School Board Meeting - April 22, 2024

001I call to order the regular meeting of the York County School Board for Monday April 22nd 2024 uh thank you all for being here at this time uh before we get started we do have a matter of business of Shifting things on the agenda and making some comments um and decisions regarding public comment uh before we begin discussion we need to have a motion do I have a motion on the floor I'd like to my but here we go I'd like to make a motion uh that uh the school board would let everybody that has uh need to speak in the public comments to be able to do it during the designated time of the public comments a second okay motion has been made and seconded to have everyone speak during the public comments portion

002it has been seconded is there discussion on this um Madam chair the only discussion I would have and I agree everybody speak depending on the number of public comments that we have that we may appropriate the time accordingly okay the the issue with that is that at this time we do not have that as part of policy to adjust it so uh if we move things I think what we probably the easiest thing would be to do to um um well if you want to make an amendment to this motion to add a time limit for people speaking if it's um dealing with a certain number or uh you can do it as a u separate motion okay after this one okay well let's just go with this as we'll go with this one first

003yeah okay is there any other discussion well my only point was that it doesn't matter how many we have to speak I think everyone should have their turn to speak and that it should be done people shouldn't be punished to have to stay after the meeting after the agenda is done to speak because they could be addressing some of the things in the agenda that we already have voted on uh so it wouldn't be it'd be a move Point by that by that time and I believe that it's uh very important for us to hear everyone just like it's always been this agreed I UND I understand that uh the issue is is that we have set policy that identifies certain things and I'll actually read that policy for you oops I apologize I have

004it in hard copy uh it actually says um the chair will recognize community members to address the board on agenda or non-agenda items during the public comment time specified on the agenda the chair will impose a time limit of three minutes per speaker with no more than 30 minutes allocated for the comments of community members this 30 minute period may be extended at the chair's discretion and then uh that's in number two back up in number one it says community members who do not sign up to address the board prior to the beginning of the business portion of the meeting will be given an opportunity to speak at the end of the board's meeting agenda uh such Community member comments made at the end of the board meeting shall be subject to the same conditions

005and limitations listed therein and this was originally adopted back in junee 20th 1988 and it has had different revisions the last one being May 20th 2013 so this is the same policy that the previous board followed for four years and the board before that so um yes I was I was on that board and we let everybody speak and I would say that uh I would ask that the the chair would extend it as long as necessary so that everyone can talk uh if they didn't sign up uh weren't able to sign up they got here late what have you then if they want to speak after the meeting if they didn't sign up that's fine however those that did sign up I'd like to see them all speak during the designated public comment time

006um the issue the issue regarding this is It's a set policy and if you said in the past you just kind of change things as you want wanted you run into a problem with policy those are the rules we're supposed to follow now Mrs Barry um if I can ask you uh for some advice as uh our board attorney since this is a set policy are you advising that any of us can put forth a motion on the agenda to make an exception to our policy at any meeting any one of us can do this like is looking to be done here tonight are you telling us this is okay from here on out that we can suspend policy for any meeting through a simple motion and I know that's kind of confusing it took

007me a while working this out uh yesterday and today um Madam chair I'm not hang on just a minute hang on um I just want to be clear on this I'd like the clerk to make sure she gets this in the minutes that any member can have a motion put on the agenda to suspend our policy or make an exception to our policy suspending that policy for one meeting or meetings with a simple vote I need to know that you say we can do that at any time with a majority of the vote that our policies can be changed with that simple action and before you answer I'm going to have the clerk read this back that you are advising us that policies may be changed by any of us making a motion and then

008voted on because I want this very clear in the records that this is permissible to suspend our policies that any of the policies can be suspended through a simple motion generated by a board member could I interject something real quick Melanie if I may I'm not asking to suspend any policy all I'm saying is it's at the discretion of the chair to extend it and that's what I'm saying Mr schaer actually suspending suspending the policy is changing that policy from the discretion of the chair to the overall board making a motion and so excuse me um I'd like to hear our attorney's guidance on this my take on that motion was for clarification the fact that he's not asking for it to be suspended he's asking for the board to use the discretion that's in

009the policy so to me it's not a motion to suspend the policy it's a motion to urge the chair to use her discretion to extend the time period you cannot change policy just with a simple vote and I'll take that as what he's asking Madam chair we did that with the uh prayer we voted each time for the prayer since we didn't have the policy beforehand to allow the prayer at the meeting that was that was adding into the agenda that's an agenda item this is is actually changing a policy that is giving the chair um the chair the job of doing this to or giving the job of the chair to the board as an overall and so I just want to get this straight just because of understanding policies and getting this through

010so you're overriding this policy statement that the comment period can be extended at the discretion of the board share at any meeting it's specifically says board Chair by overriding this with a simple vote we could end up extending this to another possible example if we want to override the policy setting agenda format and suspend part of that let's say someone's report the superintendent's report is on the agenda we could do that with a simple motion and a majority vote again if the majority of the board wants to act we can suspend policy by majority of the vote at any meeting it has to be consistent excuse me has to be consistent so today's action opens up a wide door that's what I'm worried about I want to clarify that this is not amending the policy

011for any other meetings which would require a first and second reading which has been the norm advised by our attorney as long as I've been on here and heard when I was just a citizen outside but this is suspending the policy for this meeting only for just one meeting today the concern here is this creates precedent for any future policy to be suspended at any other meeting by a simple majority vote which then if you can suspend policy at any time we want or if we can suspend policy at any time we want what does that say about policy what does that say about the foundation of our governance based on policy what's the point of having policies if we're going to throw them out when a majority wants to discard them this would then

012be applied to any procedures that can be suspended and not done and this is not to be against anyone speaking this is because we I'm dealing with actual written policy we the rules and the policy following along has to follow a change order which normally is a first reading second reading unless there are extenuating circumstances of an emergency like covid was for that so my qu so my question Madam chair would be how can we do this so that everybody gets the chance to speak um tonight but still there's got to be a way we can still stay in line with the policy I'm not I'm not asking to suspend policy I'm asking for her to use her discretion to allow everyone here to speak during the normal comment time that's what I'm [Applause] matter

013I understand that's your intent Mr Sheriff Mr schaer I'm sorry but the the issue is by having the board a motion and the board vote it actually overrides the chair's having the discretion for that it's an understanding of the terms m going I don't think it's it's overriding your discretion you would still have the discretion it is the board is voting whether they want to urge you to use that discretion however the discretion would still be yours there you go all right is there any other discussion all right Mrs Howard if you could read back the motion a motion was made by Mr Schaefer and seconded by Mr Richardson to approve the extension of the public comment period to accommodate all those wanting to speak during in the designated comment comment section at the April

01422nd 2024 regular meeting Mr schaer yes Mr pich yes Mrs Goodwin yes Mr Richardson yes Mrs Fairman yes motion pass 5 to zero all right and I will say I will say on this that this is a one-time thing and go and looking at the attorney's guidance this is a one-time instance for this and we will be looking at policy and adjusting these policies this is why it's so important that we make sure the policies say what we mean them to say so there's not ambiguity and there's not any confusion going along right now thank you Mrs Howard um I want to mention that Dr shandor are superintendent is not here tonight because he's attending the Virginia Association of school superintendent conference so uh we'd like to welcome Dr Carol who is here in his

015place and thank you for representing him next I'll share some information about our pledge leader uh if that individual can come up while I am giving some information about him this is Bryson Merl he is a first grade student stent at McGruder Elementary he is an enthusiastic and joyful student who is a friend to all he meets when a student is absent for a day or more he will welcome them back to the classroom with a highfive or a hug he is always fully engaged in learning and frequently offers his own thoughts and insights in class discussions he is always ready to help another student in any way needed with a kind word and a helping hand Bryson enjoys all kinds of learning but he takes a special interest in history he knows a wealth

016of information about many historical figures in January he was featured in a news clip reporting about Martin Luther King Jr day as he was part of a remembrance service at First Baptist Church in Williamsburg his favorite historical figures are Dr Martin Luther King Jr and Abraham Lincoln Bryson enjoys playing sports especially basketball and football he can be seen on the recess yard tossing a football with classmates and students in other first grade classes he often will share about his Recreation League basketball games during classroom morning meetings his team the Celtics made it to the playoffs this winter Bryson is a shining example of our incredible panther community Bryson often sets the example for citizenship and kindness we are proud to have Bryson represent McGruder elementary school during April Schoolboard meeting pledge and if I could

017have everyone please stand so Bryson can lead us in the pledge I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible liberty and justice for all thank you so much at this time we will be moving to to our Awards and recognitions uh our seniors of the month for brutin High School Mr Schaefer if you will please introduce sure bruton's senior of the month is Scarlet Miller go ahead and stand up with your parents Mary Beth and Corey there you go brutin high school is proud to recognize Scarlet Miller as our 2024 student of the month uh Scarlet's innate curiosity and adaptivity have allowed her to excel in both her academics and extra extracurricular activities she has maintained consistent as's and

018B's throughout our high school career earning membership into math chemistry and French honor societies Scarlet has been an invaluable me member of our swim team since ninth grade including serving as team captain of which our swim team won numerous state titles uh okay team captain and as the lacrosse team since uh 10th grade her involvement in the future Business Leaders of America has a further showcased her ability to balance a busy schedule Scarlet recently placed first at the FBLA regionals highlighting her drive for success in all aspects of her life Scarlet's passion for helping others can be seen through her extensive volunteer work at NYU a nonprofit thrift store in Jamestown where she has made a significant impact she's also a skilled instructor having taught swim lessons since the age of 10 while also tutoring

019her peers in math Scarlet is an example of the type of student that Bru and high school strives to create her diverse range of experiences and strengths make her an excellent selection of student a month it's a great day to be a panther congratulations Scarlet thank you so much uh Mr pich I believe you have Grafton High School's winner I do and I would like to invite Hannah Chan and her parents Mr lynan and Mrs Yanna yunan Chen stand up um we are Beyond proud to nominate Hannah Chan as a Grafton senior of the month during her time at Grafton Hannah has channeled her time in efforts to become a curious collaborative and persevering individual who exemplifies what it means to be a clipper she is a hardworking student dedicated athlete sound leader and selfless

020Community servant academically Hannah was has worked incredibly hard to earn the cotoran rank for her senior class with a truly outstanding GPA of 4.94 yes that hurts very good completing over two doz honor level and AP level courses over her High School career in addition to her academic accomplishments she's also active in a number of diverse extracurricular opportunities she is the captain of grafton's uh debate team earning first place in the state competition congratulations [Applause] impressive Hannah swims for both grafton's Varsity program and her local club team competing each year at the state level Hannah enjoys the intense level of competition and is grateful for the lessons of teamwork commitment and dedication that swimming has taught her Hannah is also involved in a several academic honor societies and has served as the class of 2024

021secretary officer for the past two years her desire for knowledge and in intellectual growth has extended well beyond the class classroom she has competed in a Stockholm Junior water competition winning at the regional and state level before finishing among the top 50 at the national level Hannah has also participated in several science fairs historical research competitions and stem presentations she Volunteers in her community at the Virginia Peninsula Chinese School where she teaches Python Programming to students and handles the organization and distribution of school supplies she has enjoyed maximizing all available opportunities to better herself and those around her congratulations Anna you deserve it and I am pleased to introduce the winner for tab High School uh tab High School is pleased to announce Dante Kyle as our senior of the month for April with a

022remarkable GPA of 47410 Dante's commitment to learning shines through his involvement in advanced studies such as engineering at the Governor's School demonstrates his passion for expanding his knowledge Dante's participation in tabs lacrosse teams since 8th grade along with his involvement in the science National Honor Society and the kid wind Club showcases his well-rounded character and active engagement in various aspects of school life Dante's achievements and activities such as the Governor's School science Bowl math club a NASA mentorship program and his success in local College competitions and science Endeavors underscore his dedication to The Sciences and Mathematics in addition to his academic and extracurricular Pursuits Dante's commitment to community service through organizations like the the THS Key Club is admirable his involvement is impactful activities in impactful activities reflects his desire to make a positive difference

023in the world around him with offers of admission to John's Hopkins University and Princeton Dante's future is full of Promise tab High School is proud to honor honor Dante this month celebrating his achievements and contributions to his school and local community congratulations d Mrs Goodwin I believe you have York K school yes I do um and I am proud to recognize the senior of the month for York High School Ramsay Pitman she's accompanied by her parents Chris and jod Pitman um congratulations Ramy Pitman on being named York High School senior of the month for April her dedication kindness Spirit shines through in everything that she does as a leader with our school Community she has left an incredible Mark serving as freshman and sophomore class historian and later as Junior and senior class vice president

024Ramsay's commitment to academic Excellence is evident as she ranks among the top 20% of her class and serves as vice president of muo alpha Theta beyond the classroom Ramsay has made significant contributions through her involvement in various extracurricular activities whether it's her leadership on the volleyball court as Varsity captain or her environmental stewardship as Green Team historian Ramsay's passion and drive Inspire those around her Ramsay's achievements speak volumes from being named region volleyball player of the year to earning numerous alkalides such as first team All State all district and All Region honors her dedication to community service with over 120 5 hours volunteered showcases her heart for others Ramsay your future is bright and we are immensely proud to recognize you we have no doubt that you will continue to soar as you embark on

025the next chapter of your journey congratulations thank you so much and thank you also to the parents and families of these winners uh I know you've had a lot to do with where your children have gone and how they've strived and achieved you've been wonderful role models for them I know throughout their life so thank you also uh at this time we have the student service Awards and volunteers of the month Dr Carol is moving down forward thank you and tonight we're going to be combining the award recipients according to their school so at this time I'll ask Mrs Lisa um Rufio mcder I'm sorry oh mcder Elementary principal to step forward and remain down front while information is shared about both the student service award recipient and the volunteer of the month for McGruder

026Elementary Mr Schaefer if you could handle McGruder Elementary sure Jacob wheeler come on down the fifth grade team at McGruder Elementary is proud to select Jacob for the student service award when considering this honor our team considered which of our students showcases academic perseverance peer-to-peer kindness and extra extracurricular Endeavors Jacob wheeler is a shining example of a student who goes above and beyond in these three areas daily in the area of academic perseverance Jacob is a student who not only completes his classwork but is always trying out additional challenge activities during his independent station he uses extra time in the classroom to partner with peers who need additional support and is a wonderful peer Editor to his fellow students during their our writing process Jacob truly shows what determination and dedication to academics means from

027a grer Panthers in the area of peer-to-peer kindness Jacob is famous throughout the school for his positive interactions with staff fellow fifth graders and younger peers on the playground he is always using positive language in games even congratulating students who get him out at the GaGa ball pit and cheering on others this year he has taken on a role of mentoring younger students during parent pickup he helps line up the younger students and keeps them organized and entertained during the rush in the afternoon he has a group of first graders who are just in awe of him and multiple teachers have come up to tell the fifth grade team how gentle patient and kind he is to them in the area of extracurricular endeavor Jacob strives to do his best in both academic clubs and

028sports activities Jacob plays both football and wrestles while balancing participating in competitions with his regular school responsibilities just recently Jacob has participated in state competitions for wrestling placing top 10 in events against students his age and older Jacob also engages in Academic Teams this year Jacob competed and place in our Battle of the books team he practiced and studied questions with classmates teachers and his family thanks to his hard work and team spirit our team plays second in District competition of course the first thing Jacob said at the end of the co competition was great job everybody we are excited to see how Jacob continues to positively impact our school Community congratulations Jacob okay and now if Mr Schaffer will introduce the volunteer of the month for mder element yep that's Carol Dyke come on

029yeah Carol Dyke has supported York County students by cheering on abandoned football team she has followed her grandchildren through their years in the county her volunteer hours have impacted hundreds of students and total well over a thousand hours over the course of the past nine years Mrs D has volunteered in Mrs dorm's room at McGruder Elementary and helped with great Lev projects since her grandson was in first grade he is now a ninth grader of rutin high school she has worked in a summer to prepare projects then uh then come to class to prepare the room she has cut glued laminated counted sorted and organized so many things over the years she should have been assigned the title best personal assistant ever she also gets praised and literally cheered for as she enters a room

030on Fridays and Mrs Dy is there students know they will get to cash in to the treasure box with the dollars they have earned for their weekly Behavior payday what the students don't know is that Mrs Dyke has bought a great deal of the fun and fun things they get to purchase from the treasure box she's always buying something she thinks a students would like to get excited about as well as used for learning however that is not where her greatest volunteer value lies it lies in countless Smiles words of encouragement and support support she has given hundreds of students as theyve worked with her on spelling Reading Writing and math students understand they are smarter because of the people who work with them the exact sentiments have been uttered in the classroom about Mrs

031Dyke I've literally seen notes that say Mrs Dyke help me make help make me smarter today she sees these students as they move to other grades and they still get excited when they see their friend who ran a treasure box and made them smarter as you've heard Mrs Dy has made an impact uh supporting not only a McGruder first grade teacher weekly or at grade level occasionally but hundreds of students for years as they begin their Journey getting smarter thank you to Mrs Dyke for impacting students with your magnificent servant heart at this time I would ask Mrs Amore Michael tab middle School principal to step forward and also if you can remain down front as information is shared for the student service award recipient and for the volunteer of the month I'll give you

032some time to get down first we have the student Award winner student service award winner Hannah King Hannah Kang is an eighth grade student at tab Middle School her teacher teachers and student colleagues describe her as intelligent dependable and hardworking she is an outgoing student who is always willing to help a classmate Hannah is a role model student who is involved in multiple of school activities she is a member of the robotics Club as well as being president of the National Junior Honor Society she was also a member of the tab Middle School Lego league in addition to her school clubs and activities Hannah volunteers with Library Chesapeake Bay Foundation cleanup and participates in Taekwondo tab Middle School is honored to present this award to Hannah [Applause] Kang and now the volunteer of the month

033is Lisha Lawrence Lisha Lawrence is an outstanding volunteer for tab middle school as PTA president you can find her volunteering at school dances Roar store and athletic events Lisha is always finding new ways to celebrate our teachers and staff she is always willing to go the extra mile to make sure that tab Middle School is a positive School environment for all students her energy and love for tab Middle School makes her an excellent candidate for this award when Lea is not volunteering you can find her visiting her family in Charlotte or rooting for the Dallas Cowboys TMS is very thankful for all her hard work and dedication to our school Community thank you and now we're going to have our presentations by the York foundation for public education Mr schaer yes I'd like to invite

034Mr Rich shook uh York foundation for public education member to step forward and tell us the mission of yfp oh that one there you go we good I'm trainable thank you madam chair uh board um just take a second of your time to let you know that the York Foundation for for public education uh supports um public education in y York County by developing resources to encourage educational Innovation to promote and recognize excellence and to address the needs of the students faculty and staff at the York County School Division it's my honor to be the current president uh we give out between 80 and 90,000 a year in Grants scholarships and other assistance so I love giving away money Mone and if teachers that can hear me will apply for our grants and students can

035apply for our scholarships we can we can do our job thank you all right okay all right Mr shook is GNA assist Dr Carol and and presenting gifts to each of our award recipients please come forward when you hear your name called congratulations to Bryson Morell a first grader from margut El school for reciting the Pledge of Allegiance we would also like to recognize tonight's student service award recipients Jacob wheeler from McGruder Elementary School and and Hannah Kang from tab Middle School we also congratulate our seniors of the month Scarlet Miller from brutin high school Hannah Chen from Grafton High [Applause] School Dante Keel from tab high school and Ramsey Pitman from New York High School special gifts from cookie text and edible tweet are being presented on behalf of the York foundation for public

036education in partnership with her donor Jean foca of cookie Tex an edible tweet a Walmart gift card is also being donated by a foundation supporter join me in congratulating all our award recipients thank you so much it was wonderful seeing you all here tonight uh at this time Dr Caroll could you share some information about our Accent on academics thank you madam chair this evening York River Academy will be presenting information regarding their service learning for Future Ready graduates moving passion to action Service Learning is the intersection of service projects and reflection on how that service impacts a community York River Academy offers the service learning class to provide students the opportunity to take their passions for helping others from an idea to fruition students develop Future Ready graduate skills through planning developing and implementing

037service Concepts that support the school the campus and the community learning that occurs follows the students long after the end of each service event as all students can reflect on and identify how they were changed by that experience I am pleased to introduce Mrs Holly Sheffield proud principal of Y who will introduce this evening's presenters thank you Dr Carol and members of the board on behalf of the staff and students at York River Academy we appreciate the opportunity tonight to highlight our service learning class and how it offers students a number of different learning opportunities a sampling of these will be shared by our students and teacher tonight oh gosh sorry I forgot to put on the presentation we go that was the first slide okay the goal of service learning is to allow students

038a chance to take a topic they're passionate about and either individually or as a group plan a means to support or enrich that passion the class supports the National Youth Leadership Council and the vo's vision for promoting Civic awareness and building Future Ready graduates and citizens it is a course that directly supports the mission and vision of ycsd as we assist students in acquiring those skills they are needed to productively contribute to their communities and it is completely in line with the goals of Y and our rise standards by supporting students in meaningful service that allows them to help others build resilience while demonstrating integrity and showing and showing school and community that we recognize the importance of growing excellent citizens for tomorrow good evening my name is Lyla and I've been asked to share

039a little about our first project the food bank was immediately a cause we could all get behind because we've all either have been or have known someone with food insecurities we were able to find tasks that supported each other's each student strengths and weaknesses we found it easy to involve all the students at Y and hope to eventually increase service learning to include parents and families this was 100% student planned and directed up until the drive to the food bank in the end we donated over 300 lb of food this project established our class as a working unit committed to our community committed wait I think I messed that up sorry anyway I'm also self aware self-aware enough to know that this has made me less selfish and plan to continue to with Service as

040I go to VCU in the fall thank you hello my name is Davis I chose to do my eagle Scout project at York River Academy so that I could give back to the school that's given me so much in education and skills the service learning class played an instrumental part in making my Eagle Scout project go smoothly the project allowed me to work with Community sponsors such as Lowe's that donated the wood and the York County Department of Public Works for the soil the project helped me and showed me how good of a leader I could be with my troop and learning class we built two garden beds to expand our community garden which we use for team building exercises and classes like Virginia US History our long-term goal is to find a way to

041incorporate our Gardens in providing a community garden for the students at on the ymcs and Y campus thank you good evening my name is Tessa wasinski this Service Learning class is dedicated to creating a beautiful campus for York River Academy York middle and center of autism students we spend part of our class time picking up trash on campus as well as planting and tending to flowers and crops in the front flower beds and community garden our goal is to build pride in our campus and school during February Davis and I put together a Valentine's Day candygram event to raise money for the Y clubs and Service Learning overall we collected nearly $100 since it was at the beginning of the semester it gave the new kids a chance to become familiar with their peers it

042was a great way to welcome them into our Phoenix family from this class I learned that I really like helping people it increased my empathy towards the needs of others and how capable I am of facilitating change thank you [Applause] good evening I'm Eric tremble I'm one of the teachers for yor River Academy Service Learning class I have enjoyed working with these students in this unique setting they have opportunities to develop projects that they are passionate about to make a difference in their Community I recently attended a training by the Congressional Medal of Honor Society they provided character education lessons for teachers by telling the stories of Congressional Medal of Honor recipients students learn about the character traits of Courage Integrity sacrifice commitment citizenship and patriotism we have started implementing these lessons on metal Mondays

043as a result students learn how to apply what they learned from these heroic examples to become more effective leaders in their own Community it has been exciting to work alongside these students on all of the many projects that they have taken on this term and this has become one of my favorite classes uh we thank you is there any questions Bor do you have anything I would like to just say how amazing it is to see you guys care for your school and for your community uh it's just mind-blowing I don't know how many people actually know the fact that the Y it's a very small school with a very small number of students and for them to pull it all together like this uh it just wors my heart uh just continue doing those

044things Medal of Honor uh it's it's a trade that you're instilling the students uh for the future so miss Holly don't hide behind you're doing really good job uh so proud of you uh it's just amazing what you guys did so thank you I just I'd just like to comment as well uh no questions but what a wonderful program um it was very successful y'all did a great job every one of you and uh thank you thank you very much much um just to tag on yeah I am just amazed and Blown Away by what you've done and I love the garden idea I'm a gardener so anytime I see schools you know building Gardens and growing I think that's just such a wonderful thing so thank you for all that you thank you Miss

045Sheffield and thank you um for all that you're doing to help the students to do this I want to say how how much seeing what you all are doing is just it's wonderful it's such an example to the other students in York River Academy but also to York middle school students who are seeing what you do you know through the windows on the other side of the campus that it's just wonderful your wonderful examples and guidance for them as they move up and get older and decide how they want to help the community uh I love that you did that as your Eagle Scout project uh I was a scout master of a troop when we were stationed over in England so I know just how hard it is to put together an Eagle project

046from watching the the scouts that I worked with and it's wonderful and commendable that that you've done that and you'll be able to come back and see it grow each year and uh Mr Trembley it's wonderful seeing you again and um the the whole idea with the uh honoring the vets and the Medal of Honor that's just wonderful and I appreciate all of your projects they're uh definitely an example and I hope some other students will carry that on thank you very much anything else I was just I was just going to say thank you for your uh maturity and your uh perseverance to see each of these projects through you don't find that all the time in uh in young people even even uh in Upper grades and I think it says a lot

047to your character uh for the type of jobs that y'all are doing thank you thank you very much at this time the board will take a brief recess for the award winners to get pictures and so we can have a chance to meet them we're under recess the meeting is now reconvened at this time uh Mrs Goodwin could you please introduce our invocation guest yes um it was my pleasure to introduce Pastor Garrett Spitz from Peninsula Community Chapel who will offer the invocation good evening as a former public school educator I just want to express my thanks for the work that you're doing it is difficult and challenging work and because of that it is my privilege to pray for you now almighty God heavenly father thank you thank you for governing authorities like school

048boards and thank you specifically for this school board thank you for each member of this board and for the time and energy that they invest in this significant work please help them to do what you have called them to do to serve you by serving this community and by helping our schools to promote that which is good and true and beautiful beautiful while we here in this room and in our broader community may disagree sharply on various issues please help this board to set an example for us by navigating those differences with humility compassion and respect for each other please guide them in the difficult decisions that they must make even when tensions are high help them to discern what is the best way forward and to pursue it together give them wisdom and insight

049into best practices and help them to mutually come to mutually beneficial forms of compromise when that is the best thing to do help them to listen well to community members and to seriously consider the views concerns and suggestions that they share help them to encourage and equip administrators teachers staff and students so that they may engage in their daily work with joy in a safe secure and healthy environment please help the members of this board to learn from each other and to grow as a team so that they may effectively lead and serve please bless them this evening in their work and bless all the students staff teachers administrators parents and community members who are impacted by the decisions that they make in your holy name we pray amen thank you thank you thank you

050very much um at this time uh what we have on the agenda is listed as unfinished business and what the chair will uh entertain right now is a motion to resend a decision that was made at the last meeting regarding policy writing services and we'll be discussing that once it is seconded um I will make a motion to resend the vote passed at the March 25th board meeting to purchase policy writing services from both vbm excuse me VSS ba and sbma since school board member alliance's contract has an exclusionary clause do I have a second for that second all right the motion has been made by Mrs Goodwin and seconded by uh Mr pich to resend the previous motion that was passed at the March 25th meeting that we would be purchasing policy writing services

051from both the vsba that's the Virginia Schoolboard Association and the sbma that's the Schoolboard member Alliance when we had the discussion at the last meeting we knew what each one was going to be covering we knew what their costs were but we did not have the contract for sbma when we received that contract we discovered that it had an exclusionary clause in it that we had to choose one or the other which meant that it negated what we had done with that particular uh motion is there any discussion from the board members so with this amendment to the motion can we just amend it to go with vsba instead what according according to Robert's Rules uh it's chapter 35 it's better to resend it because you only amend something if you're going to keep most

052of it and just adjust something in there what we're doing is resending the whole thing of choosing both and then we'll have another motion to choose one or the other I have have difficulty voting on that when I don't know which one we're going to be going with so no you're resending to eliminate choosing both I understand that and then the other one will be whoever makes the motion then we will know which one they're saying for and so then you will know whether to vote for it if you agree with it or to vote against it I would rather do an amendment to the motion than resend the whole thing well uh it's better I had a discussion with a parliamentarian uh who was also a former uh interim superintendent here in York County

053Schools as well as he was uh the interim Chief Operating Officer for Richmond school so he was familiar with everything as well as um being familiar with parliamentary procedure for major organizations and I just respectfully disagree with that so I understand that um according to Robert's Rules we go with the chair and so we'll be re working on Rec in it the motion has been seconded is there any other discussion so if we vote uh not to resend then we could amend it no because it it's still you need to vote to resend to eliminate that particular business that was passed at the last meeting and then we will have a new motion whoever decides to do the motion to choose one or the other however that motion is stated and that way it's a

054clean motion on the board as opposed to dealing with amendments that we'll just do that so uh what we have ises excuse me okay excuse me rules canor my cop please sit down please I hope I don't have to go into recess to have anybody removed thank you um and I should have made these statements beforehand and I apologize for that uh in moving I was actually saving that to go into comments for Citizens um we will continue on and then I will go um back and remind everybody what the um what the decorum expectations are before we have the discussions but the audience is not allowed to engage in dialogue with the board during a meeting and that's standard procedure all right so we're following uh chapter 35 of Robert's rules um Mrs Howard

055if you could read the motion again please a motion was made by Mrs Goodwin and seconded by Mr pich to approve to resend the motion relating to policy Services adopted at the March 25th 2024 regular meeting to purchase policy services from bothma and vsba due to the exclusionary clause in the SBA contract was it a motion to resent the motion or decision the previous me because motion to resend the decision not the motion so that's why I understand like you know that we need to resend like know what was already in place you can't amend that decision so we have to take it back get rid of the vote and then like we intr all right we're at the voting stage now Mrs Howard um Mr pich yes Mr schaer no Mrs Goodwin yes Mr

056Richardson no Mrs Fairman yes motion the the only problem with this with that I forgot to remind everybody is this needs to be a two-thirds vote uh excuse me ladies and gentlemen okay so uh in order to resend it needed to be um a 40 uh vote with this being 32 it does not meet that for resending the the issue is is that if we have a motion to amend that also requires a 2/3 does anyone have a motion to that includes amending to eliminate the two and then choosing just one I make a motion to eliminate both and then we vote to choose one so we can move forward what which one I make a motion that we move forward with uh establishing the Virginia School Board Association uh policy Services um all right

057so let me restate that so we get it before before we get a second um Mrs Goodwin is moving to amend the previous action to eliminate having both uh the Virginia School Board Association and the school board member Alliance and to choose only the Virginia School Board Association for policy writing services is that correct yes that's correct I'll second that motion all right the motion has been moved and seconded is there any further discussion all right Mrs Howard a motion has been made by Mrs Goodwin and seconded by Mr Richardson to amend the previous action to eliminate both the spma and vba's policy services and to and and move to use just the vsba policy Services yes thank you Mr Richardson yes Mr schaer yes Mr pich yes Mrs Goodwin yes Mrs Fairman no the

058motion passed 4 to one ladies and gentlemen all right uh moving along with this particular uh agenda there are no presentations tonight now before the citizen comment period uh I do have some remarks now these are General and then I'm going to go into some specifics the school board provides a public comment period for the public to comment on topics germine to the business of the school board the school board expects that each speaker will be courteous modeling for our students how one can respectfully disagree with others views we ask that speakers address their comments to the entire school board and not to one individual board member nor to the superintendent a staff member or the audience however you can uh do that it is your right uh according to the law uh speakers will

059present their comments from the podium each speaker may speak for up to three minutes a timer is visible to speakers from the podium and speakers should conclude their remarks when the red light comes on the timer will begin after you state your name and District these are the specifics I was dismayed at the behavior exhibited by some citizens at previous meetings and wanted to make sure everyone knows exactly what is expected and what will not be tolerated at York County Schoolboard meetings this guidance is the responsibility of the chair I had hoped that people would govern themselves in this matter but sadly it seems I was mistaken unless you are standing at the podium or in line to speak at the podium citizens in the audience are to remain seated there was to be no

060standing at your seat area this is a standard procedure for business meetings this statement serves as your reminder if you choose to stand during the meeting I will call a recess and have the sheriff's deputy remove you for the remainder of the meeting when speaking at the podium during the public comment period you are to address the board members not the audience do not turn around to talk to other citizens direct your comments to the dis only if you continue to address the audience after a reminder from me to address the board only your time will immediately end and you are to return to your seat the audience is not allowed to speak during the meeting outside of their citizen comment time at the podium this statement serves as your reminder if you choose to

061speak or shout out from your seat I will immediately call a recess and have the sheriff's deputy remove you for the remainder of the meeting you are not to address a speaker at the podium if that speaker forgets and turns to address the audience instead of the board the chair will remind them once to Once to address the board and follow the above Direction you are not to shout out comments complaints questions or arguments from your seat because applauding prevents others from hearing speakers comments and takes up valuable time there is to be no applauding or cheering this is not a new expectation as previous Schoolboard chairs have gaveled down Applause this statement serves as your reminder I understand that this sometimes can be difficult to remember when you agree with a speaker please monitor

062yourself if an individual or group Contin used to applaud cheer or shout as has been done at past meetings I will have no other choice than to call a recess and ask the sheriff's deputy to remove those who are doing this it is sad that I have to address this Behavior issue so specifically tonight unfortunately what has been seen here in the past is what has appeared on video for many college campuses across the country our p Schoolboard chairs have not tolerated it neither will I no matter what your degree position or title thank you for being good examples for our students now regarding the part of the policy that gives the chair the discretion I was planning tonight to extend it an hour and seeing how many have uh signed up we have 23

063and 23 * 3 minutes is just a hair over an hour um we will be going through everyone who has signed up but please remember the time that it takes for um Applause cheers things like that that I've said please don't do that eats into that time please be respectful of who's speaking and not shout or do anything over top of their words we all would like to hear them as well as the people who are listening online or listening to the recording later uh what I'm going to do is I will call the first um probably the first 10 I don't know if there's enough room there uh maybe the first eight if you could line up in order that will help um let me see make sure I'm doing following this right number

064one is T Anthony and if I mispronounce your name I sincerely apologize it's not on purpose number two Barbara Haywood number three Danny tits or is it tights tis thank you number four Gary Porter number five Daniel Francis number six Pam puso number seven nariel living number eight Tammy dear Burger see hang on just a minute let me organize these things here oops okay it should only be those first eight lined up are the staff members able to stand with me today they're not speaking uh you're taking up a lot of space they really need to be seated down what they can do is if they agree they can raise their hands so we know that they agree with what you're saying thank you I appreci appreciate that um at this time I now open

065the public participation for comments from citizens thank you Miss uh Tiana Anthony good evening members of the school board my name is Tiana Anthony and I serve as the principal of Grafton Middle School I'm joined today in the room by my two assistant principales Mrs Ashley McLemore and Christine Swanson also my colleagues from tab Middle School are here with me and there are several members of the Grafton School Community to include employees and families and I thank everyone for joining me tonight I've been a part of the Grafton Community for 5 years and today I'm here seeking clarification on gu the guidance I should give my staff regarding their interactions with the school board members traditionally it has been our practice within the York County School Division to encourage communication between our staff our school

066board members our superintendent and our division staff this practice has been essential in fostering collaboration and ensuring all of our voices are heard in the decision-making processes however recently one of my teachers unintentionally made a school board member feel harassed through email correspondence these emails were subsequently subject to the Freedom of Information Act and were released on the internet I have reviewed the emails and while they contained several questions they were not unprofessional in nature the teacher in question is Mr Todd Hogan a special education teacher and a parent of the York County School Division student Todd Works diligently to meet the needs of the students and has established good relationships with parents of students and his co-workers he embodies the qualities of a good special education teacher Todd is dedicated and deeply committed to

067the success and well-being of his students going above and beyond to ensure they receive the support they need to thrive he demonstrates compassion and empathy and understanding towards his students Rec recognizing and valuing their individual strengths and challenges and finally Todd collaborates effectively with other Educators parents and support staff to create comprehensive plans that address each of the students unique needs in light of the situation I am seeking guidance on the practices of communication that we should share with our staff and our community I want to ensure that we support the school board while maintaining open lines of communication with our stakeholders I regularly face community members with concerns and I thought it was our practice to hear frustrations ensure that people feel supported and make considerations and adjustments to include all parties in the

068decisions and our practices I want all stakeholders to feel valued and heard and supported thank you for your consideration and your attention in this matter and I look forward to your guidance moving forward Madam chair may I make a comment to that yes you may okay I know it's not typical that we make comments from the Das because if we do that then we get into this dialogue that we try to avoid but I do want to make a comment I thank you for that and let me address that yes I there was an email that I sent to our board attorney asking guidance and um what you probably don't have from that Foya request whoever requested it is the follow-up email from the next day dated uh March 29th that said that I am

069not going to pursue that because I don't want it to be perceived as ret so um and you can verify that if you Foya Foya uh March 29th and you'll see that I sent that because of that uh I did not want it to Perce be perceived as retaliatory and you are exactly right know we do want your comments and I want people to be able to know that you can submit them and not fear that you're going to be retaliated against and that would have gone contrary so thank you okay I appreciate it thank you very much and I just want to remind everybody when they come up please say your name in the York County District or if you're from another city uh mention that also uh Barbara Haywood Madam chair board members

070Dr Carol my name is Barbara Haywood and I reside in the brutin district I came to you tonight to address two issues but you have resolved the vsba issue and I'm so thankful for that but I do want to address the issue as it relates to your policy on public participation at school board meetings you've given the history of the revisions it is there to allow all all citizens to speak at to this board it still allows ample time for the board to conduct the business of the board lastly it allows those who did not sign up but listened and later desired to speak the opportunity to do so at the end of the meeting the most important statement in that policy is at the Chairman's discretion the problem and confusion is your inconsistency in

071your interpretation of this policy it is not a policy change again it relates to the Chairman's discretion the intent of the policy is to allow public comment not to take away someone's freedom of having the opportunity to speak please stop changing the interpretation of this policy to suit your needs in my 30 years this board has never denied a citizen the opportunity to speak it was the practice of past boards to give citizens the opportunity to speak not a policy change at the last board meeting we were also concerned with v vsba so again I thank you thank you thank you because of the physical implications that will come the financial implications that will come if you were sued and you did not have the ESB on your side again it is if you keep

072pursuing the actions that you use to accomplish what appears to be your personal agendas based upon your so-called mandate you will destroy a quality School Division this division is in place to take care of all the students in the county you just heard uh the comments coming from y you will destroy that if you continue in the actions that you're doing thank you very much thank you Miss hayt thank you very much number three Danny tis do I push the button oh it's already on no okay thanks hi I'm Danny tis and I believe I'm from District 3 um for 42 years of my life I lived in rural white communities in the midwest teaching people or trying to get people there to talk about inequalities was like telling fish to understand understand the plights

073of birds it's not something that they could really understand and so when we moved here two years ago I was really excited that my son would be immersed in diverse um environments where he could understand other people's perspectives instead of just reading it in a textbook this past week though there were two instances of R racially charged um words at uh at two sporting events and then I don't really know anybody in this community I was just kind of online and I saw Mrs Goodwin's comments and I thought to myself okay we're in the South now when I read Mrs Goodwin's com comments about enslaved people I was taken aback you don't look like you're a whole lot older or younger than me I think we're probably about the same age and so I was

074trying to understand maybe what your point of view could be um how you could come to talk about uh that that time of history in the way that you did um I I don't understand how you couldn't put yourself in a place where you understand that people were taken from Taken captured in their country and put on a boat for months I don't understand how you couldn't empathize with that I didn't understand how you couldn't imagine um wives and husbands being split apart I couldn't understand how you couldn't imagine what it felt like for someone to be owned by another human um I couldn't understand how you maybe couldn't empathize with somebody who had their child ripped away from them and sold or to be raped by an owner or to have an entire country's

075economy built off the labor that you did and you saw no reward for that um the only answer that I could really come up with when I was thinking about it this weekend is um that you can understand that you can and actually understand what those people probably went through but the thing is is that people who use that kind of language often benefit from an oppressive system this type of language is used for PE by people who are planning to rewrite history this type of language is used by people who are oppressors and abusers I am glad that my three children are now old enough that they don't have to be subject to the types of changes that your board wants to make I came here tonight because I cannot believe that these comments

076were made by someone who has the power to make decisions over children I implore you to to read Memoirs written by slaves to watch a movie to talk to your constituents and to really take on and think about how the things that you say and do impact the kids that you [Music] [Applause] represent all right uh Gary Porter good Madam chair members of the board my name is Gary Porter I reside in District 2 at a recent let's talk Civics meeting at St John's Church focused on Schoolboard operations two former Schoolboard chairs admitted that getting accustomed to their responsibilities as brand new Schoolboard members was similar to and I'll quote feeding with the fire hose unquote I took that to mean that it took them some time to assimilate all the new information and vocabulary

077they were required to know and be conversant in before they felt comfortable in their new positions apparently you three new board members are not to be afforded a similar grace period because complaints of your actions and inactions came in like a flood before even the first general meeting was held indeed there were calls for your replacement on social media before you even took your Oaths of office now you're being petitioned to step down apparently to let the karma of the universe get back in order I encourage you to ignore the petition and focus instead on the remainder of your fire host feeding but if one steps back a bit and takes note of the state of our country one immediately sees that whether or not three new conservative Christians are allowed to help govern a

078small School Division in southeast Virginia pales in comparison to the challenges we face as a nation as I've said previously at this Podium we are more politically and even philosophically divided as a nation than at any time since 1861 the world views of right and left are as different as night and day even more troubling to me at least is the the observation that we are even losing our common meaning of certain words words we need to understand to have effective Communications and conversations and I could cite some examples but there are words we know that have been fixed whose meaning has been fixed for Millennia and are which are now in question most importantly if we as a community can't come together and have a respectful yet honest and open discussion of issues that

079concern us how in a world do we expect to teach school children to resolve their differences through community communication I ask that with all the sincerity I can muster I've reached out to some Community me leaders to try to see whether we can have such conversations and I will continue to do so misinformation is still present in the public narrative I'm resolved to keep trying perhaps I will eventually locate somebody who sees the problem as I do that is one that can be solved by communication I renew my call for some sort of a community Forum where we can discuss our differences who knows perhaps a Nobel priest Peace Prize awaits the person who can figure out how to do that thank you thank you Daniel Francis good evening my name is denil Francis District

0802 the past few months have demonstrated that the new board is uneducated on their job responsibilities your responsibility is to listen to the voices of all the people in the York County School Division but you have arrived to the table pushing the agenda only of those who paid for your campaign pign your responsibility is to hear varying opinions stories with which you cannot relate and incorporate your new awareness into decision-making but you continue to represent your own interests your responsibility is to seek knowledge from those who have served before you but you appear closed to collaboration and lifelong learning your responsibility is to communicate with constituents and answer our questions but some of you have blocked blocked let's talk your responsibility is to be transparent and release information like the Dei exclusion criteria for literacy

081programs but my every request for information has gone completely ignored your responsibility is to treat every single person with dignity and respect and to fully answer questions asked of you but you have repeatedly tried to silence us you have even stated that repeated questions are harassment warranting legal involvement Harvard Business Review cites some key components to leadership as being authenticity curiosity analytical skills and empathy authenticity is a trait that helps people trust the character of leaders and result in meaningful connection please be honest and transparent curiosity is When leaders ask questions that enable them to take on multiple perspectives please learn that it is important to both both be aware of and acknowledge what you don't know analytical skills enable leaders to make data informed decisions please educate yourselves and listen to those who are

082more knowledgeable empathy is seen when effective leaders understand and connect to people in ways that Foster supportive and nurturing environments please become aware that perspectives and backgrounds different than yours are no less valid each of these leadership competencies should be included in a corrective action plan for the board immediately you represent all of the constituents not just the few at the polls who voted for you thank you thank [Applause] you Pam puso my name is Pam puso and I'm not afraid to say I live at 103 Kimberly Court York town District 4 one of the reasons it's a bad idea for new members to immediately assume leadership roles is that they often have no idea what they are doing because they are ignorant of how to run a meeting as well as the history behind

083many past decisions usually the citizens comment period has had fewer than four speakers in the past when a large number of citizens wanted to speak all those who had signed up were allowed to do so no matter how long it took those who had not signed up were relegated to the end of the meeting as all who had signed up had already addressed the board in the last meeting you voted on matters concerning which organization you would provide policy support for the vsba or the right-wing sbma thank you for not doing that anymore uh it's imperative that all who want to address issues to be voted upon at that particular meeting have the ability to do so prior to the vote on another note why are firearms allowed at these meetings the School Division has

084spent millions of dollars to harden our schools and the School Board office to at least to try to minimize the ability of armed individuals access to our children and staff at each regular meeting you invite students and School staff to be present for awards leading the pledge and presenting programs explaining their activities and accomplishments sometimes students and teachers address the board during cz's comment it is your responsibility to protect them from potential harm there are three statutes that address firearms and weapons possession on property under exclusive use by the school Division I have given you copies of those uh statutes um under the first statute the County Attorney Mr Hills says that the event is uh that this event is not a school sponsored function so it does not apply I do disagree the next

085statute would allow the board to ask the supervisors to lease this room say for a dollar a year on the dates and times of the regular meetings Mr Hill says that since it's not a full-time lease it might not apply code of Virginia 15.2 d915 says the supervisors can declare this building or just this room gunfree by local ordinance it takes only seconds for a person who is in legal possession of a loaded firearm and becomes incensed at something to cause fatal Mayhem the security in this room May respond but between Crossfire and the shooter's victims the death count could be high my question for this board is will you step up to protect our children at all events where you invite or require them to attend or do you just not care about their

086safety you have already expressed concern concern about retribution for Citizens speaking at meetings so that they do not reveal their home addresses demand the supervisors enact an ordinance to make this room gunfree for those who say it could never happen here should talk to parents of dead school children where it did happen step up and do what is right protect our students and staff and I also want to make a comment you need to leave your religion and your politics at the door you are now members of the school school board thank you you don't have that right anymore narel living board members my name is nariel living and I am in District three we have much work to be done our children should have the freedom to learn to pursue their dreams and to

087access a quality education that prepares them for success in our changing world you must not block their Pathway to success our children need a focus on education not politics yet you continue to play politics by doing things like lashing out at teachers who are simply sending questions we have much work to be done our community depends on this when our schools fail we all fail people without children maybe they don't have kids in our school system will find themselves burdened with an excessive tax rate and unable to sell their homes because nobody will want to live here we have much work to be done and people in our County are ti tired of the lack of transparency in the games that you're all playing thank you thank you for signing with the vsba I truly

088believe that will further everything we're doing here in York County and I appreciate that moving forward I urge you to sign the code of conduct previous boards have signed it and it will it will tell the Comm community that you commit to being accountable to communicating and to staying informed on what's Happening it is our responsibility as parents as community members and as Schoolboard members to come together to safeguard our children's freedom to learn and Thrive thank you thank you Tammy dearer good evening Madame chair members of the board my name is Tammy deerberg I reside in District 2 during the past four school board meetings I've heard claims that the work environment of the York County Teachers has become toxic there have also been claims made that the York County School District is losing

089or may lose teachers due to the work environment there have also been claims made that teachers are afraid to speak up on matters that concern them for fear of retaliation this is very concerning are these claims true if so why and who is actually responsible for the work environment in our schools the following question was asked of Dr shandor by the Williamsburg Yorktown daily and posted today on line this is a question what is your job title and description I quote I am responsible for the direction leadership and coordination of students and staff in their efforts to reach educational priorities adopted by the school board as the division's chief executive off officer the school board has entrusted me with the full Authority for the daytoday administrative management of all Financial operational instructional and human resource

090matters in accordance with policy this means the school board expects me to provide leadership in decision making communication planning organization implementing and evaluating educational programs and developing and maintaining close working relationships and channels of communication within the school system and community based on his quote the work environment in our schools rests on the shoulders of Dr shandor and his leadership school board members since you have entrusted Dr shandor with this very important job I urge you to take these claims of a toxic work environment seriously find out if these claims are true and why and work towards implementing meaningful Solutions are our teachers deserve healthy work environments and our students deserve the best education possible thank you thank you all right the next eight people please line up quickly Easter dangi I hope I've got

091that right I'm sorry Carrie Chi Mabel Brockman Jennifer hadock shatz Deb Wesley Dr Allan Kennedy Brett higinbotham Aaron massan Easter dangi that's me hi um I'm uh from District Two um can you guys hear me I'm sorry okay good um so I'm a mom of two kids um first grade and fifth grade now I want to say normally I I'm not able to make it to these meetings I'm a working mom my husband works so the ability to be here is really difficult and it's difficult for a lot of people not just me and the ability to speak too is really difficult and especially when rules are made unnecessarily to make it difficult um that's not great um so we chose our house because of the good school district you know um that's really important

092um unfortunately this new school board is choosing to focus on a partisan agenda rather than keeping these schools good um you've got you know members of the board who are just doing a Power Trip on and they have the ability to let people speak and they're preventing it and that's really sad um we need to focus on keeping York County schools good we need to support our teachers teachers there's a shortage we we need to attract and retain teachers the infrastructure there's not enough actual buildings to have our kids in you have these like little little um shelters through trailers that kids are in this is not this is not great let's focus on that let's focus on the standards for teaching and not taking out things like social emotional learning because my kids they

093survived the pandemic and they need that they need that we all need empathy and my kids all the kids were home and not not because I mean because of the pandemic nobody forced you know nobody planned the pandemic you know they had to for their health but like you know they didn't get to interact with other kids like that so we people need that even more we need empathy so let's not let's not try to take that out it's important and critical thinking is important too and and infusing partisanship in the curriculum is not helping with critical thinking trying to say that social emotional learning is bad is well crazy um we need to be inclusive we you know York County has a lot of people who are not white um and we need to

094be thinking about people who aren't religious there's plenty of those people that are here mental health needs to be a focus also we talked about the infrastructure that is needed uh the pandemic showed how much need there is for mental health and there's some coming but it's not enough um and at the end of the day you guys you need to serve the public that is what you're supposed to do so please do it and don't just serve your interests and your thank you Carrie Chi good evening board members my name is Carrie and I reside in District 4 regrettably I find myself addressing you for the third consecutive month I would much rather be home with my children however it is my dedication to my children that compels me to be here tonight advocating

095for accountability among board members and safeguarding the Integrity of ycsd this past week it came to light that Vice chair Goodwin has accused a ycsd teacher of harassment for expressing concerns via email this unwarranted retaliation underscores the atmosphere of fear inhibiting teach teachers and staff from speaking out against the school board's actions tonight I speak on behalf of numerous teachers and staff who share these concerns drawing on my extensive experience as an HR professional spanning over 18 years I feel compelled to clarify the distinctions between workplace harassment and criminal harassment neither of which apply to this teacher's emails workplace harassment encompasses unwelcome conduct that Fosters a hostile or intimidating work environment often entailing discrimination based on protected care characteristics it can manifest verbally non-verbally uh physically in writing or sexually conversely criminal harassment also known

096as stalking or cyber stalking involves Behavior causing individuals to fear for their safety or the safety of others the teachers four emails over a period of a month where professional devoid of vulgarity or threats impose pertinent questions related to publicly discussed board matters when presented with non-answers the teacher requested clarifications on the questions he asked the teacher States multiple times in his emails I want this board to be successful I want ycsd to continue to be number three in the state I don't want to be in fear of losing my job because my school board has a misconception of what actually happens in the classroom these emails are clearly not harassment despite the absence of harassment Miss Goodwin expressed surprise at receiving such inquiries from a teacher suggesting that they were more fitting for a

097parent or citizen does Miss Goodwin feel so Superior in her on the school board that teachers wouldn't dare to have these questions for her especially questions relating to their job security furthermore this teacher is a parent and a constituent of Miss Goodwin's so why is she so surprised to hear these questions Miss Goodwin goes on to complain that the emails were sent from the workplace during work hours is this not a workplace complaint do teachers not get breaks do they not get planning time in contrast Miss Goodwin's subsequent actions undeniably constitute workplace retaliation by initiating a workplace investigation for harassment and attempting to intimidate the teacher she has violated his protected rights under the National Labor Relations Act the causal link between the teacher's protected activity and Miss Goodwin's adverse actions is unmistakable I have

098little doubt that Miss Barry shared this information with Miss Goodwin probably prompting Miss Goodwin's end of March email pulling back her harassment claims such retaliatory Behavior not only validates the fears of Y CSD teachers but also jeopardizes the thank you Mabel Brockman Mabel Brockman good evening ladies and gentlemen of the board my name is mapel Brockman and I'm a resident of District 5 I'm here today to talk to you about some concerns I have over the actions taken here over the last couple of months I'm not a teacher or an administrator of course but I have been a student of York County for schools for seven years which is half my life in the last few meetings the board this board has had an astounding amount of time spent on unimportant trivial matters with no

099impact on my education nor the education of any one of my peers take for for example the removal of our superintendent Victor shandor and the County Attorney from the Das this was this seems to be done purely for petty purposes no student was given a better education for this no teacher future saw raise from this absolutely nobody besides a few select members of this board perhaps gained anything from this change this is especially unreasonable in my opinion because it is evident that the work superintendent shandor has done over the last decade has helped the division navigating us through a pandemic a school catching on fire an Ono an ongoing drug crisis the list goes on and throughout he's done an excellent job keeping our schools great last year every single one of our division s

100Pass rates was at least 12% higher than the state average this is a shining example of the success our division has faced or has had in the past despite the challenges we have faced why throw that away why not focus on keeping our extracurriculars funded why instead focus on Petty unnecessary interpersonal drama I implore you all to please stop focusing on these frivolous issues and to focus on what matters the students and the teachers of York County thank you for your time thank Jennifer HCK shutz hello my name is Jennifer hadock Shotz from District 2 and I'm the happy mom who spoke positively about York County teachers and administration at the February meeting at that meeting I was surprised and taken AB by Mrs fairman's attempt to limit the public comment period but grateful to

101you Mrs Goodwin for joining with Mr Schaefer and Mr Richardson in voting to allow all speakers I was number 43 who signed up to be given their turn at the podium I then watched March's meeting online with even more shock and disappointment when Mrs Fairman used her position as chair to limit the public to limit the public comment period and it seemed like there was going to be some resistance to letting everybody speak tonight again this is not the open communication and real dialogue between the school board and citizens that was articulated by our new members during their campaigns tonight I'd like to remind you of the promises that you all made to the voters by referencing your campaign sites as they existed this weekend Mr pic your website advocates for active involvement and relationship

102building between parents teachers and the School Mrs Goodwin your site emphasizes the importance of community involvement and open communication stating it's about recognizing the value of each stakeholder's input and actively seeking their perspective further there's a great video clip of you saying and I quote I will hold Town Hall meetings I will do a newsletter and I will make sure that when you come to a school board meeting you are heard finally Mrs Fairman your site aply mentions that speaking at a board meeting doesn't include any dialogue with the board members and speakers are limited to three minutes with no feedback or response given to address these limitations you shared plans to distribute Community newsletters to keep everyone informed and have regular face-to-face Town Hall meetings for True dialogue these were wonderful ideas and plans

103for parents and citizens who wanted to have their voices heard however I've yet to hear any announcements about town hall meetings instead we've seen citizens limited or attempt to be limited in their ability to use this forum to share concerns and ask questions so I ask you now to remember those promises that got you elected Mrs Goodwin and Mrs Fairman let's have the town hall meetings with a chance for real dialogue and if that's not possible at this time let's maintain the ability of all speakers to take their turn during the public comment period for all future meetings and show that you will continue to care about the input of all community members finally if our chairwoman will not continue to allow everyone to be heard I ask Mr pvic and Mrs Goodwin to take

104action to continue to to honor their promises on this issue to voters I ask them to join with Mr Schaefer and Mr Richardson in replacing Mrs Fairman as the chairperson or replacing Mrs chair Mrs Fairman with a chairperson who is truly interested in recognizing the value of each stakeholder's input and actively seeking their perspective thank you thank you Deb Wesley good evening school board members and Dr Carol my name is Deb Wesley and I live in District 4 I a parent educator and president of the York Education Association last week I sent you an email asking you to consider revising the public comment policy the three revisions that the York Education Association is suggesting includes in section one community members who did not have an opportunity to address the board prior to the beginning of

105the business portion will be given an opportunity to speak at the end of the board's agenda number two based on the number of speakers signed up the chair could impose a TW minute time limit and the 30 minute period number three the 30 minute period may be extended at the chair's discretion or by a motion by a board member our rationale in these is that every stakeholder should be allowed to speak and share their thoughts concerns and questions with the board in a public forum if stakeholders take the time to plan comments and attend the meetings they should be permitted to address the board the decision to extend the public comment time should be an entire board decision and each member should have a vote in extending that time period in addition allowing citizens to

106speak on a policy set to be voted upon prior to that vote would allow all citizens to feel as they have a voice and express support for a yes or a no vote from the board I am not sure where that would fit into the current policy but if you truly believe in transparency and parental rights then please make revisions to this policy so that all voices can be heard and thank you for your time and consideration of these suggestions thank you Dr Alan Kennedy thank you uh I'm Alan Kennedy in district one uh and uh I'm also I'm also an attorney um unlike anyone at the Schoolboard member Alliance um so I just wanted to make that clear because one of the board members the chair uh Linder Fairman voted tonight to keep to

107to go with a right-wing organization the Schoolboard member Alliance the SPN spma that has no lawyers no lawyers the vice chair uh Kimberly Goodwin uh I saw the emails you threatened to initiate legal action for harassment against a teacher who simply asked you to apologize for your comments on social media that enslaved people you were not sure that enslaved people were unhappy because you were not there so last meeting I gave each of you a copy of the 1619 project so tonight I'd like to uh revisit that um to make sure you did your reading for tonight um could you turn to page 104 which talks about slave Patrol and particularly talks about how patrollers enforced slave codes and routinely broke into the homes of enslaved people aggressively searching them in their quarters and subjecting

108women to sexual violence everywhere the pattern was the same white people enslaved raped terrorized and murdered black people mostly for profit and also to enforce a rigid racial hierarchy in which they maintain both status and power so Vice chair Goodman uh Goodwin um are you ready to apologize and renounce your comments that you're not sure that enslaved people were unhappy because you weren't there are you willing to apologize tonight and your policy your own policy says that you may engage um although you apparently think that it's only okay for you to engage when you're defending when you're trying to explain why you threatened a teacher with harass with a a lawsuit um for simply asking this question are you ready Vice chair good to apologize to the community for your racist comments I have 42

109seconds and your own policy allows you to respond Vice chair Goodwin I made my comments uh in a statement I believe in February I addressed that excuse me I addressed that in a comment statement from the diets in February I would like to thank uh Mr schaer I would like to thank Mr Richardson for at the last meeting um asking Vice chair Goodwin to apologize for her comments and for renouncing obviously racist comments this is not okay thank you thank you Brett higin Botham good evening Brett higen Botham District to Dr Carol board members I come tonight because I'm concerned with some of the practices the school board currently employs purpose of a school board is to work together to make decisions that are in the best interest of all students and families in York

110County I fully understand that any decision that's made will come with supporters and detractors but the behavior of school board members before during and after meetings is not fitting of the office in which you are all elected during discussions board members and Dr shandor are continually cut off mid-sentence not permitted to continue sharing their thoughts these are the thoughts that are combination of their Professional Knowledge while preparing for a meeting and sharing the thoughts of constituents who have reached out to them by silencing board members you silence the constituents the people you took an oath to represent you've had four months to find proof of the claims many of you spoke of during the election widespread indoctrination uncontrolled spending teachers using inappropriate books and teaching inappropriate topics just to name a few if these were

111true where's the proof you wanted to take politics out of the classroom while simultaneously running on a platform full of political buzzwords and inflammatory rhetoric intended to spark anger and fear for those who are not fully informed you've started an invocation process for board meetings of which you have been told may be unconstitutional the purpose of the invocation and I quote is to add solemnity to the meetings as the school board engages in issues that affect York County residents what if a school board or I'm sorry what if a principal wanted clergy members to come in and add invocation to the start of every day to add solemnity to the school day as teachers engage in instructions that affect every child is this appropriate why should you operate under different expectations than the schools you

112are supposed to govern the invocation is bound by many guidelines that you wrote and put in place one which states you invite clergy from across Hampton Roads from a variety of religions and denominations and yet every one of the invocations that you have selected to speak have been planned or planned for the rest of the year fall under the same religion this leaves out all other religions backgrounds and beliefs that many ycsd students families and residents hold every person who has offered an invitation has broken the guidelines you set in place by addressing the crowd asking the crowd to Bow their heads or pray and I say this as a Christian myself but I have to ask why do you write policy and add procedures to your meetings you're not willing to hold people accountable

113for have you sought out other religions to come speak or apply to give the invocation if not is it because you're afraid they won't abide by your own invocation procedures but why should they because you haven't held anybody else to it the public is looking for consistency they want to see you work together five of you to discuss topics together and treat each other and the public with civility you can remain respectful even if you have different opinions they want to see you focused on the right thing which is what is best for all students not what is best for one group or organization but ultimately they want to see a board that is ethical honest and transparent if you made a mistake own up to it apologize learn from it and become better don't

114hide behind intimidation gaslighting making excuses and blaming others if you are to continue in this role be the adults set the example and work with the others and the professionals who lead this division thank you [Applause] Mass hello I'm Aaron massion District Two I believe and I'm just up here really asking two of you to resign you have embarrassed the entire County I've received text messages from all over the Nation about you guys I think it's safe to say everyone knows slaves didn't really enjoy it doesn't require reading anything just a little a little bit of Common Sense your behavior again is embarrassing I ask that two of you resign I don't understand how you can kid yourselves into thinking that you can represent all children in this District when it's quite obvious that you

115don't care about them again I ask that you resign have a great day thank you the next ones to please line up number 17 Russell Castle uh number 18 Peter Romeo number 19 Allison Phillips number 20 Steven Romeo number 21 Carol Romeo number 22 Daniel Blake Simpson and number 23 is it jeie Zuniga thank you Russell Castle thank you uh board members chairwoman Dr Carol uh I have two apologies to start off with one that was my phone that rudely interrupted a speaker earlier and I apologize to her and for the distraction it was for everyone here today uh my second is I'm remiss in congratulating the board and those that run this fine school system that I've had to pleasure of being involved with as a parent and uh my child went here um

116several of my family members their kids have gone here um to to be a little bit clearer I came here to the peninsula when I was three years old a family assumed to be eight and uh we had the interesting educational experience of going to for the first part of our education parochial schools in Hampton and also in Newbert news uh after Financial uh concerns uh no longer allow that uh we attended Public Schools uh in the city of Hampton I've learned a great deal from both um I went from procal to public around the seventh grade change I learned a great deal in both of those environments and I thought they were both great uh one thing I can testify is no matter where your child Goes to School whether it's home homeschooling parochial

117school private public school the biggest impact is Parental involvement and I'm sure you would all agree however my second apology is to apologize to the board members that were here during the years that I was involved with the York County School System and that my children and my nephews and niece also went to the school system um when it came time for my wife and I to decide where our son would go to school we had fortunately choices to make uh we could have chose anywhere we chose to buy and live in the Yorktown community and have our child attend public school um we could have easily made other decisions um I never regretted that decision uh and so I want to thank especially those board members and uh who were in charge and running

118things back then uh because um you did a great job and I know this because with my child was going to uh Coventry uh my I'm a retired fire captain from newort news I spent 36 and A2 years there and my schedule allowed me to participate more fully in my child's education so at Coventry I became involved in the dog program dads of great students dogs I hope that program is still going it was fantastic uh from there my son went to Grafton I became a band parent which I recommend everyone become even if if you're not even if your child's not in band it's a wonderful experience and I grew to appreciate the teachers and the job that they do a lot of my relatives thank you very much Peter Romeo good evening Madame

119chair members of the board Dr Carol um Pete Romeo your name and your District please Pete Romeo District 3 thank you um we heard some um talk about inflammatory language we certainly heard some of that tonight we heard a lot of anecdotal information some may be substantive some not um it seems to me that um there's an awful lot that we have more in common that we have that separates us so if we can all imagine that um our acknowledge that change is hard right changes hard and the expectation for anybody new to the game to be able to hit the ground running may be just a little bit presumptive I would have expected that those board members with a little bit more tenure and you ask that we don't use names so I won't

120but they know who they are would have been a little bit more accommodating a little bit more team playing a little bit more mentoring uh than has been that that that has been demonstrated um for me uh I I will tell you that uh I appreciate each and every one of you on the board it's not an easy job I get that um but I think everybody on either side of this uh issue needs to remember that nobody's here to do harm so I would ask that uh we continue to work together get the job done and work as a team thanks thank you thank you and I would like to remind the audience please no talking when people are speaking there is a group over here uh I really don't want to ask to

121have you leave but if you continue talking I will are we allowed to stand up to let people in and out yes you may thank you Allison Phillips hello can you hear me yeah okay hi my name is Allison Phillips and I'm from District 5 and I am here tonight to request that our new members please stop silencing our citizens voices and then justifying your actions by believing that they're not represent a representation compared to I quote thousands who voted for you we are not just a dozen upset citizens you did not win the election because you are a reflection of your District citizens you won this is a slice of Humble Pie for all of us because of complacency and because certain individuals including a local Pastor who has done an invocation here pushed

122politics into this past election the citizens of York County have become spoiled we love our schools and we've been spoiled by living in one of the top school districts in the state and likewise having some of the best and award-winning teachers and administrations is it perfect no it's not but there's a reason why people move here and it's special it's our school system you are here because unfortunately you took advantage of that fact and our residents entrusted anyone that has run for this position that they that we well we might not agree we have faith that our representation keeps politics out of the Schoolboard and keeps our children's best interest at the Forefront I know from living in District 5 that Miss Fairman I saw you going door too I think you came to my

123door but there was a political affiliation even though this is a nonpartisan position I have a problem with that there is um there was we also asked about having um or your campaign excuse me went on fearmongering techniques that's stated on increasing transparency even though there was nothing wrong going on before and stating that fiscal responsibility yet in the four months in office you've attempted to increase spending by a creation of a unnecessary clerk position potentially and then also by now I thank y'all tonight for deciding to not go with two policy uh uh organizations and I appreciate that you went with the nonpartisan one um however had we gone with both of them that's double the price right so how is this fiscally responsible why can we not focus more on the spending to

124provide our teachers with the technology and the supplies and updated classrooms that our students sorely need however no matter what facts that I bring or others bring here tonight I think that it's going to fall on deaf ears just as the saying goes you can lead a horse to water but you can't make him drink and the problem is here I am concerned that y'all don't realize that you are thirsty so I ask that you please please hear all of our comments let us speak let us communicate on let's talk and let and read them and don't let anyone be fearful of being heard thank you thank you st St Romeo thank you madam chair members of the board Dr Carol Steve Romeo District 3 I'm here to support our newly elected board um prior

125speaker um stated y'all were elected by us um so we hope that you collaborate do your jobs that's what we elected you to do and um appreciate the invitation that was given I don't recall uh anybody being asked to bow with their head and pray I thought it was a very uh succinct and eloquent U invocation and it asks us all to be respectful of one another's opinions and to engage in meaningful dialogue thank you thank you thank you Carol Romeo good evening I'm Carol Romeo District 3 and I just want to say good evening to Madam chairman and the board um my parents moved to York County from Hampton in 1975 so my sister uh and I could attend school here and get a better education at that time York County was believed to

126be the place to live to raise your family and have the benefit of a better education I graduated from tab High School in 1978 and was very proud to attend that school but I have watched the Integrity of our schools diminish I have witnessed the erosion of discipline and excellence in our classrooms and have disappointingly observed the school board's failure to maintain the Excellence that York County schools are known for well used to be known for I'm here tonight to support our school board our new school board members and I have every confidence that they're going to write this ship and they're going to bring our school boards back to the Excellence that they once had thank you thank you Daniel Blake Simpson uh good good evening I'm Daniel Blake Simpson uh District 3 uh

127a week ago uh my wife and I we were on a walk in Yorktown when I saw a group of people outside the Dig's house uh when I asked what they were doing I was told they were collecting signatures uh because the school board wanted to privatize all public schools um I was then offered a clipboard for my signature I asked if I could read what I was signing for and was given the official petition that did not include anything about privatizing public schools instead what I found was a letter asking for the res resignation of three board members after reading I found it to be opinionated and lacking of verifiable facts I then asked who wrote this because it was not signed and I and I was introduced to one of the authors who

128said that she and one other person had put this together I had some questions and she answered politely and from those answers I knew it was politically motivated I would like to ask the people that wrote and signed this petition are you being diverse and inclusive of other people's beliefs and feelings that don't align with your own I would also like to state that his discouraged I of those to call for the removal of ones who were fairly elected by We the People the majority of the people have spoken with their votes and expect our elected school board members to carry on and execute our will thank you thank you Jenny Zuna do you have to press any buttons okay um hi I'm Jenny Zuniga from District 2 um as a new parent in York

129County School District Parent educator school counselor veteran and firsttime Schoolboard meeting attendee with no political agenda and only the wish of advocating for my child family and the children that I serve I'm here because I'm deeply concerned about several recent events I'm disturbed by both the filming that happened at dare as well as the board's consideration of the school board member Alliance policy writers thank you so much to those of you that chose to go with the virgin School Board Association I really can't say enough How Deeply appreciative I am for that I'm sharing this with you with the hopes that you will care about all of your constituents and students not just the ones who look and think like you and do it in action not just lip service or explanations as a mother

130with an amazing incoming kindergartner who has two moms a fact that should not impact his education but will with the endeav Endeavors that have been proposed or supported I'm scared for my family and my kid and what it will look like for us as we participate in the district I'm scared and sad for all of the kids who are seeing the examples of adults in their lives who aren't interested in examing their examining their privilege or considering the hearts minds and experiences of people outside of what what might be considered the majority I hope desperately that you will hear me without offering excuses or explanations and care enough to hear and believe me when I share this fear just because these issues don't personally affect every member of the board or the people who voted

131for you as public servants who are supposed to have all of our children in your heart I do and will continue to serve all the children in my roles white and Christian included which I know is what everyone is afraid will change if we use words like diversity Equity or inclusion I will keep serving them I will serve your children the families I will serve everyone of every race color religion origin or any other category in my mind and heart and I am just begging you to keep the rest of us in yours please sit down thank you that ends the public comment period of everyone who has signed up at that time at the end of the meeting if there's anyone who had not signed up in following policy um there will be time

132at the end if any of those people who did not sign up to speak if they choose uh I want to thank you uh for remembering uh the rules and being respectful I know every once in a while a few slipped but you got right back on track and so I greatly appreciate that um some of you need to remind yourselves not to speak from the floor to the Das uh the next time uh at this time we will go to Matters by the board members and Mr schaer from district one if you could share your remarks please sure let me just say once again it's a great day to be a panther and uh some of the things that happened this month was went to yfp Awards this is where uh Rich shook uh

133was telling you about earlier $87,000 worth of scholarships and grants that went out to our school division uh and it all happens because the yfp uh raises funds strictly to help York County uh the people on the committee are starting to get a little bit old and need help so I would ask anyone in the community that would like to help York County Schools yfp is an excellent place to be for those other ones uh I'd like uh to say that please go out to your schools and visit volunteer okay I mean I have uh I have a full-time job work 55 hours a week or so I do the school board and I still try and get out to see the schools as much as possible I make sure I have a a day

134off during the week so that I can do those things and it warms my heart to see Volunteers in the schools parents grandparents uncles and aunts that come to help out and whatever School is it can be Elementary it can be middle school or High School uh but it's great to see the volunteers out there and they get an appreciation for the schools they get to see the schools they really are so any of those naysayers that think that we don't have good schools anymore need probably to go volunteer there's a spot for each one of you uh last week I it was the best week I got to go visit my schools it was awesome got to talk to all kinds of people talk to the kids talk to the teachers and the principes

135uh and I just had a great time and then we had uh um after the yfp awards I went straight to brutin high school because we had the stem night uh for district one and the stem night we probably had about 500 people there from McGruder Waller Mill Queens Lake and brutin and it was it was awesome to see all the kids involved and it was great to see the parents I mean we had both both parents bringing kids to a high school after they got off work I think that says a lot for people that want to be involved that's the kind of people that we have up in uh brutin up in the brutin zone and that's what I'd like to see in every Zone but as I said I had a great

136week last week the last few weeks being in the schools and seeing uh everyone I'm going to have uh the next month is just chalk full of events that I get to go to and I can I can considered a privilege yes it's it's part of my job to do this but no it's a privilege and it's fun and it's great to go out and see what's happening in schools thank you Mr pich from District Two yes I would just like to take opportunity also to say that I agree with Mark that this is the privilege to be in front of you and represent you as a parents and actually all our students of the yourk County uh School District uh this past month it's uh been very eventful uh with a lot of uh

137happenings uh one of the major things that for me was the the New Horizons board meeting uh that we just had presentation and during that we had uh Young Chefs of the New Horizons uh prepare dinner for the entire School Board uh Representatives so it was just one of those events that was amazing to to attend and to witness uh what I would like to say also like know for all of you being here tonight thank you so much for coming and um you know for us to hear your voice I appreciate every one of you guys speaking out loud uh we do hear you uh and also would like to address uh Mabel I believe correct uh thank you for coming such a such a young age and speaking to us about those things

138um I do have concerns as far as the education about like uh where we stand uh last meeting I shared that uh we are in Decline overall uh percentage uh for passing rate in so uh and you're right we are 12% about average uh about the region uh which is not good enough in my opinion so uh young students like you we appreciate your input and just want to let you know that we are here for you and that we want to make your County School District even better than that because where we used to be it's far where we at right right now we have a long way to get there but we will get there because we are here and we all care and every single teacher that you have care and we

139all going to do it together for you guys so thank you thank you very much uh Miss Goodwin District three thank you um well I first want to say thank you for everybody speaking tonight whether your comment comments were compliment complimentary or derogatory um I do appreciate him I mean that's I'm a supporter of First Amendment free speech and everybody should have the right to be heard so I do thank you thank you for taking your time to come out as I know you have probably more important and other things to do uh as far as this month goes um one of the I had two really fun events that I attended one was um a Post Easter Easter egg hunt with Children of the woods of Yorktown um this event was sponsored with Yorktown

140Yorktown Elementary and York High School and um I was invited to come and participate and I really enjoyed it I enjoyed seeing the kids uh grab all those Easter eggs and fill their bags up and enthusiastically run up to show me what they had collected um and it was just nice to see the partnership between the high school and the elementary school and working together to um to make that event happen um the other thing I got to do and I was really uh inspired by that was I got to be at the um um uh my words are escaping me excuse me um it was a forum with the youth today at York high school so uh I was able to sit in with um Mr Richardson and also with our Board of Supervisors

141Mr Wayne Drey and have students from York High School ask us questions about um issues that were near and dear to them so it was really nice interacting with them and hearing um what they were concerned about and u the only thing I wish is that we had more time and we could have asked they could have asked more questions and we could have uh answered but they were limited by the Bell however I did place out my cards and I told each and every one of them take a card you're welcome to email me anytime um I work for them as well as the parents and the teachers and any constituents um so I just wanted to uh let you know that um while I do have this time um to talk about members

142or matters of the board I did want to move that the the board create a standing policy committee um this I feel is needed um because we've run into areas with some policy that is uh can be a little vague or one person interprets it one way and somebody interprets it another so this committee composed of two board members um uh the person whose policy it directly affects like um you know if it affected Dr car Carol's area or Dr Skinner's area would be would be present as well as a citizen from the community who has maybe some policy expertise bringing those people together um and looking at our policies as they come down and that makes the board um more involved and because if you look at um uh standards of quality number seven

143policy is really one of the things the board is charged with and so we want to make them as clear and succinct as possible and be involved in that process um so this doesn't do anything to the vsba we already voted on that and that's a part um it just gives us um the ability to make sure all our policies are sound and another another lens on it so there's no room if you could repeat your motion and then we'll need a second on it okay sorry I know that was longwinded but I wanted to explain to everybody what the intention of that was so U I move that the board create a policy standing committee is there a second Miss Fairman that's actually down in discussion um to talk about the advisory committees which

144it would fall under did you know that yeah I added it in after your comments I was like where did that go in it's under policy discussions BCF um yeah BCF oh that was a new one that was a standing committee though I thought that was separ well it's it's standing committees are part of advisory committees actually they're two separate you I under policy It's all under that one Poli oh it's all under the one policy okay thank you well then I won't have to explain it when we get there thank you very much all right Mr Richardson District Four yes I just like to uh cover some of the things I've done I'd like to thank all the speakers that came out and spoke tonight and not just them but the other people that

145came out just to support them and to stay involved in um in what the school division is doing so thank you for coming out tonight um March 29th I attended graft a middle school career day I was even able to time my visit perfectly to see my son uh present there he's with the fire department so uh he presented uh for the York County Department of Fire and Life Safety about careers and firefighting uh and then on April 15th through 16th I attended the president's Retreat for vsba where I'm the regional chair for the region and uh that was in Virginia Beach we talked about several topics but one of the biggest topics we discussed in for the longest time was uh how to increase attendance at Regional networking forums across the state and then

146uh Thursday April 18th I attended the yfp grant Awards recognition banquet at the Waterman's museum with uh Mr Schaefer uh one of the teachers used her Grant funds to improve literacy by holding uh literacy game night uh because they know that family engagement is one of the biggest things about literacy is getting families involved in reading and uh she started or did this family game night and she's had uh uh parents come back and want to know what what some of the other games were so they can purchase them to play at home and uh increase the the literacy of their children um the another teacher is working with students at tab high school and reducing food waste in their cafeteria so that was a neat program listening to them I'll explain all that I

147attended the uh York High School town hall meeting with the the kids this morning with uh Miss Goodwin and uh the students at York High School and we answered some of their questions that they had I'll be at Grafton Middle School tomorrow to talk about Hurricane Katrina when I was deployed with a disaster medical assistance team back during that hurricane um speaking to one of the uh the groups there that's reading a book on Katrina and uh try to give them some firsthand experiences uh about what it was like after that um and again over the last several months I've been planning the Tidewater Regional Forum art contest that's going to be this Thursday at IC norham high school and Portsmouth and uh that's where I'll be this next Thursday so thank you very much

148thank you and I'll round that out for district I've had the opportunity to take quite a number of different training sessions uh focused on school boards School issues uh focusing on the governance that what we're required to do according to Virginia law as well as uh how we can improve student achievement uh talk and that was dealing with not only talking throughout Virginia but talking with other school board members in other states and some of their issues and challenges as well as their success that we might be able to do here um so that's been a definite learning experience and like what was said the School Division has overall insurance that if we are ever in litigation with a problem with policies we're covered for that the only insurance that we have have from vsba

149and then sbma also offered the same thing is if there was a problem with their particular policy service a policy that they wrote that if we were able to show that and it was not a policy that we had changed at all their insurance is we would get back the cost of that policy writing service of that they had charged so if we had gone sbma it would have been $2,900 we would have gotten back with the vsba since we voted to go with them that if there is a ever a problem with a policy that we have not amended that they have put together for us we would get back the $3,750 on that that's all that was covered with that so um we have overall insurance that covered anything above those amounts I

150just want to let you all know that how much uh excuse me please do not shout from the floor and that's the last time I'm going to remind you Dr Kennedy um the uh the other issue is I wanted to go over uh what partisan actually means because I know some people were saying well you can't be a 501c3 if you are partisan and that is correct what partisan means is that you are a are aligned with a specific political party Republican Democrat green libertarian all of the different parties out there that's partisan what is allowed through the US government with a 501c3 three is you can declare yourself conservative or liberal it's not connected to any specific political party and that's what's allowed I wanted to let you all know that that you can

151be conservative or liberal and still be what is considered nonpartisan legally just to uh to get that out there but I do appreciate you all coming out and speaking tonight um sending your questions I'm working on getting caught up with the emails um I would like to say is tomorrow I'm looking forward to going to tab high school because we'll be having our town hall that uh all of the the different high schools are having and so different board members will be at those locations uh at this time we're going to move on to financial matters chair I'm sorry to interrupt can I make one more comment that I I left out please sure I'm sorry I I should have made this in my um announcements and I know I'm disrupting procedure um but what

152I wanted to say was somebody made a comment about um the newsletters and um the town halls I actually worked um working closely with my friend who was also Board of Supervisors in District 3 we sat down um over spring break so he could show me how he did his newsletter because I was really inspired by the newsletter he sent out he's not my district rep but um I got his I get his newsletter because it keeps me informed and I'm in the process of working on that yes I did say that in my campaign I am honoring that so if you would like to be on receive that letter please send me an email just send it to my um ycsd email let me know what email you want me to send it to

153if it's the one uh you sent or if it's a different one and I will make sure that I send you a copy of that email you don't have to be in my district to receive it but um that'll start helping to get that out thank you thank you very much Mr pich will'll go on to discuss financial matters all right so I would like to uh put for consideration approval of claims certified for payments uh we have a claim certified for payment for the month of March 20124 uh there are several categories and I'm going to start going from the top down uh for instructional related expenditures total approximately 1,5 5,200 and includes payments to amn healthcare Allied in amount of 22,900 beautiful mind speech therapy in amount of 14,800 uh Sage learning in

154amount of 20,700 dream catchers in amount of 31,500 East End Academy in amount of 17,600 Emily Haynes LLC in amount of 22,200 Liberty Point in amount of 10,800 little arms studios in amount of 14,400 maximum health care services in amount of 25,600 New Horizons in amount of 236,000 all Dominion Research Foundation in amount of 47,2 Plan B Academy in amount of 69,1 Procare therapy in amount of 100,000 10 5,400 Rob robot lab in amount of 37,1 100 sh Varsity Acquisitions in amount of 119,900 uh Salan Health in amount of 17,500 Sun Belt Staffing in amount of 61,200 the F uh fisen Center in amount of 56,000 600 the stepping stone in amount of 52,600 bestest music in amount of 10,600 uh and theand system in amount of 11,200 for uh behavioral crisis interaction training uh

155technology real expenditures total total approximately 229,900 and they includeed payments to the cdwg in amount of 11 12,900 Cox Communications in amount of 17,400 daily computers in amount of 32,800 Deb uh debt book in amount of 20,000 eate Inc in amount of 11,000 VA Business Systems in amount of 35,600 uh operational related expenditures total approximately 1 15,9 55 uh and that includes the payments to Dominion Energy in amount of 58977571 and the water chemistry in amount of 16,988 construction related expenditures total approximately 1,139 250 50 and that includes the payments to the ace LLC 60,000 uh Continental contractors for 63,000 Heartland construction for 6 13,650 midatlantic installers for 9,800 play Power Farmington for in amount of 146,00 and she Communications in amount of 165,00 Transportation related expenditures total approximately 129,130 whole Automotive in amount of

156800 86560 kingore Supply in amount of $ 42750 then expenditures related to Administration total approximately 38,400 and includes payments to the scenario learning amount 11,100 VA risk sharing Association in amount of 16,600 and Yan coll Collins PLC in amount of 10,700 now Food Services related expenditures total approximately 1,119 ,700 and those payments include Gold Creek Foods in amount of 14,100 made right Specialties in amount of 11,100 national food group in amount of 13,100 sades sades sedesco uh in am 1,814 uh also I'm having a consideration for approval of financial report for March 2024 and these are significant changes related to the operating budget uh for March revenues state revenue for March 2024 increased by more than 7.7 million when compared to March 2023 this increase is a result of the 7% compensation adjustment increase in

157student enrollment and additional of all in funding sales tax revenue of March 2024 decreased by 1.4 million when compared to 2023 this is a result of the change in economy activities for expenditures in uh instructional expenditures for March 2024 in uh increased by approximately 6.2 million when compared to March 23 the difference can be attributed to the increase in compensation and benefits that uh spend down of federal Esser funds the increase of uh fill rates for the instructional positions for the fiscal year 24 and the increase in private placement students related to the Children's Service Act program admin attendance Health expenditures for March 24 increased approximately 1 million when compared to 23 the difference can be attributed to the increase in compensation in benefits and increase in contracted services for speech language and private nursing

158Services significant changes relating to the Food Service budget food revenues and expenditures for local food service Revenue has increased by more than 442,000 when compared to March of 23 this is due to the increase in the number of meal served Federal Food Services Revenue has decreased by more than 472,000 duee to the decrease in Grant fundings uh and final it's consideration of approval of resolution 2426 resolution 2431 requires the board approval authorizing procurements of more than five $50,000 there's a total of 43 items on the resolution five items totaling 94666 3 are for fiscal year 2024 and 38 items totaling 12.1 million for the fiscal year of 2025 the details of which can be viewed on a board doxs Madam chair I now move to approve financial matters as listed a second thank you the

159motion has been moved and seconded to accept the financial matters as listed uh are there any further questions N Mrs Howard a motion was made by Mr pich and seconded by Mr Richardson 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 uh moving on to the consent calendar I have that these were all listed with specifics on the agenda uh on the documents that were attached so I'm just going to go over the list briefly we had approval of personnel actions that includes uh a list of retirements resignations uh reclassifications of teachers uh different assignments for licensed and non-licensed uh employees and the list is there then uh also included in the consent Cal

160calendar is approval of the minutes for the regular meeting on March 25 approval of donations in the amount of $1,000 approval of the Carl Perkins crant Grant application for fiscal year um and for the approval of the consent calendar is listed I'd like to have a motion in a second to approve that consent calendar Madam chair I move to approve the consent calendar as listed I'll second thank you the motion has been moved and seconded to approve the consent calendar as listed is there any further discussion Mrs Howard a motion has been made by Mr Richardson and seconded by Mr schaer to approve the consent calendar is listed Mr Mrs Goodwin yes Mr Richardson yes Mr schaer yes Mr pich yes Mrs Fairman yes motion passed 5 to zero thank you very much moving along

161um there's there are no action items tonight we go specifically to the policy discussion uh regarding policy bdd H KD for the board to discuss let me open that one sorry if I can get this to go back yeah sorry I don't have a printed copy of it in front of me all right so this particular one is public participation at the Schoolboard meetings of regarding this um as noted uh once again for any uh discussions on this are there any proposed changes to these yes I would like to make uh some proposal on changes um I recognize that like you know as we ran for the board uh that it's important for everybody's to be heard and I don't like the idea that uh we have a limit on people they can speak up

162so I would like to make proposal to to the change for everybody to have opportunity to speak and I think uh uh Miss Deb she suggested a good idea on it that I would limit uh let let's say for one hour discussion I POS that for one hour discussion uh and then if we have uh 20 uh people signed up then everybody gets three minutes and if increase uh if there's increased amount of people coming in that means like if there's a 30 then everybody would get equal amount of time split up uh for that comment so if it's a you know in that matter uh and then like if anybody come in and it doesn't get opportunity to sign up to have the same uh sign up actually like no same time afterwards uh

163for the speaking up to three minutes and but equivalently being reduced like know if there's a lot of people signed up but everybody get opportuni so nobody gets turned turned back does that make sense so um just trying to pull out the basic information of that you're saying for the uh amount of time to be increased to one hour yes and then uh the speaker's amount of time to speak would be so but if it's say obviously if it's 3 minutes you have 20 speakers that gets you to the 60 minutes for the 1 hour if you have more than 20 speakers then it would so if it's 30 speakers then everybody gets uh TW two minutes okay and so on okay hang on let me see so 20 sorry 20 speakers equals three minutes

164each you're saying 30 speakers two minutes two minutes each and so if it's what well if it's 60 speak one minute well yeah uh the thing is if it goes over if it goes over 30 is it still going to be the two minutes I believe I you know that that would be like no if it's everybody gets to speak so equally would be split up so we'd have to take the hour and divide it out um is that what you're i' I'd like to make it simple let's just let everyone speak have their three minutes and I mean we've Managed IT with before uh and have it all at the designated time because I think that just about everyone in this room works and uh and I don't want to keep them here till

16511 o'clock if we're here till 11 o'clock it's our fault okay uh I think that we should let everyone speak have their three minutes no matter how many I don't think we're going to have more than 53 like we did before well Mr schaer um I just know from uh one of the Board of Supervisors meetings several years ago they had 72 speakers and their particular policy their chair is allowed discretion to reduce the amount of time and what they did for those 72 is they announced beforehand when they realized it was going to be that many they reduced it down to one minute I know what it was like I was standing in line changing what my speech was so I could fit it into 3 minutes or into just one minute down from

1663 minutes um so that could be a possibility um mainly because with the public comment periods then you have uh a lot of this information regarding policy that we may have uh administrators and things like that here to work on you know presenting some of the things and we need to make sure that knowing that they have to get up and go to work the next day also you know for I like the idea of reducing things down but I think we need to come up with at some point when do we say go down to one minute knowing that that's worked in the past for the Board of Supervisors I have a a a suggestion how about writing the policy such that everybody gets to speak and if say the number of speakers gets

167to I don't know pick a number that everybody can can work with say 60 um that the board will vote we'll vote as a board if we need to reduce the time limit down for that like two minutes or whatever yeah does that work that way every because odds are you're not going to get probably more than 60 people and if we did come to that if we had a special uh excuse me if we had a special meeting that you know everybody wanted to talk on their special topic then we could look at that and say okay we have 75 people who want to speak so in the interest of time we're going to give everybody a minute to come up and and say what they need to say and I think that would

168be a very um extenuating circumstance we've only had it once yet I mean that would satisfy everybody speaks yeah and then if we have special I'd just like everyone to speak be able to speak at the prescribed time no I agree I'm not challenging that at all I'm just saying I agree I mean if it's like like you say if it's 60 people and we rce down to 2 minutes I don't think they'd have a problem with that knowing how many there is yeah and we can vote as a board so it's not just one person making a decision it's Collective each time it comes up like is that what you're saying I don't think it's going to be a regular issue no so uh just to get this straight so if we're kind of

169melding these you have 20 speakers they get three minutes then if it moves up to 30 speakers at that moment or at that number number it's reduced down to 2 minutes and then over you know so if it gets over that that's not correct okay um that was originally Mr P right but M Goodwin had another uh suggestion that was a little I should I make a motion well we don't we don't need a motion it's just a policy needs to be I'm jumping ahead yeah I'm just trying to keep track of here we need to have the policy written first of vote we write the policy so that um all all uh people will get a chance to speak have their three minutes however should uh attendance or people who wanting to speak exceed

170I just put 60 out there because that just seems well 60 was good you know if 60 people or more the board will vote can vote doesn't will but the board can vote to reduce that time limit time that work I can go with that yeah I can go with that that's reasonable sorry I'm writing down the notes do we change this right now or do we kind of get proposal for the work session like to well since this is just discussion you're just discussing what changes you want and so then those changes you're discussing will be brought back for the the reading first reading yeah okay okay so we'll work out the The Kinks of It kind of okay and all of that that sounds that sounds good so we can do that along

171those lines um you know there are some other issues um you know that I had from the beginning the the what the policy says is community members who do not sign up to address the board beginning to the meeting will get a chance to speak at the end of the board's meeting agenda that since we're going to shift to have everybody speak during that time we'll still need have at the end for anybody who doesn't get there by the beginning of the meeting they will be given that opportunity at the End Business Fortune right right yeah right so anybody who comes in late or you know hasn't been able to sign up by the time the cards were brought in that they will be given the opportunity at the end um cool yeah all right

172I'm working on that I think that'll work at least get us um get us a start and let let citizens know that we are looking at these policies but this is also why it's important for us to have a policy standing committee uh for the board to work out these issues ahead of time to bring it back to the board with input from administrators um and any we can get comments from the citizens to say what's going on that we can then address that before the board uh because as you can see right here is we're trying to come up with the different ideas that takes time um so having having a policy standing committee which is normal for school boards to have they handle that ahead of time and then bring that before the

173whole board for discussion rather than have everybody discuss all together so it makes it a little bit easier I don't know that that's normal for school boards I know some school boards have them right right yeah a lot of them do Al righty so I guess this will set aside on this and then policy discussion regarding policy BCF need to pull this one up too right hang on and advisory committees are separate and different from standing committees uh advisory committees let's see do we have a definition let's see hang on pull this up here sorry about that Madam chair all the standing committees would still be advisory committees because they're providing recommendations to the board would still have to meet the requirements of an advisory committee but this policy can be flushed out to into

174subparts to delineate to different types of committees right because the the community advisory committees are made up of community members with a board member just as a member to kind of like a liaison kind of thing whereas a standing committee of a school board you have two members because you can't have three or more because that's Quorum so you have two members work together they're putting a recommendation together for the entire board along with input from administrators uh and any other advisers that are asked to belong it was my understanding that uh a standing committee it's still providing recommendation to the board and the board members weren't necessarily they were more Liaisons like The Advisory committees because I was looking at the Beach they tend to do a lot of standing committees and they're still

175invite it's still they're still not members voting members they're liaison they take part in the discussion but they're not still coming back to theard well it's it's more than just being liaison that the it's that the policy is driven by the others and we're just kind of there watching and taking a report the standing committee for a school board is actually supposed to be because we're directed the board is supposed to be putting policy together and everything with um the s soqs that it's their responsibilities so the board members take more control of a standing committee and then they bring that back to the overall board uh for review and discussion and things like that so we can we can flesh all that out it sounds like what you're saying though is that the standing

176committees can fall under this policy like we don't have to reinvent a whole another policy like we can just twe this right okay okay we can have a different like a different section advisory and standing committees and Define those along there alrighty um moving right along uh we do not have a first reading uh for a policy we do have a second reading of the section L Education Agency relations Dr Carol do you have any additional comments on this Madam chair there are no changes since the last reading all right uh we'll then entertain a motion and a second to approve section L Education Agency relations um I'll make a motion to approve section L Education Agency relations second all right the motion has been moved and seconded is there any further discussion on um

177the sorry the section L Education Agency relations seeing no further discussion Mrs Howard a motion was made by Mrs Goodwin and seconded by Mr Richardson to approve section L Education Agency relations Mr schaer yes Mrs Goodwin yes Mr Richardson yes Mr pich yes Mrs Fairman yes motion passed five to zero thank you very much uh now the report of the superintendent I believe Dr Carol may have that for us yes Madam chair thank you uh as you stated earlier Dr shandor is at the vast conference this week uh he wanted me to pass along a few things first of all the School Division was recognized by the National Association of Music Merchants as a best community for music education for its outstanding commitment to music education ycsd is one of only 25 School divisions in

178Virginia to achieve this coveted status April as you know is the month of the military child and the division celebrated purple up day which was last Wednesday April 17th division staff and students participated by wearing their purple and Dr shandor participated in a meeting in Richmond as a member of the interstate compact on educational opportunity for military children with State superintendent Dr Lisa Coons and first lady Suzanne yunan we had two students who placed in the regional competition for the scripts National Spelling be heia Singh a sixth grader from Yorktown middle school plays second and Nina terzich a seventh grader from tab middle scored uh Place third we are proud of both of these students Dr shandor also wanted to share that he has launched his cander with shandor sessions with all staff in ycsd

179and these are optional sessions for all sta staff members in the division to meet with him and give him feedback and he's about halfway through the schools and various departments and he has enjoyed the feedback from the staff and at this point I'd like to ask Mr Bowen uh the Chief Financial Officer to the podium to discuss the status of the state budget thank you Dr Carol U Madame chair members of the board just a brief update on the status of the state budget on um Wednesday April 17th the governor and leaders of the general assembly agreed to set aside the two budget bills that were passed in March by the general assembly this is the budget for the current fiscal year and also the budget for the next two years um they're going to

180continue working through their differences and um right now there's a meeting uh a reconvene session uh scheduled on May 13th uh with a vote scheduled on May 15th so hopefully uh within a week uh or 10 days after that vote we will have the details from the Department of Education and um our plan is if we have that information we will present that at the May business meeting thank you so Mr Bowen we're gonna have a a budget by July again right we hope so yes all right thank you Mr Bowen and Madam chair this concludes the superintendent's report thank you very much uh since that's the end of the agenda I have one announcement and then also if uh anyone who did not sign up to speak wishes to speak um this would be

181the time to do it but hang on uh our next work session is scheduled for Monday May 6th at 6:00 p.m. here in your call and um there's no citizen comment during a work session but you are welcome to come listen to us you know as we debate different things discuss what's going on discuss any changes um you know that we'll be making or improving things which I hope we're always on the idea of heading towards that goal um at this time I'll entertain anybody else who had not signed up earlier if you wish to speak please come up to the um the podium once again limit of three minutes uh and same rules as before does anybody wish to speak seeing oh there we go if you could please state your name and which

182district there we go so good evening my name is Andre Taylor District um I listened to the the board this evening talk about this is the very beginning part when we were talking about people speaking and it appears that some people took umbrage with others saying what their positions were what their titles where they do for a career so if you were offended then I'm I'm really not sorry about that um I think that it's important for you to take in take in what these people have to say because we come from backgrounds where we know what we're talking about and we're offering something to the table the fact that you took Umbridge with the fact that people said what they did tells me a little bit that you don't really care what they have

183to say and it's been very dismissive I've watched the the chair and I I know we're not supposed to call people out but I'm going to say what it is I watched the chair act very unprofessional by doing such I've watched the chair be unprofessional with not knowing what was going on I've watched The Chair say it was okay to make a uh make a motion when you weren't you're ill prepared for this position and I think that I stand clear when I say it's probably best if you were to remove yourself because you've not shown what leadership actually looks like as a parent of two students in this District this is my second time coming to a meeting the first time was drawn out one thing and I come back and I see it's

184not just one person it's it's the chair the chair is setting the tone for how horrible things are looking right now so it's one of those moments where I think that we should really take into consideration how bad things are because we have horrible leadership and you should listen clearly when people say that and don't take umbrage with it so since you took you know issue with it I am a historian and I have studied Stalin and you exhibit a lot of his traits uh excuse me please have a seat anybody else who has not signed up to speak wish to make any comments seeing no others I now declare this meeting adjourned thank you