001Good evening everybody. We are going to reconvene our February 12th, 2026 Lake Force Board Education meeting. Uh the first thing we're going to do, if you would please rise for the pledge of followed by a moment of silence. Thank you. >> So given the fact that we have more bodies in seats, that only means one thing. We have some recognitions and presentations which we love to see this evening, but we'll get into that just a second. First order of business is roll call item 2.3. Mrs. Rash >> here. >> Dr. Wyatt >> present. >> Mrs. Dlosski >> here. >> Vice President Starky >> here. >> And James R President serving as chair. Let the record show that all five board members are present. Approval agenda 2.4. >> Make a motion we approve the agenda as
002present. So second. >> Have a motion and second to approve the agenda for this evening. Any questions on that motion? Hearing none. I'll call for a vote. All those in favor? I >> opposed abstensions motion carries 5 >> 2.5 approval of minutes and make a motion we approve the minutes from the January 22nd 2026 meeting for Lake Forest Board of Education second. >> Have a motion and a second to approve the January 22nd Lake Forest Board of Education meeting minutes as presented. Any questions on that motion? >> He hearing none. I'll call for a vote. All those in favor? >> I opposed. Abstensions. Motion carries 5. Turning to item 2.6, recognitions and presentations, Dr. Lucas. Good evening, everybody. First, we're going to start off with our awesome unified basketball team. I'm gonna find Coach Jones.
003See if we can get him in here to say a few words and introduce some players. >> You ready, Coach Jones? >> Well, why don't you come in first? This is uh Dr. Derrell Jones. He's a coach. >> And uh I don't know if you're ready. You want to say a few words before you start introducing players or you want just bring them right on in? I can say when Andy if that's okay. >> Okay. Um can we get is there a chance we could squeeze everybody down so we can put the players >> I guess that wall right there but that is sorry >> looks like we got we can move everybody down in the chair so I can make a little bit more room that would be great. Everyone moves to the left.
004So, for those of you who don't know, unified basketball, this is our first year. Coach Jones took on the challenge. They had a great season. He'll tell you more about that. I'm going to let him introduce our our players. So, >> first birth. This is Delaney. She's awesome. Song we have next. We have Raven Joe. Quiet down. banana. She did not only compete a little bit about this team. I was tasked with the opportunity to actually have this team uh Mr. Johnson brought them to us. I was a little apprehensive initially. Man, thank God we decided to do it. The they have gleaned so much from it. They've grown so much, but what they've given not only to the community, not only to the school, not only to the student body has been a blessing.
005So, we want to thank you guys for allowing us to do this. Thank you to Dr. Cooper for actually approving it and making it happen. So, we thank you. You guys deserve a round of applause. There's any uh parents or anybody wants to come up and get a picture. We're going to set them up here. Let's squeeze it in. Oh, God. >> I know. I say thank you. Next up, we got Mr. Weller. He's going to introduce some of our students. Let's see if we can raise All right. Mr. Weller has fire prevention first. >> All right. So, one of the really awesome partnerships we have um the fire prevention poster contest. Um we work in partnership with our local fire companies. The students go through three stages. They do a local contest. The winner
006goes on to a county contest and then of course on to state. Um speaking from a north perspective, Phelp has one of the best fire prevention um programs they put on. Uh going to the firehouse, our own Mr. out um helping the kids get out of the smoke house, see how the fire hose works, just meeting the firefighters. Um it's an awesome thing to see. Um it's an awesome thing for them to do. And then we know if a fire happens, they're prepared. They have the things they need. So I have all the children. If any of the other art teachers are here, um I was going to give them acknowledge, but um I'm going to do my mess with the names, so bear with me here. We have some students that aren't here. I
007still don't want to say them, but then the ones who are going to come out. Um, in kindergarten, we had first in the county and I believe first in the state, Sarah Lynn Ber, and then Ellie Nelson was our East Elementary uh, kindergarten second place in the county. Babe Motor first are here tonight. Um, for first grade we had Ava Lynn Smith from East get the first grade. Uh, first for the county and second for the state. >> Harper Willie from North also in first grade got third for the count. All right, we have for second grade um second in the county, Lucy Leoo from East Elementary. Good luck. I'm sorry. I apologize. And also in second grade with from North Elementary, first in the county, second in the state was Emerson Ganon. >> As
008we see a lot, Emerson's one of our repeat ones. She did it last year. Uh last year, two years ago, >> and now she next year she might make one more round. Who knows? Um for third grade, uh Kaylee Dixon is not here. She's from South. She had first in the county, third in the state. We do have Zayn Broadway here from North. He was in third grade and he missed second. >> Right. Next, we have Cora Bailey from Central. Fourth grader, first in the county, third in the state. >> I should point out um fourth grades when they make the jump, they no longer make a poster, they're writing an essay. Uh so their writing skills come into play. Uh Brenley Kamajis I do not believe is here from Central. She was fifth grade,
009first in the county, second in the state. And last we have Jonathan Benoway from Chipman, 8th grade, second in the county. Yes. >> All right. Next, I want to introduce something really cool. Um been a while now. We've done quite a few of these. Um really awesome thing the board of education does uh for North I mean for the district is the holiday card contest and this lets the kids showcase their artwork and actually goes on a card which they're going to receive a copy of tonight. Um each school has a winner. Um South has quite a few because they did a partnership one. So I read them all. We have Arya Hughes from East here tonight. From north we had Ameilia Renoso. I do not believe she could make it. Um we have Ammani
010Felix. Is that correct? I don't know. From South >> we have Massan Harmon from South. Tamir O'Neal, Ezekiel Silva, and Hunter McBride. They were all our South winners. >> From Central, we have Cora Bailey. Yeah, >> she's a bag again. We have Lily Dun from Chipman >> and we have Olivia Synow. And those are our fire prevention and our board holiday card winners for this year. So maybe we get the fire prevention first. Uh hardware slide over just a little bit. >> Nice and tight together. >> All right, you can come on up if you want to take a quick photo. Hold up your paper. Right. Turn it around. >> Good job. >> We can get our Oh, we got one more. >> All right. Just slide down this way. Then our holiday card winners.
011You guys could just slide over a little bit. that >> on behalf of the board and the district. I want to thank you for your work with us because as you mentioned I'm I've been a firefighter with Felford since 1974 and what you do with the kids it's really valuable um we can see it on one end and to have them prepare if something were to happen at home it's it's incredible what you're doing with them so appreciate that um and not to give my age away for the the length of program but I was a first grade winner in 1984 >> and I can say as a parent in the district I'm humbled by it because we bought when we bought our new house and we moved into it we weren't even unpacking yet.
012And my daughter's like, "Dad, how do we get out in the fire? Where's the smoke detectors?" You know, and I'm I'm going, "Whoa, whoa, whoa. We haven't packed yet." But she learned that in the program. And she was already trying to figure out all that stuff. And sometimes as parents, we're so busy. It's good to have that youth voice, you know, being active. >> We appreciate the work you do. Thank you. >> Congratulations to you guys as well. Thank you. Or they could step realize. >> Hey Sorry, we're running out of here. >> That's just my side. >> Mr. It was fine. >> Another one. All right, back to our agenda. Item 2.7, citizens participation. I'll read directly from policy K public concerns and complaints. The citizens participation item on the board agenda is an
013opportunity for interested citizens to speak publicly and address the board. Those who wish to speak publicly, whether in person or online, must complete and submit the public comment information form PCIF by 12 PM on the scheduled board meeting date. The PCI, which is available on the district's website, must be completed in its entirety and submitted to superintendent's office by the scheduled deadline. The citizens participation agenda item is limited to 30 minutes and individual speakers are limited to three minutes per speaker. In the event interested citizens wish to speak on a particular concern in the group, the group should select one individual to speak on the behalf at the discretion of the board president or chair. Speaking time may be limited to two minutes per speaker to allow greater to allow for greater participation. Approved speakers
014will be recognized by the board president or chair in the order in which their names appear only approved. The board values citizens participation and respects the right of all speakers to speak freely. However, all speakers should remain should maintain a level of decency in the forum to ensure a public forum that remains productive and respectful. The public should not expect discussion or responses to any speaker comments at board meeting. We do not have anyone signed up to speak this evening and this will come back again on at our next uh public board meeting. Turning back to our agenda, the report section, section three, first one is item 3.1, finance report. Mr. Kirk Kelvin, welcome Kurt. >> Good evening. Uh for this evening, we do have the financial report as of January 31st. So we're a
015little over halfway into the fiscal year, seven months and 12 for the fiscal year. And uh as far as the budget numbers go, all those have been updated. Those that were updated from the final budget from the last meetings, those have been updated and uh corrected. Uh as far as the state numbers go, really there's not much changed, although we did have some anticipated receipts move over into the received column. You can see that with the division two, all of the costs. So, we've received those funds. Uh, and moving down, really not much change in terms of the local funds. The only thing I would point out with the federal funds is that uh we received $145,000 there in Perkins funds compared to the 103,000 budget. And that's uh roughly about $42,000 in innovation grants
016that we received that Sarah Potter put us in for. Uh so that's good news that we picked up some extra funding there for uh the high school CTE programs. Uh overall we're at 95% of our discretionary funds received which is spot on with where we were last year. Uh 91% for all funds received which is 87% it was where we were at last year at this time. So any questions on the revenue report please? >> Any questions on revenue? >> Uh moving on to the expenditure should be quick also. uh on the first page. The only thing I'll point out is um we do have the final number down near the bottom, third from the bottom, the charter choice enrollment. Uh that 84794, that is our final number for this year. So, uh we came
017in a little bit under budget. Uh most of that was uh due to the fact that we had about 24 less students in charter enrollments than we did last year. So, last year we had a record number out in charter enrollments, but that came down by 24 students this year. So that's good news. That's why we uh have a little bit more favorable of a number there. Uh moving on to page two. Um just overall discretionary funds were at 41% remaining compared to 43% last year. But you can remember several meetings ago we were up as high as 6 or 7% of a difference there. And so we're back down to a 2% uh range difference there. And then uh moving down to the bottom, 44% of all funds uh available remaining compared to 47%
018last year. So any questions on the expenditure side? Any questions for Mr. Government on expenditures? >> Good. Thanks, sir. >> Back to our report section item 3.2 report. Dr. Lucas. >> Good evening, Spartan family. Uh I want to start tonight by celebrating some very special school achievements. Congratulations to Lake Forest South Elementary and Lake Forest Central Elementary Schools who were named Delaware Department of Education recognition schools for their work with special population. So tonight we have principal Kim Marquee. We have principal Dr. Huber and assistant principal Don Dick. So stand up ladies. Congratulations. >> Thanks for being here. And uh so Lake Forest South and Central were two schools of just 15 in the total in the state. So 15 total schools across the state K to5 were recognized and two of them were from
019Lake Forest which is pretty awesome. Big achievement. Uh congratulations to the staff, students and the community of those two great schools. And congrats as well um to uh those of you who are here tonight. Um always great things going on in Lake Forest thanks to the people uh like uh like them. Last I want a special thank you to our custodial staff and bus drivers. As you know, we had a little bit of snow and uh they really had a you know a big literally heavy lift as those of you who got out there and shoveled snow know and uh they did great work for us during the recent uh snow and ice storms and really deserve our gratitude. Speaking of winter, while we're looking at some warmer weather in the short term, February is
020typically um you know, the the snowiest month of the year. So, keep an eye on your phones, keep an eye on social media for any uh alerts to potential delays or closures. We'll be sure to get that information out as soon as we know. Uh as a reminder for the rest of this month, this Sunday is National School Resource Officer Recognition. So tomorrow before our SRO's head home, please give them a thank you for the work that they do. And as a reminder, schools and offices are closed Monday for President's Day. So enjoy your long weekend. As I mentioned at the last meeting, please save the date for our annual Black History Celebration, which is set for February 27th at Lake Forest High School. And uh more details will come out about that event as
021we get a little bit closer. And there's always a lot going on in the district. So, please check our district calendar and our website uh for the latest information. Of course, you can follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram. Um or you can just give us a ring if you'd like to talk to a real person. That's all I have this evening. I yield the floor back to President Ralph and the board for any questions or discussion. Thank you, sir. No questions for Dr. Lucas on the floor. >> Thank you. Back to the reports. Item 3.3. Looks like we have a special evening special programs report. Michelle O. >> Welcome. Thank you. >> Thank you. So, I'm going to talk about our special programs um this year and just kind of give you guys an update
022annual board report um as we start with our overall numbers. So, um we are growing um and all students um and our special numbers also. So um we are remaining at 20 about 20% um special ed. We have in total 763 students and this is broken down by grade level and then also by um their needs based funding. So you can see the prek kids and then we go into basic um intense and complex numbers. Um these numbers look about the same. We are steadily rising um but the breakdown is about the same. Um I do think some of our complex numbers might have moved up a bit. We're really looking at the amount of staff and resources that we are surrounding those kids with and really trying to um create that support all around
023those kids. So go to next slide. So, with the growing number of our special ed kids, we have hired some more um related service people. So, we've expanded. I I did kind of a comparison of um what we had last year versus this year. So, we've moved up from seven to nine special ed coordinators. We have two schools in the district who have over 200 kids on um a coordinator's case load. And so, um one of my goals is to try and support um when they hit 200 with some some more um help in that area. So, um, we'll look at continuing to expand there. Um, we were able to, um, hire an additional school psych. We have some additional speech language language pathologists and we were able to, we have a new, um, SLPA
024starting next week that we're really excited about. So, we're expanding that program. Um, our OT's and KODS were at five there um, in total. Same with our PT. Um, we remain at two. And then our behavioral health, our social workers, we had four last year and we moved down to three because we repurposed one into a transition specialist. And so that transition specialist is working really closely with our um mostly our high school um seating and life skills students and getting them out in the community and doing some work-based learning experiences. We had um uh some students at the high school working at ACE hardware and doing an internship there. just really gaining amazing work experiences. So, um they also are starting an internship um in a couple of weeks at the casino um in
025a lot of different areas. So, security and maintenance and so we're really excited about that. And then we still have our two autism itinerant teachers. >> This is our external and alternative placements. Um, we have 52 students um, currently who are outside the district. Um, I just kind of wanted to I I didn't put a comparison of last year up here, but I wanted to kind of um, explain that the first three, the the capital KCCS capital Secondary ILC and the Caesar Rodney Elementary um, those numbers have been reduced. Um, and we're working on continuing to reduce those numbers. So we've been able to establish some indist programs so that we can keep our students here and that we can work with them and try and get them back into a lesser restrictive environment as
026quickly as possible. The u remaining schools are kind of more of a permanent um placement um or more permanent and so those numbers haven't really changed much. We did add at the end um at the bottom there we have a new school Martin Luther school who was newly certified through our ICT process. um the ones that say ICT 30%. Those are the ones that um I do an application for our um uh ICT team at the state who then reviews the application and reviews all the things that we've worked with with that student and then they approve if they will support um their placement by reimbursing us 70% of that tuition. So the numbers that I put there are the 30% that um we pay after we've been reimbursed the 70%. And uh this year
027100% of our kids who are in those outside placements have been approved through ICT. So we're receiving all of those funds back. So that's a that's really good for us. Um our total students with 504s remain about the same. Um I think we're at like 206 last year, so we are about the same. Um the 504 process is um a little bit different than IEPs because it does fall under the ADA. So um whereas um special ed students and IEPs you have to have an adverse academic impact. So whatever the disability is it has to adversely um impact their academics. Um 504s it's a impact on a substantial major life activity. So, it's it could be a physical or um um any type of of disability that could prevent um having equal access um navigating
028a building or a classroom or academics. Um and our school counselors will receive 504s in each building. We update those yearly. um we do look at um eligibility, we create the plan, we implement and then we review it annually and we go through that cycle every single year um to update. Um, I did want to point out that this year we do have two students in the district um on both an IEP and a 504, which is a rare occurrence, but something like that would happen when um I put SLI in there because um if a student has uh like a speech language impairment and could be on a an IEP for speech only um and then maybe has another disability that could affect them um maneuvering a building. Um, our hope is that once
029they overcome their speech disability, which you know the speech only IEPs, we really hope to move students off of, then that would that student would only remain on the 504. So, um, we also get funding for students with an IEP where we don't with the students with a 504. So, um, that's a little bit of a change for this year, but we really try to separate those two out. And in our MLL program, we remain around 4%. Um, this year we have 158 students. Um, our K to3 um, as you know, are all um, housed and consolidated over at East Elementary School. Um, we have four, um, MLL teachers. I'm really thankful for that because our numbers are really small. As you can see, across the state, they average about 10% and we're at 4%.
030So, we are we are still quite small, but our numbers have been growing. So, I gave you some numbers over the years. In 2024, we had 120 and then we went to 141 and now we're at 158. So, we're steadily growing, but we aren't seeing the same rate of growth as other districts are. Um, however, we are well staffed and ready so that if we do continue to grow, we have the teachers in place and the programs in place. And then that's all the different languages that our students in our district speak, which I think is so fascinating. Yeah. >> But just a quick question. Do we have data yet? Or if they're in MLL starting in elementary school, >> do they stay in it all the way through or are there some that get
031out of it or >> super good question. So we have to uh test them every single year. Right now is our testing window for the Weda Access tests. So we test every single student every single year and then as they grow their scores um once they hit a proficiency score then we do get the opportunity to exit them out um from that test. I do kind of have to acknowledge that that test is really difficult. It's there's four parts to it. There's a reading, a listening, a speaking, and a writing. And it's hard because it's students in real time hearing in one language and having you know to try and translate and respond in English. So um it is a difficult test. Um but we are seeing their scores grow. It's at a one to
032six scale. So there's small growth, but our goal is to that's one of the reasons why we wanted to like get them all together so that we could really focus on getting them the skills that they need. Um and then you can kind of see those numbers, you know, change as they get to central and then uh they do tend to taper off as >> um do we try to transition them like for um different maybe like gyms and things like that so that they are getting you know do we do that just like what we would do with special education students and stuff too. >> Yeah. So our MLL students are fully integrated. They we don't have any separate ML classes. Okay. they are all spread out amongst peers um in their schools. So
033we don't separate them at all. So it is really nice because they are constantly being exposed um to that language. So um and then you can see like it's not all one language. There are quite a few of them. So, it's it's it's kind of cool seeing them all together sharing, you know, not only their home language, but then also they're learning um English together. >> So, just some updates of our projects that we've been working on. We are currently in um a Department of Education 5-year federal audit cycle. So because um IDEIDA funds come from the federal government, we every 5 years are audited. Um the fiscal part is one of those of one of those audits. Um we go through an in-person um file audit for all IEPs where they come through um
03420% of every school's um uh students, special ed students, and they look through hard files to make sure that we are following all the rules. um they do an in-person uh audit um for autism. So they visited our classrooms where we have um students with autism present and they spoke with the students, they speak with the families and they interviewed the teachers um and then use a rubric to kind of tell us where we are in that rubric. Um they do a preschool program audit as well and then our needs-based funding audit where they um look at maybe an intense or a complex student and they'll observe them in their environment to see if they're accessing all the resources that we're providing them. So we're in the middle of that. Um we've just received some
035of our feedback um from the in-person IEP audit. Um and so tomorrow we are um meeting as a team to go over those results um and kind of drive some some decisions about how we're going to um there's there are a couple of places where we can um like best practice suggestions where we're going to continue to improve our program. Um we're starting vertical articulation. So, we're having every single school that is moving on to the next school, that grade level, meet with the receiving school, to talk about our most like our intense and complex kids so that we can prepare for how we can support them in their next placement. Um, so we're starting those conversations in March and um we have our related service um people attending some conferences. So, our um SLPs
036went to the ASHA conference in November. our school sites will be attending NASP in Chicago in February. Um our council for exceptional children um will be for our um coordinators and then the occupational therapy association they're going in April. Um, this has been really nice for them because they when we have district PDs, we focus a lot on academics and curriculum and they're kind of the odd ones out and so it's really important that they're getting continuous um ongoing PD not only to keep their license current but license current but their um department of um their DOE deed certification their conferences count as those hours for their um licenses. So, so that's been good for them. Next slide. Um, we are running our parent advisory committee. So, we had a related services night um on
037January 21st. Um, and then we're going to do two more, a parent info night and then a family night. Um, and then our high roads in districts are still running up and running. So, um, we have them going at North and at Chipman and that's been going great as well. Um, we partnered with the University of Delaware IEP project and our special education leadership team. We are in our third year of that professional development where we're really digging into making sure we're writing data driven and standards based IEPs. And then we're still working with um KSI and we're gonna run Camp Lenopy again this summer for our um 12-month special ed kids. Uh I think I have one more slide. Our celebrations. I also wanted to recognize um South and Central Elementary for um um
038being recognized for their um special population. And then our we have three Special Olympics recognition schools. Um Central and South are both national recognition schools. And then WT Chipman is a state recognition school. So that's exciting. Um again, we're in I'm going to put year two, but we're actually year three for um oh no, this is year two for Delaware um University of Delaware coaching. So we have University of Delaware Center for Disability Studies coming in and working specifically with our TAM um special ed teachers at Chipman. And this is through our TSI grant so that they can really work on ensuring that those students are getting the rigor that they need in the classrooms and um the extra support that they need so that we can raise the test scores in for special ed.
039And then um I am excited that um this year for the council for exceptional children conference, you can go to the next slide. Um we actually are presenting. So this is our our like were published in their in their uh catalog of um being able to attend a conference session. So Megan Hicks, Ashley Crawford, and Joe Holland um together worked to create a presentation. They sent it in. Um they were um approved and chosen to be a presenter at a national conference. So I'm really excited about that as well. >> And where is that conference location? >> It's in Salt Lake City. >> Yeah. So, we're super excited about that. Um, and it's about um You're good. It's about um uh embedding inclusive practices. And so, we're really proud of how we've really focused on
040um inclusive practices across our our district and that's been our big focus. And we've been asked to speak a couple times at the state level and so I encourage them to, you know, do it at the national level. So, >> you need for a board member to go as well. >> Come on. That would be fun. And then this last slide is just some fun pictures. We have our unified basketball team, our botchi team um down underneath there. And then this is when um South got their banner. And then Ashley Crawford and I were featured in the University of Delaware Center for Disabilities calendar this past year for December. So that was kind of fun. Never been a calendar girl before, so that's fun. >> You have any questions? Any questions with her update on
041special programs? >> I do. >> Um, a couple questions. High roads, can you remind me like is that only open to Lake Forest students or can we accept students from other districts into the high roads program here? >> It is only open for Lake Forest students. Yeah, we um we fund that through our unit count. So we take um the cuz we utilize it with our most complex kids. So um we take the total number of students so like nine for example and then we can cash those in and get three like three teaching units cash in and then use that to pay for um the program. So because of that we rely on our units. Um, I think we're trying to move away from utilizing and um other district programs. We're kind of finding
042that um we can do it um just as well or better. And so I'm all about like keeping them here where I know the quality that they're getting. >> Yeah. >> Um I start question. I know this probably isn't a simple and direct answer, but I'm curious to know um how do you um separate the case loads at each school? What does that process look like? Like determining like how many case loads a certain teacher gets, >> you know? I don't do that. That is up to the building administrator. Yeah. And so their team kind of looks at the number of special ed students that they have or special ed uh teachers who are certified. They really have to kind of get creative because um especially with uh the changes to certification for special education
043teachers. Delaware has made it more difficult to be certified in special ed, which is a blessing and a curse because we needed we need good teachers and we want them to have good training, but it's harder and so fewer people are getting the certification. So, they have to look at who has the certification because they have to have the certification in order to have a case load. And then um the admin kind of divided up trying to keep it as um equal as possible but also taking consideration if they have like a TAM teacher if there's two teachers in the class or if they are single person with a dual certification trying to make sure that those numbers are lower if there's one person. Um but yeah, we we really leave that up to the
044schools to um formulate how they want to do that. And I do have to say it does look different in different buildings. >> Um I just had a question about the PK numbers the we're include are we just including the prek that's that like northern stuff or are we including deck? >> That includes all the prek kids who have an IEP. >> So it would be >> all across the district. Yeah. They aren't necessarily all our students, right? Like they may we we do we lose some once they go to kindergarten because if they have an IEP at at deck, they could technically be a Woodbridge. >> Um not these numbers. So they do run ECAP programs. Um and that is a separate grant funded program. So those are Yeah, those aren't reported. and and
045we really try to make sure that every kid with an IEP is reported under our numbers because they've start the state has started to give us um units for preschool. We hadn't gotten them up until I think like two years ago. So, we really make sure that all those IEPs are in place so that we could get the credit for that so that we can staff deck and then our classrooms in all of our extension schools. Um, but none of the kids from ECAP or from any of those other programs are counted in those numbers. >> Okay. >> Because yeah, I have 41 on there, but they have way more students than that and they're building. >> Okay. >> Questions. >> Uh, two. First question. Um, I saw the numbers on um percentages for Delaware
046and nationally. Is that a national standard or just I don't I mean along with this but is that the same standard or does Delaware have a different metric for determining special education versus other states? I think I know the answer but >> yeah so we are the fourth highest in the nation. So we follow New Jersey, Pennsylvania, New York and then we're fourth highest. So >> from a a percentage standpoint >> or for a percentage okay standpoint >> I guess you phrase my collection. How do we determine that? Is that the same standard that those states are using versus other states as well or is it a different standard? Are the standards state based or they federal based? >> So we do follow the federal regulations in determining how a student qualifies for an AP
047and all the states have to follow this the federal reg regulations. Delaware does implement state regulations that go above and beyond >> okay >> um the federal regulations. And so um are you asking about how we like initially identify? >> Well, so well not necessarily that I was just curious as to our our percentage was higher than the national level. I was just curious if it was because the standard was in Delaware and I didn't know this was a state driven standard that necessarily if it could be the same students but Delaware standards higher so that because they're in Delaware our our percentage is higher or if it actually is just a you know just the way the way they're going to respond. >> I do feel like we have higher standards in Delaware but
048I feel like it's after you receive an IEP um we have higher standards for some of the supports that we're required to put in place for them. making that determination. It's just across the board federal standard. >> Yes. >> All right. Then the last question. Um you mentioned Ace Hardware and the casino. Is that how did that partnership or that relationship come to data? Which is great. >> Yeah. I have to give the credit to Thaad Frost and Joe Holland. Um they've really been working. So So um one of the data points that I I haven't touched on is that um we haven't really had a need for an 18 to 22 program. So in Delaware, students can stay enrolled up until age 22. Um, and we really tried to search for students in that
049program who we want to prepare for work um, and being able to um, be independent out in the community. And so we can give them some extra time between 18 to 22 to prepare for their independence. Um, and kind of for the first time, we're starting to get those kids wanting to stay and take advantage of that. So, next year we're going to have about 5 to seven kids who will be um staying for our 18 to 2022 program and then the year after that we will be up to about 12 students who um will be moving into that. So those students will um potentially walk in graduation, not receive their diploma, and then they'll come back and then um so we're really trying to prepare them for we're working with like the older kids
050that are going to get ready to go into that program. Um uh THAD did a lot of work with our outside agencies um to form partnerships um KSI's been a really great partner um um and a lot of our community organizations. So, it's really just kind of grassroots calling people and saying, you know, will you help us out? And we just are lucky to live in a community that's been very open to >> Yeah. Well, I applaud would applaud those groups that do that because it's a a needed um resource. So, so unless we have any other questions, we appreciate the work that you and your department do and uh talk to you in the future. Thank you. >> Thanks. Thanks for all your support. >> Back to our agenda. Item four, discussion items 4.1,
051the school calendar for 26 27th and I know it's considered Dr. Lupus. Actually, Dr. Cooper is going to lead us on this one. >> So, tonight um we're sharing the draft calendars. This is a little earlier in the process than it normally comes through the board because uh in looking at the uh calendar for next year, we realized that we were in a little bit of a unique situation. Um we first started by working on the draft calendar number one which really mirrors uh the traditional last few years calendar with an after Labor Day start. Um we did notice that with the holiday winter break holiday. In the past few years we've had two full weeks because of the way the holiday fell which doesn't necessarily happen that way. Um this year um and so
052because of uh we noticed there was a very late Labor Day as well. Labor Day isn't until September 7th. So after sort of putting this together, we worked on a second calendar draft just to see um what that would look like and we made a calendar draft too with a before Labor Day start um again and kind of move some of the dates around to see how that would fit in with winter break and spring break with where the marking periods would fall. Um at this point we um met as a calendar committee on January 15th. So both drafts were shared um at that time and some initial feedback was given during that meeting and then we sent some surveys out to the staff and to the community as well to gain some feedback from
053them which is what I wanted to share with you tonight um before we head back into our second calendar committee um next week on the 17th. Um so what we've heard uh from the community and from our staff um is a little bit different. Uh we got some community feedback which ends uh this week on Friday. our survey ends. Uh we are almost split 50/50 with uh you know a preference on starting before Labor Day versus after Labor Day. Um it's almost dead even right now when um when you look at uh the feedback that we've gotten from them. Um they did share uh in some of the comments they really enjoy the full week for Thanksgiving because a lot of them travel um some people commented on Christmas break that they really enjoy that
054uh full two weeks whereas others um commented like the earlier summer. So, you know, like anytime you solicit feedback, there is, you know, a variety of feedback that's never the same. Um, our staff was more of a 7030 split. So, about 70% of our staff prefer before Labor Day start whereas about 30% um preferred the traditional after Labor Day start as well. Um, so we are continuing to move through with feedback. Um, another point on the staff survey had to do with winter break. Um, and we were again almost at a exact 50/50 split on whether the staff would like two full weeks versus having a couple of days and then ending the year a bit earlier. Um, so I wanted to share this with you tonight and with both drafts um to get any
055feedback that you had. uh we will reconvene as a calendar committee for our second meeting on February 17th where we'll take some of this feedback um that we received and a lot of it from the staff in particular is about certain um dates you know different work groups who would prefer different you know dates be moved around a bit so we have a lot of work to do this is by no means final uh we'll be taking all of that back um and definitely reddrafting this um before it comes back to you with a final recommendation um but wanted to share where we were in the process and what This is looking like for next year as of right now. >> Any questions for Dr. Cooper? This is McCloskey. >> Just a quick one. I
056remember when the state was talking about making everybody do after Labor Day start. Did that ever not Did that just not happen? Like they just talked about it and no one ever really like made it like did they act like they were going to make you do it and then >> just making I remember it was like oh it's coming down the pipe. Yeah. And so when we did try to find I know in the past when calendars been a little later we would pull other districts calendar. So the at our very first meeting January 15th no other district had published any drafts at that point. So we have seen a couple other calendars pop up. So we can bring that back to the calendar committee. Um especially I know the two weeks at the
057winter break is really a hot topic right now with families and with the staff. So that's certainly something we'll be discussing as well. So to that point, as I look at both of these, neither have a full two week break. >> It's two days off, excuse me, two days in school, three days off, then the following week off, and then a Monday off. But so technically, it's still not a full two weeks as I read it correct. Is that >> Yeah. So when we did both drafts, >> Okay. So then >> we didn't make it that way. Yes. >> Okay. So then just to make sure I understand, is there potential for a third draft to come back with full two weeks or or no? Um, so that's sort of what we wanted to solicit
058the feedback for was to see if it would be feasible. Um, and we have, like I said, it was almost a 50-50 split as to whether that would be something that we wanted. But we did hear from the staff, uh, in regards to that inservice day that falls after winter break. That was something that a lot of people responded favorably to on the survey, which was sort of, I think, a give and take with having those two days before um, with students was putting that inservice day as a day to prepare when they came back. Um, so it wasn't necessarily off of the table, but I think we drafted it in a way to get as much student time in as possible. Um, especially when you consider the end putting two student days at the
059end of the school year isn't nearly as impactful as putting them in December when they could actually be doing work and no state testing yet. You know, that that was really what we were thinking when we were drafting these calendars. >> I will tell you as I started to review these, I was not expecting the final student date to be one day apart. So, I've >> thought that was great. I'm surprised that more of the community is not, you know, on board with that starting later and finishing only a day different than >> if we were to start um before. >> One of the other questions that I had and I don't again I want to make sure that I'm on the same page and I'm assuming um other community members that have kids may
060have had this question. Well, as I look through these um all the report cards on Fridays, but with the um and this could be a refresher for You guys may not realize what our uh guideline is with that. Some of the uh in one option the market period ends and report card comes out two or three days later. Believe that was in November and then on another one the market period ends and it's like a twoe lapse before the the report card comes out. Um, can you just comment on that just so everyone is is familiar with whatever that either the driving force is or what the the thought process behind that? >> For some of those, we try to group that contractually, our staff gets that half day or full day work time after
061the marking period ends to work on grades. So, for some of those, especially the months that um there are more days off, they're more scattered days off. We did try to cluster some of those to make it a little bit more cohesive for families. So, there wasn't so much sporadic time off. So, that could be what accounted for that. And I will say it's a lot easier now because people have the ability to look at grades online. They can go look at them. So it's probably not as big of a sticking point as it would have been 10, 15, 20 years ago. Um but still I imagine there are still going to be um some people that if we went with that calendar and it stayed with those parameters, there are going to be people
062that parents that are five, six, seven days in, they're like, "Where's my students report card? Mark period ended a week ago." So those are the types of questions that we're going to feel. So, if we went with that one, if there's a way that we could make that date move forward some, I would be more uh open to something like that because I I can already anticipate phone calls of unhappy parents because it's been seven days. They still haven't reported yet. So, so any other questions for any board members on >> one question about like being off January 4th, can you give a little more concept around that? I guess I think about from a family perspective like the norm is to come back that Monday after the holidays. So you know if people are
063planning or just like I mean I can't think of any time that we haven't come back. So like having the inservice there versus having it you know on the 22nd maybe you are getting closer to that two weeks and maybe there's a great reason for that. Just trying to get a better understanding of why. So, this is something that actually came to calendar committee last year. Um, when we were drafting this current year's calendar, uh, some of the school districts were putting that extra day as like a day back for the staff to prepare before students came back. Um, ultimately that didn't make it into our calendar for this current year because there were two full weeks off. So, we didn't want to add another day at that time. Um, but it was something that
064was discussed then and then um, of course again this year because it has been seen in other calendars. Just real quick, >> I would almost just be curious and we probably don't even I mean we'd have to go back to the data but because we've had two weeks off for multiple years now, right? I mean it feels like >> and I almost wonder what attendance would be like either way because right close to the break I mean when you have those two days before a lot of the kids are like it's not academic days, it's makeup days, we don't need to go where I used to go because that was the fun days. Now it's like, oh no, I have to have my bed. So, um, like that would be interesting to me to know
065because like if you have those two weeks and you have like pretty much good attendance at school that whole week before, then that's great. If you have like nobody coming to school those two days, like that is actually something that we discussed at our first calendar committee was whether we would have people who traveled or whether students would be able to make it. Um, one of the uh, teachers who attended suggested that a lot of times our live celebrations around that time and so if the week ended on Friday, some of the that time would be taken up at the end of the week. Whereas perhaps we could instructionally go all the way through Friday and put some of those more fun activities that we'll already be planning to do on those two days um,
066you know, with a thought that if someone was traveling or they weren't able to attend, then that's what they'd be missing versus the instructional time um, the full week before. I said, "Mr. um the difference in the calendarers, there's a little bit about when report cards come out versus when parent teacher conferences are and just curious on the thought process for the staff of you know as a staff member with a teacher of wanting parent teacher conferences prior to a report card instead of after. So we actually that was part of our survey to the staff and our staff overwhelmingly um voted to have parent teacher conferences after a report card. So that was what they were able to share. Um they are different on the two different drafts. Like I said, some of it
067was to sort of um finagle those days together. So there was, you know, more continuous time and less sporadic time. Um but we did want to seek feedback on that to see if that was something that would even be feasible. So that's something that the staff definitely shared with us if they would like that afterwards. >> Okay. >> Great. So uh from this point, when can we expect it to come back again for further discussion? So, we'll meet again um for our second calendar committee next week for on February 17th. Uh we'll be taking all of this feedback and working together to hopefully come up with a draft that we can bring back to the board in March. >> I I will just say that um the general feeling historically of the board over the
068past year, now again, the board is not the same as it has been. Mr. Dempsey is not here, but in general, as we've shifted to the after Labor Day concept, that's just from a parental standpoint, everyone kind of expects it to be that. So I don't want to speak for the rest of the board, but that's historic. That's kind of how the discussion we've had in the past. So I hope that's work. So >> thanks for your work on this. Appreciate it. Any other questions before we move on? All right. Thank you. Moving into our agenda. Back to our agenda item six policies. This is the discussion policies first reading. These should be city fixes but majority of them had recommended no changes in them. All right. First one policy GA personnel go personnel goals
069priority objectives. Questions comments GB EVC gifts to and solicitations by staff questions and comments. GBG staff welfare/p protection. GBGA staff health. GCA certified staff relations. GCB certified staff contracts and compensation. GCB certified staff fringe benefits. GCE, certified staff recruiting. >> Sorry. >> Uh GCF, certified staff hiring. >> GCG, substitute staff and film. And last one, we've had one minor typographical change. GCH, certified staff orientation and training. between children this evening. Our agenda is now section 8 to make a motion we approve the personnel report as presented. Second motion and a second on the floor to approve the personnel report. Any questions on the motion? Hearing none, I'll call for a vote. All those in favor? >> I opposed abstensions. Motion carries 5. Section 10 other none other business and make a motion we approve resolution
07010.1 school choice as presented. Second >> the motion is second to approve resolution 10.1 school of choice as written. Any questions on the motion? Hearing none I'll call for a vote. All those in favor? I >> opposed. Extensions. Motion carries 50. >> Section 11. Other business. I make a motion we approve 11.1 field trips. Second. >> Have a motion and a second on the floor to approve resolution 11.1 field trips. Any question on that motion? Hearing none. I'll call for a vote. All those in favor? I opposed. Abstensions. Motion carries. 5-0. >> Section 12, other business financial reports. I make a motion we resolution 12.1 financial report as presented. >> Second. >> Have a motion and a second on the floor to approve this evening's uh financial report as presented. Any questions on the motion?
071Hearing none, I'll call for a vote. All those in favor? I opposed. Abstensions. Motion carries. Five zing. >> Section 13. This is board policies. and make a motion we approve the board policy's first reading as modified during discussion. >> Second. >> A motion on the floor and a second to approve resolution 13.1 board policies as modified during discussion. Any questions on that motion? Hearing none. I'll call for a vote. All those in favor I opposed abstensions. Motion carries 5. Thank you Mrs. Starky. Thank you. And turning to section 14, board reports, discussion, and concerns. Item 14.1 view the order. This is an opportunity for board members to bring up any topic that was not on our agenda this evening. Have two things which is my reminder that it is school board election season. The final
072day to file for election is Friday is the first Friday in March. This year it's Friday, March 6th. Wake Force has two four fouryear seats. available. Um, to qualify, you must be a citizen of the United States, a district resident, and you must be 18 years of age. And as of a check of today's county website, we have two candidates who have filed. That is Mrs. Amber and Dr. Betty Wyatt. And our next board meeting will be on Thursday, February 26th, and that is a travel. We will be at East Elementary. And turning back to our agenda, I do see DSVA on your 14.2. Correct. >> Uh it's been a while since we we met, so forgive me. But a couple things I did want to bring up. One, um April 11th is the um
073we'll be at the convention, but they're doing the Delaware dinner that night at 6. I don't know that we have a location yet, but I'm sure that will come out. Um, and then if you remember in the fall they did a DSBA like event um for like some professional development for board members and they are talking about doing that again this spring. Um I did not go in the fall but I did hear like it was pretty well done. So hopefully um again there's no date. I don't have any details like that but um hopefully we can look forward to that. I think it's good for us because I think it's difficult as board members like there's not really professional development for us and we are often learning on the go and you know sometimes
074we get to meet with other board members from other districts that you know that we can partner with but it's it's a great opportunity for us to grow. >> Any questions for Mrs. Start in her point. >> All right. 14.3 um legislative committee. Director Wyatt. >> Uh yes, we met last Tuesday and ironically most of the bills that were waiting the governor's signatures have been signed and there were really only two uh new pieces of legislation that the legislative committee supported. Um, one was requiring the Department of Education to um keep the personnel records not only of uh public schools but also charter schools. So, we did support that. And then um some more legislation has been introduced about equalization. So, I'm sure Dr. Lucas will have more on that. >> Wyatt, any questions for
075Dr. Wyatt on legislative committee. >> I did have one other thing under good of the order. I don't remember mentioning this last meeting but um if I did I apologize but um Mrs. Starky and I met with Dr. Meyers from Cape Loopin. We mentioned we were going to be meeting with her to discuss um their the process that she's developed for um evaluation of the superintendent and she's given us some information on that and we will be putting that together to start with. we figure it's too late in the year to implement that now. But that will be a process and we'll be starting next year. So um whether it's the July meeting or at some point we'll be having an overall conversation so that Lucas that you're aware of what we're looking to do
076and um you know it's the information she shared is similar to what we've kind of done in the past when we have done it. Um but we'll present all that to you and then we can work with you. So but she she was very we appreciate her time coming up here meeting with us and presenting the information to us. Uh, as I mentioned, our next meeting is um in two weeks at East and unless there are any other questions or comments. Uh, I will say I I believe there is a need for a brief uh executive session for her agree available to stick around for a few minutes and Dr. Cooper um won't be very long. Just want to wrap up a couple things we talked about in the first executive session. We'll get you
077guys out of otherwise I will entertain a motion to address or >> excuse me correct myself. I will entertain a motion for executive session. with a motion and a second to uh enter executive session. Any questions on my motion? Hearing none. I'll call for a vote. All in favor? I opposed. Motion carries 5. Thank you everyone. Safe travels.