School Board Special Meeting - March 9, 2026

001It's working. >> Good evening. I would like to call to the order of the March 9, 2006 special meeting work session of the York County School Board. [snorts] Thank you for being here. We have some important business this evening and with that we're going to begin. Uh under action uh items tonight, special meeting marks the culmination of thorough and thoughtful uh superintendent search process. The process began with 25 inquiries and resulted in 14 full applications from highly qualified candidates. Among those applicants were six current or former superintendents, five assistant, associate, or deputy superintendents, one central office administrator, and two principals. The pool included 10 men and four women. 10 applicants were Virginia residents, while four applied from out of state, representing Arizona, Iowa, Maryland, and North Carolina. Over the past several weeks, the board has

002spent many hours carefully reviewing applications, interviewing candidates, and engaging in thoughtful decision and discussions about leadership needs of York County School Division. We approach this process with a great care and a strong sense of responsibility to our students, staff, families, and community. With that, the board will now proceed with appointment of superintendent. May I please have a motion to approve the appointment of superintendent and superintendent's contract as negotiated. >> I move that the school board appoint Dr. James Carroll to the position of division superintendent for the York County School Division and approve the superintendent contract as negotiated. >> Thank you. I have a second. Second. Ms. Howard. >> A motion was made by a Mrs. Goodwin and seconded by Mr. Shafer to appoint Dr. James Carroll to the position of superintendent and approve the superintendent

003contract as negotiated. Mrs. Goodwin? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Fairman? >> Yes. >> Mr. Shafer? >> Yes. >> Mr. Richardson? >> Yes. >> And Mr. Pyle? >> Yes. >> Motion passed by a VOTE >> CONGRATULATIONS. >> [applause] [applause] >> THANK YOU. IF I COULD SAY A FEW WORDS. >> SURE. >> Uh I want to thank the board uh for the trust and confidence you placed in me tonight. You know that I feel the gravity of that and I appreciate it. Uh it was certainly a thorough and rigorous interview process and I'm glad it's over. >> [snorts and laughter] >> I'd also like to express my gratitude to uh the leadership of the school division, the cabinet, the executive leadership team, uh principals and assistant principals, but also our county partners and the sheriff's office during this

004interim period. Uh felt nothing but support and collaboration and uh you know the the title interim's not always an easy one to bear, but it was easy and I felt supported the whole time. And so now I'll get to work on a entry plan in earnest building on the foundation strong foundation that we have here. >> [snorts] >> And um I'll report back to you in June. Uh and we have some good things to do tonight, so let's get to work. >> We do. Thank Dr. Carroll. Uh before we proceed, I would just like to say a few more words. Uh the board feels very confident in its decision and is pleased to move forward with Dr. Jim Carroll as the next superintendent of York County School Division. Dr. Carroll brings more than 35 years

005of experience in public education with a career defined by collaborative leadership, continuous improvements, and a strong commitment to serving students, staff, and the community. He recently served as the chief operating officer for York County School Division, where he has overseen key operational areas including transportation, maintenance, capital projects, information technology, and student services. Dr. Keeler began his career as a teacher before moving into school administration, serving as a boat assistant principal and principal in Florida and North Carolina where he where his schools consistently demonstrated academic growth. Since joining York County in 2014 as chief human resource officer, he has led significant organizational improvements and later guided major operational and initiatives as chief operating officer including the [clears throat] division's response to the COVID-19 pandemic and oversight of more than $60 million in capital improvement projects. He

006holds a degree from Florida Southern College, Florida Atlantic University, and Wingate University as well as a certificate in educational finance from Georgetown University. This decision reflects careful deliberation and shared commitment to the continued excellence of York County School Division. And I would like to invite any board members that would like to share some comments as well at this moment about Dr. Keeler. And why did we do this? >> Okay, well, I'll start. Yes, uh Jim also known as Mr. COVID. Yes, [snorts] uh for all his presentations and all let us through that time when we were when it was so bad. Direction from the state was all over the map and he had to make sense of it and put the people of York County to rest uh that we were actually doing everything that

007we could uh to mitigate uh COVID and it worked and we were as a result we were one of the first uh divisions in the state to open up uh and we were the first in our region. And uh and yeah, this this process was not it was not fun for you and it wasn't fun for us either because we had to make the choice. Uh but I do appreciate the chance of going through it and I think we made a wise choice. >> And I'd like to say a few words of when it was just COVID, it was the fire and the fire grab fire and helped us through and um um the other thing that and when you see his his initials come across the the phone, it's JC. >> [laughter] >> Yeah.

008>> When you see it come across you, JC's calling me. It was really tough. The interview process was was really tough. There were a lot of good candidates, but Jim really shined through. He's uh he's he's very passionate, very passionate about uh about his job. He's very passionate about what he wants and what he wants for your county. So, I think he's going to do a great job. >> And I'll tag on to what Jimmy said. Um obviously, I haven't known you as long as both of them. My tenure on the board hasn't been as long. Um but what I admire [clears throat] is your ability to be that solid object and calm in the storm when things are just crazy around. And you need to be. I mean, you need to be that kind

009of person um to do this kind of job and you are. And I could tell in the interview process cuz like I said, it was hard. There were a lot of great candidates. Um but the passion that you have for this position really spoke spoke to me. >> Thank you. >> My comments will be I really appreciate Dr. Carroll's professionalism and kindness um during this interim time. I know that's not easy to be an interim juggling in between and wondering what's going to happen afterwards, but I do appreciate that and your openness whenever I had questions and things like that. Definitely appreciate your professionalism and kindness. >> And also, Dr. Carroll, just for me the reason why I felt strongly you being this position uh as Ms. Kim said that you're calming a storm. Uh

010the thoroughness of your decisions, how you approach the problem. Uh it reflects somehow how I approach problems like a very strategically. I analyze from all aspects before I react. Uh and uh I think with our division being in a really good spot, you you could uh stand back and view our position as something that it's important to maintain, but also you saw potential for growth. And that's what's important to all of us here to know. We're not complacent. And you demonstrated that to us with being interim and actually in your interviews that you do see potential for improvement and areas where we can do. Uh where I kind of agree with you on it uh a lot when you said academic is very important to us. And if we pour ourselves in teaching the kids,

011the result will will come out uh on its own. So, thank you for being with us and honor us in the uh in this position being our superintendent for the future. I know our kids and our staff and leadership will appreciate that very much. Uh and also want to say thank you to my board uh fellow members cuz it's been a long period, a lot of work. Uh without you guys and being so dedicated, this would not be possible. So, I just want uh for all the public to know how much they actually invest themselves privately, personally into this decision and this process. So, thank you so much for doing that. All right. Now that we have that out of the way, we're going to move into the presentations. And we are having a capital

012projects. So, Dr. Keller we would like to introduce you Who Who would have been our first presenter? >> All right. Oh, oh, that's a great honor, [clears throat] right? All right. Thank you, Mr. Pivic. This evening we have Mr. David Kilburn, associate director of capital plans and projects here to give us your monthly report on our capital projects. >> Mr. Chair, Mr. Vice Chair, Superintendent Carroll, members of the board, thanks for having me tonight. Uh please present to you your capital projects report for March 9th. I'll jump right into the Tal High School addition and renovations. We are expecting the 95% drawings later next week. Uh we're having a couple of meetings this week to finalize the electrical and low voltage data technology kind of things that will be incorporated into those 95% drawings, and

013then we'll really dig into them and and start moving forward with the county reviews process. Dare Elementary [snorts] School's parking lot and bus loop expansion, we're also expecting those design plans within the week. They did some boring the other day to uh decide where the BMPs were best placed for storm water drainage. Uh we have uh laid some groundwork with the county to set up a pre-application meeting. Trying to make that process a little bit smoother between us and them so that it's not as much of a formal that we can get some feedback from them ahead of time, give it back to the MSA for the design work um to try and streamline that a little bit. We had talked before about if we don't get this out to bid sooner than later, we

014won't be able to do this this summer. It's a very tight timeline, and because it impacts both the school board office and Dare, we have to hit it right on the head the first time. Um we are investigating doing some work ahead of time outside of the contract with MSA and whoever the the bid goes out to, and that would include maybe the back uh stretch of road that we call the service road, and some site prep work around the school board office for the lower parking lot. >> Just a quick question. Uh whenever you're talking about we're on a tight schedule, what is the deadline that we are trying to hit? >> They're estimating a 120-day schedule. And so, I'll jump I'll put this back up in there to sort of talk about that.

015We're really going to start looking at phases. There are certain things that we could do such as the the left-hand side that's closer to Dare Road. If we did that first, then we can open that back up to the public to start school with. And then the sections on the right, while they don't have it right now, we could possibly do that during the school year. So, that that's where we're looking at. They they say 120 for both, but we really won't know that until we go out for bid, we sit down with that contractor. Uh and and honestly that back right-hand section the lower, that's that's the big swell that everybody likes to sled down when it snows. So, there's a significant significant amount of site work to do there. So, that's why we

016think it could be the longer part and happen later in the summer. Okay. Uh the division-wide fire alarm life cycle replacement, that is complete. Then the York High intercom and lockdown alert system, that is also complete. >> [clears throat] >> The top high school lighting has come leaps and bounds in the past 48 hours. The if you've if you've driven by there, all except for two of the tennis court light poles have been replaced. Uh as of 4:00 this afternoon, six of those are back up and running with the new LED lights. I'm planning on driving by there on my way home tonight. Light it up. Uh the soccer field the grass soccer field, half of that has the new light fixtures on it, but it needs the new drivers on the poles. Uh and

017we're hoping that the weather will hold tomorrow as well and we'll go after the other two poles on the far side near the uh baseball field. That's a little bit softer ground, so we've been trying to give it time to dry [clears throat and cough] out. Uh the poles for the turf field require new foundations. That's a little bit more complicated work. Um we're trying to come in Thursday and Friday, but the weather just updated. We're looking at rain on Thursday significantly, so that might be postponed a little bit. Once we do get started get those foundations in the ground, we're talking about a two-week turnaround to get the new poles up and powered. Uh just a little show and tell of the crane and the bucket lift as they were lifting the old lights

018off. That's one of the soccer field lights. Then the Grafton Complex Turf Field, that uh agreement that Newport News is facilitating with a uh independent reviewer is going back and forth between our legal and their legal. We had some suggestions for to them, you know, where we want, you know, any applicable laws in the state of Virginia. Once we submitted our changes back to them, of course they had some additional changes as well. So, we're just going back and forth before we finalize that and move forward with the review. The Bruton High School aux gym floor has been leveled. When it was leveled, it was discovered that there's a little bit more moisture seeping in from the back wall. However, we're [clears throat] not there's no delays on that. So, we've lined up a contractor

019to come in and they're going to inject waterproofing grout >> [clears throat] >> along that back wall. Uh that is scheduled to happen this Friday. We also took the opportunity because um we didn't have the flooring material yet and we have to do this grout, that we thought that the gym needed paint painted. It it was in rough shape. So, we actually lined up a painter and if they keep moving at the pace that they're moving, we'll be done tomorrow. >> [snorts] >> So, we're getting that all to meet with that original timeline, getting the materials in, getting it waterproofed, and we're going to turn back over a much better product for them to use for many years to come. >> Question for you. When you did that process of look leveling the floor and

020controlling for moisture, was there any mold noted >> Oh. >> No, it's it's uh it's sort of like if you parked your car after driving in the rain in your garage, you would see the moisture on the ground. >> Okay. >> And it dries out on its own. It looked like that. You could see that there was just moisture on the concrete floor. Uh but no, no no issues to be concerned about. >> Okay. >> Everything got ripped out. >> [laughter] >> Yeah. No mold behind the walls. >> The division-wide facility study, that PO was issued last week with HBA. Uh we're going to have a kickoff meeting on that tomorrow afternoon. And so we're still trying to hit a target date of late May to coincide with the county's budget season. So uh that's

021going to be there'll be more of a report on that very soon. This is a new one for you guys. Uh and this will be on the spending resolution for your next meeting. Bruton High School is scheduled for an entire HVAC replacement. That includes all of its controls as well. What we're doing is using a little bit of the money that was left over from the roofing project to start the design for that early. And that again coincides with what we're trying to do where we slow the process down a little bit, get a better lead time, get the design, get the bid out, and that way we can drive the cost down between the general contractors. Uh Bruton is a unique school to where we have a lot of mechanical hallways. And so we

022can actually go after some of this work during the school year. Just coordinate very closely. Uh work a swing shift. And so that hopefully will also help drive costs down. Uh we are also investigating a few optimizations with Bruton. It already is a geothermal school. However, some of the bigger spaces like the gym and the auditorium are working off of the [clears throat] older cooler uh chiller plant. [snorts] And so we're investigating to see if the geothermal well field has the capacity for us to convert those over realizing even further optimizations of Bruton. And that concludes my report for tonight. I'm happy to answer any questions. >> I I just thought of it. Uh do you have a ballpark time of when the auxiliary uh gym will be totally done? >> So paint, if not

023tomorrow, late Wednesday. >> Right. >> The uh waterproofing is coming in Friday. They're trying to bring the material at the same time because they can set the material >> do >> material has to acclimate for 48 hours. So we're talking about installing that uh early next week, Monday, Tuesday. Uh I don't know exactly how long that will take to lay down. I can speak just from Mount Vernon Dare experiences that it wasn't that long and since it's not a full-size gym, you're probably talking another week, week and a half. >> Okay, thank you. >> Mr. Bowen, I just want to say that you do a wonderful job uh in this position and we are very pleased with your team here. All efforts you guys are doing. Uh as a testimony to you, I just want

024to ask you the permit that we got for the lights on the tower, when did we get that and how soon did you work start working on those lights? >> We got So, we split it up actually to try and get get things moving. We split up the soccer and tennis courts and got a separate permit for that one since those were existing and then went after the the new turf field separately. We got the new turf field permit not this past Friday, but the one before that. So, we've had an active permit to work for a week and there if when they finish with the poles tomorrow, you'll be at about 66% complete. >> Yeah, that's that's what I'm saying. It's just amazing job, so thank you so much. >> Yeah. >> That's all.

025>> Thank you. >> Any other questions? Thanks so much, Mr. Bowen for your presentation. >> Thank you. >> to be moving to the budget update and Dr. Carroll Dr. Carroll, thank you. >> Thank you, Mr. Privett. So, Mr. Bill Bowen, Chief Financial Officer will now give us an update on the House and Senate budget proposals for both FY26 and 27. Mr. Bowen. >> Thank you, Dr. Carroll. Chairman Privett, members of the board and Dr. Carroll. Uh tonight I'll provide an update on the FY26 and FY27 budgets based on the latest actions of the Governor and General Assembly. I'll focus on what's changed from the original budget proposals and um try to decipher what these numbers mean for our condition. So, I'll start with 26. Uh much of this information will be familiar as I presented

026an update in the January work session. Since then, the FY26 budget has passed and signed by our governor with one change, and that is the funding for an employee bonus. So, here are the standards of quality accounts. Um what you saw in January, you saw the FY26 original and the FY26 caboose bill. The caboose bill was the governor's changes to the current fiscal year that was released in December. Um the final changes for FY26, you see here there's no changes here. If there's no numbers in the column, then that means that the General Assembly and the governor accepted the uh numbers of the caboose bill. And so, that's what we have here. There are no changes to the standards of quality accounts. Um so, the numbers that we see here in the delta in the

027red, um those are largely reductions um related to the change in ADM. So, we started off with an ADM of 13,051 students. And based on our revised more accurate numbers, um actual numbers, uh we should end at 13,018. And so, that 33 student reduction is what we're seeing as reduction there in all those accounts with the exception of the at-risk account, which is the third row from the bottom. You see there it's split funded between the lottery section. So, a hundred and [clears throat] almost a hundred ninety-four thousand dollars is being reduced here, but a hundred eighty-two thousand has been moved to the lottery section, which I'll show you. Because lottery funded lottery revenues increased. So, the state will often shift things from SOQ into lottery, and that's one of the accounts that they moved.

028So, here on the incentive accounts, um this is where we see our largest change. So, the original budget, if we look here at the bonus payment, the original budget did not include uh a bonus. The governor's caboose bill um included a two percent budget a bonus and this bonus was very flexible. We could use that 1.2 million dollars and we didn't have to match it and and that's what we've done in in previous bonus allocations. We've taken that amount of money if we wanted to supplement, we could have got used local funds to supplement that to make sure everybody got a 2% equivalent. However, the language from VDOE has always been if you don't have the money to match, you can use the 1.2 million to provide the bonus to all employees. That would usually

029result in like a full-time employee receiving $800 and a part-time employee receiving $400. Some some kind of split that way. What's happening here with the in the final budget? It went from a 2% bonus to a $1,500 per employee bonus. So it's costing us a little bit more. So the state gave us ended up giving us about $183,000 more in that but in order to provide every employee a $1,500 bonus, it's going to cost us about 1.3 to 1.4 million almost half of what they're providing us. Now there's some very complicated language that accompanied this and I wanted to walk you through some of those points. Um So we have the school divisions must certify the VDOE that a $1,500 per employee bonus. Okay, that's where it starts per employee and then it says or

030equivalent action. So what we've asked we've asked the Department of Education to define what equivalent action is. So that gives us some flexibility. We just don't know what flexibility we have at this point. So the funding has been provided in FY26 but they're also allowing us to carry that that money into FY27 if we don't have the matching funds in FY26 to provide the bonus. So the way it looks right now is that we will it would be unlikely that we would could provide that budget and that on in FY26 so it would be moved into 27 as a retention um factor. >> So, it would get paid in 27 for those people that are actually here. >> In 27, yes, ma'am. And so then the next line is the school divisions have discretion to

031adjust the per position bonus in order to maximize these funds. So, that kind of conflicts with the $1,500 per employee bonus. So, again, we're we need VDOE's just um uh description on that how how we can use those funds. And then um then and then allows the locality to carry those funds into 27. So, what happens if we don't spend this money at by the end of the year, it reverts to the county. So, this is language saying to the county, this was really designated as a bonus, well, it's coming back to you, it should go back to the school division in FY 27. And then at the And then the very last sentence that's highlighted is these funds are to be matched by the local school division. And so, if there if there is

032a true requirement of a local match, it's $1.4 million. There are provisions in the um the House budget that gives us those funds and I'll walk you through those. And for FY 27, I'm sorry. So, in FY 26 in the lottery, again, there was no actions here in the final. And so, what we see here the very bottom total state funds, we're adding $902,000 to our current year budget. Now, keep in mind, what the state gave us for the bonus is almost $1.4 million and I'm only carrying forward $900,000. That means we're about $500,000 in the hole based on that reduction of ADM of 33 students. So, at this point, um I would say that my staff is monitoring this. I'm I'm not real concerned right now because we typically have between $1.2 and $2

033million as an end-of-year fund balance. So, we should be good to cover the 500,000. But, uh we will know more as we get into early April and we're we're really looking into those line items and and expenditures very very closely. So, as we transition into FY27, here we started with the governor's proposed budget. Um and then we have the house and then we have the senate. So, if we first look at the at the senate's here, the the sales tax is is being adjusted. The forecast is being updated by the senate providing us $338,000 more revenue. Uh what that means to us if that money comes to us, it's just additional general fund money. We can use that for anything that we want. Most likely if that bonus carries forward into 27, we could use

034this fund this funding to match that bonus. Now, on the house side, they provided $755,000 in a special education add-on. Um And comparing to the senate, it's $147,000. And this is where we see the big difference for the incentive and categorical accounts. In the incentive accounts are the house has proposed almost $3.9 million in a one-time flex payment. So, this would be for non-reoccurring costs. This would be for things like um textbooks, for technology, for our bus fleet and white fleet, um or it could be used to match the one-time bonus. And on the senate side, they took the compensation that was in the governor's proposed budget of 2% and they've increased that to 3%. So, since our budget already has a 3.25% um compensation increase built into it, this would be additional money that

035we could then use to match the bonus. >> When you say textbooks, do you mean hard actual books or it can be digital and hard books? >> Most likely hard textbooks, correct. >> Dr. Skinner. >> Um that's what we we will be bringing to you guys. We just went through the instructional materials review process. And so we're [clears throat] bringing forward um middle school English textbooks and we're bringing forward grades 3 through um end of course math as well as some um well DE won't come to you, but we're also looking at DE. But um so I for what funds we are provided, [clears throat] we'll look at what we can afford within that. >> Thank you. And as we move to the lottery and early childhood care accounts, um there's no changes on the

036on the house side. Uh on the Senate side, they provided $94,000 more in at-risk funding and also $63,000 for school nutrition support for a total increase of $157,000 in the lottery accounts. And so um in total, what we're saying is that the house has provided $4.6 million more in additional funding, largely though in one-time funding, $3.9 million in one-time funding. And on the Senate side, it's one point almost 1.4 million in reoccurring funding. So um we do like the reoccurring funding, but we certainly could use the one-time [clears throat] funding to match that bonus. Now as we look forward, um March 14th, this this Saturday, is when the General Assembly is to conclude. So they'll have a finalized budget. We should receive a calculation tool from the Department of Education about a week later. >>

037[snorts] >> Um >> [clears throat] >> then on March 23rd, we'll bring a budget for the school board to include. Now now that will be based on the governor's budget cuz we just can't incorporate these changes, the final changes of the General Assembly. And plus the process is really not done because once the General Assembly concludes on Saturday, it goes to the governor for his veto session, and then it comes back to the General Assembly on April 22nd for um their uh consideration uh on actions of the governor. So they can if a governor vetoes something, they can undo the veto if they have the majority to do so. So, that'll happen on April 22nd. Then on May 11th, I'll present to the board at the work session an update on what the final changes

038of the state budget look looks like. And then if everything works out, there's no delays, then I'll present to you a final state final operating budget for FY17 at the May 18th business meeting. And that's my presentation this evening. So, >> Tell me if I'm understanding this correctly. If we wanted to do the bonus in fiscal year 26, we would have to match it. >> From what we know right now, we would have to match it. It just depends what that language or equivalent might >> it means. Yeah, I got you. >> [clears throat] >> But if not, if we can do it in fiscal year 27, then we could truly make the $1,500 bonus a $1,500 bonus. >> Correct. >> You have a split in conditional money too. >> Yeah. With the one-time >>

039[clears throat] >> With the one-time money, correct. >> And then we're doing a 3.25% raise. Uh because the things I'm thinking of is that benefits are going to be so much more expensive. So, we'll want to maximize whatever we can. >> Staff is still working on the health insurance cost. So, we're working with the consultant We meet with them in early April to get some numbers back on what and some options to what we can do to mitigate those cost increases. And and just for the community, we're we're we're looking at a 19.4% increase. And that seems to be the standard, at least talking to our colleagues. Now, built into that 19.4% [snorts] is a 2% cushion that the consultant builds in. And the reason why they do that is they want to make sure

040that they don't underestimate what the cost is going to be. So, based on the data that they looked at so far, and that data was through um it was through the third quarter, I'm sorry, the yeah, the third quarter of 2025. So, there's still updates that'll be made through um through the end of 2025, and then the first quarter of 2026 that will hopefully refine that 19.4 4%. >> But, remember that was the recommendation. Uh we've put into the uh proposed budget 10% but we need to get aggressive and see what we can do to trim those costs. >> Can you do me a favor and just explain, this is for the general community, cuz you mentioned at the end of year usually they're about 1 to 2 million dollars in doing surplus or money

041funds. Why you just can't take that money and just give it back to the taxpayers? Can you please just speak to that part why that's >> So, so typically what happens is you know, we have a lot of needs that are that are unfunded. >> Right. >> And so, um we have reoccurring um textbook costs that but they they [snorts] come to us at different times. I'm they Well, it might be $600,000 this year. Um next year it might be $3 million. And so, we ask the county, the money reverts back to the county as it should um by code, and then we ask the county uh the board asked the county to re- revert those funds back to the school division and we provide them a map of how we're going to spend those

042dollars. And typically they do go to support those one-time items. If we need an extra bus or two, if we need technology, and and technology's similar to textbooks. One year we'll have a $3 million refresh on some servers, the next four years it'll be switches. And those are very high dol- high cost dollar items. So, um we don't typically while we would like to have them in the budget um because they're high dollar items and they don't occur every year. They're more like maybe more like five year replacements or seven year replacements. Um, we've often used the end of year funds as a means to pay for those. So, we'll set them aside and then uh the team will then use those funds when uh for whatever purpose. >> Right. >> And so, like like

043this year we had some come to capital outlay. We had some go to to replacement of the white fleet and we had $600,000 reverted from last year's funds to textbooks cuz we know we have a big textbook refresh this year and early next year. >> So, this isn't this is not just extra funds and we go, "Oh, we have extra money. Let's find a way to spend it." It's needs that actually we have >> [clears throat] >> that aren't in the budget necessarily because of the way they come [snorts] in or as they come on. >> And [clears throat] you And so, largely these funds are generated by by the savings of vacant positions. Now, what we what we try to do is we we still we still try to recruit for these positions. And

044so, we have um a salary and then we also have benefits that are built in for those for those individuals. Um, what has what happens is, you know, you have to come up with an average salary of how you're hiring. So, you look at where you what step you might be hiring teachers on. And right now we average about grade seven. I It's been my practice to use a grade six. So, we hire a teacher with six years of experience. Our practice right now, our experience is we're looking at seven or eight years. However, I build some in for benefits, too, because uh in a single employee uh who's on our insurance, we might pay $10,000 [clears throat] for the single employee. That's employer cost. But for a family, it it's 27, 28,000. So, how

045do you budget that? You don't want to budget 28,000 for every vacant position. So, you come up with a formula that you use. And so, not everybody takes our insurance. So, we have a little bit of savings in that when when we you fill the position. So, you take 100 positions throughout the year that have been vacant or there's been some vacancy in those positions and it adds up quickly. And so, what we do is the responsible thing is give those back to the county, make the justification to the county and then the county reverts those back to us. >> Thank you. >> Marshall, regarding the insurance, so we have the 10% in the budget, but we've got about 19.4 right now. What's the total dollar amount we're looking into? >> At at 10% it

046was just over $2 million. So, we're looking at just under $4 million. >> Major. >> Yeah, so what we we got the new money that we received was 6 and 1/2 million. Through savings through the VRS savings and through our attrition, we got it up to just over 9 million. So, you half of your money, half of the money that's available um would go to insurance unless we take you know, measures in order to reduce that and that goes cost. >> Right. >> So, we're not alone in this. Uh my colleagues uh are anywhere from, you know, 10 to 27% is what we're seeing across the state. And um pharmacy is is driving a lot of these costs, but so are our high cost claimants. Where we used to have maybe five or six that

047that might be exceeding over $300,000 in insurance claims, now we're seeing 10. And those are very, very expensive. And so, you we have a separate policy for high cost claims. So, those costs have gone up. So, um our insurance consultant consultant works closely with um our insurance provider, Sentara, to try and mitigate those costs where they can, but it's it's a challenge. >> So, Ms. Skinner, can you tell the community what the what the age of some of our older textbooks were over the last several years? Cuz I know I know what they were, but um just for the community to be aware. >> Um we've had textbooks as old as 12 12 years. Absolutely. So, I've been on the board 10 years. >> You wanted me to hear it. >> The challenge has been

048that the Virginia Department of Education has made with all of the information I've shared with you about the changes in the standards. >> Yeah. >> [snorts] >> So, when standards change, the next step is high-quality instructional materials adoptions. And so, we've um usually it's like an 8-year cycle. You go through this for your four core core areas every 8 years. Math [snorts] and English happen very quickly together. And so, it's the purchase of the English on top of the math that is straining us a little bit. Would you say, Dr. Carroll? Is that how you would >> [snorts] >> say that? And so, that's the challenge that when he was >> So, the other textbooks get pushed aside. >> No. No. >> No. Or or they they get older. >> Yes. Yes. We have a

049cycle that we try to follow as much as we can when it's a normal adoption. >> I understand. And to your point, Mr. Richardson, too, as Mr. Bowen said, that's the kind of thing we've been doing with technology, also. Yeah. We We stretched those teacher stations out that we just replaced last summer, 9 years. I couldn't go any longer. So, you have to have some predictability, and especially with technology, something goes in our infrastructure, we could be down for a while. So, that's something that we've got to try to balance and get some annualization in those funds, but also uh try to keep our keep our totals down. >> And and it's hard for the community to understand. It's easier when you're sitting on the board and you're working with it to understand that those

050end-of-year funds and you're budgeting for that those those savings for those positions you're budgeting for um you know, 27,000 for benefits, but you have to budget for that next year because you don't know who you're going to hire. >> Exactly. [snorts] >> And um you can't just give that back to the community because you need that for next year, maybe. You don't You don't know what you're going to use or need. Uh but you can use that for end-of-year funds if you can to buy stuff that we may need. And and it's easier once you understand the budget process a little little better. And then it is it is hard for the community to understand. I I do I do know that. So, you know, if you don't follow and follow the meetings and follow

051the budget process, it is difficult. I certainly understand that, but I was trying to to ask those questions so they may be under would understand that. So, thank you. >> And because in an ideal world, there wouldn't be any end of year funds because you'd have every position filled and everything taken care of. >> Yeah. >> And then, where would the money come from for the things that we needed to have that >> Yeah, you almost rely on that rely on that surplus for the things you couldn't get cuz it couldn't be in the budget. >> Right. >> Good discussion. >> First comment. Thank you. >> All right, we're going to be moving with the presentation working conditions and student climate. Dr. Carroll presenting. >> All right, thank you, Mr. Palovich. As you know, we

052do surveys in the fall or the early winter and both for the staff working conditions. A lot of those questions also equate to student climate. So, tonight you have Dr. David Wright, Chief Human Resources Officer, along with Dr. Shannon Butler, Associate Director of Student Services for Secondary. They're going to provide that strategic plan update focusing on student and staff climate. So, Dr. Wright. >> Thank you, Dr. >> [clears throat] >> Mr. Chair, board members, as I begin tonight, I want to remind everyone of the core values we have in YCSD and these serve as our fundamental commitment to serve our community with excellence. We have integrity, safety, engagement, growth, and innovation. They support planning, decision-making, [clears throat] and work [snorts] responsibilities for our organization. And in that environment of increased expectation and accountability, YCSD has

053thrived. All of York County School Division schools remain fully accredited and also earned ratings of distinguished or on track, making YCSD the only school division in Region 2 to have all schools meeting or exceeding expectations. We also have three Blue Ribbon schools in the past 3 years. We also enjoy third-party recognition of excellence in our niche and US News ratings. We're also a four-year Purple Star division. Focus areas for supportive culture include learning environment, which is a positive student-centered learning through student voice and access to instruction and school connections in a safe, supportive, and well-maintained environment, and working conditions. A positive and supportive environment in which our schools and our work sites through staff voice, enabling all employees to perform their best work according to established responsibilities and standards, leading to the increased job satisfaction

054and employee retention. A school environment broadly characterized by its facilities, classroom practices, school-based health supports, disciplinary policies and practices, and research tells us there is a strong connection between school climate and academic achievement of students. A work environment characterized by positive working conditions has a direct relationship on employee retention, and a majority of employees, about 94%, report they would stay with an employer longer if it invested in their career growth. One of our data collection tools is the Power 10. And YCSD developed the power 10 survey to be a companion to the Virginia schools survey. This is a timeline of this year of when that survey was distributed. In December, all schools received information to share with staff and families. The month of January, staff and students in grades 4 through 12 completed the survey.

055February, our survey results were made available. And this month, March, we have the executive leadership teams review the results and formulated any action steps. Our school-based participation was strong this year. We had 1,170 responses out of roughly 1,300 employees. Of those, 923 were instructional staff and 247 were support staff, which gave us a well-balanced representation of voices across all roles. Also, I want to give the pay [clears throat] attention to the top for the overall satisfaction. This is on a six-point scale and we're at a 5.33 as overall satisfaction. So, across the data, a few themes stand out. First, learning environment and especially the item as adults at this school care about students >> [snorts] >> was the highest rated statement among both instructional and support staff. And that mirrors that we see from students

056and reinforces that relationships remain a core across our schools. Second to learning environment is safety. >> [snorts] >> "I feel safe at my work location." is the question. School-based staff reported strong and consistently positive perceptions of safety indicating that employees feel their schools provide a secure and supportive environment for both staff and students. Lastly, professional growth, specifically the statement "The professional development I receive meets my needs." was the lowest scoring area for both groups. This was also true last year, which signals a consistent opportunity for improvement. Overall, the results affirm the strength of our school culture while highlighting a clear area where staff are making where staff are asking for more support. This slide reflects several years of trend data for instructional staff. Across the categories, instructional staff include to report consistent high levels of

057satisfaction with scores remaining stable over time. That stability is meaningful. It tells us that positive working conditions are not situational or dependent on a single initiative. They are embedded practices supported consistently by school leadership. And this consistency also helps us pinpoint areas where we want to focus on continuous improvement rather than major corrective action. Support staff shows the same pattern of strong, steady satisfaction across >> [snorts] >> working conditions categories. This year, 96 non-based staff responded to the survey out of approximately 398 total employees. Last year, the number was 159, so participation is an area that I need I need [clears throat] to exam examine. Even with lower participation, the results show clear patterns. Caring environment received the highest scores, indicating that employees feel supported and valued. And again, safety was the close second. Professional

058growth was again the lowest rated category, mirroring both last year's results and the patterns seen in the school-based employees. The consistency in the lowest scoring area suggests a division need to strengthen how we support the growth and development of our non-school-based workforce, and this focus is something we will look into year five of our strategic plan. Even though participation declined, the trend data we do have shows improvement across every working conditions category for non-school-based staff. This upward movement is encouraging signal that reflected that recent efforts, particularly around workforce culture and employee support, are having a positive impact. Given how critical these teams are to our daily operations, improvements in their working conditions directly support stronger service, reliability, and family experience. Our next step is increasing participation so we can ensure the upward trends and we

059are seeing truly a representation of the broader group. Now we will transition from staff working conditions to student climate results from the Power 10 survey. >> [snorts] >> Dr. Shannon Butler is going to in this portion of the survey focus on how students experience school across several key climate indicators that research shows are directly connected to student engagement and academic success. Safety includes physical, emotional, and social. Relationships include teacher, student, and peer-to-peer. And institutional environment includes respect, fairness, and rules. Dr. Butler. >> All right. Well, as we all know, our students are very honest. So, uh when completing our survey, this survey asked students about their perceptions of sense of belonging and a question about whether students feel they belong at school, about safety, whether students feel that they are safe in their school environment,

060student discipline, based on whether rules and consequences they feel are applied fairly, and caring environment, whether students feel that adults at their school care about them. Together, these areas give us a comprehensive picture of the student experience across the division. Transitioning now to the actual student data, this section summarizes results from students in grades 4 through 12, and that was the focus of the survey, grades 4 through 12. The survey focused on four key climate indicators, sense of belonging, safety, student discipline, and caring environment, as I mentioned earlier. These measures are strongly supported in research as core contributors to student engagement, academic success, and overall well-being. The remaining slides will break down the data by elementary, middle, and high school levels to identify patterns and areas of targeted improvement. So, first with our elementary, overall,

061our elementary students report strong and positive perceptions of their school experience. Overall, students continue to report high levels in sense of belonging, they feel that they belong at their school, and safety, feeling physically, emotionally, and socially safe, and in caring environment, students believing that adults at their school care about them. These indicators matter deeply at the elementary level, where relationships and emotional safety set the foundation for academic growth and long-term engagement. The results reflect the daily work of staff from classroom practices to student support structures and demonstrate a healthy student center climate. As we look over our year-over-year comparisons, they show that elementary climate results remain strong, stable, and in several areas improving. Indicators such as belonging, relationships, caring environment, and learning atmosphere all show positive movement. Even small increases are significant because elementary scores

062tend to start high, leaving less room to grow. This consistently tells us that positive practices are deeply embedded, not one-time initiatives. These results provide a strong foundation as students move into the more complex developmental stage of middle school. >> I have a question. It's showing us slight decline regarding student discipline. >> So, that question, when you look at student discipline, it's statistically not significant because of how high it is, but the question is, um, again, it's you're only talking fourth and fifth graders, so you're talking a different group than the year previously. And a 4.41 to a 4.31, as a former math teacher, I would tell you is not statistically significant. It's about the same. >> I was just wondering if it if it showed anything. >> Well, in the previous year, remember the question

063is about is discipline, um, fairly consistent amongst all kids. It's not about discipline. It's a >> Okay. Thank you. >> Uh-huh. All right. For our middle school students, um, results also show positive perceptions across the key indicators of belonging, safety, fairness, and caring relationships. The middle years bring significant academic, social, and emotional transitions, so variability at these years is often common. The results here suggest that staff are effectively supporting students through these shifts, particularly in relationship building and maintaining safe, structured environments. Compared to previous results, middle school students reported increases in multiple climate areas, including belonging, respect, caring environment, learning atmosphere, and readiness for college, career, and life. [clears throat] This growth is especially meaningful at the middle level, where national research often shows dips in student connectedness. This positive movement here indicates that the

064strategies and supports in place are resonating with students. These results show ongoing progress in creating supportive middle school environments that help students stay engaged and prepared for high school. >> Again, if I can ask, it it it's slight, but just looking at these, the lower as well as on the other bar graph, um the student behavior and student discipline seems to be weaker compared to the others. Do you have any ideas >> been the case over the last 4 years. So, if you look, that's just always been the case. [clears throat] >> Any ideas why? Other than that, maybe an area to look at? >> I'm going to say, just from my perspective, because I work with in my community, I work with middle school students. And their perception of what's fair and what's not

065fair, and it's very all over the map. >> Okay. That's what we've seen. >> So, you can And you can ask them different days and get different responses, too. So, I can see how that because I saw the same thing you did. I was like, what's going on? But then I started to think back to my conversations and my that experience, and I can see how you could get a lot of variation in that area of perception on well, well, this person got this because from their lens, how they see it, it looked unfair or but this person didn't get it but they don't realize they're not comparing apples to apples. It's not an apples to apples comparison. >> Well, I always get disciplined worse anyway. >> Right. Right. And you get a lot of

066that. >> my cell phone because they saw it but they didn't take Ms. Skinner's cuz they >> And [laughter] it's not always but when I ask the questions when I ask the questions, it's like, "Well, what about this? Do you know about that?" Well, no. So, you get that variation. >> Yes. So. >> So, Mrs. Goodwin, you put your finger on it with middle schoolers, they they always have an overdeveloped sense of fairness. That's what I always said. However, we don't want to discount the results. Uh the they're these should be relatively the same even though on any given day with middle school, it could be different. What I would point you to is the overall score and you can see it trending upwards every year with middle schoolers even though it's slight but that

067you know, when you're getting results this good, it's hard to keep keep pushing the needle. I think the point is is that we're looking at the aggregate for the division. The work will be for the schools to to be looking at their individual data which is going to have some variation so that there when they're working on their school improvement plans, if they see something that's significant, then they know where to do some work. >> Thank you. All right. Well, with our high school students, as we know, they're getting ready to prepare for graduation and transition to postsecondary pathways. So, with our high school students again, we report positive perceptions across belonging, safety, and fairness, [clears throat] and caring relationships. Again showing that our high schools are effectively supporting students both academically [clears throat] and

068socially and in their life in the next step. Really excited about this next one. If we look at our [clears throat] high school students, they actually reported increases across every single measured category that we that we took. And I can promise you as working as a high school principal for the last 10 years, they are going to be honest. So, this to me was really a good thing to see. So, they reported increased scores across every single measure including belonging, safety, respect, caring environment, learning atmosphere, and readiness for college, career, and life. This across-the-board improvement is especially noteworthy given the complexity of the high school experience. It tells us that our efforts to build supportive, future-focused environments are taking hold and positively shaping the student experience. These results reflect a strong and improving school climate

069at the high school level, which we're really excited about. >> Let me ask a question real quick. On our college, career, and life readiness, that's also on a lower end. Uh on the But what is what is the question that we ask our teachers and then actually our students? I'm the sorry. >> So, do you have do you have that with >> have it with me. >> Okay. So, um Dr. Butler and I every year this is a question that comes up. And um my understanding, Dr. Butler correct me if I'm wrong, is that teachers at this they ask them or the question is teachers at this school connect what I'm learning to real life. Is that correct? >> That's definitely the elementary one. I think the high school is a little bit of a

070variation of that, yeah. >> And so, it's it I was pleased to see that at the middle and high we've slightly increased. Elementary I think we declined slightly. But the learning atmosphere is increasing. So, I think we have a little bit of work to do there about helping our students. I feel like we've added more through our program of studies. But I do think we've got more work to do about how what they're doing at high school what does prepare them. And I think that's part of the work that we can look at for our students in the future. >> And that's the reason why I'm asking because I know we're pouring into that and I'm I'm a witnessing all the efforts that >> Correct. >> you guys uh for our students. Uh And it's

071not a result that's showing it, but like how they're perceiving that and that's why I was asking that question. >> It's a good question and I think it's something we need to delve into deeper. >> Yeah, Mr. Pavlovich, when we, you know, created this, we were looking for what are the 10 questions that kind of capture things the best or we'd have a 100 question survey, right? And then you just get lost in the data. So, I think the question was about relevancy in the classroom. We all said, "Why Why am I learning algebra, right?" So, we've all been there. So, it's important, you know, to try to find ways to connect, you know, the content to the real world and so that's the question we're asking here and and but it is something that

072we should pay attention to and work on. And the more especially if we work on CTE classes and that type of thing to try to try to make those connections. It's a place where we can do some more. >> Online e-work as well, I think. Can the board have a copy of what those questions are just so we can I'm thinking. >> [clears throat] >> So, overall, as we've discussed, the data shared tonight indicates strong climate foundation, growth at both the middle and high school levels, stability [snorts] in staff satisfaction, and a clear opportunity area with professional growth, which will be a focus for year five of our strategic plan. The division's next steps are going to focus on deepening professional growth supports, strengthening staff voice and participation, protecting protecting and scaling strong climate practices,

073and using data to inform retention and leadership strategy. And that is the conclusion of presentation. Any questions? >> I have a comment and one of the things I was noting on here from the working conditions across the division for our employees and our student climate, I was really happy to see the high scoring on that safety area amongst other things, but obviously for me being board member and safety being one of the paramount concerns of the board, to see that our staff, teachers, and our students feel safe coming to school. It makes me feel very good. >> I like to do that the sense of belonging at the high school level uh was has improved and is high because uh high school it shows that they're not too cool for school. You know what I'm

074saying? And uh I mean, [clears throat] that's that's essentially what it is. And if we can keep them connected through those. >> Right. >> Yeah. >> That's what's [clears throat] important. >> [snorts] >> Great job. >> Good job. >> Thank you, Dr. Wright. >> Uh I'd rise Dr. Wright, thank you so much for presentation. We're going to move along with another presentation on licensed staff compensation. Dr. [clears throat] Carroll, >> Yes, so Mr. Pravetz, we're going to go back to Dr. Wright again. Uh he shares with the board some insight into our staff compensation trends and future strategies for the York County School Division to remain competitive [snorts] in the region. Dr. Wright. >> Okay. Thank you, Dr. Carroll. Members of the board again. Um tonight I'll be presenting the annual update on licensed staff

075compensation. You will see a lot of data throughout this presentation, but I'll focus on three major areas. Our starting salaries, our ending salaries, and how we compare both regionally and across the peninsula. Our compensation package, the combination of salaries and the benefits we provide, is the central part of highly effective talent priority in our strategic plan. Ensuring that we remain competitive helps us attract and retain highly quality high quality educators who drive student success. Compensation and benefits make up 81% of our operating budget. So, the investments we make here are significant and intentional. This evening, I will expand on the licensed staff portion of the compensation. Licensed staff represent over half of our entire workforce and includes both teachers and administrators. While salary has historically been the most influential factor in recruiting and retaining licensed

076staff, we are seeing a shift. Today, working conditions and culture also play major roles in educator decisions. YCSD is categorized by VDOE as part of Region 2, which includes divisions such as Virginia Beach, Norfolk, Williamsburg, James City County, Hampton, and others. Locally, our Peninsula comparative groups are Hampton, Newport News, WJCC, Poquoson, and Gloucester, the divisions from which you'll see most lateral movement. One comment, Mr. Shafer, you made earlier this evening I can't seem [snorts] to get past [clears throat] when you were talking to Mr. Bowen is having all positions filled at the end of >> [laughter] >> I said in an ideal world, no. >> Yes, it would be a dream of mine. This slide shows where our new hires with experience came from during 2026. Over 76% of our experienced new hires joined us

077from surrounding regional school divisions, which means we are more [snorts] importers and exporters of staff in the region. We also continue to focus on retention once these employees join us. Some of our strategies include monthly pulse surveys, which our March one just ended today, and new hire focus groups, let's talk submissions, our new hire touch point survey, tuition reimbursement, our lead cohorts, our mentorship during the first year, and these help us ensure that new staff feel seen, supported, and valued. One thing I want to point out is the average years of experience I think Mr. Bowen touched on a little earlier. Last year we were about seven, a little over seven years, now we've gone down to 5.7, so the years of experience that we're getting as far as our workforce it seems [clears throat]

078to be decreasing, but >> [snorts] >> what we do with that information is this year is we have started working with the instruction department that once a new teacher or new employee arrives, we send that information directly to the instruction department and they saturate that employee with support. They go out to the buildings making sure that they understand what our curriculum expectations are and they really give a lot of support with those new employees which I think make a difference for those that might have less years of experience. >> Just a comment uh 10 hires 20 plus of years experience, that's amazing. That's more than 10% >> It is. >> Yeah. >> This slide provides context for the regional market in which we operate. York County ranks 22nd in the state for student enrollment placing

079us solidly in the mid-size division category. However, when we look at per pupil expenditures, we reflect the combined investment of state, local, and federal funding, York ranks 10th, York County ranks 10th out of the 11 regional divisions listed here. This takes that same comparators market data we just looked at and this is a scatter graph which visualizes the relationship between per pupil spending and enrollment size. Your county continues to deliver high outcomes even with lower per pupil spending. That efficiency is a strength, but also has some limits. Sustaining high performance while maintaining near the bottom in expenditures puts continued pressure on staffing, compensation, and overall operational capacity. And the graph reinforces that York County isn't underperforming or outperforming our funding positions. Our people are the reason we are able to maintain high performance despite lower

080per pupil per pupil spending. The next several slides illustrate how teacher salary structure compares regionally across a 30-year career span for both bachelor's and master's degrees. Starting with teacher salaries, York County remains competitive for graduates entering the workforce. These tables show how salaries progress for teachers with both bachelor's and master's degrees at key career intervals. We have a year 0, 5, 10, 20, and 30. This gives us a clear picture of how York County compares to our neighbors at each stage of a teacher's career. York County is the solid blue line on this bachelor's degree salary comparison chart. Looking across the full career span of a teacher with a bachelor's degree, [clears throat] York County remains aligned with the regional market. [snorts] While some divisions lead at particular years, York County consistently tracks within competitive

081ranges. This shows that our bachelor's salary structure supports both recruitment and long-term retention while remaining fiscally fiscally responsible. Transitioning next, we'll take a look at the master's lane and how we can compensate advanced professional preparation. This slide mirrors the bachelor's comparison. Again, we are the solid blue line, but [snorts] for employees holding master's degrees and across a whole career, York's master's line remains consistently competitive within the regional market and our structure supports educators throughout their career while recognizing the value of an advanced credential. Currently, we have 683 licensed employees that have a master's degree or higher and that's 66% of our 1,038 highly qualified licensed employees. For our most advanced degrees, which is our master's plus 30 and doctorate, York County provides meaningful salary growth over time. These pay lanes represent sustained investment in professional

082expertise and this salary progression helps us retain highly trained educators throughout their careers. This chart provides [snorts] a detailed comparison for master's plus 30 and doctorate salaries at significant career steps. York County consistently ranks near the top of the region for these advanced credentials demonstrating our commitment to retaining educators who pursue ongoing education. In a master's plus 30 lane, York County establishes a clear premium for advanced preparation. As careers progress, educators continue to see the financial impact of this level of expertise and your county remains competitive [clears throat] at veteran stages. [snorts] The doctorate chart reinforces the same pattern where your county rewards advanced education through the educators career. Veteran educators remain well positioned with regional salary landscape making York County a viable long-term professional home. This summary highlights our standing across key degree levels.

083Across bachelor's, master's, master's plus 30 and doctorate lanes, York County typically ranks between second and fourth out of the seven divisions, often placing us in the top three. These rankings show that we remain competitive particularly for educators with advanced credentials. Currently, we have 355 teachers with a bachelor's degree, which is 34% of our licensed staff. 683 with a master's or higher, which is 66% for a total of 1,038 quality high-quality educators. This reflects workforce with a strong academic preparation and deep professional knowledge. Here you can see recent compensation adjustments. Over the last years, York County has consistently provided both step increases and market adjustments. These reflect our ongoing effort to maintain a competitive compensation. Looking ahead, we continue to strengthen or support our support for employees. Upcoming initiatives include expanding our recognition programs, our quadrennial

084compensation review, wellness initiatives targeted professional development for non-licensed staff, enhanced onboarding and offboarding processes, increased avenues for feedback through focus groups, surveys, interviews, and our teacher council. >> [clears throat] >> And then an overview of our licensed staff compensation. Any questions? >> [clears throat] [snorts] >> I guess it's it's not a not a question, but kind of a combination of this along with looking at the working conditions with professional development. And I know >> [snorts] >> it would cost money, and I had asked the question earlier. Um I know some some levels get all of their professional development that they need for recertification is covered by YCSD. How is that working out for teachers? I know when I was teaching full-time, we weren't compensated for if we took classes anywhere. So, a lot of us

085who were watching the dollars um coming in, that we made sure that we took classes that were free because of a grant, like WHRO used to do [snorts] grant funding for courses that would help for that recertification. How are we doing to support our teachers? Because one of the things of keeping the teachers is they have to recertify every so many years. And my personal opinion is that we should be supporting that and not making them have to cough it up out of their own salaries. >> Dr. Skinner, Dr. Rice. >> So, I I can say that we provide quite a few opportunities free to our teachers. And our partners like WHRO still provide those opportunities. But Dr. Dr. Rice, do you want to talk about our compensation? >> So, we have tuition reimbursement, which

086is $1,000 every year that a um employee can um definitely utilize or take advantage of if they want to take a class and it's specific to what job they do, then we will reimburse them for that cost. Also, too, um, recertification is much different now. It's every 10 years. So, they have a longer period of time to get that recertification [snorts] because if I did it now, I would have until, um, 2036 in order to have to recertify. Last Thursday, I ran into a great resource. I think it was the director of libraries for the county and he gave me a resource that was called Universal Class and you can go into the our public libraries. It's a free, um, training and it actually goes toward teacher recertification. So, today we put together something on

087our SharePoint which are we are going to share out to our teachers. It's a free, um, opportunity from York County libraries that gives them a ton of recertification points for free. >> Great. >> So, we want to be able to Anytime I hear those types of resources, I think as educators when we hear those type of opportunities popping up, you always want to go back and, um, research it and then push it out to the group so they can take advantage of it. So, we're always looking for ways that we can help support them. I know the instruction staff through your recertification, your PD, you can use those points. >> allocate a certain amount of the professional development budget based on the number of teachers in each building to the schools. And the schools get

088to use those funds. Often times, uh, teacher they'll send teachers to different professional developments. A teacher can request to go to different ones and they were they use those funds to do that and we closely monitor that to make sure all those funds are used during the school year because we want to make sure that teachers have those opportunities. We also give a certain amount for administrators to use towards their professional development, as well. >> Piggybacking onto that, um, I know and that's for for a full-time teachers. I know for homebound tutors or alternate site tutors, they're required to have full certification. [clears throat] And I remember when I made that transition transition from full classroom to the homebound tutor, that there wasn't as much support. I had to pretty much find the recertification points

089on my own, and it was much more difficult. Um now, that was a number of years ago. How are we doing today? >> We have a SharePoint site where we place any professional development. And I would I give kudos to the Virginia Department of Education. [clears throat] They have really stepped up their professional development offerings. Every Wednesday, Teacher Connect comes out to our teachers filled with free, mostly free, opportunities. We take all of those. We place them up in our SharePoint, which if you are subscribing to that, which most of our teachers do, it's pushed out to them. And then they can also go on that SharePoint and look for upcoming professional developments. >> And do the homebound tutors who are not also full-time tutors have access to that? >> Yes, they do because they

090are licensed or they're employees of York [clears throat] County, they have access to that site. >> Great. Thank you very much. >> And Mrs. Sperman, I I to add perspective, when we look at those professional development numbers being lower than the other areas, they still score within slightly agree to agree. So, still pretty good numbers. I think it's more reflective of that ability to differentiate and to give them exactly what they want because sometimes, if anything I've heard is we're giving too much PD, and in recent years it's been because the state has been pushing down so much that they they don't have the time to take the thing they'd like to take or they think individually would help them the most when you've got to hit that state requirement. So, [clears throat] hopefully we'll

091get to a point where we can get to where their particular interests are or they think they >> catch-22 that the teachers need the time during their planning to do the actual planning for classes and grading and things like that. But then they have to take the classes for professional development. If it's offered in the classroom, they don't get the or if it's offered at the school, they don't get the time for it's >> Right, and if we have three or four professional development days during the year, then that means you get three or four days less in the summer, right? So, it's all it all trades off. >> this problem to teacher council about three years ago. We wanted their input into this, and one of their suggestions was to start encouraging personalized professional

092development. So, we do have the principals work with the teachers to pick something of interest to them. And um sometimes they connect that to their smart goal, and then sometimes it's just something that they really want to try in their classroom. And then we um and that's how we encourage our principals to direct those PD funds that we set aside for teacher professional development. So, we try to make it meaningful, and that came from teacher council um because we felt like teachers would be the best ones to kind of tell us because this is a where this data shows, and we'll continue to work on trying to make it meaningful, but there are some things that as of late they've not had as many choices on because they're required. Okay. >> Thank you very much.

093>> Great discussion. I appreciate all the wealth of information you guys shared with us. >> Thank you. All right, we're going to be moving to the last presentation, which going to be FY23-27 strategic plan and early literacy screening. Also known as the VALS. We're going to hear the data. Dr. Kilgore. >> All right, thank you. So, Dr. Kristen Bolen is here with us, the associate director of elementary instruction and academic programs. She's going to give you that mid-year VALS uh uh update or results. Dr. Bolen. >> Thank you so much. Good evening, Chairman Pyle, Dr. Carroll, members of the board. Um it's really my pleasure to be here with you tonight to speak about the Virginia Language and Literacy Screening System that we call VALS, and to provide you with an update on our mid-year

094assessment data. >> [clears throat] >> As we dive into this, I just want to note for you that additional information regarding the data that's shared in this presentation can be found in the executive summary that is attached to the agenda. So, if you look on the agenda board docs, you'll be able to find that executive summary right there for you. >> Thank you for doing that. >> Oh, absolutely. And in tonight's presentation, we're really going to focus on three things. We're going to focus first on an overview of the VALs assessment. I'll remind you what that assessment includes and talk to you a little bit about how the mid-year assessment is different from the fall assessment that I spoke to you about a few months ago. I'll give you an update on our mid-year VALs

095student performance data, and then I'll talk to you a little bit about the actions that our schools and the larger school division are taking. So, we'll start with just an overview of the assessment, and I'll remind you that for our kindergarten through second grade students, the VALs assessment is designed to identify at-risk readers. It really looks at measuring those early critical literacy skills, and we give this assessment multiple times throughout the year so that we have an accurate measure of student progress throughout the year. And we use that data to guide instruction and intervention decisions for our students so that if we need to make pivots or adjustments on the skills that our students need to be working on throughout the year, we're doing that in a very data-informed way. I'd also like to remind

096you that upon completion of the assessment, all students are placed into one of three risk categories. So, it sounds a little scary when we talk about risk, but our students who are placed in a low-risk category um really are defined as students who have a very low risk of having any kind of reading difficulty. So, for those students, we continue to provide the high-quality instruction in our grade-level classrooms that we provide to all students here in New York County School Division. >> So, Dr. Bolling, if a student is not identified really to have any, they're still in the >> They're still placed in that low-risk bands. Yes. Um students with moderate risk have some indicators that they have a targeted or really explicit need. And a lot of times that's something the teacher can address

097through classroom instruction um by providing a small group intervention with students. Um we may have students working with a paraeducator and those are designed to shore up skills before there is a critical need. Students who have high-risk [snorts] indicators, however, receive some more intensive support. They uh receive an individualized reading plan. Embedded within that reading plan is 2 and 1/2 hours of weekly literacy instruction that's really focused on meeting their individual needs based on the particular subtests that they're struggling with on that BALs assessment. Now, [clears throat] when we get the mid-year BALs assessment, this is not the same exact assessment that we give in the fall. It's a shorter assessment. So, our students are able to move through it a little bit more quickly because it is just that progress monitoring time for us.

098It is a more rigorous assessment than the fall assessment to account for the skills that students should have acquired throughout the course of the school year thus far. >> [snorts] >> And the risk band ranges increase [cough] for each grade level. So, in addition to the test becoming harder, it's also harder to achieve [snorts] the scores um that students may have received in the fall. So, let me talk to you a little bit about how this works. So, if you look at the presentation, you'll see the first-grade risk band ranges for both fall and mid-year. We're going to focus here on the scores for moderate risk. And you'll see that in the fall those scores ranged from 604 to 629. But at mid-year, to receive a moderate risk score, students have to achieve at least

099a 631 with that score band moving from 631 to 646. So, now we're going to take a look at a sample first grade student here, and this student [clears throat] had a scaled score of 635 in the [snorts] fall, which placed them in the low risk band range. At the mid-year, that same student actually did better. They had a score of 643, but even with that progress, that score of 643 places them now in a moderate risk band. And with that student being placed in that moderate risk band, because there are some additional instructional indicators, that student will receive some additional help and support to strengthen their literacy skills. All right, now let's take a look at data from the mid-year bout administration. So, this slide is going to show you how our risk bands

100distribute across our K-2 classrooms here at YCSD. So, the first two bars that you're looking at are going to show kindergarten performance in the fall in comparison to kindergarten performance at the mid-year administration. >> [clears throat] >> The subsequent bars are going to show you that same comparison for our first grade students and our second grade students. You'll notice that the green portions of each bar indicate students who are at low risk. Again, remembering that all students are placed in that risk band, so this represents 100% of our student population at each grade level. That [snorts] green is indicating students who are identified as having low risk for reading difficulty. The blue indicates students who are moderate risk for developing reading difficulty, and the purple indicates students who are high risk for developing a reading

101difficulty. So, overall, what we really want to see here is that the number of students with low risk, indicated by the green, gets larger from one administration to the next, and we want to see that students who demonstrate high risk, represented by the purple here, becomes less over time. And I'm pleased to share that that's the outcome that we've received through this administration. Now, we're going to take a closer look, and I'm really excited to share with you our high-risk scores by grade level. So, these are the students who were represented as purple on the previous graph, and you'll notice that overall, a pretty small percentage of our students in the fall were identified as having high risk, but those percentages have declined even further with the high-quality instruction that our students are receiving. That

102movement's really demonstrating that the interventions our students are receiving, along with the core instruction that they are participating in in our classrooms, are positively influencing student outcomes. Now, we'll take a look at our low-risk students. So, again, these are the students who were represented by green bands on that graph. And as we take a closer look at this, I'm thrilled to share that our mid-year results are showing a significant increase in the percentage of students who are performing in that low-risk band across K-2 grade levels. Again, those gains are suggesting that what we're doing in instruction is working on a day-to-day basis, and that the targeted supports we're providing are helping our students to grow even with those more rigorous mid-year expectations. Now, let's take a look at school and division actions in response to

103the data. First, our schools are taking an active look at student reading plans and making adjustments to instructional delivery. So, again, this assessment is divided into subtests, and teachers are able to really drill down and look at the performance of their individual students to determine what those specific needs are, and make any adjustments to individual student reading plans, as well as the instruction they're providing in the classroom, to make sure that our students are all receiving the targeted support that they need as individual learners. We're also keeping families informed, so schools are regularly communicating with families about um student progress. And we have provided our families um at the second quarter uh report card window with copies of student reading plans with their updated progress. At the division level, we're taking a close look at

104literacy data across schools, grade levels, classrooms, and students so that we can help to provide targeted support to schools, classrooms, or demographic groups where there are some areas of need. And then the last component that we're looking at is the provision of professional development and targeted coaching to our school teams. So, one of the things that we're doing right now is leveraging our partnership with the Virgin Virginia Literacy Partnerships out of UVA and bringing them in to offer some training and support to our literacy leads teachers. And they're also working with some of our select schools at this point in time. This concludes my mid-year BELs update. And at this time, I'm happy to take any questions that you may have. >> Okay. >> Very good. Yeah. >> Sounds like it's promising. The BELs data

105is very promising with what's happening. >> Thank you. We're very encouraged and we appreciate the work of our teachers and reading specialists to make that happen. >> I like that it is so targeted. Like you can really drill down to each student and what they're struggling with because my struggle might be very different from the struggle of the student over here. It's right. And you can just focus on that and really help them to achieve. >> I have a question on the the two slides. The one was the high-risk one and one was the um >> low risk. Thank you. Um you have percentages. Do you know about numbers of students? You know, how many is that? >> We do. Um, and you can look in >> I'm sorry. >> summary to see it by

106grade level as well. But, did you have a follow-up question to that? >> No. Um No, that's all right. >> Okay. So, yes, that information is specifically on the executive summary as well. It um varies from one grade band to the next. We also take a really deep look at students within the high-risk [clears throat] band to make a determination about how many of those students are newly identified as high-risk. Most of the students um who are newly identified as high-risk are transfer students. So, the other thing that I'll point out is when you're looking from one bar graph to the next, it's not necessarily the same number of students. So, we have about 20 students at the midyear across K2 who were identified as high-risk for the first time um after transferring into us.

107So, we definitely um take a look at that data. And then, when I go out and meet with school administrators, we have conversations about who those specific students are to make sure that the schools know as well. >> Great. Thank you. >> You're welcome. >> What about bonus? >> I'm sorry. >> Go ahead. >> I'm looking at the charts. So, the kindergarten uh at the fall uh at [snorts] risk actually moderate it's higher than the second uh first grade. And then, the second grade is [snorts] higher. Uh I understand like the as the composition of students are changing, incoming and everything. Uh is there something that we have idea to track how do these kids from kindergarten moving to the first grade to the second grade? Uh What was the reason why this uh first

108grade are performing better at the beginning of the year? >> This is such a great question. And we'll be excited to share some longitudinal data with you when I come back in June because this is only the second year for us administering the balance assessment. So, it'll be the first time we can really look at that cumulative data across 2 years. One of the things that I will say about our kindergarten students, when they come into us in the fall, they come in with varied experiences. Some have attended structured preschool programs that are full day. Some have been in daycare centers. Some have never been inside a school building. So, because they're coming to us with such a wide array of experiences, we typically see that our kindergarteners perform at a lower level and their

109fall's fall balance assessment. So, we get that baseline data and then we start providing that high-quality instruction to them. And as we provide that high-quality instruction, they're performing much better. So, we typically have seen last year and this year a really big jump for our kindergarten performance from fall to mid-year and I expect that we'll see that again as we move to the spring. Our first graders and second graders have already had that year of high-quality instruction that's taken place under the auspices of the VLA. So, they came in with a a much more solid foundation because of those parameters already being in place and and receiving that instruction for an entire school year. So, we had found our first graders this year came into a stronger and I think that's why. We We had

110really great kindergarten instruction last year for them. >> Thanks so much. That's why they were so good at the end of last year, too. >> That's right. >> [laughter] >> That's right. >> Um my question was with a high-risk that they get an extra 2 and 1/2 hours of instruction a week. Who does that? >> Yeah, so typically [clears throat] it's a reading specialist for most students that's providing that. We do have some trained reading paraeducators who are trained in those tier three high-quality interventions, but for the most part, especially with our youngest learners, we want that to be provided by a licensed reading specialist. >> Are those uh pull-outs during the day or is this after school support? >> Yeah, thanks for the question. So, those are typically provided during the literacy block. So,

111the way that our literacy block is structured, we embed about a 30-minute period of time that um schools will call different things, either an intervention enrichment block or extended learning time where no new instruction is happening in the classroom. A teacher is typically working with small groups of instruction. Some students may be working on independent tasks, and that would be the time that those students are receiving intervention. >> Okay, so they're not they're not losing lessons. >> anything. That's a planned a part of their independent work time. >> That's good to hear. Thank you. >> Absolutely. >> Well, thank you, Dr. Spong. Appreciate it. >> Thank you very much. Well, that was our last presentation for the meeting, so we're going to move into the discussion, and we have uh policy section G for personnel,

112Dr. Gill. >> All right, thank you. So, board members, it is time for our quadrennial review of section G, and that's the section on personnel. [clears throat] So, we have with us Dr. Windy Nichols, the associate director of human resources. She's going to summarize our staff recommendations for this section of the policy manual. Dr. Nichols. >> Yes, thank you. This is my binder of what I posted for you guys last week. So, um what you would have seen is a list of 15 re-statements, 37 revisions, and one request to re-code. Um in summary, I mean, you'll see lots lots of red line. Um some of it was was just organizational flow. Um many of the revisions centered around clarifying and aligning to [clears throat] the Virginia Department of Education, to state and federal law, and

113just making sure that the information we had was aligned with all of that. We used um BSBA models, um and when they came in handy, we we aligned with what they had, but we we have a lot of legal updates that had to be put in there and after using some of the policies for the past few years and we opted to take this opportunity to enhance the flow. So do you have any questions? >> I've gone through about 3/4 of it so >> It's a long read and then it's very good for getting a good night's rest. >> You know, >> [laughter] >> yes. Yes. >> Thanks for sharing. So far I'm good. >> It's policy. Yeah, we really just want you to know too on many of them it's going to look as

114if paragraph after paragraph was redlined and sometimes changing so many words in a paragraph did just um make it really hard to read so just rewriting the paragraph made it easier for you to see what we were getting at. >> Thank >> Very good. Thank you. >> That concludes our meeting. Uh thank you all for being here this evening. Our next regular meeting will be on March 23rd at 7:00 p.m. here at York Hall. Wish everybody a good afternoon and good evening. Try to stay home and with that the meeting is adjourned. Thank you.