001foreign foreign good afternoon and welcome to this regular board meeting on Wednesday October 5th 2022. this is our regular board meeting my name is Joe Buck and I am president of the board uh at this time uh this meeting uh I'll ask our secretary if it has indeed been uh advertised as it is supposed to be shares mean that it is I would also like to mention that the uh the meeting is being streamed on our website and so if you are unable to attend and be with us here in person we're pleased that you're joining us online uh I would like to call on um who is the person who will introduce our students who will sing the national anthem after which we will have the Pledge of Allegiance would you join me in
002standing please good afternoon today we welcome The Garrison voices under the direction of Mr John tisberg from the EF Garrison School for the Arts they will be performing The National Anthem this afternoon is composed of students in the 7th and eighth grades representing both of their vocal and piano programs they have received consistent Superior ratings at gmea performance evaluations since the school's opening Mr tisberg affectionately known as tis is in his 39th year of teaching he has taught in Savannah Chatham County Public School System since 2003. he is a national board certified teacher early adolescence through young adulthood this is Erica Gillette and Mr Jared Hall both music teachers at Garrison have also instructed and supported the Garrison voices in preparation for this event and are here with us today we thank the students staff
003and parents for their tremendous dedication to music and to the district remain standing after the national anthem the Pledge of Allegiance thank you thank you oh say can you see are the dogs [Music] [Applause] [Music] foreign [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] thank you thank you very much [Applause] good job good job foreign [Applause] thank you very much at this time I'll call on Dr Howard how for a motion to approve the agenda thank you Dr Buck I'm hosting at the agenda to be approved with the revision of item four zero two deaths and item 6.02 request to appear before the board is there a second for that motion Mr Johnson second any discussion all in favor of approving the agenda for a chance please one two three four five six seven eight nine motion passes
004nine zero zero is there a motion to amend the approved agenda yes zero six resolution board member Lord Lynn Lord Brady and item 7.07 Proclamation national school principals month heard that motion from Dr Howard home is high in seconds any discussion of that you're not all in favor of that motion raise your hands please one two three four five six seven eight nine the motion is approved as amended of the agenda is approved as amended um I have uh I believe one announcement um the Army committee will be meeting here in this complex on Thursday October 27th at eight in the morning and it is open to the public it will also be streamed um next um it is customary uh at our meetings that we recognize those uh employees and former employees and students
005who have passed away since the last meeting today we recognize Beverly Oliver assistant academic officer Patricia Ebola who taught mathematics At Mercer Middle School Ethel worlds nutrition assistant at Hurd Elementary Edward Jenks who had a long history with us in health and PE he ended his career Savannah high but he taught most of his career at Tompkins high school before Thomas junior high school before that and lastly we recognized and there will be a proclamation in just a few minutes Ms Laurie Brady who was a valued member of this board for a good number of years and we mourn with our family her untimely passing would you stand with me as you reflect on this life thank you my pleasure now to introduce the superintendent for her report it is my pleasure to provide a
006good news report and we will start with our student of the month our future student of the month representing the month of September is a fifth grader at White Bluff Elementary a high honorable student who also holds some of the highest marks on the Georgia Milestones assessment she's also a part of the media Festival winners at the county and state level and that was in 2021. her positive attitude and Leadership qualities extend into her community service as a Girl Scout she has been a student at White Bluff Elementary since Pre-K and a member of their gifted programs since kindergarten her nominator says she's enthusiastic and enjoys School her positive attitude toward learning is reflected and the exceptional work that she produces she will be greatly missed as she transitions from elementary to Middle School at
007the end of this school year our student tells us my teachers and parents motivate me to strive for academic success our student of the month will be taking home multiple gifts from her from our Community Partners including a gift card for Members First Credit Union as well as horn law additionally she will receive a voucher from Chicken Salad Chick and I'm going to ask her to share with me for a meal and she'll have a dozen cupcakes from Jay's sweet treats she and students of her English language arts class will receive printed copies of her favorite book I survived the Wellington Avalanche 1910. sponsored by our longtime supporter e shaper book sellers she will also take home a portrait by upscale photography provided by the Savannah Chatham County Public Schools we are proud to announce
008and introduce you to the students of the month for September 2022 Miss Lauren magwood [Applause] congratulations [Applause] Lauren was nominated by Mrs tar wood and the lead gifted teacher and of course she is a company today by at least see her dad and her grandmother [Applause] again congratulations Lauren we are very proud of your achievements and we are looking forward to seeing how you continue on that path of Excellence as you transition to Middle School very proud of what you've been able to do congratulations again thank you [Applause] continuing the news report there's a cause for Applause today many many instances first we'd like to thank our Frontline workers for their work uh during the storm we were very fortunate and blessed to be missed by Ian a few minor inconveniences but just want you
009to join me in giving a big round of applause to those who worked entirely to prepare for the storm and to do the minor cleanup that we have [Applause] the book distribution especially for our aell students book distribution was the first of several foreign literacy initiatives to follow through on our L all aboard the reading Express Grant Federal funding the grant also supports the partnership with courtesy Cooper health clinics and sccpss to provide books and annual visits from birth to age four also on Monday September 26th we officially announced the new Members First Credit Union branch at Woodville Tompkins and we share that information with the local media this student-run branch is aligned with our strategic goals that seek to increase work-life experiences and create opportunities for students that enhance their life skills like financial
010literacy we were also pleased to raise the flag of learning and Liberty at Charles Ellis Montessori on Wednesday September 22nd here Beth Whalen delivered inspiring remarks and the students gave an impressive performance of the Montessori peace song we will host the teacher of the year reception for 2024 teacher of the year on Thursday October 13th at the Woodville Tompkins gym this year-round activity which is headed by our Communications Department helps us to continue to shine the light on all of our teachers some of our talented Savannah Arts Academy students have had two films selected from over 2500 submissions for the best comedy and drama categories for this year's All-American high school Film Festival the student films were created in the school's film and television class over the last school year the two films selected the
011caddington academy and the slip-op can be viewed on YouTube winning filmmakers in each category of the festival are awarded scholarships and prizes to further their education in the film and broadcast industry students and staff at Jenkins High School who may be craving a good cup of coffee or a good cup of joe now have an in-house solution and I can personally attest to their customer service and to the coffee adaptive students at Jenkins started a coffee shop Enterprise called Warrior Joe Mr Dean Jones one of the School's teachers raised the funds to purchase the professional coffee equipment each of the Adaptive students have job responsibilities and a work schedule to follow we'd like to offer a sincere congratulations to our newest entrepreneurs and their leaders [Applause] here they are on the job they expect you
012to come and grab your cup of coffee they also have hot chocolate if you're not a coffee drinker and the prices are very reasonable so please make sure you stop by nine sccpss students representing three high schools have earned academic honors from the College Board National recognition programs these National recognition programs showcase academic Honors that can be included on College and scholarship applications and connect students with universities across the country helping them stand out during the admissions process from New Hampshire High School Jonathan Nguyen from Windsor Forest High School Caitlin Christopher from Woodfield Tompkins Technical and career high school Danielle Elizabeth Edward Scott Jada Hillary Jordan Williams Samuel cuff and Zoe Simmons a special congratulations to all of those Scholars [Applause] we'd like to offer a special thanks to the United Way of the coastal
013Empire for the most recent joint effort with Savannah Chatham County Public Schools the United Way of the coastal Empire received the language as a missing link and missed opportunity Champion award by the Sandra Dunnigan deal Center through this award the deal Center will be providing Educators with tool kits to enhance language development we are grateful that they recognized our ability to implement the tools that have provided in the toolkit they commented that the schools have been made ready to implement this toolkit and they will use the information effectively and based on the Savannah application we were one of the most prepared to take this 2K toolkit to the next level and use it within our community we continue to place heavy emphasis on literacy and reading on grade level with friends like the United Way
014we will be able to Showcase those who understand the true meaning of collective responsibility at this time um I'd like to announce that Mrs Whalen is unable to be with us today but nurse Sowers will um offer a summary of the professional Senate meeting that was held at Jenkins High School and following that I will ask Dr Buck if we can at this time um when she finishes her report um begin our proclamations good afternoon everyone the superintendent professional Senate met at Jenkins High School Thursday September 15th at 4 15 pm senate members introduce themselves to their small groups by stating their name school and one thing that has excited them recently members were reminded that participation and superintendent's professional Senate is their opportunity for honest and open dialogue as well as to have input
015and decisions that are made at the district level senate members were then asked to discuss and record glows or positive things that they are seeing this year and topics to be considered for future professional Senate meetings a summary of the comments for our Scholars there are many clothes or positive things some of them were field trips are back Partnerships would Loop it up parents are back in the building offering support there's a feeling of team effort Administration is more visible and supporting challenging behaviors e-learning day was a success positive discipline book study some suggestions for future topics review digital learning and testing platforms for Best Practices concerning student teacher use teacher burnout lack of time teachers have increasing amount of work with decreasing amounts of time review approaches for working with students who are not
016on the college track review compensation opportunities for teachers for teachers who are covering other classes a suggestion prevention group be formed and closing down spoke to the senate members about using this opportunity to share honestly stating that we cannot work to fix problems that we are unaware of the budget for this school year has included a five percent cost of living allowance increase for all employees of Savannah Chatham County Schools Additionally the district was able to improve the pay for our lowest paid employees to 15 per hour the next professional Senate meeting will likely include discussions about next year's school calendar the meeting was adjourned at 5 10 pm thank you we appreciate the nurse hours thank you very much moving ahead and moving things around just a little bit we have uh several proclamations
017on behalf of the board for our employees today and uh First National School Lunch week I'm not certain which board member is reading that one those of you don't know it was back in the day I was um in food and beverage I actually had my degree in colonial arts and look around blue the national school week board proclamation in recognition of the importance of the secpss school nutrition program and the dedicated employees who work tirelessly to provide healthy meals to the students of our grade school system the following board Proclamation is offered whereas the national school lunch program has served our nation annually for more than 76 years through advanced practices in nutrition education and whereas national school lunch program is dedicated to the health and well-being of our nation's children and whereas national
018school lunch program has been joined Through The Years by many other excellent child feeding programs to support the importance of nutrition education and awareness as a means to highlight the value of school nutrition programs through 14 2022 as national school lunch week and encourages all residents to join us in this recognition in hopes of achieving a more helpful citizenry for today in the future you've heard the resolution for Mr Johnson let's talk about um doc housing and brown uh any discussion all in favor of approving the resolution raise your hands please one two three four five six seven eight nine motion passes we'll read a proclamation bus travel appreciation bus safety and transportation oh I'm sorry nutrition people come forward [Applause] [Music] I know that we have his Dome and Schumann I miss um young
019and other people that I don't have on my list thank you so much [Music] thank you thank you very much [Applause] the same Proclamation this is a proclamation for school bus safety and transportation appreciation whereas Savannah Chatham County public school bus drivers are 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 to and from other school sanctioned activities and whereas during times where instructional operations are disrupted the transportation department is always at the ready to offer services for our families such as delivering thousands of meals to ensure students have food throughout the code 19 pandemic and whereas Savannah Chatham County public school bus drivers are committed to professional development and training to improve their Knowledge and Skills to
020ensure the safety and well-being of students and 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 now therefore the board of publication for the Board of public education for the city of Savannah and County of Chatham does hereby proclaim the week of October 17 through October 21 2022 to be observed as school bus safety and transportation Appreciation Week in recognition of the contribution 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 citizens and we encourage all citizens to recognize school bus drivers and support program staff for the services they provide all in favor raise
021your hands please one two three four five six seven eight nine motion passes nine zero zero we have representatives from Transportation he'll be coming forward also [Applause] foreign [Applause] editorial workers I'm not sure whereas custodial workers operate behind the scenes and we want them to know how appreciate they are for the hard work they do day after day keeping schools clean and well maintained our educational support professionals who are custodial workers provide a clean environment for students to learn in while those in maintenance departments provide safe surroundings for students and staff alike therefore being resolved that we the board of public education for the city of Savannah and County of Chatham who hereby recognize with the rest of the nation October 2nd 2022 as the national custodial workers recognition day and encourage all citizens to
022join us and celebrate their work and daily contributions all through the month of October uh May 2nd about the science any discussion hearing none all in favor of resolution raise your hands please one two three four five six seven eight nine motion passes nine zero zero I believe we have someone here [Applause] this is Miss Linda and she takes care of us all thank you [Applause] uh next National School principal's month Dr Howard Howell please thank you that's the former teacher understand what it's entailed to be to work for a principle the work that they do and it also has a form of title and program manager I understand the hard work they do working with them so the board ceased to pay trip to all school principals for their noteworthy influence on the success
023and well-being of our nation's students whereas School principles are implored to help students reach their full potential and whereas School principles are dedicated to helping students explore their abilities strengths interests and talents as these traits relate to Career awareness and development and whereas school principals help parents focus on ways to further the educational personal and social growth of their children and whereas School principles collaborate with teachers and other Educators to lead our schools and create positive learning communities that help every student discover their full potential and realize their goals now therefore the board a public education for the city of Savannah and County of Chatham does hereby celebrate All School principles and we ask our entire Community to join us in recognizing the month of October 2022 as National School principles month on behalf of
024the Board of Education and Savannah Chatham County Public School System we extend our sincere appreciation for every school principal in our school system across this nation Dr Joseph Buckboard president Dr Ann Ledet superintendent heard the resolution seconds uh any discussion all in favor raise your hands please one two three four five six seven eight nine oh the motion passes nine zero zero and I believe we have four of our principles whether this is happening Mr Butler Derek Butler from Allen's uh Kim Newman from Hess of that Wells from heard in Atlantic Curry from heard [Applause] and Robert Lewis from White Bluff foreign [Applause] [Music] is this [Applause] and the last resolution is in memory of uh our former District Six School Board member uh Lori Brady and Dr David bringman who is the present District
025Six rep we'll read that resolution in celebration of former Board member Miss Laurie Brady whereas our community lost a valued public servant on September 29 2022 with the passing of Miss Laurie Brady and whereas her commitment as a strong advocate for children and belief in the public school system served as the foundation for her work to improve our community and whereas she is driven and enthusiastic and passionate and whereas she will be known as an individual committed to doing the right thing through governance and stands for the improved outcomes of all others High School contributing professionally and through public service to this community she will be remembered as a champion for public education striving to provide opportunities that will contribute to the successful futures for our youth and whereas she served as a member of
026the board of public education at The District Six School Board representative from January 1 1997 and until December 31st 2012 and whereas her commitment to serve continued through leadership roles including board vice president pro tem and as the board's legislative liaison and whereas she continued her public work immediately after leaving her seat on the board by serving one term as a district six County Commissioner and whereas her impact as a public servant proved beneficial to our community and the great state of Georgia and be it further resolved that the Border does hereby Express appreciation and gratitude for those contributions one two three four five six seven eight nine um and it will be my duty to make sure that both of their passions will be poured into that project and they will be remembered when
027that building is open thank you so much um in addition to being a colleague on this board Lori was a classmate of mine in the leadership Savannah um in fact she was one of the first persons that I remembered uh from that class it was my first time meeting her um and there as on the board you you knew she was in the room when she was in the room and I finally remember when I first got on the board that I was brand new and I pondered should I wear sensible shoes because nobody sees our feet so I was thinking about that as I was coming to my first meetings and the next meeting after I thought about that I see her come in and she has on three inch zebra heels and I
028thought to myself I said okay the shoe game is on because she has she has shown me what I what I need to do um Lori was committed to her beliefs she was Ardent and I know that we're going to remember her thank you [Applause] I uh it is interesting that both the slower her fallen and Lori both served in that seat and uh everything that has been said is certainly true uh Ardent for both of them I think describes uh what they felt and why they ran and why they continue to serve and we will indeed miss that Council we will miss their experience and we will miss their own view of the world that was so important so thank you um moving on you have anything yet moving on to um appearances before
029the void good evening um campus police uh remember the most useful comments are those related to matters of policy over which the board has jurisdiction speakers have four minutes in which to speak at the description of the board chair of the time may be lessons due lesson due to the number of speakers signed up and the agenda of the meeting all comments shall be made in a professional manner and that is as excuse me a professional man that is not disruptive to the meeting guests should avoid name-calling towards staff and board members and should avoid profanity please follow the instructions of the board chair who presides over the meeting the board chair reserves the right to call anyone out or who violates the rules of public appearance the board further established the rules of conduct
030in accordance with ocga 20-2-58c3 through board policy bcbi public appearance excuse me public participation in public BC board members the Quorum and board meetings we appreciate your interests in the work of our school system and yes or supportive material for the board thank you as we proceed with uh having public appearances two things I would like to say I wanted to re-emphasize that indeed if you have a printed handout how you can get to Corporal Hollis and we will see it on the board I uh I'm sorry that I had to cut from five to four but because of the number of speakers today I felt that necessary the last thing I would say is um it had always been customary for speakers uh who made appearances before the board to tell us what um
031specific agenda item they were speaking to so that they could speak at the time that that was actually being considered I it is not a requirement that you do that but there are several of you who I know are speaking to particular items that later in the board meeting will be voted on if you would rather wait and speak at the time of the consideration just if I call on you say I'd rather wait and speak on that item it's not a requirement but perhaps has more meaning because you've just heard the resolution about what we are going to talk about in that particular case so uh just be aware of that and that is your own priority the first Speaker I have for four minutes is Ms Miranda brauner and I believe she's talking
032about students right to learn welcome thank you hi everyone can you hear me yes okay I am here to speak up on behalf of our students right to learn and to um and our teachers write to to teach history um in an inclusive manner in a way that um that addresses the facts instead of trying to censor the teaching of History like the Georgia state legislature is doing the um the Georgia legislature recently passed their HB 1084 and several other bills that are they are trying to suppress the open discussion of History um this they say that they're trying to protect students but they are not they're trying to protect their own privileges and their own there will be pressure from the Georgia legislature to try to get you to comply um and I need
033you to to actively resist um I need you to let let the teachers teach the truth and do not let the Georgia legislature try to silence them thank you very much uh the next speaker [Applause] next speaker is should hold good afternoon everybody good afternoon um thank you for allowing to see today I want I wanted to come here to make sure that we are focused on why students are in school and those three reasons are Reading Writing and arithmetic and so I'm bothered by images and verbiage that I've seen recently regarding our children and being involved in our libraries and so I would like to start with a scripture and it's Luke 12 48. which says to whom much is given much will be required as a board of education you all have accepted
034the great task privilege responsibility to be good stewards over the learning standards principles classroom materials that sheep Savannah Public Schools after learning that this is not the first time that this type of information has been found I'm someone in question of where our integrity is and where our conditions lie these are children and I'm concerned about that healthy educational progress and personal development is being absolutely stymied by this type of material and you know I guess the point where I'm at with it is that there was a lack of Swift reaction in this to remove those items from the schools I'm not sure why that didn't happen when I read and saw wasn't curriculum or education it was a Brazen introduction to pornography these are school-age children so one question I have is and I
035know I won't get the answer today but it bothers me and I need to know who is responsible and accountable for choosing accepting and purchasing reading materials in schools what process is in place to filter what books get to ourselves I for starters I believe that this is what starters certain book authors need to be banned because I'm pretty sure that they're they're repeat offenders and putting this stuff into our school systems they should be banned the Pledge of Allegiance clearly says One Nation Under and I hear the pole to pose a debate about church and state or politics but I am here to strongly convey that our policies and standards need to align with God's policies and standards God is for the protection of our children and keeping them safe from irrelevant books that
036can harm them whether you believe in God or not sex itself has serious consequences when carried out with ignorance or blatant Rebellion so when we don't stop things like this from happening to our children they are more quick to succumb to increased unsafe sexual activity unwanted teen pregnancies low self-esteem possible rape even suicide so I do realize that it's not the school's responsibility to raise children I do believe there can be more vigilance with book selections at school and with that vigilance a greater level of accountability and transparency on those who choose books so it's my hope that you will commit to keeping an Eagle Eye on what comes into the school libraries more importantly who allows this type of reading material to come into the school libraries and classes so I want to say
037with no shame that God is watching what is happening with the situation and he places great value on children he will hold individuals accountable who open the door to toxic filth like this and so will we lastly I went in uh strongly encourage local churches to wholeheartedly and boldly engage in fasting and prayer over this situation going forward let's pray for the exposure and Swift removal of anybody who condones the purchasing and implementation of these types of materials in our schools we need the right people in place to ensure learning environments remain focused on producing better and more intelligent people in society thank you for your time [Applause] thank you thank you the next the next speaker is Mr Swain and uh he was going to talk about the the new uh policy on sex
038education do you want to wait and speak as we're considering that or do you want to take your full minutes now okay come forward thank you all very much can y'all hear me yes sir okay thank you very much for having me here I'm Andrew Swain a long time resident this is my home Savannah Georgia and I thank God I used to run the school projector that was back in the late 50s I have a lot of respect for education and our leaders the school teachers they mean a lot to me um we're under assault right now and I go along with what she just mentioned it's very critical that we take on this issue it's going on all over the nation right now other states are adopting it and we're finding evidence that sexual
039harassment sexual training sex education training is going on and it's uh it's really perverting a lot of our children they're way too young they're not mature enough to understand some of this information they need we need to focus on education the basic education math reading history science and this has been said many times before I'm a Christian and I believe in God I believe in the principles of that was laid out in the Holy Bible under uh holy God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob and we have to hold on to these principles we can't let them go that's the Bedrock of our country it's what made our country what it is today and we're losing sight of it and we just got to stay focused and I know that each and every one of y'all
040would not want their children to have to see some of the stuff that's going on right now and I don't I don't want any of this to go on any further I ask that you search your conscience and pray talk to the Lord about this and try to address this issue very rapidly very serious and I pray that you'll do so and I thank you for this time I pray for all of you I continue to do your good work thank you next speaker is uh bounds I'm sorry about a sheer concern and well are you still here it was bounds here okay I I will just move on then talk uh Todd um I don't I can't read the last name uh from um oh later okay um and so we'll uh Ashley Parker
041is that I mean the two of you together okay um next uh Mr Grooms Thomas Grooms please welcome Mr Jones thank you so honor to be here my name is Thomas um wanted to come in and thank each of you board members who have volunteered and run for the office under serving and hopefully honorably as well about I have two things actually three things first and foremost I want to address the fact that I'm poor the format and the way you set this up and the fact that you allow us to speak but it should not allow us to get any feedback immediately one-on-one I'm sure a lot of my other fellow citizens here feel the same way I want to ask you for any questions and what are you going to do about this
042particular issues that we present one of the things that I want to speak about first and foremost is something that happened a couple years ago when we began the destruction of my high school address High School class of 69. we have other members here they graduated with me in the uh I went to the school when they were deconstructing it walked through it and I was um alarmed or what I saw they were tearing the school down but there was still not only boats and but they were a desk and all kinds of things like televisions and you know equipment there throughout the school and I saw people who had shirts on that said Board of Education sure swag shirts all said that but they were taking things for me and foreign [Music] because this
043is just terrible God loves you all thank you Mr Thomas [Applause] Cheryl uh gay books is wow I'd rather you stand here please ma'am all right I'm trying to speak louder thank you um as a September meeting I shared some content from a book called Lillian Duncan it's down to 15 of our media center or your beta centers it's a book about a young boy who wants to transition to a girl but his father is resistant um in the book the boy's name is Tim and he transitions to Lily Lily asked his father why he changed his mind about as long as allowing his son to take blockers and the father says the counselor asked me if I wanted a dead son or a live daughter so keep that phrase in mind last week I
044was in a conference and I heard a young girl Chloe Cole speak she had transitioned to a boy mastectomy but it wasn't simple and it was not reversible at this conference Chloe shares some of the graphic details of her current post-transition medical status so a few of the things that she had that She's suffering from now permanent damage or urinary tract system she told us and this is kind of graphic she described regularly passing blood clots in her urine during hormone treatments she suffered damage to other pelvic organs and now has unknown future fertility she also has significant middle-ish medical issues resulting from the grass done as a social site so she said um how did the doctors do this for parents to let her transition they told them would you rather have a dead
045daughter or a living son which brings us back to Lily and Duncan the book I referenced earlier that's the argument the argument made the closed parents is almost verbatim the arguments that's presented to Lily's father in the book Lillian Duncan but it's the strongest argument it's not either transition or commit suicide intellectually lazy to present such a complex situation and start black and white either or terms especially when we're dealing with children whose brains are still developing we don't let minors enter The Binding contracts because we know they don't possess the mature maturity maturity to make decisions of that magnitude but yet some people are trying to say they're capable of deciding to have irreversible gender-altering surgeries or Melissa but um Godly station Gaston Coastal Southwest Middle and this is a quote from the book
046George Melissa a boy could become a girl she had read she had since read on the internet that she could take girl hormones hormones that would change her body and you could get a bunch of different surgeries if you wanted them this was called transitioning you could even start before you were 18 with bills called Androgen blockers that stopped the boy hormones already inside you from turning your body into a man's end quote that's in George Melissa these young adult books books that glamorize gender transitions while minimizing or admitting the um the serious long-term consequences to take these blockers are guilty of spreading this information with her um the conference somebody said so why she decided to go public because a lot of this was very embarrassing personal information and she had a very simple
047response because this is wrong and it has to stop this girl has exposed her whole life to the to the country because it's wrong and it has to stop thank you thank you ma'am transition I'm gonna ask as we continue please please try to stick to your foreign welcome it is good that the Board of Education expects more involvement from the community you are in these positions of authority as representatives of community my comments are representative of many and we understand how we need to be paying much closer attention to the board's actions I am focusing my comments on the sexually explicit material slash pornography that currently exists within the system from the high school level down to the elementary level the dialogue in this material should make adults blush and the pictures are disgusting
048and explicit their pornographic meaning they do not serve an educational purpose for school children let me focus on one problem we are seeing a rising problem of pornography addiction in teens the negative effects of pornography Edition or even greater in teams because their brains are more susceptible to the overload effects that come with continued exposure this will come to no surprise to any parent or teacher that the teenage brain is dominated by areas associated with pleasure reward and emotional response this explains the emotional roller coaster we see during puberty science and biology explained the dreaded teenage years and that knowledge helps us to understand educate and guide children they are still children during that thoughtful time in lives knowing the vulnerability of the miners under your care shouldn't the adults in children and teenagers lives
049do everything in their power to limit exposure to obscenity and pornography at this vulnerable point in their brain development yes inappropriate content is readily found on the internet our TVs and stream services are Set Pools all the more reason to make our schools and our media centers a Haven from exposure to obscene and pornographic material right now I could read sections of this pornographic material to make my point however according to the board's rules for public comment speakers should and I quote avoid using profanity and speakers are to stay in the Rules of Civility by stating this the board understands that you know some content is right and wrong I would not be able to say within the Rules of Civility reading this content out loud if this form cannot bear here an adult reading
050portions of this controversial material how can the board of education then turn around and not only accept but support pornographic material made available to the developing brains of students and parents that have been entrusted to your care this trust includes making sure what is presented passes what I call the squirm test most of us instinctively understand sexually explicit materials not appropriate for children here's the sperm test would you read and share this controversial material to your own children and grandchildren I saw the really great pictures of people reading to the students would reading this material out loud to that group of students make you squirm unless there's a very clear educational reason the squirm test will be a pretty good indicator of whether material is appropriate for minors this used to be known as common
051sense board members may not have direct responsibility for this material but there are others in the room who do possess the power to change this and to the board members you do have the ability to attempt to influence the people who have the authority to limit and remove this type of material the use of pornographic material is harmful to children and does not serve an educational purpose which are listed right there on the wall your Mission Vision the district scorecard with teaching math science and reading informs us that that is what should be emphasized thank you Miss Brittany Brown thank you I appreciate you guys allowing us to speak and kind of voice our opinions on some of the things going on in the public schools here um but I can't believe that we're allowing
052our children to have exposure to this we have a huge problem in this country with us not protecting children as adults that is our main job is to protect the kids they can't protect themselves and allowing this pornographic stuff to happen in our schools escalates a lot of the sexual activity and it also teaches kids that things are okay but they're not okay and however this policy got passed I don't believe that any of you were involved with it but you guys have the power to fix this you guys can create policy they can help protect kids and take these books out of our schools and that's what I'm asking you guys to do and I'm not sure when we can hear further about what the action that could be taken um in regards to
053these books since this has been brought up multiple times I would love to hear from the board on what do you think we could address this and hear some solutions to the problems that we're seeing in the schools thank you so much for your time [Applause] dab Roderick welcome Ms Broderick thank you um and thank all of you for being here and giving us this time to speak um I mean I know we have the right to have this time but we appreciate your your civility um I would like to a lot of the things that I wanted to say have already been said [Music] the decorum of this body and of the speakers here I find that to be a very notable guideline to follow in order to promote Civility and Common Sense order
054I would then request the exact same of you and of Georgia school um overseers of the administrators of the Librarians of the teachers and of any kind teachers of any kind excuse me and anytime there is an audience a teacher that has an audience of young impressionable children in front of them as a captive audience I bring this up because not only do I find it reprehensible that we have this built in the schools but this is about the sixth year we brought this up six years ago Rob Taylor had a big big paper that he brought in for you and we spoke on this at least six years ago it has only increased and gotten worse so there is a fall down somewhere I realize I I know where the power lies and uh
055I know who doesn't have the power but what they have been saying I'm going to reiterate that this is simply got to stop it has got to be obliterated it has got to be taken out of every school now I'm bringing this up for a second a second comment I don't know if many of you read about this but in Georgia we now have drag queen story time it was presented in Columbus Georgia all right we do not want that in Georgia we do not agree with that in Georgia it is immoral it is not right it is not for the functioning brains of our children if somebody wants to participate in that they can have a party in their own home and the folks that want to see it can go there do not
056expose the majority of the people in this nation in the state and this County to this now I realize it's not Savannah not yet not yet so I'm going to give you a suggestion before that should even come this way Nix it stop it it is thank you it is um for all of you to do everything that you can to to stop this um there is no excuse or a twisted amount of warning that you you can put out there that is going to make this right and as it has been said before you may not think that we can do that much but there are many many many many many many of us that are not here today that stand with this it will not Prevail and if you should override all of
057us God Almighty is coming and he is very disappointed at this so I implore you to do everything that you can to stop this get this out of our schools it is not a form of education but thank you for the hard work that you do do and just remember we will not back down we will not give up [Applause] welcome Ms Bradley hey thank you Bradley and I spoke last month on some of the books and basically um I agree with with what most people have said who spoke before me and they've kind of Taken what I was going to say but um I am going to um read some excerpts from from one book I thought last month was bad this is um even worse I need to apologize again and I really
058apologize because I'm um y'all should be mortified as well my child's former principal and former AP are here and I apologize to them this is for me and Earl and the dying Girl by Jesse Andrews according to the Chatham County Digital Library the title is currently failed at the following schools Islands Johnson Jenkins Savannah arts and Windsor High page 32 Greg's inexplicable boner is in full Retreat page 59. I'm sorry are you going to eat her p-u-s-s-y age 60. yeah Earl I'm going to eat her p-u-s-s-y huh do you even know how to eat p-u-s-s-y uh not really papa games son one day you're going to have to eat with a p-u-s-s-y remember our minor children are reading this these books that are still being allowed to be housed in our Public School libraries um
059suggest that you officially masturbate all over pillows I would not page 74 yo paw games drove me to Whole Foods so if you need some funky plastic pickles relish for that p-u-s-s-y just holler um I can keep going on and on as one board member told me when I called them they said it's taken out of context this is just a few pages it's not even all the ones that are on the sheets it's just embarrassing um and as they said you know the fact that the board has not done anything about this that you're still selling on this issue to be as a communication that you support this maybe it's not something that you the board members can do here but you can talk to people who do have the authority and um you
060can get these books out of our school so some of you have stated that you're all right with minor students reading these books but for those of you who aren't please voice your concern speak up and take action whatever action it is that you can take as I talk to people in the community I didn't realize what content were in the books when I had first heard about this and after looking at it um I was just appalled and when I've been talking to people and show them exercise lists they are appalled parents need to know what is in the school and please take some action on this thank you for your time [Applause] next week [Music] earlier to talk about the performance on Ela welcome to Mrs margarine thank you I speak to you
061today as a retired teacher who is credentialed in Virginia supervision uh in Virginia and supervision and Leadership who has a master's degree in Reading education and was certified by the Ohio State University as a reading recovery teacher I ran an elementary school reading program for five years and taught the most underserved tiger one students for six years as a reading recovery teacher I know reading history Theory neuroscience and instruction under section 9 of today's agenda two PowerPoint presentations are attached which speak to goal one Student Success academic achievement and life Readiness these two uh Savannah Chatham County presentations address the district's Spring Georgia Milestones assessment System test results for short and a reading on grade level update entitled third grade reading let's dissect the Georgia Milestones assessment System state results for Savannah Chatham County we
062will specifically address third grade reading and writing known as Ela or English language arts basically reading as much research documents that reading proficiency at grade 3 specifically is an accurate predictor of graduation rates for example a long-term study by the Annie ekc Foundation found that students who were not proficient in reading by the end of third grade were four times more likely to drop out of high school than proficient leaders in fact 88 of students who failed to earn a high school diploma were struggling readers in third grade the gmask report put out by the state department of Ed identifies for Savannah Chatham County that only an average of 24 of all grade 3 students were proficient in reading or better at the end of 2022 with the Spring G Mass was given the definition
063of a proficient reader is quote prepared for Success according to the state however in the gmask PowerPoint that is attached to the agenda it may be shown today so the other Chatham County doesn't quote that fact instead they combine the category of developing learner with proficient learner to artificially increase the percentage developing learner means that the student is only partially proficient and requires academic support or in other words is below grade level and only one step above the category of beginning reader they also combine grades three through five to obscure the grade three predictive data have you noticed these days that when the data doesn't support The Narrative of an institution or agency they change the definition apparently the superintendent who received an early renewal of her contract this summer by board approval and the
064head of marketing Kurt Ediger who received a sixteen thousand dollar bonus buying the severe useful tactic to manipulate a cover-up of the truth about the lack of Savannah Chatham County we proficiency what are they trying to cover up by changing the definition of reading proficiency to include mostly below grade level readers known as developing learners for starters only 14 elementary schools out of 35 can boast up having as many as 30 or higher of their third grade students proficient or better in Reading Four elementary schools under seven percent of their students are scoring for proficient or better the slide deck references a comparison group of schools chosen by Savannah Chatham County against which two Benchmark its performance per the store School Digger site the ell comparison districts referenced in the deck and used by Savannah
065Chatham are all low or lower performing districts than Savannah Chatham which is currently ranked 149th out of 181 school districts in the state for ELA performance why aren't we using Effingham and Brian counties when are we going to stop using poverty as an excuse rather than finding way ways to bring success to these students the second deck entitled third grade reading reading on grade level tries to deceive as well with the Lexile measurement used this deck only addresses those reading at or above grade level not the approximate 50 of the third graders reading below grade level this stack also attempts to use i-Ready as a tool for measuring reading on grade level i-Ready is it a valid or reliable instrument for this purpose and like it or not the state rights are schools using gmask
066not i-Ready to conclude while it is notable that the district according to the third grade deck has created a literacy task force and the instructional and key strategies referenced look Sound True change will only come when Savannah Chatham county is brutally honest in its own assessment of the current status of its student body raises its expectations for all of its students academically and behaviorally executes at the highest level future performance and uses measurable goals tied to academic performance for its superintendent's performance appraisal thank you for your time [Applause] please welcome Mr Romance I can talk about freedom and liberty and how we need to teach at our schools first I want to address the matter of I have the right of free speech given to me by God and guaranteed me to the U.S Constitution
067is intimidating on subject money I'm a working guy and I'm like you guys actually cost me money to be here this afternoon because I'm not at my job on such a different money I have to remind everybody here about this disgraceful pay rate are you listening appears not to be paying attention I've watched her well everyone else is speaking she's walking somewhere else hundred thousand dollars a year raise three hundred thousand dollars a year mind-boggling that money should be called back you should be fired because this is one of the worst performing school systems not only in the state but in the country all the subject of sex let's connect the dots pornography which is available in our school libraries leads to promiscuity promiscuity leads to sexual activity sexual activity leads to pregnancy leads you
068according to your website your counselors reads to abortions you are a conduit of clients to the abortion industry that's what you are you have a vested Financial in interest in promoting your perversion and your promise duty to encourage sexual activity by youngsters it's about money on the subject of perversion the word true this should be the policy of the school system the key so the truth about sexuality the word transgender is a made-up false word that means nothing and that should be taught in schools it is impossible to change your sex have you ever heard the Mantra of which father science your sex is not determined by the body parts which can be changed it could be a modern science modern medicine it is determined by your 20 of chromosomes you either X ax or
069x y those chromosomes are in every cell in your body except for one type of cell who here can tell me what type of cell that is this is biology 101. you're chromosomes are in every cell of your body except for your red blood cells red blood cells should not have nuclei therefore there are no chromosomes any red blood cells you need to teach the truth about transgender there's a man named Walter Walter higher h-e-y-e-r h-e-y-e-r here's an organization in a website called sex change regret can you bring him here and talk to student body which is our petition perversion we should not be teaching sexual activity to youngsters on the subject of Liberty and freedom this school system needs to adopt a curriculum that teaches freedom and liberty for all Jesus our founding documents
070our students the vast majority were upon graduating high school no almost nothing about the Declaration of Independence our Constitution and our Bill of Rights no students should graduate the system without a deep knowledge about our following documents and the basic knowledge of this country is founded on Christianity and it matters that the countries found in Christianity God's reversed four times in the Declaration of Independence which I've memorized this entirety and I'll be glad to come and reside for you and explain it to you I responded from memory over 2 000 times I would I request that I come and speak to all of you and for an audience and give you a lesson about the Declaration of Independence it matters that we are a Christian country that should be taught in school the evidence for
071that if I'm working around the world and I'm seeing whatever other countries are predominantly a different religion such as India which is predominantly Hindu and a portion of Muslim with a small amount of Christians they have an economic caste system imagine psychological damage is done when hopelessness when you know wherever you're born you're going to end up there whereas in America the sky's the limit or in China where the vast majority is religion is Buddhist or under the Communist Party of China it's atheism rammed on your throat on any one of the 57 members of the OIC which is the organization of Islamic cooperation and there's very there's almost no human rights to any Muslim country that should be taught in school to emphasize how important it is to be a Christian country and have
072our family recognize our founding fathers we're Christians this is a fundamental fundamental mission that needs to be taught in schools I needed to do that I want to tell you something this isn't a board this is a very Chatham County publication thank you sir thank you thank you [Applause] next time on the agenda is uh there are two board matters um consideration of new policy uh it's the first read on uh sex education a second on the possession of weapons that's also a first read I'm going to ask Mr uh to present those and we'll have our questions and move on there is no vote on either one of those thank you Mr board president this is item 7.01 on your board's agenda reminded this is a first reader for the board's initial review this
073is policy section that we're bringing forward to the board is a new policy you will note uh in part primarily because of some of the tweets that were done in the recent legislative session under house bill 287 which provided a few additional nuances in the areas of health education we didn't recognize that in recommendation for the Georgia school boards Association that the benefit of this policy in school districts that did not have it to account for these particular areas we will also note that certain areas of instruction for physical education is already covered under the board's wellness policy which is policy eee but this goes and further reiterate certain areas of requirements which we are including through the curriculum and are specified under the State Board of Education Rule and of course state code first
074reader any comments from board members Johnson um I don't overall have an issue with the policy the only thing in here that I would like to see change is instead of having to opt out having opt-in other comments and board members about any of the policy I'd like to thank the state for sending this legislation down to award um we are following our state legislators that want us to teach science and sex is part of science thank you sir anybody else have comments remembering this is for remembering this is a first read uh if you think about it more and have other comments as we always do please make certain that you get that staff so that we can talk about that at the next four meeting as we vote anything else on this particular
075policy next one oh I'm sorry oh.com her child to enroll in this in these courses they can they can they have the choice to take them out so I don't understand the difference in opting in opting out what's the difference if it's in the curriculum is mandated from the state state legislators that were elected in those offices I really do believe that this is Well written thought out and I as I said sleep right to the parents a legal Guardians making a choice to allow his or her child or what to take this the specified instruction not only that they are given the parents have the opportunity to look at the curriculum prior to making up their mind whether or not they want their child to enroll in those courses yes thank you uh I
076agree that that is a definitely um a big change in policy whether you're opting in or opting out and um it's something that we need to take very seriously and I would not approve of it unless we had to go to a vote on that remember first read we will discuss it and ready to tell next month but I wanted you to have your chance to start talking about it here Mr scrapowski I did provide some comments to staff via email which will responded to so I just want to encourage the board to if there are anything else based on my um observations anybody else as we move on could we move on to the next first read-on uh for the president moving on the agenda to item 7.02 this is a four-year review of
077course per year board policy requirements to review all policies every four years this is kmb possession of weapons uh first reader we do have some recommendations for changes on this particular policy area the main onus behind the change is really to point all of the clear technical language uh to the actual state code that governs this particular policy section we have left the primary language at the very top of the policy section which clearly states that weapons are prohibited there are certain areas where they are allowed on a campus if they are locked properly in a vehicle and other requirements for the operator of the vehicle we are referring to the code language that the state governs this particular area as a matter of clear clarity I'm burning up um you've heard this as the
078first read um the questions comments to stop but I do find that first paragraph under section two extremely confusing and seems to conflict with the entire section above and so I hope that's something that we can almost reverse the um priority because it almost seems like you're encouraged not to and that however comes so it to me it should read more only in these instances are you allowed to so it reverses that priority thank you other comments thank you remember first read we will be voting next month uh that completes the board miners we've already done the proclamations I need a motion to approve the consent agenda please seconds uh all in favor of approval raise your hands please one two three four hold your hands up again I'm sorry one two three four five
079six seven all opposed any extensions motion passes seven zero and two of saint thank you moving on to goal four Student Success and academic achievement and life Readiness first on the agenda is two items on Susie King Taylor and then later there's a third item and those sort of needed to be separated um sir come forward as you uh present it's nice to meet you we haven't had that opportunity yet hmm thank you I was trying to let them here about Europeans yes sir Dr Buck how you doing today board members my name is I'm excited to be here and excited to present and um is going and so uh thank you very much the top line I believe it is but before I get started I just want to um when you transition from
080a new city it's always unexpected uh I can definitely tell you uh there's been some great people who have helped us help me with the money that's really important uh doctor May has been fantastic uh as being liaison for us agenda about that questions these are financials really in good shape financially they did a very great job we're going through our audit right now a strong believer that um it's critical uh and so these are our numbers as far as our budget and expenditures as well and questions please let me know any questions at all attendance report um from last year's this year this year as well I'm still looking at improving this year 93.5 for K5 uh so in line with what was last year but still need to take a look at how
081we improved that overall attendance we're hoping that we're looking at trying to relocate and find one building uh we're trying to find it right now which I think would be really helpful with attendance and so just trying to take a look at the landscape of uh landscape landscape of a property here and what we can do to take a look at getting into one building it's important I believe what it attendance any questions are questions report yesterday thank you Andrew what is your um balance the actual as far as to date um no um 100 was completed this year as of right now um and so I'm learning the system uh for the teachers leadership evaluation system but um complete everything that's supposed to be completed to this point right now so moving in the
082right direction to make sure we're evaluating staff and giving them feedback uh making sure that they understand expectations and everything can improve things are doing well uh so we wanted to make sure that we were in compliance with that I've had my training already so I understand how to do the process as well so pretty excited about that as well so [Music] like that a doctor of course Dr Medina is working really hard director of academic Services there's a lot of work to be done uh right now um some of that information there is somewhat alarming but I'm going to discuss very shortly the game plan we have that's something to be able to help schools get back on track and I'm excited about the staff of the professional development but there's a lot of
083work that has to happen all I'm all about plan of action um that's what I believe how you move schools forward no matter where the school's at is a lot of work that has to happen um for our students for our parents and uh I'm a strong believer I was one of those kids that um they said we'll never make it and so I'm a strong believer I take it as personal uh and so I'm a strong believer that they can't make it if we provide the Avenues and we provide resources to help them and you're seeing very surely all the things that we're putting in places the right direction so the data you have uh it is what it is um so it's our job now to take a look at how do we
084improve that and make it happen and it can't happen I'm gonna start with your change can happen if you believe things could happen and our our quote this year is believed uh our students will believe our staff will believe in our parents so definitely questions please let me know any questions questions as well Resource as well math already I mean that's of course um you all are very close to overview beginning with our development Learners professional Learners distinguished learners testing data so we have a lot of work to do a lot of students at the beginning stages developing stages um some proficient but we needed to move the pillow so we moved progress forward and that's going to be very important as well studies so one of the first thing I'm a strong believer how
085you create a future plan that allows you to move to support the direction uh first time I came in we looked at a progress timeline um for course in July through August we evaluated the campus needs everything from facilities to [Music] checking and having made your progress and so we'll take a look at where we are um December January and what are we doing to really move the panel and move the state forward and of course by the end of the year um believer you know teach at least one observation both there's tons of data student data and parent engagement data so there's a lot of things that we're going to take a look at that evaluate what we did well and what things we could improve um so pretty excited about kind of a
086progress timeline of what we're looking at the beginning of the Dude any questions for me for the progress timeline please any questions for more numbers so um analysis I want to take a look at exactly you know strong leader is always good in something I don't care what the test scores says there's always good in somewhere so the strength we took a look at a small school environment professional development um very comprehensive development model that we have great technology areas of improvement for weaknesses academic achievement I mean that's what we're in this business and help kids be successful and that's the bottom line SEO is going to be here to support uh I'm a strong believer um you got to help young people understand how to navigate um and that's really critical for many of
087our students family engagement I'm a strong believer look at the domination a lot of work Nationwide those schools that have heavily families involved schools and so how to get our family to be involved and they wanted to be involved in how do we help them to be able to navigate the challenges that they're facing uh and still you know have them be successful and so family engagement is [Music] to transportation [Music] some families um more of a broader comment in question um because you mentioned something about your building but I didn't see it in your actions so so othy King Taylor charter school was established as a place-based learning school because there was a strong feeling by the organizers that a school named for this woman in Downtown Savannah um was going to present a
088unique um learning opportunity for the young people that would be there well there are not too many big buildings open to be in school in Downtown Savannah that don't already have scab on it yeah so yeah yeah that's a big undertaking um so I'm curious as to it wasn't identified in your spot the lack of one building was not in your SWOT analysis as a weakness um and it wasn't in your actions of moving too quickly so is that just like a big goal that is needed down the line or how does that fit into all the things that you're doing now if I could have moved yesterday I would have moved yesterday uh so yeah it's part of our plan right now uh build the building is a priority uh right now we're looking
089for property right now um we thought we had something locked down but it was at least before we could get to it and so it's part of our priority it's one of my priorities um uh the board we've had to meet last week really about how do we take a look at whatever options and we're looking at all options I believe um and so uh that is the party for us we're meeting right now with the tour organization that helps charter schools with fighting facilities um I'm looking for facility Grant right now as well um so the facility is probably one of the top priorities for the goal uh was to try to find something you know by December and Bush talking about so happening and they have to plan for you know six months
090out because you'd have to recoup the facility so I think the reality is you know we may not get into maybe the following year if we find something and so it is a priority I would love to be in one building on one campus but again uh it's landlocked in Downtown Savannah and so we'll just have to take a look at what our options are and you know go from there but it is a party um that would be interesting to me because the the sale of the school was downtown Savannah as a living classroom you walk outside and you're learning and so um the advantages of you know one continuous space on the other side of town I understand the advantages of it but yeah [Music] identify Who We Are [Music] in December yes
091ma'am excuse me um thank you for the report and for the detail I appreciate um the kind of Frank overall analysis of where you are um the focus on key issues and a deliberate plan moving forward I think that's important um one of the issues that's come up uh in the past um in in review meetings here and also in comments from the public is uh I don't know if it's true or if there's a perception or probably a little bit of both that there was a constant changing of the administrative structure and then High turnover in teachers and it alarmed me when you said today we have all new Middle School teachers and that's exciting it is exciting um but the way you build a community and the way you build a culture and
092buying into a process is you hopefully retain peoples and they buy into the mission and vision and then they can execute and I know I mean so many others we have teacher shortages we're challenged with teacher retention and burnout as well um but for charter school with a unique mission in particular the high turnover in staff was particularly concerning um I'm asking that you'll please take a particular look at that because I think that will help a stable staff will help your core Mission help you get where you're trying to go yeah and I think that's really important I think stability is important and keeping staff and also providing opportunities for people to learn and grow um you know within the last time we've been for three months but I took a look at staff
093that were there we promoted some staff different positions in leadership because I felt that people are happy to see the opportunity to be able to grow uh and I think one of the biggest culture so one of the first book we had was the five business of the team and the summer we did that and uh you know I think it allowed people to see there were some things we had to work on as a team collectively and if we're going to build this together plans in America if the culture is bad you're right people want to leave and so I think my goal is really how do we build an effective culture where people feel to have a voice for example we do have teacher advising boards which is really unfortunate because I want
094to have feedback from the staff as well [Music] [Laughter] so to me it's personal [Music] if you do find another location outside of downtown fair to find it really explain it to us so we can understand what the vision of music Taylor charter school is and um but yeah by the way I'm a Georgia Tech fan I'm sorry audience to understand because some folks may not be real for me you have your own board you have your own governance body we oversee your sense but we just don't really have any direct correlation in your staff or anything like that but we you know respect you that he or too that's the regulations and all part of your job you can educate kids that are indeed the housework too because they're Chatham County we welcome you
095I'm going to ask that whoever is making the last presentation about uh Susan King Taylor you can go have a seat but we're going to take that now because I know you got a thousand things because you would like to be doing thank you for the school so [Applause] all right good afternoon the following is a school model of change for Susan King Taylor Community Charter Schools the detailed information is located in your board packets and they are also posted on board docs for public View until charter school has gone through a years of change and upon review of the school structure seeks to replace his school designation from an elementary and middle school with a k-school model Suzuki Charter School leadership has worked with the administration on the consolidation of the school and administration
096supports the change in school structure board action at this time is required thus be it resolved upon the recommendation of the superintendent that the board approved the consolidation of Suzuki Taylor Community School grades K through 5 and 16 Taylor Community School Middle grades Academy for the social justice grades six through eight to the Susie King Taylor Community Schools grades k through eight you've heard the resolution but it makes the motion diecast friends seconds excuse me before I called didn't comment I just want people to really understand that that's another good example of changing in an Administration or a leadership because the power administrators wanted to do this and now they wanted to do the opposite and that kind of change is a pretty major change and when it comes because of differences in leadership and
097what is best for the school but um coming foreign scores GMAT scores will transition over to the K-8 school so all that will be calculated still as two separate groups because ccrpi does not recognize Ka schools they look at three to five and then six through eight so those scores will transition over they'll transition over but any sort of categorization based on those scores doesn't mean that's like designations that's what I'm trying to get to is do does this end any designations um because of the action that we're taking for the king Taylor no the designation is still there for Susan Taylor okay thank you any other combination board members hearing none all in favor of the motion raise your hand please one two three four five six seven eight uh all opposed motion passes
098eight zero zero in the records show that Miss Grabowski was out of around it would you like to vote this harassment she was out of the room so the vote is eight zero zero uh thank you very much Mr pep in here good to go now you're going to take over Mr okay we uh I would like to say uh one of the advantages of giving out reports like the two that we're about to hear brief highlights from uh have been given out to board members ahead and we also put the entire report into our packets online so the department can see whatever they would like and need to see we do not filter that information for them and uh unlike what we were accused of earlier so uh go ahead miss all over good
099afternoon so this report will again stop talking give highlights as it relates to our Georgia milestone's assessment system that's our integrate and end of course tests for school year 2022. this is a reminder executive years of pandemic related disruptions school year 2022 sets our new performance Baseline as it relates to our Georgia milestone's assessment assessments the district will be using these scores from 2022 to establish our targets for the future and as a reminder in 2020 our gmask testing was suspended in 2021 we had about 40 percent participation from our students because this was optional end of grade that students in grades three through five they're assessed in ela Math and Science while students in grades six through eight are assessed in ela math social studies and science our end of course assessments are provided
100for students that are taking High School Credit courses in American literature Algebra 1 biology and U.S history these courses also account for 20 of their final greatness of these assessments the achievement levels for gmasks beginning Learners have not yet demonstrated proficiency and so they need substantial support mechanisms our students that are developing Learners have demonstrated partial proficiency and still need some additional academic support our proficient Learners have demonstrated proficiency and Mastery at this level and are prepared for success and our distinguished Learners have demonstrated Advanced proficiency at a very well prepared highlights from our assessment begin with our end of grades in elementary more of our students in weeks three through five did perform at or above developing an Ela C1 of our students scored at our above developing level in math and they did
101outperform the comparison groups by three before three points we also recognize that our students in three through five have performed below our comparison groups in ela highlights from our Middle School assessments again 50 of our middle grade students have performed at or above developing an Ela in math we do recognize that they performed one point below the comparison group as it relates to at or developing category in mathematics and that they were five or more points below the comparison groups in Middle grades Ela science and social studies and so there is a concerted effort and focus in working with Automotive schools highlights from our high schools our end of course assessments 57 of our students performed at or above developing an algebra one that was actually 12 points higher than the comparison group 68 of
102them performed at or above developing an American literature and Savannah Chatham County Public School System exceeded the comparison group and all EOC subjects so as we move forward our continuous Improvement strategies we're focusing on providing ongoing professional learning that maximizes collaborative instructional planning with our teachers and giving them the tools that they need one thing we're focused on is selecting materials and resources that support differentiation and working with them so that they use the data to understand which materials and resources are best suited to meet the needs of those students we're also working to ensure that their lessons and tasks are aligned to the standards of excellence and the learning outcomes that students need to attain to be successful we also want to ensure that their lessons reflect the rare of the standards We are
103continuing to utilize our assessment strategy where we identify our gaps in the learning and then we provide tailored support through reteaching and acceleration to address those gaps and we're utilizing our ready increase to provide custom learning paths and reading and math to support our students academic growth and acceleration questions questions or board members I know we've spent a lot of time talking about all of these tests and what they mean and the considerations of um the challenges in which many of our students face um and since I was mentioned earlier I think it's appropriate to take a moment to talk about the comparison groups and why comparison groups are important and why we are not the same as Brian County or Effingham County um but we have comparison groups that are very similar to ours
104in the size of our district and the demographic makeup of our students and all of those factors play into the academic success of our students if you are a child who does not have food security if you are a child that doesn't have a stable home life if your child doesn't have a stable home thank you yeah um ass defines let me see where it was the proficiency it doesn't ever say in here that it's just a demonstrate proficiency I think earlier on people were saying that it says reading proficiency where gmat's actually examines the Milestones that have been invented by some people up in the state level um for English slash language arts not third grade reading proficiency it's not just a reading proficiency test it is testing the Milestones that have been made
105by some to test all on English and language arts skills correct yes and you're actually going to the next presentation will give you a lot more detail around is is saddening that everybody comes and talks about books for a while and then leaves and doesn't want to stay here and actually be a part of the meeting we're talking about reading comprehension and proficiency and I behoove all of them to take the time to actually become a love mentor and go into a school and read the students so that we all as a community can come together and increase our reading proficiency I hope one of them out of the many that spoke today will heed my words and actually do something rather than coming here and spreading the same rhetoric every single meeting and we
106have to discussed it go back and watch the meetings we've discussed how we as a board stand on books in our school libraries to share additional information from the state that when students typically score in the upper half of that developing range they are pretty close to being on grade level if not actually at grade level um okay any other questions thank you for your presentation yesterday was the highlight in District eight the Little Acorn Academy because that's what it's all about we have to start at a very early age because we know according to research a student must Master fluency for legal awareness Pride to enrolling or going into third grade because they are in third grade had mastered those foreign you don't start criticize and third grade they don't just begin to fall
107behind in third grade this is a process that starts prior to pre-k really the impact on third grade reading scores is actually prior to pre-k so this is something I thought I'll mention you know we're excited about the acorn Academy and just looking forward to having many more because that that really has a direct correlation on reading achievement and we have to also consider next time stories as well because the leg style Source actually determine how the child's reading ability and a lot of people need to realize the next style of schools are supposed to gmasks thank you very quickly as we move forward with our more about our Scholars as people as little children and not numbers we get so involved with the numbers and all we sometimes forget that each one of those
108represents a life and a person and someone who's wanting to have an inspired to a great life so I think as we change our attitude to our vocabulary about our little Scholars that that's going to in turn raise our expectations of what we can expect from them move on good afternoon I am pleased to report on third grade reading and reading on grade level so to clarify what is really meant by assessing third grade reading we really have to take into account that g Maps when you're looking at Ela scores in fact includes the writing component in addition to reading so looking at gmaster reading status and what that indicator is you have to take the subset of reading items from the ELA assessment that are directly associated with the Lexile score so as had
109been previously explained the state of Georgia actually worked with metametrics to ensure the alignment of the reading items within the ELA assessment to correspond directly with the Lexile ranges so with regard to GMS assessments for grade three through five we're talking about the end of grade whereas for grade six or eight um we're talking about it and of course scores reading levels are reported per Godot standards as below grade level or grade level or above the Lexile framework presents stretch bands that denote the complexity of the text or the reading level that's appropriate for each grade that students need to achieve to be College and Career ready upon High School graduation so thus the entire discussion of reading on grade level and the importance of third grade reading is directly related to an understanding of
110lexileverages so for third grade the expectation generally is and just put it in perspective of a school year the expectation for third graders is they're coming in at a lexile of approximately 520. but these are stretch bands right we're not just assessing the average student but we're hoping that student excels they continue to develop a passion for reading and their intellect is being enhanced due to continuous closed captioning not available when we look at median Lexile scores by grade levels so we did a snapshot of grade three through age spring 2022 EOG test scores um for 11th grade it was the winter and spring American literature and composition EFC test scores that are reported what we see is that our students are generally tracking close to or in fact we look at fifth seventh eighth
111and 11th grade they're about exceeding that lower band so they are where they ought to be or they're very close to where they ought to be yes [Music] the little blue um indicators are where in fact the ccrpi literacy indicator which puts it right in the middle of that Lexile band is anticipating the average child to be okay yes and I apologize thank you any other questions on this okay so when we look at our past performance 2018 2019 versus 22 data what we have to take into account is that school year 2022 in fact represents a new Baseline for performance given the pandemic um we were unable to compute um appropriate assassins comparables for school year 2020 and 21. so appreciated being indicates prior years data are really not comparable to 2022 given that
112pandemic disruption [Music] is listed for you and what we see is that for school year 2022 with regard to grade level reading for the third grade we fell five percentage points below the comparison in understanding G Mass and how we get to that final end of your assessment we also have to see how scores are tracking through the year we're looking at our formative assessment so the formative assessment that we use district-wide is I ready so the i-Ready diagnostic reading composite score is also an index of Lux file so just like we discussed the reading items taken from Bla that correspond to Lexile scores on i-Ready have um approximated and the curriculum Associates has done that research like some measure hand ranges so scores indicate student performance on The Following areas and we'll see a
113breakdown of what that performance looks like momentarily phonological awareness phonics high frequency words vocabulary and comprehension is actually split up into literature as opposed to just informational text domains all of these scores are what are known as Criterion reference source which indicates that the design of the reading assessment am I ready is driven as students achieving grade level expectations so everything is aligned to standards any questions at all I know previously there have been questions about how i-Ready works and I thought this particular graphic does a nice job of showing you how a student is scored so all students when they take the i-Ready Diagnostic and reading we'll have 18 vocabulary questions 18 comprehension literature questions and 18 comprehension informational text questions if the student scores 511 or above across is 54 items then they
114will progress no the final score will be yielded and then they have completed their assessment for those who score below that they will get another subset of items these are phonics items that are 12 items and if they score below a 421 when they take those additional 12 items they will then also continue to take the high frequency word assessment which is another 12 items achieve level disruptors on i-Ready um we look at early on grade level mid ombre level and late Hungary level in terms of the upper end of achievement and then we'll look at their other designators for falling below expectations any questions right so when we look at school year 2022 at the beginning of the year we had 25 of our students who were early mid or above on grade level
115by the time the school year was wrapping up in 2022 we went up to 48 of our students being at that grade level placement where they need to be that's a 23 point game that's impressive over the course of one school year when you look at hi ready and how we're tracking now I'm sure all of you are curious what does our beginning of your data look like and I definitely experience myself but we're tracking pretty well with regard to where we would anticipate students coming into third grade being we have 53 of our students who are exactly where you would anticipate them being as they enter third grade one thing that I want to dispel a bit of myth about is the yellow region so you see that horizontal bar that presents the five
116level placement that you can request if you will with regard to assessment not ready you can also get just a three level assessment and the reason why I included both was not to confuse you but to show you truly in that three placement assessment where our students are they truly are all in green is that 53 percent which means that from the five level assessment at yellow region which indicates one grade level below is in fact where you would expect students coming into third grade to be at the beginning of year because that one grade level below shows proficiency Act second grade level right they just completed second grade they entered third grade they're where they need to be any questions on that all right so one other thing that I want to draw your
117attention to is how do we look at the breakdown um so when you look at the various domains how are our students performing in that regard right now at the beginning of the year so what we're seeing is 100 percent phonological awareness 82 um local proficiency if you will on high frequency words different levels um of work that needs to be done on Phonics vocab comprehension literature and informational text and that regard and this is where we transition to discussing strategies below is there any other questions for me all right good afternoon one of our major goals is to have students reading on grade level by third grade we clearly understand this is an internal and external effort to make this a reality we have formed a literacy task force made up of Educators in
118the school system and at the college level we've included daycare providers and many other vital external stakeholders we're seeking their input as we work to discover what is truly working well to ensure students are making progress toward reaching this goal the bullet list below are the areas we seek to improve to meet our goal our first literacy task force meeting was held September the 1st our next meeting is scheduled for October the 12th at the Live Oak Public Library the islands branch we will also host a conference style professional learning event to share and discuss best practices and strategies with members of our task force and also the subcommittee the mind that students in kindergarten through second grade are learning how to read and by third grade they need to read to learn as we
119take a look at our current instructional practices the key strategies are the five pillars of reading and the Georgia standards of excellence this is all embedded in the school day as our students thought their educational Journey their first stop is gaining phonemic awareness which is recognizing words in a sentence and eventually all sounds in a word students participate in structural activities to include blending rhyming words and segmenting sounds such as ah is that as students move on phonics and phonetic awareness work together for accurate decoding of words students participate in drills that focus on letter sounds they also tap out sounds and start blending sounds to make words fluency is the next pillow which is reading texts quickly accurate accurately and using the proper expression keep in mind fluency is not comprehension however it is
120necessary for comprehension at this phase students are involved in Story Time and reading text repeatedly vocabulary is another pillow which is very important students must understand the words to reach appropriate levels of comprehension read alouds graphic organizers and direct instruction our strategies used to increase a student's vocabulary the final pillow is comprehension phonemic awareness phonics fluency and vocabulary should culminate with students having the ability to comprehend which is understanding the text be okay or death of knowledge level questions enable teachers to determine the student's overall comprehension level level one is simple recall level two is application level three is strategic banking level four is critical thinking again our goal is to ensure students are reading on grade level by third grade and this is the pathway our students will take to reach this goal we
121will continue to analyze our Ira data to ensure the percentage of students reading on grade level continues to increase until we reach the ultimate goal of our students all of our students reading on grade level by third grade and the stuff that for better or worse for measured on um when working with my principals And discussing their results um really the results of gmasks closely aligned to where they were as it pertains to the eoy of Ira okay um so now I'm gonna get a little more contemplative and this isn't really questions um and I'm going to use a bad metaphor so when I think about what we do sometimes I see the forest and sometimes I see the trees okay so like earlier today um some of the speakers talked about decisions we make
122and things we do uh have uh negative impacts on graduation rates teen pregnancy drop out and I'm sitting here thinking our graduation rates way up uh much higher than the state in the com groups our teen pregnancy I mean when I got on the board 10 years ago we've looked at that data quarterly um and I think it's almost non-existent now um and um Dropout rates are way down as well you know so I look at this I look at the Trees of our 2022 gmask data and our third grade reading levels and I'm like oh my goodness three alarm fire in some areas we really need to do some things but then I look down the road at our high schools and graduation rates are up you know the things the the big picture
123things that we're shooting towards were doing pretty well so I struggle with what are we doing um what should we be focused on um is the right to focus on the trees uh do we have to you know meld in everything else we do and I've been on the board for 10 plus years and I still don't know the answer to that question and I think the answer is yes a little bit all of it my issues with where we are and the reports we got were it seems like every three years um we we're either a little above our comp level or a little below our comp level some of our schools are hitting it out of the park some are at single digit competency levels like I saw six percent or eight percent
124there that was alarming it's not just us other districts like us have the same challenges um you know so we have a new committee to look at this we're looking at new strategies to do that and I guess the answer and I'm not an educator I'm the first person to say that is there isn't a toolkit we can use when we know a school K through three is struggling at reading that okay unpack this toolkit send 38 people over there for 18 months for you know uh massive intervention and do this and you will get results um it seems like we have new tools every two or three years to try to address it maybe it's the latest and greatest software I don't know um I always go back to maybe it's maybe there's some
125truth in repetition personal repetition there's no substitute for practice practice practice practice um and so I don't know if the answer is if if this third grade class at this school or these kids are not succeeding at something you know what we we cut back on other things until we get them up to where they need to be on core issues that doesn't seem to be um kind of a core strategy that we employ and I'm not saying we should I'm asking the question because I don't know it's a little it's a little frustrating the point I made it at the retreat was I feel like we do a lot of incrementalism we identify some issues we identify some challenges and we do a little bit to try to address it but we don't we
126don't focus with a laser focus on this issue and maybe it's because if we do that all these other issues well all these other items will suffer um so there has to be a balance but I I remain frustrated by every few years we've got new software we got a new plan we're doing new assessments and the scores are still kind of like this and then there's some schools that are on fire and there's some that are doing well no matter what we change no matter what we do um I wish we had a comprehensive toolkit we know that there's a struggle here we're sending this intervention team in um not not to replace what's going on because I know our administrators and teachers are working hard and are trying hard and sometimes the kids
127come to us um with all sorts of challenges it's not us It's a combination of things but I wish we did more from an Interventional perspective early on to affect Quick Change um so we're not looking at scores five years out and there's a two two percent growth at a particular school and we think that's success it is success but we continue to get hammered um for the things that we get measured on whether we think that's a good measurement or not here are the things we're doing you know I thought it was interesting one of the things that we're implementing our wellness centers where we teach kids how to relax and take the test better and I think that's important but so maybe that is new and novel we're working on that side as
128well I just wish there wasn't a sense maybe I'm wrong and maybe my fellow board members will tell me I feel like there's too much incrementalism not enough we're going in with you know the Patton's Army and and just we're gonna we're gonna fix this sorry is dealing with the same problems that happen outside of the school every single day that affect our students when they show up to school that's why we have a cop group yes and I think I don't want to miss quote you yeah um so our teachers are teaching they're doing what they need to do is shown from beginning to be at the end of your data and we're always going to struggle until the intervention is outside of the school and is throughout the community to fix systemic problems
129that affect education and that's what some schools no matter what we do are going to be the same on a negative side when we look at gmats and then others on a positive side about GMS again made by some state legislators I'm sure they talk to some Educators some of them maybe not and I think public education unfortunately has become a company yes and there are new ways to teach reading and new ways to teach math and new ways to teach this so we have to come up with a task that shows that people aren't passing so that these companies that probably get some Kickbacks somewhere along the federal and state side get to sell their stuff to school districts that's just me being slightly cynical about the system that we have I like already
130because my son doesn't and that means it's making it work um so let's stick with it I think I think we can all agree we've said that plenty of times instead of changing every three years when the new shiny thing comes out let's just stick with something if we think it's doing what we need to do but understand that the intervention has to get outside of our time that we have the students and we try that I think as well as a district very very well with services but until the rest of the community wakes up and other leaders outside this horseshoe and outside of this District want to make a change is going to and that's the reason for our literacy task force and that's the reason that we are you know reaching out
131to external stakeholders to make this a community issue just said let's try to get them in at a young age let's start seeking to get more schools with two and three-year-olds and then we can work on those things that the parents have failed to do or can't do that's awesome um we absolutely do have these Community issues that we have to address um and that's that is very real and I think as a community I've been here for over 20 years and we are making a lot of progress we have a lot of progress still to be done I think one of the challenges that I face in this kind of picks up a little what Mr cashmere was saying was especially in our chronically struggling schools which we also know are in our most
132challenging neighborhoods so there's you know we know that correlation is there is there a more targeted specific strategy and we've done that with some of our schools where we've seen that turn around and so I think that's what would be really helpful and maybe that's there but I think better understanding that as a board member would be really helpful for me particularly looking at those struggling schools and then the other comment I want to make is is not going back on the community issues we have to face but there's an article in the paper I think yesterday and about homework and I'm not sure if it's the same one or not but it talked it was a study that was done about teacher expectations and homework and it talked about students who came from you
133know the the single parent household that the mom had learning challenges and she only received the seventh grade education so she literally could not help with the homework but she didn't have the education to do it and number two is working in a single parent whereas the student that has you know two college education should educated parents that are more involved is more successfully academic but the other part of that was the teacher expectation of the two different students and so it goes to this point of ensuring that we are looking at all of our students with equal potential and I think Mr Pickens enthusiasm even in the struggling situations that Susie King Taylor faced to me kind of embodied that like he was clearly enthusiastic he clearly has the um optimism about his students
134that I'm sure he cares for to our teachers I think that's the other critical element and I know we're doing a lot of work in those areas but it's a complex um issue so that's my pontification a couple of things one um thank you for the report um the um if your child scores a 520 what does that mean um and I get asked all the time what does this mean so I have to go through and explain what it means and where they are in the band for the grade level and everything else and it actually I don't remember it all so I actually I keep these things so I can have act a little back and reference it um so that's one thing the other thing is yes I know we had coveted
135we had two years we weren't taking tests but it also shows me that um virtual learning did not do as well as as we were hoping it was going to do to keep students aware they were and have them Excel even more I know on a case-by-case basis it did some students thrived but the scores to show that most students had applied how to had um within that I mean we have some kids who for the first time in their lives walked into a classroom in third grade or expected to do these things um and I understand that it's just it's it's it is disheartening when I see those scores because I know that our students are Scholars and our teachers and our admins and everybody involved in the district um we expect more and
136we know that because we know that our kids can do more than that um going on to what Mr cashmere said um I completely agree that we need to do more and and we have yes we do have a lot of things in the community that we can't affect that we that we don't control but what we can't control is what's it within our walls the four walls of of the school the four walls of a classroom and if we can see where those things are because we have historically historically we have schools that don't perform as well as other schools we've all said we've all seen we all see the data year after year this school without performing as well as assured and I'm with Mr Casper this incremental you know yes successes two
137percent three percent five percent and we're like Yay five percent increases but they're still under 20 percent we need to get to a point where we only yes we need to incremental we need to expect Excellence year after year after year with every single child every single child has the potential to get straight no matter where they are no matter where they started from and the only reason why I say that is because I flipped it I was a single I I am a child of a single parent who went to public school who was part of the less fortunate within that school and yes teachers I had teachers looked at me with my Kmart shoes my non-name brand clothes and they looked at me and said I'm just some poor white kid who's who
138how did how did he live in this ZIP code to go to the school but I would but I also had those amazing teachers that took me and realized I had potential and if it wasn't for those teachers I would not be here today so we those are the teachers that we had those are the kind of involvement we need to have within the school walls thank you I have two other speakers and then we must move on I didn't realize this is going to be quite as involved as it was but it's important hahaha [Laughter] because that to me is the key but the key also is that we have to identify um Denise to the community what we need from it so if we all were to go out and our project was
139all we want from you is the community is money for starting up three and four-year-old programs first of our most struggling schools and then over the whole Community that's what we want from you community and stick with that we don't need this and this and that and this we need your money to start some more three-year-old programs because like Tanya said what we saw yesterday at Google and what's over it for me there's nothing nothing we could do better than that if we could get every three-year-old potty trained child in this County into a regular classroom so Community that's what you can do for us and then when they get to us and Dr LaBelle always talks about they don't really have to come to us until they're six so if we started that campaign
140make sure your child is in school possibly as four but six years old he's lost before he started so I think that's the best specifics that's what we have to do what are the specific actions we need to get this thing jump started and then we could do more of what um it is our expectation to have several more and you're absolutely correct the younger they start the more successful um they will be okay thank you uh for the data and for the report I especially appreciate um the the the explanation of the different metrics we've seen that in the board accountability meeting and this is just an ad for the board accountability meeting that the people I I think we do give parents lots of explanation of how to understand these metrics accountability um
141you know we we have it on our website I I think it might be the way people are consuming information um but I appreciate even the evolution of that information as we saw the board accountability because it was way more succinct and and easy to digest um I want to take a step back into this whole conversation I wish we didn't have this conversation at four o'clock I really wish we could be talking about these data earlier in our meeting um and that we could be talking about policy at the end of the things that we're not voting on um I know that might not be a change um that can happen right now but I really really would Embrace a reorganization of our meeting so that we're not having this conversation when we're tired
142and our backs are hurting and we're cranky and we get impatient about some of the things we are are seeing that aren't really about the presentation and maybe about just where we're where we are in this space because this is an important conversation that's worth having earlier in the meeting and I recognize that some of the parts of the meeting that we have early is because we have young people and professionals who need to get back to schools but there are other things that I think that possibly could be reorganized I don't um I and I'm reacting to some of the themes of previous comments and not at all to individuals when I look at this presentation and how we are measuring our progress and the tools that we're using I'm impressed because ten years
143ago we didn't really have adaptive practices that we saw in the meeting where we know that this young person is not doing well we can assess it immediately and then shift we weren't doing that we were getting this is how they did last year we hope it's better this year we got some professional development plan we got some training for the teachers we're gonna switch some teachers from different schools because they develop competencies over there and we hope that they're going to bring them to the side of the school now we have a little person who is in i-Ready and we immediately know not just that they're not reading well but what part of the reading is the problem and that we can address it so I think that is really really great progress um
144for us as a district because that's not the kind of that wasn't the kind of intervention that we were putting in place we we talked about how staff how teachers were prepared and trained in interventions and how they could do an intervention but to have a guarantee in real time that that's happening and a facilitated intervention using technology I think um I think it's an improvement and and I'm very glad to see it um I I appreciate how it is challenging for board members to have this conversation and to see the numbers like we saw in in um some of our charter school presentations where the level of achievement for some of the young people um was so low I can understand how that is frustrating but I can't imagine this being any more frustrating
145than for 20-year 25-year coming on 30-year veterans in our team leadership who have been working on this for their entire career to try and make outcomes better in this District um and still see some of these these challenges so I just you know asked my my fellow board members for you know thoughtfulness and Temperance because if it's frustrating for us after sitting here one year and 10 years imagine committing your entire career to make your life better for little people uh and still seeing the level of development and emerging competencies and let me tell y'all every single day there's an intervention block every day to Target those students that are on grade level or this struggle in some of the um reading pills soft teachers are working extremely hard and our principles are doing a
146great job of supervising them to make sure that we get that done thank you very much for the presentations doing this earlier in the meeting part of the reason that we had this on the agenda today was because we spent I think it was nine hours at The Retreat talking about reading on grade level and and grade three and all of that and we figured this game I mean that we had already been explaining what we thought ought to be done and hearing what was being done so just explain that for you I think it's important and excuse me secondly as we finish this and move on I don't understand like the oldest person in the room which I am but when I hear about the kinds of schools that are the kinds of communities
147that our kids come to us from nowadays I have a stable home and I had uh a mom and a dad in the house that loved each other but I was definitely from a poverty home you know my family's income remember this was the Dark Ages but my dad made four thousand dollars a year and my mother stayed at home and was a homemaker so that's what I was brought up on and when I got to Thomaston high school and we had six grades about 15 kids in every grade and I can tell you until I got to high school I don't think I had an English teacher a teacher taught me English that knew what a syllable was and she sure wouldn't know what phonetics was but every day we were made to read
148for at least an hour in the classroom and so I grew to love reading and then it became my own choice and you know what the only test was that I took the Weekly Reader a little newspaper that some of you will remember came out and once a year they would give you a test to determine what grade level you read at and that was our total assessment and that's the truth well no but I I say it not in finding fall but when I went to Auburn English and reading was the only thing I excelled in but I knocked the top out of that I can't do math but I did a great job with English but those things to me it seems to me sometimes but I think we make it too hard
149I think we just keep looking trying to shovel it in one more time to find out where the kid's problem is when maybe we ought to say you know sit down and read for an hour I mean I think that might help thank you that's just my opinion okay I'm sorry I'm gonna go to sleep I won't be long but you know as a former teacher I just can't sit here not say anything and some of you may have heard me say this we know that CPR save lives but also in education because the C is for curriculum and our teachers know the curriculum they teach hard daily the p is pedagogy it's how you teach it and you do a great job with it they close their doors and they teach and finally the
150most important is that our relationship because in a relationship there comes expectation that is where you find your communication and most importantly celebration and celebration is incremental and you have to celebrate the success because I can speak not only as a former teacher but as a struggling student and without those celebrations and the incremental learning that I did I wouldn't be here today so I just appreciate everything that you all are doing and I keep talking about emotional about it because it's serious even when you talk about the five pillars of reading that's incremental that's just the way it is our students will come to us and we teach and we do it from the bottom of my heart to the passion and I'm saying what's going on just keep keep up the good work
151and we're working hard at this every single day and I'll close by saying when I ran for school board four years ago my platform was that 30 million word gap I will never see yourself a politician I'm a servant because I care about these students thank you very much moving on to uh to go for um I think these are all yours just aren't they yes sir that on the financial statements unless we're about to go bankruptly today we don't really need to give us too much of this two a year very little activity uh may work into the board and posted on the website so are there any questions about financials adjustments for the first two months but nothing nothing wrong so any any comments moving on the I believe that's true projects the
152first is the Blue Bell Elementary new school replacement budget transfer but I'm saying if you have that in front of you um I would like to make a motion to pass 10.0205 and one action six white um about the um parliamentary action as to whether or not we had to move to them in one action or whether we could just do it are we consolidate yes yes but if you consolidate then if you are opposed to even one you've got to go negative on all four is that everybody understands it yes okay but I have a motion and a second and we just voted but I need to ask for a repo just because hands are going up and down one two three four five six seven eight nine motion to consolidate passes nine zero
153zero now we we don't have a motion but we're going to consider how do we do that because someone moves to um someone who's in favor of the Consolidated motion we've already done that no that was the motion to Consolidated now this is to actually do all the transfers okay so right now oh my God the motion is indeed that we will vote my motion is to approve the budget transfers to 100. Second about Mr Johnson okay any discussion of that motion is fantastic um and for those um members of the Bloomingdale Community who live around Bloomingdale Elementary I hope this now proves that we are not closing the school because we are building the main new school thank you you have any comment you made the motors okay uh so any other comments from
154board members no so all in favor raise your hands one two three four five six seven eight nine motion passes nine zero zero so the budget transfers that were mentioned in this particularly in the um four items have been passed and I have no other business increase um and this is from various uh sources Within associated with this contract to 1.5 million dollars say aye before you leave