001Happy. Noo. Hey. Hey. N. Good afternoon. My name is Kathleen Brown, chair of the Virginia Beach School Board, and I call this administrative, informal, and workshop meeting to session. Madame Clerk, would you please announce the role? Thank you, Madam Chair. President in the school board chamber or chair Brown, Vice Chair Williams, Mr. Bowensteel, Mr. Kalen, Miss Felton, Dr. Green, Miss Melnik, and Miss Rogers, and Miss Dwire. And currently online is Mr. Cummings. And Mr. Cummings, for the record, can you state why you were zooming in? I'm zooming in because I'm sick. Thank you. And Mr. Co Pepper will be joining us virtually um this evening during our formal session. Um, we are now on to schoolboard administrative matters and reports and um I'm going to open the floor for anybody, Miss Melnik. So, I'd like
002to start this evening um acknowledging Dr. Robertson's email to the board about um the emails that we've been receiving from the community about class rank. Um, I I thank you for acknowledging that there's been an oversight with that. Um, but in those discussions with uh Mrs. Lanetti and Dr. Robertson, and Mrs. Lanetti is not here, and I'm going to look to um an attorney to pull up bylaw 1-31. Um, and that and here here's my concern is that when however it happened, there was a misinterpretation of state code. Um, I understand all of that, but when when we voted on this a few years ago, we directed staff to um to adjust policy and we did that. And when staff could not accommodate, if you will, the the policy as it was written or the
003or the direction from the board, the board should have been notified and then we could have decided from there how we were going to deal with whatever was on our plate. But this actually made it to PRC without the rest of the board knowing what was going on. And so our our biggest job on this board is policy. And when you hear from members of the community and you don't know what they're talking about, um it just kind of puts us in a in a bad place. So PRC should have never gotten that before it came to the board first. we should have known so that we were aware of that. Um, and through my discussions with um, Mrs. Lenetti, it just appears that this is happening a this has happened a few times that
004the board is not aware of things that are now on a PRC agenda. So, with that, I'm asking that the board now receive um the PRC agenda um in advance so that we know, just so we know, so that we're we're just informed in case we hear from constituents. Um as a board, we don't create policy based on a single constituent's concerns about an issue. um if there is an issue or if constituents do have concerns um we typically have asked staff um to give us a recommendation. We talk about it as a board and we decide um whether or not to send that on to the policy review committee. But for the record, Mrs. Lanetti, can you just read bylaw 1-31 the beginning about the procedure of Okay. And then I also have a
005question about that, Miss L. And I'm going on 11 years of of work and the you know just the process of how it works otherwise you I mean the board needs to know what what standing committees are working on. Okay. What section did you want me to read the first sentence? Uh, is it the first section, Dr. Robertson? This is policy formation 131. Correct. Yes. Correct. Want to just start reading and then you can Okay. The school board of the city of Virginia Beach representing the people of the community is the legislative body of the school division which determines all questions of general policy to be employed in the conduct of the public schools. As such, it is the responsibility of the school board to adopt policies for governing schools. The power to enact policy
006cannot be delegated to an employee or an agency such as a superintendent or a single member of school board. Policy is a basic statement of the attended school board which creates rights and responsibilities from the conduct of the school division's business. Being of a dynamic nature, policies subject to revision by the school board. Pros shall be developed and presented to the school board regarding policies and operations. Stop right there. So it should be presented to the school board and so unless it's policy review so it's in the queue and their existing policies that's what can automatically just be part of PRC's job but if we're discussing new policies or changes to policies that have come up through discussions either from board community or staff then it just needs to come um to the full board
007and and I'm just respectfully requesting um that that we that we follow that moving forward. Thank you. Thank you, Miss Melik. Um Miss Lenetti, I um I respectfully would ask for your interpretation because my interpretation of that particular bylaw is very different. Um my interpretation is that the board votes on policies and it comes up to the board and that the committee only has the authority of the committee. And when I served as chair and was not as chair of the policy committee um during additional matters we would often bring additional stuff. Uh the dual enrollment policy um is an example. And so I I have not actually um I've not seen that, but the policy was requested to go back to the committee and the full board was actually emailed this um in a
008constituent reply um that Dr. Robertson requested it to go back to the committee. I will note there's another paragraph in this this policy bylaw that reads action on such proposals whatever their source is taken finally by the school board in accordance with this bylaws after due consideration and recommendations by the superintendent or special committees of the school board if appropriate unless otherwise fried when policies amend or repeal the new or revised policy shall become law on it. So it does anticipate that it's possible they're probably going to come up through the superintendent in this case special committees which generally it's going to be PRC although technically other committees could present it. Now again there are your rules and policies if you were to generate up here and decide that you want a policy that you
009as a school board could direct that it be researched. Your procedure since we developed the policy review committee is to send it to policy review and write it through the evaluation. that's been our system, but technically it's your authority to do as you wish. But I think this paragraph that I just read anticipates it's probably going to come up through the superintendent or through whatever committee is responsible for that policy. So you're saying that the policy review committee, according to this bylaw, is only allowed unless the board agrees to review a policy that comes up in the schedule as recommended. Is that your interpretation? I was looking at Sorry, I was looking at from when the school board can look at I would need to look at 128 to pull out your your task for
010the PRC. So, so I'm gonna I'm just going to ask that um perhaps that information go to the full board um from you after you've had the chance to review it um so that we don't get stuck on a sentence or two and your interpretation if you wouldn't mind. Um Miss Rogers then Miss Melnik. Sorry. Um, I want to take the opportunity to acknowledge the following recognitions and celebrations within our community in the month of December. In this month, the community will recognize the following. HIV and AIDS awareness month, which is a global observance to increase understanding, fight stigma, and promote testing and support those affected by HIV. Universal Human Rights Month commemorates the adoption of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights. On December 10th, 1948, which is a landmark document outlining fundamental
011rights and freedoms for all people. On December 1st, the dis the community commemorated World AIDS Day, which honors more than 32 million people who have passed from the from fighting AIDS. On December 6th, the community came together for the annual holiday parade at the Ocean Front and celebrated St. Nicholas Day, which is a tribute to the 4th century Bishop Nicholas of Myra, who was known for secretly helping the poor and inspiring giftgiving traditions during the holiday season. Tomorrow, on December 10th, the community recognized International Human Rights Day, which commemorates the anniversary of the Universal Decoration of Human Rights, which is a groundbreaking global pledge. On December 14th, the community will celebrate the first evening of Hanukkah, which is the festival of lights and commemorates the rededication of the temple in Jerusalem. On December 21st, the
012community celebrate the UO winter solstice, which is the shortest day and the longest night of the year. And the celebration symbolizes the rebirth of the sun and the return to light in our skies. On December 25th, the community will celebrate Christmas, which is a religious and cultural celebration with several customs, including exchanging cards and gifts, special uh celebration feast, and holiday decorations. On December 26th, the community recognized Quanza, which is an annual celebration in African-American culture culminating in a special feast called the Caramu. And finally, on December 31st, the community will celebrate New Year's Eve, which is the last day of the calendar year where people reflect on the past year and look forward to the new year to come, focusing on new beginnings and resolutions. Miss Malnight. Okay. Okay, I just want to state
013for the record that um my concerns are not because I'm not upset about anything. This is just an organic thing. And and I also want to remind the public that the policy review committee did not always exist. That's been since I've been on the board that we created these um these um committees, but we clearly did not change the bylaw. And so um that was my interpretation and we don't have to get into that now. We can look about that. We can look at that. It mine is for board awareness on on policies so that we know as a board member that something is being discussed. That's all. And in the past before we had policy review um if it if it were something other than the annual review of you know the monthly review
014or whatever policies were up things came from staff or they came from discussions from community um concerns. So don't want it to be a major a major thing. I just want it to be right and fair. Thanks. Um, and I guess Cammy, if you could just make sure that the full board gets the PRC agenda and any of our standing committee um, agendas, whoever needs to do that, I think that that um, would serve that purpose will be done. And I will note um, your board clerk has worked very hard on your new committee. You've had a committee page. We actually post it there. We are posting the videos on there so it's available to you and the public, but we can certainly direct it immediately to you. But we've got that all posted and
015you can thank your board clerk. She took care of that for you. Thank you. And then of course, you know, whatever your legal advice is, as long as that is um consistently followed uh by the PRC and future PRC's, um that would be appreciated. Um, additionally, I did want to um reference the email, Miss Melnik, and I'm I know I'm getting a little long-winded here. I am going to um read at least part of that meeting during our formal um that email during our formal meeting tonight. um when most of the public will have the chance with our college students um having their applications due, I think that it's fair for the community to know exactly what it is that our division is going to be doing. Um so with that, um on January 13th,
016the board will vote on chair and vice chair. If anyone wants to indicate their interest, they can do so at this time. Um, those that don't choose to express interest may still be nominated at that organizational meeting. Does anyone want to express any interest at this time? Okay. We are now on to the schedule of meetings remaining 2026 affirmed and proposed 2027. The draft is part of the agenda packet um that's up for discussion here. We will vote on these meetings at the organizational meeting in January. And um I just open the floor if there's any discussion regarding those meeting dates. Miss Rogers, just a quick question. Um, is this uh going to adjust some of our times because this is obviously a budget season with special meetings. Um, it's going to be heavy. So,
017I I'm just only because I need to have my own scheduled sound. So, if we have like time adjustments that if we could just know ahead of time. Yeah. Um, so I I think what you're saying is as as soon as we know if it's going to be earlier that you want as much notice and heads up as possible and draw attention to it. Yes, please. Like I said, uh, you know, I'm a working parent, so I have to make sure I have my schedule very uh, tight. All right. We will do our best to make sure that if it modifies by, you know, 30 minutes here or there, that we communicate that. Um, and we'll try to do so in advance as we're able. Okay, Mr. Kalen, a small technicality, but seeking clarification. I
018see on the agenda of the meetings, uh, especially those that are in red ink, there is an asterisk after the workshop on several of those, but my eyes don't see a corresponding asterisk that explains what the asterisk is there for. So, I'm wondering if you can elaborate on the asterisk. Okay. Thank you, Mr. Kalen. Um, it just notates that it's a workshop and then on March uh 17th and also on January 20th, it was voted on that they would only be used on an asneeded basis. So, the other ones that are asterisks are just a notification that those are a budget meeting for a budget workshop. Okay. Thank you. All right. We are now on to the streaming update and we welcome David Den, Chief Information Officer. Good afternoon everyone. I hope that you enjoyed
019this morning's winter wonderland as much as our students did. So, I'll be providing a brief update uh on our video services transition this afternoon. As you may remember, uh we are well into phase two of our transition. Uh BBCPS has uh fully assumed all video services and broadcast responsibilities. If you've watched channel 47 recently, you may have noticed quite a bit of new programming uh that is generated through the great work of our department of communications and community engagement. We've been working hard to highlight events across the division and the program uh and and the programs that our students are really interested in. Since my last update, uh, I mentioned to you that we were adding agenda-based chapters to the recordings of our schoolboard meetings on YouTube. Our goal here is simple. Uh, we want
020to make long meetings easier for our community to navigate. We recognize that families are busy and they often come looking for one particular topic. As you can see from the screenshots provided on this slide, viewers can now click directly on the chapters that matches an item on the published agenda. So if someone, for example, is only interested in the textbook adoption section, they can jump straight there with one click. Quick, easy, and what our community was was asking for. Moving on, YouTube has also implemented AI integration for all videos. Now, I will note that you need to be logged into YouTube with your Google account before you can access the AI features. However, once a board meeting uh once a board meeting video has been uploaded, you can click on the ask button underneath the
021video and it will open up a new panel to the right of the video. where you can interact with AI about the contents. So here I've asked AI to summarize a 90inute workshop video. In a few seconds AI has generated the summary for me. The blue numbers that you see throughout the summary are timestamps in the video where the item is discussed. I can click on the timestamp to go directly to that part of the video that corresponds to the appropriate section of the summary. As you can see, I can ask very specific questions and I can even go ahead uh and type in custom questions uh to ask the AI. So, as long as the topic was was discussed during the course of the video, the AI will uh make strong attempts to go
022ahead and provide me with the answers that I'm looking for. Um, just as before, the answers that are provided will contain clickable timestamps that corroborate with the video content. Now, I do want to be clear that this AI information is supplementary. The official record remains the video itself, the transcript, and the approved meeting minutes. We think that this new tool gives families another way to stay informed and engaged with the work happening across the division. And lastly, we are now streaming all PRC building utilization, audit, and legislative committee meetings. Recordings for all of those meetings are posted on our VB schools YouTube channel alongside schoolboard meetings and other VBCPS content. Our hope is that all of these enhancements, chapters, AI support, expanded streaming, and the new programming you're seeing make it easier for our community
023to find the information that matters most to them. We want families to feel connected, informed, and able to engage confidently as we work through the important decisions ahead and build trust so that we can tackle the challenges together. I appreciate your time. At this moment, I'm ready to answer any questions you may have. Madam Chair, um Mr. Cummings has his hand raised to get into the queue. Okay, Mr. Cummings, then Miss Rogers. Yeah, thank you so much for sharing, Mr. Den. And I apologize that I'm not there in person because you can't see the beaming smile on my face as we're stepping forward into, you know, a technological uh school um you know, and school board. And I did a brief, you know, synopsis of schools in this region and I didn't see any other
024school doing the work of that you all are doing with, you know, chapters, AI summaries. And so, not only is Virginia Beach, you know, we're leading the way academically, but I also see us leading the way in creating transparency for the community and for our citizens. Um, probably my only question and I don't know if there's an answer to it right this moment, but I would love to know, you know, what our communication about this AI tool for parents, um, stakeholders, um, and a variety of different people, how we'll get this out there that uh, they can utilize these tools and potential trainings for the public on how to use it as well. So, I much appreciate your work in creating transparency and I love it. So, thank you so much. Thank you very much,
025Mr. Cummings. Uh we have a number of avenues to be able to communicate to the community. We'll make sure to use uh some of our newsletters and other communication methods to go ahead and make sure that they're aware of these new capabilities on the platform. Miss Rogers, I just want to also say thank you so much. I have been um I have been on the other end where I've had to look through hours and hours of um of videos and now it makes it so much easier for the public to go back and look at what they need. So I appreciate all of your work and I want to thank you. Welcome. I am very very excited about this. So I also want to echo kudos. Um, I think one of the very first things
026that I wanted to do when I got on the board was stream these meetings. And it turned out it was more difficult uh to get set up than I had initially thought. So, I'm really happy u that we're here and that we're able to stream these and um you know, we're doing our parts to make sure that the public um that can't participate and go in person during the day can see some of these important meetings. So, thank you very much. Absolutely. You're welcome. Okay, we are now on to budget workshop number one. It's that time, guys, already. Um, and we welcome our superintendent, Dr. Don Robertson. Yeah. Before I get started, I'll give a public service announcement for the uh importance of wearing sunscreen. So, all of those kids out there who don't want
027to listen to their parents or spouses, don't want to listen to their wives, put the sunscreen on so you don't have to have uh mo surgery, but all good. So, good afternoon, Chairwoman Brown, Vice Chair Williams, and members of the board. Today, I will offer critical information to the school board and viewing public with regard to the budget dilemma that lies before us. My approach to budgeting is conservative. planning for the worst case scenario based on all information at my disposal. We have the next two months to digest this information and incorporate new information as we prepare to release the superintendent's estimate of needs in late February. This presentation will set the foundation for all future budget discussions over the next two months. In a time that remains clouded by uncertainties at the state and
028federal level, it is my goal to provide greater clarity and understanding of the key factors and possibilities that will be considered in developing a fiscy year budget and CIP that meets the needs of Virginia Beach City Public Schools and falls within the confines of available funding. As you can see here, I will cover these slides, these I'm sorry, I will cover these topics ranging from transparency through communication to budget possibilities and next steps that will inform the development of the next budget and CIP. As I shared in the opening slide, I have taken a conservative approach with my team. What I mean is we have been planning for the worst and hoping for the best. This approach allows us to consider all of the potential funding scenarios in a setting that lets my team take
029a strategic view without being under time constraints and stressors that will certainly be present in the month of February. As such, we have revised and expanded a number of budget meetings with the board in January and February. At the request of the board in the July retreat in the month of January, we will be mirroring department presentations by city staff to the city council. This is a new approach that will provide the board and public a closer look into the funding and work of each department. Recognizing that not everyone will watch board meetings, we will be continuously adding information shared in board meetings to the budget and benefits website on the internet and internet and intranet. And of course, what Mr. Den just shared is allowing will allow our public to more easily search directly
030to those areas of interest. Finally, I will be meeting with key staff groups to include my executive leadership team, principles, teacher forum, leadership council, teacher assembly, school division services staff, and my teacher advisory groups as another means to promote transparency and understanding in the months of January and February. So, let's begin with budget drivers. And whether you start with a with expected costs or anticipated revenues, the goal is to build a budget that meets the needs of Virginia Beach City Public Schools and falls within available funding. So, let's start with projected costs. The largest portion of our budget and all school divisions budgets is personnel at roughly 86%. We acknowledge the great interest in and pressure to continually address staff compensation in a manner that attracts and retains top talent. Therefore, staff compensation will be
031a primary driver of increased costs. Next, we recognize that inflation is an area we must plan to address as a school division does not exist and cannot exist on credit. At the end of every year, we must settle all accounts. And finally, we know we should expect new initiatives, mandates, or focused areas that will come with price tags. Together, these three areas represent key cost drivers. Turning our attention to projected revenues. First off, we are fortunate to have a positive working relationship with city council and a revenue sharing formula that supports Virginia Beach City Public Schools and gives us stability in projecting local funding. At the state level, we have changes and uncertainties. First, the local composite index, which indicates the local the locality's ability to fund education increased, meaning the state share of education
032will decrease as a percentage. Second, we face uncertainty as the state determines how to allocate the additional funding required as a result of rebenchmarking. We will know this impact when Governor Yncan releases his budget on or about December 17th. And we will then have a new governor elect Spamberger and team that will begin their work on January 17th. It remains to be seen this impact the impact this will have on the release state budget, but history tells us we should expect some level of changes to the proposed budget that we see from the state later this month. Finally, we are all aware that coming out of a lengthy government shutdown, how education will be supported at the federal level is still under review with a key decision date looming of January 30th. A final budget
033driver is considering how declining student enrollment combined with rising student needs may impact budget decisions. On this slide, I will share several key budget priorities. This year, we are focused on the implementation of compass to 2030, our division strategic framework. In doing so, we have made every budget decision based on its alignment to in support of reaching the goals within our framework. With a large organization like Virginia Beach City Public Schools, we have worked diligently over the past two budget cycles to reduce spending in central office by almost $12 million. Money that was then used by the school board to increase staff compensation. This process helped central administration streamline services through reorganization of responsibilities, attrition, and elimination of redundancies. I'm proud of this work as our decisions were aligned to and supported our new framework
034and protected schools from failing any of these reductions. Moving forward, any new budget decreases will likely result in a reduction of services, extended periods to provide supports, and fewer resources. staff compensation in the form of salary increases or support to maintain health care premiums or an annual priority to the school board and administration. Our goal is to present the school board with a budget that provides a 3% salary increase and maintains health premiums to the greatest extent possible. Two key state funded areas are slated to no longer be supported by the state. The Virginia Literacy Act had been supported by a two-year $20 million all-in Virginia grant that supported literacy, chronic absenteeism, and tutoring. This grant ends on June 30th, 2026, offering no continued support for these areas. Canvas was adopted several years ago as
035the state approved learning management system and it is also slated to end funding support on June 30th, 2026. Combined, these supports equate to approximately $10.5 million per year funding we have no current path to provide for in 2026 27. Today we received our new school ratings under the new school performance and support framework. A number of schools were identified for targeted support as a result of one or more subgroups not meeting performance thresholds. What is unclear at this time is what requirements will be mandated by the state and what funding supports will be provided to implement those requirements. Any cost to assist these schools not funded by the state must be added to our budget deliberations. Finally, the development of the capital improvement program or CLP will play a major role as a division faces
036maintenance and new construction needs with the impact of debt service landing squarely as part of the operating budget. So, let's to take a look at the projected revenues. as we know them today. So, first we'll start with federal. The projected revenue from the federal government is roughly $15.5 million representing an increase of $750,000. Please note with the asterk that that does not include grants, title grants and other federal grants. We know that title one, title two, title three, etc. Those are additional grants that are not captured in these revenues and they are under consideration right now um at the federal level. Uh I read today that um the both the House and the Senate um have been doing work on their proposed education budgets um but they have not pushed those budgets to the floor
037for a vote. Uh it is anticipated that neither the House nor the Senate at the federal level may take any action uh on federal education support until late January. So it is likely we're going to have a lot of uncertainty at the federal level until the latter part of January. And again, January 30th is the date by which if another continuing resolution doesn't occur, we could possibly see another federal shutdown. Turning our attention to state funding, our proposed state funding right now is a little over $57 million, representing an increase of $12.5 million. Um, what that does not include is the fact that our local composite index went up from 4138 to 4172. And what that means is that it's very likely when they calculate the rebenchmark marking amount, the $58 million will be adjusted
038locally through the revenue sharing formula. Um that is a number we can count on. A little over $564 million representing a $9 million increase um is what we're going to get from the locality. So these are our projected revenues that we are working from right now recognizing that we have little uh little confidence in the state or federal numbers as we stand here today. So let's take a look at some budget comparisons fiscal year 26 to fiscal year 27. So in the fiscal year 26 the total revenue uh was $1.065 065 billion and our total expenditures were 1.065 billion because we cannot run a budget in the negative and we project out to fiscal year 27 with those numbers you just saw on the previous slide. We're projecting a revenue of roughly 1.087 billion with
039total expenditures being again calculating a 3% raise and some other things to be 1.107 107 billion, meaning that we are uh starting the budget process with roughly a $20 million deficit. Uh there's a couple of numbers down at the bottom. A 1% raise we we approximated at $6.2 million. When we received some information from Seagull the other day, that number is closer to $19.8 million. But I did not want to change that number because that number is what I've shared with staff. So, and I didn't have the seagull information then. But just so you know, the signal information I have turns that 6.1% $6.2 million to more like 1% is $6.6 million. So, closer to that $20 million for a 3% raise. So given the reality of projected expenditures exceeding projected revenues, what are our
040possibilities or options to explore over the coming months? Recall in the first slide I share we would plan for the worst and hope for the best or simply better. Should we receive funding above state andor federal projections, then we would be be better positioned to eliminate some of the things we will be considering over the coming months. Certainly, we can expect a series of highs and lows as we work through the budget season to reach a final budget for 2026-27. The largest budget driver is personnel costs. And we currently have planned to support a 3% salary increase. And again, in our current planning model, funding the approximately $19 million to fund a 3% raise will require significant reductions to both programs and positions. Both of these areas will come with risk to the division. Recall
041over the past two years, we have already reduced central office spending by almost $12 million. And we did this by again eliminating certain resources through attrition and not filling vacancies out of the school level, meaning we kept schools um protected from any of those decisions. Moving forward, taking this approach will absolutely result in real loss in the areas of service, supports, and potentially staff morale. The deeper the cuts to achieve a salary increased goal, the more the loss will be felt across the system. Now, if the decision as we move to the late February presentation or of the seon is to have a salary increase goal below 3%, the less risk to significant disruption to services and supports. And finally, I will share the idea of fees that have been used in the past to
042cover division expenditures. I can recall a time when families paid textbook fees, uh, rental fees, etc. as an example. Some final takeaways, Governor Yncan will release his budget on or about December 17th, which will give us a new picture on potential state revenue. The state general assembly convenes on January 14th and Governor Lex Spanberger is sworn in on January 17th. The federal budget runs through January 30th. School administration will pres present a series of budget workshops on January 13th, January 20th, January 27th, February 10th, and February 17th, which will give us plenty of runway, so to speak, to decide how we're going to react to either new revenues or projected revenues coming to fruition. and the superintendent, myself, will present the superintendent's estimate of needs for information on February 24th. So, there's been a lot
043to digest here and I think the big takeaway is um we we are planning for all types of scenarios and we want to give the board uh and the public our best thinking about what we might do. But there is a lot of uncertainty right now um from from two big funding service sources, the state uh level and the federal level. And um if you recall last year we and and in and a couple years prior to that we got through the superintendent's needs and then had to go back a second time because there was no state budget at at the time of adoption. So there'll be a lot of work to occur over the next several months and and the team and I are poised to do so at this. So at this point
044I'm open for any questions. Miss Melnik. Well this sounds super fun. I cannot wait this, you know, but two things. Um, thank you to my colleagues for the addition for the additional meetings. If we need them, great. If there are times that we don't need them and can cancel them, great. But my theory is always with communication and giving people more opportunity to hear the information to learn about our budgeting process and between this and what we're doing um online. If you don't know, it's because you're not looking or you're not tuning in. But there's no there's going to be no excuse for not knowing because it's it's going to be out there and we're giving people more than one day a month or twice a month to come and hear this information. I will
045without getting any into my um budgetary concerns other than to say I'm very worried about losing supports. So I appreciate and thank you in advance for thinking broader and deeper and out of the box um to make sure that that is not what we lose because we are known for not only uh offering children top-notch education but it's our supports that really put us on the map and what we offer children. Um, and so I I I do worry about that one little piece, but thank you in advance for for for uh all the work you're doing so far. Well, if I could add the the three meetings in January, January 13, 20, and 27 are going to be critical because that's the new approach that we are bringing to the board at the request
046of the board where each department will stand before the board and share information related to their department. How many people work in the department? What are their key tasks? What are their needs? and what changes have they been considering? Because we've been working with our team since July to identify areas that if we had to reduce, we would reduce. And so we'll be able to stand before you and tell you exactly what impact that will have. And you know, that's highly effective, Dr. Robertson, just like um what you do in uh at back to school when you have all the departments come and talk about what they do and what they've done and where they're going that that is highly effective and I think that people are really going to appreciate that. I know the
047board will. But yeah, thank you Mr. Bowenste. Yes, thank you superintendent for that information and the the upfront to get prepared for this. But I'm trying to figure out how exactly how to answer ask this. We raised our prices on our sporting events. Is there any information evaluation or data that shows how that's going? Yes. So, um, we'll make a note to bring you. In fact, I think we already have it on the forecast to bring an update, but Mr. Bowen still, it's gone well. It's done exactly what we hoped it would do. It's allowed us to uh build up the fund balance to make sure we can cover our police officers through the year and also provide our coaches that salary increase we talked about. So it is working exactly the way we had
048hoped that it work and we will present information to the board. We probably should do it. Mr. Delaney, now we finished the fall season. Let's do a fall season update and then we can do one after the winter. So you can expect that. Yeah, we'll send it to you through a memo as soon as we get it available. But the fall season's over, so we we have that information now. Okay, great. Thank you, Mr. Kalen. Thanks for this report. I just wanted to clarify what I heard that the 1% raise is not a 6.2, but a $6.6 million number. That's That's correct. Based upon information we received from Seagull last week. And you made reference to a 19.8 million number. I'm assuming that's in reference if we did a 3% raise. That would That's correct.
049Okay. Just wanted to confirm the numbers. Thank you, Miss Rogers. Thank you so much. I know that this budget season is going to be difficult, but um I am highly concerned that under budget possibilities. One of them is funding stamp compensation below 3% would reduce cuts to targeted existing programs and positions. Um, we pay our staff the lowest in all of Hampton Roads. Asking them to take yet another blow after our entire debacle with healthc care is not acceptable to me at all. I can't even begin to digest it. And so, we're going to have to find other creative solutions. What I am interested in is I've I've been involved with Virginia Beach City Public Schools since I moved here in 2016. Um, and I did pay attention to budget season, perhaps not to every
050moment because, you know, it's not the most exciting thing in the world, but I will say that every year there was um a lot of discussion about the reduction of staff. And so now we're hearing again that, you know, central offices has reduced as much as they possibly could. Could we get at least for the last three years the positions that we had and then were eliminated as well as how many positions we still have um in central offices? I think that the least impact to our students and staff in the buildings is the most important for us to protect. Our students must be serviced. The only way they are serviced appropriately is by having adults in the building that can service them. And if we can move some of our staff from central offices
051to our buildings to support these students, that's might be something we need to look at. But I I'm just not at all ready to ask our staff to take yet another hit because of budget. We have to be able to support them. And Miss Rogers, we can absolutely get you that information. And you want the last three years. That would be great. Sure. Thank you. And if you could just get that to the whole board. Correct. Thank you. Um Miss Saltton. Thank you, Chib Brown. Dr. Robertson, thank you for this detailed report and trying to peer into the future best as possible. I do appreciate that as well. Uh when you begin talking about uh all the Virginia Literacy Act and Canvas, it brought on alarms for me, but you brought up the word option
052and I do appreciate that as well. But my concern is and I know we are having a lot of budget meetings and one of your response was bud budgeted possibilities and you mentioning the introduction of fees as a result. I'm hoping that in this process that we are moving um we communicate as much as possible to our parents and to our community and in this case as this budget looks the way that it's looking we need to meet them where they are and I would like to see us going far and beyond out of the bubble out of the box to make sure because this will affect them as well if I'm still getting a conversation about the fees that they have to pay on iPads and Chromebooks and being uh parents being um gone
053shared. We really need a homeowners. I would love my expectation is that we reach far and beyond communicating with our parents and again I'll say meeting them where they are. I am so excited about the new advance with YouTube and we can probably um guide them that to that to them that as well but I want us to do much as we can. It's important. Thank you Dr. Green. Thank you. Um Dr. Robertson, I'm happy that we are going to be having a lot of workshops and one of the things that came to mind while you were talking um as a former counselor, I thought about how uh our counselors and building administrators are getting ready when we return from the holiday to start building master schedules, looking at courses, programming for next year. In
054our earliest workshops, will it be possible for us to have any programs that you feel may be significantly impacted uh budgetary and and the reason why I request that I hate for parents and students to get excited about some course options, but due to things beyond our control, um we won't be able to offer and and I think as much as possible and I know we're going to always have those courses or programming that you know we don't have sufficient enrollment uh that we may not be able to offer but anything that we already have an inkling or know that it's going to be tough to continue that I I would appreciate and I'm sure the public would as well knowing upfront that you know that I that course or that program may not be
055available. Yeah. And so, uh, Dr. Green, during the presentations by the various offices, they'll be presenting how many current positions they have and how many positions they're going to project based upon uh, what current funding we're operating off. and they will be able to tell you what those positions are and what they do. Um, because we don't know what the final dollar amounts we're going to receive are, we're going to have a lot of discussions about a lot of whatifs. Um, and it's our job to bring to you as board members every possible scenario and then it's your job as the board to help make a decision about how do you put the budget together? You know, what do you prioritize? Um, and again, this presentation is really to establish the tone that if things
056don't improve at all from a funding scenario, we're going to be in a really difficult position. However, if they do improve even a little bit, we'll be in less of a difficult situation. Uh, and so we'll we'll bring you as much information as we can well in advance so that you can make those decisions prior to February 24th. Mr. Balensteel. Um, yes. Thank you. After listening to Miss Melnik and some other concerns, I'm at the is my opinion that those two meetings that as needed, we should just go ahead and schedule. We need them. Well, so I mean, we owe it to everybody. I mean, if we That's just my opinion. Yeah, they're definitely scheduled and we're planning on filling them. Um a yeah, a request we received was boy, please don't bring us in
057for 30 minutes, right? And so we'll make sure that as we are uh planning ahead and we've we've done a lot of planning, so we have a pretty good idea where we're going. We can give plenty of information to the board as to whether or not we can overlap a meeting and run a little longer or hold every one of those meetings. But my staff have it on their calendar. They're ready to go. Miss Melnik, and as I'm looking out at staff, I want to thank you guys, too, because I know it's your job, but this is this is a lot of work. Um, thank you. Thank you to everybody upstairs, all of our budget people. Um, that our budget season, we don't have a budget season. It's for everybody who's listening, it's 12 months
058a year. Um, but to staff, you know, I thank you in advance. Um, and and Dr. Robertson does say this when when we um welcome new people into the family, like he thanks the families. Thank you. Because this is going to take up a lot of your a lot of time. Um, so thank you you guys. I appreciate it. Thanks. I have a couple of questions and I just I also want to echo um I want to echo some concerns. I do recognize this is going to be a difficult budget year, but I also, you know, wanted to thank everybody and the school boards too as well um for a willingness to dive in deeper in this budget. Um, you know, I I kind of think as a school board member, I I've voted for
059every budget that we've had. Um, but I haven't always been 100% happy about it. And so I I feel like this is going to really um make those decisions a little bit more clear for me. Um I would be remiss if I did not mention my concerns about the health funds health fund balance. Um there was a memo sent to the school board. I wish I had it in front of me but I had. There was a memo sent to us and it shows the projection for 2026 with those revenues um employee and employer being lower by roughly $10 million for again for 2026. Um and I I'm assuming that that is health insurance year January to December not fiscal year. So, I'm sure there's a a difference there that may be making it a
060little more alarming, but um I'm very concerned that that still is showing basically that we're we're going to be coming up with less than we need in that health fund and that it would be depleting that balance down. So, I am going to um signal that I'm I'm going to be looking at that pretty hard this year because I I think that it needs to be looked at. I I don't really want to get in the habit of mid-year money moves because there is some um historical precedents um of a budget shortfall um not by the members sitting on this board, but a Virginia Beach school board and I don't want to run into that position. So, um I just wanted to say I'm concerned about that. And then, um I wanted to signal I'm
061not going to say no to a fee because I haven't seen what types of proposals that would be. But, um I do find fees in general to be difficult because, you know, families are also experiencing similar budget difficulties that we we may be looking at here as a division. But I I do thank you and I think that we have our work cut out for us and so I appreciate everything and staff. I know this is going to be a long budget season. So I think thank you all for all your hard work on this. Yeah, if I could add just two comments to your comments. So first I'll start with uh the term possibilities. Uh possibilities were are simply things that have come up in discussion amongst our team. You guys haven't come up
062with possibilities yet. So, your possibilities are going to be added to our possibilities. And those possibilities will turn into yays and nays, right? So, I don't want anybody to walk away from from listening to this saying, "Oh, well, now they're going to charge us fees." No, it's a possibility we need to explore. Oh, they're not we're not going to be able to pay staff a 3% raise or higher. No, it's just a possibility because that's the really the purpose of this presentation is the signal. We've been working on this for a very long time. We've got a a a long runway ahead of us. Um and it's an unclear runway because of state and federal uncertainties. Then the second thing is there is an elephant in the room and that's the healthc care issue. Now
063thankfully this board supported and worked with the city council to support 5.8 $.8 million being allocated to rebuild that health fund balance, which is going to be a gamecher. And we also recognize that um we're probably going to have to make another investment into the health fund balance so we don't put ourselves in a precarious position where bills come due and we can't pay. Um but that is a discussion that will come uh February 10th actually when we get another presentation from Mercer. So that'll be a discussion point at that point. So thank you. Thank you. And I I just wanted for the public and the board um the numbers that I was looking at are the estimated fiscal year 2026 showing employer and employee at one roughly 116 million with expenses at 128 with
064an 11 million estimated um difference there. And so that's the elephant in the room that I was referencing. Um, all of us got that in memo, but I can forward it if anybody wants me to forward it again so that you can look at that. So, thank you. I appreciate that. All right. We are now on to the forecast of regular schoolboard meeting agenda topics 2026. That's at third quarter, January, February, March. that is in your packet and it's also here in front of you and I just open the floor if there's any questions or discussion and Dr. Robert um Dr. Green and then Dr. Robertson um in reviewing the forecast and I may be getting ahead of maybe something that um will be said. Um, I had had a discussion earlier in fall with
065some of the staff about possibly having a workshop update on how Thrive is doing in the schools. Um, because I after a first semester would probably be a good time um to do that sometime during the third quarter. I know we're heavy with workshop for budget but but I think it's also important that we still continue to uh monitor any new implementation. So I hope at somewhere during this third quarter because that may guide us in what refinements need to be made next year as principles build uh master schedules for Hey Dr. Green, we we scheduled that for February 24th. Okay, good. Okay, under middle school schedule update. Oh, good. I I missed that. Thank you. Under middle school schedule update. Great. Yes, Miss Lenetti. Do we have time for closed? Okay. What did she
066say? Yes. Your wings. I move that the school board recess into close session in accordance with exceptions to open meetings law set forth in code of Virginia 2.2-3711 parts A paragraphs 27 and 8 as amended to deliberate on the following matters. Two, discussion or consideration of admission or disciplinary matters or any other matters that would involve the disclosure of information containing a scholastic record concerning any student of any public institution of higher education in the Commonwealth or any state school system. However, any such student legal counsel and if the student is a minor, the student's parents or legal guardian shall be permitted to be present during the taking of the testimony or presentation of evidence in a closed meeting. If such stu student, parents or guardian so request in writing and such request is submitted
067to the presiding officer of the appropriate board. Seven, consultation with legal counsel and briefings by staff members or consultants pertaining to actual or probable litigation where such consultation or briefing in open meetings would adversely affect the negotiating or litigating posture of the public body. For the purpose of this subdivision, probable litigation means litigation that's been specifically threatened or on which the public body or its legal council has a reasonable bias to believe will be commenced by or against a known party. Nothing in this subdivision shall be construed to permit the closure of a meeting merely because an attorney representing the public body is in attendance or is consulted on a matter. Eight, consultation with legal counsel employed or retained by a public body regarding specific legal matters requiring the provision of legal advice by such
068counsel. Nothing in this subdivision should be construed to permit the closure of a meeting merely because an attorney representing the public body is in attendance or is consulted on a matter, namely to discuss a student matters, b status of pending litigation or administrative cases, c consultation with legal counsel regarding probable litigation and pending litigation matters. Moved by Vice Chair Williams, seconded by Miss Melnik. Any discussion? Seeing none, I call for the vote to go into close session. So, Madam Chair, we have nine eyes. The motion to pass to go into close session. Thank you. N feeling. baby. Heat. Heat. Are you Hey. Happy. Heat. Heat. Do you know? Whereas the school board of the city of Virginia Beach has convened a closed meeting on the this day pursuant to an affirmative recorded vote and in
069accordance with the provisions of the Virginia Freedom of information act and whereas section 2.2-3712 of the code of Virginia requires a certification by the school board that such closed meeting was conducted in conformity with Virginia law. Now therefore, be it resolved that the school board of the city of Virginia Beach hereby certifies that to the best of each member's knowledge, only public business matters lawfully exempted from open meeting requirements by Virginia law were discussed in the closed meeting to which the certification applies and only such public business matters as were identified in the motion by which the closed meeting was convened were heard, discussed, or considered. All right. All right. Motion made by Dr. Green, seconded by Miss Dwire. Any discussion? Seeing nine, I call for the vote to certify close session. So, Madam Chair,
070we have nine eyes. The motion did pass for certification of close session. Thank you. We will now recess and we will reconvene at 6 pm for our formal meeting.