Regular Meeting - November 2, 2022

001good afternoon and uh welcome to this regular board meeting of the man Shannon Board of public education this is um uh no Wednesday November 2nd 2022 and uh I welcome all of you here today it's a lovely day uh to be learning about something that's important uh and as I say that I will check with uh Miss Dave Brown to make certain that this has been advertised in accordance with the proper State statutes she assures me that it has for all of you sitting here in the audience with us and do we have anybody in the other building today okay well we welcome everybody here and for those that are not with us that are watching online the meeting is being streamed and at that point you can watch it anytime that you would like

002to so we welcome you here and we're pleased to have you join us uh I need uh a motion to approve the agenda how long have I been doing this okay okay would you stand with me as we uh have the national anthem in the place good afternoon we are so excited to have the Jenkins High School course with us to perform the national anthem today the courses comprised of students from grades 9 through 12 representing various ability levels and their director is Mr LaShawn Leggett Mr Leggett is in his ninth year of teaching etching in high school he previously served three years as a College advisor at Thompson High School in McDuffie County and Mr blanket personally arranged this version of The Star-Spangled Banner that you are about to hear after the national anthem

003is performed please remain standing for the Pledge of Allegiance thank you to Mr Leggett the court of Jenkins High School and their families for the tremendous work and dedication [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] [Applause] thank you good job thank you great job wins great work for young people okay thank you students very much [Applause] and now can we have a motion to approve the agenda yes items four zero point four point zero one announcements and deletion of item 7.06 administrative regulation ihe-r promotion and retention and move the item 8.26 board resolution Equitable compensation for school board members from consent agenda to the Board of Education matters as item 7.11 her promotion is there a second mommy signs any discussion all in favor raise your hands please one two three four five six seven eight nine

004motion passes nine zero zero now motion to amend the approved agenda I move that the approved agenda be amended to add item 8.29 audit committee appointment apparently moved to approve the amended the science moves as their sign I mean that's a second it'll be a good afternoon oh all in favor raise your hands please one two three four five six seven eight nine motion passes nine zero zero thank you very much moving on I have a few announcements one of the board of accountability accountability committee will meet on Wednesday November 9th at 3 30 a year in this room at this complex the district's district 7 Mr Johnson will have a town hall meeting uh on Thursday November 17 2022 at 6 30 p.m at Bloomdale Elementary School I am so pleased that Mr Johnson

005has taken this initiative because we used to Revere regular basis have Town Hall meetings in every district and because of covet and not being able to meet in person I believe he's the first since we got back in person so I look forward to having more to announce that Mr Moss will have more to announce uh next Board of accountability committee uh Equity subcommittee meeting will be on Tuesday the 29th at 3 30 at the same time in the Whitney complex uh I would urge all of you in the audience and those who are watching us online that our accountability our committee meetings are streamed also and they're a wonderful chance to get to hear more information than you hear hearing the formal board meeting so you know you can go online on the webpage

006make a note of that and visit with us through uh the streaming if you have any questions about that you can contact us uh it is customary in the district that we recognize those people who have been employees or students uh who passed away since the last meeting today we have Frank Gordon a bus driver and transportation Murchison a bus driver in transportation and Gloria Brown a paraprofessional Savannah Chatham e-learning Academy I would ask that you stand with me in respect thank you it's my pleasure now to uh introduce the superintendent for her report [Music] it's my pleasure to share with you some good news when we started out this morning um with announcement of our department of energy grant for our 25 new electric buses and we're very excited to be one of the

007districts to receive more than nearly 10 million dollars for that investment and it continues to support our goals of being uh having a sustainable future we have students here from Savannah High who witnessed that they are engaged in their own studies of stability as well and we are excited about sharing that information we're also having this meeting as we come off of our Monday ribbon cutting for our new Auditorium and our new gymnasium at Woodville Tompkins High School wonderful facility very very proud moment for the school the students and the alumni it's my pleasure also to as I do each month I have the privilege of introducing you to one of our Superior Scholars our featured student of the month for October is a senior at the school of liberal studies at Savannah High School

008his nominator tells us that this student demonstrates positive leadership on the field in the classroom and everywhere in between he probably serves as a captain of the varsity football team he is a 3de Junior Achievement Ambassador for the 3de program he serves as president of the National Honor Society and volunteers with non-profits outside the school for causes that are important to him such as environmental justice and Racial equality he is a member of the superintendent student senate for Savannah high school and will be having our meeting next week so I'm looking forward to having that special time with him and his colleagues and he's participated in gulfstream's student leadership program he was also elected 2022 homecoming King by the student body he's well known throughout the school I would say also throughout the district and

009he sets a great example for others through his character and the Integrity of his actions and his choices this young scholar has done all of this while taking the most challenging courses the school offers such as APN honors classes and he is a Julia role student for next semester he truly represents Blue Jacket Excellence through his actions and his leadership today's honoree has completed the law pathway and is applying to Morehouse College to pursue a degree in business management and hopes of becoming an entrepreneur or a leader in the field of logistics and distribution our student of the month says I strive to be great because of my family who push and support me their support has been constant and continuous our student of the month is taking home multiple gifts from our Community Partners

010he will take home a gift card from Members First Credit Union as well as horn law additionally he'll receive meal vouchers from Chicken Salad Chick as well as Chicken Salad Chick merchandise and he and I will talk about that next week [Music] long-standing business partners he and his he and his spouse students in his Sociology class will receive printed copies of his favorite book the hate you give by Angie Thomas from our sponsored longtime partner eshavorable sellers he will also take home a portrait by upscale photography provided by Savannah Chatham County Public Schools I'm proud to introduce you to our October student of the month who was nominated by one of our teachers and parents Alex steinsticker gifted and advanced content lead at Savannah high school please join me in welcoming uh Mr Ryland Bartley

011[Applause] yeah congratulations very proud that's a handshake [Music] [Applause] [Music] also mom is here and well actually his school mom is here Dr Jenkins [Applause] to join him um she is our military duty this week so thank you Dr Jenkins for coming out of course we have um a football mom who is just to make a comment I just want to see how much of a leader Mr barley is he goes and he tells his peers to be a leader to act like leaders if I just wanted to thank him for that leadership he's showing among his peers [Applause] thank you so much we are looking forward to seeing what you choose to do next year and if you get into our house but wherever you are we know you will do well and we

012appreciate having the opportunity to introduce you to all those in our viewing audience but particularly introduce you to board members who have the opportunity to interact with students but certainly we appreciate having you here today so we can personally thank you for your commitment to Excellence thank you again [Applause] and more good news and cause for Applause uh Savannah Chatham County Public Schools celebrated Georgia to pre-k week earlier this month or actually last month with celebrity readers in our classrooms and a special ceremony at a Little Acorn Academy at Gould Elementary special thanks to our board members and Community Partners who took the time to read to our youngest learners we held our first in-person district achievement showcase since the pandemic earlier this month and we recognized nearly 100 students from almost every school in

013the district it was a great night to share the many successes of our Scholars and we shared that recognition with their parents and their family members their siblings it's always the wonderful family affair that gives us an opportunity to celebrate excellence and to do that in a family-oriented event we will invite you to watch for additional showcases that will help us to honor the many many many athletes in our athletic competitors will also be recognizing Community engagement and the Arts we also celebrated the announcement of all 2024 teachers of the year that took place October 13th at the brand new auditorium at Woodville Tompkins from this year's class of amazing teachers four were selected to move forward to become the 2024 District teacher of the year congratulations to Amy povey of Coastal Middle School Rashawn

014Roberts of Sk8 School Robert R Jordan of Savannah Chatham Early Learning Academy and Reagan Dylan of the STEM Academy at Bartlett Middle School [Applause] now what's interesting about this group is there like all six through eight teachers and that's unusual we generally have more of a spread but they stood out among all the teachers so we're really excited to see that group be honored in this way State School Superintendent Richard Woods also visited hurt Elementary to present a banner in recognition of the school certification as a Georgia State School Heard Elementary is the first steam certified Elementary School in the southeastern region and is the first Elementary School in our district to receive the distinction we are so excited now they earned steam certification and they are serving as the leader of those schools and

015I think there are almost 20 of them now they're in the lineup to our earned stem or steam certification Savannah early college has been named a 2022 cognia School distinction for excellence in education cognia recognizes Pre-K to 12 education institutions that is simple for excellence in education and service to Learners Savannah early college is one of only 96 schools and 38 systems out of the more than 1500 institutions that were eligible for the recognition we want to offer a special congratulations to the team at the Emory college and be able to look out soon for a special recognition event 67 Georgia students have been selected to serve on the state school superintendent Richard was his 2022-2023 student advisory Council we wish to offer special congratulations to Savannah Arts Academy Junior Naomi leovi and Jenkins High

016School sophomore Harrison Tran for their selection the council meets with the superintendent Awards to provide feedback on the Imp the impact of State policies in the classroom Savannah County Public Schools and the school nutrition program has been awarded the golden rash award for the second time in as many years the award recognizes Georgia school districts for best practices and farm to school programs such as local food procurement exposing students to new foods through taste tests and incorporating cooking and gardening activities in the curriculum we wish to talk for congratulations to Mrs Bowman part in the school nutrition team Savannah Chatham County Public Schools also hosted our annual reach Georgia Signing Day ceremony on Wednesday October 19th reach Georgia is a mentorship and scholarship program that begins in the eighth grade Scholars who successfully completed the

017program and graduate from high school are awarded a ten thousand dollar scholarship that can be used at any hope eligible institution in Georgia congratulations to our 2023 reach Scholars we also wish to offer congratulations to Beach High School's Captain Brown and the ladies Raiders team for qualifying for the State Raider competition the U.S army JROTC radio skills meet showcases the hard work of JROTC greater teams in the state the competitions are a series of physically demanding activities including a rope Bridge I probably would not make that happen and a 2.8 mile team run the Bulldog Battalion Raiders female team took second place in the field of 15 and will advance to the JROTC state championships thinking about basketball volleyball baseball those teams Esports short for electronic Sports is a form of competition also that it

018takes the form of organized multiplayer video game competitions did you know that the Smash Brothers that team from Johnson high is ranked fifth in a state in Esports hats off to our Innovative Adam Smashers for her video published on Savannah CEO District what they mean for the local economy and our simplest stewardship of those pennies you can find a copy of that video on our website and finally the Georgia School Board Association has recognized the Savannah Chatham County Board of Education as a quality board for 2022. gsba showcases achievements Awards of Education throughout the year by recognizing boards whose hard work and dedication create a culture of good governance and Student Success across the state we wish to thank the members of our board who work hard create a culture of success for both the

019students and our families it is my pleasure to share that on behalf of our 36 000 plus students and our 5600 employees we say well-deserved congratulations [Applause] as we continue to celebrate the thousands of great stories across the school district there's only a few for the context of time that we can share these moments with the board and one of them as we see in the category with the board of the fine distinction of their great work as uh good stewards and great governance as a leadership right in hand with that is our very own superintendent Dr Ann levette who is an award-winning superintendent now we knew that in your good news report it'd be difficult for you in your modest way to read the accolades about yourself so with the permission of the board

020President we have arranged a special good news read by a guest reader today a graduate of the mighty Bulldogs from Beach High School and now a student at the Georgia Southern University to share with you information about our superintendent as a national award finalist please welcome Isaiah job win foreign [Applause] you know you're gonna get it thank you so much we are now very pleased to share with you that our professional senate had an opportunity to meet on very important topics and I'm going to invite Mrs Whalen to share a summary of that report [Music] we started our meeting by being introduced to the secpss wellness center by Dr Kim Jackson Allen this Wellness Center the employee assistant program provides services for employees of Chatham County and students that meet their physical social and emotional

021needs uh we also reviewed the academic calendar a hot topic for families and faculty for school year 23-24. uh Mr Kurt Edgar led the meeting presenting overview of the calendar development process and the key aspects that drive those decisions the senate members were asked six questions to reflect upon the first question being how many days of instruction should sccpss have no preference was actually the first preference of the Senate movers um the second being to maintain 180 days for the academic calendar the second question the first day of school should be on Wednesday was the first preference winter break must be two weeks yes obviously it was the first preference president members how many staff planning days should be scheduled before school starts the first preference was for staff planning days um teachers do enjoy

022having those planning days prior to school rather than at the end how many staff planning days should be scheduled at the end of the school year two was the first preference and considering all the factors to account for the calendar development the start of the school year should occur the first preference was the second week of August other General considerations from the senate members were considering a phase-in process for Pre-K and kindergarten students more planning days during the school year without meetings being scheduled more e-learning days more Wellness days a fall break early in the second quarter or later in the first quarter remediation days scheduled for struggling students and to schedule testing closer to the end of this school year and the meeting was adjourned at 5 15 pm thank you thank you Miss

023well and we'll continue to appreciate you and um the members of the professional senate for giving us uh valuable honest direct feedback on issues that are most important we have also continued to take under consideration the other items brought forward so thank you very much for leaving those sessions that is my official report we I am now deferring to you and board members to um carry on with the proclamations thank you very much Mr Johnson I believe you have the American Education week exactly yes sir American Education week Proclamation whereas public education is the backbone of our great nation providing young people with the tools they need to maintain our precious values to Freedom stability and equality and whereas by equipping Young Americans with both practical skills and broader intellectual abilities schools give them hope

024for and access to a productive future and whereas public education employees be they educator substitute Educators administrative and staff custodians teachers bus drivers Claire co-workers Food Service professionals skilled trade Workers Health and student service workers security guards technical employees or Librarians work tirelessly to serve our children in communities with care and professionalism and whereas public schools are the foundations of neighborhoods and communities bringing together adults and children's Educators and volunteers Business Leaders and elected officials for a common purpose therefore be resolved that we the board of public education for the city of Savannah and the county of Chatham do hereby Proclaim November 13th through 19 2022 as 101st annual observance of American educations week program the second day of November 2022 Dr Joseph both the third board president EDD superintendent you've heard the resolution Mr

025Johnson is there second second by Dr Hoskins Brown any questions concerns all in favor of the motion resolution raise your hands please one two three four five six seven eight nine motion passes nine zero zero moving on I Believe Miss Hall is going to do the proclamation for retired educators retired educated state in Georgia Proclamation whereas more than 141 000 retired Educators have devoted their time and talents to public education in our state fostering the academic development of millions of outstanding citizens in the state of Georgia and we're as retired Educators possess valuable knowledge and are able to use their vast experience and skill to enrich the education process in varied things often continuing to be a major source of insight and direction in education for our state and nation and whereas on retired Educators

026day the state of Georgia recognizes these individuals for their time and commitment to bettering our country and encourages Jordan's Georgians to express their gratitude for the work done by a retired Educators now therefore County Board of public education does hereby Proclaim November 6 2022 as retired Educators day and encourages our citizens to recognize the lasting contributions of retired Educators all throughout the month of November and witnessed thereof we officially affect the seal to the banana Chatham County Board of Education to this Proclamation on the second day of November 2022 Joseph buck third board president and the vet to pretended prepare the resolution for Miss Hall is their second second by Dr uh by Dr Hoskins Brown uh all in favor of the resolution raise your hands one two three four five six seven eight nine

027motion passes nine zero zero and I would ask Miss Wayland to come up to get the first uh Proclamation we just did and it was Brenda Roberts to come up to get the second [Applause] okay they've given me thank you so much thank you foreign [Applause] good evening uh please remember that the most useful comments are those that are related to the matters of policy or which the board resides over has jurisdiction of course Spirits have approximately three minutes in which they speak and discretion of the board chair that time may be lessons due lesson due to the number of speakers signed up and the agenda of the meeting Seaboard policy bcbi public uh participation and board meetings all comments shall be made in a professional manner that is not disruptive to the meeting guests

028should avoid name calling to our staff board members and should avoid using profanity please follow the instructions of the board chair who presides over the meeting the board chair reserves the right to call anyone out of order who violates the rules of Public Safety public up here excuse me the board members further established rules of conduct in accordance with ocga 20-2-58c3 through board policy bcbi public participation and public BC board meeting decorum and board meetings we appreciate your interest in the work of our school system guests may lead printed copies of their notes or supportive material for the board to review thank you sir as we begin uh hearing from the public as I have done uh once or twice over the last four years uh I'm about to read a letter that is a

029letter from me to this County um and uh as I start to read it it will be put on our web page immediately after this meeting but I want to make certain that everybody understand understands this has not been voted on the board has not voted what I've done is try to explain to the public what some of you as interested citizens had asked our policy was about certain books in our library and I'm going to I hate to read a page to you but I'm going to read the page because I think it's important enough for you to hear it from me this is a letter to our community recently we have heard remarks from individuals who disagree with certain materials found in school library media centers the district acquires and maintains materials that

030have literary artistic political or scientific value for students despite the presence of limited or hint still contact content that some may consider offensive materials are vetted and received to adhere to state standards and to ensure the content holds social and intellectual value we see great value in the balance of apparent choice and the protection of intellectual freedoms we also understand that there will be differing opinions and beliefs the board stands committed to the implementation of fair processes that operate within the boundaries of state laws and state board rules the implementation of broad restrictions that impact the accessibility of information Disciples of students ability to gain understanding and perspective in places limitations on the analytical thought process books to provide based on genre grade level age appropriateness academic and aesthetic Mary library media technology Specialists are

031highly skilled in screening books and they seek to provide a wide range of learning resources at various levels of difficulty with the diversity of appeal and the presentation of different points of view taking a well-rounded approach that evaluates the literary peace in its entirety is an important part of the process speakers are highly recommended by respected apolitical institutions and be and have been held in high regard earning numerous Awards and honors from trusted groups such as the American Library Association and the young adults Library Service Association we believe strongly that the parent is is the students in Child's first teacher and that all families should be deeply engaged in our child's education to this extent the parent our Guardian has the right to restrict material for their individual child the board does not support blanket

032censorship but instead endorses the ideals of choice and parent rights to determine what is educationally appropriate for their child for many years Savannah Chatham public schools have maintained a process for parents old school excuse me that their child attends to initiate a reconsideration of materials that they believe to be homeful while the current narrative by soon have dominated our conversations we have seen minimal instances over the years where a book was challenged for removal board policy ifbd and the associated administrative regulation ifbd Dash r government materials reconsideration process this reconsideration process begins at the school level and will be resolved as expeditiously as possible in input from our community is vital to our Democratic process and we as a board seek to hear all viewpoints we also recognize that one opinion or one viewpoint does

033not represent the whole we respect and value each opinion I want to say that again we respect and value each opinion we work to listen respond and ensure Fair processes are in place for the betterment of all together we strive to meet all challenges find common ground and through Fair procedures protect and preserve one of the most valued Commodities our intellectual Freedom thank you moving on we have several speakers today most of our speakers I believe are speaking under a particular passion item in under chain doors is that I I know that I have three or four if I don't call on you right now that's the reason because you will be speaking later but on your list has signed up uh the first person who signed up is Ms messeroni to speak foreign action

034to support it superintendent Lavette applied for the opportunity for Savannah Chatham County to be a demonstration or experimental school system with the goal of creating a quote holistic redesign of the public school system by 2025 unquote the tagline for learning 2025 the title of the new Public School System design reads student-centered Equity focused education Savannah Chatham County was accepted a week later and a fourteen thousand dollar payment sealed the deal it's been a year and that's the last week there appears to be no reference on the school system website about participation in the learning 2025 experiment operating under the school Superintendent's Association aasa to which superintendent Lavette was appointed as an executive board member in April 2020 a year before she applied for learning 2025 participation notably she is also a member of the national

035Commission on student-centered Equity focused education which created a report entitled an American imperative a new vision of public schools dated April 8 2021 I'm not a lawyer so I don't know if there's a conflict of interest here between the superintendent's role in the aasa and her participation in the equity-based experiment with her own school system that required an exchange of funds but the question needs to be asked what's the difference you asked between equality and Equity per Bob Woodson a veteran civil rights leader and head of the non-profit the Woodson Center in 1776 unites.org equality treats everyone the same regardless of the circumstance or in other words equality equals equal opportunity equity and contrast treats everyone differently because of the circumstance or in other words equal outcome the goal of working for equity in learning

0362025 assumes there is systemic racism in place included in learning 2025 is diversity equity and inclusion training called Dei Woodson refers to this as race grievance training I transpose the letters in Dei to d-i-e or die because our nation will die if we continue on this path of designating all as eager oppressors or the oppressed like they do in Marxist societies according to Woodson this pushed for Equity over equality quote is a perversion of the Civil Rights Movement he continues of that movement I didn't March so someone could use the rich Legacy of the Civil Rights Movement as a weapon to punish whites to paraphrase Dr King from the 1960s racism is not bad because it's visited upon blacks by whites it's bad because it's evil unquote last month he manipulated data from the Georgia

037Milestones test to cover up the lack of reading proficiency at third grade by changing the definition of what is acceptable for readers to include not just the readers who are proficient and ready for success for the State Department of Ed definition but also those readers who are developing and need support guess what one of the first steps in the learning 2025 demo model is redefining proficiency under the banner of equity excellence in performance bandages expectations are lower and mediocrity Reigns as the outcome must now be the same for all across the nation is being canceled from our school systems by acts such as removing AP courses advanced math designations of valedictorian and salutatorian and qualification qualifications for attending arts academies all under the banner of equity stand-up Chatham County parents and school board members against

038this learning 2025 experiment of mediocrity being thrust upon our school system this is the year of the parent party at The Ballot Box a bipartisan group appearance who wants the best and the most challenging School experience for their children these parents spoke when they elected Roger Moss for school board president in May without the usual runoff required for this position he ran on excellence in our schools by having high expectations for all students through creating a system where children learn to dream big and are guided towards success in contrast his opponent ran on educational opportunity and Equity when you vote on November 8th it's not about your party affiliation it's about which candidates share the values you hold dear for your children educate yourself and vote wisely thank you thank you very much thank you

039ma'am as we move forward I just want to take a second and check and make sure I'm correct I have speaking on the agenda on the agenda item the change order I have Mrs Leslie Mr Evans Mr rainwater and Mr Mark is that correct [Music] oh okay so you do are not under the chamber okay okay thank you very much and then I have a hall and Ms Brown and Mr Carter who was speaking generally also okay thank you very much uh the next I would call on uh Miss Miranda for Honor for 30 minutes come on Ms Brown how are you hello Chatham County School Board I'm asking you to defend students right to learn and teachers right to teach the Georgia state legislature is trying to intimidate teachers into not doing their jobs

040this legislature does not serve the people they do not have students or teachers best interests in mind they are centering our classrooms because they are afraid of losing their power they do not want children to learn about past or present racial Injustice because they are the ones profiting from racism and they want these injustices to remain in place when state senators say that they want to Shield students from divisive Concepts what they are lying what they're really doing is by silencing discussions of racism and sexism is they are prioritizing the comfort of white male students over the needs of women and people of color the distorted version of history that they think should be taught brings new Comfort to students and teachers who have experienced oppression under the system of white supremacy and patriarchy I'm

041urging you to resist the state censorship laws ultimately we must repeal these laws until then we must refuse to comply by them stand up for the teachers who the state is trying to silence tell them to teach black history every month to those of you who are already fighting to defend students and teachers thank you your efforts are not in vain continue the good work you're doing if there's anyone who has not yet taken a stand now is an attack thanks thank you very much uh next I have Mr Carter Carlton I believe it's Carlton Carla is that right come forward so you have three minutes we talk you're speaking on Transportation sir is that right thank you well good evening everybody in the room and everybody a person who is listening [Music] um transportation

042issue and as we know it's by far getting worse and dire because as currently now I love her I am a part of Transportation because I try to come to terms and agreements with several people to improve the to approve the statute of Transportation was in but nobody ever wants to come to terms and represent and represent us as we want to be represented now the biggest issue for transportation right now is the pay system as it was told to me when I discussed it with several a couple of people including District of people that the pay system was changed based off the fact that people had Aid across the board beyond that there's also the issue of management management and transportation and it's not the fact that we've not tried we've had ultimate when

043I say terrible it's not this love because I get my my Kudos and kudosis due to this investigator because every time I came to her with the issue she has worked with me and tried to get it resolved but when it comes to those directors and one particular Field Supervisor who is a herbal and emotional looking across the board ain't nobody ever does nothing about it when I say it's been reported to the ethics board HR and everybody up above nobody wants to do it because that's part of this issue but besides that I remember mentioned back in let me get it back in September the incentive where it would say the directors received with fifty one thousand dollars Constable before because they would win the job with one person but what about the drivers

044who couldn't work every day consistently through the job of many some of these people it was ran four extra runs a day on top of the field trips everything is but the last thing I say like this um how can we have started in the year 2016 with well over 400 drivers and now we are close to 200. those numbers don't add up come on come on District y'all got to do something better because at this point in time those 25 electric buses y'all just ordered are gonna be useless at all thank you sir [Applause] uh Mr John Howell questions oh I guess he just signed in okay in his absence [Laughter] um not speaking okay now I have um uh Mr Evans and rainwater and Mark and do you want to come in any

045order or you just okay Miss Mark welcome have three minutes all right right here how are you sir good afternoon afternoon my name is Billy Mark I'm the president of Mount Pleasant mechanical and the Todd rainwater is over the mechanical division we are on these subcontractors on an upon mechanical on girls high school I know that cppi has been in contact with all about the price increases we have experienced since the start of this job Mark alone has experienced over 600 000 and increase material and Equipment prices that does not include any labor increases strictly material adequate prices I know the other subs have had the same thing also Mark has been around for 51 years we have done probably majority of the high schools and schools in Chatham County we also do mechanical Renovations

046on a lot of schools in Chatham County which would kind of got two of them going on right now and our relationship with big guy on growth has been very well the job is still going but we just beg for some consideration and we just personally want to appear before y'all and tell you that it has affected us that much and any consideration y'all can give us and the other people will be greatly appreciated thank you very much thank you very much okay thank you very much thank you gentlemen we appreciate your work with us and and for being here understands and we're here to talk about uh an issue that dovetails with what Mr Mach has suggested um there's some urgency I think I think Mr mock Illustrated it but there's some urgency of

047the issues that we bring before you today um I'm here with issues concerning the career of multi-campus that unfortunately District staff has refused to bring in front of you and so we're in the unbeatable unenviable position of having to come to you today and trying to take it directly to you and go around staff because staff has effectively refused to bring these issues out and when I say issues I'm not talking about workmanship I'm not talking about construction schedule the architect has said the quality is good the project is on schedule there are no issues there but what Mr mock talked about about the cost increases uh and there are other issues all-side storage things that that we've been working with staff for 15 months and have been unable to get in front of the

048board so let me sort of give you a preview of or I'll look back at what's going on as everyone knows in the beginning of 2021 the code pandemic had led to supply chain issues that had caused construction materials across the World to shoot through the roof um and more importantly that certain materials were unobtainable at any price one such item was bar Choice which was the restructure for the gross project as designed for cppi to get bar Choice it would have delayed the project by at least six months and cppi raised this issue with staff early in 2021 when when the issue came to light and staff urged cbpi to keep the project on time suggested well why don't we go back to the engineers let's see if there's another design that we can

049keep this project on time staff agree during the summer of 2021 the engineers The Architects came up with multiple proposals ultimately staffs agree that a change to structural steel of supports was in the best interest of the project now I was going to keep the project on time but it was going to cost an extra six million dollars on time there of course were other materials increases on other aspects of the project at the time summer of 2021 were thinking it's going to be about 10 million dollars uh It ultimately turned out to be about 12 million dollars in increases and again staff was on board with this and suggesting just keep the project on time and in fact during the August 11 to 2021 meeting so 15 months ago Mr Bozeman stood right there

050at that lectern and present it to you guys and talked about these issues um and if you want to look back at it it's at a two hour 24 minute Mark is where he starts as a comments on Groves uh even from that August 2021 meeting and he describes to each of you the cost increases the issues the solutions that we presented and it says that he intends to bring to you a revised budget for 10 million dollars in cost increases on the contract and in fact um a little later in the meeting Dr Hoskins Brown asks him about those increases and he says well the 10 million dollars we don't know if that number is correct yet so we're waiting for the numbers to come in we'll get back to you but he specifically

051said you know we're looking at six million dollars for steel but then Mr President never came back with uh with that request with the increased budget and cppi continued to push back on these issues during the fall and winter of 2021 as urgency increased as cpbi continued to increase the pressure staff actually agreed to a formal meeting on March 28 2022 where myself represented the cppi Dr Lavette Mrs Miller kabler Lee Holliday as as attorney and others met to discuss the cost increases as well as other issues yeah so that we have this off-site storage material that I know Dr boxer familiar with where uh Mr holiday presented a proposal for off-site storage where we've never gotten um a response and we have subcontractors who have purchased materials that are stored off-site where they're not

052being paid um it's in excess of a million dollars at this point where subcontractors like Mr Mock and others have purchased materials for the project that will be installed on the project in advance to make sure the materials are available in the project stays on time and the financing the job because staff has refused to pay the pay applications for those off-site sort of materials with no particular explanation and so our request here today because as Dr botton knows we continue to press through 2021 there was a follow-up request for a meeting we sat down again on September 22nd at another meeting where doctor was President the architectural president they asked for detailed um support from cbpi on the structural steel increases on the off-site sort of materials specifically with the intent of bringing a

053detailed report to this board this was September 22nd of this year cppi provided those materials within a week and yet again staff failed and refused to bring it in front of this board and we're not sure why but it wasn't on the agenda for the August 5th meeting it's not on today's agenda and at this point we're concerned that subcontractors like Mr Mock and others they're not going to provide the resources that we need to finish this project they're going to lay down on the job and it's because they're not getting paid they're having to finance this job and they're not being told whether they're ever going to get paid for what they've spent and we just don't know how to keep this project going it feels like staff is is sabotaging the project and

054so we come here effectively pleading today that the board take it up on its own mechanism for that I mean my suggestion would be that the board place it unilaterally on its next meeting in December but we want to have these issues heard and we want to have the board thank you thank you Mr Evans um and uh that's our last speaker I believe we will move home with our agenda at this point agenda uh moving on to Board of Education matters um this is a four-year policy review for the boards uh first review and a second reader we're coming back to you subsequently in December this has been reviewed this one uh wasn't last reviewed until uh 2010 was the last time this one was looked at we did recognize that as we went

055through this but much of the language had overarching mechanisms that were already covered in uh code section k for Community engagement aspects so this one was Rewritten in many ways to properly align a community organization relation approach and ensure that the board authorizes superintendent to do so firstly first read of this board members any suggestions comments remember we do not vote on it today but we can hear conversation about period nine we'll move on but if you think of things please don't wait until the night before the next board meeting to determine if you have questions it's all I'm not looking at you moving forward thank you sir item 7.02 on your agenda this is also a four-year policy review this is policy CK professional development we'll note that this policy has a little bit

056of overlap with policy Gad which is next on your lineup we did specifically remain with this policy as it is written in many ways as it does align to a great extent with State Board of Education rule 160-3-3-04 with the requirement of a comprehensive plan for professional learning and also the way to enumerate the payment of stipends toward professional learning so many tweaks have been done with this particular policy and it brings us more in line with our current priorities first three first three any uh Miss grobaski um so just a question as to how particular um to comment on this since IT addresses specifically professional learning so uh certainly would be a opportunity to do that one of the benefits of our process for the first three secondary is that we do bring this

057to the board publicly we're live stream uh so we'll certainly uh be able to take any feedback from any teachers uh we could specifically also ask the professional Senate to give this a secondary I I review if you felt that that was a quality move forward uh we did work through extensively however I will say with staff specifically with our professional learning Department as well who has direct oversight and I appreciate that and I realize that um that might be an extra step but we're hearing so much about new programs that we're bringing on board and new initiatives which are all wonderful but we also hear about the competing demands between planning time and meetings and Professional Training it's really important to have that voice to make sure that we're not overburdening our teachers and

058giving the time that they need and then I did have one other question about and I think it relates to the next policy about how the effectiveness is evaluated and I'm guessing it relates to item two on the next policy about student outcomes but if there's some clarification around the evaluation of the effectiveness that we appreciate thank you okay I'll be happy to speak to um the Professional Center I think if you go back and look at your report from the first meeting of the year when we asked teachers to indicate what their concerns were they definitely spoke to the issue of meetings and additional time and um the associate superintendent assembles Paul Oliver have been working with the principals so that we can definitely make some modifications um in that process so we'll be

059happy to talk with them further about this specific um regulation I don't think that's out of the question for us to do that Mrs Whalen and Mrs Cyrus and our teacher of the year Council are always willing to give us feedback on us so I'm happy to speak to that peace any other kinds of questions thank you sir item 7.03 this is board policy Gad again this is a four-year review it does have some connectivity to the previous policy that we reviewed again this one uh Rewritten in a way to very specifically align with requirements of State Board of Education Rule and also with this one the Professional Standards Commission you will note that much of the language that was in the regulation was very administratively based and we felt it was wise to delete

060that because of the overarching quality policy language really gave those marching orders so the regulation is recommended for deletion with edits to the policy four-year review foreign to the last last phrase of the last paragraph regarding the discontinuation of payments under the policy with or without notice to the participants is that related to if the funding source for this program is from federal dollars which are no longer allocated to the district and the without notice to participants um I have a question about why we would not notify the participants if we were going to no longer um board members first three remember moving on your agenda item 7.04 this is a new policy and of course this policy has come about through the action of the general assembly during the 2022 legislative session this is

061under new state code requirements under 20-2-324-6 which does have a requirement that policies are in place with local Boards of Education by January 1 2023 to specify materials harmful to minors complaint resolution process this language is directly from the Georgia school boards Association model policy recommendation Brown and strong comments about this um policy I just want to make observation I just hate that people don't stay after they speak in our meeting because this is when we're handling the stuff that they say they don't like what we're doing and it's just a missed opportunity for further explanation and discourse that we just don't get so that's just my comment so my understanding of this is it just lays out a process it doesn't dictate any substantive guardrails is that right the client complaint resolution process is

062the key onus to the policy yes thank you anything else moving on man the other thing just for clarification that it does provide definitions of what is what the general assembly has determined by now State Statute of what would be considered material harmful to minors so on that uh the connectivity to it is with your next agenda item which is a regulation 7.05 this is Administrative regulation so bringing it to the board for your awareness what we've done here is we have changed the policy language to align and account for the new policy under those materials deemed harmful to minors the board will recall that we were very proactive in hearing some of the commentary that we've heard over the last year or so and being responsive we did look at our policies under the

063media centers where we did have an existing challenge process which we revised to a reconsideration of materials should a parent have a issue with materials within the libraries so what we've done here is we now recognize that with the new policy that you just looked at we went back and we tweaked the regulation side of of it to make it very clear that if you do have a consideration as a parent or legal guardian that is aligned to the definition of materials harmful to minor miners we reference that in this particular regulation so it's very clear that there's a process for that anything outside of that realm falls into the existing reconsideration of materials and we've cleaned up that section of the regulation comments from board members um the only comment I would add is

064that um part of our conversations about these issues have always included the parent parental opportunity to raise concern to raise objections and also to communicate to Media centers whether they want their children to have access to certain materials um I would just ask that in the because I know we get uh his parents I get separate notices about sex and sometimes maybe in the parent handbook or the student handbook at the beginning of the year somewhere in there there's just a notice that says you know here's what our policy is and if you have you want to take action here's how to how to reach out in contact just some more information that's a good idea we'll make sure to include that any other comments on this one where are we going uh moving on

065your agenda item 7.6 has been pulled from this agenda this is ih-r we will doing a little bit more work on clarification language for that so we'll bring it back to your review in December all right moving around a little here today the next item on your agenda Rundown is the first read this is the process we began a few years ago which we thought was a good way to create awareness for the public at large and of course gain some input from our board of education but the Academic School of your calendar which as you heard we received much information already from the professional Senate valuable information there but our intent is to share this with the board and the public at large with the initial recommendation which will come back for an official

066vote at the December board meeting very quickly I'll highlight for you the portions of the calendar that would um ultimately come to you for Action in December which this particular calendar it is 180 day calendar we do recognize that it was important for us to start the school year at a time that gave us enough ability to finish the first semester before the winter break there is a two-week winter break in this particular calendar one full week oh thanks getting included on this calendar and also one full week of the spring break included on this calendar some key aspects that we pay homage to and always ensure to include in our calendars is a day off and recognize Veterans Day you'll see that as accounted for in November also the ever popular St Patrick's Day

067we do have a long weekend tied around that particular day in 2024 we do recognize St Patrick's Day is on a Sunday the parade is on a Saturday so this is an area that we may Flex those dates that you see there but the key things to know students would not be in school on the 15th or the 18th in the month of March they are around that long weekend to account for all of those festivities the biggest thing to make note of here is we did hear the senate in their reference to having four pre-planning days and two post planning days one of the other things that we heard was the calendar that we're currently on which was was applauded by the Senate last year and uh well welcomed and appreciated as the board

068approved it and as we heard from our constituents as well with the way that we have strategic breaks throughout the year there is a long weekend in October for a fall break there's a long weekend as well in February and of course you have the St Patrick's Day in the spring break all of this is being done to ensure as well that there is ample education time leading up to those key assessments that happen throughout the school year and that is the winter assessments and also the spring assessments that is accounted for in this the one thing that we were able to do that we thought was smart was to modify the start day by one day I'm not sure why but psychologically moving from Wednesday to Thursday seems like later in the month you're

069over the hump one thing we do recognize though is our Educators enjoy that mid-week start um the Senate certainly said that and you're able to still do that with a Thursday Friday lead-in and then get ready for obviously that Monday August the 7th but the first day of school here would be August the 3rd what that does is it gives you the four pre-planning days which brings staff back 198 staff on July the 28th that's a full two days later than the current calendar which is something that after that calendar was adopted we did hear from some of our teachers so we're being responsive in that Community why are you taking my last weekend well it's better than taking your last week I just know we're going to hear that yes undoubtedly um but as

070we know what the calendar and you try to find that delicate balance of what works best to ensure that the academics are accounted for first which this calendar does and that the other things that we find important in our unique Community are also accounted for we feel this calendar does as well I'll make one other note when we come back in December the framework of this calendar subject to any other comments that we may receive in the next 30 days we will utilize as a framework for a recommendation on the calendar for 24.25 so the board would have two calendars to approve at that time and that completes the presentation on any comments questions as a veteran participant of the calendar committee when we had one and a yearly calendar discussions I appreciate the give

071and take of all these issues um and I'll I'll ponder on the the start date on the 31st and have comments in December on that um but my question is this year we did some Wellness days that were well received um I don't see those on here I don't is there an opportunity for those on here can they be melded in with the the e-learning half days as an option or were those discussed at all I guess that's my question yeah Wellness is certainly something that did come up in discussion I'll I will remind that we we also were applauded greatly in last year's calendar and it is echoed in this one as well in those half day e-learning days one thing that we could do and you heard from the Senate it's really all

072about planning organizationally and how do you manage those days we know the Senate and our teachers certainly don't want us to take away some of their valuable staff planning time so again that's where that balance goes we do have an extra step planning day on this particular calendar within the realm of the start to between the the beginning of the school year and end of school year that we didn't have on the existing one so there may be some opportunities uh we don't specifically have a full day taken away from this particular calendar that is dedicated to Wellness we have to creatively find that through scheduling I hear you I was just looking at the um professional setting the comments and I was happy to see most of the comments we went with their first

073choice or their second so that was good but I also saw more e-learning more Wellness so if we can think about that a little bit I'd appreciate it if I could just provide an opportunity for or call my colleagues to respond Miss Paul Oliver uh has some comments regarding the wellness concept as well so we are working with our new Wellness Center coordinator and counselors as well as Miss McGuire and David accountability again we will be providing those opportunities for wellness States this year uh we did hear positive feedback but we're also giving our teachers some flexibility to be able to use that time in other ways in their classroom so we're giving some choice but still providing a lot of those activities that we did previously to those and it will be more than

074once this year I would just have to tell you I I know we can't please everybody but on the half days and the wellness days and I understand the reason I don't know how many parents their parents not workers in the district who have come to me called me I've seen who say I stand on my feet nine hours a day trying to make a living as a single parent and you cannot imagine what you do to me when you tell me suddenly on a Friday I've got to find something to do with my children who are not old enough for leaving alone and all those kind of things so I I applaud what we are trying to do for staff but I hope we will be as kind as we can to those parents

075who don't have the luxury of going across the river to a spa and you don't have the luxury of just staying home and sit Bishop Johnson um going towards those early days um the biggest complaint that I heard is that it was inconsistent throughout the district um some schools didn't have um any work for the kids to do in those days uh even within School some use the it's starting some used Microsoft teams some did packets and some did nothing all within one school um so I think that as a district we need to be if it's going to be a half day e-learning day that we set some sort of parameters um so I know we have one coming up um in 2023 before the end of the school year so if we're going

076to keep the e-learning days like the teachers want to do we need to make sure that we do something so that there's more consistency across the district thank you like how now how about England I'm sorry I want to Echo uh thanks for including everything from the Senate and also thank you for knowing that if you didn't say you were going to bring me two calendars so thank you yes one thing that's not mentioned on here a key factor that actually attributes to preventing teacher burnout is the summer our teachers day of the month of June and July because many times some teachers choose not to teach during the summer they're not interested in teaching during the summer so they have an opportunity to to indulge in themselves and so that's that's what um a

077motivation to not have teacher burn out just that I would mention that and that one thing that's most important we do not want our teachers to lose their passion and love for teaching so I appreciate this calendar by um forwarding the opportunity to have those two months off do you think Wellness days I just want to advocate for our teachers having as few meetings as necessary I hear that all the time um and if that you know of course there have to be some means have it on the same day of the month so that you can plan ahead I know the third Wednesday is faculty meeting but this thing of you know having our teachers day till five o'clock because as the principal I decided I need to you know talk about whatever we

078need to try to take that off into the place as much as possible any other final comments well I wasn't but I was thinking about your comment about the e-learning days and I have to say like when we had the Storm come through being able to transition to e-learning day was I think the perfect example of why it's important to keep that in our portfolio reactions because it kept us from having to like lose a full week over Thanksgiving and we could kind of keep on so that was fantastic that was obviously emergency so it's hard to claim that but to Dr bucks point you know one of the things that we saw pop up during the pandemic were these Learning Centers where kids from different schools can come too so maybe that's something we

079can look at even if it's Hub sites where our students can come on our e-learning day to be able to learn half day maybe there's something fun in the afternoon I know that there's a cost associated with that but I think it's a cost that would be worth exploring what those creative options might be to get out of you yeah great great point and and we've only really had one e-learning day so this is new to us in many ways so I uh hear all of the points of great points and and frankly these are points that in various uh bodies that we've spoken with that have come up uh maybe not exactly as spoken but they do align with that and to the point of staying in practice with being able to Pivot quickly

080to a virtual learning day that's exactly how these originally got developed and thinking about that I will note Muskogee County they have a few days which are full virtual days so everybody is home with their virtual learning on that as a full day virtual so it is definitely Trend something that came out of the pandemic I think we can tweak it and adjust to it and make it better and accommodate as best we possibly can to ensure everyone uh is is moving at their best full capacity one other thing that I have found in my years teaching um parent-teacher conferences are extremely important and if we could get some sort of built-in time I know a lot of teachers stay after school or have someone cover their classes so that they can have a parent-teacher

081conferences that is something that I'm thinking across the board maybe those e-learning days or is really about scheduling and how we manage the days once the calendar is locked in uh there are functional components we can do administratively try to account for that and there is a topic that is coming up at our next Senate meeting that is going to talk uh to a certain extent about that that actually came up when we were in this discussion uh during this particular meeting so there there's some some ways to certainly uh improve that but the the overall calendar itself sets the framework for how we operate within those boundaries and I think uh this does a lot to achieve many of our goals um I just want to thank the professional Senate and the staff who

082are working on this calendar if we go back and look at the calendar from 2013 2014 2015 we will not find this kind of calendar which essentially offers every few weeks an opportunity for the staff to come away from direct student instruction and have a breather of sorts so I want to make sure that we laud the improvements that have made in terms of ballots um I do find it very difficult as we have worked with 180 days there's no magic to 180 days but we're married to it somehow there is an opportunity for us to revisit because we are a strategic waiver District nobody wants to come before August and no one wants to stay after Memorial Day they're only and everybody wants a spring break October break two weeks at Christmas they want

083to come back a week after New Year's and and full Thanksgiving now if you think about that I'm saying it because we're the ones who sit there and try to work those calendars to make them work the bottom line is good you've only got a certain number of days so we're going we can't have everything we've got to give up something and one thing that this board can consider which we play with there is no magic to 180 days if you want fewer instructional days then that's how you're going to have your Wellness day and that's how you're going to have all of these other things that we want to have but I want to make sure that we are aware that this calendar which we've all said let's keep this calendar format allows for

084most of what people have said they wanted we recognize that we're also a part of the caretaking economy that's where we are we're caretakers and people depend on us to be open even when there's an impending storm there are people who say well I don't care if the storm is coming you need to close down five minutes before it comes we recognize that but we also taken take into consideration um a comment made by several of you on more than one occasion which is Adopt a calendar and let people know that we're going to abide by the calendar so they can plan accordingly so we'll try to do that but this has been a very informative conversation thank you for recognizing that we value our staff and we're going to try to do as much

085as we can we're already working on reducing the number of opportunities that you know staff has to support professional development and meetings and all that we recognize we need to do some work in that area and I thank the principals in advance for making those adjustments while we also make some adjustments so that our classified staff can have the professional development time that they need if they are not getting to the full extent at this point so thanks for your understanding thank you um yes good afternoon detailed information on the resolution is located in your board packet and posted on board docs to public View the School Board Savannah Classical Academy and Coastal Empire Montessori Charter School reaches settlement agreement recommended by the superintendent and approved by the board that included extending the Charter's existing

086Charter term by three additional years thus be it resolved upon the recommendation of the superintendent that the board approves the Savannah Classical Academy amendment number two and the coastal Empire Montessori Charter amendment number two by extending each of their chart terms for a period of three additional years I've heard the resolution uh Mr Johnson management Dr ringman II Miss Johnson anything uh yes real quick I do appreciate that the district is looking at doing this for the charter schools to get them so that we can really know what their Baseline is and any growth they have due to the pandemics thank you thank you anyone else on the board with questions or comments hearing none all in favor of emotion raise your hands please one two three four five six seven eight nine motion passes

087nine zero zero moving on Oglethorpe Charter School upon the recommendation from an Administration requests an extension to the existing Charter contract to allow the generation and collection of two additional years of accountability performance data the administration and the Georgia Department of Education supports a two-year contract extension in addition to the two-year extension the local boards Charter Schools comprehensive performance framework will be included in the two-year contract extension thus be resolved upon the recommendation of the superintendent that the board approves amendment number four to the Charter contract and extended Charter term for the Oglethorpe charge school by two additional years and include the local boards Charter School comprehensive performance framework for yearly monitoring and Reporting heard the resolutions their motion to that effect moved by dark costumes signs that Customs around anything any other comments a

088question from board members you're none all in favor of emotion raise your hands please one two three four five six seven eight nine well she passes nine zero zero tiny Island Maritime Academy method deadline established by the board for the charter renewal process throughout the renewal process the administration collaborated with the charter petitioners and sought guidance from the State Department of Education Thai Island Maritime Academy upon recommendation from Administration request an extension to the existing Charter contract to allow to allow the generation and collection of two additional years of accountability performance data the administration and the Georgia Department of Education supports a two-year contract extension in addition to the two-year extension the local board's Charter School comprehensive performance framework will be included in a two-year contract extension Charter School by two additional years and include

089the local boards Charter School comprehensive performance framework for yield monitoring and Reporting I heard the resolutions their emotions tomorrow number here no no in favor raise your hands please one two three four five six seven eight nine motion passes nine zero zero like Colin vice president boy Dr David Greenman to introduce the next resolution poor resolution compensation for school board members whereas board members service constitutional officers for the state of Georgia responsible for studying educational policies approving employment recommendations for school personnel and approving contract Awards and budgetary actions and whereas board members act in their capacity as a member of the board of public education provide their time and service to the Savannah County public school system that employs 5600 individuals with an enrollment of more than 36 000 students and whereas the Savannah County

090public school system includes schools and administrative offices across 426 square miles of the county and within every municipality and whereas an act of the Georgia General Assembly approved in March of 1968 provides for the annual compensation for board members of the board of public education for the city of Savannah and County of Chatham and whereas board members compensation was last adjusted in 2006 and whereas was proposed during the 2021-2022 regular legislative session under Hospital 1594 and Senate Bill 419 to modify the compensation of the members of the board of public education so the members of the board shall receive 25 000 per annum and the chairperson of the board shall receive 35 000 as full compensation for their duties therefore be it resolved that the board supports legislation that modifies the act that was last

091amended in 2006 and by way of this resolution urges the Georgia General Assembly to review and modify the annual compensation of the members of the board of public education for the city of Savannah you've heard the resolution introduced by Dr Greenman is there second second Dr Hoskins brand Dr bring money uh like I said I fully support this um I believe that it can increase for this position um will bring a healthier sleep of people applying um for this office um it will allow individuals that might not have the flexibility or the income um that some of us have the privilege of having to be able to serve and bring other people out that could um find this as almost a full-time job um and and I just think that I hope that if this

092passes we will see more people that'll say yes I can serve in that capacity because my service is actually um valued monetarily thank you sir yes I just want to confirm that um the increase in compensation still represents part-time employment as is experienced by our colleagues with the city and the county well this matches the county salary it does not it's not the same as the city but I don't want to make anybody study the answer in a way that is not correct what I'm what I'm really trying to say in an awkward way is that all these are part-time jobs oh yes and all of these remain part-time jobs um it's just making the compensation on par with other public servants doing similar part-time jobs I don't want people to think that all of

093a sudden because the increase is almost double that we all become full-time positions and we're quitting our day jobs I think it's important for the public to know that I came into office in 2007 just as the the salary changed and for that change uh I was paid as personal School Board sixteen thousand dollars a year and the school board members will pay twelve thousand dollars a year and it's 2022 and I'm still paid sixteen thousand dollars a year and the board members are paid twelve thousand dollars a year and uh I'm not I I ain't gonna get one cent more because I'll be gone before this happens but uh right but I do think it's important that we support the people in these positions foreign moving on to um where are we here I

094need a motion to approve the consent agenda raise your hands one two three four five six seven all opposed one and a sentence one so the motion to approve consent is seven four seven seven four one against and one extension thank you moving on to the last uh category uh strategic goals uh first thing is financials for Miss Jackson now I will try to be Brave um before you we're bringing the financial statements for the period ending September the 30th 2022. we're still in the uh first three months of the fiscal year um a whole lot of activity in international statements and in general fund property taxes or collections are up um compared to last year um which is always a good thing total revenues a little bit lower than last year that's already because

095we're just a little behind in the reimbursement request for for one of our state grants and one of our federal grants but when you should see a correction in month of October we should be pretty much on target General funds the expenditures we're pretty much on track for this point of the year uh a little bit higher than last year um compared to [Music] once we start using these new filters and some other items to improve the high quality in our systems it puts a lot of strong discipline on APA systems so we're gonna incur a little more on the um electricity side but as far as any other expenditures the general fund we're pretty much on target um all the other funds would look pretty good we still right now we're going through the

096audit we just completed some completion reports for the federal grants that ended September 30th so we were moving someone around during the month of September and we also moved someone around doing some extension rounds doing a lot of September and October so you're going to see some corrections and some of the other Federal budgets over the next couple of months but other than that all the experiences look good we look pretty well in full service for this time of the year um we're pretty much picking up speed on the in our carried one and two budgets and ARP budget but other than that everything else looks fine for this point of the year for the financial statements any questions any questions do we have a final uh ARP budget at the board actually approved um

097a few months ago but we can get in detail back to you guys it was actually it's the same budget we presented I believe during a retreat and that's the budget that we brought to the board for approval um budget we brought to the board we're in process of tweaking some of the items um but [Music] thanks sir moving on uh budget amendment School Improvement Grant of before you have a decision items to an improvement fund 403 the Georgia Department of Education has awarded Savannah County Public Schools one million 3.5 000 year 2023 School Improvement Grant I'm not mistaken this is for 11 of our title and schools the total of the grant is normally is being resolved upon the reputation of the superintendent that the board approved a budget adjustment of one reason 345

098000 for the new year school Improvement Grant congratulations and Miss Heinz moves like how how seconds uh any discussions okay any other comments hearing none all in favor raise your hands one two three four five six seven eight nine motion passes nine zero zero moving on to Title One no yes the budget for the new title one grant for the current year uh to a total of 17 million through 970 and for the record this serves 30 of our public schools and 10 of our private suits with this title and Grant thus being resolved that upon a recommendation of the superintendent that the board should approve their budget adjustment of 17 million 756 thousand nine hundred and seven dollars for the new year FY 23 Title One Grant how many Charter Schools will they serve

099uh don't quote me I want to say all of them I want to say all of them all of them now are titles and that's good information from the public encompasses not only our Public Schools but a private Charter I think I thought you said this morning though classical did that yeah I'm just not sure about I think he told us they were last month so but um so when we're doing the budget originally when we adopt the budget do we put a placeholder anticipation of this brand and this is just kind of making sure the dollars match exactly based on what we were awarded yes man we really don't get um Ground Wars until the federal ground Awards let's have the summer so we just put a placeholder out there okay thank you you

100know the comments from board members hearing none raise your hands please if you're in favor of the motion one two three four five six seven one two three four five six seven eight nine motion passes nine zero pop zero it's getting close to my face are you okay just waiting let's read it into the record now thank you sir yes okay uh number campus photos [Music] um before you you have a deduction in the scope of work for all site to feel Construction thus be resolved upon the recommendation of the superintendent that the board approved the construction changed order number 56 to cppi of Georgia LLC and the deductive amount of 2 million two hundred thousand one hundred and nine dollars for the removal of all project scope of the work shown on the city

101of Garden City Property you heard the resolution if you'd like to make the motion please someone Dr Howard Howell makes the motion is their second uh Dr Hoskins Brown seconds the motion uh before I call him um board members for comments questions discuss Meredith when we have a citizenry speaking to a specific item that they come first much if you come forward to the table and have a seat and speak we welcome you sir well thank you members of the board for your time here today um I'm going to speak to both of the changeovers um because they kind of relate in at least one way there so um so the two deductive change orders there I think we've just heard uh the first one which is number 56. and for the change order become

102before the board there has to be a mutual agreement poor per the contract 3271. um and on the first change order which is 56 deleting Athletics uh has gone through the proper evaluation between cbpi subcontractors architect LLC 3p in the district and we agree with that change order number uh 56. there is mutual agreement with us on that particular chain door now on change order number 59 uh which is the stadium uh uh portion of the project that is going to be deleted from our contract um that process has not been afforded at this time so there is no mutual agreement with cppi uh for the contract for that particular change order um you know the change order itself is based on the schedule values uh we don't agree with the numbers that the [Music]

103so what I'm telling you through this process is there's 2.6 million dollars of difference between where we're at and what is before you today to vote on so I'm respectfully uh requesting that you deny or or vote that particular change order down um today and let it go through the process that should have already gone through um and tonight for really for two different reasons um there's no mutual agreement and the numbers aren't correct so with that I appreciate your time and uh thank you but um 50 56 you are going through the process we you know typically we would uh put it together submit to the architect architect would review it has comments the district review and have some comments we'll go back and forth and make sure all the documents and everything are

104correct and then okay we're good with it it'll come before you at the size and be approved um thank you thank you sir uh you've heard um general contractor we have a motion on the floor remember that he was agreeing to 56 which is what the emotion on right now and then we'll take up the second motion for about in just a minute there's two different changes 56 and 59. so uh this is 56 uh comments from board members about 56 which is uh the first one that we read about any comments hearing none all in favor of the resolution raise your hands please one two three four five six seven eight nine motion passes nine zero zero moving on to 59. this as far as the description is removed from the CC cppi scope

105of work for the stadium and all Associated Field House facilities and the amount of 9 million 316 440 funds from this deducted change order will be returned to the project contingency dollars for the removal of the stadium of the associated Field House facilities scope of work from the contract before I asked for a motion uh on the advice of council I am going to ask that we table this motion and and uh I'm concerned about information being wrong and I don't know what that means exactly but that is dangerous to just turn it down on an allegation that is wrong I don't know exactly what that means and legally I've been advised we just table the motion do I need a motion uh diagnosis Johnson seconds I don't believe there's a lot we well it

106is debatable but in it yeah any any question of that hear none all in favor of that motion raise your hands please to a table 59 one two three four five six seven eight nine motion passes nine zero zero thank you sir is that it yes [Music] um is uh all in favor raise your hands please one two three four five six seven eight nine motion pass