Stafford School Board 6 11 24

001e motion and a second for the agenda motion to approve the agenda second uh any discussion all those in favor I any opposed I have a motion go to close session yes um I move that the school board convene a Clos session pursuant to section 2.2 3711 of the code of Virginia to hear and to deliberate an appeal of the student disciplinary matter second all in favor I anyos all right we are closed just take a minute to make sure we're be sitting okay thank you thank you okay that's boat right do you want to lead us off e CL meeting to which this certification resolution applies and to only such public business matters as were identified in the motion convening the closed meeting were heard discussed or considered by the board second any discussion

002right discussion Dr Chase agreed Miss guy agree Miss holstead agree Miss Healey agree Miss Randall agree Miss Sigman agree and Dr Warner agree Madam chair motion passes there any action coming out of close session yes madame chair I'd like to amend the May 1st SDC decision and a student a shall be suspended with the days of susp ition already served is there second second is there any discussion no okay roll call please Dr Chase yes Miss guy yes Miss holstead yes Miss Healey no Miss Randall yes Miss Sigman yes and Dr Warner yes I the motion passes thank you so that's it thank you may stay here sorry got two more meeting I'm sorry we have to adjourn this one and go right into we already okay at 5:20 I would like to call to

003order our work session uh Missy do we take roll again I can do it silently or I can do it out loud I do it I do it appropriately Dr Chase here miss Dooku Miss guy here miss Hallstead here miss hey here m m here you have a is there a motion to approve the agenda second is there a second I have a question on this we have an hour and 39 minutes right how are we going to ort this between item two and item three um we going to try to unforunate you Dr Taylor do you have any indication how much time we might I don't think will take longer than 30 minutes to get through his presentation that's how much the board wants to talk about much time do we need for item

004number three well that's what I how much time do you think staff needs to present in the Clos session you're probably going to need at least 30 to 45 minutes smart can you guys pass um so we'll just keep that [Music] I'll give you a couple of time checks I'll keep my ey so there's been a motion on the agenda there has not been a second yet okay all in favor any opposed welcome back uh or welcome to us we came to you last time um we first item on our agenda to discuss is our school board annual self- evaluation and we have Mr Gorman joining us again to facilitate this process thank you for saying yes happy to do it oh I can't I believe Reserve that comment I don't believe that at all

005I practically perect thanks for making it you're a good listener thank you yeah i' like f no judgment and I thought I should have been judged so thank you you were very good when I was um young my dad said use the 4: one rule you got two ears two eyes one mouth and it has not failed me oh man I must have a one to four it fails me all the time see now you know better you can do better so I was asked to assist with the board's self evaluation so you I hope you remember that I sent you information in advance yes and we use the Virginia school boards Association document just just some guiding questions but also a set of other questions that I posst to you all I did some

006scripting of comments I want to be clear it is not verbatim Court stenographer quality I just want to be clear that's not what I'm capable of doing but I recorded key points I embedded the key points onto the slides that individuals said shuffled up the order on each one yeah people's moved around and all of that and I tried to share those key points and what you will see first is the what of the work reflect on the questions from the position of how you as as a board for a collective body I asked you not to think about just you individual or a particular individual board member and the 10 vsba questions and then the six questions that I developed to ask you when I say I developed I've asked these to many many

007boards you're not the only one as a matter of fact I'm doing four this week so I'll be in Laurel Mississippi tomorrow and I was in Baton Rouge yesterday so yes it is understate it was 102 in that Rouge yesterday so to the so what for each item I recorded you're strongly agree agree strongly strongly agree agree disagree strongly disagree they all have seven except for the last item and that's because for the last item of the vsba questions some individuals well I don't know so some individuals didn't stake themselves out as a strongly agree or disagree so what I did is I then aggregated agree or disagree or disagree agree or strongly agree disagree or strongly disagree and in red you will see majority agree majority disagree is Major for majority is for and

008to be clear there this is not deep analytics this is just this chainsaw surgery this is a summary and then I took selected items from what people said when I say select it if three people said the same thing I did not record it three times I did not do that I tried to capture the tenor of what was shared the sentiments um several of them people shared longer pieces I didn't share every single detail of that so I'd like to jump in now and start with item number one which is your committed to a vision of high expectations for student achievement and quality instruction the majority were agree and with that I'm going to ask you to take just a quick second and look at the comments the summary comments my recommendation is that

009we don't talk about each individual one but we go through them and and then come back and talk about what you would like to talk about my experience has been that if we start talking for the first we will spend a great deal of time on items 1 through five we will then spend less time less time less time I'd like to run through them and then ask you which would you like to talk about and go back through them if you're amenable to that we're used to that they tell us let hold your questions to the end okay great TR so number one different board members have different views of what this looks like by the way you will find that is a common theme through responses different board members have different views or

010different interpretations of this item that appeared many different responses that there was not one consistent thought or idea as to approach to a particular item okay not unusual or made up of different people not of one mind on everything but number one challenge perceived moving to number two this was a majority disagree no strongly disagree but we have defined goals toward our vision of high expectations and part of that was I want to point out the third bullet we're not in agreement as to what we think our high expectations there's different thoughts as to that you could look at the third area this was a majority disagree split two and two between disagree and strongly disagree I would point out the last sentence of the second bullet the more discussion collaboration the better we do

011moving to number four this is accountability driven as evidenced by the fact we spend more time focused on policies to improve student achievement than we do on operational issues this fell in the majority disagree category number five this is collaborative relation with staff in the community this is majority agree this one leaned more towards agree than most of the other items and a a a common refrain was about staff creating opportunities to engage with staff there's a variety whether it be through the superintendent's office or other individuals you have different opportunities there was also a number of items that talked about how the communication staff communicates with you they were a group that was highlighted however they come up in a later question specifically but communication staff was one that was highlighted wait could you

012repeat what you just said communication staff was highlighted as one of I was hearing communication like talking but you're talking I'm sorry communicate the team from Communications you interact with that's why I wasn't it's a disproportionate area of interaction is with some people with Communications team members the sixth one about the communication structure to inform and engage and that's why I pointed out because the fifth one also tied over with the communication staff this is majority agree and with this was talking about things like you know the town halls and comms and information structures and what you get from Communications your updates daily and weekly and then number seven this is about data Savvy embracing and monitoring data this was split but with majority disagree and with some different thoughts about the data what's helpful

013data what's useful data number eight this is the work to align and sustain resources to meet District goals and the tough budget challenges was a majority agree point out that third bullet we don't always agree but in the end the budget is always approved but we don't necessarily agree on the way to getting to approval was a general theme I heard number nine lead as United team with the superintendent this was a majority disagree there were some issues brought out about trust in different ways number 10 board taking part in development this is the one that didn't have all seven and and that was it's a little bit of a confounded question because by doing it you were participating in so that that's why there was a bit of a well I'm not really sure

014we do it but we are doing this so therefore we are doing this so that was a majority agree so there were only four answers to Oh all everyone responded but only four gave a specific numeric grade other individuals said well I'm doing this but I don't know if I classify that that I would agree or disagree well in number nine you only had was I went off on nine as well I may no no no it was seven never mind I these were the ones that had the numeric index next to it these next questions starting at 11 were more open-ended prompts and the first prompt was what should the board keep doing now being more open-ended it covered a much broader Waterfront than any of the than the other questions did just due

015to the broadness of it just a little more time on this one because it covered a broader list of BU points if we're ready to go on to number 12 this is the start this is a keep stop start format we were using and things the board to start doing moving to 13 which the board stop doing number 14 this is what should you have what goals should you have for the superintendent next year number 15 goal should the board have for itself for the coming year and then number 16 was around the roles of board members and the superintendent and doing your specific governance roles [Music] those were the 16 questions would be happy to go back and explain any piece of it I will point out that anything I try to explain the

016author of as the author of it individual board members they have certainly more context or feel for it I can only share from the interpretation I took from that but the 16 are there so this is the so what did the board say and now the next step typically is moving into now what what does that mean what do you want to discuss but that is best done by the board determining if there are particular items you would want want to speak deeper about or dive into deeper one format can be particular board member could share a number item to talk about other format is you could talk about it in general terms it works different ways with different boards it depends on the desire of the board you can also just stare at each

017other uncomfortably go with that we're good at that that is a it's on the table is there a time limit on that how long you you I will say you get to close session sooner Thomas told the Vaudeville Hook is pulling me off stage at a certain point that's right well so I think it would be interesting because you spoke to all of us individually to hear really hear your sort of synthesis correct and how and if there are things that you think because you saw a common theme whether it was agree disagreeable how we would proceed moving forward with those things just hearing us all speak does that make sense I'm I'm happy to do that if you would so want but it would be my summary and interpretation of your comments I mean

018but I I did have some general interpretation I actually have a question it's my brain just maybe you know exploding if if a board member suggests monitoring we are told by other board members that staff will quit I just don't I don't understand the monitoring um that was in the context of if we monitor what what staff members are doing or we monitor data or we monitor situations if we dig deeper we are told staff will quit because of that okay the inference I took from it was if we dig deep into some issues that and I don't know whether that person interpreted this way or not but if some might interpret as operational in the purview staff staff will quit okay I just didn't understand them yeah and that I get it I I

019use that particular language because that's the actual language that we shared I'm told staff will quit because it it's a powerful language I chose to use that language and for clarity it is your job to monitor what happens in the school division is your job to maintain that the school division is operating the way that it should within the parameters that you have set through policy I so that is that is a a practice that is encouraged I I would advise anyone to be mindful on how you go about that process um and being sensitive to the fact that we've got human beings that work here and they' bet feelings and all that stuff but it is your job it is one of the things that you are responsible for and it it is something

020I encourage I encourage you to talk to staff members so can we go back what I asked I just would curious to hear your synthesis which is a great word I I'll tell you what I left the process do it I walked away with an interpretation of that there is a divide on the board as far as beliefs understandings or expectations depending on what situation or what words you want to use and with that divide that there are times individuals believe that the Divide is deep enough that there is not a desire or a willing to engage o that there's not discussion around or crossing that divide on certain issues some issues are so deep and that at times the relationship is fractured to a point of dysfunctionality at times not on every issue but

021for some issues it's fractured to the point of dis functionality and not able to move forward on particular issues that's what I took away from as one piece another piece was just not around the issues but difficult with trusting each other around the relationships that there are times that there is a lack of trust around the relationship which would lead to not wanting to engage more or talk about it because the lack of trust means that there is a feeling of what is the use of d diving into that and there is some staff members that feel different their different points of views or Camp camps around the work that staff is doing is all of it the right work or I would approach that work differently that staff is doing whether it be around

022things such as all students being engaged and involved in certain things or which groups of students are involved in things there's a disagreement in some camp on what staff should be working on and what should be the priority areas and focus of the district those were my big three takeaways The Divide about beliefs the difficult relations and then the view towards what staff should be working on those were the big three I took away from so at the risk of being or sounding even more unpopular um one of the things I took away from this is the value we have in our work sessions um I would like us to potentially throw around the idea of having a work session on the fourth Tuesday I think that will help us with some maybe of the

023perceived conflicts because we only have this once a month to try to talk about all the things and we only have a 90-minute work session and then we have our business meeting but we get a lot of work our work done in our work sessions imagine that um and we have a lot of stuff coming up we're going to have construction projects and Staffing projects and redistricting and hiring and you know all that kind of stuff and I understand the burden on staff to have stuff ready for a for business meetings and for Action items um but I'm hoping that maybe the medium to that would be to just have a lot of conversations and that might make things easier for them even later um to give us more opportunities to kind of hash things

024out or work through on boards or whatever um some of the details especially on some of the really meaty topics well I think that we do communicate more effectively in work sessions because we're not under the microscope quite so much but I also agree with you I think that we get so much information sometimes at that one meeting a month that we don't have time to really hash out some things and have discussions about how we view an issue and I think it does work about when we can do that um surprisingly enough I also agree um I know I've only been here for 6 months but I've noticed that when we're in the work sessions it kind of does become a debate that kind of is divided by by partion I don't know if

025you guys know this but we have a Wikipedia page and I didn't know this and I saw and it was so cool but it was really interesting because I'm scroll down to the bottom it's all like the new brackets of the new people and it has like our party affiliations on there and on the bottom it says that well we're not supposed to be like expressing our views because it's really for the schools based on our our party there's a for note that says like well the board members try not to do that it seems kind of like in a way that they do and I think by encouraging them having more meetings and having more open discussions where we can kind of like Foster communication and collaboration rather rather than being a debate I

026think that having one more media would be very much beneficial to being able to hash out these problems you and I think it wouldn't be a you know wouldn't be a regular meeting it would just be a business meeting no comments no you know none of that know that we need to go out there I think in here and I do think that will help with some of the like kind of build the community amongst us as well because we're you know I threaten my kids with a get along shirt where you know they spend more time together when they're not getting along um so I don't disagree with that I'm just curious would that create the same I'm thinking it might not the same issue of staff not having enough time enough turnaround to

027get the data that is asked is would that be different because it's a work session so it doesn't have to be perfect before you answer that Thomas can I add to it would it be but would work sessions then be so like if we had the one work session before a business meeting could we then just strategically focus on working that next working session on something that staff could be working on all along does that make sense like the second one should only be rough drafts right right no I I think you've got a you've got a good concept that you're latching on to and I think it makes a lot of sense um and what I would say is um the turnaround time and just count days with me for a second so you

028have your work session on the 4th Tuesday that following Wednesday you're putting your agenda together for your business meeting and just kind of understanding can this go and maybe it's just a question that gets asked after every discussion is like is this ready to go on the agenda or is it not ready to go on the AG just kind of being clear about there are times in our um agenda reviews where you have said this isn't ready pull it and I do I would love to see longer runways like just because some things like we're in this position now where we're only getting things once a month why can't we start talking about something in April that we're not going to see as a board until June you know like and maybe then in May

029talking about in the if we assigned a second work session right so like we don't have to have because it used to be we were so kind of crunched where it had to be and then it had because it had to be here because then it was going to be there but since we're starting fresh we can almost well only having one or two topics a work session I think gives the board a lot of time to digest things and ask questions versus feeling that rushed momentum I'm I'm with you I think it would also alleviate one of the other issues which is a lot of times it feels like stuff just shows up and we don't know where it came from and why it's there and this way there would be better communication about

030some that I mean I wouldn't I just I I don't I don't disagree is what I was going to say but then I looked down and saw the word disagree and almost just disagree with me anyway no I don't disagree I mean I as long as it doesn't create the problems that we're trying to to to avoid with with creating less efficiency in the system but also creating product but I do agree with the longer lead time things there's a lot of stuff we know is up and coming where they're just or staff or somebody's just presenting information to us that if we needed to have that second work session or whatever it would and I think the deeper dive into data type stuff and like I also think it gives us an opportunity to

031um get more information so that we make and have better conversations with Thomas but when we're talking about being mindful of staff and I'm not trying to exclude them but in this situation we're worried we're trying to figure out Avenues of supporting and uprighting our Schoolboard ship Shi so to me we need to you know if we want to make this decision we need to keep these sensitive to staff but I think we need to be honest and supportive of our own work that we need what we need individually and as a board to go board what do you think Sarah because you're being quiet um yeah I feel like we I I feel like we have a lot of conversations with individual board members on the phone and I don't get to hear what

032everybody else on this board thinks I get to hear from like two people and so I feel very much like I'm just in this you feel in a silo yeah yeah okay in Siberia I think was the way we usually phras it and and so so if I if I don't hear what other people are saying don't have an opportunity to give my opinion to other people right then you know but the phone way Sarah you can call yeah but I also think it's a matter of not feeling heard either even if someone's talking so I think that's a big issue because we can speak words all day long here out there and I can tell you who's not listening to anything we're saying or who is and I know that's from everybody's standpoint not

033just mine so there's a stop Gap point there where it becomes it feels like it be it's just a fruitless activity why do it because there is no bridge to walk over and and I agree I I the issue I have is when you're on the dis talking it's very different from when you're in when you're in a work session talking and and this feels like work and and that's work too but this just feels like I get I can get more a sentiment of what you're saying and what you're where you're coming from where sometimes I don't I'm like woo outter space yeah but I also think it can be used for Education like teach us about the data teach us how to you know like the Click program that we developed I mean

034yeah but we have to be here to use it and and now we have to be retrained so that's really what have this we have this stuff available to us but it's it's just it's it's not as accessible as we would maybe like and I think that that's also an opportunity for us to learn from it like what is the pales test what is the difference what's the map test why are we doing it when do we do it how what are we looking for why you know I know it was all given to us but it comes so like Sarah gave me the best analogy she's like it literally is like we're drinking from the fire hose coming out our face but if you stop for a second to wipe your eyes that's all

035the information you just missed so it's hard it's hard but it's not something we do daily so every time I get it out I have to kind of go back through and get myself in the mind I'm slow I need to absorb and and I also I need to process data I need to like play with it and look at it I'm not somebody who can just oh yeah that's what it says Miss you're being quiet I called out Sarah at your turn call at one point we had a a policy that said we had a business meeting and we had a work session meeting and the work session meeting we did all the discussion consideration no decisions were made no action was taken and the other meeting the business meeting we just took action

036and the business meeting literally took about an hour which was fantastic because we were there we were business most times we had hashed it out at the work session um that went by the wayside because the this is way before Dr Taylor's time but there were always things being added that you required action on their work session night so I understand what you're saying is having two work sessions which I had no objection to unlike you I prefer to get the memo and read it myself and you know go through it but probably because you know I've been around for so long that you know it's a lot of it is passing through the doors again but you know I don't have an objection to it as long as there is a a a purpose

037and we're not just having it you know just say we're having another meeting you know I was you know I I was fine with going to the one meeting although my preference is to be have two meetings and make them more time effective and not going for five or six hours you know at a pop which is not unusual for us so let's use make the best use of our time if we do it keeping in mind that we've got all these redistricting coming up we did which is going to be in the fall and it is incredibly time intensive we have our town halls we have our redistricting and they're going to take a lot of participation by all of us whether it's in our district or not so we need to be factoring

038that in as well so I I don't know how you you get that and maybe we could get a potential schedule that because we could literally be meeting three nights a week for in my like Little Dream la la land where this is all like sunshine and rainbows that's kind of that these are the big topics that I've thought about code of conduct um redistricting like these things that are meaty and it's like oh if we know we have to start redistricting in like September maybe we have Lionel talk to us in August right and that where he's just given us this is the snapshot of where we are right now and then we've got months to be like oh he said this well now I need to know this and now I need to

039know that and how what about this and and the public and and the same thing with code of conduct we know we have to approve it in May maybe that's like the February work session so it is really long lead time to so would be forward changing policy 1108 again back to yes it's like a weekly thing for governance for are you still be on governance I'm not I'm just putting it out there now that the next govern needs it that's it it's all my oh well good I'm glad can I can I also just say something I think some of the things that we talked about here with goals like board goals I feel very strongly that there's a disconnect because we don't set actual board goals the goals are for everyone else we

040did one year right but but I remember that I'm not sure we did anything like that so there's no accountability mechanism in place for us to actually evaluate us achieving goals like we give them to the superintendent we're like you have to do ABCD congratulations go forth yeah absolutely but there's no goals for us what are we this is going to be frightening to you this is going to be frightening to you but that was the question that I had too is how do we set goals to find a way to set realistic goals for this board to hold us accountable to an achievable something thing otherwise it is it is just the perpetuation of a cycle that ends every election cycle when that's done as it were or continues after that regardless of the

041outcome but for me we can sit here all day and Pat ourselves in the back for anything because we've not assigned ourselves anything to do we've not we've not given ourselves any you know for the constituents to hold us accountable to those four things there's nothing that we we have in writing and I know that's probably an unpopular opinion but but I feel if we're going to govern effectively and to build some of the gaps and bridges that you're talking about because we need to come together on the issues where we differ to find a compromise and we do not do that and that's because we have no set goal that forces us to do it so we walk away from it and so for me I think that's a huge piece of where some

042of this is laging I think some of the board goals that we put together if we work together is that it is also an opportunity to uh do good with each other you know cuz I I'm not trying to P in here or anything well I could probably do sound that way gosh I founded myself but anyway I think that it's an opportunity for you know if Sarah and I walk in to do something together or if Maya and I walk in to do something together it's an opportunity for us while we are meeting a goal but we're also working together which is what our board is supposed to do so the most effective way I've seen it work is is those two pieces have to marry together you set a aggressive set of goals

043for your superintendent about performance and operation of the district then you set goals for yourself about how you will function as a board we will monitor those operations and functions we will spend our time talking about and focused on these items they're not specific Focus goals for you that relate to academic perform those are for the superintendent a board's goals are around we use our work sessions to review the Strategic plan items and follow we use our board time to talk about it's how you spend your time monitoring and doing the things that are related to him doing those things so you are knowledgeable but keeps us out of his Lane but we ALS yeah we also need that's exactly it keeps you out of his Lane is this something we can put on like

044a retreat agenda to set board goals for and then we I think we tried that that and it just got pushed off well well you had a very full Retreat and we the option that's why I don't a hand necessarily wait that long I that can be a work session Can it can be we put it in an August work session August work it doesn't matter if you said it it get bumped off just do like an August work session try an August work session because then it's a start of a school year as opposed to partway into a school year and we've already gone through his evaluation we've given him his goals and fresh off of that we give our goals you know I just said I like a long Runway so I was

045just trying not to rush people because I mean technically August is right around the corner we don't have a lot of end of August for us end of August for us but I very strongly encourage you not to set specific things like academic goals for the board true because then there is nowhere for you to go but below the line the goals set for him it's how you monitor make sure resources are that like do you also working together towards a more efficient system of again Bridging the gaps where they are because do you know of some boards you know Nationwide that have set like published board goals that we could get a bunch of links and kind of yeah if we just look at some ideas see how they have them phrased how they

046have them structured um how many they're setting I think we can say two or three they do you may not be on what I'm about to tell you who typ agregates those oh lord it's state associations aggregate those that's who Aggregates but people have different views about working in state associations but they aggregate they have um they have collections of Best in Class [Music] schools I just want to see us work more towards there have been many frustrations for us crossing over the line and the first Retreat that we had together it was hey lady to me you can call me that but I'm just saying paraphrasing that's not a you thing that's a him thing and there are remember there was that one thing where you did go and I said that's an example

047don't do you remember that I mean don't worry Thomas reminds me all the time which lane I'm swimming in or if I'm sving or Beering we're going to set some goals can we get back to this while we've got him here CU he did all this work I mean just to take the B I'm I somewhere paying you and you're not doing this for free so we got them doing other stuff too today no but seriously we're going to have to get to so I I think the goal thing is on us but I think he's given us a framework yep okay anything else I could clarify I could answer but those were the big three areas will my takeways how do we compare to other boards that you your favorite board is it no

048I'm just okay are you trying to go for the same a Thomas's how many yes give us a grade yeah I'm not going to give you a grade but you are more clearly divided than the majority of the boards I work with like it is Crystal Clear There Are Places I work with that it's simmering below the surface from these discussions nothing is simmering below the surface the pot is on top of the stove it is very clear very clear how you feel and you are clearly divided on issues and people clearly there are several members that I walked away with feeling that that board member does not feel that their opinions and their ideas are valued by other members I left with that feeling that there are some people that don't feel that their

049opinions thoughts and ideas are valued by other members and at times that they don't feel that other board members are actively engaging or attempting to listen to or understand their belief that was what I left with and that was much as we're communica we're not communicating oh you're very clearly communicating at times that you don't want to communicate at times about certain issues I'm not trying to use a double and it was deep issues around Trust oh 100% issues but it is more severe and blatant in view than many districts I work with have maybe an individual or it's simmering below here it's just more available for people to but still we're not spoty we're not czy give us a minut but don't you think that certain degree that's an advantage because we're all Hest

050about you are honest about but me what he was saying the impression I get though is when people don't honest yes but not feeling valued is not the honesty piece is a positive but the way that is morphed into some individuals not feeling valued is not a positive form of not so the not feeling valued then creates aasm in just whole board workings correct so how do we address that we have to have a picnic each each other with each other me slumber party B based on your based on your experience several pieces the first piece is some pieces that are goals and ground rules around decorum and how people will speak to each other and engage with each other so that's the first piece but that still doesn't mean that we'll turn people's heads

051and hearts towards will they accept understand and listen to me there's two pieces there's the outward piece about just how people interact with each other and then there is the piece of this is my interpretation that I'm going to invest my time to try to understand why they believe feel or think that the way that they do and I am going to listen to that and understand and accept that's how they feel even though I may not agree with it and I may choose to agreeably disagree with it and go a different direction but I won't feel that I will disengage or shut down discussion or not give H opportunity to speak or that is my advice that it's twofold and one just starts with basic form towards the other and then the second is

052will I you know old my well I think I want to listen I want I would encourage you to listen to understand not listen waiting for your time to talk I don't know if I'm people first to be to listen not to be heard it's the number one rule but Ste probably died before Madam chair I'm just going to give you a time check warning we are if we could we're all done we can let Mr H Gorman get on his way to Louisiana Louisiana Mississippi mississipp it came from Louisiana that's right that's right so we have to share our closing activities something you've learned during today's session and something you heard that affirmed actions you have taken or work you're willing to do any aha or affirmation anything you walk I I think that

053we do need to communicate with each other better I think that's part of the trust issue is that their board members that I don't communicate with there are board members that don't communicate with me so that does influence how you feel how I feel and and then how you perform and how and I don't say that as you I'm just saying it as each of us like how we feel and how we perform so for me I would say I thought I thought my feelings and I know some others but you really enlightened me how and you said the word Silo Siberia and that makes me feel very uncomfortable that that's how it felt and so for me in my affirmation I would say going forward I need to make a lunch date with everybody

054only if you're paying you offer dinner the other day and then drove away whatever you didn't get we I did you did that was odd I know I was like am I supposed no I didn't know we didn't say anything else I'll walk with you oh I love walking oh I love walking with Maya in the rain so I just for me and AA moment is that um I don't I don't think that we've made enough strides and develop in um uh common goals that we could work toward which force us to work together better and I think that if we if we're going to take anything from this it's the fact that we need those goals because those go goals will force a little bit more of the conversations that some of us aren't

055comfortable having the trust issues are real they're there for a reason um the streets are two ways perhaps or sometimes I'm driving down a one way and somebody else is coming up in the wrong direction I'm also willing to admit I'm coming up in the wrong direction C days when someone's coming down is very true I've been on the phone with her when she drives that's right she knows I went through Maryland pens remember that but anyway so so for me it's really important for us to set some goals again that hold us accountable because it is super easy to shut the door and be like whatever nobody's going to Care at the end I care i' I've said it before we are a group of very different personalities which gives us the advantage to

056work together to fix the actual issues but I don't think there's enough willingness to hear and to step into someone else's issues anybody else haha affirmation I've got an affirmation and an aha um it's been three years coming doing this and you did it and it took a lot of courage to have some of these conversations and each one of you is definitely a good representative of this community and some of the voices in the community and so so in representative government for you to come together to even do this exercise is a is a big step in the right direction and it took some courage to do that and you need to be proud of yourself for Having the courage to address some of these issues and and meet them head on thank you

057I love you oh my God okay I have one good um I I'm very impressed that we all agree except one of us but that's not unusual strong you know six out of seven agree on number one our board is committed to Envision a high expectation from student team quity instruction I think that is critical because that a major part of our function I learned something years ago from Dr Chase and I quote her often and I'll never forget it we all see things through a different lens that we can be looking at that door and we can see that door completely the door is there but we can see it very differently and I always remember that and how many times have I quoted her and not just and that's just a this board

058I do it all the time you know we all have a different lens and what we have to do is respect the lenses and my my aha is that I'm I'm sad that some of us feel like you know we our our opinions don't matter that our thoughts don't because I think although we're very different I think we have the same goals and I think we you know at heart you we all want the same thing so that's that's something that we need to work on and I don't trust everybody but you know I don't trust myself sometimes um but that's something we we we do need to work on we need to work we know it we know the thing is is that we're very lucky to be the seven that we are because

059could be worse I I mean we have an amazing superintendent who is like really building this school Empire in our community with staff that support him that work hard for us we have all of the underlying things working and so you know it it's we're very lucky to have that and even be as broken as we are dysfunctional not broken well I think I think we have challenges yes we have at least have go do the second try our first second meeting in August our first second meeting why don't we do one temporarily until we decide to change that policy in the the reason I say that is because I'm telling you these reg districting if you had not you've done one no I I agree I've lived but this is you know one of

060the reasons we need to kind of build I think building the TR May at least I was say why do we have to change can't we just we can just schedule special work session and then and then think about it maybe for next year depending get through these redistrict CH the town halls the budgets we're going to be seeing a lot of November work or Retreat we can talk about that's a good ide okay so give it a try we have 45ish minutes before our business meeting we want to grab dinner and then sense than Virginia to discuss and or consider the acquisition of real property for construction of a replacement facility for Edward E Drew Middle School where discussion is an open meeting would adversely affect the bargaining position or negotiating strategy of the

061board pursu section 2.2 3711 of the code of virginity discuss and or consider the superintendent annual performance evaluation and pursuance section 2.2 d371 of the code of Virginia to continue deliberations oh darn it back okay so that's it thank you okay whatever amen sorry what she said amen all right you have to call for V oh um favor I I I opposed okay we are you'll just give us a few seconds for Di to section 2.2 3712 of the code of Virginia I move that the Clos session held during the 5:00 pm Schoolboard work session of June 11 20124 be certified by adopting the following resolution now therefore be it resolved that the school board of staffer County Virginia hereby certifies that to the best of each member's knowledge only public business matters lawfully Exempted

062from open meeting requirements were discussed in the closed meeting to which this certification resolve applies and only such public business matters as were identified in the motion convening the closed meeting were heard discussed or considered by the board Miss if you pull the board second Dr Chase agree Miss guy agree Miss halad agree Miss hey agree Miss Randall agree Miss Sigman agree and Dr Warner agree Madam chair motion passes do we have any business coming out of closed session yes Madam chair I move that the board direct the superintendent to further investigate property e as a potential future site for the rebuild of Edward E Drew Middle School second any I imagine there's no discussion uh we just did that cast your votes I'll cast my motion passes 7 to zero i' like to call

063our 7 o'clock regular business meeting to order would you please stand for the pledge allegiance to the flag to flag of the United States of America stand Missy would you please take the role yes ma'am Dr Chase here miss Dooku here miss guy here miss holstead here miss Healey Mr dun is absent Miss Randall here miss Sigman here and Dr Warner here Madam chair you have a quorum wonderful uh is there a motion in a second to approve the agenda motion to approve second okay cast your votes motion passes 70 okay consent agenda motion to approve the consent agenda second all right any discussion let's cast our votes that also passes 7 to zero Dr Taylor are there any uh any announcements for administrative Personnel to this evening I would like to announce that that

064was the fastest opening exercises I've ever seen the board do um beyond that I have several announcements I'm very delighted to uh as we do this time of year I'm going to ruin that track record and uh and make several announcements this evening uh we're so excited to welcome several members to elevated positions in team Stafford and the first person I'm going to call up is Chris Deno uh Mr Deno will join uh the team at Mountain View High School as the new school's director of Athletics and activities uh Mr Deno was a health and physical education teacher and driver's education instructor and coordinator for Colonial Forge High School for the last five years he has also served as an assistant athletic director and was an assistant coach on the football and baseball teams Mr

065Deno holds a Bachelor of Science in sports uh business from West Virginia uh uh Wesley and college and a master of science and sports management from the University of Tennessee at Knoxville uh Mr Deno is currently completing his master of education in educational leadership as part of Stafford school's leadership cohort at the George Mason University Mr Deno welcome to your new position in Stafford schools so I have a lot of people to thank um my family that's in that building for sure uh my wife's on a plane she's going on to a conference my kids are at home with my with my parents so I I definitely got to thank them um my new admin team I'm super excited to get to work with I've never heard anything but great things about Mountain View even

066though I was at Colonial Forge uh for the five years uh Mountain View is always right there with us at Colonial Forge um thank you guys for sure for the opportunity thank you like he said uh in that George Mason cohort that was the opportunity that was presented through Stafford County um as a graduate of Stafford County Public Schools uh there's no more Pride than I have to be able to work in this position in Stafford County like he said for team Stafford uh I graduated from brookpoint um went to Colonial Forge or taught at Colonial Forge and now I'll be working at Mountain View so I guess by the time I'm done maybe I'll hit all five uh well six yeah so I'll hit all six so um there I do need to thank

067um Jeff Barry uh Jeff Barry was uh my high school football coach and then uh was my mentor at at Colonial Forge for the five years and uh I'll be indebted to coach Barry for I call him Coach Barry everybody else calls him Mr Barry uh coach Barry for a long long time and uh I'm excited that even moving away from Colonial Forge I'll still be able to work with him uh on a day-to-day basis and thank you again for the opportunity and uh hopefully I make you guys proud and continue to make team Stafford proud thank you Mr [Applause] denno yeah uh the squad at Mountain View is very well represented in for good reason uh because this evening we will also be appointing uh another or announcing the appointment of another member to

068the Mountain View team the assistant principal Mr Joshua Justice Mr Justice uh will become the new assistant principal at Mountain View High School for the last 11 years uh Mr justice has served as an Athletics director a dean of students an assistant principal in Chesterfield and henrio counties uh during his time Mr justice has created career Pathways and work-based learning opport opportunities for high school students and served as the CTE administrator uh for the high school with the highest number of work-based learning hours in his County Mr Justice holds a Bachelor's of Science degree from Radford University and a master of educational leadership from Salem International University Welcome to Stafford Mr Justice I uh I also have a couple of thank yous um I promise I'll make it very short and sweet I first want

069to say a big thank you to Dr Thomas Taylor for bringing me on board to staffer County Public Schools I can't thank you enough I also would like to thank U Dr Rice and the administrative team for Mountain View High School for such a warm welcome I know I'm going to fit in well and I am so excited to be a part of this team they've treated me like family and I couldn't ask for more I'd also like to thank my wife um she should have been first M let me say last but not least he he's right last but not not least my wife Reese um for supporting me on my educational Journey but also for putting up with me and hearing all my crazy stories about what's going on in the school building

070here and there and I know she's like okay that's enough I need a break but I've got to talk to someone and she's been very supportive and I'm so thankful to have her uh my two little ones are with the grandparents this evening they could couldn't be here but also them as well because they have been so supportive wherever I am um also just want to say that I am blessed and very proud to be a part of Stafford County Public Schools I look forward to the opportunities um of growth myself you know as an administrator but also to be part of this community and and provide opportunities for students and with that being said short and sweet like I said it's done I hope everybody has a good night and thank you so much

071thank you and and thank you for bringing your wife this evening to celebrate with you um next up we are delighted to announce the appointment of Danielle Chambers as the new assistant principal at Rock Hill Elementary School Miss Chambers has been a part of Team Stafford for the past 12 years as a fourth grade teacher at Ferry Farm Elementary School in that role Miss Chambers uh served as the 504 coordinator for her school the social studies team lead and the wellness committee uh Lead Teacher and in 20120 was recognized as Fairy Farm Elementary School's teacher of the year Miss Chambers earned her bachelor's in psychology and her Masters in elementary education from the University of Mary Washington and completed her educational leadership and supervision endorsement from the College of William and Mary congratulations on your

072new role Miss Chambers [Applause] just like to say thank you for this opportunity I'm so excited to join Rock Hill and I couldn't be more grateful thank you and I'm gonna I'm gonna call you out Miss Chambers because you got a principal in the audience who's here to support you tonight too so thanks Miss Corman for being here appreciate it yeah fantastic um our last assistant principal um who's being announced this evening is JL Manning our newest assistant principal at Stafford High School um we're excited that Miss J Miss Manning joins team Stafford after two years as a music teacher in Fairfax County and seven years in suffk public schools Miss Manning uh was a member of the school leadership team and served as the fine arts department chair uh she has also served as

073the coral auditions chair and the Virginia uh Coral director assoc for Virginia Coral Directors Association District 4 Miss Manning holds a Bachelor of Arts and a master of arts in music with a concentration in vocal education from Hampton University she received her certificate in educational leadership and supervision from old demman University and is currently working on her doctor of Philosophy degree in educational leadership thank you for coming to Stafford welcome Miss Manning Madam chair members of the school board and Dr Taylor thank you so much for this opportunity I am thrilled to introduce myself and express my excitement about the opportunity to work in Stafford County Public Schools as an assistant principal at Stafford High School as a proud product of Hampton Oaks Elementary HH pool middle and North Stafford High I am elated to

074be returning to the county that helped develop my passion for learning thank you again for this opportunity I look forward to being able to work along with principal chess Tron and the rest of the Stafford high school team to uh continue the commitment for educational Excellence through the support of students teachers families and the entire Community today I'm joined and supported by my parents Jeff and Cheryl Manning and my aunt and uncle Lenny and lenel Manning I also have several family members that have tuned in to support virtually I am excited to begin this journey with you and to make a meaningful impact in the lives of our students and the Stafford Community thank you thank you Miss Manning yeah we had all the cheering section here today uh thank you so much for coming

075out tonight and uh and hope you enjoy your celebration this evening um uh the next person that we want to announce this evening is not new to Stafford schools um she's assuming a new role uh she was an assistant principal at Gail middle school and she's transitioning over to be the assistant director of um uh the Academy of technology and Innovation the University of Mary Washington she's not able to join us this evening but we are thrilled to make that announcement and uh and and welcome Stephanie berett to her new role uh this next person was actually appointed at our last meeting uh but uh you know timelines get tight um we are so thrilled to welcome back to team Stafford uh sha Reed sha Reed will be our new assistant director of special education

076compliance uh she comes to us uh from uh um up north and uh she started her career in special education for at Colonial Forge High School as a special education teacher and eventually a department chair uh but thank you for coming from Fairfax back home uh to where you were an assistant principal and and served for for several years there and we're just thrilled to have you back uh Miss Reed uh earned her bachelor's degree uh from Park University a master's degree in special education curriculum K12 uh from the University of Mary Washington and has a certificate in educational leadership from the University of Mary Washington welcome home miss Reed thank you for saving me from 95 I didn't I've had a number of these meetings but I never had to do a speech so

077um thank you everybody for the opportunity um and trust and my abilities to just level up and let's do this I love it thank you Miss Reed all right board we're closing in on the home stretch here uh the next person that we're thrilled to announce uh in their placement because we've got a few construction projects going on uh we are thrilled uh to welcome uh Mr John Kramer who will become the new director of facilities for Capital Construction in the office of facilities and maintenance uh Mr Kramer currently serves as a project manager for MBP um who is a consultant that we use for construction management and was assigned to Stafford schools uh for several of our projects including High School 6 and Elementary School 18 and 19 he was an architectural services manager

078for five years in Richmond uh where he led the design team of Architects and Engineers uh Mr Kramer earned his bachelor's degree in interior design and crafts and materials from uh Virginia Commonwealth University go Rams and uh we are just thrilled to have you congratulations Mr Kramer thank you good good evening Madam chair and the rest of the board I appreciate this opportunity and I look forward to helping build the legacy of what Stafford County is and will always be so plenty of projects up and coming and I look forward to this opportunity and it's been a great discovery since I've been here and I also want to thank my family my wife is at home with kids and uh Mr T and the rest of the facility staff who they've really made me feel

079like a family member since I've been here so I really do appreciate I look forward to working with everybody here thank you I would say buckle up buddy um but you've already been on all these project Works already so thank you so much uh Mr Kramer we're thrilled to have you our last appointment announcement from this evening is a little unique because uh it's an appointment for a regional program uh but since Stafford schools will be assuming the fiscal Agency on July 1 uh we are thrilled to take some ownership over uh the new director of uh of uh the Commonwealth Governor school I'd like to welcome Dr Tracy Amah hundro uh who will become the next director of The Commonwealth Governor school that serves Stafford Spotsylvania Caroline and King George counties Dr Amah hundro

080comes to our region from powatan County where she has served as the assistant superintendent for instruction for the last 8 years in that role Dr Amah hundro uh developed the first instructional framework for the county expanded uh advanced placement course offerings by 50% and created a new teacher leadership structure to empower teachers to drive curriculum development and assessment previously Dr Amah hundro was a high school principal and assistant principal in both both powatan and henrio counties uh Dr Amah hundro earned her Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Virginia and her master of teaching uh as well at UVA uh her certificate in administration and supervision and her PhD from VCU congratulations and welcome Dr Amah hundro thank you so as assistant superintendent I stand at the podium a lot and I'm so intimidated

081tonight I don't know why um mostly because I don't know any of you but I'm looking forward to working with all of you I've met Dr Chase already and again I know this is a partnership between three other divisions um but I look forward to working with all of you and to making the best Regional Governor school that I can for your students and for your families so thank you so [Applause] much Madam chair that concludes this evening's uh presentation of newly appointed administrators that was awesome um we will move forward item 5.01 the annual report and recommendations of the school board school health advisory committee good evening hello again Madame chair boor Dr Taylor it's a wonderful to see you all again um my name is Dr Amanda Harvey and I am the chair

082of the school health advisory committee and I am here to present to to you part two of what uh sha as we are affectionately known has been up to over the last year so let's see do I next slide or do I get to I get to do it I'm in control woohoo so just as an overview in 2023 quick we shut the door thank you actually I can't shut the door but they can encourage quiet oh okay thank you okay um 2023 2024 Shaq had a couple of goals and that was one of the big ones was understanding Wellness in Stafford schools right we did our survey amongst your staff to understand Wellness opportunities or get suggestions for future Wellness opportunities and really took that data and did a little bit of searching um

083in the last year we have five various initiatives that we are proud to kind of give you an update on as they are here to support the wellness opportunities at Stafford schools the first one was the green pin project and this was Katherine Buckman's uh project and you all know her she was a former student representative of the school board and for the month of May she came up with the idea of the green pin project that kind of rolled off of the green ribbon project for mental health aw awareness uh Miss Buckman came to the Sha committee and we really helped her kind of take her idea and try to expand it so we talked to her about making videos that we could show year to year and how to get this into the

084middle schools versus the high schools and so in the end Miss Buckman produced a student Focus video and social media posts to Mountain View High School and to further her initiatives in the coming year Shaq is going to look at how to get that into all six of our high schools instead of just one and even into the middle schools with potentially having some type of sticker versus a pen for Middle School since we don't have backpacks in our middle school so this was a really fun project for her that sha is to continue and try to find new students and help them um continue Catherine's Legacy of course you all have been hearing so many things about the Jed Foundation um Jed what is Jed of course is a nonprofit that promotes emotional health

085and prevents suicide in our nation's teens and young adults uh Stafford schools will be part of not one but two Jed programs that will be here to increase some of our mental health and suicide awareness Education First we are going to um are currently in uh part two really of the Jed high school initiative in which jet is coming into our high schools doing a little assessment then providing us with a path forward to better our wellness and mental health education and then the other part that we are the only division in the US to do is the Jed District so Jed District then will take some of our initiatives from the high school and Implement them in our K through 8 program so not only are we just getting Jed high school which is

086usually what a lot of districts do but we are getting the whole Jed program and eventually we will have more support for mental health and suicide awareness in K through 12 through the Jed foundation and the Sha committee is very excited for all of the things that are coming up from Jed I know you guys have seen this timeline before but just a little reminder here in this last spring we did start our Jed approach for our Jed high school and completed some data collection that initial assessment coordinated with some key stakeholders this fall we will be identifying key priorities doing site business and they're going to come up with that plan that we will be able to implement starting in January 2025 and then at the end and Janu in 2026 or so we'll

087readminister that same test we took this past spring to see where we are are growing where we do need a little bit more support and then be able to take this into the future and continue the support that the Jed Foundation is creating for our students and staff how does JED fit in with Sha's goals of course um they have five different School outcomes presented here but for sha it does support our initiative to find new ways to combat chronic student absentee I know that's something you guys are really hoping that we can help you all with and Jed will do that for us hopefully at least that's what their statistics say right they will also improve student mental health which is been our our goal from the beginning here is to really find ways

088to increase that mental and emotional well-being in our students and Jed is going to do that for us as well very very excited about Jed further initiatives included some community outreach that was one of our paths forward that we were exploring and so a Shack team member was able to connect Stafford schools with Barbara Barlo who is the executive director of Mental Health America Fredericksburg through this connection um they are looking at starting signs of suicide for the seventh and ninth graders this coming fall they've just had a bunch of meetings with uh Miss Barlo to implement how we can pull in this science of suicide program into seventh and ninth grades so we are very excited to get the community um in here to support Stafford schools uh Miss Baro said that she'd been

089trying to get into Stafford schools for a long time so it was a really nice point to be able to connect her with Stafford schools and in particular Dr Taylor um we also have some other toolkits that we are looking into from Mental Health America Fredericksburg to see if they would be a good fit for some of our social media education initiatives that we've been looking into another really fun campaign that we've supported in this last year is called rev your Bev rev your Bev is a 20-year program supported by the Virginia foundation for healthy youth it is in 13 School divisions throughout Virginia as shown here and it is a campaign to Define water as an essential nutrient and proper hydration requirements for staff and schools what rev your Bev's main goal is they

090will look at our wellness policy and offer edits to really make water an essential nutrition and I'm proud to say that our policy needed tiny little edits to add water as one of those essential nutrients for our staff and students and this will gain um be supportive of their physical health and well-being um one of those other paths that we've been really looking to explore so with this little change to our wellness policy which we've already presented to Mr Brian Williams executive director of nutritional Services we get a toolkit to provide our schools with better water access and it's a student Le program which is even better right we have a student group the y Street Club at Colonial Forge that is supporting the Rev your be campaign so Shak is looking into ways to

091get this into our other five high schools um so this is going to be one of our good campaigns uh over the next year to figure out how to find what student leg group will really promote the Rev your Bev in the other high schools as I've talked about we've updated the wellness policy some we've been working with Mr Brian Williams to identify possible paths forward for him for some of his larger overarching goals in this we've included um policies or at least suggestions for social media education Suicide Prevention education and comprehensive family life um education which will all support our students and staff's mental emotional and physical well-beings right and even the Jed Foundation it's a great platform because we're already meeting these goals that we're setting for ourselves through the Jed and Mental

092Health America Fredericksburg so we're putting them in there we're setting ourselves up for success to be able to meet our wellness policy initiatives Shaq will continue to work with Mr Williams on the wellness policy by looking into how we can add teen dating violence in there the Rev your Bev edits and suggestions to just strengthen the policy as he has been requesting and after all of those things where is shot going for the future right we are still exploring the other Dimensions of Wellness and how they can be linked with our current initiatives really and truly all of the dimensions come back to linking with mental health so that's going to be one of our ways to intertwine some of the other dimensions of well-being into our current initiatives of course sha is going to

093further look into ways to C uh combat that chronic absentee issue that we have in 2025 we're going to support Miss holstead in her mental health Summit um which we are all very excited about we're hoping 2025 our mental health Summit and Cha will be there to help support her in those initiatives and then finally we're looking for paths to distribute these programs to all grade levels of course we always get a lot of attention in high schools and stuff but I know plenty of elementary school students who also need this type of support with their mental emotional and physical well-beings and of course I'm always going to provide you with a little suggestion on how you guys can help us moving forward um adopting curriculum updates are pushing the legislation to adopt curriculum updates

094in the upcoming legislative um state level would be really beneficial to Stafford schools and students to include that suicide and Dating Violence and social media education that I know all of you are very Avid um um a I should say very supportive of of adding that to our curriculum so that's one way that we can move forward um supporting impact speakers uh on wellish initiatives uh is a suggestion that we have I remember very distinctly having impact speakers come to my high school 20 something years ago and um and then you know speaking to us on a topic scaring our pants off and all of us going back to the lunch room being like wow now I never want to drive drunk again look at this car but this is these are impactful I still

095remember them it would be great to bring those back into Stafford at schools and finally how can you support us always money right think of Wellness opportunities um in your budget that's coming up be sure if you can have a little extra change just to give us just a little bit more to support some of the wellness opportunities for staff and students that is it can I go first I was just going to say Miss holstead as I know this is your committee um this is one of the greatest committees on Earth I just want to say that they're so flexible we've had some struggles with attendance and whatnot but they're Focus they are so focused on helping to maintain or begin really um leading everyone down the roads I've asked them several times or

096or kind of intimated that we'd be getting wings and flying out of the classroom soon and and making more of an impact within the community because there's so much to be said and done and had and I just appreciate you all I appreciate your willingness and your flexibility and I mean revier Bev was probably my most like that was my favorite presentation was so cool just the Simplicity of just adding water and what water and hydration does and the fact that we didn't know that this existed and that they will bring us water and things to drink the water with and so it is little things like that and kudos to you Mand you've done a great job actually getting us so many new things and going out there and bringing them in to present

097to the committee to keep us like really informed the revier B I mean Miss Barlo was you it was a random conversation one day about meeting her oh and Dr Taylor left for a second but to Dr Taylor's great credit every time I have brought him something that is mental health focused he has jumped on it and found a way to help us integrated it into our school system so it is a no joke um it is a full circle full Village and I'm proud to be a part of your village thank you Miss holstead I did forget to mention um I do have some committee m here that I'd like to um acknowledge we have Verio Allen Maggie Hoffman and Beth Mason and our lovely adviser Miss Colette hakona who is retiring from us

098so please thank you for all of your service over the last few years Colette does anyone else have questions or comments so I want to talk about the Rev your beev campaign because I noticed that throughout your presentation you were talking about a way to kind of get this across the School Division so I kind of had two suggestions so one there is a student l um media account for the representatives in which we used to like distribute across Instagram because it's the most used like social media platform across this age group so I thought that was kind of like a way that we could get it across the High School Division and then for the elementary and middle school level I know that um in other counties I talk with other Representatives they have

099this thing called like the smob monthly minute where the representative or student member of the board will record a video for a minute and that gets like presented across all the school divisions like in their morning announcements so I know that you were talking about Katherine having a video but it was only displayed at Colonial Forge so I think having something like that would be a good way to get across all the schools not just high school and Elementary School and mid school I love it you should come talk to our group in August thank you Dr Chase yeah I just wanted to say how excited I am about the Rev your Bev because when I've been at vsba they've been there and and I remember talking to them a little bit about talking to

100them a little bit about Stafford and they're saying that we had a little bit of stuff going on so thank you so much yes Dr Warner did you have anything just want to say thank you for the work you do I appreciate it and I appreciate the effort you put in thank you Miss Randall yes um I was really fascinated that a little conversation with um miss holstead about the Jed Foundation was able to get into the ear of Dr Taylor who happened to see that there was an opportunity for us to do something like you said more than the high school but through all of giving mental health supports through all of our schools so and I'm so glad that you guys jumped on it as well to make sure that this was something

101that was um able to help all of our County kids um question though when you say that I saw in the SE spring 2024 phase takes about three months as a first semester so was that part done the preparation and assessment done to my knowledge yes it is so we're into coming into the fall we're going into the um next three months of strategic planning correct okay that's what I was just curious about I just didn't know if that if you actually got to go get that far so I thought I would ask sure yeah sure Dr bush is here sheify some of those so just real quick we've already started with Jud High School we're a little bit further along with that we've already done the High School staff and students and now um

102a principal survey and so now we're starting with the districtwide and we're so it'll go into the middle school so we're doing so districtwide we're going to rinse and repeat the same things that we already did but we won't double assess the same students staff or principles okay got it so it's following the same pattern right now okay but we're further ahead with the high schools and they'll start their planning great right all right thank you Miss heing I just wanted to say thank you and before Miss holstead came on I wish the lucky one to be liaison with your committee um for about 10 years but I I I knew how much she she really is passionate about this subject so I reluctantly agreed to uh to Let It Go but thank you for

103all you do it is so important and not just for the students but the staff as well and I think that's the the scope of your your vision really you know makes a difference and I'm I'm excited about seeing you know the adding adding the um you know some of the you know mental health issues that have risen you know higher to the surface um you know postco so thank you for all you do thank you Miss guy yes thank you that was a great presentation um just I'm shocked that well maybe I misunderstood but the current version of our curriculum that we're using is is that 2005 like what we're using today in 2024 I'm so embarassed okay it's at the state level so there's like so little you guys can do right we

104can edit it within ours we can go to the legisl and say hey it's probably time to update this and include a lot of these things and that's that's really where it's at is that we need to update it at a state level we need to include suicide and teen dating and social media education I know all of you are very on board with that and I know that the legislative sessions coming up soon and there will be two members that will be going so I encourage you all to make that one of the main topics at the legislation if you can well thank you so much and for bringing that point up because you can't think about everything and know about there's just so much and yes that's something that's really important so thank

105you that's our job I'm glad we can help I'm going to Echo a lot of that I'm excited about Jed District I I've worked with Jed before but I had not kept up on on that type of initiative I think that's just really great that we could have something through um you know a little bit through all grade levels um and just as a parent like I'm so glad that so much of this is is coming forward and being integrated into what our kids are doing um you know the social media in particular um and just all of it uh because things are so different with the access we have to the ways we have to access new information and deliver it to our kids it I think we can be really dynamic in in

106our approach and I'm glad you guys are are handling that for us so thank you very much thank you madam chair okay all good well thank you for your time youall have a lovely evening actually real quick if you've got committee members that you want to introduce and and staff me okay great now we'll hear uh report from our student representative good evening everybody so this report is really just an update on previous initiatives that we've been taking um this past month I also had the honor of being able to sit up there on the panel for my school's graduation it was amazing I love seeing the class of 24 grad graduate and I'm so proud of them all Jennifer also had the honor to do it at her respective School Mountain View so that

107was such such a great experience um during the past month I've been talking with the media team we were able to get our first post out and communicate with the students which received quite a bit of interaction which I'm really glad for um I had a lot of students inquiring me about everything that was in the post which it's always good to see student initiative and you know inquiry and always just trying to learn and be more involved in the board which is really what we're striving for so we've taken the necessary steps to try and get more student Presence at the board means because Stafford County is um powered by students and faculty so what's more important than having you know student voices and what's being umci upon them so yeah for that that's

108what we've been doing for the past month and we hope to continue with this initiative um that's about it thank you thank you very much next we have citizen comments three minutes are allotted to each speaker or group speaker shall identify themselves by name or organizational affiliation speakers shall also announce the purpose of their topic of their comments citizen comment which is profane abusive or which threatens imminent physical harm shall be ruled out of order uh by the chair um Missy yes Madam chair we have three speakers tonight the first is Al Watkins followed by Molly Denim and then Abram Marsh okay good evening members of the board and Dr Taylor I'm Al Watkins I live at 12 Inland run Lane 22406 the George Washington District I understand the Dilemma that our division finds itself

109then it's not a new situation Stafford certainly now struggles to do more with less we all know that the supervisors ultimately cut $2 million from the $15 million request that was made of them this is what caused a provisional budget that included a 1% decrease to the plan salary increases for teachers and for instructional support power professionals unfortunate since the pay that they receive still pales greatly in comparison to the northern schol School divisions despite being provided this lesser amount employees still dutifully signed their contracts ultimately the state budget was finalized and Stafford learned that they would actually receive more basic state aid than was anticipated more than enough to make up for the $2 million decrease in local funds received from the supervisors now Common Sense would lead a person to believe that now

110with more total funding available than what was in the approved budget voted by this board that that the 1% decrease in plan pay for teachers and Par professionals who work at all of Stafford's 34 schools would immediately be reinstituted fully implementing phase three but that did not seem to be the case the situation is more complex because student behavior issues have become more of a problem and there are options proposed that try to address those issues more often than not relating to cell phone use and more often than not occurring primarily at our high schools well having deans of students at our high schools and creating an office of student conduct at central office help teachers eliminate the loss of teaching time within the classrooms when issues occur no when situations occur in the hallways

111bathrooms locker rooms and cafeterias where teachers and staff members still have to likely deal with confrontations and spend time alerting the security administration assuredly yes my point is that with the news proposed positions there is little direct change of in support or benefit to Educators who will always have to continue being the first best line of defense regarding student behavior and this support is predominantly provided at the high school level while you're asking teachers and power professionals at all middle school and Elementary levels to Forfeit their needed salary increases is this a tradeoff that all staff members will find acceptable new contracts whether at one half a percent or at a full percent will still need to be issued I'm hoping that the perceived forfeiture of salary will not cause some Educators to rethink their

112decision to return to scps I would not want to be the person to tell a talented experienced Elementary School teacher that they had provided part of their salary so the high schools could try to better discipline their students thank you for your time thank you good evening hi I'm Molly denim from the Hartwood district and I would like to talk about the personal electronic communication device regulation you're voting on later tonight um first I am in favor of the need um for regulation 2402 however I have a couple of issues one I still feel the board has identified a symptom and not a problem to solve or improve I'm struggling to understand what problem this board hopes to either improve or solve with this restriction and I hope during discussion time today this will be

113better explained to the public the regulation states that devices are a distraction but is a total ban the only solution if that is the main problem in addition if we do not have an adequately defined problem to solve how does this board plan to determine if this regulation is successful two I believe this regulation does have holes for instance it states appear parent or Guardian must unlock a pouch however a principal or design May bypass this requirement this opens the door for non-conformity and being interpreted differently for different kids or having the regulation disproportionately enforced across the schools we already have disproportioned discipline enforcement across the county and how is this going to be any different from any other discipline policy currently in place three I also have an issue isue with this being a

114blanket restriction regardless of grade level high school students are being treated the same as the elementary kids and I'm not quite sure this is realistic we have to understand the environment of today's high school student their social interaction and the reality of today's technology use case in point how many times do each of you on the dis or those in the audience look at your cell phone during this meeting if you can't sit for two hours to pay attention during a meeting where your actions and words have countywide repercussions how exactly are you expecting a high school student to do the same thing every day during a six-hour school day I would also like to remind the board of the input from last year's School representative about uh how today's teenager uses technology for more

115than just watching the latest Tik Tok challenge their cell phone houses information they need to help with school work assignments track taskings after school activities work for those who have jobs and family responsibilities I believe this regulation needs to go through a relook for high school students use of personal devices I urge you to take a better look at what you hope to accomplish with this regulation and realize personal devices are not the problem and this restriction may actually cause more issues especially at the high school level than it really solves thank you thank you good evening my name is Dr Abra Marsh I live in the Hartwood district and I'm going to stand before you and talk a little bit about the creation of this office of student conduct and deeds of students uh

116I have a big concern with that as you know I'm the chair of the county or our school systems citizens budget advisory committee and I've been involved with our budget creation for several months in fact several years now at no point in time have I seen this and I am concerned at that I rais this concern because if I in my position don't know anything about it I know that nobody else in the county no other parent no other faculty member no no other anybody knows about it and and to have this come at this point in time where it takes the money that we as parents as community members as faculty and staff fought so hard for to create another bureaucratic layer is disconcerning so again having been involved with this for about six

117to nine months this proposal at this later date makes it very very disconcerting and I say that with the additional point of not knowing what it does as a parent of a high school student and a rising middle schooler of course I'm concerned with student discipline probably more so than most because my Stu my children are of that age but I'm also very concerned that students will be without any further knowledge of this uh that there could be some diversity equity and inclusion issues with this because having come from a County uh not too far from here I don't recall that being created at any point in time and that county is much larger than this one and I they have a lot more more discipline issues so I look forward to learning about this

118but I ask that you do not take away the money that we fought so diligently for for our faculty our staff members who deserve every penny that they should be receiving as well as should be receiving more thank you all very much for your time thank you okay moving forward with our action items item 8.01 appointment of school two school board members to serve as the board's delegate and Alternate delegate at the vsba annual convention in November 2024 motion to approve second any discussion do we have anybody's name listed is it on the congratulations Dr Jason and Dr War I just thought the motion might say uh who it is Pap so you're going to be the delegate and I'm GNA be the assistant delegate okay are we done we got we got vot we

119have to vote push a button I'm pushing it motion passes 7 to zero congratulations Dr Warner we're in a roll item 8.02 uh appointment of school board members to serve on the school board's finance and budget committee and governance committees for the term of July 2024 through June 2025 and this time we do have the committee structure uh listed in the attachments motion to approve second all right so miss guy why is why does Miss Hallstead get to be an alternate instead of sitting on a committee just like I did yeah because cuz there's six spots in there seven of us solid two years lost musical chairs it's essentially a logic puzzle um you have to come off of your committee because of your time on it your tenure on it Miss holstead has to

120come off of her committee you and I are each required to sit on a committee okay so and and she has to be the alternate on both I knowbody twice as twice as smart because I have to sit on to Madam chair I just wanted to say that um I did not volunteer to leave the Fab I'm I'm sure there's some people very happy I'm not going to be on the Fab anymore she graciously accepted my invitation being I was yeah I was volun told and I'm I'm trying to be cooperative so I'm back to governance miss you won't be on all right any any other discussion no I voted all right let's cast our votes that motion passes 7 to0 item 8.03 approval of and authorization for the board chair to sign the proposed

121College lab school partnership agreement and Regional Regional School Board operating agreement for the Academy of technology and Innovation at the University of Mary Washington motion to approve second okay is there a discussion I do have I would just like to make two comments number one I would like the governance committee to review this mou next year to make sure there's nothing that needs to be changed and I would also like to request an annual report as was discussed in governance for the um School boards involved do we have a suggestion on at what point in the year like and um like at the end of the school year the end of the school year yeah I I did send um some information to Dr to after the governance committee I just wanted to make that

122I just wanted to make the rest of the school board aware that that was a request and I think that with questions on theou that um Miss Healey and Dr Chase have brought in I would like to review it in a year and see where we are Dr Chase did you have something as well whoops yeah I mean I I think people know that I won't be supporting this um I I really have concerns about the fact that uh we get one representative on the uh governing board and Mary Washington gets six and that board makes the decisions about um what the operating agreement is and what the bylaws are and so it would take as far as I can tell one or two other members and and Stafford could be obligated to to various

123things um unless we wanted to leave the program but that that's that's a concern for me and that's why I won't be supporting it but I will say I anticipate that Dr Tower is going to put together an absolutely fantastic school I have absolutely no qualms about that it's simply um in my sort of responsibility as a a board member and to Stafford County financially I I don't think this is is is a good decision so I won't be supporting it Miss Randle I was going to say as our rep on that board do you have anything to add before we take more questions no because there's actually because of there being two agreements I understand what she's um saying about the operating agreement um but the actual um work of the school is done

124just by the school boards and the umw people have no vote in that part so um but I also know it is their building that we are using and it is also um their students that will be in that building as well um as potential future teachers that we can you know any of the divisions or any division can have access to um so I am supporting this thank you sorry Miss H I share Dr Chase's concern about the the vote that Stafford gets and we're going to have approximately two-thirds of the students but we get one vote um and also the the partnership agreement can be amended with a 2third vote and the operating agreement can be amended with a majority vote so we could easily end up with terms different from what we're

125approving tonight because that can be at any regular meeting um I think it says with 10 days notice but there's I I don't understand the the reason why the operating agreement only requires a majority which would be three of the five and the um partnership agreement requires a two-thirds vote and maybe maybe there's a a simple answer to that but to me that's significant um in addition the fact that we get one vote with 70% of the students and we will have 70% of the contributions you know as well just like CGS and and we've had this discussion and CGS is a Statewide no C CGS is is is State and and that's that's historical but just because we do it with CGS doesn't do mean we have to do it with this or at

126least I'm not aware of any legislative mandate that that this has to be the the the setup so if if we were one of the districts with five students instead of how many 65 students I'd say great we we've got a you know good part of the vote here so that that's just my concern and I I too think Dr to will do a a wonderful job it's going to be um exciting to start a new program you know along with the the challenges that go with it but it's it's always new to um to have something new and um excited students and excited faculty will be great and hopefully we'll be funded and rolling after the fiveyear grant you know comes on but I'm I'm not going to be supporting it for for that

127reason but this is not anything new you've heard from me I've been saying this for months so thank you does anyone else have anything to add just um how easy is it um if things change in a way that we don't see right now that um isn't advantageous for us how quickly could we resolve and not be on the hook for stuff so you are you can exit within a calendar year basically so if you know you get into it and after a year you decide this is not what you were hoping to see um produced by it um you'll have that opportunity to give notice of the troll is that a vote or would Dr Taylor make that decision okay I just direct you'd actually be directing Miss Randall or whoever the representative is

128on the board at that time okay Dr to Would we not be committed for two years realistically because we have to give notice by December first don't we not if we're going to do that I'm not suggesting we're going to give notice but there's no way we would be in a position to make that evaluation the first year so in effect it's two years and I would feel a commitment to the students that were um you know signed up for that as as well and I think the agreement for the Fiscal Agent in terms of how much notice we have to give as Fiscal Agent if we wish to um pull out it it it's closer to two years yeah anyone else okay let's please cast our votes that motion passes 5-2 with Dr Chase

129and Miss Healey dissenting item 8.04 adoption of proposed updates to code of student conduct and related policies and regulations proposed amended policies 21106 2107 2401 249 proposed amended regulation 2401r and proposed new regulation 242 R motion to approve Second Great any discussion I imagine so obviously as a student I'm going to have some kind of comment about this and I think that when we're discussing these kinds of things specifically 2401 specifically in accordance with the technology I think that student voice is really what's student and faculty voice is really what's the most important here um as state insist and comment I don't believe that this is necessarily an issue of having technology we're developing Generations so we're starting to become reliant on technology and have it Incorporated in our education I think the problem is

130a lack of um a lack of respect for faculty a lack of listening a lack of abiding rules because if you take away the phones if you put them in catties it's if it's even if it's in forc if students are complying with that the problem at hand isn't the fact that they have the phone it's a lack of compliance so I think the issue that needs to be focused at hand is the discipline that students are receiving and the way that they're responding to their teachers because I feel as if as if when I've been talking with my teachers and with my peers the problem that they've mentioned to me most is just the students attitudes or they just won't listen to me or if I tell them to do this they're not doing

131it it's never really been because they have the phones but rather because of the attitudes that they hold towards respecting their faculty members who'd like to go next I mean so I'll go next and and to address some of that but to also um I don't disagree with what you're saying but the fact of the matter is is that students are tuning out because of their phones because they have the ability to walk away and I'll give you an example I went to the North Stafford um project impact um this year and a gentleman with no legs wheeled into the middle of the floor to give his speech to explain to the kids exactly why he was there and what I saw in the crowd was a bunch of kids taking selfies of themselves while

132this gentleman was trying to make an impact on their life so that is a sincere sign of disrespect as it were but that is what obligates this board to try and change the culture and create a system where respect and discipline are equally as important across the board as that phone we have Chromebooks for technology we have plenty of ways for our kids to have access to as many things as they need the Internet whatever it is but it's not just that this is you know we're being asked to fix discipline problems in our schools and then every solution that we've come up with isn't good enough for one person or the next person or this person I get that we're not going to all agree on everything but I think what we can agree

133on is that the cell phones have become a nuisance to our children that is so far out of control we can't get them back the anxious generation book has opened up a great deal of information to me that I never thought that I would I mean I I kind of felt like okay this is terrifying but I knew this but to actually see the statistics and the data and what we're looking at in those books and the success that other school systems have had when they've gotten rid of the cell phones so what are we looking for and how do we measure that well we got to do it first so we can figure out but I would suggest that we start to look at if student behavior is changing if discipline and respect increases

134if te I mean I've gotten more emails from teachers thanking me for us even considering this because there's a little Hope on the horizon for them that they won't be fighting the electronic device anymore in the classroom than they have to invite than they have to fight the other 50 distractions that they have going on in the room so for me this board is obligated to continue to address and to grow no matter how painful that is for some of us I at some point we have to be able to say that we are moving forward and we are addressing the real issues that are in front of us the data is there the data on the impact of the cell phones and our kids and their mental health and what is happening is there

135we don't we can't look back anymore with there's no plausible deniability going on with the fact that cell phones aren't hurting our kids they are hurting our kids they're hurting their they're hurting the mindset their mental health they're bringing their own personal images down to the lowest levels we've ever seen that we're coming in discipline committee after discipline committee it is nobody helping a kid getting beaten but they are sure filming that beating taking place so someone's got to take the sexiness of that influence infuence that influential whatever out of the equation and get these kids focused for what schools public schools are designed for accademic excellence and educational superiority in postsecondary world right is that how it is post-secondary world because right now that's not happening and that's not happening because of our addiction

136to the screens and the cell phones Miss Randall thank you madam chair and it's funny when you scroll to the end of 241 and you look at how many times it's been adopted reopt and amended it's almost every single year um and I will say when I first came on this board in 2020 and I had a conversation with Dr Chase and she's like and we need to get rid of cell phones immediately I was offended like no these kids need them I need my kid to and then again I know that what we see is the worst of the worst when it comes to the what's going on in the schools as far as discipline I know that um but it also helps that when we are in the schools we can observe the

137behavior and I remember when my daughter was allowed at high school to have her cell phone when I went into because my son wasn't it was no cell phones then and when I went to his lunch it was very noisy conversations when I went to hers it was so quiet and because they were 20 minute lunches and they were on their devices and you know um um it sort of made discipline easy because they all behaved in on their phones at lunch but the one thing you know I I I really appreciate Miss denim's question because I read it in the paper article that um Dr Taylor sent us as well is what are you trying to accomplish last year I voted no for the middle school no cell phones because it didn't go through

138process it wasn't have anything to do with that but when I've talked with the middle schools and I've asked what how how has the no cell phone policy helped I heard thank yous from because they got uh instructional time back because their cell phones in the middle school I'm going to say Middle School's going to have it had it easier than the high schools will but the middle schools phones were in the backpack backpacks were in the locker and even that even that was our policy it took me conversing with Dr Taylor probably for a better month to get every middle School online with doing that cuz some were and they were like oh you're the you know the the mean school because you make the kids put their lock backpacks in the locker and

139some were allowed backpacks in the classroom and you know having a seventh grade math teacher told me a kid got a phone call in the middle of class and and said I have to answer it it's my mom and it's that level again of disrespect taking away from the academic learning time so for me what is my what is my thought and my goal when I do this is I want to I'm I don't I feel like it you know it's going to be a difficult I truly mean believe difficult um move in the high schools to get this on board um nice that the eighth graders are coming into High School having already had this however now their phones are in their pockets or in their backpacks and you know they're going to be

140getting that little hit you know if they don't turn it off they're going to get hit and be like I need to check my phone so to me I want all the instructional time possible that's my goal I want to take away a kid with an airpod in that's being rude or checking their device or checking their phone or whatever I want distraction I understand that is but I want all instructional time for my Educators to give their students that's my goal thank you go ahead okay I would also I would like to thank um Miss holon and Mr Randall for their input um first of all that story about the present presenter being completely ignored because of screens is actually horrifying um I've noticed that but also I've noticed that even with like when

141I'm in a school assembly when we're going over like the typical regulations even if all phones are turned off I'm still seeing that same level of disrespect by m murmuring in the crowds and even throwing things up there just trying to be as like funny and disrespectful as possible so well I do understand that phones can be an instigator instigator or even a stimulant to this level of disrespect I once again don't feel as if it's the direct cause especially implementing this in a high school level where I myself need my phone to make sure that I'm um correctly scheduled for my job or I can go or I have a ride or if I'm setting up things for my next schedule or my next appointment I feel as if I don't I'm not is

142the data that you've um observed is all from the Middle School level or is it from the high school level as well different okay but yeah I just I don't know maybe if it works in a test run and we see what happens but I just don't Envision this I honestly feel as if the problem of disrespect and just Disobedience might get worse but I do understand why you guys would like to try implementing this seen as if seen as you've checked other um articles and seen as this has been proposed in other High School levels and divisions but truly truly appreciate your student view we really do so thank you for giving us that truly appreciate it and I was just going to say you you articulate everything so beautifully and I I actually

143respect so much that you're willing to sit up here and discuss the disrespect that is coming from your peers to the teachers and what these folks have to deal with part of that comes from not having enough staff to handle the discipline issues within our school system who can actually work with our kids and our administrators and our teachers to change the behaviors of the kids we don't have folks in place for that right now we rely on folks who are already overtasked overburdened underpaid like there is so many different layers to this but I don't think you understand how much I respect the fact that you're willing to sit up here and talk about how disrespectful your peers actually are to people because it shows an incredible amount of maturity that most of your

144kids who are being disrespectful don't have so take a minute to applaud yourself on that but but as a board here I will remind everyone this this has been a discussion since I got on the board and even prior to when I was on the board because it's getting more and more dangerous in our schools and and what is happening on our cells outside of school is coming into the building and without being able to shut that down it is a NeverEnding cycle of noise in someone's head and I think you're right we are all proof of it the adults we have the hard time getting off of it too so if it's hard for us as grown mature adults we need to have we need to look back and be like wow how much

145harder is it for our kids who have not yet fully developed Dr Chase you'll give me the year that the frontal cortex is actually fully developed right because no because this right it's what we talk about correct so so there's a lot of there's a lot of arguments that can be made for and against this we understand that but this board is looking at the totality of the school system the totality of the burden of what's going on in them from The Bullying to the beatings to the drugs to all of the other things that come our way and we have got to start making a change before things get super dangerous and we can't go back Dr Taylor thank you um I'm not trying to conflate one agenda item with another but I will

146say that if the board goes down this path that there are Financial consequences and they are articulated in the regulation where it specifically says that there'll be a pouch or uh some kind of device well that does have a cost associated with it and so in assessing the board's position on the student code of conduct you've tasked a superintendent and staff to Abate some of the concerns dealing with student discipline and I'm going to ask you in a moment when you get to the budget to then give me the tools to do that uh to fulfill your policy and Regulation and so I would just just add that making changes to the code of conduct in isolation and saying fix it is an edict without the resources necessary to actually do what you need to

147do um to Abate some of the concerns that you've directed staff to do that being said if you want to go down this path we're prepared to go down this path we're ready to do the things that we need to do but we do need the resources to do that um Dr Taylor could you help me remember or Express in a way that people understand understand the feedback from the survey we did uh it is my recollection that essentially staff and parents were essentially in support of removing cell phones and this is just during instructional hours we know that kids will need them for sports or for getting to and from school but it was the students who were not so keen on the idea overwhelming overwhelming staff support for removing cell phones by a

148very significant margin I want to say high 80s low9 90s margin very significant probably one of the most convincing margins that we've had on a survey ever um parents were uh were in more in the 6040 camp where the majority uh definitely wanted to see uh a removal of cell phones from the instructional space they did Echo a lot of questions uh and a lot of those questions even showed up at the podium this evening um about you know is this the right move and and whatnot um but but it was a majority of parents now for as convincing as the staff and parent data was the student data was also very uh skewed in a different direction and that that's that's not a surprise thank you Dr Warner did you have something all the

149studies and all the data seem to indicate that removing the cell phones during instructional time improves learning outcomes it improves social interactions it reduces anxiety because cell phones are addictive and it's not because it's not a phone it's a computer and many times students are interacting with people online that may or may not even be real they may be a 40-year-old guy sitting in his underwear in you know a basement somewhere and they really have no idea of knowing but every time that notification buzzes it distracts the student every single time and I appreciate what Janelle said I appreciate that students are not going to like this but I also think that they have grown up and become so accustomed to having that screen in front of them that they don't think they recognize how

150it distracts them it interrupts their concentration a lot of times they have it in the room next to their bed and they're not always sleeping enough there are other means of keeping track of your schedu schule and after school and before school it's between Bells it's not um it's not that we're denying it completely but every single discipline hearing that I've sat on in the last year a cell phone has been involved multiple cell phones because the first thing students do is they get their cell phone out and they start videoing everything that's going on it creates an environment where people are sort of performative like they can't back down they can't stop because Somebody's Watching because this might go this might go viral this might get a 100 likes and it changes their behavior

151I know it's going to be a challenge it's going to be a challenge for our teachers it's going to be a challenge for our students it's going to be a challenge for staff and I get that but even if once students leave school they're going to get jobs that don't necessarily allow a cell phone to be on the floor with them or where they are it's just it it's it's something that we we have to do because I think that their social interactions are being impaired I think that their ability to do the best they can in school is being impaired and I think that we have to take a we have to make this this stand Miss Hy I I want to thank this board for passing the no cell phones in the middle

152school last year because I think that helps show that this can work um and also we're going to have middle schoolers moving up to high school that are already used to not having their cell phone I think that will also be uh useful as well I was one in the past who would not even have considered Banning the cell phones because I thought they were you important for the for the students and and also as a means of communicating with the family but I'm going to be supporting this because I think that that the cell phones cause more harm than benefit during this during the school day and I I also appreciate our student Representatives comments and I I think that um you know that you you are very articulate and you know can tell

153us how the students feel but there's some things that we have to do um that students aren't going to like we do things the staff doesn't like we do things the superintendent doesn't like sometimes but you know that's a lot M Randall says that we're not going to take a vote on that but but anyway but but that doesn't mean we don't you know like these people we don't care about them we're we're doing the best we can so um you know I'm I I I have only heard positive comments from the the Middle School uh schools with this and I'm um also not aware that there was any uh significant expense involved in that and if if there was um you know let me know but that's that's a good thing and it's certainly

154it's a start and if for some reason we're not making the right decision we'll figure it out and you know we can always change our policies as Miss Randall says some some are changed almost every year but I do want to ask a question uh to follow up on Miss denham's comments about the um unlocking the pouch because the the regulation says in extenuating circumstances you this can be done and I wanted um to make sure that those extenuating circumstances are are um somehow defined so that we do have the the um consistency across the schools I mean when we first you know Implement something there may be different interpretations in schools and people go oh you're at such and such a school they're not going to do anything or you're somewhere else it's going

155to be tougher or this is going to be um you know different and and I want to make sure that that our schools are are acting on the same uh criteria so to the extent that we can provide uh definition for extenuating circumstances um I would I would strongly suggest that that be done so I can give you a couple of things to to help with that and and I will tell you that the landscape is dramatically different from the Middle School to the high school especially since we instructed students at the middle school to place a cell phone in their locker which we don't have access to lockers for every student at the high school level um so that is a it's a different Dynamic right out of the gate um and we also

156have a a a group of students that have had a use and a familiarity with their cell phone that is very different than middle school students in the aggregate um so I think we we need to brace ourselves and and I am I am waving a red flag to say brace yourself for this being what what takes over administrative responsibilities for the first several months of school that being said the the for the extenda circumstances the scenario that we envisioned is when a child is um alone in a house and does not have access to communication other than through the cell phone and this can be verified with a parent um that being said we are building the plane while we're flying it um to a certain degree and I think that one of the

157benefits of that part being in regulation is that you can make amendments to when you when you know that that there's a specific scenario that needs to be accounted for and you can put that out out to principles and and uh you're no more than four weeks away from having some kind of comprehensive conversation with principles to share information but the scenario that we envisioned was was aligned with student safety and uh making sure that that students uh did have a a Lifeline so to speak for communication doesn't mean they're absolved of consequences doesn't mean that there that there aren't going to be consequences and that there isn't going to be some kind of component that needs to be addressed later but we we did en Envision scenarios where teenage children are left alone in

158the house and we wanted to put safety as a priority and and make allowances for principles to exercise exer judgment and that's what we pay them for is to exercise judgment that is the number one characteristic we look for um and and that is what we are what we are hoping um so there's a couple of things that we're bracing ourselves for and and trying to to get our heads wrapped around we think we've got uh a good platform based on the board's instruction uh in preparation for this this is the beautiful thing about having something go through a committee process and then a first review and a second review it's given us uh 60 plus days to really kind of get our head wrapped around this and to talk to other districts that have

159implemented the similar approach and what some of the pitfalls were that they came up with and how they mitigated those pitfalls is there anything else so to be clear if this is um or if there's like issues or some kind of like modifications that need to be made to this proposal or policy as it's through the year it's still subject to amendments when would the like just any meeting or like at a certain time around this time to anytime if we ever found if we found like a glaring obstacle or Omission we could bring it back at the next meeting and be like oops Yeah we should think about that Dr Chase yeah so I just wanted to um you know I think I think Dr Taylor is probably aware of this but but in

160my meetings over the years with um the principal of Edward E Drew uh Amy Ivory and talking about how she implemented the cell phone policy there um she noted that it was just really important for teacher buay in um if you don't have teachers all the teachers following the same policy it doesn't work and she noted that for her school if a kid came in and said oh Mrs soand so let me have my phone or let me listen to my music everybody on the staff instructed Mrs so and so that she needed to get with the program and so um this this policy is going to um succeed or not succeed based on on Art instructional staff um so I I am excited to see if it will work but I agree if it

161doesn't work then we need to bring it back but I also want to say we're also voting on other aspects and I'm very excited to see um proposed amendments for the anti-bullying policy um also happy to see um a little bit more about trying to really bring parents and Guardians into the discussion um to a greater degree when it comes to to student issues thank you I agree the classroom management piece I'm very ex excited to see um but also on the cell phone policy I think probably the most difficult part of this job for me is student discipl matters and within that subset it um is luckily pretty small relatively but it's the students who have done the technical term I think is stupid things with their cell phones that are criminal and they

162just don't know but they're automatically criminal they're sharing a funny picture of a friend from the locker room we have to report that so kids are having legal implications families are dealing with the legal implications um that they just don't know they they don't know about and then they become a school it becomes a school matter as well um so until I where's that prefrontal cortex comment again until our decision-making skills and our impulse control um I'm glad that we can kind of slow down the access and limit the hours of access um kids can have and they can be focused on what's going on right in front of them in the classroom if there's no other discussion we can did you have something of course it's worth saying so I do want to support

163this but I cannot think about this without having this vote be attached to the budget and that is very problematic for me because I know what I want in my heart to do with the budget but I don't know what we're going to do with the budget and if I vote for this then I you know we just heard Dr Taylor explain that there are Financial consequences towards this but I know that this is the right thing to do for now I also agree with you that it's the disrespect but we need to get a handle on the discipline in order I believe to correct that disrespect because then once the cell phones are away we can then deal with the like the individual behavior um and I think it's a shift in culture that's

164why I've said while we've spoken about this is I hope that we can bring them back but we've got to change the culture of the students so um this is really um this is stressful everybody else okay okay we'll cast our votes motion passes 7 to zero item 8.05 adoption of the F final fy2 School Board budget motion to approve second any disc well actually before discussion uh Dr yes I was going to say I hope you're going to walk us through this it's not connected okay okay we're g while you're figuring that out we're going to take a quickly three minute recess okay version because Mr Fulmer is uh is off today uh but I'm I'm also pleased to uh to share with you that we've streamlined some of the words on the slide

165deck because I don't think we had enough room for the proposed draft almost adopted final Schoolboard budget but uh we're getting there um so just as a as a quick reference and I'll I'll hope for switch over to the slides um thank you um we are looking at some adjusted Revenue forecasts based on uh new uh monies that were received above the provisional budget that the board adopted and just uh for everybody's um history and and to to be clear the board adopted a provisional budget so that uh we could issue contracts to employees because we did not have enough money to uh to do the things that were outlined in your original budget um this was with the hope that the legislature would come back and address uh a couple of things um and

166they did um fortunately in our favor um we do have a couple of components that that that definitely put us in an adverse position uh the supervisors came back and I'm glad that there are several supervisors here this evening uh with $2 million less than what the uh than what the board proposed um but you had additional State revenues which were actually in excess of the uh board's proposed budget which is fantastic but you've also had a lot of things happen um since January that's the funny thing about um when a half a Year's worth of things transpire before you get to adopt your budget um and a couple of those things we're going to highlight this evening but I'll give you a preview uh the first one is that just 10 minutes go the

167board changed its code of conduct and that has some implications and those things need to be accounted for somehow whether you do it as part of the new Revenue mix or you take it from somewhere else and you make a reduction somewhere else the money has to come from somewhere um we we don't want to end up in an orange jumpsuit as uh Dr Chase would say uh so we do want to make sure that we we pay all of our bills and that we account for those things another really significant change which has a lot of us nervous on the School administration space is that the federal government changed its regulations for Title 9 uh this is something that we anticipated although we we were not quite sure how significant some of those changes

168were but it is going to um just by by Statute alone at the federal level and regulation alone at the federal level is going to have a significant increase in the workload that we have this past year uh your division Council was not really a division Council uh instead of doing cool attorney stuff we don't have cool attorney stuff that was a joke um uh yeah I know uh your your division attorney um instead uh did 200 discipline uh hearings and there are 240 days in uh the business calendar for the schools and 200 of them were taken up with discipline hearings so there there are some things that we need to adjust for and whether it comes from new revenue or it comes from another place and you make reductions elsewhere it's got to

169come from somewhere to account for some of the capacities that we're dealing with so uh when we take a look at some of the the proposed changes um we do have a couple of things that that are a little troubling too this is a relatively new trend but it is something we've experienced for the last three years is that um we have been hiring teachers that are more experienced than the teachers that we have hired in the past now part of me celebrates this fact tremendously because that means that we're getting great Educators that are attracted to come to Stafford the downside with this is that the teacher pipeline from uh from universities and those who are graduating with a degree in teaching has diminished sharply uh because teaching is not an attractive field financially

170for a lot of uh young people and as a consequence of that um we are really pillaging our neighbors um in terms of their teaching Supply which is not actually helping um Society in any way shape or form uh so we do have a a couple of of recommendations for for consideration one is we do have to make uh an adjustment to our salary laps to account for the fact that um our teachers uh in this particular class of folks that were hiring this year are more expensive because they are more experienced which is both good and bad um we do recommend that any surplus funds that aren't covering your needs go immediately to the teacher scale because that is how we balance the budget uh to get the provisional budget and since we tied

171the paraprofessional scale to the teacher scale they have a direct relationship to to one another um we are trying to take in stride um some of the changes that the board made to the um to the to the code of conduct and what we foresee as being our major challenges is one we have the the one off expense and small carrying uh maintenance expense of purchasing the uh Magnetic Locking pouches it's not a huge sum of money um we estimate this to be in the $350,000 range and that to also cover some Replacements throughout the year uh that that is just a prim AAA analysis but we think that that's the right number um we we do think that the disciplinary workload is going to substantially increase at the high school level um we do

172have expectations about teacher observations and what the role of assistant principles do sure when you said those magnetic pouch costs how many does that buy us um I'd have to go back and look but but you're you're talking in the thousands range so you know the I think the per unit is somewhere in the 20 $30 range but I'll have to research that and get back to you on that I don't I don't want to misquote that um we we do think that allocating um one dean of students which is basically an administrator on a on a 12-month teacher contract so it's a low price administrator administrator in training for lack of a better term um is a good move to be proactive knowing that you're going to have a significant influx in um the

173number of uh disciplinary instances that you're going to have to manage specifically at the high school level because the landscape is very different than than Middle School um we'll dive into this a little bit more and explain what the office of student conduct is and and I'm I'm relieved that I I can uh Sage M Dr Marsha's concerns because Prince William County absolutely has an office of student conduct uh to adjudicate uh disciplinary consequences but really more than anything else um you also need somebody to provide training one of the the things that the board has echoed to me a number of times is uh the lack of continuity between schools in applying disciplinary consequences well we need a mechanism to do that it's not it's not a wave of magic wand it's a you

174need a mechanism to do that uh that along with um chronic absenteeism and the title 9 issues we we actually have concerns that this is maybe not enough invested in that space so some of the adjustments uh that that we would uh suggest is uh very specifically um we had a decrease in retirees um and we are expecting higher uh costs for the folks that we're bringing in that's going to cost us uh $485,000 based on the profile of the teachers that we're hiring right now um we would recommend that that uh the board uh add whatever surplus funds that you can and that are available uh to the license scale because that is that was the balance point um that that you pulled from uh to to get a balanced budget this year so

175whether it's 1.5 million 2.7 million 8 9 million whatever that number is investing in the license scale is a good investment and the more that we can uh pay our teachers to to make them competitive the better some of the things that were echoed uh to me as in terms of concerns and things that uh that were Troublesome to the board and that you wanted a response from me well we we do have a response and and these were the issues that that the board had echoed to me and and I will tell you that that that none of none of our Solutions is a Panacea um not any one solution will solve all of the problems uh but but these issues do require resources to invest in and so I want to go and

176explain what specifically all of this looks like so um what we have been trying to do in the past um but have not been funded uh for is that um one of the biggest moves moves that the board made is that we actually staff to the state required levels for assistant principles congratulations we met the minimum standard um as one of the poorest funded school systems in Virginia 117th now out of 132 um this was a bold move to do the minimum expectations um we've established a security staff in our elementary schools for the first time and this is not SRO this is legitimate security staff that check doors and follow protocols and make sure that Crossing areas and cafeterias are safe uh something that we proposed was to add deans of students um uh

177in fy2 24 that was deferred in the 5-year plan to fy2 and then that was deferred to FY 26 so it has been deferred twice um adding additional security staff uh to the high schools and even to the middle schools both of those were deferred and so the the new idea that we have right now um is is to to create some kind of central mechanism for training and managing some of the data and also some of the disciplined cases that get elevated to the hearing level um and we'd ask that you revisit the old budget priority of Dena students uh as as a mechanism to to help manage some of the flow um one of the things that that is really Troublesome about this because the the the right answer would be actually to

178put a lot of staff at all levels not just high school but but elementary school and middle school that this is really the most coste effective way that we can think of uh to to try to manage some of the challenges that we already have we'd love for our attorney to get back to attorney work um and uh and so having somebody with uh a designes authority to adjudicate uh disciplinary hearings it's going to be critical but it's also going to be equally critical that that person have a professional learning uh role and this presentation if it looks familiar the governance committee reviewed this a month ago uh faad um actually just reviewed it yesterday so that they haven't had much time with it a coordinator level position um to adjudicate uh Title 9 investigations

179I will say that this is probably the one that we have the most heartb burn over because we actually don't think that that's enough that being said we also don't know how bad it's going to be this is all speculative and being proactive versus reactive and so if our concern level is high it it is because we don't know how significant the impact of the the title 9 changes will be we went from a very um unrestrictive title I should say a very restrictive title n policy with two administrations ago to a very unrestrictive Title 9 policy policy back to a extremely restrictive Title 9 policy that's in place at the federal level that will take effect on August one of this year um we have staff that will be attending summer training that is

180provided by uh a number of groups on Title 9 so that we can get a good handle on what's going on uh one of the things that that we continue to struggle with is is chronic absenteeism we made great Headway this year but it's slow and it's painstaking work and and we we absolutely could use use some of the help with that um our constituent Services folks and and uh and and that folks would uh those teammates would still continue to serve as backups uh as we need to so um what would this actually do uh we think that this uh this position will not help us one bit in terms of dealing with mental health issues um we do not think that this uh will help us um in terms of inconsistent support with

181parent behaviors we we don't think that this will do anything in that space uh but we do think that this will help us with some Headway in particular uh with training administrators and uh a little bit more consistency and adjudication of some of the consequences that students are are uh experiencing as a result of policy that that that we're we're continuing with so with that um we certainly could go a number of different ways um we're certainly open to problem solving with the board on how to have your cake and eat it too um we'd like that um we certainly as the architect of the phased in plan I'm the one who wrote it I would love to see it come to full fruition I would love to compensate our staff to the highest and

182best ability that we can um and and that's definitely a goal but I also acknowledge that the working environment needs to improve dramatically Ally and that we absolutely need to move the needle on some of the board's goals for student conduct and these are some strategies that are the most costeffective to do that um there's a couple of other things that that are that are in the budget that we we need to point out or at least address uh the the one that uh got appointed today uh was a a no net impact because of using project funds that were effectively react allocated but effectively naming a director uh of construction um fortunately the funds that we were using to pay uh the consultant we're now using to pay the person and uh that that

183ended up working out very well for us um and and so having having a person that's uh on payroll to do a lot of that work is is a is a great move for us because we have so many projects going on right now um which is really exciting and and is really positive and candidly the the supervisors and the board deserve a lot of credit for for a lot of what's going on so a couple of things that that need to happen and um I I actually just noticed a a request that Dr Chase had made uh didn't make it into the slide deck but I but I will share that in just a second um beyond what happens now you know the the supervisors this will go to to the resolution that the

184board adopts will go to the supervisors for consideration the wonderful thing about that is that um no matter what you decide on how you spend your money the resolution doesn't really change cuz it's what your Topline revenue is um so so that part is is still you know whatever it is um but there there are some really significant challenges that the Board needs to consider Beyond compensation in the coming budget year um both Fairfax and Prince William uh passed really aggressive uh paid parental leave policy very expensive we don't have it it's a competitive disadvantage um and yet again um for the the third consecutive year since I've been your superintendent our per pupil expenditure ranking in the state has again dropped and uh it's not because of state revenue it's not it's because of

185local revenue and that's just the reality um but Dr Chase had had asked um what about the million dollars that we got for uh in the state budget as an addition we did get one-time money as a as an additional Rider um some might affectionately call this pork in the state budget um to support uh Career and Technical education equipment specifically for our specialty centers uh we will develop a budget and bring it to the board for its consideration you can think of it almost like a separate fund or a separate pot of money it is not included in in these figures U but that is a wonderful thing that the state legislature did for Stafford County they see uh this particular area planning district 16 as an area that is worth a lot of

186investment in particularly in Workforce Development they really liked your idea of having um uh programs that tie uh Student Activities to the labor market and they wanted to invest in that and they also acknowledged that there's some upfront costs uh I think some of the board members who made the trip to Hampton we we were OED and odd by some of the cool stuff that we saw and it's like ah when are we going to get this stuff well the state's investing so that we can have some of the cool things that go uh with some of the academic program that we have uh I will say that the board has a bevy of opportunities and options ahead of them with this budget adoption but this is what we are proposing this evening uh that

187is not the best of both worlds but does try to accomplish as many goals as we C possibly can given the limited resources that we have thank you very much I assume we all have questions Miss Randall do you want to start Miss hey I think I'll wait oh miss holstead I I'll start um I so I watched The Fab meeting yesterday the fabc meeting yesterday and I got to admit I was really disappointed in the way that the information was allowed to be presented um I felt like it was funneled into this very strange narrative that appeared that we were being disingenuous with how we approached our funding model and what we need to do as a school board so that was very upsetting to me in none of the breakdowns that I've looked

188at or in our documentation did I see anyone take a look at the average cost of a daily school day on a child's life and how our decisions to not support our teachers and our principles and administrators will directly impact them in the negative fashion so I'm not sure if that's quantifiable or not but I suggest that we start looking at how some of these issues that we're facing in our schools are detrimental to our kids and maybe assigning us uh if we're going to keep assessing value to things we should also do that to the child's life in our school so um for me um being very focused on code of conduct and discipline in our school systems because our schools are getting more dangerous um in we had what 21 kids suspended from

189one school this year because of a fight our increases and assault by mob are up I don't even know what the percentages on that um we tried to tie all of this back into being a cell phone issue that's incorrect and I think that to support to bring that out to the community and pit the teachers against board and trying to make it sound like we're dinging them or not supporting them it's completely unfair when the adopted budget came out I specifically sat here and said this is a messed up process we are guessing we are literally shooting in the dark at what we're looking for our priorities change our needs change and we have to be flexible and adaptable to that now aside from that last week we came here people parents came to

190talk about the urgency to address the discipline issues in our schools the teachers have come to us over and over and over again and said address the discipline issues in our schools the parents have asked us how many people came on our HH school middle school teacher was beaten there's no consistency there's no documentation for bullying there's no way to track it across the systems so how are we supposed to do that and where are we supposed to begin if we continue to be funnel into I'm not sure what the what the word is but I am frustrated and I am annoyed we cannot make our school system safer and put more work on our teachers and ask them to play bouncer or security guard or police officer any longer and that's what they're doing

191in the school system we don't back them up with any what's the number one the other number one complaint from teachers I kick a kid out of my classroom and he's back in two seconds because the principal can't handle the issue because he's so busy well some of these positions address that issue and some of these things take that burden off the the the teacher plea we are asking the parents the teachers the administration the superintendent the central office staff to step step up and put the safety of our students first because right now they are not safe in our schools we need some way to get truancy officers out to the schools sitting in the courtrooms for the truancy cases so our social workers can go back to the work our social workers do

192because they don't get to do anything but sit in a courtroom sometimes all day long they're not checking on students who aren't coming to school they're not doing what they need to be doing because they're doing seven different jobs at once because we don't have enough in our system to help since I got on this board we have talked about the lack of consistency across this system in implementing discipline to a point where we can actually see a change the office of student cond conduct to me and and The deans of students which none of this is new this the office of student contact may sound new but we have been deferring dean of students for a long time and it is an excellent way to help our high schools help our high school teachers

193have a sense of a security in their day a person that they can go to in a way that we can all reach out and and make sure that you all are held accountable to the to the level of consistency that we're seeking in our student code of conduct so I'm going to just go on the record right now as saying to change the student code of conduct and then to handcuff our handcuff our right off the bat hand off handcuff our principes handcuff our teachers handcuff our Administration that is a recipe for a disaster so I will only support an amendment to this budget that includes discipline focused positions Miss Warner Dr W sorry so I've gone back and forth about the office of student conduct I'm not a fan of centralized office Personnel

194to handle things um we're kind of at the 11th hour and now we're re-evaluating again what we're going to do so I one of the you know and there's a lot of things that we ask teachers to do that we don't compensate them for our first second and third grade teachers are going to have to take literacy training they are not going to be compensated for that requirement we didn't put any additional resources in our Middle School um when we imposed the cell phone band and I just want to say as far as discipline goes I was somewhat surprised when I've been looking at the data for the last two years we've had a 340% increase in the number of discipline referrals in our high school we have black students that's are suspended for twice

195as long as our white students even though the there's a comparable number of students being dis disciplined I think we do have a discipline problem I'm just not sure what it is and I'm not sure this office of student conduct is going to give me that answer I think this is a discussion that we should have publicly and we should have clearly with transparency before we add this as a proposal to for the in this budget year um across the board in elementary and middle school we've had a 300% increase in discipline we are seeing a three-fold increase in the number of days that students are suspended I'm I'm just very uncomfortable because I'm not convinced that we know what the problem is and that we're addressing it so my preference would be to maintain

196the phase scale that we originally um voted for um keep the um teacher scale on track keep the Paris scale on on track and have this discussion in a really transparent way so that the public knows why we're doing this and what we're doing Dr Chase okay so um I wasn't at the last board meeting um because my my son graduated um and I don't know if any of you have ever seen or listened to um the musical Hamilton but I feel a little bit like Thomas Jefferson what did I miss I came back from France and uh the last meeting I was at we all said that when the money came we would put the 1% for teachers back in and and I understand that that some board members apparently have been having lots

197of discussions about a centralized office of code of conduct I haven't been in those discussions we haven't publicly as a board sat down all seven of us and walked through this and the proposal to put deans of students in the high schools versus put deans of students in the middle schools versus do other stuff we have a lot of stuff that we deferred in the old days and I've only been on the board six years so old days isn't that long ago but in the old days when we got to this point in the budget we sat down in a room together the seven of us and we all listened to each other and we all talked about proposals that's not how this has been done and I feel like cutting what we approved for

198teachers in June when there are teachers are having a much deserved vacation just feels really horrible to me so I absolutely agree that we as a board should have a conversation about what we think can be done for discipline um I also think we can look at this budget and potentially find money for some of these things in other ways and and one of the reasons I asked asked about the 1 million for CTE is don't we have some CTE stuff in the budget couldn't we pay for it with this $1 million and free up some that could buy cell phone bags or something like that and there is $8 $58,000 of extra money couldn't that be used to pay for um I don't know to pay for the non-discretionary additional budget salary so it

199seems to me that if we were all sitting together we could figure this out not from the dis but actually in a room and so I'm upset about the way this process has gone that some of you all have had apparently in-depth conversations about needing a office of student conduct but you haven't had them with me and I am a member of this board and I am really hurt that you could not involve me in those discussions with all of you thank you so that's exactly how I feel hold up are Miss Randall or Miss hey would you like to come back are you well I did want to listen to what was said and and I I would say that several months ago the office of um student conduct was brought to the Fab

200and the Fab at that point said this is something that we certainly want to look at but that we did not feel that it was appropriate for this year's budget because we had pretty much in in my view made a commitment to the instructional staff that if we received the funding that we would add it back in and and that's why you know I asked for this chart but I I asked for it really for informational purposes because I think to make a decision we we have to be fully informed and for for me me I wanted to see what we approved because what we approved was basically what we told the supervisors we wanted for the budget for the coming year for the school district and yes we were disappointed when we did not

201get the funding that we had you requested from the supervisors um but we went forward and we approved a provisional budget and that provisional budget basically reduced our approved budget budget by the the shortage um and it was my recollection that at the time we approved the provisional budget we made and I'll say it an informal commitment at least I made a commitment that that if the funds became available that they would go back to the instructional staff because you know that that's important I mean we're already behind on on that 5-year plan which is very admirable you know what what you done but if we can't keep up with it what good is it we basically have as as Mr Fulmer pointed out the what did he say um F four four million well

202it was 4.1 but that um we didn't need we had about 400,000 extra from from what we would need to pay for the the uh the amount that we had approved now it's not adopted but that we approved and ironically the 400,000 would just about pay for those cell phone bags um but I'm I can't support this because I think um this this is it's just not something that that was envisioned now if we had been informed along the way oh by you know you you approve this budget but there's been these significant changes which are not going to really allow you to do what you intended to do that would be different but we we got a memo we got a memo with options and we got a memo with a recommendation and I

203will at least applaud the board members who said no to no raise I mean I I do I I at least at least you're gone for half I'm I'm you know holding firm for the whole thing so I you know maybe in the minority here but that's why I'm not supporting this I I think that we we made a commitment not only to the staff but but to the supervisors me the supervisors you know wanted to fund the instruction you the the community came out to support us the teachers came out to support us um you know our advisory committees came out to support us and our whole push was we want to fund these raises so that we can stay on on the track I don't think anybody disagrees that they deserve it um

204but to me to add these you know these these extra positions in without is Dr Chase pointed out you know open discussion among the board and and I perhaps there wasn't time however the time would have been when it came to the Fab and then when it came to the Fab it should have been said that this is absolutely critical no matter what you do we need this for next year and that you know the I didn't get that feeling I get okay we'll bring it back next time and then yesterday you know it it's it certainly was a matter of getting this information and the this chart is is really helpful and I really applaud Mr Fulmer for putting this in clear and concise comparison so we can see what we approved what we

205changed it to for the provisional and and what's the proposal now and I'm I'm just sorry that this was not presented earlier so that you know it would have been available to everyone so I do thank him for for doing that um well to your point time was not any of our friends this year with the the state budget approval and it didn't allow for any kind of presentation to fabc until yesterday because you you did not even know because the state did not adjourn seen a ey until you we're really at this point and unfortunately if you're going to change contracts prior to the start of the contract year tonight's the night so you know you you really are in a in a difficult pickle where if you wanted to do a work session

206yes that would have been appropriate and to to Dr Chase's Point absolutely and can you have your cake and eat it too yes you absolutely can but I will say that that if you make a reduction here you got to find it someplace else and if the board's committed to that by all means you know make make an adjustment you know do do the 1% no nobody's going to Champion in that more than the staff and myself included that that we're moving forward with the full phase but your problem with the student conduct piece isn't going to go away and so I I would say even though you have an unfriendly timeline it's it's what it's the hand you've been dealt and so you've got these pressing issues that you've got to address you've got

207the long-standing issues of salary and compensation that you've got to address and you've got a really unfriendly timeline to make it all happen now as you're kind of discussing this through and you're trying to find a solution for it and and you you say we're going to table the disciplinary conversation to another day I would advise the board to to try to get something on the book sooner rather than later and and maybe even amend your budget again but with a reduction to account for some of the costs that are going to be incurred and how you're going to respond to this or decide we're just going to figure it out with the resources that we have which is what I I think I'm hearing you say is that you've got enough money for the

208the raise and you've got enough money for the devices and administrators figure it out on your own that's one strategy it's not what we'd recommend but it is one strategy uh but I'd say that you you would want to Circle up and come to some conclusion about what that looks like but unfortunately yeah there is a little bit of a pressing you know timeline on what you're going to do with contracts today no I just was going to ask if we had the Cal tool did yeah okay yeah and and and I will say that that was a a really significant delay that was unfriendly to our timeline so that we would actually know how much money we were really talking about okay um so I also have had the back and for well originally

209I started in one camp and then in conversing with other board members I came to another camp and then thinking on my own I came to another one and then God it's been and I I I want also want to give Mr Watkins a big thank you for spending so much time and talking with me this morning too um he's a he's a very involved constituent and um probably wants to beat me over the head that's okay I I get that I do I I do so I just want to be clear about the um the uh office of student conduct and you say four and I know it's a treny which we're currently pulling social workers out of our schools so they're not social working they're Tru and seeing um we're and we're seeing

210upticks in that I understand um I also understand the T new Title Nine and what so to Sarah's point you know yeah we've been having these conversations I will say a majority of my conversations took place at SLA cuz I was able to talk with a lot of Administrators from a lot of schools to get some perspectives I knew about this but I was just struggling with where to land and I appreciate I appreciated the time um talking to Dr Rice because I didn't what I didn't know with the title 9 is how busy it has been getting and now each of the um uh Dr Rice um Stacy Kim and Erin how they all now have to go to training for this as well because they're having to pick up um where it can't

211be done by one um so that was something I learned there um getting data that sug you already said this and um Dr Warner also echoed about um the percent of students uh for overnight suspensions how that's gone up three-fold and I did talk to a a couple principals said a lot and one actually gave me numbers where he went from over 300 the year before to over 800 in one school year at Dixon Smith so of overnight suspensions not cases but like nights um so that was interesting to me so but what are and the and one of the things that Dr Rice was talking to me too was about how the discipline process should our board vote um this way would be um helped with Synergy and making things available more open to

212the parents but also this information would feed to the person in the office of student conduct but so I'm not clear on the other two positions but I know that that's a part of it can you fill me in sure um so taking a step back a little bit what's the goal of discipline well it's not to suspend students it shouldn't be it it and there's a big difference between discipline and Punishment and sometimes you use some elements of punishment as a way of maintaining discipline but really what you want to do is you want to change behavior and so suspension is like a blunt instrument that is not particularly effective at changing uh Behavior but it is really effective at separating kids from a bad situation so when we're talking about discipline it's important

213to know that or at least to think about it in the context of tools in a toolkit and how you apply those tools in that toolkit so that you can eventually change behavior and some of it does have a carrot and a stick component but then other parts of it do have a a component that is restorative where it's like you've wronged somebody and now you need to fix that wronged behavior and there needs to be some recompense but that doesn't absolve you of the responsibility of also having a consequence so it it's it's not a cut and dry this happened this is the response but there but there needs to be a more coordinated approach that being said that is maybe one of the sticking points and some of the challenge that we've had

214is the coordinated approach in this place is very different than the coordinated approach in this place and that inconsistency um our community has picked up on the board's picked up on it and we've certainly seen that and uh and we've actually gotten to the point where we've needed to audit certain findings to make sure that discipline was being applied in an appropriate way consistent with the board's uh wishes with their student code of conduct that's high level what we envision um that this office could do primarily would be responsible for training staff because we do have some new regulations that we need to adhere to and we do have this consistency issue we're very concerned with dis disproportionate suspension rates and having a singular point of contact to help manage that we do think that

215that would help we do um so the positions that we're highlighting here and let me see if I'm pop them up really quick is a director level position that would be having the primary responsibility for training um but also would be the person who adjudicates uh the uh discipline hearings okay um right now your attorney does that yes and uh the chief of schools does that as a backup yes and and um you know Lisa will cringe when when I say this but occasionally I will have to get pulled into some of those conversations which is not awesome either um a coordinator level position to to manage some of the title 9 investigations because it needs to be conducted by somebody outside of the building and that's the part that is a sticking part for

216us um somebody at the specialist level to manage some of the truancy issues and uh Court related things that we know are are occurring with some of our young people and then a clerical person to make sure that we're managing the data and keeping all the records straight okay and then um I remember you called them principal interns but we used to have those that position has since gone away Y and in talking with high school assistant principles and principles I've learned that they would like to have this back for the simple fact that they feel like even new assistant principles that are being hired in the schools don't really understand the magnitude of their job in addition we have also heard and I've talked with you in my one-on ones about this too where

217uh assistant principles are spending all of their time doing discipline issues instead of being instructional leaders so when we are evaluating them that really is something that you know they're evaluated on but they're not doing um and it was something that we had and we took it away and now were having an opportunity to bring it back um and I you know personally I would like to see after especially spending those days at SLA um and even hearing the guest speaker I did have to leave partway through but um to hear about the instructional leadership job that they're supposed to have in a building and for students to only think that basically their assistant principles are only there for discipline and nothing else when they come in a classroom it's not to watch a teacher

218to participate it's to um do dis discipline for me in all of this um I'm looking for a win-win I would love for it to be an extraordinary win for our teachers um but you know we were shorted 2 million but I also want to say when we look and I listen to the um the Fab meeting too and just to clarify some things that were said and not said um the FY 23 budget is the one where we're talking that we moved from 1 to 12 to 117 but that was with a $6 million increase in the local funding we still dropped the next year FY 24 and we don't have that number we increase by $1 million and in FY 25 it was 8.2 million so we'll see because even an increase of

219$6 million we still Dro five spots you're you're off by one year so the drop from 12 to 17 actually was for this fiscal year that we're currently in right now 24 okay um and it isn't look it is um and and it is accounting for for this year and then next year this time you'll get your rating for how this particular fiscal year is buttoned up okay so with the $1 million increase we dr$ million increase you dropped dropped to 117 and so with an 8.2 million dollar increase we don't know okay okay thank you for clarifying that um and uh the you said the Title Nine information only came to you in May with an August one start correct the federal government changes regulations in May for an August one start thanks for

220the heads up okay okay all right so I've got my questions I have my thinking okay thank you m so oh she just leaned over and said go ahead Alissa so um so so let me just clarify a couple of things as well because I'm again I'm I've spoken probably adnos to Dr Taylor he's he's gone over a few things with me but but I wanted just I wanted to clarify one thing I heard a lot yesterday that we we got way more than we asked for but let's be really clear that we did not because we did not ask for over $46 million worth of needs so what we actually got was probably more than what we asked for but what we asked for wasn't even a scratch on the surface of what we

221actually need you're about 50 to 60 million off of well right I was looking at the I was looking at the one slide earlier but so we need to be really clear about what was going so so this is why I'm very frustrated and to Dr Chase's point I actually feel the same way because I understand conversations are happening or whatever and they're not inclusive or whatever but please don't tell me that conversations haven't occurred because it is our duty as board members here to provide due diligence to every document that is sent to us as it were and to contact an individual specifically if we have issues with that particular thing and if that has not been done then that is an individual responsibility that each of us need to stand up and acknowledge

222and take responsibility for now in front of our constituents but the fact of the matter is is none of this information is new it has been discussed it has been out there I don't disagree with you perhaps it should have been done more strategically as it were but the delays going back through the budget going through but I think it is really really it creates such a division amongst our teachers our staff our parents to put out information like what's been put out that this school board is coming here to decide to take money out of the teachers pay that's not what we're deciding to do we are in an untenable situation with money that does not exist with a discipline issue that is dangerous Beyond any level we have seen before and the number

223one thing we heard even in my most recent discipline hearing from a parent the school didn't act because the school didn't have the resources because the bullying has been going on forever but nobody did anything about the bullying you've offered us an option and a way to address most of that now we have the uncomfortable position of figuring out how we make sure next year one of our students doesn't end up dead May it's just like a lot to unpack so in 2016 I believe 2015 I stood where you are and I asked this board where is your discipline data I was told we don't collect it I knew that was unfactual because how does the state get it if you don't give it to them Stafford County school board but that's what I was

224told on multiple occasions even Laura sellers who was a board of supervisor came and said the same thing she was told we we don't have it monthly now yeah so I've been studying um societal Equity okay or basically inequity because our society is jacked up but anyway I've been studying it and um everyone knows the discipline isn't when you when you look at the students the discipline rates are are not fair or they they don't make sense they're disproportionate and that is not just across Stafford County it's across the nation um and like I said I've been studying this so to go full circle from oh yeah we don't have it which wasn't true to having an office of student conduct I finally have a place where I can go and get the data from

225someone and ask the questions and then ask the follow-up questions the next six months later and then ask the followup questions and then figure out okay so you're not pulling your weight or why is this not happening or maybe it's just at this school and maybe we can drill down and understand you know it's it's something that's going on in in this grade or or or whatever so um what we've been doing doesn't work um so I I am very open to trying something um but I absolutely appreciate Dr Chase's um comments because there was a disconnect for me from trying to understand what you were so angry about um and from the way you describe it I I I absolutely understand um that you you know you went away and it was this and

226you come back and it's that so I completely understand as far as the conversations I don't know I kind of talk to mostly everybody I talk to you the most um and then you crazy text me sometimes which I do appreciate actually um so but we we have been talking about the DEA students we talked about that so many times maybe it was just in one-on ones I I'm not sure but I remember talking with um administrators in the elementary schools about how we needed more and like these are I definitely have had these conversations um but I also think that something we just talked about in the work session which was adding more work sessions would take some of this issue away and so those of us who do not call anyone but one

227or two people because you're there you just call one or two people maybe just the one and you don't want to call everybody well now we don't have to worry about that because we're we're going to be in work sessions but um I do think you know we need to pick up the phone and call if you go if you're going to make the complaint that we don't communicate then you need to communicate in the phone we all can text each other or make phone calls even if we don't necessarily want to or like them we can still you know hey how you feeling about this and then I don't have to hear your voice but I can at least read your words or or an email whatever um we voted for the new student

228code of conduct and I have to I have to understand and respect the words that the superintendent said if there are Financial consequences to this so and that's what it was so hard for me I almost abstained from that vote because I didn't know what I don't I still don't know what we're going to do and we can't there was no one without the other that you were very clear in that not just today I'm just talking about like you're very clear that we if you're going to do this code of conduct you've got to do the other component so if this is not supported somebody better bring something else that's going to make it make sense because I don't for me I don't see any other option but to support what's brought in front

229of me unless there's some type of amendment that can figure out where we going to get it so I will move that we uh return to uh the original 1% for teacher and instructional support scale and that we instruct the superintendent to come back with us with suggestions of other budget modifications to cover these other initiatives so that's a substitute motion back it can can I suggest a friendly amendment that we also include the uh cell phone counter measures of 350,000 because Mr Fulmer told us yester yesterday that there would be enough uh you know in this budget for 400,000 that way that is the the one that is specifically identified as a requirement for the cell phone policy yep I'm I'm willing to accept that Amendment thank you and and I think you know

230one of the things I would like to ask is that if we look at the Staffing what do we really need immediately and what can we defer to next year's budget so that we can Max maximize the benefit and minimize the pain um I have not gotten a chance to reflect yet so um I wanted to say my term started on January 1st 2022 and on January 25th 2023 uh 2022 so fiscal year 2023 I sat right here and um listen to my first superintendent's proposed operating budget that was the presentation with Tom Brady and and all the way down at the bottom he talks about our um future enhancements I think you called it and it was our deans of students and there were 30 of them because we wanted five for high school

231we wanted eight for middle school and we wanted one for each Elementary School that was at the time over 850 students um and we had a lot of conversations about them and I could see the impact that they would have on this on the schools um and the support report that they would not only just bring to the the school Community but the teach the administrator pipeline which I understand um we need we need it didn't make his proposed budget that year for a variety of reasons but that was fiscal year 2023 and in 2024 it got pushed and even now we are only asking for five deans of students um we've talked about support in other schools or in other divisions and I I distinctly remember having this conversation with Dr Taylor about all

232the elementary schools they want a second um AP they're so crammed they need a second AP because they just can't get the stuff done and he said no we're going to give them back their AP by giving each building a special education department lead because APS used to handle all the IPS and 504s so now we have sped leads in all of our buildings not just Elementary School um and our APS are doing AP things and then I think we had a very similar conversation with Middle School testing coordinators the testing coordinators what is it like 13 standardized tests that middle schoolers have to take and all of that coordination fell to the aps um and to you know other Specialists and staff that should be doing more uh instructional support versus um just standardized

233testing coordination so we funded and we implemented these Middle School testing coordinators and that's one of the things I still get thanked uh for from middle school so I feel like uh this is one of those things that we can do at the high school level I know we do a lot at the high school level Dr Taylor will tell you I asked him why we weren't doing Middle School too and he said we can but then there would be no raises at all so I'm dialing that back I will happily start with five out of the 30 that were originally proposed to us when when I got here um and moved forward that being said we're pushing the TRU Andy initiative when I heard Miss Boatright talk about Title 9 cases doubled in a

234year and that's before the new regulations come into a place which she said basically just opens the floodgates on we can't even um administratively adjudicate some of the the cases that will come before us and each one could take a week um and they're going to increase on top of that and then every conversation I feel like I've had today has centered around consistency in discipline and we all see it our teachers see it our students see it our parents see it we can't have consistency unless we have someone who's in charge of overseeing consistency so I get and I understand that the original office of student conduct was less than was actually more positions than this so we've paired it back to these four kind of what we te what we I guess are

235considering the most essential of that um so um it's just it's just a lot and I really really struggle with the idea of having an unfunded mandate and leaving I mean we've We complain about them all the time and if we leave here tonight without a solution we've just done that we've got people that are supposed to essentially that our on break our teachers and stuff waiting for a resolution um from something that we've passed and aren't prepared to fund in the same evening I don't my background is not in education I'm a parent my background is in policy and one of the key things that I hear over and over and over in education is maslo before Bloom and we work really hard to make sure our kids maslo is is handled we make

236sure they are fed our student our lunch debt alone will be indicative of that we see the coat drives and the and the um clothing drives we make sure we make sure our kids have what they need so they can come to school ready to learn but if they are not feeling safe in schools and if our and to extend that to our staff if they are not feeling safe to work we can't get to the work that needs to be done and that is what just keeps kind of echoing in my head we make things happen when it comes to the health and safety of our kids and of our staff and I think this is one of those things that has to be done uh and it's not just about the cell phones

237though I'm about you know I'm going to be unpopular when I get home tonight but um it's about all of it and it's about taking the first step in the direction of the prioritization of consistency that everyone in our community has said is a factor in Implement impacts how they do their jobs whether that's as a staff person or as a student there are further discussion on the substitute motion sure so again what I'm proposing is we we were given um a growth position for every five FTE of growth um that's a lot and I I think that the superintendent and his staff should be able to figure out how to fund some of these disciplined positions um maybe not all of them but but some of them that's just my my thought um also

238I I forwarded an email I got from a constituent that there are other ways to train our staff than hiring a full-time employee to do that and so this um you know the one that this uh individual mentioned was something called learning Heroes uh so that that's another option for how this might be done but what I want to say is we need to to remember that basically on average what we're saying is is that every teacher is going to pay $350 for this decision and every parah is going to pay1 175 on average um and so if the board decides to take that away from teachers teachers have a right to expect $350 a piece of service and every perah has a right to expect $175 of service because they're paying for this um

239from from their raise and we are all expecting next year there will be less money so next year we're not probably going to get to phase four we're not getting to phase three this year I don't know what happens after that and that's that's that's hard so yeah I can I just wanted to respond real quick because I have had that same exact thought and I keep coming back to you know the $350 a year whatever that maths out to what does that look like so if we're not if we're just G to let's just say we're going to go and just fund the 1% and not even revisit it we've now just paid them through each person in our payroll $350 to implement a cell phone policy or well the cell phone policy is

240going to be everywhere so everyone will will basically carry that um if we're going to take the money from something else that's essentially you know are we taking it from other growth positions so that's instructional support that's sped that's classroom teachers that's so those students would have to be redistributed to everywhere else so now we've increased the course load for $350 a teacher so these are the things I I keep noodling through is like what where does it come from we have said over and over this entire budget season the only place we have to cut is is compensation um it was everything we've been saying since January and now we have very critical needs when it comes to student discipline and we still only have one line item that has any even ability to

241fluctuate unless we're going to reduce our staff from somewhere else because we don't have stuff to return to keep the receipts on and uh bring back to the store and and fund for this kind of thing so this is literally something I've been working through in my head as well so I appreciate and I don't oppose the idea but having been told and been doing the work on where else can we cut for six months um I I just don't know where else we're going to find it now I just I just want to say um we used to do something called budget reconciliation so we got the final numbers we would sit down and we would go over the budget and we would make those choices but the last two years because the governor's

242budget has been delayed it has pushed us beyond our normal um date for establishing the budget and I think what's frustrating is yes I we I've talked to I've talked to more people in the last two weeks about this proposal and I get talk to 10 people I get 10 different responses teachers are like if I get more instructional support it might be worth it but is one person in a centralized office going to really help when we have schools I think it's just what's frustrating for me is that we used to actually reconcile the budget and we used to come to an agreement and that was what we did but now we're here debating something that we learned about a month ago initially in a bulletin and Fab discussed it two months ago but

243but the point is the same it's not the way a budget should be done and that goes back to what Miss holstead said that we are doing this and we're always scrambling at the last minute for a sudden death decision and it makes it very frustrating to deal with I absolutely don't oppose the idea of an office of student conduct my concern is why are we doing it what do we hope to accomplish and how is it going to yeah let's improve discipline but let's also improve Equity let's also improve instead of punishing students are we changing the behavior because if we've increased 3 40% have we changed Behavior or are we just punishing more that's what I'm I'm not sure that we can answer right now so I I just think that and yes

244we can make phone calls but sometimes I spend all day on the phone and I will just tell you I hate talking on the telephone it is R thanks um so one of the other things you were mentioning you know I don't know what this office of discipline and and punishment or whatever and I I think he did a really good job of kind of letting us know the difference between the punishment and the discipline and how this person would be in charge of training the other piece that I was you know it was really interesting to go to SLA this year versus last year because last year was still working on operations like some of the school Improvement plans and this year was all about instruction and it was really fascinating to see how

245the schools were developing a framework that was the same for all the schools but yet that based on the culture and the climate and and whatever in their schools they can still like you know make it their own the other thing that I was very impressed with as well is based on today what we decided is and this date is already set but based on that there's going to be a discipline day for the administrative team to begin their training so that rollouts are the same um amongst all the schools in July can we attend yeah you can um so anyways it's just you know if you you're asking how this is going to happen and the how is his job not the what but the how is his job and so the how is

246making sure that we get it right in every place and it's not punishment it's discipline which also does address Equity as well so I would like to also point out for everyone that we recently spent a good deal of time being slammed for not listening to staff recommendations and the staff recommendation is that if we're going to implement this code of conduct that we provide the support to our schools to ensure I'm not talking 100% success but at least a margin of success that's better than what we have so um I have only one question um because again for me seeing what I've seen just in the Progressive danger that our schools have the dangers that have increased in our school system um and hearing to Dr Warner's point the number of people that we've

247spoken to and and I think even the Board of Supervisors will tell you that parents that come to them with concerns are concerned about the safety in our school and making sure that we have the money to fix the those things that are critical for life safety for our kids while they're there um I mean we even have our own student representative talking about the discipline issues and the disrespect that is in our schools to our teachers and to whomever um so we have one idea from Dr Chas about trying to find the money for these discipline positions somewhere else later on and amending the budget from there but what happens if we vote the way it is now and then try to find the other0 five for the teacher scale is that what is

248the differential there because either way we're still looking you're six and one half dozen of another um and it's it's really what what do you want to prioritize in the moment um the the advantage that that you have and I'm not trying to make a case for any one pathway or another but the the pressing issue is is whatever you're going to do with contracts that's the pressing issue um the secondary issue is the soonest possible and maybe this means that you have to do a work session on your 25th meeting or not is how are you going to solve the discipline problem and how are you going to address the discipline problem but you but what I would say is it would be negligent of the board to dismiss the discipline problem and not

249to find a financial mechanism to support that issue because you you are you are going to rub up against a brick wall I Envision that that brick wall is going to be at the high school level and you're also going to have all these other little bits and pieces that were never in our game plan Title Nine we no we no we that was not part of the discussion it never was part of the discussion in January but a lot has changed in six months so but we have to factor those things in the the workload of what you want your attorney to be doing versus what you want somebody in charge of discipline who's responsible for that to be doing that needs to be considered that needs to be considered do you want your

250attorney doing attorney things or do you want your attorney doing discipline adjudication what do you want your social workers to be doing and so how do you come up with little salves to some of those problems and how do you make them in a costeffective way because the right answer I'm going to be completely candid with you is you should double your social workers that's the right answer well we can't afford that answer so what's the solution when you can't do that well I agree with Dr Warner we don't want to add centralized bureaucracy at any point unless we absolutely have to believe me I'm the guy that took a million dollars out of central office and Staffing I don't want to add more back in if I don't have to but when you're looking

251at trying to find cost efficiencies to try and create some of those salves you you kind of have to look at what what we're expecting a certain group of people to do versus what they're being tasked to do and see how disproportionate some of those things are because they are so to your point Marine earlier the I don't like the analogy I think it's really unfair to say that we're taking I understand what you're saying when you make the analogy about taking $350 away from a teacher or whatever I get that theoretically but I think that the tradeoff is trying to give them a little piece of mind that we are actively addressing their concerns with discipline to create a safer environment for them to come to school and so I'm not saying there's an

252equivalent out there certainly there we need food on our table maybe more I don't know but what I also know is that when we've got students that are picking up chairs and throwing them at teachers and no mechanism to provide safety for those teachers then what we are faced with I can't I feel like I say this every time over and over and again these decisions become more untenable every second um but I do think it's unfair to say that we are either blatantly or maliciously taking $375 away from teachers we are trying to find ways to fund and solve the other issues that are legitimately real and that are impacting not just the teachers but the students and the safety that the students feel in the schools we've only touched on cell phones and

253fighting we just passed an anti-bullying policy where we have asked the schools to implement a stronger and better system for documenting bullying incidents so that we have more information to be presented to to to begin to address the mental health effects of bullying and we haven't even offered them anything to help with that either so to me it's $350 or whatever but without anything else in place we've we've given you $2,000 more worth of work and I'm being sort of hyperbolic intentionally but that's how this feels to me and I think we have to start making a dent we don't have a choice because at some point when something really bad happens that's on us and we are moments away from that occurring based on what I've seen with these fights the brutality of them

254and the lack of disregard for just human the human being that they they're beating so I'm not 100% sure but but we have to make the tough choices and I think some of that has to come from admitting that we're way behind the eightball tremendously behind the eightball in providing safe environments for our kids miss Hy I just have a question I'm I'm trying to um you know align the office of student conduct to addressing Title Nine because Title 9 is a policy and that has to do with with the school system and how we implement the the government laws and regulations so what would the student office's student conduct have to do in administering the Title Nine Title Nine has been expanded under the federal government to include any conflict having to do with

255gender in terms of a student disciplinary infraction or adult with an infraction that has to do with gender so that makes it a conduct issue rather than a policy isn't it a policy issue of implementing our policy no that you are we are going to be required to do investigations on a pretty large scale and follow the federal protocol for Title 9 investigations dealing with gender inequities so is this office of student conduct proposed to conduct investigations they will absolutely of the um director coordinator and specialist who would be doing the investig title line coordinator so so the coordinator is Title Nine the director is over everything what the specialty specialist is the truen see in court related so who's going to be doing the regular conduct that all the director director the director is

256doing the training and implementation at the also School level but also overseeing the people that are in central office the district itself so it sounds like those people are going to have two jobs as well oh everybody's got multiple jobs that's just how we roll yeah usually a director has people to direct but this director is not directing I again I don't I don't dispute at all yeah the need for this my my issue is the timing and I understand the regulations came in but I still can't weigh what we decided in January when and when we had the the provisional budget you know the the changes and why we were not more on top of these proposals rather than getting it in a memo form I I have to agree it would have been

257and in Fair that's how I received them from the federal government was in a memo format saying deal with it buddy well I'm just talking about the recommendations on this particular budget the memo that came out with options you know there was no meeting of this board there was a I'll call it a m an unfriendly timeline associated with the state and how they concluded their budget well so you know there's I I can count I know where this is going you know unless we're going to have you know a lot of other discussion we may as well so so let's say this happens again you turned me off let's just say this happens again next year I'm I'm just asking um and it's just like this because this happened last year like we're getting

258these really timelines from from our elected people that are upsetting us um do we then call an emergency or a special called work session like maybe that's what we that there should be like a trigger for that for when this happens next budget season so that maybe hopefully this won't happen and and you can still do that now you you can you can revisit your budget um in two weeks when you are convening for another purpose and and I and I would advise you to to probably weigh these decisions the best you can but what I would not advise you to do is sit on them this is not this is not an issue that you can sit on so vote now vote then I maybe but what I what I would say is like

259you have a pressing issue with salary and contracts prior to the start uh and I will tell you that that June 25 to July 1 is not enough time to turn things around this is barely enough time now and the state has handed you a very unfriendly deck of cards to to play with right now but you should you should try to resolve what you're going to do in the salary space and even if you defer like Dr Chase is requesting the discipline thing my advice to you and my recommendation and this is me waving a red flag do not ignore this you have to address this issue in some meaningful way before the start of the school year so that this does not blow up in the County's face and become a big issue

260down the road Madam chairman if I could just explain it my concern here is is is that the change from what we approved what we asked for and I say approved is what exactly what we asked for to the provisional budget which is where we made the cuts based on what we anticipated to now because at that time we I said and I think there were several others on this board um if not most people on this board said if we get the extra money from the state we'll put it back now things change issues come up and and that's that's what we have to agree to disagree on you know where we're weighing them but in this particular case you know this proposal is so different from anything we talked about with the when

261we approved the provisional budget that's my concern and that's why I would think it would be very beneficial to have that that discussion I mean we're blessed that we got more money I mean this is ironically a good problem to to have but you also have to remember that we just approved the strictor code of conduct and the laws changed as well regarding bullying and other things that put more work on our teachers and our division and our Administration that we didn't account for and also what I call is not just coming back to address this stuff but for two years I have asked if we can get the money for the dean of students could we make that a priority because I think it's so important to have a mechanism for our teachers in

262place where when the principal isn't addressing a student's unruly Behavior not maliciously but because they don't have time or whatever that we help the we get the teachers the help inside of the school building that they have been asking for and this does that essentially on the discipline level so for me at the high right at the high schools but we're also I mean we can talk about high school kids all day long they're bigger they're more aggressive in their nature they're more whatever but but at the end of the day yes in the high schools ideally I would put them in every school for sure but right now what I'm faced with is the decision to support my teachers in a way that may not necessarily have the totality of the incremental increase that

263they were looking for but in a way that I can can begin to help them feel safer in their school environment and for me that this is why I hate the whole budget process to begin with the way we do it we adopt a budget that's a maybe because of the because of there are 700 variables that we have to take into consideration I said it that day I ask Dr Teller for clarification then we get more information that's a provisional budget so we make and we ride this roller coaster all year long in the meantime we're getting information that we can't ignore and that is parents coming to this Podium and telling us that they're tired of the discipline issues they're tired of the bullying they're tired of teachers getting beaten in the classroom

264they're tired of not having a solution to the discipline issues I don't know how we ignore that I just don't know how we ignore it because it was very clear this year with the number of times we made the news and the number of times that people engaged us desperate for a solution to the issues in our schools and I feel very obligated and very convicted to address those very real concerns the parents that come to us indicating that their children's are engaging their children are engaging in self harm because of the behaviors going on in the schools that the teachers oh the principal never addressed it they never got back to me they never did it are we waiting for another suicide I just don't understand what's happening that we don't see the urgency

265in getting our principals the assistant our vice uh to Susan's point about SLA one of the vice principes came up to us and almost in tears Thanking us for the additional support of a testing coordinator because just that small little piece of the pie that was taking up every part of her day just removing that from her gave her an entirely like she was Susan back me up she was rain and sunshine on us because that's the kind of stuff that they need that they don't know they need that we're trying to help get them so that we can address these issues I think they know they need that though call call the question sub motion and okay so I also have concerns about I know that we have to get the contract piece in

266order but I also worry about the I just impact of not having this code of conduct piece and the Deo student piece buckled up when we're supposed to start training this summer because we've tasked him with like essentially Boot Camp style retraining of everybody on the division's expectations before schools open in August um I know we've just started summer but it already feels kind of too short and so that you know we have to not just be ready for these positions we have to get people in these positions we need to have them ready to go I don't know what it looks like to start the school year without this in place with that the please help me if I've my notes are missing a portion of your substitute motion but what I have as

267the substitute motion is 1% salary uh to the teacher scale with the appropriate amount to the instructional support uh portion plus the cost of the cell phone bags with the um requirement to reconvene for finding funding for the remaining items that is being dis um trust deferred oops and I would recommend that we have that meeting in two weeks when we already have a meeting into on the 25th okay so we're going to cast our votes thank you I like this I don't feel comfortable I don't feel comfortable that vote motion fails Sigman guy Hallstead and Randall dissenting is there any further discussion on the original motion um who made the who made the original motion I don't know okay okay she went to I think she went to the restroom like a I think

268so the original motion was I think it was me and Alissa yeah I think so the original motion was is as outlined in the attachment um I I think as recommended by the superintendent we'll cast our votes please motion passes with Healey Warner and Chase dissenting moving on with our agenda superintendent report and comments oh my God I really thought she was ending thank you madam chair I'll be uh very brief please and um I've got some wonderful news to announce Miriam Zaki who was one of our 2024 graduates from North Stafford High School has received the Granville P me scholarship and will attend the University of Virginia this is one of the most prestigious scholarships offered in the Commonwealth of Virginia um and it uh is a targeted need scholarship and it's awarded at

269the uh Supreme Court of Virginia and one student per uh um superintendent study group region in the Commonwealth is awarded this scholarship and the scholarship recipient is one of ours from North Stafford we also understand that summer can be a challenging time for a lot of families so we want to direct folks to our list of uh access to meals um we are working in partnership with the Fredericksburg Regional food bank bank uh to provide uh grab and go meals uh this summer and we want to draw everybody's attention to that um we are also uh once again Stafford County Public Schools is the proud host of the County's uh juneth celebration in partnership with the nwacp and uh I want to thank them for their partnership uh please join us this Saturday from 10:

270to 5:00 at Colonial Forge High School uh we would be thrilled to have everybody come out this is a CommunityWide Festival in Stafford County and we are absolutely thrilled to host in partner with the NAACP for this wonderful event tons of other fun stuff that we'll bring up at the next meeting which I'm sure will happen soon enough thank you madam chair okay board member member comments and standing committee reports uh Miss Randall I'm going to start with you okay um the George Washington District lost another former School Board member Ed Sullivan um he was on the school board when my kids started attending school he actually was a PTA parent at Ferry Farm before um he had kids there there he was involved with the PTA after he had kids there he's was my

271Santa Claus the entire time my kids were there um he never said no to me um but he also when he left the school board went to Richmond to um work for the Virginia Department of Education CTE he's the one who taught me um about CTE because I was on the CIP committee trying to understand if we needed to rebuild Stafford high school or do a CTE Center and he was the one that first got me into the idea of researching schools that systems that have the specialty centers acmy whatever you want to call him he was the first one who kind of um sent me down that path um so I just want to give um my condolences to his family um for he had lost his wife previous to his passing but Ed

272Sullivan was a definite um levelheaded an extremely good representative to the George Washington District so um I just wanted to make a mention of that loss I also was able to attend project search if you've never attended project search um graduation it is so fun to the students actually talk about their own experience and they get like different rotations in the hospital and one of them I remember he was so excited because he got certified to ride the Fred bus so it was like a certification that he had to pass so that he could do uh get his own transportation to work so that was really cute to watch of course um going to the Phoenix Center graduation Stafford High School graduation I missed Brook points High School graduation when I was really bummed but

273my kid was having emergency surgery because he choked on a piece of chicken um I also got to attend D day which was also Dr Taylor's birthday which we should have had all the fifth graders sing to I know it would have been horrible for you been so delightful for me um but anyways I just also got to meet some of the beautiful families that will be tending ATI and in and uh actually a friend of mine from high school is a kid that's getting ready to go there so that was really fun too so I hope everybody has a good summer and attend what you can Dr Chase yes so I uh had the opportunity to go to the region 9 vsba meeting um and uh hear Dr Coons from Richmond talk to us

274about the Virginia literacy act that our elementary school teachers will get to implement um and uh I also was very much enjoyed hearing um visiting with with our principles for the SLA um and uh I will be meeting with various principles in the next couple of months and I appreciate them responding and setting up times for me to meet with them and I look forward to hearing about discipline in all of our schools thank you Miss Hy I want to Echo Miss Randall's comments about Mr Sullivan when I came on the board 24 plus years ago Mr Sullivan was here and um surprise surprise there was a divide in the board at the time it was usually a four to three vote and Mr Sullivan was the neutral in fact um my daughter who was

275gosh probably in elementary school at the time um after hearing me talk about my colleagues used to refer to Mr Sullivan as Switzerland because he was he he was just always very neutral he was fair and he was a um a wonderful person he cared so much about the kids and when he was on our board he actually was a teacher of CTE and in spoty um and that was before he he left and you know went down to Richmond so he was he was an an incredible person and really did a lot for for Stafford schools while he was here but also uh down in Richmond I think he you know always kept us in mind so I do um give my condolences to his family I think uh at least one of his

276children is a teacher um and and he's um he was a great person to to to have because I came on all by myself on the board I didn't have a buddy and um I he he was always available when I wanted to uh to to ask questions and sometimes just to cry Dr Warner nope thank you I'm gonna take my time too just because I know Alyssa is waiting I should have set a timer for you um I just want to say how much I enjoy graduation I did go to brookpoint this year and Stafford High School usually which I changed up my rotation this year and it was nice to be able to go to two graduations which is something we don't usually get to do um I went to a mentor 360

277program and I just want to say how much I am impressed by that program and how much support it offers our new teachers not just for one year but for two years and I think those relationships help them be better teachers SLA was really interesting this year I do appreciate the two years ago it was uh Ted lasso in the believe Philosophy for school Improvement and then this year it was focused on instructional leadership and the Olympics and coaching and I just hope that um I know that it's an important aspect of our our leadership and administrative teams in their school our schools to improve the teachers and to give them that feedback that they need for um classroom management for lesson planning and I think they do an extraordinary job but they are juggling

278a lot so I do appreciate all those things and I do understand that we need to do something about it I just think the question is what do we do and what can we afford um let's see I'm I'm just wondering if we shouldn't go with the Roy Kent theme next year but um that's it I I thank everybody and I'm done Miss thank you for being patient thank you I'll be I'll be short as well but um so I did forun Mountain View this year graduations and I went from dying in the heat like baking in the sun to actually freezing on Friday night like after Mountain View was done I was like flipflops were not the answer I could not wait to get to my car and get it but but all I

279wanted to say about I mean they're both great the graduations are so emotional anyway but um uh Mountain View High School it was particularly great because Katherine Buckman was graduating it was it was really great but Katherine Buckman Her speech um I actually had her send it to the shack and asked her if we could find a way to reuse it because it was just such an amazing um view of the world and happiness Through The Eyes of a girl that's just getting ready to get out there and experience everything and so honestly I cried um I got to spend some time with Jenny our our alternate that night too she and I cried before the graduation so um just discussing some stuff but um I'm I'm so proud to be a part of the

280the graduation process with these kids because just watching them walk up and shake that hand and some of the reactions just to get that last picture in it's I think you should all go to graduations all year long but that's we're all exhausted so good night Miss guy um yes thank you I will make this quick um because I feel a huge headache coming on so I I can't remember what I already wrote that I wanted to say but I did not attend graduation I'm very sorry um because my kid was grad graduating in Baltimore and I graduated with my kid too yes so I I didn't go but and I felt bad but Dr Taylor told me that nobody would notice basically that I wasn't there you kind of said that in a nice

281way but yeah so you know it was but I'll be there next year unless it is actually on my birthday I can't remember I think you guys did vote to put it on my birthday I probably didn't okay all right fine so but the one that's on my birthday I may not be there because I'll be out of town but um I did I did attend a lot of other end ofe things which were great and um fantastic I'm still really upset about my last vote so I'm just going to end it here by saying that um when I go to bed tonight I will just pray that um we we we will Foster a better line of communication for all of us and that all of us excuse me ladies I'm talking please stop

282and that all of us will feel respected and included and appreciated even though we don't always get along or see eye to eye um because we got to get it together if graduation is on your birthday don't go with Susan she'll make them all sing to you apparently that's her thing um I went to Mountain View and I went to Mountain View and North graduations they were amazing as usual um and all the requisite end ofe stuff which is just so much fun it's better I mean it's better than my birthday all these parties I get to go to and all these amazing celebrations from our you know our gold star winners and our retirees and our students and you know the middle school I went to a Middle School awards ceremony and a fifth

283grade promotion ceremony and it's just I mean I didn't get to go to a kindergarten that's usually what I try to get to as well is one of those kindergarten promotion ceremonies as well um that didn't happen this year but um as I said it's Summer's barely started and I already feel like there's so much cool stuff going on out there um definitely look into our uh high school program sport camps that are happening uh the kids do an amazing job you know essentially mentoring and teaching younger kids in our community uh introducing them to a new sport or helping them develop skills in a sport they already have um and it is uh just a really great opportunity for both sets of our students um open to anyone in the community to sign their

284kid up and participate in those and we have lots of other stuff going on and I was also going to remind people to continue to reach out to us if you are um in need of you know summer meal resources uh and things of that nature and our school staff will still be here to help you uh support help support our families and our community um that is it for our agenda our announcements we have a special called School Board sorry oh darn standing committee reports I know I am all right so uh fabc um monthly update on student meal debt staff is doing a final push to try and recoup any of the $361,000 of debt there is some conversations at the state level to try and help School divisions out we'll see what

285happens um quarterly construction update indicates that all three schools are on schedule es8 went out to bid yesterday um es9 hopefully will go out to bid a month later um an initial budget calendar was presented uh we asked the board to take a look at it and give us any feedback on that uh we saw a draft of the County's new CIP policy and I don't know who's on the three on three now but you should discuss this when you're at the three on three meeting uh one of the questions is how would the Board of Supervisors like to receive capital projects should we put large mechanical system replacements on the CIP or should we put them on the three R list um can our two boards come up with I don't know a fiveyear

286plan to schedule maintenance um of all schools that are approaching 20 to 25 years of uh use um then we received information about the additional budgetary costs of Staffing the three schools opening in the fall of 2026 um so just to give you some context this year the the county gave us an extra $13 million so next year we will need an additional 5.7 million right off the bat to cover local funding of Staffing um and then the following near year we'll need an additional 9.2 million for the FY 27 budget so this should also be discussed with the three on three um and then finally uh we received a breakdown of the budget for the ATI umw Lab School uh if you have questions about that take a look at the attachments Dr Warner

287see that's maybe that's why I got confused let's see governance didn't mean yes oh that's right okay we're good special called school board meeting June 25th 2024 there are no school board meeting scheduled for July and our next regular monthly board meeting is August 6th with a work session at 5:00 P pm and a monthly business meeting at 7 pm this meeting is adjourned