Stafford School Board 6 10 2025

001which is a Drew Middle School design update. I see Mr. Tower is here. Still assuming our agenda is approved. Just kidding. Yes, it's same agenda, same meeting. We just returned and we took a recess recess. We went out of the playground and ran around. Least fun recess ever. Thank you everybody. Um I'll just briefly again introduce uh um Mr. Tom Lee the guy next to me. What day is it? Little bit of a day. What day is it? Tomah our architects um who have been working with us on Drew Middle School. Um today we're just going to go through um an update on where we're at in the design development. uh phase of this. Um we are anticipating site plans being uh submitted within the next I would say two weeks um over to the

002county. So what you'll see today is representative of where we are. Um we do have um a couple things that we want to talk about and that I'll let Tom give us okay. There you go. So just appreciate everyone's time today to meet with us and this is a brief list of some of the meetings we've had so far with today's design development presentation listed as u the last item on the on the list. Um just to give you a little update since the last time we met we were in schematic design. the last time. Now we're squarely in the design development phase of the project and some of the things that we've made updates from schematic to design development included one of the major items was that adding the locker spaces which is to

003the west of the courtyard and then designing them in a way that they could be used in the future as either two labs per floor or three classrooms per floor. We also looked at encapsulating a space on the second floor to house some of the rooftop mechanical equipment. We've simplified firewalls within the building. And then um we've looked at some value engineering items such as panelizing the facade for the threetory portion for a pre-cast system to try to save a little bit of speed of construction and resulting in a lot of cost savings as well hopefully. And then there's of course massaging the plan all the way through the design and development phase and items like relocating the drama classroom closer to the forum and some others. This is the first floor plan that reflects,

004you know, where we've made those moves forward. And then this is the second and third floor. You can see between those two high volume spaces on the left of the second floor plan where we have the open area above the auditorium and then the gymnasiums, that gray area with the three rectangles is where that rooftop equipment will be located. That was one of the revisions. You can see that locker pod area going up all three floors stacked in the courtyard. Um, but we're really on track with this plan as far as what the comments were made and moving forward with that, you know, we did cost estimates at schematic design and we found that between the two cost estimates that we provided in-house with Downey and Scott and MVP's cost estimate for the CM side,

005um, we're on target. We're still tracking on schedule. So that's just kind of a recap of where we were through the typical design process um in what we call DD following schematic design. Um to drill into this a little bit further um during this phase, we also received some comments um from some community members because the location of the building on the site. So you noticed and this is how we presented it last time. We're up at the north end of the site with the kissing ride parking lot above. So we really wanted to look at that and we wanted to talk about the options that we've studied as a result of this and this is the option that we are currently working on and it's the one that the cost estimates have been derived

006from as well and it's the one that's currently on schedule. So um as we look at option one it's the lowest cost option because it makes use of some of the natural site um elements. It works best operationally because of where it is on the site as far as queuing lines and separating pedestrian bus and fish and ride vehicular traffic. Um the playfields, if you look at the building, the southwest corner of the building in blue is where the athletic departments are, the gym and the main gym and the gym. So it groups all the playfields with the closest access to the athletic side of the building. And it also provides the building's main frontage, including the projected library area along the bus loop to the south side. So, as you approach the building, you

007see the main entrance, you see the the um you know, the express library up front and it causes um the ability to have a little cover up front for loading and unloading buses. And then um it also doesn't require any real improvements to Cliff Farm Road beyond just the intersection with Leland. So this is kind of where we were. Go ahead. Um so I'm I'm still having concern about visitor parking and I'm speaking because I had this experience um and Sarah know or Dr. Chase knows too at Dixon Smith when I'm coming into the front of the building as a car rider. The car rider loop, kiss and ride is right there in the front entrance of the school. Parent parking is right there so they can walk straight into the front entrance of the

008school. But in this instance here, you're having potential parents coming during who are trying to park and walk into the building are going to be walking through a bus movement situation and or parking on the other side, walking around the perimeter of the school. None of those I feel are really safe, but I'm a visual person, so excuse me. I'm going to get up. Sure. Um, is it possible to switch these two with these two so that parents are really coming in parking and coming in the front door? Now, I know there's a ripple effect to that. What's that? Which did you say? Can you What did you say? Take these two halls and sorry, and flip them up here and these two halls to flip down here. Now, I know there's probably a ripple

009effect, but my concern is if parents park here, they walk around, and if I'm wrong, just correct me, but they can't come in this door or they're walking through the building having never been through a secure vestibule is my understanding. But if they park here, they're moving through bus movement before or after at the end of the before the beginning of the day or the end of the day. So, I'm just trying to get parents to funnel in through I could care less if the buses drop off at the front door because that's there's going to be teachers or whatever over here, but I'm just wondering either switching the parking or switching the halls just so parents aren't walking to get in the front door through moving buses. Yeah, we have looked at the option

010of mirroring the plan. And what we're looking at currently is that if you're coming at the kiss and ride time, dropping off a student, then coming into the school, then I suspect at that time at loading and unloading of students, those doors at both ends of the activity street and the cafeteria would all be open and the main entrance, right? Because that is um when the students are all flowing through the school, right? Sick kid or just walk, right? So if if you're coming in during the school day, then we would anticipate parking at the visitor spaces in the same as the bus loop, but then the buses wouldn't be there or in those movement times. But there are times like at the beginning of the day where I'm parking and coming in with my

011kid or I'm at the end of the day coming to get my kid and you know buses are pulling in to stage themselves. Yeah. To stage themselves. Stage you. Right. So that's why I'm just curious why we if we could plan that better for safety. But if not, if we've missed that window, that's I'm just curious. Yeah. And but I know there's going to be a ripple effect. Like I'm thinking so simply as oh switch these but I know that's not how it is. Well, flipping the building or parking that would be a big ripple. Right. Right. Um one of the things we have and you're pointing out something that's is a weak spot in this plan. No, no doubt about it. And we've talked about it, tried to figure out like how can we

012massage this a little bit. I I don't disagree. Um what we've talked about as as a solution is is simply creating a good ped good strong pedestrian connection here between these parking spaces up to the front door so that the crossing point would be here, not through the middle of as you pointed out the majority of the bus the bus movements that may be going on out here. Um, so I think I think that given the site and the the the overall operation of the site, I don't disagree. It's it's a it's a weakness in in the overall design, but I I think that overall the the strength of having the the um car rider loop in the back and the buses in the front because we had even talked about, as you said, flipping

013the buses to the back, right? Um but then the concern becomes buses getting stuck in car rider cues, right? Which has its own set of impacts. So and is there is there a ripple effect like on that one bottom line there you move visitor parking up a little bit closer and the bus is behind them or does that not allow for a decent flow either? The cars. We want the we want the buses to be able to Yeah. We want the buses to be able to drop off curbside as Okay. um as much as possible, especially for special need buses that need to have that unloading area right there immediately adjacent to the school. And this walkway is 10 ft wide. It's not like a small sidewalk. And but we do see this in a

014lot of schools where you have to balance this need for security and the single secure vestibule with the convenience of being able to enter the school from anywhere on site. So it is somewhat of a tradeoff for security that there's times during the day where you can't park in the back and walk in the north end of activity. This is and this may not be for you so much as logistically. So when you have an event at the school during the school day, right? like there's an awards ceremony and every one of those parking spots is going to be full and so is it possible to set up something up securely so that they can come in that back entrance like for back or are they going to have to go all the way around

015some schools have a table and teachers and staff and the SRO at that entrance so when parents come in they have to show their ID so so we do do that already at some of our schools I have not had a cool that does that. I'm not Doesn't they have to run the IDs through and then get the sticker and the badging? If it's for an event, they have to show their ID so that they have to confirm who they are. And that's just it. It's I would really like to hear the superintendent answer the question. Thank you. So So normally, yes, we do want everybody to come through our our ID check and our and our visitor management. There are times when principles can work to say, I'm going to have these ton of

016folks coming in. kind of relocate where that looks like so that we can expedite those folks and get those folks in a in a in a quick manner. So, they do have that option if they need to. They can take a look at that. It's normally not relocated to another door. It's normally we just expedite it because so many are coming in the front door, right? Other ways to do that. U but so I I'm getting to this. Yeah. To this point, that would be a concern kind of putting it in the back there. Um I Jason, I don't know if there's, you know, I know you added the landscape buffer this time to these to these drawings here. I don't know if there's an option to do some more visitor parking that might be

017available on the front end of the landscape buffer or in that back corner over there at all um to kind of address some of that. Sure, we could take a look at that. The other thing I did want to point out though is that there is a vestibule here and it wouldn't it wouldn't we can secure that. Of course, it would be normally secured, but we could add a feature in that might provide that if you will satellite check-in for a special event. Could that double as an SRO workspace? You know, in the like in the when we're not using it for alternate check-in location, we could take a look. We could take a look at that. The SRO office would typically be up in the front. Well, we know that it can be done

018because it's been done at AG, right? Sure. Yeah. Forever. I mean, there wasn't any there's no back parking. It's all out front and to the side. Yeah. It's all right in front of the school. Y we have the Garrisonville buses coming there and the AT right buses and it's worked. It's not I'm just saying though I don't have that I'm less concerned with but the fact that the for like an event awards or whatever that that many people walking around the entire school there is not necessarily what kind of sidewalks are we going to have? What kind of walkways are we going to have? If they're going to have to walk then then we need to make sure we have adequate typical like if it's more a standard sidewalk, they're typically about 5 foot wide.

019If it's like our typical walks around the building, they're more like 8 to 12 foot. So, so that's for the if people parking in the back lot to walk around the front if the satellite was not available. So, there there would be we could, but I think that our intention would be that they would still be able to enter for a larger event. you would have you would be able to open up both sides and predominantly this would become the main entrance for a larger event. So I think so if you were having a basketball or theater where you like that's after hours where you don't have to check ID and people are just coming for that larger event you could open that door and just let people in. Correct. And and to the point

020of have adding some additional security at that point I think that that's a great suggestion we can delve a little bit further into. Yeah. And specifically, it's intended to work that way so that after school, the activity street entrances are open on both ends, but then the entire academic side of the building to the east is locked out. Okay? So that you really can't use the secure vestibule in the evening only really for the student, but like like Jason was mentioning with that vestibule there, it really just becomes a matter of not whether there'll be someone there to check people in. Evening events generally don't have evening events has come in, right? Yeah. Yeah. We're just talking about for during the school day though, right? Primarily. Yes. Yeah. Did you All right. Thank you. I

021didn't know if we were doing it or not, but I guess we're not. So, um I just wanted to ask you, you said you simplified the firewalls and I wanted to know is that for cost savings and did we simplify the safety or is the safety the exact same? Safety is the same. It's just simply when you're looking at a structural model, the definition of a firewall requires that like any incident on one side of the wall can't affect the construction on the other. So you have to end up structurally separating the building and it becomes expensive when you have lots of twists and turns. So we simplify the wall, straighten things up where you're running parallel with the joist as opposed to perpendicular and bearing conditions. Okay. More of a nuts and bolts thing,

022but it's um yeah, no safety reduction whatsoever. Still from obviously in computers altogether. That's how you know about the whole time, but it's because he's in technology. So that's hilarious. It's when you're designing buildings like this, you get them where you want them to work and then you spend a lot of time tweaking them. You spend a lot of time adjustments to make things. When we're looking at floor plans, we're not talking about tech. Yeah. Right. All right. Thank you. That would be another. So then can you just remind us real quick what you sh I know we talked about handicap parking and I think you had shared at one point there's there's certain number of handicaps parking at each of the locations. Is that right? There is. Correct. And it's dispersed. So you don't

023put them all at one entrance. They're dispersed between the different entrances around the site. So from front there would be some on the back as well and some likely over behind the building to the service loading yard area. Okay. And these parking areas are connected. So you can you know after hours drive from going to the next without going back onto farm's also a benefit for everybody else. So then, you know, in response to the community comments about the school being at the north end of the site, particularly that parking lot um at the north end, we came up with an option two that we studied where we flipped the parking and the playfield, split the playfield at the north end of the school and the parking below the bus loop. Um what we found

024out pretty quickly with this option is that a it it didn't relocate the building. So the benefits were somewhat limited, but secondly it created a number of operational issues with the flow of the building like coming through the bus area from all of the parking mixing pedestrian and vehicular traffic as well as separating the play fields into both the north and the south portions of the site. So if you're running an athletic program, some kids are going up around the schools up north, some are coming down south. If there's any kind of team teaching or any elements of multiple PE instructors, um it didn't really make use of that effectively. Um so with this, we thought also um you know, it required the kiss and rod loop to kind of come through the school past

025the service area potentially conflicting with service vehicles or deliveries coming at the same time. anything from bringing in food to the loading docks by the cafeteria to trash removal. Those would all have to be timed. Um and then it required a third entrance on Cliff Farm Road. And then lastly, um a change like this would require moving backwards in schedule for civil site planning. So right now we're currently scheduled to submit for site plan around the 20th of June, which is 10 days from now. So this would be a significant schedule impact try to try try to bring this along forward which we identified as a risk um for leading the ontime delivery. So, and I do want to just take a moment though to point out the the benefits of this. Um, right. So,

026and the intent of this was to look at trying to relocate some of the the the lighting and the impacts from the northern part of that site to the immediately adjacent um homes over there. So, that was again main thrust here was to try and pull as much of that, if you will, no noise and light pollution down away from that. Um but again the concerns as um Tom mentioned seemed to seem to outweigh that benefit. So then we went to option. Yeah. Just to add to that too, it would also mean if that was the benefit of this option that we couldn't add sightlighting to the playfield in the future, right? Because then that would kind of reverse the value of movement there in the first place. Um and so then we went kind

027of looking at what would be the ideal location potentially if we moved everything south. Um so in moving the building to the south, this got it as far away from the north um residence as possible, but it created some other issues like we would have to create an entrance off directly off Leland. So that's another Leland entrance and we'd have to relocate the first, you know, portion of Cliff Road. So those are the two significant impacts. Initially we think relocating the roadway alone is probably about a3 to5 million additional cost. It would still be the scheduled impact and the risk of on-time delivery if we're going to this position. It also requires taking the building and like we were talking about moments ago, flipping the floor plan so that the entrances are all on the

028north side of the building for where the secure vestibial is, where the library is, and we're really kind of architecturally the front of the building is. Um, the hurdle we saw with that is you don't see the entrance until you drive around the building and it doesn't face the frontage, which we saw as a negative. um it does, you know, move the building as far forward as possible and it does potentially add the opportunity for some additional playfields in the back. But again, this is the the highest cost option. It requires relocating the road. Um it has a significant schedule impact for both the building and the site design. And then with the frontage facing away from the building, it doesn't really let visitors know where to go initially. Um and then the last one

029was requiring gear and so it's really taking the entire architectural structural mechanical plans and flipping them at this time. So with that I have a slide just um or first before we get to that that kind of led us to confirm that where we were moving forward with the option one was really going to be our recommendation. Um you know we don't have the costs of the realignment of Cliff Farm Road. It's the preferred orientation of the building. It has the best operational flow. It's the best for the schedule. Um, and then it's, you know, I think the separation of the bus and rod and the bus loop and potentially the the greatest amount of space for queuing to prevent any kind of backup on any roads is also a major concern and um something

030that was solid solved by this plan. So um so option one would be our recommendation for moving forward which would keep us on schedule for the 20th and then these are all three options side by side just in case there's any discussion so you can see them together. I had a a question um one of the reasons we had talked about option two and option three is in response to some of the um I guess neighbors concerns with the construction. Are there other opportunities to address some of those concerns in a way that doesn't do this? Like I know somebody brought up lights at a parking lot. Are there timers? Are there caps? Are there like, you know what I mean? like are there other ways to solve the problem that aren't reconfiguring a construction

031site um and that are likely low to no dollar or somewhere in our spending spending allowance to be to recognize that the problem needs is a problem still and is there anything that we can do to help mitigate those impacts? Sure. So, and with with the type of lighting that we would be doing in the parking, there is also an option for us to move away from Dominion Virginia Power is typically who we use to do our lighting um so that we don't have an ongoing maintenance cost. Um we have a handful of schools where we still have that. We're getting away from that, but we could look to introduce our own lighting which would give us a little bit more control over time of day and some of those things. Now, there is still

032county code requiring certain amount of security lighting. Um, so we have to make sure we're still compliant with that. Uh, but we could give ourselves a little bit more variety there in terms of the type of lighting that we could select. That would again mean that we would have some maintenance costs long term, but you know, I I don't think that would be a huge hurdle for us. Uh, but certainly any type of lighting we would have would be, you know, the cutoff type of lighting that wouldn't have the sky glare and so forth. But it's it's going to be a school site. there is going to be a certain amount of impacting. Um we've also with option one pulled the school away um as much as possible reasonably to get it away from those

033property lines, provide some additional room um and space for buffering. Um but it's still it's a three-story building. Um and there's only so much that that vegetation will will do. Now over time it'll help. Um but especially initially, you know, one of the things we did up at Elementary 19, we we did some additional upsize and some of the vegetation up front um to help it with a little bit more mature vegetation initially. So we can take a look at that as well. Yeah, buffers are really your second option there both in with the buffer and in the over planting of the buffer and more mature planting. What are some ways to what is the um just the ballpark cost for upgrading the buffer or I got talking tens or maybe a few couple hundred

034thousand you know in in terms of depending on the density of the plantings the landscaping can get pretty expensive. Is that something that is a game time decision or is that something we'd have to make like what is the timeline for making a decision like that? We we can make that decision at a at a later point, but I think certainly if that's the board's direction, we can start gearing towards that now. Well, maybe we can see if there's any cost savings once we start construction. Well, that's really what it is. But if it is something we've already agreed to do for the neighbors at 19, you know, well, I think we've agreed here, too, because the landscape buffer, I think, that was put in was done in order to to do that. So, if

035you look at the Yes. So the land Yeah. If you look at the site plan, so there's this landscape offer here. So we've kind of already done that, but we could enhance it if we have That's what I mean. If he's talking about like more mature Yeah. Um vegetation or whatever they're calling it. I don't do outdoorsy stuff. We've already landscape. I get it. I just don't like I don't touch it. Is the landscaping that is on the proposed Does that exceed the county requirements for this site? So, we've already exceeded. The question is, you know, how far be able to go? Well, tens of thousands. Can you remind us is a big difference. It is in ter I mean, it's not a nominal it's not a nominal range, right? Like that's a big deal

036particularly given the current budgetary culture. So, it would be I can boil that down a little more for you too. Can you help me remember how we ended up with a difference between the two sites? Why we have a I guess a requirement or a decision made I don't even want to call it a requirement for it to be different but you know thicker whatever more mature at night like did that come from the planning commission? Did it come from us? Did it come from the board of supervisors? I believe that came at the board of supervisor level when you were talking about this conditional use permit for building packet. Okay. That was when we committed that additional and so we already have the the width of the buffer expanded. It's just a matter now

037and that's not really a major cost issue to have the width expanded but the additional planting is what correct. So right now the site permit will have to show the buffer to get the site plan approved. So there will be some screening as a part of the site plan. And I didn't mean to say we're hundreds of th like four or 500. I meant to say like tens up to a hundred. Okay. I didn't mean to. Well, I just from my own backyard, I know how different what the different price is between the small plants to the big ones. I want people things in my backyard and $500 a branch. I'm like, I get it. Yeah. Correct. Yes, you do. Don't get me started with that crap. Do you want to run through some of

038the Sure. Um, so we did develop some perspectives. I should say Tom's team developed some perspectives. Um, we did, if you're interested, also have a little, um, fly around video just to give a little bit of additional context. Um, yes, I did. Um, I want to walk through it. But that one picture that you just had, that was with the fields in the front, which is not option one. The fields in the back and option one. Or am I looking at the building wrong? Let's go to the next rendering here. So this is the main entrance. The threetory area is um the secure vestibule. There's a resource space above. So it's a twotory space inside and threetory space on the outside. Okay. It's the library to the left here with the colonade. And that gives

039you more cover for bus loading and unloading for kids to be able to wait in and outside. And then past that to the left is the gym where you can see the panels with the smaller windows in the distance. And then along the right side of this, you see the threetory classroom facade. And in the furthest to the right, a little white section is the science um wing that's stacked in the back. So this is kind of the south side. Now this in contrast is the north side. This is the kiss and ride loop. So you have that large glass area is the cafeteria. Above that is technology. And then where you have the gray area is the stair tower. And between those two elements is the north corridor to the activity street. And then

040everything to the right of that is like kitchen and loading areas and so on. Yeah, we can. So, we'll just pop into this real quick so you kind of get I knew they could do that. I was going to ask if you could watch a lot of those. We can do interior. There you go. Thought that was so really where the gym is, all the playing fields are behind the gym. Yes. Well, they're where you are in this in this case, they're south of this, right? So, that's the gym. They would be back behind behind where we're standing right now looking at it. Oh my gosh. To get from the current site to that, it's not even it's not night and day. It's like how many dreams can we fit in there? I know. It's

041gorgeous. Gorgeous. How much trees like that? Now, these trees that are drawn on here are reflecting what's on the site currently. Yes. Yeah. I like those. So, that's the main way. This is the kitchen ride. This is a good picture. See all those cars parked in those bus spots? That mean that No, these are these are the middle one. Wait, what kind of missing entrance there? Those look like bus. Yeah, right. car. So, this is how you would drive. That's for my car. And so, they have the And the nice thing is the kiss and ride with the cafeteria is you can control the release of kids out to the cars. You've got space for queuing inside the building. And there's the courtyard. Well, we don't even get recess. They don't get recess. They don't

042get recess. We don't We don't get recess either. Welcome to adulthood. He's very happy to see. So cool. Okay. Um that's the end of what we have prepared. Are there any Thank you for answering my question. Really do you need something from us on certain timeline? Um at this point uh just again we are proceeding forward um with option option one. Um unless there's definitive direction to go a different direction. We just wanted to report back let you all know where we're at and plan to continue forward. a different plan. If you want to change the plan, we have to let him know now. So, if there's any interest in changing the plan, he is telling us to let him know. No, thank you. And you're going to come back to us with potential numbers

043on vegetation improvement or we can we can Yeah, I'll try to get you. And are you thinking deciduous or evergreen for trees? Well, purple ones, Susan, those purple are more like the bushes. I'm just thinking like you kind of like defeat the purpose if you put a deciduous tree and the leaves fall. Science usually science you all. It'll be a mix of deciduous and evergreen. That's fine. I'm just saying the privacy of the county has standards based on your site on what you have to put in there and then you get to pick what you want. I mean, before we say go forth and add, I'd like to, you know, get an idea of what the requirements are, how we've exceeded it, and what we would do if we had a higher budget. Yes. Because

044that's exactly there may not be a need for it because we're already exceeding and the county hypothetically would have, you know, the minimum. So, I I'll give you a cost of here's what the county minimum generally would be. Here's where we're at now. Here's some potential Well, not just the cost, you know, what is, you know, how much of an enhancement would it be if we went beyond and then what would the cost? We can do that. We want to see the cheap trees and the more expensive trees and know what the difference is a reminder about the security. Plus, we don't know how much this vegetation is going to cost a couple years from now. I know you can put an escalator, but who knows? I don't understand why we wouldn't do the same

045thing that we're doing at 19 for Drew with with the that might be the buffer. I thought she was asking we are doing we already at the same No, we we've already exceeded I think we have a wider buffer. We have a wider buffer. Is that what I'm understanding? At w more dense right now is what we're proposing. And so the question is would we also go additional mature trees and but so at 19 there's more mature trees but it's a thinner thinner buffer. Okay. I think what we could do is since we have the site plan going in is we could take the site plan, we could render those views with the trees. We could even show renderings looking through the trees of the building. They're not as exciting, but that's the whole point.

046They kind of screen the view and we can show you what it would look like and we can propose if we did improve this or you know spend more on it, what would that get us? And then you could see the comparison. And do we have buffer concerns at six or 18? There's not as many as many. There's some residential that's right up against those baseball and softball. Yeah. Um well, that's why, you know, I took a look over in that direction because I know that there's some houses right up against our property, but um not as many, I think, or as Oh, there is on the back side of the ball fields, but not the school buildings themselves, but definitely the ball. And and the neighbors can, if they choose, put buffers on their

047side as well. There's no restriction on that. I mean, we we're we can do what we want on their property. They likewise can do what they want on theirs. So, if they're not happy with what we're doing, they can add their own. Yes. We're just asking questions to be good neighbors. That's all. Well, if we have an unlimited checkbook, we can be fantastic neighbors. But we don't we don't. So, I we're talking literally a longer term. this I mean things could happen between now and when we build this that we may have to make some cutbacks you know if the cost of construction goes up and we have limited funding we're we might have to look at the last I don't want people to get an an expectation that we're going to you know be

048doing more than we may possibly be able to just so that people don't understand we are not promising anything correct Okay. All right. And don't knock the value of joy that hearing the sports and I I can see the lights from Columbia from my house and hear the band and the announcers for every game. But you don't have any cell phone or internet service over there right in the middle. But there's a certain amount of joy that comes with hearing the kids enjoying. So we're going to move on. We do have a next item is presentation of an update on transportation. Um Missy let me know that there is food available if you'd like to make a plate at some point at your just leisure. We're not going to move forward. We're not going to

049recess for it, but feel free to What is out there? Uh sandwiches, food. I don't know what I was probably cookies or something. I saw some chips. Who did you bring? I bought um the birthday celebration would be a better dinner first. We taking a break. Some people are getting food. So I guess we lost our complaint now. Good. Yeah. Yeah. Could have streamlined a little bit. It was a lot of down time. When you're done make a place. Yeah. So but yeah, I mean they have some virtual kind of things and then stuff. So nice of you, but I'm not used to being treated. But I think part of it other students see them. So that's when you look at it from that way and not from the parents perspective. She didn't have a

050roommate. Everybody else had a roommate. She didn't have room. So she's just sitting in a normal like she's in a hall. She was like eight or ners on the same floor had a bunch of girls on the same floor. together. He's here tonight to lead us in a transportation update about all things going on there and just looking ahead and getting ready for the upcoming school year. Thank you, Dr. Smith, and good evening, board. And so, would like to just go through our transportation department update and the current planning uh report. So, as far as our takeaways for this discussion this evening, we'll have an update around staffing, uh the school bus discipline referral system that we had for this year, uh the transportation enhancement work plan, some of the department gains along with an

051update regarding the opt-in for 2526 school year and then our timeline of where we currently stand in preparation for the upcoming school year. Fantastic. As far as our department staffing is concerned, uh we finished the year with supporting a total of 243 routes. 166 of those were our mainstream routes and then 77 were our students with special uh with disabilities or special needs routes. Our current staffing when we started the school year, we had budgeted for 271 FTEEs. We actually had actual um drivers, we can say, in the seats starting August 2024 at 244. And then we concluded um the last day of school with 265 bus drivers and then a total of 76 um attendants. And if you have questions on why there's a decimal, that's due to us having different employees at different

052contract rates. But a nice positive note is that right now currently we actually have 17 um candidates or bus driver candidates actually in training along with six attendants. So we're continuing to grow up our department and be staffed for the beginning of the school. I just want to um add to Mr. Wilcott's really quick because one of the things that we are also monitoring is just you know end of the year resignations and retirements um and that number is actually really low. Uh, so we're actually doing pretty well there. So the number, you know, you look at it and say 265, well that's the end of the year and then where has it gone since then? So it's dropped a few and then we're adding more to replace those. So it has not I would

053actually say it seems like it's dropping less than even in previous years. Can I ask a question? Did their routes change the number of routes from the beginning of the year to the end of the year? They numbers just like consolidated or Yeah, they they definitely made some enhancements and efficiencies with some of the routes during the year. I wouldn't say it was 20 or 30 routes less, but um a few routes here or there yet special ed we have no control over that that way. And yeah, that's I'm glad you mentioned that's a great point that some some of the special ed routes probably even went up a little bit from Yeah, I mean that's 50% almost, you know, that's that's higher than I would have Is are um specialty centers included in that

054mainstream routes or how how are specialty center routes calculated? So our specialty is actually calculated in the 77 special need routes there. So we actually did 66 that were just truly our Stafford schools and then our specialty um which is the other part in there. I think he's referring to Sorry, I think you're referring to private day school. She I think they're asking about our specialty travel students from the high school. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Sorry. So, are they they are included in the main routes? Okay. Thank you. So, how many were the day school buses or routes? in the day schools. That would be the the difference of for us we did 66 and so an additional 10 for those private day schools. Okay. Okay. And are all of those transported on yellow buses or

055are some of the do we have some students that are transported in like non CDL? So that like so no like our white vehicles or like the stuff like that you don't need a CDL driver you just need someone who's trained and background checked and all that stuff but doesn't need to have a CDL um particularly if it's you know one student some of our Mckin Vento some of our day school that's been so for this current year when I came on board um everyone that we were transporting was on actual yellow bus with the CDL driver. So we were not using we were not at this particular time using any nonCDO compared to we were using some vendor students that go to Woodbridge or go further south. Wow. And that's just about three three

056families that were affected by and that like this is a dumb question but that still all falls under transportation. You're it's not like white vehicles are handled through a different department. It's all part of student transport. Now, the the private day schools that we send students to, do they get transported by do we charge the county for that? Because the county pays for those. It is not, don't they? We don't itemize in ourou, but we could. But hypothetically, the county pays the expenses of the private day school students. So, if there is a transportation cost, would that not be charged? Great question. We have to look at that. I know I legally I think we're still required to provide the transportation for those students. So I think it would still fall on us, but we

057could look at the details of that. legally still to know how much money that is, how much money, how many people it cost us. I mean, it would just be great to know that information because some way. So, here's an update just moving on as far as um school discipline referrals. And so, this is um per our table there. This is bus referral averages per school. And so we've given you about three years of data. So this year we concluded with about 600 1699 referrals that were had that were taken and we started taking this data back in 2223. And so this is still a work in progress for us as a department. We're continuing to strengthen our relationship uh with the office of student conduct and campuses uh to support the drivers in attendance.

058But internally, we're focusing more so on more training with our frontline staff, that being our bus drivers in attendance, on how we can continue to work through student management situations that are taking place on the buses. So, this is a particular focus for me for questions because um I've heard a lot from bus drivers who have been on the job a long time not feeling confident about stopping a bus if they feel it's unsafe to to move forward or whatever. Not feeling really assured that um and this is not on anybody's plate. Some of it might be perception. So, I'm just offering it as a discussion point, right? not feeling like the administration is going to back up the bus driver's decision at that point. So when you say talk about hut what so so

059I don't know if it's perception or not but I would like that address like is that what are we addressing some of that for them like on in this student management thing can you give me a little bit more what that means like helping them feel empowered so first it's about what are we actually writing up the students for right what is what is the referral why is the referral actually taking place okay uh what was done are we kind of across the board what to look at how to handle situations. And then the other part that I' I've heard since I've been here from the drivers is that once a referral is done, what how do we close or put a period on that type of situation? So from the campus, yes, we received

060it. This is what we've done. And then driver, we want to let you know, acknowledge that, hey, these are the steps that the campus took. That's what I keep hearing from the employees. That's what they really want to know. Y that hey it's right now it's I've turned in a document but I didn't get any response of what happened. And so that's what we're trying to work on and there is a part but as far as that communication um closing the gap on that. That's the part that I have seen that we need to do better for our employees, the drivers. That's exactly what I want to hear because that's exactly right. I think that's the point where they feel unheard because they they say we give this paper out and then the next day

061the kids back on the bus may be causing the same problem and so they don't necessarily know that what they've said has been taken seriously or is whatever. So it would be it would be huge for them. It would really validate for them to have that clue that that you closed for them. So um and so so then you just said before like how to handle particular situations, right? Like so does that include like they can't like stop the bus, call transportation department, like giving them those particular, right? So, a student has a disruption on the bus, then usually developing and enhancing those procedures. What does that look like? So pulling over to the to the side of the road, putting the bus, you know, in in a safe spot, safe location, handling the situation,

062actually getting a coordinator to go out and see if they can assist and help on that situation. Uh when they call, making sure that if it's escalated that there is campus personnel that actually goes to the bus, they wait, they see that they get to express their concerns to them, not having to always wait just to write it down and then have that followup. That's where we need to continue to enhance. Not saying that it's not there. Right. Right. Right. But that's the enhancement that correct we want to bring. But I want to just sort of comment that that just that we now have a process and that bus drivers have actually had professional development to help put a process in place. And so I'm thrilled to hear that and I'm thrilled to hear that

063that we're working on the next step. Yeah. And I think it's important for us to have that answer for people, right? Too, right? like, "Yay, we're we're doing all of the things that you're talking about or whatever." And so it just gives them a little bit of a little bit more like after finally the hope is there. You know what I mean? Like it was always on the horizon and now we're at the horizon and thank you. So that's so I'm going to talk in your direction, but I probably am talking more to Dr. Smith and even Miss Boight. Um, for me, I would hope that if you see a gap in policy in student behavior that maybe somewhere we say in schools where we need to say in schools and on buses that either

064inhibits action or improvement in student behavior or you know the empowerment we give to drivers that maybe teachers have something that they can do but drivers aren't able to do. Is there a gap? And is there a behavior that in a school that is stationary is maybe a lower level infraction that we might consider looking at as a higher risk behavior on a bus that's going down a road that has a a larger number of kids in a smaller space that we that you might recommend we look at as something as a more severe um issue on a bus than it would be in school. Just like things like that. um whether it's oversight because of language or because you know behaviors on buses are different, there is such a level of safety um there

065that we just need to be on top of for everybody's protection. And if we can do anything to make our, you know, that whole experience safer for everyone on the bus and on the road, then, you know, I'm I'm all ears and hoping that there's like a a way to bring that in this direction. And I think that's great and I co-sign on everything they said. But what I want to say and make it really plain is that riding the bus is a privilege. It's not a right. And I'm not I'm not for kicking kids off or kicking kids out, but sometimes there needs to be something. You know, I've been a mom here since 2007 and I've seen a lot. I've seen parents get kicked off of buses, right? Because they it was it

066was warranted. It was deserved. But sometimes we need to move in that direction. and I don't know where that trigger is and I don't think the community does either. But that might be helpful because if I know my kid is doing something and oh, they're getting close to that trigger then maybe I would parent differently or maybe I would actually engage and start to parent for for that part. But also, I need to know that there actually is a trigger. And at some point, I shouldn't say trigger. I apologize. There actually is something. And then we're going to actually do that that thing that will say, you know, little Johnny maybe shouldn't be on the bus next week or there's a letter home. I I my kid was good, so I don't know what that

067is, right? But I've seen stuff. And so I it's murky for me and I sit on the school board. And so I'm just saying there needs to be some type of information that goes out to the students and to the parents. This is our and I know we probably have done it. We need to do it again, right? This is our expectations. This is what you know would get you off the bus and this is what will keep you on the bus. And then we need to follow through because there's a belief that nothing gets you off the bus. You you know what I'm saying? And and of course I'm sure we have done that but it's just it gets really frustrating. I I concur. I think nothing wakes a parent up more quickly than

068inconvenience and having their kid pulled from the bus is inconvenient. And so I feel like it's like having to unlock their cell phones. Right. Correct. Like I hate that it's that way, but we've seen all too often here that the, you know, we don't get parents screaming at us until the last possible second when they had been paying attention all the line. They could have just screamed at us earlier and then we would have had more time to help, right? Help them with that. So I think at this point in the game that's 100% on the money like there has to be and I think triggers the right word right like we have to know what triggers this event to happen that triggers this event to happen so that we are clearly communicating with the

069parents and we are clearly letting them know that we've walked every mile and now we're at a point where we're at the end of the road. So thank you so much for that. Appreciate it. I have a question with respect to the bus drivers. I understand them wanting to know what happened but I think And this boat where you can check this out for us, but there there are some privacy restrictions on what can be told. even you know for referral if if action is taken we the we may not be able to report that but I in turn I think if the bus drivers have confidence in the administration and the schools that they drive for then there will be you know less angst you know there so if we can somehow develop that

070relation I think I probably pretty good in most of the elementary schools. You know, the principal a lot of the principles process because I feel like if a student had an an elevated behavior in a classroom, that teacher would escalate that to AP or principal, but the teacher would know the outcome of that student's referral because the teacher referred them. So, I feel like a bus driver like the bus driver knows what the issue was. I didn't say I knew the answer, but we can check it out. But there are restrictions on what we can share and it just so they don't think we're trying to hide it but you know we have I think that if it's within the realm of something that the bus driver has to know for instance if the student

071has been suspended from the bus so the bus driver would have to know that because they would need to know the next day the student is not supposed to be riding that bus. But if some other things you know that really didn't really concern them and in their role as a bus driver that wouldn't They want to know what what was done anything short of suspension. But so then to that to that to your point though if that's the case and I think what would just be helpful for the bus drivers is to be validated by the principal to say we are in receipt of your referral. I think that's like that's really what they're looking for instead of just radio silence. They're looking for the administrator to acknowledge that they're in receipt of the

072the referral and that they are working to correct the situation. And I don't necessarily know they need to be any more specific than that because what they're really looking for is somebody got that form and relationship and they'll know that. Right. But that's not always the case. That's hard. Yeah. I think we recognize we need to close that feedback loop and so just know you submitted something we process it. And as a parent, like I would want to know, they need to have confidence that it's if my kid was being a jerk in the lunchroom and in the art class and in the library and on the bus, that's not in front of their classroom teacher. But how do you document a pattern of a kid needing additional support or redirection if each individual person

073isn't hearing that like my kid's been a jerk in four different places in front of four different people? somebody is not recognizing that it's a pattern and that the bus is essentially the child's additional classroom with addition assistant usually that for that reason alone I would want to make sure that the bus driver knows that I filed this paperwork it has become part of wherever it is supposed to live moving forward well I would think that that should be a given if the referral goes in they should have a a reasonable expectation that we are going to take appropriate action to investigate and and you know take any necessary um disciplinary and it goes in our student information system just like all the referrals but also to this point um this scary I forgot where

074now but to this point um I I think it's hard for the so if if we take an action that's like okay we're going to work with the child on their behavior in the school like help them understand it better all they've actually seen is that the kid is back on the bus do you know what I'm saying so they're not understanding ing what steps the schools are taking to help remediate the the issue that's actually taking place on the bus. And that's really where the issue stands, right? Like they just want to know that the principal didn't just take the slip and be like, "Okay, I got 800." And I'm not saying they do, but I've got a thousand things to do today and now here's Jimmy back on my bus again. He's still

075creating all these issues and doing all these things. They're just asking to be told we are acknowledging that this is occurring and we are working on figuring out a better situation or helping everybody and and that might be some stuff that they do internally in the school and helping him understand I don't know whatever it may be they're just looking that for those action steps of things that they do and we do have when kids have a behavior intervention plan for say that extends to the bus or you know then then we do bring bus drivers in we let them know about that plan just like with a student with disability it might have certain accommodations or certain, you know, behavioral interventions there to bring them in, too. So, but we can, but as Mr.

076Wilcott said, it's something we need to continue to work on. Yeah, I think it's amazing and I'm grateful that it's being addressed. So, as we know, this has been a big year for us and so we've taken some of the feedback that we've had as as the board along when the um consultant came in and did a review of transportation. And so, uh there are some things that are work in progress and from that we made a transportation enhancement plan. And so, really, there are three areas. There are three key improvement areas that center around all the things that we need to do along with hearing our drivers and employees feedback. And so those three core areas are a supportive and effective departmental structure, enhanced communication for stakeholders, and an efficient process including routing. And

077so these are all works in progress that we're still tackling and doing. There are some things that we are doing right now that are actually changing how we can continue to get better. And so for one, um, as far as departmental structure, uh, we notice that bus routes at times have been late or maybe there's been absenteeisms that hasn't always been communicated. So we realigned a position to add another dispatch coordinator effective for July 1, 2025 to help us enhance communication with our frontline staff along with our community. As far as enhanced communication for our stakeholders, we've continued to improve our standardized templates for communicating out, whether that's internal or external. We've often um conducted different surveys with our employees about how we can communicate more effectively. And then we're really pushing, especially this summer,

078that we want parents to download the My Ride app so we can continue to communicate to them um and they can get those push messages. As far as the efficient process for routing, uh we continue to look at areas within the department where there's been bottlenecks and redundancies along with developing a digital intake form for our students with disabilities when they need to request um different things for their routes. And we've been doing a great job so far of providing more training sessions for our school-based staff on new pro processes and protocols and digital tools so everyone is aware of what we're actually doing. I just have one question on um you know really like technology or the apps but the concentrated push messaging. So, one of the things I early on had just asked,

079I didn't know if it was possible, if it was the capability of the app, like if my bus is going to be late, right? Like, does that ding the system to say send an email out to the parents of the kids on this bus that it's late? Like maybe we don't have the answer why, but it just automatically if that bus shows up late, should didn't the parents say that? Is that what concentrated push me push messaging is or is that different? So what we're seeing concentrated is more so when so my first week on the job was um route 17 ended up having a major situation and there's multiple platforms to use to communicate to parents but be able to communicate to the parents that are actually the bus the bus routes that are

080actually on 17 communicating to those parents of those bus routes and doing that pushing rather than a global push where we're not even the bus is not even down on that road. And so that's what we're looking for. Or maybe isolating 10 parents don't need to know 17 business type thing. Exactly. Or isolating the actual part of the route that we need to talk to. Right. Could be just the elementary portion or it could just be the high school portion. So does the app have the capability to identify like if a route comes up is late to like push a message out to the parents that says like your route is late, check this board. Right now it does not have that ability to do that. Okay. Do you have something? I have two well

081a question and a statement. What is bottlenecks? Chills like where traffic jammed up. Yeah. And then my statement is I was a bus rider second semester because for for personal reasons like we just couldn't do it in the mornings and whatever, right? I started riding the bus because I live all the way out on Marble Marble Row Point. My bus pickup was 5:50 in the morning and that's really early to get up. I had downloaded the My Ride because I was responsible for myself for getting myself to school and my guardians, they're not getting up at 4:00 in the morning with me. That's not happening, right? So, I had the My Ride app and I would say like maybe 10 times out of that entire second semester, my My Ride actually worked. And so, I

082don't see why we need to communicate to the parents more to use the My Ride app when the My Ride app doesn't work at all. Like, I can't satellite and see where my bus is. Half the time it says that I'm not even a registered student in when I've been a registered student in for three months now. and it doesn't tell me when my bus is getting there. I'm supposed to be picked up at 5:50 and I'm there at 5:45 and I don't get picked up till 6:00 kind of deal, but it doesn't tell me that. It doesn't tell me where my bus is. It doesn't say any of that and it keeps me locked out. So, I don't see why, right? It's a case of our overpromising, right? And that's the the big thing

083that we need to avoid, right? You're overpromising to students, to parents that this thing will work and provide you with information and then it doesn't. or it doesn't even let me log in. Yeah, both. Yeah. I mean, so did you report that and it did didn't help? I I did and I even it was even a problem within the transportation where I had asked like a month in advance like I need to get put on the bus and then they didn't even have my file. So, I was waiting for a month to be picked up and dropped off on the bus and then all of a sudden it's like, "Oh, you signed up for that?" "Yeah, I did three times." I Yeah, I did. But now I'm at school at 5 in the afternoon because

084the activity bus doesn't go anywhere near where I live either. So I mean just feel like my ride. Thank you. Go ahead. I'm just going to ask isn't where you live. That's a some of it is a dead zone. Correct. Yeah. But not at my house. No. No. I I get it cuz I have the same thing my bus and I don't know why because it's a quiet harbor and there are no dead zones I think in a quiet harbor cuz I drive the same way the bus goes and well no I'm in the car I'm not driving and I can I can use my internet the whole time but yeah I don't do it while I'm driving but the bus my when when they hit between first and second section of the harbor my

085bus goes goes away and then it comes back when it's around the corner. I'm not. So, what I'm just saying is like sometimes there are dead zones and we can't control that. But I will say when the app does work, it is incredibly helpful because when it drops to the dead zone, then I just we have like a group text and we're like, "Okay, it must be at the dead zone. This person will let us know when it comes back on when they see it." When they see it out of their house and then we're like, "Oh, that's not helping you." But I'm saying the app actually does work when you have all the right factors. And I think what Dr. Chase is saying about overpromising, right? If we could get, you know, great access

086for the internet for everybody here, I think a lot of these issues would would be gone and the app would be a fantastic tool because it's incredibly helpful. I have a question about the app, assuming all the things this guy said happen, like we have all the infrastructure for the app to work. One of the questions that was raised to me that I thought was a good one. Let's say a child is in the walk zone for North. So they do not get bus transportation, but they're going to the specialty center at Forge. So now they are taking the bus to Forge and back every day. Is the my app going to track just that portion for them? or if they're midday travel for automotive, cosmetology, and that's the only transportation they use is this

087midday travel, is the app at that point useful to the parent because the parents actually not interacting with the bus at all. Um, or is it really just going to take up space on their phone if we're not actually tracking students the way we would for doortodoor service? That's a good question. I don't want to give you putting it out there so that we can let families know um because that you know I'll re I'll research that one for our students who have to take their transportation and thank you for yours as well. I think that's a two-part component. It's cell coverage within the county which is one thing but then two that also correlates back to our first point about department structure is us actually having the the team to actually look and go

088in and do those notifications which which is also why sometimes that may fail. And so not promising you that you won't have to wake up early next year, but we will look at that as well. Well, and also getting her on the bus. I mean that that she getting her into the system. Yeah. Yeah. But that was before you came. Thank you. I I'm so excited about school starting this year. This is going to be Me, too. Yeah. You got you got to walk. Well, let's talk about some departmental gains if we could. And so one of the one departmental gain is that we have streamlined our students with disabilities request process. So we the key achievement is that we're now 100% digital request forms for special needs students. So we act the campuses can

089actually go in and put their information into synergy and that automatically imports into our routing system. So we see now a time and a resource saving from this manual process that we've had for some years to now pieces of paper being so now this is a digital process. So this has been tested. This has been tried. We did it for summer school and we're happy to say that we're doing it for the start of this school year. What is the TR1 form? That's our transportation request form for our students with disabilities. So the one means it's students with disabilities. Do we have other numbers? TR. No, just always TR. I don't know either. It worked well for summer school. Yes, ma'am. Worked well. Another departmental gain if we could um is that uh we're really

090focusing we've heard from our employees personalized employee engagement. So 100% of in-person individual meetings uh for their 24 25 evaluations with our frontline employees. And this just underscores the fact that we really want to make sure our employees understand that we do care about them. So we had face-toface meetings with every bus driver attended to show that we actually value them underscoring our commitment to to them and that we really care. Uh this was just an email that was sent directly to me from one of our employees for 35 years. She had a rough start at the beginning of this school year. She actually thought it was just going to be a simple email or just sign your name on your evaluation, but she actually had thoughtful comments written about her and what she contributes

091to our department and she was thankful for that. And so that's one of the things that we're doing to continue to change and develop our transportation department. Our third departmental gain is our efficient summer route planning. We were ahead of schedule for our summer route completion and communication. So we finished all of our summer routes May 23rd, 2025. Uh those were completed, schools were informed and then by June 3rd, parents received information regarding uh summer school transportation and we're in our second day of summer school and uh it's it's been it's been a success. So that that's good for us. our an update regarding the opt-in process. Uh so we can say and this really was a group effort from the campus personnel who helped us at the schools uh to here at central office

092as of May 31st. The transportation selection is recorded for all 29,717 active prek through 11th grade students. uh we have selection for them. Um and we this is greater than even what we had last year because of those 29,000 we're able to actually identify that uh 5,640 students selected no for their morning. They did not want to use the bus. For the afternoon routes, 5,224 selected no. So we actually have true data for us. What does this mean? Well, with this data, we've begun to start routing for the start of school starting last week. We're still going to continue to route students that may have submit transportation requests. We know things change, uh, maybe a new job, loss of job, or other things. We're still continue to route these students. Um, and then as of

093last night, we got our first import over automatically from Synergy into our routing system. So, I thought we had like 31,000 students. So, That doesn't count 12th grade. Doesn't count seniors that graduated, right? And then maybe doesn't count some kindergarteners. There you just What's all the active wins? Is it I bet that if you add the graduating seniors to that number, you probably come up to because I want to be petty. I put that on social media because I would be curious like Friday memo like what the age breakdown is like a high school, middle school, elementary for the morning and afternoon for the nose. Is that what you're asking about? The nose. Yeah. And if they're the same kids or not, right? Some of them should be the same. Yeah, they are. Because I'm

094I'm just curious, is it mostly drivers? Is it pre, you know, is it elementary that's going on early before and after care that get their van? You know, I'd be curious just what the what the breakdown is across the I was it's actually going to be more than that that probably aren't going to ride, but people typically are going to choose yes and then they'll and then they might not ride. But this is a lot better than compared to the previous years where we had a little over 900. People have felt and this is some something that became clear that they always opt in for the bus or they always take the route because they think that, you know, in October after not riding the bus at all all school year, they could just send

095their kid out to the street and the bus will come. And um so a lot of people opted in assuming that would continue to be the case and you know have to learn that or have been didn't have the information that if you don't ride the bus for x number of days in a row then yeah they got that information they just don't we have that information but we that doesn't we don't remember because I was that person my kids wouldn't they they ride the bus just whenever but there's 30 kids at our bus stop so the bus is always going to come and my kids just sneak on right in there with the other kids I had no idea that that was the rule and my kids did that for years until this year

096well I didn't even well if it was I wasn't paying attention anyway because I'm the average tax parent. So, I wasn't paying attention to all the I mean, no, I see there's a bus stop, there's kids, I go to the bus, my kids go to the school, we we getting on the bus and we like I didn't know and I think the average person doesn't know and that's why they're going to opt in because I would not being on this board, I'm going to check opt in and see how it go. Like it just that's how people are. But having this conversation is really what raised that and they're like, "Oh, well, I'm just going to say opt in because that way if my kids car doesn't work, they can just get on the bus."

097It's like it may or may not work. Depends where you live. If you're like out in the country and you're the only house on the street, the bus is not going to know to come get you. But if you live in Qua Harbor and there's 30 kids at the corner, then they probably will let you on. What's What's the plan for tracking ones that signed up but don't actually use it in terms of what do we have? 10 days. 10 days. I mean, do we have a plan for that? We do have a plan and that'll be rolled out after the school year gets started. Usually within that first two weeks, really a month. It takes a little bit of time for them to get adjusted and then after that we'll go through and we'll

098actually compare who's riding and then do notification of how we'll be removing them. But just understand you may just be removing saying that the student is not going to be riding. So that student just will become inactive but the stop may not become active because in the example that they have other students. Right. And then what what is the process again for the the kids then to show up one day and be like, "Okay, I'm on the bus again." After 10 days, they have to go through and opt in again. Right. So or opt in is done. Right. Right. So all requests now will take place as they normally do. Go to your school. As you go to your school, your school puts the request in. You're saying that you want transportation and then it

099comes over and then we get them routed. Give us up to about 10 days to get you on a bus and be notified. 10 days. should take 10 days. Yeah, I didn't know that when I first started either. I didn't know that until one of the schoolboard meetings when somebody in here said it. I was like, "Oh, I didn't know that." Okay, here's our next steps as far as where we are right now. So, uh, from June 3rd up until July 28th, we will be focusing on, uh, routing all of our students who have opted in and other requests that take place. July one, we'll open up the window for the additional bus assignment and that opens up to families and that's when we have families that uh need a different stop in the morning

100or the evening and so that opens up that's on our transportation uh website there July 1 also families will be able to view their selection in parent view and that's maybe recalling did I actually select yes or no not necessarily their assignment what's their what's their route assignment for the upcoming school year But what was their selection from this opt-in process? That's what they'll get in July one through parent view. July 15th through July 22nd, we internally with inside transportation, that being our leadership team along with our routing team are actually going to take all of the routes that we have ready for the start of school and do an internal review of each of those particular routes because they're going to be able to say, "Hey, we got all the correct stops. We got

101the times. We got the bus assigned. We know that this is a a high situation area on this particular route. Is this notated and documented on the routes before we get it to the drivers? Our goal is that July 29th, that's when we'll provide information to our families of their route for the start of the school year. August the 5th, drivers will be assigned their routes. We're actually going to bring drivers in, talk to them one by one, explain their route, their clock in time, their bus, where they'll be actually leaving from. August 6, we do our transportation back to school in service. And then August 7th and 8th will be mandatory practice runs for each route that we have. We are tracking and we are on point for the start of the school year.

102Yes. I have a question. Um because you said the second day of summer school. Um if is there like do you know the percentage of on time or I do not have that right now but I can get you that. That would be great. And doesn't have to be it's not time sensitive obviously. So you can just put that in the Friday memo or whatever way is easy for you to get it to me. You don't have to do a phone call or anything. How long is summer school? Couple weeks. I thought we different sessions. Yeah. But we usually give this is good information to have, but we usually tell people when school starts, give us a little, you know, grace period for the first two weeks because we're still learning the routes and stuff.

103Absolutely. But it still would like to know what the number is starting places. Yeah. And I really like that um you're going to be doing the mandatory practice runs. I know some drive a lot of the drivers already do that, but it really is helpful to give you guys at least some time for some feedback if there needs to be a change and but also to get everybody in the practice of this is going to be a bit longer because I have a a big bus stop here and then a long way to go to get these, you know, few kids or whatever the scenario is for them. So, I really do appreciate seeing that out there. When is transition day? August 11th. The 11th have two. Thank you so much for your time. Thank

104you so much. Was enough to just be like, "Okay, we don't need anymore. Just leave it where it is." Okay. Our next agenda item, um, presentation of recommendations from the high school 6 naming, colors, and mascot committee. All right. controlling it with this here. So, we have Miss Osborne, Dr. Robertson that are here with us. They were two of our members on on the committee helping to support that committee along with Dr. Kelly who is has not started with us yet, but was leading that committee per our policy and regulation going to share the recommendations moving forward. All right. So, before we begin, um I have terrible, terrible, terrible hearing. So, I'm going to ask that you please hold your comments and your conversations and your questions to the end because it's very hard to

105hear when we're talking over each other. Okay, let's begin. So, what's the point? Why are we here? Why was the committee selected? Because we have these beautiful new schools that are going up. They need names. They need colors. They need mascots. You do have a policy and a regulation that spell out exactly how this is to be done, who comprises the committee um when the work is when the public notice has to go up. There is a public comment period for people to send their information. Um we did follow that 100% by the book and that's what's got us here today. So you'll have um in the policy it spells out that the community needs to be there, teachers need to be there, the principal, the school board member, um some parents and some community

106members. So we brought in we brought in uh some folks from Riverside Dinner Theater. We brought in some people from the Stafford Historical Society. Dr. Robertson and Mr. Kramer served as the as this division liaison. Thank you. I'm trying to come up with my words. And Gabby and Lillian are both there. Yes, they were. Our lovely ladies. Um, good job. We had to have a public comment period. It was open for 30 days. We received more than 1300 responses on there. Um, just a quick update. We're at about a 100 responses right now with elementary school 18 and 19. That's an aside that'll close on June 30th. We held our public input meeting on April 16th. And then the community began their work. They met on May 6th to discuss the name of the high

107school. They met on May 8th to discuss the colors and the mascots. In your policy and regulation, it talks about which which levels and how they should be named. It is a policy and it's a regulation. You can read that if you want to. The committee distilled all of the information down. They came with uh 10 responses for each sort of thing. They we did a poll. We put the 10 most popular pieces of information up. The committee discussed we went into breakout rooms. We discussed them in the breakout rooms. We came back together. We voted on some of the options. Yes. and we kind of talked through we provided kind of some some background those committee members that were present. Mr. Hostel was also part of our um our breakout rooms in in that

108virtual meeting to talk so that those committee members could share if they recommended the name their rationale for why they share that as a possibility as well as um the same thing for the mascots as well as the colors. When Dr. Kelly went to kind of distill down that list of names. Some of the responses were like one word. So, it may have just said Hartwood or other things. So, he really had to distill it down and in some instances combine some of the submissions to kind of make them make sense to present 10 feasible options for the committee to to take a look at um and and to vote on. So, it was a very exciting process to be a part of. Can I just one thing one correction really quick? The bottom one

109I thought was black, silver and gold. I was I was I was getting ready to say that. Okay. Okay. Okay. Such a small difference. Yes. For heartwood. So even though the three colors are the same, right? There is a difference in order for heartwood in terms of the colors um that would be of of more prominence in any branding, uniforms, things of that nature. So for heartwood, the silver needs to have second priority in terms of prominence and visibility with the gold being the the tertiary color there, but the order is correct for fall's run. Y and the color palette is the same. Color palette is is is the same. How many times did you guys meet? Like twice. Both virtual. I'm just was curious. Yep. And then the meeting on the 16th was was

110in person. And then all throughout there were emails being sent to Sandra's office to the superintendent's email as well. And all of those were part of the distillation process that um Dr. Kelly utilized. So from all of those committee met voted, we provided our recommendations to the superintendent for the policy and the regulation and then the superintendent is providing his recommendations to you all tonight. You'll discuss it in your work session. You'll discuss it again on August 26th and make a vote. Y Don't we have a public hearing public hearing tonight and also on the 26th that people can come just there's no public hearing. So there's no public hearing. That's it. So yay. So thank you. You're welcome. Any questions for us? Do we do we have I don't know. Do you guys have

111something to add? I know you were talking about I want Heartwood. I feel like Hartwood would just No, you're just wrong. That's I just get it and I think every high school student is going to be like, "Oh, yeah. We're named after an elementary school." Well, no. I And False Run kind of goes with the theme. Colonial Forge, Brook Point, Mountain View, North Stafford. You've got two names. Hartwood, it's it's the same thing. It's two syllables. It's fine. Like, and and it's in the Hartwood district. And I just feel like I will also just say that committee without it being calledstead as a breaking primary or secondary name. That should also be sounds kind of cool. There are there are more res. I like false. It just it sounds more to share some of the

112riswood and she has told us that regardless of what happened, she is going to advocate to the death for Hartwood. So what we heard from committee members was very much um those who live in the Hartwood in the Hartwood district were looking forward to having something that they could call their own and take ownership of and kind of rally around in terms of that name. Falls Run, it is a geographical um element there as you are driving onto the campus. You actually cross over Falls Run. So, you know, similar to um you know, Mountain View and its its location, the geographical element is there for for Falls Run. So, just to give some context and background and also just in conversations with folks, we were looking for the mascot that really identified what sort of

113signifies Heartwood and Heartwood is has all the horse farms and stuff like that, which is where the stallions came from because it made sense to back up Hartwood with its identity, which farms too. Who could have been? Oh, it could have been a lot of things. I don't know. Not all the students who will go to Hartwood or go to Falls Run live there. So, without tipping my my hand and the way I would like to see things go in your regulation, it does say names that would cause confusion with other schools in the division. So, just putting that out there. Yeah. You know, it also Start high school that are all [Music] staff. So I don't want to get you all off track with this. She told us to move on. I have one

114last question. Was there any consideration given to that we already have a school that uses falcon guns? Yes. We have a school name and stallion. It's just it's an elementary school. I just want to make a point. When Mountain View was named, we had a different process. We had a supervisor board member and somebody from the historical society. And the reason um Mountain View came up was not because it's on Mountain View Road, but because back in the day county, you could see the mountains from that spot on that. That's that's a historical thing. So, it really had nothing to do with the fact that our last work session topic. If you guys want to have a little bit of a break between our meeting, our work session and our meeting. Last agenda item. Presentation

115of an update on the 2026 2027 specialty centers development. Well, hello everybody. Um, I also would like to introduce Amy Nearman. She's our assistant director of uh of college and career, right? And then our CTE director Stephanie Mart. Um, Tonight we're going to bring you an update on where we are with the uh development of uh specialty centers uh including uh Colonial Forge, North Stafford and High School 6. Um as you know um you have already voted on the center for uh Colonial Forge. Um and we'll talk a little bit as a recap on that. But before we begin, we wanted to start uh by let me see if I is it arrow remote control. Oh, remote control. Got it. All right. So, we're going to start with a little bit of background. Um I

116know that back in 2023, we came to you with the program of studies for 2425 that introduced the first three uh specialty centers. And along with that, we had some uh a presentation to you all talking about the goal of the specialty centers. And so I'm going to take you back in time just a little bit. We were focusing on um providing special centers that provide specialized coursework and experiences for students um that led to high impact career fields and also connected to the local economic needs and workforce. We wanted to make sure that we were providing students with a community that had shared interests and aspirations as well as providing opportunities for informed post-secary choices uh and industry certifications which and work-based learning experiences which lead uh also to their uh jobs in the

117future. We talked about how we wanted to provide opportunities at each center for kids to go directly through the center to the workforce uh or the military or after a little bit of training or a lot of training in before they p pursue their career and making sure that we had opportunities for all those uh students. So then in 23 when we proposed this we proposed these names and you'll see that the names for for at least one so far have changed and if you'll note at the bottom it said center names were not finalized at this time um and but we did stick with leaps and epic and champ then we were looking at the business operations uh systems and software which is now called the business and IT center. So, it changed things

118just a little bit from boss to I did like the boss. Me, too. T-shirts. I want to be in the boss program. I want to be in the BIT program. Well, we don't even refer to it as the BIT program. We refer to it as a business information technology. It doesn't get it doesn't get its own. And in 2627, I'm going to keep you all moving on. We got 20 minutes. Um, you all voted for the election. isn't right. I want you guys. All right. And uh in 20 and at that time, remember back in 23, we were predicting what we were looking at for 26 27, not only for North Stafford, but also for high school six. Um and we knew that we had a long way to go to to get from where

119we were to a final center with with pathways. Uh and at the time we had aviation and integrated management and then also for uh the new high school we had creative arts, media and performance. Okay. So having said that for camp just and so we're gonna start. It's been a long day for you all. Yes. Yeah, I I think it happens. I'm either catching you at the right time or the worst time. So, we'll see. All right. At Colonial Forge High School, we're going to be opening up in 2526 the business uh and information technology center and the pathways that we've um that were landed upon were the following. It's one in business administration, one in entrepreneurship, one is our existing cyber 4 plus program that we moved um uh and we consolidated to Colonial

120Forge the business and information technology as well as data analytics and um and and with that so that's the wrap up on what we're opening next year that was included in the program of studies that you approved in November. Now, as we turn our attention to uh our specialty centers at North Stafford in high school 6, um I want to start by saying we have not finished the development process of of coming up with we haven't landed the plane on our on our on our actual pathways. Is everybody okay? Yeah. It's been together since I apologize for Oh, sorry. Apologize. It's not a normal thing. Okay. But we can't stop laughing. Okay. Yeah, we still got to get ourselves together. Go on camera out there. Come on. Oh my god. Okay. Here we go. So,

121we wanted to talk to you a little bit about the process we've been through in order to uh bring you up to speed on where we currently are. And so, we started with looking at the the regional job market data with our stakeholders. And so, we sat down uh through many different processes with different groups. And one of the main things that we did is looked at the job market data because we need to prepare our kids for jobs that are going to gainfully employ them and make them solid uh uh citizens that are adding to the economy as well and benefiting them in the end. Um we in included in all of our meetings were uh we met with staff members at Northstaffford High School. We met with all the uh visual and performing

122arts teachers. the CTE advisory committee and uh groups of business partners as well separately um the Fredericksburg Regional Alliance, Germanic Community College and our own central office staff. Along the way, we surveyed the community and talked uh and got gathered information from parents, students, and staff. And you'll see the results of that survey in just a few uh uh couple slides. Um, and then one of the things that we thought about is, okay, let's look at the college degree programs and make sure that we're aligning our offerings in high school with what they need when they go to college for for um uh either emerging or existing uh degree programs. Finally, we looked at the apprenticeship uh and work-based learning and uh opportunities in the area as well as high demand credentials and what we

123could offer students in order to better prepare them for the workforce. Mr. Bull, just one question. If you go back to the last one, you have CT advisory but also met with the there was a fine fine arts advisory, fine performing arts advisory. Yes. Oh, sorry. I I did not put that on there, but yes, we did also meet with the the visual performing arts advisory committee. Uh and they did do a presentation here as well. And the business partners was uh separate. We had business partners on the CTE advisory, but we also met with business partners separately. I was running out of geographical space. Okay, here we go. Um, and so our goals for these new centers were uh to really think about, okay, what are the high demand careers that we don't offer

124currently in our specialty center, you know, that are pathways that are preparing. We didn't want to overlap. We also want to make sure that we're existing leveraging those existing strengths that are found in North Stafford High School, be it staff or equipment or uh facilities or whatever. Um, we wanted to engage that business community uh and to make sure that we're really supporting their local workforce needs and then providing those industry experiences including um uh work-based learning opportunities that will lead to these uh success on high uh high demand credentials. So, uh, finally, we wanted to make sure, and we've done this at all of ours, that we want to make sure that we're providing these innovative learning experiences that do, um, you know, provide students with engagement and prepare and, you know, excite them

125about the about what they're doing. Along the way, we had to think about consistency from center to center. And that was one thing that weighed heavy on our decision- making thus far is making sure that we're staying true to our philosophy on providing opportunities for kids to go directly to the workforce um or after a little bit of training or a lot of training. Um but also looking at making sure that we're preparing them for high demand jobs um as well as providing opportunity and access to every student. So, we ran the par parent survey uh parent student and community survey. We got 1,900 responses. Um you'll see and u I was really impressed and excited especially with the timing of it. It was it was in May, you know, and May is a tough

126time. I mean, May is such a busy time for all families. Um, and we received uh for North Stafford High School, here's the feedback we got on we asked them to pick four pathways that we felt that they I'm sorry that they felt uh that they were most interested in for their students or for themselves. And here's where those landed. Give you a second. It's also in your printed copy if you want to look at that. Um and so leading from that we landed um so far and by the way again I'm going to re repeat these are not this is not a fully baked cake this is where we are currently here's our current thinking we're thinking about a pathway that's focusing on on aerospace and unmanned technologies geospatial technologies global logistics and supply

127chain management and sustainable energy systems you'll see that there is a little bit more detail in the wording that surrounds those that can provide you with a little bit better um understanding of what that means. Um I will tell you that a these really have nice they fit nicely together in terms of unmanned technology with geospatial that's GIS information systems um the supply chain management logistics uh one of the words we we used uh was integrated management um uh on the original title uh and and what that was is another word for logistics and so this is where the logistics and supply chain management comes in and then sustainable energy systems. And so looking at carbon neutral energy because what we're seeing is that in aerospace and unmanned technology there's a great move towards these

128carbon neutral types of energies. The solar up there and we have the solar uh so and that goes back to our trying to leverage our existing resources in the building. So so I think that you know they they all fit very nicely together. Um, so I'll pause uh if if you all have questions on this or if you want to we can keep going through and then just do all the questions at the end. We don't have to. Sounds good. Okay. For high school six, um here's what we saw is that people were interested in a number of different areas. Uh the highest being the videography and media content creation, digital marketing, uh communication, uh as and and then visual arts as well as some other areas. There was a lot um in here and

129our current thinking where we are right now is uh in uh potentially five pathways. one looking at digital content production. And so that's a kind of using a more modern term, but that brings in the whole photography, videography, cinematography, editing, animation, all different types of graphic design. Um, that could be used in many different applications. It could be used from being a content creator on YouTube or on uh, you know, Tik Tok or whatever. uh or but it could be like video creation for commercials or it could be for sound design or live performances. The second one is digital marketing and strategic communications and that's looking at um how we can like uh promote and market things that we're producing, right? And so that's about the planning, deployment, event planning. It could be there's a

130lot of different things that it can can lead to. And you'll see the next one is live event and production management. So those are closely tied together is not just how you do a a great theater production, but how do you market it well and how do you get the word out um about your event and then how do you plan it and effectively plan it? And I got to tell you, there are no specialty centers in Virginia that are focusing in on things like this. This is a very unique um approach. Um the final piece being music production and audio engineering. Um there is so many opportunities in this area and we're seeing that these all these from that music production and above all have uh really solid job market forecasting. This is where

131the future is going in in in a lot of these areas here. And they and again they they all mesh together along with the drama and theater and about having these performances for students uh and looking at how we can not only support their theater productions but also do it through set design and um and other applications. And so we're really excited about where we are with this center. And um that uh leads us to the timeline of where we're going. And so now we're uh coming up uh soon will be in October and we'll present the program of studies to you for first review that will include the finalized pathways for the uh North Stafford High School and High School 6 centers. It will also and then in November we will bring it to

132you for final approval. Um, of course, we'll start our recruitment events and we'll have our uh application and selection system leading up to our enrollment of students in, you know, summer boot camps, things like that to get them in the door. And so with that, we're really excited about where we are and um this team here has done an amazing job of gathering a lot of stakeholder feedback and really uh listening and hearing what they have to say and and uh trying to develop some pathways uh that really meet the needs of kids. [Applause] I have two questions. first um with the uh high school six center and you have drama and theater and producing um uh theatrical performances or whatever. Are is there going to be any kind or is there been a thought

133of doing um auditions? Yes. Does everything seems to be like in a lottery system but yet this is sort of specialized. So, so yes, there have been plenty of discussions about whether or not there should I mean to answer your question, yeah, there's been a lot of conversations. Um, I will tell you that having um an audition and adjudication system for selecting students um doesn't mesh well with our access and opportunity and what we're doing with the other four high schools uh or five high schools at that time. So I'm gonna just let me in terms of entrance. So I'm gonna categorically disagree. This is a very particular group of students. So we're not talking about for the totality of digital marketing and all that other stuff, but drama and theater kids who are looking

134for that, they they've been in it for a while. And as I feel that how this was explained is that this would be sort of like the step up for their own special pathway for performance. And so we are very heavily focused on career pathways which I get but music and drama kids and theater kids most of their stuff goes first through to like auditions to audi they go through auditions all the time to get to where they need to be because that's what their career fields will be. They will be auditions where sometimes they're told yes and sometimes they're told no. But also a lot of those kids do end up going to college where they perfect those skills. So the pathway to career may not be as succinct as some of our other

135ones that we've been able to draw the lines, but musical theater kids have absolutely 100% are wellversed on the audition process and on what it means to be and I'm not saying that there isn't a backup system in place. I just think that it would be really unfair for one of our kids to miss out on the opportunity to go to this high school because they didn't get picked through the lottery for a specific like this is a very specific talent that these kids hold. So that would just be very upsetting I think across the board. Yeah. And I also think that for many of these kids in the fine arts like if they're doing performance, if they're doing any kind of performance, they're going to be auditioned and they go to university, they go

136anywhere. I think the lottery system for for the supporting um curriculum that you've defined I think that's great but I think if we aren't really making a fine arts high school that those kids can make those productions they need the people who can do the performance part too and those performance parts that performance part is going to be auditioned their whole life you guys are proving my point where representation matters because I couldn't disagree with you more you are creating barriers for certain students that may look like me and may have my type of upbringing. I attended a performing arts school. There should not be barriers for that because there's a kid who's never been in theater who could get in the lottery and could be a next opera singer, who could be the next,

137you know, Viola Davis or anything. You we're public schools. Why make barriers for students? Because you might as well then say, "Okay, Colonial Forge can be the kids. Let's get all the best baseball players or football players and put them at one school. We don't do that, right? We don't let the We don't We don't take all of the the best students for basketball and put them at Mountain View, right? Like or or it's like the people who want to go into like engineering or into software and stuff like that and then like their audition is like, "Oh, you can you do a basic code?" No, that's what I'm going in here to learn. Oh, you can't? Well, then I guess you don't get to be a part of this. even though that's what they

138want. So, hold on though. We're not getting rid of performing arts in our other high schools. So, there are still opportunities for kids to have access to the theater. And I don't know if maybe then there's a secondary year so kids can try to do whatever and then go to audition. I don't know. But we're not talking about getting rid of performing arts in the rest of our high schools. We're saying I'm just saying I'm just saying we're talking but you're talking about access. So, we're not taking away access in our other schools. Well, yeah, but there's computer classes. I have 10 minutes ago. Jump in. So, um I I think just my own experience watching my kids and their friends was many of them didn't get into musical theater until they had been in

139high school for a year or two. So, I would be a little bit concerned about them not having that opportunity. Right. So, I I don't know what the happy medium is, but I have a potential suggestion as a chorus kid and I don't know how it would move to theater like acting or band but there are chorus classes that literally anybody walks in and gets put in. Um you could transfer in March and be put in in this chorus class. You could start in August be put in this chorus class. You could have never sung a note in your life be put in this chorus class. if a child and that child can take that chorus class every year for four years, four credit no matter what, just because they love to sing and they

140suck at it. Um, but then there are and that was me in high school, right? So, but then if a child feels like they have the skill, interest, ability to be in an advanced level chorus, our chorus teachers currently audition and place those children as space becomes available like based on whoever like how many seats they have into those courses. What we could consider is through that process at your school, if you qualify for level two or level three chorus, maybe those kids get put in the lottery for this program. Why are we treating this any differently from the other specialty centers? Everyone has an equal opportunity based on the luck of the lottery. Equal opportunity in the same thing. Well, I I think it is. If I put my name in for the lottery,

141do I have Exactly. It's based on the lottery. It's these kids are putting in time, effort, and energy to create a craft and a performance. Oh my gosh. We're not a private school. It's not. But it's also What do the educators think to have? I can I can I can weigh in on that? Please tell. So, when we spoke with the the visual and performing arts teachers, we asked them point blank, you know, like, would you value having, you know, a a per a performance school that like a Kan or others that are out there? and they said that, hey, some of their programs are fragile, some of their programs are small, and they're trying to keep programs alive in their schools. And they are very worried about this pulling students away from their programs

142and actually possibly killing off their programs and or their jobs, which could potentially happen anyway. It could. It certainly could at any time enrollment. That's what a lottery is, right? It's luck of the draw. But let's not say that a lottery is equal. It's not. is is you're equally you have an equal chance of getting in based on how many people were there, right? So all these kids performing arts high school is going to be directly related to their craft are now going to get told. So we're worried about the kids that might not get in instead of we're not worrying about the kids who have put time and effort into this craft over the course of time. Have we worried about it in the other specialty? This is different. This is not different. I

143We're going to agree to disagree cuz I think I think it's unfair to have pitched this as a performing arts school which sounded like fame when it was presented and then turn it into a lottery of any old kid that just wants to try theater can get into any kid at their base school without a lottery. Any child can take it. Correct. With any amount of skill, any amount of any language with any ability to jump in. I think that if we were to do it as an audition way, I would agree with Mr. Sigman. I would say level two and level three because at our school there there's chamber and we're really good and there's vocal ensemble and we're really good. And then there's other choirs that are just there for the credit. I'

144I've been a chorus kid all my life. I get to have my chords next year. I have 13 credits for electives for strictly just choir because I've been in it all four years, right? I definitely do think because I'm so passionate about it that like if we were to do an audition, it would it should be for the advanced choirs that were already selected in. I've been in advanced choirs all four years because I've shown that I have what it takes and I know basic and choir and I ca and I can perform and I can sing and I can do all of these things. Whereas somebody who's just in a basic mixed choir is probably there just so that they can get the easy and get that credit and get out of there. Some

145kids if they want to focus on theater, we're going to bring this back. They're going to have to audition at some point whether it's college. I I have I have auditioning gone into opera singing and and were accepted at the San Francisco Conservatory. Middle schoolers applying for a high school program. But I agree that I think at some point there has to be like but if you're just a basic email system wasn't fair because you want you have a passion for it. But if you don't know how to site read and if you are tonedeaf you shouldn't be a part of what you had a record contract and I'm tonedeaf. sweetheart. That's not true. It doesn't work that way. I understand your perspective. I absolutely do and I respect it. But that is not true.

146And because you've had access is a blessing, but other people should have the opportunity. You've had what I'll say is she has access to what every child in every high school currently has access. That's centers are supposed to give something different extra special treatment, right? Like I can take business technology at home. I just don't agree with that. So, so I know we're right. We're wrapping up time. We We appreciate your feedback. We wanted to give it to you as an update. We'll bring it back in studies. I do apprec I don't think you ever wrote it on process like we just presented here. on my lipstick. They're right coming. Right. I'd like to call this meeting to to order. If you could please rise for the pledge of allegiance to our flag. To the

147flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all. Miss Hall, could you please take the role? Dr. Chase here. Miss Een, Miss Een, Miss Guy here, Miss Hollstead still here. Miss Healey, Miss Irish, Miss Randall here, Miss Sigman Warner. I'm here. Madam Chair, you have a quum. Thank you very much. Motion to approve the agenda. Second. Is there any any changes? Everything okay? All right. Please cast your votes. That motion passes unanimously. Motion to approve the consent agenda. Second. All in favor? I do have a question, Madam Chair. Yes. Um, I saw on this and this is for Mr. Towry. Um, where did I lose it? 3 point 3 3.18 award of a contract in the amount of $195,28625

148uh for the tennis and pickle ball courts at Dixon. Um is when I also saw one for I think Rodney Thompson. So, we can't we since we have to it's been motioned and seconded, we can fail it and discuss because I actually had something that needed to be pulled as well. Yeah, I read it and I found it. So, we'll just vote no. Vote no. I think I already voted yes. Yeah. If it's been motioned and seconded, just vote. Thank you. Let's vote. Right. Okay. Okay. Uh motion fails 5 to two. Um I Which one item was that? Uh 3.18. Okay, we're going to pull 3.18 and 3.12 and we're going to Can I have a motion to approve all but those two unless anybody else had something they want? Motion to approve um consent

149agenda with moving 3.12 and 3.18 to action. Second. All in favor. Okay, that passes unanimously. Scrolling down. Announcement of administrative personnel appointments. Dr. Smith. Yes, we have several administrative appointments this evening. Uh, folks, I would like to introduce you to that was just approved on your consent agenda. First, I'd like to introduce Katrina Cannon, who's the new assistant principal at Monure Elementary School. Miss Canon, come on down. Miss Canon will join us as the new assistant principal at Annie Ann E. Monure Elementary School. She is currently serving as a middle school assistant principal in Newport News, Virginia. She served as the inspector general on active duty for the United States Army and has 30 years of military experience. Miss Canon has also worked in other school divisions as a response intervention specialist, a reading interventionist,

150and an elementary school teacher. Miss Canon holds her Bachelor of Science degree in elementary early childhood education from Francis Marian University in South Carolina and a master's of arts in curriculum instruction from Regent University. She earned her education specialist certificate in educational leadership and administration from George Washington University. and she is also a graduate of the intermediate level education command and staff general officer college in the United States Army. Welcome to Stafford, Miss Cannon. Thank you. So, um thank you all so much for the warm welcome and all that stuff you said about me. Um just very very grateful for this opportunity to serve uh here in Stafford County and um just looking forward to uh a new opportunity to serve students in a new place and a beautiful place I get to see for

151the first time tomorrow. So thank you so much for the warm welcome and I look forward to working and serving with you all. [Applause] Our next announcement is Stephanie Fitzgerald, new assistant principal at HH Pool Middle School. Miss Fitzgerald is returning to Team Stafford after four years as a middle school math teacher and administrative intern in Prince William County Public Schools. Miss Fitzgerald taught middle school math for eight years in Stafford County and we're excited to have her join the HH pool team. Miss Fitzgerald is an enthusiastic servant leader with a myriad of leadership experience. She's looking forward to working with staff, families, students, and community members to carry out the vision, mission, and core values of Stafford schools. She holds a bachelor's of liberal studies degree from Longwood University and a master's degree in

152educational leadership from George Mason University. Welcome home, Miss Fitzgerald. Thank you so much, Dr. Smith. Um, I am so excited to be back. I am a 27y year resident of Stafford County. Um, fortunate to be able to raise my children here. They have all gone through graduated from Colonial Forge and it's it's just nice to be back home. Um, I'm at the age where quality of life is so much better, tired of the ripping and running, and I'm ready to dig in and do the work that's necessary to continue moving our students forward. Not just our students, but our families. uh to con continue to see Stafford grow and thrive. So, thank you for entrusting this to me. Look forward to working with the HH Pool family and Stafford County Public Schools. Miss Amanda Leonard

153will become the new assistant principal of Stafford Elementary School. Miss Leonard started her teaching career at Garrisonville Elementary School and as an elementary teacher and most recently served as the innovative learning coach. She served on the report card revision committee, the standardsbased grading steering committee, and the mentor 360 steering committee. Miss Leonard has been integral and part of the Garrisonville leadership team to implement researchbased instructional practices and technology into contentbased lessons. She holds a bachelor's of science and psychology from the University of Mary Washington, a master of science in elementary education from the University of Mary Washington, and a master of education and educational leadership from George Mason. Congratulations, Miss Leonard. Thank you. So, good evening, Dr. Smith, Madam Chair, members of the board. I am super excited to be moving into this new chapter

154and this new adventure. Um, and I thank you guys for the opportunity. While I am sad to be leaving my Gators, I am super excited to be joining the Stafford Elementary community and to officially be a dolphin. Thank you guys. [Applause] This next individual could was unable to be here with us this evening, but we do want to recognize Miss Jessica Martinez, assistant principal at HH Pool Middle School. And I'll read just I'll give a little bit of background on her just so we can be aware here. So she serves she currently serves um Spennsylvania County Public Schools as a secondary Spanish teacher where she's been for the past three years. She was a middle school art teacher for 10 years and most recently as administrative intern. During her tenure, she was recognized as the

155new teacher of the year for the school division. Her she started her degree her career in education in 2001 as an Esau teacher. Miss Martinez is a collaborative instructional leader who strives to build and maintain effective interpersonal relationships with her colleagues, students, and families. She has a talent for promoting creativity, self-confidence, and motivation in her students, and we're excited for her to bring those skills to HH Pool. She has a bachelor's degree in humanities from the University of Puerto Rico and her master's degree in educational leadership from Old Dominion University. Welcome, Miss Martinez. We will now welcome Mr. L. Salers will join the team at Kate Waller Barrett Elementary School as their new assistant principal. As he is coming down, Mr. Salers has served as a school improvement specialist at HHpool Middle School for the

156past two years, leading schoolwide data analysis to identify achievement gaps and to assist in the development of the school improvement plan and implement strategic interventions to improve student outcomes. Prior to joining team Stafford, Mr. Salers worked as a special education teacher and served as a non-commissioned officer in the United States military. He holds a bachelor of business administration and his master's of business administration degrees both from the University of Mary Maryland University College. He's a current doctoral student in educational leadership at Liberty University. Congratulations Mr. Salers. Hello um board of school board Dr. Smith. I just want to say thank you for this wonderful opportunity to not only be a student in Stafford County, but to be a teacher in student county, be a parent of student county, uh Stafford County, and now an administrator

157here in Stafford County. Um this is one step forward and I I expect to do great things for Stafford County and thank you so much. [Applause] All right. And uh the last appointment I'd like to recognize this evening is our new principal at Colonial Forge High School, Miss Terry Hampton. Miss Hampton has been an associate principal and high school assistant principal at Lake Bradic Secondary School since 2008. She also served as the assessment coach and a social studies teacher. Miss Hampton has proven successful in instructional leadership, behavior intervention, staff development, and school operations at the middle and high school levels. She's mentored aspiring leaders and new administrators, fostered a culture of shared leadership and professional growth across teams. She reduced chronic absenteeism among atrisisk students by 15% and led data informed interventions and instructional coaching

158that contributed to a consistent pass rates of above 94% on so tests in English and math. Miss Hampton earned her bachelor of science degree at Fateville State University and a master's degree in educational leadership and policy studies from Virginia Tech. Welcome to Stafford, Miss Hampton, Dr. Smith, central office support, members of the school board, and to my new Colonial Forge family, staff, and students. I'm excited and deeply honored to stand before you today to accept the role of principal at Colonial Forge High School. I'm thrilled to begin this journey with all of you. Dr. Smith, thank you so much for your trust and visionary leadership. I look forward to working with you. To Miss Lindsay Karns, Principal Le Bradic, your mentorship has been an absolute guiding light in my journey. You've been so much more

159than a mentor. You've been my cheerleader, my advocate, constant supporter, and most importantly, my friend. Your belief in me, your wisdom, your encouragement has shaped the leader I am today, and I truly wouldn't be here without you. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. To my family and my best friend, Laura, thank you for your encouragement, thoughtful guidance, and steadfast support. Your belief in me through this journey has been amazing. Thank you. Now, my vision for Cloning Forge aligns perfectly with Stafford's County's mission to inspire, empire, empower all learners to thrive and excel. As I step into this role, I'm excited to learn what makes Colonial Forge the incredible school it is, and how together we will continue to build on this incredible foundation. At Forge, we will continue to cultivate a proud legacy

160of excellence, belonging, and opportunity. A place where every student feels supported, challenged, heard, and truly prepared to soar. To help our students spread their wings, we will provide dedicated teachers the time, resources, and trust so that they can deliver exceptional instruction and foster meaningful student growth and relationship. This is more than a position for me. It is my calling. I am so ready to take flight. Thank you for this wonderful opportunity. Let's go Eagles. [Applause] Sigman, that concludes our administrative appointments. Excellent. We will move forward with our awards and recognitions. Good evening, school board members and Dr. Smith. This evening, we'll recognize students and staff that epitomize our values of students integrity, respect, community, opportunity, and excellence. We'll begin the night highlighting schoolwide excellence and division level accomplishments, honoring those who go above and beyond

161in leadership and dedication. This evening, we take a moment to recognize not just professionalism, but extraordinary courage and care. Will classroom teachers Alyssa Atkins, nurse Becky Diaz, pair professionals Amelia Berscan, Hillary Gibbs, Lisa Vventi, and Miss Jessica Marquez and Malachi Kurscaro. Please join us at the podium. Earlier this year, the Ferry Farm Elementary School team worked together to save a student's life. While supervising lunch in the classroom, Mrs. Atkins and her team noticed that a student, Malachi, was choking. Thanks to their immediate response and strict adherence to emergency protocols, including the Heimlick maneuver, they were able to save Malachi's life. Upon realizing that he was choking, these amazing ladies jumped into action immediately. They remained calm and were highly alert throughout, communicating with one another quickly and explicitly to ensure everyone was able to carry

162out their role effectively. Together, they demonstrated the true meaning of teamwork and heart. Afterward, Malachi's mother, Jessica, shared her heartfelt gratitude, expressing how the team's urgency and compassion brought her immense comfort and relief. To the very far team, your actions exemplify the very best of who we are as educators and caregivers. You didn't hesitate. You led with professionalism, empathy, and courage. We are immensely grateful your compassion, care, and commitment to the safety and well-being of all the students in your classrooms. Please join me in honoring these outstanding staff members for going above and beyond when it mattered most. [Applause] Will Liam Patel, Courtourtney Vabnik, and their adviser, Mr. Jeremy UT, please join us at the podium. This year, Tbentale Middle School is proud to celebrate not one but two students who have earned national recognition

163for their excellence and dedication. Please join me in congratulating Liam and Courtney, recipients of the prestigious 2025 National Junior Honor Society Outstanding Achievement Award. Each year, the National Junior Honor Society selects just 500 students from across the United States to receive this honor. These students stand out as shining examples of what it means to uphold the five pillars of the National Junior Honor Society. Scholarship, service, leadership, character, and citizenship. And this year, Gail Middle School is honored to have two of those 500 students right here in our school community. Liam and Courtney have demonstrated a consistent commitment to academic academic excellence, a genuine desire to serve others, and the kind of character and leadership that inspire those around them. As recipients of the outstanding achievement award, each of them will receive a $500 college savings

164plan, an investment in their future, and a recognition of the promise they hold. We're incredibly proud of Liam and Courtney for representing Gail Middle School at such a high level, and thank Mr. for advising and encouraging them along the way. Congratulations. [Applause] Sorry. Thank you. Will Mr. Chris Lynshaw please join us at the podium? Chris Lynsha has earned top honors in the Virginia Association for People Transportation Bus Rodeo, winning first place in this highly competitive statewide event. The competition challenges drivers to demonstrate their technical abilities, safety practices, and calm under pressure, and Chris excelled in every category. His achievement speaks volumes about the level of professionalism and care he brings to his role every single day. Driving a bus is about more than just getting from point A to point B. It's about creating a

165dependable, safe, and welcoming environment for students the moment they step on board. Chris embodies this responsibility fully and in doing so he supports a co a core goal of our strategic plan to ensure that every student experiences a safe and welcoming environment starting with their very first interaction each morning. Chris's victory has earned him the honor of representing Virginia at the National School Bus Rodeo Competition in Texas where he'll showcase the same skills and commitment that have made such a difference here at home. Chris, we are incredibly proud of you. Your achievement reinforces our shared mission and reminds us of the powerful role every team member plays in shaping a safe and supportive school experience. Thank you. At this time, will you please welcome Delegate Milild Day to the podium? Should I speak here? Yeah.

166Another uh well-deserved accolade or award. Um this is about uh school board member school board member and my friend Patricia Healey. um as and I'm sure you've we've all you've heard about this already but and and I'll read all the proclamation but the it's really oh good. So, I I have known Patricia since um probably around 2003, but as you know, she's been serving on this board since 2000. That's a that's a big deal when you look at how our boards board of supervisors and this board change membership so often. To have a steady person, you know, in many cases at the helm quite often, uh makes makes a big difference. and fact that you and I have even though we were 12 years um on the other side on each on our own sides

167of the route one um we stayed friends through all that and there's a lot of contentious time stuff going on back then um so you are amazing you're a great Stafford resident um and your family is is I'll say the same about your family who I know and so u Senator Durant and I um easily it was an easy decision to to co-patron chief co-patron uh a resolution from the general assembly for you. And I'm just going to read the words on that real quickly and let you guys get back to work. Uh whereas Patricia Healey, an esteemed community leader, has made a profound and lasting impact on Stafford County Public Schools over her 25 years of service on the Stafford County School Board. And whereas Patricia Healey joined the Stafford County School Board on

168January 1st, 2000, and is the longest serving elected member in the school board's history. Over her tenure, she has led the board as a chair seven for seven years and as vice chair for one. Whereas for the past quarter century, Patricia Healey has been an unwavering champion for Stafford County students, families, and teachers, working indehaticably to foster their success and well-being. And whereas Patricia Healey has worked productively with more than 30 30 fellow board members over her tenure on the Stafford County School Board, employing grace and diplomacy to achieve meaningful solutions to every challenge the board has faced. And whereas Patricia Healey has overseen the opening of a third of Stafford County schools over the last 25 years, as well as a renovation of several others which have enhanced the county's ability to meet the

169needs of its students. Whereas and whereas through her tireless advocacy and unfl flagging commitment to students and families she serves she serves Patricia Healey has helped to make Stafford County a wonderful place to live, work, and learn. Now therefore, be it resolved by the House of Delegates, the Senate concurring that the general assembly hereby commend Patricia Healey on the occasion her of her 25th anniversary of service on the Stafford County School Board. And it be resolved further that the clerk of the House of Delegates prepare a copy of this resolution for for presentation to Patricia Healey as an expression of the General Assembly's admiration for her contributions to Stafford County and to the Commonwealth. Thank you, Patricia. Everyone here, please. Okay. This evening we'll move forward with our presentations. Item 6.01 we have the annual

170report and recommendations of the school board school health advisory committee. All right. Good evening, school board. Madame Chair, Dr. Smith, it's nice to meet you. My name is Dr. Amanda Harvey, and I am the chair of the school health advisory committee, also known as Shaq. Um, first, you know, I'd like to thank all of you guys, but also I want to recognize my committee members here, Travis um Russell and Teresa Cooper, there's her last name, Teresa Cooper, have joined me in support. And also, we have great adviserss, Dr. and Casey and Greg. So, thank you to those adviserss for for their support throughout the year. Um, let's see. Do I have control of this bad boy? Maybe. Oh, the mouse. Let's see. Mouse. Okay, I think I got the right button. All right, here we

171go. In 2024 2025, the school board set a few goals for Shaq. Um, these included helping support the updates for the Stafford school's wellness policy, provide support for division strategies to combat our chronic absenteeism issue, review the student mental health support in conjunction with our Jed program, and support planning and presentation of the family summit. So, I will be presenting to you guys a couple of updates to these four items. First, we have our updated wellness policy. I'm going to pull this down here for the short people. Um updated our wellness policy um from from the response from the trienal assessments. We have aided Dr. Brian Williams in editing all of the principles in section four, which is the physical activity and education section to hopefully meet or exceed the expectations in the next review.

172We've also added the Rev Your Bev edits to recognize water as part of our students and staff essential nutrients. And last, we continue to edit section five, the wellness promotion and marketing section to reflect activities and strategies already in action by the district. We hope to finish these edits this year and then Mr. Williams will be taking them to governance and presenting them for formal um adoption. One of our other main initiatives this year is to investigate the district's chronic absenteeism issue. Chronic absenteeism is to find us missing at least 10% of the school days or 18 days of the year for any reason excused or unexcused. In order to understand how Stafford schools really stand, we looked at this topic at a larger scale. So taken at large and within the US previous years

173you see about 14 million students who are chronically absent at a state level we noted a dramatic shift pre and postcoid from about 10 and a half% to 20% where it's mostly state at this point by the Virginia Department of Education regions. You see region three here with a red box around it. Um, which includes Oh, nope. We're on the same one. Region three here, which includes um Stafford schools at about 18%. 18 almost 18 and a half there. And in 2024, so far this year um across our school district, our chronic absentee uh rate has dropped to about 17 or 18%. And while this is some progress, our strategic plan has much bigger goals and hopes to reduce that number even further. Chronic absenteeism can be looked at at as a biodal population distribution,

174meaning it's more frequent in kindergarteners and those first graders, very early years, and then of course more frequent in our high schoolers. Um, and the reasons for chronic absenteeism vary from kind of general school refusal, um, most commonly from mental health issues. Oh, I think I'm doing this with my elbow. I have the clicker with my elbow here. Here we go. We'll put that to the side. Um, so we have school refusal. We have school phobia, which is fear-based or bullying of something. And then just general truency where people are just missing for academic or other regions. Um, as you can see from the graph here, Stafford schools is really on par with our larger region and we're doing slightly better than some of our other regions like you know five and eight there. But

175we are still looking for region one as our goal down there with only 4% chronic absenteeism for that region. Based on the published literature, there are four risk factors for chronic absenteeism. And of those 44, these are the most common. The two in bold here are limited are the ones we're really going to focus on, as the others we have limited to really no control over, such as mood disorders and economic status, physical or substance abuse. But for those things that we do have just a little bit of control over, such as a kid's attitude towards school or parental involvement, those are the two areas that we suggest the district work on. Focusing on that negative attitude towards school and low parent school involvement risk factors. The top intervention is creating a positive school environment.

176Making families feel loyal and connected to their students school. It sounds sounds pretty easy, right? Make school a happy place to be. When students feel connected to school, they're more likely to attend regularly. Now we are looking into how to best use some of these other resources that we're discovering and presenting towards some of the staff at um the in within the district such as attendanceworks.org and attendance matters VA. So to further um help combat some of our issues with chronic absenteeism, uh chronic absenteeism also perfectly fits in with some of our other goals such as supporting our Jed initiative, which is our mental health assessment and strategic planning program that we started in January 2024. There is a powerful and longstanding scientific link between social connectedness and behaviors that promote mental health. This graphic

177might look familiar to you guys as we presented this in some of our past presentations to show how we've been looking towards increasing student and staff mental well-being over the last few years and how all of that was connected with our Jed initiative and our research in chronic absenteeism just further supports the length between these various topics. So where do we stand with our Jed program? Stafford schools is moving into year two as shown here by the red arrow. We completed our assessment with our high school students this past year and in our and we are currently in our strategic planning stage. Our Jed baseline data revealed that 40% of our high school students feel isolated from campus life and that 32% of our high school students report that they do not feel safe at

178school. While we can extrapolate from this is that kids really aren't happy. They're not feeling connected and this is a major intervention in combating our chronic absentee issue is making kids feel connected to their schools. So one of Stafford's strategic plan goals number three to be specific is to provide that safe and welcoming environment. So this is where we're really going to focus. So to do that, we've created some steering committees for students connectedness and are working with other student groups to start the relevant clubs and support groups. The priority areas of the larger strategic plan for our JET assessment are promoting that social connectedness at school and that positive school climate as well as engaging our students on how to better meet their needs. We are going to further encourage that helpseeking behavior through

179the continued use of our mental health America Fredericksburg science of suicide program that we piloted with our ninth grade student students this past year. One of the key tenants of this program is to act to acknowledge care and tell or to seek help. This just further connects that mental well-being and chronic absenteeism as interlin. And of course, all of these plans will be drafted in our operations, strategic planning, and implementation stages of JET. One of the last areas that Shaq has been supporting is our family summit, which we have named Empower 360. This was Miss Holstead's heart project come to life that we're all very excited about. It will be this fall, September uh 13th from 9 to 1. Shack team members have been supporting this by attending the committee me me uh committee meetings

180and volunteering at the event. We're making really great headway and put out the call for exhibitors just last week. So, we're really excited to see who all we will be having. Some of the working ideas for our summit u include some of our other topics such as promoting chronic absenteeism awareness, creating playgrounds for active learning on various mental, physical, emotional, and financial well-being. Since the all of these things are linked, right? As well as raffle prizes, keynote speakers, and more. This will be a great event for local families, and I look forward to seeing you all there. Overall, Shack has four recommendations um from these topics. First one supports the chronic absenteeism objective so we can gain more data as to why our students are absent with an update to our parent view system by

181reporting and requiring a drop-own box for the absence justifications. As now parents can go into our system and just say absent. We don't really have to include anything. But if we can collect more data as to what's going on with our students, it will help us to understand why they're being absent instead of waiting until we have seven absences and really focusing in on that student. We get the data immediately. Um second um is to continue our Jed focus on creating that feeling of connectedness and positivity in schools. Creating that positive environment for our schools for our kids so that they feel safe should combat some of our chronic absenteeism issues. Third is increasing our parent school connectedness. We have varied levels of communication and interaction from our administrators at our schools. Some principles such

182as my kids principal at Stafford High, we get weekly emails from Miss Triion with everything that's going on. But some of the other schools, we don't get anything. So, this is really inconsistent across our schools. And one way to really connect parents and getting them involved is having administrations send out those weekly just updates or just to say hi to be honest. Um and last once those edits to the wellness policy come through before governance and the board we encourage you to adopt them. They've been thoughtfully made and really reflect what's going on in our current school district. And that is all. So, I will leave it to you guys for questions. Thank you so much. We'll let uh Miss Hollstead kick this off. I was just gonna ask you if you wanted to do

183it since you're the new liaison, but I you guys are just fantastic in every way, shape, or form. So I, you know, um I don't want to leave out Miss Denim sitting in the I don't want to point you out, but I don't want to leave her out either because the brainchild really I reached out to the community and she extended her hand and we met for tea one day and the vision was born from there. Yes, that is her. She's the other one. So, so she I mean it is it is a true testament for what happens when the community comes together with a shared community problem that they'd like to address. And in this this particular case is the importance of our kids and the needs that they have that supersede any adult

184level. You know, whatever it could be. You know, the conversation started from a desperation point for me. Um, and then we kind of grappled back and forth that night with what was the true issue or whatever. But to give the thought and consideration that she did and then to actually sit down and stay with us two years later still um in the planning pro process to see this through. I'm I'm very grateful to um to Miss Adam for that. I came to you guys and said, "I want to give you legs and get you out into the community." For me again, you guys, you embraced it. You didn't for a second. you never stopped and said, "No, I only volunteered for this committee." You've stepped up. You've been put on on so many meetings to

185kind of support the endgame. And I just appreciate it. I mean, some of the ideas that you came up for chronic absenteeism were just amazing. And then to Sandra and the communications team as well to support the vision with the logo to I mean there's so many intricate details and and I've said like it's interesting to go to the events that we hold to see the end game but to watch them plan it. Wow. Like oh my god. Wow. Like the detail and the and the steps that are taken. So none of this can be done. It is truly a village effort and I just want to thank you all for continuing to stay consistent with the advisory committee. I think this has been one of the strongest committees I think and I'm not even

186on it anymore and it's still strong. Um I'm looking forward to it and I am so grateful to you guys and you kept my favorite graphic in too with a little apple and the stuff. So thank you. Thank you Miss Alstead. Anyone else? Miss Randall. Yes. Um, you know, earlier in today, because we've been meeting all day since 10:00 a.m., um, we had discussions about mental health and I'm just really glad to see so much of what you all are recommending to fall in line with things that we want to see as well. So, and then in collaborating with an advisory committee recommendations and having the board say yes and then, you know, looking at the superintendent and said yes is just really it's just what we want. It's it's how we work together with

187our communities to make good things happen for our our staff and our students. And I do appreciate the fact that while we do a lot about the students, we do include of course staff with this. And just as a note, um Dr. Rasca, principal at Hartwood did, um his work in chronic student absenteeism and he is willing to share his report as he has with me, but he's also been a presenter at um I believe it was a superintendent conference. So I I would just, you know, ask you to or welcome you all to take a look at that and see some maybe more thoughtful craftiness for chronic student absenteeism. But I definitely have seen improvement and you're right about some of our principles ways have made a difference for our students. So I really

188appreciate your work. Thank you, Miss Randall. We do have him scheduled to come in the fall, either October or November to come and speak with us. So, he's already on our schedule. Thanks to Dr. Any, I just want to thank you and all the members of the committee because I saw firsthand how much you put into it and the the commitment and the efforts and it's not always easy with, you know, everything going on in our lives to to to put that together. So, thank you. And and and I think you do make a difference. And I have to say this is one of the easier committees to to find volunteers for because it's uh you know, it's it's just important to everything that we that we do. So, thank you. Thank you, Miss Elely.

189Does anyone else want to weigh in? I just want to thank you. you know, as parent of multiple students in our division, I know that um sometimes it's hard to focus on this topic because we have so many competing priorities as far as, you know, academic expectations and things like that. But if we aren't succeeding in in your space, then they're not succeeding really anywhere else. Uh showing up, doing well. Um, so I feel so grateful for the work that you guys do, have done, will continue to do. I'm very excited, as I've said before, about the Jed partnership. I've worked with them in a professional capacity before. Um, I'm looking forward to September 13th. Um, Miss Hollstead has us memorizing that date. Um uh and I do know that you know even at the

190state level this has been a priority for so many of our legislators um to make sure that the people in our community from you know in our case students but the community as a whole has a need for mental health um awareness um just understanding competency and I'm glad that we are kind of embracing that here in the capacity that we can. So thank you to all of you for all that you do. Thank you. Thank you, Madam Chair. Y'all have a great evening. Presentation 6.02, Superintendent's Post Entry Plan Update. All right. Good evening, board members. Um, you can think of this as a six-month update. I I shared with you when I started, there we go. I shared with you when I started back in December that my intent would be to come into

191Stafford schools, really see how we're doing, seeing what's going well, seeing what we can do to improve. And uh I would share those results with you in April, and then come back in June, which we're in June now, to share with you next steps and an update in terms of where we are. Uh it is hard to believe it's been six months already and I'm deeply grateful for the warm welcome I've received, the honest conversations and the shared commitment uh that you've shown to work alongside of me to do what's best for our students, for our staff and so I truly appreciate that. I do want to provide an update tonight on my post-try plan and this will outline the key priorities, strategies and commitments that will drive our work over the next few years.

192These identif these items were initially identified as a part of my entry plan and I I think it'll help you to provide a clear picture on where we are, what we've learned, and how we move forward with transparency, accountability, and a shared purpose. So, just a quick reminder of the process. Uh during the pre-entry phase, I uh this was prior to me starting in Stafford schools. I really did a lot of work uh to learn about the existing processes, the documents that were in place, learned a lot about the strategic plan, really the work that was taking place already. Met with several division leaders to help understand what are the what was the current state in Stafford schools. As I as I began December 9th and started the entry phase, I held stakeholder listening sessions

193throughout the division in all ports portions of the county. listened to many of our students, staff, parents, and community members. I also conducted an in-depth review of our current processes, procedures, and structures to really see where are we excelling, where do we have gaps, and where might we have holes. Based on these findings, I generated themes about what I heard and created concrete action steps which I shared with the board and are also available on the division website. the the final phase is the post-entry phase and this phase really focuses on implementation of what I've learned. So the the what the so what really the now what now what are we going to do about it and so that's what I'm here to share with you tonight is an update on that work where it's

194headed and a little bit of a timeline on what that might look like moving forward. You'll notice that the items on this slide uh just do highlight some areas that I initially found that required some additional work. We have exceptional things taking place across our schools and our programs in our community. But these were the areas where I identified that we really could use some considerable focus um and where we could see some some gains. I really felt like we need to strengthen our leadership alignment, improve consistency across schools. We heard a little bit about that tonight. Really want to reduce disparities and improve outcomes for students and staff regardless of the school that they attend. Um there we also need to enhance our support for students with disabilities. I share with you that we

195want to focus on individualized transition planning, stronger collaboration between special education and general education staff. And then we also really want to look at our instructional framework and make sure that we did a great job of implementing that and putting that in place, but now how do we align all of our resources? How do we make sure we have clear professional development that supports that work so that we can have high quality instruction taking place in every classroom every day? Improved communication internally with families is essential. And again, we heard a bit about that just a minute ago. And it's really about expanding our capacity and streamlining our systems to ensure that we have timely, transparent, and really two-way communication and dialogue. At the same time, we're working on some operational areas such as transportation.

196as we know staffing and technology, but we're really using a more data driven approach for that work. And finally, uh, sustaining funding efficacy. This is a critical area for us as we we continue to have needs, um, that are unmet. Efforts are continuing to secure cost of competing adjustments um, and several of your other legislative priorities and we hope to continue with those and making some good steps forward in the upcoming year. We have some signs of success though that I want to share. First, um we are seeing some clear signs of success as we implemented some changes already uh since my arrival. Uh when I first came in, you shared with me very clear that transportation was an area of need, an area that we needed to take a look at. And I'm I'm

197very proud and excited to say that we've seen significant improvements. Uh this includes some of the al the strategic improvements that Mr. Wilcox has made as our new executive director in transportation. It also includes some of the recommendations that have been implemented from the transportation study uh that you commissioned. This this is such as an opt-in model for bus transportation and it allows us to really base our routes on actual writership to allow our routes to be more efficient. We shared with you earlier this evening that we worked very hard to make sure that we we received response from all of our families about whether students would be riding the bus or not for next year. This combined with a new tiered elementary school schedule uh we believe will really help us to see improvements

198in our communication, our staffing f flexibility, our on-time arrivals and dismissals and daily operations. Another sign of forward momentum is our thoughtful approach to growth. We just ended uh a very successful, I would say, community engagement process on redistricting and school boundaries. We know that is never easy, but we now have a digital visionwide transition team that's being put into place to support the opening of three new schools next year. This team has already begun to begun to meet and talk about what are the areas that we need to focus on, what are some things that we need to make sure that we address, and how can we make sure we get input and feedback along the way. We're also seeing success in how we support some of our most vulnerable learners. uh we identified

199that back to base was not necessarily working for us and what are some areas that we needed to go ahead and shift immediately and so we're starting we're starting and continuing to work on that. I'm I'm excited to share that we are already going to make some of those changes for the upcoming school year and so we will be uh identifying those students and those classrooms to open. And finally, our investment in professional learning for all staff is creating a culture of growth and well-being. And I was really impressed, I'll tell you, by our uh summer leadership academy that happened last week and really how our professional learning plan is aligned top to bottom in terms of the work that we're focused on and how it fits together so we can see those changes in

200practice and changes in the classroom together. These changes reflect our shared commitment to excellence and there are strong signs of our continued success in Stafford schools. So now some updates and as you if you recall my entry plan was clearly focused around the four goals of our strategic plan. I I believe very strongly in that plan. Uh kudos to you in the development of that plan and the support of that plan. And so I want to talk through a couple of the areas for each of the goals there. Much of this work has already begun, but I I do want to stress that it'll take time as we take actions towards each the each of the focus areas. We want to make sure that we're intentional, thoughtful, and strategic. And so on these slides, you'll

201see that there's a date noted on each of these. And um it'll be this slide and the next couple of slides. And these do represent the anticipated completion date. So many of these things have already started. And so just so you see a date down the road like rolling back back to base, it has already started. We will not fully get there. We don't anticipate until June of 2028. And so just wanted to be clear about that. Some of these things will take time to prepare every student for success after graduation, whether they choose college, a career, or military. We are advancing focused initiatives that expand opportunities and enhance support and individualized services. You know, we lo we're launching the business and information technology specialty center at Colonial Forge and we're planning for additional centers

202to expand access in high demand careers. We are also excited about new and improved academic and career plans and we've introduced school links which is a new tool that will allow students to explore more options based on their goals and interests that are aligned. In special education, we continue to review IEP and 504 implementation. We're looking at our transition services and really strengthening how we provide specially designed instruction for more personalized learning for our students. As I mentioned about rolling back back to base, we are preparing to open six emotional behavior support or EBS programs this fall and really to make sure we're focusing on student needs to make sure we're staffing those appropriately and really designing the instruction to meet each of each one of those students needs. And this is just a good

203example of how it's already begun, but it will take several years to complete. We're improving services for English learners in a divi with a divisionwide needs assessment and better translation services. We're also looking at a newcomer program for to support their initial transition. High academic expectations and instructional quality is central to our work and you'll see that starts there with goal two. A teacher committee is refining our instructional framework and they're defining researchbased indicators of high quality instruction. We're also looking at our MTSS or multi-tered systems of support model. Uh we've started that and that's already in play, but it's we're actually going to expand that in the upcoming year as we add reading plans for identified students in grades four through eight. And finally, we're aligning resources with instructional goals. We're taking a look

204at allocations, creating long-term plans for textbooks and technology, and ensuring equity and sustainability in how we support our classrooms. These efforts help to strengthen instruction, expand opportunity, and prepare every student for a successful future. As we look to goal three, you can see that we're working to improve key operational systems here so they better better support our students, our staff, and our families. In transportation and scheduling, I mentioned we're shifting to a four tier model and implementing opt-in. This was re informed by community feedback and an external review. And we're also going to audit our bell schedules and routes to guide future decisions to balance learning time with our needs. We'll form a calendar committee this fall to review our academic calendar with a focus on aligning our strategic goals and supporting our family's needs.

205To strengthen communication, we're conducting a full audit audit of and to evaluate how we connect with families and staff. The results will guide the development of a clear customer service standards, professional development, and targeted communication strategies for different audiences. As we prepare to open three new schools, again, I mentioned the division level transition team is coordinating with school leaders and families to make sure we have a smooth transition and a successful launch. And finally, goal four. And then goal five around operational efficiency and funding as we invest in staff. With goal four, we're refining how we operate and support staff and how we develop talent so that every employee is empowered to contribute to student success. To strengthen this, we've launched a principal leadership team, created a senior leadership structure, and we are building a

206teacher cabinet. These are all structures to allow voice voices from our staff to raise and to make sure we're doing what's in the best interest of our students and staff. We're also reviewing staff workload and resource use to help to reduce unnecessary burdens and focused efforts where they matter most. We've collected feedback from each of the superintendent advisory committees and we are in the process of clarifying those roles based on that feedback to make sure they are truly meeting that need. In human resources, we're updating recruitment and on boarding practices, especially for hard to fill positions, and we're forming a wellness committee to support staff well-being. Professional development is being aligned to the needs of our workforce with targeted supports for inclusive practices, language strategies, and customer service. We're also working to ensure resources are

207aligned with the strategic goals in our plan. We're taking a look at our base budget and our data advisory team is helping to improve how we use reliable data to inform our work. And finally, we're really working on advocacy. We've created tools for year-round engagement with our legislators and we're coordinating more closely with local leaders on funding priorities. We continue to work on our on our relationship across the street with our supervisors, but then also working on how we work together uh to move this work forward. So, what's next? The road ahead is clear and promising and as we execute on the 2526 post entry initiatives, our focus remains on students, staff, and families at every step. We'll continue to engage the community, ensuring that voices are heard and partnerships are strong. We'll remain committed

208to transparency, regularly sharing progress and outcomes that trust, collaboration, and accountability will be built upon to guide our work together. I know this these efforts will build a stronger and more responsive Stafford schools. I hope this presentation and this information has really helped you understand where we are six months in in the work that we plan in the near future. So, thank you and I'm happy to answer any questions you might have. Thank you. Does anyone have any questions? Thank you. I think we're good. Been moving. Thank you so much. Do you have a question, Miss G? You look like you want us to ask questions. It's not like we haven't been together since 10 o'clock this morning. Thank you. We will move forward with our student representatives report. Miss Irish, who's now a senior.

209Yeah. Good evening, members of the board, administrators, and community members. As the school year wraps up, Lillian and I have been continuing our work by staying connected with students and staff. We're currently still working on getting out our feedback form, which will help us gather input on what went well this school year and where there's room to grow and what we can do for next school year. While there haven't been many events as we get into the summer, we've been using the time to stay in touch with our school communities and prepare for the months ahead. We're focused on making sure student voice stays part of the conversation throughout the summer and into next fall. Thank you again for your continued support and we're looking forward to keeping up the momentum. Thank you. Next on

210our agenda is our citizen comments. Three minutes are allotted to each speaker or group. Speakers shall identify themselves by name and district. Speakers shall also announce the purpose or topic of their comments. Citizen comment which is profane, abusive, or threatens imminent physical harm shall be ruled out of order. Miss Hall, Madam Chair, excuse me. We have four individuals who have signed up tonight. The first two are Matthew Sutton and Gar Connors. They'll be followed by Kathy Rivas and Jerome Wilson there. Recognize a few of you been here a few times. Uh good evening uh superintendent members, schoolboard members, superintendent, and staff. Um my name is Matthew Sutton. I'm a parent. I'm a former Stafford County student. Uh graduated from North in 96. I also taught eighth grade math here in Stafford County for almost a

211decade. Um, I have since moved on to work in the IT consulting field and project management um, and things like that. And as a tech enthusiast, something I'm I know you all have heard of, but I want to make a big deal about is AI. We have got to get AI into it. It is transforming our world at an exponential pace. U, from generative AI to prompt engineering, these tools are reshaping how we work, learn, live. Um, I know there there's visions and talk of things going on. Um, but I have personally have not seen anything like roll out communication wise to the community of what we're doing about AI, how we're getting our kids educated for it. And a lot of this stems from I came up in the birth of AOL and the

212internet and we didn't know what we were doing and Stafford County schools didn't really teach us what in the world our jobs were going to be in an internet-based world back in the 90s and every job has changed since then. AI is doing is the next thing. We're living inside the next big digital revolution and we've got to prepare our kids for it. Um, and I understand it takes time to build curriculum and courses and there is no perfect course out there because by time you you spend a couple years trying to create the perfect course, it'll already be out of date. Um, and it's something we need to just get in there. One of the things I would maybe encourage is when it comes to the back to school week for teachers and they're

213doing stuff and there's always professional learning and like what are those topics I think every teacher in this county better go through some sort of AI training about how to use AI as an assistant teacher in the classroom with kids. It's hard enough trying to teach to 35 different kids to learn 35 different ways. Guess what? AI can do a lot of that and we can teach the kids how to use it in the classroom effectively. Yes, some kids are going to cheat with AI, but we've been cheating since pens and paper when pencils when we pass notes to each other in class. Everybody's going to do that sometime. Not everybody, but it's always been around. It's going to be around. But if we can teach them how to use it effectively. I think about

214in the classrooms, teachers put up these mottos of like, you know, be strong and be smart and read. Why not have banners of like great prompts and great cues that can teach the kids of like, "Oh, I just went over how to solve variable equations, but you didn't get it in the way that I taught it. Let me go I'm going to go over and help these two kids over here, but these three kids could go in and use some form of AI tool to be their personal tutor to get them caught up to bring things through faster. Not to mention like the paperwork that teachers have to go through probably go a lot easier." Um, so I I just I hope we're not stalling waiting for the perfect AI thing to be out there.

215Just get it in, get it going. It's not going to be perfect and it it never will be, but you just get going with it and the kids can be involved. So anyway, please get that in the classroom. Hi everybody, Shamir Connor Harwood District. Now you all may know me from last month as an award-winning transgender Olympic swimmer, but today I identifi identify as the pimp of pride. Last Tuesday, the Stafford board of supervisors here in town voted for item number 32 on the agenda where it stunningly and bravely said that Stafford will recognize June as a month of recognition and support for individuals of diverse sexual orientations and gender identities in Stafford County. This passed, so now we can Stafford can officially celebrate Pride Month. Yay. Now it's time to implement the next phase

216of our Marxist takeover of this city. As a member of the LGBTQIS plus, minus divide sign, multiplication sign, and rest of the alphabet community. I'm here to say that we deserve special recognitions and praises because of our buttload of pride in our diverse bedroom activities. Now, we in the LGBT community, we are hoping that Stafford schools, you guys, can join in solidarity with the other school districts across the country and officially recognize Pride Month on the school website and have all the classrooms displaying pride flags in the upcoming year. Now, we know that this past year teachers weren't supposed to have pride flags in the classrooms, but they still did anyway despite the policy. So, now it's just okay, just let them do it. And if you don't, that makes you big. It's a hate

217diversity. Now, we also have to make the LGBT community look cool and trendy for the youth. So then they'll grow up and join us. After all, we in the LGBTQ can't reproduce. We can only recruit. Sure, the statistics I read last week of the order of supervisor being shown that the LGBT community has the highest HIV rates, domestic violence rates, divorce rates, rates of pedophilia, rates of STDs, rates of sexual partners, and many trans children are transhousing by proxy with the highest permanent life game over rates. But love is love, just like poop is poop. Just so if you recall last month I came to the schoolboard meeting to thank the school board you guys for making the official policy of Stafford schools to allow boys to use the girls restrooms. You can look this

218up online. It shows it's under policy 2420-P and the superintendent is responsible for bringing forth a plan that allows or disallows boys to use the girls bathrooms. So thank you superintendent got that for respecting trans rights and supporting boys using the girls bathrooms and spaces in Stafford. Also on policy 2420P it says that you can have any any gender identity you want and any sexual orientation and everyone has to respect it in Stafford. So new plan guys. Can we start recruiting some 30-year-old men and they'll identify as female teenagers and we can start dominating women's sports. Just think of all the money we can make if we start betting on this. We could totally solve all the school's funding problems in one year and win every single championship and trophies easily. Although I meant to

219say this last month, but I ran out of time. Since we know that Stford's policy is that we allow illegal aliens to register schools, some might be trendier members in the schools. I was wondering if we open up a club for my fellow transgender swimmers. We could call it trans day. I know we'd have massive support. Okay. No more no more computer coding classes for trans people, by the way. They're non-binary. We don't like that. Okay. And now it's time to identify as invisible. I'm now transparent. Thank you. Thank you everybody. Miss Rivas, Kathy Rivas. Hi me again. So this time I am talking about well I was going to talk about thing only but then in your meeting I want to talk a little bit more about two more things. Um the first thing

220is about school 19. So it's been um what was it sorry um I want to discuss about school 19 and it unique approach to education uh particular in the inspiration artwork art work in the walls um some of you might think is of it of as graffiti but it's actually val I believe it's a valuable asset for fostering welcoming and engaging environment the graffiti or which is artwork um showcase um not just academic achievements of history um historians or fine arts but also in the daily heroes in our communities. These graffitis also have inspir inspirational quotes. Um the guy previously me talked about technology and I it can have coding in the walls something that will engage the students to to want to come into school and be educated and have a fun environment. Also,

221you guys talked about a minute ago regarding absences. Um um under J.R.'s leadership um at Conway Elementary School, he has achieved notable success with lowering the attendance score. It's about 8% versus other schools in the community which is 20%. Right. uh with his direction at Conway and his clear innovation approach has worked. Um and I'm going all over the place. Sorry. Um I believe the reason why you guys hired him for school 19 is because of his innovation, but his innovation also comes with his ability to teach his staff, his students, and the ability to showcase the classrooms and the school. Having blank white boards, blank white walls doesn't bring education or have it a fun environment. If you're trying to replicate what he has accomplished at Conway, then it's giving him the ability to

222have his autonomy, sorry, have autonomy to his school, which is school 19 now. So, if you want that success of Conway, you need to allow him to bring that to school 19. That means the way he teaches his students, the way he teaches his staff, the way he even presents the school, the inside, maybe the outside, fine, you want to keep it traditional, but the inside it should be up to him. He has great success with Conway. You guys were talking about um engagement with parents. Uh one of your one of the present presenters stated about um newsletters. Conway gets constant news newsletters. So again, if you want 19 to be successful, let him have the ability to run the school as he sees it fit. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Wilson. So that's my

223football coach from way back in the day. Good to see him. He's a big wig now. So, but I know him as Coach Stipple. So, um I'm glad to be here. My name is Jerome Wilson. I'm part of the Quiet District. Um I'm not going to take much of your time. My son, unfortunately, was uh called the N-word. It escalated to a fight. He We have a video of him also being called the N-word. And my issue is this. My the normalization. Um on the video um you'll see that this student is repeatedly calling my son after the fight ended the n-word and there is no real issues being brought up with that young man. My son accept his consequences. He got suspended whereas the young man got nothing. To me that's an issue. There

224are certain words there are certain situations that are unacceptable. And I get it. I know you guys are overwhelmed. I worked in the school system way way back in the day before my wife and I decided to open MMA gym and get punched in the face for a living. But I can say this, the expectation is what concerns me because when COVID hit in 2020 uh from my previous line of work, I knew probably around 24 25 you're going to see see an increase with violent behavior. And I'm here screaming as something in the wilderness that you're going to see it especially with these young men because a you have to expect more from them. Um, a lot of times we're lowering the bar thinking we're doing good things, but in actuality lowering the bar

225is not really helping them. If we want to do anything, we want to reach meet them where they're at, bring the bar up. And so, when I hear that word, when I see the beef between the Mexicans and the Salvadorans and the black kids, that scares me because in my line of work in Richmond, when I was there, that was a early warning sign of some stuff happening. And so I'm just coming here from my little previous life to tell you all that you're probably going to have some danger on your hands because we have to do a better job of setting a bar of expectations and it just can't be um talking. You have to identify these individuals. You can't be afraid of the race word. I know we get hyper sensitive when we

226start isolating racial groups and we're using identifiers. I get it. But you have to address what's really happening. And so when I hear what my son says and I'm seeing these young men use the n-word and other words that are derogatory and teachers are just letting it happen. That's a problem. That guy right there would have made me run laps forever. The bar that coach Stipple and our coaches set was extremely high and I'm proud of that. So again, I'm coming here telling you that I'm always available. Um some of you have my information. I'm always available to help, but I'm just concerned because it is my son's senior year. But still, these young men, um, particularly your brown and black young men are having some serious issues, and a lot of it has to

227do with just expectations and meeting them where they're at and holding them feet to the fire. So, I just wanted to come here as a resource and offer. And if you do want to reach out to me, like I said, I'm really easy and God knows who I am, right? You guys take care. Okay. Action item for the evenings, item 9.01, appoint schoolboard members to serve on the board's finance and budget committee, governance committee, and legislative committee in fiscal year 2026, which will be July 2025 through June 2026. Motion to approve. Oh, no. No. Oh, I thought we did it. That's why I was saying to you, I thought we did it before. Um, I can say that based on most recent conversations and outside of this room, we only talk to each other one

228at a time. So, other conversations may have happened. Last I heard um for FY26 budget committee will be Dr. Warner, Miss Healey, and Miss Guy. Governance committee Governance committee will be Miss Holstead, Miss Randall, and myself. And legislative committee will be Miss Randall, Dr. Chase, and myself. So, if somebody would like to make that motion for discussion and then we can discuss. Motion for that. We add the alternates as long as we're motioning. for do we have to designate an alternate? Okay. Um Dr. Chase, can I designate you the alternate for budget? Um who else is left? Uh Miss Healey, since you guys are just coming off those committees and Dr. Waro, you be the alternate for legislative. Okay. Motion to approve the recommended committee assignments. Second. Is there any Is there a second? Second.

229Okay. Is there any discussion? Cast your votes. Motion passes seven to zero. Item 9.02. This is approval of a prioritized list of year-end expenditures using F. Oh jeez. I thought that was we're going to the end. I refreshed and it didn't pop up. Let's see. Okay. Approval of a proposed amended charter for school board's legislative committee. Um are we identifying anybody for that or can I just Well, the committee has been appointed. We are trying there was a suggested I can do a motion. So this is as it came out of um governance to the whole board. We need to make a motion to approve it. Went through FAB C first. I do, but we have to make a motion to discuss it. It's we pulled it from consent because we have a change. Motion

230to do the thing. Second to the motion to do the thing. Whatever to talk about it so that we can approve. So you have to make a motion to approve it. We can discuss potential changes and then we can motion to approve this right here as it stands. Second. Okay. Okay. So what's the So as we were staffing our committees um down under section D committee composition it says um committee will be composed of three school board members selected by majority of the board. One member shall be for governance, one from finance and budget and the final member oh this has already been changed shall be selected oh shall be selected by the board shall have one it does not this does not require chair or vice chair anymore that's the change we made it

231says it does oh right so then you know what either either we read it wrong and simultaneously misunderstood what we were reading or someone changed this to make it make sense it's not changed No. So then we we Okay. Yeah. Okay. You know what? This is what happens when we start our meetings at 10 a.m. because I'm totally confused. Okay. So, are we ready? Okay. We're good. All right. Okay. That motion approve is approved unanimously. Now we'll move on. I hope everybody's on the same list now. Approval of a prioritized list of year-end expenditures using FY25 year end savings. Motion to approve prioritized list. Any discussion? Miss Randall. Okay. So, this has to even do with uh the the thing that I'm bringing forward uh for the courts at um Dixon because I see on

232here at the end low priority summer 2025 tennis courts at Rodney Thompson. Is this also going to be tennis pickleball or is this tennis? And I remember the question came up a while ago about is tennis, something that's still in the middle school curriculum. So, um, there is a racket component in the middle school curriculum. Okay. Um, and so our approach, so the back to the Dixon Smith tennis courts, um, those were on the three R list, approved on the 3R list, and that's why it's a separate item. Uh, the Rodney Thompson is a couple of years out. So, our approach has as we've been um doing any resurfacing or replacement of our tennis courts, we've been adding the pickle ball lines to it. Um which allows not only uh our middle school students uh

233to use it as pickle ball and our um teachers to work it into their curriculum specifically and use those courts that way. Um it also allows another access point for our public to use those courts for picket ball as it's um kind of gained uh some more momentum over the last few years. So, I am to understand then that Well, I I was happy to see the about the pickle ball part, but I'm just curious because I didn't see that specifically in the Rodney Thompson project. It just said tennis, so I wasn't sure. And there was a cost difference, so I didn't know if they would also be getting those lines. They will be. Okay. Yeah, the cost difference is the honestly to add the lines is pretty insignificant in the cost. Right. Right. But

234I just saw a cost differential. So I didn't I wasn't sure if that and and I did not see it specifically put there. So I was that's why I wanted to clarify and ask that. And thank you for um clarifying the middle school curriculum as well. Thank you, Miss Hollstead. Um I just have a question about the ones that say various. Is there like a scheduling like do we have who we're going to first? What's happening or is this just across the system as we identify? So radio replacement safety and security location is various. So how does that how is that going to work? Yeah, there's a couple of them on the high the first three ones here. Um AI phones replacements, whatever. They say various schools. So I get that all the schools need

235them or certain schools need them, but do we have a list that fleshes out who and is it a prioritization mechanism? Are they all getting done at the same time? Like how is that going to work? Uh yeah, there's a list with a priority order on those specific schools. So it's various because it was multiple schools. Um and then we have an internal list where we're tracking that. We can share that with you if that's so so you you said you have a priority list. So it is one thing that like one school will get done another school. We're not just picking five schools and getting them done or right. So on on here they're kind of grouped together and so we would do if we were going to do one we're doing all five

236that might be on. That's my question. All right. Cool. Thank you ma'am. Miss Healey about the transfer to the health benefits fund. I understand that it has to be done because the claims were higher than we had expected. Um but one to two million is quite a range when we specifically note here not all items will be funded. So, how is it going to be determined whether it's closer to 1 million or closer to 2 million? Because the more we spend transferring to the health benefits fund, the the fewer of these projects we can uh complete. Yeah. Uh great question. And um I I pointed this out um in in the line too as well because this was something that we had on the FAB C. Um, I actually increased the amount. Part of that,

237um, as we've as I gone back and consulted with my staff and reviewed our health benefit numbers, um, as you all know, one of the things I've shared is with our health benefits cost increasing this year. And hopefully that that levels off. Um, we've almost completely depleted our reserve um, that we have in our health benefits fund. And that was one of our ways that we were able to balance this year is because we had a reserve. Uh, so next year we would have almost no flexibility in our health benefits fund. and everything is going to have to come out of our operating fund um or increased um rates again. So, uh this was a way really I did the one to two million because um I wanted to target our compensation and benefit savings

238that we have this year. So, I've I've said all along we were kind of right around that $2 million mark. Our most recent projection is probably around $2.4 million that we would have in health benefit or not just health benefits, I'm sorry, but compensation and benefit savings this year. um excluding kind of the health benefits overages that we've had. So, uh my thought was up to that $2 million mark, assuming that we do see that comp benefit savings through June 30th, we would take that amount. So, if we had $ 1.5 million in in savings on our comp benefit lines, we would transfer that over to the health benefits fund to help build up that reserve. and the rest of the savings we have across our operating fund whether it's because of increased revenues from

239the state that we are still projecting we got updated numbers uh just very late Friday early Monday we're working on those calculations and firming up what we what I kind of presented on our third quarter year-end update uh so over a million dollars in additional state revenue and then our fuel savings and some of the other energy savings um so I do think we're going to have closer to four million maybe up to five million dollar in total savings. Now, the buses and our health benefits could, you know, eat up two to three million dollars of that pretty quickly, but we would still have a few other million to to go down this list and check. Sure. What What if we were to um say a million for sure? Yep. And then anything over um

240a million up to two million after all the high priority items were um addressed because I would feel that we should address the high priority. I mean clearly there's a difference between a high priority, a medium or a low priority. And and and thank you for making those um those changes. But if a million could do it, then I'd rather address these high priority needs of the school because traditionally we have used that excess um comp and benefits, you know, money to to do projects like this. We've never had to do it. And I would uh prefer looking into the possibility of taking uh withdrawal from the OPE and I know we're already doing that but but we're able to do that for our retiree cost are we not? Yes, ma'am. Are we are we

241taking the maximum out of that or you know what? No, we could uh we could definitely take more next year. So, we pulled out $2 million in FY25 and if we needed to in FY26, we could actually pull out more than the 2 million. The 2 million was just our health insurance um retirey reimbursement, but we could take out $7 million more and cover our actual retirees health insurance costs, right? So, so I mean, if we got in a in a pinch, there would be a potential um, you know, rescue point, but I'm I'm just concerned that we're not going to be able to do the all the high priority projects because we're putting it into um, you know, sure, a reserve. and and and also I I' I've got this just general concern that

242the the health benefits is very important, but it doesn't help all of our staff and and the staff that don't use it don't get any additional um you know benefit or compensation and and I I just I think we you know we should be doing these high priority projects for sure. But that's that's just my that's my thoughts. It's something that you know I'd ask the board to to consider. Um, did you have a quick question, Miss Guy, while you're doing your calculator? So, I was trying to add it up, but it didn't work. I'm not sure. I think it's just too many numbers because I was trying to understand if we did a million, how far down the high does that get us? I was trying to figure out. Do you happen to know

243how much the high is? Oh, really? Excluding the health benefits and transportation, but the Yeah, it's 2 million by itself. Yeah. Okay. Okay. And you think we have about two million left over after we do the transportation? Yeah. And health if the rest of the board agrees, I I have no problem with Miss Healey's suggestion. Yeah. I mean, I I do have some concerns about um just the what's the word I'm looking the fluctuations that we have been seeing in health care costs. And I would be very concerned for us to get partway through the school year and suddenly find that we're having to operating funds to cover this because we didn't didn't have it saved up, right? Um and and I would assume that if we have if we put that money in and

244then we find at the end of next year that we didn't need it, we could we could put it towards um would it would would it count as carryover money? She said you can't take it out. I don't know. Once yeah, once we move it into the health benefits fund, um we we could wouldn't be able to use those funds. Now, we could reduce our transfer into the health benefits fund with our FY26 funds and then um kind of but doesn't our employer employer contribution is is set. We can't reduce our employer contribution based on a prior year's contribution, can we? I mean, we can adjust our contribution. I mean, we're adding additional contribution this year into it, which is in essence increasing our employee, right? adding is a lot different from subtracting. I thought

245we did it on a actually just for I don't know if it was FY23 or FY24. Um the board voted we actually reduced our our contribution into it because of on our operating fund. We were running very very tight and we needed those. I think it was about a million dollars of additional funds. Weren't we putting in extra you know some of those or more than our contribution? Maybe it'd be good for us to get a a health benefits 101 on how the formulas work and you know what our contribution is, what the employees I think the employees need to be very um cognizant of this because clearly our costs are going up. We're not going to be in a position to continue to subsidize it to the tune of millions of dollars um in

246excess of what our regular contribution is. So, you know, something's going to have to to to change in the um you know, either the benefits or the cost, right? And and for me, I'm just, as I said, I I would just hate for us to be running through operations next year and suddenly have to sort of rob from Peter to pay Paul. And so I I for me personally, I'd like to be a little more conservative with respect to insurance, but that's that's one board member. I have a quick question. Um so I appreciate this list. It's a little frightening, but um I guess my question is in an in a rare effort of joint priorities working together, the board of supervisors funded a kind of emergency fund for safety and security needs for emergency

247repairs for studentf facing equipment. And a lot of this list is safety and security stuff. Um you know, security systems, locking mechanisms, intercom systems, security film. And I wondered why we couldn't or we haven't requested that through this fund because I it doesn't feel like we've spent all of the what they've allocated for safety and security improvements. And I highlight those in particular because the board of supervisors had um essentially made it very clear to us they want it like they want us to priorities prioritize our safety and security needs. Um, and then of course emergency repairs because stuff happens, but there's a lot on here and I feel like maybe that some of those could be covered elsewhere and that might allow us to stretch the money we have left to do the rest

248of the high priority things and put more towards um, this health benefits fund because I'm uncomfortable unfunding any safety and security things on our list whether they're low priority or high priority and there is money set aside. We don't know what happens to that money on their side of the street on July 1. I won't pretend to understand how their finances work, but I just wonder what the expectation would be from them if they see us looking at a list of security needs and not like and deferring them essentially. We've virtually exhausted the funds that were set aside for uh this year But if there if there are some funds left, they would carry over um in the county's fund balance. Well, that might be um well, the three on three for sure, but um

249might I request that um Friday update and or FABSY get the list of what we've spent it on just for both Sure. you know, everyone's benefit from the community as a whole to both boards on the accounting of those emergency repairs. Um, and then we'd know essentially if there's anything left over and maybe take that right off the top of some of these. Miss Guy, yeah, I was absolutely going to ask about the fund for emergency services for safety because the high stuff is is a lot of it is multiple safety issues noted during inspections. Like, so to me, we we can't we can't not do this. But to what Dr. Chase said, I I agree with her 100% as well. Um, you know, it's scary thinking of not having enough money in that health

250benefits fund halfway through the year, but right here we've got 450 student chairs that are failing. You know, we we I I don't understand. I think regardless of what we do, it is robbing Peter to pay po Paul. Maybe um I wish there was a somebody else in that equation that could help out, but um I I feel like the all the safety issues that are in the high we have to we have to do. Um I'll take another stab at this. I'm also concerned about the elevator replacement at North. Does North have a backup elevator or do they just have one? Just the one. Um, I don't know how to ask without like making people bells and whistles. Like how close are like how close to failure are we here? Like how imminent is

251this? Because this is an ADA issue. I don't know what our, you know, student and staff usage of that elevator is. That's a really big ticket item. We are not rolling into our next fiscal year with an emergency fund from the board of supervisors. So I struggle to leave such a large ticket item unfunded if it's if it's a sign, you know, what the foreseeable future is to that functionality moving into the next school year. And and we did discuss the North Award elevator at our FAB C. It was brought up by our our FAB C members as well. And we actually um we kind of heard that and moved it up to our highest rated um kind of medium priority. Uh the reason it really jumped down to our medium priorities because it is

252funded in our on our 3R list. So it's really was just moving it up uh to try to get it a year earlier. Now even even if we fund that here, it still now frees up those three R funds that we would come back and find an additional project. We have a very long three list and um you know, thankful uh to the advocacy here and the and the board of supervisors for funding us at a at a better rate this year and and fully funding our request. Um, but we're still a few years behind and I should say several several years behind where we're playing catch-up. Uh, so you know, anything that we are able to kind of knock off or move up will allow us to catch up a little bit faster. Miss

253Sigman, also add when we talked about that at FAB C, it was noted and they put in here summer of 2026, it requires that elevator be down for several months. And so we wouldn't, even if you approved tonight, we wouldn't get to it till next summer. And so that was one of the other things too that we consider. That makes sense because it's got to be and it and it has to be down for months. So, we wouldn't be able to use it in the interim. So, it's got to be Yeah. So, we we can't get the parts in for this summer replacement. So, it's really ordering it so we have them on hand to hit the ground running next year. Okay. Anything else? Okay. Are we going to cast our votes? Do you do

254you want to reiterate the motion? Do we want to amend the motion? Did you want to make a substitute motion? I just I wanted the board to consider it. If it's the uh the board will consider it, I would um make a substitute motion that the um the initial uh allocation would be $1 million to transfer to the health benefits fund. And after all of the high priority um projects have been funded, if there is any balance that the balance up to the um the remainder in the um you said the benefits and um salary and benefits be applied to health benefits. I mean be applied to health benefits and if there's anything after that which is probably most unlikely that it be applied to the um you the next priority projects and I'm I'm

255I'm trusting that you know the judgment of you know the prioritization these projects second but I also understand that sometimes you know we might have a project that costs 300,000 if we only have 200,000 we have to skip it to to go down. So, I understand that. So, it's not exactly, you know, in in the order. So, I I'll I'll make that as a um or a friendly amendment to the motion if that's all right with the motion maker and the second. I'm I'm fine with the friendly second. Well, I know Susan I just heard Susan send second. day. Okay. All right. So, the amended motion, please cast your votes. That motion carries unanimously. Uh updated list 9.04. award a contract in the amount of $2,963,395 to Samaha Associates for architectural engineering design services for

256the Hartwood Elementary School rebuild at the West Lake Crawford site using FY26 capital project funds. Motion to approve. Second. Uh discussion. You have a question. Question. we have to like request the proper site before we start trying to design a school to put on it. Madam Chair, members of the board, Jason Towry, um our understanding uh from the discussions with the county and developers that um they're intending to that for that transfer to occur um in time for the for us to begin construction on that next summer. There is there's a little bit of good faith here, I suppose, um that we're we're going out on, but um at this point, our understanding is that everything will be ready for us to begin begin construction next summer. So, I I would just say like I

257haven't this is the first time we've voted on a school site and I don't really recall seeing the map and being sure what's going on and and having a sense of how many homes are around the site. Um, so that's a little bit concerning to me to to vote that we are indeed going to put it there when I haven't actually like the it's the first time and you know of all the schools that I've been involved in that nothing has been brought to us to look at that. So, but but you know how urgent is this? Um, I imagine since we aren't meeting again till August, it might be quite urgent. So, I don't know. I I just think that we need some I would like to see a plot of the land. I

258would like to and I would like to make a formal request for it so that there's no ambiguity about this is where it's going and this is what we're doing, especially if if we authorize the architectural firm to start drawing up plans. I I just think that that handshake to take place so that there is absolutely no doubt and there is a public record of what was been has been requested and what's being offered. Miss Guy, I'm not trying to be difficult, but many many many residents including board of supervisors in Stafford thought that elementary 19 was going to be at Embry Mill. And so you're saying now that it is assumed by the board of supervisors and the developer that this is where the school is going to go, but we didn't vote on

259it. And I I just don't understand the difference. Um I remember the the people but we but but we didn't but we didn't choose the property. I I just to me it's just different because Yeah. So this We added the column of the CIP location or the intended location for each school because of the confusion surrounding the um location of elementary 19 because it was a it was before at least the three of us were on the board. I don't know about anybody else but I know before the three of us those were conversations and beliefs and expectations that prior board members had and be and because there was no I guess paper trail documentation that's when this board suggested adding a column to the CIP so that when we approve our CIP we as

260a board are also um approving where we believe that location will be. Obviously, if we're approving a school to be built in 2032, things might change a lot in this county between now and then, and that's why we review it every year and potentially reconfigure where that location is. But for our hopefully soonest builds, that is on the CIP when we send it over to the board of supervisors and they take that into account when we when they I assume approve funding. So, my point is the will of the board I'm fine with. If if all seven of us are like, "Okay, this is a great property. I just think we need to do a vote and we can I would assume do that tonight. Yeah. So, so for me there's still just the issue

261that I haven't seen it and and I understand about voting on the CIP, but at the time that we voted on the last CIP, we did not have the funding from the board of supervisors yet. So, it they had not I mean they they only in this most recent budget approved the funds for the replacement of Hartwood. So I just due diligence. I haven't seen it. So Miss Haley, I think it would be prudent to get confirmation from the board of supervisors that they shall convey the property to us um for use as a school. Otherwise, we are expending nearly $3 million of taxpayers money for a design that um most likely would be used. But if for some reason the supervisors change their mind um as we've seen recently has happened um then we

262you know that that money would be wasted and the time would be wasted because we need to get that Hartwood school started. So I don't know the best way to do that if we asked um if I could ask maybe Mr. agenda Mr. um and Dr. Smith. Is it if the board were interested in amending the motion to make it contingent upon whatever that language is conveyance from the board of supervisors? I mean, can we does that screw I mean, is that legally something we can do? Is that going to screw up your timeline? Is that just a bad idea? You know, is there a solution forward given that both boards have limited meetings over the summer? Um I I just don't know what the timeline is and the time sensitivity as you raised. So

263I will say um to answer that question the the longest period of time in this design is the site design. So having the site correctly identified and selected um is really the long pole in the tent in terms of getting to construction next summer of 26, fall of 26 actually. Um the only other thing I'll point out is throughout the CIP process, it was identified not only in the CIP documents but in multiple conversations meetings that that was the site we had identified for that. Understanding that a formal vote has not been taken on that. That was that was the intention of the CIP documents and the conversations we had. I will say that it will take probably talking with the developer. Um it would probably be at some point next spring before all the

264documentation, everything would be formally wrapped up and the property be transferred, which is still fine for our timeline to get out to construction. But so for people who have been on this board maybe longer and then I'll go to Miss Holstead because she's been suspiciously quiet. Um, if we start to appear to question the location as it has appeared on our CIP, does that raise more concerns than the process seeks to eliminate in the process? Because if we've told them this is what we're doing and now we're like, oh, well, now we're going to vote on it again. Does that look like we're backpedaling? And I'm I'm truly asking because I've only been here for a couple of schools. I understood the issue to be that we don't have title to the site and we

265have no firm commitment that that title will come to the school board. Is is that because we have voted for that site on the CIP CIP living document we can change it any time but I haven't heard any you know discussion about changing it. My concern is that we expend these funds, we take the time, the money, design a site that doesn't come to us. So, at a minimum, I think we could ask the supervisors for a resolution um confirming that it is their intention to convey that site to the school for uh you know for for this elementary school. If not, we're putting all this money out hoping it's going to happen. I mean, we've just recently seen a change. So, it would not be totally unexpected. Miss Hollstead and then Miss Randall. Thank

266you. So I I feel very strongly like the rest of them. I have grave concerns that you know I would love to believe that this is the site that we're given that there that nothing is going to change that this is where all this is going to happen or whatever but I am reluctant to extend the trust olive branch over because of recent events. And I also feel like these guys here, like this was discussed, I think a long long time ago about the fact that this is the best place for a school, but they could decide that it's a library or a fire station or they could decide that it's something else. And so my concern becomes in our generation of fiscal responsibility and stewardship that we went ahead without that actual acknowledgement. Right.

267And I to your good faith point, I think I think that would be the best way to go in a perfect world, but I don't think we have that here. So that's my concern. And I I just think that I I really hope that all the intentions are pure and good on here, but in order to protect this investment, I'm I'm happy to support and sign on for contingency, like to add contingent upon board of supervisor approval or, you know, acknowledgement that this is our land or whatever. But but this is a definitely a hefty sum of money considering what we just saw. And I get this is money that's allocated for the rebuild anyway, but I feel like I'm I need more to be comfortable with this. Miss Hall, aren't we supposed to have

268a three on three this month? No. August. Um Dr. Smith, can we get ask request the board of supervisors pass a resolution confirming that property is coming to us and then I think in the meeting on the 26, the next time we meet the work session, we should review the plan. Well, that might be a substitute motion. We forgot Miss Randall. But can was was I mistaken that there was one scheduled in June or was it I thought so. Thank you. Um and when we're getting um it's similar to what Dr. Chase was asking, but I think I recalled I guess I would like to see the whole plot for the um Westlake property and how many acres it is because I would you've talked I think I remember here maybe it was you someone

269else I don't know um that it could be um another school to fit potentially on that property or maybe we're only allowed a certain part of the property. I don't know. But if we could get that information about how much land do we have profered to us and then we can look at it as not only maybe a Hartwood but maybe a future middle school or whatever project. I'm not going to confirm anything here but um if you could make that part of the I can give you a little bit of background on that real quick. Um in 1989 when the property was originally profered um reszoned and the profer occurred it was 55 acres um 35 of which was for school 20 of which was for park. Um then in I believe it was

2702008 somewhere in there. Um it was there was a proper amendment to actually um swap the property with another piece on the site whereby now it became 65 acres but to the point. Um the proper language was broadened slightly to allow for other public uses on that site, but schools was still identified as the the first in the list. Um and then later in the profits, it discusses provisions for access um construction access to the school site. So, um, you know, uh, to the question real quick about a contingency, um, we, if if we want to hit our deadline to open the school, and I think this is part of it, there's always a little bit of chicken and egg that goes on in these situations. We saw it with high school six, eight, and

271and 18 as well when we were in the middle of the land takes on that. Um, in order to meet the deadline, we need to we need to begin going forward with those design plans. So there's there's going to be some risk there. I think that we're we're going to look at if we want to continue forward with that deadline. Um, I don't think in my opinion, of course, this my opinion is just my opinion, but I think we're I think we're in reasonable ground here given the the profers and everything, but I certainly understand the concerns and risks and I think it's valid to um confirm that with the the board if I mean I don't mind approving the money tonight and then asking the board of supervisors to just pass a resolution that

272the Westlake site will be proper is anticipated to be proper to the schools. then at least we have a little bit of a leg to stand on. But I'm really concerned that none of us have seen the site. We don't have a site map. We've not seen the plot. We have no idea what Westlake's planning on giving to us. And now we're being asked to spend $3 million for for the for the architecture, which I understand you have to have that site proposed first, but I I just want some some I want some concrete assurance that the land will be ours. Okay. And I don't know what that looks like. Well, I think that is two different things. Like I understand wanting to see a plot. I'm not judging that as a choice. However, seeing

273what if we saw the plot right now, what on that would prevent you from wanting to put a school there? So, is it a is it a quarry? You know, like is it an ancient Indian burial ground? Like, we know that it's it's not these things like it's quasi usable. We won't necessarily know the development costs and given conversations we've had, we don't have access to a lot of other land. Um so and I think as part of the architecture and engineering if they come back to us and are like you know we have already approved this yes we're going to ask for them to convey it to us but I think that might give us more leverage in knowing which part of the land if it's you know a double digit size property 50

274I mean that's much larger than some of the other parcels we've looked at for other projects. if we are already doing architecture and engineering, maybe we can have some say in which section of a larger parcel um in doing those things simultaneously. So, I just don't know given that we've talked about this part of the county is where I mean it's obviously it's a heartwood rebuild. We want it to serve the Heartwood population. Um we want it to be urban services area. This is an extension of the urban services area. So, it is kind of like new territory, a new frontier. We've never been able to build this far out. So, it makes sense from all conversations we've had previously and the goals we were trying to reach with a Heartwood Rebuild. So, I'm just

275trying to determine what a plot might um what we might see that might change this board's opinion on whether or not this is the general area where a heartwood should go. So, I I just want to clarify, Dr. Smith, I saw your hand up. Do you want to go first? Go first. No, go first. So what I was going to share around this is that uh just reiterate a couple points um and around the CIP. So the CIP is a joint CIP with us in the county, right? So it is one CIP. They have a vested interest in this as well that we're spending the money wisely. And so I I do think as far as the CIP conversation, it has always been around Westlake. Uh during the CIP conversations this year, you know, the

276county did get on board and moved us up in terms of this. And a part of that conversation was, look, when this gets approved, we're going to have to get rolling pretty quickly on this this summer. They knew that we were going to be moving forward on this project, the North Stafford project as well. And so that has been all the conversation there. I can't tell you from my perspective, no other piece of property has ever been mentioned. I understand the hesitation and I'm happy to work with the county administrator to whether it means getting on their agenda, getting him to work with supervisors in terms of that um in terms of that affirmation, that confirmation, that resolution, however we would like that to look to know that that's the that's the piece of property.

277I I would encourage you to hopefully we can move this forward even if there's a contingency involved in it because we don't move we don't have another meeting until uh August there and so that can delay some things. But we could call a special meeting if we needed to. Yes. For one, for one thing, I just want to be clear that my concern I mean, I'm assuming you all have seen the property and stuff like that and you've had eyes on it and understand. So, I'm less concerned about the location than I am about asurances. Yeah. I mean, so for me, it's less about like I I assume you've already, you know, you've got your ducks in a row on that. I don't doubt that in this particular instance. What I doubt is that it

278won't come back to haunt us that we pro we put up $3 million on a site that we didn't have asurances was ours. And I don't want to play a game. I'm not interested in playing games with this. And and to me, it it may very well become a game just because things can get contentious for whatever the reasons are. So, I'm not interested in playing that game. And I'd like to avoid that at all costs by just making sure they understand that we are making every effort that we can to ensure that this site is done on time and on budget and in order to do that, we need their resolution that this is our property and they're not going to pull it from us and make it something else that they've envisioned. So

279I I'm I would love to be 100% wrong on that, but right now history is perspective in my mind and and we've walked this road before. Miss Randall, um the other thing I I would also like to mention is that if I'm and I'm not sure order of operation here, but didn't we expend money on Drew and they just recently voted on the Drew property? So, I mean, order of operation, we said yes to the money without having asurances of property. And so, in this instance, we're being asked to do the same thing. I don't know. Our contract with Drew was contingent on the supervisor's approval, was it not? I mean, we made that very specifically a part of our contract saying that we only are obligated to purchase this property if we secure the

280appropriations to purchase it. So, we were cognizant of the fact that we were not in a position to make that commitment on our own. But we paid money for the Drew design before we had confirmation of the Drew property. Right. Building design though, not we started building high school 6 before we knew how much it was going to cost. Yes. We knew we were going to need a design for a school. I don't think that that really would have been specific to the Drew site. We're at that point now, but I I I don't we'd have to look at the the scenario, but I think we were very clear in our contract that we required the approval of our funding body. That's correct. We did. And um yeah, Drew was a little different because there

281was some the building design occurring there. Um, but to uh, Miss Randle's point, there there has historically been some chicken and egg in these situations, and a lot of it's just because we're moving fast and we're we're trying to hit um, timelines and deadlines. And typically in public projects like this, we have another year or two, but in these cases, we just we don't if we want to hit those timelines. So, I mean, they have next week that we could perhaps get a resolution from them. Um, I would actually like an opportunity to see the plat. I can come by the office. I can be given where I need to drive, but I feel really uncomfortable as a board member voting without having seen it. Happy to take anybody out there. It's a nice meadow.

282I want to say it's a beautiful, beautiful area. I I did pull it up real quick on GIS if folks want to see it. I can at least point that out right now. Put the computer up um here real quick. Um, so just to orient you, this is the existing Hartwood High School or Elm. Sorry, Hartwood. People are already confused. I'm sorry. Existing Hartwood Elementary. I just stepped in it. That's good. The existing Hartwood Elementary here. So, we're about a mile or so um further east on Route 17. You can see where Westlake has already cleared and started grading. uh through here. So, the piece of property is actually right in in this area right here. I'll try to select it for you there. It's um not fully subdivided yet. We would not have this

283part over here. And we have been discussing and preliminarily looking at sighting the school in this front area of the site. The um county is in the middle of constructing a water tower back here at the moment in that back corner of the site. again happy to um send some more layouts, preliminary concepts that we have and take anybody out there. Field trips. Yes. So, I do not begrudge anyone having concerns about the plot and all of this. I do have concerns with us avoiding progress because we're concerned about retaliation. We can't do that because we could all be happy today and move forward with this today because we're all on board and we think everybody's on board and months from now because of of a perceived slight we could be facing a cup issue,

284right? And they can just change their mind again. So like we can't just not make decisions hoping that they're going to be on the same page or that they're going to cooperate with us because we do that every step of the way. And if we're just going to wait for everybody to get along, we're going to be waiting a very long time. And as a parent in this community, as a resident in this community, I've been waiting for a very long time for us to get caught up with some of these projects for both space and you know just what is it quality, you know, replacement of schools that are in the condition that Hartwood is in that are in the condition of that Drew is in that I am you know I spend some

285time out this way so I'm I drive this property. I drive past this property often. Um I have looked at it so I don't have that concern. I do not begrudge restrict you know feeling uncon feeling concerned because of that but I am not going to vote against this or stop progress of this because I'm afraid of what someone else on another board might do. I I'm not saying that I would vote against it or delay it. I want some affirmation from Bill Ashton. Some kind of letter something that says this is the intention. this is the you know the land that we're going to convey just so that we have some sort of evidence that supports what we're trying to do because we're authorizing it's not just the two mill the three million for

286the architecture we're also talking about hiring a project manager and another couple correct just want some kind of affirmation from the board of supervisors that yes this is definitely a go perhaps a suggestion if you all were to move forward tonight with approving these. Um, we could always hold and not execute the contracts for a couple weeks to have some time to perhaps discuss further with Mr. Ashton and the board of supervisors. And if we perceive that consensus, then we would we have to add a not to be executed by date or would I Miss Haley is about to explode. Y'all want to get what I some advice for my day job? Oh god. What shall we do, Miss Healey? Well, number one, I am not as trusting as Dr. Warner. I mean, I would

287not go to the county administrator. I love the county administrator. I'm sure he would be very direct and honest, but he's not the one that is going to make the decision about transferring that land to us. It's going to be the board of supervisors. But to that point, I would trust a resolution of their intention to transfer the site to the schools. That I would trust because just as we have, you know, the majority of our board up for election, they do too. Things could change. And I don't want to expend. And you're right. It's really five. Well, it's more than three million. It's 3,100 and some thousand almost 3,200,000 if we add the other one in. I I I just can't support it. I cannot spend that money with an unknown given what had

288happened. Now, if we didn't have this past history, we probably wouldn't be having this discussion. We would just assume Crawford school site or we can put a school there. But we know from experience, you know, it's it it it it can go away. I mean, how can we how can we talk about this? And and to say just don't sign the contract. I mean, that, you know, I mean, we either approve the contract or we hold it. I mean, not signing it is is really not an issue. I mean, if if we put a contingency in it, I could live with that, but but that's not going to do us any good time-wise. The contingency would only help to the extent if we got the um you know, the the assurance, the resolution from the

289supervisors, then we could go forward immediately. So, I'm kind of confused and again, I'm new here. We put on our CIP where we intend to build. We sent it over. They read it, discussed it presumably. I watched the CIP work session. They approved it. They funded it based on our proposal and I understand the trust issues, but I like if we're going to have trust issues, we're going to have trust issues. I don't know what more than appropriating money would make me feel more trusting of this situation. Putting it on paper, same four people are up for re-election. whether we put it on paper or we go based on approval of the funds. Um the same people are going to be for or against it regardless of what letter or conversation or whatever happens moving

290forward. I think especially with the board as it is actually voting to give us the money to do the project where we say we're going to do the project is is probably the bigger vote of confident confidence than really anything else because the dollars are the hardest part of all of this and always have been which is kind of how we've gotten to this timeline in the first place. Right? We always have this idea and this goal and this aspiration of doing better but we haven't been able to find the m find the money appropriate the money come to some um consensus on money/lo having the land having you know just be having all pieces in the same place I don't know how we get more aligned on goals than where we are now and

291I don't know that another letter is going to make me feel more confident given that if they want to change their minds down the line they're going but that we can never vote on any school ever if we're voting in favor of or any expenditure on anything ever if we're always afraid they're going to change their minds. Well, this this is somewhat different from another one because generally we can only vote on what's appropriated to us. Now, they approve the rebuild of Heartwood and they approve funding for the rebuild of Heartwood. On the CIP, it said it was going to be in that site, but we all know the CIP is in a living document. So if another perfect site turned up, there's nothing that would preclude us from moving somewhere else. Um, and to

292the same token, there's nothing that would preclude them from saying, you know, we really want to put this other public facility here and you know, the schools can go somewhere else. So did you say it's 55 acres now? 65. 65. So that means there is going to be some other use of use of the property. So how do we tell the architect where to design it if we don't know where on that 65 acres the supervisors intend for us to put the school and that could also be part of the resolution. I mean that we don't need a meets and bounds survey but we could have a general location because what if we designed the school on what we thought was going to be the site and they decided yes you're going to get a

293site but it's going to be on the opposite side then what happens to us then I just I just am very concerned about this expenditure of money when we don't have the site in hand and It's it's even more complicated by the fact that we're only going to get most likely a portion of that site and there's no been has there been any discussion um about you know where we're going to be on that site? Yes. Um and and again the county hasn't identified any any other uses for that area of the site. So again, we've we're selecting the area that we believe is most appropriate for the school and trying to keep it as tight and efficient as possible to provide the maximum usability of whatever remains for whatever it may be. Have you

294I'm sorry, Madam Chair. May I ask a question? Have you h you're saying county hasn't identified another project for for that site, but have they told you of that 65 acres, you're only welcome to 25 acres? They have not. Okay. And have they said, "We don't have another project for that. 65 acres is all yours?" They have not said that either. Okay. Okay. So, my question is, um, this $3 million contract, um, it's sight specific. Correct. Like, do you know what I'm saying? If if we decided to change, would we be out the three million? Would we have to spend a little bit more to tweak it for another? A little bit more. Yeah. It would, you know, if we ended and it would depend how far down the road we got, right? Right. So,

295if we got a year down the road and we said, "Oh, new site cost more." Um, it would cost more. But, uh, a chunk of it, a big chunk of it is is not sight specific. So, I guess worst case scenario, if we all said yes today to this $3 million at the Westlake site because that's what's in this motion. And next week, Bill Ashton's like, "What are you doing? You're crazy. Our board is going to, you know, put something else there. That land's not for you." Where does that leave us with this contract? Uh, well, we would stop. we would come to the board immediately and say we have a problem and we need to go back to the drawing board and it may delay the and delay the school at that point because

296this is where are we with the $3 million because the motion oh um by next week probably wouldn't have any spent spent anything but by next month you know 100,000 200 So can you go back really quick Jason and Mr. tower and just confirm for me what you just said. Sorry it, you know, it's been a long day for everybody, so this is probably should have happened at 10:10 this morning, but um but my head was still functioning. Um okay, so you just said that the design services for the site specifically are transferable to some extent to a different land site because you're saying minor tweaks. So can you just go back and explain that? So, if we were to start to develop a site plan, let's just say we don't have any any land

297in our minds. We're just like, this is what our elementary school would look like if we had land, right? Um, so can you can you help me understand like then what then what are then what are the designs architectural engineering design services with the profer site? So, so that's very specific other than architectural engineering design services, right? So a portion so that total fee um is is actually all the way through construction and commissioning. Right? So this takes you all the way through what we call construction administration. So there's um I'm going to throw out numbers here. I don't have it in front of me. Let's say half a million dollars in construction administration that we wouldn't spend for three years. Um there's probably another let's say one and a half to two one let's

298say one and a half million in specific architectural mechanical electrical plumbing structural type of fees that if we pick the building up and we go to the other side of the county. A lot of that will transfer fairly well. What doesn't transfer fairly well is the site civil and geotechnical environmental information. And again, by the time we get all the way through the full contract, there's probably about a millionish dollars in that, but that's three years from now. That includes certain construction administration costs as well. So we would spend through that over the next, you know, year we might spend half a million to a million dollars in, you know, or $750,000 in sight civil work and then the remainder of it would be expended over construction. Does that help? So that that portion is

299really the most at risk is the site civil portion. So I feel like that changes that gives us that in my mind not speaking for everybody but in my mind that gives us a lot more wiggle room than than we are specifically designing this particular piece for that particular plot of land without us getting the asurances right so so so in in my mind then we go okay you do this thing and then you get your little project site stuff together because by the way I see the two of these is very different I see no reason why we can't move forward with a project manager but um but as long as I know that what we're looking for, and I'm sorry to just repeat it again, but you're talking about like within the architectural

300design that we have for the school, some of this money is expended on where the wires go. I don't know. Like I'm being simple, but anything from Yes. So anything from the actual design of the structure itself, all of the plans and everything that go in with that, the permitting processes, the construction administration processes, a lot of that won't happen at least for a year or more. Okay. Could could I you know, I have no problem approving this because I it's probably if we have to move the site, it's only going to it would be a few hundred,000 to redo the design for a new site plan. But I just want the resolution. Sure. And and and I don't have a problem. And I have no problem approving this. I have no problem with doing

301that. I just want the resolution. So, if we can I I would personally like to recommend either a substitute motion or a friendly amendment, which would be that we ask the board of supervisors for a resolution and we come back for a special called meeting on the 23rd to take this up. And that would be the only thing on the agenda for the 23rd. a second if you if you are allowed to do it. A second. So that would mean not what's today. It's the 10th the 20. So coming back on the 23rd, if the board of supervisors, lack of understanding on their side, where is their agenda for the 16th? And what is the likelihood that they would take that up by then? I I don't know that I can speak. I mean, I'm

302happy to reach out to Mr. Ashton first thing in the morning and speak with them about it. I I really don't know where they are in their agenda. Um, that's my that's my concern with that type of it puts too many I guess ifs on what could happen mechanically. Um, I'm happy with a contingency asking for the resolution. Um, or in addition to the motion asking for the resolution. Um, but I'm not interested in delaying a a decision to move forward based on whether or not they're willing to amend their agenda or able. Yeah. No, I don't. I'm just saying. Correct. Did you have something, Miss Randall before? So, are we ready to vote on the substitute motion? Okay. Please cast your votes. That motion carries. Uh, five yes, two no with Sigman and Hosta

303desenting. Okay. And I keep forgetting to not look at the paper because it's been updated. So, can you clarify what that where we're at? Sure. So, um, Okay, Miss Hall, could you put a hold on our calendars for or I guess five 23rd is a Monday. I don't know if you want 24th. At what time? At five. Zoom. and I'll be I'll be out of the country. Sorry. I think I have a swim meet. I will I will I I will call in. Okay. Item 9.05, award of a contract in the amount of $192,223.92 to Mcdana Bolard PE for project management services for the Hartwood Elementary School rebuild using FY26 capital project funds. Madam Chair, I make a motion we defer this uh item until our August agenda. There's really no need since it's going

304to be for the um what does it say? The project management. The project management, but it's provide construction administration services and there's no contract to administer, right? But it's construction administrative services. We are long away. I can't imagine this one is timesensitive or tell me if I'm wrong. Um yes and no. I I think no. Yes or no? Um so it it is for project management and ultimately construction management. So it is paired up with the um Samaha contract. So we need to vote on that on the 23rd 24th as well. Okay. So is that the motion then to defer until the 24th? Yeah. Yes. Okay. Please cast your votes. Motion passes 70. Motion to approve award approve the contract in the award amount of $395,644 to Mosley Architects for the engineering design service to

305replace the mechanical systems at Rodney Doson. Second. Any discussion? I do. I have a question. So, shut up, you interrupter. All right. So, with this one here, my question is you have on here um that this is going to be uh starting as early as summer 2026 with completion of July 2028. What is the cost of this entire project over the multiple years? Testing. testing the bounds of my memory here. Give me just a moment to pull up here. And is this something that will is going to only be completed in summers up until July 2028 or will this also be done during school year? A great question. Um we And that is something while I'm pulling this up, that is something that we'll be working out with Mosley um during this design phase. What

306what would be done during summers? What would be done um you know as phased occupied renovation um during during the school or if we can get it all done during the summer list. Yeah. Any other discussion? She wanted to know about the Oh. I apologize. I'm just up here on CIP for the total cost. Okay. The total. Okay. I apologize for the delay. Uh 16.5 million. It's 16.5. And you said that you still have to work out the details with Mosley as to the timeline of what part is phased and what part is summer work? Yes. Correct. Okay. Okay. Thank you. Any other discussion? Please cast your votes. That motion carries 7 to zero. Item 9.07, award of a contract in the amount of motion to approve. Okay. Second. $195,286.25 for tennis/pickleball court replacement at

307Dixon Smith. Please cast your votes. That motion carries seven to zero. Okay. Next, our superintendent report and comments. All right. I know it's been a long day. I will work to keep this uh brief, but I do want to begin by congratulating the 2,611 graduates who proudly walked across stage uh these past couple of weeks. And so, um just want to congratulate them. And we'll start with a quick little video. [Music] So, graduation is always a special time and just just helps us to reflect on the incredible accomplishments of our amazing young people. But I think also as a time to to recognize the amazing individuals that helped them to get there, whether it's the the teachers and staff that started with them in preschool 13 14 years prior to the elementary teachers and staff,

308the middle school and high school. So, it is really truly a prek through 12 effort that gets them there. And so, just so thankful for the incredible educators, support staff who partner with our students and our families to make sure each student uh makes it to graduation. So, that was incredible. Uh right after graduation, we held our summer leadership academy for our instructional leaders. And this was a powerful and inspiring two days dedicated to deepening our collective commitment to instructional excellence. We had over 250 staff members there representing every school coming together not just to plan, not just to learn, but really to collaborate in how we move our work forward. Uh it was just an incredible couple days together to think about how do we make sure we have high quality instruction in every

309classroom every day in Stafford schools and how do we build that culture of continuous improvement to make sure that we are continuously get getting better. We talked a little bit about if each one of us could stay take one small step to get better, how as a school division we can take leaps and bounds forward. And we're really excited about setting the vision and setting the stage for moving forward. Our summer learning programs began yesterday and everything is going well. Uh we have over 3,200 students through a wide range of summer learning opportunities. Uh you'll see we have over 1,700 students at the elementary level participating in programs like extended school year kindergarters. At the middle school level uh we have students participating in 21st century learners, math concepts and various other enrichment opportunities. And

310then at the high school level we have students uh taking new credit and credit recovery courses and extended school year services support for newcomer students and so remediation. So, a wide plethora of opportunities for our students uh in summer school and that is going very well to make sure they are uh catching up or getting ahead in terms of their success to prepare for the future. And then um transportation just quick update we shared this earlier with Mr. Wilcott shared that we are looking ahead. Uh we are happy to report that we did uh have selections recorded for all of our active students for the upcoming year for our optin and now we're hard at work developing those routes so we can let families know by the end of July there are routes for the

311upcoming year. And with that I just want to remind everyone that we will host open houses for the 2526 school year uh by level on August 5th, 6th and 7th. Transition day will be held for our kindergarten, sixth, and ninth grade students on August 11th. And our first day of school for all students will be on August 12th. Thank you. And this concludes my remarks. Thank you, Dr. Chase. All right. Well, uh, so we have, uh, indeed completed another school year and it was really lovely to be at Conway and see some of the senior walk group. Um, really lovely to see those students. so excited to come back to Conway and see some of their teachers from when they were in elementary school. Um, it was wonderful attending graduations at the Phoenix Center, Stafford

312High School, and Brookpoint High School. And I think a really huge shout out goes to principles Trion and Sullivan for the really amazing job they did pivoting from an outdoor ceremony to an indoor ceremony due to the weather. Um, I know it wasn't easy. Uh, but quite a few parents commented on how intimate it was and that it was really being so close that you could actually see your graduate. Um you weren't all the way across from the field. So, you know, a little bit of glass half full full versus glass half empty. Um I also enjoyed going to the opening of the school leadership academy and having an opportunity to chat with some of our school leaders. Um I'm so impressed with what I perceive as a climate change within our high school leadership.

313Um, in the past it seemed as though our high school principles were almost in competition with each other, much like an athletic team would be competing. Um, now it really feels like our high school's principles are on the same team, and that's team Stafford. Um, I also want to give kudos to Dr. Robertson for her leadership on the off and away cell phone policy. Um, I asked a veteran high school teacher how the policy had been this year. He told me he was very skeptical at the start of the school year, but he now was willing to say that he'd been wrong and that it really worked and improved the school climate. Um, he praised Principal Tryion, noting that every morning she reported how many cell phone violations there had been the day before and

314reminded everyone of the goal. And I heard from another high school principal that fights during the school day have been reduced substantially because students can't use their phones during the day to organize. So really well done. Um on another note uh I did want to share my most recent experimentation with artificial intelligence. Last week the Washington Post had a story about testing five different AI bots on their reading summarizing ability. And so this week we had to do the superintendent's evaluation. He turned in a self-evaluation and it was really long. So I wondered if it would be easier if I got AI to summarize it for me. Um it spit out something um a fifth of the original length. So it was definitely shorter. Um but then I thought I'd better check its work. Um

315it left out all kinds of detail. Uh I had to go through the whole document to get the specifics. Um, I went back to the Washington Post article and saw that the bots had gotten scores ranging from 45 to 69, so F to D plus. Um, so then my mind jumped to the thousandpage big beautiful bill currently being considered by the Congress and I saw in the news that a couple of congressmen admitted voting for the bill not realizing some of the items for which they had voted. Now, Congress has a lot of staff, and I mean a lot. I wondered if perhaps their staff had put the big, beautiful bill through AI rather than going through it themselves. Um, if it hasn't happened yet, it's probably only a matter of time. So, it's our

316responsibility to make sure our staff and students learn to use these tools correctly and responsibly. They need to learn what are their strengths and what are their weaknesses. And, um, Dr. Smith has along with staff has really been working on that plan and I'm very excited to see us getting our staff and students up up to speed on that. And finally, Dr. Smith, thank you for your leadership since January. Uh being a school se school superintendent is not for the faint of heart. I know you have been really working hard um since January. So, thank you, Dr. Warner. Graduation season is always such a a spectacular time. I attended the moving up ceremonies at Rising Star and there's nothing like watching the preschoolers move up and enter the path towards kindergarten and how excited they

317and their families are. And when the students were asked what they wanted to be when they grew up, um there were several that wanted to be princess astronauts, princess veterinarians, and princess music stars. And I thought, gosh, I never knew princess was an option. If only I had known that when I was younger. Um, there was a lot of really, it's very exciting to see kids enter that journey and know that they're on a good path. I think our Head Start programs and our VPI do tremendous, tremendous good with all our kids. And then I went to Phoenix, which is another exciting graduation because these are kids who have struggled and have overcome a lot to succeed. And it's just so great to see them graduate. It's one of my favorite graduations. And then I

318ended at Northsta Stafford because North Stafford is the best high school in Stafford. And I know I'll get in trouble for saying that, but I always go to North Stafford's graduation and I always enjoy it and I'm so proud of those kids. Um, we have made a lot of changes this year. I do appreciate Dr. Smith and his entry plan and how he's he has been thoughtful and collaborative in addressing some of the concerns that many of us have brought to him. Um whether it's back to base, whether it's AI, whether it's um in making sure that we're putting kids on the right track for the specialty centers and for graduation and post-secary outcomes. And I think he's been very thoughtful about how he's approached that. So, um I did not feed his summary into

319AI. I read it and I fumed about the length. I'm not gonna lie. Um, but I think it's the thoroughess that I do appreciate and um, I look forward to working with you this coming year and I think that we will have a successful start to the school year. I think we've we've we're on the right track with our transportation system. We did an excellent job on our redistricting. So, I know that doesn't apply for next year, but when we open the new schools, it's going to make a huge difference, I think, for all of that and the transportation. And I'm very excited about the new schools. Have a wonderful summer for those of you who get one. Miss Holston, I'm actually in the interest of time not going to make a comment, not going

320to make comments tonight. Just want to wish everyone a great summer and I hope that they are not hating us for being here so late. So, have a great summer everyone. Miss Healey. Well, I'll keep it short. Um, I want to say I was very surprised tonight, but thank you for whoever worked that out. Thanks to Mr. Milild for for coming and the um whatever it is, the the paper that they gave me. I will certainly read it in my spare time. But, you know, I wouldn't be here if it weren't for the people of the Rock Hill District. And I see a couple here in the uh in the audience um who have supported me over the years. And I have I've really tried to do my best for the families in Rock Hill,

321but also the rest of the county as well. And we have great schools in Rock Hill. I know they're all good, but you know, we that's that's made my job a lot easier. You know, the the the staff, the the the communications, um everything. And I've seen a lot of administrators um retire, you know, and most of them don't go away. They just retire. And I I miss them, but then they're replaced by, you know, new people who come in and just hit the grounding and and keep it going. So, I I just want to thank everyone who has allowed me to um to to be here for this long. I never never would have believed it. I didn't think I'd make it through my first year. I am really serious. I did not think

322I'd make it through my first year. It was miserable. But, um it's gotten better. It's Yeah. Yeah. Co was a real shocker. But anyway, thank you to to Rock Hill and and all the other people in the county who have supported me because I frequently go places and people go, "Oh, are you?" I'm like, "Are you still on the school board?" I'm like, "Yeah." They go, "What?" They can't believe I'm still here. I can't believe I'm still here. But thank you. Thank you all for um for that. And um yes, I have I didn't realize I'd served with 30 members. Every one of them memorable memorable. But I I have to say we had we had a lively discussions today and I'm sure we'll be following up on those discussions. I hope we have um

323no more of these marathon meetings for a long time. Mrs. Sigman, are you paying attention? You you scheduled these meetings. Two months in a row is a lot to have 12-hour meetings. So, um did you forget already? Yep. No, too. Well, it must have not been memorable for uh for all of us. But anyway, um thank you. Uh wishes to all the families who have graduates as well as returning students and new students to Stafford County because we really do try to to to meet everyone's needs. And if we're not meeting the needs, then you need to let us know because that's our job. Thank you, Miss Randall. I also really appreciated the graduation ceremonies that I got to attend at the Phoenix Center and at Stafford High School. I too also appreciate the plot

324twist that our admin teams had to um go through to move everything indoors. Um after having planned everything outdoors and it really didn't help that we in the middle of a plot twist, we had a twister watch also added to our graduation bingo card. But Miss Tryion and Miss Sullivan plotted together and carried out two amazing events. Um, and and it's true. I also heard parents say it was really, as much as they didn't want to be there, the walk down to the gym was fantastic. They got to walk by parents that may or may not be in the gym, and they also got to um sit closer to their graduates. They got some great shots and I took as many as I could for the people that I know and sent them to them

325as well. Um, and so I would like to congratulate though all our high school graduates and I know Mr. Fler, congratulations on your first graduate and I'm glad you had a good uh weather day for that. Um, I also enjoyed the opportunity to come and see the start of SLA. It's just so amazing when you see how big a team that we have that is plotting and planning for spectacular things for our students and knowing I mean at all levels. Um our students are are going to incur great things um for the next year. Uh and I just hope everyone has a very wonderful and blessed summer. Keep it keep yourselves safe and uh Obviously, we'll be back soon to vote again. Thanks, Miss Kai. I'll be quick because I'm exhausted. It is too on.

326It's the green light. It's on. It's on and my pain meds are out. So, I am very grumpy. Um I'm very thankful to be here. Um I went to North's graduation and it was fantastic. North is a great school, but um all of our schools are great. Just letting letting you guys know. Um, I hope everyone has a great summer. I hope everyone stays safe and I hope that we can leave soon. I'll take the hint. Um, I just want to congratulate our graduates. Um, but also congratulate everyone who just completed the year and didn't graduate and is moving on to whatever their next level is. I want to thank our parents for getting everybody there. And really to our staff, um, thank you to staff who are working this summer. Um, thank you to

327our staff that have resigned their contracts to come back next year. Thank you to the staff who have chosen to join us next year. I am very very excited about the how good we see the position we seem to be in for transportation that things seem to be moving very smoothly for the first couple of days of of um summer learning. But I think that is a good sign that if we're off to a good start here and we can work out some of the uh kinks in our in our plan that we are setting ourselves up for success in August. Um I'm having I have two of my own children engaging in summer learning this year. Um, so God bless everyone who's participating in that because some of those kinder camps can be um,

328a lot and even at the high school level can be just as a lot. Um, and I'm looking forward to transition day. I'm looking forward to the first day of school already and I know summer has barely begun, but that's it. Thank you. Okay. Um, Miss Guy convene a closed meeting pursuant to section Yeah, we ain't done. 2.2-3711A1 of the code of Virginia to discuss andor consider the proposed revocation of a former high school teacher's license under the pro the provisions of 8V 20-23-720. Let's go. Is there a second? Second second. [Music] Getting ahead of ourselves. Vote. Yes. Verbal. All in favor? I. I. Passes seven to zero. You can stay up there. I allow it. She's staying up there. certification. We're just waiting to get back in recording. Okay. Um, I move that the

329board convene a closed session Oh, no, I'm sorry. Pursuant to section 2.2-3712 2-3712 of the code of Virginia. I move that the closed meeting held by the school board during its business meeting on June 10th, 2025 be certified by adopting the following resolution. Now therefore, be it resolved that the school board of Stafford County, Virginia hereby certifies that the be to the best of each member's knowledge, one only public business matters lawfully exempted from open meeting requirements were discussed in the closed meeting to which this certification resolution applies. And two, only such public business matters as were identified in the motion convening the closed meeting were heard, discussed, or considered by the board. Second, agree. Agree. Agree. Agree. Agree. Agree. Is there any action coming out of close session? Um, I make a motion to

330deny the petition. Second. All those in favor? I I any opposed? Motion carries unanimously. Oh, this but because they don't