001Good evening. Welcome to the June 8th Doorchester District 2 Board of Trustees meeting. At this time, I would ask for a motion to approve the consent agenda and meeting minutes. >> So moved. >> Motion made by Mr. Guthrie. Second. >> Seconded by Miss Bates. Any questions or discussion? hearing. None. We will call for the vote. Motion carries. Six in favor, one absent. All right. Start us out this evening. We will have our district highlights. And I believe we have Miss Jennifer Passmore helping us with those this evening. >> Good evening everyone. It's my honor to introduce Miss Katie Barker, assistant superintendent, who will present the district's 2026 validictorians and saludiatorans. Following her presentation, Mr. Tyrone Drake, DD2's athletic director, will present the 2026 softball state champions. Good evening everyone. Tonight it is my privilege to
002recognize some outstanding students from our 2025 2026 graduating class, our validictorians and saludiatorans. These students have distinguished themselves through exceptional academic achievement, perseverance, leadership, and a commitment to excellence through their high throughout their high school careers. Earning the honor of validictorian or saludiatoran requires years of dedication, countless hours of hard work, and a determination to continually challenge oneself. While their academic accomplishments are remarkable, what truly makes these students special is the character, resilience, and integrity that they have demonstrated along the way. Behind each of these achievements is a network of support from families, teachers, counselors, administrators, and mentors who have encouraged them throughout their educational journey. We thank all of those who have helped these students reach this milestone. When I call your name, if you will please come to the front to be recognized
003and audience, if you will join me in congratulating our high school valadictorians and saludiatorans as we celebrate their achievements. From Ashley Ridge High School, validictorian, Victoria Rose Clark. from Ashley Ridge High School. Saludiatoran Hayden Andrew Nicholas Fort Dorchester High School validictorian Hannah Martinez Franco. She is not here tonight, but we will give her a round of applause. Fort Dorchester High School saludiatoran Laney Elizabeth Counterman. Somerville High School validictorian Dominique Alexia Dawson. Somerville High School saludiatoran Katherine Nicole Harden for >> Let's give all of these students another round of applause. Good evening everyone. Please join me in congratulating the Summerville Green Wave softball team, Coach Heather Tucker, her outstanding coaching staff on winning the South Carolina High School League 5A Division One State Championship. With this championship, Coach Tucker and her program now have captured three
004state championships in the last four years, further solidifying Somerville softball as one of the premier programs and arguably one of the greatest dynasties in South Carolina High School League athlete athletics. The accomplishment of this program over the past several years have been nothing short of remarkable. Three South Carolina High School League state championships, four consecutive state championship appearances, 125 and four overall record over the last four years, five consecutive 30 plus win seasons. This achievement is a direct reflection of the culture of excellence, toughness, consistency, discipline, and commitment that coach Tucker and her staff have established within the program. Sustaining success at the highest level year after year is an extraordinary accomplishment and what this team has achieved deserves tremendous recognition and appreciation. Most importantly, this championship represents the hard work, dedication, and resilience of
005the student athletes who proudly represent Summerrville High School and their community. Their commitment to excellence both on and off the field has set a standard that inspires future generations of Green Wave athletes. Congratulations to Coach Tucker, her staff, and the entire Summerville Greenwave softball family on an incredible season and welldeserved state championship. All right. The next item on our agenda this evening is our public comments on agenda items. We have one, Mr. Jason Brocker. Agenda item 5A, policies for first reading. And I know that when I walk up to this podium, the pressure in the room changes and the eyes start around. You look at me and you see a disruption. I get that. You see the boogeyman. But a boogeyman is simply a dark truth that you're terrified to look at in the daylight.
006Now, you have several bullying policies up for first reading, and I didn't have any access to the proposed changes as of Saturday when I wrote my notes, but they showed up today. Um, the changes to the bullying policy alone would take me more than 3 minutes. So, by the way, if you try to stop my public comment tonight due to being off topic, you're just going to have to give me the extra time to explain that I'm still on topic. I'm an engineer. I'm wired to analyze systems, isolate root causes, and look at hard data. And the data sitting on your ledger for years is catastrophic. Let's look at the metrics that you choose to celebrate. And earlier this year, you celebrated the South Carolina Middle Principal of the Year, and the applause was loud.
007That principal isn't in DD2 anymore. Interesting. But before the award, before the accolades, and before their upcoming transfer to Northwoods Middle School, there was Oakbrook Middle School. There was bullying. What's on your policy to have changes? And under their direct command, a 14-year-old boy named Julian was subjected to documented systemic bullying. We reported it. We had several meetings with teachers and admin. And your safety protocols failed. The leadership failed and the human cost of that failure is permanent. My family carries that devastating weight every single second of our lives. So, I'm putting this board and CCSC on notice tonight. I'm not letting this go. And we don't want vengeance. We demand basic human accountability. This is what bullying prevention looks like. Calling out the behavior in all of its forms. and your policy changes do
008not reflect that. There's a policy committee meeting next week. I'll be there for that. Our principle is love above all. And love above all means demanding the truth from the powerful. We're breaking the silence. And you can attempt to ignore us all you want, but we'll come back later. I have here I'm going to leave you a present. This is a copy, an advanced copy of the interrogatories and requests for production for the pending litigation that you're not allowed to discuss, but I don't have a team of lawyers, so nobody stops me from doing it. I'm going to leave this for you as good faith to let you know that I'll give you a heads up every single time, just like my notes for this meeting have been publicly shared. Anytime you want to see
009what I have to say to you at this board, you can look at my notes that are shared on the website honoringjulen.org. Click transparency and you'll see what transparency looks like. Good night. >> Thank you, Mr. Brockert. All right. Next item on our agenda is our board committee reports and we will begin with our policy committee. Miss Bates. Thank you, Madam Chair. We have several policies up for first reading today. They are as follows. JIC FAA, harassment, intimidation, or bullying. JIC FAA the rule harassment, intimidation or bullying. J III, student concerns, complaints, grievances. JII, the rule, students concerns, complaints, and grievances. And IHBC D, alternative education program, and a new policy, whistleblower protections. All right. Thank you, Miss Bates. As these are coming out of committee, we do not need a second. At this time,
010do we have any questions or discussion? All right. Hearing none, we will call for the vote. Motion carries. Six in favor, one absent. Um, I also know we have an upcoming meeting June 15th at 9:00 am. There were some policies that we wanted to ensure we took a look at prior to the upcoming school year and they had time to go through the process. So, just a heads up that will be livereamed also available to the public just the same, but June 15th at 900 a.m. and that's it. >> All right. Thank you, Miss Bates. Next up, we have our finance committee, Mr. Lee. The uh finance committee did not meet before tonight's meeting, but tonight's meeting we are going to be going through the proposed budget for next year and hear the final updates
011and hopefully we will have the information we need to make a decision this evening. The finance committee's next meeting will be before our next board meeting. >> Right. Great. Thank you, Mr. Lee. All right. And then next we have our facilities committee, Miss Powell. Anything to report this evening? >> Good evening. No, we don't. Um, we just continue to make progress and um, just passing by by Somerville Elementary, you can see for yourself how much progress has been made and continue to be made, but we should have more to um, present maybe at our next meeting. >> All right. Excellent. Thank you. And then we have our governmental and community relations committee, Mr. Lee or Miss Bates. Anything to share this evening? >> Yeah, maybe both. Uh, >> or both. Absolutely. Yeah, we continue to
012look at various uh entities that we need to uh develop better relationships, strengthen relationships, have more uh productive relationships as we look at all the things that impact DD2. And uh we're in an interesting period of time here in Dorchester County. Um, our county council is going through some changes. That's some new members. Uh, they're going to have a couple new members uh at least uh coming out of the upcoming election and whatnot. Uh, but in some of the runup here to getting answers to questions regarding the budget and revenues and whatnot, it's clear that we need to kind of take it another step further. So, one of the things as a committee we're we're going to seek is to sit down and have a conversation with our county administrator and the county chief financial
013officer uh to discuss now the process for budgeting uh and also go through uh maybe get a little bit better understanding of exactly how these estimates are uh uh developed and what we need to understand about estimates. Um I in my capacity as a management consultant when I'm not doing things with the board um one of the things that you have to deal with at all times is realizing what are your assumptions and what your estimates are what the degree of confidence and reliability you have in those estimates so that you can make planning decisions. Uh hopefully tonight we're going to be making not just planning decisions, but decisions on how we're going to go forward from a district expense standpoint. This isn't all just about money. However, uh we continue to deal with challenges
014around how growth is taking place in our county, how thoughts about growth are taking place in the county, and whether or not the DD2 administration and board actually have adequate representation at various meetings that are taking place where matters are discussed that will have an impact on our schools. And so we want to strengthen those relationships and develop those relationships going forward. We talked about some that we want to have happen. Some ideas we have already. You can go back to to past meetings about that. But the uh the urgency and the importance of doing so uh through this last budget cycle on both of those counts is not lost on me. And so I encourage everyone to uh to get involved uh and pay attention to what's going on with our community relations and
015what's happening in your community uh as it relates to our schools. Miss Bates, >> well, you pretty much summed up more eloquently than what I was going to say very similar um concerns and and just commentary. So, I appreciate your banter with me and um I just think that I agree we need to continue to sit down with the county council, the auditor, with the chief financial officer, ensure that our processes are working for us, um that we're getting the information we need and that it's the best process moving forward and how we can refine that to better ensure that we're getting what we need as a school district to adequately prepare and make decisions each budget cycle coming forward. So, I appreciate that and thank you. U Madam Chair, I need to add one
016thing. Um, as you all may know or may not know, one of the election sites for the primary was over at Marcy Bryan O'Brien's um community center uh center. And during that time, I was over there and um discovered that there was an issue with the bathrooms and um I mentioned it to the workers to see if they had had an issue and then they told me several other things that they had an issue with. I contacted Mr. Pharaoh and before I left his office, he said he was on it had already contacted them. By the time I got back there the next morning to the um center, I got word that that the workers said, I don't know what you said or did, but what a whole bunch of them came over and they
017corrected several things that we had mentioned. So, I just want you to know that our facilities group, I mean, they try to be on it as much as possible and we are very appreciative that the community was able to see that and we have a couple other things that need to be worked on, but um I'm sure that's going to happen very very soon. So, I want to say thank you to the facility members that work for us that they're doing a great job and we appreciate that. >> All right. Thank you all very much. Next on the agenda this evening, we have our board chairs report. Um, and I have some dates to share with you. Things have slowed down a little bit, but we do have a few things going on this summer.
018Um, so you can mark these on your calendar. July 14th, we have our summer school graduation. July 27th, we have our board retreat. Um, Mr. Dhy and I have been working on the agenda for that. I know I've reached out and I've heard back from some of you. So, if you have anything else that you would like to send me, please feel free to do that. Once we kind of have that agenda nailed down a little bit, we can decide on how much time we'll need and we will um set the time for that day. And then last but not least, we also have the August um the SCSBA school law conference um in August. And so, if you are interested in attending that, please let Wanda know and she can get you registered. Any
019questions about any of those things? All right. Great. Thank you. Now, we will move on to our superintendent report. Mr. Dohy. >> Yes, madam chair and the rest of the board. We have several items to discuss this evening. And our first item on the superintendent report is our literacy update. And I'm going to invite uh Mrs. Carrie Ball Hodgej, director of elementary schools, and she's going to be able to provide you a kind of a literacy update and a few other items. So, Mrs. Ball Hodgej, >> good evening. Um, Dr. Wimberly, Mr. Jordy, and the board. Um, I'm here to provide a few updates. Today, first of all, was our first day. We kicked off our summer reading camp. So, it's been a very wonderful day. Uh, we welcomed, well, we invited 470 students. I'm
020jumping ahead of myself, but just really excited about kicking off our You would think we just ended school. Um, but we missed them already. So, um it was great to see kids back in buildings already. So, I'm going to begin with our letters journey. Um as you know, we've been participating in letters since 2024 in January. Uh it is mandated by the state department um from our Read to Succeed Act for our early childhood teachers um that teach 4K all the way through third grade and for our special education teachers that work with students in those grade levels. So they are required to participate in letters and so our district has been participating in letters since 2024. Um our district implemented that with five elementary schools in January then and then we transitioned to all
02115 elementary schools that following August. Um and then this year we ended with our 4K joining us in August of 2025. If you remember, we um had those professional development opportunities on our early release days. Uh we had some full day opportunities. They were all virtual and some of them were during early release days. So, it was really neat to have those shared learning experiences to either validate what we were already doing with the science of reading and as well as those new additional learning opportunities. So, um, and then we've just had, um, some of our data debriefings with our administrators and they shared pictures, they've shared data, just all of the ways that they've been incorporating the science of reading within their buildings and share, you know, them as building leaders and what they've
022learned and different professional development sessions that they've been holding or that they've observed. Uh, and just the excitement and enthusiasm. It's been contagious. So we are we've shared that we are going to begin taking that back to our content specialists and linking that to our pacing guides and our planning guides just so it continues to remain fresh and we remember our why and why we are doing what we are doing um for our new learners for our teachers um to make it relevant. So during this time we've had five active cohorts going and so that has been a little bit to keep up with as um teachers are moving in and out throughout our district. So we've had over 500 teachers participating fourth grade through fifth 4K through fifth grade. Um and we've continued sustaining
023and expanding implementation to improve literacy outcomes. So you can see over 93% received um I'm sorry um we've received a score of over 93% um out of 100. So that's a great that they have to receive a score of 80% or higher to pass the course. So we're excited about that. Um, that's our participation rate, that middle slide right there. So, you can see that we have a little bit of light blue. We do have a group that is still working towards that group that joined us this year. And then that last slide, that's one of our groups, Sand Hill group. Um, they wanted to take a picture and send it over to us. So, we have several pictures like that. And I believe that you will receive an update um from Mr. Dhy um
024coming up for our year in review. So, do you guys have any questions for me regarding letters? >> I do have a question. You talked about the five cohorts and majority all of our teachers receive a stipen and it was a lot of work for our teachers. >> Yes, sir. >> And I know you had to work a lot of time to make sure teachers were getting paid and so I know that was a frustration uh on our end not getting that from the state. So, um because I know our teachers it was a heavy lift for them to complete this while they're doing their job. And so can you kind of touch a little bit of base how that that stipen that pay went because I know that was a frustration I know on
025some of our teachers. So could you explain a little bit of that? >> Yes. So they first have get to submit a W9 and they submit their address all of their confidential information on there and they have to you know vouch that it's correct. Then we put it on spreadsheets. Then they have to submit um what's called a CSI, a contract service invoice um for both a volume one and a volume two. It has to match their W9. Then I get to go in and check all of their coursework for volume one as well as volume two, their hours of completion um for each unit as well as that 80% score that I talked about. then a reset if that's not um the score that they've um were supposed to receive and then ask for
026a reset and and whatnot. So there is a lot of um behindthe-scene work that goes into this and then it all gets uploaded um not only to spreadsheets but uploaded um in particular order to the state department and then it's usually about a four to six month kind of turnaround in some instances. Right? So um again I'm not the keeper. I I upload the information and then they go and they check behind me. So, um, and if things don't match or if they leave off like apartment numbers, things like that, it can take a even more time for a school, um, for their honorariums to be processed. So, again, we constantly are in communication with them and working with them. So, but I I have to say honorariums are being processed. In fact, I just
027received um an email from the state department today. They are constantly processing them. It's just it's not a quick overnight thing. then they have their own process on their end that they have to check their, you know, it's tax documents, things like that. So, it's not a quick fix on anyone's side. So, >> thank you. I know you've worked tirelessly for for that to try to make sure our teachers were paid with all the work they were done. So, thank you for explaining the process. >> Thank you. And like I said, it's not just once, it's 500, but then you do it twice and you have to check each person's time usage and their scores for each section. So, so that is our letters journey. Any more questions for that? >> Well, I'm just curious,
028Mr. Superintendent, in their spare time, we could possibly have them work on Medicaid processing uh and and the fraud that we see in that. That process is ridiculous. But anyway, thank you. >> All right, so next up is our read to succeed preliminary data for third grade. So if you look at our 2025 compared to 2026, these are our third grade students. So last year we had 1,869 students um that took the assessment and this year we had 1,880 students that took the assessment. Um so this last year we had 248 students that scored below for our read to succeed and again they had to score um does not meet um I believe it was in one area. Is that right Miss Barker? Um and now it was in two areas. So it was even
029more challenging this year. So if you look at down below the percentage um we had 11% this year that score does not meet. So it looks like we're trending in the right direction. So, I'm hoping all that letters work. We're we're moving in the right direction. So, again, I can't speak um again, these are our preliminary read to succeed um data. So, I can't speak too much to embargo um you know, data. This is certainly meets the read to succeed requirements um for the purpose of summer reading camp. So, do you guys have any questions about this data? This is one of the resources that we use um for summer reading camp. Again, we use map data um for our third graders of a score of 186. And that's just one of the resources that
030we use. Any questions about that? And that sport starts way back in the fall when they receive that letter as you guys know. I know we talked about that in the fall. And then they get another letter in the winter and then they were able to take an assessment. Um when these scores came back, their facilitators gave um these students an assessment to see how they did and if they scored a 186 or higher, they were able to not they didn't have to attend summer reading camp, although it was highly encouraged or if they had a good cause exemption. >> Yes. I have a question. Have you been able to nail down the top three reasons or what is leading to them not being successful? And if so, have you come up with a response
031to that? >> Not being successful for >> Well, 11% of ours in 2026 weren't successful. It could be for various reasons such as maybe these students um have, you know, an IEP, maybe they are new to um the country, maybe they're new to, you know, third grade, maybe they um need a little bit more time. There are lots of things but we can certainly look into that and provide that data for you at a later time once we get again this is our kind of um beginning data where we're starting but I know we plan to provide you a some more information after we end summer reading camp um once it's complete to share with you how we did over the summer and um the results of how many students you know at the end
032of uh how many were retained etc. Okay, >> does that sound good? >> How many weeks is it? >> It is going to be So on the next slide, do you mind? Or I can flip it for you. There we go. It's kind of small. So So it is going to be 20 days summer reading camp. So it's going to begin June 8th, which is today. Yay. We've been up for a little while, so bear with me. >> Um through July 9th, and it's Monday through Thursday. and it starts from 7:30 a.m. until 2:00 p.m. Um, and so it's going to be at two sites. So we have Flowertown Elementary School and Eagle Nest Elementary School. We have 284 students at Flowertown with about 19 teachers right now um with two um media specialist assistants
033and one media specialist and 186 students at the NEST um with 13 teachers. Okay. And that's just the way it kind of shook out with the students that qualified. Um again I said uh it's about approximately 130 hours with 20 days um Monday through Thursday. Um and really the focus is reading instruction with phonics and phmic awareness and they're giving again we talked about letters they're given a letters assessment through their reading coach or um their facilitator um prior to coming. So, we're not wasting any more time with assessments and it's given to them by someone that knows them, that known adult. So, we're giving them that differentiated instruction right away, right when they walk in the door. So, um but again, we're using the curriculum that high quality instructional materials, HMH. Um we're using
034UFly and Heggerty in a prescribed schedule that's built in with lots of recess. Um they get um it's a fine arts rotation, but that fine arts looks like um research and it's going through the media center. So, um, that's the kind of their extra time that they're getting. >> Okay. Um, well, I think the point I'm trying to get to is if, say for instance, if you have a month, then within two weeks, is there some type of assessment that you're doing to see what we're doing? Is it successful? Do we need to make changes? Do we see progress? No progress? And if we don't see the positive, how do we address that? >> Sure. So there are going to be built-in checks throughout and parents are getting those progress reports built in. So every
035week a parent will receive a progress report that will go home weekly. >> Okay. >> And then >> but beyond the progress report that's going home, I think my whole thing is how do we basically eradicate the 11%. And what is it we need to do? And this is not to put you on the spot. I'm just saying anytime you start a program in my mind then you have to have some kind of uh indication as to whether or not it's working. If it is, we continue. If it's not, how do we tweak it? What needs to happen? Do we have enough parental involvement? >> Sure. >> I doubt it. But anyway, um what do we need to do? because that means that those children stand a chance of having to be retained because if
036you don't pass third grade then you're not supposed to be retained although I think it needs to be earlier but >> what what we are working with um we need to make sure we can determine where the issue is issues are if we can remedy them and what we need to do that's my whole point about the question >> right >> okay >> thank you for that So we will definitely take a close look at that. >> So we should hear something by the end of the summer at least. >> Yes ma'am. And I know Miss Farnsworth, she is helped organize this. She is over our summer reading camp. So and she is not here with me today. So I hope I am making her proud and representing her well tonight. >> Oh, you gave
037us information. I just wanted to get a little more detail. >> We definitely want to always monitor the effectiveness of any of our instructional programs. So thank you for that feedback. Um and this is definitely a requirement as well from the state department. So they assist with our funding as well for this program. So um but lunch and breakfast is that's also provided. Um and again students participate in recess. We also have incentives for attendance. That's a big piece of this um is just getting students to attend. So the next slide I'm getting ready to show you is you'll see how many students are invited to these programs. Um but just getting the students to attend. That's the hugest piece of it, right? Is because we want to get ahead. Summer's a great time to
038get ahead um to fill in some of those gaps. So, you'll see how many students were invited and how many actually show up. So, we'll be able to provide you that information as we close out the summer because today I'm peeking in classrooms and I'm seeing in some rooms we've got it's a 1 to5 ratio. Um and some I've got all 15 and then in some classrooms I've got maybe 14 students there. So, um again, we'll get you that information as we close out the summer. Okay. >> And they're provided transportation. >> Yes, ma'am. We we are providing transportation. >> And so the the parents that are aware of this, out of that 948, we had 470. >> We have 948 were invited. >> Um and 470 actually registered. >> Okay. If >> I could
039piggyback on that comment. So 948 were invited. >> Yes, sir. >> And they were not invited because their names were drawn out of a hat. They >> they were invited >> because we believe they >> multiple data points. Yes. But people have plans or there are other ways that children learn over the summer. >> Right. >> And so we've made this program available. >> Yes, sir. >> Okay. They've been invited. Breakfast and lunch is provided. Transportation is provided. And so, not to display my math skills, but you know, that's about half that have taken advantage of resources that are being made available by the district to help their children be successful. >> Okay. Do I understand that correctly? >> That's correct. >> I have a follow-up question to that. So, 288 were invited in third
040grade, 157 accepted. Have these parents been notified in writing, in person, whatever your child will be retained if they are not successful? >> Yeah, I can help answer that. You know, a few students that that are attending the summer reading camp have to attend summer reading camp to be able to get a good cause exemption. >> And so, we have identified those students. The parents know who they've had conversations with those parents. And so um those students are included in this if they don't attend. So that could be they could be retained if they don't do as part of the good cause exemption. >> That's correct. So not all have not all of these students have to attend due to a good cause exemption. Some of them are are have been invited because for various
041reasons multiple data points. >> Yeah. So just to clarify, yes, a portion of these students, yes, they need that, but a large portion of these students also were identified and given the opportunity because there is some need that maybe some sort of supplemental support could help bring them up to the next level. They're not necessarily far behind, but they could use some remediation. >> And so, yeah. >> So, you know what I'm saying? They're not at risk of not moving on. They're just >> not. or maybe one of their data points fell a little short maybe in the winter or something. Use a little boost. >> They were flagged. >> So I >> I guess I'm I'm just >> at loss. I mean >> when it comes No, I understand what you're saying. But what
042I'm saying is this if there's even the possibility of my child being retained, unless somebody is on their deathbed or something like that and they're providing you all that you should need in order to make this >> and it's not a vacation is standing in the way or something like that. And I'm not trying to be ugly. I'm just saying those children, it's their life that's basically being impacted. >> And as adults, we all have to do what we are supposed to do. >> Okay, I'm through. That's it. >> Yes, ma'am. >> But to to go back to our first day, it was a great experience. Teachers were excited, students were excited, and um we do have Books and Beyond. They are a nonprofit and they each child that participates will walk away with three
043free books. Um there will be a drawing for students that attend that they will get um their names put in a hat and they could potentially win free book bags with goodies. Um so we've got a lot of great things happening for students that do take advantage of this wonderful opportunity. So and I know Miss Farnsworth is going to do a much better job than I will. I would like to give a huge shout out to transportation, all the departments that come together, food services, um, maintenance, just I mean, the list, nursing, the list goes on and on. Um, I'm afraid I'm going to leave somebody out and Miss Bruffy who's leading Flowertown, Miss Luchiano who's leading Eagle's Nest, the admin that oversees both of those sites. Um, the teachers that are I know they're
044getting paid for it, but it's still their summer, too. Um, just their excitement and enthusiasm. Um, you know, students felt so welcome walking into the buildings today. So, um, it was a wonderful first day. Looking forward to tomorrow. So, you guys, >> I have one more question with the book bag giveaways. Do you have multiple ones that you're giving away or >> Yes, ma'am. >> Okay. >> Can we donate to that if somebody >> We would love for you to donate. >> Okay. >> Yes. >> Thank you. >> That was a good one. Anybody else? >> All right. Thank you. >> Thank you very much, Mrs. Gary Ball Hodge. appreciate your information. Um the next item on the the superintendent report is our proposed bell schedules for the 2627 school year. Um when you look
045at these new schedules, um just to give a little bit of perspective on this, um I'll start with the high school. Um at first, our high school schedules used to be from 9:00 until um 4:00, but then we had some issues with transportation with the traffic and whatnot. And so we went to 930. So we're able to uh get transportation. So now with the Berlin G that's been been put together and we're able to use the Berlin G and we're actually have more bus drivers than we've had, we feel like we can add 15 more minutes back into the high school schedule. Um that will give us five minutes to add in the third and fourth block. Right now the third and fourth blocks currently are 10 minutes shorter than the first and second blocks.
046We will also give five minutes to ILT, intentional learning time for kids to make, you know, that's where you have intervention um for students in school to give them intervention on there, which is very intentional. Um and so we want to make sure we add five minutes of that. So for that's for the high school time. As far as a middle school, um our old time was 8:30 to 3:5. we feel like we can get um buses uh dropped off uh at elementary and then go ahead and get those students picked up uh middle school students picked up and be able to drop off at 8:15. So adding 15 more minutes of instructional time there. Um we're still working with the principles on how what those that time is going to look like. Um I
047know they're trying to have some advisory time in there kind of like similar to intentional learning time at the ILT but it would kind of be of a home room time where students get to get help as well. Uh, I know they're trying to be creative with that. So, I know, uh, Mrs. Barker is working with the middle school principles on that. Um, as far as RISE, um, that's we had to move that schedule to accommodate, uh, the new elementary program with transportation. So, RISE will be on the same schedule as our high school as you see there. And then our elementary alternative will be at 7:45 to 2:45. Um, as you can see, that's a brand new program. And again, so those are kind of the reasoning behind those changes, but again, pretty positive.
048We're getting more instructional minutes, which we think are going to help us uh academically with students. So again, any questions that I may answer on that, but uh >> is Rawlings going to be following the high school schedule still? >> Yes, no changes to Rawlings. >> I'll have a happy eighth grader. >> Okay. But we just feel like this with adding those 15 minutes, you know, we met with transportation, Mr. shop and he thinks he can uh be able to do that with the drivers he has and now with the traffic flow on the Berlin G that has helped substantial. So we think we can pull this off and get 15 more minutes of academic time which again I think that's going to help. I mean you do that every day of the course of
049a year that's a lot of instructional minutes we're going to add back in. So we're excited about that. So just any other questions? If not just adding asking for uh board approval this evening. So, just to clarify, will Rawlings be on this high school schedule or will Rawlings stay the same? >> They're on the high school schedule. >> They'll be 9:15. Yes. To 4 as well. Okay, perfect. Just wanted to make sure. >> That's a great question. >> All right. Um, board members, at this time, I would ask for a motion to approve the updated bell schedules as presented. >> Motion made by Miss Bates, seconded by Miss King. Any questions or discussion? All right. Hearing none, we will call for the vote. >> All right. Motion carries. Six in favor, one absent. >> Thank
050you. Our next item on the superintendent report is the naming of the elementary alternative program. And uh what you have this evening is uh we've had a lot of deliberation on this name and uh so we have the Rise Academy and we came up kind of with the Elevate Academy um for our ele elementary students and so again we're just asking for the board's uh uh approval tonight for the Elevate Academy. >> Okay, board members, I would ask for a motion to name the elementary alternative program Elevate Academy. Motion made by Miss Powell, seconded by Mr. Lee. Any questions or discussion? Right. Hearing none, we will call for the vote. >> Motion carries. Six in favor, one absent. >> And thank you. And one other thing I'd like to point out, we have uh Mrs.
051Mitchum who is back here who's going to be the new principal of the Elevate Academy. So, she's here. And also to give you a little bit update, I know we've hired two teachers. I'm not sure we're trying to get a third teacher and so um we're in the process of hiring that staff and she's been part of that. So, uh we're very excited about uh that program moving forward. So, I know she's been very busy of of interviewing getting people uh put together. So, and her team. So, very excited. So, I just wanted to say thank you for joining us this evening. Um our next item on the board uh on the superintendent report is the org chart changes and so tonight we're bringing to you our budget and so for approval and so we
052thought we'd bring to you the org chart changes that we have and um we'll kind of go through those and we'll go through our first one and so you'll see that um these represent positions and I think our old org chart didn't represent all positions it represented job responsibilities and so tonight we have went through our org chart for all of our departments and were able to put a person with each one of those. And so, um, tonight, just to show you on the first one, this is kind of the overall arching, um, or chart for the superintendent to the assistant superintendent to directors, executive directors. But one thing I want to point out this evening is, um, one thing that we have done is we're trying to align all of our departments to look
053very similar. So if I have an executive director then I have directors underneath that and so we have done that with several of our departments. The other thing we have done is when you look at the org chart structure and the org chart structure when you talk about directors, executive directors, assistant directors those come with a scale. And so one thing that we have done is tried to eliminate one of the scales. And what we did was instead of having chiefs, we're going to have executive directors under the assistant superintendent. And so we have done that um with our federal and state programs instead of a chief. It'll be executive director. Uh same thing with technology. The only one that we keep is a chief financial officer there. Um but this kind of again puts
054everything kind of in line. Um, just to let you know, one of the things, you know, we with the budget was our director of student concerns. You can see that under the assistant superintendent of students uh staff services. Um, one thing that we were able to do about that is we were able to absorb uh one adult education administrator. Um, we then absorb one of our sped coordinators and then we were able to um kind of absorb a Medicaid administrator as well. And so when you add that position there for director of student concerns and then you look under executive director of technology um we have a director of assessment then we have uh new uh changes to these positions would be director of instructional and director of systems technology. So um those have been
055kind of they haven't been added people but just a name change on those. Um if you go on to the next one you can see our chart for um financial services that has not changed. Um, same thing. Uh, if you go to the next chart with our community relations, um, our community relations, um, there's no changes there, but again, these represent people. And so, just wanted to make sure you're again keep coming back to that. Um, going back to the organizational chart for federal and state programs, again, that instead of a chief, that is going to be now called an executive director at the very top. And that's the only change there. The other change that we had was we did we did away with one of the assistant directors of support services which we
056had um in that department. So that's no longer part of that change. So that is a position was removed from that department. Going on to our personnel um there are no changes to personnel that stays the same. The only thing that you know when you look at uh the personnel if you look under assistant director of educator effectiveness that teacher leader of recruiting, mentoring and induction um that is paid through a title grant. And so that was a new position we added I think uh when we started through the initial budget process but is paid through a grant. Um and so that position's there. Um moving on to um student services. And so when you look at student services, uh the big one there is that director of student concerns I mentioned earlier. Um basically
057when we got rid of those three positions administratively that helps pay for that position there. Um so that was the only change of student services. If you look at special services, um the one change there is a director of special services. Again, trying to make sure all of our departments are kind of aligned. So, you can see we have an executive director, there's a director, kind of a second person in charge there. Um and that we eliminated a coordinator, psych, and behavior team, that coordinator, and then a position change and a name change for that person there. So um that's the only change in special services. Um going to the next one for chart for curriculum and instruction. Uh there are no changes to that. Again these all represent people not jobs. So um Brian
058Bohannan and team have done a great job of putting this together uh so it's easy to follow. Moving on to the organization chart for educational technology services. As you can see, the only thing we have some changes there. Uh, instead of a chief of technology, it's an executive director of technology to kind of again go with what we look at in all of our departments. And then you have uh directors there that have been uh name change instead of assistant directors, directors there that look like we're in line with our other departments. Going with our school safety and athletics. If you look there, there are no changes there to that org chart. Again, these represent all people. Moving on to transportation. If you look um at uh underneath it says secretary SBC. So, we have
059a secretary OBC and routing specialist. It was just a title change. That secretary is going to help with routing. And so we just did a title change there. All right. Organization chart facility management. Uh one thing to point out um on this is if you go down to athletic fields and grounds coordinator. Um basically what we did we eliminated an athletic grounds position and also we had a contract contracted services with another provider. will no longer be using that service as much. And so with those funds, we'll be able to have somebody that's going to be able to be on on site in our district and still will not cost us more money. Actually save just a little bit there. So um and that's an athletic fields grounds coordinator. Um other than that, everything is
060the same on that um facility. And so that really highlights all of our um org chart changes and any questions that I may answer from the board. I just want to thank the team. we went through this and and personnel they did a great job of making sure that we're identifying people in our organization and so we cleaned a lot of things up and we're very happy with the way this looks like. So if there's any questions I can answer. >> So the athletic fields and grounds coordinator basically do all the schools. >> Yes, that is correct. >> Yes. Yes. And what we were doing, we were paying a uh provider, a services provider, a services contract, and um they were coming in, but we didn't feel like we were getting um how can I
061say, the services we thought we should be getting. And so, talking with Jeff Smith, um we were able to find somebody um to be able to do all the athletic fields and grounds and really give us um what we should be doing. Uh, I think we mentioned when we are renting our facilities, um, sometimes we're overusing our facilities, which is causing us more dollars to repair rather than really saying just saying no to people in our community because it's costing us more to repair it than we're getting from from rental, renting the facility. And so, this is really going to help us put some um, processes and structures in with this person. And so, we're we're excited to have this person on board. And uh I know Jeff knows that I I don't like clover
062and the grass especially around here. So um you know an old baseball coach. So you know so we're excited about having this person on on board. So >> So each section of the district has a grounds lead or we have ground leads at every >> No. So what we had was at first we had two people um to go around to our our athletic fields and do our grounds and but that was also used with that third provider that services that that that company that we were using. And so we're going to eliminate one of those positions and then we're going to be able to have a team of people come around to each one of those schools. So we're trying to get a little bit better process and structures in. So you're going to
063have a group that's going to go school to school. Um, and we'll be able to take equipment with us and be able to do a much better job, we think, uh, doing it that way. >> Okay, >> that sounds good. >> With regard to, uh, educational technology services, and this may just be it's all in a name. Uh, correct me if I'm wrong, that covers all district technology services, not just educational. >> That that is correct. >> Okay. Um, yes, we we cover uh what do we got? 26,000 plus another 4,000, you're talking about 30,000 devices um that we cover plus the programs that go with those devices. Uh we have phones that are included with that. We have display boards that go with that and so a lot of technology and also instructional programs
064that go with that as well. Great question. Yeah, the reason I asked the question is it may sound semantical to some, but you know, there is an awful lot of effort that goes into supporting educational technology and instruction, but don't want to overlook the fact that there's also a heck of a lot of work that goes into supporting the district as a whole with all information technology that supports the district, the back office and everything else. So, um I don't know if consider a name change or if that's fine and everybody understands that, that's okay, too. I'm just a bit retentive that way. >> Well, thank you. And and the other thing that they do too and with Dr. Sang and his team, they also work with Preston and a lot of our security with
065our u with uh cameras and those things. And so they work closely with Preston as well. >> Well, we appreciate the many hats that all of our employees basically wear from day to day. And that's a lot. >> Yes. Yes. But again, this is a big uh to personnel and also to Brian Bohannan and everybody worked really hard to try to make sure we vetted this out to make sure it's clean, it's crisp, it represents people, it's easy to follow when you look at the structure and so um once this is approved, we'll put this on our website as well. >> Great. I think we all appreciate this. It's very, um transparent, easy to read and understand, and very clear. So, thank you to everyone for all your work on that. We appreciate it. >>
066No, thank you. >> All right, board members. At this time, I would ask for a motion to approve the organizational chart as presented. >> So, moved. >> Motion made by Mr. Guthrie, >> Seconded by Miss Bates. Any questions or discussion? >> Hearing none, we will call for the vote. Motion carries. Six in favor, one absent. >> Okay. Our next our next item on the agenda is uh we've been talking a lot about this is is our budget and our budget adoption. And tonight is our final presentation on our 2627 uh budget adoption. And so I have Miss Tina Manet, our CFO, to talk about our budget one last time. We hope so. Um Miss Manet, >> yay. We've had many presentations to y'all. Y'all y'all could probably give this uh presentation except we do have
067a few changes um during this um presentation this evening. Um we'll talk about those as we go along. Um so the budget priorities for 2027 um were to strengthen our student achievement while maintaining financial stewardship because we have to have money to make sure that we can educate all the little children. Um, so we wanted to to especially focus on additional student behavior supports. So we were able to put $1.8 million towards that. Teacher quality, recruitment, retention, 8.5 million. Administrator quality recruitment and tention 1.2 and classified staff quality recruitment and retention of 3.5 million. So first I wanted to show you the summary of the FY27 budget needs. This is just the summary. Um, since we um had our public hearing and since we went to Dorchester County Council to present our budget at that
068time, um the yellow line for the additional needed um to fund our expenditure request was at $4.6 million. So since that time um we have received additional revenue projections and we have adjusted some of our expenditures. So I just kind of wanted to go through that. This is the summary for that. Um, our original request again was $314,83,520. Um, as you go through the expenditures on each line item, we were able to reduce that and move some of our expenditures to other funds. So, we did reduce the expenditures by $495,000. So, we will go through those items in detail from our last presentation. So, for our projected general fund revenues, um our local property taxes on FY26 versus FY27, um the increase is $9.3 million. Just wanted to point out that again, since we had
069our public hearing, um the county assessor and county auditor met and they were able to um determine some additional assessments that we could um anticipate some revenues for next year. So those additional assessments um equated to $2.2 million. We also received some information from the town of Somerville. Um we have been involved in a Somerville TIFF district. So the area that starts at the Smile Branch area across from Pamela Armory and um Planet Fitness, that big development there. Um we are in tix tax increment financing which means that we wouldn't um we would not recognize the growth in that area and it actually extends all the way down to the Austin Bailey and Austin Middle School um schools area. So that whole corridor we would not recognize any growth as the typical tiff. So our
070financial adviser did some great advising for us and he capped it. So once we got over the growth um for a million dollars that we would put into the tiff as our support from the school district, we would start receiving operational dollars from that and not wait till like 20 years when it sunsets and then we get a big windfall. So I love the way that he structured that. So we um are actually going to receive $476,000 next year. So that's additional operation um local property taxes that's coming from the town of Somerville. And the last piece of that is our fee in lie of tax. Um the auditor and assessor were able to determine that there was $251,000 more in that area. So we received additional money for taxes. Um also so the highlighted
071areas are the ones that changed um since the last time I presented. we presented the public hearing. So the next sections for the state aided classrooms in the general fund, the EIA, and then the career and technology education. Those adjustments came to us um after the um conference committee met when the House and the Senate and the state had to determine what they were going to um decide upon and what they would agree to for the budget. And so that netted us with another $450,000 of state revenue. And then the very bottom section for the other state revenue and transfers um was a net of 738 which was addition add additional motor carrier revenues and manufacturers depreciation. So that brought our total increase um of 14,266,513 and originally the projected revenues um that are indicated
072now for $314,307653, they were at $310 million. So um we received an additional $4.1 million in projected revenues. Did I say when we were here that we now have a balanced budget? >> And here's how there the additional revenues as well as some adjustments in our expenditures. So, we were able to um so again the yellow indicates items that were changed and we were able to identify that there were some additional FTEES um for special services that we needed to get because some more special service students needed um services next year. So, we had to include some 2.5 more FTEEs there. So the total proposed reductions in allocation additions went from a negative 1.6 down to the total that you see of the negative 1.4 million. On the next section of the mandates and required
073increases, all of those um numbers stay the same, including the teacher step, the 2% increase for bus drivers, and the SRO contracts and um contract for safety events and crossing guards. increase as well. So, no change there. Section, the next section for district priorities. Um, we had a couple of changes here. Um, the very bottom adjustment for school-based leadership and district office administrator salaries to the defined scales. We originally had 1,380,000 in that block. Um, we were able to when we were working through the spreadsheet that um, Lisa and Dr. Wilson and Scott were working on so diligently for um we a we were we are able to find some savings in that and we moved the virtual and loo of suspension option um to be included in that number. So the overall number of
074the 7 million225 did not change but we were able to include the virtual piece here instead of further down the other salary priorities um that included the $1,500 um step the additional $1,500 each step of the teacher salary scale and the additional 1% for classified and certified. Um what we did remove from there were the special ed stipens for the low incident classrooms for 350,000. So the total there is now 4.6. we um are able to use our state aid to classrooms money that comes from the EIA fund from the state. That's a different special revenue fund. So, we moved the $350,000 to that and we're able to remove it from the um general fund budget. the other student behavior um support priorities. We originally had the virtual in lie of suspension FTE here and
075we moved that above um as we just discussed. And then for all of these positions um we decreased each one by one FTE. So we originally had um 16 and now it's down to 13. So um it was 1.2 million, now it's 917,000. Um so the summary for the requests next year were changed to um 14,266,513 where it was previously 14,762 380 and that was a net savings of $456,000 in expenditures. I know that was an awful lot of numbers. Um I hope that um all made sense. So we had um our summary form the salaries, the benefits and the other expenditures. Um so last year's budget was 300 million. Um FY27 budgeted expend expenditures are now at 314,37,653 for an increase of 14,266513. Just one more time to point out some good news that
076our teacher salary scale the beginning pay was 51,500 this current year and next year it will be 54,000. Um so we're able to increase each scale each step actually of the teacher scale by $2,500. >> So those were all of the details that I had to share and would welcome any questions. Well, one thing I will add is I want to say thank you to Tina and Lisa and uh our personnel department. They've worked very hard and we've got all the scales done. And the one thing I want to thank the board for is our administrators finally getting having a formula. So administrators will have a formula and that's school-based administrators, district office administrators. We have a formula now. They're going to be on a scale and so when somebody wants to, you know, get
077a job here, they'll be able to say, "Where am I at? How do I calculate my our scale?" And so I just want to thank the team for that and that's going to be a big big win um for our administrators. You know, in fact, once the board the board approves this, we will send communication out to all of our teachers this evening about this because it's huge. um it's a huge commitment um what you've done and putting into our people and also we'll be meeting uh in meeting with all of our administrators tomorrow morning at 9:15 to go over that with them and then the district office people in the afternoon so they hear directly from us. But I just want to say thank you to the board um for all your help and
078support and guidance through this process because this has been a heavy lift. We've been working on this uh diligently for quite some time now. So, I just want to say thank you to all of you and um because we're all pretty excited about we're tired, but we're very very excited about this um to be able to put more money in, you know, our classified um our teachers and our administrators. So, I mean, it hits all those buckets. And so, I just want to say thank you. >> And I additionally like would like to thank those on the board that worked so well. You did better than I would have. So, I appreciate that that you use your diplomacy in order to help them see the light. So, thank you so much to all of you.
079>> Well, T, I'd like to thank you and your team Mr. Superintendent as well. Uh, this has been an interesting process. This is my second year going through the budget process. Um, I don't have any specific questions on the budget, having watched the sausage be made all the way up to this point. And you guys have done a great job of nipping and tucking and rearranging and finding new and creative ways to uh to take care of our needs. Uh, I still for public comment am amazed at the amount of additional revenue that's been found. It's a good thing for us. So, for the the businesses in our community to not have to experience a millage increase in order to support this, that's a good thing. Okay. Um it's still somewhat magical in my mind,
080but nevertheless, we hope to get some some more detail on that going forward. But, uh now once we get through this conversation and hopefully take a vote, we'll get started on the next year. >> Thank you. >> It was definitely a team effort. cabinet. We met several times in cabinet and leadership and we just uh really crunched some numbers and wanted this to be a balanced budget to bring to y'all after we received the additional revenue information. So, it was wonderful. It was wonderful. >> Yeah. I just wanted to highlight additional revenue found by the county, not necessarily by us and the cuts that you made in order to make up that difference. So, I appreciate that. And I don't want to minimize Tina and these two ladies here. Thank you so much. And everybody
081else that was helping you all because that's a lot of thinking, maneuvering, trying to manipulate the numbers and all that to do what you did. So, thank you. We do not take that for granted. >> Lisa loves this kind of stuff. So, we're very glad to have her on the team. >> I do, too. We also have the five-year projection, and I didn't know if we wanted to go over that before the vote. >> Okay, sure. That'd be great if you want to do the five-year projection before we vote on the budget. That'd be great. >> So, this includes the information that we updated um that were balanced for FY27 proposed budget where when we originally presented this to the county, we showed the $4 million that we still um were requesting and that's why
082we were requesting the 10 mills from the county is because we needed a way to make up the $4.6 million. Um this is a a document that we prepare each year um for the county council and we provide this to the board before we give it to county council. Um unfortunately before we had to give it to um county council we didn't get to go over it. You you were able to to view it but we didn't have a chance to talk about it. So I didn't know if there were any particular questions. Um we did go in like I said and update um on the column that has the date in it for FY27 proposed budget. We did go in there and update and every column to the left of that shows our actuals
083except for FY26. We we haven't completed that year but next year we will show that as actuals. And then the projections moving forward. Um we've reviewed some of our different revenues. We've included some different growth percentages. It's really difficult to know how to project for state revenues because if you look at year-over-year what our increases have been in state revenues. Um we've received like 20% one year and 3% the next year. So it's really hard for us to know what they're going to pass in Colombia for us to to include and plug into our budget. Um also with um some of the other areas um we've seen some additional investment income that's come our way. Thankfully for good interest rates also we've had some in the past some indirect cost which we'll talk about um
084in our financial reports that um when we had our ESSER funding we were able to um receive some indirect costs from those grant funds but those are gone now. So um and then on the expenditure side we we tried to build in the each year with the step and with um a cola for each of the years but also starting with FY28 we um wanted to include an additional increase for our teachers. We still wanted to remain competitive with our neighbors. Um so a $3,000 increase for all teachers was built in in the green section on the FY28 projection. Then also for salaries on our FY29 projection, um we're anticipating, fingers crossed, that we'll be opening the ponds that time at that time. So we need to hire more staff. So when we open new
085elementary school, we'll have more um more costs in that year. And then for the final two years of the 30 and the 31. Um unfortunately when you see that those additional amounts are in there you can see where our revenue projections are not as high as our expenditure projections. So that's why we have some shortfall each year and um we just need a little additional help. But we will never pass a budget that that puts us in the hole by $10 million. we we just won't hire that many people or we won't be able to increase all the teachers by $3,000 um as it shows on our FY28 projection. We we would not pass a a deficit budget like that. So that this is for planning purposes for us to share with the county um
086and for all parties involved. So I just wanted to make sure that y'all had seen that and if you had any particular questions about that. I just want to say I think that's great. You're putting the powers that be on notification of what we anticipate being in need of and they can start looking for whatever funding we have indicated that we will be needing. And if we don't need it, >> I'm sure we'll need it. We did also include um for next year um I'm sorry that note didn't didn't show up on this the Google money that um we anticipate from the county. Mr. Ward said for us to make sure to include that because it should hit our books for next year not FY27 but FY28 as part of our projected revenues. So we
087did capture that. That is great to point out because there are people who are asking what are you doing with that Google money? What Google money? >> Um not here yet >> until the next year. >> But I I appreciate the the projection the fiveyear I'm less interested in the revenue as I am the expense to know kind of what we're looking at and two things that that jump out to me and that's understanding that uh we are into the era of the law of large numbers. Anything times a large number is a large number. So now that we're over 300 million, now we're going to be 314 this year. Look at the rates of increase in expenditures from a planning standpoint, they're not ridiculous. There's no 10% year-over-year or anything like that. They're they're
088all under 5%. Uh and also you did take into account that we would be adding hopefully a new elementary school and that's going to increase personnel, which is our largest uh cost uh in what we do. uh the revenue side of the equation um which I appreciate any revenue that's going to come from Google but in the big picture scheme of things doesn't solve hardly anything okay it's appreciated don't get me wrong but as I've not to beat a dead horse but we have to find sustainable ways to fund not only our operational expenses but also our capital expenses which is not part of this conversation and just to manage expectations and whatnot. People should take a look at these things and understand, you know, where some of these uh projections are coming from. Um
089maybe we can do a little bit more in kind of articulating some of our assumptions and planning assumptions and whatnot as part of this to help people uh help people understand. But uh this is a great first step and I appreciate it. >> Thank you. >> Okay. All right. Thank you, Miss Manet. Board members, at this time, I would ask for a motion to approve the fiscal year 2027 budget as presented. >> So moved. >> Motion made by Miss Bates, seconded by Miss Powell. Any questions or discussion? All right. Hearing none, we will call for the vote. to breathe for like two weeks. >> Two weeks, right? >> Okay, there it is. Yay. >> Yes. Okay, motion carries. Six in favor, one absent. >> Yay. Can we clap now? >> Yay. That's wonderful. >> All
090right, Tina. >> Yay. >> Do you have much more to talk about now after that? >> Okay, that's next year. Now, let's finish up this year. So, um, these are the reports, um, that we are presenting to you this evening for as of the end of April. Um, we haven't finished closing out the month of May, so we couldn't get those to you in time for this June 8th meeting. Um, so we'll just keep you up to date with where we are for April 2026. We have two months left in our fiscal year. Um, so we are our total revenues um, for the month of April were at 21 million. Our expenditures were 24 million which looks like a loss for the month. However, we had revenues that have been building up over over time.
091We get a big bunch of revenue from the county um for our property taxes in the December and January time frame. So, that's how we're able to keep paying um paying everybody and paying our bills. Um so, right now our fund balance is sitting at 27.46%. I will point out though that we have projected out to the end of the year in green to the left under the total column. Um as of this time right now it we may end up with what looks like a deficit of 2.9 million. However, um there were some timing differences with the technology software renewals that we talked about a couple of months ago I believe. Um that were once we closed out our books last year they were actually paid in this fiscal year. So we couldn't acrue
092them back. Those were $1.5 million. We had also increased our salaries and benefits um after the start of the year for the new positions, which those were included in the FY27 budget. So, we're covered for that if we hadn't been cut by the state this year because that was $1.1 million. We got cut $1.1 million from the state. Darn. Um but I think we're still going to be in good shape. Um we'll see how the final revenues come in. Um, sometimes we get some additional funding that we weren't anticipating from the state or from the county. So, we'll see how it all all shakes out. But, but it was really already built into fund balance for the um the technology renewals. So, >> so do I read that correctly? Even with that in mind, we
093project that we may end up with a 21% fund balance by the end of the year. >> Yes. Yes, sir. Yes, sir. >> It is >> still larger than 18. So, we're still doing good. Yes. So, that's our cash flow statement as of the end of April. Um, and now we'll look at our general fund balance sheet um through April 30th. So, so on the cash flow, we show each month individually, what's happening individually, and we do have a year-to-ate column over on the far right. And then this just shows you our year-to- date totals. Um, so on our balance sheet through the end of April, our total assets were $90.7 million and our liabilities were 8.3, fund balance at 82. So we still had a good amount of fund balance. We're still healthy. Um,
094so total liabilities and fund balance equaled our total assets as we're supposed to do and we're right in line with most everything um from last year as well on our schedule of revenues, expenditures and changes in fund balance. Um the first section is our revenues. So revenues um for this year as compared to April 30th of 2025. We have additional revenues um that were collected at this time of approximately 12 million but we also had increased our budget so we are right in line. Um an ideal percentage at this time is 17% and we're right on target. Um last year we were at se 16% and as I was just pointing out a few minutes ago about the indirect costs. The reason we were a little bit u better shape for revenues was because we
095had those er indirect costs. So that that ended last year when we didn't receive that funding anymore this year but we didn't include it in the budget but we had an extra million dollars in indirect costs last year. Um on the expenditure side, um we're at 22%, last year was 23%. Um so we're right on target. Um just those timing differences for some of those renewals and then the additional salaries and benefits were the are the difference for this year. And then moving on to the um year-to-ate information, the overview for the revenues and expenditures. I think everything that um we've just been discussing has been included in here. The ESRE information, the the state revenue um is consistent over the last three year averages. Um and then for expenditures, the same the same type
096of information. Um, and then the last the last graph is our fund balance overview, which again, um, we're projecting out to the end of the year to be 21%. So, that was our April report that we wanted to bring to you. If there are any questions, >> any other questions for the board? Tina, thank you and your team. Thank you very much. Great job. >> Thank you very much. Thank you. >> And then our personnel report. Um again, you can see those in your executive content and I'll turn that over to Dr. Wimberly. >> All right. Thank you, Mr. Dohy. So, board members, um we will do this as two motions as we have done before. Um so first I would ask for actually let me make sure everyone is okay to proceed in open
097session. I apologize. Okay perfect. All right we will go ahead then. Um so first I will ask for a um motion let's see to approve the personnel recommendations as presented um minus the two um non-renewals. So moved. All right. Motion made by Miss Bates, seconded by Miss King. Any questions or discussion? Right. Hearing none, we will proceed with the vote. It's not. >> She's a yes. Okay. Motion carries. Six in favor, one absent. All right. Next, I would ask for a motion that we conditionally accept the superintendent's recommendation that the contract of the two annual contract employees not be renewed for the 2627 school year subject to the employees appeal rights pursuant to section 59-26-40 of the South Carolina code of law. >> So moved. Motion made by Miss Bates, seconded by Mr. Lee. Any
098questions or discussion? All right. Hearing none, we will call for the vote. A hand vote. Yes. All in favor? I. >> Okay. Motion carries. Six in favor, one absent. All right. And then next board members, we have the student enrollment recommendation. Is everyone okay to proceed with those in open session? All right. So, at this time, I would ask for a motion to approve the student enrollment request as presented. >> So, moved. >> Motion made by Mr. Guthrie, seconded by Miss Powell. Any questions or discussion? Okay. Hearing none, we will call for the vote. >> Powell. Yes. >> Motion carries. Six in favor, one absent. >> All right, that concludes our superintendent. >> Yes. A lot of a lot of heavy lifting there. So, thank you for the board for all your help and support.
099>> Thank you for all your hard work on >> time on that. I know seems like things should be slowing down with with summer starting, but I can tell y'all have been very busy at work still. So, we appreciate all the hard work on on those things. Great, great stuff. All right. Next on our agenda this evening, we have public comments on non-aggenda items. We do not have any. So, we will move to our executive session agenda item. Board members, at this time I would ask for a motion to convene into executive session regarding a contractual matter related to the purchase of property in the area of Delmare Highway as well as for receipt of legal advice regarding the educational sales tax. >> So moved. >> Motion made by Miss Bates, seconded by Miss Powell.
100Any questions or discussion? Right. Hearing none, we will call for the vote. Motion carries. Six in favor, one absent. We are in executive session. We will return. time. I'd ask for a motion to return to open session. >> So moved. >> Motion made by Mr. Guthrie, seconded by Miss Powell. Any questions or discussion? Hearing none, we will call for the vote. Motion carries. Six in favor, one absent. We are back in open session. Board members, at this time, do we have any motions from our executive session? >> Madam Chairman, I'd like to make a motion that we grant the authority for the superintendent to move forward with the closing on the property on Delmare Highway. >> All right. Thank you, Mr. Do I have a second? Seconded by Miss Bates. Any questions or discussion? All
101right. Hearing none, we will call for the vote. I'm hitting yes. >> All right. Motion carries. Six in favor, one absent. For members, at this time, I would ask for a motion to adjurnn. Motion made by Mr. Lee, seconded by Miss Bates. Any questions or discussion? Hearing none, we will call for the vote. Motion carries. Five in favor, one opposed, one absent. We are adjourned.