School Board Meeting, March 24, 2026

001Good evening. My name is Kathleen Brown, chair of the Virginia Beach School Board, and I call this meeting to order at 6:01 p.m. on March 24th, 2026. Madam clerk, would you please announce the roll? Thank you, Madam Chair. Present in the school board. Chamber or chair? Brown. Vice chair. Weems. Mr.. Callaghan, Mr. Cummings, Mr. Weiner. Misspelt in doctor green, miss. Melnick. And attending via zoom is Miss Rogers. And for the record, Miss Rogers, can you say say why you're attending via zoom? I am home ill. Thank you. All right. Thank you. Please join me in the moment of silence, followed by the Pledge of Allegiance. As you are able. Pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America. And to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty

002and justice for all. Now we come to our favorite part of the of the night, and that is to recognize our student athletes and the coaches. I want to thank all the students for coming. It's so exciting. We've got nine to recognize tonight. And thank you, coaches and thank you families. Miss Melnick, for our first recognition this evening is for the vhSl class five State Champions in Swim and Dive. Please welcome the girls for the girls team from First Colonial High School. In February, the first Colonial High School girls swim and dive team won the state championships. The team won by 120 points, the largest margin of victory by far and of any team. In recent years. Swim coach Elizabeth Stroud will now read the team members names and share information about individual state championships.

003Our team members are Dara Duffy, Nora Everhart, Brenna Ferry, Emma Gallant, Whitney Gideon, Claire Graham, Maris Marconi, Elena mason, Mira mason, Megan Schloss, Sydney Weightman, Charlotte Wilkerson, and Maggie Wright. In the process of winning the overall state championship. The FC girls also had the following results. Dara Duffy won the 200 freestyle and the 100 freestyle. First Colonials 200 medley relay team consisting of Maggie Wright, Sydney Weightman, Maris Marconi and Dara Duffy won first place and first Colonial's 400 freestyle relay team consisting of Maris Marconi, Maggie Wright, Nora Everhart and Dara Duffy also won first place. Thank you, Coach Stroud, and congratulations. First colonial girl, swim and dive. We are so proud of you. Our next recognition this evening is for the vhSl class five State Championship Boys Swimming and dive team. Please welcome the first

004Colonial Boys Swim and dive team. First Colonial Boys won their first vhSl class five state championship. This is the best boys swim team in the school's history, and their win was truly a heroic effort. Swim coach Robyn Lang will now read the team members names and share information about individual state championships. Our team members are Crosbie Bennett, Jackson Bennett, Thomas Everhart, Alex Keenan, Parker, Knapp, Jackson Layton, Edward Nelson, Adam Newton, Tyler Newton, Jackson, Parmalee, John Prudhomme, Austin Temple, Reagan, Vaughn, Chase Wilkerson, and Wilson Woods. In the process of winning their first team state title, the F.C. boys had the following results. Parker Knapp 100 fly Austin Temple won the 50 freestyle and 100 freestyle first Colonial's 200 freestyle relay team consisting of Chase Wilkerson, Tyler Newton, Parker Knapp, and Austin Temple, won first place and

005first Colonial's 400 freestyle relay team consisting of Chase, Wilkerson, Wilson wood, Parker, Knapp, and Austin Temple won first place. And that lovely common denominator. Coach Lang, thank you. Congratulations. First colonial boys swim and dive team. We are proud of you. It was great. Congratulations, guys. First. That was good. Our next recognition is for the VHS sell classify state championship chip. Let me say that again. Let me start all over. Guys. So sorry. Our next recognition is for the VHS sell classified state championship gymnastics team. Please welcome the chiefs of Kempsville High School. And the team members are Madelyn area. Harper Beck. Kathryn Chernov, Julianne Cinnamon and Violet crunch. Alessandra. Cunanan. Kenley. Garrett. Kate McCall. Steve. Gabby. Ocampo, Abigail. Perry. Kate. Rest setter. Stephanie. Soley, Ben. Sophia. Trumbauer, Emily. Vick. Grace. Wallace. Mikayla. Schriever. The team

006coach. Everybody okay? I thought maybe I pronounce his name wrong. Hopefully I didn't. The team coach is Annie Sessions. Okay. Hold on. Don't go anywhere. Thanks, guys. We'd like to especially recognize Violet Clontz, a sophomore at Kempsville High's entrepreneurship and business academy. Violet, please step forward. Violet is the VH, SL class five statewide individual gymnastics winner and balance beam, vault, and all around. She delivered a remarkable performance, earning state all around honors along with individual state titles on vault and beam. Her near flawless vault score of 99.25 secured the championship moment and placed her among the most accomplished gymnasts in school history. Wow. Congratulations, Violet. We're so proud of you. Great job. Smile. You did a great job. Our next recognition is for the vhSl class five state champion wrestling team. Please welcome the Falcons

007of Cox High School. The Falcons delivered another outstanding season this year, competing against top talent across Virginia throughout the East Coast. As a team, the Falcons shined on big stages, finishing third against national competition at the Virginia Duals, second at the Old Dominion Cup, and capturing first place at the Richmond International. The team amassed 196.5 points at the state tournament to secure its third consecutive vhSl class five state championship, cementing another remarkable chapter in the program's history. The team members are Colton Miller, Henry Dennis, Nick Navarro, Carson Miller, Griffin Kight, Landon Cahill, Caleb Raphael, Vincent Grenada, Tristan Skiff, Karl Ugly, the second Miller, Dylan Miller, Rudy Wagner, James Cornelius, and Isaac Thomas. The Falcons have also five individual state champions. We ask individual state champions to step forward. They are Landon Cahill and the 138

008pound class Caleb Rafael. The 144 Class Vincent de Granada and the 150 weight class, Karl Ludwig, the 165 pound weight class. And Rudy Wagner won 90 pound weight class. The team is coached by Dalton Hebert, Adam Watson, James Schubert, Victor Garcia, and Dylan Watson. Congratulations, Falcons. We are proud of you. And. Hold on. I'm going to wait one second because we still have some recognitions and people are leaving. So I'm just I just want to let them lead by so that we don't. Okay. Our next recognition is for the VHS, XL class five gymnastics champion and uneven parallel bars. Please welcome Avery Hanlon of Kellum High School. Avery is a junior at Kellum. In addition to winning the bars competition at the state tournament. She also placed second in vault, fourth all around, and eighth

009on floor. Avery was a crucial factor in the Knights being the 2026 vhSl gymnastics team runner up. Avery's coached by Marianna Parker and Alana Parker. Congratulations, Avery. We are so proud of you. Our next recognition is for an individual state champion in wrestling from Kellum High School. Please welcome to the stage Derek Schultz. Derek is a 170 pound, 175 pound state wrestling champion. Derek is a four year varsity wrestler who has been wrestling since middle school. He finished the season with a 30 and eight record. Derek is placed in the top four in the region for the past three years, and took fifth in the state last year. This year, he finished on top of the podium. He was also the Virginia Tech Camp and Kinsley Classic champion. Derek also contributes to his local community

010by volunteering his time with our youth program, West Neck Educators Club and Saint Baldrick. He is coached by Ross Binzel. Huge congratulations Derek. We are very, very proud of you. Our next recognition is for the Virginia High School League Class five state wrestling champion. Please welcome Patrick McMillan of Green Run High School. Senior Patrick McMillan captured the 215 pound class state wrestling championship, cementing his place in Green Run history. Let's go. Patrick's achievement is a true testament to his dedication and work ethic, as he consistently puts in extra time outside of school, often attending two practices a day while still maintaining strong academic performance in the classroom. His discipline, perseverance, and commitment to excellence have paid off in a historic way as he becomes the first state wrestling champion for a green run since 1993.

011Patrick. We're not done. Patrick. Patrick's accomplishment is a proud moment for the entire stallion community. He is coached by Robert Etheridge and Ethan Renee Jr. Congratulations, Patrick. We are proud of you. Our next recognition is for a state wrestling champion from Ocean Lake High School. Please welcome Matthew D'Angelo. Behind the scenes. Matthew. The Angelo's success is a result of a relentless work ethic. He spent countless hours in the wrestling room sharpening his technique, building strength and pushing himself through intense training sessions. Whether it's early in the morning workouts, extra drilling at the practice, or studying his opponent all right, the Angelo approach is everyday with the mindset of a champion. From the beginning of the season, his goal was clear when a state title as a freshman through discipline, preparation and unwavering, determination. Matthew turned

012that goal into reality and set the standards for the program future. Let's pause for the calls and congratulate Matthew D'Angelo, who will now go. Give it up. Our final recognition this evening is for championship wrestlers from Tall Wood High School. First, would Tatiana Danzig please come forward? Yeah. Tatiana finished her season, her senior season as a four time state finalist and two time regional and state champion for girls wrestling. This year, she pinned every opponent in the regional and state tournaments. Let me repeat that. She pinned every one of them. Tatiana is the first state champion in girls wrestling in the beach district with 114 wins. She has the most career wins of any girl in the Tall Wood wrestling program. She is coached by Travis Ferguson, Angelo Portillo, and Tristan. Help! Help! Excuse me.

013Congratulations, Tatiana. We are very proud of you. Oh. My. Is. Next, we have state wrestling champion Colton. Hep. Colton, please come forward. Yeah, yeah. Colton capped off his senior season by becoming a two time regional and state champion for wrestling. In the 126 pound weight class. This season, he became the overall overall career wins leader at Tall Wood High School with 140 wins. He will continue his wrestling career at the University of Lynchburg. Colton is also coached by Travis Ferguson. Angelo Portillo and Tristan Hep. Congratulations, Colton. We are very proud of you. You. Know this concludes the school board recognitions for this evening. Awesome. Great. Thank you. Yeah. I tell him I'll wait until. Okay. So we are now on to the adoption of the agenda. Through conversation, there is an amendment to bylaw 136

014and in accordance with bylaw 130. That needs to be presented in writing, to the board on information. So that will be we're going to add information C and that will be bylaw 136 amendment proposal. If everybody is okay with that. And then on the consent agenda, bylaw 136 will move to action, as it is presented so that that amendment motion can be made. So that will be, I'm sorry. That will be d action d. Okay. Are there any other modifications to the agenda as presented? Seeing none, I call for the motion for the agenda as presented and modified version made by Miss Dwyer, seconded by Mr. Callan. Any discussion? Seeing none, I call for the vote on the agenda as presented and modified. Miss Rogers, how do you vote on the agenda as presented and

015modified? I vote yes. Thank you, Madam Chair. We have ten eyes. The motion did pass for the adoption of the agenda as presented and modified. Thank you. We are now on to the superintendent's report and recognitions. Doctor Robertson, we look forward to your report and recognitions. Good evening, Madam Chairwoman, and members of the board. Here are a few items of interest for you and our families. I'd like the community to know that school board members and I attended the 2026 state of the city address, March the 5th at the Virginia Beach Convention Center. During the address, Mayor Bobby Dyer and City Manager Patrick Hainey shared a vision for the future, highlighted key initiatives, and recognize several organizations, including Virginia Beach City Public Schools. Mayor Dyer praised our high performing school division for having a strong

016student to teacher ratio and a deep commitment to preparing the next generation of leaders for our city and nation. Virginia Beach City Public Schools looks forward to continuing strong partnership with the city to prepare students to be future ready. More than 5000 Virginia Beach City public School students participated in hands on challenges last month at the 17th annual Stem trifecta and the inaugural VBC expedition. Political career. Immersion experience at the Virginia Beach Convention Center was organized by the Office of Career Technical Education. More than 200 teams, from elementary and middle to high school, competed in coding, robotics, and cyber challenges, while our seventh graders explored careers through interactive activities with real world tools and equipment. We're thankful that the career immersion experience was sponsored by the Maritime Regional Training System, which is powered by the

017Hampton Roads Workforce Council. I'd like to alert you and our community to a few of the many important dates and events that are coming up. Virginia Beach City Public Schools is hosting a Family Information webinar with our parent organization, Win at Social, intended to help parents guide their students in the safe use of social media. The webinar will help parents build a personalized family standards agreement to navigate the digital world safely and align with their family values. The webinar webinar is at 6 p.m. tomorrow, March 25th. Parents and staff received an email last week with a zoom link to the webinar, which can also be found on VB school's social media site. Job seekers should know about our educator and school support staffing Hiring Expo from nine to noon this Saturday, March 28th at Lansing

018High School. You can register for the event at VB schools.com backslash careers. The Pearls of Wisdom oyster roast and barbecue will be from 1 to 5 April 18th at 24th Street Park at the oceanfront. This fundraiser benefits Virginia Beach City Public Schools teachers and students by raising funds to support the Virginia Beach Education Foundation's grants program. Students and staff will be on hand. Explain Arrowhead Elementary Zero waste cafeteria. Project Independence Middle Schools student built learning spaces, and the environmental studies program. Oysters Farming Project, which is the first student run oyster farm in the state. There will be plenty of food, live music and fun, and you can find tickets at VB f.org. I have good news to share about our staff taking advantage of wellness programs offered by the Benefits Office. Staff members participate in

019almost 1,000,000 minutes of activities and the well Beats fitness app. They know they lost nearly 2,000 pounds, but participating in the Wonder Weight Management program, and they participate in close to 2000 employee assistance counseling sessions. This short video explains more. As a reminder, make sure to register for the Be Well Beach Fast Vendor Fair this Saturday, March 28th. That told elementary school from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.. The event includes fun activities, health screenings, and giveaways. Visit benefits at the beach.com for more information. Finally, I'd like to share with you how Renaissance Academy students are learning about science and business while providing our elementary school students with nutritious lunch options. It started with the program over at Renaissance Academy, and they were looking to add microgreens to their program in science and education, and the

020students learn entrepreneurship and about growing microgreens, how nutrient dense they are about the science of life cycles. We have four different levels that we can possibly grow in our microgreens. Once the kid where the seeds spread, the seeds put them in the germination tank. It usually takes 2 to 3 days in the germination tank and then a total of eight days depending on the seed, but most are like 8 to 10 days and then turn around. And we are starting new stuff all the time. I didn't know much about the whole process of microgreens. I knew they existed. I knew they were used as garnish, but I never really knew the process and effort it really took to kind of get them where they are. I like that I'm able to see the whole process

021in this class, and I like that I'm able to actually do it hands on. The other components were we wanted to sell the microgreens, and we are now going to be doing exchange of business with John B dye, where they will actually be using the microgreens in their cafeterias for their students. And on our line today we have four salad that I have put the microgreens in our real gala the radish, the cabbage. We will be doing grilled chicken with a little bit of fresh tomatoes. With the microgreens comes a lot of flavor and that's what kids are looking for. Yes, it's healthy so we can take away from the butter and the sugar in the salt because they're actually tasting something that looks like pepper, like a regular. It's really elevating the nutritional value

022of our products. It's also hyper local, to say that it's just from across town, from other students. I know Miss Fowler really does want to expand. We're hoping that will expand throughout the 82 schools first, but then, yes, expanding to the restaurants because they'll start to see our products once we do get the business side up and running smoothly, is that we can take the money that we earn and put it towards ways that we can do really, really good for our community, especially here. Our goal is to do good and to teach them that it's about helping them with the community. They are our community. So kudos to Renaissance Academy, John Bedi Elementary and our Office of Food Services for our leading our students through this exciting program. And thank you, Madam Chair. This

023concludes my report. Do you have any recognition? I do, I'm very proud to announce two, recent hires. We'll start first with James Mocker, formerly assistant director of building trades physical plant for a facilities management office at Salisbury University. We're pleased that you've accepted our recommendation for him to be the next director of maintenance services in the Office of Maintenance Services. I see you have some guests. Yeah. Good evening, and thank you for the welcome. I'm excited to join the team here in a couple of weeks. Tonight I'm here with my lovely wife, Doctor Carolyn King. Congratulations. Next up, we got Joseph Favero. Currently a security specialist in the city of Virginia Beach. Who we're pleased that you accepted our recommendation from to be the next coordinator of security emergency management, the office of Security emergency

024Management. Congratulations. And I see some guests. I do. So, first of all, thank you. Thank the board and Mr. Shattuck for the opportunity. And then I'd like to introduce my family here with me. My wife, Jennifer, my son, Nicholas, Joseph and Jake. Congratulations. We look forward to welcoming you on board. Thank you very much. And that concludes my recognitions. Thank you. Okay. We have two sets of meeting minutes for approval tonight. The first is the March 3rd, 2026 special school board meeting. Minutes. Are there any modifications to those as presented? And seeing none, I call for the motion to approve the March 3rd meeting minutes as presented May by Miss Dwyer, seconded by Doctor Green. Any discussion? Seeing none, I call for the vote on the March 3rd minutes. Miss Rogers, how do you vote

025on the March 3rd minutes? I vote yes. Thank you, Madam Chair. We have ten eyes. A motion to pass for the approval of the March 3rd minutes. Thank you. We're now on to the March 10th regular school board meeting minutes. Are there any modifications to those as presented? Seeing none. The motion is being made by Mr. Cummings, seconded by Miss Dwyer. Any discussion? Seeing none, I call for the vote on the March 10th regular school board meeting minutes. And, Miss Rogers, have you vote on the March 10th meeting minutes? So, yes. Thank you, Madam Chair. We have ten eyes and motion to pass for the approval of the March 10th meeting. Minutes. Thank you. We are now on to the public comments section of our school board meeting, and we will hear public comments on

026matters relevant to pre-K through 12, public education in Virginia Beach and the business of the school board in the school division. From citizens and delegations who signed up with the school board clerk prior to noon today. The purpose for the public comment section is for the school board to offer an orderly form to receive public comments during the school board meeting. I call upon all speakers and all persons in the chambers to be civil in discussion and decorum, whatever views you wish to express. The school board wants to hear from you and to ensure that all viewpoints and perspectives are heard. The best way to do this is for all of us to strive for civility and respect. Madam clerk, would you please introduce the first speaker? Thank you, Madam Chair. Our first speaker this

027evening is Heather Sipe. Good evening, Chairwoman Brown, vice chair Weems, members of the school board. Doctor Robertson. My name is Heather Sipe, and I am president of the Virginia Beach Education Association. I'm here this evening to speak about our school calendar. I commend the division's recommendation, posted in the agenda to close schools on April 21st, due to a special election as a means to ensure the safety of students and staff in the wake of the events that transpired at ODU and other instances of tragedy on school campuses in our country. It is imperative we take a firm stance on safety. I am appalled at the media's decision not to grant special exceptions for synchronous or asynchronous learning. On April 21st, as a way to meet the required school day or hour requirements. That puts many

028divisions in a very difficult position. Virginia Beach should not be one of those divisions, but the decisions of the school board to cling to 180 days and not use ours seems to have tied your hands. This is a conversation we've had before, hours or days. If adding ten minutes a day is an acceptable way of making up the April 21st instructional day, then why are we not using the fact that our division already exceeds the state required minimum of 998 hours? Our school day is an hour longer than the state mandated minimum 5.5 hours, which is what we use, which is what is used to determine the 180 day marker. CPS students have 1170 hours of instruction and our 180 day calendar, which is 180 hours above the state's 990 seat hour requirement. The school

029board's unwillingness to allow the use of hours is now going to cause undue stress to families, students and staff. Ten minutes may not seem like much on paper, but it is a huge impact on many, many people. Transportation, which is already a very tight process, becomes even more difficult to orchestrate. Families have to make adjustments to childcare arrangements to ensure their students can be supervised at bus stops and or dropped off and picked up at new times. Students, especially, are ones that are highly routine oriented, have to adjust to new transition times. Staff that work second jobs will be forced to lose income. And how much are our students truly gaining in those ten minutes a day? And when you look at our high school blocks, what is really gained in the extra two minutes?

030The class hours or days has the hours met. And then some ask yourself, why are you not allowed to use those hours already embedded in the calendar? Why are your hands tied in this decision? Our next speaker is Natalie Bray. Good evening, Chairwoman Brown, vice chair, Williams, school board representatives, and Doctor Robertson. I'm here to express my gratitude and also to make a request. Safety in VBC is a strong community value, and it's communicated well. I grew up with just fire drills, but my kids have had additional safety issues to consider. Mandatory lockdown drills, tornado drills and bus safety drills. And in today's world, I'm thankful we trained to be ready for these emergencies. On May 12th, my fourth grader from AutoNation school went on a field trip to the planetarium at Odell. As I

031hugged my youngest goodbye, the chance of danger didn't cross my mind. She and her classmates were there during the active shooter situation on her to use campus. That Thursday was a white knuckle kind of morning spent reminding myself to breathe through the worry brought by news reports of a shelter in place. Run. Hide. Fight. I'm deeply grateful for the decisive actions of the adults on the field trip teachers, parents, chaperons and bus drivers. They adeptly handled a scary and stressful situation. By prioritizing the physical and emotional safety of our young schoolchildren. I can only imagine the anxiety and distress they personally felt and may still be processing. And I'm holding in the light everyone who is impacted by this tragic and unpredictable event that hit so close to home. I'm grateful that our principal, Mr.

032Golden Chu, and his assistant principals, Mr. Kaczynski and Mr. Howard, work to prioritize student safety in school and communicate safety information and updates for families. The school resource officers and security assistant are ever present and wholly competent. Safety practices are business as usual and the school day runs very smoothly. In fact, this is the case for all of the schools our family has encountered. This brings me to my ask School board representatives. When you consider adjustments to our fourth quarter calendar. Please make the reasonable decision to prioritize the safety of our students and staff. As you know, April 21st is a voting day for all Virginians, and 58 of our schools are polling locations. This means that the voting public will have access to school grounds from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m., and this will

033be a disruption to the normal school day predictability that supports safety protocols. Not all of our schools are designed in a way that can cordon off the voters from students and staff during change of classes, P.E., library or lunchtime. Please vote to approve the reasonable, reasonable recommendation to do online, synchronous or asynchronous class for that day. It's my additional hope that you consider all viable solutions for addressing the loss of an instructional day. Maybe CPS already exceeds the hours required by the video. So let's be practical about what you ask of staff. Respectfully, if you are to prioritize the safety of our school plan, that is time. Thank you. Our next speaker is Alan Wakefield. I see a few people smiling. It's good. I had a hand out, but from my 93 year old mother

034in laws, we found out my wife and I. That we can't leave or she won't eat unless we stay with her. She could be here on time to hand this out. This is a science cat, and he's doing some pretty cool things. Doing a little experiment. Okay, but he likes to knock things over, which cats like. Okay, okay, here's a cat being groovy using the scientific method I have, this is an activity rolled into one. But the science cat has observed some things about it using the scientific method, but may not be in the correct order. Okay, he just wants to knock stuff over. Notice things he is doing. Hypotheses. Observation. Experiment. Results written down. Further research needed keeping his notes and results and most of all love science or knocking things down. As we

035know cats like to do. It has flaws, but students have to imagine saying play in and produce results every day. Yesterday, I connected this method of thinking with the sun, moon and planets, teaching basic motions using magnetic marbles. Zoom, zoom. One last thing. Did you know you're revolving around the sun at 67,000mph? Right now? We don't feel anything. Why don't we feel it? Because they're rotating. Because the earth and atmosphere are rotating at the same speed, so we don't feel it. Now, if you're driving down the road in your car, you can stick your hand outside the window and you can feel the difference in the wind speed, but you don't feel it inside your car. Do you? But you might be going 60 miles an hour. Thank you very much. I appreciate it. For

036science, the cat. Play and Madam Chair, that was our last speaker for this evening. Thank you. We are now on to the fiscal 2627 operating budget in fiscal year 2627 to fiscal year 3132. Capital improvement program adoption. Welcome, Tiffany Jacobs, budget development Director. Good evening, Chairwoman Brown, vice chairwoman, Weems, school board members and doctor Robertson. My name is Tiffany Jacobs, director of budget. And tonight's presentation will provide an overview of our proposed fiscal year 20 2627 school operating budget in 2026 27 to 20 3132 Capital Improvement Program, or CIP. The focus of tonight's presentation is the final proposals for both the operating budget and CIP, for which the board will take action upon tonight. We will begin by reviewing the questions submitted by school board members, along with responses provided to the board last week.

037Next, I will review and highlight key items from the operating budget, followed by Miss Melissa Ingram, who will revisit information for the CIP. We will conclude with a review of key budget dates, and then provide an opportunity for questions and comments. Beginning with the first question, a school board member asked for an explanation of transportation costs for an achievable dream academy, as presented in C on the details of the requests in question are provided on the slide. In a school board presentation made February 25th, 2025. Doctor Brower outlined pas de zone expansion and presented an estimated cost of $150,000. Based on the information available at the time. As the Office of Transportation Services continue to review the numbers and the associated requirements, they realized that this amount was insufficient. During the budget development process, transportation

038submitted and outside the base budget request to address the shortfall. Following a thorough review of all budget requests, the Budget Office and the superintendent approved the additional operational and salary resources needed to support the zone expansion, which had already been approved by the school board to prevent a future funding gap. While this results in a higher amount than what was originally presented, it represents the most accurate cost estimate. After completing the detailed fiscal review. The remaining questions are in response to the Department of Human Resources presentation on funding considerations for recruitment and retention. First, how many partnerships currently exist with colleges and universities? The Department of Human Resources holds 61 active memorandums of Agreement with various colleges, universities and institutions. The specific partnerships held by the division are outlined on this slide. I will pause

039to give you a moment to review the information. Next, how many of these partnerships have resulted in home grown teachers? A total of 60 current teachers hired for the 20 2526 school year were promoted from other VBC positions, including 55 teacher assistants, one school nurse, one security assistant, and three office associates. Additionally, 11 individuals are enrolled in the JMU, TCC fellows Grant program and six are enrolled in the ODU apprenticeship Grant program. The VAT FTE Future Teacher Award has also contributed to this effort, with 11 award winners attending various colleges and hired for the 20 2526 school year. In terms of the Employee Professional Development Reimbursement Program, how much funding was allocated and how much has been utilized to date. Of the $214,000 budget for fiscal year 2026, nearly all funds have been encumbered with

040$129,069.80 having been submitted for payment to employees and $84,712.80 allocated in a waiting documentation of completion for the spring semester. How many internal career opportunities are available for employees who earn some of these degrees? Within the division, there are a number of internal career opportunities available for employees who pursue and obtain the appropriate credentials. In addition to applying for positions that align with an individual's education and work experiences, employees can access our online directory of job titles and descriptions. Each listing outlines the required education certifications and relevant work experience required for the position. Job titles and job descriptions can be accessed on our website at. Ivy schools.com/careers. Forward slash jobs. Moving on. We will now review the proposed school operating budget for fiscal year 20 2627. This presentation will provide a brief overview as much

041of the material has previously been shared. The information shown on this slide, as well as the next will be familiar. It is, as it has been reviewed and discussed in great detail during the series of budget workshops that were held leading up to tonight's presentation. The budget balancing information remains consistent with what was presented during the March 10th workshop, as there have been no changes. As a reminder, from that meeting, the $250,000 previously allocated for unpaid student meal debt has been removed and those funds have been reappropriated to support textbook expenditures. As always, the proposed budget is contingent on adoption of a state budget. Currently, we have received no further guidance or confirmation of additional state funding. When the General Assembly adjourned Sendai on March 14th. It did so without passing a final biennial budget.

042The General Assembly will reconvene on April 23rd in special session to continue budget deliberations and work towards consensus revenue sources for our 20 2627 school operating budget remain consistent with our superintendent's estimate of needs and reflect an increase in revenue of nearly $34 million compared to the fiscal year 20 2526 amended adopted budget. Once the state budget is passed and updated revenue information is made available, we will return to the board with recommended budget options for consideration. I will pause to give you a moment to review the information on this and the following slide. Just while you're on these slides, I just want to make sure these are not different than what we've been looking at. I just want to confirm for the board. Okay. All right. As this presentation is intended to be a

043high level overview of the proposed budget, we and we have not reviewed each item in detail. What is important to highlight is that this proposal supports the diverse and essential needs of students and staff, while reflecting the division's commitment to providing resources and compensation aligned with our community's values. In support of this, the budget includes roughly $14.6 million for contributions to the health fund. And as highlighted on this slide in yellow, of this amount, $9.2 million is allocated for anticipated employer contribution increases for the 2027 plan year that will take effect January 1st, 2027. As projected by Mercer. The remaining $5.4 million as a dedicated additional employer contribution that will go directly to the help fund balance to rebuild the reserve to the recommended two months of gross costs. Additionally, compensation increases are provided for

044both the instructional and unified experience based pay scales, beginning with the Teacher Pay scale highlighted in green. The budget provides for a 2% increase, plus $1,000 to the entry level and a 1.5% step increase for eligible employees. The additional 2%, plus $1,000 at the entry level will flow through the entire pay scale, resulting in an overall average increase of 5.23% at an approximate cost of $22.6 million. Moving to the unified pay scale is shown in orange. The proposed budget includes a total 3% increase to the entry level that will flow through the entire pay scale, with a 1% step increase for all eligible employees. With 1 to 14 years of experience and a 1.5% step increase for eligible employees at 15 years and above. The result is an average increase of 4.17%, at an approximate

045cost of $11.1 million. Compensation remains a top budget priority for the school board, as indicated by the school board compensation philosophy. The superintendent and this administration. This proposed budget reinforces the division's commitment to a comprehensive total compensation program that enables VBC to attract and retain a highly qualified workforce. The budget presented tonight builds on the momentum of prior years, continuing our commitment to offering a competitive compensation package that reflects the exceptional contributions of our staff over the last five fiscal years, from fiscal year 2022 to fiscal year 2026. Instructional salaries have increased by an average of 5.42% annually, while the unified scale has increased by an average of approximately 5.3% annually. This equates to a total investment of more than $170.6 million in salary increases over that period. In addition, the division has provided over

046$27.5 million in increased employer contributions towards health care. Together, these investments reflect our sustained commitment to supporting our employees, and we will continue to prioritize competitive compensation as a critical component of attracting, retaining and valuing our workforce moving forward. I will now turn the presentation over to Miss Melissa Ingram to revisit the Capital Improvement Program. If I could, I would just like to have any questions related to this piece first. Just so that it's a little bit easier, I think Miss Melnick. Forgive me for not knowing that the answer to this question, but is the planetarium is up and running. I know it will be up and running. Okay. We've, we've purchased the equipment to replace the outdated equipment that we in. The budget is a position to hire. And our goal is to have

047it up and running. Okay. And that's what I saw. That was a line item. A specific line item. Classroom and planetarium. Teacher $116,318. So I just wanted to make sure because I knew it to not be operational. But we're on our way to bringing that back, and it's such a lovely addition to our school division. So thank you for that. And, I know that there's no assigned budget at this point in time, but it looks like there may be an additional potential for some additional funds as well. Is that correct? Maybe. Yes, that's another additional 1%. Well, so in the caboose bill signed by, Governor Spanberger, there's a $1,500 bonus, that, divisions can, Give out as part of fiscal year 26 or fiscal year 27. Our recommendation to the board, when we get to that

048point is to give it out in fiscal year 26 to these this, this group of employees, as part of a retention initiative. And, after we get the second approval, we'll come back to the board to talk about what that might look like. But our plan is to use it and provide that bonus to staff this school year budget by June 30th. All right. Thank you, Mayor Rogers. Yes, sir. Henry. Miss Rogers, thanks. I just have a quick question. Piggybacking off of what we just was sent up to, what we said is that $1,500 just for the associate positions? I remember last year they did something along those lines, and we had kind of, adjust because it wasn't for everybody. So I'm just asking how they put that up. Yeah. Yes, ma'am. Mr. Rogers, we received

049last Thursday the count tool and guidelines for the spending of that, that money and the board will have flexibility to determine whether or not. Well, first of all, it's for Esser Q funded positions only. And as we all know, we fund we have more employees than our soq funded. And so the board will have a decision to make as to how they want to handle that. And we will bring recommendations based upon available funding that we have at the end of year, end of the year, like we always have. So I think the board is going to have plenty of options of how to maximize that funding in the best interest of staff. Yeah, I just wanted to make sure because we have people here, it's 1500 for, you know, that we're clear that it

050allocated for us. So cuz that they aren't just giving up for everybody, but we can still look decisions that. All right. Thank you. Okay. Thank you, Miss Jacobs. And good evening, Chair Brown, vice chair Williams, members of the board. And Doctor Robertson, I want to thank you for the opportunity to review the proposed CIP with you again tonight. So our, as you may recall from our former briefs, our first slide shows in blue, the sources for revenue into the CIP, funded at a total of $61.94 million per year. Our proposed CIP, funding sources table. They're made up of PayGo and special reserve funds or reversion funding bonds. And a new Peg funding source, which is dedicated to school cable access infrastructure needs. Shown above. This blue table in green is the accompanying CIP debt service

051plan. With an increase to debt service plan of $6 million per year starting in fiscal year 28. And our next slide shows the proposed fiscal year 2728 to 3132 funding summary table. With this plan, both priority new construction projects are fully funded within this six year CIP tri campus additions is on track to Bid and Princess and High School has an active solicitation started for a progressive design build delivery model to bid in 2028. Also included in this plan are several maintenance related projects, which are a high priority for the school division in maintaining our existing school buildings and a new self-funded project, CIP 1034. School cable access infrastructure is also included in this year's CIP plan. And with that, I want to thank you again for your time and planning support throughout the year

052in the budget process. And I'll turn it over to Miss Jacobs. Okay. As we have now moved into the latter stages of the budget process, here are a few key dates of importance. April 13th is the last day for the governor to take action on any pending legislation following adoption of our Fiscal Year 2026 proposed operating budget in 2026 27 to 20 3132 Capital Improvement Program by the School Board tonight. The budget will then be presented to City Council on Tuesday, April 14th. The reconvened General Assembly will meet under special session on April 23rd to deliberate on a budget. And on Tuesday, May 12th, City Council is scheduled to approve the city's budget in advance of the May 15th deadline, as required by state code. This concludes our presentation and we thank you for your

053time. Our team is available if you have any other additional questions. Miss Melnick, I just wanted to take this moment to thank staff so very much for this budget season and my colleagues. This this was and I've said this already along the way, but this was the most comprehensive budget process I've ever experienced. And we planned for extra meetings. We had a lot of meetings. And there was so much thought and planning into the presentations. And for me personally, it made things so much easier. There's was really, there was a high level of understanding in all of this. So this was really, really important. And so thank you all for all the time, for all the extra time, and for the delivery of really important information. I think the community, even it was just easier

054to digest for everybody. So thank you. Thank you very much. And I also I want to, echo those. Thanks. And I want to thank my colleagues. We did a lot of work on what, our ideal budget process looks like at our school board retreat. And, you know, this budget process, you know, with staff's help, of course. Was because all of that comes to fruition through all of our, collaboration. So, I appreciate everybody's work on this. Thank you. Thank you. And there's no one else in line. Okay. All right. We are now on to calendar adjustments for quarter four. And we welcome Tommy Shattuck, director of security and emergency management. Good evening everybody. Looking. I am. She's the boss man. So okay. Good evening, Chairman Brown, vice chair, Williams, school board members, and Doctor Robertson. My

055name is Tommy Schacht, and I serve as the director. The Office of Security Emergency Management. On March 10th, I provide the school board with information regarding the upcoming April 21st special election concerning the proposed amendment to adopt new congressional districts. As a reminder, the City of Virginia Beach Voter Registration and Elections Office utilize 58 of our schools as polling sites. On March 10th. The recommendation made to the school board was a transition to synchronous learning on April 21st, in order to mitigate the safety concerns associated with using polling sites during in-person instruction. The following day, on March 11th, the Virginia Department of Education sent an email to superintendents across the Commonwealth advising that school divisions choosing to transition to virtual learning on April 21st would not be permitted to count. Those hours towards the state

056required 180 school days or 990 instructional hours. As the school board is aware, the Code of Virginia allows school divisions to provide remote learning in cases of inclement weather and emergencies. However, the video has determined that this special election does not meet the statutory requirements for remote learning. Following the video is decision, our office sought additional input and guidance from our law enforcement, emergency management and election partners regarding the safety and security concerns associated with school operations during the special election. The Virginia Beach Police Department, the City of Virginia Beach Office of Emergency Management, and the City Beach Board of Elections all agree that the risks associated with operating 58 schools as polling precincts while students are present, cannot be mitigated to a sufficient level. Therefore, we recommend that all VBC schools be closed on

057April 21st in order to remain compliant with the statutory requirement of 180 school days or 990 instructional hours, we further recommend adding ten minutes to the school day, beginning the day of the first fourth. Walk back to the first day of the fourth quarter. April 13th. Continuing through June 8th. We do not meet recommendation lightly. However, we believe this is the best course of action to prioritize student and staff safety while maintaining compliance of the video. I'm happy to answer any questions of the board. Miss Melnick. Is ten minutes extra a day from April 13th to June 8th. That's what that equals one school day. Is it really? Yes, ma'am. That seems like a lot, isn't it? Ten minutes a day. Okay, I trust you. I only taught first grade, so I only had to

058know to 19. But I don't. That just seems like a lot. Right? Okay, okay. Vice chair. Yes. Thank you. And I appreciate you meeting with the experts at hand. You know, citywide and school wide to make this. And I know that it wasn't made lightly and we had to pivot and kind of shift our thinking after we got that letter. Do you know where the ten minutes is going to be? Is it going to be before after five minutes at the front end of the day, four minutes at the end the other day, then the end of the day and the ten minutes? Was there any conversation of five minutes early and five minutes late? So yeah, I'm in the wrong in the pool. Yes. That's true. The default that we went to was what

059we have, what we have done, which is at the end of the day, ten minutes, a suggestion was brought forward as to whether or not you could do five minutes at the beginning and five minutes at the end of the day. The answer is absolutely. That would be a board decision on how they want to structure the ten minutes. I would not recommend going ten minutes early because of the impact on high schools. If the board wanted to do five and five, we could do that. If they want to do ten minutes in a day, they could do that as well. And we've done this before. Yeah. Right, exactly. Well, yeah. And I had talked with another colleague about five and five. We got a couple emails and, and I know we've heard tonight and,

060if you have places to go, ten minutes doesn't seem like anything, but it can really. I mean, throw your whole afternoon off. Yes, ma'am. For I mean, I'm, I'm a teacher. I get through at 3 or 5. I have to be on traffic duty at 3 or 5. Then I have to leave at 335 to make a 4:00 meeting. If I'm five ten minutes late, I don't make the meeting. My child is late to practice, etc., etc. etc. and so I would prefer just five minutes in the morning and five minutes in the afternoon for that, because in the afternoon there's so many activities and ten minutes can make make make a difference, even though it doesn't seem like it does, but it does when you're trying to leave the school building or leave your

061job to get kids where they need to get get to and all that stuff. So that is my personal preference. Five at either end, at both ends. Yes, ma'am. Mr. Cummings. Yeah. Thank you. I'm glad that you know, or I'm glad to see the recommendation about closing, VBC schools for that day. You know, it's the topic on my mind is that it's my visits and seeing how close access was to our classrooms that were right next to where, you know, folks would be voting, along with, you know, bathrooms. I definitely see concern, as well. And I line up with the, you know, the recommendations. I guess my question is just for the viewing public. Doctor Robertson, you know, I see one recommendation on here, but what what are some of the other avenues, you know,

062the good and bad that could also be possible. You know, I hear, like five minutes more in five minutes day. I mean, I assume one of the one of the, you know, the bad recommendation would be staying open for that day. You know, I assume another recommendation. Well, not recommendation, but another option would be making up the day if we have I don't I can't remember if we have scheduled snow days or something like that, but what are it? Just walk me through. Like what are the different options? Both, I think just for the viewing public, just so that they see that that here's the scenarios. But here's also the pathway for to what led us to this decision. Yeah. So the the board has adopted a 180 day calendar. As noted by earlier speaker,

063we do exceed the 990 hours. And there are other divisions who there the board will flip flop between whether they follow 180 days or they follow 990 hours, or they just follow 990 hours. There are local divisions that go to school 175 days a year. There are local schools that have shorter days, but there are no local school divisions that can measure up to Virginia Beach City Public Schools. And the fact of the matter is, this board has adopted a calendar based on days. If this board wanted to entertain, another, conversation around ours, within that, this board could certainly, entertain that discussion, recognizing that we do have enough time built up to to not go on the 21st and not make up anything. We didn't make that consideration again, because this board had create a

064calendar based on days, Mr. Delaney floated around the possibility of adjusting the calendar and and making April 3rd a school day and canceling that as a staff day. But there are ramifications for that as well. Miss Weems mentioned five minutes here, five minutes there. There is no perfect calendar. When you make a change, it's going to be a bit of an interruption to to people anyway. So what we what we have to do is, is, consider whether or not we're going to make up the day. And if we do, I believe the best solution is to extend the day or during that window by ten minutes, whether we go ten minutes at the end of the day, five minutes before or five minutes after, unless the board is willing to entertain another conversation and vote

065on whether or not they want to, consider hours. So at this point, we've gotten our best thinking. And, those are really the only options in Doctor Robertson. We would actually have to have a unanimous vote on that because that would be a suspension of policy. Per bylaw. 132 D so I don't think that we're going to be able to accomplish that in this particular meeting. And it's just pulling that up. Yeah. Thank you for that. I'm worried. I was just kind of curious to understand what the different options were. And so if we I'm just trying to, like, think through, like, you know, because we just heard that we had the the deck was uploaded today about the ten minutes in this hearing, about five before or five after, you know, is, a decision that

066impacts 60 some thousand students, 10,000 and staff. You know, we have kids getting on the bus super early, and I'm always that five minutes early, y'all. I hit that snooze alarm, all right. And that's going to be a lot of parents and high school parents academy parents who are going to be like, wait, I got to get out five minutes earlier, ten minutes earlier to get to my already existing bus stop in the mornings. You I know that Virginia Beach City Public Schools, that we do a great job at adapting to anything that comes up. And I know that our staff can adapt, but I obviously you have your recommendation of the ten minutes afterwards, I think, but I'm sorry, the ten minutes of the school day during. But what would that help me just

067understand, like five, 4 or 5 after ten after ten before school could help me to understand, like what would be the least operational pain in the butt? Well, for lack of a better word. Yeah. So again, without my transportation individuals up here, I think that if you had just the beginning and the end, you're adjusting on two different sides of the day. If you adjust just at the end or just at the beginning and again, I do not recommend the beginning because of high school. So if you adjust just at the end, you are adjusting only one period of the day in the afternoon. And again, we've been forced into this situation before because of so many snow days. And the approach we've used that that worked was the ten minutes end of the day.

068So we have Miss Rogers and then Doctor Green. Thank you. But first of all, I want to just say that for me, safety is, the highest. And so because of the recommendations that we, can't, guarantee all of the sites safety during this election, I appreciate the fact that the recommendation is to keep schools closed. One question I do have, that, will that mean it is closed for both staff and students? Yes, ma'am. That will be closed for both staff and students. Perfect. I also want to take a minute to thank our staff, because this is going to be an adjustment that we're asking them to do with this decision. And so I do appreciate the extra time that they will be spending with our students in order to ensure their safety on Election Day, that

069they're that they'll be taking on this extra time. So I appreciate our staff for that. I also appreciate Mrs. Windsor's suggestion. I did have some, community members and staff, concerned about, that ten minutes extra for the reasons, especially in high school students getting to their after school jobs or, after school activities, and those sort of things. And so having a flexible mind set is great when we're trying to discuss different options. I do want to state that I am also very, very interested in this summer. Looking at changing our policy, of the calendar, because if we had gone with the 990 hours, we would have the time available. But because we've go with days now, we have to then ask our staff to do even more. So I am very interested in having the flexibility

070of when instances come up. And we need that that time that we have, flexibility already built into our calendar. And I think it's really important to highlight the fact that our decision two years ago is now affecting us today in a way we never thought of. But being prepared is something that we need to start thinking more of. And so I think, having that discussion this summer is going to be important. So, I appreciate, the recommendations and, I appreciate everybody's input on this. Doctor green, thank you. And Mr. Shattuck and Doctor Robertson and your team, thank you for that recommendation. One of the things, I would like to remind, my colleagues and the viewing, community about as well that ten minutes at the end of the day is the least disruptive to the instructional day,

071because keep in mind, we have students going to other programs such as the ATC, the governor's school, the career and technical ed. We have some students that are out in the community and engaged in internships and things. And so we have to make sure the that time frame that they have, and it ensures that we are going to be in sync with all those other instructional notice the instructional obligations and responsibilities that we have to ensure that our students, learning is, disrupted. Not disrupted, is kept at a minimum, as well. And so I, I actually had asked Doctor Robertson as well about the five minutes before versus the five minutes after. And, that came as a result, because I had been reached out to somebody in our instructional staff and, you know, she has a

072family, and she indicated that her kids are an extracurriculars and that, ten minutes and, you know, not that we do things in isolation for one person, but that ten minutes makes it so that her kid can't participate as easily. Whereas five minutes might make it so she's just five minutes late. And so, you know, that was why that conversation was brought up. Because typically when one person has a challenge, another person has a challenge. They don't really love the idea of, sending people in earlier either. I don't think there's really any perfect solution. You know, we didn't plan this special election. It wasn't us that did it. But we have to mitigate it, and I'm sure there will be disappointed folks. No matter what decision and conclusion we come to. But I do kind of,

073if it's feasible, lean in a little bit to that five minutes. And then I was just curious. If we're we're going to do ten minutes, you know, Doctor Robertson, if you might share, with the community and the board, what kind of things might we be able to do? To assist our staff that may have some of those, those difficulties. Is there anything that we really can do or is there anything that can communicate? Yes. I'm not sure if there's anything we can do. The there's are all we have 5000 teachers, 11,000 employees. As soon as we say yes to help one person, we need to be prepared to say yes to help all 11,000. So I don't I think it's just going to be an individual adjustment, whether it's five in 5 or 10. After,

074the sooner we let them know, the sooner they have the opportunity to to see what the impact is on them. And we can plan accordingly. And then, I had also, I had gotten, you know, some, some feedback and some concerns, you know, from families in my district, about the impact on, income and potential food security. And I had some conversations with you, about, you know, my concerns about connecting families to resources. Is there maybe seeing if the beach bag programs could kind of step in a little bit, or if we could do, you know, the lunches, as we've done in the past with the virtual days, are we able to do anything like that to assist? Yes. So, in consultation with a couple of team members that determine what type of relief, food relief support

075we can give to our families in certain neighborhoods. And, should have an answer by the end of the week. All right. Thank you, Miss Malik. So I, too, just want to take a moment to thank all of our employees. Again, as others have said, it doesn't seem like much, but it is, what, the ten minutes at the end of the day. And clearly our hands are tied, but our employees are going to do everything we ask them to do, as they always do, and they're going to do it well. However, it is distressing when you hear the minutes versus the hours presented, and coupled with how much, how much more we exceed. The state's requirements. And I think it's something that we really should talk about. And I think moving forward, I would like to

076know. What percentage of school divisions across the Commonwealth 134 operate on seat time versus calendar days? I would just be interested in that statistic. Just so that we can have a fair conversation moving forward. I mean, I think we are the creme de la creme, but I think it's come up often enough in my time in this seat that we, we should probably really talk about that. Dreams. Yeah. I know we've had, like, a huge discussion. Does anybody remember what year that was that we talked that we talked about this and we got we got the data. Miss Melnick asked for every single school and what they did. When was that last run versus a few years ago? It was. We didn't get the data that Miss Melnick says. We did have lengthy conversations about

077calendar days. We were at 183 at 1.1 82, 181, 180. But we did that conversation time versus yeah. Do you remember it was that within last five years or four years, we didn't have a deep discussion on whether we wanted to go in my time of my 12 hours of calendar presentations, we did not go through minutes versus, days. We stuck with days. But the questions always do come up, Miss Weeds. But we didn't say because I know we what choice do we want to make? But we've had a heavy discussion on reduction of days. Yeah. And when you hit 180, that loses your flexibility on candidly, if we had 181, we wouldn't be having this conversation. Yeah. So there was some of that as well that comes out of that days. But nowadays and

078everything like that, it definitely was maybe another go around because I know we've had it many times since I've been reported. Thank you. And I think that's fair. And we were also hoping that. The Chromebooks were always going to help us because we could pivot to that instruction. But when you can't, I just think it's worth it's just worth the conversation. So I appreciate my ask and your follow through so much. Thank you. Okay. So we are now on to the bylaw 136 amendment. And what this is, is everybody should have, this amendment in front of you, but our bylaw requires that this be on information as well as action. I guess Cami can go ahead and present. Yes. At the last school board meeting, there was a mention as to whether we could do

079something about how you report when you are taking or you're going to participate in remote participation. There's two ways we do that, which is medical reasons or personal reasons. And the decision number of years ago, most disturbing, the governance committee was looking at this bylaw and we first amended it was that you would state where you were and the reason why you were doing that. It was at the last meeting. There are some concerns about security issues. Could we look at it again, the statute and see if that's something we could do with it? And so and so we took a look at what the state statute allows you to do, but you can't put it in your meeting minutes rather than having to state it out. That's one way to do it. And that's

080not the decision we just made not to do that number of years ago. So looking at that's what statutory provisions are in the Virginia for Information Act. If we look at bylaw 136 and section D, which is a remote location participation, section one has to do with temporary or permanent disability or medical condition. That's not our situation here. If you look at two under section B, I think we could amend it and it could read the meeting. Minutes will include the specific nature of the personal matter and the remote location from which the school board member participated. Comma, which would be noted, which may be noted by general descriptions that would be consistent with the Virginia Freedom Information Act to do that, so it would be available to the public as allowable. They are obviously

081with no during the meeting, somebody is participating remotely, but you would not have to announce it. So I think that may address the concerns about where, people are concerned about announcing during meetings that they might not be in their home. And so we think that is a solution that you could add to that, again, is consistent with 2.2-370, 8.3 under the Virginia Information Act. And it would be a solution to the concerns expressed at the last meeting. And, Miss Rogers, I just want to confirm that you do have a copy of this. Correct? Yes. That was, you know, the copy. Okay. Perfect. Thank you. Right. Does anyone have any questions? I just appreciate, okay. And, you know, I, I felt like it was, you know, a good amendment because it, you know, represents a compromise

082on language, especially where we can work. So, thank you guys for being flexible with that. We are now on to the consent agenda. As a reminder, 136 is going to be, initially as presented on action D and then that amendment will be up. So that's not on consent. We have bylaw 137, appendix C, policy 259. We have local special education annual plan application and report for D.o.e. and Pembroke Elementary School, 80 a courtyard renovations. Are there any objections to the consent agenda as presented? Okay. Seeing none, the motion is made by Miss Dwyer, seconded by Miss Melnick. I call for the vote on the consent, consent agenda as presented. Modified. Miss Rogers, have you vote on the consent agenda? I vote yes, thank you, Madam Chair. We have ten eyes. The motion to pass for

083the consent agenda. Thank you. We are now on to the personnel and administrative appointments. I call for a motion to approve the personnel report and administrative appointments moved by Miss Dwyer, seconded by Mr. Callan. Any discussion? Seeing none, I call for approval of the personnel report and administrative appointments. Miss Rogers, how do you vote on the personnel report? I vote yes, thank you, Miss Williams. Have you vote yes. Thank you, Madam Chair. We have ten eyes. The motion to pass for the approval of the personnel report. Okay. Vice Chair Williams is going to read, the resolution for the fiscal year 20 2627 school operating budget, whereas the mission of Virginia Beach City Public Schools, in partnership with the entire community, is to empower every student to become a lifelong learner who is responsible, productive and

084engaged citizen within the global community. And Whereas the school board, the City of Virginia Beach has adopted a comprehensive strategic plan and school improvement priorities to guide budgetary decisions. And Whereas the School Board has studied the proposed FY 20 2627 operating budget in view of state and federal requirements, the strategic plan priorities, community expectations, competitive compensation form for employees, and the best educational interest of its students. And Whereas, the proposed operating budget for the instructional experience based step pay scale provides a 1.5% experience step for all eligible employees on this scale, with a 2% increase, plus a $1,000, 1000 plus $1,000 to the entry level salary. And whereas the proposed operating budget for the Unified Experience Base Step Pay scale provides a 1% step increase for all eligible employees, with 1 to 14 years of

085experience and a 1.5% step increase for all eligible employees. With 15 and above years of experience with a 3% increase to the entry level salary. And Whereas, the City School revenue sharing policy provides 48.5% of certain general fund revenues to meet the obligations of the School board and the City of Virginia Beach. And Whereas, the total funds requested for the operating budget from the City of Virginia Beach to the School board of the City of Virginia Beach are 550 $59,522,641, and whereas the debt service payment is estimated to be $50,071,611, leaving a balance of $509,451,030 to allocate between the operating budget and the Capital Improvement Program. And now, therefore, be it resolved, that the $509 million, $451,030 be allocated as follows $504,451,030 to the operating budget and 5 million to schools. Pay as you go.

086Pay for the CIP and be it further resolved that federal funds of $15,494,107, state funds of $515,077,422, and other local funds of $5,457,538 be added to the operating budget, bringing it to the total of $1,040,480,000, $480,097. And be it further resolved that the School Board of the City of Virginia Beach request a lump sum appropriation of $1,040,480,097 from the City Council of Virginia Beach for the school board operating budget. And be it further resolved that the School Board of the City of Virginia Beach request an appropriation of $178,158,274 for categorical grants and other special revenue funds, comprised of categories of grants for $103,308,858. Grain run Collegian for $5,062,922, and other special revenue funds, and the amount of 69,000,000 million $786,494. And be it further resolved that the School Board of the City of Virginia Beach

087request a lump sum appropriation of $1,218,638,371 for the total of all funds, $1,040,480,097 for the operating budget, plus $178,158,274 for categorical grants and other special revenue funds. And be it finally resolved that a copy of this resolution be spread across the official minutes of this school board and the clerk of the school board is directed to deliver a copy of this resolution to the mayor. Each member of City Council, the city manager, and the City Clerk adopted by the school board the City of Virginia Beach. This 24th day of March, 2026. Okay motion was made by Vice Chair Weems, seconded by Miss Dwyer. Any discussion? Seeing none, I call for the vote to approve the fiscal year 2627 operating budget, as read by Vice Chair Weems and Miss Rogers. How do you vote on the

088resolution? Approve. Thank you, Madam Chair. We have ten eyes. The motion did pass. Thank you, Vice Chair Weems. We are now on to the scope Capital Improvement program for F lot 2627 through five 3132 budget resolution. Whereas the mission of Virginia Beach City Public Schools, in partnership with the entire community, is to empower every student to become a lifelong learner who is a responsible, productive, and engaged citizen within the global community. And whereas, a school board in the City of Virginia Beach has adopted a comprehensive strategic plan and school improvement priorities to guide budgetary decisions. And Whereas the primary fund funding sources of the Capital Improvement Program are charter bonds, public facility revenue bonds, and reversion funding, and Whereas, the City School revenue sharing policy provides 48.5% of certain general fund revenues to meet obligations

089of the School Board of the City of Virginia Beach. And Whereas, the City School Revenue sharing policy allocates funds first to debt service, while the balance is used for the operating budget and the CIP. And Whereas $5 million will be allocated to schools. Pay as you go, pay go for the CIP. And whereas the school board has comprehensively reviewed all sources of funding, projected various scenarios and prioritize the needs of the operating and CIP budgets. And whereas total project cost, new construction amounts are partly based on 2023 educational specifications. Post 30% design created with school board input and Whereas educational specifications and the associated designs will be reviewed under a separate process with the school board, which may result in a change in square footage and cost. And Whereas new construction projects will not go

090out for bid without school board approval. Separate from this CIP, and now therefore be it resolved, that the School Board of the City of Virginia Beach adopt a c CIP program of $947,329,209, as shown on the school board, and in summary and project summary dated March 24th, 2026. And b a final resolved that a copy of this resolution be spread across the official minutes of this school board and the clerk of the School Board is directed to deliver a copy of this resolution to the mayor, each member of City Council and City Manager and the City Clerk adopted by the School Board of the City of Virginia Beach this 24th day of March, 2026. All right motion was made by Vice Chair Williams, seconded by Miss Dwyer. Any discussion? Okay. And I do have a

091comment. Last year I did not vote for the CIP. Predominantly related to, some of the, the costs, of the high school in there and also, the maintenance and the balance. I do think that we're heading in the right direction. This is my position that when we're heading in the right direction, I support it. So I am going to support it this year. And with that, seeing no other discussion, I call for the vote on the Capital Improvement Program fiscal year 2627 through fiscal year 2031 32. Mr. Rogers, how do you vote on the resolution? Approve. Thank you, Madam Chair. We have ten eyes. The motion to pass. Thank you. We are now on to the calendar adjustments for quarter four. I call for a motion to approve the adjustment to the fourth quarter school calendar

092for school year 2526. Based on the recommendations as presented. Moved by Miss Dwyer. Is there a second? I will. All right. Seconded by Vice Chair Weems. The calendar adjustment, Mr. Cummings. Yeah, I'm gonna need some help us figuring out the legal ease of this, but I wanted to see if we could make a substitute, or I wanted to make a substitute motion to utilize instructional hours instead of days for this one time event. He can't do it. Well, I. Well, we still vote on it. So I just want to make a one, substitute motion to suspend the use of instructional days or the 180 school days to 990 hours for this one time. I feel like we're making a decision without a lot of information before me. I mean, I know we say five minutes.

093Well, I have to get a second first. Then we'll go to the discussion. Is there a second? Seconded by Miss Rogers. Discussion. So I, I mean, I'll be honest, this is a frustrating topic. The awkward place to be in. And, you know, I really was hoping that virtual would, count towards the day because I had to value our students learning. But just hearing them out of how we do exceed school, that a lot of our neighbors, the school time seats in the classroom that that our neighbors do. I think about this change, and I think about how much impact will have on our community for the following, you know, two months, that's a lot. I mean, I know, as we said, ten minutes in packed schedules. Well, five minutes in the morning in five minutes.

094And the effort in the evenings also going to impact people's schedules. I'm kind of a keep it simple guy. You know, our kids are doing great. Our schools are doing great, our staff do great. I think we can manage through this one day going, not there. And so I'd ask my colleagues to consider supporting this one time temporary, you know, measure. Okay. Vice Chair Williams, for you and and for the discussion on the, motion made by Mr. Cummings. Yes. I would encourage and hope my colleagues would not support this. Why? I can understand why it would seem attractive to do so. This if we're going to discuss this. This requires a lot of discussion. A lot of, looking at why we are so successful. I don't know that this will be a one time thing,

095because it's like we start with 183 days, then we go to 182, then we go to 181, and then we go to 180. Now this is a one time thing. And a month from now, what what happens if something else happens in the fall? We have hurricane days and then we're right back here. We're successful and we do so well because we have this board has always valued instructional time and kids to be in front of teachers and getting educated in the school buildings. And I think it's a slippery slope until we have that thorough discussion and off the board, I mean, we voted for it in 2023. But if the board decides to go another way, that's got to be after a lot of discussion. So I would I will not support this because

096what's going to happen in two weeks when something else happens or a storm comes through or a hurricane in the fall, we're going to be right back there and we're going to say, it's only one time, and then we'll be like some, you know, some of our school districts that are real close to us only go 175 days, and let's match up our scores. Let's match up our resources that we have for our for our teachers. And let's match up, you know, everything and like, we're superb. And it's a reason. And I think part of that reason is just the philosophy of being in school and, really taking advantage of that and, and not taking the easy way. And I know this is inconvenient, but I think we've got to stand on what we've stood

097for for years and decades is, high accountability, high instruction and being in the building as much as possible. So I will not support that motion. Thank you. And chair Weems, Chair Brown, Mister Rogers has has her hand raised. Did she put it in before Doctor Greener? Yes. Okay. Miss Rogers, thanks so much. I actually have a lot to say about this. In 2024, I came before the school board prior to being elected because I was supporting the staff who were asking for the 1996 calendar. They put together an entire calendar. They submitted it to the school division, and yet the board chose to go with this. I think it's disingenuous to act like having days versus hours is somehow a superior calendar, when our staff is what makes our division superior. It's not a calendar,

098it is actually the work of our staff. I also want to say that I find it interesting that we have the argument that we go 180 days, yet we're sitting here making that day up with minutes. So it kind of seems like, why are we saying it's okay to make up a day with minutes? But to count hours is not okay. It doesn't make sense to me. And so I would say one of the things we could do to even make our staff happy, that is simple, that is inexpensive, is to talk about the calendar that they wanted to see back in 2024, which is a nine and six. It's not that we're going to have students in our buildings, so much less. It's not that our staff are going to do so much less.

099We are giving ourselves and the staff the flexibility to be able to do these kind of emergency things. When we look at a calendar that has flexibility. So I really don't think that there's any slippery slope. I mean, 180 days versus 996 hours, we are still going to be more than exceeding the state requirements, because that's what our division does. We more than exceed. And so I don't think whether we count days or hours is going to change our excellence in our division and the excellence coming from our amazing and excellent staff, they always put forth 200% on 100% day, and they always put our students first. And I think that saying that it's because we have a certain calendar, that's the only way that excellent exists. Really short changes the excellence of our staff.

100Doctor green, thank you. Having been through the pain and agony of being part of the desk Doctor Robertson, I know how painful it has been in seeing your staff. Trust me, when I've been there. And and so one of the things I ask my colleagues to think about, and we have had the discussions on, you know, what's in the best interests of our kids, instructional. I give I hear my colleagues in with regards to their, request to amend the motion for, change in the calendar, but I feel that's a bigger discussion we should have when we have a lot more information. And then, if I recall, some of us been up here, dig into policy things, and I think Miss Melnick may have found it. I don't know if it's, you know that. So we

101do need to have the calendar and time discussion. Absolutely. And and I hope we will see that, on our retreat agenda sooner than later, because it has to be. But to just flip it right now, I'll be honest with you, I'm a little leery about that. Because, of so many of the ramifications with, And I hear my colleagues why we need to do it, but it's about timing. This moment. So in in meetings outside of this school board realm, but still kind of connected to school board, I call myself classically trained by Cami. And, I see I see things you've heard me say it 100 times. And so I take these policies very seriously, and, and we, we do have a bylaw 1-32. And so it specifically says Mr. Cummings, under section D, suspension policies

102may be suspended in whole or in part by the school board upon a majority vote on of the school board members present at the meeting. When comma prior to the start of the informal workshop session of the meeting or the formal meeting. If there is no scheduled informal workshop session, eight hours notice of the proposed suspension has been provided in writing or upon a unanimous vote of the school board members present at the meeting, when no such written notice has been given. So I think. The last part of that is telling you right now what's going to happen. And so we might as well just end this discussion and do what, Miss Green says and bring this up with more detail, because the last part of this policy is upon a unanimous vote of the

103school board members present at the meeting, when no such written notice has been given. And it's not going to be unanimous. But I do think it deserves proper conversation moving forward. I don't like the minutes either, but I don't know that we have a choice right now. Miss Dwyer. So agreed. We don't we don't have a choice. It's a bylaw, so. And I feel like it was triggered because of the, the video made that decision as well. And so, I mean, we're going to cross them to I mean, this is a bylaw, and I think we should end it right there. Thanks. And I just wanted to, I wanted to echo Vice Chair Williams. Comments. We did vote on that policy. April 4th, 2023. I actually haven't looked to see, you know, whether or not

104that was unanimous or not at that particular time. This board has had hours and hours and hours during my time of discussion versus hours, days versus days. And I'm sure that will continue to be a conversation every single time the calendar comes around. I have signaled publicly on many, many occasions my support for 180 days. And I, I'm going to maintain that. And I said that, before and so, you know, I, I lean in on the side of students. I think that when we look at the data that the data is going to show that our students do better when they're in class. There's been votes from this board to move from half day kindergarten to full day kindergarten to get more time for kindergartners, signaling that the board, in fact, does recognize how important

105it is for our students, to be in school. So, philosophically, I'm going to be, I'll be fighting for the days. And I think we need to build in emergency days in our calendar moving forward. I would like to see that happening, instead of, you know, going with the bare minimum so that when there is a snow day that maybe we don't have to jump straight to virtual, or when this does happen that we have a little bit more, flexibility there. But, I just want to say, you know, that's, that's where my fight is going to be on the topic. And seeing no more discussion, we, Mr. Cummings. Yeah, I'll just withdraw my motion. My thoughts were we needed to have some conversation, and I heard some of the conversation. And I'm glad that we can

106have some of the conversation. You know, I'm not looking to force votes or anything that just, honestly was not when you read the Pi policy earlier, I was like, well, maybe this is a potential avenue that we could go down to solve a problem. And so, yeah, all of the lessons so that's just what was on my mind. And so I thank you all for your conversation, but also with your, Miss Leonetti, I know we need, permission from, Miss Rogers, but do we have to vote on the withdrawal since we've had once you once you've had discussion, the homework, now you we have to withdraw. So. Okay. Miss Rogers. Do you, agree with his withdraw? I would rather just vote on it, but whatever. I'll agree. She'll agree. Okay, so we are going to vote

107on the withdrawal. That motion, and we'll give Regina just a minute here to get that set up. Okay. And just while she's setting that up, I'm going to repeat what we're voting on. Because we've had discussion, in, in our bylaws and Robert's Rules of Order, once you've started a debate or discussion on a topic where there's been a substitute or a second, you have to vote on the withdrawal of that. And that's in our appendix. So. All right. Okay. So we are going to vote for that withdrawal. And Miss Rogers, how do you vote on the withdrawal of the motion? Approve. So, Madam Chair, we have ten eyes. The motion did pass for the withdrawal of the motion by Mr. Cummings. Thank you. All right. We are now back to the original motion. Is there

108any further discussion on the original motion? I think I'm going to need a show of hands. Is that, The original motion, which is the one presented. So that would be the adjusted fourth calendar. School year 2526, based on the recommendation as presented. So that would be what we discussed previously on the correct. Okay. Vice chair Mims, I was unclear is the recommendation for ten minutes after I thought it only said ten minutes added. Yeah. So it only says, says ten minutes added in after Mr. Freeman and Mr.. Delaney providing input from transportation. The school leadership standpoint, they they feel that less is more in terms of disruption. And because we have four different schedules for two in elementary, one for middle, one for high, if you just go ten minutes at the end of the

109day extended, then there's only one adjustment. It's just if it's cleaner. Well, I appreciate that. And I appreciate Doctor Gray and you sharing your, experience because that helped me. So I will support that because of the reasons stated. I would prefer the five and five for ease, but because of all the logistics, I will I will agree to ten minutes at the end of the day. Thank you. You're going to need to either amend or substitute. Then if did the motion actually say just ten minutes either said ten minutes added. It didn't specify how those ten minutes were added. So that is an operational decision at that point. And I echo those comments, I would have actually I would have liked to see five and five, but I don't want to, cause additional burden by

110doing so, so I will I will accept that. Miss Melnick, I know you're going to do this and get communication out to parents, but there are a lot of people who have no idea that this is happening, so I'm sure it will be crystal clear, but I'm sure most people have no clue. Okay. Thank you. And just in closing, Doctor Robertson, if you could, when you get that update about, you know, potential resources for families, meals if those are going to be something that we're going to do, if you could send that out to the board and find a way to communicate that to the community, that would be great. All right. And with that, we are going to now vote on the adjustment to the fourth quarter school calendar for school year 2526. Based

111on the read recommendation as presented. By Mr. Rogers, how do you vote approve. So, Madam Chair, we have ten eyes. The motion did pass for the calendar adjustment for quarter four. Thank you. We are now on to bylaw 136. So we're going to do bylaw 136 as presented. So a call for a motion for that moved by Mr. Cummings, seconded by Mr. Callaghan and Vice Chair Williams. Would you mind reading that motion? The motion that the school board approve is the substitute motion for bylaw 136, which amends section D to be and it will read as follows B the meeting minutes will include the specific nature of the personal matter and the remote location from which the school board member participated, which may be noted by general description. So the main changes it's going to

112be in the meeting minutes. Okay. Was that a motion? Well, I thought they had given the motion. No, they gave them an initial motion. You're making the substitute okay. Yes. That's a I move that I approve a motion for the substitute made by Vice Chair Weems. Is there a second? I'll second that. Seconded by Miss Melnick. Any discussion? Seeing none, I call for the votes to approve the substitute read by Vice Chair Weems and Miss Rogers. Have you vote on the substitute motion for bylaw 1-36? I approve. Thank you, sir. Madam chair, we have ten eyes. The motion to pass for the substitute motion on bylaw 1-36, as read by Vice Chair Weems. Thank you. Miss Leonetti, do we need to vote on that again? She read it as a substitute motion, and typically we

113don't. But, it's kind of more like an amendment. That's what it's, Yeah, she is a substitute, so we don't. We don't need a vote against the substitute. All right. Just wanted to verify. Thank you. We are now on to committee organization and board reports. Do any board members have anything to report? Miss Melnick? So tomorrow is the regional cap and governor's school meetings. Doctor Robertson and I will be there. But just a note to my colleagues. Check, please check. Governor's school website. They have a lot going on right now. In all of the disciplines. Please look. And if there's something that interests you, something you think you might like to attend, please let me know. Please let Doctor Robertson know. And we would be happy to get you tickets to anything that pleases you. And,

114you know, in all of the disciplines. So, the students would love, love to see you and and love to know that, you know, you're supporting them, as school board members. So please don't hesitate. Everything is listed on their website. GSA board. Thank you. Doctor green. Yes, I have two things. The first one on March 13th. Mr. Callen and I, attended the, Inter Agency council, meeting at the Adult Learning Center and there Mr. Callen and I had an opportunity to participate in a lot of great conversations with, community agencies that support our students and families, at the Adult learning Center. And for those of you who may not be aware, a lot of our adult learners have students that are enrolled in our schools. So having those conversations, that Mr. Callen and I, had with the

115other community agencies, it kind of demonstrated the wraparound services, wouldn't you say, Mr. Callen, that are are provided, within the community, to a lot of our families. The second item I have, I want to thank Lance town high school staff, and students for hosting the quarterly meeting, on March 17th, for the Access Foundation board. They did a phenomenal job. I would not have suspected otherwise. And they were great hosts for the quarterly meeting of the Assets Foundation. So thank you. Doctor Johnson, students and staff at Lansdowne High School. Thank you, Mr. Brown. Steele. Yes? I just wanted to, mention that the Green Run Collegiate had their gala, and it seemed like it was, a very good success. A lot of fun. The Green Run Orchestra actually performed during the reception, which was really kind of

116cool. Good too. They raised a lot of money to give out scholarships. So I just encourage you all next year, if you're looking for something to do that night, that's a good, good event to go to. It raises money and you get a lot of social time. It's a great event. Thank you. Vice Chair Weems. Yes. I just wanted to piggyback on the adult Learning Center. I was just happened to be at a Civic League meeting and the adult learning center, presented, to the Civic League and said they'll come out and talk with you. And it was so interesting. And a lot of adults and the community have no idea of all the offerings. And so we got several people to sign up for classes. And, you know, I signed it for a couple myself.

117And so, yeah. And so yeah. So it's. Yeah. So it's awesome the stuff that they, offer out there and it was, it was really a great presentation. And then also tomorrow PRC will be meeting here at 330. Thank you. Okay. And Miss Rogers doesn't have her hand raised, correct? Yes she does. Okay. Miss Rogers. Thanks. March 14th, my husband and I had the privilege of attending the tide Belonging breakfast. Oh, to thank all of the, staff that were at the table on the breakfast. There was amazing parents participation, opportunities. And, we really got the chance to, give really great feedback on how parents can be more involved in their middle school or high schoolers, careers. It's, interesting because there's so much parent involvement in the elementary school level and it just tapers off at the

118middle and high school levels until we were able to participate in discussions on how to better engage families in the middle school and high school level. So I really appreciate that breakfast, and I'm looking forward to telling more. Just like it. Great. Thank you. And Vice Chair Weems is going to read it for us to go back into closed session. I move that the school board recess and the closed session, in accordance with the exceptions to open meetings law set forth in Code of Virginia 2.237 11 parts A, paragraph seven and 19, as amended, to deliberate on the following seven consultation of legal counsel and briefings by staff members or consultants pertaining to actual or probable litigation or such consultation or briefing and open meetings would adversely affect the negotiating or litigating posture of this

119public body for the purpose of this subdivision, probable litigation means litigation has been specifically threatened, or on which the public body or its legal counsel has a reasonable basis to believe will be commenced by or against any known party. Nothing in this subdivision shall be construed to permit the closure of a meeting, merely because an attorney representing the body is in attendance, or is consulted on the matter. A consultation with legal counsel, employed or retained by a public body regarding specific legal matters rely on the provision of legal advice by such counsel. Nothing in this subdivision will be construed will permit the closure remaining. Merely because I'm an attorney representing the body is in attendance or is consulted on the matter. 19 discussion of plans to protect public safety as it relates to terrorist activity,

120or specific cyber security threats, or vulnerabilities, and briefings by staff members, legal counsel or law enforcement or emergency service officials concerning actions taken to respond to such matters or related threat to public safety. Discussion of information subject to exclusion and sub division 2 or 14 of 2.2-3705.2 were. Discussion in an open meeting would jeopardize the safety of any person, of the security of any facility, building structure, information technology, system or software program, or discussion of reports or plans related to the security of any governmental facility, building or structure, or the safety of persons using such facilities. The building or structure, namely to discuss a safety protocols from April. Event B status of pending litigation or administrative cases. T consultation with legal counsel regarding probable litigation and pending litigation matters. Okay. Motion made by Vice Chair

121Williams, seconded by Miss Dwyer. All right. Any discussion? Seeing none, I call for the vote to go into closed session. The. Madam chair, we have seven eyes of the motion to pass to go into closed session. Thank you. Whereas the school board of the City of Virginia Beach has convened a closed meeting on this day, pursuant to an affirmative recorded vote, and in accordance with the provisions of the Virginia Freedom of Information Act. And Whereas section 2.27 12 of the Code of Virginia requires a certification, about of the school board that such closed meeting was conducted in conformity with Virginia law. Now therefore be resolved, that the School Board, the City of Virginia Beach, hereby certify that to the best of each member's knowledge, only public business matters lawfully exempted from open meeting requirements by

122Virginia law were discussed in the closed meeting to which the certification applies, and only such business matters as were delivered in the motion by which, because meeting was convened, was, were heard, discussed or considered. All right, is there a motion for certification or closed motion made by Miss Melnick, seconded by Miss Dwyer? Any discussion? I call for the vote to certify closed session. I, Mr. Callan, how do you vote? Thank you, Madam Chair. We have nine eyes. The motion to pass for certification of closed session. Thank you. It is 8:40 p.m. and we are adjourned.