. >> Uh, yeah, that will be some of the curious presations. >> Yep. There wasn't much to show yet there, but it will be coming. >> Would there be the possibility for um any board member um in the coming weeks? While it's still dry, um if you'd like to wear if you'd like to have a hard hat um and join Dr. Skoolie, uh Tai, myself, we'd love to take you over there to let you see part of the construction process if you're interested. >> Only if Dr. to school. He wears his boots. >> He has them. >> I'm sure you have to wear your boots out there. >> There are times. >> He has He has a picture to prove it. >> You just let me know
068and we'll we'll arrange a time to go over and and tour it. Yeah. So, yeah, it's exciting. >> All right. Uh the next project is the Martinsburg High School the auditorium that that we're finishing up right now. The HVAC roughin is complete and we were waiting on waiting on that to finish. so that the sprinkler system guys can get in there and do their thing. The uh existing sprinkler has been demoed and currently the new design is pending approval through the fire marshall's office and as soon as that uh is received then they're going to begin the installation of the new sprinkler system and they can't do much else up there until that sprinkler system is installed. So this thing is moving kind of slowly but it's gradually getting back on track. The electricians have
069been on site the entire time and they are uh finishing up the rough end of all the the lighting and uh do you have any questions on the auditorium? >> Do we know what the plan is for you know the I'm thinking of choir and the band and stuff that do these you know I've seen them do concerts and stuff. So what are we doing to accommodate? They're already in >> I think she probably I'm thinking Christmas is coming and >> yeah I I don't know exactly what their plan is. I mean they are uh it's certainly been communicated to them that this is not going to be readyvious >> and so they have come up with an alternate plan. I'm not sure what that alternate plan but there is a alternate plan. >> I
070think it's the theater. Thank you. I was I was wondering >> I don't know if they ever go across the south or what they do. >> But that makes more sense for me. >> It It does. And I I I just was curious because obviously that's not going to be >> that's not going to be ready. >> All right. The next one is Mountain Ridge Primary School. And at this site, the uh cemetery line is in progress along Horner Sawmill Road. And all of the uh beneath slab plumbing is progressing as they construct the uh the foundation walls. Most of the foundation block walls are complete with the including the grouting and the damp roofing and the uh concrete floor slabs. I think they started this week actually progressing with the slabs and continuing with
071the above grade uh block. Uh so that's that's what we're looking like at Mountain Ridge Primary School. This project currently is still on schedule. They're making good progress. >> They're making very good progress. You can if you stop by that site, you can very clearly see the outline of the the school. >> Exciting. >> All right. Uh the next update for you is the Winchester Avenue retaining wall. Um this project actually has changed much since last week whenever I tried to get you some information. Uh the first thing we started off with is the large tree that is you can see in this picture to the left. uh is very close to the retaining wall and with the excavation that was required for the footers uh approximately twothirds of the root system on the one
072side would need to be chopped and removed in order to install the footers and so it was decided that it would be best and safest if that tree was not there because it probably would kill the tree anyway. So, uh, the tree has been removed. As you can see from the picture on the right, that tree is gone. And, um, as of today, the wall has been demoed and is gone. And they're in progress of getting ready to, uh, to, um, construct or dig the footers. So, I don't know if it's been passed there lately, but a lot has happened in just the past few days. >> They have to put those um, metal pillars down in there. >> U, are you talking about like what you see in that picture to the very far
073right? Was that like right beside the fire hydrant? Is that what you're talking about? Like ballards. Are you talking about ballards? >> I don't know what they're called. I just call them pieces of metal that >> you don't read. Oh yeah. Pieces of Yeah. That go down. >> Yeah. That would be within the the concrete. Nothing that you would see, but Yeah. >> No, I know you wouldn't see it, but I just wondered if they would because that would have to be pretty big pieces of rebar. Yeah, there is a very intricate system of rebar that that will be involved in this and again a >> quick bit of history Andrew Jackson to pulled trains from the local roundhouse up this road to Winchester but Mr. Navy bush principal column southern edgesville um used to
074stand up there and before interstate 81 was built this was the main north south highway and we had patrol boys out there and and big trucks and I mean that was just just imagine 81 going north and south in front of that school >> I remember that >> yeah children were not >> and don't laugh though but that That is a very busy group. I guess I >> do. >> Because we remembered those. >> I was I was remarking about how the fact that they even had those big old trucks going down that road and you know it's small road. >> The subway subway is the big problem. Yeah. >> Okay. It slowed him down a lot. >> Laughing. Uh the next is not really a project that was on our radar but something that
075has to be at Musman High School. The uh PLC wing as they call it which is essentially the freshman wing the northernmost newest addition to that school uh was built in 2012 I think somewhere around there. Um there has been some rather significant settling and uh you can if you walk through the halls of that wind you can see cracks in the block wall you can see uh for example where the baseboard uh is in place but the concrete slab has um settled. You can see some places where this is taking place and so uh it's very evident that you know we better check on this to make sure that we can uh prevent this from continuing. So um the second you see my little arrows following you on a path here. A structural review
076was done with mechanical architecture and engineering and the civil and environmental consultants. They did a walk through did some assessment did some um studies and basically they uh they determined that well let me back up on the exterior walls. If you walk around the exterior perimeter of that addition, there is no visible settling, no cracking. Everything looks solid like it's supposed to. This only is noticeable on the interior. And so, uh, when you walk around the exterior perimeter, you can see that all of the ground is sloping toward the building. So, that was their first assessment is, uh, there's a major drainage issue taking place here on this, uh, wing. And so um >> they they predicted yes >> is there water running underneath? >> Yes they they are predicting and suggesting that the water
077drainage issue is going beneath and infiltrating underneath of the the the interior space causing this slab to settle. That's their assessment. And so, um, if you look at one, two, three, the fourth one over, oh, right here, um, the drainage system that it typically goes around the perimeter of the building to to capture the water and filter it away from the foundation. Uh, it's on the plants. It's on the 2011 or 2012 plans, but at some point it was either removed during the design or it was not installed. So, that was their guess. So, um, so I hired an excavator just to do some digging and and assess and it turns out there is no drain. Um, there's no way to capture that water and send it away. And uh, so they were correct. There
078is no drainage. So the water is just infiltrating underneath of this addition. And so um because of this the solution is if you come to the last spot here uh the solution is to install the foundation drain that was left out so that we can capture that water and send it away. Also improve the the drainage of the landscaping so that you know if this is your exterior wall the ground is actually sloping away from the building instead of towards. So there are some uh some ways that we can fix it from now moving forward. Um and then of course they also wanted us to verify that the storm pipe uh which actually is installed that it's functioning properly. Uh so I did some exploratory digging on just one small area of a storm pipe
079uh on the side where we're experiencing most of the improper sloping and there was a connection of the storm drain that comes off the roof probably a 6-in pipe and it feeds into a line that heads on out. Um it was not connected. Um, so that of course would be a problem because any storm water coming off that roof is going under. Uh, we have since connected that and fixed that issue. But the other the next step moving forward is we're going to need to install a drainage system. Uh, improve the grading and um, and then of course we will also have McKinley architecture and engineering um, probably do some kind of a monitoring of the existing cracks to to asssure that it's not continuing to settle. So, we want to fix it first and
080then do that. But I just want to make sure you knew what was going on at Muslin High School. >> I'm sorry. >> Was that pipe attached together at one time and it just >> it was attached together at one time, but it uh it it separated. >> Okay. >> Over time, probably from the settling or something. Uh like I said, that is just one that we found, the only one that we investigated. So, that would make sense that, you know, we probably better check all the other ones. uh whenever we install the drainage system, then we will certainly do that as well. Make sure all of those are connected and functioning as they are supposed to. And uh one thing that I think we're going to do, I don't know if it was in
081the report or not, but we're it's likely that we'll do a smoke test um which you know, we're going to fill the pipe with smoke and see where where the smoke comes out. And that will also help us to know where there are potential leaks uh in the existing storm drain pipe um in order that we can, you know, make sure we fix this this issue. So, just want to give you an update. Um, not a real fun update to share, but at least we know that uh we're pretty sure what the problem is and what it takes to um stop it from continuing so that it can be fixed. >> And I just wanted to be able to also clearly state um that the structural review on the second box over uh from McKenley
082uh and our civil environment consultants did not deem the building to be unsafe, that everything everything is fine. And so as we address the water drainage issue, we just want to be be able to continue to monitor to ensure that there's no future settling. And one thing that was kind of interesting, they noted on the report is, you know, despite some of the cracking that you see throughout the various parts of the interior. Um, it has not impacted any of the doors. All of the doors still function and operate as they should. So, it's it's kind of a bizarre situation that's going on, but it's certainly something that that we want to address and improve so that we're not continuing to have any issues. >> I'm glad that it was caught when it is so
083that it just doesn't continue to get worse and worse and worse. >> Right. >> When will we get a cost analysis of estimate of the call? Um, I got an initial proposal, just a very rough estimate, and it was close to 25,000 just to fix the drainage system and the landscaping. And so, um, and a couple other related type things. Uh, so that was just my initial assessment just to get an idea so I knew if I need to advertise the same for bid or whatever. So, we're going to advertise this project once we kind of fine-tune this scope of work and then of course I'll keep you updated. But it looks like it should be um you know, I thought it' be a lot more than that. But that was the initial um you
084know, assessment that I have. >> As far as pricing, >> I'm going to ask a dumb question because I kind of know what the answer is going to be because it's you um and Dr. Saxs, but and Dr. But I'm going to ask it anyway just cuz um when we say that on the plans the drainage system was there but yet was not installed. I'm thinking of all the buildings that were renovating, adding on, building right now. And we with absolute certainty say that what is on the plans whether approved or redlined after build being built that it is accurate so that in 20 years should anything come up. >> Yeah. >> We have accuracy >> for for the next board because I guarantee that in 20 years we not going to be here. >>
085We're not going to be here. Uh yeah. So here's what's happening right now. So currently um there is a daily inspection by our director of the works on these projects and he is making sure that every single thing that's on those plans is happening on site and anything that's even a little bit off like there's I mean he we are getting and plus it's school building authority projects so there are very detailed reports and photographs that uh come through every single day on the current schools. Good. The other thing is, so that's on our side, Berkeley County Schools, keeping an eye on things. And then McKenley Architecture has their version of the clerk of the works, the construction uh analyst or project manager guy, and he also is coming through every um week or every
086two weeks, I guess, and taking pictures and just documenting and you know, and we've actually called out the contractors on certain things, certain details that we wanted to see improved. Uh so, um hold I feel like, of course, I wasn't here when when this was happening. why I'm saying >> but I feel like the way that we're operating right now is uh you know very good and very appropriate for making sure that things are done correct >> because the last thing I want is anybody to look back at what we're doing with all of these new buildings and additions and go what were you doing especially when we had something like this come up while we're in the middle of doing it. So >> well the problem is too with that you don't know if
087it was removed during the design process or >> yeah it's not real clear. Um but it is confirmed because we did some exploratory digging. It is not there. >> Well and so that's the reason why I specifically ask about the red line because I know that the red lines are usually what absolutely did get put in. If there's any changes or adjustments after it's been built it's noted as a red line on those plans. So that's why I was asked specifically about that. So, yeah, >> we're going to bring that back to us at a later time. >> I will keep you updated on this project. >> Okay. I'm surprised. I'm I'm not going to No, I'm I'm going to keep that to myself. >> Okay. >> I will I I will say it afterwards,
088but I'm not going to say it right now. >> All right. Uh the last This is my last slide. Um the in well 2024 actually uh we applied for a grant uh for $1 million to replace windows in four schools and uh this is u school these are schools of course that were on the 2020 CFP. Uh there were more than four schools that were called out replacing windows but these were the four that seemed to be the highest priority based on that 2020 CFPB. And so, uh, we filled out a grant. The SBA awarded us $1 million with Berkeley County, um, supplying $388,19, as you can see. So, uh, that is the budget for, uh, replacing windows in, um, this is Hedesville Middle School right here. Uh, this is the 1926 section that you
089see in red. Um, certainly some of those windows look like they're still from theund years ago. Yeah. So anyway, so Hisville Middle, um this is Hisville High School, this is Opekin, and this is Tuscora. Those are the four schools that we um had a grant for, this MIP grant for window replacement. So we advertised this project in the spring or early summer, but um you see our budget of 1,388,000. the bid the lowest bid came in at I can't remember but it was over two million so it was significantly over the budget and so we went back to McKinley architecture by the way we were we went all out we were replacing all the windows >> that's what I was just going to ask you >> okay so um we changed gears the SBA said
090we still have to include the four schools in uh this project because that's what we applied for you know we saw some talk of Hedgesville Middle School so we're like Um, you know, 2020, this is what we said, but now here in 2025, we're like, um, are we keeping Headsville Middle School? I think I that's what I meant to say. Heville Middle. So, we contemplated eliminating Hezville Middle School, but the SBA because of the grant rules or whatever, they said, "Nope, you have to do something there." So, McCain revised the scope of work and they um broke it up for the the biders to do alternates. And so, for example, a couple minutes ago, I said this section right here, 1926, that is the section that's in the worst shape. So, that's in the base
091bid. And then there's like a 1960s edition over here. That's alternate number one. And then there's another I don't know, might also be 1960s over here of windows. That's alternate number two. Uh, and then alternate number three. You have to do these in order. Remember whenever we do a bid, Hedgeville High School, this is the front of the school, which is in the base bit. Alt number three is to include the the windows in the back of the school. Some of that is a little bit newer edition, which is why we picked the front over the back. A lot of these windows, keep in mind, are plexiglass, >> which is a safety concern, which is why the 2020 CFP, which is why we want to replace them, especially Tuscore and Pekkin. We're we're replacing all
092of those winners. Uh so base bid alternates. Um hopefully that will improve the pricing. And so um the project was advertised readvertised from October the 1st. We have a mandatory pre- bid meeting on October the 15th. And then we're going to do the bid opening on October the 29th. And sometime in November, I'll be back to to show you where we're at and you can decide, you know, exactly what we want to do. >> So when would they start? uh they probably would have to start um probably in the spring break or summertime because once the bids are complete and open and and the project is awarded, it it takes several weeks to of course get the supplies in. Uh so this probably would be a next summer project. >> Um okay, so that was
093it. Um the only other thing I was going to tell you is um tomorrow we're doing a site visit with the school building authority. They are coming here to Berkeley County and we applied for an SBA needs grant asking for $16 million uh to do additions to Rosemont Elementary uh to add on five classrooms so that we can eliminate the portables um at that school and also we asked for funding included within that 60 million to add on to Hedgesville High School. Um they have eight classrooms still meeting and affordable. So, we're asking for an eight classroom addition. And so, the school building authority is meeting with us tomorrow to visit those sites and discuss and to be aware of our needs. And not only did we ask for funding just for the additions, but
094also for upgrades to the kitchen and cafeteria spaces in those schools and to the library and media center in Rosemont. Um, so I'll keep you posted of course, but I just want you to know that we are doing that site those site visits with the SBA tomorrow. That's all I have. Thank you, Mr. Char. Okay. You're welcome. Next we have the consent agenda. Have a motion to accept accept the consent agenda as presented. >> So move. >> Second. >> All in favor? >> I motion carries. Next on the agenda is um Melissa Holland and the discussion on the mapping software. Maybe maybe just Mr. It just means >> Madame President, board members, Superintendent Saxs, thank you for allowing me to speak tonight and present this information to you. Um, this has to deal with safety
095mapping. During our 2025 legislative session, West Virginia House Bill 3166 was passed, which requires each county to create a standardized school mapping safety mapping data. The bill sets minimum standards that counties must accomplish before September 1st of 2026. Several of these standards include uh they have to be formatted to integrate with local public safety software, capable of being printed and digitally integrated, be oriented to true north, and include the coordinates of X and Y, include accurate floor plans, sight specific labeling. They must include future updates or modifications. And we also shall provide a copy to the state board of education, homeland security, first responders to include fire, police, and EMS. Um, we must also based on this bill is to receive approval from our primary law enforcement agency that covers our district. And each county
096board of education may receive up to $4,500 per school through a state grant. Therefore, it should be no cost to us as a board. Um, based on this new legislation, I reached out to multiple companies and requested a pilot sample of what their product is to be used for a tabletop demonstration, which you can see here. We did a tabletop in early July and we used Opekin Elementary School for that. The three companies agreed to provide a free demo of their product that we could use and share with law enforcement, EMS, directors of 911 homeland security for our tabletop. After the tabletop, I met with leaders in our safety subcommittee as well as district and other regional safety directors amongst the state here uh where we decided that Berkeley County needed a little bit additional
097mandates other than just the basic requirements that were required by uh House Bill 3166. So the additional um standards that we included into our RFP would have been campus boundaries, um building footprints, floor byfloor layouts, accessibility routes, uh utility and emergency systems, and also we wanted to include vector data which included not only x and y coordinates but also z coordinates as Well, we wanted to include 360°ree video documentation of each school and we wanted to make sure that it was integrated into the law enforcement and 911's CAD system. So, an RFP was drafted and Berkeley County Schools put this project out for bid through Demandar. Uh you can see that we contacted 30 companies and we received bids from the three data, Geoc, and CRG. After the bids were received, we worked jointly with
098the 911 director and the Berkeley County Sheriff himself. And both the 911 director and Sheriff Blair wrote formal letters of recommendation for a company called Data Mark. And I have um these letters to share with you guys. >> Did we include um um chief of police since we have some from school? >> The chief of police was was um involved in all all of our meetings. Um however he um was not asked to write a letter of his support. >> Okay. >> Uh he's a member of our safety subcommittee and he was on um our meetings when we decided what other um necessities we required for our schools. As you can see there um both of their recommendations from the 911 director which makes sense to be integrated recommended data for uh our mapping software.
099Datamark's product integrates the best with our local law enforcement services software. Data's bid was also the lowest even though we'll be fully reimbursed was the lowest of the three bids coming in at around $3,635 per school. And I wanted to make a note here that um initially we bid it out for 32 schools because that's what we're currently at right now. They do not include uh facilities that do not house children like such as board office of maintenance. Um, but due to the fact that this legislation is set for September 1st of 2026, I put the bid back out for two more schools to include Headsville Early Learning Center and the Mountain Ridge uh, Primary Campus School, which will be included in this, which would be no cost to us as well. Um the final
100slide is an online example of their work which you can see there but in front of you you each have an accurate product of Opekin Elementary. That's a a data mark product that we use for our tabletop design, our tabletop exercise that we did and they were able to provide us that for everybody to work off of. Uh it should also be noted that um Jefferson County, West Virginia has also got board approval to use DataMark. And the reason that I think that's pretty important is to stay consistent with law enforcement and first responders if they have to respond across county lines. So they're dealing with the same software. So uh theirs was just just approved uh last month. Um, based on all this information, I'm asking for approval on the funded mandate to proceed
101with dataark as Berkeley County Schools mapping software to ensure compliance with House Bill 3166 and West Virginia State Code 189F and 10A >> questions. >> Wow. I mean, you're passing out this map. Will these maps be secure? Yeah. So, the maps are um secured digitally and by their company and we will have rights to them. We would have two main administrators of each mapping system. We could have multiple users and viewers, but we could only have two people that can make adjustments to them. >> I I'm just worried about some >> Well, we do have to share uh we do have to share with uh local EMS, law enforcement, and the state board of education. said they will have copies of them. >> And in our cover letter, it says the funding is available in
102a first come first serve declines requirement basis. They're saying we we we're covered. >> So they've paid out five so far. Um I think the gentleman's name is Mike Whitlo from State Department of Education. They pay him out in sections. I spoke to the director of Jefferson County Safety. They've already applied for theirs and have been awarded theirs. U what my intent would be is once we get approval is to apply for this grant tomorrow and get the funding at hand. >> We're trying to be as expeditious as possible be able to get it. >> Yeah, I just saw that sentence there. >> Yeah, it doesn't sound like what I heard. >> Don't move. Other questions for Dean? Thank you. Yes. >> Thank you. So, >> is this a consent or >> it's an action
103or >> It's an action item. >> Okay. I'll move that we approve the process boarding it to >> market. Uh we have a motion to award the U process for the U Min for 123,57266 or 60 I can't remember >> 66 second >> second. >> All in favor I >> motion carries. Thank you. Next on the agenda is uh Eric Ter review of the transportation efficiency study for July. >> Good evening, President Long, members of the board, superintendent tax. Um actually what what this is is um I'm looking at this as kind of step two of our efficiency study. Um so what I'm going to ask for tonight is a change order to what we had with them. um so that uh they can guide us through this uh route optimization like first steps um
104in order to be uh ready for personnel season come February because because we're going to have changes uh I I want to be ready and everyone knows what's on board. Um so we we did reach out to Edgelog. They said no problem. Uh they gave us a quote um for the change order which was originally 45,000. They're giving us a 10% discount. So it'll be $41,500 uh for them to get started. They're going to they're there as soon as I get this approval. I will call them. Uh we'll get the PO ready and all of that. Uh they will have everything done for us promised by mid January. So we have everything ready to go for our personnel season. >> And again, this is um this is not a in perpetuity type relationship. This is
105to help us with this initial lift. >> Yes. >> Of some pretty significant uh consol maybe route consolidation or more efficient routes, right? Um and in order to do that it requires that >> expertise they have >> the expertise that they have to build capacity within your own team. Is that correct? >> Yes. Okay. Yes. Yeah. It was unfortunate we did one of the bus supervisors that was was hired retired um to kind of set us back a little bit. Um but we're really comfortable with who we have now that they're going to get this stuff. Um and speaking to Edelog Mr. Jenko um to do the route optimization it's really querydriven so you really have to understand what you're doing so you know down the road we don't mess up >> but you also
106will be able to learn the system much better to be able to do it yourself >> do it on our own >> yes >> or maybe just call and ask them a question from time to time >> so I'm I'm asking for the board's approval of the 41,500 for route optimization question for Mr. Poer. >> You were here earlier when we're talking about the 5ear amendment and in that there would be redistricting and I remember Terry Force worked on this years ago. that you could just say well how many students are in this district west that correct or and that sort of thing. So my question I think is following up with what Jackie said. We won't have to every time redistrict your hand with this kind of money or >> No, we we sort
107of have that ability right now to know where all students are and if you wouldn't, you know, it would take a while, but we we could do that ourselves. This is more about getting the buses to a better capacity. Um and and over time that I've been in transportation 20 years now over time you get pockets of students um that increase and then they go away and then new pockets form and under our current um legis I guess personnel rules it's hard to move those buses around. This is the way to get to get it started. It will also help with u maybe I don't want to since we're on virtual I don't want to scare anybody but it also could help with um aligning those routes better because there might be some students on
108that route that maybe need to go in another route because there would be served better and maybe not as long on the bus. >> Right. >> So on and so forth like that. >> Absolutely. Yeah, I think it's a really good point. You know, the whole reason that we're, you know, going down this road is is to improve u the performance of um our bus system um so that less routes have to be cancelled due to staffing shortages or delays because of of uh you know again um just logistics. So, we're trying to improve all of those things so that our families have something that is reliable, trustworthy, and gets our students to school and back home in a timely manner. >> Plus, I think um working with that hand in hand, the directors and
109executive directors will feel more comfortable as next year when they're >> absolutely >> you know. Yes. So, there will be training also involved in all of this. they've already we've already have them established um in what's called edge log u which is online training in in the system itself but optim optimization is really a tough cookie you got to be really careful what you're doing so you know this is the first step for us in in that learning process also >> I think getting started earlier rather than later is yeah critical so >> any questions for Mr. Thank you, sir. >> You ask my question. >> Um, can I have a motion to approve the um um change order for a law at a cost of $41,500 of the operating budget, general operating budget? >>
110Second. >> All in favor? >> Motion carries. Mr. Keep transportation software. Okay. Um, if you remember in 2021, we um had a contract assigned by a previous board. Um, I think some of you might have been on to that board, but it was a it was a 10 it was a 10-year contract, [Laughter] >> but we did it for for 10 years. Um, uh, knowing that we're we were going to need this technology in the future. Um, so what this is, there's an annual subscription that we pay Edelog Samsara uh for $107,100 and that's for all of our um subscription um software. Uh that's the GPS, that's the the cam the forward rearward facing cameras and um all of the different technology that we use them for. So bringing this to your is this approval?
111I guess we'd have to approve the 70 because it's over 100. So that's what I'm asking for is to be able to pay this uh annual amount subscription subscription amount. >> This is uh for the year. >> For the year. >> Yeah. As we paid it last year. >> Yes. Hearing Mr. Pir's recommendation and explanation. Can I have a motion to approve this um transportation subscription for some sav,100? >> Does Mr. Martin have a question? >> We're giving Mr. Martin an opportunity to to be the first. I don't know if his hand was up or not. So So moved. Second. >> All in favor? >> I opposed. >> Motion carries. >> Thank you. >> Mr. Ducker is breathing a sigh of relief. >> Oh, no. Wait a minute. >> Thank you, >> Dr. Branch. um
112policy JG use of personal electronic devices. >> Yes. Good evening, Dr. Saxs, president-in-law, members of our board. If you'll recall, prior to the uh 2024-25 school year, uh the county discipline committee proposed and reviewed a policy for personal electronic device use, which I presented and you all approved. Um during this past legislative session, the legislature approved House Bill 2003, which included some stipulations that we did not have in our policy. So, we needed to go back and review that and uh revise a few things. We used the opportunity to clarify some language uh which you'll see in primarily in the purpose and then um part B of the scope with um changing some language to make sure that personal electronic devices encompassed every possible electronic device, not just cell phones. Um there was some language
113in there that was just cell phone usage and then um to define where students would uh put their devices that would be deemed off and away. So the locker, the backpack or feature designated area. And then there were four changes that we made based on House Bill 2003. Um the first is that we had included that teachers were allowed to um have students use personal electronic devices for classwork, but that was not included in the House bill. So we had to take that out. Um they are allowed to use it for work-based learning, but not just for regular classroom activities. They would use their school issue device for those types of things. Uh the second change uh was that we had to include the uh stipulation that the data would be reviewed by each school's
114LSIC during the school year. Um the third change was that schools had to have to define a method for parents to be able to communicate with their children. And um after you know reviewing this with um our legal counsel that we left that pretty basic so that um principles have have the option to define those methods that work best for their schools and ways that parents can communicate with their children. And then finally in lines 142 through 144, um the house bill requires certain ways that uh this be communicated with parents and we already did most of those student handbook um communicating through um websites, but we did provide signs for each school so that we make sure that uh each school has the signage uh regarding the cell phone or personal electronic device where
115you zones uh during instructional time. So those are the four changes that came out of the house bill. I'll take any questions you may have and like to present that for your approval. >> Questions for Dr. Branch? >> Did the legislation? >> No, I don't think so. Um the only substantive change really was that actually made our policy a little more strict and that teachers can't use it in in their classrooms which you know we had thought you know there might be certain activities like a photography class or something like that where being able to use a cell phone would um come in handy for a teacher but um you know they did not allow that so so we had to take that out. U the other things, you know, I think are good having
116the LSIC review the data, making sure that um we're communicating this in certain ways and that's consistent across the state and that um you know, schools do communicate the ways that parents can communicate with their student. Um you don't have to be texting them during class to be able to get them a message or, you know, if it's an emergency. I I don't know the section, but as I was reading the policy, it's talking about the IDP and the 514 process, >> right? >> I was just worried that could somebody say my child has to be able to do this anytime because whatever reason. >> Well, we had included that in our policy already. Um, and you know, those are committee decisions. So you know a parent can bring an idea to the committee or
117or a teacher or you know a school nurse maybe um but that's something that is decided as a whole. So >> so it's not that one individual insisted being inserted in the >> right and a lot of those cases with students that have health needs you know we have a doctor recommendation for some things too. that >> um the changes or the updates to what the staff member of the teacher can how they can do that in the classroom. Uh are we sure they're going they'll be or have been relayed to the staff >> in terms of like them being able to use them in the class? So, we we'll have to communicate that after you all have um you know approved it and make sure that staff knows that that's no longer >> okay
118>> an option. >> I just don't want them to not know and when it's in our policy, >> right? >> And and I communicated these changes with the principles, you know, over the summer so that they would be prepared for that. But um you know I don't know that that's been communicated to all staff members. >> We be able to do that like tomorrow. >> Yes ma'am. I can work with Carla and get that. >> Yeah. Principal's meeting tomorrow and then um we're going to recommunicate all redo our signage and um recommunicate the um the electronic device policy with the you know a couple changes. >> Okay, that's great. That should do it. Any other questions for Dr. Branch? Hearing none, uh, can I have a motion to approve the um electronic device policy with
119the changes? So move. Second. >> Second. >> All in favor? >> I carries. >> Thank you very much. >> Thank you, Mr. Powoski. >> Hi. Good evening, members of the board and Dr. Saxs. The personal actions dated from Monday, October 6th, uh, 2025 are as follows. We have four coaching appointments and two coaching resignations. We have one extra duty resignation and 24 healthcare appointments. Beginning on line 33, we have three unpaid leaves of absence for your consideration this evening. Um, for professional personnel, we have six professional appointments. And on line 38, I need to announce a change that employee should be on a 261day contract. That's what ROTC um teachers are off. Um we also have one change of assignment this evening and two professional resignations and one retirement that is effective at the end
120of the 2526 school year. Uh for service actions, we have nine uh what's actually going to end up being eight new service personnel appointments. We need to remove line 51. Um and we have six midday appointments. We rescended the appointment of an employee and we also have five change of assignments of service personnel. Uh on line 67 we have the ratification of an unpaid suspension and termination of employment. That employment or that employee is David Harpine. We have three service resignations, two midday resignations and one retirement. We have three transfers of service personnel, four service personnel upgrades. We rescended the upgrade of one service personnel employee. This evening we also have two substitute nurse appointments. Uh we have 16 new appointments of substitute service personnel. We rescended the appointment of one service substitute and on
121line 999 we have the ratification um of suspension and termination of a substitute 8. That employee is Sandrew Greenfield Wilkins. We also have two resignations of substitute personnel. For professional substitute teachers we have 12 appointments of professional day-to-day substitutes. We also have one renewal of a substitute contract and one resignation of a professional substitute teacher for a total of 114 professional service and substitute personnel actions tonight for your consideration with the superintendent's recommendation. >> Questions for Mr. Motion to accept the personnel actions as presented. >> Second. >> All in favor? >> I motion carries. Thank you. >> Next on the agenda is a regular uh a legal update uh which will need to go in executive session for uh I'll just state that >> no decision will be made so the staff could relay the
122time the meeting is ajourned. So if I have a motion uh to go in executive session under West Virginia code 6-9A-4B section 2 A second all in >> favor I carries we are going in for executive session.