001I call to order the regular meeting of the York County School Board for May 20th 2024 uh this is our last meeting before the end of the school year and we do have a full agenda tonight and I want to remind everybody with another year ending we do have graduations coming up um so don't don't let anything slide until then we've got the graduations as well as the end of the year uh for all of the students and we want to make sure that you're successful through the end and we're all excited uh for the end of this year uh this time I would like to introduce um Lee marah a third grade student at Mount Vernon Elementary if you can come up he's going to be leading our pledge but first I'll give some
002information about him if you want to turn around so anybody can make take pictures of you uh Mount Vernon Elementary is pleased to recognize third grader Lear as the pledge leader when asked what he loves most about being a mountain Vernon Mustang he said quote there's a lot of good things but my favorite is seeing my friends every day when I walk in all of the teachers are really nice Lee was selected as a peer mentor for the little feet meet last year his favorite subject is social studies because he says it's pretty cool learning about the past in history Lee loves sports and participates in the running club at school outside of school he plays soccer and flag football he shared that he loves to run and recently placed first in his age group
003at the St caterie run and tab High School Mayday 5K Lee's teacher shared Lee is a role model to his peer peers when someone needs help Lee is the first one to go out of his way to help his classmates the school counselor shared that Lee is an excellent student and athlete both in school level clubs and in countywide organizations he has been selected to partner with students in small groups because of his positive influence he is a role model in responsibility and kindness for his classmates Lee is a great representative of Mount Vernon's motto to be responsible safe kind and ready to learn Lemar would you lead us in the pledge please everybody stand I aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one
004nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all thank you so much all right now we're moving on to the seniors of the month and the following students are being recognized for their achievements from district one brutin High School Mr schaer would you please introduce yes thank you I like uh Cameron who goes by Caleb coocher to stand up along with your brothers sisters and your parents okay all right Bruen High School is proud to recognize Caleb coocher as our uh 2024 May student of the month Caleb's educational goal of pursuing a degree in literature is driven by love for Learning and deeper appreciation for the written word this passion is led to enrollment in New York County School of the Arts literary literary arts program as well as numerous accolades including a high
005academic honors award lamp of knowledge award and recognition as the most outstanding student in both physics and English along with the college board AP scholar award for exemp exceptional performance in AP courses in addition to academic and creative Pursuits Caleb plays an integral role in our school community through uh demonstrated leadership and teamwork in various clubs and organizations such as student Congress slam Poetry Club Dungeons and Dragons Club I could see that yeah uh Virginia Virginia history day Club Panther achievement leaders and National Honor Society as a military connected student resilience and adap adaptability uh have been crucial to success in these roles we know Caleb's determination and and willingness to take risk will certainly make a significant impact in the College Community he joins to pursue a degree in literature and not only that
006but uh they shared with me that they will be moving to Alaska uh for next year which is which is pretty cool I mean I've never been and I think that the kids will love it all right well congratulations Caleb thank you so much uh next uh Mr pich is going to introduce Grafton High School's winner so it's a great honor to introduce the next student of the month uh I took a time to read this and I was just blown away how amazing kids we have among us so I would like to introduce you Arusha stava and her parents abishek and pretty stava so if you could please stand up great so Grafton High is very excited to name Arusha Shava May senior of the month Arusha will graduate in a couple of weeks
007with a 5.03 GPA and will be Grafton High School eloran for the 2324 school year Arusha is an extremely well-rounded student she's involved in many clubs and organizations she serves as the graph High representative in liaison on the York County School Division gifted education Advisory Board she is the Congressional debate team co- Captain is on multiple honor societies and is the author and editor of the New Horizons Governor School yearbook outside of the classroom if possible arusa is even more impressive she is the Project Lead and digital pathology researcher at Dartmouth Hitchcock leading the development of a novel Colin coner analysis software she is the founder and president of heel America Incorporated which is 501c3 nonprofit organization bridging Wellness necessity Distributing gaps across Virginia facilities Arusha is also the biomedical computation group director in researcher
008created a branch at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University developing software to study breast cancer cells Behavior Arusha has won many awards during her time at the Grafton High she's the less than 1% of the students who receives the C Prescott Davis scholarship from Colombia engineering one of 40 students selected worldwide for a merit-based scholarship to the unity University of Virginia selected to travel nationally by dartm Cancer Center to Showcase exceptional contributions to cancer research a Coca-Cola scholar semi-finalist GE re rean scholar semi-finalist and international climate Science Olympiad semi-finalist Aria was also recognized a national humanized AI challenge finalist awarded sixth Nationwide for developing a Healthcare Plus AI project Arusha is an incredibly driven young lady who is one of the less than 3% of all applicants selected to attend Caltech University in the
009fall she's an amazing student amazing person and we can wait we cannot wait to see what she does next so go cure the cancer good job congratulations now for tab high school if Ella marsten and her family could please stand it's wonderful having you here tab High School is honored to recognize an impressive GPA of 4.22 one8 uh Ella demonstrating her dedication and exceptional work ethic Beyond her academic Pursuits Ella is deeply involved in several e extracurricular activities including the National Honor Society Mu Alpha Theta French Honor Society Wise Street Youth volunteer Corps Beta Club Key Club student ambassadors and tiger friends do you sleep at all her commitment extends into education through her participation in the Virginia teachers for tomorrow program here Ella gains practical experience and knowledge about the teaching profession working closely
010with elementary students thereby positively impacting young people across the division in addition to her school and extracurricular activities Ella generously volunteers her time at local elementary schools and other school community-based organizations remarkably she manages to balance these commitments with part-time employment at a nearby Market too Ella's passion for her future and Relentless pursuit of her goals are truly inspiring she looks forward to continuing her education at Longwood University this fall where she will undoubtedly excel in her academic and professional Pursuits we are excited to see what the future holds for such a bright and motivated young woman congratulations Ella now at this time I have for York High School Matthew fan was senior of the month for March however he was unable to attend at that time and we're glad that he is with us
011here tonight to be recognized for this honor Mrs Goodwin yes would ma Matthew and Bon and your family stand please York Kai is pleased to recogniz recognize Matthew fawn an exceptional student and proud Falcon as our March senior of the month Matthew embodies Leadership Excellence and humility with an unwavering commitment to academic Excellence Matthew has consistently pursued a rigorous cour load as a student in the ycsd honors program due to his academic success he holds membership in the National Honors Society and trim music Honor Society last year Matthew received the AP scholar with distinction award and the national Rural and small town recognition award through the College Board as concert concert Master for the Williamsburg Youth Orchestra Matthew not only leads rehearsals and performances but also mentors Junior string players showcasing his dedication to music
012and Leadership he also serves as a student ambassador for the organization Matthew's leadership extends to Athletics as one of the co- captains of the the yhs cross country team where he inspires and motivates his teammates to excel Matthew's selflessness is evident in his countless hours of community service congratulations Matthew on this well-deserved honor we have no doubt that you will continue to soar and make a positive impact in your next chapter of Life m good one do you also have for this month I do wonderful for this month I have Ryan in and he is accompanied by his parents York High School is proud to recognize Ryan in as York high excuse me York high school's May senior of the month Ryan's dedication and commitment to Excellence makes him a standout student due to his
013Stellar academic performance he holds membership in National Honor Society science National Honor Society and trim music Honor Society as a member of the York high school njrc program Ryan has demonstrated exceptional leadership skills serving in various roles such as executive officer operations officer and class lead he has received prestigious Awards like the American veterans association jrc award and njrc outstanding student student award just to name a few last summer he was selected to attend the commander Naval Air Forces JC Flight Academy for a private pilot license Ryan has a strong passion for music he was a member of the York High School Marching Band for three years and receiv received multiple Awards Ryan has participated in the FES and drums of Yorktown since 2019 he currently serves as drum commander and has previously served a
014section leader and volunteer instructor Ryan has complet excuse me competed on the York High School track and field team as a pole wter and received a varsity letter he has also competed with the Williamsburg boat club as a varsity orsman congratulations Ryan on being being selected as our May senior of the month congratulations and thank you so much uh Mr Richardson would you please uh recognize York River Academy wi I will so York River Academy senior of the month is Anna tea Barton if she would stand with and bring your parents your family here there you go bring every have everybody stand up the whole family there you go y we are pleased to share that Anna tea Ricky Barton is the Y senior of the month Ricky is the daughter of Paul Barton and
015Jessica Atkins Ricky began y in the winter of her sophomore year she desired a small supportive environment quickly finding friends and adults that enjoyed her wit artistic side and personality enduring chronic mental health concerns and housing instability Ricky's Journey May differ from other senior of the month winners but she epitomizes resilience Ricky earned a 4.0 for her three straight semesters solidifying a spot in the top two students for her graduating class never satisfied with the easy Choice Ricky decided to take an overload to enter the early early college program her senior year she will graduate on June 5th with 14 college credits and the opportunity to attend a second full year at Virginia Peninsula Community College for free Ricky has volunteered at the SPCA and loves cats but mostly she loves seeing them get adopted
016to new loving homes Ricky is interested in pursuing a career and as a veterinary technician she is very interested in sharing her love of Animals by providing education to others about living things and positively interacting with our environment Ricky shares she does not want people to see mental illness as a stigma but rather is seeing all people as capable human beings that need understanding and support she looks forward to helping others to see that they are not defined by their life challenges congratulations congratulations to all of our seniors of the month they're just amazing individuals and wonderful representatives of York County at this time I believe Dr shandor is going to go down front as we move into our uh student service award winners at this time I will ask Dr Kelly Denny Mount Vernon
017Elementary principal to step forward and also remain down front uh while information is shared about both the student service award recipients and the volunteer of the month for Mount Vernon let's see the following students work collaboratively and our student service award recipients Mr Richardson would you please introduce them I will so Mount Vernon they Mount Vernon is proud to recognized Boomie paik and emilyn Kaiser as their student service award winners for their collaborative community service project this spring Boomie and emilin saw a problem and got to work they created a canva presentation and made an appointment with the principal to share their idea to prevent food waste in their cafeteria the principal challenged them with several organizational questions and they quickly responded with solutions they started the program the next day and have Faithfully collected
018non- perishable food items each day since the program began Mount Vernon has has donated hundreds of pounds of food to the Virginia Peninsula Food Bank both girls are actively engaged in the Mount Vernon Elementary School community emelyn participates in yoga ukulele and chorus she enjoys baking and riding horses Boomie participates in a entrepreneur Lego course and running clubs she dreams of being a professional soccer player in the future their school counselor shared emlin and boy are exactly what we want to see in our school Community they truly love our Mustang motto of being responsible kind safe and ready to learn they can often be found looking for ways to make the world a better place congratulations girls and now we have our volunteer of the month for Mount Vernon Elementary Mr pich would you please
019introduce the winner yes I will um m Elementary is pleased to recognize Dr Mary Bor she's always willing to [Applause] jump she is always willing to jump in and help our schools this year she designated an online Spirit Weare store and create a family directory she volunteers weekly in the library and assist with the Book Fairs Dr Bor facilitates popsicle play days giving families an opportunity con to connect she volunteers to prepare classroom materials she has pretend partnered sorry with the sca to facilitate collections for the SPCA and food bank our school counselor shared I think that Dr bour is unbelievable she is here before school after school and still works her own job she has a true service heart Dr Bor has created over 50 unique bulletin boards for Mount Veron Elementary a teacher
020shared Dr bour works so hard on our bulletin boards all year often using her own money she carefully plans ways for the students to take part it takes a load of my plate and I am so grateful in her own words Dr Bor shared whatever whatever there is a need I'm there for the school thank thank you all for that that you do to support the mount or Elementary Community thank [Applause] you thank you now I will ask uh Miss Mary Lugo tab High School principal to step forward and remain down front while information is shared for both the student service award recipient and for the volunteer of the month for tab High first we have the student service award recipient for tab high school we are pleased to present Julia good Julia if you
021could come down we're pleased to present Julia good as our student service award recipient Julia has made meritorious contributions to our community through her time at tab High School and accumulated 228 hours of community service Julia serves her Church community by participating as a children's ministry child care provider and Sports World volunteer she also participates in the peninsula student Ministries organization and Tab young life Julia supports the York County School Division at the Mount Vernon Elementary Bren club and volunteers with graft and bethl Elementary on their field days she is also a mentor in The graft bethl art classroom perhaps one of the most impactful ways Julia gives back to her community is by participating in the letters for Rose program with local retirement homes by sending letters or artwork monthly the letters for Rose
022program is a community service organization that was started during the during the covid-19 pandemic as a way to connect with senior citizens not only does she serve in the organization as a member but she is also an ambassador spreading the news about the organization and how others can become part of the group within our school Community Julia is a bright light among our students often sharing a smile or kind words with others she is a scholar athlete artist and role model she is a member of 10 clubs and honor societies as well as an honor Ro student we are proud of Julia and congratulate her on this award [Applause] let's see and now we will have the volunteer of the month for tab High Mr schaer if you could introduce Miss Jennifer warrren Jennifer Warren
023[Applause] yes tab High School is honored to recognize Mrs Jennifer Warren as our volunteer of the month and we are grateful to work with such a caring efficient and friendly PTSA president Mrs Warren is successfully leading the charge of our growing PTSA this year not only have we seen a 28% increase in adult memberships but more importantly we have seen a 42% increase in our student memberships we also have a growing number of volunteers and committee members willing to help our school in a variety of ways there is no doubt that she has had a positive impact on PTSA this year and is the reason we have so many amazing volunteers supporting our school the monthly meetings are positive student focused and inclusive Mrs Warren has a way of making everyone feel included and as
024if they were part of the greater organization under Mrs Warren's leadership our PTSA has raised money to support educational initiatives field trips such as supporting our kidwind team going to the world competition in Minnesota and large events such as after prom and the balarat service uh ceremony Mrs Warren and her team of volunteers support our students and staff through events such as a quarterly quarterly Orange Crush events Hospitality Gatherings and contributing to other schoolwide events it is critical to have a functioning PTSA in a school and we are fortunate beyond measure to have Mrs Jennifer Warren leading such an integral group at tab High School congratulations and finally I ask Miss Holly Sheffield York River Academy principal to step forward and also remain down front while information is shared for both the student service award
025recipient and for the volunteer of the month for York River Academy first we have our student service award recipient Mrs Goodwin if you could please introduce the student service award winner for the year for York River Academy is Davis she shy I apologize shy sorry honey you could come on down Davis is the son of Dwayne and Heather shy Davis is in his junior year at Y and has grown every year in his SK SKS as a leader within the classroom school and his community the son of a public school teacher and a National Park Service employee Davis has grown up understanding the role of service to others he chose to come to Y to be in a small supportive environment and has found his niche in every way Davis is currently number one in
026his class and has challenged himself every year to take the most difficult courses provided at y as well as some additional virtual courses while a standout academically it is Davis's quiet kind demeanor with just the right amount of witty humor that makes him so well loved by his peers and teachers Davis never says no to opportunities to grow and has volunteered for things big and small within the school and through Boy Scouts in his community all three years he's been at y this year has brought all of the small acts of service into Focus as he took on the task of planning his Eagle Scout project to support York acad York River Academy Davis approached the staff at yra in the summer of 2023 about the possibility of giving back to the school as part
027of his Eagle Scout project he worked with Scout leaders teachers the administration and his peers to determine the most valuable project he could do for the school he decided on designing and building extra raised garden beds to augment the ones already in place at y the gardens support the Environmental Club Environmental Science Biology and the history class classes students love taking things from seed to table and this project will allow the possibility of expanding the gardens to provide vegetables through the spring summer and fall to Y students Boys and Girls Club and the greater YMS Community while this large project highlights Davis's desire to give back it is the quiet daily service and Leadership that stand out he is the first to volunteer the one to speak up and promote the benefits of the Y
028program and a solid friend to everyone Davis is simply the role model of what we can hope for all of our y students and Mr Richardson if we could have our volunteer of the month for York River Academy introduced yes if Eric Bower would come forward please so the York River Academy staff and students would like to thank Eric bower for the service he provided Y Community this year Eric initially came to Y to volunteer directly with a student taking virtual AP Calculus AB courses This Dawning task was made for Eric's math skills coming to us from Christopher Newport University Eric is a proud ycsd alumni having graduated from Grafton High School and attending New Horizon's Governor school for the Science and Technology during his time as a student his success working with one student
029soon multiplied as he was quick to step in and help students preparing for the algebra 1 so Eric could often be often find a different way of explaining a concept to the students that the students appreciated his quiet yet energetic approach to helping them Eric can turn algebra calculus and even elementary math into easy understand chunks that allow students to grasp the topics and feel confident in their progress and understandings Eric uses his love of math trivia gaming Star Wars and chess to connect with the students and challenge them he has held many jobs in the ycsd as he was instructional associate at Grafton High School student coach during the summer Academy he was tutoring at Tab Elementary and he also has been tasked with assisting a recently enrolled student make a smooth transition to
030Grafton High School as a student coach he will graduate from Christopher Newport University with BS and math in August and he will continue his education in plans to earn a Masters in Education next year congratulations Eric thank you next we have the York foundation for public educ presentation Mr schaer could you please share comments yes come on up glennis i' like to invite Miss glennis Ellis uh York foundation for public education member to step forward and assist Dr shandor as he presents gifts to each of our award recipients please come up front when you hear your name called congratulations to leemar a third grader from Mount Vernon Elementary School for reciting the Pledge of Allegiance at tonight's School War meeting we would also like to recognize tonight's student service award recipients uh Boomie poic and
031emilyn kaser from Kaiser from Mount Elementary School there you go Julia good from tab high school and David shy from York River Academy we also congratulate our seniors of the month Caleb coocher from uh brutin High School Aria spava from Grafton High School Ella Marston from tab High School Ryan in and Michael fan Matthew fan from New York High School and Ricky Barton from York River Academy yeah there you go special text uh special gifts from cookie text and edible tweet are being presented on behalf of the Y foundation for public education Incorporated in partnership with her donor Jean foca of cookie text and edible tweet a Walmart gift card is also being donated by a foundation supporter join me in congratulating all our award recipients are all the pictures taken okay we go congratulations
032everyone at this time if Dr shandor if you could remain up front we have a few more Awards to present uh at this time we have the Virginia school board's Tidewater spring Regional Forum Student Art Contest winner recognition that's a mouthful Mr Richardson since you helped plan this event would you please say a few words and introduce our winners yes the Virginia school boards Association held a student art show on April 25th 2024 at the 2024 Tidewater Regional spring Forum the Student Art from elementary middle and high school levels represent each of the 16 School divisions in the competition we had two students plac in the competition we would like to congratulate Olivia Hyde is Olivia here tonight right on Olivia won first place at the middle school level with her art piece titled rain
033Olivia's art piece has been framed and will be dis played at the vsba offices in Charlottesville throughout the year we would also like to congratulate Bryce Moore who won second place at the elementary level with his piece using pointalism technique Bryce has a baseball game this evening and unfortunately is not able to be here but again we congratulate Levy and Bryce for their well-deserved [Applause] recognition and we have exemp performance Awards the Virginia Board of Education has announced the 2023 24 Exemplar performance Awards and two of our schools have been recognized Seaford Elementary and York River Academy Mr Schaefer would you share about the award for Seaford Elementary please sure I am pleased to announce that Seaford Elementary has received the highest Achievement Award from the Virginia Board of Education 20232 24 Exemplar performance Awards
034only 37 schools in the state earn this recognition the awards are based on performance during the 20 uh 22 and 2023 school year to receive this award Seaford Elementary had to meet the level one accreditation Benchmark for reading math and science cord also had to meet a certain threshold for the achievement Gap as well as a as well as a chronic absenteeism rate of 15% or lower and Mrs Barbara Nagel is principal and Sherry Vandergriff uh is receiving the plaque from Dr shandor yeah thank you congratulations to Seaford Elementary for that amazing honor next uh Mrs Goodwin will share the award earned by York River Academy I am pleased to announce that York River Academy has received the continuous Improvement award from the Virginia Board of Education 2023 2024 Exemplar performance Awards only 27 schools
035in the state earned this recognition the awards are based on performance during the 2022 2023 school year York River Academy was selected for demonstrating an increase in the graduation and completion index for each of the past three years with a total increase across the 3 years of 4% or more and also demonstrated a decrease in the dropout rate for each of the past three years with a total reduction across three years of 15% or more of the first Year's dropout rate I would like to ask Miss Holly Sheffield principal and Miss Stephanie Barber to oh it's okay um to receive that plaque congratulations to York River Academy on that amazing award uh I believe that's all of the awards for today uh we'll now move on to Accent on academics Dr shandor could you please
036share information about that tonight I sure can good evening board members uh this evening brutin high school will be presenting information regarding engaging educational experiences through stem Bruen high school students have engaged in real world Hands-On learning experiences through stem and educational technology throughout the school year students showcase their custom learning projects using tools like 3D printers and laser cutters demonstrate their content knowledge through video recording and editing and highlight how they engaged with the K12 panther community at the brutin Zone stem night though these powerful learning opportunities are just a few examples of how brutin students are becoming Future Ready graduates I would like to invite Mr Aaron mcquillin brutin High School principal Miss Denise Fischer along with some students to come up to the podium to present to the board [Applause] good evening
037Madam chair Mr Schaefer members of the board Dr shandor on behalf of the staff and students of brutin high school I appreciate the opportunity to highlight the extraordinary work my instructional Innovation coach and staff at brutin high school has contributed um and specifically how she has supported students uh and teachers with real world Hands-On learning experiences while supporting the standards of Lear learning I'd like to introduce Denise Fischer brutin High School's instructional Innovation coach good evening bruten high school students have been provided with numerous opportunities to express their creativity become problem solvers and utilize voice in Choice through stem and educational technology that promotes future Reggie graduates tonight we will showcase the learning comments maker space student engagement in the classroom and family engagement I would like to now introduce Caleb Couture a BHS senior
038this year this year during our academic enrichment period students signed up for 30 minute sessions in the learning Commons maker space to learn how to use and create with our 3D printer cry cut and sublimation printer also we were able to collaborate with a BHS parent Mr Goins and his son Eric a student at BHS who gracious ly allowed our students access to an xtool laser cutter these machines and their software provide students with job play skills that taught them mistakes are part of the process trial and error helped them create products such as custom t-shirts coasters keychains and personalized tumblers collaborations with the iic and our volunteers made every session productive and worthwhile um one of the results of the the 3D printer that I made myself um I would like to introduce Miss
039Nelson a BHS teacher and Kristoff schwitzer a BHS nth grader they will discuss student engagement in the classroom good evening in English classes students were asked to use the English standards to research choose a topic and use evidence from non-fiction sources to form an opinion they created an argument either for or against the topic these topics became passion project podcasts and some examples were the effect of homelessness on teens Futures and how music programs increase student engagement in other English classes students produced and edited videos using green screen technology these videos showed Mastery of topics researched in class illustrating distinct types of bias in the media in film studies students scripted recorded and edited a monthly news program Panther news the program cons consists of local school and world news in various segments such as
040short films student interviews and comedy specials students learned the basics of researching scripting filming and editing hello and welcome to Panther news I am your host Jordan Penny we have a lot of good stuff today including New World News exciting Mysteries and exclusive interviews and stick around to the end to figure out how you can be a part of Panther news next year too but first sports with Brady and Leon hello I'm Leon the captain of the men team and this is graphic design arts classes created original designs and made t-shirts in bi in biology students utilize various materials to make mitosis come alive they've recreated the process of mitosis where a cell devis into two identical daughter cells using a stop motion app to create a short video of the process World History 2
041classes created a canva presentation Urban games to simulate the challenges presented during the Industrial Revolution the demographic transition and the process of urbanization in cities and towns this activity was originally designed to be completed on paper but the collaboration of Mrs Fischer we redesigned it using 21st century skills by using an electronic presentation students were able to review the evolution of their imagined town and determine what they could have done differently if they had known the outcome the video clip is the result of growth based on current needs of the town and picture represents the knowledge of knowing the outcome two vastly different results these are just some examples of how BHS students show their Mastery of the content while using creativity collaboration and critical thinking skills to complete objectives instructional Innovation coaches from the
042four brutin Zone schools will Bennett myself and Michelle Moses created planned and coordinated and implemented the brutin Zone art and stem family engagement night on April 18th several Community Partners teachers and High School student volunteers joined us to provide Hands-On make take activities for K12 students approximately 300 students and families from McGruder and Waller Mill Elementary Schools Queens Lake Middle School and brutin high school attended we would like to thank Mr Schaefer as well brutin Zone School Board member for attending some of the highlights included William and Mary's minority Association of premedical students they conducted several experiments with our students brutin High School's chemistry Honor Society they did several activities as well from dazzling detergent writing hidden messages to connetic sand sedexo um did a tomato activity with their students and Williamsburg farm camp and
043local beekeeper brought a beeh have out to show the importance of honeybees and keeping them alive we had um Waller Mills music teacher Mrs lensa Meer and art teacher Mrs coob who ran the mystery music making Makey stations it's creating a circuit with a Micky Makey and a graphite pencil to make a piece of paper um basically play a piano students played the piano and they guessed the mystery songs high school students volunteered at various hands- on and make and take stations pixel art with pear beads Lego sculptures drawing with robots um and they supported the entire event fun was had by all thank you for allowing us to share the engaging experiences happening at brutin high school and the impact our instructional Innovation coach and faculty of had on students uh learning and engagement
044do you have any questions board members do you have any questions or comments well I was I was just going to make a comment it was an awesome night uh I went up and I couldn't believe how many people were there I compared it to last year and it just blew it away and they had so many neat things going on I mean from chemistry to bees to uh sedexo to everything I mean it was a it was a great night really was thank you just would like to make a comment uh just to see you guys involved in doing this it's so amazing to see that I was at uh Career Technical education Committee in your school probably about a month ago and uh we had the TR trophy that you guys printed for
045that yeah yes that was like very interesting it was intricate and it's like know it's complicated and it was told to me it was designed and built in there in a school so just want to say keep up great work of to you teachers like and your staff like no just kudos to all of you thank you anyone else Mr Richardson yeah um just a question for the students what what did you like best about this whole program I mean that you have the 3D printer the the video uh thing where you can be on TV I mean what did you like the best um well um I participated um in the biology um the mitosis demonstration um it really helped just visualizing the process I mean seeing a PowerPoint presentation is really just not
046as enriching um as actually getting to draw it out and seeing your animation um it also helped with teamwork it was done with teams um and just a really fun experience so keeping engaged and active in the classroom was very helpful good deal thank you great job um I was involved in both the maker space as well as uh Panther news for film studies uh both of which were great opportunities to uh get creative in ways you don't often while in school especially uh with Panther news the necessary team components as uh Kristoff previously mentioned um they're just they're very interesting ways to get involved and get creative that you don't really see as often in the school environment which has been really nice to be involved in good deal I just want ask a
047question about um the the do you do a daily uh Sports podcast is that part of the panther news or is that just a they have they have done some of that sorry need to talk over here um we haven't done podcasting in the usual event like a lot of schools have done it they've done it a lot more in conjunction with school projects and different things they have brought some of it in with the panther news but usually they're doing more of the green screen technology so that they can drop in backdrops and different things for them when they're doing news I thought it was awesome good job and I guess I have questions for uh the students themselves what do you see uh taking any of these individual things or groups of things
048into the future with you like for next year for school or into your future did this spur something that you want to really pursue um for me it just kind of helped helped me see um just how much like Hands-On demonstrations can help um specifically the mitosis um like um what's it called slideshow um it showed me when I really instead of just writing on a notes page when you bring especially science and math can often be just done on a page when you really bring that to life it really Spurs interest and so yeah I'm going to carry that forward and then uh as we I believe brought up at one point the idea that um mistakes are part of the process is definitely something I want to take forth with myself um in
049the one or two things I did design for the 3D printer I think I ran for one of them three or four failed test prints before I actually got one that worked um and that idea that you just have to keep pushing forward and trying again is I think really valuable that's great I think that's one of the things that Thomas Edison discovered a while ago that you just make the mistakes and it lets you know what you still you know need to work towards and then you get it and that's wonderful and we look forward to seeing all the wonderful things you do in the future thank you at this time the board will take a short recess so that we can meet tonight's award recipients and give them an opportunity to take [Applause]
050photos I now reconvened this meeting this evening uh at this time we usually have our invocation um Mrs Goodwin I believe we're missing someone our speaker tonight is not here so I propose that we just observe a moment of silence thank you we'll take a brief moment of silence thank thank you at this time we have unfinished business from the last meeting uh we're rescheduling the board retreat uh date and information about that um in order to have discussion if I could have um the excuse me the chair will entertain a motion at this time I made a motion to set up the we talking about time yes the date the date for the board retreat okay do you have a date oh for May 31st I'm sorry that's all right uh it's uh been
051moved to have the board retreat on May 31st do I have a second second thank you the board retreat uh motion for May 31st has been moved in second in is there any discussion at this time I would just like to make another comment um there there's actually another reason I'm unable to attend the retreat it turns out that Mr Sylvester the attorney who's um speaking is actually representing someone who's suing vsba and I'm on the board of directors for vsba so it would be a conflict of interest for me to attend as well so all right thank you Mr Richardson I don't know if that's the individual who'll be doing that we haven't decided who's you doing everything yet okay so the agenda's change or not the same well the the agenda is the
052same I don't know if the the speakers or the presenters are the same yet right now we're just focusing on the date of May 31st okay is there any further discussion for May 31st uh Mrs Howard um if you could read the motion please and um take the vote a motion was made by Mr pich and seconded by Mrs Goodwin to approve the rescheduling of the board retreat to May 31st Mr Richardson no no Mr Schaefer no m Mrs Goodwin yes Mr pich yes Mrs Fairman yes motion pass 3-2 thank you are there any other motions pertaining to the retreat uh I would like to make a motion uh just to clarify it that uh agenda that's going to be handled at that meeting would be uh as presented previously with uh topics including covering
053code of Virginia chapter 7 2.1 79 powers and duties uh SN Q5 quality of classroom instructions and educational leadership uh then s so sq7 School Board policies and uh boards norms and Protocols of the board thank you is that are you proposing for anybody in particular to do this I'm sorry for the sbma to as proposed for previous meeting do we have a second for Mr pich's motion I'll do a second all right the motion has been made and seconded to follow the same agenda as the last time uh with sbma organizing uh the presenters is there any discussion regarding this any further discussion all right Mrs Howard oops I'm sorry Mr shaer I was just going to say I don't uh want to go to the spma I don't believe believe in what they
054stand for I don't believe in their organization and I think it's uh not good for us to align ourselves with them thank you so Mr schaer I would like to ask you just a quick question is like know I understand like know with the sbma organization that you're not want to align everything but uh are you opposing the training in general because the topics that are presented is the one that I'm looking for to be mainly presented because there is no political issues on those things it's just I don't have any problem with the with so I would challenge to to come to to the meeting and actually experience firsthand actually what this topics going to be and the training is going to happen I don't want the county to see me as aligning with
055the SPN and that's what would happen if I came okay so that won't be happening is there any further discussion all right Mrs Howard if you could read the motion a motion was made by Mr P in seconded by Mrs Goodwin for the board retreat agenda to be as presented previously to include presentations by the spma Mr Richardson obstain Mr schaer no Mr pavich yes Mrs Goodwin yes Mrs Fairman yes motion passes 32 31 I'm sorry thank you with one abstention correct with one abstention that's all right thank you very much um now at this time uh we'll be oh um since we have selected the date and the agenda Mrs Howard if you would please make sure so that we're following the foyer regulations that it falls that it gets posted on the same
056date that it's planned that will need to be posted today um on on the calendar is that correct uh Mrs Barry it does need to be posted contemporaneously with when it's issued to the board members right so since it's been issued to the board today selecting May 31st it needs to be posted today and since the motion was made um and passed also for the agenda that that agenda also needs to be posted with the announcement of the board retreat and um we'll double check with uh the Sheriff's Office to make sure that's still available I had talked with um sheriff Montgomery and he said tentatively but we haven't you know officially put it in I was just kind of throwing out there you know if it was available to see if that could be
057addressed so um we'll make sure that that's on schedule and we'll be able to do that let me ask a question has the agenda has the new agenda been sent to Miss Howard are we posting the old agenda because I heard two different things I heard we weren't sure who was speak speaking at the first part of this the the agenda that Mr pivot read it's the those particular topics we don't know yet who's doing the presentations so we can post the topics we know s spma has been voted on to organize the presentations but we don't have the names yet of the presenters okay I just want to make sure that it's clear clear for Miss Howard thank you sure thank you very much I appreciate that at this time uh let's see we
058move on sorry about that um presentation board members doing the committee updates let's see we'll start with Mr schaer for district one yes I have yfp we had a meeting last Thursday the I would encourage everybody that plays golf is interested in golf has heard of golf to show up for the golf tournament that is our biggest fundraiser for the year and all of the uh funds that are raised go to the grants uh and uh scholarships that we give to our teachers and schools it all stays in York County it's just for York County School District they aren't aligned with the school district but they are a uh charitable organization that takes care of uh giving the scholarships and and the teacher grants and things so it was a very good time if uh
059if you ever want to be on the yfp that would be just approach me and I will put you in touch with the right people uh to become a trustee on the York foundation for public education thank you thank you very much and moving right along for District Two uh sorry Mr pich yes um as far as the Committees we didn't have any uh major official meetings but um for the New Horizons we did have career selection day that happened on Thursday uh May 9th uh one of the amazing events uh that I was uh actually honored to be present what happened there like the graduates of the New Horizons get invited actually were offered job opportunities by many employers and I'll just name few of them uh like Army National Guard AutoZone brand brand
060structures uh how met Liber uh SE for scalop company Walsh electric uh War mechanical new new Shipyard they reached out to those students uh during the school recognized their potential and offered them a job opportunity at the graduation uh what really was interesting to me kind of to witness that all of those children that are graduating that got the job how proud they are for what they accomplished and that they are having a job opportunity straight from from the school it just reminded me of how often we forget to have that excitement of our jobs and what we do when we get up uh to deliver so it was just eye opening for me to just kind of spark that in me again that the desire to do better and show to my children and
061children around me that we are actually proud and happy to do what we do so that would be my update for today thank you very much and for district three Mrs Goodwin thank you um so I am on the GAC which is the gifted education advisory committee and we met for our final meeting the end of April and the committee elected new officers to the committee we also recognized our outgoing committee officers and our high school scho student liaison um the board our board here helped to interview and select our new 2024 2025 High School gak Liaisons and again thank everybody for making those phone calls and doing those interviews um I'd like to congratulate uh Lily perin of York High School Sophia Lea of brutin high school Cameron Thorson of tab high school and
062Evan Richards of Grafton High School they will be our new uh liaison High School liaison to our GAC committee uh the gak bylaws have been updated and we are actually voting on those tonight Miss Sarah hay would gave an update on some gifted education and number of students referred versus identified uh for gifted noting an entire report will be shared at the end of the year so we'll have that full update um Miss Christina had shared a slideshow an update of the ycsd reading program um Dr Kevin Valiant gave the committee an overview of the IB program and shared we actually have the largest upcoming IB class this coming fall comprising 67 students so that's the largest that we've had and then Dr Sherlock gave a presentation on the summer programs as well as an
063update on um their middle school schedule uh we have some excellent summer camps that are happening this summer I was really impressed with some of the things that are on there we have a cooking camp um just great things and I encourage all parents who have children in the school to really take a look at some of those camps and you know see if you can get your children into those so that's my update thank you very much uh from District Four Mr Richardson yeah I'm on the whro committee and our meeting is next week so I have nothing to report right now thank you thank you and I have uh cak which is the special education advisory committee and their last meeting of the year year uh school year is tomorrow at the school
064board office at 6 pm. I would love to see more people attend and you can either go online or you can attend in person uh we'd love to see you know more participation I know they're growing uh in order to make sure that our special ed students you know are getting what what they need and are being included in a lot of the different activities in our schools so we definitely want to hear from the parents as well as the community about that and at that time we now move into the comments of citizens now we have two opportunities to speak this evening uh according to the agenda the first one is for General topics the second group is uh regarding Schoolboard salaries for next year 2024 to 2025 and before I open for public
065comments I'll go ahead and I'll share some reminder remarks uh please remember this uh the topics are gerain to the business of the school board and we expect each speaker to be courteous you all did a better better job of it last meeting uh and I I want to thank you all for that because remember we're being examples to the students in how to participate in public discourse and civil discourse along with that um hopefully you know I would rather not have to you know read some of things but once once again please be be aware of the time that when there's lengthy Applause and cheering and things like that it takes time away from other people being able to speak as well as if you applaud during the time people speak it takes away
066time from their three minutes everybody just has the three minutes to speak and we'll be going through everybody tonight um so just want to remind you of that you are not to make comments to the speakers or to the dis um you know any of the things unless you are actually at the podium for your designated time you're not allowed to just blurt things out from your seat uh just wanted to remind everybody of that I think we'll do all right this evening moving along there miss Fairman can I ask you a quick question I apologize sure do we have a time for The Retreat uh according to the the agenda from the last one that um Mr I just want to make sure miss Howard could post the from 8 time correctly 830 2:30
067yeah 8:30 to 2:30 8:30 is the arrival the Pres the presentation start at 9: uh and they go through and the plan to German is 2:30 thank you you're welcome thank you for asking that I apologize for not should the location be tentative or should we put the sheriff's until until we make sure that everything when I talked to sheriff Montgomery he said that same two rooms were available but I told him I said we haven't voted for it yet so it's not definite and I'd get back with them so Mrs Howard if you could get back with him tomorrow that that would be great thank you so much uh and then as soon as we know that that can be posted wonderful um I'm gonna call for the first six people to come up
068so that we can run through these things smoothly let's see number one is Pam puso and if I mispronounce your name I sincerely apologize number two is Steve shrier shrier okay sorry about that number three Tom jet number four Randy Eaton number five danal Francis number six Nicole living all right number one pampo show the previous oh excuse me pampo show District Four thank you uh York County the previous meetings have been an embarrassment you three newcomers thought you could run a board meeting with little training and no experience you can't and you've proved it it is past time to step down spend at least a year learning and then vote yourselves back into your current positions may I suggest starting the regular meetings at 6:30 so you can provide a full hour of citizens
069comments if you don't need the full time you can go home early potentially cutting time to one minute only proves that you have no interest in hearing the concerns of the citizens that you represent you could also designate no more than 10 minutes for the meet and greets for after the award ceremonies I was alarmed and disgusted when I learned of your designated pres presenter attorney Michael Sylvester of the founding freedoms Law Center at the proposed Retreat this is from his website founding freedoms Law Center was officially launched on July 1 2020 as directed as a direct response to the recent onslaught of anti-family anti-freedom and anti-faith initiatives in Virginia through numerous unjust laws that went into effect the same day the 2020 General Assembly session marked a significant shift in our Commonwealth with the
070passage of the unprecedented number of new laws aimed at destroying innocent unborn lives God's design for male and female the nuclear family parental rights and the most basic Notions of religious freedom the Family Foundation of Virginia recognized that the need to increase our capacity to fight for god-given foundational freedoms and against oppressive and unjust government edicts not only in the executive branch in the general assembly but also in the courts this law fir sues school boards including gin suff lowen County as well as the vsba their intent is to turn public schools into Ultra far-right religious schools without any rights for lgbtq students with their beliefs history and science will be Rewritten based on falsehoods where there is no room for factual material this Retreat is about altering public education policy to meet your personal
071religious and conspiracy beliefs diversity Equity inclusion are not something you choose to endorse the opposite of diversity is sameness all students who are white Christian heterosexual American Born children would meet your criteria the opposite of equity is discrimination the opposite of inclusion is exclusion only those who meet the stated criteria need applied I do not want to believe most of the student staff and parents think that any of this is acceptable but you do and the sad thing is you believe in your bigotry with almost four years left in your term you may succeed in dismantling our educational system in installing ignorance discrimination and narrow-mindedness I truly hope York County will not allow this thank you number number two uh Steve shrier please state your name and your District yes ma'am uh I'm Steve shrier
072and I I reside in District 4 my wife teaches in District 5 at uh bethl Manor and has had the privilege of teaching our military dependent children for 24 over 34 years of classroom instruction that concludes at the end of this school year I also have a daughter teaching in District three at Yorktown Elementary I am extremely proud of them both Miss Fairman you routinely flaunt board policy County ordinances the laws of the Commonwealth and the rights guaranted to each of us by the United States Constitution all in direct violation of your oath of office the first amendment guarantees the right to free speech and to to the petition the government for address of grievances there was today as with all meetings sign up sheets for public speaking this isn't effect a contract that those
073who sign up will have their voices heard during the sessions your actions in past meetings violated this contract and the Public's right to address the government I would encourage any member of the public who signed up prior to the meetings and were unable to speak or those who signed up after the meeting and surrendered their time to seek legal counsel for fair and just compensation for the denial of your constitutional rights by Miss Fairman you also have denied Mr Richardson and Mr schaer the right to address your decisions regarding the public speaking sessions and in doing so deny the constituencies of the the right to address the government as these gentlemen represent and speak for us as one on the school board your actions were and continue to be untenable to your position with regards
074to the contract you entered with the sbma without consulting the other members of the board you violated York County ordinance 23-3 that states that only the central Purchasing Office may enter into contracts and any contract without doing so is void and the responsibility of the signatory you miss Fairman I checked with the CPO office and they have no record of that contract in their possession if snma wants their money you alone are responsible for payment this strikes at your incompetence and it does not surprise me SP spma did not give you good legal advice considering the the contract uh you have also neglected your duties of not responding to my emails uh I sent you an email eight eight days ago followed up two days later I have yet to hear from you and I
075know I'm not alone as far as members of the community by violating your oath of office neglect of your duties and incompetence in the performance of your duties the citizens of District 5 have the right to have you recalled from office with 462 signatures from citizens of District 5 since your District had 6,000 or 4,600 15 votes cast for their school board member I highly encourage them to begin the process I also strongly encourage the other board members to forward a motion to have you removed as chair to begin to help begin the needed healing of the Public's faith in the York County School Board have a great day thank you number three Tom jet uh good evening uh as you said I'm Tom jet I'm Fifth District resident uh have two girls who attended
076ycsd the youngest uh graduated in 2020 before I begin my comments I'd like to just at least remind everybody regardless of what's your side you are on we are all caring thoughtful people who are most interested in our children our children's education and their future so I wish we would not be able not have these personal attacks but regardless uh I wish everyone would remember that uh we all come from this maybe from different perspectives but we we have the same goal in mind um I first addressed the board back in February where I implored everyone to uh particularly those that were outspoken at the time to please just calm down let you the new board members get your seat get your footing and get established unfortunately that has not happened and the vit all
077has only grown in my estimation since then I've attended everyone but one of these uh public meetings a small well organized politically motivated group in my opinion persists in their personal as we've seen tonight already assault on these new board members uh aided by two accomplice and sabors in my opinion who sit on the board uh as well as a friendly supportive media in wy1 like it or not District voters voted for change in 2023 as a brief reminded reminder the margin of Victories for these three new board members was between 5.7 and nearly 24% since then the board has tried repeatedly to attempt to establish itself in its own right adhere to establish policy and decorum only to be publicly challenged sabotaged and in my view uh from from within you don't have to
078agree with the chair or the co-chair all the time but you don't have to openly subvert what they're trying to do parents Across the Nation in my opinion were awakened during the co year of Zoom school to things they saw happening in the classroom they didn't particularly like I was one of them I'm not saying that what we saw on the media necessarily was happening in York County but it it to me it presented an image of what might be happening so I wanted to get involved um so it made parents aware of what could be happening in District unbeknownst to them in my opinion that is uh what drove a lot of Voters for uh change across the school board or schol the streate uh since the election newly seated board members have again
079undergone unprecedented character assaults and coming from local groups uh only that's only served to prove to myself that I made the right decision in uh in November and that I should be suspicious of what's Happening um finally I know my time is short I would just like to say um to County residents if you're watching this on uh cable access Channel I urge you to come down and participate in these in August when the meetings resume be enight thank you very much much I support the School Board number four Randy Eaton my name is Randy Eaton I'm from district one I know each and every one of you and I want to thank you for stepping up and doing this this is not easy for any of you up here doing this I always want
080to speak positive I always want to try to find out what exactly is going on I'm not going to come up here to this microphone and start accusing people quoting this and quoting that that's not going to help I support York County schools for 45 years now since February I have traveled all over the first congressional district and I met with 12 different committees and they all talked about their school boards it is not unusual at all in the least bit when new members come on the board the old members this there's a conflict now that's 12 committees that I went to and talked to them you know this is what it is you guys got to work it out all of you all of you got to work this out okay I I I
081want to thank you you you shouldn't have to be doing this we should all be working together but it doesn't seem that way but it's just a different zip code but it's all the same problem all these 12 other school boards that I had the pleasure of talking to people that were on those boards this is what happens when new people get on you know there's five districts in York County four of them since I'm the number four speaker tonight four of those three of you out of the five got on here and I know that your friends that you were up here for years that you all work together so I'm just asking you all just put this stuff aside this little stuff let some of this stuff just go over and let's all
082get together all right thank you very much thank you number five danil Francis good evening danial Francis District 2 tonight I have the honor of speaking on behalf of Barbara Haywood from District 1 Madam chair board members Dr shandor although I am unable to be with you my absence in no way lessens the grave concerns I have for your unprofessional and inappropriate actions over the last weeks the April regular board meeting made it increasingly more evident that you need leadership training to professionally facilitate a Schoolboard meeting it is clear you do not know the difference between policy and procedure you appear so intent on changing policy to meet your needs and assert Authority that you refuse to listen to your own board members and attorney you have not reviewed your current policies and the existing
083platform for presenting change to policy please share with the public the specific reasons the existing process process which has served ycsd extremely well now needs to be changed the new members of the school board have shown lack of professionalism transparency communication ethics and accountability your Reckless actions are setting this division up for an avoidable lawsuit if you are not able to fulfill your sworn duties in the best fashion for all students one would assume that you are incapable or don't desire to do so the York County Community deserves and demands more while I know that the proposed Retreat using S spma was cancelled I would like to remind you that you did in fact vote to join vsba by contract you are to receive training from them it was an insult to learn that you
084engaged with sbma to provide your training prior to even seeking board approval I implore you to contract with vsba for your retreat and Leadership training your retreat is a time of team building setting the vision mission and goals for the next four years with the superintendent and staff lastly let me address my concern about the chair refusing to allow citizens who signed up the opportunity to speak at the beginning of the meeting LGE large numbers of citizens show up when they are concerned in the past it was over issues related to redistricting asbestos or specific educational concerns it's evident the large turnout of citizens is now because of you your inappropriate actions inflammatory statements and controversial baggage of your social media if you are this uninformed about professionalism policy and understanding what to do what
085then does it say about your ability to Le Barbara S Haywood thank you now um miss living if you can hang on just a minute I'm going to call the next six people so they're waiting behind you thank you number seven uh Dr Alan Kennedy number eight Christy Chamberlain number 10 Todd hogland number 11 Elizabeth Brantley uh and number 12 um excuse me Diane Smith we'll give a little bit of time for them to line up so they don't disrupt your speaking sure okay Nicole living if you could go please thank you thank you uh I'm Nicole living I live in District three good evening Dr shandor board members I wanted to highlight something positive that I saw at the May 6th working session during a discussion with District transportation staff about how to better
086recruit and retain bus drivers the chair suggested using a survey to capture feedback from folks in the field understand better their needs and challenges this suggestion was well received by The District staff and I think it's a great example of the type of cross functional collaboration that can result in adding a lot of value all of the school board members have different personal and professional experiences and those different perspectives when combined can really help problem solve for our faculty staff students and their families so well done truly there was one thing however that stood out to me during that discussion and that's that the chair recommended that the survey be anonymous so as to more effectively solicit feedback without the participants fearing any type of retaliation that makes perfect sense so why then do the
087chair and the vice chair not understand the value of that same Anonymous feedback option for the ycsd community considering the school board is the final Arbiter of personnel decisions and in some cases student decisions why do you think it's appropriate to remove yourselves from the let talk platform thank you you thank you uh number seven Dr Alan Kennedy good evening I'm Alan Kennedy 116 steg street a proud member of district one um and I believe every me everybody in this room uh as well as each of you have a uh what's labeled an sbma training contract agreement uh which is is between the Schoolboard member Alliance um those of you who who have read the news know that this is a right-wing organization that has no staff attorneys uh and it is with is between
088the spma and uh the school board uh here and this agreement was effective for May 10th 2024 from 9:00 a.m. until 12:30 p.m. um to provide a 3 and a half hour training session focused on topics related to effective Schoolboard governance and so on uh the the uh The Retreat topics that three of the five of you just voted to uh reschedule this contract uh binds the York County School Board to pay the spma $2800 that's $2,800 for the services under this agreement um there's a provision that it's somewhat unclear but it may obligate the school board to pay this even if there is a a breach of this agreement or it's the services are not provided um and it is signed by uh Linda J Fairman um chair York County School Board it's it's
089handwritten there's a signature as well that was redacted by the Foya off officer uh appropriately um it's dated 30 April 2024 so I I my first uh question uh Miss Fairman did you sign this contract yes and did you have the approval of the entire board I thought I did through other procedures that I will explain during my uh board minutes thank you thought you did but you didn't did you you did not have the approval of this board and in fact uh that is a violation of the code of Virginia Section 22.1 71 it's also a clear violation of your own board's policies it may be a violation of other laws but that's the extent of uh my research so far I do recommend you talking to your board attorney um not the sbma
090since again they don't have any staff attorneys um so I wanted to uh to follow up and ask you uh since you you admit for the first time tonight that you did not have the approval of this board um is this contract now invalid since it appears to be illegally signed Mrs story has already sent an email recently and stated that it is Nan void since uh the uh The Retreat did not take place on May 10th but now you are rescheduling are you rescheduling under this contract no that contract is Nan void per sbma and Miss story and is there any contract in place Dr Kennedy thank you uh number eight Christy [Applause] Chamberlin I'm Christy Chamberlain of District for good evening members of the board I felt compelled to speak tonight because I'm
091concerned about the misrepresentation of data regarding SLS and student achievement that has been pushed by Mr pvic at the last two regular school board meetings on March 25th Mr piic used his board matters time to display a graph on the screen and state that he decided to run for Schoolboard because scores on the SOS were declining and that we as a society are declining that is a worrisome statement as they leas on April 22nd Mr pic spoke about the same graph again and referenced the decline in writing and history so scores which made it seem like there was something to really worry about so I became curious I became concerned when I saw Mr pic's campaign manager referenced the graph on a social media post on May 1st that had nothing to do with student
092achievement I thought ah now I know why Mr pic is pushing this graph I bet someone is pushing him to push it I decided to dig deeper due to Foya I was able to see that Mr pic emailed candy Skinner ycsd is Chief academic officer on March 4th about this issue and he received a very detailed and thorough response from her on March 8th so he had all this information and time to understand the situation 17 days before he rang alarm Bells about student achievement to the public at the March 25th meeting and 45 days before the April 22nd meeting I thought it was only fair to come here tonight to explain to the public what Mr pic and his campaign manager are leaving out when graphed it appears that writing scores have been declining
093since 2010 but there are some key events that have affected scores to keep in mind when looking at this data since 20110 seventh and eth grade students went from daily English classes to every other day new state English standards were released and harder questions were placed on the so resulting in a change the way that they were scored grade five students were no longer given the state writing so test and there was a pandemic all of these events can skew the way data looks on a graph it is worth mentioning that Virginia has one of the best Educational Systems in the United States and within that system ycsd scores are remaining steady and actually above state level ycsd scores in writing are 12% higher than the state average ycsd scores in history are 15% higher
094than the state average now I'm not even a fan of s sols I have personally used standardized testing in my profession for the past 20 years and I know its limitation a lot of what standardized testing does is just test a person's ability to take a test but if we have to use this data please let's be careful not to manipulate it to look like ycsd is worse off than it is is not clear whether Mr pic is intentionally Mis misrepresenting the data or if he does not understand the whole situation but the public deserves to know all the facts thank you so miss Chamberlain Miss Chamberlain I would like to address you according to this I want to say thank you so much for bringing this up because this data is a factual provided
095by ycsd and you could actually find those same data within our board meeting presentations so what you're talking about it's exactly right we are performing better than rest but we are performing way below than we should and that's what my concern as a parent is and it should be as yours and I think we're on the same page but calling me out on the data that I manipulated it's not so true at all so that's why I'm saying I want to say thank you so much for bringing it out because everybody here should see it and know it that we as a school board recognizing deficiencies principles staff everybody and we are fighting together to bring those scores up so I'm glad that I brought those things up and shine a light on the fact
096that we are performing better but but not as what we all wanted to do so thank you so much for bringing it out thank you I'm not allowed to respond to that thank you no you've already had your three minutes but um what what you can do is the next time or you can send us all an email you to to let us to let us know your comments on that but we need we need to move on and I uh Mr pich was able to speak because it is uh according to policy the board members can respond if they choose so to do that number 10 uh Todd hogland sorry I got to stop laughing um uh Todd hogland from uh the wonderful District 3 uh first I want to officially and publicly thank
097my principal Tiana Anthony for coming to speak at the last school board meeting uh on my behalf I was out of the country and um all the other teachers that came with her to defend my honor and uh defend my name I appreciate that uh as a parent teacher and Resident I am well within my rights to speak and to email our board uh I'm allowed to email from my work email during work hours about work problems I've been pointing out problems and offering Solutions I stress to my students all the time that words matter your word choice is very important harassment of which I've been accused is not the same thing as asking questions and emails I kept emailing after not getting responses and because I thought the board was held to the same
098expectation that we as teachers are for timely responses that shows it's not true Mrs Goodwin address claims she addressed her racially insensitive comments uh but what she actually said was I don't support slavery that is not the the same thing as an apology and people will continue to ask for an apology what you could have done is said I'm sorry for my insensitive post I will do better in the future Mrs Goodwin also told Miss Anthony that she didn't submit paperwork to file harassment claims against myself or my emails because it she didn't want it to appear as retaliation what you should have said is Mr hogland did nothing wrong and it's not harassment in an email you called me a part of a group of agitators most people call us parents and teachers through
099the 48 emails I also learned that you don't understand special education should he not be tending to his special education students my students are not sheep or cattle to be tended to there are middle school students that are learning about the atmology of and use of various word parts s analyzing literature and writing reflective expository essays special education is a service not a placement 85% of grafted middle school students with IEPs participate in general education classes perhaps you could learn this information if you were to speak or maybe email a special education teacher I would love to invite you to come to Grafton Middle School to observe what I do in a day please come with me as I co- te eth gr English and teach structured literacy to sixth graders who cannot read I
100believe this board has made some wrong decisions and you're starting to fix some of them but there's still many many more to fix uh associating with the spma is wrong and it need at this time number 11 Elizabeth Brantley thank you my name is Elizabeth Brantley I reside in District 2 I am the parent of a York County student and I have been a teacher for 30 years I spent many prior years in York County Schools I'm here tonight to respectfully ask for the resignation of specific Schoolboard members since it is against policy to address specific Schoolboard members I will direct my comments to the entire board I realize that asking for resignations is bold but my sentiments seem to be shared by many in the community I stand before you as a person who
101has made many mistakes and had too many moments that were less than my finest I believe many of us share that experience so I know that considering a resignation is an affront to all that you believe you are and hope to achieve in your position sometimes however we find ourselves in places and spaces where our presence is more detrimental to ourselves and others than it is helpful in such times we have to rise above our egos and defenses to do the right thing the right thing is to move on the right thing is to resign there is no shame and no defeat in changing course rather it takes courage to admit that mistakes have been made and that no one person or group is more important than the work of educating children resigning allows you
102to control your narrative and to retain your dignity more importantly to the community your resignations will allow the school system to move forward with the focus where it should be on the students and their teachers respectfully I ask for the resignations of those school board members whose presence and actions have disrupted that Focus thank you thank you number 12 Diane Smith uh and if you could wait just a minute I'm going to call the the rest of everybody that you can go ahead and line up uh number 13 uh next would be Dr Lesley hogland number 14 Albert tuminello number 15 Tammy deerberg number 16 Deborah Wesley number 17 Steve Romeo number 18 Pete Romeo is there room for three more back there I'll go ahead and get do the last three that I have
103here uh number 19 19 uh is it enen uh parm sorry uh uh 20 Susan Nightingale uh and 22 Bethany Jenkins all right Miss Smith good evening my name is Diane Smith I live in District 3 I am going to tell you tonight about Harriet and Jacobs who live Jacobs who lived from 1813 to 1897 she was a former slave an author and an abolitionist who said that death was better than slavery Jacobs wrote the earliest firsthand account of slavery in her autobiography incidents in the life of a slave girl she spoke of wild widespread sexual abuse of slaves by their masters and the selling of the resulting children she wrote graphic descriptions of auctions of enslaved Americans the everyday brutality of enslaved Africans who were also Americans the everyday brutality of slavery and the
104cruelty of the enslavers the book was published in 1861 Harriet Jacobs escaped slavery at the age of 29 after giving birth to two biracial children who had been sold off she lived as a fugitive for more than 10 years and eventually became a self-educated abolitionist in the north slave narratives were either written or orally related by the former slaves at 18 1965 at least 50 former slaves wrote or dictated booklink accounts of living in bondage in 1930 the WPA and American New Deal government agency established the F Federal writers project and gathered personal histories from 2300 former slaves enough to fill 40 volumes of work so Vice chair Goodwin since you were not living during the 240 years of slavery in America please take the time to read some of the personal accounts of those
105who actually experienced it and believe them then possibly you could understand the State of Mind of those who were oppressed with the consent of the government and most of the religious institutions of the day Pam puso did the research for that but I am talking about it because I am Gravely concerned that this is not an isolated incident here on one person's social media account it is a nationwide movement to sanitize history to minimize the damage caused by our nation's Embrace of slavery it is a dangerous Trend which not only causes more damage to the descendants of those who were enslaved but it normalizes acts of brutality toward a people group and we need to always keep in mind how easy it is to move from thinking of people as other to thinking of them
106as less than at to considering ourselves because of nothing except commonality with someone else to be entitled to more regard regardless of the cost to the others so please think before you talk thank you number 13 Dr Lesley hogland good evening School Board uh lesli hoglands District 3 first I want to congratulate the York High School women's lacrosse team who secured the win at the championship game against Warhill last night they rallied a huge comeback being down 4 to8 at halftime oh wait just wait to end the game 12 to8 so way to go Falcons um all right so I'm going to start with a quote by Adam Grant who is an organizational psychologist at the Wharton School of Penn and author of hidden potential and think again he says keeping an open mind is
107not about lacking moral conviction it's about maintaining intellectual humility the people who leave their Echo Chambers are the ones who know their knowledge is incomplete and a key to lifelong learning is engaging with others who disagree with you when I read these words it gives me a lot of comfort because I don't have to know it all I don't have to be it all but I do need to be willing to learn it all I want to learn and be around people who have experience I suppose that's where my grievances come from as a parent and as a community member I do not see the three new board members willingness to learn I only see your influences of political ideologies that have really no basis on this in our public schools and on this board
108on Tuesday May 7th around noon I was eating lunch with my daughter at carrot tree at the Yorktown riverfront we decided to sit outside because it was a beautiful spring day and we were considering what to order I overheard a man talking loudly on his cell phone while it was on speaker phone with a very angry sounding woman it took me by surprised because of what I was able to overhear Madam chair you were talking with Mr Mike Peterson who had you on speaker phone for everyone to hear as you went on about the quote unquote 17 minute show and character assassination as you reference the work session meeting from the night prior I won't share more but just know that your conversations might not be held in the strictest confidence as you would like
109them to be I think you know that the volume of four requests is is becoming a problem because of situations like that and and make people curious about what's really going on because of the lack of transparency from the board it's clear that you and others are under the thumb of Mr Peterson and the York County Republican committee and perhaps unable to make your own decisions um about the work of the board and which would explain the forced inclusion of the sbma training at the scheduled re rescheduled Retreat I don't know if it's because of your Collective incompetence so that you're easily controlled by a political party um that you're so deeply affiliated with or just your lack of intellectual humility that you believe your behavior is appropriate failing you're failing to see your responsibility
110and it continuing to make you look ignorant and foolish especially when later on in this meeting you're probably going to chastise us for our comments clearly you're here for the wrong reasons and motivations to appease Mr Peterson and others rather than those you actually represent you don't seem to care and it's quite bewildering to me that you actually are going to ask for a $155,000 increase in raises um tonight thank you thank you number 14 uh Albert tuminello my name is Albert tum manello and I live in District Four Madame chair members of the board and Dr shandor this evening the words I wish to share with you are not my own they are quote from the Bible Proverbs 24: 3 and 4 and then I will give a brief reflection on that reading and
111my first thought after reading this proverb was to reflect on the yscd and the acrimony that has and is occurring at these board meetings please hear in search your hearts for the future of the school system and the children of York County and I quote Proverbs 243 and 4 and it says a house is built by wisdom and become strong through Good Sense through knowledge it's rooms are filled with all sorts of precious riches and valuables and I continue with the following exert entitled making allowances and once again I quote everybody has a fault or two or 2000 and we're all very different but difference isn't bad but it does cause difficulties what can we do well the loving response is to humbly and gently make allowances for one another's differences we patiently learn to
112accommodate each other's differences and we adapt to serve each other in unity does that mean we accept everything evil or abusive well certainly not but other than those extremes we do what we can to bring Unity to the relationship it's not easy but it's absolutely necessary and so that's the end of that quote and with these words I leave you with these thoughts as members of a very important component of the life and makeup of the children of York County thank you thank you number 15 and I have a copy of this for each of you and I will give it to the secretary yeah give give it to uh Mrs Howard thank you very much uh Tammy deerberg number 15 good evening Madame chair members of the board Dr shandor I live and reside
113and pay taxes in District 2 so thank you for the privilege of allowing me to share tonight um I love this community and I um care about the children in our schools they are tomorrow's future and so far I have four granddaughters and so this generation will probably someday be married to my granddaughters so I care deeply about the students in this County and in our country I want to stand and publicly say that I support Linda Fairman Kim Goodwin and Zoran pich I am grateful that you've stepped up to this task you have been slandered you've been criticized and it saddens me I know each of you personally and I know that you care about the students the families the teachers in the school district and you want what's best for them and I
114say hang in there don't be bullied don't take the threats don't resign you need time to learn this job to do it just like anybody that's new in a position it takes time and I feel that you were railroaded at the beginning and it's taken away from your time to learn this job and so that makes me sick I will say that I went on let's talk today and all five of you are on there so I don't know why that keeps coming up and the other thing is your phone numbers and your emails are on the school website so anybody can reach out to you and that's what I would say you know have a conversation I know that all of you are accessible and willing to have a conversation so I just want
115to say I applaud you and I appreciate your what you're doing and I pray for you constantly so thank you thank you number 16 Deborah Wesley good evening members of the board and Dr shandor my name is Deb Wesley I am a parent resident of District 4 division teacher and president of the York Education Association I am concerned about the board's contined involvement involvement with the school board member Alliance organization s spma is led by people who have made social media comments that do not align with York County's strategic plan specifically the supportive culture our school system is committed to providing a safe welcoming and caring environment in which all students and staff have a sense of belonging and purpose when you choose to align yourselves with people that make comments like they have on
116social media what message are you sending to the students and staff and Community some of you have also had those social media comments surface that do not align with the York County strategic plan I ask you to read this plan over and then read it over again and again and ask yourselves do my actions reflect this plan I respectfully ask that those of you who have individual memberships in s spma withdraw your membership from this organization I am also concerned about a Schoolboard chair that picks and chooses which policies to follow and which policies to ignore you want to silence citizen comments by following the P public comment policy explicitly and yet ignore policies about meeting times and agendas and entering into contracts without board approval if you do not know a policy ask if
117you are not willing to ask about policies and procedures then I respectfully ask you to resign as chair and allow another board member to take over until such time that you are familiar with the policies and procedures I do want to thank the board as a whole for passing a budget that includes raises for all all employees approving the hmh into reading curriculum um materials for grades k35 asking the hard questions about the resoning plan and compromising with that that was not an easy decision to come up with any kind of plan that makes everybody happy also the transportation questions and comments and that conversation was wonderful to see and hear how you are working together as a board um and continuing to include those student recognitions at meetings please ask the hard questions distance
118yourself from controversial groups and review the Strategic plan for our School Division thank you for your time this evening thank you number 17 Steve Romeo uh good evening Madam chair members of the board Dr shandor Steve Romeo District 3 thank you for affording us this opportunity to express our views at this meeting um as I mentioned at the last at the April meeting each one of you members were elected to serve by the voters in your respective districts uh who took time to exercise their right to vote and I'm a firm believer that if you don't take the time to vote then you forfeit your right to complain I would also like to Echo the sentiments of speaker number four I did not get his name but I think our expectation as Citizens is for
119you all to work together um so at the April meeting some of the citizens and faculty Express concern over the work environment within our schools they're our schools one speaker made reference to an interview of the superintendent by the Williamsburg daily Williamsburg Yorktown daily uh news feed and I trust that the superintendent is actively in pursuit of resolving those concerns I'm also concerned by the board's credibility and transparency issues stemming from the June 2022 March 2023 May 2023 and three November 2023 issues that were brought before the prior board that the three new members have inherited and I'm hoping that you all can find a path forward during your retreat thank you thank you number 18 Pete Romeo Pete Romeo uh my wife and I reside in District 3 to repeat what I said last
120month there appears to be a couple of board members investing a lot of time and energy to undermine the efforts of the newly elected members and I suspect that they have the support of the superintendent I would recommend for the benefit of the residents the parents the teachers and especially the students that energy be refocused on constructive inputs and positive team building dialogue next since the beginning of the year I've heard one board member repeatedly use the phrase that's not a good look when referring to matters that have no relevance to the qualifications or performance of another board member or those who support another board member to help differentiate between anecdotal effect and tangible examples of what constitutes a bad look I offer the following June 2022 headline teacher in York County been accused of
121sexually abusing a student under her care March 2023 headline a teacher at Yorktown Elementary School was arrested after reports that she assaulted a student may 2023 a braak bra York High School student addressed the previous School Board to express her disappointment at the school board and the School Division after a sexual assault on her in January of 2022 committed by another male High School student I challenge every board member and you Dr shandor to watch this Brave eloquent and poised young lady as she addresses the previous board the time stamp is from 10656 to 110 26 November 2023 headline a 12-year-old special needs student was reportedly assaulted by an employee in Sid Grafton Middle School November 2023 headline a 6-year-old special needs student was reportedly assaulted at Mount Vernon Elementary School by a teacher November
1222023 a teacher at Grafton High School has been arrested and charged after police say they grabbed the student and pulled her hair now these are actual examples of what's not a good look for the YK County School Division you should be focusing your efforts on policies or the lack thereof that protect our children from these abuses rather than focusing on the number of foyer requests of a concerned citizen or the perfectly appropriate social media posts of board members and their Consultants thank you for your time thank you number 19 Ellen parm alen parm my name is alen Parm and I am a fellow education Union member supporting my union family in yaa as a social studies teacher we were hard on developing skills for our students and one of those skills is leadership leadership isn't
123just being elected by your constituents true leadership involves being held accountable like any other skill that is developed through time and experience it is a leadership skill that involves taking responsibility for actions with a team to create goals follow through commitments and communicate openly with your team and the public I strongly encourage collaboration between the school board and the community as well as with the local education Union I've been to other school board meetings meetings in Williamsburg meetings in Newport News in Hampton and I've never heard public comments like this before and it is it's shocking it is shocking to hear of such Behavior coming from school board members if we are all to be role models for our students for our children and for them to become competent and communicative leaders then our elected
124leaders need to show those skills as well thank you thank you number 20 Susan nighting good evening my name is Susan Nightingale and I reside in District 4 our family relocated four years ago to York County we chose York County School District because the Great Schools I have watched or attended the York SC County School District board meeting and work sessions since January I've been quite disappointed in the behavior of some of the school board members I'm not here to continue to beat the dead horse I am choosing not to rehash the harsh statements and comments made by some of the board members not only to the public but also to Dr shandor nor am I here to discuss the undermining of the vsba sbma document signing with without a vote although this does seem
125illegal which obviously tonight I'm disappointed that you guys have decided that the retreat will be with the sbma um it is my understanding that the school board should be made up of nonpartisan members of the community clearly this is not the case in a world where we are so divided it seems for the sake of our children you could and should put your own political agendas aside let's do what's right for our kids our daughter's in the seventh grade at Grafton Middle School she has an IEP as I believe there are many students in this County who have and need an IEP or accommodations I was appalled to hear that one of her teachers was accused of harassment from a school board member because of a few questions that he deserved to have answered it
126seems if you choose to seek a public position then obviously there will be questions by your constituents not only should you do your best to answer those questions but you definitely need to respond in a timely manner I believe the teachers are given 24 hours to respond to an email Mr Todd hogland is an exceptional teacher I know our county is short of teachers special education teachers parapros and AIDS so let's try to keep the ones we have instead of running them out of our schools a couple of months ago our daughter case our daughter's case manager decided it was time to move on you may or may not know as a parent of a child with learning disabilities and an IEP the case manager is imperative she was not only our case manager she
127also taught one of our daughter's classes not only did we lose a great case manager we lost a great teacher as parents it's very difficult to navigate the special education pass but consistently consistency is a must not only for children that have specific needs but for all children I am thankful that the this thank you very much okay I thankful that you guys continued let's try to include a special ed award for special 22 Bethany Jenkins good evening my name is Bethany Jenkins and I reside in District 4 I wanted to come tonight because like a lot of parents I have my eldest finishing 8th grade this year and that is super exciting and equally terrifying um on top of that my son is Special Needs because he's in the communications classroom at Grafton Middle
128School he has had the privilege of working with some amazing Educators over the past three years for those not familiar with the communications classroom those students are offered the consistent instruction of a single teacher for sixth seventh and 8th grade those teachers have Paras assigned to their classroom and their small classrooms I cannot tell you what a privilege it has been to work with Miss Casey Reid she has been a beacon for my son a a Place of Hope for my family going through the IEP process with her has been easy I have very few edits I have very few concerns because she's an educator that truly has my son's best interest at heart and I know that I'm emotional because it's my kid and it's not easy but these are the women and men
129that mean so much to York County these are the ones that we need to focus on that we need to promote that we need to nurture and that most importantly we need to retain I would love to see more topics about how we can attract and retain fantastic fantastic Educators in York County but truly I cannot say enough about Miss Casey Reed thank you thank you very much Mrs gof I have a question for you there were two numbers that were turned in I just want to make sure that they was it [Music] 21 is number 21 here somewhere you have your card going once going twice all right okay number nine turned it back in uh at this time I will close the public uh participation for comments and I will open up the
130public hearing on proposed Schoolboard salaries for 24 and 25 uh for that one um number one uh Michael Peterson is Mr Peterson here if I can miss fman I'd love to ask Mr Bowen to come to the podium to explain um the public hearing on the proposed Schoolboard salaries for 2425 prior to public comment all right thank you sorry about that thank you Mr bone if you please come to the podium thank you madam chair members of the board and Dr shandor this is a resolution that comes before the board annually and in the consent agenda this evening resolution 2439 proposes to continue the salaries of the school board members at the current level which is $9,000 per member um with an additional $1,200 for the chair and additional $600 for the vice chair and
131just to note the last time that the school board member salaries were increased was in it was approved in June of 2005 um that that uh increase took effect January 1 2006 increasing from $7,000 to $9,000 so it's been at $9,000 since 2006 thank you Mr B thank you very much um members of the board are there any questions for Mr B I just have a general question I guess yes sorry he you that down before I a chance so I heard somebody in this audience reference something about $15,000 vat or is there anything floating around out there that you know about because that is news to me yes I'm I'm unaware of of that I'm not sure what that was in reference to okay so there is nothing just just sobody knows there's nothing
132out there about any increase we haven't voted any increase we didn't ask for any increase or anything like that and there's nothing out there and you can you reference the state law if we were to increase it how that works or maybe I should ask Miss Barry so the other board members I do have a copy of that code um but I I would prefer Miss Barry read it uh Ju Just so they know if if we were to raise the salaries it wouldn't come into effect until after the next election year that's correct so that's correct not that I'm asking no I'm just no exactly I just I just wanted the new members to know that that law if they were UNAM with that and the public you want me to read it no
133I think that's enough explanation that if we were to increase our salaries that it wouldn't go into effect for another four years after the election uh for whoever the new board is if it's same board members or new board members either way correct thank you thanks so much are there any other comments um for this Dr shander do you have any further comments I do not thank you thank you very much uh at this time I will go back and see if um we just have one person signed up uh at this time I will open uh the remarks for uh the Schoolboard salaries Mr Michael Peterson are you here you had signed up thank you very much all right thank you very much uh and seeing that there are no other ones I will
134now close the public hearing on the proposed Schoolboard salaries uh moving along we have Matters by the board members and we'll ask each board member for your comments district one Mr schaer turn on my mic um I'd like to say that went to the uh at Waller Mill Elementary it was very cool they had a uh a glob night dance where all the kids had uh glow sticks and all and it was a fundraiser for the I believe they're a CA and I got to go and no I didn't mingle no I didn't dance like they put me to work I was a I was the cashier for all the the food and stuff and so I got to see everybody come through uh but it was an awesome night uh the families I love
135it when families come together and they all came and they all uh just had a great time I I would like to say that Thursday we have the star awards reception and I'm going to go spend some time at that hopefully I'll get to see the whole thing before uh heading over to brutin for their uh Spring Concert which I'm looking forward to big time uh they always do such a good job and I will say that um our board is not a good functioning board at this time um it was uh very disturbing to hear that uh uh our board chair was uh venting to Mr Peterson maybe that's why he's not here now but uh it is I have an issue with that uh I don't think that we should be uh venting
136to anybody except our spouses probably uh would or our kids would be the thing um and it's it's disturbing to see that I would like us to come together um but it's it's very disheartening thank you thank you District Two Mr pich yes uh it's been a very uh busy and very uh satisfying month for me uh with a lot of events that I've been visit uh I would like to give just credits to all of our students and staff for put in such an amazing events uh and some of them I'm going to mention that I've uh actually attended uh first one that I went and I took my son my wife it was the tab High School Musical uh it was uh Legally Blonde the Dr Shandra son was having one of the
137roles in there it was one of the best uh Productions that I seen in school uh it was just hardw to see that many students coming together and having such a good time uh and it just like you know lifted all of us through the whole evening I mean just director the singing the music everything was uh phenomenal uh another one that we tried to hit the same weekend was in Grafton High School and it was once upon the mattress same thing uh it just the talent that we have the kids that put I mean the whole production uh in Grafton was put by the students uh from the staging lighting sound organization costumes everything was student production and it was just amazing to see how professionally they can do it and they done it
138uh next amazing thing that I uh attended to it was um at the time high school and it was a little feat which was the Special Olympics uh by Virginia Event sponsoring a special ed education children that were paired up with a more senior students to help them up at uh in a competition and one thing that uh they gave me as a athletes oath kind of just like no rings with me and I have it here with me says uh let me win but if I cannot win let me be brave in the attempt and it just kind of uh rang with me that like know those special kids that we have that we have the special ed teachers like uh Mr Todd they pour so much into them and how blessed we are
139to live in this Society in this country that cares about kids with special ads I come from the country that it's not as fortunate that the government doesn't pour is enough resources to the children and those children's are left to be be to careed by the parents and Society sometimes turns by ey on on their needs and it's a real struggle so coming here and seeing it how much you guys school district teachers pour into this CH children it just it's unbelievable and I want to let you know as a foreigner coming here how great the system is the need is even greater but we as a board we gave more money through the budget to the special ed and right now we're almost at 10% of our school budget for the special ed which
140is I believe I'm very proud out of that and we need more but we need more good teachers and like teachers like yourself help quite a bit so thank you um some of the things at Little Feed that was a competition that they had uh was a 25 meter dash softball throw standing long jump running long jump soccer goal kick Bean back toss hula hop jumps ring toss jump rope snake bubble stations like kids had a blast uh we we had more March down the field uh with the firefighters and the shar's department and kids were just enjoying it so much uh next thing that I went to it [Music] was let me see New Horizons at Langley uh New Horizons was the sponsor of the Langley's race night uh past weekend and one of
141the most amazing thing that happens one of the students from New Horizon he's actually race driver and uh the entire team came together his car was put together in New Horizons by our students they work on their engine our students work on those things and he started on a sixth place and he came on a second and he almost won the race and it was just a highlight uh of that whole evening how much of the new New Horizons and Community came together to support and he's uh I think it's like he's 15 years old and driving like almost 100 miles an hour in circle so it was just really amazing yeah I cannot imagine my 15-year-old doing that stuff so uh it was just amazing night uh they allowed me to come down and
142give actually trophy to the one of the main races at the end which was real honor uh next thing that we just attended on Saturday day was a 200 plus colar breakfast uh for those people who are not familiar with 200 plus main uh breakfast actually it's the society with a uh young African-American uh males who are graduating uh and they're paired up with mentors growing up uh to help them guide them in their future endeavors uh through it they shared quite a bit of uh uh scholarships and uh through the Hampton University and norol State University and it just kind of uh helped me understand how that community and are strong in belief in their youth to bring them up together uh and it's such an honor to be part of that we as
143your county we had Representatives that won some scholarships uh and um I think like I I don't have their names but I know we're probably going to be able to announce them pretty soon and with that I'm I'm going to close it so thank you thank you very much much Mr pich uh District three Mrs Goodwin thank you would help if I have the mic on um well first of all I want to say thank you to everybody that spoke tonight um again I know that's your time coming out and um a lot of people had a lot of great things that they said and um um I think one of the things that resonates for me in hearing this is we have a lot more in common than we do um not um I
144think one of the things that that hear is we all love our children um we all love York County schools and we want the best for the children uh the students in York County Schools so that's something that unites all of us I've heard both you know all all all of you almost speak on that um we love our teachers we want our teachers um to be you know taken care of and retained because we do have good teachers here so I I know there's a lot of negative stuff but there are things that that unite us and I think that that's an important thing to remember um I do want to address because you know it has come up before um and I can't remember individual person or context but um I did back
145in February yes make a comment a public statement um about some of the social media posts and particularly the one where I was um accused of racism or thinking slaves were happy um that post was a lot longer than what had been put on social media and oftentimes and you all know this you get a snippet of something but you don't necessarily get the whole picture and on if you saw that in its state yeah you would think that I was probably a horrible person no I don't think slaves were happy in fact I said in that same post I don't think slaves were happy I don't even know if that was portrayed on there or not for whatever you saw um and I don't think it was good and I don't endorse any kind
146of racism so you know if you saw that piece you know I am so sorry that you would have seen that and thought that I was that horrible person I certainly do not mean any evil intent by that I was actually having trying to have somewhat of a a a higher level I guess you would call conversation with somebody else that was on that feed and just talking about not ever I would never assume that I know what another person is thinking or feeling but I guess the context of that you know was taken wrong so for that I do apologize um people that know me well um and know my true character um certainly can attest to that but I could C certainly understand if you don't know me or you're getting to know
147me um how you could take offense to that so I just wanted to make sure everybody was was clear on that if you still have a personal issue contact me I have a cell phone I have email you are welcome to reach out to me I will meet you for coffee and we can talk it out I've met with several people so that they can um know my character and who I am okay sometimes we judge the book by its cover and we don't really read the book so um I'd invite you if that is something you want to know more about okay um anyway so so I don't take up more of your time I want to get on to um reading a little bit about what I've been up to since I guess
148our last board meeting um these are some of the highlights I was able to participate in another family engagement night at York Elementary School I get to serve pizza this time so they put me to work and um I was taken around to see more of the great reading initiatives and activities that are being done at their school I got to make a mosaic uh stepping stone that's actually going to go into the York Elementary School garden and that is currently under development and I'm really excited to see the final result um I think it's going to be beautiful and I would love to see all our schools have some kind kind of garden um for kids to learn about gardening and and and just have some hands-on experience so I think that's great I
149attended um a multicultural celebration at tab High School I got to learn a little bit of some fun facts about different cultures and try some great food um this was the first year that tab had this event and it was sponsored by their Multicultural club and I really can see this taking off and being really big next year so um this is something to look for and I would encourage people in the community to attend it um and then I got to attend pitch night at tab High School which is if you're not familiar with pitch Knight it's similar to Shark Tank um if you've ever seen that show the students all had some Amazing Ideas uh pitch night winners were from we or excuse me the pitch night winners were all from York High
150School and led by the teacher uh Dana Napier so they took first second and third place uh first place was a $300 uh cash award and they also took the audience Choice Award and that was uh the winners of that were Carly Broner and Henry stusy and the second place for $200 was uh Clarity planners and that was Olivia horak and Eliza Jones and I don't remember if I said for for the first place that the title of theirs was street eats and then third place with a $100 reward was the shoe box and that was Marley Banks and Gabe Matthews um and then this evening before the board meeting I had um the opportunity to attend the outstanding youth award reception uh for uh some of our students that participate in um community service
151so it's been a busy month and I always enjoy seeing all the good things that our schools and students are doing that's it thank you very much uh District Number Four Mr Richardson yes so uh I was out and about it since our last meeting uh April 23rd the um Tuesday evening I stopped by D Elementary School they were having a uh parents were stopping in to get information on kindergarten it's a little bit of an emotional time for some of those parents uh with their first kindergarten of course going to school but uh it was nice seeing the the parents out there and the admin ministrators and uh you know them walking them through the process uh April 25th was our Tidewater Regional forum for vsba and that was our uh art contest where
152we had the art contest and we announced those winners earlier uh that were from our our division here and our speaker was the uh retired County Administrator Neil Morgan at that event uh May 18th I attended the 200 Scholars breakfast at the Hampton Roads Convention Center where African-American High School males from Hampton Roads public and private schools who are graduating with a 3.0 better GPA were honored and I was at that event with Mr pic um and this evening I did attend the outstanding Youth Awards with the chair and vice chair uh earlier at the freight shed I hope to visit a few more schools before the uh in the next few weeks before the end of school year uh try to squeeze a few more in and uh graduations are looming and board members
153will be attending those in the next few weeks so I'll see everybody there at the graduations thank you thank you very much Mr Richardson and I'll wrap things up with District 5 I want to thank tab High School's Multicultural Club students and their sponsors for an amazing event um I know Mrs good one just mentioned that it was their first it's kind of like an International Fair and it was tied to their personal Heritage so they also uh several of them had family members there they were learning uh and presenting not only their uh their native attire history about their uh particular Heritage country and then they also o had wonderful food to share that they had learned how to make it from their moms their grandmas uh and other family members it was a
154wonderful event this was their very first one I hope that you all will attend uh when it's uh given next year I hope there's another one next year it was uh an absolutely wonderful I can see it being much bigger and being countywide at some point but they are definitely uh to be congratulated for an amazing event it was wonderful also congratulations to the York County outstanding youth Award winners um they were honored at a reception this evening at uh earlier this evening at the freight shed and it was an honor to be part of the selection committee for those students it was also very difficult because all of the students who applied for it could have won it it it was tooth and nail trying to figure out which one was actually going to
155be the award winner uh and I I enjoyed working with uh the two young men who were um part of the York County Youth commission as well as Board of Supervisors chair uh Steven ran uh for that now moving on um there's a popular meme that's been going around on social media and it says it's okay to have an opinion it's okay to disagree with someone's opinion it is not okay to humiliate them because they don't think the same way that you do unfortunately a couple of my co colleagues have made comments that are were nothing but character assassinations we need to make sure that comments are focused on the business rather than personal attacks this is called respect as such I want to formally apologize to the school board member Alliance and specifically to
156its executive director Mrs Sher story and correct some misinformation being spread um by reading some facts about her this is actually her bio Sher story dedicated 22 years to teaching high school biology AP biology and IB Biology along with theory of knowledge before retiring in 2018 in 2010 she was awarded the secondary teacher of the year in suffk she then served a four-year term on the suffk City School Board three years into her term in 2021 she was selected as a Gold Award recipient in suffk in three categories best Schoolboard member best elected official and best local hero this was the first in the history of the best of awards hosted by the suffk News Herald Miss story's dedication to education included many years of experience in leading professional development at the local state and
157National levels for AP and IB Biology teachers as a national educa educational Ambassador for the Howard Hughes medical institute's biointeractive division Miss stor spent years leading professional development for teachers in all fields of biology at many nabt nsta and National stem conferences she was one of the first Innovative leaders of what was called the flipped classroom which became the norm during the co lockdowns Miss story uh she's the mother of two children and four grandchildren and they all attended and benefited from K through2 public education uh she holds a bachelor's degree in education and a master master of divinity degree with a focus on organizational leadership uh just wanted to get that out there for actual information about her in addition many solid and successful businesses left their brick and mortar locations during the emerging
158digital business climate learning it was better for their bottom line a lot of them were forced into this during the lockdowns but then they learned that this is actually a positive thing this has been especially true for 501c3 nonprofit groups to be fiscally responsible to their members and supporters this is the same case with the Schoolboard member Alliance to focus on what their members and school boards around the state need rather than paying rent and electricity and all of the other things that go along with having a brick and mortar location the Virginia Department of re of Education recognizes sbma as a valid organization the negative comments seem to be coming from the fact that another organization doesn't like having competition that's that's America since the 10 May retreat was cancelled sbma declared the contract
159null and void and sent an email to us with no ycsd funds due and also emailed a letter uh well they emailed that letter stating so um and that no funds are due regarding that Retreat I aired in regarding the setup of the board retreat I had the action on the agenda for the 420 April 22 meeting and misunderstood Mr Richardson's guidance that it didn't need to be done since the retreat was included as a line item in our budget uh and it was already approved when I double check with CFO um Mr Bowen he let me know that there was enough money as long as the retreat cost didn't go over $5,000 and as long as we used either vsba or sbma we didn't need to put it out for bid that was my
160mistake in misunderstanding that particular direction we've since corrected that there is nothing more to do with that we're following uh procedure as follow uh as we're supposed to encountering this bump in the road unfortunately is part of the learning curve when a new board is elected and the plan that they need to be more than a rubber stamp and actually do the work rather than be handed pre-written script to be mere actors on a stage if missteps are taken we'll work to correct it and learn me especially that's why the Board needs to develop an sop manual standard operating procedure so that everyone can be brought up to speed quickly for required steps like this at any transition If all we're going to do is show up to read a script and push a plan
161developed by someone else why do we need an elected Schoolboard why have a Schoolboard at all um if they're just going to you know parot what they're expected to say and that that's one of those cases that we need to be moving forward on what's important we need to be more than just being directed by someone else that's not what we were elected to do yes it means change from the status quo yes it's more difficult than just showing up at a meeting and being told what to do like a trained actor in a play but that is what it means to be elected we were chosen by the majority of Voters in our districts to do that and we apologize if we make mistakes we're trying to work through this and make sure that
162we're following things as we should do again we can have differences of opinion that's called diversity of thought and individualism along with an understanding to show respect in spite of those differences that's called civil discourse elections allow the voters to choose the direction we'll be working on the decisions that will lead icsd to improve student achievement with their academics and life skills that is our Focus we'll be working to make sure our steps on that path are solid and aligned with policy and law and the the last thing I just like to say uh Mrs Goodwin and I met with attorney uh Mrs Barry to develop the needed policy for uh creating the standing committees to help us do the required Schoolboard jobs and we plan to have this ready for board consideration in June
163and we had a very productive meeting and working through it and we'll be presenting that as it is finished at that time we'll move along to um financial matters Mr pich I believe you're discussing uh those financial matters at this time yes Madam chair we have a three considerations to be presented in front of the board and I'm going to go through the list of them uh first consider ation is of approval of claims certified for payment and we have claims that are class certified for payment for the month of April 2024 instructional related expenditures total total approximately $315,700 and includes payments to amn healthcare Allied Beautiful Mind speech therapy curriculum Associates Emily hin LLC graft and Integrated Health Network Plan B Academy proc care therapy shr acquisition sunbell Staffing tent craft and Stepping Stones
164now technology related expenditures total approximately 29,6 55 and includes payments to Cox Communications and VA Business Systems now operational related expenditures total approximately 14836 and includes payments to carrier systems Continental contractors dominan energy Republic Services and Sun Belt Rentals following construction related expenditures total approximately 1,242 750 and includes payments to AC es LLC a harbor mechanical and weather proofing Technologies expenditures related to the administration total approximately $134,500 to the consideration of approval of financial reports for April 2024 and we have significant changes relating to the operating budget for April revenues State revenues for April 2024 increased by more than 9 9.5 million when compared to April 23 the increase is a result of the 7% compensation adjustment increase in student enrollment in additional of all in funding included in the revised state budget passed in
165September 2023 sales tax revenue for April 24 decreased by 1.2 million when compared to April 23 this is a result of the change in economic activity for expenditures instructional expenditures for April 24 increased by approximately 6.6 million when compared to April 23 the difference can be attributed to the increase in compensation and benefits the spend down of federal Esser Esser funds the the increase of fill rates for instructional positions for fy2 24 and increase in private placement students related to the Children's Services act program admin attendance Health expenditures for April 24 increased by approximately 1 million when compared to April 23 the difference can be attributed to the increase in compensation and benefits and the increase in contracted services for speech language in private nursing Services significant changes relating to the Food Service budget for
166revenues and expenditures local food service Revenue has increased more than 54,000 when compared to April 23 this is due to the increase in the number of meals served Federal Food Service Revenue has decreased by more than 2738 due to the decrease in grant funding and final it's consideration of approval of resolution 24-37 resolution 24-37 requires the board's approval authorizing procurements of more than $50,000 there's a total of five items of the resolution three items toing $189,500 are for fiscal year 24 and two items totaling $78,000 for the fiscal year 25 the details of which can be viewed on a board dos Madam chair I now move to approve Financial matter matters as listed thank you I need a second from the board to approve financial matters as listed I'll second thank you the motion has
167been made by Mr pich to accept the financial matters as listed seconded by Mrs Goodwin are there any further questions board members hang on I think I'm getting a question okay that's for the next thing okay thank you very much any any comments all right um Mrs Howard a motion with made by Mr pich and seconded by Mrs Goodwin to approve financial matters as listed Mr pich yes Mr Richardson yes Mrs Goodwin yes Mr schaer yes Mrs Fairman yes motion passed 5 to zero thank you very much um Mr Richardson are do you need to pull a or yes I just want to pull a so we can vote on it separately please on the consent calendar this out out of the consent calendar um we can just pull a and then we can vote
168on everything else and then do a separately all right there's U Been a request to pull a which is approval of personnel actions and leave the rest in here um going over the consent calendar uh we will is there any objection to pulling a out from any of the board members okay um so uh Mrs Howard will be pulling a out of the consent calendar thank you much um B uh approval of minutes from a special meeting on April 22nd a regular meeting on April 22nd a special meeting on April 30th and a special meeting on May 6 C approval of resolution 24-39 to continue the salaries of members of the County School Board of York County D approval of a motion to approve a Student Activity and overnight field trip for the Grafton High
169and brutin high school history clubs e approval of resolution 243 a resolution authorizing the school board chair division superintendent and the High School principles to apply for membership with the Virginia High School league for school year 24 2024 to2 F approval of gifted education advisory committed updated bylaws G approval of the 24 to 25 student handbook and conduct code H approval uh is of the consent calendar as listed uh I'd like to have a motion as as well as a second to approve the consent calendar B through G as identified Madam chair move approval of the cons consent calendar B through G as listed thank do I have a second I'll second thank you Mr schaer second uh are there any comments from the board at this time regarding the consent calendar B through G
170all right Mrs Howard a motion was made by Mr Richardson and seconded by Mr Schaefer to approve the consent calendars items B through G Mr pich yes Mr schaer yes Mr Richardson yes Mrs Goodwin yes Mrs Fairman yes motion pass Five to zero thank you very much uh at this time we will address uh a approval of personnel actions uh Mr Richardson no no discussion just uh ready for yall to vote all right um that sounds good are there any comments from the board regarding that okay uh is there a second to or a motion to approve the uh Personnel actions a I I'll make a motion to approve uh the consideration of personnel actions uh of the consent calendar second all right it's been moved in second reced to uh approve the Personnel actions
171originally is number a that was in the consent calendar and moved out uh any further comments all right Mrs Howard a motion was made by Mr Richardson and seconded by Mr schaer to approve item a of the consent calendar which is Personnel actions there was a correction on that it was motion by Mr schaer and seconded by Mr pic I apologize motion was made by Mr schaer and seconded by Mr pich to approve the consent calendar item a Personnel actions Mr pich yes Mr Schaefer yes Mr Richardson abstain Mrs Goodwin yes Mrs Fairman yes motion pass motion pass for to zero one abstention thank you very much uh moving down to action items uh we'll take consideration of a motion to authorize the purchase of York County dare program supplies at a total cost to
172the school division not to exceed $4,000 and if the cost exceeds $4,000 the Dare program will reimburse the School Division any amount above $4,000 uh Dr shandor do you have additional comments on this please yeah we had some discussion at the agenda uh setting meeting someone have Mr bow just come to the podium and clarify thank you thank you again Madam chair members of the board and Dr shandor uh board members this is a motion that we bring to the board annually this time of year um and again it's only $4,000 um that we use to support the Dare program that's in our school the the supplies the money actually goes to t-shirts that we buy for the students and if it does exceed $4,000 then the Dare program reimburses back for that cost all
173right thank you board members are there any questions comments regarding that uh I need a motion to authorize this uh the purchase of York County deer program supplies at a total cost of the school division not to exceed $4,000 and if the cost exceeds $4,000 the Dare program will reimburse the School Division any amount above $4,000 I would like to make a motion to authorize the purchase of your county de program supplies at a total cost to the school division not to exceed $4,000 and if the cost exceeds $4,000 the deer program will reimburse the School Division any amount about $4,000 a second thank you the motion has been made and seconded is there any further discussion regarding it Mrs Howard a motion was made by Mr pich and seconded by Mr Richardson to authorize
174the purchase of York County dare program supplies at a total cost of the school division not to exceed $44,000 and if the cost exceeds $4,000 the D program will reimburse the school division by any amount over $4,000 Mrs Goodwin yes Mr Mr Richardson yes Mr schaer yes Mr pich yes Mrs Fairman yes motion passed five to zero thank you very much uh moving along with uh the agenda we don't have any policy discussion but we do have a first reading for policy B D DZ agenda format uh Mrs Goodwin yes so for the first reading um I'm recommending to or on this uh policy to remove the invocation which is listed on item as item six and moving to moment of silence after remarks by board chair all right that's uh the first reading regarding
175that uh Mrs Goodwin do you have anything any comments to make on that um this is being done uh because as we've had several speakers you know um deliver the invocation and we've had issues with staying in the guidelines of um what they need how they need to say it what they need to say and there's been some issues with that it just makes more sense to go back to um just doing a moment of silence or we didn't do M but it it makes more sense to stay in line with just how we do it in the schools and that way it will maintain consistency as well does any are there any questions or comments from the other board members I think we make comments I think we made comments when we first discussed
176this back when we were trying to do it but um I'm I'm good with that all right so that uh that handles the first reading of that one moving down to the second item under policy a second reading that will also be action it's policy jf- GBA then slash policy GBA djf and I believe Miss Barry has the information to share on these policies and why it's a second reading good evening Madam chair school board members Dr shandor the uh policy jfh GBA jfh GBA which are mirrored policies are before you for second reading on an expedited basis uh this is uh changes that are pursuant to a resolution agreement the the board has entered into uh that requires that the changes to the policy be implemented by May in addition there are some other
177changes that uh clarify for the the students and staff as well as parents uh complaints who you would complain to should you have a concern regarding an investigation and it gives uh emails and just more transparency for the parents thank you um do I have a motion as well as a second to approve the scheduling of the proposed revisions to section J FHA GBA prohibition against harassment and retaliation for expedited approval do I have a motion I have I make a motion for expedited approval of policy jf- GBA jf- GBA all right is there a second second all right the motion has been moved and seconded to uh approve the scheduling of the proposed revisions to section jfh GBA um GBA and then GBA DJ FHA uh which is the prohibition against harassment and retaliation
178for expedited approval it's been moved and seconded no further comments or discussion Mrs Howard a motion was made by Mrs Goodwin and seconded by Mr pich to approve the scheduling a proposed revisions to section JF GBA prohibition against harassment and retaliation for expedited approval Mrs Goodwin yes Mr Richardson yes Mr schaer yes Mr pich yes Mrs Fairman yes motion passed 5 to zero thank you very much Mrs Howard um now moving on to policy Gad Miss Barry could you please go over these revisions policy Gad deals with uh digital Communications with citizens families parents uh students and uh clarifies uh for transparency that uh retaliation can take many forms it provides uh for the use of digital Communications with parents family staff uh that they should not be used as a way to retaliate uh
179so I would ask the board to approve this on an expedited basis along with the other policy right thank you um do I have a motion in a second to approve the scheduling the proposed revisions to section g a digital communication policy for expedited approval I make a motion to approve the scheduled uh schedule the proposed revision of the section G digital digital communication policy for expedite approval I'll second right the motion has been moved by Mr pavich and seconded by uh Mr schaer are there any discussion comments about this all right Mrs Howard a motion was made by Mr pich and seconded by Mr Schaefer to approve the scheduling of proposed revisions to section g a digital communication policy for expedited approval Mrs Goodwin yes Mr Richardson yes Mr Schaefer yes Mr pavich yes
180Mrs fman yes motion passed 5 to zero thank you very much Miss Howard uh now moving on to policy jja Mrs Barry once again could you give those revisions to us yes uh jja uh deals with um the sudden cardiac arrest in student athletes uh we I have uh chosen to adopt the vsba policy uh making minor changes to the policy that was in effect but uh as we're moving into the summer season conditioning will start with our student athletes having the uh policy in place with all the requirements of the law I think is essential for those students so I would ask for expedited approval of this policy as well thank you Miss Barry do I have a motion and a second to approve the scheduling of the proposed revisions to section jja sudden
181cardio arrest and student athletes for expedited approv I move approval of policy JJ AF I'll second all right the motion has been moved and seconded is there any further discussion on this Mrs Howard a motion was made by Mr Richardson and seconded by Mr Schaefer to approve the scheduling the propos revisions to section jja AF sudden cardiac arrest in student athletes for expedited approval Mrs Goodwin yes Mr Richardson yes Mr schaer yes Mr P yes Mrs Fairman yes motion passed 5 to zero thank you very much Miss Howard at this time we move along to the report of the superintendent Dr shandor uh thank you m Fairman uh I had just a couple items this evening I first want to congratulate um York River Academy and seford Elementary on receiving the awards this evening we're
182so proud of all the staff and the students for their achievements also want to take a moment to recognize our leaders and staff uh for their courage support each other despite the many challenges that we continue to work through it's it's true that leaders stand up in tough times and I admire each of you uh I I did uh present some apple Awards uh over the last between the last board meeting and this board meeting um Ingrid holer Miller who is a u staff member at tab High School Kendra Mason who's a teacher at bethl Manor Elementary School and Blair Sweeney who's a physical therapist with the school division all very worthy recipients of the Apple Awards um we did a prize Patrol for Miss Taylor walkup Amos who's a music teacher at Yorktown Elementary
183School she was um presented with the music teacher of excellence and this award comes comes from the uh Country Music Association foundation so we're really proud of her um next I want to thank Dr Skinner and Dr rites they met with uh me and members from the NAACP education committee we had extremely productive conversation I want to thank Dr rites and Dr Skinner um and the folks from the NAACP education committee for their time I want to thank um Mr pich we have spent a great deal of time um he myself and Mr Bowen um combing through the budget book we had a a very lengthy meeting the other day went Page by Page um we worked our way through the budget book so I appreciate Mr Bowen's time as well helping Mr pivate continue
184to learn that budget I also attended uh pitch night with Miss Goodwin last week um I know the schools appreciate your support Miss Goodwin and you being there especially since York won all three of them so I'm sure they appreciated you being there uh I do I wanted to also mention that I I'm always available to assist our students in our classrooms I had a great opportunity this past week to help our AP um statistics students at tab High School um it was a really difficult task but they needed me to come in and hit golf balls so it was fantastic so I got to hit 10 golf balls thank you Mr Olivio olivo excuse me he taught my daughter alivo for um letting me come in there I'm always available to come out there
185and hit golf balls uh following spring break I wanted to share this this evening uh beginning April 8th until this past Friday May 17th uh at 4M I have been able to meet with over 500 staff members over a six- week period essentially I had 31 separate meetings with all of our schools and all of our departments in the school division um which lasted a little over an hour each each time I asked four simple questions um what does ycs do well what are our current challenges what do I need to know and what are what are three priorities for next school year um I do want to share that the feedback that I've received from the staff members was outstanding I'm constantly reminded you know why it's such a great place to work um
186over the next uh we're going to get through the rest of the year and get through graduation but I'm going to review all this information uh with leadership team and and obviously take action specifically targeting questions 2 three and four I appreciate the time that the staff that came in to give me feedback I find our staff members that're they're just so professional passionate about the School Division and I want to be clear the sessions were not complaint sessions staff members came in they shared their concerns their challenges and they offered a lot of solutions to those challenges now it's my job to execute a plan to continue for us to improve and I did want to uh address one item this evening um we heard a few we heard a few comments this evening
187related to um dates related to sta members within this School Division of incidents that occurred over the past um year or two and there's also people in our community that continue to post uh information that is either incorrect or they can find the answer um in another location so I would encourage you if you're in the audience or if you're in the community and you have a question about any of the investigations that were referenced this evening I would encourage you to call Kristen Reed she's the Commonwealth Attorney I would encourage you to call Senator Danny Diggs who was the sheriff during that time or or kindly call Sheriff Montgomery thank you thank you Dr shandor now uh we'll be going into we're in need of a closed session but before that I have an
188announcement as a reminder our next work session will be held here at your call on Monday June 10th at 4:30 p.m with a special meeting following and I want you all have a great week at this time we're in need of a closed session Madam chair do we have any other speakers there was a couple that walked in oh whoops I don't know thank you very much I forgot about that is did anyone arrive who would like to speak but has not they were not here for the initial if you could please state your name and district and you have three minutes there we go okay hi uh my name is Stephanie Presley I am from District 3 um I am a reading specialist with York County Schools I have uh 15 years of experience
189teaching I absolutely love teaching reading I was a struggling reader myself so it is my passion um I had the opportunity and the privilege and the honor to be the Grafton Middle School teacher of the year this year and then I got the U Middle School teacher of the year and then all of a sudden I received the division level teacher of the year um award um and I'm truly honored by that um I was also awarded the teacher of the year um award in the previous division that I worked for prior to coming to York County um first I want to apologize for not being here for public comment and I appreciate this opportunity to speak with you um I just wanted this to serve as notification that I am leaving my position with
190York County School Division um it is a very emotional decision for me to make so I will trust try my best to um stay poised while up here um it has not been an easy decision however the current state of affairs within the school board have created envi an environment that's no longer conducive to the type of educational Excellence that I strive to achieve and it doesn't align to my own core values um this approach of where progress is never good enough feels like gaslighting uh gaslighting is a manipulative tactic where someone tries to make another person question their own real um this board through actions of these meetings that I have watched every single month um have made me feel less valued and like my expertise in areas of literacy are not important um
191you're surrounded by the most knowledgeable experts and yet you still question their guidance and their skill set um I am excited to announce that I've accepted a new position where my expertise and dedication to high standards is truly valued um this new role is going to allow me to Advocate and Implement strategies for educational excellence in the entire state of Virginia and that work that I will be doing really truly does align to my core values um with that being said though I do wholeheartedly wish you all the best um I wish you all the best in your continued efforts I truly hope this board will prioritize the full potential of this division by listening to the teachers who put in countless countless hours to educate our students York county is a very special place
192and teachers have wanted to come work here for years but if the board continues to act in such a way um that will not be the case so thank you thank you m Presley at this time we we are in need of a closed session so could a board member please uh take us into Clos session oh whoops oh I'm so sorry sorry please state your name and District uh dooa stalman District 5 since the election two board members have worked tirelessly to undermine and subsequently denigrate publicly and privately the three new members one incident was Mr Schaefer bragging on audio at the vsba training session about his and Mr Richardson's Republican bonafides while casting the other three out as extremists this was PRI prior to their swearing in and he indicated that they would
193be taught a lesson then at the first 2024 meeting and many thereafter there have been non-stop steps taken to personally undermine the new members including motions to remove the chair and vice chair and nothing more than performance theater and dumping fuel on the fire of ill will almost like veroa salt who demanded that Dad get her that golden ticket to Wily Wonka's factory Mr Richardson's attitude has remained that his the chairmanship is owed to him the pursuit of ego over children and academics is well documented the repeated disrespect of the three new members and training opportunities and some recent Omission about a post of uh training session um have been met with cruelty and disparagement and the bottom line is group leadership positions are earned Mr Richardson's choice to to disrespect bully and read comments
194that were intended to humiliate his colleagues are also well documented there was one citizen who called on Mr Richardson to recuse himself when a vote awarding some $113,000 contract went directly to a group on Whose board he sits was taken but he refused where was Wavy News then Dr shander is the highest paid employee in York County with a salary and 22% additional deferred compensation of about $332,000 a year with vacation sick and all the holidays paid that's 12 weeks off annually over his four-year contract that is just a few weeks short of one whole calendar year remarkably this school board didn't bother to hire an attorney when they negotiated the terms of that contract where was Wavy News for that last year ycsd Justified bringing on a full-time attorney unbelievably in doing so the
195school board didn't even hire a third party attorney to negotiate her contract on its behalf where was Wavy News then the new school board members as my 13-year-old daughter has said repeatedly have never even been given a chance she wanted to be here tonight there's been no grace extended no helping hand only public criticism and undermining nonetheless there is a three- ring circus brought here every month courtesy of one side and that is the side who supports the status quo thank you m stman and I I'd like to say something all right respond to that I disagree everything I've said has been the truth I've spoken the truth and I'll continue to speak the truth when someone continues to violate policy and violate law thank you and right are there any other wait yeah I
196I need to respond to miss stalman as well uh the conversation that she was uh referring to was a conversation that I had with another delegate at the uh vsba convention that recorded it without my knowledge but I stand by everything that I said uh I didn't say that I wouldn't work with anybody uh however uh I will say that ever since the new board has come in you say they weren't a chance I'm sorry when they hit the ground running to try and change the world and to stop recognition and to get people off the Dias and all that stuff I'm sorry that's not Grace thank you all right um next speaker who didn't go earlier yes thank you for the opportunity Ang Gregorian fourth district over the last few weeks I have witnessed
197what appears to be a planned and coordinated attack on the new elected board members of ycsd after the last work section in a direct exchange with Mr Schaefer about his hostility toward other members of the board I suggested that elections will be the Arbiters of their performance his reply to me was stunning he said he could not wait for the next election the new members needed to go now I would like to take this opportunity to remind Mr schaer that but it's not his decision who sits as the representative of districts 2 three and five that choice belongs exclusively with the voters who reside in those districts Mr schaer's response now makes clear that his incessant attacks are an ATT tential assault with the singular purpose of unseating board members with whom he does not
198personally agree I hope this board will stay the course despite Mr schaer's activism according to news reports parents employees ycsd has serious issues to address as we have heard over the last few weeks a decline in literacy attendance issues facilities that have cockroach infestations over the summer discipline problems forced on teachers that should be handled exclusively by principles an increase in chronic absenteeism according to state reports on their website a lack of adequate classroom space the disruptive use of student cell phones during class times and a massive $3.5 million in funding for an expected increase in atrisk students the longer Mr schaer continues his assaults the less likely it will be that these important issues will receive any serious attention by this board there just won't be time for it Mr schaer's Obsession obsess obsessive
199focus on harassment is no benefit to our school district and will only serve to obstruct meaningful Dialogue on the issues at hand I appreciate the opportunity to speak tonight I'm sorry that I didn't get here early enough to sign up and I will continue to wish for the success of the entire board for York County School District after having lived here for 23 years thank you very much thank you at this you could state your name and District please good evening my name is bana Soo and I'm in District 2 I'll also speak on behalf of a several families who are first generation immigrants and do not feel comfortable with coming up here and speaking in a foreign language These Are yanovich Family toras Family pich family all District Two And this is not P
200zor pich household um uh also tuich family District 5 under under each family District three we'd like to address the concerns that we having for years and we hope that with this new leadership some of those issues would will finally be resolved we are extremely concerned uh for the academic progress of our children we do not need graphs to see this since we are monitoring our kids education on daily basis for example our huge concern is the extremely poor level of knowledging English our children who are A and B students eight and N graders have zero knowledge in grammar they cannot name even one American writer or poet they do not get the books assigned to read and naturally they do not know how to write good essays uh instead of this they they've been
201learning every year about metaphor and simile story plot and compare and contrast over and over again the content that also found its way to the classroom of eighth graders was Tupac Shakur uh song or poem who is uh just to remind you the rapper convicted for sodomy gun charges two times of the first degree sexual abuse Etc also at the English class this year our children have learned that their English teacher has two brothers who are both homosexual but unfortunately they never heard a word about let's say present continuous tense imperative or a comparison of adjectives of course major consequence of this being uh of this is being disabled to learn any foreign language which is impossible without knowing your own we are also very concerned about the fact that the some uh substitute teachers
202are teaching multiple subjects at the same time on the parents question how do those people manage to teach so many subjects the answer is well they just tell us to read the lesson from the computer next the computer science class is described by students as hot mess the teacher cannot keep the students under control everybody is screaming we finish our work in five minutes and then we just talk to each other apparently the same teacher is pretty regular in these school board meetings and does not miss the opportunity to talk bad about three new school board members however the job that she's actually paid for without our tax money stays unfinished fortunately there are brighter side and plenty of teachers who are doing an amazing job I would just like to mention Miss Hume uh
203Miss Jared uh Miss uh WID uh who are uh doing tremendous work with our children finally we do understand that all those attacks are coming from the organized groups who are outrageous for losing their seats we'd like to encourage all the school bold members to stay focused on the issues that they've been elected for mic achievement safety your time is up I appreciate [Applause] it again is there anyone else who missed going earlier because you arrived late all right thank you oops thank you very much uh at this time uh we are in need of a closed session so we'll need a board member to take us into that closed session with a motion I'm move the York County School Board convene and close session first went to Virginia code 22-37 at 88 of the
204Virginia Freedom of Information Act for consultation with legal counsel requiring a provision of legal advice concerning a possible investigation of specific individuals alleged to be sharing internal Communications with the public is there a second second all right the motion has been made by Mr schaer seconded by Mr pich um Miss Howard a motion was made by Mr schaer and seconded by Mr pich that the York's County School Board meet meet and close session pursuant to Virginia code 2.2 3711 A8 of the Virginia Freedom of Information Act for consultation legal council requiring the provision of legal advice concerning a possible investigation of specific IND individuals alleged to be sharing internal Communications with the public Mr pich yes Mr Richardson yes Mrs Goodwin yes M Mr schaer yes Mrs good Miss um sorry Mrs Fairman yes motion
205pass 5 to Zer we are now in close session thank you we will be in closed session