001good afternoon good afternoon thank you wow let me try that again I'm sorry you didn't have the mic in good afternoon afternoon a that's so much better um welcome to the what is today uh Wednesday October 4th uh 2023 uh regular meeting of the Board of Education of the city of Savannah and County of chadam um before we go on I'm going to ask our secretary if we have posted at this meeting she assures me that it has um right now I will uh ask everyone to stand for our national anthem good afternoon singing for you today is the seventh and eighth grade choir from ogal Thorp charter school they are named the Titan singers their director Dr Kyle sens is in his second year at the school and his eth in The District in
002addition to teach teaching Dr sens is a professional singer in the Low Country having worked with the Hilton Head Symphony the Savannah Music Festival and the Savannah voice Festival would you please remain standing at the end of our national anthem for the Pledge of [Music] Allegiance [Music] we at the Twilight last through the the [Music] The [Applause] [Music] Rock [Music] flag [Music] Stars away [Music] the [Music] [Applause] the 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 liy andice for [Applause] all good [Music] job thank you [Music] let's hear it again for ogul Thor um before we go on uh there is a there's a test that is going to happen at 220 it will make all of
003your phones go off so please turn your phones off or on airplane mode well we will have a cacophony of awful sound it might be fun to Listen to Nice Nice okay ah announcements I'm sorry oh sorry um I would like to make a motion to approve the agenda with the following revisions deletions of item 7.17 professional consulting services for East Blas project Services first renewal item 7.18 professional program management consulting services for East floss project Services first renewal and 7.19 eastl construction management consulting services second renewal are here yes so moved and seconded all in favor thank you that it good we're good um announcements first of all if uh I would like you to notice your screens that we now have all of our Mater materials in both English and Spanish so um
004uh all right just a little update on our committees um subject to board bylaws article 8 duties of officers the board president shall appoint all special committees and designate the chairpersons thereof the board president that's me uh now announces the following updates to committee appointments to the to uh Sunset the 20123 budget committee to introduce the formation of the board finance committee um to announce Dr David bringman as the chair finance committee members of the finance committee shall be established prior to the first scheduled meeting to be held on Tuesday November 7th and basically those that were on the budget committee will be on the finance committee um so more announcements uh Friday October 6 is e-learning day students will stay home for remote learning um October 9th uh staff planning Day no school for
005students but tell your students to study anyway um Tuesday October 10th uh start of second 9we period Wednesday this is an important one please put this on your calendars a community conversation with the superintendent Town Hall at hk8 this is for district one uh uh at hk8 uh 99116 Whitfield Avenue from 6:00 p.m. to 7 p.m. Friday October 13th parents listen listen carefully report cards issued yes first nwe period report cards parents put Circle that on your calendar Wednesday October 18th Community conversation with the superintendent town hall for District 4 at Islands High School uh 170 Whit Marsh Island Avenue I Island Road I know better than that um Tuesday October 24th board accountability meeting uh here at the Whitney complex from 3:30 to 5:00 p.m. Wednesday October 25th another Community conversation with the superintendent
006Town Hall District 2 and three at Jenkins High School uh and that's again at 6: pm and finally um an audit committee meeting October 26 um here at Whitney 8 AM to 9 a.m. now uh Dr Tanya Howard Hall will you please stand congratulations to Dr Tanya Howard hall for being recognized as the dreamers at the dreamer success business meets Community luncheon held this past Tuesday this event supports local dreamers from Savannah youth City and sccpss congratulations Dr Howard [Applause] [Music] Hall okay where is my list of remembrances uh here's our list for remembrances to today um uh Miss Mary Butler uh date of passing September 18th 2023 she was uh she was a per professional at May Howard Elementary Mr Gary horn head custodian um atland date of passing September 3rd 2023 and M
007Charlotte Driggers data passing in September 26 she was a nutrition assistant at pul elementary school could we please stand for a moment of silence and now I turn this over to our superintendent Dr Watts thank you so much [Music] ah somebody have your phones on this is only a test oh it doesn't matter if it's own Sil oh it has to be on air I'm sorry well it was timely uh because it signals in the best part of our agenda for today so I have everyone's attention uh to share mine is going to continue to go off how do you stop it okay um so now that everyone's awake and we have everyone's attention I'm super excited to go over our uh student of the month um our student of the month uh is from
008Godly station K8 school um reading all of her nominations was so inspiring to me and and the committee um our scholar is ranked number one oh my [Music] goon okay I'm just going to keep going our scholar is ranked number one in her class at Godly station although she carries a a high a average in every class this student continues to push herself daily as a seventh grader she went from ninth to 10th grade level on the recent I ready re reading diagnostic meeting 300% of her progress goal um one of her nominators wrote that she exemplifies the characteristics of an outstanding student and school citizen how nice is that to get that from up here her contributions both in and outside the classro set her apart she is an Avid Reader a remarkable writer
009a talented artist and a quick thinking mathematician she has a golden heart as well including humility and a sincere desire to help others she is a member of the School's art P portfolio course chess club Beta Club math team and deep outside of school she swims for the Georgia Coastal aquatic team and volunteers at the Loaves and Fishes food pantry when asked asked what motivates her for her academic success our student of the month appli replied to be able to achieve all of my dreams because I have a lot of them we are proud to announce the student the superintendent student of the month for September 2023 is Reagan smika congratulations to Ragan [Applause] I think included in that Applause we should also congratulate her [Applause] family as well as the faculty and staff at
010Godly station that continue toate parents please stand family please stand also special thanks to uh those that nominated uh Reagan Kimberly poite Hayward Tama Johnson and Suzanne Campbell suzan teer there rean is taking home with her today many multiple gifts from our Community Partners to include Members First Credit Union advertising Specialties Georgia United Credit Union Savannah State University gstream plant Riverside District gelato Savannah Music Festival and Bahama Joe's Reagan and students of her English language arts class will receive printed copies of her favorite book The Ballad of song birds and snakes by Suzanne Collins from our sponsors at e shaver book sellers lastly Reagan will also be taking home a portrait by upscale photography provided by savan chadam County Public Schools let's congratulate [Applause] one and uh continuing in Our Moment of Applause I have
011lots of other great and exciting news news to share uh about our district um recently the US News and World Report released their rankings of the nation's top high schools for 2020 20 23 24 and two of our Savannah chadam County Public School high schools were listed I'd like to congratulate Savannah Arts Academy who's been recognized as the eighth best high school in the state of Georgia and Woodville Tomkins Technical and career high school for being recognized as the 8 first best high school in the state of Georgia and to put that into a little bit of context the US News reviewed nearly 25,000 public high schools in all 50 states and the District of Colombia so that just puts that into a little bit of perspective um we are also really excited that recently
012we had a visit from the state superintendent Richard Woods um he visited Savannah on September 241st to award literacy leader Banners To several of our schools eight to be exact Andrea B Williams herd Elementary Jacob G Smith Largo Tibet new Hamstead K8 Brock Elementary Rice Creek K8 and West chadam Elementary School re Reed these banners all will recognize for exceptional growth in third grade reading by achieving 15% or higher increases from the 2122 school year to 2223 on the Georgia Milestone assessment congratulations to our literacy leaders in our school district and keep your hands together to celebrate one of our teachers here in the District congratulations to Island's High School science teacher Mrs Adam Adeline Bankston Miss G Bankston received a 22 2022 Yale educator award this award recognizes Educators from around the world who
013Inspire and support students Miss Bankston was nominated for the award by a former Island high school student miles Parkhurst as students entering the Yale class of 2020 2027 uh were asked to nominate Educators who had deeply impacted their lives and this particular student remembered Miss Bankston and wanted to recognize her would like to also extend a congratulations to our district Finance team on receiving the association of school business officials international certificate of excellence in financial reporting for the 2022 annual comprehens hensive Financial oversight report this recognition is a testament to the district's commitment to transparency as well as high quality financial reporting well done finance department September was attendance awareness awareness month and sccpss observed this occasion by hosting a press conference on September the 20th to share the many reasons attendance matters in our
014district this observation was celebrated with a proclamation by the CH chadam County Commission on September 22nd also a huge thank you to the Chinese Heritage Organization for their support of literacy through a donation of textbooks and other Chinese language books to the district during an event at May Howard Elementary School I got to attend that event it was great the students were treated treed to a demonstration of making moon cakes a traditional Chinese delicacy and then they had a story read uh bilingually by uh a person speaking both Chinese as well as English it was a really great event to be a part of and speaking of our very very diverse and Multicultural student body and staff the district recently participated in the Hispanic heritage parade on September 16th students and staff rode on our
015float that was decorated with flags from many of our Hispanic countries and we supported uh the traditional costumes for their from those native countries thank you to Michelle Torres Nicole Vero Rodriguez bernardet Gomez Crow and Christina Connors for their support in this endeavor we'd also like to extend thank you to Congressman buddy Carter for his assistance in securing a donation of Albuterol for our students thanks to representative Carter and the generosity of cipla a global pharmaceutical company a donation of inhalers were made so that every single School in our district has access to this important life-saving medication much appreciation goes to lead nurse Lisa Wilson for taking steps to ensure that this donation and and Medicine uh would help equip our students and schools with more tools to help be safe and healthy we also
016raised the flag um for our flag of learning and Liberty at STEM Academy at Bartlett um on third on Tuesday September the 19th it was a great event teacher of the year Mrs Reagan Dylan delivered inspiring remarks as she always does and we were so so impressed with the student Le organization of that event special thanks to all who were in attendance and the great work of our many amazing Educators uh but specifically Miss Reagan Dylan thank you for all that you do this week is a special week it is Georgia prek week it's time that we recognize our earliest Learners in the district uh this year's event will bring together leaders and teachers and students to celebrate the importance of early childhood learning in our prek program and this week we have the pleasure
017of many of our community and state level leaders that will be joining us to help celebrate let me name a few of them uh we'll be welcoming Senator Derek Marlo the city of Savannah Fire Marshal Whitney Williams Smith mayor Van Johnson will be supporting this effort vice president of the 00 black men of Savannah Mr Carlton Jefferson as well as dozens of other Community Partners such as the Savannah Area Chamber Georgia power international paper and so so many more we are extremely grateful for these leaders who show their support to our youngest Learners and lastly I'd like to Echo the sentiment of our board chair and extending a very uh immense congrat congratulations to miss uh Howard Hall uh for District 8 board representative for being recognized as a 2023 Community hero I think she
018emulates why she is a hero each and every day in her leadership in the board and the community she was Rec recently recognized at a dreamer success luncheon that was hosted by Roberts civil engineering and partnership with Savannah youth City the luncheon honors business and Community leaders for their outstanding Community involvement and Dr Howard Hall certainly uh is recognized and celebrated she follows in the footsteps of former board members Miss Irene Hines who also was honored in 2022 we have a lot to be proud of in this district oh [Applause] yeah and then lastly I will be passing the microphone over to um our two professional Senate Representatives um Reagan Dylan our teacher of the year and Mr Moses mcneel our instructional support person of the year and they will provide for us an update
019on the superintendent professional Senate meeting which was held on September 14th thank you um we're gonna tag team he's going to do next month's just so we can share the speaking and be as quick as possible um our first meeting was held and we end introduced our overarching theme for this year's Senate which is together we can to create the community and to define the we in together we can stakeholders were introduced and their roles in the districts in our district was defined next the purpose and the importance of the Senate were highlighted um and we spoke that attendance was necessary because this is our time to have input and voice and decisions that are made of a districtal level Dr wats did a great introduction and opened up the floor for questions from the
020audience and it was an informal um get to know you conversation that was a great springboard for further communication um next we had Miss Beth whan um present to us what I'm sure y'all are familiar with last year's teacher burnout and sanah chattam County Schools um and that's where we're going to continue the work this year with the areas of concern being assessment preserving and protecting time pressures unrealistic expectations and teachers voice and professional growth and then miss Sher bonder Goldman the 2022 Georgia teacher of the year followed that up and shared some exciting things that are being done in the state that Savannah chattam County public schools are actually partnering with via the Carl Vincent Institute it was a great meeting thank you and that concludes the superintendent's report for this month thank you
021sorry uh thank you sir we're moving along in the agenda to the board matters section uh we do have uh a number of policies that we are looking to review these are 4-year reviews as part of our typical uh procedural operation on item 6.01 this is J gfgb concussion you'll note that the revisions here have really rearranged to a much more comprehensive understanding of reading the flow of managing concussions that go everywhere from awareness to how to manage a concussion and then return to play components we also thought it was important in the verbiage that we wrote to where possible have it a little bit more expansive to include physical activities where a possible concussion could occur and give administrators and School staff the authority to take reasonable steps for the protection of children this
022would delete the regulation there are some redundant language there and clean it up into the policy side this is a first read I have a question um I noticed that on this policy and on another we're deleting the regulation and we are um maintaining the policy and traditionally the policy has been the um has been where the board announces this is our these are our values in this area and the regulation um is where the superintendent outlines what the district approach will be are we moving towards um not having the regulatory side on our policies and just implementing policy um I I would say no to that but the to account for what your observation is which is accurate it is really a case-by casee type of scenario and when you do see those components
023we have and we may not have done as so as effectively in this particular policy language but make reference to where there is an administrative procedural guidelines or document that is referred to for how the stipulations of the policy are really to be carried out on the site level or Department level this particular policy we do give nod to the Georgia High School Association where much of those components lie and we also thought it was important to reference state code as well in doing so we did realize that the regulation became further redundant such was recommendation to rele it to delete it so it's really a caseby casee scenario okay so in in that case I'm I'm comfortable with it and the reason I bring it up is that there's a lot of plasticity in
024the regulation in that the superintendent can manage it at any time when it becomes policy you can't change it without bringing it before the board and I'm just aware of creating scenarios in which the district doesn't have the flexibility that they need but I understand what you're saying if we're just referring largely to the state law we defer to that anyway so it's not a it's not a loss of flexibility but that just became my concern when I saw two regulations going on the CH chopping block yeah but um you yeah thank you for that and again the the we do have situations where uh for example we had the uh purchasing card policy review where we were referring to state law and then also pushing it out to how we manage the arrangement to
025staff through a through a manual that is managed administratively through Finance this is a very similar concept of that but to your point the language that's listed in here as far as the awareness components and the response components our word for word was state code thank you anyone else thank you moving on in the agenda this is board policy jgf you'll note in this particular four-year review that there were very minimal changes to the policy language it was just really a formatting grammatical change on the policy side uh we did have a little bit of change to the regulation side where we really wanted to stress a certain component of that Reg regulation aspect which speaks to when prohibited restraints are required and when training uh shall be determined as necessary for that further flexibility
026when we feel there are cases where additional training is needed uh that is strengthened in the regulation Side by moving it further up in the uh process for the formatting in the language but there were really no changes substantively to the policy so with that we would like to have this considered subject to any final comments by the board as uh finished and reviewed under the four-year policy process okay Mr Kowski um the only comment that I had and and I understand why there's a day that's given for the school to notify a parent of an incident but due to the severity of an incident that might require restraint I would really like for us to evaluate that notification being the day of the incident I know if my child were restrained physically I'd want
027to know immediately so I hope that's something we can revisit yeah will'll um that that was received and and reviewed legally and with the academic Affairs team and what we did do was pull the relevant guidance on that which does clearly state in those situations that a written notice is required in fact within 24 hours but the key language is not to exceed one school day so we can certainly uh strengthen that by adding that exact language to mirror what's in that relevant U guidance can we add something that it is strongly encouraged or the or something that well it's required it it's required I know it's required within 24 hours but not to exceed one school day I'm trying to get us to where it's not the 23rd hour where a parent is notified
028of their child being restrained if that's within our legal parameters to be able to do so um let us talk further with the legal team on that my only pause is U language of that component kind of goes back to what we were just discussing about a certain level of flexibility and then that creates some opportunities for policy if it's written in a certain way uh it'll set you up for further ministerial type language that can set up an opportunity for policy violation but the reality of it is the requirement for following these procedures is in fact a 24-hour notice not to exceed one school day so we could certainly look at adding some language in there that strongly encourages it to be done sooner than that but we'll have to find where that verbiage
029lies legally to uh be sufficient with the uh legal requirements of state code okay thank you for your consideration and doing so this could bring it back for a second reader adoption that'd be great moving on in the agenda the final policy review for the board today is there's also on our four-year process rundown which is a solicitation of Staff this is board policy g once again a 4-year review in this uh component that we uh put together for the board really minim changes other than what we wanted to stress which in reading the policy language you would assume that it's understood Avon Watkins whatever it is that I mean it I'm I don't have a problem with the policy I have no changes to recommend I am impressed that we're able to actually enforce
030this policy any other comments okay is this their first reading this particular one is a first reader yes we'll come back for a second in November yes sir okay that concludes the policy reviews under board matters the following items 6.04 through item 6.07 are proclamations I'll turn the agenda back to the board president for the management and Adoption of the subsequent proclamations okay first will have the school bus safety and transportation week Miss Kowski thank you so in recognition of school bus safety and transportation appreciation the following Proclamation States whereas Savannah chadam County public school bus drivers are a vital part of our Public School System traveling millions of miles transporting thousands of students each day during the school year to and from school and two and from other sanctioned activities and whereas Savannah chattam
031County Public School transportation employees are committed to professional development and training to improve their Knowledge and Skills to ensure the safety and well-being of students and of other drivers who share the state's roadways with school buses and whereas drivers trainers support staff dispatchers and mechanics in the transportation program have compiled an outstanding safety record in Savannah Georgia therefore be it resolved the board of public education for the city of Savannah and the county of chattam does hereby proclaim the week of October 16 through 20th 2023 to be observed as school bus safety and transportation Appreciation Week in recognition of the contributions drivers and other school transportation staff make to our public education system and it is fitting that we set aside a special time to commend these dedicated individuals and we encourage all citizens to
032recognize school bus drivers and support Support Program staff for the services they provide okay I'll make that in form of a motion thank you very much second second it's been moved in second it all in favor okay we have someone to recognize all right I do we have someone to yes you have you have the list yes oh I'm sorry okay I need it on my screen ah our next is these are our principles so we do have some uh individuals who are here to receive the proclamation sir that's what I thought okay let's get our bus drivers first oh I am so sorry have some members from our transportation department here today we have Erica Erica Jackson and Tyler gallamore thank you so much hold up thank you so much appreciate you y is
033next awes thank you yeah yeah yeah you funny all right next we will have a proclamation for oh one of my favorites uh national school lunch week I'll take that one Mr President thank you in recognition of the importance of the Savannah chadam County Public School System School nutrition program and the dedicated employees who work tirelessly to provide healthy meals to the students of our great school system the following board Proclamation is offered whereas the national school lunch program has served our nation adorally for more than 77 years through advanced practices and nutrition education and whereas the national school lunch program is dedicated to the health and well-being of our nation's children and whereas the national school lunch program has been joined through the years by many other excellent child feeding programs and there is
034evidence of continued need for nutrition education and awareness of the value in the school system therefore be it resolved that the Board of Education here in the city of Savannah and the county of chadam does hereby proclaim the week of October the 9th through the 13th of 2023 as national school lunch week and encourages all residents to become aware about their children's and their own nutrition habits in hopes of achieving a more healthy citizenry for today and for the future to come this is signed by President Roger Moss Jr as well as superintendent Dr Denise Watts thank you can I have a second it's been moved and seconded all in favor and today uh we have our S&P uh manager Alexander [Applause] Griffin thank you than you meting everybody thank you for all you do
035uh Mr Griffin could you a gift for you we have a gift for you [Laughter] sorry grab and go grab and [Laughter] go all right our next Proclamation positive learning communities that help every student discover their full potential and realize their goals therefore be it resolved the board of public education for the city of Savannah and County of chattam does hereby celebrate All School principles and we ask our entire community to join us in recognizing the month of October 2023 as National School principal month on behalf of the Board of Education and the Sada Chata County Public School System we extend our sincere appreciation for every school principal in our school system and across this nation second it's been moved in seconded all in favor thank you very much much uh and today we have
036uh Beach High School no screaming here Beach High high school principal uh Craig Dy dter sorry and Marsh Point Elementary uh principal Suzanne or Susan and [Applause] BR good to see you man see you thank you sir we just have one but [Laughter] please thank you right don't don't don't don't guys would take me literally okay uh J uh next we have uh custodial workers day I'm happy to offer this Proclamation whereas public schools are part of this nation's backbone providing young people with the tools they need to maintain our nation's precious value of Freedom Civility and equality integral in this education process is a part played by education support professionals and whereas education educational support professionals who are custodial workers provide a clean environment for students to learn in while those in maintenance departments
037provide safe surroundings for students and staff alike whereas custodial workers operate behind the scenes and we want them to know how appreciated they are for the hard work they do daytoday keeping schools clean and well-maintained they contribute to important First Impressions and success of the school as as well as contribute to the safe School environment therefore be resolved that we the board of public education for the city of Savannah and the county of chadam to hereby recognize with the rust of the nation October 2nd 2023 as the national custodial workers recognition day and encourage all citizens to join us and celebrate their work and daily contributions all through the month of October signed on this day by board president Roger Moss Jr and superintendent s Denise Watts second please it's been moved in seconded all
038in favor thank you very much and today to represent our our custodians we have uh Mr Spencer [Applause] Ward thank welc thank you appreciate thank [Music] you all right I will accept a motion to approve our uh consent agenda moved it's been moved moved and seconded all in favor wonderful thank you it was unanimous guys I okay keep going okay uh uh Mr hediger yes sir moving on to your agenda this is item uh goal one which is the quarterly report from the Susie King Taylor Community Charter School hi everyone happy Wednesday um this is our quarterly report for Susie King Taylor community school and I am Dr matina the inim school director um this is our student attendance report K through 5 and 6 through 8 our current attendance is sitting at 95% um
039for the beginning of this year we were hit with Co again so that is why it is a little lower than I like but we are working to getting it above 95% we are 100% completed on our tis and leaks and this is our student discipline report for for this year there are too few to report I don't think we hardly have any this year we did Implement a wonderful new program at Susy King to help combat um our increased discipline that we did see last year we now have a reset room um that is ran by our wonderful Mr D and Mr Shan Patterson our dean of social emotional learning and this is a proactive approach to help our Scholars um regulate their emotions and behaviors before it becomes an issue and it's really
040working this is our beginning of year already reading diagnostic data it is very comparable to where we are were last year at the end of the year um so I am excited for the growth and progress that we will see this year and this is our math data um some new and exciting things that I wanted to share at sktc those are communication family engagement and an increase in clim positive climate in culture and these are some pictures that I wanted to share of our Scholars so every Friday we have implemented a first Friday scholar treat um just to show our Scholars how much we love and appreciate them for the first time ever Susie King celebrated grandparents day and we had a wonderful turnout um we have also started scholar of the month and
041that is um our place based field experiences there so making sure that there is alignment between the Georgia standards making sure that we are being true to who Susie King says it is um and we have implemented our positivity project this year so an increase in circles um that is Mr Tim Patterson who is phenomenal and our educator of the month for the month of October and we have also shared out our sktc app one of the major concerns that our families had at the end of last year was communication and now they are getting communication probably a lot more than they want to um but definitely an improvement from previous years and that is our update any questions Dr Hoskins Brown thank you for thank you for your report um I appreciate uh the
042data and I I see the progress that you're endeavoring to make I just noticed in the grandparents day your grandparent is a um was a really really valuable member of the SEC PSS family it's a vena Butler and she's a retired science coordinator from Oakland who developed so many of those programs out at Oakland so you had a very valuable visitor to your grandparents day we have a lot of valuable family members in our KCs Community I love it yes anyone else thank you very much you're so very welcome you'll have a wonderful day all right Mr Jackson good afternoon everyone good afternoon and I will try to be just as brief copies of the financial statements for the period ending August the 31st 23 2023 um has been distributed to the board and placed
043on the website for the public review again similar to last month we're still in the first two months of the fiscal year for 2024 uh we really don't have a lot of activity during the month of August we do have some expenditures most of the uh salary expenditures for instance for teachers um actually won't show up as an expenditure until we get into into September um but for the most part the except for vehicle taxes real estate transfer taxes and title ADV valorum taxes local taxes are collect that are collected in July and August are actually recorded in the previous year so you won't see a lot of activity there so in the general fund um which we record majority of our expenditures operating expenditures again we don't have a lot of activity this early
044in the year um as far as the other funds we really don't have any concerns at this point we have all of the title or federal grants um that are in transition they ask most most of them actually closed September the 30th so you may see some negatives but all of those we make adjustments as we get into the um fiscal year later on but at this time we have no concerns from the finance division any questions Mr casmar when will we have kind of final reconciliation for last year's budget um and the reason I'm asking is when we were debating the millage rate in May and June we were speculating that we were going to um end up with uh excess funds and as we start the finance committee process next month I I'm
045kind of cognizant of that conversation and kind of wanted to know where we were from a starting point into this year so what's the process for kind of finalizing last year's budget reconciling everything understanding what the final numbers are we're actually beginning that process the Auditors come in during the month of October and we have to wait for them to do some of their um audit entries so we are hoping to finish up the the audit during the month of November um we're going to be pretty close around the time we have the audit committee meeting but it should be immediately after so at least before December we should have the audit completed and we would know a um have a definite kind of ending balance for FY 23 and a starting point for FY
04624 de January yes at the latest yes thank you uh Mr ringman Dr ringman can you explain just the way money is being moved around in title 4 account 463 page okay um I mean I know title four is like special services right like it it like yes for great with us having more teachers I'm guessing if we're or we're paying somebody a lot for the title programs again as I mentioned earlier we have some grants that end September 30th so with within the current system we create a say for a 463 for odd year and 462 for the even year Sometimes some of the expenditures during the summer months may show up in the OD year and it's going to be a a probably we may go over the budget until we start moving
047the jvn expenditures to the correct year so as we move on by October and November we're going to adjust the budget for the even year which will be FY 24 so everything will come into place and come into line but it's this is pretty common this time of the year because we will have expend show up it's really for the same fund it's just we have two it's really for the same Grant that's what I mean it's for the same Grant but we have two funds to capture expenditures and it just depends where we actually charge the expenditures so it will throw both of the funds off so 463 is not a grant by itself it's a combination of 462 and 463 so it's really just a matter of when the expenditure takes place I
048I get that it's just it's interesting budgeting where we have like transportation in in 462 we spent it all and here we're like 603 in the positive I I I just is interesting that we wouldn't try to have that in the salaries area where we might need it to be higher so we don't have somewhere that says that we're 52% of what we budgeted right yeah I don't know if there's a way that we could clean that up so it doesn't h i get that you're moving the money around properly and we will get we will get to that point where we we will clean up both funds when we get into probably November but you won't see the November statements until December January but we will clean them up as we go through the
049year okay I'll have a sidebar okay all right any other questions [Music] continue on to the agenda items [Music] 9.02 is plus 4 um we combined some budget transfers for Julet low Brock golly station for audio enhancements um you can see the amounts in the table and the agenda item um 560,000 for Juliet Low Brock 450,000 and gly station 850,000 thus be it resolved upon the recommendation of the superintendent that the board approve the budget transfers as noted okay uh uh I'm sorry Mr Johnson oh yes and seconded any discussion all all in favor thank you thank you okay the next item is a budget transfer that actually um helps us support the agenda item you approved last month for the construction at the Fieldhouse and athletic field at The Groves complex we're transferring 12
050$12,500,000 from is 3 contingency to an actual construction account to pay for the work uh the total work that was actually in the contract last month of $299512 m951 769 thus be it resolved upon the recommendation of the superintendent that the board approve the budget transfer as noted M seconded any discussion question yes so this will cover the GMP cost not remaining in the project budget so this is an additional this increases the GMP by 12.5 to the 29 million yes okay any other questions okay all in favor motion passes thank you and the last item is a cont contract I mean a award to purchase wheelchair lift bus buses from Peach State Truck Centers LLC this is coming off a Statewide contract the division of operation and transportation desires to purchase wheel wheelchair LIF
051buses from the established Georgia Statewide contract in the amount of $2,228 25 and this is for 15 wheelchair buses a well 15 buses with wheelchair lifts okay um the funding source will come from the bus account line within the transportation budget and the general fund thus be resolved upon the recommendation of the superintendent that the board approve the use of Statewide contract SPD swl 2020 06302 for the purchase of 15 wheelchair lift buses at a total cost of 2, 220,00 $25 okay move moved and seconded uh any discussion yes Dr bringman I should have talked when the transportation people were here do you know if this like replaces the entire fleet of wheelchair buses or I got I got a shake back there it's not it's actually we're going to cycle those ones that are
0522013 is what that's generally what our break point is like every 10 15 years we update those buses so we'll bring those off and put the no on on thank you any any other discussion all in favor motion passes thank you okay that it that is it thank you y thank you very much all sorry I haven't okay um before we get started on uh appearances I have a quick statement to make um wanted to take a moment as your board president to respond to commentary regarding the conclusion of our last board meeting during the appearances section uh it is important that you know that I believe wholeheartedly in the processes we have in place to allow proper Community engagement with the board and the opportunity for all citizens to come before us to share
053their views and offer their input to make our great school system even better at the conclusion of the September 6 board meeting I will ask again if you have more than one person that is speaking on the same subject and this is not an order this is a request if you elect one person to speak but this is open to all so I going to start with uh Miss Beth mazeron good afternoon past speakers have referred to me and others who speak at the school board with the request to remove obscene books from the local school libraries as book banners this is demonstrably false our critics canate two positions an easyto defend position and a controversial one instead of defending the controversial position exposing children to obscene language and images in school libraries this critics
054Retreat to a less uh uh defending a less controversial position freedom of speech while acting as though the positions are equivalent using this deceptive debate tactic the speakers who have erroneously called us book Banners are saying we want to ban all books that contain characters of certain Creeds colors or legal Lifestyles this is 100% false we want to remove any book that contains pornographic language or images regardless of its subject matter in school libraries only I will summarize with the following truthful stat statements about our mission one we are not book banners we support the first amendment protection of free speech we are not proposing limited access to books outside of the school setting two we are opposed to obscenity as divined in Georgia law appearing in school library publications of any kind three we
055are not opposed to school libraries containing books about any topic or genre that is age appropriate books are an Avenue for people of all Creed color and life situations to identify with characters however whatever the topic or genre of a school library book obscenity shouldn't be included four by the same token that cigarettes or alcohol aren't sold in a school store obscenity shouldn't be offered in school library books parents send their children to what they presume is a safe School free from illegal substances five the current Media Center policy of Savannah chatam County puts the responsibility on already overburdened parents to be familiar with the ever increasing volume of books that contain obscenity so they can either opt out their child or follow the honorous process of challenging a book we have spoken with many
056parents who are afraid of retaliation from teachers Andor school officials for their child or themselves if they challenge a book per policy six taxpayers pay for these books as the largest part of their property taxes go to the schools yet they aren't allowed to challenge the use of their funds for the purchase of obscenity on behalf of all local taxpayers parents and school children we respectfully ask for books that violate the obscenity law of the state to be removed from Savannah chattam County School libraries thank you thank you very much okay um just to make sure is Betty fan here she is not okay uh next Mr Rick Rooney Rooney I know that it is Rooney that's good president Moss board members Dr Watts my first board meeting was in January of this year and
057I've been at everyone since except when I was out of town and I watched you on TV at the Times uh a lot has changed in those nine months number one you banned uh balance litery and implemented curricula based on the science of reading number two you hired a spectacular new superintendent Dr Watts you allocated money for letters today I saw the implementation plan the uh staff presented uh those were wonderful things last month my wife and I were both here she had come to an earlier meeting in the year and as we were driving home we commented to each other that the spirit on the board seems quite different in SE September than it did in January I think you're working together a lot better than you were so all in all a spectacular
058nine months the the school district is positioned to really move forward now something about the future in that January meeting there was a it was the informal meeting and there was a presentation on Transportation uh bus drivers salaries all that was discussed last month there was another presentation on Transportation it was exactly the same as the January presentation with the exception the results were worse and the same discussion ensued we don't seem to be making progress I would like to make a proposal there is a solution to this which is to Outsource busing organizations should pursue their core competencies and do them Excellency excellently and hire people to do things they don't do Excellency excellently that the outside side companies do apple does not manufacture iPhones they Outsource that Apple designs and does software so
059I would recommend that uh say by the 1st of November the district uh offer or put out an RFP for transportation services to start next school year include in that RFP the transportation of all our students to and from all our schools including choice schools including Charter Schools all the public schools have responses back by the 1st of February then you have all spring to evaluate is that the best decision you'll have data you'll have competing offers and you can make a decision to implement next year you have nothing to lose by approaching it this way and everything to gain thank you thank you very much okay next we have uh Miss Christina magana I'm sorry oh okay in the middle please hello everyone thank you for for having us I'm going to keep it
060pretty short today um thank you Mr Moss for regarding what went down at the last school board meeting um I'm here to speak in support of the Immigrant Community today and I want to bring up um some of the things that I wish the district would be more intentional about in in involving uh ESO parents and including them in the decision-making process um before implementing such drastic changes such as those that have happened at Groves um and these things will have long lasting impacts on the education of immigrant and Hispanic students um it has been brought to our attention I don't know if you all are aware that Math Science and History classes are full at Jenkins Windsor and new Hamstead High School these are classes that students need to be on track for graduation
061uh does the district have any plans to add more classes or have more staff to teach these classes um while it is impossible to go back in time and take more proactive steps towards changing this situation I ask that you today uh continue implementing Solutions so that students from Groves High School who are drastically moved to the new high schools that they're currently at don't have to pay the price for the lack of preparation from Administration I also ask that today um that in the future that when these types of decisions are made you'll consider the input of parents and Community who deeply care about the education and success of these students um I also request that the board have the sign up form online to speak available in Spanish as well please and thank
062you all for your time okay all right okay all right uh next is mar marel are you here there you are marela oriano and middle right there yes yes thank you thank do I sit down please thank you um um I will make this very short also um no pun intended um I'm here as a parent and also as a English uh Spanish interpreter uh I have been interpreting ing at different um situations in public school in Savannah since around 1999 it's been a long time um and I think most even employees are not aware that having a an interpreter available or at least a language line is a federal law it was passed with the Civil Rights Amendment but we don't have any enforcement and uh it's a Pity because so many parents do
063want to be involved um even if it's making cupcakes you know they want to be involved and a lot of times they just miss out on a lot of things and a lot of activities um and as a parents you know my my children were lucky that they had parents that spoke many languages uh one child is a junior at Georgia Southern so she's about to graduate she's going to do actually a a year in Germany so we're happy about that um so she speaks two languages then my other daughter she's a senior at ug go Bulldogs um but they're lucky they have parents who can speak like I said many languages including English and Spanish so anyway so that's all that I wanted to say that it's it's important and and the more people
064the more ideas that come together maybe we can find solutions for you know little things big things because we have more to share the more you share I don't know the better it is so anyway thank you it's good to see you thank you okay uh next we have miss Karen malfy good afternoon good afternoon um I'm a newly retired teacher from sccpss and I'm here to speak as a um supporter of the Immigrant Community I know firsthand the frustrations not only parents but students can go through when they're trying to navigate our school system I recently realized watching my daughter enrolling her kids in school that as an educator myself and my colleagues often forgot how confusing that can be even even for an English speaker yet alone somebody who's struggling with English I've
065had Parents take their kids out of school because they were so confused and frustrated and Afraid um I've seen a I've seen a lot of frustration and so I'm just here to support the idea that we remember to include everybody in the conversation and make sure that um everything is language accessible for them as well I know one time I was traveling in another country and I was extremely pregnant and a dog was bothering me and I couldn't tell the dog to leave me alone because it didn't understand English so I can't I just would like to offer my support to our community thank you thank you very much okay Mr rud long I'll try to keep this very short and sweet thank you board members um I'm aware of situation that grows where these
066students were suddenly transferred I'm a parent and by the way I'm a taxpayer too so and uh you I'm a big supporter of the school system and I always have been but what happened to those children was very traumatic for for them I don't understand why that wasn't planned out why it had to happen after school year began but it doesn't seem very good and as a taxpayer and a parent and a citizen of this the city those children are going to grow up and they are going to be members of our society and they need to be productive members of society they want to be we need to do the best for them for every student this but equit equitably every student in the school including those students from Groves we want them to
067be the best they can be because that will be the best for society so what's best for them is also best for us please please let's try to do better thank you thank you very much okay my last person just wanted to make sure they're here if they're here I'm Miss gwindel and green okay thank you all right almost set a record okay um I will accept a motion not everyone at once uh to adjourn been moved seconded third fourth uh uh all in favor thank you all for coming out today we are adjourned