001[Music] Heat. Heat. Heat. [Music] Good evening everyone. It is my pleasure to call the Wednesday, October 1st, 2025 meeting of the Hampton City School Board to order. Miss Charbano, will you please call the role? >> Miss Alfonsa, here. >> Miss Cherry, >> here. >> Dr. Banks Gray, >> here. >> Mr. Samuels, >> present. >> Mr. Kilgore >> here. >> Dr. Woodhouse >> here. >> Dr. Mason >> here. Let the record reflect that all board members are present and accounted for. And at this time, I will turn the meeting over to our student rep, Miss Sage Hull, for our opening. Sage. >> Hello. Today we are welcoming Anne Cow, a ninth grade student at Bethl High School to lead us in the pledge of allegiance. Hello, Ann. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United
002States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Thank you. We've heard that you have something prepared for us. I'm going to be reading Leisure by William Henry Davis. What is this life if full of care? We have no time to stand and stare. No time to stand beneath the boughs and stare as long as sheeps or cows. No time to see when woods we pass where squirrels hide their nuts and grass. No time to see in broad daylight streams full of stars like skies at night. No time to turn at beauty's glance and watch our feet how they can dance. No time to wait till her mouth can enrich that smile her eyes began. A poor life this if full
003of care. We have no time to stand and stare. >> Amazing. I want to know a little bit about you. So tell me more about your academy or your favorite class, something to introduce yourself. Um, my favorite color is purple and my my favorite class is probably math. >> That sounds great. And who do you have here with you today? >> Um, I have my mom and my dad and my executive principal, Dr. Howard, and my academy principal, Mr. McCrae, and the rest of the Bethto administration team. Thank you so much, Ann. It's a pleasure having you today. >> Thank you so much. >> All right. >> And you have all of the Bethl administration here with you tonight. So, thank you all for being here. Any comments from board members? >> All right. Thank
004you, Sage. Excellent job. All right. So at this time you have the agenda before you and the chair will entertain a motion. >> Mr. Chair, I move that we approve tonight's agenda as presented with the following amendment. Removal of deliberation item 4.02. >> Second. >> Thank you. It's been properly moved by Mr. Kilgore and seconded by Dr. Woodhouse that we approve tonight's agenda with the removal of item 4.02 from deliberation. Any discussion? Miss Charban, will you please call for the vote? >> Miss Alfonsa, >> I. >> Miss Cherry, >> I. >> Dr. Baines Gray, >> I. >> Mr. Samuels, >> I. >> Mr. Kilgore, >> I. >> Dr. Woodhouse, >> I. >> Dr. Mason, >> I. Motion carries. Next up is item two, consent agenda. 2.01, personnel report 25-15-15. Uh 2.02, 02 minutes of the
005school board meeting of September 17th, 2025. 2.03 Certification of the closed session September 17, 2025. 2.04 minutes of the school board meeting of September 24th, 2025. 2.05 release from compulsory attendance religious exemption. 2.06 School Board consent to receipt donations September 2025. What is the pleasure of the board? Mr. Chair, make the motion that we approve the consent agenda as presented. >> Second. >> It's been properly moved by Dr. Woodhouse and seconded by Mr. Samuels that we approve tonight's consent agenda as presented. Any discussion? >> Miss Sharbon, you please call for the vote. >> Miss Alan, >> I. >> Miss Cherry, >> I. >> Dr. Banks Gray. >> Hi. >> Mr. Samuels. >> I. >> Mr. Kilgore. >> Hi. >> Dr. Woodhouse. >> Hi. >> Dr. Mason. I motion carries and at this time I will
006turn the meeting over to our superintendent Dr. Raymond Haynes for superintendent and staff reports. Thank you chair Mason, Vice Chair Jackson Ara, members of the board vision leadership team in the Hampton community for our first for this evening's first presentation. Miss Kelly Gorl, our executive director of public relations and marketing. And I see she has some friends along with her. Miss Carolyn Bowers, our public relations specialist, and Miss Marty Wood, our coordinator of print records and management, who will give us an overview in regards to public relations and the initiatives we have uh to date. So, at this point, we'll turn it over to Miss Gorl. >> All right. Well, good evening, Chair Dr. Mason, Vice Chair, Miss Jackson Afanja, members of the school board, and Dr. Haynes. It is my privilege to share with
007you this evening the public relations and marketing update. Before we begin, I'm going to also recognize some members of our talented team that help carry out this very important work every day. Um, Dr. Haynes already introduced Miss Carolyn Bowers, our public relations specialist. Miss Marty Wood, our coordinator of records and printing services. We also have with us Mr. Andy Foley, our director of television and media services, and Mr. Matt Howser, our graphics coordinator. He's hiding behind me. So together, this team and with their respective staff members worked tirelessly to ensure that Hampton City Schools is represented with professionalism, creativity, and excellence in all areas of communication. As a division, we use a wide variety of tools to keep our families, staff, and community informed and engaged. We strive to highlight successes, share reminders, and celebrate
008our students and staff as well as share timely updates and important information. Together, these strategies create a comprehensive communication network, meeting families and staff where they are and ensuring important information is accessible in multiple formats. Each year, we share this flyer with our good news ambassadors to remind everyone of the many opportunities available to highlight the incredible things happening across Hampton City Schools. Our good news ambassadors are individuals at each school level as well as some departments. um they are nominated by their principles or their directors each year and they help us share that good news. This flyer serves as a quick reference. It outlines the different ways we can showcase our students, staff, and schools. The goal is to make sure our ambassadors are equipped to capture and share stories big and small that
009reflect the success, innovation, and community spirit of HCS. We want to celebrate not just major milestones, but also everyday moments of excellence in our classrooms, activities, and programs. And by sharing these opportunities publicly, we ensure our message reaches our families, our staff, and the wider community, reinforcing pride in our schools, and keeping everyone informed and engaged. Our school websites are often the first impression that families and community members have of our schools. So, they need to truly reflect the spirit and pride of each school community. This includes using the correct school logos, mascots, colors, and symbols consistently across the site. Websites also need to stay current. Each school is expected to update its site at least once a month so that information remains accurate and relevant. Finally, it's important that all required links and information
010are included and properly maintained. This ensures consistency across the division and provides families with easy access to the resources that they need. This year, we published 219 web briefs highlighting the successes of our division, our schools, our staff, and our students. These stories allow us to showcase the great things happening across Hampton City Schools and celebrate the people who make it possible. Each of these briefs is also amplified beyond the website, shared across our social media platforms, and included in our weekly email extra, which reaches nearly 24,000 subscribers. This ensures that our good news is seen not only by our internal community, but also by families, partners, and the broader community. Hampton City Schools uses approved social media platforms, Facebook, X, Instagram, and YouTube. These platforms are important tools to help us connect with our
011families, staff, students, and the community. We use them to promote upcoming activities and events, recognize the achievements of our students and staff, and share timely updates and important information. By keeping our messaging consistent across these platforms, we're able to reach a wide audience and ensure that our community stays informed and engaged. So, our Facebook presence continues to grow significantly. Even though people say Facebook is for old people, but it is growing and as those kiddos are getting older, they're joining Facebook actually. In 2425 school year, our content reached more than 471,000 individuals. That's a 20% increase from the previous school year. Even more impressive is the level of engagement. We saw over 119,000 interactions on our post, a 700% increase from last school year. This includes likes, reactions, saves, comments, shares, and replies. This growth
012shows that not only are more people seeing our content, but they're also connecting with us, engaging in conversations, and helping us spread the good news about Hampton City Schools. Now, you can see from it's kind of hard to see actually, but here are two examples of posts that we had. Um, one was one of our student artwork from Feebas High School that had over 63,000 reactions to it. On the next slide, you'll see some more examples. Um, our retiree post received over 70,000 as far as its reach. Again, some examples offormational ones, our ground bake breaking at Bethl about the new school zones. Here we show how we're new teacher orientation as well as our administrators. Again, a lot of reach, a lot of engagement. And then this is my favorite. This would be Dr.
013Haynes as he decided he wanted to take on the role of uh driving behind the wheel of a bus this summer. And that got almost we reached over 23,000 people. But we did warn that on that post that he was just in a parking lot. So for parent square, parent square is the division approved communication tool for Hampton City Schools. It's used at every level by the division, individual schools, departments, teachers, and staff. Families can receive alerts and updates in the way that works best for them through email, text, phone calls, or even app notifications. One of the most powerful features is that it allows oneon-one or group messaging between staff and parents with real time language translation to remove that communication barrier. Parent accounts are automatically created using the contact information that we have
014on file with our student information system. So even if a parent never activates their account, they will still receive school calls and emails. However, when families log in, they can take advantage of the full set of features. downloading the app, setting their notification preferences, and accessing important items like report cards and so scores. This year, Parent Square continues to be one of our strongest communication tools. We reached virtually all of our families. 99% are connected through phone, email, or text. The platform is being used heavily at every level, division, school, class, and group communications with hundreds of thousands of direct messages exchanged. We're also using it to securely share important documents like report cards and IEPs, making it a one-stop resource for our families. And importantly, more parents are taking advantage of the app itself.
015Over half of our families are now using it, a 10% increase from last year, which means even more engagement and customization is how they receive their information. This year, our team produced more than 157 targeted communications to support both schools and division needs. These included messages around significant school events, updates on policies such as our cell phone policy, divisionwide news, school closures, and administrative appointments, just to name a few. The goal with each of these communications is to provide clear, timely, and consistent information to our family, staff, and community, ensuring that everyone stays informed and connected. Peach Star is the division's distribution tool for flyers. Instead of sending home paper copies and backpacks, effliers go directly to a parent and guardians email inboxes. They're also posted on each school's website homepage. Families can access them
016easily by clicking on that Peach Jar logo. So, if they felt like they deleted that email, they can go right to their school's homepage or even the HCS website. Another important feature is that external partners like community organizations can create their own accounts in Peach Jar and upload their flyers directly into the system for approval. This makes Peach Star not only convenient for families, but also a streamlined way to connect schools with community resources and opportunities. Peach Star continues to be a highly effective tool for sharing flyers with our families. We have a strong subscriber numbers and thousands of flyers were distributed this past year as both the division and the community level. What's even more impactful is the environmental benefit. By moving away from paper flyers in 2018, we've saved more than 3 million
017sheets of paper. That's the equivalent to nearly 400 trees just last year alone. So Peach Star isn't just helping us connect with our families. It's also helping reduce cost to to the division and to our community partners. So the media Hampton City Schools recognizes the important role that the media plays in keeping our community informed about our policies, programs, services, events, students, and employees. Our public relations and marketing team is committed to being a strong partner with the media. We work to provide timely, accurate information and make every effort to meet media deadlines. This collaboration helps ensure our stories are shared broadly and then our community stays connected in the work happening in our schools. Like all things in Hampton City Schools, we have a systems approach to even our media process. All media requests,
018whether for school or division events, must go through the PR marketing department for approval. This includes invitations for activities, events, or interviews with students and staff. Anytime media are on school property, prior approval is required and a PR and marketing representative or designate will accompany them to provide support and ensure everything runs smoothly. As you can see on this slide, our media process also addresses our schoolboard meetings and even sporting events. This past school year, our PR and marketing team worked closely with media outlets at every level, local, regional, and even national. We responded to 165 media requests which included distributing advisories and press releases, handling inquiries, and coordinating interviews. These efforts help ensure that Hampton City Schools is accurately represented in the news and that our community stays informed about that important work that's
019happening across our division. Our graphics department, which is overseen by Matt Howser, plays an essential role in telling the Hampton City School story. What you see here is just a small glimpse of their work as they support requests from schools and departments across the division both large and small. They've led major campaigns for themies of Hampton, including master plan 2.0, BIS talks, AOH portraits, the senior conference, and Ford NGL events. They also support divisionwide communications such as maintaining the website and producing our weekly email extra. On top of that, they provide ongoing support to schools and departments, designing logos, posters, flyers, publications, banners, and social media content while also handling photography and custom design for classrooms and events. Their creativity and their responsiveness make them a vital partner in ensuring our communication is professional, consistent,
020and reflective of the excellence in Hampton City Schools. One particular publication that I'd like to highlight is Jamaia's school scrapbook becoming the portrait of a Hampton graduate. Um really that was a brainchild of Matt Howser working with Miss Dr. Veronica Herd and Dr. James Harris. This piece is special because it walks readers through Master Plan 2.0 and themies of Hampton through that parents lens. It's been an incredibly valuable resource in helping to educate our staff, our families, and the broader community about the vision and opportunities within Hampton City Schools and it also won a national award. Here are some a few of other examples of work that was created last just last year out of the graphics department. You said see the branding with the senior conference, master plan 2.0, our biz talks. I'm going
021to move on to the print shop. So, our print print shop plays a vital role in supporting the visibility and branding of Hampton City Schools. From school handouts and special events to athletics signage and wide format production, they help bring our schools and programs to life in very visible ways. They also partner closely with our graphics team to produce a wide variety of print materials, everything from brochures and flyers to programs and certificates, ensuring that our schools and departments have professional, highquality resources. The overall impact is clear. The Frenchop House boosts school pride, strengthens community visibility, supports communication at events, and ensures brand consistency across the entire division. This year, we expanded the print shop to better meet the growing needs of our schools and departments. The space increased by about a thousand square feet
022and the layout was upgraded to create a dedicated wide format and finishing zone while also improving workflow and safety for staff. This year, even under the constraints of an expansion, which was a lot, the print shop completed more than 1560 jobs, generating over 236,000 in school projects, nearly 46,000 in city projects, and close to 12,000 in nonprofit work. This shows not only the level of demand, but also the value that the print shop brings to our schools and community partners. Our Peg TV team provides tremendous support to Hampton City Schools while keeping in mind they also serve the city of Hampton. For the school division, they produce a wide range of programs like HCS Connects, HCS talks, school notes, citizen of the month, teacher of the year, and our back to school and holiday videos.
023They've even videotaped you all many times. They handle live productions including schoolboard meetings, graduations, and our celebration of excellence while providing AV support for events such as groundbreings and ribbon cutings. In addition, they manage our message board system and live emergency broadcast tickers. From July 2024 to present, PEGTV has produced more than 222 projects ranging from schoolboard and city council meetings to divisionwide and school events. A standout is the HCS talks podcast, which I think you're giggling up there about Dr. Haynes picture. now in its third season with nearly 90 episodes produced, a worldwide audience, and over 9,000 podcast downloads. That's pretty impressive for a school division. Simply put, Peg TV amplifies our message, supports transparency, and helps showcase the excellence of Hampton City Schools and our community and beyond. We developed a brand new
024HCS communications guide, a 32-page comprehensive resource for our administrators and staff, and it introduced it at our July administrative leadership summit. And there is also a hard copy at your place setting tonight. The guide serves as a one-stop reference for everything related to communications in our division. It covers brand standards, student and directory information, FOYA and FURPA guidelines, media and social media protocols, website requirements, and step-by-step guidance on our key platforms, including Parent Square and Peach Jar. The goal is to provide consistency, clarity, and support so that every school and department is aligned in how we share information and how we represent Hampton City Schools. And as we close, I want to take a moment to celebrate the recognitions our division earned this past year. At the regional level through Chespra, which includes public school
025divisions and private schools across DC, Maryland, Virginia, and West Virginia, we received two awards of excellence, the highest honor along with two honorable mentions for our work. Nationally, in the NPRA publications and digital media awards, Hampton City Schools was recognized in all s for all six of our submissions. This included two excellent awards, a merit award and honorable mentions. These awards reflect that creativity, that collaboration, and that hard work through these departments and across our division. And they really highlight the high standard of excellence that we continue to uphold in telling Hampton City Schools story. So, Dr. Mason, that concludes tonight's PR and marketing presentation update. And if the board has any questions at all, my staff as well as myself are willing to assist. >> All right. Thank you very much. Any questions or
026comments from board members? I see Miss Cherry just smiling over there to my left. Any comments or questions from board members? Miss Cherry. >> Well, since you called me out, I'm sitting here and I'm feeling like I'm watching my baby graduate college and and and gone on to open their own business. I'm just so proud. I'm not surprised because these pe the same people, Andy, Matt, Carolyn, Marty, these same people have been doing this for many, many, many, many years and doing it well and winning awards. And I was just blessed to have had them as part of my staff when I was here. But I can tell you one thing that I see remains constant. None of them want to be here. I mean, That's not who they are. That's not who they are.
027And as I sit here and I think about um just the wonderful things you've done, Miss Gor, I mean, you you really have um taken it up many many notches. Um Miss Bowers, I would say we've gone a a long way since the Hampton Hurl, right? And Andy, you remember when we used to have citizen of the month at the Chamberlain Hotel? Oh, that was a treat. And um the many kinds of things. Um, I remember hiring Matt to be the director and uh, Marty was always the mainstay, but she had lots of challenges because you had a real creative staff. You know, you you you you dealt with some people, okay, and and you dealt with them well, but the the marketing piece is just off the chain. I'm just so proud um, as
028a board member to to sit here and watch the wonderful um, marketing pieces, you know, that have gone. I thought about it. Someone said um a man who stops mark what you know this costs money nothing's nothing's free but you all do it to a point where we save a gazillion bucks because of your talents. So you know someone once said a man who stops marketing to save money is like a man who who stops looking at the clock to save time. So you all have done such a great job. First of all, it's an art >> and it's a science and you all have captured both. And I can't tell you how proud I am to put you all up against anybody. I don't know how you all got as talented as you are,
029but you know what? You know how they say love sticks together. Talent sticks together. And this is truly a team because clearly they have been doing this together as a team >> for like 30 years. These are people. So I think we need to give them a really nice round. All right. Any any Mr. Samuels? >> Thank you, >> Chairman. Uh listen, I just want to also share um Miss G, thank you so much for this presentation, but I'm going to speak directly to Marty, how she has been so supportive of um city departments as it relates to all of the printing and the things that she has done for um the city of Hampton to support us and how much we have saved the cost savings because of the partnership with Hampton City Schools
030and the city of Hampton, particularly healthy families. So, thank you for the work that you do to support um health of families and the school age program. >> Mr. Fra, >> thank you, Mr. Chair. I just like to say excellent presentation. You guys have been extremely busy. Um congratulations on all the media awards that you are have all received. Certainly was welld deserved as we can see from today's presentation. When I saw it on the agenda, I was thinking what's what's that going to be about? But I open it up and ex it's extremely comprehensive and really gives us a great um picture of what you all are doing as a department every day and it is it is marvelous in my eyes. Um I just wanted to say about parent square and peach jar
031since I do have a child who's in elementary school and two that have graduated already from Hampton City Schools. It has come such a long way over the years. Parent Square is like the end all beall to parent communication. It is extremely useful, helpful, and I was just so happy when you said that 99% of the families are connected to it because it's really no excuse not to know anything and you get so much information ahead of time, but then you get reminders along the way, day of immediate, anything happens like last minute, you got to come pick your kids up from school or something. Parent Square lets you know that right away. And so, I think it's a wonderful tool. Absolutely definitely um takes a load off a parents of the fact of maybe
032thinking they may not be informed about something timely enough. And so I definitely appreciate that. And Peach Jar too, we found so many different little clubs and and going on around the city um through the Peach Jar brochures and the flyers that come through to us um as a family. And so I think that's really a great resource for families in our school division. And I know that the flyers are approved um before they hit before they hit the public. Who approves those? I'm just curious. >> The community partners um those flyers are approved by Dr. Oliver. >> Okay. Very good. Very good. Thank you. Excellent presentation. Thank you for all you do. >> Anyone else? Excellent presentation. And I tell you, >> no one has a question for Mr. Andy Foley. >> I I'll
033have some questions later. No, but thank you. Thank you all for all that you do. One of the things Miss Gorl and I, we always talk about is the ability to tell our own story. And you all do an excellent job of telling the story of Hampton City Schools and what we're doing in terms of teaching and learning and transforming education and it's shown tr throughout throughout the Commonwealth and and actually nationally. So, thank you for all that you do. >> Thank you. >> I have a question for Mr. Foley because he hates questions. What you going to do about those Vikings? >> Not abandon them. >> I feel the same way about the Saints. >> Easy answer. >> All right. Thank you, >> Mr. Chair. For our next presentation, Dr. Jennifer Oliver, our director
034of community and relations, government and community relations, will present information about the Hampton Education Foundation. But before she does, I believe we have some special guests that are joining us that she will introduce. >> Yes. Good evening, Chair Mason, Vice Chair Jackson Aanja, school board member, Superintendent Haynes, and our community. As the director of community and government relations, I have the privilege of working closely with individuals and organizations who help strengthen the connection between Hampton City Schools and our community. Before I begin presenting about the Hampton Education Foundation this evening, I would like to briefly introduce two special guests who are visiting Hampton through the Young Southeast Asian Leaders Initiative Professional Fellows Program sponsored by the US State Department. Please welcome Miss Atika Dinerti. She is the public policy specialist, House of Representatives with the
035Republic of Indonesia. And we also have Mr. Lawrence Malaysa, a legislator with the House of Representatives with the Philippines. This fellowship brings emerging leaders to the United States to expand their expertise in governance, civic, civic engagement, education, and economic empowerment. Over the next couple weeks, they will work alongside our city leaders and our school officials, and we are honored to have them here tonight. Let's give them a warm Hampton welcome. All right. Thank you for helping us welcome our fellows. And their presence just reminds us how valuable strong partnerships are in supporting schools and communities. Speaking of partnerships, I now have the privilege of highlighting one of Hampton City School's longest standing partners, the Hampton Education Foundation. For years, the foundation has played a vital role in expanding opportunities for our students and supporting initiatives
036across our schools. Since 2001, the foundation has provided resources for teachers, scholarships for students, and opportunities that extend learning well beyond the classroom. While many of you may already be familiar with their work, it has been several years since they have had the opportunity to present directly to this board. This evening, they are here to share an update on their strategic plan and their vision for growth. At the heart of this plan is the theme, one community, a call for all Hampton to come together in support of our schools and students. We are deeply grateful for their dedication and we look forward to continuing our strong partnership as they expand their impact across the division. Building on Hampton City Schools theme of one community, one transformation, the Hampton Education Foundation is working to build a
037unifying call to action. This vision calls on parents, businesses, civic leaders, alumni, and residents to come together in support of Hampton City Schools. Their message is simple but powerful. Every member of the community has a role to play in advancing public education. The Hampton Education Foundation is an independent nonprofit uh dedicated to strengthening public education in Hampton. Their mission is to support the Hampton City School Board and the division in preparing students with the skills and knowledge that will enable them to compete successfully in their chosen educational career and life endeavors. The foundation has a strong track record of awarding scholarships, supporting teachers through grants, and fostering collaboration with our business community. Their board of directors includes 25 dedicated members representing a wide range of backgrounds from executive principles to former teachers, the current and
038former mayor, city employees, financial executives, and many other respected leaders in their fields. In early 2023, the board of directors began charting the foundation's future. They created a strategic blueprint to help guide the organization towards long-term sustainability while aligning Hampton City Schools 2021 through 2026 strategic plan. And that is included in the packets that you have before you this evening. Their vision is to provide a sharper focus on expanding community engagement and increasing private resources to support Hampton students and educators. The foundation prioritized four key areas. Student opportunity and achievement, educator innovation and recognition, community engagement and investment, and sustainable growth of foundation resources. These priorities are carried out through three programmatic areas. building strong partnerships with local businesses and organizations, supporting school-based programs that directly benefit students and teachers, and hosting community events that
039connect Hampton residents to the work happening within our schools. As a result of these priorities and intentional alignment, he has made a significant impact to Hampton City Schools. Teacher grants have increased by 33% rising from $30,000 to $40,000 annually. Student scholarships have grown by 75 from 4,000 to $7,000 annually. Community partnerships and event participation have expanded by 50% over the course of three years. And the foundation has secured $320,000 in new endowed gifts, including one that permanently supports HCS graduates who return to teach in the division for at least three consecutive years. And with more than $500,000 in assets, the foundation's investments are now generating ongoing annual funding of an estimated $8,000 each year to ensure lasting support for Hampton students and schools. Together, these milestones demonstrate the foundation's ability to build on the vision
040of one community, one transformation, and expand its impact across the division. Looking forward, the foundation has set ambitious goals, expanding program funding and donor engagement through a year-round funding strategy that blends events, corporate partnerships, and campaigns. They're also marking the foundation's 25th anniversary by raising $300,000 in contributions and growing its endowment to $1 million by 2027. They're also increasing teacher grant funding by 20 to 25% annually, supporting innovative and collaborative teaching strategies. And they are also launching an alumni engagement program to reconnect graduates with their alma mater and inspire them to give back whether through mentoring, networking, scholarships, or financial support. The goal is to reach 10% alumni participation within three years. This alumni initiative will ensure that generations of Hampton graduates remain connected to our schools and continue to strengthen the one community vision.
041As we begin to conclude tonight's presentation, I would like to highlight three upcoming events that are going to be hosted by the Hampton Education Foundation. This Friday, we will be hosting the fourth annual HEF AMA golf fundraiser that will be held um in at the Newport News Golf Course. We also have the Give Today Transform Tomorrow workplace campaign that is going to be launched collaboratively on October 15th. And the fourth annual Hefest at the Vanguard will be held on Saturday, November 8th, beginning at 6:30 PM. In closing, I want to extend heartfelt thanks to the Hampton City School Board for your ongoing support of both Hampton City Schools and our community partners. Together, as one community, one transformation, we can continue to build the pathways that allow every Hampton student to thrive. I would like
042to invite HEF president Dan Holloway and the executive director Nancy Beachch to join me at the podium as we would be happy to answer any questions that you may have. Thank you for your time this evening. >> All right. Thank you very much Dr. Oliver. Excellent presentation. >> Thank you >> and welcome to Nancy and Dan. Any comments or questions from board members? I would like to say thank you for all that you do and I'm excited to see the alumni engagement piece as we talk about our community partners and a lot of things that others have done in this community. We have a lot of alums that have stayed in this area and they're doing some remarkable things and so we certainly want to see them engaged more with our schools as our partners
043with ourmies and especially as we have now pushed ourmies down into our middle and elementary schools. How wonderful would it be to expand those partnerships and so thank you very much for all that you do and definitely for this new undertaking in reaching our alumni. >> Thank you. Dr. >> Mr. Chair, for our final presentation, Dr. Michael Thornton, interim chief financial officer, will present the business and finance reports for July and August of 2025. Dr. Thornton. >> Thank you, Superintendent Haynes. Uh, Chairman Mason, Vice Chair Jackson Afan, school board members, good evening. >> Good evening. >> As Dr. Haynes mentioned this evening we have two financial reports for your consideration uh for the months of July and August of 2025. For the month of July 2025, revenues received through uh July 31st total $22.8 million
044representing 7% of your budgeted revenues for the current fiscal year. While expenditures and incumbrances through the month of July total 46.6 million, representing 14.4% 4% of your budget expenditures. For the month of August, revenues totaled, including fund balance, 38.7 million, representing 12% of your budgeted revenues, along with expenditures and incumbrances totaling 55.4 million, representing 17.1% of your budgeted expenditures. As you know, as the year continues to progress, you would expect revenues to uh for lack of a better uh phrase, catch up with expenditures. So, at this point, uh revenues and expenditures are trending very similar to they were this time last year in comparison to budgeted revenues and expenditures. Happy to answer any questions that you may have this evening. >> Thank you, Dr. Thornne, for stepping in. Uh, I tell you, if if um
045Britney continued to have more kids, we'll see you more often. Huh. >> Well, yes, sir. >> Dr. Haynes would have me. Yes, sir. >> Any questions or comments from board members? >> Mr. Samuels. >> Question and a comment. As we know that last night at 12:00 the federal government kind of shut down. >> Kind of. >> So, shut down. Just shut down. So, will there be any impact on us moving forward? >> Not that I'm aware of. No immediate impact at this time. The appropriations for your federal grant awards have already been made >> uh and they passed through the uh state. So, at this time, we're not expecting anything that would have an adverse effect on public education in Virginia at least. >> Thank you, sir. >> All right. >> Anything else? >> All
046right. Thank you. >> Thank you, >> Dr. Haynes. >> Mr. Chair, that concludes superintendent and staff reports. >> All right. All right. So, moving on to item number four, deliberation item 4.01, utilities easement, and that's with Dr. Bolan. >> Good evening. >> Uh, the item I have uh to bring before the board tonight is dealing with a utility easement. The city of Hampton is moving forward with the development of the Woods Orchard property. As part of this project, the installation of a sanitary force main is required to serve the site. The proposed the proposed route of the new line crosses a small section of the Kilgore gifted cent's property located at the corner of Andrews Boulevard and Woodland Road. Consequently, the city of Hampton is requesting that the school board grant a utility easement permitting
047the surveying and installation of this sanitary main. And if it suits the board, I would ask that this item please be moved to an action item on tonight's agenda. >> All right. Thank you. Any questions? >> Comments from board members? >> Mr. Chair, I uh move that we move deliberation item 4.01, utility easement, uh to our action item agenda as item 5.05. Second. >> It's been properly moved by Mr. Kilgore and seconded by Mr. Samuels that we move item 4.01 utilities easement under deliberation to section five items for action as 5.05 utilities easement. Any discussion from board members? Miss Sharbon, will you please call for the vote? >> Miss Alan, >> I. >> Miss Cherry, >> I. >> Dr. Banks Gray. >> Hi. >> Mr. Samuels. >> I. >> Mr. Gilgore. >> I, >> Dr.
048Woodhouse, >> I, >> Dr. Mason, >> I. Motion carries. Right. That takes us to item number five on tonight's agenda, items for action. 5.01, Review of School Board Policy LC, Charter Schools. 5.02, Revision of School Board Policy JCJ, Classroom Assignments for Twins. 5.03, Review of Schoolboard Policy, IG AJ, Driver Education. 5.04, 04 revision of schoolboard policy IG AG teaching about drugs alcohol and tobacco and now 5.05 utilities easement and what's the pleasure of the board >> Mr. Chair? >> Yes. >> I move that we approve action items 5.01 through 5.05 as a block. >> Second. >> It's been properly moved by Mr. Fona and seconded by Dr. banks grade that we approve uh items 5.01 through 5.05 as a block. Any discussion? >> Miss Sharon, you please call for the vote. >> Miss Alfan >>
049I. >> Miss Cherry >> I. >> Dr. Banks Gray >> I. >> Mr. Sammons >> I. >> Mr. Kilgore >> I. >> Dr. Woodhouse. >> I. >> Dr. Mason. >> I. Motion carries. It takes us to item number six. hearing of any delegations or presentation of any written communications or petitions. And I see that we do have one request tonight. And so I will ask Miss Charbano if you would please read the protocol. >> Citizens are in Oops, sorry. Citizens are invited to address the school board on matters of public concern about the school division. Speaker forms are available prior to the start of the meeting. If you wish to address the school board, please complete the form and give it to the clerk by 6:45 p.m. on the day of the meeting. Each individual
050will have three minutes to speak. At the end of your time, you will hear a buzzer. All comments shall be directed to the school board. Speakers may not yield their time to another. Speakers should address the school board with the quorum on policy issues. Comments should relate to the agenda items or matters gerine to the business or duties of the school board. speakers comments on individuals speaker comment on individuals at their own risk of violating confidentiality laws and/or defaming the subject of their comments. Neither the school board, the superintendent nor the school administration will respond publicly to any comments by speakers about individuals. Presentations of resolution, declarations, proclamation, manifestos, awards, or other similar documents not originated under the opices of the school board or administration is prohibited during the public comment period. The audience is
051asked to be respectful of all speakers. Public comment is the school board's opportunity to listen to the speaker. Since our purpose is to hear from you, the board will not engage in a dialogue with the audience or whomever is at the podium. Matters requiring a response will be directed to the superintendent for research and response. The superintendent may report back on such matters at a subsequent be business meeting session as appropriate. The school board the school board carefully considers your comments as we decide matters that are brought before you before us. We appreciate your attendance and your input. >> Thank you very much. Tonight's speaker is Brenda Marx. >> My name is Brenda Marks, Chair Mason, Vice Chair Fona, board members, and Dr. Haynes. I'm here again tonight to address my concerns regarding the division's
052failure to provide every day whatever it takes to our special needs children. When I appeared before you last month, I provided you the Hampton City School special education performance reports generated by the state. Subsequent to obtaining those reports, I submitted to the state, a foyer request for documentation of the number of complaint filed regarding special education in our division. Tonight, the package I have provided you contains the data I received from the state. I began in 2020 and move forward. Their documentation shows that over the last five years, there have been a total of 29 complaints against Hampton City Schools regarding special ed. Of the 29 complaints, 38% were filed in the school year 2425. What should concern you the most is that 41% of the complaints filed were founded or affirmed. An additional label
053withdrawn made up 21%. According to the DOE, the category withdrawn covers the complaint of the school the school usually resolves with the parent prior to the completion of an investigation. 38% were dismissed by DOE. Again, there was at least one valid complaint each year for the last five years. Again, once one child is denied what they need every day, you can no longer say every child every day. Just like we have no sea act, even though that's a state requirement and it has been promised for the last three years to start back up. Where I believe you should be outraged over the data you have been provided, I have seen nothing from you. Out of the seven of you, one person has reached out to me regarding the data already provided. I'm telling you the
054signal you are sending is you do not care about our children and I'm going to move on from here to the next avenue until I see that y'all are taking this as seriously as I am. Thank you. >> Thank you, Miss Marks. Not to not in terms of a question, but this is so small. Can you send this? >> I'm going to I have the email all done. I'm going to email them to you. That's how they print. But the files they sent me, you can blow up on your screen and read. >> Okay. Thank you very much. >> All right. So, moving along to on tonight's agenda, that takes us to number seven, information 7.01, next meetings. The next work session of the board will be held on October 15th right here at Jones
055Magnet Middle School. And the next regular meeting will be held on November 5th right here at Jones. On November 13th, which is not an official meeting, but all board members will be in attendance, will be our community priorities workshop and information uh will be forthcoming uh from our communications office and and all as well. So, all right. 7.02 other items for information. I'll start with you, Dr. Haynes. >> Thank you, Mr. Chair. Today marks the midway point for the first marking period. Information went home this evening via parent square reminding families how to check the child's grades. On Wednesday, October 15th, we will be hosting our annual My Future, My Journey Career Expo. This is one of our signature Academy of Hamptonmies of Hampton events that is held at the Hampton Roads Convention Center and
056provides our ninth grade students from all four high schools the opportunity to explore college and career paths as they engage with our business and community partners. On Friday, October 17th, from 6:30 to 900 pm at the Ferguson Center for the Arts, we will once again be holding the Next Generation Storytellers Film Festival Awards Night. We're excited about this red carpet event and the opportunity to showcase the work of our own very own talented students as they compete against Christopher Newport University students to take home awards such as best picture, best screenplay, best actor, and more. The Hampton City School Social Work Services Department will host the fourth annual mental wealth fair for families on Monday, October 27th at the Hampton Roads Convention Center. Doors will open at 5:00 pm and festivities will end at 8
057o'clock pm. This carnival themed evening focused on mental health and wellness features engaging sessions, helpful resources, and a variety of community vendors offering support and materials. All family, staff, and community members are welcome. On October 29th, Hampton City Schools will host the 40th regional college fair in partnership with Newport News Picosen and York County schools. Students from all divisions will have the opportunity to talk with a variety of college recruiters and representatives about their postsecary plans. The annual event will be held at the Hampton Roads Convention Center Hall C from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. That concludesformational items from the superintendent. Mr. chair. >> All right. Thank you very much. Other items for information from board members, >> Mr. Samuels. >> Thank you, uh, Chairman Mason. >> And as you know that on Saturday, October
058the 4th, >> Andy turn his mic off. >> I shall see you at HU for the Battle of the Bay where the Sparta will play. Who? Who would they play? The Pirates. Yes, >> I see you. >> Anyone else? Miss Cherry. >> Um, thank you, Mr. Chair. Um, I just wanted to make um a comment about something that has not been stated by this board on camera at least. Um, but before I do that, uh, Miss Gore, again, that was an excellent presentation from PR and marketing. And while all of them have been there with their staff for decades, it takes strong leadership to move this division in terms of PR marketing the way it's been moved. So, I just want to give my special kudos to you and thank you for that. Um I'm
059speaking specifically about the incident that um cur occurred not long ago at Kickotan High School where we moved um several of our well we moved our student body over to um facilities owned by the city of Hampton and I just think it's important to point out some of the things that I have heard in the community about that and and they've been brief little remarks like HPD did its job and and and that's significant when a community is saying that um the system we have in place to detect weapons that did its job. And the fact that we have um such a good relationship with the city manager and members of city council that we were able to quickly move our students to a facility where they could be safe, where they could be fed,
060where they could get water, the kinds of things that we would not have been able to do had we remained at at Kickotan that day. even down to our bus drivers who were called in to come and pick up students and take them to the facility being led by HPD. Keep in mind a couple of these bus drivers, they knew their routes, but a couple were from out of town. They didn't even know what kickotan was, but they quickly figured it out and they did the job that they had to do. And our parents, I can't say enough about them being able to rise to the occasion when things happen, you have to adjust. you have to pivot and they were able to do that. I had one parent who text me and I immediately
061text um the superintendent to let him know because sometimes when you're in the throws of things, you don't know what people are saying. And I wanted him to know that I'd gotten this text from a parent who said, "While I don't have a child in high school, I do have a child in middle school. But the way I'm seeing how Hampton City Schools handled that, I would be in the line waiting on my child with a bag of Chick-fil-A. That's all, just chilling because I know they're handling everything correctly." And that just spoke volumes in terms of how this school division, how you, your administration rose to the occasion. But I want to end by saying this. I had a parent who said to me, she watched it on TV and one of the TV
062stations tried to make whatever they could of the situation. And she said, "But your parents came to your defense." Every one of their parents they interviewed came to your defense. And a lot of that lies in the fact of this. We call ourselves a team. But I want you all to know because he's not going to tell you. When our school board chair got the message, he was at work. He went home, changed clothes, pivoted, met the superintendent at the establishment, worked the entire time, talking with parents, passing out food, making sure that board members through our vice chair was kept informed of everything. And you know, I was telling Dr. um Haynes just yesterday I heard a comment on a show the other day and actually it was a a sports show but it
063was talking about leaders and it says leaders are ones who lift others up who get the job done and I think we are so blessed in this school division to have Dr. Richard Mason as our chair who stepped up. He did not have to do that. He could have said, "Call me. Let me know what you need." He did not do that. He spent the entire day until the situation was over. And Dr. Haynes, you're blessed to have a chair like that. And that's what we need in this school division. And I just want to say thank you, Dr. Mason. >> Thank you. Thank you, Miss Cherry. What what you did, >> Dr. Mason. Dr. Haynes had me handcuffed. But anyway, Mr. Sam >> and and Miss Cherry, I just applaud you for sharing that
064because I when Dr. Mason called me and to inform me of the situation at Katan High School and I shared with him, so what do we need to do as a board? And he says, Jason, I am meeting Dr. Haynes at the convention center. We will keep the board ab breast of anything that needed but there's no need for multiple people to be leading this initiative. The superintendent and I will handle it and we will keep you all informed and you all handle it very well. Thank you. But I I will like to say it it was definitely a board effort as well because board members were right there at their phones, you know, ready in terms of whatever was was needed. Miss Cherry was on the watching the media coverage, letting us know what
065was going on. She was our eye in the sky, you know, definitely had us had us all prepared and and vice chair stepped in, of course, uh to help with communication. And so every board member uh played their part and was certainly at the ready as we say in terms of being able to handle that. But also in this situation, the division leadership team, the folks at Kickotan High School, our food service staff, our transportation team, it's it's one thing to have a plan in place, but it's another to execute that plan. How ironic it was that we had just talked about safety and security measures and protocols. M >> and everything was ready to rock and roll when that happened. The police department stepped right on in. Did exactly what they needed to do.
066Our security staff did exactly what they needed to do. Dr. Haynes, I think, didn't want to call me and tell me that about the first incident, but then he called me back and said there was a second situation. You know, um having to execute two scenarios at one time. I can't give you all enough kudos in terms of everything that was done and and certainly I am proud of Hampton City Schools and all that has certainly taken place. And so even down to afterwards and and having the debrief meeting debriefing meetings and all and being there for students, you know, that had some questions, that had some concerns and having those people in place to talk about those things because certainly it was a traumatic situation for some. And so, thank you all for all
067that you do. And we certainly have a division that we can be proud of. And and kudos to the community and to our parents. We had uh a couple of um uh food vendors, some of the restaurants actually dropped off food um to the convention center. So, certainly want to thank our community. Um it makes a big difference when you have a community that stands with your school division and um we are certainly proud to be here uh in the city of Hampton with all that we do. that one community, one transformation really means something. And so, thank you. Thank you all. Any other comments from board members? Mr. Kilgore. >> Uh, just real quick, two things. Um, wanted to publicly thank uh, city council for holding their joint meeting last Wednesday on community planning.
068I thought that was excellent to have that kind of collaboration with our city council. We we very much appreciate them. And the other thing that evening uh we had our director of uh food and nutritional services u uh Miss Forest and her staff have an amazing uh food and nutrition show again at the the Patriot Center. So wanted to publicly thank her as well. >> Great. >> Dr. Woodhouse. >> Yes. I want to uh also alert all of us that we will be in prayer for uh Mayor Gray. >> Mhm. >> Uh in the demise of his uh wife and that we will uh keep them in prayer simply because they have been especially Mayor Gray has been a great supporter of our school uh board and our school division. True. >> So we want
069to keep him in prayer. >> Thank you. >> All right. Anyone else? All right. I will wrap up. I do want to acknowledge Feebas alumni. They had an outstanding 50th reunion celebration that took place over the weekend uh celebrating 50 years of Feebas High School. It was absolutely amazing. The closing uh dinner, their gayla, they had over 600 u participants at that event, which speaks volumes. And so when when um Nancy now we've talked about engaging alumni, you know, that speaks volumes in terms of people still wanting to support Hampton City Schools. And so definitely we want to tap into our alumni. I want to make certain that I acknowledge Tina Wallace who was the visionary. She's a Feebas alum and she was one of the visionaries in regards to getting this whole 50th celebration
070started. So kudos to you once again, uh, Miss Wallace, and thank you for for spearheading, uh, that event. Um, October is National Principles Month, and so want to shout out all of our principles and administrators. You guys are doing a wonderful job day in and day out. So, thank you for showing up. I want to ask our parents to do something nice for the principles, you know, um, drop some great things off, some gift cards and all, uh, movie tickets or something, you know. uh for our principles because they do an amazing job each and every day. Um but that's that's all I have. If there's no further business to be brought before this board, I'll declare this meeting adjourned. Thank you. [Music]