001And um you can bow your heads and join me in prayer if you would like. As we continue the beginning of the new year and midway through our school year, I ask for a fresh sense of purpose, renewed strength, and your continued favor as we lead and serve in the positions you've entrusted us. Lord, your word says in Galatians 6:9, "Let us not become weary in doing good. for at the proper time we'll reap harvest if we do not give up. Lord, this year I'm believing for that harvest. I'm believing that the faithful hearts and tireless efforts of this board and this district to serve selflessly, love generously, and work diligently will bring favor and blessings to all those we serve. Father, I ask for unity, peace, and understanding to rest upon every heart under
002the sound of my voice throughout this district and across our community. On a personal note, I thank you Lord for the opportunity to give that you have given me to serve. Sometimes what you call us to is light and the burden is easy. Other times it can feel heavy. Allow us the moments to truly soak in the joy of the good and give us the strength and wisdom to persevere through the challenges. As my favorite new worship song says, I praise you. I lift you up, magnify, glorify, exalt, and extol you in all I do. May you receive all the glory and may the work we do bring honor to your holy name in Jesus name. Amen. And please stand me for the stand with me for the pledge. Good evening and welcome to the
003January 26, 2026 Dorchester 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. Seven in favor. All right. The next item on our agenda this evening is our district highlights. And I believe we have we'll bring Mr. for Brian Bohan up to introduce a special guest. >> Thank you, Dr. Wimberly, Mr. Dhy. Board members, we just have one district highlight tonight, but we're going to let it breathe a little bit because it's a good one. And to celebrate this highlight, I would like to welcome a very special guest, longtime supporter of DD2, one
004of our biggest fans, uh, welcoming Miss Octavia Mitchell. >> [applause] >> Indeed. Indeed. I am truly a big fan of Dorchester School District two schools and everybody knows that. Good evening everyone. Good evening Superintendent Dhy. Good evening board. Good evening Somerville community. Special shout out and special good evening to the span pandas. Any span pandas in the house? >> [cheering] >> Okay, [laughter] I am Octavia Mitchell, morning anchor at News 2, and I am delighted to be before you this evening to talk about Span Elementary. Over the last 16 years, News 2 has brought you weekly stories highlighting positive programs in the Low Country Schools. News 2 is the station you can count on to tell you about the many impactful initiatives taking place in our schools every week. Over the years, we've highlighted hundreds
005of schools and educators in Charleston, Berkeley, Dorchester, Georgetown, Colin, and Williamsburg counties implementing innovative ideas and successful programs. Now, I have a very special connection to Span Elementary. That is obvious because I'm here with you tonight instead of sleeping in my bed. I go to bed at 6 PM for my 2:00 a.m. wake up call. But this is special to me. So when I was asked to come speak about our cool school, Span Elementary, of course, I said yes. SPAN is an amazing school as you all know and we are delighted to highlight the Pandas. We've highlighted them twice. first in 2012, then last month in December 2025, especially knowing this is the last year the school will open as an elementary school and spans building, the fourth oldest in the district, will be repurposed
006into a district-wide educational center. Rooted in fun and positivity, every day is a spantastic day at Span Elementary. Students have daily newscasts featuring raffles and the panda of the day. Recognition and celebration of students is a big hit. I mean big hit. Students have cool clubs featuring robotics and the span singers just to name a few. Also town hall meetings celebrate students as well. If you moment if you may please let's take a few moments to watch our cool school span report. School Report sponsored [music] by John Price Law Firm. >> During this season of giving, we celebrate a school that has given immeasurable gifts to students, teachers, and the community in Somerville for nearly 70 years. James H. Span, one of the oldest schools in Dorchester School District 2 is our cool school of
007the week. As Calon 2's Octavia Mitchell reports, even though after this year the school will no longer be an elementary school, the heart of Span and lessons learned are everlasting. >> Are we ready FOR EVERYONE'S FAVORITE SEGMENT? >> Is on. >> It's time for it. Rooted in fun and positivity, every day is a spantastic day at Span Elementary. The fourth oldest school in Dorchester School District 2 was built in 1960. Span's impact spans decades. >> It's the best kept secret in Somerville and Span's a great place to be. Um it's got a just an amazing culture. It's just such a loving, warm, welcoming community. And um we've got an amazing staff and our student body, our parents, our families, our PTA. Um it's just it's very loving and you feel it the minute you walk
008through the door. So um love it here. >> With more than 500 students in preK through fifth grade, strong academic performance is among the school's bragging rights >> daily newscast featuring raffles >> thoughts next week. Miss Cook >> along with the panda of the day recognition of students are big hits. Major Watkins, YOU are theate. You're always on the move. >> All right, MAJOR, COME HERE, MAN. >> We really try our best just to push positivity. Um, I think we can all agree in education, academics are always at the forefront. Um, but without that culture and climate piece, um, academics aren't going to thrive the way they could. So, we look for opportunities every day to celebrate our students, whether it's good grades, whether somebody picked up a pencil for one of their classmates, opened
009a door for somebody, just gave somebody a compliment. Um, you know, it's so easy to be nice. It takes, you know, minimal effort to do something nice for somebody. And you see that in our classrooms here every day. >> I love the raffles. I love paint of the day. I love my principal. I love my teachers. >> I think what makes special is all of the students and all of the staff. Everyone's it's like a family environment here. So I think that's what makes it a special place. >> Students have cool clubs featuring robotics and the span singers just to name a few. And town hall meetings to celebrate students. >> Miss Bass says you give 100% music class. You are on task and work on doing your best. He is a great example for
010his class. Keep up the great work. >> We are all about kids. I mean we're growing kids. We're celebrating kids every day. Um and when we celebrate kids, we celebrate adults. So, it really it builds a community with the kids and with the teachers. Um, you know, people come here and don't ever want to leave. The kids are excited when they're coming in the door. You know, people are greeting them all the way in. Um, they're earning points. They're just being celebrated. And with that, they feel safe and respected. So, it makes it uh easier and better for them to to grow academically because they're they have buy in to to build a love of learning and a love of school that's going to grow as they go all the way up through high school.
011>> We um have like a lot of cool things that we do like um the raffle and like panda of the day and I just think that's super cool to have. >> We do these things every day, you know. We love starting every day with with Panda of the Day, with celebrating our kids, with our town hall meetings, giving positive shout outs. Um, I think the positivity that's that just flows with inside this building, uh, that's what makes us cool. >> We love, [screaming] [crying] >> Octavia Mitchell, Count on Two, and we love Span as well. [laughter] Now I consider myself to be an honorary panda. How many of you want to be pandas? [laughter] Now span has given immeasurable gifts to students in Somerville for nearly 17 years with an impact that spans decade.
012Also I have a very special connection to span elementary. It's very personal. My late cousin, Latasha Steed, was a beloved teacher at Span. And I will never forget how the entire school supported and rallied around Tasha during her ill illness and her and how they remembered her after her passing. And this happened in 2016. She made a lasting impact and left a lasting legacy at Span. The school planted a tree on school grounds in her memory. I also love my annual visits to SPAN for ReadAcross America Day. Wonderfully organized by Mrs. Skipper for many years. A building does not make a school cool. It is the people within its walls that makes a school special. Even though it's sad the school will no longer be an elementary school, SPAN will remain and good work will
013still take place throughout. The heart of SPAN and lessons learned are everlasting. Congratulations, Span Elementary School. >> [applause] >> Congratulations, Span. Thank you again, Octavia, who we will now send to bed. As this concludes our district highlights. All right. Very cool. So cool. Okay. [clears throat] We will continue with our agenda. The next item on our agenda is our public comments on agenda items and we do not have any this evening. So next up we will have our board committee reports. We will begin with our policy committee. Miss Bates. >> Thank you, Madam Chair. Currently we do not have any updates. I'm sure that we'll be getting together as a board to set dates for upcoming meetings with all the committees. So >> all right. Thank you very much. Next we have our finance committee,
014Mr. Lee. and we've uh circulated our plans for our meeting schedule for the next several months. So finishing finalizing that up and publishing that uh going forward would like to share just momentarily I did as part of my capacity of being the liaison from the board meet with the DD2 foundation uh for their meeting and uh great relationship great uh goals and things they've got going there looking forward to working with them there and also thank you to the district spent some time this week with the technology folks get a better understanding of all the things that are going on with technology and understanding you know the impacts that uh we need to be looking for when it comes to funding as we put together the budget for next year. So, a lot of good
015things getting ready to happen. We're getting ready to wind up the uh the clock and get going for the uh actual budget process that will take us to getting to a budget approved by the board in June. So, >> great. Thank you very much. And then next we have our facilities committee, Mr. Farnsworth. >> Um you got it. Thank you, Madam Chair. Um projects, projects, projects. We we have a lot of uh facilities projects continuing on throughout the district. Uh one I did want to highlight very quickly, Miss Powell and I had the opportunity was that last week? Last week uh we were over near Sand Hill and got to walk through uh the new wing at Sand Hill. So that's a completed project. We love uh green check marks and um that that space
016is phenomenal. Um, I saw it prior to teachers moving in and and then of course we've seen it now with teachers and students and and that wing just has life and and it's uh very impressive and and exciting. So, good job, Sand Hill. And then lastly, um we I'm working on with Mr. Frell and and Miss Powell, we're working on our list of facilities visits. Um, so here in the next few days, if everybody will please be on the lookout for those dates and then we will do our walkthroughs of all of our facilities into this year. That's all I got. >> Excellent. We look forward to seeing those dates come out. >> All right. Next item on our agenda is our board chairs report. And we have several things this evening. We will begin
017with the appointment of our board secretary. Um, and I would like to ask Mr. Farnsworth if he would serve in that capacity for us. All right. Excellent. Okay. And then the next item is a creation of um an ad hoc committee on governmental and community relations. Um this was a suggestion from a couple different board members and one that um I completely agree with. So um the idea behind this I know we all have good relationships and lots of interaction with our elected officials as well as community organizations and government organizations. But the idea behind this the creation of this committee would be to make those interactions more intentional and more organized. Um this would be as all our committees are a committee of the whole. Um and we would appoint um a couple of
018board members to serve on it to serve in an organizational capacity to help organize um intentional meetings and interactions with elected officials. That would be state, county, town, and city. um you know and anyone that we are interested in meeting with as well as um community organizations such as the chamber um economic development and those types of things. And of course we would be open to suggestions for from all board members for any you know anyone we're interested in in meeting with and again um these would be intentional meetings setting up organized events and it they of course would be open to all board members to attend. So at this time I would like to ask for a motion to create this ad hoc governmental and community relations committee. Okay. So motion made by Mr.
019Farnsworth, seconded by Mr. Lee. Any questions or discussion? Okay. And hearing none, we will call for the vote. All right, motion carries. Seven in favor. So, um, at this time, I would like to ask Mr. Lee if he would like to serve, um, as a leader of this committee to help organize for us. All right. Thank you. And I'd also ask ask like to ask Miss Bates if she would join him in helping. >> Yes, I would. I would love to. Thank you. >> Okay. Great. and other board members. If you have suggestions for them or ideas of people that you are interested in um them helping us kind of organize, then please reach out and let them know. And um also as part of this, we would love to have regular updates at the
020board meeting. So that would be great. All right. Thank you very much. And then finally this evening, I just wanted to remind everyone of our upcoming events. We did schedule our winter board retreat for Monday, February 23rd. Right now I have the tentative time set as two to five, but I will be reaching out to each of you to help organize that agenda. And so based on the feedback I receive, it's it's possible that it could end up being a little longer. I obviously want to be respectful of anyone everyone's time, but I also want to make sure we get all the business done that we need. So we're we're hoping we can keep it to two to five, but again based on the feedback for what um everyone would like to see included on
021that agenda, that could possibly change. Um but that date is set in stone. So and then we also have our two big conventions um and conferences coming up. The first one is the South Carolina the SCSBA um annual convention. That one is February 19th through the 22nd. Um and I know that Wanda has been helping everyone get registered for that. Looking forward to some good information there. And then in March, shortly after March 13th through the 15th, we have the CASPA National Conference. So, um, anyone have any questions or comments about any of that? >> Okay, great. Wonderful. Well, thank you all. Appreciate it. And that concludes my information. So, now we will turn to Mr. Dhy for our superintendent report. >> Thank you, Madam Chair, and the rest of the board. Uh, this evening,
022our first item on our agenda, the superintendent report is our school improvement designations. And, uh, Mrs. Teresa Kelly, our chief of federal programs, is the one that kind of deals with these designations. And so I'd like to bring up Mrs. Kelly to kind of explain um a lot a little bit about this process. And so I'll turn it over to Mrs. Kelly. >> Good evening, Madame Chair, Dr. Wimbley, esteemed schoolboard members, and superintendent Mr. Doy. As Mr. Doy said that I will be going over school improvement designations this evening. I'm sure there may be questions. I'll be happy to answer as best as possible. Um, just to give you an understanding about the school improvement designations because there's quite a few. We'll go the slides after this. The school designations basically is noted from the
023school report card. There is a threshold that they use. The threshold is when we're talking about ATSI is the bottom 5%. They get that number from every school district across the state of South Carolina. They take the school report card and base the bottom 5% on the threshold number. That number changes every year, but the designations stay the same. The numbers the same. So when you're looking at the designations, it's based on subgroups. And the state testing they use is the South Carolina um ready test, ELA math, end of high school uh courses and that's your acade um achievement and progress. Also SC ready science is the preparing for success. Access for L's is your multilingual learners and SC ALT. So based on that bottom 5%, they take all our students in subgroups and it's
024like they're their own individual school and they look at the report card for each of those subgroups and that's what gives us the designation. Um and so I'm going to go through each designation with you. The first designation I'd like to speak about is targeted support and improvement. That is our TSI schools. TSI school um designation is a yearly designation. it is the schools that fall in the bottom 10% um across the state and there is no funding tied to this designation. We have two schools that have this designation this year and it's just letting the schools know, hey, you're getting close to that 5%. Look out for these subgroups and make improvements as you go along. Typically, um schools tend to get out of that as they know it. Um and so that's one.
025There's several. The next one is um TSI uh consistently underperforming subgroup. So it's a TSI CUS designation. That is also a yearly designation. It's schools that uh fall in the bottom 10% for three or greater consecutive years. And there is no funding tied to this designation either. Typically schools with this designation have been in ATSI school and they could have been an ATSI school for uh one cycle which is three years or multiple and it's usually schools that come off of the HSI designation that will fall in here. So they've been um underper not underperforming but they've been a TSI school for at least three years. So uh an ATSI and then go to TSI to be watched. So we have one of our high schools on that. The next designation is the ATSI designation.
026That is where the B the schools fall in the bottom 5%. There are different cycles in this designation. So one cycle is three years. These are our schools that are on that three-year cycle right now. The cycles from 25 to 2028. Schools will not be identified until the 2028 year again. So, it is a three-year cycle. The schools must complete the three-year cycle. Um, and there is some funding attached to this, but it's not enough to give every school additional money. So, we do a district-wide plan with the schools. And so, these are four schools that are on that first three-year cycle. The next cycle is your ATSI second cycle. So in an ATSI second cycle, they have been through the first cycle. They are now completing a second cycle. It is another three years.
027There is some funding attached to this. Also, the difference with this is they don't have to complete the second three-year cycle. If the school meets the threshold that got them on the cycle, they can come off any time within that three years. Continuing, the next one is um also a second cycle reidentified, but then they have an additional firstear cycle. So they were identified, these two schools were identified as a second cycle school for designation and now they have a new identification. With this they will they can come off of their second cycle any time within that three years but they must complete first cycle for the new designation. The next is um our additional targeted support and improvement HSI third cycle. Usually a school if they are a title one school will be a
028CSI school if they have not come off of the third cycle. We do not have title one school high schools. So the high school then is a third cycle reidentified. They have given it the designation of an MRI which is more rigorous instruction. We are waiting to hear from the state department what the expectation is or if they just want to see more reverse instruction with the um designation at the school level. This one is CSI. Um that means that the school has not come off of the two three-year cycles for ATSI. There's continuing to be in the bottom 5% for their designation. There is some funding with this, but the state department also gives us a transformation coach um to work with the school to see if they can provide additional assistance to the
029school um to help them improve. This is also like ATSI, it is a three-year cycle. Um, and you can do two, threeear cycles on the CSI as well. So, what the state believes is that when you do a three-year cycle, and this is for ATSI as well, it takes the year for you to start implementing and really planning. Then the second year of the cycle, they want to see you implement and hoping by the third year of that first cycle, your school will come off of the designation pieces. In order to exit, there's two ways that you can exit. And we do have four schools that have exited um ATSI. You have to complete the first three-year cycle and then you have to have good or excellent student progress and you are no longer in
030the bottom 5%. So you will exit the cycle or if you exit midcycle of that second cycle or before that second cycle is over, you have met the threshold target score that you have initially been identified with and you have to either improve in math or ELA from the previous testing year. So, they look at your SC ready scores. Um, with this, what I'd like to say is that we have a really good working relationship with the state department, especially the folks who are in the ATSI and leadership program at this state. They have come to the district. One was September, I want to say it was September 24th, and they did a low country presentation. And so it was um districts across the state trying to walk them through things to help us help
031schools um realign some things to help um with helping children with the academics. They were also here um this um past January this year. Um and they met with our reading coaches and have provided like um some good suggestions to them about what can be implemented next year as far as planning with the teachers and they were just here on Friday doing another low country consortium um talking through the cycles with everybody from the low country. So they're um they've been helping out quite a bit. We have formed um a unique group at the district. It's federal programs, assessment and accountability along with special ed and curriculum trying to roll up our sleeves and work alongside of the schools to help them with these designations. The one thing I'm going to say is it's across
032the state. It's just not district two um that is having these designations. It's pretty high across the state. Um and so we actually work together as a group across the state as well sharing ideas that can help our schools. So we'll continue to work hard. Um the other thing is that we know where our scores are and we know um we look at them all the time. The Schmink does a great job in assessment and accountability analyzing the data with our principles. So it we're just implementing new and different things uh with the schools. Lots of slides, but um do you have any questions? >> I have a question. So, in terms of what gets you into the designation, is it an amalgam? It's just the total points and if you're in the bottom 5%,
033you're in. >> Yes. >> Okay. Um do we look at that in terms of is there a particular area of those points where, you know, we need to focus on or is it just uh so long as you're in there, you stay there? >> Well, so Miss that's a good question. Uh, Miss Lee, so unfortunately there's always going to be somebody in the bottom 5%, right? So you can have high scores, but you're there's always going to be that bottom 5%. So when you're in there, um, typically the state department too, I think, is looking also to provide support to us about what are other districts who get out of it. Like we've had these schools come out of that bottom 5% their um, you know, Eugene size and their designation. Um it was their
034first cycle. Fort Dor Fort Dorchester High School did two cycles was a TSI school and they have completely cleared the state. So they are out of that as well. Oak Brook Middle School was a one-year cycle. Same thing cleared the site and Sand Hill. So we do have schools that have been successful in getting out of it. I think a lot of good information is coming out now because it was kind of gray era for a long time about how you got in, how you can get out and we're all working towards that. So yes, >> hopefully that answered your question, sir. >> You did just kind of a followup to that. So um as we look across, do we know for each school which are the ones they need to focus on? And do
035we have any systemic patterns? You're right. you know, based on percentages, somebody's going to end up at the bottom five, right? >> But, you know, for example, the access for multi- language, you know, is that a systemic problem across the district that, you know, we're fortunate only several of these schools are actually targeted u or designated, I should say, but is is that something that we need to look at? >> Yes. Yes, we we have the data on that and uh we're we're we're working very closely um with the designations. we know the designation for each school. Typically, it's one designation um and trying to help um with those pieces so that um we can help the students progress. So, yeah, we're we're diving really deep into the data and that's why we have uh
036Mr. Schmank from assessment and accountability helping us as well. So, and it's unfortunate because all the subgroups are compared to the standard across the state. Um, and so, but I will say that our designation that is in most of our schools is the same with our counterparts in the low country and across the state. So, yes. >> So, and very quickly and and to that point, I think it could be beneficial if you guys agree, Mr. Dian and Miss Telly, you know, as and I want to say schools are doing pretty much weekly data dumps, if you will, for everything, but I know at the beginning of the year they do a very very very in-depth um data analysis, if you will, and how they like placing students down to the classroom. So, all that
037said, it might be beneficial as we get into the next school year if we could do maybe some walkthroughs or some workshops for board members when you guys are doing that data analysis so we can see some of that from our level and and how that works in the field. >> Yes. Yes, sir. >> Okay. Any other questions? >> Thank you, Mrs. Kelly. All right. Our next item on our agenda is Miss Manet, our chief financial officer. So, she's going to come up and talk a little bit about finance. >> Good evening, Madam Chair, board members, and Mr. Dhy. Um this evening, the finance department has prepared the December um 2025 finance reports. Um the first report that we'll look at is our cash flow analysis. And this report shows we're already six months through
038this fiscal year. I can't believe it already. Um, so the so the first six columns are actuals and then the last six columns are projections. Um, when I prepared this report, the very first line item of our property taxes, I had shown that we're projecting in January to get a bulk of our property taxes since that's when they're due to um to the county by January 15th. Um, we actually got two months worth of um payments, so we are actually ahead of schedule. um as of January with getting those property taxes. So, it's another good reason for us to have a a healthy fund balance because we don't know exactly when those taxes are going to come in. So, December will probably be the last month that you will see a negative amount down there.
039We will catch back up now. Um so, at the end of December, we were at um 15.61% of our fund balance, which that should be the lowest that we hit for this year. um all of the other numbers. Um we we're still waiting to see if our 45th day numbers will affect any of our state funding. Um hopefully not. Hopefully not. If so, maybe we can make that up in property taxes. Um we'll see how that goes. Um but we're still working hard to make sure that we still come in in um in balance in our budget. So our next report, we are showing our um general fund balance sheet. Um this is in comparison December 31, 2025 versus December 31, 2024. Um we feel like we're in good shape um with our with our
040balance sheet. Our assets are $55 million. Um liability is right in line with last year of 8.1 million and then our fund balance of 46 to give us a balance of our assets of the 55 million. Um the next item is our schedule of revenues, expenditures, and changes in fund balance. Um so you can see our again that first line item of the taxes. We had only collected $13.2 million through the end of December, but then that's where we catch back up um in January. Yay, we'll get $51 million and that helps us um feel much much better about our um revenues. So our ideal remaining percentage of um revenues is 50% but we're right in target with where we were last year of 62%. Um our total revenues year to date for actual is
041$114 million. Um actual expenditures year to date is 134.5 million and that's where you see where we have that negative fund balance um at the end of December. But next month we're going to turn that around. It's going to look great. Um the next report we have are the pretty colorful ones that um Miss Sysler does for us. Um these are the uh just some graphs of all of the numbers that we just um we just went over um just in graph form of where we have been over the past three years with the revenues on the first report. I won't go through all of these. Um you had these uploaded in your packet and if please if you have any questions let me know. Um on the revenues uh the only thing that we
042wanted to point out um as we had just said about the local revenue um tax collection collections come in at different times. So timing differences with that. Um other revenues um are lower this year as compared to prior years because we had some indirect costs that we were able to um recognize from the ESSER funds and those funds are are completed. That that group of funding is gone now. Um so those are the that's um one area to point out for the revenues on your expenditures on the next report. Um expenditures are right in line. Nothing exciting, nothing out of the ordinary. So we're right on target with our expenditures through the end of December. There's some comparisons there. And then finally, the last um pretty picture report. This is our fund balance where you
043can see where we started, where we go way down, um come back up whenever we receive our property tax revenues in that big bundle and then where we um anticipate for the end of the year. The board has a goal of 18%. Um looks like we will be right at 21% at the end of the year. So, a lot of fun numbers. Um if anybody has any questions. Thank you, Miss Manet. I appreciate that. >> Yes. And then we have So, I would like to um introduce um our auditor, Emily Sub, >> did you have a question, Mr. Lee? >> Um our um auditor Emily Subject. She's a CPA with Green Finny Collie and she was in charge of our FY25 audit. Um the audit report wasn't due to the state department until very late
044because they had sent out the audit guide very late. So, um, we finished that up and submitted it on time and, um, Miss Sek's going to give us our good evening. Um, again, my name is Emily Sabchek. I'm with Greenfinny Collie and I'm here to present the results of the financial statement audit for the year ended June 30th, 2025. So before we get into the numbers, it's important to remember that the district is responsible for the financial report. And so all of the numbers and disclosures um are provided by your finance department. And in order to ensure that that information is reliable at year end for audit purposes, but also throughout the year as you're receiving monthly financial information, um it's important that you have good strong policies and procedures in place. Uh you also
045need internal controls to mitigate the risk of misstatement and it's management's role to ensure that policies and procedures um are operating as designed. Um that allows you like I said to rely on the financial information that you're receiving so that when you're making strategic decisions on behalf of the district uh you know that those decisions are well educated. Our responsibility as your auditor is to audit the financial information provided and issue an opinion based on our audit. We did issue an unmodified opinion again this year. That's a clean opinion. That's the opinion that you want. And that opinion provides reasonable assurance that the financial statements are materially correct. So it's important to keep in mind that reasonable assurance is a high level of assurance, but it's not absolute. uh we're not looking at every single
046transaction that occurred during the year and we are using materiality in designing our audit procedures. So now we'll look at your general fund results. Your general fund had a decrease in fund balance of 3 million. Bring total general fund fund balance to 67.3 million as of June 30th. Oh, and I apologize there's a mistake on the slide. I'll have that corrected and send that um out to y'all. But uh it is important [clears throat] to note that your budgeted decrease in fund balance was 4.6 million. So fund balance did go down but less than expected. Included in that fund balance we have assigned fund balance of 595,000 that represents amounts for school carryovers. And the remaining fund balance is classified as unassigned. So that's what's available for future operations. When we look at that 66.7
047million in unassigned fund balance, we like to compare it to your budgeted 2026 expenditures. Um, so you're looking at about 22% in your unassigned fund balance as of June 30th. We provide a couple of benchmarks here. The Government Finance Officers Association is a national organization and they provide a generic minimum recommendation of at least two months of your operating expenditures which would be just under 17%. and the state department of education requires a minimum of one month. Um, and so again, that's the the bottom. But, uh, as Miss Mun just uh talked about in her December finance report, there are a number of different reasons why we need to keep that fund balance at a healthy level. And one very important one is that we are measuring fund balance as of June 30th. But as
048you just heard, looking at fund balance six months later before your property tax revenues start coming in, um it it's a very different picture. And so having a healthy fund balance allows you to meet your cash flow needs for the second half of the calendar year without having to issue significant short-term financing. That fund balance also allows you more flexibility in determining how future capital or other non-recurring expenditures are funded. Um, and when you do issue debt, having a healthy financial condition allows you to achieve better interest rates, which of course saves the district money over time. Looking now at your general fund revenues, they totaled 266 million for the year, and they increased by just about 6% compared to the prior year. Increases were primarily seen in your state revenues as well as your
049property tax revenues as assessed values did increase. and your revenues came in uh very close to budget, about 3% better than what you had budgeted. Looking next at your expenditures, your general fund expenditures were 292 million uh 292 million for the year. That was a 9% increase from the prior year. That increase was uh nearly entirely driven by personnel costs um as you did provide pay increases for the fiscal 2025 year. Now, when we look at your the total funds for the district, so adding your general fund plus your special revenue funds, uh your capital projects funds and debt service, we're looking at total revenues and net other financing sources of 616 million compared to expenditures of about 416 million. The primary reason for that significant difference between those is the proceeds from the debt
050issuance. um the proceeds plus the about $9 million premium that you receive during the year. So when we look at your governmental funds, we're focusing on current assets and current liabilities, but we also report the governmentwide financial statements that include your long-term assets and obligations. So a couple of those long-term obligations are your net pension and oped liabilities. As you'll recall, these relate to your participation in the state retirement system and the state retiree health care plan. So these are not direct liabilities of the district. Rather, they represent your proportionate share of the total unfunded liabilities of those systems. And so they are estimates. Um you're not expected to write a check to pay these off. And so while the liabilities are significant at 276 million and 235 million, the more important area to put
051your focus is what you are expected to pay, which is the employer contributions at the rates mandated by the state. Those rates have increased significantly in the past 10 to 15 years. Uh we had a rate of 18.5% for the state retirement system um for fiscal 25. That rate did not change from fiscal 24 and it has not changed to for fiscal 26. However, that rate has a significant impact on your operating budget. And so, when you're making personnel decisions, it's very important that you're capturing not only the salaries component, but also your fringe benefits. Um, as when we look only at your pension and retirey health care um charges, that's about 25% of your salaries right there without even factoring in FICA, health insurance, and other uh benefits you provide your personnel. Now we'll
052look at your capital assets. We have total capital assets of 416 million. That was an increase from the prior year of about 9 million as your capital additions exceeded your depreciation expense. Now looking at your more traditional long-term obligations, your long-term debt, uh you had total long-term debt of 453 million. that was an increase from the prior year as you have the $200 million GO bond issuance um offset by principal payments made during the year. We also report compensated absences of 9.3 million that represents earned but unused leave. And for fiscal 26, we're looking at debt service payments just under 40 million um combining both your principal and interest. Finally, we perform um in addition to the financial statement audit, we perform the compliance audit required by the federal government each year. That's the single
053audit. And this year, we tested title one uh as the major program as uh as was mentioned, there were some delays in issuing the audit report this year. um of no fault of the district uh but as a result of delays from the federal government in issuing the compliance supplement. That supplement is issued every year and we are required to um plan and perform the single audit based on the current year supplement. That supplement was issued uh the week of Thanksgiving this year. Normally it comes out in the spring. Um, and so when the state department received the federal supplement, then they had to take a couple of weeks in order to update the state supplement. Um, and so that state supplement, I believe, was issued right around December 8th, which makes it hard to
054comply with the December 1 state deadline. Um, and so for that reason, the state did push that deadline back until the first week of January, and the district was fully in compliance with all state deadlines. In addition to the financial report, we also issue a management letter each year. It includes some highlights of the audit process. And so I would encourage you to read through that letter when you receive it um if you haven't already. And now I'm happy to take any questions that you might have. >> So no question. And Emily, you know, my favorite highlight out of this report, um I'm sure everybody read all 129 pages of it. Um, page 67, page 68, tax abatements. Every single time we get this audit, I am going to highlight the amount of money the
055Doorchester District 2 loses on tax abatements uh for this audit. Uh, $8.5 million. So, $8.5 million. The Dorchester District 2 did not get a seat at the table. um when other entities are talking about taxes and and bringing in industry and commerce and all that stuff and we've got to have that stuff. Uh but I would just like to remind the community, remind our board members, especially with our new legislative committee. Um and and that is every single year. So you think about that whether it's five, six, seven, eight and a half million dollars over a period of a decade. That's that's tens of millions of dollars that we lose out on that we don't even have a say so in. and and it is beyond frustrating. So, I'm I'm happy that it is in
056the uh report, but it also saddens me to know that that that continues to happen um without our input. So, thank you. >> Duly noted. Um you notice I didn't fall off my chair when you told me the federal government was behind in giving you the requirements for you to conduct an audit. um which is unfortunate. But uh summarizing this, it sounds as though you're attesting that we do in fact we are in fact being good stewards and that we have the right controls in place that if this were Minnesota, we wouldn't be having this discussion. Uh and that people can be confident that we are being good stewards with the money we're entrusted with regardless whether we have all the money we would like to be entrusted with based on the other one. So
057thank you. Appreciate that. >> Thank you, Mrs. Sabcheck and I'd like to echo what Mr. Lee and also Mr. Farnsworth especially the internal controls by Miss Manet and her team and then also with Mrs. Kelly. I know there's a lot of dollars flowing through there for our schools and I know they do a lot of meetings with our CISOPS and our treasurers and those people to make sure um we're good stewards of those dollars and making sure we're following our our processes and our internal controls. So, thank you to to all of you and thank you for coming giving us this report. Thank you. >> Absolutely. Thank you for allowing us to continue to work with the district and your excellent finance team. You should be very proud of them. >> Thank you. >> So,
058our next item on the agenda is Mr. Preston Giant. He is going to kind talk to us a little bit about some um things. Oh, I'm sorry, Amanda. So, we have Amanda up here. I'm sorry. [snorts] So, uh real quick >> real quick here. Sorry, I got ahead of But before Randa gets going, she would she's she'll be a little upset that I'm going to mention this, but today we just got word that she is the DD Tuning South Carolina nurse administrator of the year. So, congratulations. >> Thank you. [applause] >> And just the short time that that I have been here, she does a phenomenal job. And tonight, she's going to talk to you a little bit about uh uh the measles outbreak that's happening in the upstate. and uh knock on wood, we
059do not have any cases right now. And so um she's going to talk a little bit about kind of the proactive things that we're doing in the district and really appreciate um her thoughtfulness and how she works well with the team and trying to put together a uh proactive stance and making sure we keep our buildings open for all students um as we kind of go through this. So we're we're preparing. So I'll turn it over to Miss Sims. >> Thank you. Good evening, Dr. Wimberly, Mr. Dy, and members of the board. Um, as Mr. Dy said, tonight I'll be providing a brief update on measles. Get excited. Um, as you're probably aware, South Carolina is currently experiencing the largest measles outbreak in the country, um, with 700 cases in counting. Um, the outbreak is
060focused in the upstate area with a majority of the cases currently in Spartanberg County and the neighboring uh, counties up there. Um, there are no known cases in Dorchester District 2 or Dorchester County at this time. We want to really highlight that um so everyone understands that everything that we're doing is proactive. We don't currently have any reason to be concerned in our schools. Um with that being said, we're trying to take a proactive approach given what we know about measles and Department of Public Health regulations to ensure we're prepared should that change. Because of the highly contagious nature of measles and the manner in which it spreads, the Department of Public Health does require a 21-day quarantine for anyone who's exposed to measles. Uh, and that quarantine is only required if the individual does
061not have proof of immunity, meaning they've never had the measles or been vaccinated against it. Um, because the measles vaccine or an exemption to that vaccine is required to attend school in South Carolina, we can easily determine our student population that would possibly be impacted if cases were to come into our schools in our area. Um, we know that we have just over 600 students who are considered not immune, either because they've not received one dose or they have an exemption on file. Um, and because we have those records readily available, where we're focusing our efforts right now is on our staff. Um, we don't routinely collect staff member vaccination data, so we have no way of knowing who has immunity. Um, the measles vaccine has been around since 1963 and is widely used in
062this country and most other countries. So, we feel pretty confident that a large majority of our staff would be considered immune and would have this record. But without documented immunity in the form of a record, we would have to quarantine our staff members if they were exposed in our schools or in the community. We can't afford to lose our staff for 21 days. Um, so we're trying to share information with our staff now to hopefully prevent any issues should cases come into this area. Um, so what we've done currently is requested the voluntary, completely voluntary submission of that proof of immunity from our staff members. Um, we've sent out a parent square message on Friday, letting them know kind of where we're at as a district and then giving them an opportunity to start working
063on looking for those records, contacting their old schools, their doctor's offices, and submitting those to us. Um, principles and department directors also are meeting with their staff between today and Wednesday to provide them with additional information and answer any questions that they have. Um, we know that it may take some time for staff to track down these records, so we wanted to get ahead of it before we do have any cases in our area. We are also exploring hosting a district measles vaccine clinic with a partner uh pharmacy provider for those who may not be able to locate their records or who want to obtain an additional vaccine. Again, totally optional. Um and we sent out a parent message on Friday as well to let the entire community know that we're aware of the outbreak.
064Um we know what's going on and we are keeping an eye on it for the future. We've update updated our district website to include a measles section including some frequently asked questions for parents and staff. Um, and as is the case with all communicable diseases, we really wanted to highlight this. We are required to follow the Department of Public Health guidance related to isolation of positive cases, quarantine of exposed individuals. So, should cases present in our area, we will work closely with the Department of Public Health to determine any action needed for our students, staff, and our schools. Um, that's all I have, but I'm happy to answer any questions you might have for me. The one thing I'd like to add is, you know, the records. You know, we can't, we are not trying
065to collect these on our staff. Um, and what we're getting back is, um, I give you an example myself. I I asked my mom if she had her my measel record. I could not find my immunization record. So, you know, we have a lot of adults like that. And, uh, so that's why we're looking at um providing that opportunity to do a kind of a clinic somewhere uh, for those adults. And so, that will be something. It will be a no cost of the employee. what we're looking at. Um, and so given that opportunity because the last thing we want to be able to do is not be able to have a teacher in a classroom with students and that's the one thing, you know, we we just didn't want to say, hey, no plan
066and, you know, hope for the best. And so that's why we're trying to prepare for the worst here. And so I think when you look at that, uh, the other piece of that is when you are exposed, you're out 21 days. We do not have COVID dollars to provide um, additional days for our employees. So they would have to then take their leave days. And so we do not want them to have to take their leave days. And so any opportunities we can provide for them for that immunization that we can provide that's free of charge. Um that's what we're going to try to do. But uh I just want to say thank you to Amanda and her team. I know with a lot of the high schools, that's where a lot of our high
067school people are going to get hit hard because many people will ask their high school old high schools if they have the shot records. And so so that's where um you know people are going to go. So I know that's been a lot of extra weight put on uh to our records people at the high schools and we appreciate what they've done. And so I I'll just leave it up for the board for questions. So thank you Amanda. >> I don't have a question but I do have a suggestion. I don't usually do a lot of Facebook but I ran across a question that a parent asked. Her child was not feeling well did not have a fever at that time. So, of course, everyone was weighing in as to whether or not the child
068should come to school, not to come to school or whatever. But I think it would be great from time to time, periodically during this period, if you all from the district can put a reminder out. I know parents don't always take the time to read what we send, but as has been stated already, if that child comes to school and is infected with the measles or whatever, then you are endangering the availability of that teacher being in that classroom, which could really create a bigger mess. So therefore, if we don't have someone there with the kids, parents, we need you to do whatever you need to do in order to keep your children safe as well as our employees. Thank you. >> Definitely. We'll um remind our schools to share those health and safety updates
069with their communities and their parents. >> Any other questions? >> Question on clarification. So, the partnering in the clinic and whatnot, would that cover just uh the the vaccine booster or would that cover being able to provide pro proof of immunity if they wanted to get the tighter to try and prove that yeah, in fact, they've been vaccinated. >> I'll let Amanda answer that one. >> Good question. >> That's a great question. Um the opportunity that we're exploring right now would be with a local pharmacy provider. Um and the services that they're able to offer us would be vaccination um for the MMR. So, as long as the individual is not um pregnant or imunocmpromised or received another vaccine in the last four weeks, if they don't have record of MMR in the South Carolina
070registry, they would be eligible to receive it if they choose. There's no harm in getting a booster. It's not necessarily required or recommended, but it's not harmful to do so. Um, as far as the titers, the lab work for immunity, we have reached out to some of our occupational health providers that do that PEA Blue Cross work site screening for our staff. um and they have let us know that they're available to do that, but it would be completely at the employees cost and not covered by insurance and it's several hundred dollars. Um so staff members who do want to obtain that blood work can do so through their personal medical provider. Um and typically that lab work um would be covered or potentially partially covered by insurance, but if we were to offer it
071through um an occupational health group, it would be completely at cost. Um, the only thing I had a lot of people message me and were asking questions about the determination of the 21 days and how you figure that out and I'm aware, but just so you can confirm, we have a DHECK exclusion list. This has been on there for many, many, many years. It states what the quarantine time is and it's state law that we follow this excl exclusion list. though >> it is and just in case they'd like additional information, the 21 days comes from the incubation period of the virus. Um, and so that's where the Department of Health and the CDC gets that timeline. But yes, we are required to follow the communicable disease rules of the school and childcare exclusion list.
072Yes. >> And if parents want to look it up, you can look it up online. >> Yes, it is linked on our website as well as the South Carolina Department of Health website. Okay. Is there any other questions? >> Thank you. >> Okay. Thank you, Mr. Sims. Our next person now will get to Mr. Giant. Uh Preston's going to talk a little bit about uh school safety and talk a little bit about some things we're looking into here. And so I'll turn it over to uh Preston. >> All right. Uh good evening. This is not nearly as fun as uh infectious diseases, but um hopefully informative nonetheless. Um we're looking at a couple of initiatives uh in the school district in in the schools that are going to be on a trial basis for now.
073We came ac across a couple of products that um we've really been looking at looking for a solution for a long time and we finally found something that I think may work in our school settings. Uh vape detectors, vaping, you guys all know vaping has been a huge issue. um it's not just the regular um nicotine vapes, but the THC vapes and all those types of things that we're really trying to stop or deter in our schools. And we've been looking at different types of vape detectors ever since I got back here six years ago. Uh we've probably looked at at least a dozen different types of detectors and we never really could find a good solution that was was also affordable. Uh as of right now, I think we found a good solution. I'm
074just not real sure about the affordability part of it. Uh so we're going to test them out. Um these Triton sensors were something that came across my desk and I took it up to uh Mr. Frell and we sat down and had a meeting with the Triton folks and they gave us a demonstration online. Uh we're also fortunate that Mr. Rutherford is out at Baptist Hill now as the principal out there and they actually just installed these exact sensors over Christmas. Uh so they've been going at it now for a couple of weeks. So Kenny and I rode out there um last week to kind of take a look and see what they look like in operation and how they how they work in their setting. Uh we did go ahead and buy a couple
075of sets of these um one for each of the high school or two sets for each of the high schools so that we can test them out um in both a male and female restroom um at the school uh at each one of the high schools to see how they work and if it's something that we want to continue to explore. Uh, a couple of things that these vape detectors do is this is what your screen will look like on your computer or if you pull up the app on your phone. Uh, this is the screen you get. If you look over there on the right, you'll see the box with the two red figures in it. Uh, that is actually the amount of people that are in the restroom at that time. So, if
076there's 10 people, we'd have 10 little figures on there. Uh, one of the really interesting things that I like about this particular sensor is when you pull it up on your phone or you pull it up on your computer and you get this dashboard, if they've been in there for four minutes or less, their little person icon will be green. If they've been in there from four to eight minutes, they turn yellow. And if they've been in there for more than eight minutes, they turn red. Um, so it doesn't give us exactly, you know, which person it is, but if there's only one person in the restroom or two people in the restroom, um, you can walk in and kind of say, "Okay, you guys have been out there, been in here for quite a
077while." Uh, the second thing that it does is if you look up in the squares on the left, if it detects a vape, that vape box will turn orange. If it detects THC, it can differentiate the difference or differentiate between a THC vape and a nicotine vape. So, if it detects THC, the THC uh vape or THC box will turn orange. So, that that's pretty interesting as well. Um, it has all of these other things. Aggression. It picks up on sounds and key words and tone of voice and those types of things. It does not record what is being said. I want to make that very clear. It's not recording anything that's going on in the bathroom. No video, no audio or anything like that. But the sensor itself through AI does detect um tone
078of voice, keywords and those types of things. So it can alert alert us to aggression. Uh obviously gunshots, glass breaking, vandalism, um motion and those types of things. So um uh you see masking down there on the bottom right. That would be if somebody tried to spray a perfume or a body spray or something like that to cover up the vape smell or the THC. um it would let us know that somebody is in there trying to um mask that particular scent. So, um it's pretty interesting. Uh it's definitely running them ragged over at Baptist Hill. They did go ahead, they went full-blown with it. It's in all of their bathrooms. Um they put out a notice, I think the Tuesday before it went live. Um they put the notice out on Tuesday. It went
079live on Wednesday and Wednesday was a busy day for them. Uh so you can imagine in our schools if we went live all bathrooms at once, uh it'd be pretty busy. But I'm interested to get it in there and kind of see what it looks like what it looks like in actual practice um before we decide if we want to try to to move on with these types of things. So um it does also uh another good thing about these Triton sensors is we spent a lot of money on the Avigilon camera system. Uh it will integrate with the Avigilon camera system and it will take we have uh cameras outside of all of our bathrooms. So if it goes in and somebody alerts it'll actually go ahead and save the 60 seconds prior to
080the alert. So, if somebody goes in the bathroom um and it sets it off, it'll go ahead and save the 60 seconds before. So, we can pull it up on the camera system easy and see who went in that bathroom 60 seconds uh before the alert. And then the third thing that it does that is really interesting to me is we got the new radio system in place. Uh the administrators have radios with a screen on them. It can also send the alert um to that radio. It can send this dashboard. they can pull it up on their radio and it will send a snippet that video snippet to their um radio. So if they're they get the alert, they're walking down the hallway, they can look on the on the radio screen right there,
081it'll show them the video and then they can be on the lookout for whoever it is they were looking for. So it does a lot. Um very interested to see that once we get them in if if all the things they say it can do, it actually does because we all know how that goes from time to time. Um, we have any questions about the vape sensors before I move on to the next thing? >> So, it sounds like you're prototyping this, taking a trial or whatnot. I >> if this were to uh prove valuable, um, what what does affordable look like? What are we looking at in terms of an investment to uh, put this in all the appropriate? >> So, so they run about $1,000 per unit. Um, we would have to take
082a look at we had we where we wanted to put them. Um, some of our high schools and middle schools, they block off certain restrooms at certain times of day. So, you they might only open up certain restrooms when they're monitored and they have somebody standing outside. So, we might not need to put them in those particular restrooms. Um, we would really kind of have to get with the principles and evaluate which would be the most efficient and effective bathrooms to put them in. U, which ones are not monitored, which ones can be monitored, and that type of thing. So, it's really we're kind of in the infancy um to see where we would be with that, but I would hope that maybe if we can get them in um you know, by the end
083of the year. Oh, I almost forgot. Mr. Frell reminded me, super interesting, too. Uh cell phones. So, if you have a ba cell phone in the bathroom, it will alert you that somebody is using their cell phone in the restroom. Um, what people don't realize is even if you have the Bluetooth off on your phone, the phone still emits enough Bluetooth signal that the sensor can pick it up. So, even if you turn the Bluetooth off on your phone, it's going to still pick up the Bluetooth and alert us that you have your phone in the bathroom. So, um, that can be used for a lot of things, whether people are, you know, using it for making phone calls or cheating on a test or videoing fights or something that they're not supposed to be
084videoing. is going to let us know that those phones are in use um in the restroom. So, a lot of different uses for this particular sensor. >> Is there a cost associated with the trial and how long of a trial time period would they give us to test them out? >> So, we went ahead and bought um two units for each high school. Um so, we went ahead and purchased those. Those are going to be ours. Uh we'll get with the principles once they're we've already cut the PO for them. Once we get those and they're ready to be installed, we'll get with the principles and see where they want to have them. And those will always those will those will be ours for forever. Um so that's that's where we are with those. >>
085I had a kind of similar question, but um is there like an annual subscription fee and does that go up with how many units you're using? Like what does that cost look like for us as far as >> Do you remember the if there was a subscription fee? I don't remember a subscription. >> Like do you buy the device and then you're done or are you paying to utilize this monitoring system monthly? >> No. So as from what from what I remember there was no subscription fee. Um, you buy the device, you get access to the app. Um, though you it will be upgraded from time to time at no cost. Um, I do remember that there was no cost for the upgrades and updates and all that kind of thing when they come out.
086>> Great. Thank you. >> Sure. >> Yes. I just want to say it seems like a lot of money. I go to uh the skit program, not for myself personally, but I'm in the meeting just so you know that. Um but unfortunately a lot of time when the children become engaged in using this the vape they don't know what has been put in that vape that they are ingesting. And so for anyone that would say well you're just tampering with their privacy or their right to this or right to that. We're investing a lot of money that we could use elsewhere. So, we really need family members to support us and helping your children to realize the danger their lives, the lives of other people because you don't know what's in it. You don't know
087how crazy they may come out after they've had some. And so, I'm a little out of line, but I'm going say parents, if you're vaping, it's hard to tell your kids not to. So, thank you. And I will say, so one of one of the things to that point, um, a lot of times when you have a student, whether they're they're high school, middle school, or any age really, and they've never been exposed to THC, and they take, you know, a puff of a THC vape, it can have a very adverse effect um, immediately on them. Um, they can get very sick. We have seen where they've gotten very sick. Um, they throw up, they become disoriented. uh they have heart elevated heart rate. Um they've been, you know, we've had to transport via EMS.
088So, it is something that that is very serious and I don't know that people always realize how serious it is. Um if it's something you've never done before and your friend talks you into doing it in the bathroom of a school, um it it can have a very adverse effect on your health and really uh pretty immediately. So, all right. Um, the next thing I want to talk about is we got $175,000 grant. Um, this grant is going to be used to again pilot um some bulletproof doors. That's something that has been talked about quite a bit lately in this community. I know the sheriff um and the police chief uh door touch county sheriff uh Sam Richardson and Chief Wright from town of Somerville have gone um to one of these companies and and
089actually shot doors with them to see how they actually work. Um, so we got $175,000 grant. Uh, we are going to buy some doors to test. Um, put we're not going to get to shoot them, unfortunately. Um, but we're going to put them in our class, put them in some of our classrooms and see if they work as advertised. Uh, again, when they were on display, when I've gone to visit some of these manufacturers, they're very easy to open, close, even though they are extremely heavy. They're a lot heavier than normal doors, they have special hinges that make them just as easy to open and close as any other door. Uh the the doors that they have also look exactly like the doors we have in our buildings. So if you walked into a building,
090you would not know that's a bulletproof door and that one is not. Um so we're going to purchase some of these doors um to put into some of our schools so that we can uh see if they work as advertised. Um see if it's something that we want to explore looking at in the future. Again, this is $175,000 that was was free money. It was not money that we're taking away from education or paying or paying teachers or from anything else. Um, this was a grant that was specifically for physical security. Um, so this money came straight from that and is not being taken from any other any other pot. So, we're going to put them in. I really don't want to talk about um in an open form about how many or which doors
091they're going to be uh just out of operational security and I don't want to say we're going to put a door on this one and they're okay. Well, uh, we know it's there's one there and not one there. So, um I don't want to get into that too much. Uh but I'm looking forward to getting those. Uh I think procurement has um put out a sole source um whatever it's called to see to see if the company that we want that we're looking at is a soul source um vendor. If they are, that makes it easy. If they're not, that's easy enough, too. We'll just put it out for um you know, a bid and and see what what happens from there. Right. >> Any questions on the doors? All right. Thank you, Preston. I
092appreciate it. Thank you so much. And now we'll bring up uh our executive director of personnel, Mr. Scott Matthews. He's got some great information to share with us. Uh some upcoming events here. >> Thank you, Dr. Wimberly, Mr. Dy, members of the board. Uh allow me a few minutes to plug our upcoming winter recruitment fair. We are extremely excited. uh our personnel team and really it's not just our team anymore for this event. Our whole district works together to to put this on. It's going to be this Saturday if you look up there at the uh flyer this Saturday uh 9 to 12 at Fort Dorchester High School. It's our winter recruitment fair. And you can see our cool little penguin penguin right there with the sunglasses on. That's real important. Um because our theme
093is the coolest place to work. So, this is a prime time to do a recruitment fair. This is prime recruiting season. Uh, this is when a lot of districts are are are heavy into recruiting. We're just excited about this event. Uh, there's been a lot of excitement about it. We've we've done a lot of advertising and right now we as of right before the board meeting, we have close to 200 pre-registered already to to come to this event. So, we're even we're even piping in cold weather for the uh for the event on Saturday. Um, but this is an awesome opportunity for for experienced educators to come and and and they want to come to Doorchester 2. We're going to have several different things going on. Uh, the why we're looking to fill current openings.
094You know, we're still in the middle of this year and we have a few openings and if we have folks come to this fair, we'll we'll hire them for this year. Um, we're also turned the corner for next year. We've started to begin the process of hiring for 26 27 and you know if we don't have opportunities available right now it's an opportunity to create a pool of candidates so that as we go through the spring we'll be able to go back to this pool of candidates and hire for for future openings. So we're excited. We're going to have all of our building administrators there. All of our schools will be represented. Um all of our our uh departments will be there. It's not just a certified teacher. uh fair. It's also for our support
095staff. We have a wonderful support staff. We'll have all of our uh opportunities there for our support staff. So, we invite everyone to come out and attend. Uh walk-ins are welcome. You can register at our website, dd2.org. Uh we will take walk-ins. And again, it's just going to be an exciting day. And remember, the coolest place to work. >> Yay. Thank you, Mr. Matthews. Thank you. Uh, and now the last other item on here on our uh, board agenda is the personnel report. So, just asking uh, Dr. Wimberly and the board uh, the motion to approve the personnel re recommendations as presented in your packet. >> Okay, board members, we did receive that information in our packet. Is everyone okay with proceeding in open session? >> All right, then at this time, I'd ask for
096a motion to approve the personnel recommendations as presented. >> So, moved. >> Motion made by Mr. Guthrie, >> seconded by Miss Bates. Any questions or discussion? All right. Hearing none, we'll call for the vote. >> All right. Motion carries. Seven in favor. >> And the next item we have is item G, which is student enrollment recommendations. is again asking the board for approval of those that are in your packet. >> All right. We also received this information ahead of time in our packet. Board members, is everyone okay to proceed in open session? All right. Then I'd ask for a motion to approve the student enrollment request as presented. Motion made by Miss Bates. Do I have a second? Seconded by Miss King. Any questions or discussion? Okay. Hearing none, we will call for the vote.
097Motion carries. Seven in favor. All right. Thank you very much, Mr. Dhy and team. Appreciate all the updates and great information. The next item on our agenda this evening is our public comments on non-aggenda items. And before we begin, I will just review um the guidelines for those public comments. In order to conduct the meeting in an orderly and efficient manner, we ask that you honor the following guidelines. Public comments are welcomed and encouraged. However, the board will not take immediate action or respond to public comments at this meeting. In order that the board may conduct the meeting in a civil manner, public comments should not include gossip, defamatory words, or abusive and vulgar language. The board reserves the right to terminate any presentation which does not adhere to these guidelines. Comments must be regarding
098programs, policies or procedures and comments must be issue or oriented and within the purview of the board. No specific names are to be used in comments and this includes in any any identifying information. Comments regarding an employee or student will not be heard in public session. Groups addressing the same topic should select one speaker. Comments will be limited to three minutes per speaker. All right. And so to begin this evening, we have Mrs. Mullins and Mrs. Meyer. >> [clears throat] >> Good evening board members of the Dorchester School District 2. My name is Kiana Mullins and I am the vice president of the Somerville Education Association. On behalf of the Somerville Education Association, we want to sincerely thank you for your continued service and commitment to our students, educators, and community. School bird school board
099work often happens behind the scenes, but its impact is felt every day in our classrooms and schools. We appreciate the time, dedication, and thoughtful decision-making you bring to the supporting public education in Dorchester, too. Your leadership helps create the condition for our students to grow and for our educators to do their best work. As a small token of our gratitude, please accept this thank you card, which I believe you have in front of you, and a nothing but cake button that we have over here for you. Um, just a sweet way to say thank you for all you do, and we truly appreciate your service and partnership. So, thank you. >> Thank you very much. All right. Next, we have Mr. Jason Brockert. Good evening, distinguished members of the board. I'm speaking to you today
100with a heavy heart, seeking [snorts] to atone for the terrible discomfort that I've caused this institution. I want to apologize for the pain that my grief has inflicted upon your decorum. I'm sorry that I selfishly expected you to read and respond to emails and I realize how threatening it must have felt to ask you to do that. It was unfair of me and I regret the apprehension that that caused. I'm sorry for the intimidation of standing and asking for you to respond to me and for coming into the parking lot for vigil passes. I didn't realize that the grieving father waiting for answers looked so much like a monster. I'm sorry for my griefstricken performance art. I see now that gravity can be a disruption to policy behed my grief as the district would prefer
101for me and the community to do. The requirement of policy beedh for answers to questions isn't nearly as important as the decorum and I apologize. And I'm especially sorry that the district had to spend $1048 to send a notice to my house because it's too uncomfortable to speak to me even though I'm here repeatedly. I'm I'm working to become a better person. I say love above all all the time and and sometimes I might I might come off as sounding right all the time. I don't need to be right all the time. I can be right about me. We talk about policies. I actually have a policy uh for you because I've been told that I don't make suggestions. So, there's a policy I'm going to leave for you. I'm not a perfect person. You
102know what? I'm actually not going to finish that because I'm changing who I am. I'm not who I used to be. I'm sorry that I'm not the person that you saw a few years ago. Who I am is because of what has happened here at this podium. The reason is you. Good night. That's yours. Thank you, Mr. Brockert. Next, we have Dr. Diva Cordez. >> Good evening, superintendent and distinguished board. My name is Dr. Dina Cortis and I've been part of the mental health community since Dirt was young, which is like 1993. I work for a company that um handles mental health for a local company that built it's Boeing, a local company that builds airplanes and I'm um also been in private practice for many many years since 1993. I'm coming to you as
103a parent also with a lot of gratitude. Um, I was a single mom most of my children's life and uh, I put two children, well, you guys helped me put two children through District 2 schools and I couldn't have asked for them to have a better education and more understanding participants in their education. So, thank you. So, I spend a lot of time in my work doing a workshop called recognize and respond. And what that basically is it helps people have difficult conversations. I do that for all the new leads at Boeing. I do that for all the new managers at Boeing. And what it does is it helps people have difficult conversations to recognize when someone may not be in the best mental health. I'm not here to diagnose. I don't want referrals. I
104I'm just here to say that there are many states that have a comprehensive suicide awareness curriculum. what that looks like for this county. I don't know, but I'd love to help us find out. There's 17 states that have this. I've got to take off my glasses so I can see. Um, it includes Alabama, Alaska, Delaware, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, and more states that I'm not going to list right now. There are so many groups for people to understand the role of good mental wellness and the alternate number which would be suicide. Um for example, there's actually a group for advocacy for construction workers. There's a group called code green that's for first responders. There's um one for um not one more which is for vets, the vet that takes care of your dog.
105And then of course the VA has um programs for um people who are in the military or have been in the military. Um and it's interesting. I spoke with I have a son who is a captain in the Army National Guard Reserve and I asked him I said did you ever talk about suicide awareness and he said there was one small unit when he was in ROC. So some in certain areas it's it's addressed. And here's the good news. A 2016 study shows that school-based suicide awareness programs were shown to reduce suicidal ideiation, the thoughts of suicide and suicide attempts. What do we worry about as parents and as educators? Um again in mental health since Dirt was young. Been here um before that I was a teacher with my friends the dinosaurs. We worry
106about the Am I out of time? >> Yes. I apologize. Yes, ma'am. You're out of time. But we thank you for your comment and if you'd like to share information, you're welcome to send that to us. >> Okay. Thank you very much. Yes. All right. Next, we have Crystal Ball Oconor. >> Good evening. My name is Dr. Crystal Ball Oconor and I've met several of you at schoolboard association meetings over the years. I was on the Greenville County School Board for 20 years and being here and just listening to this agenda reminds me of all of the tremendous decisions that board members have to make and the heart you have to have and time and passion for this. So um after being on the board now I'm doing research about how spaces influence learning. So
107on behalf of Craig Golden Davis PBK architects where I work I wanted to bring this small token of thanks. It's a tea box for for the board appreciation month and shaping the future like a good cup of tea takes time intention and the right blend. So, we recognize that all that we do really goes back to we could not do it without the board of trustees and people don't understand how much you have to know and care and be present and lead but I do and I thank you. So, please have a cup of tea and congratulate yourselves for the work you do. Thank you and I'll see you at the conference. >> Thank you. All right, and that concludes our public comments. So, board members, at this time, our uh next item on our
108agenda is our executive session. So, I would ask for a motion to convene into executive session for the purpose of hearing a student discipline appeal for the purpose of receipt of legal advice and for the per for personnel related matters. >> Dr. the wibbly I don't know if I can do this now or not. Can I just make a comment >> um >> if that's >> in regards to >> it has to do with a spell the spelling bee for the district. >> Okay. >> And I just wanted to compliment >> Yes, ma'am. Absolutely. >> Okay. Um, for all of you that were not able to be at the spelling bee, we had the best, one of the best group of young people that competed and those students didn't just say whatever came to mind.
109They actually stood there. Mr. Farnsworth and myself were judges there. And I believe we have a real shot this year of winning the Low Country spelling bee because of how well they have prepared themselves. So, for all of those that competed, just want to say congratulations. You represented your schools well. And for the six that will be at the Low Country um spelling be at Charleston Southern in March, um we want to say if you can, please come out and cheer them on. Thank you. >> Thank you, Miss Powell. We appreciate you sharing that very much. It's great news. Okay, so um we will return to our motion. So again, I will ask for a motion to convene into executive session for the purpose of hearing a student discipline appeal for the purpose of receipt
110of legal advice and for personnel related matters. Motion made by Miss Powell, seconded by Mr. Lee. Any questions or discussion? Okay. Hearing none, we will call for the vote. All right, motion carries. Seven in favor. We are in executive session and we will return. Sorry. At this time, I would ask for a motion to return to open session. Motion made by Miss Powell. >> Seconded by Mr. Guthrie. Any questions or discussion? Hearing none, we will call for the vote. >> [snorts] [clears throat] >> motion carries. Seven in favor. We are back in open session. All right, board members, at this time, I would ask for any uh motions from our executive session. Madame Chair, I motion to uphold the district's decision for the student discipline appeal. >> All right. Motion made by Miss Bates, seconded
111by Mr. Farnsworth. Any questions or discussion? All right. Hearing none, we will call for the vote. Motion carries. Seven in favor. Right. Board members, at this time I would ask for a motion to adjurnn. Motion made by Miss Bates, seconded by Mr. Lee. Any questions or discussion? Hearing none, we will call for the vote. >> Gotcha. Yes, >> Mr. Farnsworth would like to go home tonight, he said. So, at this time, seven in favor. Motion carries. We are adjourned. Thank you.