001Good evening. I would like to call to order the regular meeting of the Newport New School Board for Tuesday, May 19th, 2026. On behalf of the members of the school board and Dr. Mitchell, I welcome each of you present this evening and those who are watching on TV and online. A quorum is present to transact the business of the school division. We have one member of the school board who wishes to participate in our regular meeting electronically as indicated in board policy be electronic participation in meetings from remote locations. The board member must make such request cite the reason for remote attendance and the board must approve the request by majority vote of the members present. School me schoolboard member Marissa Alger has made such a request. Mrs. Alger, yeah. Can you share the reason
002for your request with the board, please, and with the public, please? Yes. Yes. Thank you so much, Dr. best . My name is Marissa Alger. I am requesting to join our meeting electronically. I am joining from Arizona due to family obligation. Thank you. Hearing Mrs. Alger's request, what is the pleasure of the board? Second. Been moved and second that we allow Miss Alger to participate in our meeting electronically. Are there any questions? Any comments? Miss Buffalo, call the role, please. Aman for Brown. For Harris For Hunter For Surles law For best For me motion passes 6 thank you and now I will call on Miss Kyla Legette our student representative to the school board to introduce tonight's student for guest invocation and pledge thank you chairman Dr. best. We will begin tonight's meeting with the
003invocation and pledge to the flag. Here to do the honors are two students from an achievable dream elementary school. Mutri Vanderhorse and Joanna Olivess. First, Mutri will come forward and deliver the invocation. He will be followed by Joanna who will come forward and deliver the pledge. Mutri, will you please come forward and tell us a little bit about yourself before you get started? Good evening members of the school board, teachers, families, and students. My name is Mutrie Vander Horse the third and I am grateful for my opportunity to speak tonight. I am a fifth grader from Achievable Dream Academy and my favorite subjects are history and science. In my free time, I enjoy spending time with my family and friends, playing basketball and football, and relaxing with video games. As I think about my future,
004I hope to attend a college and possibly pursue a career in computer or programming. Because schools help shape students goals and ambitions, they should be places where every child feels encouraged to learn and grow. Our schools are places where students develop knowledge, build confidence, and begin thinking create and begin creating the futures they dream about. Every student deserves encouragement, support, and opportunities to help them succeed both inside and outside the classroom. There is also one more thing I'd like to share. This is a poem. Dreams begin with just one spark. A light that shines within the dark. With hard work, hope and goals in sight. Success can grow from day to night. Thank you for your dedication to helping students reach their full potential and chase the dreams that will shape their future. Thank you
005so much. Mri Joanna, will you please come forward and tell us a little bit about yourself before you begin the pledge? Hey, my name is Joanna Olivus and I am very happy to be here. Shall we rise for the pledge of allegiance? 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. Thank you all for participating in tonight's meeting. You guys did a wonderful job. Supporting Mui and Joanna tonight are their family members and school family. Please stand and be recognized. The board appreciates the encouragement you have given these students and we thank you for bringing them to tonight's meeting. And thanks again. Achievable Dream holds a special place in my heart. I've worked
006there for over I think about 14 15 years. So, it holds a very special place in my heart. You did a great job. Thank you. The next item on tonight's agenda is school board recognitions. Dr. Mitchell, please join me at the podium. Good evening. I have the honor of presenting our recognitions for this evening. The National Association of Music Merchants Foundation recognizes outstanding efforts by teachers, administrators, parents, students, and community leaders who work together to ensure access to music learning for all students are part of the school curriculum. Each year, the organization designates the best communities for music education. We're proud to share that Newport News Public Schools is named to that list for 2026. Present this evening to accept this honor are Katie Sheehan Smith, the instructional supervisor for visual and performing arts, and
007Tony Mata, visual and performing arts instructional specialist. Would you I'm sorry. Would you please both come forward? Newport News Public Schools offers music instruction beginning in kindergarten and increasing in both instructional and performance opportunities as students move up through high school. These include more than 15 high school music courses, including advanced placement courses and many opportunities to perform in community concerts throughout the year. This is the ninth time NNPS has received the best communities for music education recognition for our incredible music program and its many components. So, Mrs. Sheehan Smith and Mr. Mata Thank you and please share this acknowledgement with all of our music educators and our students. Congratulations. We would also like to acknowledge their family members and friends who may be with us this evening as well as Daryl Pankritz, executive director
008of secondary teaching and learning and K12 programs. Let's give it up for Mr. Pankritz. And he is now okay. So, we want to thank him for his much of his support in this music program. So, we're gonna come around and get a a nice picture. Come on around. All right. So, at this time, we're going to take a short break. So, our presenters and guests and their families may leave if they wish to, but we have a lot of business. You may stay with us if you choose to do so. But at this time, you're uh we're going to stand in a recess, brief recess. So, thank you. During our regular meetings, we provide time for the public to address the school board. These opportunities are scheduled in the early part of our agenda and
009towards the end of the meeting. As advertised, citizens may submit comments via email up to 30 minutes prior to our meeting time to be included in the official meeting record. For those of you joining us in person, the board considers this an opportunity to listen to your comments. Please understand that we will consider your concerns. We ask that you comply with our three minute time limit. As you begin your comments, a green light will come on. A yellow light signals that you have 30 seconds remaining, and a red light and beep indicates your time is up. As your name is called, please come forward. Reverend Natalie Chamberlain and she will be followed by Mel Howard. Get myself organized here. Good evening. I'm Reverend Natalie Chamberlain. I am part of a large broad coalition of citizens
010who have been attending these meetings for the past two years to advocate for fair treatment of LGBTQIA+ students in this district. Tonight, our coalition represents at least 10 churches and community organizations as well as several un unaffiliated individuals. We are grateful for the care that is now being guaranteed to all students and staff. We understand that rights denied one means those rights are denied to all. This is about taking care of the children, all of the children. I'm grateful for the political risk you've taken. I understand from my own experience how often doing the right thing gets misinterpreted by people with less humane understanding of political bodies responsibilities. It breaks my heart that there are people who believe children are property. It breaks my heart that there are people, often well-meaning people, who insist God
011made a mistake when God created humanity in a vast array of sizes, shapes, colors, genders, gender identities, and beauty. It breaks my heart that there are people who might stand before you tonight and use God as an excuse for demeaning or dehumanizing someone else. You've taken a stand to protect the most vulnerable segment of the district's population. They're watching tonight as they've been watching for the last almost three years. And they will be aware of who cares for their existence and who does not. Thank you. Thank you for reaffirming the basic humanity of all your students. Thank you for making it possible for us to go on to other important issues that concern the community and this board. Thank you for loving the children. Good evening members of Newport News School Board, parents, students, and
012community members. My name is Mel Howard. I'm the executive director and founder of Thriving Transmen of color, also known as TTMOC. We are a risers organization based in Hampton Roads that works to build safe, affirming, and empowering spaces for marginalizing communities, especially black and brown LGBT individuals, youth, and families. Tonight I stand before you not just as an advocate but as somebody who deeply believes in the power of education community opportunities. Schools are more than just buildings where lessons are taught. Schools are often where the first place where young people learn where they are accepted, valued, protected and seen. Right now many students carry burdens that are far heavier than backpacks. Some of them facing bullying, some of them struggling with mental health. some dealing with housing insecurities, violence, food insecurities, rejection simply just because
013of who they are. And for LGBT youth, youth of color, those challenges are often more magnified. What young people need to hear from us is not silence. They need support. They need adults willing to create environments where students have the opportunities to thrive versus merely survive. At TTMOC, we work directly with communities to provide mentorship, peer support, workforce development opportunities, mutual aid, health, education, and affirming spaces for youth to heal and grow. We often see firsthand what happens when youth are invested in. Confidence grows, attendance approves, leaderships develop, hope returns. But organizations like ours can't do this work alone. We need real change to happen in schools. Families, nonprofits, and communities need to come together instead of operating separately. I encourage this beard, this board to continue to prioritize student wellness, mental health resources, anti-bullying
014efforts, inclusive, supportive spaces for all students. Representation matters. Safe adults matter. Access to counselors matter. Community partnerships matter. Every student deserves to walk in school buildings knowing their future is valuable. And let me be clear, creating affirming spaces for vulnerable students does not take anything away from anyone else. Compassion is not just a limited resource. Support is just not limited resources. When we protect the most valuable students, we often strengthen the entire school community. As a community leader, as a former foster parent, as a adoptive parent, and as an advocate for this community, I know what impact looks like when caring adults have one young person in their life. And when a young adult has a caring person in their life, sometimes it takes one student, one counselor, one administrator, or one program to remind
015the students that they matter. Tonight, I ask this board to continue choosing courage over comfort, unity over division, and investment over negligence. Our young people are watching us closely. They're paying closely, sir. Okay. Thank you. I appreciate you so very much. Reverend Mayard and you can pronounce your name. I apologize for me. And he is going to be followed by Miss Adena Rivera. Uh good evening Dr. Bast and school board. I am Andrew Millard. Uh I'm minister at the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship at the Peninsula, but I speak for myself. Thank you for revising procedure JBP on the treatment of transgender and gender non-conforming students. I appreciate that the revised procedure sets much better standards for treating students with respect. The safe school environment is essential for every student and as Mel said, affording transgender and
016gender non-conforming students with basic human dignity is part of protecting all students from ignorance and bigotry. Thank you again for revising JBP and please stay firm in your commitment to these better standards. Thank you, Mr. Dina Rivera will be followed by Marcus Shaw. Good evening, members of the school board. As promised, I've returned this evening to be the voice for the parents who are unable to make it here. I've been hearing everyone say thank you for what I guess I'm behind. Maybe you guys decided to change the JBP policy. But regardless, I will continue to speak. It is imperative that the parents of school age children are able to raise their concerns and ensure that you hear us because when it comes to how our children are raised, ours are the only voices that matter.
017I keep listening to the loud voices of those that want to take away parental rights by changing JBP. These voices want parents to be silent. I can promise you that will never happen. Today, I want to speak to those who are not able to attend. If you have not had the time to look up JBP, let me read some quotes to you so you can understand why it does not need to change. Section 3A number one. Quote, "The school division prohibits all discrimination and will comply with all applicable non-discrimination laws." End quote. As I said last time, it's already illegal to discriminate. No change needed. Section 3A number three. Quote, "Each school will make reasonably available guidance and counseling services to all students. No student shall be required to participate in any counseling program to
018which the students parents object. Parents must be informed and given an opportunity to object before counseling services pertaining to gender are given." End quote. Section 3D has several instructions that I will summarize. First it says transgender students wishing to change his or her means of address will be treated with respect, compassion, and dignity. Not what sure what more anyone could ask for. Then it says school division personnel will refer to each student using the name that appears in their official record, but you can use a nickname associated with that name. Then it talks about using pronouns, which will correspond to what is listed on their official record based on their sex. If you don't like that, here's the opportunity for change. everyone behind me. Section 3D number four, school division personnel will refer to a
019student by a name other than one in the student's official record or by pronouns other than those corresponding to the sex appearing in the student's official record only if a student's parent has instructed the school division in writing that such other name or pronouns be used. There you have it. For those like myself who do not want my children to participate in transgender ideology, I can say no. And for those that do, they can say yes because that is a parent's right. I pray you do not listen to those people telling you that this needs to be changed because parental rights are they should never never be violated. And I will see you guys next month. I look forward to figuring out what everyone is congratulating you about. Thank you, Mr. Marcus Shaw. will be
020followed by Reverend Michael Bernett. Thank you for having me. I would like to thank the Newport News School Board for overturning Youngkin's queer phobic directive. I am happy to have the opportunity to speak tonight and especially seeing so many familiar faces behind me. With that in mind, I would like to directly address those who said that they would attend in protest. You have lost. This is one of many legislative battles you have lost with many losses ahead. You have not just lost this battle. You have lost the respect and the admiration and the trust of your children. Some of whom will speak of this decision on behalf of the school board as life-saving. They will speak of the shame they feel to have been born to people who hold such hatred in their hearts towards
021them and towards the community that will support them as you have chosen not to. Some of them you will never see again. and I hope you were able to recognize that this is a direct result of your support of Ynan's directive. I have full faith that the generation that follows mine will usher in a kinder, more open-minded and accepting world than the one that I grew up in. No amount of cruelty and do recognize it as cruelty towards children on behalf of adults will stop them from doing that. to those children. You have a fire in you that is a beacon of hope to your elders in the bleakest of times. I hope you know that we are so proud of you and look forward to working alongside you to build a world that you
022deserve. Thank you. Thank you. Michael will be followed by Mr. David Braman, Dr. Bass, Dr. Mitchell, members of the board. Good to see you again. It's been close to a year since I've been able to attend one of these meetings. But as it's been mentioned, we've been having this conversation about procedure JBP for a long time, over two years now. No policy is ever going to be perfect and no policy is ever going to make everybody happy. I know I'm preaching to the choir on that one. I know y'all have a tough job because you can never make the right decision that's going to make everybody happy. It's going to protect everybody the way we want. I think there are some sound arguments against the Northam model policies. I think there are some sound arguments
023against the Yncan model policies. I've made some of these thoughts public. We've talked even privately with some members of this board about ways to potentially add some more nuance to some of these policies to protect everybody, including educators and staff. But now is not the time to nitpick. Maybe when the policy board wheels back around to the Jay's, we can talk about particulars and little ways we can make this even more perfect. But for right now, what I want to do is I want to thank you for the harm reduction measure that you've taken over these past two years. We have put in front of you several studies, lots of data that show that even one supportive adult and a gender non-conforming young person's life can literally save it, can lower their potential for taking
024their own life or self harm considerably. And one of my main sticking points with Yncan's policy, as I've made very, very clear, is it prohibits our educators from being that one supportive adult. If a student's parents are not that one supportive adult and we might have that one teacher who is supportive, who feared too much for their job and who stopped being that beacon of support for a student. I'm glad, at least as far as I can tell from the headlines, we didn't have any casualties. And I'm even happier that now these harm reduction policies are in place to make it that much less likely that we'll have any casualties. Thank you all for continuing to navigate these treacherous waters of politics and thank you for serving our students first. Thank you Mr. David Brakman.
025And he will be followed by EJ Tench. Good evening, Superintendent Dr. Mitchell and members of the board. I'm David Brakman. He him. Um, and I want to thank you for last month's revisions to procedure JBP. I briefly want to be sure that my voice is heard at this moment of assessing the public reaction. Um, using students preferred names and pronouns and not outing them um until it is and not outing them is a good, respectful and safe procedure and I appreciate it. um identity is not something that anyone can dictate and the asserted parents right to know a child's gender identity is subsequent to the parents responsibility to be trusted with that information. Um and the statistics on when people have not told a parent, they often enough have have compelling um reasons for doing
026so and then and several arms um by not by becoming not welcome at who they are at home. Um thank you. Bye. Thank you. EJ Tench will be followed by M. Mrs. Jackie Badison. Thank you to the school board for your time and to the chairperson for recognizing me. My name is EJ Tench and my pronouns are they them theirs. I'm a long-term resident of Newport News and I'm here tonight with an interfaith coalition of community members and clergy. Thank you for refusing to adopt the YNCANS procedure JP due to its harm towards LGBTQ students and teachers. When I was a student in high school, I experienced firsthand the ways that policy shapes culture. I attended a school where it was not safe for me to be openly existing as an LGBTQ person. I was
027surrounded by unsupportive teachers and peers who felt empowered to harm me and the school policy did nothing to protect me. I spent my years hiding my authentic self and in turn lived in a state of anxiety and suicidal ideiation. If the school had systems in place to make it a safe place for everyone, I would not have had to suffer for so many years. Now, I work to make the lives of LGBT young people and their communities better, safer, and more welcoming. I work at Keshett, the National Jewish, and LGBTQ organization, working for the full equality of LGBTQ Jews and our families. In my role, I equip organizations and educators with the tools to build places where all people can thrive. The teachers, faculty, and staff I work with care about their students, and they
028want to know what to do to keep them happy, safe, and learning. So, I work directly with those most impacted to craft school policies that uplift and care for all students. We co-create guidelines to ensure all students can use the appropriate bathrooms and locker rooms they want to. We want all students to have the chance to learn teamwork and social skills by joining sports teams. We've reduced the youth suicide rate simply by using the names and pronouns that students choose. And I'm here not just as an LGBTQ person who survived, but also as a person of faith, a Jew. Jewish tradition commands that I recognize all people are created but Salom Elohim in the divine image and they are worthy of cavode respect. This is why the overwhelming majority of American Jews believe in honoring
029what is holy and unique in every LGBTQ person. And that is why members of my Jewish community are here with me tonight to support our students. Thank you for continuing to support and care for our students and to help keep them alive. Thank you for your time and good night. Thank you. Miss Jackie Batterson will be followed by Gabrielle Markz Marquez. Good evening. My name is Jackie Batterson, a resident of Newport News and a member of the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of the Peninsula. I am here this evening to thank the members of the school board who have listened to our pleas for our transgender children by changing the procedure to allow them to use their chosen names and preferred pronouns during school hours if they so choose. This gives the children the same rights and
030dignity of every other child in the school system. I belong to a congregation which welcomes everyone of goodwill. We listen with compassion to others. We interact with kindness and we build racial, social, and environmental justice in our community. We push limits. We never take no for an answer if injustice is involved. And we look forward to a future where our transgender children along with the rest of the LGBTQIA plus communities have the same complete rights as everyone else. And as a reminder, children are not property. They also have rights. I have had the opportunity to work with a group of ministers, parents, concerned citizens, and members of the queer community these past years advocating for our transgender children's rights. Good people do not spend their time harassing and dehumanizing marginalized communities. The right side of
031history is never the one which violates human rights. Decency, dignity, and humanity matter. Again, I thank those members of the school board who took the time to listen to us and to make the change to pro to procedure JBP, giving our children the justice and dignity they deserve. I will end with this from the Reverend John Pavitz. I believe immigrants make us great. Diversity is beautiful. Whiteness is not supreme. Women aren't inferior. Queer people are not broken. Christians actually love their neighbor. The world is bigger than America. And empathy will save us. Again, thank you. Thank you, Gabriel McQuez. and he will be followed by Miss Kashandanda White Miselle. Hello. Uh good evening to the uh to the board. It's been some time. Uh it's good to be back. It's good to see so many
032uh smiling faces. Also wish to wish everybody a happy uh Malcolm X day. Uh he's an inspiration to me because he believe in opposing oppression everywhere. That's why I'm here. I'd like to thank the board for addressing JBP finally and doing the right thing. Um, as I said, you know, I believe that a society is judged by how we treat the most marginalized and the most voiceless and I feel that th that um those people have been a little bit more um a little more safe today because of that in our community. Um, so thank you and uh I am planning on being back as long as it takes to ensure that these uh these policies remain in place and that we keep our children safe, uh we keep our community safe and we um
033we send her justice. Thank you. Thank you Christanda White Miselle and she will be followed by Miss Ivana Jones and I think that will take us to 30 minutes and then we'll continue with the agenda and get back with the remaining comments. Good evening elect officials and superintendent. I have attended every school board meeting since the events involving my daughter at Booker T. Washington Middle School on December the 19th, 2025. I have sent emails to each and every one of the elected school board members and yet no one has helped to resolve the issue. During my most recent conversation with Miss Cider, she provided me with information for Mr. Scott vault regarding the non-employee discrimination complaint procedure. I submitted that complaint on April the 23rd, 2026. According to the policy, once a complaint is received,
034the coordinator has five days to respond to the complaintant. I sent my complaint with signature confirmation so I know exactly when it was received. Out of courtesy, I also personally called Mr. Scott on May 1st to confirm receipt. Even though I already knew it had been delivered, he confirmed that it had been received. I then asked him who would be the coordinator overseeing the matter. He stated he did not know which is concerning because which is concerning because the policy clearly identifies the individual is Nina Ferish. To this day I have not received anything in writing nor a phone call acknowledging receipt of my complaint despite the policy stating that such acknowledgement should be issued in five business days. As of today, it has been 13 days with no such response. Further, even if the
035matter fail outside of jurisdiction of Newport News public schools, policy states that I should have been informed within 10 business days. Those deadlines have also been ignored. So again, electedic schoolboard members who are here to represent the people. What is your response to that? At the end of every meeting I have attended, I watch members of this board congratulate one another for a job well done. Taking pictures at schools and appearing involved may look good to the public, but I beg to differ. When it comes to protecting and supporting our children, what happened to my daughter is proof the system is failing families like mine. If we are not part of your inner circle, your family, or some type of political connection, it feels as though our children simply do not matter. I hope the
036residents of Newport News are paying attention because in 2028 when re when re-election comes around, my family, my friends, my loved ones, we will be out making sure people understand that it is time for change. We need individuals sitting on this board who truly represent the people who elect them and who will make sure concerns are addressed. That has not been the case. Are we saying that all principles and assistant principles and teachers are bad or do not care? Absolutely not. There are many good people in the school system, but I do believe many of the good ones are being pushed out or demoted or may feel like their efforts do not matter. Meanwhile, it appears that friendships and connections are valued more than accountability. Friends, hiring friends from other districts where there was not
037where they were not successful and what I see in the system built. Thank you. I'm Ivana Jones. I'm going to continue. Miss um you are the Miss Aean, you are the representative for my area central district. My address has been on every card I have filled out and yet you have never once reached out to ask if there was any way you could help my family. That speaks volumes. Again, reelection is coming and we will present wherever you are. People deserve to know that they cannot depend on the current members of the school board if they want their concerns addressed and their children protected. I also want to acknowledge that Hines Middle School has been a blessing for my daughter since attending Hines. She has earned student of the month, maintained perfect attendance, and made
038the B honor roll accomplishment she never received recognition for at Booker T. Washington Middle School. That says a lot. Elected officials and superintendent, I have practically begged for help and receive nothing in return. However, I believe God does not ignore hard work or truth. People are hearing us and people are beginning to see what is happening in our city. What is going on is unacceptable. Everyone will eventually answer for the role they have played because I have never seen the righteous forsaken nor their seed beckoning for bread. Have a good evening, elected officials and superintendent, until we meet again. Thank you. We will now move on with our agenda and we will continue with the cost when we get to that item. Again, thank you for your comments and thoughts this evening. We will now
039move on to section three, the consent agenda, which includes three 3.01 minutes from the work session, April 21st, 2026. 3.02 minutes from the closed meeting, April 21st, 2026. 3.03 minutes from the regular meeting, April 21st, 2026. 3.04, Financial Reports, including the revenue and expense reports for April 2026, child nutrition reports. 3.05, the personnel report. At this time, can we have a motion to approve the consent agenda? Um, Mr. Chairman, chairwoman, I move to approve the consent agenda as presented. Second, it's been moved and second to approve the consent agenda. Are there any questions? Any discussion? Miss Buffalo, please call the role. Aman for. Brown for. Harris for. Hunter for. Surles Law for. Alger for best for motion passes 7-0. Thank you. And I'm gonna pass the um well not Mike person. Are you recognizing me?
040Yes, I'm recognizing Mr. Brown. Um I believe he has a motion. Thank you, Madam Chair, for recognizing me. I'd like to make a motion to uh add to the action item on our agenda uh the nomination of uh Miss Tiffany Moore Buffalo for Virginia School Board Association Clerk of the Year. All right. Do we have a second? Second. It's been moved in a second that we nominate Miss Tiffany Moore Buffalo. What was the title? So remember that we'll need another motion. So this is this motion adds the item to the agenda and I'll just remind board members it has to be unanimous. Yes. Okay. It's been moved and seconded questions discussion. Miss Buffalo call the role. Aman for. Brown for. Harris for. Hunter for. Surles law for. Alger for. Best for. Motion passes 7-0 to
041add the action item to nominate Tiffany Moore Buffalo for clerk of the BSBA clerk of the Okay. So, it's been added to the agenda. Now, Madam Chairwoman, if I can make another motion, I'd like to make a motion to uh have the chair submit uh uh Miss Moore Buffalo's packet to the Virginia School Board Association for their consideration of her package for the award of uh clerk of the year for second. It's been moved and seconded that we submit the packet for Miss Moore Buffalo, Tiffany Moore Buffalo's nomination. Any questions, comments? Well deserved. Please call the role. Aman for, Brown, for, Harris for, Hunter for. Surles law for, Alger for, best for. Motion passes 7-0. That's good. All right. Congratulations. That was good because it had to be unanimous otherwise we couldn't submit it. So
042that's good. So deserving. Thank you. And we will now move to section five reports and information 5.01. 01 the 2026 27 federal funding plan. Dr. Mitchell. Thank you, Madame Chair. This evening, Dr. Naomi Oliver, our director of federal programs, will come before you to present the proposed funding uh spending plan for our federal funds that we receive. Um the director comes every year to present this plan and then we'll we will look forward to you approving it at the next meeting so that it can be submitted. Thank you Dr. Oliver. Good evening madame chair best, madame vice chair elder, school board members and Dr. Mitchell. I am Naomi Oliver, director of federal programs at Newport News Public Schools. And on behalf of the federal programs team, we truly appreciate the opportunity to support the division's
043strategic agenda through the federal funds allocated to Newport News public schools. Tonight, I will provide an overview of the 2026 2027 federal pro federal funding plan for Newport News Public Schools. This presentation highlights the division's federal title grants, including Title One Part A, Title One Part D, Title Two Part A, Title Three Part A, and Title for Part A, as defined by the Elementary and Secondary Education Act or ESA. The federal program team writes, manages, and monitors grants that support services for all students and staff, as well as complements the evidence-based interventions and programs currently in use. For the 2026 2027 school year, Newport News Public Schools is projected to receive approximately 17.5 million in federal title funding. These funds support instructional programs and interventions, professional learning, multilingual learner services, student wellness and enrichment initiatives,
044family engagement, and targeted support for students with the greatest academic needs. All federal funds are planned and monitored to ensure alignment with identified student needs and compliance with state and federal requirements. The development of all federal grant applications is guided through by a continuous improvement process. Planning is based on needs assessment, identified problems of practice, prioritization of division and school needs, and measurable goals aligned to student outcomes. The process also includes collaboration with stakeholders across the division to ensure resources are strategically aligned to support teaching and learning. Title One Part A remains the division's largest federal grant allocation, totaling approximately 14.6 million for the 2026 2027 school year. These funds support supplemental academic intervention, early childhood programming, family engagement, professional development, and resources for identified title one schools. The allocation includes approximately 12.5 million for
045staff salary and benefits and over 2 million designated for other grant aligned activities. The purpose of title one is to provide additional support and opportunities for students attending schools with the highest percentage of economically disadvantaged students. Title One funding enables the division to provide targeted direct support to the students demonstrating the most need through reading and math interventionists and specialists as well as Virginia language and literacy screening assistants. For the 2026 2027 school year, Newport News public schools will serve 18 title schools, three early intervention, three early childhood centers, 14 elementary schools, and one middle school. Newport News public schools serves the elementary grade band schools with the highest percentage of low income students. Additionally, Title One Part A requires that divisions serve any school with a low income student population of 75% or higher,
046which is why Huntington Middle School is eligible and served as a Title One building. Based on federal eligibility requirements, Crittendon Middle School and Heritage High School are no longer eligible for title one designation at the conclusion of the 25-26 school year. Secondary schools within the division qualify for title one services when at least 75% of students are identified as low income. Spring 2026 community eligibility provision C data confirmed that both schools remained below the 75% low income threshold for the second consecutive year and are therefore no longer eligible for title one support for the 2026 2027 school year. The division will continue working to support continuity of services and support for students at both schools. Title 2 part A funding totals approximately 1.6 million for the 2026 2027 school year. These funds support effective instruction
047across the division in grades K 12 through professional learning, instructional coaching, teacher mentoring and induction, recruitment and retention efforts, and educator quality initiatives. The allocation includes approximately 1.4 million for staff salary and benefits and just under 170,000 designated for other grant expenses. Title two focuses on professional development and allows the division to employ staff such as instructional coaches and content area specialists who provide job embedded support to teachers with an emphasis on evidence-based professional development aligned to instructional needs and student achievement goals. Title three part A funding totals approximately $240,000. These funds support multilingual learners through supplemental instructional ser resources, language acquisition supports, professional learning for staff, family engagement activities, and programs designed to improve English language proficiency and academic achievement. The allocation includes approximately $140,000 for staff salary and benefits and $100,000 for other
048grant aligned expenses. The division remains committed to ensuring multilingual learners have equitable access to highquality instruction and support services. Excuse me. Title 4 part A funding totals approximately $1 million for the 2026 2027 school year. These funds provide student support in the categories of safe and healthy school initiatives, well-rounded educational opportunities, and instructional technology. The allocation includes approximately $657,000 for staff salary and benefits and $350,000 for other grant aligned activities. These investments help support the academic, social, emotional, and overall well-being of students. One example includes the use of Title 4 funds to purchase supplemental steam materials and supplies that support hands-on learning experiences, such as the micro:bits and chomps used in the middle school steam city project, where students worked in small groups to design and build a model city during the school year. Title
049One Part D funding supports prevention and intervention programs for neglected, delinquent, and at risk youth at the Newport News Behavioral Health Center Academy at Lee Hall. For the 2026 2027 school year, the total allocation is approximately $122,800. Funds support contracted services and instructional materials and supplies. The Newport News Public Schools Federal Programs Department writes, submits, and manages this grant locally with the Newport News Behavioral Health Center Academy at Lee Hall to ensure compliance and effective implementation. The next steps in the grant approval process include presenting the federal grant applications for schoolboard approval on June 16, 2026, followed by submission to the Virginia Department of Education by July 1st, 2026. Following submission and approval, the division will continue implementation, monitoring, and compliance activities to ensure effective and strategic support for student success. Thank you for your
050time and continued support of Newport News public schools and our federal programs initiatives. At this time, I would welcome any questions. Any questions? Okay. You mentioned at the end measuring how effective the implementation of the grant funding is, and I was wondering what specific ways we monitor that. Okay. And that's a really great question and it really depends on the the um the title grant and the activities that are taking place and so um there are different measures in place. So for professional development it would look at how is that implemented then in the buildings um also impact on student scores and that sort of nature but it it really varies depending on the grant. Okay. Thank you. You're welcome. Mr. Zoff, thank you so much for um the report. I think I learn more
051and more about federal funding every time you take the podium. So, thank you. Um, one of the questions that I do have was regarding the title one part D prevention and intervention programs. Um, the total amount that we get through funding, what does this uh division um need to supplement to actually run that program? So the the title grant title one part D is completely supplemental funds for um the academy at Lee Hall and then they have other sources of funding that run the program. So what the the budget that we have is completely supplemental and separate from that. Um and so I'm I'm not prepared to be able to speak to their budget at this time. However, the funds that we use are used for those um supplemental curriculum materials um helping with things
052that they don't have a budget for such as uh library support um media uh or um instructional technology coaching and those types of activities. Okay. So, not specifically staff but staff support, right? Okay. All right. Thank you. I I just had a clarification. Um for the for the uh title one part D programs for a neglected delinquent or at risk youth are foster youth included in that population for that particular facility. There may be sometimes there could be foster um children that are in there, but it's not necessarily a specific program for them, but they certainly could receive services from their facility. Okay. Anyone else? I I have one question. You mentioned that Kittinden and Heritage will no longer be eligible for title one status, correct? So, do you know how far under the 75%
053they were and would they be like re-evaluated like next year? Excellent question. Yes, every year our all of our buildings are re-evaluated and it's based on the data um the the C data that we get from the child nutrition and so it will be re-evaluated next year. if they do meet that threshold, they will certainly be qualified um again and eligible to be a title one building. Um they were they had dropped um further than I had anticipated um in terms of even my expectation of where they might land. Um and so it just it really depends on where that data comes out. I don't I can't quote the exact percentage at this time, but I can certainly get that information to you. Okay. Thank you very much. You're welcome. No more questions. Okay. Thank
054you. All right. Thank you. Thank you. And we'll now move on to section five, reports and information 5.02, new and revised policies. Dr. Mitchell. Thank you, Madame Chair. this evening. Our next um presentation highlights several new and revised policies that are connected to fiscal management. These updates really are designed to strengthen clarity, improve operational efficiency, support compliance, and to ensure responsible stewardship of public resources. of this evening, Miss Tracy Brooks, who has worked closely and really leads our policy committee, will share the results of the committee's work. Thank you, Miss Brooks. Thank you. Good evening, Madame Chairman, Madame Vice Chairman, members of the board, and Dr. Mitchell. It is my pleasure to share highlights from six new and revised policies and procedures with you this evening that are taken from the fiscal management policy chapter.
055The policy committee which facilitated the review of the chapter included two schoolboard members, principals, administrators, a teacher representative, our school board and school division attorneys. The fiscal management policy is the last chapter that we will review in year one of our fiveyear timeline. I would like to thank our director of finance, Mr. Dwight Duran, and our director of procurement, Miss Shannon Bailey, for sharing their expertise and guiding the policy committee to complete this important work. The policies and procedures in the fiscal management chapter address areas ranging from operating budget to procurement to school activity funds. The policy committee reviewed 56 policies and procedures in those areas and revised 29 documents with changes ranging from minor edits to updates to staff position titles to adding text to meet legal requirements. So at this time I would
056like to highlight for policies including one new policy and three that were revised along with two procedures, one new and one revised. Our first policy this evening is new and requires the school division to continue the current practice of contracting with an external auditor to perform an annual independent financial and federal grant compliance audit using federal auditing standards. We also added language that a copy of the audit will be provided to each schoolboard member annually. Our next policy is on purchasing and it speaks to the school board's commitment to obtain high quality goods and services at a reasonable cost and in compliance with state and federal laws. We reformatted the policy for greater clarity and making the content more user friendly. We also added that the school division will consider best value in procuring goods
057and services, which is the combination of quality, price, and how well this goods and services meet the school division's needs versus awarding contracts for the lowest bid only. Next, the policy committee is recommending that we update the name and content of our current policy on tax sheltered annuities to become tax favored retirement plans, which are our 403b and our 457b voluntary savings plans for employees. We are also changing the name of the investment committee in the policy to become the supplemental retirement plan committee to more accurately reflect its purpose and focus which is to approve tax favor plans that our employees may participate in as well as the investment options for those plans. Our last policy is on school properties dispositions and it addresses the school division sale of outdated supplies and surplus equipment for
058employees who may be interested in purchasing such items. We revised the policy to provide greater clarity and better alignment with the conflicts of interest act. So for guidance purposes we added two provisions. The first allows employees to purchase items from the school divisions that do not exceed $500 in value. And second, the policy prohibits employees from participating in any transaction in which they have a personal interest regardless of the dollar value. Next, I would like to highlight two procedures this evening. The first one is new and addresses the management of public funds which provides guidance to employees to ensure that public funds are expended in a manner consistent with applicable laws, regulations, and the educational mission of the school division. These funding sources range from federal, state, and city revenues to various grant funds as
059well. Additionally, the procedure recommends the use of a public scrutiny test which asks whether the taxpaying public would view the expenditure as necessary to support public education. And the procedure also provides administrative guidance on the use of public funds for activities that include meetings and conferences, employee and student recognitions and awards, and professional memberships when the membership is required to perform the duties of the employees position or directly benefits the school division. My last item this evening is the revised procedure on expense authorization and reimbursement. We reformatted the procedure and revised the content to make it more user friendly and for better alignment with federal regulations such as those from the General Services Administration and the IRS. We also added clarifying details to the procedure such as specifying the mileage radius for reimbursing lodging and
060same day travel from the employees work site versus the city's boundaries in general. So in terms of our next steps, the new and revised policies will come before the school board for action at your June 16th meeting. And once approved, the new and revised policies and procedures will be posted on our school division websites. So this concludes my report this evening. Joining me are Mr. Dwight Duran, our new director of finance, who I mentioned earlier, and Mr. Lyn Wallen, director of legal services. So at this time, we would be happy to respond to your questions and to note your suggestions. So thank you. I had I had just uh two two items. Um the first one is what I hear from staff most consistently in terms of our um our policy. Is there a way
061can we get a cost estimate on what it would take to have uh non-exempt employees get paid bi-weekly instead of monthly? And that's uh in relation to this this policy. So applaud that we are through these policies ensuring that employees are getting paid uh every month. But what has come to me consistently from staff that have talked to me is the need or the desire to be paid bi-weekly. Sure. Uh good evening uh chair best. Uh Mr. Brown to address your question, uh we can definitely look into that to see what the cost would be um in order to move the uh bi-weekly all the employees to a bi-weekly um pay, but I don't have that and as and as I understand it's more expensive, but my question how much more right and so just
062would like to have that. And then Mr. Brown, are you asking about all employees at this point in time? Not non-exempt. So, so hourly hourly hourly employees at this time because re recognizing that the cost for everyone to go bi-weekly would be maybe too prohibitive, but if we could do hourly employees. Thank you, Mr. And then the my other question was just about uh looking at um best value and so I I applaud and appreciate that we are looking at best value in terms of the policies, but uh with a term like that that can mean a lot of different things to a lot of different people. So um just there uh I I would suggest that we codify what best value means practically speaking and uh so that there's a very clear robust definition
063in the in the policy such that best value could not mean multiple things to different people uh because as we talk about best value just um that that term is nebulous in and of itself that's just be my comment. Okay. Thank you Mr. Brown. Anyone else? I have one question for school property disposition. Can you kind of give an example and and I'm I'm just thinking about something. Let's just say if I was the photographer for the division and the camera equipment was outdated, would I be able to purchase that or would I be prohibited from purchasing that? I just want to make sure I understand. It depends on the the value of the camera equipment in this example. So, if it was less than $500, that should be allowable, okay? Um, by the policy.
064Um, again, we always want to um be in alignment with the conflicts of interest act. So, we make sure that we're not doing anything that's not a arms length transaction. So, we're not doing anything and, you know, telling our family members that, you know, we have this great camera equipment that's going to be on sale and and trying to do something where we're going to profit off of that. So, we want to make sure that we're following all of our rules and regulations and the laws. Can you put it back? I just It's that's have a personal interest. So that's because I would think the like the photographer would have a personal interest because that's kind of their profession. So, I just want to make sure it's not confusion if if they're not doing anything
065like illegal, like you said, tipping off family members, get there early so you can be first or not publicizing it so they could get it all but just to purchase it because they're interested. And I have been talking about this, okay, by email. And so, we have some proposed deletions to the langage that just in conformance with the um conflict of interest act. And so we'll we'll send that to you um by email so you can see it. But really the main point of this provision in in compliance with the conflict of interest act is that if the item is doesn't exceed $500, then employees can buy it. Um All right. Thank you. I just wanted to make sure I was clear and not the only one refused. Thank you so very much. Okay. All
066right. Any other questions? Thank you so very much. All right. And we will move on. Attendance. Excuse me. 5.03. The attendance report. Board members. Have you received a copy of this? You have received a copy of this report. And are there any questions? Thank you. 5.04. Membership report. Board members, you have received a copy of this report. Are there any questions? Thank you. 5.05 construction report. Board members, you have received a copy of this report. Are there any questions? Hearing none, we'll move on to item 5.06, comments by the superintendent, Dr. Mitch. Thank you so much, Madame Chair. We honored all 42 of our 2026 2027 teachers of the year and announced our three divisionwide honores at a banquet that was held on May the 5th. War High School's math teacher, Mr. John Lovevet, was
067chosen as the high school teacher of the year for all of our high schools, but he also was selected as the divisionwide teacher of the year. Richneck Elementary School's fourth grade teacher, Lonnie Kite, was recognized as the elementary school teacher of the year. And Kittton Middle School's English teacher, Tracy Sykes, was awarded the middle school teacher of the year. We do want to say congratulations to all of our teachers of the year who were recognized for their expertise and their dedication to students. two of our students placed in the 2026 Virginia School Board Association Tidewater Region Student Art Contest. And I do want to share with you that that includes 16 school districts. So, our students won first place and third place. Our student from Deer Park Elementary School, that is a fourth grader, Kingston
068Brown L, won first place in the elementary school division. And Woodside High School's 11th grader, Troy Dam, took third place in the high school stu school division. Again, they were competing with students in 16 different school divisions. We are extremely proud of them. And it is noteworthy to announce that Kingston's art piece will advance to the state competition that will take place in early June. So we wish Kingston um much success and congratulations to both of our students. May is National Mental Health Awareness Month, and I do want to acknowledge and thank our national award-winning social emotional support team. And that includes our student support specialists, our professional school counselors. We have mental health therapists, our school psychologists, and our social workers for all of the work and support that they provide to our students.
069Along with that, May is also hearing speech and language month. And in commemoration, we acknowledge our speech language pathologists and the teachers who support our students who are deaf and heart of hearing. We look forward to this every year. I think the entire community, not just Newport News, but surrounding school districts look forward to this as well. We invite everyone to join us for our STEM community day that is presented by not only Newport News Public Schools but in partnership with Christopher Newport University. It will be held on Saturday, May the 3 from 10 a.m. 30th of sorry, thank you. May 30th from 10:00 a.m. to 2 pm right down the street at the Freeman Center on campus at uh Christopher Newport University. This is always a free event and it features interactive exhibits for
070all ages, displays, information about STEM careers, hands-on science activities, robotics, just a plethora of things, school exhibits, as well as food trucks. I think the students enjoy all of it, but they certainly uh have long lines around the food trucks, but we hope to see each and every one of you there. It really is an amazing event for our students. And last but not least, coming up on our calendar, Friday, May the 22nd will be a half day dismissal for schools. That means uh 12-month employees in the schools still work. And on Monday, May the 25th is the Memorial Day holiday. And of course, on that day, all schools and all of our offices will also be closed. Moving on with our calendar, elementary and middle schools will have early dismissal and high schools will
071have a half-day dismissal on June the 5th, June the 8th, and June the 9th. And of course, this is the day that we all work towards from preschool through 12th grade. Our graduation schedule is set and Achievable Dream High School graduation will be June the 3 at Christopher Newport University's Ferguson Center. And then at the Hampton Coliseum, Heritage High School, and Menchville High School will have their graduation on Friday, June the 5th. War High School, Woodside High School, and Denbigh High School will graduate on Saturday, June the 6. The last student day, believe it or not, for this school year will be June the 9th. And the last teacher day will be June the 10th. Madam Chair, this concludes my remarks and I can't believe the school year is almost over. Wow. Went by fast.
072Some may disagree. Too fast. Too fast. Sorry, Kyla. It went by too fast for us. Thank you, Dr. Mitchell. We'll now move on to item six. another opportunity to hear from the public and we'll continue with our cards. And first up for this half, Gary Muhammad Jones. Please uh pardon my pronunciation. You can correct me on your name. And you will be followed by Ahri Julian. Hello. Yeah, it's GB. It's Indian. Yeah. Uh so, uh yeah, just wanted to say thank you all for updating the school policy regarding transgender youths. Um that's very brave of you and um it's kind of a shame that we sit here 250 years since our independence that we still have to have discussions about human decency and respect towards one another. Uh I mean we fought what two uh
073two wars of independence civil war I'm not even going to talk about the imperial wars that we done for for imperialism but we've had women's suffrage we've had a civil rights we've had black lives matter movement. We've had I don't know every mo movement under the sun and yet in our 250th year of our founding we have to sit here today and talk about decency and I just want to thank you again for taking those steps to kind of break that cycle. Thank you. Thank you. Ari Julian will be followed by Autumn Cubis. Okay. Oh, okay. Uh, good evening members. I am on my tiptoes. Sorry. Um, of the school board, educators, parents, and community members members. My name is Ari Julian. My pronouns are Zamzir. I am here tonight to much better. Big difference.
074I am here tonight to one thank you for removing Trump's I mean Ynan's harmful policies against LGBTQIA plus students. I know the decision was hard but it was the right one despite the resistance you are now facing. Second, I am here tonight because I believe something very simple but also very important. Every child in Newport News deserves to feel safe in their school. Every child deserves to be seen. When I was a young student, I was an advanced reader by age five. I was reading far beyond my grade level. I loved school. I loved learning. But as I grew older and began being targeted for being different, my experience in school changed dramatically. I went from high achievement to C's and D's. Not because I stopped being capable, but because I stopped feeling safe. And
075I want that to sit for a moment. I did not lose intelligence. I lost safety. And when a child loses safety, they lose access to learning. The first adult who ever truly saw me, who recognized me before I even had the language to explain myself, was a school guidance counselor. And I need to be clear about what that meant. They did not shame me. They did not dismiss me. They did not reduce me. They listened. And that listening changed everything. It was the first time school did not feel like survival. It felt like a possibility. And that's why I'm here because right now LGBTQIA plus students, especially transgender students, are being placed at the center of political debate. But I need to repeat this clearly. These are children, not policies, not arguments. Children and children
076cannot learn when they are afraid. Period. They cannot thrive when they feel targeted. This creates silence. This creates withdrawal. This creates harm. And in worst case scenario, this creates death. A school should never ask a student to earn dignity. A school should guarantee it. People do not choose their sexuality or identity any more than we choose the color of our skin. And when we reduce gender and sexuality to only two rigid categories, we ignore both science and lived reality. We ignore interex people. We ignore human variation. We ignore that 10th grade biology already shows us that human develop is not always binary. Identity is deeply internal. Identity is not something you can override. And when institutions try to force it anyway, the harm is real. And I also want to speak to something that sits
077at the center of all of this. Sorry. Thank you for your time. Thank you. Autumn Cubis will be followed by Donna Daro Real. All right. My name is Autumn Quas. I am here as a Newport News taxpayer and I'm also here as a teacher from Heritage High School who teaches US history. Um, I'm here to tonight to commend you for enacting a more inclusive policy for LGBTQIA plus students. Speaking first as a teacher, uh, Young's policy really tied our hands um and made providing the vital resources and support for this marginalized group that much more difficult. Um, Mr. Rogers is frequently cited by teachers and no quote gets recited more than look for the helpers and you guys have uh enabled us to be the helpers uh that mo that many of us most of
078us all of us really truly want to be. So, one thing that I do want to kind of address though is that over the next few weeks, months, etc., as a c uh one person in particular made very clear tonight, you're going to hear a lot of resounding gongs and clanging symbols, but I want to remind you of a few things. First, while my husband would say that being born in Florida makes me Flidian, I've lived here for most of my life. So I consider myself Virginia and Virginia doesn't always get it right as we well know but we are showing that we are a state that can learn and looking to our past. We are in our 250th year. So of course I have to pull out the shambling mound uh shambling corpse of
079Thomas Jefferson and reference the fact that from our very beginning we have been the model for how the rest of the country does things. The Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom specifically stated that our civil rights have no dependence on our religious opinions any more than our opinions in physics or geometry and therefore we cannot and we should not govern based on religious principles. Also when it comes to parental rights whose parental rights are we talking about here? Because for uh because for example uh your beliefs, your way of parenting, your uh way of doing things, those dictate your actions. You don't get to wield th that over or against others. When I was a kid, my mom and dad didn't want me reading Goosebumps books. They didn't try to keep all the other kids from
080reading Goosebumps books. They wrote to the school librarian and said, "She's not allowed to read Goosebumps books or check them out." And that was between them and me. So, I think what I want to get at here is some people are going to try to convince you to take that step backward as Virginiaians, as educated people who appreciate history and who appreciate the rights that we all have. I think that rather than punching down, we need to punch up and that we need to remember that even though some people uh might some might call people who believe as I do punks, but kindness is the real punk rock. Thank you. Donna Dero Rena follow will be followed by Cardin Jones. Thank you. Hi, I'm Donna Daro Renell. Uh, I'm a resident of Hilton Village. Um,
081and I have three children who went through the Newport News public schools. I'm also the daughter of two public school teachers from Virginia Beach, and that's the only place they ever worked. Um, my husband is Clark Desar Rennell, who is the pastor of Hilton Presbyterian Church right here in Hilton. And I am also an ordained minister in the Presbyterian Church USA. and I happen to serve as an interim pastor in Virginia Beach right now. The truth is I don't think that the fact that I'm a pastor and that my husband is really matters and it goes to what the woman who just spoke before me. Um, with regard to the policies that you have put in place now from Governor Northam, um, the the truth is that we're talking about public schools and you all
082are public school board members and your job, as I understand it, having looked it up, is to ensure as much as you can, equal opportunity for all students in the Newport New School Division and part of that is keeping them protected all students. So any policies any that are driven by political, social, ideological, religious agendas that don't uphold offering equal opportunity to all students and their protection. they're being cared for violate what y'all's jobs are. And we know that the policy that came from Governor Yncan was that that policy those guidelines were were socially ideologically driven. There's no argument. So just on that basis what you have done to put in place the guidelines from Northam is right and thank you and if we're going to talk about you if you all have your own
083your own you know religious views your your convictions that's fine but you can't let them lead as being schoolboard members because you are entrusted to be public servants for all students who attend public schools. And I guess the last thing I would say is yes, parents have rights, you know, to have their children be taught a certain way, all those things, but that means they should send them to private or parochial schools, not public ones. That's that's just how it is that public schools are for everyone. So, um I'm grateful. Um, and thank you. Okay. Cardin Jones and they will be followed by William Brenton. It's C A R D Y N E Jones. Going once. All right. William Brenton. and William Brenton will be followed by Aiden Labring. I think that's how his name.
084Thank you. Hi there. My name's Wayne Britain, local citizen, member of several local groups, including the ACLU. And I just want to say um I'm coming out in support of the changes made to the uh JP. Um we had a lot of great speakers today. Probably can't do any of them myself, so I'm not going to try. But I just want to say that at children are the most vulnerable old members of our society. And what these changes have done is they've brought more security. They've brought more safety and more peace of mind to those children. What the these changes did have going to have massive effects on just their daily lives that that's going to help them in class. It's going to help them in life. It's going to do so much good for
085these children. And so I just want to say in the face of all the opposition that you may or may not face for this, I urge you to stay strong in your convictions, stay strong decisions made, and keep these these um changes in place. Thank you very much. Thank you, Adam. Okay. Thank you. And you will be followed by Lucy Ventine. Thank you. Hi. Just wanted to add my name to the list of people. Thank you all for the recent changes. Um, it was asked before why if these policies that Young put forward uh have a nod towards equality and respect, uh, would that not be good enough? And, uh, I'll leave most of my notes, but I did kind of research, uh, the history of this. Um, Dr. King, sorry. Uh, uh, Dr. Dr.
086King got the question a lot of the times, uh, if we say we're treating people equally, why can't we just stop there? Why isn't that good enough? Uh, and he had case law memorized going back to 1886, a case called Ywo vers Hopkins, uh, where there was one, uh, Chinese laundromat in this town in California, and they kept passing fire codes and business license laws that would just stop this one guy from running his business. Well, they said, "We're applying these laws to everyone." And this went all the way to the Supreme Court. And, uh, they said, "It doesn't matter if you write into the law that we're going to treat people equally. we are obviously signaling out one group and treating them worse. Um, and so that that's been the standard we've uh used
087going forward. This was applied to race. Um, this is applied to sex. Uh, we don't just if someone's suing for uh pay or promotion discrimination with sex, we use the McDonald Douglas framework. We don't just say, "Did they say out loud, I'm doing this to you because you're a woman?" Uh when it came to homosexuality, uh we got rid of don't ask don't tell because obviously there was one group that was going to be targeted and people, you know, were able to say what they felt. Um and so I think the Yans rules because they said uh that we're going to treat uh sorry I mean because they said we're going to go back to everybody's birth certificate and only call them by the name of the pronoun on that. Obviously, if someone's birth certificate
088says Christopher and you call them Chris, you're not going to say that different, you know, that's different from the birth certificate. Most of the time, we don't do that. So, we shouldn't do it to trans people in my opinion. Thank you. Thank you. And Miss Vant will be followed by Alexandria Divas. Hello, members of the school board. Thank you for doing uh your job here and appreciate you. Um, I'd like to thank you all for reinstating Governor Northam's policy supporting our trans students and all LGBTQIA students in the Newport News public school system. speaking as a retired Newport News public school teacher and teachers assistant and as a parent and stepparent of three students who attended Newport News public schools K through 12. I know and others have said this much more eloquently than I,
089but step one for creating a learning environment is a classroom where each student feels safe and welcomed. And that means um it kind of is a it spreads so that if there are a few in the classroom who don't feel safe and welcomed the whole classroom suffers and step one for learning is I feel safe and welcomed here. I feel accepted and loved especially I was in the elementary school uh and so I that that feeling of love and acceptance is um super important but all the way through for our children. So um that's really the point I want to make and I I really want to thank you again for reinstating that and I think that will help our students, our schools to thrive. Thank you. Thank you. Alexandra will be followed by Mary
090Boss. Good evening and thank you for your service to the school district and students like myself. My name is Cherry. I use hehim pronouns and I'm here to speak on behalf of my creative writing teacher who is not able to be here tonight. He asked me to share some words that are important to him and I agreed to share them because they are important to me as well. Regardless of what guidance is given from the state about protecting LGBTQIA plus students, the bigger fact of the matter is that students are still not safe to be who they are in school. LGBTQ plus students are not coached in ways to react and respond to their identities in the face of rampant hallway slurs and digital slights. Appearances by adults at schoolboard meetings who need to expose
091who they are while they are still exploring that have a strong effect, too. It hurts me to learn of all the poor LGBTQIA plus students who have lost their lives to suicide murders because they wanted to be seen or heard in a world that does not care for their well-being. This is a not a matter of if you believe being gay is okay or not. This is a matter of children's safety. And I am tired of the excuses I hear in my dayto-day to justify this hate against literal children. I'm also tired of having to explain myself and other LGBTQIA students time and time again to people who are too ignorant to listen. It's important for students to have trustworthy adults they can turn to for guidance and support if they so choose. As a
092soon-to-be parent himself, my teacher expressed something that had a strong impact on me. He said that if his future daughter does not trust him enough to tell him something important, then he certainly hopes someone else who has earned that trust will step in and take that role competently. It takes a community to raise a child after all. In short, yes. Thank you for revoking the youngkin guidance about reporting gender identity to parents, but there's still a lot of work yet to be done. Thank you for your time. Thank you. and Mary Voss will be followed by Tail. Uh hello, Mary Vos, an NPS teacher, parent, and graduate. Um I'd like to wholeheartedly and genuinely thank um the Newport News School Board for doing the right thing and removing former Governor Youngkin's harmful and discriminatory policies
093against LGBTQ plus students. Um truly, thank you. I'm a secular parent of two children in NNPS and this is a secular school system. Uh I believe in public school policies based on research and data. Extensive research shows that LGBTQ plus students are at higher risk of homelessness, self harm, and suicide. Research by groups such as the American Psychological Association, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the Trevor Project shows that LGBTQ plus students outcomes are much better when trusted adults respect their names and pronouns and provide a safe, affirming environment. Youngkin's cruel policies calling on teachers to out and dead name students were bigoted, morally wrong, and most of all, harmful for kids. I'll take research-based evidence any day over twisted and discriminatory interpretations of Christianity that scapegoat scapegoat vulnerable people just for being
094different. With that said, I want to acknowledge and thank the many churches and places of worship that spread messages of love and acceptance for LGBTQ plus people and youth instead of spreading hate. A number of local leaders of accepting and welcoming churches and synagogues um are here in the audience tonight. Uh some have been attending schoolboard meetings for over two years in support of protections for vulnerable students. Uh thank you so much to all of them for being allies and for helping to make our schools safer and more welcoming for all students. Uh, finally, a Newport News resident asked me to share some brief comments from her because she's out of town visiting her grandchildren. Viv Vivian Reynolds was born and raised in Newport News. She graduated from Newport News public schools and she taught
095for three decades with some of her teaching career in NNPS. She asked me to tell you all thank you for removing Youngkin's policies that hurt students. She said, "The first amendment to the Constitution says we have freedom of religion. Everyone has the right to their opinion but not to force their religious beliefs on others. Let's remember humility and acceptance for others. Uh thank you so much for your time. Thank you. T A L will be followed by Josh Hughes. Good afternoon members of the board. I'm standing before you today to thank you for revising the school district's policy to respect transgender and gender non-conforming students. You'll hear people say a lot of things about parents rights. People will say that people who don't have kids shouldn't have a say in how schools are run. That's
096a good point. I don't have children and I don't plan on having any. I will never be a Newport News parent. But I was a student once. So were all of my peers. I went through the American public school system. I know what it's like. I know how it feels to attend school while gay. I know what it's like to be closeted. I know how it feels to be afraid of your parents finding out. I have many transgender friends. I know what their lives were like growing up. I know what their concerns were when they were in school. I know how the children you are responsible for protecting feel, how to nurture them, how to ensure their survival. I know because I have known a dozen of them, have been trusted by them, lost them.
097They've told me their stories. I was a student once and so were they. Now I'm an adult and I've come to speak to you about how these students should be treated. Being transgender is not new. It has a rich history in the tapestry of human culture around the world going back hundreds of thousands of years. Transgender people were at Stonewall in 1969. LGBT has had the T since at least 1988. This is not a passing fad and we will not be divided and conquered. There is no argument today used to demonize trans people that was not used against gay people in the last few decades. We remember our history. Transphobia is homophobia. We will not let anyone threaten, abuse, or silence any one of us. Trans students deserve safety. They deserve the right to explore
098their gender and sexuality at their own pace as all of us once did. That is what the school board has restored to them and that is what we come here to support. To the parents who oppose this policy, if your child does not want to tell you they are transgender, it is because they don't trust you. You have not earned their trust. They have through no fault of their own come to expect that you will not love and support them on this topic. A child is not your property. A child is a developing human being. The day will come when you no longer get to decide how your child lives. You are not choosing whether or not they transition. You are choosing what kind of relationship you have with your child as an adult and
099whether you get to have one at all. You can't pray the gay away. God made them this way. It's not too late for you to accept that. Thank you. Thank you. Josh Hughes will be followed by Grace Telari. Good evening, Madam Chair, Madam Vice Chair. Um, good evening. My name is Josh Hughes. I reside in North District. Um, you've heard some comments tonight that are disturbing that suggest that somehow hate is justified by parental rights. So, I want to address the campaign of hostility and intimidation being directed at the school board after its decision to protect vulnerable students, especially transgender students, into forced outing and deliberate dead nonaming in schools. Let's be clear, disagreement of policy is not the issue. Democracy requires debate and parents have the right to voice concerns. But what we are
100seeing is an organized effort by forces of hate and activists tied with certain organizations in the area. And the apparatus goes far beyond disagreement. We are witnessing rhetoric that targets LB LGBTQIA plus students especially trans children as they are threats rather than human beings deserving of dignity and safety. As a member of the Jewish community, I cannot sta stay silent when I see vulnerable people being singled out and turned into political scapegoats. In Judaism, it is taught that every human being is created with its be its elohim so in the image of God. Every child inherently is worthy of dignity and be reminded of that self-worth. That principle does not disappear because a child is transgender. It does not disappear because some adults feel uncomfortable or polit or are politically angry. What deeply disturbs me
101is that other folks in a pluralistic society seem to invoke their religion while invoke while by while engaging in rhetoric rooted in humiliation, fear, and public condemnation of vulnerable young people. To those forces of hate, you do not protect children by targeting other children. You do not strengthen families by encouraging fear and suspicion towards LGBTQIA plus youth. And you do not teach moral super u you do not build a moral society by teaching transgender students that they are unworthy of respect, privacy, or compassion. There are trans students in Newport News right now who are scared. Some already face bullying, rejection, isolation, depression, and fear at home. And some are terrified that being forcibly outed could place them in an emotional or even physical danger. Adults should be working to reduce that fear, not inflame it
102for political theater. Frankly, I'm I'm sick of hearing about people claiming they are protecting children while showing absolutely no empathy for children that they have chosen to target. Newport News should reduce cruelty. Thank you. Thank you, Grace Defari. Good evening members of the school board. My name is Grace Telair and I'm an advocate an advocate for my fellow students. I thank you for revoking the Glen Youngkin policy and I want to address why this is important. As a nation, we have built ourselves on the beliefs of freedom and liberty. Our first amendment protects and establishes our rights to freedom of expression, speech, and identity. That means that right now we should be focusing on making sure every individual has the autonomy to choose how they identify. When we marginalize one group, we divide a nation.
103And as Dr. Martin Luther King says, injustice anywhere is threat to justice everywhere. So right now we need to make sure every single voice is heard. Schools are built on the idea that they are fair, equal, and just. These ideologies should not be conditional to a student's identity. We should be protecting every single voice because these are the future voices of our nation. And I commend you to remember as we navigate these difficult waters of resistance, why are we exploiting and endangering the trans youth to protect the close-minded opinions and feelings of others? Thank you. Thank you. And that was our last speaker for the evening. And I would just like to especially commend the students that came out um to speak. Very, very proud of you. I would be remiss if I did not
104um thank you everyone that spoke tonight. I really thank you for your um courtesy and for your respect of how we operate here. We're most appreciative um of it. It is a hard job to do and we know that we don't agree all the time, but we can always be kind to one another. So, I really appreciate the way that you came to the podium and that you conducted yourselves this evening. Thank you. We will now move to um agenda matters by the the agenda item matters by the school board and we will first have our student representative to speak. Thank you. I want to apologize because my comments are a little bit long tonight but May has been a very busy month. Um I first want to start by thanking you all for coming
105out tonight. I know it's hard to make time for an event that lasts this long, but I really do appreciate seeing so many faces in the crowd tonight. I think this is the fullest the room has ever been at the end of a meeting that I've been at. Okay, but we held our last stage meeting on May 6th when we elected the new student representative to the school board for next school year. His name is Cameron Smith and he is currently a junior at Warick High School. I wish him the best as he co-chairs the monthly student advisory meetings with Dr. Mitchell and attends the schoolboard meetings next year starting in August. Although I have one more school board meeting in June, I wanted to share that I will be attending Harvard in the fall
106pursuing a concentration. Thank you everyone. I really appreciate that. I'll be pursu pursuing a concentration in sociology in a secondary field in global health and health policy while on a pre-med track. Um I want to congratulate all of our honores in the month of May. The teacher of the year banquet, the salute to success banquet. As Mr. Hunter loves to say, great things are happening in Newport news. Um I want to congratulate all of the students who have completed their AP exams and IB exams and who are still finishing them up. I know I just finished my last late exam today and I want to wish everyone good luck on their finals. Um, and everyone's got this and I believe in the power of our students. And that wraps up my comments for tonight. Thank
107you guys. So, I'm actually ready to hit this gabble unless we have a board member that something is just speaking to their heart. Will we do? Go ahead, Miss Slaw. just one. Um I think I speak for the board and just the um the pride we do have in you, Kyla. It's a it's been a joy um having you with us and hearing your voice, hearing it ask questions and it bring clarity to some of the things that have been on our plate. And so we did give you a little token this evening. Um, just always remember that a a pearl is actually created with a lot of patience, resilience, and grace. And you definitely possess all of those. So, thank you for your dedication to us. Thank you. Okay, Miss Amos. Thank you. Um,
108and I I do so largely because other members had the opportunity to say some things last fall and I didn't but I feel like there's been a you know a great number of people sharing their thoughts and the recent changes and I have certainly sent suggestions there's been different developments you know across the country and that sort of thing so I just wanted to share some of my thoughts on the on the changes to procedure which is a change that's done by the school division leadership policies are at school board level um a lot happens behind the scenes. Um, but just, you know, some of my thoughts and sharing as they were thinking about changing it. Um, you there's a lot of a lot of what I've gathered this evening is there seems to be
109a great assumption on dividing um dividing people and students and and teachers and parents that may disagree with an approach. And I I don't see the the pushpull between what has changed and uh some of the concerns I still have in that light. I think it's it's a debate about the best approaches to help individuals that are struggling with this. And when you have different situations, um, different evidence, different beliefs, and I'm not going to interject my beliefs in this, um, certainly have them, but this is something we need to make sure we have a structure as best we can for everyone. Um, you know, we have to look at, yes, we have to provide children with an education. We also take a note to uphold the constitution. um because doing so ideally keeps more
110resources and focus on the students in the division. Um there are what has changed is not I don't see it actually as completely what the northam policy was. It's still in the middle. Um I still some things I like and I still have some concerns. So I just I'll share them and I'm happy to email them. Um, one of the things that I had expressed concern with was since the pre Youngkin policy was was that the state, uh, there's been a Virginia I'm going to I'm going to go to law school here just for a second. Help. Bear with me. Um, there was a Virginia Supreme Court decision blaming versus the West Point school board. And in that case, a teacher had refused to say pronouns, um had offered to use a child's name that
111they chose or student's name that they wanted, was fired, sued, and the Virginia Supreme Court um remanded it, meaning they sent it back to the the um decision court, the circuit court to use their their ruling saying that the teacher had adequately pled a free speech claim. and that got a lot in the news about religious beliefs, but it actually also embodied just compelled speech and free speech if there was there was disagreement. So, one of the changes was that if individual staff members refuse based on religious beliefs that they um the division cannot require sincere religious beliefs to be ignored or unrecognized doesn't say that there's going to be a way to try to resolve everybody's constitutional rights. And I think it goes beyond just religious beliefs. there are probably also sincere held just
112personal beliefs even if it's not wrapped up in there are protections in ours and the federal constitution against compelled speech. So I I think we need to work on that or we might find ourselves in a situation where we're uh advising or handling a situation that is contrary to that holding. Um and then I also highlighted and mentioned a US Supreme Court uh holding it upheld an injunction but in California there were divisions that required teachers to withhold a child's gender identity status from parents. Um and that was enjoined. It is still in California but that was a US Supreme Court saying no we need to get this through. Um and it required a school to follow the parents instructions. And what I found really interesting, it was a majority decision on upholding. So an
113injunction just means they can't enforce that rule while the um the case is pending. But Justice Kagan's descent I found very interesting and she notes she dissented and reinstating the injunction. But she seemed to hit that the ultimate case outcome may be the way um the injunction was acknowledging parental rights. I have no doubt parents have rights even though unenumerated concerning their children and the life choices that they make. And she said in 1925 and 1979 cases, this goes back a long time. Um so just sort of seeing both sides really saying, "Hey, this is here. We've got to deal with it." So one of the provisions in JBP that I think could be problematic if a student's less than 18. So they're minors obviously students 18 and older different situation. But if the parents
114don't agree and the division decides they decide whether to respect the parents request or use the students desired name or alternatives I think there was if we're choosing to use students the diasire name there's still a possibility that things could be hidden and I know the greatest concern of parents has been hiding these things because they're very personal to a child what they go through and most parents want to do their best to talk with their children through it explain why they believe what they believe and and and work through it. Um, you know, why do we care? There's been a lot of conversation parents rights, it's all about the students and yes, you know, everybody has has rights, but as far as I can tell, digging through research, it it isn't settled. We're starting
115to see some European countries go a little they've gone this way before, going backtracking a bit as they've seen sort of the outcomes. I'm not saying that's how it's going to shake out, but there's studies going different directions and we don't know 30 years from now what we're going to look back on and see what really the the right answer was in helping individuals with these challenges. Um, I do know even with other medical situations, I'm a lady in her 50s, we face a decision, are we going to get hormone therapy or not? In the 90s that was prohibitive, could get you breast cancer. They've later come out Not necessarily. It was a different sample and there are a lot of impacts to your body. Just those that choose medical intervention has to decide. And
116if we have a minor looking at these things, socially transitioning seems to lead to a greater percentage going on that path versus struggling with it. And then in the end being comfortable with themselves maybe depending on who they choose to be romantically involved with be it male or female that's a very different calculus than your physical reality and interventions that you might have. So, you know, I think we have a temptation to think all parents are going to be not wanting to help the students and negative and these are very impactful decisions for the rest of people's lives, not just while they're in a classroom with a teacher or a counselor. parents, loving parents with their beliefs that they are trying to instill and help their children, ri raise them with in a way that
117what they they believe is going to give them the best, you know, opportunity for for a good life. They've got to live, you know, they and the children uh are going to see the impact of this years down the road. So, I would encourage us to heir on the side of involving parents. If there is a concern, there's social services, things can be done. if there is truly a safety concern that's already there. But I would encourage us to air on the side of involving parents and really considering the long-term impacts of these. We don't know how it's going to shake out with the individual child and they're the ones that are going to have to live with it, whether they should or shouldn't have been put on a path um early or not. So,
118I still have some concerns. Uh but I do applaud the division for doing your best to incorporate some of these things. Thank you, Miss Aman. Um, Miss Alger, I forgot about you out there. Did you have anything, Miss Alger? Yes, I'm I'm here. Um, I I just want to thank everyone and I also want to thank my colleague for um speaking her heart. Uh, and for and for everyone who um, you know, this is not easy. Uh it's um but it's easy for for some of us who are parents um and who understand that um it's it's a very uh how can I put this? It it it's not anything that you can necessarily define by courts uh um or define by law. I mean it's it's something that we all we know as a
119fact that the Supreme Court has not even um touched it per se and um at a at a at the most basic level um I I do believe it's important that we listen to the parents all parents and that includes um parents uh from communities that are are you know different um uh who are part of the LGBTQ community and uh they have a voice too. And so um I you know want to to say uh I know this is not an easy conversation. It will never be uh and it it never um is. But uh it comes down to uh to the to the honestly I've been in education for a long time and I can tell you right now um we've never really had this issue and most I I believe most educators
120most families work things out and they work things out because they have relationships uh together in school buildings. and I'd like to continue in that vein and believe that we are doing what's best for all children. Thank you. Thank you, Miss Alger. Miss Sarlaw, I would just like to make the comment I kind of piggybacking off of what uh Miss Aean said that where we or where the um leadership has landed. It's not a YNCAM policy. It's not a Northam policy. It is what is best for our students. That's that is what this effort is. It's not a political effort. It is to do what is right for our students. And the more we learn, it will probably change. And that is a good thing. And that is what I really took away from what
121my colleague was saying is that we just want to make sure that we're not harming, that we're helping. And that was the point of what we graciously appreciate Dr. Mitchell and her team taking on. So, thank you for that, Mr. Brown. And so, I want to thank yeah, Miss Aean for her comments. Um, and I I don't want to use up a lot of oxygen on this because I've I've talked a lot about it over the last four years and we've had lots of discussions and I wrote my own little book is Mr. Hardy. you wrote your wrote your book in terms of uh what I provided to uh the superintendent and the rest of the board uh on my thoughts on this on this topic. Uh I just want to um reiterate for uh
122the public that our focus I think is now and has always been uh the well-being of all the students and the uh the amount of angst and and debate and discussion uh and back and forth that we've had over the last four years has been a reflection of our care for all of the students. And I think everyone on both sides I think that's what has come through on this uh on our board. everyone on both sides of this topic and this issue is thinking about the well-being of all the students and uh and that that is that is the focus that's I think been guiding uh our discussions and debates. Uh, and then I also want to just uh thank uh the public for uh especially the people who who disagree or on the
123other side uh from me that we in Newport News have modeled what it looks like to uh disagree agreeably and uh through this discussion. I appreciate how uh you all have been coming to the board meetings for the last two years uh and been coming you know faithfully uh and making your voice heard and a lot of the things that you have discussed and we've discussed together have made it their way to the board and through our discussions and so hopefully what you see in this is that uh democracy and uh local government does work. Uh it is it is a long um it is a long process when you're talking about local government because we have to uh we have to account for as you heard tonight we've talked about federal and we have
124state and then we get to to local uh and as was mentioned you know it's this is not the north uh policy which we uh had passed previously. This is not the policy which we had passed previously. this is something uh sort of in the middle and I and I do think that before this is all over that we probably uh need another turn at this um to to uh to to get it where it needs to be uh where we are uh respecting all families uh in in our policy and what we're doing. So uh but I just want everyone to know that that is uh we've we've taken all that very seriously and uh and and appreciate how you all have have come forward and kept the conversation in front of us. Um,
125I don't mind you all uh barking at us or you know uh calling names and things of that nature because as long as it's not in front of the children, you know, and keeping this conversation uh not having not having the kids and the students have to deal with what are adult issues. So, I appreciate that we have been able to talk uh as adults and I also as well appreciate, you know, not bringing kids in as props and making that part of the the board meetings. I appreciate that it's been adults. you come in here and you're talking to us, you're talking to the school board. And I think if we just continue to do that, uh continue to talk to each other and dialogue with each other in this forum in the right
126manner, then we will, you know, we're going to we're going to get to where we where we need to be. And this is uh this is the uh the third round of I think, you know, more rounds to come is the way I phrase this. Okay, Miss Harris, real simple, not too deep. The priority should always be psychological safety. The priority should always be inclusivity and the priority should always be child- centered. Mr. Hunter, I would be remiss if I did not call you. I I just respect what all my colleagues said today. Um, if you've heard me for years, um, I've always said, you know, it's always about every student, right? Every student. You know, at one time, excellency, I can't change my color. At one time, we couldn't even vote, right? That's that
127we could not vote. But my job and why I was selected is to ensure that every student don't care the color, race, sexuality, to ensure that they get a the best education they can here in Newport News public schools. That's it. I don't really care about anybody's law. They that's not about anybody's law. It's about students, right? Great things are happening here in Newport News Public Schools. Boom. Okay. So, I'm going to end with this. With all due respect, Mr. Brown, we do mind barking and calling names. So, we have modeled for you all and you all have modeled for us decorum and we may uh disagree until the cows come home, but we're going to do it in a respectful manner. And so that's what the democratic process is all about. We don't have
128to take our cues from I'm not gonna go there, but anyway. Um, so we we do mind and and we we can agree to disagree, but we do it with courtesy and respect. And with that being said, this meeting is ajourned. Thank you.