001Our most gracious heavenly father, we gather here today with grateful hearts, seeking guidance and wisdom as we come together for the betterment of our schools and our community. May our discussions be filled with understanding and our decisions reflect compassion and integrity. Grant us the clarity to listen, the courage to speak, and the unity to work together for the benefit of every student, family, and staff member that we serve. In your name we pray. Amen. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. All right. Thank you all for being here. Welcome to the March 23rd, 2026 Dorchester District 2 Board of Trustees meeting. Um at this time, I would ask for a motion
002to approve the consent agenda and meeting minutes. So moved. Motion made by Ms. Bates. Seconded by Ms. Powell. Any questions or discussion? All right. Hearing none, we will call for the vote. Motion carries seven in favor. All right. Looks like we have a great crowd here tonight for our district highlights. So, at this time, we will welcome Mr. Brian Bohanan to the podium to some exciting news. Thank you, Dr. Wimberly, Mr. Doughty, board members. Tonight's district highlights celebrate excellence in the arts, student creativity connected to conservation, and athletic accomplishment. We'll begin with a group of students whose musical talent has earned recognition at the highest levels in our state. Each year, middle and high school students from across South Carolina audition for placement in the South Carolina Music Educators Association All-State Orchestra, a highly competitive
003process that recognizes the top student musicians in our state. This year, six students from across DD2 earned selection to this prestigious ensemble. These students participated in the All-State Orchestra Clinic held at the end of February at Furman University, where they rehearsed and performed alongside the finest young musicians in the state. Selection to All-State Orchestra represents not only musical excellence, but dedication, discipline, and countless hours of practice. We congratulate these students and their directors for this outstanding achievement. We'd like to welcome up if you see your name on the board, start coming this way. Thomas Harris from Estill, Miles Wierausky from Rollings Middle School of the Arts, Charles Bayer from Fort Dorchester High School, Thomas Walters, Avery Richie, and Charlotte Pittman from Summerville High School. >> [applause] [applause] >> Going once, going twice. Just two. Perfect.
004>> [applause] >> On February 6th, East Edisto Middle School made history in a truly remarkable way. For the first time in the 78-year history of the South Carolina Music Educators Association, a middle school tenor bass choir was invited to perform at the organization's professional development conference. Under the direction of Mr. Maurice Burgess and Boca Lupo, which means in the mouth of the wolf for the East Edisto Wolves, delivered an outstanding performance to a packed audience, earning a well-deserved standing ovation. This recognition reflects not only the talent of these students, but the strength of music education in DD2 and the leadership of their director. We're incredibly proud of this historic accomplishment. Everybody, go. >> [applause] [applause] >> All right, moms. Ms. Passmore is going to get her picture, and then she's going to get out of
005the way, and then you guys are all set, so make sure you get your pictures. Students, don't go anywhere. All right, we're clearing the way. Come on up. Mr. Hammer, get in there. Perfect. Students, you're doing great. Everybody got it? No elbows? Fantastic. All right. >> [applause] >> For more than 20 years, the Southeastern Wildlife Exposition has inspired students across the lowcountry through its Kids for Conservation Arts Competition, encouraging young artists to explore the beauty of wildlife and the importance of protecting natural habitats. This year, one of our students earned top honors in the birdhouse competition, impressing judges with both creativity and craftsmanship. Her piece, Sleepy Bobcat, stood out among entries from across the tri-county area, and reflects the kind of thoughtful, imaginative work this program is designed to inspire. Please join me in congratulating
006the first place winner of the 2025-2026 Kids for Conservation Birdhouse Competition from Summerville High School, Lacy Cinnamon. >> [applause] >> Accepting on Lacy's behalf, Okay, great. Ms. Williams, accepting on Lacy's behalf. Thank you, Ms. Williams. >> [applause] >> Our final highlight tonight recognizes outstanding achievement in athletics. To share these recognitions, I'm pleased to welcome our district athletic director, Mr. Tyrone Drakeford. Good evening, everyone. Madam Chair, Superintendent, and Board. Uh we would like to recognize our middle school wrestling coaches of the year, player of the year, and the overall wrestling championship team of the year. First of all, we want to start with the Atlantic Conference Coach of the Year, Mr. Julian Gibbs from Gregg Middle School. >> [applause] >> Is Principal Kelly in the building? Okay. Um the Atlantic Conference Player of the Year is
007Zion Salmon from Oakbrook Middle School. >> [applause] >> Okay. All right, we'll go to the Pacific side. The Pacific Coach of the Year is Jeremy Campbell from East Edisto Middle School. >> [applause] >> Oh. I'll have him miss it. Brent would And the Pacific Player of the Year is Paris Lambert Wittet from Dubose Middle School. >> [applause] [applause] >> And now for the 2026 Middle School Wrestling Champions, Dubose Middle School, coached by Jermaine Graham, Eric Henderson, and Teddy Simmons. And players, please come forward. We have Braxton Angelo, Makhai Colony, Levi Dandridge, Galvin Innfinger Brently James, Cortez Jones, Robert Mandrill, Terrance Nesbitt Tate Renzden, William Schaffer Zane Simmons Lyric Smalls and the player of the year, Paris Lambert Whitted. >> [applause] [applause] >> One more round of applause for all the students in the room. This
008concludes this evening's district highlights. Thank you. >> [laughter] >> All right, at this time we will continue with our agenda. Um the next item is our public comments on agenda items and we do not have any this evening, so we will move into our board committee reports and we will begin with policy, Ms. Bates. Thank you, Madam Chair. Uh policy committee met prior to this at 4:00 p.m., so we'll have some new policies coming, but for today we have two policies for second reading and that's IHBG, homeschooling, and IJND, artificial intelligence responsible use, and that's a new policy. And that's all I have. All right. Thank you, Ms. Bates. These are coming out of committee, so we do not need a second, so at this time I would ask if we have any comments or
009discussion or questions. All right, hearing none we will call for the vote. All right, and then as you can see after the vote comes up, we do have upcoming meetings. If they're not on the screen, the next one will be April 27th at 5:00 p.m. and May 18th at 4:00 p.m. You can also find those on our website and unless there's anything Ms. King wants to add, that's all for policy. Thank you. Thank you, Ms. Bates, and that motion did carry unanimously, so um appreciate that. Next we have our finance committee, um Mr. Lee. The finance committee met prior to this evening's board meeting for our uh uh board workshop regarding the initial draft of our budget for next year. And uh if you did not get a chance to see that, uh I encourage
010you to go back and listen to the conversation, see the notes and whatnot. I'm I believe we'll have some update on that during the superintendent's report today, so I won't go into a lot of detail. Uh but just generally speaking from uh a finance committee standpoint um we're we're dealing with some headwinds. Uh we know that there's some unfunded mandates that are coming. Uh the district uh again, as they did last year, has done a good job looking to to right-size and make effective use of of all of our personnel and everything, as you may know from past meetings, the most significant part of our budget is made up in salaries and and benefits. So there's not a whole lot of wiggle room when the demand continues to go up. Uh we grow as a
011district. Uh we have the the demands of our programs and whatnot, so uh very pleased with the initial budget draft. We're still waiting on some more official numbers to see things uh take shape, but um more to come on that. That was uh on our proposed operational budget for next year. Uh more discussions to be had around capital budget planning moving forward. Uh do have some upcoming meetings, uh public input meeting on April 13th that I again, I encourage folks to take the time, watch the finance committee uh presentation uh on the workshop on the budget. Uh if you have input or whatnot, I encourage you to participate in that as we move forward uh with the process of our our annual budget for the coming year. Evan, anything you might want to add, sir?
012All right. Thank you, Mr. Lee. Next we have our facilities committee, Mr. Farnsworth. Um thank you, Madam Chair. So we do have a couple items on the agenda uh later in the meeting dealing with facilities contracts. Uh so we will talk about those um our next meeting April 13th. Um and and that will be um as we conclude here over the next week, we'll be concluding our facility visits for the year. And so we will use that April 13th meeting um to really kind of consolidate and and reconcile everything we've gotten from those visits. And so I would just encourage anyone um that's available and and interested uh when it comes to facilities and our capital needs to uh to be at that meeting on April 13th. Thank you. All right. Thank you. And um
013finally, our government and community relations committee, Mr. Lee or Ms. Bates. Yeah, Ms. Bates and I met and have gone through a number of things in terms of planning and the purpose of of this committee is to uh intentionally enable relationships with the various stakeholders uh both in the community and uh in governmental entities uh from a board perspective. And so just in in general, we have uh obviously the community as a whole is one of our general stakeholders. We have parents. We have teachers. We have the county council, all of our elected officials. We have two town councils to deal with between North Charleston and and Town Summerville. Um and so we have a couple of ideas and kind of a high-level uh calendar that we've kind of worked out to take us through
014this current board year. Uh and uh we'll be bringing those specific dates to the board and announcing those to the public for those things that are uh targeted certain public folks. And uh we're working with the various governmental entities, trying to coordinate with on their schedules for those meetings. Ms. Bates, anything you want to add? No. Um you pretty much touched on it. I think they the goal today was just to really with our meeting get a high-level calendar, make sure we're getting touch points with all the various groups and families and teachers, and so I really think we did a pretty good job making sure we're getting every single stakeholder group that we possibly could capture in this year. So um again, watch your email. I'm going to send out two possible dates to
015start for each of the things and hopefully that will be enough for the board to work off of, so. Okay, great. Thank you. All right. Moving on, next item on our agenda is our board chair's reports and we have got an update to start us out here of the upcoming events for the end of the school year. I can't believe we're even saying that the end of the school year is upon us, but if you will look, we've got lots of great exciting things coming up that we are invited to, board members. So um I know that Wanda has also been sending out calendar invites for us, so thank you for that, Wanda. And here's just um a list to serve as a reminder, but go ahead and get these on your calendars. Does anyone
016have any um questions or comments about any of these dates or events? Lots of positive good celebration opportunities, so I'm excited about these, so that's great. Um okay, and then the next thing I have is um our annual COSPAR conference. So um I know that uh I guess a week ago, a little over a week ago, we were able to travel um together to this is our um national conference. And I I know that my fellow board members are very grateful, all of us, for the opportunity to be able to attend these conferences. Um they really do provide a lot of um good information, practical information that we can use to help us serve better. But I also want to take this time um before we talk a little about the conference, just to thank
017um my board members for um making time in their schedules to to go to the conference, cuz I know that that can definitely sometimes be a little bit of a um you know, a hard thing to work out in scheduling um and a sacrifice for yourself and your family. So thank you all for doing that, because I do think there is a lot of value in us spending that time together and really networking, working together, and learning from other boards across our state and country. So, I really do appreciate your dedication. So, thank you all for that. So, at this time, if anyone has anything they would like to share about the conference, we'd love to hear your feedback. Um so, I did write a little something. Attending this conference was really eye-opening, but it
018was also affirming. I learned more about AI and its rapid evolution, but I'm especially proud of where our district stands proactively addressing, utilizing, and continuously adapting as it changes daily. I was also inspired by a grieving father and his family's journey to turn the unimaginable loss into a meaningful legislation that will protect children and families across our state. And finally, I'm just really grateful to serve alongside such dedicated colleagues. While we may not always agree, we engage in respectful and thoughtful conversations and genuinely enjoy the time that we spend together. Uh this was my first national conference. This I've been to two of the state level ones, and I thought those were were very good and informative and seeing how things are going on around the state. Uh this one on a national level Um
019couple of takeaways from that. First and foremost, as you can see here in front of me um peer pressure is real. And my colleagues insisted that I participate in one of the activities. So, there you have the Derby in front of you there. Uh the conference was in Louisville for those who who wondered. Uh secondly, naturally, I I kind of tended towards most of the breakout sessions that were related to legal, regulatory, and finance. And as challenging as this position can be, I'm now a year and a half into this particular board, I am grateful for the challenges that a year and a half into this board here in DD2. Um it's amazing what some of the other boards across the country are having to deal with. Uh not not least of which, and I
020consider myself grateful. Um we may not disagree as Ms. King mentioned, we may not agree on everything, but I can say that I am grateful that I work with a great bunch of colleagues. Uh they're respectful, they're thoughtful. Uh they're fun to work with sometimes. >> [laughter] >> No, they're they're fun to work with most of the times. But seeing so many other boards that the boards themselves just cannot work together, they're they're dysfunctional. And we don't have that. So, I'm I'm grateful for that. I'm grateful for the district affording me the opportunity to attend the conference. Now, when it comes to finance um make no mistake as you've heard me say, I have a lot of concerns about our ability to provide sustainable and reliable funding for education here in DD2. Having heard some
021of the things that I did I'll take these challenges and we'll work on them here. Um there are a lot of districts that are facing the opposite of what we're facing in terms of growth. They are shrinking. Um they are having difficulty with taxes because they have not been good stewards all along. And while we are one of few districts here in South Carolina that does not have fiscal autonomy watching what some of them that do have to deal with as their states are abandoning them in terms of public education and trying to figure out solutions at the local level to deal with revenue challenges and whatnot was just eye-opening. Last comment would be that a lot of the things that I heard there are people waking up and realizing that they need to be
022doing some of the things that we've been doing. Here in DD2. That was a very positive experience. Um the hat and I was standing. We won't talk about the furlong that I ran at Churchill Downs. But uh it was a great time being able to uh fellowship with my colleagues and uh to learn a lot about what's going on across the country. Thank you. I guess I'll go now. Um I again I echo the sentiments. I really love getting outside of the boardroom um with my colleagues cuz you see a different side of them. You get to understand their why, what motivates them, and see them as people. I think often times in this position um in leadership, you're so busy making big decisions that affect so many people, and sometimes it's easy to forget
023that we're all just people, too. And so, I think it's a good opportunity to just share um our hearts with each other and spend time with each other. So, I enjoy that. Um I think one cool part about all going is we kind of get to divide and conquer a little bit. And so, you know, Jim's finance chair, he kind of stayed in that world. We have Justin, he's really good with AI. And we all have our little areas, but we overlap as well. And so, a lot of what I went to was community relations um and that sort of thing. And so, I came away with a lot of different unique ideas that people across the country are doing to engage not only different stakeholder groups, but um their public, their parents, um and
024and especially in impoverished communities, some of the situations where it's a lot more difficult for parents to be involved and how to engage those families as well. So, um I I learned a lot. I love bringing that back to the board to see what we can implement in our district. And again, I share the sentiments that I enjoyed spending time with y'all and um building on those relationships so we can better serve our community. Okay. Um I always enjoy traveling with this group. Um they have a tendency to look at me as the grandmother, so they take care of me. And so, I appreciate that greatly. We do have fun. And um I think I want to step back to our state conference that we had. I wasn't here to speak on that. But um
025Oh, his name is Beasley. Governor Beasley, former Governor Beasley. I basically had forgotten about him until he spoke at that conference. And I was amazed at the things that he is doing around the world. So, I would basically encourage you to just go and Google Dr. Governor Beasley and find out all the wonderful things that he's doing now especially for our children and making sure that they're taking care of around the world. The other thing from the national that we just came back from would be the AI. Parents educators, whoever you are, AI is not going anywhere. We just have to get caught up and stay caught up with what's happening with AI, especially parents. Some of the things that I heard, the reports that uh I got as I sat and listened to the
026presenters talk about the different problems that our children end up with as a result of we as adults not being as proactive as we should be when it comes to making sure that they're aware of the dangers that's there with AI and how it can negatively affect your life, but also the positives. I got sick the other last week or week ago. And I came up with um some Huh. I use AI in order to kind of check on some of the symptoms I was having. And it was amazing. It almost acts as though it's sitting right there beside you, talking to you, encouraging you. Oh, so you're having that problem? Well, would you like me to investigate this? And they would just talk to you as if you were their best friend. So, it
027can be good, but it can be also a negative. So, I would say to parents, please learn as much as you can about AI, monitor your children and what they're doing, have conversations about them. And in the future, I would love for us to be able to do some workshops with parents regarding AI and the use of the computer, etc. But I had a great time. Thank you. Um yes, I'll start and then as I always do, I want to be um just tell everyone how appreciative I am and and very thankful for the opportunity to attend these types of conferences. Very, very, very important in in the work that we do as a school board to understand not only on a local level, but a state level, and then looking out to a national
028level, what's happening in in our schools and in the education space. Um I do love how Mr. Lee tagged that sometimes on there. That was that was pretty good. And Ms. Powell, remember that is not a licensed medical provider. Um so I I will tell you and and some of the kind [clears throat] of powerful takeaways, I I had some really good sessions. I think Ms. Powell and I were in in one of the same sessions on AI. Um and and it's just it's very interesting um to see one of one of the statistics in there, I think they they had asked um statewide and and was it Ohio? I forget the state, but they had asked um the percentage students versus teachers that were actually using AI. And and the students, it was like
02990% and then on the educator side, it was less than 50%. And and so that shows you that there is a gap in what's happening now with AI. But I know we've got a task force update, so I don't want to steal their thunder. Very excited to hear what they have for us. A couple of other things that I that I did attend federal policy. A lot of stuff of course happening in the federal level, Department of Education or the department formerly known as the Department of Education. A lot of stuff happening there. And then there was a a really really interesting session on the Holocaust. And and how we um educate children in in the Holocaust and and everything to do with that. So so some very interesting takeaways there. Last thing I would
030tell you and and this is actually one of the first um conferences I've been to where I made a point to interact more with vendors. Usually I kind of stay away and and they get their their thousand-foot pole. But what was interesting is once you get past their sales pitch and you and you start talking about cuz these are vendors from across the country. And and so they deal with you know, hundreds if not thousands of school districts and so they really gave me a a pretty good glimpse outside of our fellow school board members with what's happening in education. And and AI related, facilities related, finance related. So a lot of good stuff there. So again, just very thankful and appreciate the opportunity to attend. All right, thank you all very much. Appreciate those
031thoughtful updates. All right, and then the last thing I have this evening is our 2026-2027 board meeting calendar. So that was included in our packets. So hopefully everyone had an opportunity to look at that. So at this time I'm going to ask for a motion to approve the 2026-2027 board meeting date calendar as presented. Motion made by Ms. King. Okay. Thank you. Do I have a second? Seconded by Ms. Powell. Any questions or discussion regarding that calendar? All right, hearing none, we will call for the vote. Motion carries seven in favor. All right, that concludes the board chair's report for this evening. Next item on our agenda is our superintendent's report. Looks like Mr. Daugherty has a lot of information for us. Well, we've got quite a bit of information and I you guys kind
032of beat me to the punch, AI. So uh uh this evening uh we have a presentation on our task force led by Brittany Carter. Brittany Carter is an ITS, instructional technology specialist along with uh the rest of the ITSs, Jenna Bohannon, Patrick, and Tamika Dunn, Lisa Hoolihan, and Tiffany Tate, uh Dr. Sang, and Deb Daugherty. And then also you have your curriculum and instruction team that are also involved with that. So instructional technology and curriculum meet um and so they're trying to put together some policies and some procedures for us and how we use AI throughout the district. So I'll I'll kind of turn it over to Brittany Carter. And I know that uh she has a there's a birthday uh tonight, so I know she is probably going to be maybe a little fast
033her presentation. Um but uh anyway, uh we'll introduce you Brittany Carter who is an instructional technology specialist for us. So But chair, Dr. Wimberly, Superintendent Mr. Daugherty, uh the rest of the board members, good evening. Uh it's it's interesting, you know, anywhere you go now, whatever conference you go, whatever meeting you go to, you're going to hear about AI. And uh for DD2, I and I I find a lot of people and I think I, you know, I've talked to Justin about this, where people say we're behind. And I say, "Well, you know, let them tell me what exactly that means." And I don't know because people have not been able to tell me yet. Because it's an evolving field. It's a field that we're still trying to understand. But one thing we have done
034at DD2 is to try as much as possible to streamline, make sure everything that we do is calculated towards students' achievement. And so we established this task force. And uh so what we did was we had a lot of people, we invited probably we had about 70 people as members of the board of the team. We subdivided those into different groups. And uh so let me just introduce a you know, a few people. I know Mr. Daugherty already mentioned some names. I want them to stand so you can see. These are my back door people who actually do the hard work when the task force meets and comes up with ideas, they synthesize that idea and try to make sense out of it. And uh let's see. Jenna, Jenna, please stand up. Uh we have
035Tamika is not here. Tamika is back home with a a sick child, so she's not here with us. Um Tiffany, Lisa, and Patrick. And then of course, uh like I said, Tamika is not here. And then the sixth ITS. By the way, these are the ITSs that we approve for DD2. Um and they're doing a great job and this is one of the jobs they're doing for us. Thank you very much. Uh this is one of the jobs that they're doing for us. Again, so tonight, you know, we're not going to give you kind of a comprehensive uh report. What we're going to tell you is what we have been doing and how we are the strategies that we are taking towards getting something that is workable at DD2 without compromising our students' learning, without
036compromising who we are as a system. So here is the person of the hour. She has been working behind the scenes more than anyone else. Here we go. All right. All right, good evening. All right, so I'm going to to share with you an overview of what the task force has been working on. We'll talk about where we've been, where we are now, and where we're headed. All right. So as we began this work, it was crucial that AI did not exist separately from who we are as a district. Everything we've done has been grounded in our mission, vision, and core values, assuring that AI supports relationships, rigor, and relevance and helps every student reach their full potential. Um this work has been collaborative from the start, bringing together voices across the district including teachers
037and administrators from elementary, middle, and high school, um and district staff. And in our last task force meeting, we had a few board members there as well. Um our goal has been to create policies and procedures that guide the effective and responsible use of AI in both learning and operations. My clicker's not working. Oh, there we go. Um ultimately this work is about increasing student achievement and improving efficiency while ensuring we are using AI in ways that align our values. Um this slide shows our multi-year approach to this work. Um we started this year by forming the task force with diverse representation, defining our purpose, scope, and guiding principles, and reviewing research policies, and current use across the district. Also developing the policy which is now before you to review. Um right now we are
038exploring AI platforms and defining expectations for use. And moving forward, we will focus on training staff and students, implementing improved programs, or I'm sorry, improved tools, monitoring impact, and continuously refining our approach. Um before making decisions, we focused on building understanding. Um we established a shared understanding of AI, centralized all research and collaboration in Microsoft OneNote, identified key supports, challenges, and guardrails. Um we learned from expert experts um and we also reviewed the current AI in education bill um 5253. Um All right. Um we wanted to get an understanding of where we were as a district. Um so we created a survey, an AI use survey, which was completed by over 700 um staff members. Um we found that there is interest around AI, but also cautious optimism. Um a lot of teachers had concerns
039around student misuse, um AI's accuracy, as well as data privacy. Um this feedback directly shaped our focus on guardrails, guidance, and training. All right. Um Along with that, uh after the survey, the task force created these two documents that were given to teachers. Um these documents focus on responsible use, protecting student data, maintaining instructional integrity. Um they provide teachers with clear, actionable expectations for using AI in the classroom. Um at our last task force meeting, we had a work session where we met um all day. One of our most important steps was aligning AI to our core values. So, um if you look up here, you'll see kind of an example um of the team aligning our use of AI to our belief that students come first. Um we are going to support students while
040protecting their data, ensure all AI enhances, not replaces thinking, and establish clear guardrails for use. We also looked at some non-negotiables for any AI platform that we adopted and um made a list of any PD needs that we might need. Um for instance, any AI AI platform that we use will have strong data privacy and security, human oversight, and high-quality instruction support. Um at the same time, we had to identify those key professional learning needs, which include AI literacy, instructional use, and teaching students to use AI responsibly. Um and lastly, we started drafting our AI guidance by role. Um in this example, you can I'm sorry, by task. In this example, you can see the task is operations and and administrative efficiency. Um and so, we talked about how AI could be used to support
041drafting documents, organizing data, planning and communi- communication, um but also with clear guardrails, especially around data privacy and human review. And I do want to just um note that the images that you see up here are all works in progress. They are not final. All right. So, our next steps. Looking ahead, our work is focused on implementation. Continuing the policy approval process, finalizing district guidance, designing professional development for staff, students, and families, continuing to evaluate AI platforms, and preparing for for a supported rollout. We will also continue in gathering feedback to ensure clarity and consistency across the district. At the end of the day, our goal is to Nope. Our goal is to use AI to enhance and not replace thinking and learning. We are committed to doing this work thoughtfully, responsibly, and in alignment
042with our district values, always keeping students at the center. Thank you. >> [applause] >> Thank you, Mrs. Carter, and thank you for the work of the of the task force. I know you guys have been very uh deliberate in making sure to go in order to go fast, you need to go slow. And so, you've done a great job of trying to incorporate everything there. And so, any questions from the board that you may have on AI at this time. But thank you. That was a well-done showing kind of our journey. So, thank you. Okay, moving on to the next one is our next presentation will be Mrs. Barker, and she's going to talk to you a little bit about that we talked about in our finance committee about a possibility uh possibility of having
043elementary alternative um education for um elementary students for next year. And so, that was part of our uh kind of our budget and one of our priorities. And so, I know Mrs. Barker has taken a visit along with Carrie Ball to Aiken um to see this program uh a couple years ago. And so, now it's kind of back on the the forefront because of uh behaviors. And I know uh she's worked with Mrs. Farnsworth, Carrie Ball Hodge, Dr. Wilson, David Walker of special ed, uh Matt Moschel of MTSS, and then uh Gaylen Mercer Brown of our guidance department. So, I know they have worked very hard on this project. So, I'll turn it over to Mrs. Barker. Thank you. Good evening. Thank you for having me. Um as Mr. Daughtry said, I am just the
044spokesperson. There is a large team and a growing team that is working on this. Um so, I am just here tonight to share some information about our current planning as we move towards the possibility of an elementary alternative program in Dorchester 2. As Mr. Daughtry said, we have we really started this maybe 2 years ago. Um we saw a need and um started looking at other programs across the state. So, we've had a couple of different teams that have visited a model in Aiken, and we have some some of these team members that are visiting a program in Rock Hill coming up. So, gathering all of that information and putting it into the just-right fit for DD2. So, the purpose um really is to provide a structured and therapeutic program for students that exhibit those
045signifi- significant behavior challenges across the elementary level. We know that we have RISE to meet the needs of our secondary students, and we don't have a model to really keep kids in school for our elementary students. So, the program would focus on behavior instruction to remediate those needs that those students are exhibiting that we're not able to meet those needs in a typical school setting. So, along with that behavior intervention and instruction though, we're also focusing highly on that academic needs. So, we want to ensure that same level of academic rigor that they're getting in a base school would continue in their um placement at the at the alternative program while also meeting those behavior needs, emotional needs, um and really the ultimate goal is to reintegrate back into their base school successfully and then
046need less support moving forward. So, the target population would be kindergarten through fifth grade. So, our goal is to be able to offer the program for students at every grade level. Um and we as we are planning, we see it really being for two, possibly two groups of students. For students that have those chronic misbehaviors, those students that are accruing a large number of discipline referrals, um teachers, counselors, school administrators, interventionists, um are doing a lot of interventions with them in the school, but we're not seeing a change in behavior. So, that would be one group of students. But also, potentially students that might be referred through one extreme behavior incident at school. So, um something that would result in them being referred to an a hearing officer. So, that would be kind of the
047students we would be targeting. Um and again, they could a student could be recommended for the alternative program through a hearing officer or through a district team that would look at the needs and the interventions for each student. The goals, as I mentioned previously, would really be able to address the root causes of those behaviors with the ultimate goal to provide students with the skills necessary to reintegrate back into a typical classroom setting. So, class structure. This is as we're planning how we envision the program running is that there would be three classrooms at the alternative program. One that all cross grade levels. So, one classroom that would serve kindergarten and first grade students, one classroom for second and third grade students, and one classroom for fourth and fifth grade students. Each of those classes
048would be limited to 10 students so that that way we can provide the support in the instruction for their behavior needs as well as meeting the needs of their academic so that they continue on their current academic path. Um each staff each class would be staffed with one certified teacher and then a teaching assistant so that they can work together academically to run groups to meet both of the academic standards for the grade levels in that classroom as well as meet their behavior needs. And as I mentioned, we would use If we're using Eureka Math in our elementary schools, they would transition right over to Eureka Math in the elementary program. They would follow the same pacing. All of those programs would be consistent. So, that way when they transition back to their base school,
049they would there would not be a learning loss or a deficit there. Oh. Going to go back 10 slides. Please pause. Wanda, do you want to help me out? Thank you, ma'am. >> [laughter] >> I just skipped right over Tina. Um okay, behavior supports. Thank you. Um so, we obviously know that students are going to be placed in alternative program because of their very specific behavior needs. So, this has been a big focus for our team in planning for this. Um so, there would be daily behavior instruction built into the schedule every single day. So, there would be targeted instruction from research-based programs so that way we know that students are getting their needs met. We are teaching them. We say all the time, you know, we can't expect a child to read without teaching
050them first. Well, these students obviously have a need for some behavior instruction as well. So, we would really focus on that behavior instruction. Each student, similar to RISE, how students are assigned to a tier when they enter RISE, students would at the elementary alternative program would work through a level system. So, based on their needs, their previous behaviors, the behavior that placed them at that program, they would be assigned a level, which would delineate how long they might be there as well as what supports they would need. Um and that would be for the student there as well as some We're going to talk a little bit about some family supports as well. Um Depending on that that level, there may be individual and or small group and whole group counseling sessions. So, that would
051all be built into that level system and the new needs of each student. Um and then we are proposing that the school would follow a house system. We think since we're going to have students coming from multiple different schools, this would be something unique for that school, so it would help build some community and belonging among students as they transition out in and out of the program. And then each student would have an individualized behavior plan that really targets the unique needs of each student. So, that way outside of that whole group instruction, it would also target those unique if it's coping skills that a student needs, um de-escalation, things like that, whatever that student needs, we would individualize that plan for each student. I'm going to try Wanda, do you mind? Thank you. Um
052our proposal through the budget, which you guys discussed a little bit at the finance committee earlier, um is currently to staff an elementary alternative program with one administrator, three teachers, three teaching assistants, and in addition to that, one school counselor {slash} social worker. We think that we we may be able to use our current social workers to support some needs there. Um and then one RBT that would really be able to help with those behavior plans, some of that small group and targeted instruction as well. And then just some other information that we feel like is important for you to know as this as you're thinking about this and making decisions for next year, um and also that we are busy planning through is we realize for these students that there's also we want to
053engage their families. So, there will be parent workshops and if a student is working through the alternative program, then there would be that engagement piece so that we can really form a partnership that we think will help you the the student be successful while placed at the alternative program, but then also providing that additional support as they transition back to their base school. So, some shared work together with the families while in the alternative program and then also as they move back. Also, we're being very intentional as we're planning for what the alternative program might look like. Also, most importantly, we want those students to be successful when they reintegrate. So, we are beginning with the end in mind and that's what we want and we're planning for that as as we transition students in,
054they're there and they get the support and then transition back. Also, we want to be very intentional about making data-driven decisions, so identifying what our progress monitoring will look like for those students. And then of course, the professional development. This program is going to be very different than a typical classroom, so the the needs of the staff will be very different than a lot of our other classrooms. So, we want to be very intentional about the professional development that we would be providing there um for those staff members. So, that was a very quick overview of two two years, year and a half worth of work um from our team, but I am happy to answer any questions. Just to say a couple things to the board. This will be located uh with us repurposing
055Span, this will be located at Span. And I think the other thing that Mrs. Barker and the team touched on was the therapeutic component um with parents. Um you know, many of our parents come to us and they are very frustrated. They have that child, you know, 16 hours a day. We only have them 8 hours a day. And so, how can we, you know, be able to help parents with with behaviors? And I think that gives us an idea of helping those students especially learn. I think uh Mrs. Barker talked about that. Students can't learn unless you take care of the behavior first. And so, that that's our goal of this program. I know Carrie and Jessica and Gail you have also worked to try to provide uh you know, when you're looking at
056that that therapeutic component, we have talked with another provider that we would not have to pay for that could then provide that therapeutic component not only for the students, but also the parents. Um and so, you know, we're really trying to hone in it's it's not a parent or just not a student, but it's also the parent. This is an alternative to expulsion. We do not want to expel a an elementary student. Um she only talked about possibly 30 students at one time. Hopefully, we'll be able to impact a lot more students than just 30. Um our goal is to come up with the program kind of like we did with the tiers for RISE. Um and I know that's what the the group's going to do is going with their next visit is to
057come up and come back to you to come up with more specifics um you know, if we do approve this program because this program will take some teachers, it will take an administrator and that's kind of a domino effect usually when you hire people within. So, then it kind of does a domino effect. So, you know, we'll probably bring this back to you again uh later in April um for more information and probably uh for your approval later on. And so, we just think this is a very worthy program and we've reallocated um we've right-sized a district where we feel like we're able to pay for this program by what we've been able to do. It's very important for us for these student behaviors um to take care of it and I really appreciate the
058work that they have done and this has been something we've talked about for for years. Now, we'll have a K through 12 approach. Now, we're addressing the elementary cuz we've done the middle school. So, I know we're very excited about it as a team to be able to have this uh opportunity for our students because if we can get these students at an early age, we won't see those behaviors later on in the in the middle school and high schools, we're hoping. So, again, thank you the team and I'll leave this open for any questions for the board. So, sorry. Thank you. Yes, I did have one question. Well, it might end up being more than one, but bottom line is um so, parental participation is mandatory. Okay. >> Um we would um we would
059we actually discussed that today. When a student would be placed in the alternative program, there would be an intake meeting with the parents just like a similar to RISE, discuss previous behaviors, what level they're going to be on and what the level of parent engagement is for that for the student for each specific student based on the previous behavior, um the support that student needs. Yes, ma'am. Okay. And so, technically and this is not a negative against parents or anything like that, but sometimes the way in which they may engage with their child whenever there's a misbehavior, sometimes suggest to the child that's the correct way to respond back to someone that has said or done something to them. So, part of your working with the parents, would that include helping them to see how
060their response Yeah, I don't know how technically you want to get with that, but sometimes that's necessary. Some parent will tell you, "I don't know how to deal with the child." >> Sure. So, they would have that support from you all to give them the best of what you have to offer. >> Yes, ma'am. And we are like Mr. Dory mentioned, we are working looking to work with other outside agencies as well that can provide family support in the home and things like that. So, that when we identify that there are needs even outside of what we as a school system and within the school day can provide, then that way we can partner those um those other agencies up with the families that need some additional support outside of cuz sometimes like you sometimes
061it's family counseling that would be really beneficial um and things like that that with there are other things that even within the school district that we couldn't provide. So, yes, that would all be a part of it. Well, I'm excited to know that we are looking at doing this because as as soon as we can help to basically correct those behaviors, the more beneficial it will be to the students as well as to the home school community. So, um thank you so much for investigating and starting this. Yes, ma'am. And the one one thing to add to as you know, you're talking about parent support, we have a lot of grandparents raising children in the district. And so, giving them some more support because you know, they they don't have some of the how can
062I tools in their toolbox to help out with some of these behaviors. And I think again, you know, trying to make sure we're providing all of the support we can with a lot of these people trying to help raise children here this day and age. Um so, so a couple quick Sorry, Miss King. You go first. >> Be good. Um couple quick aspects and and you know, I look at it from the the vantage of uh support and resources. Right? I I think our goal No, I I would argue that probably nobody relishes the fact that we have to have this type of program at the elementary school, but I do think it's it's imperative and it's important um because you you look at what's available say at at our elementary schools today, um the
063resources, the supports. If we have repeat offenders, when you have behavior that is extreme, um you know, that that goes above and beyond what what we're really capable of handling um at at the local school level. And so, I think for us to be able to give that support and resource outside of that environment, I I think it's a really good thing. And and then that also goes to the point when you when we start to talk about uh teacher retention. Right? That that is a huge piece to the puzzle because if we know that these issues are are going to be handled and given the support and the resources that they need up front at a very very early age, I think that speaks volumes uh to our educators in the classroom. So, again,
064so I just want to say thank you to that to this team that that is a large-scale initiative and project to to take on. And I'm excited to see it come to fruition. So, thank you. That's I was just going to thank y'all. My elementary teacher heart is really happy to hear about this. It's much needed. I love seeing that the the goal is to keep the classrooms smaller so that everybody's needs can be met. I love the word intentional being used over and over and I love that you have taken time to research, to visit other facilities and see how other communities are working with this and through this. And just thank you for taking on this task. I know it's it's a big one. It is, but we are there might have been
065some tears shed when we when we thought that we were going to be here tonight and that this was really a priority moving forward. Um if if allow if approved budget-wise, then I mean we feel very strongly that this is definitely a big need. So, we are just as excited. It is a big task, but one we are eager to work through. Couple of questions on that and so um given the proposed staffing and whatnot, what do we think the capacity of the program would be? So, depending on what level a student entered on would depend or depend how long they would stay. Um so 30 maximum 30 students at a time, but those students that in come in at a lower level and are successful um and would reintegrate back into their schools, we
066we would anticipate having a waitlist certainly at at the beginning as we know especially as we start the program. Um so, as the minute we had a spot as the minute a student reintegrated back to their base school, then would we would fill that spot. So, it's hard to answer that without knowing all 30 could enter on the lowest level or all 30 could enter on the highest level. Um but we we anticipate having a waiting list especially with that district team will review data regularly so that way we know when a student is ready to be placed. And also on the flip side of that, we didn't go too much into that, but working with school teams for those students that are on the waiting list so that we can continue to support those
067school teams while we're working through a waiting list. Um Echoing what my colleague Mr. Farnsworth said, you know, nobody relishes the fact that we've been thinking about needing something like this. And if if 30 is kind of the rule of thumb capacity for right now, what do you think the current demand really is? I You want I I would say nobody would probably be surprised at that. No. I think it's just going to go back to professional development for our teachers and our administrators and our We we could we could select stu- 30 students right now just based on the number of referrals. Um we do think that we could provide professional development and plan to really focus on that next year for all elementary schools really building intentional and targeted behavior plans for students.
068And our hope certainly would be to decrease that number before they needed to enter something like an alternative um program and hopefully decreasing some numbers there, but especially at this point in the year if we just looked at elementary students with the highest number of referrals, we could easily place 30 students now. Thank you. >> Mhm. Is that distributed evenly throughout grade levels or do you see it higher at certain areas in elementary >> I would say it changes throughout the year. At the beginning of the year, our lower our younger children are much higher, especially those that don't have much experience being in school um following a schedule, things like that. Um as we as the year goes on, we see our upper elementary numbers going up um as well. And and hopefully I
069know one of the programs that we visited in Aiken, that was feedback that they hear is that they plan for a higher number of kindergartners at the beginning of the year and then kind of stagger off and kind of shift up to serving some older kids later in the year because if they they were really able to meet those needs early, then there was less of a demand for that that group later in the year. So, it sounds like this is going to be a little bit different than RISE in that this isn't necessarily the last option This is not only for children who would otherwise be expelled. >> Correct. That is There may be some students that would otherwise be expelled that would be placed here, but we would really like to look at
070this more through an MTSS lens. So, when we have exhausted the interventions that we can provide at a typical school setting and we see a need for students to have some more targeted support, then that would be where we would look at the alternative program placement. >> So, how will that work I guess with parents then if I mean, will they have to agree to it or is this going to be something that we say So, we would do that at an intake. Yes. And actually, that's one of the things that we've asked when we've visited other programs and they for the their feedback for the most part was parents are just so eager for help at that point that a lot of times they will willingly, happily, you know, accept the support. But we
071do realize that that would be something we'll have to work through, but we're trying to take away barriers. We've talked to transportation, so we'll be able to provide transportation. It'll be on a regular elementary schedule, so it won't be a different schedule. So, we're trying to do as many things like that so that we can meet parent meet parents where their needs are. Okay. Great. Yeah, those were my other questions actually about transportation and scheduling. So, great. And then, do you have any idea yet about time frames? I know you're trying to still work through that, but do you have a tentative >> we would start when school starts. I think that that would we would Do you mean is that what you mean? >> I mean that with the levels, is it like certain
072number of weeks? Um have you gotten that far in the planning to >> We well, we have we have yes, we have started planning. We went over that today. It's if you're I mean, it's okay if >> Well, that's okay. We changed it from the original one, so I'm just trying to remember where we settled. Level one anywhere between three to five weeks. So, that might be a student that came like from an expulsion hearing, minimal behaviors, but kind of one extreme behavior. Level two is three to six and then they move to level one and go the three to five. And then the next level is three to seven weeks. So, then they work up. And then we said maximum amount of time would be 18 weeks long. So, that if if after that's
073eight a semester basically, but if they came in October, they could stay for 18 weeks because we feel like if if we're being really targeted and providing a high level of support, if a student isn't able to be successful moving through each level after that much time, then we would want to look at additional supports outside of this that a student may need. Um because also if we are have if we're running a waitlist, we don't you know, we want to be able to serve the students. Um and after 18 weeks, we feel like we would have the data to support if this wasn't an appropriate intervention for the student. Okay. Great. Well, thank you very much. What um I had a question. Was the were the three teachers an allocation like limitation based on
074funding essentially or just a starting point? Yeah, allocation funding. Funding. >> just curious cuz um when you're talking about, you know, as the grade levels fluctuate throughout the year, I was wondering if it'd be possible to have an allocation that fluctuates maybe they're fourth, fifth grade at one portion of the year, maybe they're kindergarten first at the beginning of the year when it's a high level of that. >> Oh, it's a good it's a good question and actually, we kind of today talked today for example, if you're the kindergarten and first grade teacher and then all of your kindergartners transition out, you don't have anybody on the waiting list, but we have five second graders on a waiting list. So, I think that we could be flexible that way without additional allocations. I will say
075it's a big program and I'm sure that we will have to monitor and adjust as we go. So, um we didn't want to bite off more than we could chew and have, you know, to And I will say this is you know, having the right people and being able to provide the right training for them is something we are being very, very intentional about as we move through this process. Um but yes, funding is we originally even at first were just like, maybe we should start with two and then we were like three. If we're going to meet their academic needs, it has to be no more than two kids two grade levels per class. So, um but it might be something down the road that we could grow. And I think once some of
076our systems are in place and we've you know, got through some growing pains, then maybe we could add additional teachers or positions if needed, but that's kind of where we started. Thank you so much. Thank you, Katie and team. Thank you so much. Great job. Okay. Now, we'll bring up finance. Uh so again, how we're going to fund this program and so uh uh Ms. Minier will come up and talk a little bit about that and through our finance and so Thank you, Tina. Good evening, Madam Chair, board members, and Mr. Doughty. Um the information for for um this evening that the finance team has prepared is for the month of February and year-to-date through February 2026. Um we're already 8 months into our fiscal year. Wow. Um but time's moving very quickly. Um, so
077as you see from our cash flow statement, um, each month we show each individual month and the happenings and then, um, the year-to-date totals and the those are the um, on the other reports that we have. So for the month of February, our revenues were 17.5 million, our expenditures were 25.5. Um, so we ended the month, um, we're still at 30.63% for our fund balance. Um, I did want to point out that if you look on our total in that green box that's over on the far left, um, we are projecting out that we would need to use utilize probably some of our fund balance and I'm going to tell you why. Um, one of those amounts is due to, um, million dollars of that is due to the the decrease that we saw from
078the state revenues and our, um, student count. Although I'm I'm going to hold out hope for our 135th day numbers. So that was last Friday was our 135th day. I think that was last Friday or the Friday before. Um, so we're going to see what happens with those counts and maybe we can make some of that up. The other portion of that is that we had a timing difference which was no one's fault. Um, the technology, some of the licenses that we had um, were paid for in this fiscal year. They were for this fiscal year and typically we pay those in June. No one's fault. It was just, um, part of their budget from last year. So that money was carried over in our fund balance. So we're not really losing any money out
079of our fund balance. This was carried over from last year. I just wanted to point that out in case Mr. Lee said, "Tina, why is there a negative amount in that green box?" So I wanted to jump the gun and get it to you right ahead. Um, so that's our cash flow, um, report. Oh, let me go back one. I'm sorry. So also on the very bottom you will see the, um, food service fund balance numbers. Um, again it shows a negative amount but there's timing differences between when we receive our bill from Aramark and when it's actually paid. So this was for last month which you can see there was a a huge positive number. We're we're not in we never look for, um, running a high um, positive amount in that in that
080fund. So we're not looking to be money makers. So so our expenditures for that were a month behind. Um, we'll still end in the year on a good note for that fund balance in food service as well as for the general fund. Um, I didn't point out that we'll still be well within the 18% that the board has approved for the, um, fund balance for general fund. We're we're projecting 21% that will be at the end of the year. So now our year-to-date, um, general fund, um, balance sheet, um, through February. Um, our total assets are 100.5 million dollars and I will say my error, the 9.7 million dollars of those total assets should should have been on the next line. Um, that is money that is due from other funds and one of the
081main, funds that we um, were to receive money back was from our TIF fund from our Oakbrook Elementary and our Oakbrook Middle building additions, um, for the Dorchester County TIF project that we were in. Um, we did receive those monies in March. It is just not reflected here. So that number will go down next month but we are still well within our total assets close to our last year with our comparison from 2025. Um, total liabilities were at 8.6 million. Again, very close to last year and then our total fund balance is 91.9 million um, to balance this out at the 100.5. Um, so the next report is our schedule of revenues, expenditures and fund balance. Um, our total revenues year-to-date through February are at 209.7 million. Um, I didn't really have anything exciting to
082point out there except that, um, I think we've pointed out there are other local sources included an insurance reimbursement for um, thousand dollars which was on, um, was not anticipated. So that looks like we're higher in our budget. We're at a negative 34% which means we received all of our budgeted amount that we anticipated because of that insurance proceeds. And then for our expenditures, um, total expenditures year-to-date through the end of February is 185 million. Um, we're at 38% and it's a little bit different from last year at the 39% and just because as I said the, um, the timing of those licenses that were just one month off that we used our money in from last year and this year. Um, our next set of reports are the, um, comparisons over the past three
083years of our local revenue, state revenue and other revenue. Um, our budget was three is 300 million this year. We have spent 209 million. Um, we pardon me, we've received 209.7 million. Um, we're right in right in line with last year. Um, then expenditures of the 300 million we have spent 185 million. Um, and even though we have spent more dollars, the percentage of our budget is actually right in right in target 61% as, um, the three-year comparison 60% 70% this year as compared to 71% over the past three years. So we're really right on target with what with our budget for revenues and expenditures. And the last report that we're showing is our fund balance projection and again, um, we'll be within the 18% um, at 21% for our projected fund balance at the
084end of the year. So those were our year-to-date reports. Um, we didn't plan on talking about the budget this time, um, on the budget presentation but we can talk about anything. I think Mr. Doughty had said something about discussing the elementary alternative. Um, so that was one of the budget priorities that we had discussed this evening in the finance committee. It was the very first slide that showed the underneath the mandates as one of the district priorities. So those, um, positions that Ms. Barker was just discussing are included in those district priority amounts. And if anyone has any questions, be happy to answer. Thank you, Ms. Mingay. >> Thank you. Our next item on the agenda is 7D and that is the award of the contract for Sandhill Elementary School for HVAC controls and that's
085in your board packet. All right, thank you, Mr. Doughty. Board members at this time I'd ask for a motion to approve the award of contract for the Sandhill Elementary School HVAC control as presented. So moved. Motion made by Mr. Lee, seconded by Mr. Farnsworth. Any questions or discussion? Hearing none, we will call for the vote. Motion carries seven in favor. Okay, our next item is, uh, 7E and that's the award of contract for Gregg Middle School roof and wall repair and that is also in your board packet. All right, at this time I'd ask for a motion to award the contract for Gregg Middle School roof and wall repair as presented. Second. Motion made by Ms. Bates, seconded by Mr. Farnsworth. Any questions or discussion? Hearing none, we will call for the vote. Motion carries
086seven in favor. Our next item is 7F. That's provision of the portion of the for the town of Summerville. This is the land that we talked about, uh, months ago that was next to the skate skate park and, uh, our motion or we're asking the board for to execute the memorandum of understanding and the quick claim deed for the provision of the land to the town of Summerville as presented. So, um, that was discussed, uh, several months ago. So asking for board approval on that this evening. All right. Board members at this time I'd ask for a motion to execute the memorandum of understanding and the quick claim deed for the provision of land to the town of Summerville as presented. Motion made by Ms. Powell, seconded by Ms. King. Any questions or discussion? Very,
087very quickly and then I'm looking at Mr. Bohannon Mr. Doughty, um, for that item specifically. I I think that is a great, uh, public relations, uh, piece for the district and the town. So anything we can do to promote that being good neighbors that we are uh, essentially donating a piece of land that we did not have to donate uh, for the betterment of our community. I think would be an amazing thing. All right. Thank you, Ms. Farnsworth. Any other questions or comments? All right, hearing none, we will call for the vote. Motion carries seven in favor. Yes, uh, item 7G. That is our personnel report and asking the board's, uh, approval of the personnel recommendations as presented. All right, board members, this was included in our packet. Is everyone okay to proceed in open
088session? All right, then at this time I would ask to approve for a motion to approve the personnel recommendations as presented. So moved. Motion made by Ms. Bates. Seconded by Ms. King. Any questions or discussion? Hearing none, we will call for the vote. Motion carries seven in favor. And our last item on the superintendent's report is uh 7H student enrollment recommendations. So, asking the board, uh it's in your board packet, for approval of the student enrollment recommendations. >> All right, board members, is everyone okay to proceed in the open session? All right, at this time I'd ask for a motion to approve the student enrollment requests as presented. So moved. Motion made by Ms. Bates. Seconded by Ms. King. Any questions or discussion? Hearing none, we will call for the vote. Motion carries seven in
089favor. All right. Okay, thank you, Dr. Wimberly and the board. That's all I have this evening. All right, thank you very much. Next item on our agenda this evening is our public comments on non-agenda items, and we have one, Mr. Jason Brokert. Good evening. I've heard a lot about communication tonight. It's actually been some really good stuff about communication. Unfortunately, my experience with the district and communication hasn't been the best. Uh so, I'm going to read an email, paraphrase, cuz there's no way I can read this in less than 3 minutes. An email that was sent back in November, which has never gotten a reply. Um I actually sent an email to all of you individually, and it starts off, "Hello, board member." And then goes on to say, "How we know each other?" Because
090in one way or another, I I know most of you in some way. So, personalize it for each of you. And then I want to say, "Here's a synopsis of all the stuff that has happened that I've been trying to speak to you about." And this is back in November of last year. And at the board meeting that happened that evening, there there was an incident out front. Um and I was called a bully. And I challenged that definition, had it challenged back to me. So, so then I responded because I said, "I will define bullying, what it means, and how I am not bullying you because I'm advocating." So, I did. I sent the definition of bullying as it pertains to stopbullying.gov and the CDC and the American Psychological Association. By the way, I'm
091paraphrasing because you've all already had this. You've had months to read it. Um and the challenge was, "Please respond to this and let me know how I'm misunderstanding this cuz I'm trying to communicate and understand why I am being called a bully." Cuz I don't know if if anyone understands how that affects me personally being called a bully. Now, after that, I went ahead and forwarded to a few other board members so that they could read and maybe maybe argue that whether or not I am advocating or bullying. No response. So then, uh a couple weeks later, I poked it again and said, "Hey, would would would anybody like to talk to me about this?" No response. So then I added some more, and I just said, "Can we please have a meeting at some
092point?" That that was in December. No response. And then, in January, I sent it to all of you. Take a guess at the response. Yeah, I never got one. So, you talk about working with parents, and I've been here as a parent trying to work with you for years, quite literally years at this podium. And I'm not asking for tennis courts to be refurbished. It's a little bit more important than that. I hope you all can figure out how to prioritize and maybe respond to some emails every now and then. Good night. Thank you, Mr. Brokert. All right, board members, at this time I would ask for a motion to convene into executive session for personnel-related matters. Motion made by Ms. Powell. Seconded by Mr. Lee. Any questions or discussion? Okay, hearing none, we will
093call for the vote. Motion carries seven in favor. We are in executive session, and we will return. >> Mhm. >> At this time, I would ask for a motion to return to open session. Motion made by Ms. Powell. Second. >> Seconded by Ms. Bates. Any questions or discussion? Hearing none, we will call for the vote. All right. Motion carries seven in favor. We are back in open session. Um at this time, I would ask for a motion from our executive session. Hm? Oh, I think went through. Are you okay with Oh, thank you, Wanda. Are you okay with returning to open session? Okay. Okay. [laughter] All right. At this time, are there any motions coming out of our executive session? Madam Chair, I make a motion to approve the employee recommendation as presented. Thank you,
094Ms. Bates. Do I have a second? Okay. Seconded by Ms. King. Any questions or discussion? All right. Hearing none, we will call for the vote. Ms. King. Motion carries seven in favor. Okay. At this time, I would ask for a motion to adjourn. So moved. Second. Everybody did that one. >> [laughter] >> Motion made by Mr. Lee, seconded by Ms. Bates. Any questions or discussion? Hearing none, we will call for the vote. Motion carries seven in favor. We are adjourned.