001Good evening. >> Good evening. >> So good to see people out here today. Thank you so much for coming to our Tuesday, September 2nd, 2025 regular meeting of the Savannah Cadam County Board of Education. We are so glad you're here today. Um I will first ask if the the uh meeting was advertised and it was. Um, I will now ask everyone to please stand for our pledge of allegiance. >> I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. I'll now accept a motion to approve the agenda. >> I would like to move that we approve the agenda as posted or amended. >> Okay. Been moved and seconded. All in favor? Thank you. Okay.
002Uh, announcements. >> Okay. Here are our announcements for today. The professional s Senate who will meet with our board members. Thursday, September 18th at Windsor Forest High School uh from 4:15 to 5:15 and uh and that is at 12:15 Largo Drive. Our superintendent board retreat is Tuesday. Hang on that. Yes. Tuesday and Wednesday uh of uh September 23rd and 24th and it will be at the new campus police annex uh at the DEH complex. And finally, our teacher of the year flag raising will be September 20 uh Thursday, September 25th at Southwest Elementary School at 1000 a.m. Now we have remembrances. None. >> Okay. >> Yeah. And now for our superintendent report. very I am very excited uh on this September second day of the month to be highlighting our August student of the month.
003Um the September the August student of the month is a fifth grader at White Bluff Elementary School. She has surpassed typical IR growth in both reading and math and this student has earned honor role for the past two years. She has also earned the science achievement award last school year. She is an active member of her church community and she helps at community events with her family. This young scholar is a role model for other students, says Renee Rabbit, who nominated her. She always does the right thing, even if others don't. She volunteers to help fellow classmates with anything that they may need. She is honest and hardworking and strives to better herself each and every day. When asked what motivates her to strive for academic success, our student of the month says, "My mom
004and dad want me to get good grades and high honor role because of the job I'd like to have as an adult. My desire is to be a marine biologist. Please help me congratulate Miss Nora Zagler who I believe is sick today >> but is here represented by various individuals including her principal and her nominator Miss Moore. Um, the student of the month uh for August will be taking home several gifts from our sponsors including Members First Credit Union, Advertising Specialties, Georgia Southern University, Gulfream, and Savannah Schools Federal Credit Union. In addition, Nora and her ELA class will receive copies of her favorite book donated by our sponsor, E Shaver Book Seller. Again, congratulations to Nora. If her family members are here, please stand. >> Come up. >> And we would love for her to
005for you to come up. Her nominator and her school principal. >> Thank you on behalf of Nora. >> Thank you so much. >> Thank you on behalf of Nora. >> Make a big fuss at school. >> I will. She deserves it. Thank you. Thank you. >> We wish our student of the month a very speedy recovery and thank you so much for all that you are doing to cultivate her talents. Um and we look forward to all the great things that that Norah will do in the future. Um I will move on to our calls for applause and would like to start by saying congratulations to Mr. Michael Pendigraph, who I understand his father is here in the audience with us. Is that true? We'd love for him to stand. >> Father and Mr. Pendigraph
006are in the audience with us. So, um, [Applause] >> Mr. Pendigraph was named a finalist for the 2025 garage star by school transportation news. He was nominated by GL Gleman English. Our 80 maintenance professionals over 80 maintenance professionals were nominated. Making it to the finals is really a big deal and it is special. Just like Mr. Pendigraph's journey with the Savannah Cadam County Public School System which began over 27 years ago as he followed in the footsteps of his father. His day starts early 3:30 in the morning and often stretches until well after 8:00 p.m. in the evening when the last bus rolls into the yard. When he is not working, Mr. Mr. Piggraph enjoys reading and cherishing moments with his wife, his children, and grandchildren. Mr. Piggraph offered this advice for anyone considering a
007career as a school bus bus fleet mechanic. This profession allows you to make a significant impact. You witness the fruits of your labor over the years, contributing to the development and safety of the next generation, which is both rewarding and fulfilling. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you to Mr. Pendigraph. Please come forward for special recognition and a handshake from our board members. [Applause] Congratulations [Applause] great example of excellence and leadership in our school district and service. I would like to also offer congratulations to Mr. Watson. Ramon Watson, a third grade teacher at New Hamstead K8. This summer, Mr. Watson was selected to participate in the Georgia Department of Education's Teacher Policy Fellowship. This prestigious 9-month professional learning program immerses 21 classroom teachers across Georgia in the world of public education, policy, and policymaking. During the
008fellowship, Mr. Watson participated in SE sessions on legislative processes, education budgeting and advocacy techniques. He also traveled to Washington DC where he met with members of the US Department of Education, Senators John Oaf and Raphael Waro and other elected officials. He also took part in advocacy day at the Georgia state capital and helped launch the teach in the peach initiative aimed at boosting teacher recruitment across the state. Please help me congratulate Mr. Watson and invite him to the horseshoe for his special recognition. [Applause] Thank you. >> Congratulations. >> Thank you. Thank you, ma'am. >> Congratulations is extended to Tabby Island Maritime Academy, better known as Teima, and Executive Director Peter Olrich. Teima has been named a school of distin distinction by the association for middle level education. Teima is one of only 24 schools nationwide
009recognized this year. The school of distinction award honors exemplary middle schools for their outstanding commitments to adolescent education and continuous improvement. These schools set a powerful standard for middle grades best practices, inspiring educators worldwide. Each school underwent a rigorous evaluation to demonstrate their active implementation of middle grades best practices and continuing continuous improvement plans supported by stakeholder interviews with staff, students, and families. The 2025 schools of distinction will be recognized and present their practices at the annual conference for middle level education in Indianapolis, Indiana this November. We are very proud of the entire team at Teima. Please come forward if you are here today. If we have representation from Teima, >> I believe the school principal from Tai Island Maritime Academy is with us today. >> Mr. Olrich could not be here. Thank you. >>
010Thank you. >> This is First class. >> First class. >> Again, congratulations to Teima. Georgia Southern University and the College Football Playoff Foundation have awarded five Savannah Chattam County Public School System teachers extra yard for teachers grants. Congratulations to Gabrielle Brundage, Meyers Middle School, Walter Crump, New Hamstead High School, Matthew Peek, Hubert High School, Janae Robo, Gould Elementary School, and Steven Smith, Butler Elementary School. Each will receive a $500 grant to implement a project for their students. As part of the celebration, each teacher will also be recognized at GSU's versus Maine football game on September the 20th. We are grateful to Georgia Southern University for their support of our teachers and proud, very proud of our teachers for their dedication and hard work. And finally, kudos to the Savannah Arts Academy. Seven student produced films
011from Savannah Arts have been selected for the 13th annual All-American High School Film Festival, the largest high school film festival in the entire world. These films were selected by a panel of industry judges from among thousands of submissions from around the world. They will be screened before a live audience during the competition weekend of October 17th through the 19th at the AMC theater in Times Square. You can see all of the student films on our website. Congratulations to our student cinematographers. Job well done. And with that said, I'd like to pass the agenda over to our professional senate members for their report. Good evening. You received my report in advance, so I will just touch on a few highlights from our meeting on August 21st. We discussed the idea of exploring programs to successfully incentivize
012attendance. A need for literacy support in the upper grades was expressed to address students with deficits in foundational reading skills. Safety concerns surrounding building access and staff training and the need for social emotional learning curriculum. Our next Senate meeting will be held on Thursday, September 18th, and we are looking forward to working with all the members of the board at that meeting. Thank you. Uh, I have one one more announcement before we move on. I would like I very pleased to announce after our nationwide search, we have a new chief technology officer, Mr. Julian Robinson. Mr. Robinson, you stand. Yes. Come on up. Yes. Come on. Yes. Absolutely. >> Julian comes to us from Kansas City and his wife is here as well. Please stand. >> Y'all come up. Come on up. Come on up.
013You got to meet us. [Applause] All right. [Laughter] >> Glad to be here. Thank you so much. >> Welcome. >> Glad to be here. >> Welcome to Congratulations. >> Thank you so much. >> Thank you. >> Yeah, >> I knew it. I knew it. >> I need a player. >> Okay. Reverend Smith is up here recruiting church musicians. Okay. All right. Uh, Mr. Higer. >> Thank you, sir. And other matters of the board, we have a few policies for the board's review under your board matters section of this evening's agenda. Item 6.01. This is board policy IFBG, internet acceptable use. This comes to the board particularly in play with uh recent legislation uh that you'll be familiar with called protecting Georgia's children act from social media. Much of this as far as it relates to
014public schools uh creates a requirement for an acceptable use policy. Of course, the board is very much aware that we've had an acceptable use policy in play here in our district for a number of years. There are a few components though that we did need to add and we did put them in the administrative regulation portion of this policy. So we're bringing this just as a review of the board. No changes to policy. The additions to the regulation just stipulate those components that we have out there as our catchall, as our protector of the school district uh in how we filter uh electronic use when students are using our systems. So, you'll see that this has been added to the regulation and we are presenting it now for the board's review. >> All right. >>
015This kind of ties into the the no phone internet usable devices. This this doesn't need to be fixed right now. But do understand that iPods, the thing of the past, are now becoming a new hot thing again because schools have outlawed phones and students want their music. So, so just be prepared that that is the next thing we'll have to determine is they are going back to technology that does not have the ability to access the internet and is not a phone so that they can have >> their digital music. Kids are innovators. >> Oh yeah, they are. >> They will figure it out. >> Continue. >> Very good. Thank you, sir. Moving along. We do have another item for your review. Item 6.02. This is a first read. So, there were revisions to this
016policy. It'll come back to the board for a second read adoption during the October board meeting. This is board policy IDFA and this is gender equity in sports. This comes to you as a midperiod review because of changes in the general assembly and frankly national legislation that you're familiar with under the Riley Gaines Act. The key components on this change is really in alignment with the statutory requirements now of law that has the definitions of male, female, and or co-ed sports and athletics. What we've done in this particular policy section is we've gone through made some revisions of components that are specific to the law, specifically in areas where there is a grievance and a few changes in there on how quickly you respond. You'll see that we do now have the updated within 2
017days. Uh that's really as practically practicably possible as the way the law is written, but no less no later than two days. So that's been updated. Uh the other components are really as simple as where we had references of gender that is now defined as sex and sex is defined in the law. So those changes are coming to you again due to some uh law legal changes under the Riley Gaines Act. This is a first read for the board. We'll bring a second read adoption for you in October. >> Yes. Uh Dr. Albert Hall. >> Yes. Thank you. This was a quite robust conversation during our legal workshop at the GSBA um conference. And if you notice, one word has been added in sex and one strikeout which is gender. And it makes a big
018difference and the nuance has shift in meaning simply because sex is your biological being whether or not you were born a girl or born a boy as opposed to gender which can mean just the opposite in some cases and I don't have to get into detail but of course if you were born a boy and now you have transformed your gender becomes a girl. So it's the strike is you know in the word gender has been strike sex has been added. So that's the law and I just thought I would just mention that you might want to elaborate some for the public hearing to understand exactly what's going on here with this. >> Right. So the uh two you've nailed it. you've uh described it appropriately and the key language is under SB1 and the
019law does define sex as in male and sex as in defined as female and the real component of that meaning is sex means an individual's biological sex either male or female. Now what this further defined is you can read that in the law but the key component on this is and some of the the things that came out of uh much of the national discourse and the Riley Gaines component when a number of legislative laws were changed here is that definition going to the biological sex not on identity of and this is talking about those um uh extracurricular activities athletics etc etc. Uh there are still components that remain within the existing law. For example, if there is a sport that is offered at a school that uh is not available to females and it
020is available to boys, if a female is interested in playing that sport, they have that opportunity. Now, boys are not allowed to play for sports that are offered with females. Again, this is as defined by the state law on the definition of male and female on their biological sex. The other component is this is driven by safety. >> Mr. Smith, >> quick question for you. uh will principles and ads be trained or have they been trained on how to uh respond or deal with these um conversations? >> Yeah. So, um we've had a lot of background discussion as you can imagine and the board attorney has been there at the table with us in the coming to the point of those key components that we really need to deliver on in the policy. The operationalizing
021of the policy is definitely going to require that. In fact, we'll have the Title 9 coordinator at the table. Uh Mr. Ray and his team have been instrumental in in this work as well as how we define that. Uh the athletics team, Mr. John Sanders and his team are also there at the table uh in that. Now I will say in Georgia uh you're all familiar with a position that the Georgia High School Association has taken on the matter and they took that a number of years ago and we've been we are uh we have number of schools that are Georgia High School Association member schools. So we've been following that playbook uh for a number of years. What this does is now uh kind of puts a a national lens on it and and
022the law that was signed in Georgia. U Governor Kemp signed that and effectually goes into um the the roles with the beginning of this school year. So this component of the true definitions is really what we're doing here in this policy and Dr. Howard Hall uh explained that very well. uh we're defining this based on the definitions that have been stipulated under SP1 and now signed into law and we continue to follow our practices which we have been doing which has already been established by the Georgia High School Association. >> Anyone else? >> All right, >> moving on in your agenda item 6.03 this is booster organizations policy LEC. There are no policy language changes, only changes to the regulation. So, we're bringing this to the board for the board's review. Same lens. This particular
023policy had the components that needed to be updated per the Riley Gains Act. And we have, as you can see, language that we have uh strucken that previously existed in references to gender where we now state that as sex for all of the reasons previously described. continue. >> Thank you. The next item on your agenda is the board's annual local board governance training plan. This is your training plan for FY2526. This item has been provided in advance to the board in association with this particular agenda. Uh the board will now take an action on this particular item and I'll turn it over now to Mr. Moss uh to manage the vote where the vote the board will officially adopt their 2526 local board governance training plan so that we may submit it to the state
024by the September 30th deadline. >> It's been moved. >> Second. >> Moved and seconded. Uh any discussion? Wonderful. All in favor? >> Wonderful. Thank you. Final item on the board's rundown in board matters item 6.05 for your uh for recommendation to the board as a settlement under S.D.GA case number 425 CV84 RSBRR. We have a settlement recommendation for the board's review and subsequent action. And this is upon recommendation of the superintendent that the board authorize the settlement of the claims that have been asserted in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Georgia under the aformentioned case. This is for Sheila Garcia Wilder versus Savannah Cadam County Public School District as set forth. Superintendent and her design are authorized to direct legal counsel to take all steps necessary and proper to effectuate and
025finalize the approved settlement with appropriate settlement documents and the plaintiff's dismissal of the pending lawsuit. >> Do I have a motion to accept? >> Yes. It's been moved. >> Second. >> Moved and seconded. discussion. All right. No discussion. Um, all in favor, sorry. All in favor of accepting the settlement. All against withstaining. Okay. Oh yes. >> Uh let me call this let me call it again. All in favor of accepting the settlement, please raise your hand. She she only she she didn't see she didn't see your hands up. So all in favor, please raise your hands. Thank you. >> All right. Thank you. All right. Uh all opposed. Okay. and with staining. So it doesn't pass. >> So it doesn't pass. >> It doesn't carry. >> That concludes the board matter section of this evening's
026agenda. Turning the agenda back to the board president for the consent and other items on this evening's board meeting. I'll accept a motion to uh to approve the consent agenda. >> It's been moved. Second. Moved and seconded. Uh any No. No discussion. All in favor. Wonderful. All right. Yes. Thank you. Okay. Moving on. Go post. No post. >> All right. We now have the key performance outcomes from the GMAS. Laura May. >> Good evening. Let me pull up the presentation. Thank you very much. Um I'm here to discuss our school year 2025 Georgia Milestones Assessment System performance for the district. As you all know, um GMASS performance serves as one of our key performance outcomes and it is a great demonstration of how we're aligning our strategic priorities with the district's continuous improvement process. The
027Georgia Milestones Assessment System is a summitative state assessment that provides insights into student performance and meets federal requirements for state testing in English language arts and mathematics in grades three through eight and once again in high school in science once per grade band grades 3 five 69 and 912. So with regard to the end of grade assessments you'll find those in grades three through eight. Um, and we have ELA, mathematics in all of those grades. Science is assessed in grades five and eight, and social studies in grade 8. For end of course, we have American literature and composition two, algebra, concepts and connections, biology and US history. One thing to note about our end of course assessments, they do serve as the final exam for the course and they contribute 20% of the students final
028course grade. On the Georgia Milestones, student performance is captured in four achievement levels which describe the degree to which the student has mastered the knowledge and skills outlined in Georgia's content standards. Beginning learners do not demonstrate proficiency in the knowledge and skills necessary for that grade level or for that course and thus they need substantial academic support to be prepared for the next grade level or course. Developing learners demonstrate partial proficiency in the knowledge and skills necessary for their grade level or for the course. Thus, they need additional academic support to ensure success in the next grade level or course. Proficient learners demonstrate proficiency in the knowledge and skills necessary and are prepared for the next grade level or the next course. Distinguished learners have demonstrated advanced proficiency in the knowledge and skills necessary for
029their grade level course and they're wellprepared for continuing onward in the next grade level or next course and demonstrate college and career readiness. The next slide captures for you globally the GMass content mastery weighted performance. So it's showing performance for all grade bands and all four tested areas. In the next slides that follow, we'll break down each of those areas and show you performance both by content mastery and the degree to which students scored in proficient and above or developing and above. The presentation is organized by content area and grade band. So any questions on this initial presentation? All right, then let's get into English language arts as our first content area. So what you see is in that school year 2025, the district outperformed the comparison group in elementary grades ELA content mastery and
030proficiency performance. However, we did fall below the overall performance level of the state. So to your left you see the comparison for the overall percentage of students scoring at or above developing. In the middle you see the percentage at or above proficient. And then we also provide the content mastery weighted performance comparison for your review. Any questions on the elementary grade band performance? So as we advanced to middle grades, what we saw is that ELA content mastery performance for middle grades fell below both state and comparison group. However, the district tie the comparison group in the percentage of students scoring at or above proficiency. Moving on to the high school level, American literature and composition two. What we see is that district content mastery proficiency performance fell below that of both the state and the
031comparison group. Advancing on to mathematics, we see for the elementary grade bands, the district outperformed the comparison group in elementary grades math content mastery performance and also those scoring at proficiency and above. However, we did fall below the state level of performance in both content mastery and proficiency. In middle grades mathematics, we saw district performance fall below that of the state and the comparison group. However, the district did tie the comparison group in the percentage of students scoring at or above proficiency for high school algebra 1 algebra concepts and connections. The district outperformed the comparison group in high school algebra, concepts and connections, content mastery, and proficiency. However, performance did fall below the overall state level. For science in grade five, we see the district substantially outperforming the comparison group in terms of content mastery
032and proficiency. However, grade five science performance did fall below that of the state. In eighth grade, the district's eighth grade science content mastery and proficiency fell below that of both the state and the comparison group. Just to note though, this does include eighth graders who are both taking eighth grade science and those taking high school physical science. In biology, we saw the district substantially outperform the comparison group in biology content mastery and proficiency. However, once again, we fell below that of the state. For social studies in grade 8, the district's eighth grade social studies content mastery and proficiency fell below that of both the state and the comparison group. With US history, we saw the district substantially outperforming the comparison group in content mastery and the number of students, the percent of students at or
033above proficiency. However, the district's US history performance did fall below that of the state. Any questions in that quick overview of our performance? As always, we like to take a deeper dive. Would you have a question? >> Well, a procedural question. So, you've gone over the presentation and I think most of the board members dig into the executive summary where the where the tabular data is and so are you going to talk about any of the tabular data or are we >> in terms of school level data? >> Yes. >> No, ma'am. >> Okay. All right. So, I will have questions about that, but she can finish you can finish your comments on on the general presentation. Okay. >> Thank you. So, one thing that I one thing that we wanted to do as a
034district is really take a deeper dive because, as you know, this data presents year-over-year comparisons, but the groups of students who were in third grade last year are not the same students in the current year. So, one of the things that we wanted to do is engage in a matched cohort analysis. What that means is that in taking a deeper look at our GMASS data and truly seeing whether our students are growing year overyear as opposed to looking at how grade levels perform one year versus the other. What we did is we took students who completed the Georgia Milestones assessment in grades three through seven in school year 2024 and then we matched them to their GMAS performance last year in school year 2025. So we're looking at the same identical students. We're looking at
035their performance in school year 24 and how they scored in school year 25 to give you that exact look at student growth. Scores were then aggregated and compared as follows. So in school year 24, third graders were compared with their performance as fourth graders in school year 25 and on down where seventh graders and 24 were compared with eighth graders in school year 2025. The inclusionary criteria for um this analysis is of course students had to have GMASS test scores for both school years and students had to progress to the next grade level in the subsequent year meaning that they metriculated from third grade in 24 to fourth grade in school year 25. So taking a look at that matched cohort analysis and looking at the way that GMAS scores are evaluated. So students scoring
036at or above proficiency, what we see is gains in the percentage of fourth graders and fifth graders in school year in terms of scoring at or above proficient in ELA. and we saw gains for fourth graders, seventh graders, and eighth graders in school year 2025 for math proficiency. So, we're seeing that growth as they go from third grade to fourth grade, fourth to fifth. Then those challenges may come into play as they're transitioning from those elementary grades into middle school into the middle grades, which is evidenced in the ELA data with math. What we're seeing is um third to fourth improvement as well as sixth, seventh and seventh and eighth. >> Any comments? Uh Mrs. Hall. >> Yes. >> Prior slide. >> Yes ma'am. I am really happy to see that this procedure was put
037in place because for so long we didn't know you know uh really had the children grown or not. So I'm a little surprised at uh like at sixth grade to see the change the ELA change >> but this is >> this is good meat for us to work with um in terms of any changes we need to make. >> Thank you. We did do matched cohorts before, did we not? >> Yes. >> Okay. Um, and so are our trends consistent? I was digging around somewhere I have the print out from the last time we did the cohort match, but is the is the trend in performance in the cohorts the same as when we did it before? >> The general trend is pretty consistent year overyear. It's not exact. >> Okay. Thank you. >> This
038is Campbell. >> Um I Okay. As far as I know this is GMASS and I know that we're not talking about K through2, but >> I'm just curious, are we going to go over uh K through2 AMRA scoring just so we can see with our Northstar where we're falling on success with the science of reading and how that core group of students is doing. So that is not scheduled to be a board presentation per se. However, um a report can be prepared on that performance. >> That would be great. Thank you. >> We actually report that I did this morning at the speaking engagement. So if you'll look in there, >> anyone else? Yes. Okay. Um, yes, it looks like some progress has been made, >> but when I look at these numbers for at
039an at or above proficient 33% 34% 30% 31% 29% and I'm I'm very happy to see that the math scores have improved but even if the math scores I know I'm not saying anything that's earthshattering, but this is troubling. So what that means is 67% of the fourth graders, 66% of the fifth graders, 70% of the sixth graders, 69% of the seventh graders, and 71% of our eighth graders are not a proficient. And by the way, for me, proficient is the floor. Um, and I know that you have plans and I'm really excited to hear what the plans are to improve, but this this is troubling. Dr. for bring >> uh thank you for being the bearer of data. It is what it is. It's data. So, thank you for um reciting it and not
040spinning it. I think uh the district has always done a good job of being transparent with the data. Um at least in in this form, uh as Dr. Hosins Brown said, "We've done the cohort before, so we're not cherry-picking what might look better." And that's not as as Mr. Moss said, better. Um, we've got a resident English teacher on the horseshoe now. I told her, I was like, "If it's a teaching thing, be ready. We might call on you." And I didn't really think I would call on you month one. I know. I know. I was like, she's probably feeling like I I >> um primed the pump on this one. Um, I struggle. We all want it to just magically change overnight. Um, the district has made a huge change. The state has, the
041nation has to go away from balanced literacy. It's going to take change. We're teaching teachers how to teach again. Um, and for some students, we in the middle of the path of balance literacy completely changed to letters and changed exactly how they're learning. And I'm getting a nod. So that's and I'm looking out at some of my other teachers that I know are out there. Um, and I we'll probably never know how much of this is just the big change both for teachers having to figure out a new system and be taught at the same time they're trying to teach the curriculum, but also students now trying to figure out how they integrate with that material through another lens. Um, if there's anything, Miss Hughes, that you think you might be able to to share
042from the classroom perspective, um, that says maybe I'm barking up the right tree or I'm completely wrong and and there's still work to be done. We know that. But if you've got any insight, I would love to hear from from the actual classroom. >> Yeah, we were actually having this conversation today during um planning about that. this group of fifth graders we have right now. This is the last of the COVID group. So, they've got that working against them. And then I've noticed um HMH is a fantastic program, but there's a lot of components to it. So, as we're all struggling to learn how to roll this out and do this with fidelity, and you're seeing students come into the classroom that you can tell never had phonics exposure, or if they did, it was
043not consistent. So that's the biggest thing I'm seeing is I have fifth graders and I'm showing them a sound wall and I'm saying remember kindergarten, first grade, second grade and the look I'm getting is no, I don't know that. So, I feel like there's a lot of retraining with this group and it is going to take some time. But I think these kids that are coming up now, starting kindergarten, going through HMH, kindergarten, first grade, second grade, I do think we're going to start seeing those returns as they get into the upper grades because I think it's just so hard when you get older, they become very aware of what they don't know. And then it becomes a struggle because they don't want to try. No one wants to be embarrassed in front of other
044people. So, I'm really hopeful that having an actual curriculum and having that be delivered with fidelity, I'm hoping that we're going to see this turnaround. >> Hoskins Brown. >> Thank you. Um I'm I'm glad that we're in the data. Um so, when I looked at these, I thought about, okay, these the co the the COVID pandemic babies and I appreciate that that perspective and that you offered. Um, I think it makes some of it makes sense. I looked back at our 2017 data, so I was like, okay, well, maybe it's pandemic, so let's go back. Or maybe it's changing software, so let's go back. Maybe, you know, maybe it's administration, so let's go back. 2017, we are worse at in all elementary schools except for for 2017 and 2018 and 2019 data. So, it's something
045else. Um, and I don't know what the something else is, but it's it's something else that that merits our attention because we just can't put it in the five-year block. Um, and I and I think it it it merits our attention. When I saw these data, what I thought was, "Oh, man. Okay, board accountability needs our meet monthly again." because we used to meet monthly and we would talk about data and we would have um instructional leaders come to us and say this is what we're doing that's working and some of my comments some of my questions are in the administrative response um because we've had folks come tell us stuff that works for them. We've got um a minority of schools that have performed a little better and we've asked them what you were
046doing. So I'm kind of interested in knowing how the administrative response is assimilating some of the practices that work well. But but these data if if we go if we keep going back further there is a there's a negative trend that we're not escaping. >> Follow this. >> Yes. I'm sorry. >> And I you know things sometimes just are divine. Um, so Miss Hughes, thank you for saying the word phonics. Um, before I rushed here at 3 o'clock, I was teaching my freshman first year experience class of 111 and we were discussing growth mindset very quickly. Um, and things that were um a wall for a student and I was just like, what's a class that you're scared to take or that you're already thinking you're going to do poorly at? and um here's a
047speech language pathologist that you know future wants to be a speech therapist and she has to take phonetics and she doesn't want to take it and I was like well but but speech therapist speech phonetics and the rest of the class was like what's phonetics and I was like to 111 now phonics anybody and and they looked at me like I was speaking Latin because one of them down the row actually was like isn't that Latin >> I was >> and I and I held in my and it just is interesting that that's where we're at and we are at the students that didn't learn phonics and unfortunately for a country we went the wrong direction with literacy and that's why I mean it's not the the exact typhoid Mary but it is probably one
048of the big reasons why 2017 data doesn't look too much different than Now, we won't probably know for another two years, right? If if the north star of science of reading and really training all our teachers and hopefully giving them the right supports and I know that we have the right academic team to implement the strategies to help children get back on track. Um, and I I hate to think about it that way, like not knowing. Um, I think as a board, at least internally, I have struggles with saying that we can keep moving students forward. Um, and maybe having a bigger discussion in the earlier grades on retention. I know it it becomes that thing that the student doesn't want to talk about when they figure out they can't do what their fellow fifth
049grader can do because it didn't click or it didn't happen for some reason. And some of that was maybe our teaching pedigogy. Um, but is it as big of a um problem at first grade to say maybe you need to do one more year and not the same thing, you know, not just repeat, but like retain and actually intervene differently to make sure that that child is is captured. I was actually astounded that math and science went up and and added actual not like these ones and twos which can be just a blip but like some fours, fives and sixes because the science questions aren't just numbers. The science questions are a bunch of words. So they've got to be able to read them and they've got to be able to to some degree comprehend
050what they're asking for. So when I look at the science that tells me there's some reading comprehension there, there's reading ability and then there's a little bit more critical thinking on the science side of the house. So it it it didn't line up for me looking at it from like, okay, they're not doing well there, but they're doing well there. And that takes those skills. So um I know you probably are over there like, I don't know. I can't the data won't tell me. Um but now I'm just pontificating, but I really do think that phonics is hopefully going to help. But I would like to have a bigger conversation as to the board and we aren't filling another day on the retreat in what does it look like to make sure that students are
051reading it first and second and third grade before we push them to the point that they're embarrassed in fifth, sixth, and seventh to raise their hand and say, "I I can't read it because they probably aren't going to do that." >> We can put it on the agenda for board accountability. Happy to have you come. Happy to have that conversation. And it's not that we're the same as 2017. There are 20 point drops in schools from what there were in 2017. So it it's we're we're not the same. We we have diminished significantly. >> Dr. Howard Hall and then Mrs. Campbell. >> Okay. Yes. I guess over the past few years substantial resources have been allocated to um improved instruction and it pretty much encompassed the three Psel professional development and program initiatives. So just
052like what's been discussed previously, what has led to this poor performance? I guess another way to to look at it, what exactly what is the underlying issues that's hindering improved instruction? That's a question that should be asked to all instructional leaders, administrators, and especially our teachers because they're on the front line. Every month we have a teacher that comes and stands before the board with concerns and he's out there today, Mr. Watson. What is the underlying issue? Have we gone out and really worked oneonone with teachers? I'm in the community and I'm always asking teachers when I see them particularly um K through five and I ask them if you could have one thing on a wish list just one resource what will it be and 99.9% of them say a full-time parent to assist
053with task on task one-on-one task one-on-one instruction small group in instruction assisting with classroom management assisting with climate assisting with working in small groups. So there is an underlying issue that's hindering success and it's alarming and it's disturbing really disturbing and I don't want to sit here and say I'm big mad but I am. It's painful to hear to listen to this this report and to hear this data to know that we are trending downward with the resources that we have allocated. Eric, >> Mrs. Campbell. >> Um I'm reminded after what was said about uh from Miss Hughes particularly about kids being embarrassed and that absolutely breaks my heart. I I can't imagine what that must feel like the older you get particularly in middle school. And I am I appreciate the way the data
054was delivered by the way. I think you did excellent job and you delivered what is and that's not on you. Um, but I'm reminded of the committee meeting that one of them in March of this this year and I was concerned about the beginning of the year and the middle of the year grades and I you know I asked like what's our plan because I was concerned about are we going to retain or do we just have a plan and I know that we have Ignite going um I think it's brilliant. It's a great plan. It's a pilot. We're going to see how successful it is and we're going to do some tiered supports. All of that I think is all great. But back to Mrs. Hugh's insight is when we retain students if we
055can figure out which students because right now if I if I look at this I'm concerned that as Roger was Mr. Moss was going through and saying that means only 70% of current sixth graders are proficient. I think now we're also asking seventh grade teachers to be miracle workers on top of the very complex complex problem, you know, that we we the problems that we deal with in our district that are things that are beyond our control that we could not expect ourselves to deal with. And I I know that we all wish we could fix those problems, but what we can fix is education. We can we can do better in some ways. And I don't mean it's it's the teachers. I don't mean it's our decisions. I just mean like Dr. Howard Halt
056said, when we look at these numbers, we got to figure out what we leverage from our end to make this better for students because whether they're held back in the third grade because they're not at grade level and they're going to continue to fall through the cracks and we're going to hold teachers accountable. I mean, when if a student is two and three grade levels behind and they're in the a class that they they can never compete in, what are we expecting from that teacher? I mean, it's a lot. So, I think I think that's where we can start and I'm glad that we're getting really honest and we have been for a while now. Okay. But I'm glad we're being very honest and transparent about this data and we're talking about it and that
057we're going to keep talking about it. So, I appreciate it. Uh, Miss Kel, I'm gonna go someone who hasn't spoken yet and I'll come back to go through yet. Mrs. Scowski. >> So, I know it sometimes when we present this data, we share a little bit about GMASS in particular, the ELA score, because it encompasses more than just reading and I don't think we have that in the because it's the reading and the writing. And is it a 6040 split or 4060? >> So um >> that off the top of my head you're talking about when we do the reading on grade level presentation. So reading in vocabulary versus writing >> right correct >> component. >> So jumping ahead and looking at one of the appendices. I don't know if that's in your presentation. >>
058We look at the reading on grade level which pulls out that reading component. >> Yes. The scores are definitely not where they need to be, but they are much higher than the percentages that we see here. And at the third grade level, I would expect, you know, they're still learning to write and developing those skills, >> but we do see reading on grade level of what would have been um or we see the a uh let's see, it's the next it's appendix D that I'm looking at. >> Okay. um this one right? >> Yes. >> So we see changes you know we see some strong positive changes between fourth and fifth and sixth and seventh. So we see those numbers are about twice the proficiency that as the GMAS scores which is all which is
059an indication that there's a lot of struggle with the writing >> which makes sense that if you can't read it's really hard to then write >> and you have to learn that part first and I see lots of positive head nods from our academic team. At what point though, particularly in those upper grade levels, like we see positive gains in sixth grade, which is great, but we see a pretty significant loss between the 24, fifth grade, 25th, sixth grade cohort of 14% decrease. So, how are we coupling particularly as we get into those upper elementary, middle school? I'd be curious maybe if not now at some point to understand how we are coupling those reading strategies also with the writing strategies that really are the more comprehensive ELA package. >> Yes. Uh I definitely agree
060with you and one thing to note though um is the differences also in the standards for fifth grade versus sixth grade for any of these grade levels. That differential can be significant and that's often not seen. There's no way to directly capture that with the data, but it's really important to note. Um, and one of the things that GDAU um the Georgia Department of Education noticed is that ELA was a struggle for the entire state. Um, they were not anticipating the challenges that did emerge. So one of the sort of hopeful parts of that is the fact that this year is our first year of implementing the new revised ELA standards. So the state did acknowledge that some of that imbalance and some of in the standards especially in ELA may have impacted the performance.
061So with the revised new standards that are being implemented this year um there's hopeful gains in the future. >> Well and I I think it's it it's challenging right whenever you have a fundamental shift >> yes >> in the way in which we are instructing and trying to provide all that training to our teachers. >> Yes. >> So I know we this is the beginning of a very long journey. Um I appreciate Dr. Hoskins Brown's reflective comments about pre- pandemic because we all know that I'd be curious if if we take a deeper dive into that. I don't know if that's the plan or not, but if we saw those same types of trends across the state as we saw here as a district between like 2017 to now, like you were talking about, I
062just would be curious if that's data that we're going to further explore. So, >> thank you. Okay, >> Mr. Smith. >> Oh, >> uh, thank you uh for this presentation thus far. This is a very, as everyone has already echoed, very troubling. Uh, one thing that I wanted to kind of lean into is that we've heard this before and I know that this is a common uh trend of stating that we're the kids that were in school during the COVID time that they're behind the eightball. Uh but my question is is I wonder how does the average teacher look at that? Uh do they look at that and say because they're a co child they are unable to get to where they need to be. I wonder is the extra emphasis and plan created for
063them to be as successful as possible. Another question I would like to know is as students come into our school system, are they being uh assessed or are they taking assessments to find out where they are each and every year? That is true. >> Yes. >> So once that happens, what is there a is there a individualized plan created for their success? >> Yes. And I'd love to turn the floor over to um our chief academic officer and chief of schools to address that specifically. Thank you. >> So, so yes sir. Um when students are performing below grade level um we do create individualized plans um and we support them through our MTSS framework um to make sure they are getting the necessary interventions um to get them closer to proficiency and then to proficiency.
064Um a a great deal of this is making sure we identify the right data points where the student may be experiencing um some academic deficiencies and then from there ensuring that the right uh instruction is aligned and resources are aligned uh to support that student. Um so that that is the plan um when students are um not proficient u in a particular grade level and and in a particular subject. >> Gotcha. Okay. Uh, have we have we based upon your knowledge and outlook, have we done everything that as a board that we can do to uh assist in our students reaching the goal? Have we uh overlooked possible outside tutoring um relationships and fundings that could be um uh created? Have we um uh funded employees or teachers that go above and beyond correctly to
065uh give extra time and care to teacher or to students that's in need? What what can we do from your perspective to assist and fund or give resources to this? Uh so I think first and foremost um the board setting a goal and establishing an expectation that um our current status is not okay um is the first step and uh supporting the the district around the strategic plans that we currently have in place. Of course some of the most recent uh budget ask that were approved um shows a commitment of the board towards tackling the data points that we are currently seeing. Um we know that in future um we'll continue to have um budgetary ask um that supports any type of positive returns um that we are that we are seeing this year based
066off the initiatives uh that are currently being funded and as we continue to identify those things that are working. Uh so those will be potential uh future budget ads so we can continue to expand on that. Um but the the acknowledgement today that where we are is not okay and that um there is a desire to continue to get better and that we all understand that that happens from the boardroom to the classroom uh shows a unified effort towards um students u getting to a proficient or above level. >> Thank you >> Mrs. Hall. I'm sorry miss Mr. Catcher then Mrs. all. >> Um, so I have a question first. A higher percentage of our 68 schools demonstrated content mastery above the state level than our elementary schools. So, I'm curious if if we're not
067demonstrating content mastery at or above the state levels at elementary, what's happening by the time they get to 68 uh and they're demonstrating content mastery above state the state performance level? And I that's more of a rhetorical question, but that tells me it's a snapshot in time as well. And that led me to think about the timing of this. This GMASS was taken in May of 24, right? That >> um late April. >> Late April of 24. Superintendent came in in summer of 23. My recollection is summer, fall of 23. We started implementing some of the literacy task force initiatives, but really started doing it with fidelity in the 2425 school year. Is that kind of accurate? >> Yes. Okay. And so we implement a bunch of changes in 24 and kids are tested at
068the end of the school year in 24. We didn't make a lot of changes in science and math and all those scores went up. So I'm sitting here and I'm not a statistician. I don't study data. I'm trying to understand why a higher percentage of our 68 schools are demonstrating content mastery above state levels than an equivalent percentage of our elementary schools. And what I go back to is what changed? What changed is we really changed how we try to teach literacy particularly in 24 and our lower level grades seem to be um impacted at a higher rate than our higher level grades. Am I reading the data correctly or not? >> You are. >> Okay. So I'll ask the question again. I'd love to pontificate somebody to pontificate. Why are a higher percentage of
069our 68 schools beating the state level than our elementary schools? Uh >> Mrs. Hall Mr. Cashmar one thing I think is that children the curriculum for children in middle school has a much broader non-fiction vocabulary and complexity than elementary school where reading a lot of it tends to be fiction and they don't get the rigor that non-fiction brings where they must have that in middle school curriculum But I also want to ask our resident expert about the quality of the teachers. Do you feel that we actually have our very best reading teachers teaching our children to read? >> Well, that was one thing um I was considering when you talk about the upper grades and that their scores went up. Um those they're departmentalized. So you have the people that are >> Thank you. Say
070that again please. >> They're departmentalized. So they are experts in their content area. >> Okay. Um, we we were so quick to talk about retaining students and I'm quick to respond, what was the diet they were given before you decide that, you know, I need another year out of my life. What was my diet? And are we giving our teachers all the tools they need to do an excellent job teaching phonics? Do they know how? Do all of them know how to teach phonics? It's not just a matter of sitting there and going through the ABC. I mean, do they know how? So, I'd like us to spend more time looking at the quality of instruction before we make decisions on the children who for whatever reason have not made the grade. And can on
071that issue, I don't know if it's accurate or not, but I know when this was a long time ago, I know when my kids were in elementary, there were still they they would rotate classrooms. This teacher or these two teachers taught English, these teachers did math. So, it wasn't necessarily formally departmentalized, but it was informally departmentalized where you had some content specialists. I don't know if that's still happening in elementary. I don't know if that's the answer or not, but it's one piece of the puzzle. >> Mowski, when Mr. Smith was asking the questions about what the board can do to support um I was reminded of a really great conversation and presentation we had during our academic excellence committee meeting. Um so I would encourage anyone who wasn't able to attend or view the
072academic excellence committee meeting um that we had in August. It is I think it was really um robust and allowed us to take a deeper dive into how we are going to move beyond this. And one of the things and I'm sorry I don't remember if it was Dr. Barnes or Mr. Butler who said and maybe Dr. Watts too like we cannot mitigate our way out of this. Um because the the the subject came up of or do we need to add more tutoring? Do we need to and I think understanding that it is a fundamental change in how we are doing things that's going to get us beyond that and we are moving on that path. That doesn't that doesn't I'm not trying to minimize or ignore these scores because I think we all
073are alarmed and no one wants to see the scores where they are. But I also want us to um understand that we do have a path forward and we're and as Mr. Katchmar pointed out we've just started that journey this last academic year. Um and it is going to take time. So, I just wanted to add that additional bit of information. Um, if people want to learn more about how we are working to move beyond this and improve these scores, we just would encourage you to to view that academic excellence committee meeting. >> Dr. Hoskins, >> thank you. Um, one of the things that I was looking for, and this is not in the data, it's in the administrative response that we have not allowed you to get to yet. Um, but I I I
074want to throw this out here before you have the opportunity to get there and then I probably won't have a question when you finish that part of the presentation. Um, but I I tried really hard this week to integrate all the information that we've received over time about performance translation. I was cleaning all board documents out of my she-shed. So, I was going through all this stuff like everything that's relevant. I'm going to flip through it and we're going to see how these stories how these blocks line up. So, I found the 2017 data. Um, and then I I found I looked at the West report that we got in March of 2024. And the Westad report said, "Practices most effective in addressing student gaps, smaller class sizes, staff planning and collaboration, differentiated instruction, daily
075intervention blocks, Saturday academy, standardsbased classroom instruction, before and after school instruction." I was like, "Okay, that sounds familiar." And then I looked at some of the strategies that we identified in 2022 when we had a couple of schools that were still CSI schools. And one of the things that we said in that place was um same thing different differentiated instruction, smaller class sizes. Um, and I thought, okay, it looks like it looks like we are working towards building our narrative on how to do this work and not not re-examining it a fresh every time. Um, and then I saw the presentation from Savannah Classical Academy from October 2024 where we were like, "Oh, wow, great. Look at their GMAS scores." because the GMAT scores for the third graders were third grade at or above proficient
076was 55.3 and I think 44 um% in the two categories and then fifth grade was 68 and 81.8 8. And we asked, are we borrowing? Are we doing what we say that we're supposed to do with charters, which is which is if they experience a success, are we going to go pull that success? Um, now we know that because they're a charter, there are operational things that are entirely different than what we do in some other schools. So, what I'm looking for in the administrative um opinion is how have we integrated all of these best practices and findings that we've gotten from consultants that we know from our data uh that we have experienced from other interventions that we tried in the past. How are we pulling all of those things together to affect the
077change that we want to see? Okay, Dr. Ringman, >> Miss Hall, to follow up on your comment, I'm I'm all for helping the diet. I am all for helping the diet. Um, but sometimes it takes students longer to eat what we fed them early on. Um, 180 days is just a number. For some students, it might only need to be 120 to finish the curriculum and finish the diet that our teachers are feeding them. For others, it might take much more than 180 days. And yes, retaining a student one year in first or second grade might be a year of their life. But if we pass them through and they never get on grade level, then that one year that we're thinking we need to not retain them has affected them for every year in
078their future. So, I'm not saying I just want a blanket policy to retain everybody, but we have, I believe, not held to wanting students to be at grade level early on reading. Um, and we set a budget so that all the things that we're going to hear about in a couple minutes if we all stop talking, me included, um, help that diet and help move students forward, but sometimes it might take more time for them to get there. So, um, we set policy and I feel like we might need to have a bigger conversation on what that policy looks like because it can't be a policy I think that we just change overnight. I wouldn't want to do that to families. I wouldn't want to do that to students. But I feel like we need
079to have a hard conversation on what would that look like for our district. And I might be a a minority and it never goes anywhere, but I would feel accomplished if I knew I held back a student in first grade and then by third grade they were on on grade level reading, pass proficient and were passing their end of course grades in 12th grade with flying colors versus that 20% of their grade fizz fizzling away, but they still pass the class because it's only 20%. So, um I get where there's a rub there, but I think we need to at least have it on the table to say a year at first grade might make all the difference versus pass through and be the embarrassed fifth or sixth grader that can't read. >> Okay, Mr.
080Moss, let me respond to that. We really agree. Okay. >> Because my point though is you don't give me that diet in first grade and then hel me back and give me that same diet again. If we don't change things, if we don't individualize because you're holding me back because I can't do this, but you're holding Sean back because he can't do something totally different. And if you don't tailor what you give me so that it actually helps me, if you're just, like I said, taking a year out of my life and I'm getting the same regurgitation that I got already, >> then you haven't accomplished. I'm still going to be >> because eventually I'll be 10 and you can't keep me in first grade anymore. You're going to have to move me up. So
081>> well that was my >> retain with retain with intent >> and understanding that you're doing what you're doing to a life you're saying I can make you better. Stephanie mentioned something about retain with love. Well, to me, retaining with love means that you give me just about an IEP that shows this is what I'm going to do differently for this child so that after this next year, we're going to see this blossoming. I'd go along with that 100%. >> That's exactly what I said the first time I brought up retention with intervention. So, yeah, we're on the same page. That's great to hear. >> So, I mean, what does love look like, you know? >> Okay, Dr. thousand brown. >> I'm over here making faces because y'all are talking about retention and I I
082still think there's another option and it may not be popular. Um, but if you have a young person that's in that position and you're saying retain and then we'll go back to our job of educating you in the fall. I'm like year round school. grab that child immediately and work with that child until they get where they need to be. But don't everybody take the summer off while that child is languishing in lack of productivity and the superintendent just looked at the ceiling like, "Oh my gosh, she just opened up, you know, and and I'm happy for a workshop, informal superintendent note, board brief, or whatever it is that I need to understand why that might not be a good idea. I'm I'm all for that. But the the retention is punishing the person who
083had the least responsibility over their progress. So somebody needs to be going to work with that young person, not just saying, "Oh, well, you know, sorry you missed it during the window that we were paying attention and we'll help you out in August." I just I just think that there are other answers. >> I don't think anybody's alluding to saying just have them have the summer off. Like my initial thing was retention with intervention because at that early stage it makes the difference. I retain students now in doctoral programs and they sit out a year and that's a crazy thing but that's because it's a a lockstep program and the material isn't starting again. But like I'm not saying it has to happen. I'm just saying we need to have harder conversations because we are
084changing a lot of things and a lot of the things you listed we're doing. >> Mhm. and it hasn't moved much or it's gone backwards and I just want to have a I'm glad we're having this conversation but I I retention with intervention is what I said from the get-go like don't do the same thing another year because we haven't met that kid's needs and I think it will wake up the child yes >> to maybe address the diet more but it probably is going to also wake up the family if they're there to help support to say we might need to put a little bit more weight into to this and it also helps that student get identified for more resources. >> Yeah, I I think that's helpful. I still think it has a
085flavor of >> Yeah, that wasn't the the the word that was used as punitive and I I wasn't thinking punitive, but it's like it it has the flavor of folks had an opportunity to do better and just declined to do it. And retention to me and and that may not be what you mean, but when you say wake the child up or when you say activate the family, it's like I was sitting on support and wasn't giving it to the child. And now I guess since the child's going to be retained, I'm going to give this withheld support. I just think there's a there's a broader lexicon that the word retention doesn't represent for me because when I hear retention, I hear stop, you shall not pass this point. That is what I'm hearing versus
086retention, intervention, progression, redirection. But when when the traditional if you send a typical parent a letter that says hey let me tell you about retention they hear my child's getting left back not this is a great opportunity for reactivation for engagement so that I'm just I'm just thinking that we can take this energy we can take these strategies we can use these data to come up with an innovative approach that nobody has seen that works to the benefit of the child without assuming assuming that there are not some legitimate reasons for the child to be where they are. >> Correct. And and I can see how people will see um left back. Sorry, I'll I'll stop because because I see it as let me push you forward into future failure because you can't read. Um
087that's how I see it. So I understand the word retention can have different meanings depending on the lens that you're looking at it through. >> Dr. Howard, >> sorry Dr. Howard Hall. >> Well, I've seen a negative impact on retention. For example, overage students >> in some of our middle schools. We have 15 year olds, 16 year olds in middle school. So what happens? they drop out before they even go to high school, which doesn't have an impact on our graduation rate because they never step foot in high school. That's happened. So, we have to be mindful of retention. And just to re um to um reiterate something Mr. Cashmar said about elementary schools, teacher certifications, prek through third for elementary and fourth through 8th. So those fourth and fifth grade teachers are able to
088departmentalize and teach because they have a special content area in which their certificate um identifies their strength. For example, mine was social studies. So I could have taught social studies at middle school although I was a K6 teacher due to my Florida certification. But in Georgia it's K3 then four through um through 8th. I think we're going to have a very interesting retreat. Um, >> I just want to say thank you for talking. >> Yes. No, this No, this is wonderful. I know that Dr. Watts would like to respond to this, so I'm going to let her. >> I appreciate the opportunity to respond. Um, I know many fingers have been pointed in lots of different directions. Um, I point the finger at myself as the lead instructional leader in the district that I am
089not uh excited about where we are as we look at the data. Um, our students can do better. We can do better in service of them and I'm committed to doing that. We do have an administrative response. I don't know that we'll get to it today. Um, but we do have an administrative response. Um, and this is going to be a collective effort and I think I was very transparent with folks as I transitioned into the district that um, this was going to take patience. You don't make changes like this and expect to see big results in a year. Um, so I continue to ask for patience as we try to implement these initiatives with fidelity. Um I this is an urgent need and I have been fairly silent today because I am first internalizing
090all the feedback and and Dr. Howard Hall, you said I'm big mad. So am I, right? And you should be because until every kid in this district can read, we should all be big mad because not only does it have current implications, it has future implications for our our students. Um, but this discussion for me has been refreshing because when I think about how I spend my time, it is not in these conversations most of the time. It is in many other conversations. Um, and so what you have for me this year is a commitment that I'm going to lean in on this topic and that's probably going to make some folks on my team, some of them it'll probably make happy and others it's probably not going to make so happy. But I've got
091to lean in on instruction because that is my number one reason for being in this district and that is why dis our district public education system exists is to educate kids. And so the discussion today has been refreshing for me. I am not um shying away from accountability. I hold myself fully responsible and accountable for the decisions. And what I ask of everyone is that we give our focus to teaching and learning. That is what we have to do if we're going to move the dial. So, I've actually enjoyed the conversation. Um, my team is going to have to step up in places so that I can step out of places that I have been and step into some other places. And I think I'm beginning to make that clear to them and I will
092continue to make it clearer. But thank you for the feedback. Thank you for your disappointment and your frustration. Um I invite that and I also invite us to walk into a future in which we can do some things at a policy level, a district level and a school level that can change these outcomes for kids. >> Well said. >> Yes. Continue >> Mr. Bart. Dr. Barnes, >> I'll turn the floor over to our academic team. >> And I realize that some of these slides are very or we also saw an academic excellence and this is probably going to be an abbreviated conversation. So I'll reiterate my um call to view that in for more detail. >> Thank you for that uh Miss Grabowski. Uh in fact the um slides that you see uh the information
093that we share this evening the administrative response uh is in fact uh the conversation very robust conversation we had during our academic excellence committee. What I'll do for the sake of time and because of that and invite folks to take a look at that we'll certainly uh open the floor to questions but I do want to reiterate and then I'll give my colleague Dr. Barnes an opportunity to share as well. Um, Miss Grabowski, you reminded us that we cannot intervene our way out of this. Uh, but we do have to provide interventions for those students that have some of the greatest challenges. And so that is a lot of the work that will happen. We can't innovate our way out of this, but we recognize that we will provide some innovative strategies and pilots to
094help us uh study and understand how we might scale. uh some of those strategies across our schools. Uh what is important uh for us to really advance literacy and numeracy in our district uh is we have to go deep around core instruction. Uh and you'll hear from my colleague Dr. Dr. Barnes about how we will coach and support teachers to help build their capacity. um recognizing that this is something that's happening at all of our schools, but also acknowledging that some schools need additional support. And so I I want to make sure that we're clear. Uh uh Dr. Hoskins Brown uh referenced some of the work that has happened previously in the district. Uh and so we have to make sure that we go deep and not too wide. Uh and what's important is strong
095core instruction. So, a lot of the support that we are providing uh and the strategies that we're advancing really centers around core instruction. So, with that, I'll invite uh my colleague Dr. Barnes to share any additional information around some of the coaching, but also what you'll hear in our board retreat will be additional information around the differentiated school support model. >> Uh good afternoon. Um so, as Mr. Butler has shared a a major thing is around core instruction. Um and what we want to focus on is really understanding that what we put in front of students has to be taught well, right? And it has to be taught well by teachers and teachers have to understand what they're they're teaching. There is a lift with new standards that we have to work with teachers and
096schools on unpacking those standards. What does it mean? what is the right work that kids have to have have to have in front of them? What is the right pedigogy that has to happen u to teach the new standards? Teachers are still grappling with the new curriculum that we're implementing as a tool to help teach the standard. So there's a significant amount of work that we have to do to build their capacity on not just teaching the curriculum but also understanding and unpacking those things for core instruction. And then the next thing is monitoring building the principal's capacity instructional lens around all those pi those pieces so they can give the right feedback to teachers right and give feedback in a way that sustains and enhances u the development of the teacher pedigogy and their
097content knowledge. Um as we move forward the type of coaching that we will do is more knee-to- knee coaching. It has already happened in many of our schools at a high level. Like we're not going to discredit that coaching is not happening in some of our schools at a high level and that our principles are not leading intently and boldly around us and teachers are not working hard. But we want to do it in a systematic way that everybody be is being coached at an appropriate level so that all students have a wellprepared teacher in front of them regardless if they are a firstear teacher or a thirdyear teacher and that every principal is leading with an instructional lens around the expectation and the bar that we are set that we're setting. Um, so that's
098what it really means around the coaching in in a nutshell is helping people get better at unpacking the standards and understanding what students have to have in front of them in order to demonstrate mastery. But I would stop there to entertain any questions. >> The question was asked earlier, what can the board do to support? And so as you've heard Dr. Barn say we've got some things that we are putting in place this upcoming year. But when I looked to the ceiling when you mentioned calendar um Dr. Hoskins Brown it wasn't out of frustration at all. Um we we still operate on a very antiquated calendar that was derived during agricultural times. It it makes absolutely no sense to me. Um, I have I had to get into the district though to better understand why
099there is such resistance to looking at our school calendar. >> I took to teachers an opportunity to look at the calendar in a different way and was basically said told we're not interested in doing anything different. Currently, our teachers have very little time for uninterrupted planning time. We can have a school calendar in which our teachers have more days to plan and teaching days, but it means that we're not going to be able to every year promise we get out before Memorial Day. We can not continue to make adult decisions, decisions that benefit adults at the expense of children. And um that is a convenience, that is a commodity, it's a nice to have, but our kids may need to be in school more. And Memorial Day may not be the the cut off point
100for when we end school. Those are some bold decisions that have to be made and it will be a break from the norm. And it's not going to make everybody in our district happy because it's a break from the norm. There are opportunities for us to look at do we have the best teachers in every classroom. That is a very uh courageous discussion to have because currently we treat all teachers as if they are doing the same work at the same level of quality and that simply is not the case. But are we going to be willing to have conversations about that and put systems in place where we look at data and the impact that what happens in the classroom on student learning because the research is clear. We cannot improve student performance at
101a district level. You can look at research for many years. The number one factor of increasing student performance is the quality of a teacher. The second factor is the quality of the leader. So we can stand up here and pontificate and put PowerPoint slides on all day and night, but I promise you the number one and two factors do not happen in this space. They happen about what is happening in our classrooms every single day. And until we are ready to make some bold break from the past of how we have always done things, we may continue to get the same results. So that is my commentary on >> uh Dr. Hkins Brown. >> Thank you. I I appreciate um the comments from all three of you. So I'm going to ask you to perform
102an imaginative exercise. So we invested in letters training and that was what that was a million right like right at a million. So, if our progress on letters was a bar loading, you know, like when you're like loading software or loading a video game, and if it was loading from zero to 100%, where are we on the return and investment on letters? >> I would probably say 20%. >> 25. >> Okay. >> Teachers just finished that training >> what in May of last year. So, we gave a test before they even completed the training. >> Okay. Thank you. All right. Is that it, guys? Thank you so much. >> Yeah. [Laughter] Okay, now I'm lost. >> Okay. Good evening everyone. >> Good evening. >> Uh the finances that were in your packet for this month
103was the beginning of the year. We covered the month of July. Um two trends generally occur in in our July statements. While much of the activity during the summer the there is a lot of activity during the summer the month of July normally shows very little financial activity on a modified acrruel basis. Some of the cash receipts and dispersements made in July were actually um last year's transactions. So those transactions were journaled back into last year and as we receive the invoices this year they will be reversed. So over the next two months you're going to see um possibly some negative expenditures because a lot of the transactions in July and August went back into last year. But in our fund 100 general revenues, our local property taxes are currently at 1.5% of our budget,
104which is lower than last year at 2.47 except for vehicle taxes, real estate taxes, adorum, local tax collection in July and August. Um those go back into last year. The results is very little activity in local property tax revenue in the first two months of the year. Overall revenues in the general fund are on track for this point of the year. Total general fund revenues are at 3.79% of our current budget which is lower than last year at 4.51. Our fund 100 general fund expenditures. The salary expenditures are recorded when earned not when paid. This is why actual expenditures and salaries for teachers and salaries for paras are low. Only a very small percentage of those employees work during July. Contrast this with the salaries for other support. Most of those employees work during July.
105Although 8.33% of the fiscal year has expired, different categories of expenditures normally show different behavior patterns. Total general expenditures are at 92% of our budget which is higher than last year at three at.3. Last month you requested that we add our fund 300s into our reports. So they are included this month. Your funds 300, 307 and 308, those are your facility repair accounts. Um funds 312, 313, 314, those are your esplash projects. And the other thing that I'd like to highlight is um fund 600, the school nutrition program. The operating transfer of 3.1 million from the general fund was budgeted for this year, but we did not um acrew any of that for the month of July. The operations team is monitoring the activities over the next 90 days to kind of garner the effects
106of the changes for the total district from free breakfast and lunches. At this time, there are no significant other concerns with any of our other funds. If you have any questions at this time, >> no questions. Just thank you. Thank you for putting the 300 um funds in as I asked and and giving a description of them and for reminding us that the final reconciliation will be coming later. Thank you. >> Welcome, >> Dr. Howard Hall. >> Yes, just a reminder of September 30th is the end of the federal fiscal year. So, how do we look with that is spending our federal funding with title one and other grants because everything must be received on or before the 30th of September. >> Correct. >> For for the federal fiscal year for for this year it
107ends the 30th. >> Those activities are ongoing. Um so those some of those transactions you will see in fiscal year 26. those that occurred in FY25 will be finished up in our reporting um within the next couple of weeks. We have to have by the by the middle of September, we have to have our final FY25 numbers into the state. So that will be done by the middle of the of September. But as you said with the federal grants, we some of those will be reported in FY26 because many times items are pending once they order those materials and that they do not receive them by the 30th of September. It falls into another year and that and that's not good. I think that's one of the responsibilities of the program managers to ensure that
108those schools are expending those federal fundings prior to the last minute in September and it typically happens more often than it should. >> Dr. Dr. Howard Hall, I appreciate you continue to be an advocate for how we use Title One dollars and it is a significant amount of our budget. wondering if it would be useful if we at least did a similar approach that we do with our general funds with title one funding because we can look we should be able to look let me say that I'm not quite sure but we should be able to look at how our spendown is happening at least on a quarterly basis I I I think I can commit to that at least u but I don't know if that would be something useful for the board to
109see or not uh especially since title one funding directly impacts the classroom teaching and learning. Just coming off of the conversation that we just had, it might be helpful to include that in this report monthly. Just a question. >> Uh, Miss Graowski, >> I did have a question, but just piggybacking on what your suggestion, Dr. Watts, I think that would be extremely helpful. We hear about Title One and kind of this cloud and we have our resident expert, Dr. Howard Hall, who understands it inside and out, but I think increasing that awareness, transparency for both the board and the public would be tremendous. So, thank you for offering that. Um, I had a question about, and it doesn't really fall into this specifically, but about the uh grants that were um made available to our
110teachers this year, the $500 grants. This might be an academic. I'm not sure which department this falls in, but I'm curious if we're seeing teachers take advantage of those um grants or if it's too early in the school year to see how that's kind of >> um >> coming into implementation. >> I'm going to say it's too early. We have been seeing some positive responses um from a handful of schools. So, some of the schools came out the came out the gate running with it. Others are are catching up. But this month, the month of September, um is is when we believe we're going to get most of the activity um from those grants. But we did have a number of schools that that started early, got their purchase orders in or reimburse their teachers
111for what they spent. So, this was actually the the most recent payroll was probably the first one we had had a chance to reimburse some teachers. So, we're really just getting started up. >> Okay. But we do have a couple of deadlines. Isn't the first one September 30th? >> The first September line and then another one. >> The first September 30th. >> Okay. I think it'd be useful for the board to understand how those dollars are being spent. Um just if that's an indication of kind of where we may see some of the greatest need that we need to address on a recurring basis. >> And I believe that's been the goal of of the staff to once we get some numbers in, look at where they're spending money and get some, you know, testimonies
112from the staff, school staff. Great. So you hear it directly from them. >> Okay. I'm really glad we're doing that. Looking forward to hear more about it. Thank you. >> Dr. Howard Hall and then Dr. O. >> Yes. I'm I'm concerned about teachers being reimbursed. Are there any particular procedures that we're doing consistently across the board? Yes, ma'am. Because we make >> Yes. I'm sorry to cut you off. Yes. All have guidelines. We share it with the teachers. We share with the principles first and we send it to each individual teacher via email so that everyone has guidance on how to spend the money and what they can spend the money on and when they're going to get reimbursed. So yes, recover cover that thoroughly. >> I didn't realize it was being done. I I
113mean reimburseable grants is something that um organizations often do, but you know that's not really a grant because those teachers are paying income taxes on that. So they're getting it's really a business expense account. It's not a grant because they receive that as income and then they get taxed on it and then they spend the exact amount of 500 and then they get reimbursed the 500. But >> it's not income. >> It's not taxed. >> Are they if they are spending their own money out of their own paycheck and being reimbursed >> then they are on their own private income. Yeah. So it's not it's it's not that's not a grant. That's a business expense account for all the teachers. And that's just period. That wasn't a question. That's just >> so noted. >> Continue.
114>> Yeah. Thank you. All right, quarterly east plus we've got to as always we start our report with a program schedule. The schedule that you have in this particular month's report is a very high level one. Um we have projects at single line activities showing all the projects that we are currently working on and also projections for future projects. And as you know, we expand on these and uh we have given you um more detailed schedules, but this obviously becomes our roadmap as we work through the the East BLS programs. The budget reports that we have in here um I think are some of the most important reports that you as a board could take a look at. This really tells the financial condition of our East Bloss programs. As you know, the green is
115cost, the blue is revenue. You do not have another report that compares revenue with cost. And as we go through the project, we get deeper into it. Um, the more we are on the right side of this line, this bar graph, obviously we have actuals shown and projections as we go. So we become less risk as we continue through the uh SPLAS program itself. And again you can look at this very quickly. You can see that our costs are equaling our revenue. So we are in extremely good financial shape as far as East Blast 3 and East Blast 4 is also one other thing. Take a look at that contingency line item. That's opportunity. As we close projects out, we're able to drop funds down. We can use them for other projects, other things um
116in in the SPLAS program. So, keep an eye on that one. Keep an eye obviously on the fact that we have zero dollars as far as cash on hand at the end of the project. And again, working through these, never getting in a situation or a position where we are going to be spending more money than we uh actually bring in. So, both E4, E3, and E4 are in excellent budget shape. Last ESPLASS, we showed you the list of things that we needed to do in order to be successful through the summertime and be ready for school to start in August. And again, all of these completed. So, as we turn the page, we look at our next quarter. What do we need to accomplish? What are we going to be working on? Uh most
117of these projects obviously are coming up in future slides but it shows the construction, it shows uh looking at getting our next projects out for bid and then even going into uh the future projects and awards of RFPs. So a very very busy time coming up. Just to quickly go through these because we've gone through these projects quite detail in CIC a couple of weeks ago. for Windsor Forest. Obviously, it's occupied, but still work to be done. A major portion of that existing building has been demolished and that needs to continue. Uh additions to the gymnasium and work on that. So, you see what those completion dates are. JG Smith, uh major project demolition of that gym of the uh old cafeteria has been pretty much completed. the building's all tore up and so it's
118going to be a uh quite an lot of activity there to get that uh construction all completed and ready for next year. Islands, we're just getting started on the visitors grandstand areas, new team rooms. uh contractor has just gone out there and gotten his erosion control measures in place and he's waiting for the county to do their uh pre-construction so that we can get started out there. Georgetown again also the old gymnasium is gone. Um working through other demolition in the interior of the building again to put that back in place again for next year. Hubert, we're just finishing up on the bid documents. We're going to be putting this out for bid later this month, maybe early October, by the time we actually get this bid package put together. The alternative ad, we talked
119a lot about this one also. And we are going to need to replace the roof on this project. is kind of slowing up the the design time a little bit in order to make sure we get a proper scope for that roof replacement. And that study is going on right now, but next month this project will be out for bid. Garden City just starting um looking at getting this uh scoped out properly so that we can uh earnestly go at the design on this project. and then a number of other projects uh that we've talked about in the past, but the West Cadam uh high school K8 athletic facility, that project, we have received responses back from our RFP. They have been shortlisted and interviews are scheduled for next week. So, we anticipate having that
120design professional ready for award at the October board. HVAC projects, roofing projects, all continue. Uh we're still working through the putting turf on our athletic fields and we'll continue expanding that. And then a number of other projects obviously Savannah Arts that gym floor was in over the summertime. they are playing volleyball. We've got some things that we have to complete yet in there as far as scoreboard getting the sound completed and uh and that upper uh bleacher area and then as we work through all these other projects they were all scheduled through. So those projects all continue >> Dr. Howard Hall. Yes, we have a robust list of activities for the next quarter. Do we have the manpower to get those things done if we consider the county splash programs as well as the city
121going on within the county? There's a lot. So, do you foresee us having any problems with manpower assistance being that we all in the within the same region? >> Yeah, competing. Let me speak as far as the contractors because we we do keep very close contact with them. Uh be it either general contractors or construction managers. I would say right now that particularly in the general contractor subcontractor trades, we're we're hearing that they're looking for projects. And so I think some of these projects are going to be bit at good time. Five, six, eight months earlier. It wasn't good. But we did get some very good responses, particularly on uh the islands project. We had a number of biders, more biders than we've had in general contractors in a long time. So yes, I think
122uh we're poised pretty well for the marketplace here. We've we've done a lot of work and we have some contractors that uh you know do well serving us. >> I was pleased to see I can't remember the exact name of the the contractor but she attended the deh um ribbon cutting. >> She said her company actually she's minority um contractor and her company poured the cement. >> Yes. So she said the last time she saw it, it was just all mud. And to come out there to see the beautiful stadium was just awesome. And so I that that made my heart >> feel good inside to see that we are actually working with our um LMWB. >> Yes. >> That that was a representative from our LH Hall construction. They've done a lot of work
123for us and and do look for our projects. >> Dr. Just wanted to offer east update that wasn't here. The state has not allowed us to start collecting for East Boss 5. I wanted to thank the voters again for voting that referendum in, but we have not started collecting any pennies for East Bloss 5. Um, and we have not been told by the state when we will be allowed to start collecting any pennies from East 5. And we as a board are not withholding any funds from East Plus 5 for any projects because we have no funds to fund projects. Thank you. Thank you for your TED talk. Uh >> Mrs. Hall, >> I just want to congratulate our capital projects team and everyone involved with the construction of the police annex. That was a
124real surprise to me. I did not expect it to be um the building that it is. And the fact that the superintendent was impressed enough that she decided to let us have our retreat there. I think speaks volume. So that's another place we can go, you know, that belongs to us to to have our meetings and all. But um great job on that. >> All right. >> Thank you very much. >> All right. Good evening. How's everyone? Uh, I think we only have two agenda items. One for transportation for the p purchase of school buses. Uh, in accordance with the district's bus replacement cycle, the division of operations and transportation desires to purchase buses from the established Georgia statewide contract. Statewide contracts are established by state purchasing through the Department of Administrative Services for the
125benefit of government entities located throughout Georgia. In the chart, we're proposing to buy five 84 passenger type D buses and four 28 passenger type C lift buses for a total cost of 1,773,600640. Thus be it resolved upon the recommendation of the superintendent that the board approve the use of statewide contract for the purpose of purchasing five 84 passenger and four 28 passenger buses at a total cost of 1,773,640. >> Moved and moved and seconded. Discussion. >> All in favor? >> Uh I'm sorry. question or statement. Uh I think that, you know, some people may question the idea of us buying new buses when we don't have enough bus drivers to drive the buses we currently have. Uh but I think that that's a good moment to clarify why we're buying these buses. Uh it is
126due to the rotation of the older ones. Correct. >> Correct. >> Okay. >> Yes. >> Absolutely. Yes, sir. So, it is a good process to have a continuous cycle. Um Mr. English can tell you better than anybody else how many buses break down on a regular basis. And so we would like to just continuously get rid of the older buses that cause more problems and hopefully eliminate some of those breakdown opportunities and just a continuous investment. Thank you. >> Thank you. All right. Any more discussion? All in favor? Wonderful. Thank you. And the final item is a budget transfer. Uh the maintenance department request the following budget transfer within fund 308 operations budget. Um the budget transfer supports HVAC equipment repair purchasing and professional services in the amount of 3,999,275. Uh this is kind of
127like part B to the agenda item. you approved last month. It started out as part of that agenda item. I just had some concerns with the item. So, I I changed the language and took the budget lines out before last month's meeting. So, now we're bringing back the account lines to allocate the budget. Thus be resolved upon the recommendation of the superintendent that the board approve the transfer of funds from the operational operations unallocated account to the accounts listed including operations professional services operations equipment and HVAC maintenance various sites >> seconded any discussion There being no discussion. All in favor? >> Wonder. Thank you. >> Thank you, sir. >> All right. We now have we now get to listen to our public. Uh, and first we have uh Mr. Uh, Reman Watson. Good evening. I
128ain't never never been first before. Um I had a lot written down because I but the meet but the discussion today changed a lot of what I was going to say. Um and I would start off by saying that a lot of people's asked if you know about the I would I would say talk to your teachers in your district. I would highly suggest that because I would I would suggest that the understanding or the perception inside the classroom is different than what sometimes gets presented and because if not then you know to be honest you wouldn't sit in a two-hour board meeting to come up here and speak if if it wasn't. So, uh, I would highly suggest that, um, the information that I'm given today concerns the MTSS policy that I presented last
129month. I think that is very important. I think it would address a lot of the issues that we that was discussed today concerning uh, retention, concerning learning, concerning reading. I think if these interventions are put in in a way then we don't have to worry about it retention as much because the in the interventions being done all school year. It's not a roadblock to say no right away. Instead we're doing we have set aside time. We have clear interventions that will target what these kids need. Um it's I do not feel like we have a clear one in our district that will not only be clear and laid out for everybody, but the students data will transfer from school to school. So that way the new teacher will get it and say this kid needs
130blends and diagrams or this kid needs this. Um, I would say like why, you know, the beginning of the school year. I know we have a lot of computer data, but like, you know, why aren't we doing the letters training like that letters um reading data where you have the kid one-on-one? We have a lot of people in our schools that could easily pull our kids and say, you know, here's CH where, you know, try them out, mark them, and that data is there for us teachers to look at. I do it in my classroom, which is some of the information that you're getting today. and how I feel like because we do not have a clear and precise MTSS program that we're getting data like you're seeing on the paper where we are getting
131kids who are coming and who you know Miss uh Campbell mentioned about how you know a kid struggling to read or you know struggling in class I see that and I see it especially in boys you know where they don't want to ask for help which then comes into behavior which then we're worried about their behavior versus worried about why they're behaving that way. Kind of like the diet we're given. And I really believe that an MTSS clear, precise, science-driven program would help us and wouldn't be a one, you know, obviously wouldn't fix everything, but I do think that we could do that and it would address a lot of our a lot of our needs. I support, you know, I agree with Dr. Watts talking about that nothing beats the teacher's quality of education
132that you're given. So, I agree with that, too. We need to look at that as well, you know. Um, yeah, I don't know. I rambled a little bit, but the discussion like I was sitting in my seat dying to like just raise my hand and be like, "Hey, appreciate you speaking up on some on some of the stuff as well." So, um, yeah. Thank you. >> Thank you. And finally today, Miss Doris Williams won't be before you long. Um, good evening, President Moss and the fellow board members. Uh, my name is Doris L. Williams and I am I have the privilege of serving as the executive director of Mary's Place Sexual Assault Center of the Coastal Empire, formerly the Rape Crisis Center. Thank you for the opportunity to speak with you tonight about the work
133we do in partnership with our schools and our community. Our mission is clear to provide support and information to survivors of rape and sexual abuse and their families while educating the community and prevent prevention education assault through programs designed for all ages. This includes 24-hour um 247 crisis line, immediate crisis response a advocacy, forensic evidence collection, court accompanyment, individual counseling, assistance with temporary protective orders, and much more. We pre we proudly serve seven counties, but the bulk of our work h happens right here in the part in partnership with Savannah Cadam County Public Schools. of more than 20,000 youth were served last year in 2425 school year alone. We reached 7,984 students across 28 schools in our district. Our prevention program used the uh Monnique Bar Foundation curriculum which is evidence-based, age appropriate, and fulfills
134Georgia erands law requirements to educate children on receiving the signs recognizing the signs of bullying, abuse, grooming, sexual abuse, and other types of victimization. These conversations are not always easy. Often when I or a team enters the room, there is a pause. But the conversation and work we do are critical and and and reality we all work within a within is sobering. The work that we do is sobering. The conversations according to the Georgia Center for Child Abuse and Advocacy. Child sexual abuse is not just a a prevalent health problem children face. It is a crisis that demands our immediate attention. And it's one that most serious lasting consequences. One in 10 children will be sexually abused before turning 18. One in seven girls and one in 25 boys will experience sexual abuse by that
135age. That these are not just numbers. They are our children, our students, and our neighbors. I would also love to tell you that it is not uncommon for children to disclose abuse after participating in our classroom programs. In 2025, we supported 41 youth who had come through our centers reporting abuse and harm. However, we have also seen success stories. We have seen children who because of our prevention education were able to recognize and report potential abuse thereby preventing harm. We know that number will continue to climb this year. However, we also have the firm belief that with our prevention education, we can stop harm before it escalates. We can teach children the skills to protect themselves. This is why the district partnership is not just important, it's critical because together we can protect more students,
136support more families, and prevent future harm. Your support can make a significant difference. With this, I wanted to invite the full board to visit our center and see firsthand how prevention response and how we work hand inand to safeguard our children. Thank you for your time and for the commitment to you show to the safety and well-being of our every student in our schools and for the potential partnership that can make a real difference. Your support is deeply appreciated. And I have some stack cards with um the services we offer at Mary's Place, Formally Rape Crisis Center. And this is our 50th year. [Applause] >> Did you do you I want to ask you did y'all even know that we do prevention education with the school system? We're glad glad you know. >> Thank you
137so much. >> Thank you. >> Okay. Uh I'll accept a motion to I didn't say what yet. to you should have said to pay for our dessert. >> There you go. >> Uh second. >> All in favor? >> Have a great great night. Thank you everyone for coming out. Thank you.