001Please. Motion to approve. Second. Second. >> Okay. And all in favor? >> I. Any objections? All right. The proposals for the Virginia School Board Association legislative positions. >> Yes, ma'am. So, we brought these to legislative committee and these are the final two that we um are bringing for discussion and hopefully approval tonight. The first, as we discussed in our prior meeting, is a uh it's a new proposal um having to do with aligning the FOYA reporting requirement with FERA. And the second is an amendment of a current position. This is identical to one that we put forth last year unsuccessfully, but we feel that it is meritable and therefore deserving of a reconsideration by the SBA. >> Any discussion? >> Can we see what it is? No. Is it not up there? >> I'm sorry.
002The second >> there. Just keep just scroll down >> the language. Okay, there we go. Why do we require 45 days? I mean, is this something that takes more than the foyer time frame? >> No, that's the purpose requirement is 45 days and that if many of our um requests are processing quickly. One item that came up for discussion was transcripts. We turn those around very quickly. This allows 45 days for a full fura request. U many of our requests are able to be completed well before that timeline. >> But are we not able to meet the 5day and and extend it to 10? Isn't that four year? >> Yes. So the reason that we brought this forward is really to try to allow for our staff to have the time for those those requests
003that are quite um numerous to comply with five days five working days can be a considerable strain on our resources. So the suggestion to align with the the fura requirement of 45 days would allow us to have more time and still be in compliance. We are not out of compliance. we were always able to meet the deadline, but it just would allow us to have um the ability to take more time if necessary to call >> or you give us an additional five if we can't do it in five. I thought we can extend it if we >> 12. It's an additional seven we can. >> Okay. So, I don't I I just feel like I don't want to inconvenience our certainly our our our students and our families unless it's necessary. I I don't
004I don't know unless there's some burden on us. >> I mean, I guess what we heard what we heard last time was that there were people using AI to make requests for, you know, in one case it was 7,000 records that we were having to have somebody go through to make sure that they weren't releasing any information that shouldn't be released. So, it was a substantial burden, but yeah, >> but then we should put a a charge on it and that may We do not charge for educational records >> to go full. >> We can't charge for educational records >> for for someone other than the the parent or the student. >> You can't charge for educational. >> Well, maybe that's what we ought to be putting up here is that you know that we
005should be allowed to charge if it's burdensome on us. I mean, if you're if you're trying to look at the difference between FURPA and FOYA, I just don't I don't understand why if it hasn't been a problem or we don't anticipate it's a problem that we extend this because excuse me, I'm you know that's I'm not calling on anybody, but I'm just want to finish my my thought here. Um it's not something if it hasn't been a problem for us, why would we say we want to take, you know, nine times the, you know, the current allowance to respond. I mean, just because the VSBA wants to do this. I guess this is a question for the legislative committee that's recommending it. >> I think the the way that I interpreted it is while it
006hasn't been an issue in the past, but like Dr. said with AI and the ability to ask for voluminous amounts of information that then has to go and get redacted to keep personal information out and sensitive information out from being released. I I don't know that I feel comfortable saying it hasn't been a problem in the past. it won't be a problem in the future because I can see with the technology it potentially developing into something that massive which would be really hard to fit in 12 days much less five. So I think just having that that extra time built in would relieve the burden from the staff and in the county. >> Does that make sense? >> Yeah, that makes sense. So this specifically says to their parents and legal guardians and eligible students
007over 18. So this doesn't say to the general public it's going to be making these massive requests unless we expect parents or students. >> Parents aren't making these massive requests now. They're using AI to generate >> is they parents our parents are asking for that. >> So they're asking for it. Normally it would be under the 45 days that we would have for fura. However, there's a recent FOYA advisory council opinion that now says that on on these we now have if they classify under FOYA, we have to do it within 5 days. And so for us to try to turn things around, what normally is these thousands and thousands of of pages of records, we now have to try to turn around in 5 days and get it right. And so that's where it's
008been very difficult um to be able to get that right. >> So to make sure I'm understanding, so had it been prior, they would have had 45 days. that would have been the normal time frame. We could have >> taken care of it. But because they found this other way to request it, even though they're getting the exact same information, we have been >> cut very very short on the amount of time we have to to gather it. >> And Trish, to your point that I agree with, if it is a simple transcript request, which you know 80% of these requests are, yeah, it we're not going to, you know, slowwalk anybody and take 30 days to give them their transcripts. But I think having that in place protects from those extreme >> Yeah. I
009think even if it's it's a a simple request, we want these emails between these two dates, that's probably something that staff can turn over relatively quickly. But if they want hundreds of emails that that occurred over, you know, four years or 11 years, >> yeah, then that would be really difficult to pull together. Well, then maybe what I would suggest is if this passes that we look at it as a school system and we can make some adjustments internally if we want to say, you know, any request for a transcript would, you know, we would expect to be turned over within, you know, a shorter time frame or or something that's going to, you know, cause harm or hardship to the student or their family. But I thought that um that anybody that asked any
010question, it was considered a foyer. So that's very interesting that now some are considered furpa because that's what I was told. Anybody that asks a question it's automatically treated as a foyer request. Is that not the case? >> Lisa, can you provide the distinction there >> that anybody who asks >> I'm not saying it's a foyer, but that's what my understanding was. We treated it as a foyer. >> Why are parents choosing foyer over fura? >> Because it's a shorter time period. But does a parent write in and say under I want something? >> But but also we do have some parents because there is a specific state regulation that deals with special education records which is not necessarily covered under especially the special education emails. Those are not necessar those aren't necessarily furba but
011because we have a state regulation that says that they are a scholastic record for for foyer purposes and I think that that is spelled out towards the end. Yes, that 8 bac 20-81. >> Could we maybe limit the amount of records a parent could ask for? You cannot >> but but we we could establish a policy could we not that says if someone asks for something simple we can define that they'll get it right away. If they if it's more complex or longer you know it's going to require more time then we'll allow the whole amount of time. This is assuming it passes. Right now it doesn't really matter because it's just a you know >> it's just it's something you're at least a year away from anything. So I question how how would you
012define simple >> transcript request some something that would require you know a you know a limited amount of time and we can the board would I you know I won't be here then but whoever's on the board could I if the board chose the board could just say we're just going to take our 45 days and you know we if we'll do what we can I don't know >> I don't think it's really the intention though is to to use the 45 days to give us the cushion if it's if it's complex Right. But the the issue is I I have been on the board long enough that I am anticipating a parent will contact us and some school dropped the ball and they were not able to get their transcript for three or four
013weeks. Right. And so if we have a policy in place that sort of says to schools you need to make sure that your staff does not drop the ball. >> I know you had had a concern you know even though we might follow it and do everything very efficiently. Yeah, if it's statewide >> if it's a statewide rule, then other jurisdictions may kind of do what you said, like just kind of wait it out and not and not respond. Is there any wording that would make you feel more comfortable specifically? >> No, I mean I think I think in discussing this with with um Miss Boight, she and I talked a little bit about this is a proposal. This is not what it would actually look like. other members of BSBA would have an opportunity
014to weigh in. But I think to to just another thing to think about Stafford, we have a lot of students. We have more staff than say a Floyd or a Pilaski. >> Um I don't know how they would handle these kinds of requests, right? Um so >> yeah, I mean I think I think smaller school divisions might be very happy to see something like this because it could be very ownorous for them. Okay. >> And this could affect our military students as well. Yes. Because there's a lot of turnovers more in the year and they may have a greater need or or whatever. But I I have no doubt that we would try to be helpful. But I'm just not going to just support something because it gives us more time >> if it hasn't
015been a problem. >> Is there any tracking mechanism that we have right now to say this is how long it took us to get this out. This is how long took us to get this out? We we have to track all of those and make sure we're in compliance. >> What's what's the average >> on on what? Like on furas on foyas >> on either what's the average? >> I don't have my laptop. >> Okay. >> I know how you are with that. >> How much time are we allowing for pera? That's an excellent question. Are we taking the full 45 days? If we're not, then maybe it won't be an issue at all. >> It depends on how complex their request is. I mean, if someone's asking for a transcript, that can even be
016done through scribbles. We're not even processing that. That's a >> um we've got some that are 20,000 records. We've got some that have asked very down to I just need the particular emails in this subject line, which can be knocked out in an hour. I would say about half of the requests we get in maybe we can knock out in three or four days. Um, some of them I've asked for the additional the additional seven days and we got down to one request that I even said I can't do this in this 12 days. You can have it next week. So butdding up against where now if it's not officially said I'm asking you for a furer request. We have to process it under FOYA. >> That's what I thought >> and that is what
017I am afraid. >> That's what I'm afraid of that everything now gets compressed. I have eight eight open foyer requests right now. So >> considering we have 31,000 students, that's not too many. >> But I just I just want to clarify, make sure that I understand this. What we're discussing right now is >> whether or not we want to propose this change to the legislation for VSDA, which is going to affect all the schools in Virginia. And I feel like what we're talking about right now, we are just focusing on Stafford County. And what Dr. Chase said about the smaller smaller school systems is is very relevant to whether or not we want to approve this proposal to go to BSBA. So I would ask that maybe we think outside of Stafford County as we're
018discussing this to see whether that's something that we want to propose. >> And as Dr. Chase pointed out, what gets proposed doesn't necessarily gets pulled up by the legislative committee or BSBA. >> So and and even if it does, it doesn't always leave the the process the same way it went in. >> I mean, we're just offering an idea to them for their legislative group to discuss the merits of, right? >> No, it's their idea. We're saying we support your idea. >> No, no, this is this is our idea. >> So, I thought this was their idea. That's just the language of what it would look like >> because the other September >> the other extreme for for how hard it would be for a Basy, it would be it wouldn't even be a blip
019on the radar of Prince William or Fairfax, right? because they have such a robust staff. So I I think yeah, we're just talking about try, you know, sending this to them for consideration, >> although a lot of things are relative. So they might have more staff, but they also have a heck of a lot more kids, so they'll have a lot more request. >> But I think, you know, Miss Randall and I on legislative along with uh Josh, um where where Regan There we go. Um we are also have to think about what we bring to the legislative summit. And this might also be something that we would bring to the legislative summit to make our legislators aware of we're having to, you know, we potentially if this gets to be more of a problem,
020if this doesn't get fixed, we're going to be hiring another FOYA person. Right. Absolutely. Um so it will cost us something if if this snowballs in the direction that it conceivably would. Right. It's become way too easy for parents to just type a something into AI and they spit out a whole >> list of legal. >> They're not going to be they're not going to be asking for a foyer if we can't charge for because they ask for a foyer. We can charge them for our time and putting it together. >> You said we can't f we can't charge for >> charge for a either >> one record. So I I as a parent could ask for other students records. >> No, >> it won't be there's an exemption. You won't be provided them. >>
021I just I don't understand how they can be requesting all these records. >> You could be specific. >> You could be requesting every email related to your child's IEP. You know, you could say any emails at all of anybody in the staff who has talked about my child >> and they would potentially >> and if your child's a senior, you can ask back to kindergarten. I mean, that's a ton. >> Well, I I still think we ought to maybe next round go back and think about saying if requests are too broad or or and you're right, how do you define that? But but if an ext if the request is going to require an an extensive amount of time and resources that we should be allowed to charge. Now they'll probably say no we won't.
022But at least if we think that's important we could be proposing it right >> because that sounds like it's part of the issue here as well. If they had to pay for the time they probably would not be putting in these >> you know because they don't have to pay. >> Question on that though. You don't really know how much time to charge until after you've kind of spent time figuring out how much it would be already. Correct. >> Right. It is going to pull down every related record. I'm going to their principal. I'm going to the special education department to find out how many records. They load them up in one big file and then we go through and we estimate 30 seconds to a minute based on however many records are in there
023and then spit them back out of charge. You have to divide it between what is an educational record, what is a general record. There's time that goes into processing for you. >> That doesn't talk about the redaction. >> That's just that's just deciding if it's a valid record. >> But in we have to give it an estimated cost if it's if we're going to charge. >> Yeah. My point is though, we have to we're spending time before we can even provide that estimated cost already. >> Well, anyway, I don't want to waste time. I'm sorry. I just I just don't want to do anything that's going to be a disadvantage to our students and parents. >> Yeah. And and I I think this has got to go through a long process before anybody hears anything
024out of it. So, moving on to the next item, which is an amendment. >> Yes. So, this is one that we put forth last year unsuccessfully, but we do believe that it has merit, so we're putting it forward again. It is uh regarding here it is the educational technology equipment and grants program. And if you turn to the final page, you can see the red line additions. Essentially, what we're advocating for is supporting funding for the educational technology grants program to be tied to the consumer price index inflation rate to account for inflation and then inserting um a line at the bottom here to support codification into law of a requirement to fully fund and provide a statewide student learning management system. >> Right. And this is when during um COVID the state provided canvas
025correct >> and then now they've pulled back from that and >> they still do as of this year it's we're waiting to see if it's going to be included in the FY27 but as of this year yes >> okay >> well the other problem is technology equipment has gone up in price because of the shortage of chips and other >> components >> and from uh I'll put my teacher hat on for a second every school and I would assume Almost every division in Virginia is using some sort of LMS anyway. So if we can get it codified in the law, we don't have to like Dr. Smith said, wait and see if it's going to be in the budget. At that point, it will be required. >> Any questions about that? That seems pretty. >>
026Okay. >> All right. Then we will move on to the anti-bullying, student conduct, and mental health section. >> Dr. Bush, Dr. and Miss White are here to present and talk about some of the work that's been taking place around anti-bullying, uh, mental health. So, you do have the slides there in front of you. >> All right. Good evening everyone. Dr. Bush, for those of you who don't know me, um, and we're here tonight. I have Dr. Tanya Molen and Alexis White here, um, as we're going to go through these topics with you. Uh, we're here to present about our anti-bullying efforts this year, mental health, and how we've been supporting student uh, wellness. So, I just want to first draw our attention to how this is next slide. Oh, go. There we go. Um, first
027just want to talk about how this is included in goal three of our strategic plan that's outlined as our division's commitment that every student deserves a safe, inclusive, and supporting learning environment. And that our work in the areas of mental health and anti-bullying is rooted in prevention, education, awareness, and response. So over this past year, I just want to highlight for you some of our efforts we've done uh that we've done in the area of awareness and lessons and also social media outreach. So if we look first at our anti-bullying, our student awareness campaign at the elementary level, there's been a lot of focus around just foundational conflict resolution and that proactive social skills piece for for our students. We've utilized curriculum at the elementary level such as Kelso's choice and zones of regulation to
028help younger students identify uh their emotions and explicitly learn the difference between what small problems are, normal peer conflict, and then what actual bullying is. At the middle school, we've had a different um focus there. We focus on conflict and the definition of bullying. And then at the high school, we've focused on the definition of bullying, but also more shifting towards that crisis response, suicide prevention, and peer support. And you're going to hear a little bit more about um what some of those peer supports we've put in place and will continue to put in place. When we look at what our um anti-bullying engagement has been this year, um in in conjunction with communications department and the Donovan Group, we launched the see something, say something initiative. And that graphic there to the right is
029one of many posts that have been implemented through weekly social media posts and uh postings that are monthly elevate weekly entries out to the community. There's also been an implementation of digital reporting system that's been accessible to families and students. So far this year, we have 14 uh 14 comments that have come through the tip line regarding bullying um that were passed along to the schools to follow up on. We also have a designated web page with mental health resources, fentanyl awareness, suicide prevention, parent guidance, and crisis prevention resources, all contributing to supporting um the the wellness of our students. And one other piece that's not up here that I will tell you, since January through April 12th, we've engaged in over with over 3,800 people on social media regarding um regarding our anti-bullying posting,
030our mental health support posts, and that's been through the different platforms, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Tik Tok, YouTube, and it's kind of sad that we have to use social media. I'm sorry. >> I said it's sad that we have to use social >> considering it's a big culprit in the whole process. >> Yes. So, I'm actually going to turn it over to Alexis White here. She is with the Department of Student Conduct and she's going to talk to us about the actual bullying definition by code and then the scope that we're seeing bullying in Stafford schools. Good evening everybody. As far as the definition of bullying is concerned, you can see up there what we enforce with our administrative teams in all of our schools is the state code definition of bullying. Um, which is any
031aggressive or unwanted behavior intended to harm, intimidate or humiliate the victim. Um, there has to be a real or perceived power imbalance between the aggressor and the victim. And then that end part is that it has to be repeated over time or causes severe emotional trauma. So, through the Office of Student Conduct, we have worked with all of our administrators extensively over the last year to ensure that they know what that definition is, that they're promoting it with their staff and their families to make sure they're clear and concise. Um, and then also know how to properly respond after that. Bullying does include cyber bullying per our state code, um, but does not include teasing, horseplay, arguments, or pure conflict, which we'll get into as relationship behaviors. And then of course staffer policy 2404 aligns
032to that state code and same definition as well. As far as the notification and investigation process for our administrators, not only do we do annual training, but we meet with the schools on a regular basis and onboard all new administrators so that when they receive allegations, whether that be from students, parents or staff, that they ensure they follow the correct process per state code. um which does include an initial response to both the students family that is the victim and the possible um aggressor as well so that there's clear communication on all sides. They have to document that and share that with our office as well so that we can ensure that schools are following correct protocol. They then do that preliminary assessment to determine if what the accusation is would meet that threshold of
033the state definition. So really kind of teasing out what is being alleged um and then determining those next steps for the investigation. The decision-making process comes down to the end and all the investigation that they've completed to determine if it really does meet that definition and if not if there's a different area that the school needs to address for the code of conduct or with supports for the students. Um the communication and followup is done through a system of letters that have been created for our administrative teams. Those also provide supports for the students involved in the incident to make sure that they feel supported within the school environment. And then we've worked really hard and we'll show you on the next slide about ensuring that data is accurate um so that we are able
034to support our schools as best as possible moving forward. So as you can see on the next slide, the bullying allegations per level of elementary, middle, and high school. The gray indicating those allegations that were unfounded after investigation. So, they didn't meet that threshold of what bullying was. And then the blue would show you the founded per level as well. Um, we expect to see a little bit of an increase in the future as we've continued to train our staff to make sure they're looking at that right piece. So, it's important to note that. Um, but you can see our numbers as of this school year there. When it gets to the conduct side of bullying, there are four state codes, um, SBARs that we call them, that are out of the 88 that apply
035to bullying. So you can see that the relationship behaviors of bullying with no physical injury or cyber bullying are listed there per school level. And then the behaviors of a safety concern are the bullying behaviors that continue after the school has put in place an intervention. So you can see that we're being pretty successful on the side of once we are aware of incidents that we're not having continued um offenses completed by students. where we want to continue our work in educating um our families and students and staff is about those relationship behaviors that are often perceived as bullying but would not meet that threshold. Um so things that fall into the relationship behaviors of posting or distributing inappropriate materials, teasing, taunting um or engaging in verbal or written confrontation or using slurs um based
036on actual or perceived um subclasses there. So within that you can see those are much higher up in numbers um for elementary, middle and high school. But what that also is telling us is that when administration is made aware of situations they are stepping in. They are enforcing our code of conduct um and taking the investigation and followth through seriously so that we don't get to situations where students are being bullied. So for the next part, um we're going to shift that focus continuing with our families for social social media campaigns focus on education of what the actual definition of bullying is. We want to make sure we continue to support our students because if the perception is they're being bullied, we want to make sure we're addressing that piece of it because that's what's
037most important. And then consistency with the counseling lessons that will also come from our school counselors. Right? So, as part of that, we're really taking that focus into relationships and um as part of that relationship focus, so I'm I'm Dr. Tanya Men. I'm the director of student services. So, um mental health and all of our mental health professionals and our wellness professionals in our buildings are um under my umbrella. Um and so mental health, we look at that as a spectrum of support in our buildings. And we start that from prevention and we go all the way through our crisis response and our postvention. Really looking at four buckets. So, prevention, early identification, intervention, and crisis response, and postvention um with four kind of strategies or goals for each of those sections. Um and so
038you can see we've been pretty busy and some of these strategies um have already been in place over the course of the years. Some of them are things that we've expanded and some of them are brand new. Um so the things with the asterisks beside them are things that are brand new to us or things that we've expanded. So, in that prevention area, we're looking really at those anti-bullying programs and really making sure that across our schools, we're building some consistency and our classroom guidance approaches and in our building approaches and making sure that all of our schools are really doing something that incorporates anti-bullying um actions and interventions across school year. So, it's not just a oneanddone, right? We're really incorporating that language. Um some of that might look like character development. It might
039look at like uh pushing lesson lessons from our counselors into the classrooms. Um our superintendent's advisory council has already been in place, but this year whether it was parent, community or students, we had a mental health lens looking at how are we incorporating that mental health language and really kind of taking that um idea that mental health belongs to more than just the mental health professionals in the building, but it's a whole community approach. Um, and then thinking about um, looking at the mental health task force and what's what are we currently doing, what could we do better and what are some of those opportunities out there for partnerships that maybe we're not currently capitalizing on. Um, signs of suicide is something that we expanded this year. Last year we um, implemented it in the
040high schools at 9th grade. This year we brought that into our middle schools and um, implemented with seventh graders. So we trained at least um 3,700 students between seventh grade and nth grade in signs of suicide which is all about recognizing symptoms in yourself or in your peers about symptoms of depression and when that might be verging into a mental health crisis and how to get help. So they all participate in a brief screener as part of that process. Um and out of the just over 3,700 that um were screened, we followed up with about 775 students, a little more than that. And the students that were followed up on were followed up on for a couple of reasons. So they either answered yes to question four or five, which indicated that they um had
041had some history or current suicidal ideiation or attempt or they scored a four or above. So there are seven questions and that means they answered yes to four or more questions. They also could request to follow up with someone for themselves or a friend. So maybe they something in that said, I see symptoms in a friend and I want to talk to someone and they were followed up with before they left that day. Um and then any student that was followed up with, a parent was contacted um and their parent was informed, hey, we met with your student today and this is why. Um so we make sure that we really wrapped around um that for you know for their safety. Um, we also, um, implemented hope squads this year, which at three of our
042high schools, so Brookpoint High School, um, Stafford High School, and Mountain View. And that's peer-topeer suicide prevention. So that came out of just recognizing that our students really weren't coming to us as adults in the building. They were going to their peers. So we recognized that we needed to bridge that gap and provide some of that peer-to-peer um, education and helping them learn how to have those conversations. So we started off small. Each of those schools have about 25 um squad members and our goal next year is twofold to expand to the three other high schools as well as to start really growing that squad. Ultimately, we want our squads to be about 5 to 10% of the population and to really represent their peers. So, you know, it's not just their high achievers or
043the people who are really gung-ho about mental health, right? But it it's it's the person sitting next to you in PE or the person sitting next to you in math. Um, so that's our goal ultimately hopefully to bring it down to middle school. Um, because that's where we know some of those things are really starting to show up. In early identification, you're starting to see even more of those things. But we're really talking about our DESA screener at that stage which is um piloted in three of our elementary schools but all all of our middle and high schools the students complete a self assessment and we're using that to look at tier 2 groups for you know um some of our social emotional strategies at those levels. We're also using our handle with care partnership
044with the Stafford sheriff's office. Um so they are making sure that we're aware of any mental health emergencies might that might be occurring in the homes so that we um know and can support the families and the students when the students come back to school. We also are doing youth mental health first aid training which is a three-year certification. And so think of it as CPR for mental health or first aid for mental health. Um so we're making sure that our staff know how to respond, how to identify and respond. um CHAMPS at Brook Point their students are going to be trained in team mental health first aid. So that is another kind of one of those hope squad aligned processes. Um in interventions one of the things to note this year is Hazel Health
045teleaalth. So that is um through a grant where our students can access teleaalth services at home um after school hours or we we have some students who are logging in at 6:00 a.m. for and before school hours. So that's great. Um, and that will be available to them in the summertime as well. We also have Notice Talk Act at Stafford High School. That came out of a grant pilot that we had years ago before COVID from the American Psychiatric Foundation. And um, we're going to be expanding that hopefully to our other high schools this year. And that is again about teaching staff how to notice that students might be struggling, how to have conversations with them, and how to connect them to the right resources. So, it's again that spectrum of support, making students feel
046connected in their school community and then knowing what to do next, right? So, nobody is on an island alone. Um, and then our crisis um and response and postvention. Um, we have our co-responder unit which is a collaboration between the sheriff's office and the RACSB. um and they have come into our school system 27 times this year to provide crisis support um and evaluation for students on school property who were experiencing a mental health emergency. Um they've interacted with our students more than that in the school in the community at large, but we don't have those numbers specifically. We also have our flight team. We've um had 17 flights this year for various reasons, and that's our team that goes into the building and provides that support following a serious incident. um involving a staff
047member or a student. These are just some numbers from last year to this year um about some of the things that we've done. Full suicide risk assessments that our staff have completed this year. This doesn't take into account um those co-responder ones, but 315 full suicide risk assessments. Um the monitoring is once we've completed a risk assessment and maybe that student has come back into the building and we're continuing to monitor them because of their IAU. Our suicide risk assess screeners rather has gone up. We expect that because of the signs of suicide. Um so you know anytime we did that signs of suicide training we expect that there might be kids that come out of that that need some extra followup. And then those crisis intervention ones you see that number is pretty stable.
048Those are um crisis interventions that are provided specifically by our mental health team members. And think of that like a student might be in the classroom and they're having maybe they're really emotionally disregulated and a mental health team member has to go in and provide some support for that emotional regulation or kind of help them kind of calm down and reregulate. So it's specific to our mental health team um not administrators or teachers that might be providing that support. And then these are just kind of a brief overview of the the mental health people that are in the buildings providing supports. Um we know that our counselors that they are providing that multiple hats that they're wearing that academic and career counseling. Um pushing into the classrooms when they're able at elementary they're getting in
049multiple times um at least you know once a month if not more. They're providing small group and individual sessions. We're really trying to use our DESA data in the buildings that they're there to provide targeted tier 2 groups and then crisis intervention. Our school social workers are providing some of that as well. And our school psychologists unfortunately spent a lot of their time doing evaluation for special education. Um but at the high schools where they're full-time, they're definitely able to push in more and do some more individual work with students. We also um use our nurses in this capacity. They're part of our our team and support a lot around that as well. And then finally, um, our partnerships and community collaborations. Um, these are just some of the places, um, that we tap into
050and that partner with us. Um, I have Mary Washington Healthcare here. They have been great partners for us this year. Um, they've been coming in and providing grief groups in our buildings because we have had um, between student and staff losses this year. They um, come in and they run those for us with parent consent. Um, and then National Counseling Group runs our therapeutic day treatment programs in our buildings. um for our students that are identified and meet criteria there. Um and then these are our mental health priorities for next year as we continue to kind of grow the capacity and of our staff and um administrators and our students. Um we really want to take that comprehensive approach. And so we are mandating um youth mental health first aid training which is going to
051give our secondary principles and assistant principles and deans um that three-year certification in youth mental health first aid. We also have other trainings in trauma and mental health that are available um for staff um and principles can request that we come in and provide that. Um for our staff, we are working on getting our three new schools onboarded so they're ready to go at the beginning of the year with their advisor training. Um our elementary schools are going through some responsive classroom. We're working on a district-wide alignment for our counseling teams where they'll be targeting specific things throughout the year. Um and then for our students, we're again targeting those classroom theme um second secondary grade level assemblies. So building in those mental health and making sure they're really aware of the resources that are
052in their buildings because that's one of the things we're hearing is they're not really sure what's out there for them. Creating that secondary mental health resource landing page. So when they open their Chromebook, there's going to be a landing page that has all these resources available for them. expanding our DESA implementation across our elementary schools and then making sure that they're aware that the tellaalth through Hazel Health is out there and they know how to access that. That's a lot of information, but we >> it was a lot of information. >> Very good. We have been very busy. >> Our team has been incredibly busy and does a great job this year with all of the things going on. >> So, we have 20 minutes left and we have two items left. Do we have
053time for questions or do we not have time for question? >> We have a few questions. >> Uh I would like to start. So I was invited remember the um the lunch the culinary cup thing before with the students in the SCA. We had like a little discussion going on like what is bullying? What is mental love? That was a great eye opening experience and I actually uh I was the group leader of mine. So I got kind of all the information about here. But one thing that all the students said in my group that they would really want to see is more uh grade level assemblies because those like I vividly remember the um one about the car instance, the car crashing one >> and that was so heart touching and it I personally
054felt that that it touched me so much that I don't drive with my phone in my hand anymore. >> It's that powerful. So those assemblies really help those students and um they all want to see them. One thing they said that did not work was the newsletters that we send out for the high schools. >> Um we did come up with a solution however they start with fluff in the beginning and then end with the important stuff. >> So maybe take the fluff out and just keep the important stuff or if you do want to keep the fluff just flip it around so students can read that >> they do with the homepage. So >> yeah, you don't have to go look for it. It's right there. >> Yeah. >> Mhm. >> And then I
055did have um one comment saying on middle schools. Middle schools look like I remember seeing a couple of charts and data about them having the most like amount of bullying and mental health and like in general conflict scenarios other than the high schools. Um another comment is I feel as high school students won't initially come out and say, "Hey, I'm being bullied." just because there's like a stigma around being like, "Hey, bullying's weird. Maybe we don't talk about that." There's just a stigma going there. And I find the data points on the high schools to be a little skewed because there's no way that there's been zero other conflicts after like immediation. What I'm thinking is happening is there's they're getting immediation and then they just don't say anything after they get bullied. Again, another
056comment doc me and Dr. shots were having this conversation in our board tour that we had in the beginning of the month where there's such a broad definition about what bullying is that it's hard to kind of pinpoint saying this is exactly bullying. There's such a wide time frame in between. There's that initial bullying phase where it's kind of weird. You don't know if it's bullying or not. And there's that definite like area where it's oh yeah that's bullying because it's repetitive. Maybe if we kind of change the definition of what bullying actually is, we can get more specific data onto this and make more informed decisions. >> Thank you, Sandy. Any other questions? And actually, we don't have like a time because we only have three things to vote on afterwards. So, it's just
057whatever. >> I have a question. >> Okay. It's interesting the legal definition because as a parent if I you know if my child were being teased or the subject of force play or something like that I would probably consider that bullying. So what are we doing about those kind of situations where it's clearly affecting a child you know being reported by the parents if it doesn't meet the threshold legal definition of bullying and do we have a response for that situation? we do. So there is an unfounded and founded bullying letter. So even if it doesn't meet the threshold of definition, doesn't mean we're still not addressing it and enforcing the code of conduct. Um so that letter goes through supportive measures for the student. Whether that's access to a counselor, no contact directives or
058agreements, um schedule changes, whatever that might look at, but then we still need to address the fact that something went wrong that shouldn't have. Um, and that's where those relationship behaviors really come into play where we see students who are committing things that are just not kind to others and that needs to be stopped as quickly as possible so it doesn't escalate into those bullying situations. So that's where we really work with our administrators on leveraging there's eight different dispositions from as low as a warning all the way up through an exclusionary out of school suspension and really finding the one that meets the needs of the students to ensure they're not continuing to commit those offenses. So even if a finding is unfounded, we still have response. >> Absolutely. That's where those relationship >>
059they all need to be the Gator way, right? >> Of course. >> Well, and that's what that's what I was going to ask. >> I was going to say Gatorland is >> Yeah. No, that's what I was going to ask is that okay, you've got 69 unfounded. Now, what do you do? What's your next question? >> And that's where those relationship behaviors come in. That's where it's so important for our administrators to have that transparent conversation with families like please understand while it may not have been bullying, this is what it is so that we're naming it and and calling it what families will understand to know that their students getting the support that they need. >> Sorry I didn't see you over there. >> All right. Um so one of the things I had
060initially asked early on in the year and Dr. Bush answered in in one of our um Thursday emails. I might have been missed. I think it was this year um was how often and how many lessons are being given. And I got a sense of what was being given in elementary school wasn't consistent. >> Um and that that there was going to be work to improve that. So I do appreciate that. But what I did get when I went and visited middle schools this year was the idea that the counseling lessons were largely around registration. And there was one lesson about anti-bullying and and how to make a friend one. And when you look at the data for middle school, are we doing better in that? Because I would rather see less about the registration.
061And not that I want don't think that's important, but I kind of feel like based on the data and information, middle school could have a little bit more support other than in one lesson on anti-bullying and making friends. So historically the at middle school the counselors did not push into the classroom except for registration proc uh purposes. That is changing. Um so they are moving forward with it. the expectation that they will be pushing in for classroom lessons similar to the elementary not the same frequency um and they will have some themes that they will be working on and we're hoping that the DESAS lessons will guide kind of that information and it'll have some theme they'll never be able to get into at the same frequency that the elementary school level is. It's just
062not appropriate at the middle school level but Maggie the counseling coordinator is working on a sort of a scope and sequence for them and what things that they will be hitting at specific times of the year. So that is something that they are working on. She is building and addressing with them and they are aware at the middle school level that that will be an expectation. Okay. >> Um for them to be providing some of that. One one of the places that we are also um really trying to improve at the middle school is the types of groups that they're running for tier 2 um and using the data to really use that to guide what interventions they're providing and why they're providing them. So we're not going to run like a self-esteem group because
063we've already done it. this is what the this sixth group girl six sixth group sixth grade group of girls is struggling with. Let's target that and try to make a targeted improvement. So we're using the data to kind of guide us a little bit >> and learn or something >> kind of but they're like six week groups six to eight week groups that are targeted for specific kinds of things. So what you know what are we seeing as are the needs so that we're really growing the social emotional it's emotional literacy right so we're building the need where the need is and not just kind of doing the same thing because that's what we're comfortable with doing and we've got really great middle school counselors but it just hasn't been our practice to push in
064in that kind of way and so we're we're reshaping that. >> Well back in the as Mr. Rian would say dinosaur days when I was attending this middle school um they did push in quite often to middle school. So yeah. Yeah, I I remember that very vividly. The some of the lessons that we had >> this room right here, right? >> Uh no, I was upstairs and in the other building and that was the library. So if you want a tour, I'll give you one later. Um uh so what does uh well that kind of answers that for me. How many do we have um taking advantage of our Hazel Health? So my last count I think we had about 37 students that had signed up um for Hazel Health. So >> there was just
065not a normaly kind of understanding for conversation yet that were >> uh they Hazel Health was actually pretty impressed that we had that many and that short of a turnaround. Um I think that they have a some capacity kinds of things because we have restricted it so that it's not during the school days. We are students in school. So, um, you know, it's in the evenings and they're working through their intake process. We do need, we recognize we need to do a better job at publicizing it, which is why, you know, we're going to do a better job with that. We're going to make some flyers. We're going to make sure we get that information out there. Um, video >> and a video. We did we have a video coming out and we're going to
066make sure that that information is more out there. >> Yeah. Because I think if if you see a if you see a flyer and you hear it, it's still a little I think intimidating unless you say to somebody, "Follow me." Right. Let me show you. Right. >> And then, you know, have it being shown with like a familiar face, you know, that can be Sorry, Sophie. >> No, I think I was recorded for that. >> Oh, perfect. >> I think you were too. I think you were in the video. Yeah. >> Has health just out of curiosity. >> March. When did we start? >> Uh, in March. Yeah. So, we didn't start it at the same time we did like open houses. Correct. So, we haven't had a good >> Exactly. So they do feel
067they do feel like that it was a pretty good startup. >> Mhm. >> Very good. >> Yep. And we are continuing it through the summer and it'll still be you know they'll still be able to sign up. >> And so how many flight teams did we have last year versus this year? You said 17 this year. >> We had 17 this year. I think last year we had like 11 or 12. >> Okay. >> Um so we've had 17 this year and last year some of them were multiple days and we that's 17. So 11 or 12 flights in. Yeah, we had 11 or 12 days of flight. We had 17 separate flights, some of those lasting multiple days this year. So >> yeah. >> And then also, and I I I asked you before
068too, um the handle with care partnership with um the sheriff's office. I know Alyssa and I met with the fire chief and the chaplain and they were interested in being part of that. Are we including them in that as well? >> Okay. I didn't see it on here. I only saw Stafford. So >> yeah, we we talked with our safety task force and started to implement that specifically around mental health so we can make sure that we're aware of any mental health >> uh incidents that have gone on the community and so >> Okay. So I just wanted to give a shout out to you know Chief Cardelloo and and the fire chaplain that have offered their assistance um with handle with care. Thank you. >> Quick question. Um how long is the grant for
069the tele health? >> Five years. Okay, that's Any other questions? Yeah. So, um, what are we doing? Like, what if I I don't know how ownorous it is if I were a teacher to have to fill out a bunch of paperwork to do this, right? So, what, you know, what kind of what kind of checks do we have to make sure that things are working the way that they're supposed to be working? I'm not sure. >> I think I need more clarity what what you're asking. >> Well, I mean I I could share a horrific incident that happened with one of my kids years ago where a student ended up on the floor with a head injury and no teachers were doing anything. >> Oh, you mean for like a bullying incident? >> Right. So,
070what happens? H how do you know that your schools that the staff is following through with this? Right. How do you know that that's happening? So principles were instructed to do training. We meet with all of admin in July again as office of student conduct. So we will redo that. We actually give them the you know slide stack to use with their staff. Um and then we are going to simplify the reporting process to keep it even cleaner. Um so that there is a very clear understanding that once the bullying word is used that the state code goes into effect and there's a 24-hour turnaround time for families to be notified. Um but the staff needs to be reminded that they immediately need to report it to an administrator. Um, and that's not a report
071form. It's just a report. So, an email, verbal, anything counts as a report. >> So, again, you're telling principles and APS and deans that they need to tell teachers to do this. How do you know teachers are doing it? >> I think the best way we'll know upfront is watching that allegation tracker that we're putting in place to really ensure that al every school should have allegations because there's some perception that there is a concern. So if there are schools that are not reporting allegations, then when we meet with them, we meet with all secondary schools monthly, um, elementaryaries right behind that. So if we're not seeing allegations put in, I think that's a level of concern on our part that we'll share with executive directors to do proper followrough with those schools. >> I
072think the other thing that I would add and we because this campaign that we're still working on is trying to get our families to understand that if something happens at school, we need to know about it. If we don't know about it, we can't do anything about it. And so to continue to push that out that we need that open communication, we need you to let us know. And then honestly, if we find incidents where um where we get an email saying there was an alleged incident of bullying and we look into it and a staff member knows about it, it's for us to hold them accountable to say, "Look, you knew about this." We have this was the expectation and for us to to take it from >> and and the same thing Reed
073like if a parent were to call the school and say, "I'm hearing something." We would expect that the school would actually follow up and do something >> be on the allegation tracker for that. I think >> I would I hope we will see that happen. >> And if you find any any please let me know. >> Yep. >> I think the bottom line really is just publicity at this point. The Instagram stuff we were talking about that that was really good. The students love Instagram stuff. The assemblies they really like seeing a familiar face as well. Hope Squad's really, really powerful in the schools that it's implemented in right now. Maybe we can even get the Hope Squad people since everyone knows them already at school. Maybe make them do a video just at their
074school just about, hey, we're here if you need it. Because at the end of the day, high school students are really just like big kids, like we're still under 18. Like talking to an administrator is really, really scary. >> And but speaking to a friend or a fellow peer, that's that's really easy. That comes off the tongue really nice. So maybe just pushing out that, hey, we have a hope squad here. If you need it, we're right here. And if you see something, say something, obviously, >> but many of these programs are new. They were just started this year. So you'll be collecting more data next year to give us some additional followup to see >> if we're seeing any improvement or change. Correct. >> Absolutely. >> Um I think kind of going back to
075the just letting people know what to do. So, including letting our families know how to track incidences because that that's what also happens is sometimes like, "Oh, there's bullying. There's been all this stuff going on." Like you said, no one's told us, but then also they're like, "But there was this time, but there was this time, but there's no." So, just kind of giving our parents the, "Hey, we understand this incident happened. This is how you should document it if it continues on," I think would be also helpful. And what you said as well, I mean, kids just don't don't tell us like and it's sad that we will never ever get rid of it. Um, and kids are just different personalities and they'll tell different people or they won't tell. Um, but doing what
076we can to catch them and that teasing is certainly um a precursor. I don't I don't know. And perception is reality. Kind of like what you said earlier. If it's you you're going to assume that it's bullying that's happening to your kid. Um, so yeah, I appreciate everything that you guys are doing and I appreciate that you also kind of preempted us that we're going to see an increase on these trackers and things because I'd much rather see us have much higher numbers there and lower incidences than the other way around, right? Like so I really appreciate it. >> I do want to give a compliment though to Dr. Molen when you did the um when you and Dr. Bush were doing the mental health with the student leadership at the hospital. I've said this
077to him thousand times. That's why he's grinning and Dr. Chase has it in her calendar, too. Is the hand exercise that you did. >> I I think everybody needs that every year >> because I really think it reminds you of that it it's okay that it's not the same. It's okay if it changes. and that that as you grow, the things that you need, the people you need, or the things you need to do for yourself can change, but that you have a tool belt as you've grown of things that you can do to help with your mental health. Right? >> So, >> tell everybody to do that every year because it's awesome. >> Thank you. >> I have one question. Are there any changes to the code of conduct that are recommended to help
078address any of these things? There are no code of conduct changes except some minor changes that went to governance. Um but there's going to be the continued training piece. Nothing within state code has changed regarding bullying. >> I I just meant not necessarily to deal directly with bullying but with the other behavioral challenges. Is there anything that we need to do to look at in the code of conduct that we have with consequences? And >> I think the way it is now is is appropriate. It has the varied levels and we have the different dispositions to match those levels. We're just continuing to work with schools to make sure we're exhausting that full range of dispositions for our students. >> Thank you. Excellent job. Thanks for your questions. And we will move on to the
079>> We are so end of year. >> The funds at the end of the year are a little tight though. >> Thank you, gonna pull it up so we can uh have something to >> I think you all should have it your >> Yeah, you have a somewhere up there. Jason, you can see find it while I'm talking. Uh just uh quickly kind of as an intro um for our proposed year-end funding list, we are um right now just bringing this for discussion. and it'll come back in June for approval uh for some of our newer schoolboard members that haven't been through this uh approach before. Um each year um if we think we're going to have any any money left, and we might have a little bit uh this year, and I'll explain that
080in just a moment, uh we have the a prioritized listing of items that we have appropriation for, uh we have funding for, uh but we would need the school board to approve these projects to use before June 30th. So, we only target um the items on this are things that we either already have a procurement mechanism, we have a contract ready to go, and so we would be able to um issue the contract by June 30th, which in order for us to spend our FY26, we have to be under contract and issue a PO by June 30th. >> And if we don't spend the money, what happens to it? >> If we don't spend the money, um it goes back as carryover. So, returns back to the county. uh the county does hold it in
081a separate reserve account and then we would have to ask permission and to appropriate those funds. So uh if you recall in the FY27 budget process there uh was a few million dollars that we requested to spend that carryover money to kind of help fund um the gap that we had in our operating budget for 27. So some of some of those onetime money uh funds. So you'll notice everything on here are one time. are not going to fund positions. Um, anything that would have a multipleyear approach. Uh, we do not use one-time money for. Uh, so um that would be something that we would want to put in the actual budget. So these items are are going to be onetime meetings. >> And don't we have to in our budget we have a million
082dollars of carryover that goes into next year's budget? >> So in every budget, we automatically assume that we're going to have $1 million left. Um, so in FY26, we budget to have $1 million left to carry over into the FY27 budget because we know uh when we get to the end of the year, we're never going to cut it that close. And so we always want to have at least a million dollars left. Uh, so we look at >> this is after the million. >> Yes. So we want to hold a million and then above the million, we would identify things that we would have the board approve in advance. And as we get closer uh to June 30th, we run our last payroll. uh we know where fuel is going to land and some
083other items. Uh you're giving uh the superintendent authority to go down the list in order and and go ahead and issue contracts for these. So we are not going to jump into item number seven without getting all the way through one through six. >> Question. So uh the sink repairs that um you're talking why are those not included in the um >> nutrition fund? >> Yeah. Great question. So, I had the same question actually when we were reviewing this. So, there um are limitations on what we're allowed to use those federal nutrition dollars for or anything out of our nutrition fund. Similar how we're not actually allowed to use nutrition dollars to pay off our meal debt. We have to use operating dollars. We are allowed to buy ovens, dishwashers and equipment, anything that is
084kind of deemed walls or construction. And when we're tearing up the sinks and replacing pipes, uh the federal government considers that kind of construction. So, we would have to use operating dollars for that. And then when you have the uh new buses and you're saying that they're um smaller. >> Yeah. >> Are these the field trip buses that we were talking about or is this for something different? >> Um so something different and and you said that we were talking about so during the budget process we are actually we had three buses in there. These are the same types of buses there. So we u Mr. Wilcott wants to get three additional ones if we can get to six total. Uh so these are 30 passenger. They're the um what the state or the manufacturer
085call type A buses. So they still have stop arm cameras. They have the stops uh stop signs that come out but just easier, smaller. You technically don't have to have a CDL license, but we are still probably going to require it unless we get into a pinch. They still have to go through training uh because they are doing complete stops. Uh and it would allow us to do more rural routes. So, think partwood, Widewater, where maybe we can go out and grab 20 kids instead of having a whole bus start all the way out there, get 20 kids, and then still have to get 20 more, 25 more on their way in. Also something that we could use for our private day school kids when we're, you know, traveling much longer distances with a lot
086less kids on them. >> Okay. And then the third one is, can you explain the um the SAM boxes and why do we need that? >> We'll let Jason. So sandboxes are basically um it's a digital key access box. It helps with key control at our various schools because when when >> do we have a problem >> that we're solving? >> When you hand out keys making it they're in they're in the possession of you know teacher coach whoever and this provides a process for them to be able to check in and check them out instead of potentially losing them like I always do with my keys. So not my work keys. Sure. >> But um >> Jason needs a sandbox. >> So a lot of times we have >> personal you know we have
087master keys for an entire building. We have master key for the entire division the way our keys are our locks are keyed >> and so this would just give us more flexibility instead of having to check out more of those master keys. They can get them out on an as needed basis. >> So this would be for one for every school. >> It would be like a box for that location. Yeah. Okay. Ideally >> the Yes. And we and we can break this down. We would target, you know, more applicable schools up front, right? Schools that might have a higher use of keys, probably high schools, things of that nature, right? But >> so is this enough for all the schools or this enough for to get us started? >> This this should be enough
088for all the schools. >> Okay. Miss >> I'm looking at number seven which says it's a safety and education concern and the um even in the description it says that um this situation has created a tripping hazard for runners and this is on the track and we all know high school has lots of track runners is you don't have to have particular requirements cross country just So why do we have safety issues below operations? I'm not suggesting that the operations isn't, you know, something we need. But traditionally, we have looked at health and safety issues as priority. Was it this intentional not to prioritize a safety issue over operations? >> Great question. And we as we went through this, we tried to triage as best we could. So, for example, the number one item here
089is the hot water heater replacement forge. Um, >> and anything that's high. I I get the the Well, even like can we look at transportation as a, you know, comparison because I know we always need buses. And I'm not suggesting we don't need buses, but the cost of the buses is essentially equal to the cost of this repairing the the drain of the track. But yet the buses are listed as priority number four, a high priority um which is basically to supplement the fleet. Whereas the track repair is listed as a medium priority and it's number seven. So ideally we get to fund all of this, but if we don't get past four, that means that the safety issue with number seven in the track is just not going to get funded. Right? Because this
090is saying we're going to go in this particular order. So, so why did we do that? I mean, we is is there a change in the approach to to put safety after operations? >> Um Jason, I don't know if you have anything else to add about um kind of the process. I know I know your team looked at these and all the the ops and maintenance items in a lot of detail. Yeah. I mean, again, we're when we look at these, we're trying to the perimeter drain replacement, for example, and I I don't want to I don't want to downplay this. It's it is an issue, but it's been an issue for some time, and it's become it's be it's been brought to our attention more recently because I think a student had an incident
091there a few months ago, which is why it's kind why it's came up um this time around. Um it gets very difficult I think to when you get into some of these to how do you prioritize prioritize them because I agree there's there's good reason for everything here on the list and that's why it's here >> but we try to >> your words here though I'm not trying to put words into this I mean your words are creating tripping hazards for runners and and your your definition here is safety education Right. >> So, so safety education issue is coming below >> operations >> an operations issue and it's not immediate below. It's, you know, >> three items below, >> but I would I would just out of curiosity, you've got Winding Creek pavement replacement >>
092and it's not a safety issue. And yet, it would seem to me that it could be a safety issue if a parent or a child is walking from the parking lot into the school and trips over broken pavement. So, >> no, no, I'm just >> I'm just using their words and and and maybe you meant to put safety in there and it's just not in there. But but the but the buses are a more obvious comparison. Yes, do we need buses? Of course, we can always use more buses. But are the buses in terms of priorities for me and it doesn't matter what school this is for? If it's a safety issue, then to me it's going to have priority over something that would enhance operations. So that's something that, you know, as this list
093is, I could not support it with the the safety issue last unless you come back and say, well, it's really not a safety issue. We just use that there and maybe we should take care. >> All of them probably have some element of a safety issue, right? >> I was just going to say I think you could make an argument that they're all safety related. >> This is our starting point. This really is your list. So, we are completely open. If you have suggested changes and the board wants to make that change, we are 100% open to that. We're not tied down to this list. This was our best guess of what we thought the highest needs were, but we are, you know, open to adjusting those. And I do want to give a little
094bit of of context because we um are starting to pull money from from some of the departments and school sites that you know we haven't gotten to the end of the year yet. So uh and we haven't run our June 1st payroll which gives us a lot of insight into what our July one and August one payroll looks like. Um and so when we come back in in June 9th I'll probably have a little bit better projection of what um we believe we're going to be maybe potentially have at the end of the year. Right now, my best guess is between above the $1 million that we have to hold somewhere in the $500,000 to a million dollars >> to 1 million or 2 million to >> 1 million. >> So, we may not even
095get down to the buses. >> I think knowing the amount >> if it's 500, you want to get that far. >> Yeah. >> Number seven will get us to like 1.8 roughly. >> Yeah. probably will not get there unless we see a big drop with our kind of our June 1st payroll where we have some savings that we'll be able to spend. >> Well, can I understand then how a high for the three new buses even though we already have some and it's he said he would like to have >> six instead of three. Can I get an understanding of how that became a high priority over the safety? >> Easy answer. We can never have enough buses. And so we are constantly playing the game of we just spent, you know, eight or 12
096thousand dollars to on bus work on a bus that h we probably didn't really want to spend that on, but we don't have a choice because we constantly are are kind of >> Is it also the case that you could get to June 29th and you could put in the order for the buses and get that money spent, whereas some of these other things might take a little longer to get the money spent. >> Um, correct. We would we would have the PO in place right away on June 30th. Some of these would might not be until the following summer. So we typically put it that's why the estimated completion date is on thereum because a lot of our our maintenance projects, you know, take a lot of planning. So >> So all of these
097you would have no trouble pushing the button on June 30th. >> Correct. They wouldn't be on this list if we didn't feel comfortable. >> I'm just I've just Yeah. I just >> and we'll let you know if something happens and procurement mechanis something falls through then we'll go to the next item on the list and we'll tell you that that's why but typically we want to follow the order of the approved list. >> So we vote on this in June so we've got time to look at >> and if you could give us a better explanation of like why the track drain the perimeter drain is maybe not as big of a concern as the buses >> safety. Yeah. >> Yeah. >> Well, it's it's I think it's in the eye of the beholder. Yeah.
098I mean and I I get it. I believe me, I get it. We always need buses, >> but I have personally always put safety issues wherever they are, whether they're central or school or whatever school they are, I put them ahead of the, you know, operational kinds of things. So, I would, you know, I would ask the board to consider moving the safety issue, unless you want to come back and say, well, it's really not a safety issue. we just described it as that and you'll take that adjective out. If if it's not a safety issue, that's different. But as long as you tell me it's a safety issue and and I know from runners, yes, you can if you trip, you can really hurt yourself. I know there's a lot of runners in in
099the high schools. And it's not just the uh you know, the one school that uses it. Other schools use it. A lot of times community people use our tracks as well. I would like to see that moved up ahead of the um the the operations >> and I would like to know about is Wing Creek Elementary School not a safety issue because it would seem to me that everybody who's walking over that pavement could potentially have an issue >> and I consider that a safety issue even though it didn't say it was a safety issue anytime you're repairing pavement. >> Any other questions, comments about the list on on Mountain View's track? Has there been some temporary remediation just to let kids know to not step on it or the trip? Like you said that
100there's more than one track. So like >> No, I was wrong. Okay. Okay. Flip on my >> um >> right in the inter room. Is there like a cone sitting over it or something or scraping around it to where it can be avoided? >> Yeah. I mean I think the kids understand and we I'll have to double check to see if they specifically put up cones or how those have from time to time, but typically we find something like that. some notification. Okay. >> Anything else? >> No. >> All right. Then let's move on to the last item on our list. Crow's nest elementary school track and grass space. >> Still on tracks. >> Okay. >> All right. Um, excellent. So, just wanted to start off real quick by giving a recap of our high
101school and um, middle school facilities um, so that everybody has an understanding generally of what we have at all of them in terms of outdoor facilities. All of our high schools do have a turf uh, field, baseball, softball, six to eight tennis courts that varies depending on the high school and then an eight lane track. When you get over to the practice facilities of uh school by school, there is variation uh the practice fields you can see there's some variation anywhere from four to six. And then the reason we put the track here is a considered to be a practice facility. It's obviously also a competition facility was so that because we're also talking about the track here today in conjunction with the practice field. So you can see there that um generally they're all
102fairly equal in terms of the total number of practice facilities up front anywhere five, six or seven um facilities. Um and then just the note here because we're talking about Brook Point, Stafford Middle, and Crow's Nest today that currently Brook Point uh shares their track with Stafford Middle School. >> Can you go back just real quick? So Brook Point before had six practice facilities, >> right? And I'll and when we get down, there's a slide here where I'll point it out very specifically. And so this is as of two years ago effectively before we started construction of Crow's nest. I'm really surprised about Forg's numbers because I know they have those fields in the back that they use for Friday night lights for lacrosse and that is like I mean it's sort of extra grassy
103fields but they definitely have I think more than that. That's so those are all all other fields are in that one location kind of behind the baseball field by the student parking lot >> and then some of that um well I don't I don't want to speak I know it starts to encroach on other property it's not all all ours but >> there I know what you're talking about I I struggled a little bit with Fords because they have kind of an awkward setup in the one corner you >> could have gone to almost a six field there but >> for sure for sure they do >> um at the middle schools um it's a little it's a little bit different. Um, so we're looking again, all of them do have a softball field. That's
104good. Um, everybody except for Stafford, um, this is in the current before condition. Everybody except for Stafford Middle has a stadium field. Um, that also has a track around it, except again, of course, Stafford Stafford Middle. Um and then in terms of practice fields, you can see there is a little bit more variation here overall in the practice fields. You can see that Stafford Middle has one which is similar to Gail, Dixon, Smith, Shirley Heim, um >> most of the others, >> right? But overall here you see that in the end um Stafford Middle is uh is the lowest. They have two facilities. Um that's basically their softball field and their practice field. Um, just to note that AG Wright U does share uh some of the practice field space, doubles as some elementary school
105uh play space during the day. And then Stafford Middle also uses uh the one of the Brook Point High School practice fields for their field hockey competition. >> And what do they use for their football competitions? >> They use the stadium and they go over to the to the stadium, right? >> Okay. So, they're the only middle school that actually does games on Turfield then, right? >> Yeah. They they don't have the Bermuda. Correct. >> Okay. >> I do want to just point out, we didn't put a note on there, but some of these practice fields, especially at the middle school, so you know, Rodney Thompson's got a high number and even one at AG Wright. Some of those practice fields are kind of designated parks and wreck fields to the middle schools are not
106using, you know, four practice fields, you know, >> like that, >> but it's technically on the schoolboard property. So, we wanted to be transparent and show that it was there. But I do want to, you know, make sure that we're clear on that. So we don't use those fields. The school system doesn't use them. >> Not not typically. No. >> Okay. So, so what are what's the actual number of what each school uses? >> Well, it varies school to school. Um obviously in some cases we have um so for example, AG Wright um as an example, they have one of the practice fields up here doubles as a parks and wreck field. And I know parks and w uses uses it quite a bit. Um and I don't know when we talked with Carly um
107out there um sorry Miss Hegna out there um she indicated that that is mainly in that case a parks and rack field. Uh but for instance they are using regularly using the softball the stadium the track and their other practice fields on a regular daily basis. Um in in other cases such as um pick another another one here, Rodney Thompson, um you know, they do have um the uh practice fields that are down behind um the um tennis courts. Um tennis courts are not in great shape if you have been down there recently. Um those >> typically because of the location get used by um parks and wreck quite a bit uh for soccer down there and the Rodney Thompson stays over on the other practice fields um where the softball field area. >> So
108I mean I think if I'm trying to do an apples to apples comparison be easier if I knew what fields actually get used by the school. they typically need at least two practice fields um in order to operate without major disruption. And so I think the point we're trying to draw here is Stafford even is, you know, they have their softball field. So let's kind of eliminate that. They all have a softball field. They really only have one practice field. They don't have a second one. They don't have a stadium field. And so >> I just signed up a little like a they may not have dedicated I mean they've been sharing a field since I've been teaching >> and so I I think >> and that's the field that we're showing there >> right
109my kids you know they all did track and competed at against Stafford Middle at Brook Point >> um on the track down there. So to put it as a red zero I don't think is actually accurate because it has been shared. So I just you know I think that it's not >> one of the things that we do in a in a moment is kind of show the combined um impact of Stafford Point and Stafford Middle Point and Crow's Nest >> for a total facilities. Well, and I don't think you could consider Cruz nest as far as like >> not for after school, but just on that property. It's really looking at point. >> Okay. So, this is the image I was mentioning a minute ago. So, right now, or I should say before construction.
110So, this would be as let's say two years ago. This is the band practice field up here. These three turf field, I'm sorry, Bermuda fields uh through here were used for lacrosse, field hockey, um soccer, all the various Mar U marching well this is the marching band field here. This was also doubled as um the competition field for um Stafford Middle's field hockey team. This area down here was a practice field for softball. Largely used by football actually. We see that at some of our facilities where it may have been set up for something but over time has changed to a different use. This obviously is the high school track and um stadium field. This was the Stafford Middle School practice field right here. And you can't see it, but just off off the screen
111is the Stafford Middle School >> uh softball. So, after construction, I'm going to click. You can see what happens. So, Crow's Nest, the um elementary school with the parking takes over um the band practice uh field here, took over the tennis courts as well. So, the tennis courts had to be relocated down here. This area in here becomes the play field for Crow's Nest Elementary School and it's no longer usable as a practice field. And then in order to try and keep um things flowing, we've we went through last about two years ago actually now and we we went through and we planted this with Bermuda grass and irrigated it, which is actually standard at all of our stadium uh middle school stadium fields, but over time this this had never been irrigated Bermuda. But
112that allows it then to be used more regularly. And so we call that a 5050 field. Now we've essentially took 50% of the field regular use from Stafford Middle and are allowing it to be used by the high school. So the marching band comes down here now for their marching band practices. And this would be a great example of where some of the conflicts start to come up. marching band would typically practice and uh beyond up until a little beyond four o'clock, but at that point Stafford Middle's um football team's trying to come down to practice and so they don't have access to the practice facilities here and obviously the high school football team and everybody are using these fields over here as an example. So in the end what what's happening right now what
113what is if we continue down with the the plans that are as they're currently designed we will have two and I called a half practice field uh for Brook Point and then a half a practice field for Stafford Middle and then Stafford Middle would off also lose um the use of this field hockey field uh over here regularly. Um, going back and looking through what in our discussions with the board back in 2023 and 24, um, what we heard and what we thought we saw from the board at that time was really to try and minimize the impact as much as possible to Brook Point and Stafford Middle School's facilities in particular, there was concern about impacts to the athletic facilities. Um, and so at the time we had proposed to do uh a track
114that would double as um not only help out with the elementary school um track uh but also help deconlict um a lot of the ongoing use of the stadium up here. One of the things as we talked through with um staff at the time at the at the high school and middle school, one of the things we heard very clearly was that when you have um you know lacrosse uh let's say going on out here using this uh practicing out here, it's dangerous to have kids running around because the the balls fly >> 80 100 mph. Yeah. >> Right. And so um you know it's not a safe environment at that point. So in order to deconlict those practice, we thought, okay, well, if we added in the track, then you could at least take
115away 50% of the regular use of the stadium and offer a little bit of additional um flexibility there. And then at the same time, we'd be able to do some practice area in the middle of the track. >> Would that help at all with the high school football? I'm sorry, band practice and middle school football. >> Yes. So I'm trying to now go back. All right. Okay. So, essentially um at the end of the day, any additional practice field space, any additional um track space um that helps us deconlict from the main stadium will help um not only with middle school but with the high school um practices, whether it's football or lacrosse, depending on the season. Band obviously um is another, you know, one that we talked about as well. Yes. So any additional
116space would help deconlict that. >> Where is field hockey going to play then? >> Right now um the field hockey will likely have to move to this the turf stadium still even in this scenario. We are still looking to see if if there's a way that field hockey could play on this field in here. Um but at the moment it appear we believe that middle school field hockey would play on the turf state. >> But then that's going to cut into football's practice time. So you can see right where we're trying to create additional practice space for others to have at the same time so that you could put a middle school field hockey team onto the field while >> that would literally only be like maybe four times in the season because they pay
117they'll play four out and four home essentially >> right but I'm just >> and there's and shorter than football >> and coach Hazelwood would tell you those four practices could be the difference between winning homecoming and losing homecoming. Whether that's true or not, but that's, you know, that's that's sort of the mentality. >> Yes. >> Is the high does the elementary school have a truck? >> So the elementary schools, our standard is that the elementary schools get a 400 meter walking track. So what for example, what we've done at 18 is the 400 meter track wraps around the back playfield area. That's typically the standard we're going for at all the elementary. So that's actually how >> the two-lane 200 meter track at one point was the thought was well that'll also cover the one
118lane 400 meter track from a total linear square footage of available area for the kids to be able to use. So one of the things that we heard from um Mr. Tryon and and the teach um the uh the administrators at the schools was that yes they would like for instance you have PE goes down a lot of times uh middle school PE would come down and use the main track well if high school PE is trying to use at the same time or elementary they'd be able to use the other 200 meter track in that case >> that's what I was wondering if um if the elementary could use that track because a lot of times the PTS absolutely you know they put in tracks so >> you know that would I assume assume
119middle school wouldn't be using it as much during the day. >> No, I mean the main intent is to have that track available for the elementary school during the day. >> Okay. So, it's really a shared track. It's not just for the middle school. It's for the elementary school. >> No, no, this is absolutely for shared. >> Does every elementary school have a track? >> The PTO's have paid to put in a lot. >> Yeah, I was going to say does have one or >> not everyone does. Um, >> no. It it's just it's a it's a health and >> No, no. I'm just he he said that and I'm just like I wasn't aware. He said it was a standard new standard. If we're building a new >> It's in the 2009 standards that
120that that that the board approved. And so it's it's something that we've been incorporating into the the new build new fac. But we have a number of schools that don't have it because they were built. >> Yeah. I think it's probably about a walking track though. Not not anything like that. No, we don't even have that. But but they don't even have that. So just saying >> some of them may not have room for it. >> Can you tell us that room for >> in the Thursday bulletin? How many schools have >> just put that number in the bulletin? >> What I will say is elementary school was a really long time ago for me. But I remember the first time when Park Ridge said, "Hey, we're going to build a track." I was so
121excited. I only got to use it for two years, but a track does help. like it helped me focus more in school because I got to walk around the track, run around a little bit, clear my mind. So, I feel like having a track would be beneficiary. >> It's really a shared facility for all three, >> but Parkers probably hasn't had that for a few years now. >> Hello, trailer. So sorry moving forward um >> the there's two options um that we're proposing and again in the in the base contract right now we have a two-lane 200 meter track. However the as we've looked into this further the two-lane 200 meter really won't provide the multiple benefit um to while it would be fine for an elementary school walking use something of that nature. it
122really won't provide the benefit to the middle or high school to be able to help with that deconlicting uh use. In addition, in the in the base contract with the contractor right now, we don't have um Bermuda grass playing space in the center of the field with irrigation. And that's really needed to be able to use that field space. So we're proposing here option one would be to increase from two to five lanes that would provide enough room for practice opportunity for the middle and high school to use um as well as um the the the uh area in the middle to be um upgraded to Bermuda grass uh with the irrigation. Option two would increase it to four lanes. Um we don't the the reason we're recommending option one is because um you also
123get the added benefit that if if so desired you could actually run competitions on a fivelane track. A four lane really would not provide the ability to the additional flexibility for the school. >> So the inside of that track in either scenario could never be made available for a full competition of any kind. >> The inside would be effectively half half a practice field. Okay. >> Right. >> So, what is the minimum of four lanes? What does that mean? >> What's the difference between a minimum of four and the five? I mean, in terms of the cost, I I just don't understand. >> Option number two is four lanes. The minimum,000. >> Yeah. Poor wording there. Four lane, >> right? But but in terms of the estimate though, I mean it seems like if you're
124estimating for four, it's one cost and it's if you're estimating for five, it's another cost because the other factors are pretty much the same. >> The only difference is >> cost more like >> five versus a minimum of four. >> So IGN ignore the minimum. >> That was a mistake on our end. Option one is five lanes. Option two literal. So five lanes makes the inner part smaller or do you just get >> inside the same you have a standard 200 meter on the inside regardless of whether it's two, three, four, five lanes. >> So option two would double what is proposed now? Is that it? Is it now two lanes? >> It's now two >> and we double it to four. >> Correct. And then for a little bit more we can increase it
125to >> and if we increase it to >> to five then the middle schools don't have to use the high school track and it >> Yeah. I'm not saying I'm not in the elementary school behind the elementary school. >> One of the challenges we've had is even our middle school county track championships as you know dragging over multiple days and we're running out of daylight and so this would give us the ability to have hosted at this point staff middle school site where we can use two tracks at once and actually >> well and it's funny because the way you guys are doing um middle school divided it by track and field on two separate days. Back in the days when our kids were in school, everything was done at one day and and we
126weren't chasing I know timing was different, but we still got everything in on that day. And when we did the county track meet, we did it at Brook Point High School when it was only one track and we got track and field all day or not even all day done in one day. And so like I don't even understand how it's being operated now. I've been through many a conversation with Mr. from our time about that. But I I would say um you know, we got it done in a day. When it was just Brook Point, we got it done in a day. When it was just Mountain View, we got it done in a day. When it was just North Stafford, my kids, like I said, all three of them did it. >> Would
127this track have lighting? >> Um we have talked about the possibility if we can, we'd like to be We have lights here at the um tennis courts right now. There's three of them. We're getting some pricing to see if we are simply able to backh hang an additional set of lights >> um >> on the existing light poles >> right on the existing light poles within this within this >> just because one of the things we've heard from middle school is because they get out later lighting has been an issue now this wouldn't be equitable to the other middle schools but it would >> potentially help out with >> it would be the only would this be the only one >> this be the only 200 meter track in the county? No, the only one
128with lights >> from middle school. >> Yes. >> From a middle school standpoint. Yes. >> Yeah. But it would mean middle schools could all go there and do an event >> with the middle school. >> The lights hanging on the one side >> on the other light. That's what I'm like. Do we have to set up? >> Right. So, you could hang the lights, but it's not really going to solve the the issue. >> It's more of you might use >> Oh, I'm sorry. You meant from one side down to the other side of the the track. >> The whole track, >> right? Like if you're going to hang them on the tennis court side, like that light is not going to reach the other side. >> No, it would def well >> it would
129not be a competition level like but it's going to it's going to give enough light for you to be able to run into the evening. For instance, this year I think we were renting the um >> the pro the portable units um to help out. But again, this would also help with high school. Um they do run an indoor season right now and so you you'd be able to even do that into the evening as well. Okay. So, this would have potentially helped with the middle school issue that we had earlier in the year. >> Well, part of the middle school issue is that we're running try meat. So, it was three something versus two, >> right? >> As well. >> I just wanted a real quick answer. 10 of the existing 17 have walking
130pass. >> 10 of the 17. >> Okay. Thank you for answering. >> So, how much of the 500,000 B is lights? >> The light is not not in that right now. The reason we're still in the range um right now it would be minimal though if we had to do anything additional for lights. So but right now the lights are not included in the estimate. So I can be very very clear. Okay. >> And and that is money I I know it's a comes out of the >> capital >> surplus right? It's a contingency for the construction, but that's also the same money that the supervisors have authorized us to use if we have a contingency left to use for any of our I shouldn't say any, but for our three projects. So, I'm just
131trying to keep it in perspective. >> We have about 2.4 million in the contingency. Is that correct? >> For this construction site. Oh, currently have this open >> while he's looking that up. So, it feels like this is a lot of schools using a very small amount of spaces. This feels like we are trying to squeeze something into a sausage casing that should not be going into a sausage casing. Um, >> I disagree. I mean, because of the fact that what you're giving Crow's Nest with a school and a field is adequate for them, the bonuses they get to use a middle school track. >> I mean, and like I said, Stafford and Brooke have been doing this sharing since Stafford Middle School opened in the late 90s. And so and it was yes there
132is less field or whatever but we've rotated it but essentially I mean they shared a track they shared a field it was not a problem >> we're just adding a whole other school and we're also taking a field you know we've taken some field away as well so I feel like it's >> but they have more than everyone else too >> more than we're taking a practice field away I mean just to be you know full disclosure we're taking away a practice field and we're talking about either replacing it with a practice field at one cost or a potential competition field at a higher cost. So >> and the competition field would also serve as a practice field. So it's going to have dual purpose whereas a practice field would only be a practice field
133and could not serve as a competition >> and it's also going to take students longer to get to any of this than it used to take them. >> Everything is further away. Right. Well, I'm just if I'm the coach and I'm expecting to start at a particular time, it's going to take my students longer to get there because I moved it. >> And then if you've ever been to Brook Point and practiced on that back field that is now the 5050 field >> after practice trying to walk up that damn hill to get out of practice. >> Yes, >> it's exactly what you needed to do for that. Just to try and summarize everything, putting Brook Point and Stafford Middle together, it's combined campus, if you will. Um, prior to construction, if you include the
134track, right, we have seven total practice fields. Again, that includes the middle school practice field. So, they have eight total practice facilities. Right now, they're going to drop down to five. What we're proposing is an additional half track and half practice field to get them to six as close as possible to the what they originally had effectively. >> And what was the contingency budget? >> So we have 2.1 million in contingency uh right now um that is currently um unencumbered >> and we don't expect him to use any of that for the school construction at this point. Um, you know, we're still working through various change orders and other things with the with the contractor out there, but we we've looked at this. We've looked at the numbers. We feel comfortable >> with with the
135500 something. >> Is this the best we can give them? >> And we have funds. We have another million left in construction. >> Sorry. >> With the our space that we have contingency funds that we have left, is this the best that we can give >> these kids at these three schools? >> In my opinion, yes. So, I'm supportive of it. >> Yeah. >> However, I am annoyed that we didn't have this conversation before we approved putting an elementary school on the same site as Brook Point. And so, um I and I voted against putting an elementary school on the same side of Brook Point for many reasons, but yes, I'm not going to punish the kids at these three schools by not agreeing to do this. But when we went across the street and
136told the supervisors about all the money we were going to save by putting these in the same place, nobody ever said, "Oh, let's put a half a million dollars in the pile to replace lost fields." So, >> nobody told us we were going to lose fields. >> Correct. >> That's why the timeline was sent. We did have conversations about the fields, what they would look like in the pictures. That was all >> So, not exactly that. Um, it was all in the conversations and it was in the timeline that was sent to us this afternoon. >> Not not with the Yeah, I mean there were some conversations but not before we had >> I don't I don't recall a chart that shows that we took this much away because the the intent was that we
137not have a negative impact on Brook Point and Stafford Middle. I mean, that was always the intent that we would put the elementary school there and whether it be fields or parking or traffic or whatever. So, this is the first time I'm seeing these numbers and and I I mean, I'm going to support it because of this disparity and because it's been taken away. I have, you know, mixed feelings about enhancing it by going to the competition field, but I think you make a good point. uh and as as long as we're doing it now, it's going to cost us less than if we ever tried to do it in the future. So, but but this is the first time I've seen these numbers and see what we've taken taken away. >> So, it's it's
138unfortunate that this did not come to our attention earlier or we could have just built it into, you know, the the whole um proposal. I mean, it's fortunate also that we have contingency funds left over, but my my only hesitation would be that it's taken away from the three Rs, which is always a problem. >> I support this. I think it got definitely lost in translation and partly because I think we were still manipulating where we were putting things. So, um, any other comments? Then I'm going to adjourn the meeting and we're going to go to our special call meeting. Um here couple minute Thank you. Sweet team. Paul, would you please call Miss Blackwell? >> Here, Miss Dr. Chase >> here. Miss Young >> here. Miss Randall >> here. >> Mr. Regan >> here.
139>> Dr. Warner >> here. And I'm sure you have a quum. >> Thank you. Motion to approve the agenda. >> Second. >> Moving right along. So, the first is we the proposed we'll take a vote. >> Oh, it's a pleasant vote. All in favor? >> I sorry, I'm in such a hurry to get get done here. Um, approval of the proposals for the VSBA legislative positions. The action to approve. >> Second. >> Okay. Do we have any discussion or do we want to vote? >> I think we have the discussion. >> All in favor? >> I. >> Okay. Approval of the changes change order for the amount not to exceed $500,000 for the Crows Nest Elementary School construction to upgrade the track. >> Motion to approve. >> Second. >> All in favor? >> I. >>
140Okay. Um then you will notice that the first read of the proposed amendments to three policies um which we will be voting on next time. So this is just a review. >> So we don't have to go out, right? >> No. And those are just needed because we would like your approval. These go in the code of conduct. >> These will go in the code of conduct for next year. >> They've been through government. >> So assuming they get approved. >> Assuming they get approved. >> So and with that we are adjourned again. >> Hey the uh the board meeting was certainly faster than the work.