School Board Meeting: May 20, 2025

001good evening i'd like to call to order the regular meeting of Newport News School Board for Tuesday May 20th 2025 on behalf of the members of the school board and Dr mitchell I welcome each of you present this evening and those who are watching on TV and online a quorum is present to transact the business of the school division we will begin tonight's meeting with the invocation and pledge to the flag here to do the honors is a student from Yates Elementary Lillian Leatherbury lillian will you please come forward and tell us a little bit about yourself hello my name is Lillian Lebury i'm a fifth grader at Yates Elementary School i enjoy reading fiction fantasy is my favorite i also like to sing so much that I got selected to go to the Al

002Virginia Choir one of my hobbies is drawing i mostly draw people i am here today to read two poems about moving on from fifth grade and going to sixth grade the author of both poems are unknown poem one the open door the bell has rung a final chime our elementary days of fading in time we've learned and grown with laughter bright now open doors to a future light the halls we knew now seem so grand as we step out hand in hand though bittersweet the tears may fall will carry memories standing tall poem two the bridge we cross we've built a bridge of shock and play through lessons learned come what may now we stand on the other side with with newfound knowledge we str the bridge we crossed with eager feet a chapter closed

003bittersweet but in our hearts the memories stay of our elementary bright sunny day [Applause] i pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands one nation indivisible with liberty and justice for all lillian thank you so much you did a wonderful job did you bring some special people with you this evening who do you have with you your mom and dad mom and dad thank you go ahead and stand we appreciate you bringing Lily in this evening to start our meeting off starting it off in style thank you so we do have some public officials in our midst this morning or this evening um we have Rob Coleman from our city council rob a true partner to the school division we appreciate appreciate you immensely

004and we also have delegate Chad Green we're going to get the pleasure to hear from him uh during our open uh speak so we will we will hear what you have to share with us at that time so the next item on our agenda or board recognition or Dr mitchell if you would join me at the podium good evening evening NNPS families students and staff i have the honor and privilege of presenting this month's school board recognitions let's get started this evening we're proud to recognize and celebrate the accomplishments of a high school music program that has earned a top honor the music department at Menchville High School was awarded the Virginia Music Educators Association 2025 Blue Ribbon Award present this evening to accept this recognition on behalf of the Menchville Music Department our band

005director Deborah Sar would you please come forward orchestra Director Anna Moyer would you please come forward and coral director Zenab Bustafa we'll also like to acknowledge their proud principal Jason Holla and NMNPS supervisor of visual and performing arts Katie Smith please stand the Virginia Music Educators Association Blue Ribbon Award is the highest award given to a school music program and recognizes achieved excellence in band orchestra and coral performance to earn this distinction all music disciplines in the school must receive a rating of superior during the state assessment and each of the top performing group from every ensemble earn a superior rating performing two pieces of music from approved grade music list all performing groups had to site read can you believe that all performing groups had to sight read and sight sing to be eligible

006for the award during the association's district concert performance assessment in addition their performance during the district events the coral ensembles orchestra and band had performed at numerous events showcasing their talents and bringing honor and pride to their school communities please join me again in congratulating Mitchville for earning this distinction congratulations to you and your musicians [Applause] now we're going to take a quick photo [Applause] also this year one of our high school bands earned top honors for the Virginia Band and Orchestra Directors Association the Virginia Honor Band Distinction was created 45 years ago to recognize high school bands with a comprehensive program we're proud to again congratulate Menchville High School for earning distinction as a Virginia honor band joining us this evening to accept this recognition honey you may have to stay up here this

007recognition on behalf of Mchfield Band is band director Deborah Survey [Applause] bands achieving superior rating at the state marching event band festival and at a district concert festivals are recognized as an honor band the highest award that can be bestowed upon bands by the Virginia band and Orchestra Directors Association this year marks the 11th time I'll say it again this year marks the 11th time Menchville has received this prestigious award again we also like to acknowledge Menchville principal Jason Holla and Mrs katie Sheihan Smith would you please stand and again congratulations Miss Bay to you and your band members i'm going to take another photo our next honores are gifted musicians they're among the best high school vocalists and instrumentalists in the state and have have earned the all Virginia distinction to reach this accomplishment

008high school students must audition and earn a top chair or space in the district event which makes them eligible to audition for all Virginia Ensemble newport News Public Schools is proud to recognize seven students who have earned this honor tonight as I call your name please come forward to rec uh receive your recognition named to the All Virginia band from Mitchville High School under the direction of band director Deborah Survey are Christristen Winnon Abigail [Applause] Mayor and Connor Landers [Applause] from Woodside High School under the guidance of band director Brian Grieby is all Virginia band honore Liam Barnstead four times oh congratulations we would like to add Hey it's written right here we would like to add that Liam is a fourtime selection for all Virginia band honors and not uh acknowledge that this is

009a incredible accomplishment can someone say American Idol okay so name to all Virginia cors from Warick High School and under the leadership of core director Len Belaloo Natley or Natly Carmen [Applause] casey [Applause] York from Woodside High School under the direction of coral director Emmelio Present I'm sorry Pincent Presantin and Tyrron Wheeler is Tyrone here wheeler miss Wheeler oh she has soccer okay with selection to all Virginia ensemble represents the highest honor that the Virginia music educators association can bestow upon a student musician it is a testament to the hard work and discipline of our students the direction of our music teachers and the constant support of their families this all Virginia honores participated in a two-day series of rehearsals featuring a guest conductor and participated in a full group performance congratulations to all our

010state band and chorus honores we would like to acknowledge and thank student families if you could please stand and be recognized just like the whole room and y'all stand up stand up absolutely absolutely we will also like to acknowledge their principles who may be with us this evening jason Holla from Menchville i can't Tiffany Thompson for Warick and Dr mary Hardesty from Woodside as well as Woodside magnet program administrator Amy Ensley and Mrs sheen Smith thank you okay everyone we're going to take a quick photo [Applause] nnps students had the opportunity to participate in the co-ed club sport of archery through the national archery in the schools program that is made available to all grade levels this program is growing and popular tonight we'll recognize students who competed at the NASP 2025 US Eastern Nationals

011on May 8th through 10th in Lewisville Kentucky students qualify through their performances at the state tournament please come forward as your name is called to receive your recognition we will take a photo with all archery students outside the auditorium during our break from BC Charles Elementary School Archery's team sophia Carby Cobberly come on sophia and Violet [Applause] Singary BC Charles head coach Benolin Williams and assistant coach Pat Busky [Applause] we would also like to thank and acknowledge this evening their family members who may be present as well as BC Charles principal Orel Robinson Taylor please stand and be recognized if you're in the room congratulations BC Charles and again we'll take a group photo during the board uh break from Richneck Elementary School's archery team alana Austin [Applause] Come on down girl jalia Austin jalia

012[Applause] Austin cameron Blow come on Cameron kayn [Applause] Bramwell Vincent [Applause] Bush Jonathan Crandell Ava Crawford [Applause] Alexander [Applause] Gargulus Jace [Applause] Gortierz Aviana Lopez Cruz [Applause] Chelsea means Cameron [Applause] Moore Riley Pierce Rebecca Penner Rita A [Applause] Raza Benjamin [Applause] Sagato Jackson Vestre and Tina Willard rich Neck's head coach is Lindsay Sessions and assistant coach is Virginia [Applause] Bucksby NPS family richneck was the only NNPS team to qualify for nationals as a team in both the Bull's Eye and the 3D events we would like to also thank and acknowledge this evening their family members and who may be present and richneck principal Ronda Chambers Harmon she here please stand and be please stand and be recognized yes families of these beautiful children are if you're in the audience please stand and be recognized and

013the principal please stand and be recognized [Applause] it's awesome we want to again say congratulations Richneck and we'll take our group photo during our break thank you again [Applause] nice elementary kids the elementary kids used to walk they got the shirts on got the names on the back and everything from Ella Fitzgerald Middle School's archery team adessa Bates James [Applause] Campbell Olivia [Applause] Joules is Olivia here ava Henderson Kiar Henderson okay taha Husani got one gabrielle [Applause] Jackson Ayana Jones Hero [Applause] Kleinfeld Danielle Lomax Elizabeth McCain Mlan I'm sorry [Applause] cameron [Music] McClinton Kayn Merose Isabella [Applause] Norman Marley Parham Leila Salar Leila Syler I'm sorry Miss Buffalo apologized joey Stanley Zoe Stanley Josiah Turner Jacobe all right Ella Fitzgerald head coach is Josh Cernney [Applause] we would also like to also thank and acknowledge

014this evening their family members and who may be present with us in Ella Fitzgerald Middle School principal Dr geron Ransom families if you're here representing these beautiful students please take a stand congratulations Ella Fitzgerald all right thank you we'll go on to the next group congratulations from Menchville High School archery team amelio Aras Menchville is Ailio here no okay sebastian Arsenal [Applause] matteline Usler [Applause] Cal Leette [Applause] Leget Nasa Lopez Sanchez Dire Ludy [Applause] Li it's not here okay nicholas Maza Aaliyah Manga Elizabeth A no you're fine jana Nicholson they're all together somewhere kayla Osborne amy Qu Queen okay ivan Rodriguez Algarez anthony Roman come on Anthony lillian Roman are these siblings oh congratulations they're twins oh okay that's that's awesome cecilia Sherman Aiden Shirley come on Aiden lesie Turner menchville's head coach is J

015daniel Cerny come on down we will we would like to also thank and acknowledge this evening their family members who may be present please stand [Applause] i did not but come on down patrick Busky hey Patrick Busky that's right and also in the audience is the principal of Menchville High School Jason Holla and activities director Cheryl Chappelle is she here with us okay at this time we'll also like to thank the NNPS instructional supervisor for health and physical education Jennifer Moren for all of her department support for the archery program so please stand up if you're here to be recognized she's not with us this evening all right so congratulations Menchville you may have a seat and remember we're going to take a photo of the bride yes so again as a reminder we ask

016that all archery students please gather outside the auditorium for a photo um during the break but at this time we're going to take about a 7 minute break so that our presenters and guests and their families may leave leave if they wish to do so you're certainly welcome to stay we got a lot of stuff on the agenda good stuff oh I would like to also recognize that our mayor is in the house this evening Mayor Philip Jones thank you for being here families during the break our viewing audience will have an opportunity to view the month school board spotlight so we will stand at recess for about seven minutes thank you we got to go take a picture [Music] uhhuh for half a century Ella Fitzgerald Middle School has been encouraging learners growing leaders

017and promoting achievers on April 25th the birthday of the school's namesake Ella Fitzgerald celebrated 50 years as a school elected officials school board members and school leaders were joined by former Fitzgerald educators staff members and principles who have shaped the legacy of the school and the undeniable impact it has had on our community principal Geron Ransom Superintendent Dr michelle Mitchell and student leaders reflected on the school's past while looking towards the future with great anticipation school board vice chair Dr terry Best read a commemorative proclamation issued by Newport News Public Schools to honor the Queen of Jazz as the school's namesake a number of musical selections by Echoes of Ella Jazz Ensemble entertained the crowd as well as a passionate performance from former student and current chorus teacher Adena Harris the day's festivities took place

018on a newly constructed stage assembled by eighth grade math teacher Eric Johnson and a group of dedicated students this will serve the students and staff as an outdoor classroom and gathering space for years to come and just like the first lady of song herself the students at Ella Fitzgerald Middle School will continue to dream big while building a legacy rooted in determination resilience and unity through the month of April Pines Middle School celebrated the month of the military child with a variety of fun activities and special experiences for students military liaison Ashley Waters and family and community engagement specialist Kimberly Callaway hosted a number of engaging events giving all students a chance to sample the many benefits the military has to offer the month kicked off with a military expo allowing each grade to visit

019with military recruiters from each branch explore future career options and even complete some extra push-ups to earn some great swag the physical training increased during a simulated boot camp experience any interested students were invited to see if they have what it takes to make it through basic training with Army Sergeant John Euing and physical education teacher Patrick Palmer Scott who is a retired Marine through a number of workout stations students improved their physical and mental strength boosted confidence and worked as a team to complete the specialized training and at the end of the month military connected children enjoyed a barbecue party in their honor temple Baptist Church donated food drinks and snacks while volunteering their time alongside Newport News police officers to offer students a fun lunch with free food and games for students who

020experience frequent relocations prolonged separation from deployed parents and many other challenges the month of the military child is a chance for Hines Middle School to honor these brave and resilient students incorporating arts into everyday learning offers a boost for our youngest scholars for the second year master teaching artists with the Wolf Trap Institute for Early Learning Through the Arts partnered with Newport News Preschools to weave movement artistic creativity and an added dose of imagination into the young students classroom learning funding through a Virginia Department of Education grant brings this internationally respected program to NNPS providing preschool students educators and families with innovative and engaging arts-based strategies to enhance the learning experience for two separate weeks in the late fall master teaching artists visited several preschool classrooms at Denby Early Childhood Center Marshall Early Learning Center

021and Watkins Early Childhood Center the talented singers dancers actors storytellers and puppeteers worked closely with classroom educators to creatively integrate artistic expressions into the current curriculum each day the classroom educators did more co-eing with the master artists allowing them to learn firsthand how to implement these creative teaching techniques on their own the teaching artist even worked in dual language immersion classrooms teaching through songs counting and literacy in both Spanish and English workshops for dual language immersion families were also offered in the evening inviting parents and caregivers to actively join the learning process and see how creative learning through the arts thrives even beyond language barriers with the creative guidance of the Wolf Trap Institute's creative artists our students teachers and families are using the power of art to build confidence knowledge and community christopher Newport

022University and Newport News Public Schools have expanded their collaborative research project Fear to Hope to include hands-on experiences through field research fear to Hope now in its fourth year is an ongoing collaboration that brings together environmental professionals university professors and college student mentors who guide high school students as they study the effects of rising sea levels and the salt tolerance of Atlantic white cedar starting the school year Fear to Hope is giving NNPS high school students the opportunity to venture outside the classroom and participate in real world conservation efforts through authentic scientific research a few miles from CNU on the opposite shore of the James River is Ragged Island Wildlife Management Area with over 1,500 acres of salt marsh and small pine islands where visitors can hike fish hunt and bird watch but Ragged Island

023is also experiencing a rapidly eroding shoreline losing several feet every year which is causing the formation of ghost forests and widespread loss of wildlife habitats and the salt marsh ecosystem but with an $8 million grant CNU is partnering with Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources and Ducks Unlimited to undertake a habitat and shoreline restoration project already this school year students from Heritage Menchville Warwick and Woodsign high schools have joined CNU student mentors at Raget Island to conduct a range of field research during each trip through the marshland students are actively involved in collecting tree core samples testing water quality mapping and measuring plant communities documenting marine species and collecting and removing debris from the valuable ecosystem through these collaborative efforts and invaluable hands-on learning opportunities high school students are expanding their scientific knowledge and research skills

024while playing a practical role in restoring a declining ecosystem and offering great hope for a bright future students across Newport News public schools enjoyed a once-ina-lifetime experience to perform alongside Miss Virginia as part of her community service initiative Caria Swanson has been visiting schools and nursing homes across the Commonwealth as a performing artist and motivational speaker in partnership with Sing for Hope a nonprofit organization focused on harnessing the power of the arts to create a better world miss Virginia presented her Bridging the Divide Music is Unity program to share music's healing power at Hilton and Macintosh elementary schools students enjoyed learning about scatting the vocal improvisation technique made famous in vocal jazz at Hilton a team of professional musicians accompanied Miss Virginia as they performed a range of songs honoring America's original art form of

025jazz while at Macintosh a talented music student from Woodside High School was invited to perform with Miss Virginia and at Woodside High School music students enrolled in the arts and communications magnet program enjoyed a range of songs as Miss Virginia shared how music has influenced her life the importance of music in everyone's life and how music can bring communities together by fostering empathy diversity and unity i hope you enjoyed this month's school board spotlight during our regular meetings we provide time for the public to address the school board these opportunities are scheduled in the early part of our agenda and towards the end of the meeting as advertised citizens may submit comments via email up until 30 minutes prior to our meeting time to be included in the official meeting record for those of you

026joining 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 time limit as you begin your comments a green light will come on a yellow light signals you have 30 seconds remaining and a red light and beep indicates your time is up as your name is called please come forward and our first speaker this evening is Delegate Chad Green it's my pleasure to welcome him to the podium as our first speaker member of the Virginia Assembly Delegate Green represents the 69th district which includes parts of Newport News and parts of the counties of Gloucester James City and York he serves on the House Education Committee i'll say that again he serves on the House

027Education Committee and the Privileged and Election Committee during the past general assembly session Delegate Green sponsored a commending resolution for the youth development program in Newport News Public Schools and also hosted a tour of the general assembly for students and staff we appreciate his efforts and welcome him here to present the resolution delegate Green you do not have to adhere to the threeminut rule thank you Madam Chair i've been dying to do what I'm about to do all night and that is very good i I also had a conversation with student member Verde that he could change his name to Green and maybe we were related so it's it's a pleasure to be here it's a pleasure to see all the high achieving uh youth and uh it was a pleasure to host the uh

028youth development group this year uh I just want to go through this resolution very quickly i know you've got a lot of business to do but House joint resolution 556 commending the Newport News Public Schools youth development this was agreed to by the House of Delegates February 12th 2025 upon their arrival and tour uh they were in the gallery and uh we actually brought this up and it was passed whereas the Newport News Public School Youth Development promotes student success both in and out of the classroom and works with local stakeholders to build quality programs that enhance the overall well-being of all students in the school division whereas the Newport News Public School Youth Development strives to create positive experiences supportive environments to ensure that every student feels seen heard understood and valued whereas international

029protocol and pre-social approaches Newport News's public school youth development program helps young people engage in their peers school communities and construct and constructive ways that promotes positive outcomes for all who are involved newport News Public School Youth Development emphasizes that student empowerment and leadership inclusivity positive school culture mentoring while teaching essential social emotional skills the Newport News Public School Youth Development encourages every student in the division to participate in at least nearly a thousand student organizations sports teams and other enrichment opportunities we saw some here earlier today with the archery program and the opportunities operating across the school division creating positive norms expectations and perspectives in physically emotional safe environments in the Newport News Public School Youth Development Program helps students build healthy relationships and develop a sense of belonging within a wider community the

030Newport News Public School Youth Development has also designed and implemented innovative violence prevention initiatives that emphasize empowering service learning and emotional health the Newport News Public School Youth Development has a unique infrastructure dedicated to school-based teams that increase the school's division's ability to implement evidence-based programming at every school for nearly the 26,000 students 26,000 students here in Newport News in grades preK through 12 newport News Public School Youth Development ensures that students have access to these critical programs regardless of their background whereas the Newport News Public Schools Youth Development was recognized with the 2024 Silver Magma Award National School Board Association which featured the division's accomplishments in the April 24 edition of the American School Board Journal therefore be it resolved by the House of Delegates the Senate concurring that the General Assembly do hereby

031commend the Newport News Public School Youth Development for its work to give students the tools and support they need to succeed in the classroom and become leaders throughout the community be it further resolved that a copy of this resolution was prepared by the clerk for presentation at the Newport News Public School Board meeting the general assemblies and also to show the general assembly's admiration for this vital mission and contributions to the citizens of Newport News House Patrons Green and Price Senate patron Diggs and at this time Madame Chair I'd like to present you this proclamation [Applause] and I tried to keep it to three minutes thank you so much you're always welcome so we also have another uh council member with with us oh take a picture sure okay we also have another city council

032member with us it's really a homecoming from him for him because this is this is his first public service home so Mr john Elie is here this evening welcome home John all right moving on with our speakers for the evening reverend Natalie Chamberlain good evening it is always um an honor to speak before the school board i'm Reverend Natalie Chamberlain a member of a caring coalition of citizens concerned for our LGBTQIA youth and especially the trans youth under your care june is Pride Month pride isn't just a party it's a protest a plea and a promise we show up and have been coming here for months to celebrate queer lives and in the hopes of protecting those lives that are at risk in this community our coalition are allies and we may fly our pride

033colors but being ally means standing with those who are being harmed and we are standing when it matters most if you want to protect trans lives you have the power to do so we ask that you stand with not against your trans students and I would like to add a comment about another topic tonight i want to commend the bus drivers who have been coming here and speaking up as the pastor of a congregation with children in it I am really concerned about the things I've been hearing and I'm also concerned that the drivers that stand and speak up are not always treated well when they return to work the next day so I would hope that you would look into retaliatory measures by their bosses michelle Nordine and After that we'll have Kevin Pew

034good evening Chairman Slaw Dr mitchell and school board members for those who haven't heard me speak before my name is Michelle Morin and I am the Newport News Council PTA's presidents i would like to give everyone a wrap-up of our PTAs in our school district last year my secretary challenged our students to double our reflection entries to council i would like to inform everyone that they did 30 reflection entries were sent to council and for the first time we had an entry in every category after judging these entries we sent 14 to Virginia PTA and two entries received award of excellence from Virginia PTA one was in the film category from Woodside High School and the other was in the visual arts category from Ella Fitzgerald Middle School if any student is interested in working

035on an entry for the 2025 2026 reflections reflections contest the theme is I belong i ran two membership challenges this year the first one is titled Put the T in PTA the first school at each level to reach 100% teacher membership by September 30th receives a traveling trophy to display in their main office general Stanford won at the elementary level and Huntington won at the middle school level i am hoping to award a trophy at the high school level next year the second challenge is a call membership this runs from July 1st to the end of February the PTA in each division that has the most students represented by student population receives a monet monetary award from council hilton won for the second year in a row and Huntington won for the second year in

036a row at the middle school level this year Woodside High School PTSA ran away with this challenge they had 27.8% of their students represented the next closest school only had 8% of their students represented this leads me to more accolades for Woodside High School PTSA over the weekend I attended Virginia PTA's Legacy and Impact Awards dinner and annual meeting woodside PTSA received a certificate and a trophy for having the most PTSA student members statewide virginia PTA wanted to know Woodside PTSA secret the answer tie PTSA membership into your homecoming ticket to have students show school spirit and join the movement way to go Woodside Wolverine woodside PTSA go Wolverines council also awarded two scholarships this year one to a student from Menchville and one and another to a student from Woodside we awarded six volunteer

037of the year awards and submitted five of them to Virginia PTA dr van Djk from Sanford Elementary was nominated for Virginia PTA's power principal and he won at the elementary level this award recognizes principles at the elementary and secondary levels who have demonstrated that strong family school partnerships are the key to student success one last thing for families to think about over the summer last week new legislation was passed regarding SOS that will take effect for the 2026 2027 school year this law will make a student's so score account for 10% of a student's final grade i would like everyone to research what this new law is and how it will affect students not only in our district but statewide i would like to host town halls in the fall to make sure our voices

038are heard at the general assembly in January i would like to thank everyone who supported PTSA's mission to make every child's potential a reality by engaging and empowering families and communities to advocate for all children by jo by joining a Newport News PTA you helped set a new PTA membership record for Newport News we currently have 3,369 PTA members in the Newport News i look forward to working with everyone next school year thank you and I'm sorry I ran over David on behalf of the board and the division I want to thank you for all your hard work that you have done uh this is you know this is starting to be a trend now last year you kicked it off and continuing this year and if I'm not mistaken you recently received an accolade

039yes I did yes would you share um Virginia PTA runs um volunteer of the year programs at at um each division elementary middle high and council and I won um I was nominated someone um for um the at the council level and I forwarded it to um Virginia PTA and they awarded me Virginia um volunteer of the year at the council level wonderful thank you kevin Pew good evening good evening everybody proper protocol already being established um we bring you greetings from Kevin's world personally me I'm Chicago boy born and raised i did 14 in the military Navy and that's what got me out here i'm 13 years in at Newport New Ship Building building the ships that I served on i have my son here he's the CEO of Kevin's World hey how y'all

040doing good kevin he started YouTube when he was 5 years old um that was in 2018 um what we have we have books he does performances and it's a prek through five event that I would like to keep going i don't want to go past prek through five so we got um one of the books of the series the series is the adventures of Kevin's world and it's going to be a 10 book series and the first one is No Bullies it's a father and son experience me teaching my son how to deal with bullies because I know this a big thing going on around here and what better way than hear it from one of their peers second book chores instead of him asking me for money all the time you know I teach

041them how to you know get the money and third book is competition you know and so on and so on and then our goal is to make a cartoon out of every book but right now short-term goals i would like these books to be in the public libraries and also the school libraries that's my goal right now we done book reads in Hampton um First Baptist Church uh Burbank Elementary School um Newport News uh Paperback Inc um they gave us opportunity to do a book read and to sell our books with Dr best she was there if you check our website www.kevinworld.com keenssworld.com now as you can see her and Mr jones he stepped out and in our photo gallery and I would like to thank you for your time thank you [Applause] Reverend Michael

042Bernett and after that Jackie Batterson good evening members of the board uh sorry I missed you the last couple of months i've been a little busy but we've gotten familiar with one another over the last I think by my count it's 18 or 19 months that at least I've been showing up with a couple holes here and there to advocate for the well-being of our LGBTQ students and specifically the T specifically our trans students ever since the implementation of procedure JBP which in part prohibits an educator from using a trans students preferred name or pronouns I think the pendulum swung a little far we went from requiring it to prohibiting it and in so doing we remove what could be a massive pillar of support for our trans students as we have said as we

043have shown via statistics from multiple sources over this last year and a half this statistically significantly increases the chance of a mental health crisis for one of these students and potential for self harm and even suicide now I'm very glad that nothing has happened so far at least that I know of at least that I've heard of and no I I don't suspect we would probably hear if something happened to a minor I would hope that that information wouldn't leak to the public and I hope very much that it is true that we've had no crises among your trans students which might number somewhere in the close to a hundred or more students out of the massive number of students you have just based on national averages i pray that it continues to be the

044case that no one is hurting themselves i also really really hope and I earnestly pray that no one's being hurt at home because unfortunately so often as is the case for LGBTQ youth home isn't always a happy place well anyway of course you can fix this we have offered proposals several of them we don't have to go all the way back to the northern policies there is a wonderful way to sort of split the difference here and take out the most damaging parts of these policies that remove this pillar of support that can be so crucial to these students and I really hope that you take those proposals seriously because as the statistics we've offered you over this last year and a half show the longer we let this go on at a certain point

045folks we're playing the odds and if we're here for our students as our rather loose coalition of folks has been here from the get-go not to promote an ideology but for to protect the lives of vulnerable students and I hope that's what you want to do too right if we want to do that there's a very easy way to do so without having to make a huge sweeping political move thank you thank you Jackie Patterson members of the school board my name is Jackie Batterson and I am a resident of Newport News and paraphrasing Lynden Johnson I speak tonight for the dignity of man and the destiny of democracy on May 17th 1957 the Reverend Martin Luther King said "Give us the ballot and we will no longer have to worry the federal government about

046our basic rights." Unfortunately he did not foresee a federal government who would again gleefully deny citizens of their rights under the Constitution today it is another struggle to keep this government from again taking voting rights away from citizens denying immigrants who are here to make a better life for their families but instead are illegally kidnapped and sent to a foreign country denying women the right to make their own health decisions and to do everything in their power to refuse to allow the gay and transgender communities to live without constant fear of reprisal from a government that should protect them this is the government that sends out masked thugs to attack innocent people just trying to live their lives breaking up families and leaving innocent children without the protection of their parents i have been asking

047you to change your procedures regarding the transgender children in this school system procedures that reflect the dehumanizing dictates of the state and federal government procedures which deny simply acknowledging and respecting their chosen names and pronouns however you've continued to follow these dictates that would seek to eliminate any visibility of our transgender neighbors and friends i will close this evening with a quote from Thomas Aquinus priest and philosopher he who is not angry when there is just cause for anger is immoral why because anger looks to the good of justice and if you can live amid injustice without anger you are immoral as well as unjust thank you for your time [Applause] i believe that our councilman would like to share a few words with us so Mr elely good evening everyone um I just I

048wrote a letter to send to y'all but I never sent it so I just came here to read it i would like to take a moment to formally recognize an outstanding individual who is making a remarkable impact within the new produce public schools community and facilitator at Midtown Community Center desiree Krishlaw a school bus driver who recently relocated from Suffuk and currently serves students at Saunders Elementary achieve a dream academy at Passage Middle School i had the pleasure of meeting Desiree during a recent Uber ride and in just a short time it became abundantly clear that she is much more than a transportation professional she is a passionate advocate for students and a true ambassador for the school division her enthusiasm and deep commitment to her work went not only went not only evident but

049also truly inspiring desiree spoke with great pride and affection about the schools she served and the students she transport each day her positivity energy and love for her role reflect the very best of what educational leadership and service should look like she's a shining example of how every role model with the school division whether in classroom behind the scenes or on the road can contribute to culture of excellence and care i want to extend my heartfelt thanks to Newport Public School System and Newport Parks Recreation for continuing to nature support support individuals like Desiree her dedication and spirit and testament of strength and quality of the district's team and I believe she deserves form acknowledgement for this exceptional service so I was getting I let my cousin use my car and it didn't go too

050well so I had a rental car and Desiree was my Uber driver to Herz she didn't know who I was but she spoke about 20 minutes on how well and how loved she worked for New Public School System and how she wouldn't change her job anywhere she spoke so good about this division how excited she was to work for her i tipped her $100 she stated that you know she's a mother of five she drives school bus she um Uber driver she um work for the city parks recreation how she just loves serving new produce so I just wanted to make sure I let y'all know the great works and how she's spreading the gospel about Newport News public school system thank you thank you next we'll have Joyce Blow and then Ivon Beth good

051evening um I'm back again i am a bus driver i've been driving for 20 years um my question would be do you really care about your employees at this point now we have parents coming to the buses wanting to assault the drivers cursing them out and is no accountability for the parents when they do this or better yet they'll tell them just don't go to the bus stop you can keep coming to the school it's okay that you cuss the bus driver out but just don't come to the bus stop it seems that the students and the parents are running the schools because they definitely are being pacified by the school the administrators have no possible indication what discipline is because ISS to the kids that's a party that's not um discipline to them they

052love going to ISS bus driver shortage is getting worse and worse and worse partly because of the bad behavior of the kids and the lack of respect from higher up drivers and assistants are being verbally mentally and some even physically abused on a daily basis by the students called out their name cuss up and down and we supposed to just transport them like everything is good as gravy attendance is priority over medical issues there is no seniority which is so disrespectful to season drivers that have been there for 20 to 30 years and what I mean by that is if a driver comes in and hasn't missed no time after being here for three months they get a new bus but a driver that's been there for 25 years cuz they missed time cuz they

053got sick you don't get a new bus confidentiality what is that everybody know your business once you go talk to a supervisor and if you speak up against anything that you see as wrong or speak up for yourself you definitely going you're going to be retaliated against for sure definitely you're going to be retaliated against rules should be put in place for everyone not limited to certain people and we are definitely losing drivers to other school systems and in closing I would like to say I've been there for 20 years i should not be in a race or competing against somebody to get a new bus thank [Applause] you Ivon okay thank you school board members for having me um I'm back as well and to pick it back off what she was saying it's

054true to be in the union is like having a target on your back they'll do stuff low-key so you don't see it out you know outwardly that you are being retaliated against um as far as me um I was a bus driver for 20 plus years and I started to have panic attacks which is a disability i got money cut from my check five $5 is taken from me which over time that's 20 that's $24,000 in the last four years i'm supposed to just take that you know just take it and just deal with it okay i get paid once a month i do my job i do it the best of my ability but now I'm dealing with disability because of the panic attacks and so when I took when I asked about it

055they said there's a policy but I have not seen a policy this is my third time coming before the board you are supposed to help us if I come to you like a big brother's supposed to we're not getting anything behind it um there's other drivers who know the same thing they could not drive because of u diabetes they can't drive because if it's it's out of order so with me it was panic attacks so it took $5 from me $2 from somebody else who just came on board $13 from somebody else $7 from somebody else if it's a policy show me the policy and I'll go and sit down there is no policy so if there's no policy that means it's a deterrent so if it's a deterrent that means it's um uh workforce

056what do you call it oh man when you when you come at your when you come at your drivers lowkey i can't think of the word right now but it's um it's a punishment you know because if I stand up for myself I'm one of those ones if something don't sound right I raise my hand and I get penalized for raising my hand i mean I would I would ask each and one of y'all to come to sit on them buses just dress down and come and sit on some of these buses you got drivers leaving in the droves it's not a hard job it's what we got to go through i'm an assistant i was first I was getting cussed out now I'm getting bit and I guess the That's part of your job

057no not every day bent hair pulled cussed out every day but I come to do my job and I got $5 taken from my pay $24,000 less and I'm not the only one i'm speaking for everybody that cannot drive life be happening to these drivers you come and you you you full of life when you first start but this job beats you down and then when you say "I can't do it no more." It's "Oh we ain't got time for you no more." That's to get rid of them shut them down and I'm telling you going to have any drivers if transportation it's like the left hand don't know what the right hand's doing and no disrespect you're all the left hand and they're the right hand no one's on the same page and drivers

058are tired and you're going to keep losing drivers thank you next we'll have Eric Burton and then Dr james Grace good afternoon ladies and gentlemen i didn't come up here no prepared speech but I wanted to make y'all well aware of a issue that's going on across our entire schoolboard involving the employees the medical insurance was changed this year involving the prescription insurance it has caused a lot of employees to have to go through the uh pre-approval process again getting a lot of their medications denied having to get them changed employees having to go on FMLA because they can't get their medications and employees that had great attendance are now having attendance issues because of this change that we've gone and made what I'm asking is if we can please try to look at returning

059back to the previous medical coverage we had involving our medications i have spoke to teachers i've spoke to janitors and it is affecting people across the board throughout the whole district also figing on the what was told by the other drivers as far as the bus situation goes I can personally say that I have been told because I come here and speak in front of y'all that I have been passed up on possible promotions that I've interviewed for because I come here i have personally been told that I could progress further inside transportation if I would just keep my mouth shut also at the lot that I drive out of I am the only key driver that does not have air conditioning because I speak up for the union i drive the only diesel bus

060out of all the key drivers there's key drivers that have been here less time than I have that have gotten before I have due to that I have had an incident recently where I had to go to the hospital because of a heat exhaustion because of how hot it's got on that bus but I still come here every day because I come here for the children i come here to get them to and from school i know that they have this week and I want to make sure they can get to school and every single one of us that are out is another child that is late for school because there's not enough of us thank you for y'all's time y'all have a great day [Applause] good evening as you've heard thank you if you

061have heard already a lot of folks have talked about their dis discussed situations at their job let's think for a minute these are human beings that work for you that's going up against a lot of negative situations they have come up here month after month and have talked to you i get the same complaints i get phone calls at 10:00 11:00 at night bus drivers crying cafeteria workers crying think of everyone here is human they work for you when are we going to start thinking about that when are we going to start listening to what the bus drivers not only them the teachers cafeteria workers all our ESP folks that make our school system run because before they come to us as teachers they come to those bus drivers to get on that bus and

062come to school and those buses must be safe for every bus driver parents should not be cussing them out they don't have no consequences students should not be cussing teachers out and don't get ISS or don't get anything nothing these are the phone calls that I get and I encourage the bus drivers to come up here tell them your story and once they tell their story they get retal and their opinion they get retaliated against and it's wrong it's unfair it's favoritism for what they're saying they have proof of it and they want to speak to the superintendent so that she can get that information if it's not getting to her it has to stop i talked to several bus drivers and they said "I'm leaving because I rather choose peace over pay." Peace over

063pay they're human beings ladies and gentlemen let's fix it together one idea I have is for y'all to have town hall meetings go to their work sites res sit down with them talk to them find what get your own answers for yourself don't depend on the directors and everybody get your own answers for yourself and see what's going on it's not going to change ladies and gentlemen until we get something going in the right direction hoodies please make a policy these hoodies be gone on these kids' heads we are sick and tired of telling kids to take off their hoodies and there's no consequences they just walk down the hall like we ain't said a thing teachers need help administrators need help they need leadership they need guidance and y'all the ones that can do

064it thank you very much [Applause] our last two speakers Mary Boss and Gabriel Marquez hello uh Mary Voss NNPS teacher parent and graduate contract negotiations also known as collective bargaining rights would give NNPS teachers and staff a seat at the table to negotiate for stronger contracts districts with contract negotiations have achieved improved working conditions that benefit both students and school workers such as smaller class sizes more planning time increased health health and safety measures the purchase of necessary equipment and more the Commonwealth Institute for Fiscal Analysis a respected Virginia think tank dedicated to economic and social justice calls collective bargaining a critical tool to improve school staffing pay and morale here are some excerpts from their report the ability to collectively bargain can improve working conditions for school staff which helps boost teacher job satisfaction

065and morale as well as student outcomes schools with collective bargaining rights for teachers have lower teacher turnover a study from the American Federation of Teachers found that schools with collective bargaining have lower teacher transfer out rates than schools without collective bargaining collective bargaining benefits students and communities as a whole by boosting teacher pay improving working conditions reducing turnover and increasing school workers voice on the job when NNPS becomes the first school district on the peninsula to approve collective bargaining for teachers and staff watch how well-qualified school workers flock to our city to live and work and raise families now turning to the recommended uh $1,000 bonuses for state workers from the Virginia General Assembly's budget um thank you to Dr mitchell for announcing that the district is seeking a solution um that could allow all

066of our hardworking NNPS staff and teachers to receive the 1K bonus um this would also help retain teachers and staff um signing bonuses are quite common in NNPS but these retention bonuses are best because they reward the employees that you already have working hard in the trenches and encourage us to continue in our recent NNA budget survey with over 300 responses 94% of respondents said that they strongly support $1,000 bonuses for staff and teachers finally in the current political climate it is more important than ever that NNPS leaders aim to respect and protect vulnerable students as much as possible this includes gay gender non-conforming and trans students as well as immigrant students please stand up for these vulnerable children and teens by striving for the most respectful and non-discriminatory policies possible uh such as the

067changes to policies for LGBTQ plus students uh recommended by other speakers tonight thank you for your time and consideration last we'll have Gabriel Marquez uh yes good evening everyone good evening to the board and even to the chair of the board the honorable Miss Surl Law my name is G Marquez though I'm sure you all know me by now been coming here a few months missed last month though uh I'm coming to speak on behalf of the uh Taiw chapter of the DSA of which I am a co-chair i'm here to speak on issues of human human and worker rights uh the conditions I've heard of tonight that the bus drivers face um are intolerable for a lack of a better word um so I would like to see immediate action on that i will

068be letting the rest of the community know about uh what they're having being forced to endure i'm also here to speak and say uh please listen to the teachers and the staff on the issue of collective bargaining uh they perform one of the most important jobs that I can think of in our community uh raising the next generation of leaders um they deserve a fair wage like all workers do all workers deserve it um workers are entitled to the fruits of their labor in my opinion and finally I'd like to ask that the board please seriously take the um take seriously the issue of trans rights in our schools um these are some of the most vulnerable people in our society and if we cannot protect them we cannot protect anybody else we can't protect

069immigrants we can't protect black people we can't protect anyone and in this environment we're seeing a loss of rights we're seeing a real loss of liberties this is extremely important we have to do something thank you thank you [Applause] i want to thank everyone for your comments and thoughts this evening we will now move on to section three the consent agenda which includes 3.01 minutes from the work session April 24th 2025 3.02 minutes from the closed meeting April 24th 3.03 Minutes from the regular meeting April 24th 2025 3.04 Financial Reports including the revenue and expense reports for April 2025 and child nutrition reports for April 2025 3.05 the personnel report 3.06 the budget transfer at this time can we have a motion to approve the consent agenda madame Chair I move that we approve the

070consent agenda as presented thank you do I have a second second thank you Miss Alger any discussion please call the role four four four motion passes 70 thank you we'll move on to section five reports and information we have 5.01 federal funding applications dr mitchell who do we have with us good evening thank you so much Madam Chair this evening we have with us Miss Letha Brooks she is the supervisor for federal programs she will be coming to you to share the proposed spending plan for the annual federal funds that we receive we also have sitting in the audience Miss Verinda Robinson who is the program administrator for federal programs good evening Chairman Charles Law Vice Chair Best Dr mitchell and school board members on behalf of the federal programs team we truly appreciate the

071opportunity to support the division strategic agenda through the federal funds allocated to Newport News public schools in this presentation I will share the purpose and use of the form the federal formula grants titles 1 A 1D 2A 3A and 4A as defined by the elementary secondary education act or ESA the federal programs team writes manages and monitors grants that support services for all students and staff as well as complements the evidence-based interventions and programs currently in use the federal funding allocated for the 25 2025 2026 school year is approximately $17 million which includes approximately 14.1 million for title one 1.6 6 million for title 2 245,000 for title 3 and just under 922,000 for title 4 each year before finalizing all grants the federal programs team host a forum where stakeholders are invited to participate

072in a needs assessment to discuss goals and allocations an objective of this meeting is to ensure all funds are used effectively while ensuring there is no duplication of services across the district the purpose of title one part A is to improve basic programs by providing opportunities to improve academic achievement in schools with the highest percentage of students from low socioeconomic families and to ensure all children meet challenging state academic content and achievement standards these funds are largely allocated to personnel for instructional support positions as well as other grant related expenses such as assessment contract services materials supplies and indirect costs title One personnel serve over 10,000 students across 20 schools positions include prek staff family and community engagement specialists reading and instructional specialists interventionists vows tutors pair of professionals and technology support the 20 title

073one schools include three prek centers 14 elementary schools two middle schools and one high school title one schools are identified using two criteria any schools where at least 75% of the students are from low socioeconomic families must be identified as a title one school under ESA in Newport News schools are then selected per grade bands in comparison to the district socioeconomic average elementary schools are identified first to ensure comprehensive supports and interventions are provided at this foundational level the purpose of title 2 part A funding is to improve the quality of teaching and leadership through recruitment and professional development this grant provides supplemental funding to support the preparation training recruitment retention and professional growth of teachers and school leaders of grades K through 12 these funds support staff and students by providing division level instructional

074coaches and specialists to assist teachers in providing effective strategies routines and best practices for all core content additionally new students who attend private area private schools are supported through private school set aside funds which are used to enhance the private schools academic programs this grant also includes grant related expenses title three part A supports language instruction for English learners and immigrant youth funding is used to address English language proficiency and academic achievement as well as personnel English language development materials and professional development the title 4 part A is the student support and academic enrichment program this grant is intended to improve students academic achievement by providing access to a well-rounded education support safe and healthy school conditions and enhance the use of technologies to improve the academic achievement and digital literacy of all students title

0754 also includes private school set aside funds to support student needs the Title One Part D is a subgrant of the Title One Part A this grant which is written and managed in the federal programs office supports the Newport News Behavioral Health Center and is used to improve education for students who are considered neglected delinquent or at risk of dropping out of school the allocation is just over 81,500 our next step is to seek board approval of our grant proposals by June 17th so we may submit our applications to VDOE by July 1st this will ensure we are able to continue instructional programs supports and interventions for all Newport News students and staff thank you so much for allowing time to share this evening and if you have any questions I'll take them at this

076time board members do we have questions at this time um just one question I have uh in terms of like for example the funding for the um behavioral health center or Does that apply across the city or just the schools that qualify for title one title one part D for the behavior right yes that's specific to the behavioral health center in Newport News okay but that that service is provided to all students across the city regardless of which school out of the title one grant we do have services for our students that are in the school district yes okay okay but your your question is can students from across the entire district take advantage of the services at the behavior house right that may not be a that may not be in a title one

077school and the answer is yes if they qualify you know they have to meet the behavioral you know standards so to speak or criteria so the answer is yes okay and have we uh expanded the number of schools that qualify for title um for title grants yeah yes we have 20 schools this year okay and we did add a high school this year okay great are we making So that's for the upcoming year that we've expanded correct great thank you any other questions board members thank you very much we'll continue in section five reports and information 5.02 02 bianial division literacy plan for 2025 to 2027 we have moving this this way Miss Lorie Wall director of elementary teaching and learning and as you know Miss Wall has been before you on multiple occasions to

078talk about the division literacy plan so she is here tonight to provide an update good evening chairman Soros Law vice chairman Dr best members of the board and Dr mitchell i'm here this evening to share our divisions by annual literacy plan as required by the Virginia Literacy Act last spring when I brought forward the literacy plan for the 2425 school year I shared an overview of the six sections the plan must encompass and the required format for all divisions the plan being brought forth this evening follows the same format and reflects the additional requirements of grades 6 through 8 that would begin in the 2526 school year on this slide is our division's English vision that we crafted last fall to reflect our continued commitment to ensuring students are college career and citizen ready and

079our aim to do this through the use of highquality instructional materials and evidence-based practices we will continue to communicate our vision with internal and external stakeholders through multiple avenues such as professional development opportunities during pre-ervice training for teachers and our leadership conference for administrators and central office staff in addition division communication will be shared with families throughout the school year through division literature our website and division and school-based events the second section of the plan details the highquality core supplemental and intervention materials selected by the division from the Virginia Board of Education's approved list legislation set forth in the Virginia Literacy Act requires local school divisions to adopt core curriculum from the VDOE board approved list for grades K through five our locally developed English curriculum will continue to be implemented in grades six through

080eight therefore in this section it has been updated to reflect the supplemental and intervention resources from the approved VDOE list being implemented in grades six through eight nuzella as the supplemental resource and read 180 as the intervention resource they are now incorporated to support instruction and facilitate student learning the third section outlines the evidence-based reading research training that will be employed within the division during the 2425 school year all teachers reading specialists and administrators were required to complete a comprehensive VDOE approved training this slide represents the continuation of this required training for any new teachers reading specialists and administrators to deepen their knowledge of evidence-based practices and the science of reading in addition to this training all staff will engage in professional learning opportunities and or job embedded coaching to develop their knowledge and practice

081of the selected supplemental and intervention resources and core materials in elementary the fourth section details the student assessments screeners and diagnostic tools that will be utilized within the division this year marked the initial year of implementation of the new K3 screening tool the Virginia Language and Literacy Screener or Vows in the 2526 school year the implementation of the Virginia Language and Literacy Screener in grades 4 through 8 will begin only students who meet the criteria which is still being determined by the VOE will be administered the assessment as with the K3 screener an individual individualized student reading plan will be created for identified students in grades four through eight to address specific areas to be strengthened through intervention instruction in addition to these screeners we will monitor and respond to student performance through the use

082of local assessments state growth assessments in grades three through five measures of academic progress or the MAP assessment in grades six through eight and supplemental and intervention data for students receiving additional support the fifth section of the plan specifies the resources the divisions will utilize to monitor the the literacy progress of their implementation our plan outlines that we will monitor the written taught and tested curriculum through the implementation of classroom walkthroughs lesson feedback and school and district data meetings and the final section of the plan requires divisions to describe how they will involve parents caregivers and the community our plan indicates that we will expand our communication and partnership with families on the implementation of student reading plans in grades four the plan includes recommended resources that families can use to support their child's literacy

083development in addition we will continue to partner with our family and community engagement team to develop and host both school-based and district literacy events for families that involve our community partners and finally English curriculum story boards will be shared with families to provide them with an overview of what their child will be learning in their specific grade during this school year the plan must be approved by the local school board before submission to the VDOE by June 30th therefore the next step is to seek board approval at the June meeting so we can submit our plan before the June 30th due date at this time I'm happy to take any questions if you have any at this time thank you you're welcome very thorough presentation any questions from board members at this time i know

084that once you review after having seen the presentation we may may have a few thank you just had a quick question um because I may have misheard did you say that students only take the vows if they're ready to take the vows in grades four through eight in the 25 26 school year in grades four through eight it will be based on an identified criteria that the video will uh determine it's not not been determined yet so it is for a specific group of students based on the identified criteria okay under section six um student can you tell us a little bit about more about the student meeting plan sure yeah under under the student reading plan so in grades K through three currently a student who um is in the high risk ban after

085taking the vows assessment and student reading plan is developed that outlines what is the intervention they're receiving and the goals um and it's folded into our student success process um which we already had in place so the VDOE just has a set student plan that we have to have uh the components to our division already had a student support team in place that will happen then in grades four through eight next year for those students that meet the criteria to have the vow assessment administered they also then will have a student reading plan that outlines what is the intervention that they will have to support and strengthen those areas identified on on the screener and will there be a component for parents to do as well in this in the reading plan there is actually

086the VDOE as part of that plan has a section where we um link back to here are resources that support a family for the goals for their child um so that's on every individual plan um the four through eight plan has not been released from the BDOE yet um we will certainly look at parent involvement um with that student reading plan regardless if there's a section on the fourth rate plan thank you anyone else oh Mr brown yes i have a question in regards going same with staying with the vowels assessment sure um what is the purpose behind filtering the students who are taking the vowel assessment in other words why don't all the students take the bow vowels assessment and then if I'm a parent and I want my child to have the vowels

087assessment so I can in essence see where they are is that something I can request um if you could speak to those so in K through three we screen all children as a um screener for K2 and then identified students in third grade and that's to determine do you have um reading difficulties that we need to close gaps early for early intervention when the VDOE is bringing in a 4 through8 screener the criteria that's already established by the by the VOE will say we've already identified that you're you're well past K through three and so we've identified through whatever criteria they come up with that if you meet that criteria that screener will be able to pinpoint what are the areas that are holding you back from being able to to move into grade level

088material you if you don't meet that screening criteria you don't show that you need to have a diagnostic to diagnose that you have areas that we need to close because you're you're already meeting those benchmarks so the reason in fourth through eight you don't give it to everyone is because not everyone is showing they have those gaps to close so is there another assessment that everyone gets to That's the MAP assessment so in grades four and six through eight they would get the MAP assessment in grades uh three through five they would get the Virginia growth assessment so we do an all and then we do the part based off of what you did on your overall diagnostic yes yeah douglas you had a question i'm sorry Mr brown you had a question that was

089if a parent wants to have their child yes I'm sorry right so it's in essence if a parent says well I still feel that my child may be struggling and I want them assessed anyway could we give the vows assessment to that child of course so if it was a parent recommendation they would they would say even though they don't meet the criteria can we give the assessment and give them the results we could yes yes um I I went through the literacy plan and uh and thank you so much for all the work um behind the scenes because I know it's there's a sense of urgency with with everything um just a couple of questions uh does every school have a reading specialist and are they responsible for coaching and also do they do

090the interventions as well i'm just Yeah so um VDOE it's one to 550 students for grades K through five it's 1 to 1,000 students in grades um four through eight however we have allocated um a reading specialist position at every elementary school um so we're in the hiring process now for the 2526 school year to have um those filled for the for the um 2526 school year so yes second question coaching do they do the coaching interventions so it will depend on the need of the school how much coaching and how much student support um because we have other uh positions that are fully invested in intervention support that they are trained to do that reading specialists is one of them so they divide their time based on the need of their school okay but

091they are trained in both okay and in terms of training so one of the things when I was reading it I I know that the teachers uh administrators are getting trained are we including uh long-term subs as well as uh instructional aids or uh teacher assistants right the um Val's training that I mean the u VDOE training is a year-long training that um certified teachers u go through those that are associates are working towards their associate those that are associates are working to be certified teachers so once they are certified teachers they then will take that VDOE training however they are included in all of our school-based and district-based training around our core supplemental and intervention so they are learning about the science of reading they are learning about how to use the materials and

092then and they're learning how to give the assessments through through our support once they're certified teachers they will take the training that the VDOE um recommends okay and the last thing was just uh uh just two suggestions that I had one in terms of um section five I think it would be a good idea um to have possibly the uh principal and teachers uh surveyed as far as feedback um uh with respect to support and I think that that would be a good information for for us as a board um especially during the budget process if we need more support we can certain certainly talk about allocating funding and and things of that nature and section six I'd like to somehow tie in university partners too and put that in the application if possible uh

093because they're you know they're they could certainly provide us a lot of support as well um and I don't mean university partners as tutors i'm talking about uh actual universities CNU William Mary yes yes uh and UVA and we are partnering um and I'd like to see that recognized in the plan absolutely right it's all hands on deck yes ma'am okay are we good thank you so much we appreciate you last we'll move on to section five reports and information 5.03 summer learning opportunities dr mitchell we've been waiting for this one yes they have Dr rogers hi Dr rogers dr rogers is here to share with you some of our plans for summer learning opportunities for our students so thank you Dr mitchell good evening Madame Chair Surls Law Vice Chair Dr best Dr mitchell

094members of the school board this evening I'm here to present an update on our summer learning opportunities for 2025 tonight's presentation will provide a very high level overview of what our plans are as well as focusing on how Elevate which is what we call our summer learning opportunities how that will address the current needs of our students as well as set the stage for a revitalized summer learning experience in our division this summer Newport News Public Schools will offer a variety of summer accelerated learning opportunities for our students elevate will provide remediation for identified students in grades preK through 8 while Steam camps will provide enrichment opportunities for other selected students in current grades 2 through nine current 8th through 11th grade students have both credit recovery as well as credit advancement opportunities during two

095separate high school sessions those students are able to to attend just one or both of those sessions the slide in front of you shows where all programming begins and during the last week in June and there are three ele three elementary elevate sites one middle school site and one high school site and elementary schools are uh Discovery STEM or DSA Greenwood Elementary and Sedgeville Elementary gildersley Middle School will house our middle school students and Woods High School will house our high school programming for our Elevate program elementary elementary and middle schools will run from June 30th through July 24 while high schools will have both sessions June 23rd through July 10th and resume the second session from July 14th through July 31 elementary schools will all follow the same schedule while middle school hours will

096vary slightly and high school hours are designed to accommodate different programs including credit advancement credit recovery as well as the summer institute for the arts i want to talk a little bit about the elementary focus so this summer the elementary elevate program would be centered again around camp themed experiences while focusing on literacy numeracy as well as science science will be provided in the afternoon through enrichment provided by our community partners and as noted previously each elementary site will host a family day to showcase the exciting learning and activities that have taken place throughout the summer which is in alignment with component six from the literacy program family day is scheduled for the July 24th and we certainly invite you to participate in that i have a video that I'll show with you momentarily that

097we'll share with all of our families who signed up or whose students were selected to participate in the program exciting camp experience this summer welcome to Camp Elevate a 4WE adventure that brings the fun of the great outdoors into an engaging and empowering classroom experience designed to develop confidence and independence in your young camper unlike other summer camps this adventure has no outrageous price tag and is completely free for Newport News families transportation breakfast and lunch are provided at no additional cost get ready to read sing explore and learn together daily adventures include exploring literacy solving fun math challenges and enjoying unique learning experiences with local businesses and community partners campers will be recognized for their leadership and social skills all while making new friends growing as lifelong learners and celebrating with loved ones on

098the last day of camp during family day so don't miss this amazing summer opportunity complete and return your child's Camp Elevate application today to enjoy this one-of-a-kind summer learning experience that will engage and inspire all learners right not all of our students participate in are enrolled in Elevate for those families who want their children to participate in in something that's enriching for them our team created a summer learning portal for students to participate in it's an um a multi-week opportunity for students i want to share a short video that better captures what it can do uh than I can share with you for your child the NNPS Elementary Summer Learning Portal is an online resource that allows the flexibility to choose when where and how much students engage in learning all from the comfort of

099your own home simply select a grade your child just completed and enjoy daily learning activities designed to be fun and educational so that's an opportunity for families to go a grade level up or grade level down at their own pace over eight weeks and they can have content in English excuse me reading math or science so this is a great opportunity for families when their children say that they're bored to give them an opportunity to participate in something that will give them some support during the summer as for our secondary opportunities middle school programming will have focus on English and math remediation students will also be provided with enrichment opportunities in the afternoon through our community partners high school students will have the opportunity to recover credit from classes that they were unsuccessful in during

100the school year and additionally we will offer credit advancement in health one and two drivers ed outdoor ed one and two geometry algebra and economics and personal finance so how do we identify students for elevate elementary middle school students were selected for the elevate program based on divisionwide performance criterion math and reading and families were notified via the marking three report card for high school students eligible for credit recovery that's communicated with them through the marking period 3 report card again at the school year's end students are registered for credit courses through their school counseling office the number of students registering for and attending will be shared at the conclusion of summer school when we usually come just at the end of summer or just at the beginning of the fall relative to some of

101our innovative summer learning opportunities as part of our commitment to innovate summer learning and we talked about that the summer before last i'd like to share just an overview of our elevate steam camps this enrichment program provides rising third through 10th grade students with opportunities to apply STEM and STEAM skills through a project-based learning curriculum students have the opportunity to explore science math robotics computer science and the arts while supporting or learning about real world problems they also engaged in hands-on challenges alongside mentors from colleges universities as well as industry partners this summer Ella Fitzgerald Middle School will serve as an NPS steam center and we are planning to welcome 650 students in those programs the camp does run through Monday through Thursday from July 7th through July 24th the student hours are from 9:30

102a.m until 2:30 p.m the experience wraps up with a family and community expo on July 24th just as our other programs do each eligible eligible student received a personalized invitation and families will be notified of their acceptance by May 30th of this month a lottery is used to a lottery will be used if applications exceed available seats so just a little bit about the programs that we're offering this year's program also brings several exciting additions and recognitions that we're excited to highlight this year we've introduced four new camps that strengthen the A in STEAM giving students the opportunities to explore theater visual design 3D art as well as music and those are highlighted or bolded on the slide in front of you campusend which is an aerospace focused engineering camp for rising nth and tth

103grade students is in partnership with the Virginia Space Flight Academy mariners's Museum excuse me Mariners's Adventure Camp returns this summer through our ongoing partnerships with Oldmin University and is designed to build student interest in our new maritime engineering and environmental studies academy otherwise known as Misa to support these experiences we've hired 10 Newport News public schools career pathways mentors as well as more than 20 William and Mary pre-ervice teachers and STEM majors those will compete complete coursework and field placements on site at the Steam Center we're also proud to share that this university school collaboration earned Newport News Public Schools and William and Mary the 2025 Virginia School University Partnership Project Award recognizing our shared commitment to both student learning as well as teacher preparation through our innovative summer programming and at this time I

104do have members of my team and I want to recognize Mr anthony Tyler behind me who serves as our director of um academic enrichment and intervention is a little bit of a mouthful uh of our program and he's absolutely spearheaded the programs for our summer so at this time we'll answer any questions that you might have i do okay one of my questions was asked about driver's ed but you answered that one so thank you and I encourage parents we have the best driving instructors the best driving school so get them in that program um that's how wild drops go um so the video said that they were invited when I think about an invite I think I can decline if I don't want to come can you which program the for the for the

105elementaryaries in particular so we do invite invite students lots of students are invited to come and we use data to determine who is invited of course any parent who wants their uh child to participate in summer school we're not going to tell them that they can't apply for it of course but we do specifically invite students to uh participate in those programs and complete application and we do um kind of hunt some students down and make sure we get those applications back so if if I respectfully declined you would hunt me down we would we would encourage especially if it's a student who could benefit from the opportunity one of the things that we've done Dr the best uh last year and this year is to make the summer learning opportunity fun and make it

106attractive to kids so it doesn't feel like um it's arduous or uh you know not an opportunity for fun you know so uh the team has worked really hard to to bring it into like a summer camp environment so that kids would look forward to going and not you know I don't want to go to summer school because it's more of what I did in the fall and the spring okay and one more sure so you said the the numbers will be reported at the end of the session correct we have uh 1766 applications right now is that right Mr if I get that number right I'm impressed so So what's our target what that was going to be my question particularly both for elementary and for um secondary as well for um recovery um

107because we can identify whatever 400 so is do we look at 75% of those or is there some goals in mind so I don't know that we have a specific target number because that again the data is determining who we uh invite to uh the summer program at the end of third market period of course uh as we close uh the school year we'll take a look at additional students who may benefit from summer learning opportunities we try to encourage families to apply early so we can get a number because it has implications on staffing has implications on transportation u so we have to plan uh in a nutshell but uh by the second marking period and third marking period teachers have a pretty good idea about the number of students who uh they have

108in their classrooms who would benefit from a summer summer learning opportunity so uh Mr just highlight that we specifically plan for a specific number between all programs between all program I believe we should meet that goal or exceed it right now high school the application session is June 9th right and so we're waiting for because that's that's the one I was more interested in the secondary um the recovery and that type of thing sure thank you but again Dr rogers you stated earlier if a parent wants their child to attend we are not turning students away we've had that conversation oh I just wanted to thank you um piggy back on Dr best's questions do we have a sense of I'm more interested on the elementary side of but you know like the reading and

109math of elementary and middle school recovery do we have a sense of how many we invite versus how many attend accept the opportunity yes uh we can get that information for you at the close we will absolutely have a a count of the number of students that were invited as opposed to the number who attend as opposed to the number who complete the first day uh and the last day uh from beginning to end so we will absolutely use those data for you i wanted to ask in terms of um I know sometimes parents and elementary uh will not send their children because of child care issues do we have any partnerships with uh nearby organizations or um that may be tied to the school to help with child care um parents need that I'm

110aware of so I know parks and recck usually partners with with schools and I'm not sure where the team is i can get that information with you with parks and wreck but generally um not as a practice as of late at at least since I've been here because that might be a selling point uh for for students to attend right okay Mr brown so uh I'll make a comment then ask a question the comment is uh thank you for a very strong uh summer offering hats off to the team for creating what looked like a set of very compelling camps when we talked as a board about um our we were been discussing our strategic goals and talking about a culture of advancement and so this uh particular summer set of uh summer camps and

111opportunities for students I think is a very strong example of what a culture of advancement looks like in our schools and so I want to say u congratulations on on that piece of it and then the question is around uh what do the future years look like as far as being able to expand the number of offerings especially middle and high school for soverified credits uh and expanding the number of seats available for kids you know going into out years i think our our biggest year that we've ever had was about 6,000 students or something like that how can we flex ourselves to get to that and beyond in the future to expand the program uh for those number of students and offer more courses in the middle and high school area sure that's a

112really good question Mr brown i think this year we've expanded the steam camps we have more students who uh are interested in summer learning opportunities as well as their families uh and to Mrs al's point uh when fall and spring school stops as does child care in many instances and you know not all students need uh remediation opportunities or are interested in advancement opportunities because the schedule doesn't work uh so we've tried really hard this year to make it more attractive to families uh to want to send their children to um some of the camps that we've uh created with our steam camps i don't I don't have the exact numbers but I know we did expand I asked the team to expand the opportunities and they uh absolutely rose to beat my expectation in

113terms of uh expanding I the steam part of those opportunities the goal is to um remediate less students and provide more opportunities for advancement so um we don't have hard fast numbers Mr brown but that is the goal yes thank you any other questions board members i just I just want to ask sort of a question and maybe do we capture if people choose not to go why they're choosing not to go and or you know if there are hindrances to people participating when their students or families when their students could really benefit from it just for information so we can work to um you know improve on those you know minimize those hurdles and so that more so I don't know whether we capture them systemically I know we capture data so that we

114can pull it Mr parents come from elevate you have to decline in writing your reason why we document that so we'll share that information when we bring a end of the program report some of the reasons why families declined that'll be helpful yeah thank you anyone else we're excited for summer we'll be in the buildings Right 5.04 the attendance report 5.05 the membership report 5.06 construction report board members you've received a copy this report are there any questions at this time hearing none we'll move on to 5.07 comments by the superintendent dr mitchell thank you Madam Chair we celebrated all 42 of our 2025 2026 teachers of the year at our annual banquet and announced three divisionwide honores that you see on the screen jenkins Elementary School's reading specialist Michelle Young was chosen as the

115elementary teacher of the year and the divisionwide teacher of the year hines Middle School's eighth grade science teacher Sarah Watson has been recognized as the middle school teacher of the year while Menchville High School's government and law teacher Kylie Davis was awarded the high school teacher of the year so congratulations to all of our dedicated teachers of the year a fun day that comes around every year STEM Community Day in collaboration with Christopher Newport University will take place on May the 31st right down the street at CNU and we strongly encourage everyone to join us for a day of exploration and discovery that's usually very well attended and it is a lot of fun we want to recognize all National Educational Bosses it is National Educational Bosses Week from May 19th to the 23rd and

116we want to extend a very big thank you to all of our leaders who make our schools and our operations run smoothly while supporting our employees and our students many of you are aware that May is mental health month and I would really like to emphasize the importance of nurturing our own mental health taking breaks to recharge and asking for a listening ear or help when needed we appreciate all the staff who work in this area and those who make sure that our students and our staff have the resources that they need may is also National Speech Language Hearing Month this provides an opportunity to raise an awareness about communication needs and the importance of those who work to ensure equal access to everyone for teaching and learning please be aware that you can help

117to support those in our school community who may be living each day with a speech language or hearing condition uh upcoming on the calendar schools and offices will be closed May 26 for Memorial Day for the holiday elementary and middle schools will have early dismissal parents um early dismissal and high schools will have half day dismissal on June the 6th the 9th and the 10th so again early dismissal for elementary and middle school and half day dismissal for high schools on June the 6th the 9th and the 10th and the big day is coming very quickly our graduation schedule is set for an achievable dream high school their graduation will be held on June the 5th right down the street at CNU's Ferguson Center and then at the Hampton Coliseum Menchville Warick and Woodside high

118schools will hold their graduations on June the 7th and then we will finish it out with Denby and Heritage High Schools they will graduate at the Hampton Coliseum on June the 8th and students and parents the last student day for this school year will be June the 10th and the last day for our teachers will be June the 11th so this concludes my comments and I cannot believe the school year is almost over gone by quickly thank you Dr and I see Ras Van down there smiling we will move on to item six another opportunity to hear from the public do we have any cards no ma'am now we will move on to matters by the school board tell us why you're so excited good evening everyone as Dr mitchell said I also can't believe

119the school year is almost over to all of our students I hope you have a wonderful rest of the school year however short that is as well as a wonderful summer and to all of our graduating seniors I wish you luck in the future and I hope that you also have an enjoyable summer and a wonderful start to your adult lives um we held our last SAGE meeting on May 7th and we elected the new student representative to the school board for next year her name is Kyla Leagget and she is currently a junior at Menchville High School and was actually recognized this evening with Mench Menchville's archery team i wish her the best as she co-chairs the student advisory board meetings with Dr mitchell and attends the school board meetings next year although I

120have one more school board meeting in June I wanted to share that as for my plans for the future I will be attending Princeton University next year thank you we are really excited I could we could end on a high note just in there good good good board members shall we end on that high note this meeting is adjourned