001Good evening. I would like to call to order the regular meeting of the Newport News School Board for Tuesday, March 17, 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 location. 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 board member Rasha Harris has made such a request. Mrs. Harris, yes. Would you share with the board
002your request to uh participate in the meeting electronically, please? Yes. I would like to request to uh participate virtually due to travel. Thank you, Mrs. Harris, for your request. What is the pleasure of the board? Uh, so moved. Second. It's moved and seconded that we accept the request. Are there any questions, comments? Miss Buffalo, call the role, please. Harris. For. Oh, I'm disregard that, Miss Harris. Not you. I apologize. Hunter, For. Sorls law. For Alger For Aean For Brown For best For motion passes 6 Thank you. And now I will call Miss Kyla Leget our student representative to the school board to introduce tonight's student guest for the invocation and pledge. Thank you chairman Dr. Best. We will begin tonight's meeting with the invocation and pledge to the flag. Here to do the honors are
003two students from Stony Run Elementary School. Annayia Kamo and who will be accompanied by her sister Nariah Kamo and Derek Oliver. First, Annayia will come forward and deliver the invocation. She will be followed by Derek who will come forward and deliver the pledge. Anniah, will you please come forward and tell us a little bit about yourself before you get started? I'm 10. My favorite colors are purple and yellow like the Lakers. And my favorite sports are swimming, gymnastics, and chess. a proud fourth grader representing Stony Rena Elementary School. I am honored to stand before you today to speak about National Women's History Month is a time to celebrate the achievements, strength, and contribution of women throughout history and in our everyday lives. It reminds us that women and girls can do anything, lead, create, inspire,
004and make a in the world. At my school, I am lucky to be surrounded by strong and inspiring women to help guide me every day. I would like to give a special shout out to my amazing principal, Miss Ford, for being a little leader and encouraging us to do our best and believe in ourselves. I also want to recognize our administrative assistant principal, Miss Thomas, who keeps us who keeps everything running smoothly and always greet us greets us with kindness. I would also like to give a very special thank you to my mom for her love, support, and encouragement. She inspires me every day to work hard, believe in myself, and be the best person I can be. I would also like to thank Superintendent Dr. Michelle Mitchell for her leadership and to the woman
005in our school board. Thank you for your service, your leadership, and your commitment to education. As a young girl, it means so much to me to see women in leadership roles. It shows me that dreams are possible and that one day I can make a difference, too. Thank you for this opportunity and thank you for all that you do. Thank you so much. Thank you so much. You may be seated. Let's give another round of applause for that awesome invocation. Derek, will you please come forward and tell us a little bit about yourself before you begin the pledge? Hello. I am also 10 years old and I like playing basketball, chess, and my favorite color is black and red. Uh, good evening, Superintendent Dr. Michelle Mitchell, members of the school board, and guests. My name
006is Derek Oliver, and I'm a fifth grade student at Stony Elementary School. It is a It is my honor to lead you in the pledge of allegiance. Please stand. I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you. You may now be seated. tonight's meeting. You guys did a wonderful job. Supporting Annayia and Derek 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. Yes, thank you. You were so inspiring. Thank you so very much. The next item on tonight's agenda is school board recognitions. Dr. Mitchell, please join me at
007the podium. For some reason, I want to sing I'm every woman after that speech. Well, good evening Newport News family. I have the honor and privilege of recognizing some outstanding members of our school community this evening. Our first honores are very intricral to the operation of our school division and become particularly near and dear to us during the month of March. As we prepare our budget for next school year, our budget team has once again received an award for its outstanding work. The Government Finance Officers Association of the United States and Canada has awarded this distinguished budget presentation award to the Newport News School Board for its annual budget document for the fiscal year beginning July 1, 2025. The award is the highest form of recognition in the area of governmental budgeting and its attainment
008represents a significant accomplishment by a government and its management according to GFOA. The award reflects the commitment of the governing body and staff to meeting the highest principles of governmental budgeting. In addition, the Association of School Business Official International awarded Newport News Public Schools budget to mysterious meterious. Yes. Oh, budget award. I've been practicing all week, y'all. To earn the ASBO award, NNPS staff preparing the budget document met the criteria of demonstrating skills in developing an effective budget presentation. Compliance with clear budget presentation guidelines, a commitment to the community through a readerfriendly budget document and adherence to nationally recognized budget presentation standards. Please come forward to accept your award. Budget Yeah, give it up. Budget Supervisor Irene Cooper. Senior budget analyst Aaron Olsen Willis. Wills not here. Okay. Senior budget analyst Leslie Mccle. Congratulations. We
009also like to thank their supporters in the audience this evening. Thank you all so much for being here. In addition, we'd like to acknowledge Director of Finance Dwight Duran and Chief Operations Officer Rusty Fairhart. Thank you for your support. And now we'll take a photo. Again, congratulations. Our next honores are regional and state champions for the Virginia High School League winter season. Tonight, we're thrilled to recognize the achievements of these talented students and athletes as we ask that each of you please remain at the front until your photo is taken with the group. In wrestling, Dembi High School's Brendan Ramos won the region 4A championship at 175 pounds. Brendan, please come forward. Is he here? Also from Denby and Deio when earned the region 4A wrestling championship at 113 pounds. Denby's wrestling coach is oldest
010Wesby. Would you please come forward as well? Woodside High School Carmen McDaniel is the region 5B wrestling champion at 157 pounds. Woodsid's wrestling coach is Cameron Mix. Come on up. Congratulations to each of you. just stay right up here with me. We would also like to thank their families and friends who may be with us this evening. If you would like, please stand. All right. Now you also acknowledge administrators Dembi principal Dr. Adira Strs. Wait. And assistant principles Dr. James Jones and Lisa Echo. Are you here? No. And athletic director Marcus Johnson Williams. He's waving. Thank you. And Woodside principal Dr. Mary Hardesty. I saw her. Assistant principles Gracie Foley and Michael Bellamy and athletic director Eric Battle. If you are here, please wave. Again, thank you for your support. All right, now we're gonna
011take a photo. Come on. Next, we have individual event region 5B swimming and diving champions, all of whom are from Menchville High School. Please join me in congratulating them as their names are called for them to please come forward. Jose McCauley for boys diving. The girls 200 meter medley relay team. Samantha Branshaw, Emma Westfall, Riley Harris, and Sarah Cash. Come on up. I also want to share that Emily Westfall for girls 200 meter individual medley and Emmy Emma Westfall for girls 100 meter breath stroke. Wow. I'd like to say thank you to head coach Lesie Colts, assistant coach, I'mma say this correctly, Sava Tor Cal, right? Dentu Salvatore. Okay. Assistant coach Darby Dentu, come on up. In addition, we're very proud to recognize Jose McCaulay for his class 5 state championship in boys diving. Jose
012won the title at the state meet on February 19th at Biringham Middletown Community Center. He finished the first meter diving competition with a final score of 300 point 309.3 and a total of 20 points to take home his state medal. Congratulations and again we want like to thank their coaches um for supporting them. We will also like to thank their families who are in the audience who may be with us. would you please stand? Come on now. This your time to shine. Thank you for all you do. We will also like to acknowledge Minsville principal Jason Holla. Come on over here and wave with and assistant principles Dr. Nicole Arrington and William Huffler if he's here. And athletic director Jenny Nunnic. Come on here and wave. Thank you for your support. So, now we're going
013to get a photo. Next, we have individual event regional champions in indoor track. Please join me in congratulating them as their names are called for them to come forward. And please remain at the front until your photo is taken. Region 3A champions from Heritage, Marcus Doure and boys long jump. Marcus Doure and high boys jump and Marcus Doure and boys triple jump. Okay. Coach Jack Baitman, Coach Ray Polard, and Coach Shantel Powell. Please come on up if you're here. Region 5B champions from Warick. Ariana Longston for girls 1600 meters. Ar Yeah, she got a couple more. Hold that applause. She was real busy. Ariana Long for girls 3,200 meters. Nathan Copran for boys 1600 meters. Come on, Nathan. Nathan Cochran for boys 3,200 meters. Yes. Awesome job. Head coach, it's James Highmith. Come on up.
014Congratulations. Assistant Coach Ron Baiton, Assistant Coach Brittany Day, Assistant Coach Jasmine Lot, Assistant Coach Dexmore, and if they're not here, we still want to call their names because it's hard work. Yes. Good job. Region 5B champions from Woodside, Avia Hampton, and girls shot Putt. Okay. Daryl Boyd Jr. and boys 35 meter. Oh, she's coming. Come on, Miss Hampton. Daryl Boy Jr. and boys 55 meter dash. Dantrey Walls Junior and boys 55 meter hurdles. and Xavier Canfield junior and boys long jump, boys triple jump, boys high jump. And coach David Garary, come on up. All right. We're also very proud to recognize Ariana Longd for his class 5 state championship in the girls 1600 meters. Ariana won the title at the state meet held on March 2nd and 3rd at the Virginia Beach Sports Center. She
015ran the 1600 in a time of 5 minutes and.3 seconds. Congratulations We will also like to recognize her coaches, head coach James Heismith, Coach Ron Baiton again, and coach Brittany Day, Jasmine L, and Dex Moore. Congratulations. All right, and we have another state champion in indoor track. Please join me in congratulating Xavier Canfield, Junior. I think he's already up here with us. Yeah, raise your hand from Woodside for his state class 5 championship in triple jump. Congratulations. Xavier won the title at the state indoor track meet held on March 2nd and 3rd at the Virginia Beach Sports Center. His winning triple jump was a distance of 47 feet, 11.75 inches. I'm just trying to get a visual. I Okay, again, his coach is David Garary. Congratulations. Awesome. Awesome. Awesome. We will also like to thank
016their families and friends who may be with us this evening. Would you please stand? Come on now. Takes a village. And we'd like to acknowledge their administrators, Heritage Principles, Dr. Dyron Ford, assistant principal, yes, assistant principles Jose Paway and Melissa Rolls, and athletic director Jamie Pckler. Come on, wait. War High School principal Tiffany Thompson. Assistant principles Jessica White Odman and Michael Edwards. Come on, wave. And athletic director Lucas Brown. Woodside principal Dr. Mary Hardesty, assistant principal Gracie Foley and Michael Bellamy, and of course, athletic director Eric Battle. Thank you all for your support. Now, we're going to get a group photo. NPS family. Our next recognition this evening are teams that won the region 5B championship with outstanding performances representing NNPS at the at that level as well as teams that won class 5 state
017championships. Please join me in congratulating the team members as their names are called for them to come forward. the Warick High School Scholastic Bowl team, which are region 5B champions. Sincere Bryant, Leonard Boltman, Process, Randolph Cabel, Andrew Cochran, Nathan Cochran, Esther Leonard, Gabrielle Schler, and Naomi Scott. Their sponsor is Gotham Precumar. Been practicing. I've been practicing. Okay. Thank you. Okay. I'll be prepared next year when you're champions again. Okay. Okay. Congratulations to each of you. We want to take a moment to acknowledge their family members and supporters that are here. Would you please stand and be recognized? It's your time to shine. Okay. We also like to thank the support of their principal Tiffany Thompson, assistant principal Jessica White Ottoman, and Michael Edwards, and athletic director Lucas Brown. And now we're gonna get a photo.
018the Warick High School debate team that won the region 5B debate championship. As I call your name, please come forward. Mass Milano Ariano. Okay. Kylie Freys, Ethan Johnson, Isaiah Deloo, Landon Reeves, Kriana Robertson, Carlos Bamante, and Coach Juliana Martimmore Schultz. In addition, please join me in congratulation congratulating Ethan Johnson for winning the region 5B championship in the debate competition student congress category. Okay. And we'll also recognize his coach Juliana Montimer Schultz. Let me say thank you again and congratulations to each of you. We do want to take a moment to acknowledge their family members and friends that are in the audience. Would you please stand? Again, we would like to thank the support of Warick Principal Tiffany Thompson, assistant principles Jessica White Ottoman, and Michael Edwards, and athletic director Lucas Brown. We'll come to the
019middle and have a photo. The Woodside High School one act play theater team that won the region 5B championship as well as the state class 5 championship. When your name is called, please come forward. Paris Brown, Kylie Armstrong, Sienna Caukins, Gabriella Cartwright, Hiding Grass, Hannah Lur Hollingsworth, Abiad Max Maxfield, McKenzie Overton, Ammani Prince, Autumn Richard, Josh, Joshen, am I pronouncing that correctly? Josian Shanchez Banila. Okay. Gracie Ter Janiah Victorian. Am I missing any other students? Okay. All right. Do we have Isabella Conman Coleman? Elizabeth Esper, Hannah Grass, Jamaiah Johnson, Carmen Laura Saval, McKenzie I called Mackenzie Overton, Ammani Prince, Autumn Richard, Chloe Ross, Brooke Royal, Kairen Shaw, Grace Tafar, Jude Terry, Excel Val, Jamaiah Victorian, Lindsay Veruman, Eli Wells. Am I missing anyone? Yeah, I'm good to coach. Yeah. Okay. So, Coach Shaza Chassida Taylor,
020come on up. Coach, she got the trophy, y'all. Coach K. Wright, she has the trophy as well. Woodside Arts and Communications Magnet Program Director Amy Ensley. Come on up. This group of young people won the state one act play title on March 7 at the state theater championships in Charlottesville. They performed the play seven a play in one act which was written by program administrator Amy Ensley. Congratulations. Okay. We want to take a moment to acknowledge any family and friends in the audience. Would you please stand? We want to continue to say and we can't express enough the thanks that we have to our school principal Dr. Mary Hardy. Again, thank you. Thank you. Assistant principal Gracie Foley and Michael Bellamy and athletic director Eric Battle for all your support. All right, we're going to
021come together in the middle and let's get a picture. All right, our last group this evening is the Menchville High School girls basketball team that won the region five BA 5B championship. Give it up. When I call your name, please come forward. Kendall Bagwell, Aean Beard, McKinley Davis, Cameron Eckleston, Taniah Henson, Jordan Holder, Deonti Hyman, Cuara Jones, Matteline Leachch, Naa Reed, Jaden Rose, and Olivia Rivera. Head coach Adrien Webb, Assistant Coach Come on, Jonathan Bayz, assistant coach Jimmy Clemens, assistant coach Ryland Harrison, assistant coach Sean Harrison, assistant coach Desawn Heyman, and assistant coach Terren James, assistant coach Harold Leget. It took a real village to get y'all Good job. Good job. Congratulations, Menchfield. We do want to take a moment to recognize any family and friends in the audience. Would you please stand? Come on.
022Also, a big thank you to Menchville principal Jason Holla. Come on, wave. And assistant principles Dr. Nicole Arrington and William Hustler and athletic director Jenny Nutunn for all their support. Good job. Now we're going to come to the middle and get a photo. I want to share for all our VHL winter honores. We would also like to congratulate and acknowledge the support of the NNPS athletic director Lee Martin. Lee, come and wave to us for all that you do each day to support their success. Thank you. At this time, we're going to take a short break so that our pres presenters and guests and their families may have an opportunity to leave, but you may stay if you wish to do so. You certainly are welcome to stay. So, we'll stand in recess, a brief
023recess at this time. Thank you. During our regular regular meeting, we provide time for the public to address the school board. These opportunities are scheduled in the early part of our agenda and towards 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, we will consider your concerns. We ask that you comply with our threeminut 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
024forward. Reverend Natalie Chamberlain. And she will be followed by Ms. Miss K. Warren. Good evening, school board. Dr. Mitchell. I'm Reverend Natalie Chamberlain, part of a broad coalition of citizens who have been attending these meetings for more than two years now. We see no sign that you intend to change policy JBP, but the welfare of the LGBTQIA community is vitally important to us. So, I keep asking, you're likely aware that a number of states have passed and are implementing anti-trans legislation. Medical care is being withheld. Driver's licenses are being revoked. Living as trans is becoming illegal. All of this not only makes living more difficult and mental health less stable, it's costing lives. These things are not happening in Virginia at the moment, but every time another law is considered, the message to our trans
025siblings is that they are not valued. The trans students and staff in Newport News School Division are hearing these messages just as loudly as those in Kansas, Florida, or any other state. You have the chance to assure them that they are safe here. Five of you have voiced support for trans students, but you have still refused to act. The assurance of support is empty without action. The New Testament has something to say about empty words. You may not practice my faith tradition, but the words show wisdom nonetheless. James the second chapter says, "What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but do not have works? Can faith save you? If a brother or sister is naked and lacks daily food, and one of you says to them, "Go in
026peace, keep warm and eat your fill." And yet do not supply their bodily needs. What is the good of that? So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead. Professions of care are just as dead without action. If you meant what you said about supporting the LGBTQIA community and especially those under your care, it's time to do something. Change policy JBP. Thank you, Miss K. Warren. And she will be followed by Mrs. Jackie Batterson. Good evening, members of the school board. Dr. Mitch, how you doing? Um, quick, I wanted to tell you thank you. I spoke two years ago with some concerns I had and right away you sent someone to my classroom, spoke with me and a lot of my concerns were addressed and completed. So, I want to tell you person.
027Thank you. Um, I'm not going to look at this time. It's going to make me nervous. Okay? And if I go a little bit over, just spare me a little bit of time because this is important. The concerns I want to address tonight are clean classrooms and clean working conditions. Over the years, I've managed to tolerate working in unclean classrooms. I've learned to tolerate halfclean classrooms. I've learned to tolerate days where my trash cans were empty, but my floors were not swept. I've managed to tolerate where my floors were swept, but my rugs wasn't vacuumed. I've learned to tolerate having floors not swept or mopped, trash cans not empty. by having floors caked up with residuals of accumulated dirt from members of the school board. I cannot tolerate it anymore. I cannot tolerate it anymore.
028A clean classroom is not a privilege. It is a right. My students have a right to work in a clean environment. My partner have a right to teach in a clean classroom. I have a right to teach in a clean classroom. My email did get across to Susan Boyd and I really have to give and commend her because she stepped in right away. I'm not sure how she got a hold of my email along with pictures, but she stepped in right away and she started making changes and I appreciate that. However, I have no faith in it because over the years and even with change of staff, we fall right back into the same habits. Trash cans not being empty, floors not being mopped, rugs not being vacuumed, and I'm always given excuses such as,
029"We don't have any staff. We don't have help. Oh, there was no sub." or well you had a sub but because it was a sub they didn't know the layout of the school building so your room did get clean even though you were sent a sub to clean your classroom I can go on with a list of excuses but I don't think I would like to share them on this microphone so all that I can say is with every bone and breath in my body I want to continue to advocate for better working conditions in clean classrooms because again we deserve a right to work in clean classrooms. And if I may say just real quick for any young women, young ladies that you're watching, you don't need a title to make a change. You
030don't need leadership to make a change. The only thing you need is your your voice. And I just use my voice. And I hope my voice will make a change. Thank you. Thank you. Miss Batterson will be followed by Miss Ivana Jones. Iana Jones. My name is Jackie Batterson and I am a resident of Newport News and a Unitarian Universalist. I am here again asking that this board review the procedure JBP which is supposed to correlate with the polic JB. This policy states that the school system will respect the dignity of all students. This procedure does not do that. In 2022, the former governor rolled back protections for transgender children in the state of Virginia. He had constantly advocated for policies that would restrict the rights of transgender children in public schools. prioritizing parents rights.
031That administration had a period for public comments, garnering over 71,000 comments in a short period of time. These comments were deeply divided but favored keeping the rights that these children had been living with. However, without consulting counselors, teachers, religious leaders, parents, and physicians, he ordered that those policies be changed, maintaining he was respecting parental rights. However, he failed to recognize that children also have rights. The policies he put in place harmed and stigmatized vulnerable children. The policy stated that they would not recognize preferred pronouns or chosen name of the child unless the parent wrote to say it was all right. But that's not good enough because then it would need to be changed legally. Also, it dictated that if a child went to a teacher or any school staff with a concern about gender, that
032person was required to report it to the parents. Did anyone consider that if a child went to an adult they trusted rather than the parent that just maybe there was an issue at home? This child would then be outed without their permission. Even though that governor said it was law and that all public schools in Virginia must follow it, a number of schools in Richmond and Northern Virginia did not. There was no mechanism for enforcement. However, Newport News decided it would follow this governor's trans phobic law. I am asking you again to re-evaluate your procedures and actually respect all students in the school system. I will end with this. Freedom is not a gift received from the state or leader but a possession to be won every day by the effort and the union of
033all. Albert Cus. Thank you. Thank you. Miss Jones will be followed by Miss Lisa Lloyd. Good evening members of the school board and the superintendent. I am here tonight to speak on behalf of the many students who rely on transportation to and from magnet program schools. As a graduate of a magnet program school myself, I understand first how how valuable these programs are for students. My sister is also a graduate of a magnet program and unfortunately could not be here tonight because she is currently attending college university on a full scholarship that she earned after participating in war's magnet program. These programs truly change lives and create opportunities for students to pursue their goals and careers. For this reason, I believe that taking away transportation for students who live outside of the school zone is
034not a good idea, nor is it fair to many students and families in our community. Many parents, like my mother when we were growing up, worked during the hours when students need to leave for school and return home. She was at work when it was time for me to catch the bus to school and still working when it was time for me to return home. Without transportation, students in similar situations may not be able to attend these programs at all. We also have families where parents are disabled, single parents who may not have access to reliable transportation and students who are being raised by their grandparents or other family members. For many of these households, school transportation is the only reliable way for students to get to and from school. If transportation is removed, many
035students who want to attend a school that focuses on their interest and future career goals may no longer have that opportunity. In effect, students could be denied access to educational opportunities simply because their families cannot provide transportation. I also asked the board to consider the safety and p practicality of relying on public transportation. Not all areas have easy access to public transit and HRT buses do not directly go into many apartment communities. Some magnet schools are not located near bus lines, meaning students, including middle school and even elementary age students, would have to walk long distances just to reach transportation. Before making a final decision about eliminating school bus transportation or requiring magnet students to rely on public transportation, I respectfully ask that you carefully consider the full impact this will have on students and
036families throughout the community. Please look not only at how long it takes to transport students to school, but also at what opportunities may be lost if they are unable to attend these programs. Thank you for your time and considering the voices of the students and families who will be affected by this decision. Thank you. You, Mr. Lloyd? Yes. Thank you. Yes. Uh good evening. Um this is on behalf of my granddaughter, Elasia Jones, as her sister said. is off in college um full scholarship ride and she states why is a magnet program so important for me as an individual who wants to have a career in a medical field having the governor's health academy at Warwick High School helped me incredibly prepared me with the prereisquisites and skills that even at a collegic level I
037don't see often for example many of my peers at my university complain about not knowing medical terms or even body systems in human psychology this semester but I'm excelling in the classes even teaching my close friend things she doesn't understand I went to a tutoring session with her and as I was helping her understand it in more fun way the upperassman tutor even suggested that I become a tutor after I finished the class. This wouldn't have been possible if our magnet program gave me prior knowledge. It also allows us to showcase our talent and what we are learning in the organization called Hosea. We compete with other schools around the state to see how well our teachers have prepared us and the medical field. As a school, we have had multiple people placed top three
038in multiple events. This demonstrates that we are learning real life skills and are more likely to succeed in relevant careers. Now, I didn't take this route, but multiple friends of mine ended high school at CNA's certified nurses assistants, having lodged many hours with our closest hospital, Riverside. This again provides students with post high school pathways early and gives them a edge of potentially being hired as well as this shows dedication and overachievement. Without a magnet at schools, these achievements and building of life skills would be delayed and that would further decline teens readiness for life out of high school. Whether it's art, medical, military, or STEM related, these all very much Bill's characters. Thank you for listening to me and hopefully understanding where past and future generations are coming from. Have a great day. And
039I also want to add is that these children are our future and they may be the ones that take care of us as we age. So, let's just remember that we want the best for them because we may see them again. Thank you. Thank you. Next, Mr. Jonathan Carter will be followed by Miss Katherine Carter. I'm reading my speech this time. Good evening, members of the board. Commissioner Dr. the best. My name is Jonathan Carter here again tonight to speak on behalf of maintaining the elementary magnet schools program in its current structure. I plead to you just leave it alone. We're wasting money even evaluating it. I keep seeing awards given the magnet graduates, magnet instructors. You're making my argument easy for me. I also was given my son's proxy again tonight to ban homework
040forever citywide. He's uh disappointed you didn't listen last time. So, moving on. Engagement, public engagement. It's more than a metric. We're here. You're hearing us. It's a core value. Reflects how we show up for one another. Connect with our community. Stay focused on our mission. Equitable education for our children. Last quarter, we discussed the third party third party budget survey. How do we ensure we have the best tools to turn the survey feedback into meaningful action? Our NNPS policy provides guidance for a crossf functional team representing the best interest for the school system. a team consisting of members of the community, the school system, and board members. I'm formerly volunteering to participate in the team. It is critical to my child along with many others to leave the elementary magnet program and its transportation intact.
041Again, a consulting firm cannot measure the impact of the elementary magnet program, no matter the cost. You can only measure the impact of the magnet program by cancelling it. Then and only then can the impact be measured once it's too late. How will the findings of the consulting firm be shared? Are line items going to be redacted? Are the constituents going to receive 100% full transparency? Will the constituents have input into the actions taken from the findings? As you all know, the timing of these meetings are inconvenient to all families enrolled in Elementary Magnet. It's hard enough to get through the day with a rockstar wife to share the workload of the family with. What are single mothers doing? They can't get here. I assure you. I assure you, they want to be here. Public
042engagement, it's all over social media. Everybody wants the elementary magnet program. They want transportation to be left alone. I'm sure you all don't have the answers to these questions tonight. However, you and I know without a doubt the attendance of this room doesn't reflect accurately the desire for this program to stay in place. Thank you all for your time. I'm looking forward to working with you in the future to enact meaningful change meaningful meaningful change to the students and the community. Thank you for your time. Thank you. And Miss Carter will be followed by Miss Mary Boss. Hi. Uh, my name is Katie Wilcox Carter and I'm the parent of a third grader in the magnet program at Hilton Elementary School. I'm a graduate of NNPS myself, the daughter of a retired Neworn public schools
043teacher and a local family law attorney. I spoke last month in support of magnet programs. My husband just spoke and I'm here again to do the same. And I think more today than a request for information or um a persuasive argument on my part, I'd like to ask questions that I hope will eventually be answered. I understand that it was back in October that the original update to the community was first shared that provided some proposals about how to modify transportation and change zoning. I had no idea that that was happening at all at that point. I didn't hear anything until a PTA meeting at my child's school and kind of heard that through the which was what prompted my husband and I to attend the meeting last month for the first time. So I
044I still feel like information is lacking and that many parents and interested community members who would otherwise want to be involved aren't entering the conversation just because they don't know exactly what's happening or how to get the information. My fear is that this study will be concluded and the results interpreted interpreted changes implemented without giving parents and community members an opportunity to really participate. So my questions today are three um but what specifically has the external consulting firm been tasked to study? What are the specific bullet points and at what costs? Are the proposals the same as they were in October related mostly to reducing transportation options, adjusting school enrollment by location, or are other proposals like the complete elimination of elementary magnet programs being seriously considered? It's hard to know exactly what's on the
045chopping block at this point. Um, what number of students and families in both magnet and non-magnet programs would be impacted by these changes and how will we solicit feedback? Will there be school-basedformational meetings, community roundts, a social media outreach program? Not everyone can attend a schoolboard meeting. Even fewer are comfortable standing up and addressing a school board. Um, I'm highly motivated and fairly comfortable with public speaking. And I still feel like my access to information is not what it should be to be the most effective advocate I could possibly be for the program. I hope the board will answer these questions not just for my sake but for the sake of all the students and the community members and interested parents who would otherwise want to be involved. Um improve access to relevant information and
046create opportunities for parents whether or not they're able to attend a schoolboard meeting or to speak before the board um can can have their say about what's happening before it's too late. Thank you for your time. Thank you. Hello. Uh, good evening, Chair Dr. Best, Vice Chair Alger, Superintendent Dr. Mitchell, and members of the board. Um, tonight I'm speaking on the proposed NNPS budget. Um, thank you to NNPS for proposing a 3% salary increase above the 2% recommended in the governor's budget and for recommending that increase for teachers and staff. That sends an important message that we are all in this together. As you know, staffing challenges in Virginia's public schools extend beyond teachers to include bus drivers, teacher assistants, school counselors, nutrition workers, and more. The proposed NNPS budget is based on the governor's
047budget proposal, but the general assembly's proposed budget is more generous, and the final conference budget between the governor and the general assembly has not yet been determined. Unlike the governor's budget, both the House and Senate include funding for a $1,500 one-time bonus for all standards of quality funded teachers and staff. The NNPS proposed budget includes a $1,000 increase to starting salaries for teachers and associate teachers. That is important for recruitment, but we must also prioritize retention of current employees. Um, increasing starting salaries can help get people in the door, but retention incentives can help keep our schools running now amidst uh shortages, employee shortages. Retention bonuses are one way to keep the experienced employees we already have. Mid-career and veteran staff are often the most likely to leave due to workload, burnout, and better paying
048opportunities. These are the employees who are already trained, effective, and deeply invested in our schools. Retention bonuses give them a clear and immediate reason to stay. Retaining experienced staff is more valuable than replacing staff. Turnover creates real cost. training new hires, reduced effectiveness in their early years, and added strain on remaining staff who must step in to mentor and support. Turnover also negatively impacts school culture and student outcomes. Rising health insurance costs make retention bonuses even more important. Thank you to the school division for absorbing the full cost of health insurance increases in the FY2024, 2025, and 2026 budgets. This proposed FY2027 budget includes a 1.7 million increase in health insurance costs, which is, you know, something we're seeing nationwide. Um, NNPS has absorbed the vast majority of the insurance increase at 88% for FY2027
049and we thank you very much for that. Um, but employees will still see higher monthly premiums. Um, even modest increases add up and retention bonuses can help offset that impact. So, I encourage the board to prioritize retention bonuses if additional funding becomes available through the state budget because at the end of the day, the success of our schools doesn't just depend on who we hire, it depends on who we keep. Also, please support protections and dignity for our vulnerable LGBTQ plus students by amending policy JBP as others have spoken on earlier. Thank you for your time and consideration. Thank you for your comments and thoughts this evening. We will now move on to section three, the consent agenda, which includes 3.01 minutes from the work session February 17, 2026. 3.02 minutes from the regular meeting
050February 17, 2026. 3.03 03 financial reports including the revenue and expense reports for February 26 child nutrition reports 3.04 the personnel report 3.05 budget transfer at this time can we have a motion to approve the consent agenda move to approve the consent agenda as presented second. It's been moved and second to approve the consent agenda as presented. Any questions? Madam Chair, just one question on item 3.05. Is it safe to assume that uh because that item is that's budget transfer. Is it safe to assume because that item is is is uh doesn't have a document there that there is no budget transfers for There's just not an attachment. screen. Okay, we're good. Yeah. Okay. Any other questions? Miss Buffalo, call the roll, please. Miss Harris. Hunter, For. Surles law, For. Alger, For. Aman For. Brown
051For. Best For. Motion passes 7-0. Thank you. We will now move to section 4 action items 4.01 the proposed FY27 operating budget. Dr. Mitchell. Thank you very much, Madame Chair. As you know, um two Tuesdays in a row we had the opportunity to um engage with Mr. Rusty Fairhart and take a look at the proposed budget. Um, tonight we are coming to you asking for your approval for the propo uh superintendent's proposed FY2027 budget oper operating budget. Do I have a motion to approve the 27 2027 operating budget? I move to approve the FY27 proposed budget in the amount of 460,875,26 dollars. Second. It's been moved and second to approve the budget. Any questions? I believe we have a statement to be read from Regina Harris. I'm sorry. Go ahead, Miss Harris. I, Rasha Harris,
052a member of the Newport News School Board, do hereby do hereby declare, pursuant to 2.2-3112 B1 and 2.2-3115H of the Virginia state and local government conflict of interest act at the school board meeting of March 17, 2026. One, the school board will consider adopting its fiscal year 2027 operating budget. The transaction two, in part, the transaction involves approving the allocation of funding to be received by the city of Newport News for schoolboard operating purposes in the entire fiscal year 2027 operating budget will be sent to the Newport News City Council for its approval. Three, I have a personal interest in the transaction by virtue of my marriage to Councilman Marcelus L. Harris III, who is a member of the Newport News City Council. For, I am a member of a group of three or more
053persons, the members of which are affected by the by the transaction. And five, pursuant to 2.23112 B1 and 3.2 2.2-3115H of the Virginia State and Local Government Conflict of Interest Act. I am able to participate in the transactions fairly, objectively, and in the public interest as there should be a signed copy uh there present. Thank you, Miss Harris. At this time, do we have any questions or comments regarding the motion? just make a question slash comment that uh we are voting this month because it's Virginia law that we have to vote in this month of March but we are going to need to vote again because the general assembly has not passed a budget. So because the general assembly has not passed a budget that is why we'll need to vote again and so I
054just want to make that comment so that the public and the viewing audience understands when we come back in April when we vote again we are um it's not a mistake on our part. Thank you Mr. Brown. Anyone else comments, questions? Miss Buffalo, call the roll, please. Miss Harris, For. Hunter, For. Surles Law, For. Alger, For. Aean, For. Brown, For. Best, For. Motion passes 7-0. Thank you. We will now move on to 4.02 2026 2027 proposed school calendar. Dr. Mitchell. Thank you again, Madame Chair. Uh, Miss Tracy Brooks presented to you the proposed 26 27 um school calendar. Please keep in mind that Miss Brooks meets with the committee. She receives input from the public through various u means of media, but she also works with surrounding school districts and their calendar committee. We worked
055hard to include the input from our stakeholders and at this time we would ask that you approve the proposed 2627 school year calendar. Thank you, Dr. Mitchell. Do I have a motion to approve the 2627 proposed school calendar? I move to approve the 2627 proposed school calendar. Second. It's been moved and second to approve the 2627 proposed school calendar. Any questions, comments, question? Miss Aean, just a point of just a quick question. Have there been any changes since it was presented to us last month? I don't think so. Thank you for your question. There was just one change in date in October. For parent conferences, we moved it to a week later based on input from staff and parents to allow more time for assessments to be included as a part of those conferences. Thank
056you. Thank you, Miss A. Anyone else? Miss Buffalo, call the roll, please. Harris, For. Hunter, For. Surles law for Alger. Aman for Brown For. Best For. Motion passes 7-0. Thank you. We will now move on to 4.03 school improvement grant applications. Dr. Mitchell. Thank you, Madam Chair. You've had the opportunity to review the school improvement grant applications that are for federally identified schools. We put together uh plans to support those schools. It is required by the state and federal government. So, at this time, given the fact that you've had the opportunity to review those plans, we are asking that you would move to approve those plans so that we can then move them on and send them directly to the Virginia Department of Education. At this time, do we have a motion to approve 4.03
057school improvement grant applications? I move to approve the school improvement grant applications as presented. You have a second. Second. It's been moved and second that we approve the school improvement grant applications. Any questions, comments? I just have a comment. It really um is striking that Newport News public schools currently has 11 federally identified schools under the Every Student Succeeds Act. And it's a reduction from 19 last year. That's a 42% reduction. Uh that is impressive. So, uh, we're moving in the absolute right direction. Thank you very much, Madam Mrs. Thorough Law, because our staff have worked really hard to make that happen. A lot of heavy lifting, and we appreciate the staff that have been involved in that. Thank you. Any other comments, questions? Miss Buffalo, call the role, please. Harris, For. Hunter, For. Surles
058law, For. Alger, For. Aman, For. Brown, For. Best For motion passes 7-0. Thank you. We will now move to section five reports and information 5.01 2026 state of the college update. Dr. Mitchell. Thank you. This evening we welcome our partners from the Virginia Peninsula Community College, Miss Michelle Alexander, Stephen I'm gonna try to say it right. Stephen Fckler Feler and Nikia Madre Smith. They are from the Virginia Peninsula Community College and they are going to come forward to share with us tonight a state of the college update and they're going to highlight some enrollment trends, workforce programs, as well as the continued growth opportunities for our students. So, at this time, we'd ask you to come forward and share this information with us. Good evening, Superintendent Mitchell, Chair uh Chairperson Best, and esteemed board of
059u esteemed board members. We're excited to report that um enrollment is up and we're bringing you greetings first of all from Virginia Peninsula Community College and I'm just completely nervous, I guess. My name is Nikia Mry Smith and I'm the director of campus and community initiatives for Virginia Peninsula Community College. Hello. I'm Michelle Alexander. I'm the dean of public safety, allied health and human services. Good evening. I'm Steven Felker and I'm vice president for institutional effectiveness and transformation. Thank you. And again, we bring you greetings from Virginia Peninsula Community College. We were just so excited to talk about our enrollment growth. And so uh following a period of enrollment decline, we are growing again. We've observed two years consecutively of enrollment growth and we're on trend for a third year in that direction. So we're
060really excited. We're very proud and feel that this is something that's unique to Virginia Peninsula Community College uh because many institutions at the four-year college and the community college levels are still struggling with enrollment. So we're very excited. As you can see here, um our Newport News students play a big role in that success. Newport News represents about 20 6% of our total enrollment. And again, we attribute this enrollment uniquely to some of the ways that we're engaging with our students across the peninsula as a whole. We host FastTrack events where students can enroll in a day. Uh we're re-engaging with stopped out students. So, these are folks who have uh some credits but no credential. We're also everywhere. You'll probably see us. Our college navigators, our recruiters are in the middle schools, the high
061schools. We're hosting open houses. We're doing campus tours. And we're also providing that extra concier service by offering one-on-one appointments with our prospective and current students. On the workforce side, Fast Forward has become a critical component uh for us to deliver our mission to provide access to shortterm credential programs which lead to high pay high demand jobs. The workforce credential grant is a state funded program that covers twothirds of the tuition cost for our residents in high demand fields. residents pay onethird upfront and when they successfully complete that training the remaining costs are covered but with other forms of assistance most of our students pay uh little to nothing or nothing at all which is obviously our goal since established in 2016 fast forward has grown significantly if you see the graph here um we
062have exceeded the VCCs has exceeded as a whole the amount of funds that have been allocated so the white bar represents the money that was allocated by the state for this program the purple bar represents the VC CCS year over year uh borrowing from the the next year to be able to provide support to students. And so this year we were not allowed to do that anymore. And so it did significantly impact the number of students that we could support through the Fast Forward program. Some additional en uh enrollment information. It's important to note that Fast Forward is not a credit a four credit program. It's a workforcebased training program offered in high demand areas such as allied healthcare, IT, HVAC, and welding. These program lengths typically range from two weeks to six months, and
063they're designed to get our residents to work quickly. Um, this graph shows a snapshot. It shouldn't be too much of a surprise that our largest concentration of students are from Newport News, um, followed by Hampton and Williamsburg, James City County. We anticipate growth in each of these areas due largely to the relatively new uh opening of our Tuano Trade Center in 2023 as well as our new Newport News Trade Center which is opening later this month. So, we're very excited. I hope you all will be joining us at the ribbon cutting. Um we continue to monitor the talent needs of the region and we're responsive to those needs. For example, in the next year at our Newport News trade uh trade center, we'll be expanding our ability to offer maritime and constructions related training programs
064by offering a new structural fitting pathway as well as a construction lab. Again, we'll continue to monitor and offer and adapt as long as the funding is available. So, another really exciting growth area for us is dual enrollment, and we certainly appreciate the partnerships we have with our local K12 schools in um in that enrollment trend. Um it has grown rapidly since 2021, and we expect growth to continue over the next several years, particularly um with the passage of the CCB um and the opportunity for um every high school now to offer the uniform certificate of general education u which is 30 credits and our which is 15 credits. Um, and that legislation is, you know, providing us the opportunity to do that. So, this graph shows you our dual enrollment by locality. I want
065to clarify that this is based on the address of the dual enrollment student. Um, and so it's enrollment within the locality um, is um, highlighted in each of those areas. You can see that Newport News is um, a good portion of that craft and we forward to seeing that increase over the next few years, particularly with the offering of more of those uniform certificate of general studies classes. Um, those out of service region students include students um who take classes through the Virginia Space Grant Consortium and um also we have some students who take um classes out of Henriko County, but you can see the majority obviously of our dorm classes are coming from our K12 localities. Um and so this just highlights um what we're seeing in dual enrollment for Newport News. Um slightly
066down over the last couple years, but again we see we are excited about the partnerships that we are forming. Um we've had a lot of um meetings lately with our dual enrollment partners um and academic affairs and we're very excited about these opportunities for offering more dual enrollment pathways are really important for students. It gives them that opportunity to get that exposure to college level work um while not paying those college level prices and being able to go into a college pathway um getting a little bit of a ahead. And so whether they decide to metriculate to us after they have graduated and finish their associates degree or move on to a four-year college, getting that dual enrollment um is really important for them and gives them that opportunity to get ahead and have some
067expectation of what the next step in that pathway is for them. Um retention and completion is also really important to us and we are very excited to um announce to you that even as we have seen enrollment growth, we are also seeing really important growth in our retention rates. As you know, that is another challenge for colleges across the country, particularly after the pandemic. Um it is um challenging particularly for community colleges because students um our students um experience unique barriers that uh get in the way of them being able to continue their college. So we're really excited to see that our fall-tofall retention rate has increased by 5%. That means that when they start with us in the fall the following year they're still with us. And that's really important because that's typically over
068the summer is where we see that stopout. We've also seen a 4% increase in degrees and certificates awarded, which is another really important metric for us because just taking a few classes isn't necessarily getting our students ahead, but certainly completing that credential is helping them to get along to their next pathway. And then of course, you heard previously from Nikia about the fast forward completers. Um, we've seen a 19% increase in that. So that's good news because students are coming to us and they're completing which means that when they leave us they have more opportunity for that next step. One of the things that we're we're particularly proud about about the role we play in our community is the fact that not only are we generating great graduates, we're keeping them in Virginia, right? And
069so what you're seeing on the slide right now is a study that was done by the state council um of higher education for Virginia that really looked at what happens to Virginia's graduates right out of our colleges and universities. And what they found is that graduates from the community college system and Virginia Peninsula Community College included are much more likely to stay in Virginia after they graduate. Right? So um those of us who've been in Hampton Roads for a while, we know that's an issue for us, right? And we really want to retain that talent here. So, that's something that we really focus on and we're really proud of um for our our work. Um, one of the things uh Michelle talked a lot about enrollment, retention, completion. One of the shifting conversations with community
070colleges right now is this idea of community college 3.0 where we kind of started with the access mission. We moved to okay, we've we've done pretty well with access. How do we make students more successful while they're with us? And the community college 3.0 know concept is maybe we need to focus a little bit more on what happens to them after they leave us, right? And so one of the things that we've really started focusing on is post-graduate outcomes. And so you you see on the slide here really um another metric that we track closely is what's happening to our students. How effectively are they getting jobs after they they leave us? And we're really pleased with um regardless of the type of program. So, we talked about short-term credentiing programs. It can be a
071few weeks to our associate degrees at two years. We're seeing really good outcomes for our students there as well. Um, one of the things that we're probably most excited about at the college is all of our facility um improvements, new facilities coming online. Nikia stole my thunder a little bit um with the Newport News Trade Center. Um, but we've got a lot going on around facilities right now. It's been a long time since the college had new facilities and a long time honestly since the college had a dedicated presence in Newport News. So, we're we're super excited about our new early childhood development um center in Southeast Newport News, a partnership with Newport News, City of Newport News and Peak Early Childhood Center that opened last January. We're super excited um to be opening our
072new Newport News Trade Center. We hope some of you will be there next week u on the 25th for the ribbon cutting for that ceremony. So, we've got a lot going on there. We've got our brand new theater at our Hampton campus that we we hope you will take advantage of and come see us at. Um, and we are getting ready right now. If you've been driving past us on the interstate, you'll see that our original footprint of our Hampton campus has been demolished and we are just about ready this fall to start building our brand new premier um academic student services building at our Hampton campus. Um I'll close out before we um certainly give you an opportunity for any questions you have for us. Um one of the things that we um really
073makes us pleased is hearing from our students and hearing that we're we're serving them well. I will share um in in full honesty that we did not always have glowing comments like this. We've done a lot of work. Um we get um all kinds of feedback on student surveys and different things that we do. Um but we are really pleased with the progress we have made. We're really um we've spent a lot of time investing in student spaces, student support services, um and we really think it's paid off for our student experience. We have a brand new culture of care that we've um really implemented across our campus that we feel like has had a lot of great impacts on our students and on our community. So, we're we're really proud and and looking forward
074to the future. So, with that, we certainly welcome any questions that you all have for us. Hi, I just want to thank you guys for your presentation today. I had a question that would be more in the future, but you guys include postgrad employment rates. Would it ever be possible to see what career fields your graduates are pursuing? Yes, that is something that we're working on ourselves as well. So, we're actually working, one of the things we're really working on is how to tell our story and tell the story of our graduates more completely. And so, we are working with some vendors that we think may be able to help us do that quite effectively. Thank you. Thank you. Any other questions? Mr. Brown. Well, I'll make a a comment. This is very enheartening and
075um uh fantastic, but I want to really thank you for taking the time to to come. I think in my time on the board, this is the first time that we've had you at our board meeting. Uh and so really appreciate the coordination and cooperation that has taken place to get you here. And personally, I want to see you come back every year and do the same presentation. So, so personally, I would like to see this uh continue and this we can see the same presentation next year and see how much we've grown and how much of our our share of fast forward candidates and dual enrolling candidates have grown. Uh because uh for me in my own life, uh community college was a real pivot point for me and that was how my family
076was able to afford to go to college was because of community college and doing that in high school. that defayed much of the cost of college and I would not have been able to go to the college that I went to uh without it. So I know how much it meant to me in my life. It was a real pivot point in my life and my future and I think it's a it's a real game changer for all the students in our community. So I hope that this continues. Sure. Um thank you guys for coming. I just wanted to kind of offer some thanks and a comment. We're a we're my family we're customers. My son is a senior at Menchville, so he's doing the early college semester with you guys and it's been I
077think it's an excellent program. I would love to see that slice of the Newport News pie get bigger. Yeah, we make that bigger. Um I think it's he's thrilled to have a college schedule instead of a high school schedule and hopes to he'll be an athlete next year at a four-year school. So to have that experience before you have to worry about athletics or get some extra credits so maybe you can have a little experience and lighter schedule. Great way for even high school athletes to think about getting their feet wet and yes learning and being set up for success when they when they go to their next step. And I think it would be great to see as many students at some point maybe be able to get the associates degree if they're coming
078through Newport News. I know we're working on it. So thank you guys for coming. It's been an excellent, excellent program for us. So, I look forward to seeing it grow. Lots of Newport News families to listen and think about it. Something you guys were here to share with us this evening. This is different than what we had before. Um, your branding is definitely something that our students are going to recognize. And I I just want to add I've been in Newport News forever and honestly I'll be honest, this past year, past two years have been the most that I've visited the campus. It is beautiful. You guys are doing an awesome job and thank you for the presentation and the transparency. We need that. We need to know our reality in order to make changes.
079So, thank you. And and Madam Chair, if I may, I just want to thank you. I just want to add um how much we have enjoyed our um partnership in the past couple of years. It really has solidified. We've done some things with VPCC that we haven't done before. Dr. Rogers and myself have had multiple meetings with your president. Um, and we really would like to thank not only VPCC, but also Christopher Newport because as you looked at the data, we our goal is to increase the number of students that go to early college, the number of students that get an associates degree, the number of students that have access to um to um you know the dual uh credit classes. And I've shared with our board that you know many of our teachers that
080had those credentials have retired. So that had been a challenge for us. But we are really pleased to say that this year we've gone from five teachers having it to 26 and partnering with Christopher Newport. They've created a program for us to be able to get our our teachers there. And so we can say to you that when you come back next year, the piece of that slice of that pie is going to be larger. And we are very honored to be able to partner with you and thank you for the commitment you've made to our students and to our school division. And I also have a comment. I want to say thank you for the presentation as well. Very um informative. Mrs. Alder and I had an opportunity to meet with Dr. Brennan last
081summer and we just talked a little about the partnership between Newport News Public Schools and Virginia Palista Community College and Dr. We want to thank Dr. Mitchell and Dr. Rogers. They just continued to work and continue to build and we are excited about the expansion of our um partnership. the trade center. I will definitely be there and I think you'll see several of us there. We were also, Miss Alga and I were at the groundbreaking and we were so excited about that. The Mary Christian Theater, I had an opportunity to go to opening night is absolutely beautiful. So, I encourage the community, board members, if you get a chance to go out there, it is simply um an amazing um place to be. And I'm just excited about the partnership and I just wanted to
082say thank you again for your support of New Public Schools and we're we're looking forward to expanding that pie. So thank you. Okay. Thank you. And oh give him a round of applause. Yes. So, we will now move to section five, reports and information 5.02, special education annual plan. Uh, where we at? Thank you. Uh, thank you, Dr. Mitchell. I'm sorry. No problem. Thank you. And before I do the introduction for this next um presentation, I do want to take a moment to thank Mr. Daryl Pancrretz because he did a lot of the heavy lifting with the dual language and with working with the BPCC as well as CNU. So I didn't want to leave you out back there. Thank you. Okay. So um as you know every year this is an annual plan that
083comes before you. We are required to present to the school board the proposed spending plan for the funds that we receive for special education and the director of special education typically comes and presents that. So it's my pleasure to turn it over to Miss Vivian Vulo. Good evening. Good evening, Chairman Best, Vice Chairman Alger, board members, and Dr. Mitchell. Tonight, I am presenting the proposed spending plan for federal grant funds allocated for special education. Local education agencies are required to submit this application each year pursuant to the federal provisions of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act of 2004, as well as the Virginia state regulations governing special education and related services for students with disabilities. Prior to the submission of the plan, the Virginia Department of Education requires that the local division present its plan
084to the local school board for approval and for review by their local special education advisory committee. The annual plan serves as a formal agreement between the local school board and the Virginia Department of Education for implementing federal and state laws governing special education services. Accordingly, we are required to provide certain asurances related to the provision of these services. Specifically, we are required to assure that we are providing a free appropriate public education, that each student's program is designed for them and is documented in an individualized education program, and that students are educated in an inclusive environment to the extent that their educational programming permits. Finally, we must maintain a structure that prevents the overidentification of students in special education in general or in specific categories. In addition to the asurances, the annual plan requires that
085the division submit information on expenditures in some selected programs. For maintenance of effort eligibility, we make sure we are budgeting at least the same amount on special education supports as we spent in the year was most recently met. Included in the selected programs as is the local jail program where services are provided by licensed special education teachers to support students with disabilities who are currently incarcerated. Another component of the plan is the supports for students with disabilities parentally placed in private schools, including homeschooled students for which we offer special education services. It is important to note that the administrators from the private schools collaborate with our staff to identify the provisions of special education services to be made available to the parentally placed student. Our agreement has been to offer speech language services to those
086students who are found eligible. In addition, we collaborate with these programs to offer professional development and engage with families to meet child find requirements of IDEIDA, which requires schools to identify, locate, and evaluate children from ages 2 to 21 who reside in our district and may require special education services. The last component is the funding expenditures. It is separated into two sections. 611 for prek through 12th grade and 619 for preschool special education only. We are currently serving students in 12 of the 13 disability categories. As reflected in the graph, the disability category with the most students is specific learning disabilities followed by autism. We do not currently have any students whose primary disability is deaf blind. Our federal funding allocation is based on the number of students with disabilities receiving services on December 1.
087On December 1, 2025, we were serving a total of 3,892 students with disabilities. We continue to see a steady increase in the number of students with disabilities served by Newport News Public Schools. Since 2021, our December 1 count has increased by 298 students. As of February 28th, we are serving 3,994 students, which reflects an increase of 95 students since December 1. Notably, the number of students with autism continues to rise with many of these students requiring more intensive supports, including classroom settings with smaller teacher-to- student ratios. Special education programs are supported by federal, state, and local funding. IDA part B are federal funds that provide financial assistance to school divisions serving students with disabilities. The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act 611 and 619 combined represent nearly 7.3 million of the overall funding. We are proposing
088to continue to utilize this funding for personnel including a parent resource coordinator which is required by the state and extended school year services for those qualifying students. Approximately 121 positions are supported by these funds. I would like to close out the presentation by sharing some of the highlights from the Office of Special Education and Student Support Services during the 2025 2026 school year. Our professional development opportunities included in-person and on demand options for all special education teachers and instructional assistants. In-person professional development focused on strengthening skills and the identification and implementation of specially designed instruction. Additionally, first and secondyear special education teachers participated in the new teacher institute which includes multiple fullday sessions focused on building understanding of specially designed instruction and special education compliance. I also want to highlight our community partnerships through project
089surf search and in partnership with Centara and Fort Eustace. We continue to provide our students with authentic experiences to develop workplace skills. Interns participating in this in these programs boast a success rate of nearly 90% in gaining competitive employment upon completion of their internship. Our partnership with the Department of Aging and Rehabilitative Services enables us to provide our students with both virtual and in-person participation in their career exploration program through which our students explore career interests, develop independent living skills, and complete a vocational assessment. The Special Education Training and Technical Assistance Center at the College of William and Mary partners with us to provide our staff with targeted professional development focused on specially designed instruction and supporting transition activities for students with disabilities. During the next board meeting on April 21, we will be seeking
090your approval of the proposed plan and we'll submit it to the Virginia Department of Education no later than May 8th. This concludes my presentation and at this time I'm happy to respond to your questions and no requests for additional information questions. Same um thank you for the presentation. You mentioned um increasing uh numbers of students with autism and or those with autism with more advanced needs. Um just a couple have there been changes or increases reductions in other types of identified disabilities? And then when you talk so that's one and the second was when you talk about students that have you know more significant needs than maybe they you used to see um does that impact the funding that we receive or is it sort of a flat rate based on numbers? Yes. So the
091funding is based on the student count on December one. Okay. Um they do look at whether students are level two or level one just the percentage of services that they need. Um but it's been pretty level funding over the last um several years. Um, and have we seen any other changes in the types of disabilities or increases or reductions? Primarily our fastest growing disability category has been autism. I can get you specific. No, that's fine. I didn't know specific learning disabilities. Developmental delays had started to increase, but that's been leveling off. Um, but is primarily the largest growing disability category. Any other questions that Yes. Um, I have several questions. I'm cu just curious about uh how many are twice exceptional, how many are L students, and also in within the preschool uh category. Um
092also, I'd like to know in terms of um how many classrooms in general um self-contained uh versus uh non-self-contained such as inclus inclusion settings or resource settings um that we have. So, if I can get or we can get that information later. Yeah, I can get you that data for sure. Um, off the top of my head, I don't have the exact numbers, but I do have the data. I just have to compile it. I can send it to you. And and I just out of curiosity, I I know I read recently about uh with uh Department of Ed um the federal funds have been shifted. Now it's going to be overseen by the department of is it labor? Yes. So our funding comes from the state. So the state um facilitates that part. We
093work directly with the state with the state and they're still reorganizing I imagine based on yeah at the state level. I'm not aware of any reorganization at this time. Right. Yeah. The special education department seems to be one of the more stable ones right now at the at the video. Okay. I was just curious about right with all the shifts that are happening. Okay. Thank you. And I will get too one more um comment. I value the com your slide on community partnerships. I know for a lot of families that that I work with as the kids are getting older, getting close to 18, it's very scary to see you've had so much support and so many services and then where do you go? So, the fact that we're doing our best to partner with
094other agencies, organizations that can help kind of create a framework for the next step for those students is is wonderful. So, I just want to thank Oh, I'm sorry. I'm a question. Yeah, I have a question in regards to the uh with the increase in the autistic population. Um, are we seeing any challenges in the workforce with um, keeping up with ratios and maybe getting med getting getting specialists in are we seeing any challenges in terms of that? So, we work very closely with HR to be able to um, staff our classes. There are some challenges across the state in staffing. Um, but we are working very closely with HR to make sure that our classes are fully staffed. In the situations where we don't have a um, teacher, licensed teacher hired, we do work
095closely with our long-term substitutes to ensure that they're getting the supports that they need to support the class. Thank you, Miss Harris. I just wanted to say thank you um for the report. I know um special ed is just very challenging and it's lots of laws and rules and guidelines and I just want you to know the special education department to know we appreciate all that you um do and um you're doing a great job as evidenced by the members because our students continue to come. They continue to come. So just wanted to say thank you and keep up the good work. Thank you. I appreciate that. We know it's hard, but of our team and I appreciate that. Thank you. Okay, we're going to move on. Thankful. We'll now move on to 5.03, the
096attendance report. Board members, you have received a copy of this report. Are there any questions? 5.04, the membership report. Board members, you have received a copy of this report. Are there any questions? 5.05, construction report. Board members, you have received a copy of this report. Are there any questions? All right. Hearing none, we'll move on to item 5.06, comments by the superintendent. Dr. Mitchell. Thank you, Madam Chair, and I promise I will be brief. I do want to acknowledge uh March as women's history month and um I just wanted to take a moment to acknowledge the contributions of women but I think that Annayiah our student said it much better than I did. So um Annayia did a great job and we just want to acknowledge all the women that have made a difference. My
097next um thing I'm so excited about it and I know that our student rep was there. I just wanted to thank our 1,550 seniors that came to our senior rally. It was an amazing event. We had o over 40 vendors that were there for our students. But we had a lot of fun, a lot of spirit, a lot of um just celebrating our seniors who are at that milestone and just telling them just to finish strong. And Kyla, I think you might even say something about it later. I don't know. But it was a great time. And just to wind down um on our calendar, we have seven several important dates. Friday, April the 2nd is a half day for our students um with a teacher work day and planning time for our staff in
098the afternoon. And then of course we do have our spring break from April the 6 through April the 10th. All of our schools and offices will be closed. And then on April the 13th, our staff will return for a teacher work day. However, that still is a non-school day for children. So, children will be home on April the 13th. And that concludes my remarks. Thank you, Dr. Mitchell. We'll now move on to item six, another opportunity to hear from the public. Are there any cards? Thank you. We'll move on to matters by the school board. And we'll begin with our student representative. Thank you. Um, the only comment I have for the senior rally is that Mitchell is the best and we want our spirit stick. They did win the spirit thing. So, but I
099do love Menchville and I think our spirit was really showing at the senior rally and it was just such a blast. So, I want to thank, you know, Newport News for organizing that and it really hypes our seniors up for graduation. Um, I was mainly going to talk about last week I had the privilege of going to Washington DC for the United States Senate Youth Program and I got to meet so many inspirational leaders from across the country and I don't just mean in our government, I mean students. Um, I got to meet 104 other delegates who have served their community in monumental ways and I learned so much across the board. Uh, my favorite part of it was going to NASA. It was super cool. And then we went to the Air and Space
100Museum and we had dinner and we spoke with Mr. Charles Balden uh who's the former NASA administrator and he made a law first. And the thing I took away from his speech, I took away two things from this program. The first thing I took away was don't let fear stop you from doing the hard things. He was afraid of flying. And then he became an astronaut. So let that sink in because he took the first step and it was difficult. America has been built on the difficult decisions our pioneers made. You all in this crowd have the unique opportunity to take the hard steps that are that set our future up for success. Every time I get up on this mic, I want you guys to know I'm scared. When I ran for this position
101through the student advisory group on education, when I gave my speech, my legs were visibly shaking. And that's a bit embarrassing. But I did it because it was hard. And I did it because it pushed me out of my comfort zone. and I now have the privilege to serve you all. And I wouldn't be here if I didn't push myself. So, the first thing I want you guys to take away is that you need to push yourself in order to achieve success. And if you don't push yourself, you'll be stuck in the same place. The second thing I took away was, speaking of doing the hard things, we all need to go out and vote people. And I say it's hard because voting is hard. Putting the time away to go out to the polls
102is hard. It's usually on Tuesdays. Nobody has a free Tuesday. That's not gay. And the times aren't good enough for Americans. And sometimes you're stuck between two difficult decisions where you're not that satisfied. And I urge you to go out and vote because I've heard a lot of things about the two-party system while I was in DC and how it's not that beneficial to Americans. And if you believe that, then you should go and incentivize America to do something different. Write your representatives. asked to pass a bill that doesn't incentivize a two-party system. If you're not satisfied with your representatives, go out and vote. That is the most power you have as an American citizen. And is something that might seem hard in the grand scheme of things, but it's something that you should go
103out and do because that is how you have true power and every American has that power. So, those are the two things I really want to touch on and I thank you guys so much and I want to thank our community specifically because without you guys I wouldn't have had the privilege of going to this program and I'm very blessed to be a Newport New student and I'm very proud of that. Thank you guys. Thank you so very much um for your representation. Thank you for your motivational words. They certainly motivated me. Um Marissa can tell you the conversation we had earlier today. I'm just going to say this for me. I needed that. And with that, this meeting is adjourned. Thank you.