001I now call to order the organizational meeting of the Newport News school board for Tuesday July 1st 2025 a quorum is present to transact the business of the school division the purpose of this meeting is to approve organizational matters as required by the code of Virginia I am opening this organizational meeting because the term of the school board chair expired at midnight on June 30th as customary the superintendent opens and leads the meeting until the school board appoints a chairman we will begin this morning's meeting with the invocation and pledge here to do the honors is Dr wayne K smith acting chief of schools good morning Dr mitchell members of the board today I would like to share a poem by Michael Wyn entitled A Pledge to Myself today I pledge to be the best
002possible me no matter how good I am I know that I can become better today I pledge to build on the work of yesterday which will lead me into the rewards of tomorrow today I pledge to feed my mind with knowledge my body with strength and my spirit with faith today I pledge to reach my goals new challenges and new horizons today I pledge to listen to the best beat of my drummer which will lead me onward to search for dreams today I pledge to believe in me would you please stand for the pledge of allegiance to the flag I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all you may be seated thank
003you thank you Dr smith our first item on the agenda is the board organization at this time the school board will elect a chairman for the 2025 2026 school year are there any nominations yes i'd like to nominate Dr cherry Best a second hearing no further nominations nominations for the office of chairman are closed may I have a motion to close the nominations for the office of the chairman I have a motion that we close the nominations for the office of chairman dr terry Best has been nominated to serve as the 2025 2026 school board chairman is there any discussion regarding the nomination uh yes I would like to just make a statement um as the outgoing chair I really want to express my full support um for the nomination of Dr best uh as
004chair of the school board um over the past term she has been a valuable support to both the board and the superintendent and we've established uh really strong practices that will allow her to continue providing that support in a very meaningful way I deeply appreciate her voice while I was chair um her passion her ability to channel both into uh critical thinking um and that that really does benefit um our division our staff our students and the systems that we uphold and I do have every confidence in her ability to lead and I encourage the board uh to stand behind her as we move forward together I need a second for to close this I need a second second miss Moore Buffalo please call the role okay this is for the nomination for Dr best
005for chair brown for harris for hunter for alger for aman for Surles law for dr best for motion passes 7-0 congratulations congratulations dr terry Best has been selected as the 2025 2026 school board chairman congratulations thank you thank you for your support and I look forward to serving with you at this time the school board will elect a vice chairman for the 2025 2026 school year are there any nominations mr chair I'd like to nominate Miss Aldrich Albert or vice chair second hearing no further nominations nominations for the office of vice chair are closed may I have a motion to close the nomination for the office of vice chairman I motion that we close the nominations for vice chair second miss Alger has been nominated to serve as the 202526 school board vice chair is
006there any discussion res regarding the nomination dr best we're gonna I need to take a role to close the nominations first okay okay uh Brown for harris for hunter for alger for aman for Surles law for best for motion passes 7+0 and then now you can put the nomination on the floor for Thank you mrs alger has been nominated to serve as the 2025-26 school year board vice chair is there any discussion regarding the nomination miss Buffalo please call the roll brown for harris for hunter for alger for aman for Surles law for best for motion passes 7-0 congratulations congratulations mrs alger has been selected as the 202526 school board vice chairman congratulations M did you get a closing for the chair I got it for both and I don't have a closing for the
007chair so I need a vote on that for Dr close the close the nomination let's go back and do that so do you need to do there was a motion second so just call the roll thank you that's what Brown for harris for hunter for alger for aman for Surles law for best for motion passes 7-0 so congratulations again thank you double congratulations all right we will now move on to section two the consent agenda which includes 2.01 appointment of the clerk and deputy clerk of the school board I move to approve the consent agenda as No there's um eight items so you can just call them all down i'm sorry i'm thinking about action items i'm sorry we will now move into section two the consent agenda which includes which includes 2.01 1 App
008appointment of the clerk and deputy clerk of the school board 2.02 Appointment of the agents and deputy agents of the school board 2.03 Appointment of Persons to serve in the absence of the superintendent 2.04 Reimbursement Resolution for use of Virginia Public School Authority funding for technology purchases 2.05 impact aid authorization 2.06 6 202526 out of division student tuition $6,640 2.07 20252026 tuition rate for non- Virginia resident students $13,985 and 2.08 proposed 2025 2026 school board meeting calendar at this time can we have a motion to approve the consent agenda I move to approve the consent agenda as presented ma'am a second miss Buffalo call the roll brown for harris for hunter for alger for aman for Surles law for best for motion passes 7-0 thank you the next item on our agenda is section three
009action items 3.01 personnel actions dr mitchell thank you very much Madame Chair to this afternoon or this morning I'd like to make three recommendations my first recommendation is for Dr anna Estrada Williams as the assistant principal for Gildersleeve Middle School dr estrada Williams has a doctoral degree in educational leadership from Liberty University she currently holds the position of assistant principal with Richmond Public Schools and she has been a teacher and a dean of support and school culture additionally I'd like to recommend Miss Christina Majivich as the assistant principal at Denby High School she currently has a master's degree in educational leadership from Old Dominion University she has been a English teacher she currently serves as the English instructional lead at Menchville High School and she has also held the position of freshman transition teacher and
010rounding out this group I'd like to recommend Mr regginal Woodhouse III as the assistant principal at Gildersleeve Middle School mr regginal Woodhouse III has a master's degree from NOFK State University he currently serves as a special education program advisor and an instructional lead he has taught special education courses as well as math and English and those conclude my recommendations for appointments I move to approve the superintendent's personnel recommendations for Dr anna Estrada Williams as the assistant principal at Gildersleeve Middle School Miss Christina Majovich as the assistant principal at Dembigh High School and Mr regginal Woodhouse III as the assistant principal at Gildersleeve Middle School get a second second okay it's been moved to second is there any discussion miss Buffalo call the vote please brown for harris for hunter for Alger for Aman for Surles
011law for dr best for motion passes 7-0 thank you the next item on our agenda is section 3 action item 3.02 2025-26 rights and responsibilities handbook dr mitchell thank you Madam Chair if you recall in our last board meeting Dr woodard came before you to share some proposed changes to our rights and responsibilities handbook i am here to request that you approve the changes of the uh rights and responsibilities handbook that were recommended to you last month we now have a motion I move to approve the 2025-26 rights and responsibilities handbook second it's been moved and seconded any discussion um quick question were there any changes since we saw it I know we got copies of No there were none okay thank you thank you Mr ber uh so my comments are similar to what
012they were last year uh when we reviewed the rights and responsibilities handbook i'm still um wanting to have a complete uh removal of cell phones uh during the school day and without without exception uh because I believe that that is the greatest mental health crisis facing young people is the is the uh the use of that technology but particularly during the school day and any respit that we can give uh young people from that technology we there's plenty of research that demonstrates that it's helpful to their development to their brains to their um social and emotional well beinging being so when we talk about developing uh young people and uh in their brains and and the effects that it has uh making exceptions I still I'm still against that and then I see and I
013I recognize that some of these things are state code but I still because we're voting um this is my vote that I don't like when there is the same uh sanction for level uh level um between levels same consequence between levels for this for the offense and I see several areas where it's the same consequence there's no diff in other words the administrator has no latitude to make differentiated um consequences for a student in in several areas and where those those areas exist i just I I don't accept that i don't accept that you would give the same consequence uh regardless of how severe the infraction is so uh for that reason for those reasons um I'm going to have the same opinion this year that I did last year thank you Mr around any
014other comments of M I just want to um say that I'm very appreciative I know we said it the last time but of the committee that stuck with us again to work through our rights and responsibilities handbook that that means a lot and I would imagine that they may be watching or will later uh see um this video uh and I want them to know that we really do appreciate um their their support any other questions comments i just want to say that I also uh appreciate the fact that there was feedback given and changes were made based on that feedback uh to tighten some parts of um the discipline portion of it and so I I want to recognize that uh that that folks are listening uh to staff and that and that's important
015i think the key to the rights and responsibilities handbook is as always consistency if we apply it uh whether it's a bus driver that's um providing um a referral or a classroom teacher whomever uh it's important that we're consistent thank you anyone else Miss Buffalo brown against harris for hunter for alger for aman for Surles law for dr best for motion passes 6-1 thank you the next item on our agenda is 3.04 I'm sorry we just did that one we just did oh I'm sorry the next item on our agenda is 3.03 the 2025 2026 student fees dr mitchell thank you very much Madame Chair last month Dr rogers presented to you our proposed uh fee schedule for our student fees we would like for you to approve the fees as presented by Dr rogers
016we have a motion I move to approve the 2025-26 rights and response I'm sorry I move to approve the student fees for the 2025-26 school year second we have a second second okay are there any questions comments discussion thank you Miss Buffalo call the role brown for harris for hunter for alger for aman for Surles law for dr best for motion passes 7-0 thank you the next item on our agenda is 3.04 04 New and Revised Policies dr mitchell thank you again Madame Chair last month Miss Tracy Brooks came before you and shared some of the revisions to some of the policies we do have several policies we would like you to vote on um this a uh this morning they are under the um title of school board governance and operations chapter you have
017a question uh just a comment Madam Chair we're about to entertain a motion I would uh recommend um the motion uh contain all the items except for BJ and BE where I'd like to have some comments and discussion on those two items which one was that again bj and B so that's what's that which one again Mr brown bj BJ and B E I don't see I don't see B yeah it's kind of It's at the top eat oh it's at the top okay got it okay so that so you're asking for these two to be removed and that the others we vote as a group as a that's correct yes okay okay so then we need to have a motion so he's basically you get Yeah so I make right I'll make a motion
018uh to uh approve all of the uh new policy items for chapter B with the exception of BJ and be okay okay can I give a sec I second all right miss Buffalo any questions any discussion regarding that motion miss Buffalo call the vote please brown for harris for hunter for alger for Aman for Surles law for dr Best for motion carries 7-0 so now we'll entertain a motion to um approve all of the policies except for BE and BK but I'll say what it is I'm sorry bj which is electronic participation in meetings from remote remote locations and BJ schoolboard legislative program and so Madam Chair uh since I'm the I'm the problem I'll make the I'll make the motion uh to approve uh BJ and be so we can have discussion on those
019two items is there a second second is there any discussions or questions regarding that motion so Madam Chair uh I would like to make some comments in regards to BJ and be uh in terms of BJ what I note is that BJ does not um currently have our uh mission our our vision statement that we have worked on in our strategic planning so that's a um I think a change that we would want to make prior to voting on this item because it doesn't reflect the updated uh vision and mission statement that we have been uh uh working towards uh that's that's that's my main comment on um uh BJ as well as I do think because our other policy in regards to board development talks about participation in regional state and national events as
020far as education that our um BJ our uh uh legislative program should also reflect the same should mirror the same language that uh we would work to include our legislative um work in coordination with regional state and and national uh bodies as well to so that we would bring those in in line with the in line with the policy that we just approved so those would be my comments on um updates to to uh BJ and in regard to be uh have the same you know I have the same comment that I've had over the last few years when we talked about this i've been on the board long enough to remember that be was introduced as a COVID only um policy and I predicted at the time I said oh no this will this
021will live on for forever and I was given assurances by this board oh no when co's over we're going to sunset this or we're going to get we're going to get rid of this be but we keep bringing it back in um and so I think that be uh it was uh introduced during co and its time has passed and uh we have been the board has been able to operate you know since the 50s with without BEE um and we can operate now without BE uh so I just remind the board that that was something that we have discussed uh but we keep we keep approving be comments um yes amen chair woman question for legal is this is embodied in this the opportunity for board members to participate remotely not like a complete
022remote meeting but just if a schoolboard member is you know participates remotely like one a oneoff one member is this the only place that it can be done in our policies yes okay and it's um this policy allowance is pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act which allows this for um public bodies in Virginia and it's up to you all if you want it as a part of your because in order to um participate remotely individually with a quorum present in the physical location you do have to have a policy authorizing it so it's up to this is what we have that embodies that as well okay thank you so it's not just the co but also for any emergencies or anything of that nature well again this this this this again you're talking about
023um Mr mr brown is I'm just looking at the policy you're talk this this policy encompasses um the remote participation by individuals as well as um yeah if there's an emergency just looking down at the policy um a declared emergency state or local then you can have an all virtual um public meeting okay uh electronically and that's you know that is um allowed certainly under the Virginia Freedom of Information Act okay any other comments um I would like to make a comment and I think we did discuss that Mr brown u during CO I think we did have some conversation um I don't really recall saying we would go back and change it when CO was over but we did have some conversation i'll acknowledge that um for me I think every now and then
024emergencies do come up in people's lives and if they are making an effort to be a part of um the board meeting I think they should have the opportunity to do so so um it's important and madam chair of course point of to BJ you know yes this is our current mission statement but there's no reason we couldn't if we did update our mission statement in a month or two revise BJ to is there any reason we couldn't revise BJ in a month or two to if we felt it was appropriate or or BJ or even be if we got to a point where we thought that it was being abused um we should be able to go back and revise either of those am I correct oh I'm sorry you're asking me yes ma'am
025uh yes you could certainly so every five years i'm sorry right right in five years that would be my response is in five yeah in five years we'll we'll be back we can always My recommendation would be is that once we get our new strategic plan in place that we remember Mr ground to look at our policies or remind um leadership to look at our policies and see which of because there might be more than just this one is what when you started talking I was like oh yes maybe we just table this one but I I really believe there probably are more policies that once we get that strategic plan and then we probably need to do a deeper dive and make sure we've got everything you know the policies pretty well in terms
026of having recently reviewed are there others that you think that we would need to probably look at there there there are going to be more than more than one but this is this is the first one that has has come up but there are going to be additional So maybe we could do all of those together we could have sounds like a policy um Mr hunter and going back to the remote or virtual um acceptance it's us as I said again if someone's abusing that um that policy then we remember that that person has to be voted on by us to be able to let them come into the meeting right so we still have control we still have to have the majority of the people of the board members which is us to say
027hey this individual or this board member is has abused or abusing this virtual you know opportunity so it still relies on us so you know if we can't manage ourselves then you know we don't need to be up here thank you any other comments questions i just want to say that I I do agree with um Mr brown in terms of uh updating with the goals and the language I think that's important with all of our policies to make sure that the language um is is updated so and may I say also Madam Chair that this policy calls for um it has to be adopted annually um pursuant to the uh provisions of the Freedom of Information Act so you all will be reviewing this policy by law you have to adopt it annually thank
028you it's good to know yeah good to know miss Buffalo can you read the motion would be any I'm sorry any other comments or discussion can you read the motion that we Yes um this motion is that Mr brown has moved to approve policy BJ which encompass school board legislative program and be uh electronic participation in meetings from remote locations it's been seconded by Miss Surles law okay thank you you're welcome so I move to approve the following policies there's already It's already been u on the floor you just need to vote i'm getting ready to call the Oh okay sorry about that i'm jumping uh Brown against Harris for hunter for alger for Aman for Surles Law for dr best for motion passes 6-1 thank you pleasure and uh before we move on to
029the next item we have a statement by Mrs harris thank you Madam Chair I Rasheena Harris a member of the Newport New School Board do hereby declare pursuant of 2.2-3112 B1 and 2.2 2-3115H of the Virginia State and Local Government Conflict of Interest Act that the schoolboard meeting of July 1st 2025 the school board will consider amending its fiscal year 2026 operating budget the transaction in and two in part the transaction involves approving the allocation of funding to be received by the city of Newport News for schoolboard operating purposes in the entire amended fiscal year 2026 operating budget will be sent to the Newport News City Council for its approval I have a personal interest in the transaction by virtue of my marriage to Councilman Marcelus L Harris III who is a member of the
030Newport New City Council I am a member of a group of three or more persons the members of which are affected by this transaction and pursuant 2.2-3112B1 and 2-2 2.2-3115H of the Virginia State and Local Government Conflict of Interest Act I am able to participate in the transaction fairly objectively and in the public interest thank you Miss Harris I do apologize um but we need to go back and then we'll we'll go forward we did not vote on the other policies we voted to remove those two but we did not vote on the other policies so we have we need to go back and vote on the other policies and then we'll move forward so I do ask a question because I think your motion was that was right his motion was to approve and
031then there was a second I thought so so it was all together okay right I I made I know there's a problem with this I made it easy for you all though we vote we voted on all the other policies first and those were already approved and then I made a second motion and then Yeah you got it yeah it was 7-0 for the whole slate block excluding excluding bE and BJ and then you all voted on BJ and BE and it was Yeah thank you yeah all right now we'll continue to move forward so thank you Miss Harris and thank you Miss Buffalo the next item on our agenda is 3.05 05 amend the FY26 operating budget dr mitchell thank you Madam Chair this morning Miss Scarlett Mento our chief financial officer is going
032to come and share a brief presentation um with the amended information she will present to you the amended FY26 operating budget good morning Madam Chair Madam Cochair members of the board and Dr mitchell thank you for this opportunity to provide a fiscal year 2026 revenue projection update as you may recall the school board approved fiscal year 2026 budget came in at $46.3 million or an increase over fiscal year 25 of 6.4 million the final state budget is projected to increase their state funding from $275.2 2 million to 280.3 million or an additional 5.1 million over the current approved fiscal year 26 budget the new fiscal year 2026 state revenue projection is based on our March ADM of 24,444 students which is down from the approved um projection that we used of 24,676 students which is
033a decrease of 232 students this increase in state revenue is reflected as an increase in basic aid and additional funding for atrisisk students and the removal of the support cap allowing additional funding for support staff total revenue for fiscal year 2026 is projected to be 411.4 million a total increase of 11.5 million which also includes the additional 2.4 from the city which has already been approved and appropriated um let me see next as you know we were able to provide more services for our students as a result of the operating budget funds in combination with their grant funding so any changes in grant funding will have an immediate impact on our current spending plans with this in mind there is a sense of uncertainty and what to expect with their federal grant funding um due
034to Trump the Trump administration's proposed budget cuts um they're shifting towards block grants and talks of delays in the receipt of this funding according to the detail in President Trump's fiscal year 2026 budget for the Department of Education some funding changes that will affect Newport News public schools as considered uh part of a K12 simplified funding program which I think they're referring to as a block grant in which um most programs are consolidated for elementary and secondary into a single state grant program reportly this gives the states more flexibility um however this of course means that the funding may not be used the same way it's being currently used um there are also additional federal grants in question as to whether or not they meet the priorities of the new administration so that's not um
035even really spelled out in his budget it's just like this side thing that's going on where they're reviewing some other existing grants to see whether um they meet the priorities so in total we are awaiting word on the status of $4.3 million in grant funding uh federal grant funding for fiscal year 26 and an additional grant funding of $3.4 million which crosses two fiscal years um 26 and 27 um these grants currently help our um support our most vulnerable students as well as ensure compliance with federal law there is also anticipated delays as state education agencies are now reporting um even if they do get these funds on July 1 like they should um they are envisioning some logistical problems getting the money out to the school divisions your approved fiscal year 2026 budget ensured
036employees compensation remain a priority a general increase of 3% for all contracted staff maintenance of your teacher salary scales increasing associate teacher starting pay increase in teacher starting pay provides uh for market and experience adjustments for some eligible support groups and provides for a sign on bonus for highne licensed positions whoops that's too far yes there we go um with this additional 5.1 million in funding we may be able to take another look at compensation for instructional staff bus drivers and clerical support we may also work to improve employee engagement opportunities such as recognition pro programs professional development and employee wellness initiatives we have rebalanced the budget as follows beginning with the total revenue of 11.5 million total personnel cross uh increase 17.7 million include the 3% general increase market adjustment sign on bonus for
037high need license positions anticipated additional compensation adjustments and employee engagement opportunities increase in health care cost and oped claims uh personnel decreases totaling 2.7 million included a reduction of 12.7 teaching positions passing 400,000 of the total health plan cost increases to the employee and savings resulting from our VRS debt service payoff non-personnel cost increases totaled 6.1 million included um increases in New Horizons by about 200,000 fuel and utilities 300,000 increases in our liability insurance um projection of 500,000 and operation and maintenance increases of 5.1 million total non-personnel decreases included a decrease in technology software services materials and supplies recognition of attrition and turnover savings and identified nonreoccurring one-time costs for our total savings of 9.6 million total increases of 23.8 million total decreases 12.3 million equals 11.5 million for a balanced budget and of course
038over here to the left we did receive these additional city request of 3.1 million which was 1 billion for cash capital 118,000 for aviation academy grant to help fund um those students getting the cert certificates that they need that are very expensive and of course our annual technology replacement which is part of our CIP cash of 2 million any questions mr brown I'm sorry uh Madam Chair yes i'll just ask a couple of questions I think that are benefit the the public and help us understand how we how we got here could you just explain uh the support caps uh to in in layman's terms so how did we end up with the 5 million because of a relief in support caps but what does that really practically mean let me get it so um
039during the great recession the general assembly enacted a cap on non-eing support positions staff and school which was intended as a temporary measure to uh uh um cover the budget deficit that year um however I guess out of convenience for their budget it remained in place all the way till now um what's actually happened is and it's when we got the information about that they were removing the support cap and the number of positions that it was supposed to cover the additional funds it's actually 50% less than what we need to pay salaries now because they're trying to use data from 2008 so it's very good to get $5 million but I would have liked to get $10 million because that's what would have really covered what we needed okay and then just the secondary
040question is um to ex to explain this to the public where it's not because of an increase of average daily uh average daily enrollment of students it's because of support cap but what is our what is our ADM and uh did how did it factor in or or okay essentially did not factor into this so it's five million correct um we are actually getting 2.1 million less um that we would have gotten if our um student enrollment had not continued to decrease is that yes that answers yeah that's right so that right so this has this has nothing to do with an increase in number of students this is purely support cap related um that's correct okay and and Miss Mento and Mr brown I think it's also important for us to say to the
041general public we are not the only school district where the enrollment is decreasing and there are a number of factors um the same um in fact I remember reading that this last 2025's graduating class across the country is the largest I think in history and it is only projected to go down it's sort of the echo boom of the boomers kids but it's tapering off um so it's demographics versus anything um and just a question because we had kicked around um some ideas for is maybe I missed it but is the thought that this 5.1 we're going to be using it in some of these additional considerations right so if I could just glue this together so we have a risk of losing anywhere from 4.3 to 7 million in federal grants so we need
042to be mindful that that's going to change their spending plan in some kind of way we probably won't lose all of that but that's a m you know the whole risk so but we also know we have challenges with teacher pay bus drivers um u we have some clerical that's another group that we haven't actually looked at recently as far as market adjustments so we want to this is an opportunity for us to go back and do some homework and prepare ourselves for doing some different things um while being mindful that sometime in the fall we're going to find out at least for next year what's going to happen with some of this federal funding okay can I ask one more point of clarification because in the budget the um table federal funding was 3.1
043uh but then you're saying we're going to move the 4.3 to 7.7 so I just trying to tie so there's federal funding that's in our operating budget that's impact aid the funding that I'm discussing now is their grant funding okay that is confusing okay I have a question so regarding the timing for the you said the uncertainty receipt normally we get it July 1 we should start getting money immediately but um from what I've read that's not a certainty this month we haven't we're not getting a lot of information from anyone about what's going to happen we're really really in the dark but what we typically do um with grant funding that can be vary because some of those 15 month cycles instead of 12 month cycle so we cover these grant we make sure
044people are paid that are in grants with the anticipation that we're going to get this money later but usually there's an award letter or some kind of notification so we're waiting for all our notifications to come in and how much money that will be and you know by October we should know something okay thank you any other comments or questions Mr hunter okay we understand we have to leave okay um we're gonna um we Yes I move to amend the You have to hear the amounts right we have to go through the amounts let me torture you with one more page here we go there they are oh there we go if there Okay so at this time I would like to ask the school board to vote um on the amendment of the fiscal
045year 2026 operating budget so the total school board adopted funds are increasing from $444,980,458 to $450,73,870 broken down as follows our general fund will be 411,370,970 textbook fund 8,182,252 workers compensation 1,672,595 and child nutrition services 28,848,53 thank you now I will thank you Scarlet you're welcome I move to amend the FY26 operating budget in the amount of 450,73,870 second Miss Buffalo please call the roll right brown for harris abstain oh no you don't have to for hunter for alger for Aman for surles law for dr best for motion passes 7-0 thank you great um I just I'm gonna we're gonna just um pivot a little on the because Mr hunter has to leave so I'm going to allow him to go ahead and make his statement um right now then we'll go back to the
046agenda I just have to leave unfortunately I do have to leave you for mandatory meeting at work today so again I wanted to be here uh doing all the voting and uh again congratulations to our new chair and our vice chair look forward to you guys leading us for the coming year. thank you stay safe bye-bye thank you we will now move to section four reports and information 4.01 is the annual notice regarding the availability of school board policies and procedures manual this announcement will serve as the required annual public notice that copies of the schoolboard policies and procedures manual are available to the public and employees in the library of each school in each Newport News public library and online on the policies and procedures website at www.nnschools.org/policies and on NNPS intranet next on
047our agenda is 4.02 comments by the superintendent dr mitchell thank you Madam Chair I would just like to encourage our teachers and other staff that work 10 and 11 months to relax and I'm hoping that they are enjoying and taking time for themselves I also would encourage our parents if your children are in summer school and um to continue that with the attendance with the work if your children are not in summer school I strongly encourage you to take advantage of the opportunities that are presented you can go to our website and look at uh a plethora of resources for example if your child is in second grade and you want them to be able to maintain those skills there's work that they can do if you want them to advance then you have the
048opportunity to look at third grade so we have that available across the grade level so I really encourage you to take advantage of that to continue the summer learning thank you thank you Dr mitchell we will move on to item five an opportunity to hear from the public the school board recognizes that some members of the public may not be able to join us in person as advertised citizens may submit comments via email or voicemail up to 30 minutes prior to our meeting time to be included in the official meeting record for those of you joining us in person the board considers this an opportunity to listen to your comments please understand that we will consider your concerns we ask that you comply with our three minute with our threeminut time limit as you begin
049your comments a green light will come on a yellow light signals that you have 30 seconds remaining and a red light and beep indicates that your time is up as your name is called please come forward miss Buffalo do we have any cards no cards no cards so we'll move on at this time we'll move on to matters by the school board and we will begin well we did begin with Mr hunter and Miss Aman you're up next absolutely thank you um and congratulations Chairwoman and Vice Chairwoman very excited to see your leadership this this year thank you and I do want to echo what Dr mitchell said there are great resources online uh the reading list uh easy way to get in a few minutes of math practice each day if you just want
050your kids to kind of keep things fresh so um I might be making someone want to do that so I think I think it's I think it's a wonderful resource um for parents who want to just and it takes a lot of the confusion out of all those summer resources you can find online if it can be a little confusing so it really dials down what what our division is is doing and expecting of students so excellent resource yes hope everyone can take a break we're trying um and come back ready to tackle the year thank you Miss Harris yes yes um congratulations uh madam chair and co-chair um I uh wanted to just uh recognize all the good work that is happening across the division in regards to summer and summer programs as well
051i've had the opportunity to volunteer at Safe Haven um in the north district and they are taking advantage of that exact program um that superintendent has intended all the uh campers there there's I believe about 50 campers um registered there are required to do 30 minutes a day um on the in their computer lab um doing that uh that educational enrichment so thank you so much for for that opportunity I also wanted to shout out um an event that I attended Chop City Hoops this weekend um where they had a basketball tournament at uh Safe Haven um empowerment center and there was representation from every high school alumni team and every uh high school in Hampton as well um so there was a battle for uh who was the best baller in across the across
052the two the two cities and so um I just wanted to um shout out uh Justice um for facilitating that event um it was the first one of its kind in the area and it was it was well um well executed um there were coaches from across the division um there were players um that have graduated from Newport News public schools Hampton public schools that all came together um just an exceptional site to see and so I did want to shout him out um and I also too u wanted to bring to the attention of the public that there will be a spectrum and school bags back to school event uh for children and families on August 2nd um from 12 to 4 and that's also at Safe Haven Empowerment Center in partnership with um
053Empathetic Solutions and the Friendship Lottery they are going to be giving away maybe clear book bags um but there'll be a lot of resources um and other opportunities for you all to meet other students um they specific uh they have a specialization in and students that are on the spectrum um specifically so there'll be a lot of resources u for that population as well so continue to have a good summer thank you Mr brown all right well uh this is a great time uh we're the year is not not over yet at least to me it's it's not right we're still transitioning to the new year so I want to encourage all of the families to um have your kids continue to work hard now is the time to uh really uh put your nose
054to the grindstone and and uh advance yourself summer is a great time to get yourself ready for the upcoming school year uh I would say you never want to take any time off your your education is your vocation at this point in your lives as a young person and the more time and e effort and energy you put into that then the easier and brighter your future is going to be so I want to encourage uh everyone to work hard uh for those that are in summer school congratulations that's that's a wonderful decision that you've made uh and for those who are in in summer school I hope that you are taking advantage of uh reading going to the library studying taking on some new skills acquiring uh acquiring new skills and doing some experience
055at least some experiential learning uh yourselves uh during the summer so that you can hit the ground running when we come back in the new school year uh and then to all the graduates I'm very much looking forward to seeing your happy faces in August i've got that marked on my calendar uh that's the best event of my summer is getting to see all of our summer graduates and I enjoy while I will enjoy watching you uh walk across the stage uh to Madam Chair my vice chair congratulations on your appointments uh to these uh these positions and I'm looking forward to a great year looking forward to a really a fresh a fresh start we're we're a division that's on the rise we've done a lot of really good things we've seen uh double-digit
056increases in our test scores we've seen increases in the number of schools uh credited uh without conditions and I'm expecting we get back in the fall we go to see some more increases as well so no no no no pressure Dr dr dr mitchell but I'm looking forward to a very a very good fall and and us setting ourselves up uh very well for this this upcoming year uh uh moving forward so I I believe all around it's going to be a really good year I know that we have a lot of work in in front of us we have some serious significant challenges uh madam vice chair and madam chair we've talked about the challenges that we face in the upcoming year we've got to make some um some hard choices as we as
057we always do with the hard choices that we make we can be the board that solves the problem so there's so many boards that have come before us that have allowed that have kicked the can uh allow the problem to continue to fester uh but we can be the division that solves the problem so we know we have uh issues in terms of transportation and our zones uh uh buildings that need uh repair etc I believe that we can be the board that solves the problem and and in being the board that solves a problem that's what it's going to take for us to go to elite to our elite levels that we know that we're capable of uh and uh you know Dr best I going through my memory I remember back I think
058it was 2018 I told you I thought that you would make a good chair and that you should run for you you should run for chair you should run for vice chair I remember that um I was one of the first people to um to see that in you and I'm believing that I was right uh because I don't often make mistakes so So uh so because I don't often make mistakes I believe that it's going to be a great year that you're going to be and and that you're going to be a great chair and I'm looking very very much forward to to your leadership and supporting you in uh getting this division to where we want it to go thank you Mr owl yeah I'm next I'm laughing too much uh let's see
059the first thing I want to do is just extend our board's condolences to the Brooks family um so our our Tracy is going through um some family challenges with her brother having a loss and we just want to extend our condolences there um the budget uh it's funny we get it we get it presented in just a few slides and very concisely by by uh Ms Mento but the real truth is it has taken a lot behind the scenes for us to be able to get it to where it is balanced and um to reflect the needs of the board so a lot of cycles that have gone through and I just want to thank you and your team uh thank Dr mitchell uh for that because it's we know it's not easy but this
060is this is our game plan you know for for the school year um I am really proud uh to be sitting next to the new chair I have all confidence in her as I stated um before the vote I know that her passion for Newport News public schools is going to be extremely beneficial to um the work that we're going to do and then um Miss Alger your passion for all things schools and all things teachers and all things being right is definitely going to be a beacon for us and so I really do appreciate you accepting the nominations I honestly believe there should be a point where we nominate folks but you all have to accept it um so thank you for um accepting um the charge and do know you have a board
061that is strongly behind the both of you thank you Miss Alger yes um first of all um two things I I want to address um I I know that summertime is a time for learning for for students and for families to enjoy and take trips but I also know that's the hardest time uh for folks in central office and leadership in school buildings that is when the work is uh kicking up real high because in preparation for the upcoming year and to me uh to be a place of excellence uh we have to always be ahead be always to we have to foresee and we always have to be prepared so thank you all um for making this summer very meaningful knowing that this upcoming year um we are going to elevate and continue to
062grow so thank you for that um I I want to um thank everyone for um their vote of confidence and and I am proud to serve uh I'm definitely proud to work side by side uh with Dr best and um and every time we communicate it is about schools and students and learning and what can we do better and all and all of that uh but that's true uh in terms of our conversations or my conversations with each of you and I want to thank you for your leadership and uh all that you do um to support one another because that's what it's going to take for all of us working together um to get to the next level um and for making a difference and making sure that each and every student in our
063division is successful and you know that's our goal uh that's what we're shooting for um but for our kids to be successful we need to make sure that our staff is successful our teachers our bus drivers our cafeteria managers our you know custodial staff if everyone is working together um we know that it's it'll become a flywheel and we're just simply going to take off and I'm looking forward to that to to being part of that so thank you all thank you so I prepared a couple comments so I would not forget anything so first I'd like to thank God my family and my fellow board members and everyone that believed and supported me throughout my schoolboard tenure it is an honor to be elected by my schoolboard colleagues to serve as chair I do
064not take this position lightly and will do everything in my power to advance and elevate the education of children enrolled in Newport News public schools I consider myself a lifelong learner and I look forward to serving with in this capacity with this dedicated team and continue to learn from each of you mr hunter he's gone but he's also known as at one time I was on 11 boards he always says that to us so I look forward to his mentoring and his collaborative and him always being a team player ms Aman our wordsmith this lady right here can get it right as far as that that is her talent and I learn from her every single time she helps us to navigate policy and she take care of schoolboard business miss Harris our youngest and
065most energetic member your dedication and your extensive community work allows you to get right to work and although I'm supposed to be mentoring you you inspire me mr brown thank you for your outside of the box thinking and vocalizing regarding issues and your views and for inspiring the board and me as an individual to reach higher levels miss Alger because of our similar educational backgrounds we speak many times the same language I know her husband's going to get sick of me just like Lisa's husband got sick of me but they were still always nice um but because you also speak Spanish it allowed me to have a deeper understanding and immediate communication with a growing and important part of our school community I'm impressed by your extensive knowledge as it relates to everything about education
066and your relationship with the state department of education because she keeps me up sometimes when I go to that website it's almost overwhelming and she can just break it down um for me and your ability to dive deeper and to look at the big picture I look forward to working with you closely miss Surles law my attached to the hip partner for the last two and a half years now we thought going to the pandemic going through the pandemic was challenging but in our wildest dreams we never would imagine our journey as chair and vice chair there were times when incidents criticism condemnation was so intense that I thought that she would justifiably quit there were times when we talked each other off the ledge trust when I tell you and then there were times
067when we held each other's hands and we just jumped so what many people don't know is that during her tenure there were several occasions where she faced some very serious health challenges but she always showed up she always showed up she never once considered throwing in a towel that she shared with me and let me tell you that she can hang that little package right there can hang with the best of them but through it all she remained professional she maintained a sense of decorum she was kind compassionate she always knew what to say and how to say it so what I learned from you Lisa will be invaluable to me as I serve as chair um for this most awesome school division i sincerely thank my fellow school board members Dr mitchell and all
068of her staff i'm committed to give you to my to give you my best two more comments also my condolences to the family of Mr Edward Mr joseph Edwards who was a longtime educator in the city um of Newport News um I I didn't know him personally I knew of him but just reading the comments from his colleagues and his teachers he made quite an impact on our school division so my condolences to his family and as I close I want to give a shout out to all of the Newport News employees that continue to work throughout the summer contrary to popular belief the school year ends but the work is never done in addition summer school began yesterday and after this meeting Miss Alry and I will be visiting summer school a special shout
069out to our youth development department I was sitting at home on Thursday as I always tell Dr mitchell and Lisa when I get these phone calls I'm minding my own business so I was sitting at home Thursday minding my own business I got a phone call and a person shared with me there were four Newport News students that were homeless so I looked at the time on my cell phone it was 2:54 and if you know anything about summers and schools Thursday at 2:54 is really Friday at 2:54 and I was like "Oh my god what are we going to do?" So I immediately called Miss Adams and they got right on it they we gave some identifying information so they could look up the family and I received a text from the person that
070called me like 7 something that night and said at that time they were in Walmart getting some much needed items for those families so people are working many people think schools are closed but we have so many dedicated staff members that are working and working hard throughout the summer so I wanted to say thank you and let you know that we did not um forget about you and last but not least I want everybody to get a good book parents students teachers everybody get something that you really enjoy reading and don't forget to read thank you and enjoy the rest of your summer this meeting is a adjourned thank you