October 27, 2025 - Board Meeting

001Um, dear Lord, we ask that you give this forward the the wisdom, courage, wisdom, guidance, and knowledge to do what's truly in the best interest of the 25,900 plus students in this district. And we ask for continued blessings of health uh for all our students, teachers, administrators, staff, and and everyone else that u is part of this district. In your name we pray. Amen. Good evening and welcome to the October 27th, 2025 Dorchester School District 2 board 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. Seconded by Miss Bates. Any question or discussion? Right. Hearing none, we will call for the vote. Motion carries. Six in favor, one absent. All right. The next item on our agenda

002this evening are our district highlights. and I will hand it over to Mr. Bohannan to bring us those. >> Perfect. Thank you, Dr. Wimbley, Mr. Dhy, board members. We have several district highlights this evening and great people to present each of them. So, I'm going to get out of the way. First, I'd like to welcome Assistant Superintendent Miss Katie Barker to share some district-wide academic achievement. >> Good evening, Dr. Wimberly, members of the board, Mr. DHY and guests. Tonight, we are proud to recognize Doorchester 2 students in grades 3 through 8 who achieved the maximum score on SC ready in English language arts or mathematics and secondary students who earned an A on one or more of their end of course exams. These students represent the very best of academic excellence, perseverance, and dedication to

003learning. Reaching a score like this on these rigorous assessments is no small feat. It reflects not only the hard work and determination of our students, but also the strength of the instructional programs in our schools, the commitment and skill of our teachers, and the unwavering support of families at home. Together, this partnership, school, teachers, family, has helped these students reach the highest possible level of academic achievement. For the 2024 2025 school year, 99 students earned a maximum score on SE Ready and 2,133 students earned an A on their end of course exams. These students are a shining example of what's possible when dedication and collaboration come together in pursuit of excellence. Obviously, because of the numbers, they could not all be here with us tonight, but we are happy that our schools have recognized these

004students and their accomplishments. But tonight, if we could please give these students a round of applause. [applause] Fantastic. Thank you, Miss Barker. Now, Dr. Wimbley, Mr. Mr. Dhy, if you join us down here as we welcome up for a recognition regarding the National Merit Scholarship Program. Please welcome Director of Counseling, Miss Galia Mercer Brown. >> Good evening, Mr. Dhy, Dr. Wimberly, and members of the board. It is my honor to recognize one of our district's outstanding scholars who has achieved National Merit semi finalist status. An accomplishment earned by less than 1% of high school seniors nationwide. This recognition reflects exceptional academic achievement, dedication, and a commitment to excellence. The student we honor tonight represents not only personal success but also the collective support of teachers, counselors, and administrators as well as our families who have

005helped nurture her potential. Please join me in congratulating Hope Gillis, a senior at Ashley Ridge High School. [cheering] [applause] We'll get you, bro. Don't worry. We'll get you. >> Wait. Your turn. Mom's go first. [laughter] Awesome. Congratulations, Hope. [snorts] And finally, presenting two highlights, uh, director of nursing and health services. Welcome, Miss Amanda Sims. >> Good evening, Dr. Wimberly, Mr. Dy, and members of the board. Um, this evening, we've invited two of our community partners to highlight our wellness programs and help celebrate the achievements of several of our schools in promoting health and wellness within their communities during the 24-25 school year. First up this evening, we have Emma Williamson and Lindseay O'Neal, program coordinators for the MUSC Boeing Center for Children's Wellness to present some awards and highlight the program. So, I am Lindsay

006O'Neal and this is Emma Williamson. When like Amanda said, we're with the MUSC Boeing Center for Children's Wellness. And I was just going to give you a brief overview of the school-based wellness initiative in DD2. And it has been a part of DD2 since the 20 2012 to 2013 school year. So, it's the 14th year that it has been in the um Dorchester District 2. and all of but two of those years. So you've had 100% participation for 12 out of the 14 years, which is no other district that we serve in 20 other districts in South Carolina has accomplished that. So that is a humongous achievement. And just a brief overview of the program for those who are not aware just it's an initiative that operates through a dedicated health and wellness committees at

007each school. And the committees work throughout the year to implement evidence-based strategies that focus on nutrition, physical activity, social emotional wellness that benefit both the students and staff. And at the conclusion of each school year, it's a point space system and we verify all the points in um the points turn into a monetary wellness award and that's where we are going to um celebrate the top three schools tonight. So I think we're going to start with the runners up. >> Yes. Do Oakers. So, this was a highlight for this uh past school year. We had all 25 schools participate, which reached over 25,000 students, and we awarded 17,700 wellness funds for uh the district. >> Do our grand prize first. >> We do grand prize first. All right. >> Chill Elementary. They did an amazing

008job. [applause] If we if we have any Beach Hill representatives, if you could come to the front and take a photo. I gave these last >> I remember we spent a lot of time in her office that day. >> Oh wow. I heard you. [applause] [cheering] >> All right. >> [applause] >> All right. Next up, we're going to announce our runners up. We're just going to do it a little backwards tonight. Um, so our second place winner was Oakbrook Elementary School. If any representatives from that school are here and they can come forward, [applause] >> [applause] [applause] >> And last but not least, our third place winner, Ashie Ridge High School. If there's any representatives, if they can come forward. [applause] >> [applause] [snorts] [applause] >> Thank you, Lindsay and Emma, and all of our

009school teams. Uh, next up, I want to welcome Rachel Stanley, the development director of school engagement with the American Heart Association Kids Heart Challenge. Thank you. Good evening. I'm Rachel Stanley. I am the local director for the American Heart Association, previously known or Kids Heart Challenge, previously known as Jump Rope for Heart. And I am so honored to work with this incredible district. Through Kids Heart Challenge, students and families have the opportunity to learn about being heart healthy and helping others. And so I wanted to take some time tonight to just really celebrate some amazing amazing achievements this year. So first I would like to congratulate um the district as a whole. Um thank you so much. Y'all were the number four school district in all of South Carolina raising over $77,000 in life-saving donations.

010You [applause] want me to get hold on to these? Okay. And I also would like to highlight the top three schools in the district. This is so amazing. Um a huge congratulations to Knightsville um raising over $11,000 but also coming in um top in South Carolina, the number 22 school in all of South Carolina, which is so amazing. So um such a huge round of applause for them. [applause] >> Sure. Yeah. Do you want to do a photo now? >> Okay. And we'll do a photo if that's okay. Okay. Yay. And then thank you, Coach Olsen. >> [applause] >> Yay. And next, I want to recognize Flowertown Elementary for raising over $9,000 for our mission. Thank you so much. If there's anyone here would like to take a quick picture, [applause] Thank you so much.

011>> Thank you so much. [applause] And next, I would love to congratulate Sand Hill Elementary coming number three, raising over $8,000. Thank you all so so very much. >> [applause] >> Thank y'all so much. And now I would like to do an extremely special recognition to Jacob um from Flowertown. He was the number 12 fundraiser in all of South Carolina, raising over $1,700 for the American Heart Association. Thank you so much, Jacob. [applause] >> [applause] [applause] >> and and I just really wanted to say thank you so much to every school that participated in our program. It really is such an honor and privilege. The time, the energy on top of all they do every day, it really does not go unnoticed and really making a difference in the lives of so many. So, thank

012you for having me and thank you to everyone participating in our program. [applause] >> Perfect. This concludes tonight's district highlights. All right. The next item on our agenda this evening are our policy our board committee reports, excuse me. And we will begin with our policy committee. Miss Bates. >> Yes. Thank you, Madam Chair. Uh, we have several policies up for first reading today. Those are as follows. EF, food services. EF-R food services. That's the rule. GBC, staff compensation, GCB, professional staff contracts and compensation, and IC school year. Thank you, Miss Bates. As these are coming out of committee, we do not need a second. So at this time I would ask if there are any questions or discussion. Okay. Hearing none we will call for the vote. Motion carries. Six in favor one absent. All

013right. Okay. And then all the rest that I have for today is we met prior to here at 5. So we'll have some more um policies up for first reading next meeting and as also we have a November 10th policy meeting at 3M and December 15th at 5:00 pm will be our upcoming meetings. Okay. >> Great. Thank you, Miss Bates. All right. Next we have our finance committee, Mr. Guthrie. >> Yeah. So the finance committee was able to meet earlier this month. We went over uh the refere referendum project expenditures, the discussion of special revenue, and then we discussed the update, the financial report. So, I think you all like the uh financial reports. It's going to be a little bit more informative, a lot more numbers, easier to digest. So, that should be pretty

014good for everybody to to look at. I don't know if Mr. Lee had anything that you wanted to to add. >> Nothing further to add. Just thank you to the uh the team. Guys have put in a lot of things. Looking forward to seeing them tonight. >> All right. [snorts] Perfect. And then yeah, we have an upcoming meeting November 10th at four o'clock. >> All right, great. Thank you very much. And then finally, we have our facilities committee, Mr. Farnsworth. >> Um, thank you, Madam Chair. The facilities committee met October 6th. I would encourage anyone um that is curious as to what is going on with facilities uh to please go back and watch that meeting. Uh I will tell you facilities is in full swing. Um we we have a lot of projects. We

015have a lot of um referendum stuff, a lot of capital projects, renovations, upfits, you name it. Um I know a lot of that we're going to talk about tonight as well for information, but again, a lot of stuff going on. Upcoming meetings, November 10th and then December 8th. That's all I have. Thank you. >> Great. Thank you very much. Okay. And the next item on our agenda this evening are our public comments on agenda items. And we do have two. Um, our first one is Mr. Jason Brockert. On your agenda tonight, you have Unity Day. It's interesting. We're still in bullying prevention month, so that's a good thing. Although I hope to hear a little bit of something about it tonight since we haven't heard anything else about it publicly the whole rest of the

016month. But Unity Day is an annual event celebrated on the third Wednesday of October, but it wasn't in DD2. That's fine. And the event is the signature event of the National Bullying Prevention Month with Pacers Foundation that I, as the founder of Honoring Julian, a 501c3 charity, offered to host a community event for the district in conjunction with Pacer, but instead I was delayed and then denied and then given the silent treatment again. So this year on Unity Day, which was October 22nd, DD2 did not participate, but I sat out in front of this building playing a bunch of music that has to do with bullying prevention. Music maybe a lot more people should listen to, but really about bullying prevention. December 12th, 2022, that's been a minute ago, December 12th, 2022 was the first

017time I stood at your podium to let you know how you were doing it wrong. And since that day, there have been far more than the ones that I've taken the time to look up. Far more than Ka and Harry and Aubrey and Charlotte and Karen. I'm sure there are unfortunately many, many more than Brandon and Bailey and Sammy and Flora and Abby. But then after that we lost Julian Brockert to suicide because bullying is not being addressed in DD2. But even after that in other parts of the country and the world, we lost Cassinia and Isabelle and Desiree and Stevie and Jaden and Jose and Mahir and Gabby and Joselyn and Braden and Autumn. And then on October 4th, that was only a few weeks ago, maybe if Sophia Ballinger knew Julian's story, she

018would be here today. But instead, I am complicit. I have not been loud enough for Julian and everyone else. I am complicit. DD2 is complicit for repeatedly burying the story of my son. You are complicit in your silence. I'm complicit, too, because I haven't been loud enough yet, apparently. Thank you. All right. Next, we have Mr. Tommy Fagan. First, let me say thank you for the job you do because I'm sure slings and arrows come at you daily, probably more than one or two. So, thank you for what you do. I'm here about the Yerby School. I saw it was coming up. There was going to be a discussion and uh the school where it's going to go is out here on a little peninsula of land and it's surrounded by water. Really hard to

019get to for an elementary school. This right up here is the airport runway. you know, if some mishap with the airplanes. Not only that, our county council chairman has already stated that he's really like to see the runway extended for corporate jets. You put an elementary school out here, how is that going to be conducive with jets coming in and out every day, multiple times for the school children? This is not a good place. I wish y'all would consider putting it in a much more convenient place. It's all the way on the edge of the county on Dorchester District 2. This is the Cypress Swamp running up through here. District 4, right across the swamp from it. But, uh, it's on the very edge of of our district. It could be more conveniently located. The

020little road, Yerby Road, going in and out of there is just a rock and tar road that was put down to keep people from sliding in the ditch. It wasn't a statemade road and it's long and it's narrow. You know, there's a lot of safety conver concerns with this piece of property. Please be do your due diligence on this piece before you put a school out there on wetlands. Another one on wetlands. Thank you all. >> Thank you, Mr. Fagan. >> All right. The next item on our agenda this evening is our board chairs report. And the only thing I have um is to remind you of the upcoming SCSBA legislative advocacy conference. Um and the registration for that is currently open. It's December 6th and 7th in Charleston. And we will need to certify

021our delegates, our representatives for that at our next board meeting in November. So if you plan to attend, please let Wanda know. so you she can register you and also go ahead and let me know so that I can get that list organized for us. Any questions about that? All right. Thank you very much. Then we will move on to our next item which is our superintendence report and I will turn it over to Mr. Dohy and his team. >> Thank you Dr. Wimberly and the rest of the board. Um tonight we have several items we'd like to cover and our first is 7A. It's unity day and red whip ribbon week uh presentation and that is going to be presented by Galia Mercer Brown. um she's our director of counseling and she's going to

022share you share with you what uh we were able to do without within everything in our schools uh during that time. So, Mrs. Brown, >> thank you. Good evening again, Mr. Dohy, Dr. Wimberly, and members of the board. I'm here tonight to talk to you about Unity Day and Red Ribbon Week, which are part of district's initiatives to promote safe, supportive, and healthy schools. So highlighting unity day first. Um our primary goals are to look at how we can address um kindness. So October is National Bullying Prevention Month and Unity Day is one of the district's initiatives to see how we can promote kindness um foster safe and supportive schools as well as encourage conversations um regarding what it means to be an upstandard and a bystandard as well as aim to increase awareness for

023bullying prevention, reporting procedures and identifying trusted adults in the buildings as as well as the community as a whole. So with that being said, our theme for this year is together against bullying, united for kindness. And um what we um asked schools to do is provide specific things that they were doing within the school building to promote those different areas that we have identified as our goals. So, Unity Day gave schools the opportunity to highlight how they are implementing kindness and respect in their day-to-day operations and how are they doing it in meaningful and age appropriate ways. So what you hear see right here are some examples that each level has provided um holistically um that does not capture every single thing that was performed in the buildings um throughout that day but these are

024some of the highlights that we have identified. So when we look at the elementary level that level specifically looked at how they can um build empathy and kindness at the early ages. So you'll see things like unity trees where um each leaf represents ways students promote kindness and acts of kindness in their building. We also had schools have first responders come out and they did student body peace signs to talk about how we can implement the support of our community and families. They also conducted classroom lessons as well as segments of the morning show to talk about kindness as a whole. When we look at the middle school level, we talked about how they could um focus um on empowerment and student voices. So, you'll see things here such as upstandard pledge walls where students

025make commitments to speak out against bullying and ways that they can support their peers moving forward in being upstandards in their buildings, as well as advisory lessons that highlight respect, empathy, and responsible online behavior. Schools also included positive affirmations throughout their buildings. So, um students can see those daily reminders um during that time. And then high schools participated in similar pledge um commitments to stand up against bullying as well as door decorating contests. So we can also see creative ways that they could um include um advocacy from their perspective um and looking at it um on developing their ownership in being positive adults and demonstrating positive behaviors for standing up for the um principles that we have discussed. And then also this is their way to connect and be reflective on how they can take

026actions within their level. Key takeaways that staff and students have shared about Unity Day is that it strengthened a sense of belonging and connection, which is what we want all of our students to have in their buildings, have that sense of connection. Um, increase student awareness and bullying prevention as well as the reporting for that and encourage the positive school climate through studentled initiatives so we can make sure that we have their support and they're involved in that process. Shifting now to Red Ribbon Week, which is another national campaign that we um implement. Schools um acknowledge and that awareness last week and this week. Um this year's theme is life is a puzzle, solve it drug-free with our goals focusing on healthy and responsible choices, raising awareness about substance and prevention. Um and then talking

027about how students can um be empowered to take pride in living drug-free lifestyles. So when we look at sample activities that school have schools have provided us. We can see that many of them have theme days that focus on specific topics. I know like at the district office you see many people wearing red right now because that's how we started the um week off with wearing red to support red ribbon week. Um, so when we look at elementary, you will see that they do morning show segments, but when we shift gears to secondary, they look at more partnerships with outside agencies like Dorchester County Alcohol and Drug as well as law enforcement to make sure that we're presenting things in age appropriate ways and at the right time for our students that we're serving. So

028again, just to highlight the unity day and red ribbon week directly supports our district's overarching priorities of looking at the whole child and how we can support them both academically as well as behaviorally so we can make sure that we are promoting that growth within both of those areas and looking at how we can ensure empathy and resilience for our students which are key life skills that they would need now and beyond. um focusing on how we can um promote that unity for a school culture and climate. Um looking at how schools can work more collaboratively inhouse as well as with community agencies to build those partnerships and look at how we can work with agencies like law enforcement and outside supports to provide that safe nurturing environment. Um and also making sure that we

029uh focus on drug awareness from a red ribbon standpoint and identifying those trusted adults that many individuals um need to um provide that guidance moving forward. And most importantly looking at college career and life readiness. We want students to make sure that they're gaining skills to help them essentially in the present moment but also lifelong skills. So many of those activities and lessons that were conducted promote each of those areas. Looking forward, we will continue district and school collaboration to share best practices. Um we will embed kindness, respect, and health awareness throughout the year through various activities and continue to strengthen our partnerships with our families and community organizations as we work to addressing the whole child moving forward. Thank you. The one thing I'd like to point out with uh Mrs. Mercer Brown, she

030was able to have every building had to submit a plan and that plan had to go to her and our academic team to make sure all those lessons were aligned with the goals. We wanted those outcomes and so um applaud you and your team. So, thank you for providing that and making sure every school had a plan when we did Unity Day. So, thank you. >> Thank you. [applause] Our next item we have on our agenda is our learning by design presentation. Um it was the Friday right before fall break. We had our first full day of PD and that PD uh plan was put on by none other than Miss Hayes and also with a curriculum team and Anita Mrs. Kanty also helped. But these uh these people were able to put on two

031day or a full day uh at Somerville High School. So that was where all the elementary teachers were and then all of our secondary teachers were at Ashley Ridge High School and a lot of those focus on curriculum and safety and other items and so included lunch and so we have some time also built in there the day for our teachers to collaborate and so Larara did a phenomenal job of planning that day for all of our district employees. So Lara, thank you and uh you're going to get to hear kind of all the fun stuff that took place uh that our employees were able to learn that day. So, thank you, Larry. >> Absolutely. Good evening, Dr. Wimberly, Mr. Dhy, and members of the board. Um, like Mr. Doherty said, um, on October 10th,

032we did have a districtwide, um, event for all of our staff for for professional learning. Um, one of the unique things with this is we asked for proposals from local agencies. Um, we asked from our teachers who are doing um, best practices in their classroom. Um and then even some of our classified staff and how they do their job. So they were able really to teach their peers on how to do some things. So it was unique and we had 168 unique sessions, 358 total sessions like Dr. uh Mr. Dhy said. Um we had seven sessions throughout the day 50 minutes and we were able to target all the topics you see there um many anywhere from content specific strategies, behavior management, um ML collaboration, special education and the everyone got to collaborate and it

033was an overall great day. Um we started learning by design actually in 2016 with the help of Dr. Wilson. Um, and whenever COVID hit, we kind of had to stop. So, I am pleased that we are bringing it back because it really does serve a lot of good strategies for our teachers. Um, we had 190 plus presenters and like I said, this was our teachers, our teaching assistants, um, all of our district leaders, administrative assistants, and even outside agencies. And um you know I know Miss Mercer Brown was talking about Dorchester Alcohol and Drug Commission. They were there. Um Kay Phillips um Child Advocacy came out and then we also had SLED come out and um and a lot of the universities. So again a great day. The teachers positive feedback said that they liked

034all the choice and they liked that um they were hearing strategies from their peers and how to help better their classroom. Also, I'd like to echo Dr. Wilson was a big part of this with professional development. When you look at the schedule, I mean, it was you're talking about detailed the number of opportunities people could participate in. One of the things we did was active shooter and that was actually live um at both of our schools and it actually was full. We're going to have to bring it back again for our people to have in live training on active shooter training. And so, I just want to say thank you to Dr. Wilson as well uh and his team and and with Lara. So it was very well done. A lot of compliments from teachers.

035Teachers were engaged and so it was a great great thing to be part of. So thank you to both of you. >> Absolutely. >> [applause] >> Next up, we have a presentation on STEM immersion program and Michelle McDonald of the Dorchester County Economic Development is going to come up and talk about STEM immersion and it's a great program that they offer and I had the opportunity to go with to last year and so uh and what our our teachers are able to be part of this and earn some uh some extra dollars as well. So, and also our students are involved with this. So Michelle, thank you for coming this evening to talk about this program >> and thank you for the kind introduction. And STEM immersion, um, if you're not familiar, we just celebrated

036our eighth year this past summer. Um, it is a program really designated for all three counties. Um, so this is for Berkeley, Dorchester, Charleston County School Districts. Um, it takes the commitment of every school district and every county economic development office planning throughout the entire year to really make that happen. Um, so we've had a new investor come on, a new sponsor, and so we're going to take that opportunity to, um, really highlight STEM immersion and celebrate some of the wins. Um, but we got to explain what it is, right? A lot of people may maybe haven't heard about STEM immersion. Um, but really this is a five-day institute that we host educators to come in and meet with industry. Um, so it's really bridging the gap between education and industry. Um, we set up

037site visits. They're going out and they're meeting with local businesses, local manufacturers. Um, we had over 38 businesses that were involved this past year and we're putting them to work. You know, they're actually getting out there. They're creating lesson plans and projects from what they're learning from industry. So, it's again, how is STEM being used today in the real world and then they're taking that information and that knowledge back into the classroom and we're putting them to work. So, of course, they are going to get paid a training stipen while they're with us. So, some of the wins just from 2025. I wanted to highlight we just recently put out our final report um from 2025 we reached over we had over 153 participants that's educa educators and counselors that came with us the entire

038week for STEM immersion that reached over 65 schools throughout the tri county region and like I mentioned we had 38 businesses that participated and that included hosting us on site that included sitting on panels being industry experts um really kind of digging in and being sponsors of the event they created together um 171 individual lesson plans and 31 group projects that are then taken back into the school districts. So when you talk about a train the trainer opportunity and where this information is going, this is where the real impact is. 53% of those participants represented title one schools really trying to reach the underserved and create that economic mobility. And we do a post and a pre and post survey to try to compare um what they're learning, what they're taking away from STEM immersion.

039And they reported uh from all the participants, 97% of them reported a high level of confidence implementing STEM in that classroom. And that's what we're trying to do is give them the tools to be confident and do what they know how to do in the classroom. So, from all of their reporting, the self-reporting, this is the number that I love the most. From 153 educators and counselors, they reported being able to reach 48,634 individuals. That's students, parents, and peers to share that information. So, that is the impact that we're looking for and that's what we're looking to grow. So, if you want to help, we definitely want you to follow us on Tri County Stimmersion. We're uh uh on on social media now. We're getting with the times. Um, we have a great highlight of

040photos and pictures and investment in our businesses. And so, most recently, we have one of our our newest sponsors that have come on board that are have joined us today. Um, Charles D, Charlie Leoo, and James Chatfield along with my team, the planning team of stimmers. If you want to come up front, they would like to present us with a big old check. Oh, wow. [applause] >> [applause] >> Okay, that was very exciting news. So, our next one will go to 7D. This is a presentation of our school calendars for the 2627 and the 2728 school years. Um, we brought this for information at our last board meeting and tonight we're bringing it before you again for a vote. Um, I'll have Mrs. Passmore is here to kind of go over the calendars, the highlights

041one more time. Also, I have our principal, Jennifer Bates. She was on that committee as well. And so, real real quick, we'll give you the cliff notes again. We had that information at our last board meeting, but uh we'll have Jennifer come to the podium and talk a little bit more about it and then we'll ask the board for a vote. Thank you. >> Good evening everyone. Um I wanted to just say again, thank you to the calendar committee for their efforts. We met twice. Um that committ made up of parents and teachers, counselors, principles, administrators, PTA, and district staff. Um, the calendars that are shown there and in your packets, um, they have to meet the South Carolina law requirements. The 190 days term, modified calendar exempt from starting after the third Monday in

042August. Three days are designated as makeup days and public schools are closed on general election day in November for even years. The DD2 priorities that these two calendars reflect is that the first day of school happens midweek to limit fatigue. One weather makeup day happens in the fall. a holiday on election day for both odd and even years for security reasons. A five-day holiday for Thanksgiving. The first semester is completed before winter break. Approximately two week holiday for winter break. Staff day upon return from winter break for a facilities check. Spring break is tied to Easter to align spring break with surrounding districts when possible and the last day of school before Memorial Day. Uh, one of the biggest things when we requested feedback from our schools is whether we were going to have staff

043return in July or August. And after the committee came back in September to review the feedback, take a look at the calendars, what we would have to give up. Um everyone um unanimous unanimously voted um for staff to come back at the end of July, the last three days in July um so that we could meet all the other other um priorities the committee and also a lot of feedback. Folks are really excited to try and get two calendars approved this year. So, we want to thank you for that opportunity to present you with uh two calendars. >> All right. Thank you so much for your presentation and your work on this. Board members, at this time, I would ask for a motion to approve the 2026, 2027, and 2027 2028 school calendars as presented.

044>> So moved. >> Motion made by Mr. Farnsworth, seconded by >> Miss King. [laughter] Sorry. All right. Any questions or discussion? And I do just want to point out and and say how appreciative I am of of your efforts. A lot of folks don't realize that it seems like, oh, we can just put a calendar together and and no big deal. Um, of course there behind the scenes when you look at the statutes, when you look at the president, um, of what we're trying to accomplish, when you look at other school districts, you look across the country, there's there's a lot of stuff to our calendar. And then in addition, um, just want to say how for for a long time we've asked for two years worth of calendar. And so that is a huge

045win for our community because now folks can plan out their vacations and we certainly are cognizant of that. So again, just want to say a very very big thank you to to you, Miss Basmore, Mr. Dhy, as well as that entire committee for for doing that work. Thank you. >> Any other questions, comments? All right, hearing none, we will call for the vote. >> Motion carries. Six in favor, one absent. >> Thank you again. >> Thank you, Jennifer. Jeff, appreciate your time and effort you put into that. I'm going to go ahead and go down below here and talk about the next few items. So, okay. The the next items we'd like to talk about is the elementary school in the area of the Yerby tract. Um, we've done some little bit more research and

046talked with the developer Dr. Horton on this and where the Yerby track is currently sitting. And you can kind of see that the star up there on the picture to your right. Um, you'll see that is actually where you would come in on Yerby Road. Um, and then you can see the area that's shaded out and outlined in blue. That's actually where the school will be built. Um, as we heard earlier, that is an area. It is a wetland. we would actually have to build a road to go over wetland which would be a probably we'd have to incur probably over a million dollars to do that. Um and if you look at that and then you look at the picture on your left the picture on your left is what Yerby site development looks

047like right now. um when we did our first when we did the referendum in the question there were we were supposed to build a elementary in the area of the Yerby development and you can see with that timeline in August 2026 the land development starts and will last 18 months February of 28 they'll start home building and the goal is 250 houses per year and from that time from 2028 it would take us three years to build a school we still have to do our due diligence the surveys that were permitting. We'd actually have to do a actually design on that building and approximate school completed would not be done until 2031. Do we still need that development? Yes, we will in the future. Um there's supposed to be about 1,400 homes proposed to be

048in there. Um but right now with the uncertainty of that, um we're looking at possibly moving um the area of the Yerby. And so when we're looking at that, an elementary in the Yerby would be around 750 students. This is equivalent to 30 to 35 classrooms. So our team looked at where could we gain 30 to 35 classrooms in the area of the Yerby. Um so that's what I'm going to talk to you a little bit about. So here again, the Yerby tracked information. You can see the buildout timeline. It was originally supposed to start in 2025 with 25 homes. 2026 229 homes. 2027 235. You can see those have been all marked out because they have not started anything in the Yerby track. So the referendum, what did the questions actually say? It says

049to u construct um equipping a new prek 5 elementary school in the area of the Yerby development. So DD2 is expected to have 15,000 homes built in the district in the next 5 to 10 years. So playing for growth is a priority for our district. So the $200 million referendum, we're supposed to have two elementary schools included in this referendum. So our proposal, if you look here in the area of the of the Yerby development, you can see at the top just the red star, that's where the Yerby development is supposed to be. Then you look at the blue or the red star going with blue around it, that's William Reeves. And so William Reeves is the area of the Yerby. We believe uh the distance from the Yerby road is 1.9 miles and the

050distance from the Yerby school site is five miles. So then if you look at the red star with yellow around it, that is Knightsville Elementary School and that distance from Yerby Road is 3.2 miles and the distance from the Yerby school site is six miles. We don't feel like we should be building a school in the Yerby right now because we would have all those houses would not be built out. We'd have to bust students in that don't even live in that area. So, we would like our proposal and our our what we're thinking and our option is plan B and that is to add on to Knightsville and William Reeves for 30 to 35 classrooms. So, here's the other predicament that we've come across is the Orangeberg Road project. That project starts in 2029.

051As you can see in the red with the red lines up there, actually our bus loop is an actually county road. So that county road goes right up against Knightsville Elementary. So that's going to be built in 2029. It impacts that bus loop. There's five lanes of traffic out the front door of the building. This creates a safety issue with the creation of the new road. So this is really when we're talking about the option of now adding classrooms at or at Knightsville that is a reality here. And so when you look at that distance from Yerby Road is 3.2 miles. The distance from Yerby school site is 6 milesi. Currently Knightsville has 47 classrooms brick and mortar and can house approximately 1,200 students. And with the trailers there's 30 additional classrooms there for an

052overall capacity of 1,500. We don't like having an elementary school of 1500. Majority of our schools right now are between 520 to about 12,300 right now at Sand Hill. So when you look at the campus upgrades, it would include construction of 40 classrooms, new addition. We would demo approximately 18 classrooms due to the Orangeberg Road project for safety concerns. The net would be approximately 20 additional classrooms. And remember, if we're t if we were going to build that elementary school in the yearby, we want 30 to 35 classrooms. That's what's equivalent to an elementary school. So, we will gain 20 additional classrooms at Knightsville when we uh put that addition on. That will expand our new larger cafeteria and kitchen. If you've been at Knightsville, the cafeteria and kitchen are tiny and that needs to

053be addressed. We would re expand the multi-purpose room, reconfigure the footprint of the building due to the expansion of Orangeburg Road project and the bus and car rider loops. If you go by Knightsville on drop off and pickup, you know that there's a lot of cars on that road. And so this is going to address some of that as well. Um, all trailers would be removed and adult ed moved to span and we'll talk about that a little bit later. So the total capacity would be 1,400 in brick andmortar classrooms. So 61 total classrooms. And what's this going to look like? So if you look at this, that's a possible reconfiguration design of Knightsville Elementary School. And if you look at that, it addresses the bus loop safety concerns addressed with the location of the

054year of the road and the building. You can see up there on the white um there uh underneath a big long rectangle of the yellow. That is a historic. Um we want to preserve Knightsville, that area. It's built in 1932. We want to preserve the auditorium there in the front offices and so we want to try to retrofit this as best as we can. You see below that there is an area that's shaded. Um that's where the cafeteria is located and we have some classrooms there with the multi-purpose room. We may have to um tear off a few of those classrooms when you're talking easement and also emergency lane going around there. So that'll be something that we'll have to look into. But again, this is in infant stages. Then you can see in the

055very back there, you can see where those trailers are in the very top lefthand corner of this. That's where the trailers are in adult as it is. And so we'll talk about that later. But then you can see another yellow addition on there. That would be the new multi-purpose room and the new cafeteria. So it could house over,200 students if we needed to. So again, this is what the possible reconfigure would do. It's going to address the safety concerns when they go to five uh lanes there at Orangeburg Road. and it also addresses 20 additional classrooms to help with capacities that we're going to have throughout the district. So, an elementary in the area of the Yerby location to the area of the Yerby to help with growth in this area. You know, if you've

056been down Orangeburg Road, you can see the number of houses and apartments and multi-purpose housing that's going in. Um if you look at the opportunity to modernize our oldest school in the district in 1932 and the location of Knightsville can address multiple elementary attendance zones. So again because the Orangeburg road expansion project in 2029 and again that helps us there. So elementary school in the area of the Yerby development are tracked again William Reeves we talked about that. So the distance from Yerby road is 1.9 miles. Distance from the site school site is five miles. Currently right now they 41 classrooms brick and mortar can house 805 students uh with trailers and they have a 16 additional classrooms for a capacity of,25 students. The cafeteria can can feed up to,200 students but we would upgrade

057that campus to add more classrooms. Again we said 30 to 35 classrooms are equivalent to an elementary school. So, we're adding tw 20 classrooms to Knightsville. We're going to go ahead and add another 12 to 15 new brick and mortar classrooms. We believe that our students need to be in classrooms, not trailers, not learning cottages is what we call them. Um, and again, the total capacity will be 1,200 in brickandmortar classrooms. So, a total to total classrooms. So, when you look at this, this is this where this addition would be. Again, this are the infant stages right now, but we'll be adding classrooms uh 12 to 15 classrooms there. And you can see what that footprint would be. And you can see to the right of that uh red triangle, those are going to be

058trailers. We would still keep those trailers and those will be used for LEAP. That's our afterchool program and possibly our parenting centers as well. So, what's this look like? Elementary school in the area of the Yerby track development. We're adding 20 additional classrooms at Knightsville. Adding approximately 10 to 15 classrooms at William Reeves Elementary and that's an equivalent to 30 to 35 additional classrooms is equivalent to an elementary school of the 750 students. So funding of these two projects will come from the dollars allocated for the elementary school in the area of the Yerby. And so I will entertain any questions that the board may have at this time. But this is our plan B right now. Um, we know that the time is ticking for those dollars need to be spent within the five

059years, especially when we haven't done any due diligence, any surveying or permitting out there at the Yerby tract. And so the information that we've gleaned on that, we feel like uh this is probably our our best plan B at this point. So, so super quick and and it just begs to show another example of unfortunately the and and what you have to understand the district will take any and all land and potential agreements that we can get our hands on. >> Absolutely. >> But it it's another instance of uh being a caught, I would tell you caught in the middle of a development agreement um between entities where we really have no control. Um, this one I think is a little bit better than than other ones we've seen in the past, um, as far

060as construction and and being [clears throat] able to actually turn the land over to us. Um, but in talking with Mr. Souls and Mr. Dohy, um, I I think we've got a better plan for land acquisition potentially moving forward. So, again, just want to point out that this one is is not of our doing. Um it's just circumstances and we want to be good stewards of referendum monies and uh moving forward expeditiously. >> Yeah. And go back to your question and what your statement Mr. Farnsworth is talking about the land and we did tell uh the developer we still want that land there but also I did ask them if they could move that in the front of the development before they started. So um I don't know if they'll entertain that or not. But

061uh we did tell us our concerns about that. So thank you for those comments. >> No. Yeah. Yeah. And I just want to say I do appreciate this plan. I feel like when it was when looking at it, it's very well thought out and I think, you know, you're addressing a lot of issues. We've heard a lot of feedback from just me personally, I'm sure other board members regarding constituents and concerns regarding the yerby, the location, the buildout timeline, and so yeah, just kudos to your team for this plan. I think it's a really, really good way to move forward. >> Well, thank you. And it's definitely a team effort with Mr. Frell, Mr. Souls. um Jeff Smith, Tina Manet, um Dr. Wilson, and Katie Barker because uh you know, these are things we we

062really looked at to try to make sure um we're providing enough classroom space and capacity um in that area. just like to comment that, you know, when we were watching developments happen with the referendum and everything else. Uh how you guys have responded and really thought this through. Um I knew nothing of the Yerby when I even ran for this position. Now I learned that it's probably more conducive to a rice plantation than a school. uh and that's not going to work for us because thankfully right now we don't have a requirement in the district to provide education around rice plantations. Uh so what you guys have have done and put together here uh exemplifies a lot of forward thinking from a set of circumstances that one of you are doing and under a timetable.

063I mean we set forth some plans around the referendum and the timeline that you know quite frankly cannot be achieved at this point. this is one of them. Uh so in all of that getting thrown the curveball of Orangeburg Road on top of that, uh I just uh I can't say loudly enough how pleased I am at how much thought and time and effort that you all have put into putting together this plan B. Uh still some details to work out and whatnot, but um I really appreciate all the work that's been done. >> Well, thank you very much. Definitely a team effort. So, thank you. Okay. Um, we'll go on to our next um item on the agenda is uh Span Elementary. Um, as you know, Span Elementary is probably it is one of

064our uh five oldest schools in the district. Um, as you can see, we looked at renovating SPAN, what that would cost us. And when you look at the location of Span, it's next to Somerville Elementary. It's two of our lesser capacity elementary schools right next to each other. Um, both of them are sitting at about 520 students a piece. And when we're looking at possibly renovating and putting $9.1 million into this with the dollars to try to modernize that, we thought, well, is is that a good way to use our dollars when we can then possibly with the elementary school next to it was Somerville um put those students at Somerville or Sireers. Also knowing that right now with a lot of our programming um we have several um some of our programs are in

065houses um across the district and also we have some programs that we are needing. So again we're looking to possibly repurposing uh Span Elementary keeping the name. Um we want to recognize that every school is a fab fabric of our community and it's played a huge role um in Somerville and keeping the name of James H. span uh kind of as James H. Span Educational Center is something that we would like to see and house many other different educational programs. And so I'm going to go through this with you as uh as again in detail and you can ask questions as we move on. But when looking at Span Elementary talking about the renovations it's going to need. You can see Span is in actually in a flood plane. Um our back parking lot will

066flood due to heavy rain once in a while. Also you can see the areas on the left. There are some areas that have had water damage or flood damage. Those need to be renovated and actually removed. Um and so when you look at span, again, that's part of the renovations. Um what would it look like if we repurposed of span? So obviously our food service is in a house. We'd move our food service air into uh repurposing of span. Our technology department or IT's um they would all go into span. Technology is actually in a house. Um our sped department is in a house. Some of them of them are here in the district office and some of them are across the district in other schools. So there would be a center um to put

067all of our sped people there. Also our parenting center right now is currently in a uh trailer that's next to span. We'd actually bring that inside of the school. um they serve a lot of parents um that parenting center and we think that's wise to keep that open um for our parents in this area. Um also we talked about a possible daycare program for our employees. Um this would be something that would not be we're talking two to three years down the road probably about three years again partnering with the YMCA. The YMCA right now is in the process of developing a uh bigger child care facility at Oakbrook. And so they're in the process of that. So we've had conversations with Mr. Debbney, the director of the Y. And so we're excited about that

068partnership. And then another need that we look at is elementary alternative school in the future. You know, we have an alternative school called RISE, which is for students in grades 6 through 12. And we believe that we need an elementary alternative school here in the future to help students with behaviors and give them the resources um and also some some tools to help them. And then seven we talked about with uh renovating of Knightsville. If we do renovate Knightsville, again, kind of going with what the we talked about the curveball, Mr. Lee said with the Orangeberg Road project that if we renovate Knightsville, we would have to move students into those trailers while we then renovate SPAN. So, we're able to then renovate and still continue to have school. So, the adult ed will need

069to have to find a new home and that home we believe will be over at repurposing of span. And then also, you'll have some flex meeting space. And so, we looked at that. We looked at the approximate cost of repurposing span will be $500 to $700,000. Um most of that a lot of that will be in the restrooms of putting that with adults and then also putting some additional parking down um where those trailers would be torn off. And so we're going to add a lot more people into this building to be able to have some parking. That parking actually would be gravel again. That way we wouldn't have to put a retaining pond in. And so when we looked at that, so we keep looking at this. And so what's it look like in

070this building? As you can see there, um, we will repurpose this building and be able to use it for a lot of educational programming. So, as you can see there in the red, that would be for special education. You can see kind of in the magenta or purple. That would be where our food service would be. Uh, they'd have a full kitchen there. Um, they could actually do catering out of there, Airmark. And also, if we bring over um if we actually do daycare and we also do our alternative education there, we'll have a kitchen there to be able to feed students. Um, then when you look up and you look at the yellow, the yellow would actually be possibly daycare, but also our parenting center would be in there as well. And then you

071have the brown, those are flex spaces. And so those all those classrooms there in the yellow and kind of above that in the brown, those actually have restrooms in the classroom. So those could be used. So when we're looking at that, then you go above that, you have a red classroom there, that is childfind. Childfind is part of sped. Right outside of that you have a playground and that's where students have to be able to play um part of child find and then you have classrooms that will be designated for possible alternative education. Those four there in orange. We do have a green there for technology and that could be moved, but that was something we just had there because when you take advantage of the parking lot in the back if they had deliveries,

072um they could then bring in some of their um any of the let's say computers and anything that had to be delivered, it could be on that first floor because if you look at the green at the top, technology will be on the second floor. The one thing we're wanting to do is bring back our server. Our server currently is now is housed over at uh at Rise. And so we want to bring the server over with our technology department. And so then you look at the blue, that's where adult ed would be. And then people could access the back parking lot for adult ed to drop people off to come in and out of adult ed. And then you would have a few flex spaces. I know adult ed does a lot of testing.

073And then we could do some other things if technology needed to use that for big storage if we're doing a device refresh and those things. And so we're definitely going to repurpose this building. It's still going to be called James H. Span Educational Center. We want to recognize that. But repurposing this building, um, you're going to see it's going to be pretty full. And then that goes to the next item. Um, again, adding 18 additional classrooms on at Somerville Elementary School. We will redistrict students from Span to Somerville Elementary and Eugene Sireers. This will give us more students shifted to those schools at a lesser capacities. So, what will that look like for our students? Um, so if you're redistricting students from SPAN to Somerville Elementary School, you can see the star there in the

074center, that is Somerville Elementary School. And the dark shaded blue is actually students that actually go to SPAN. And those students will all go to Somerville Elementary. So, SPAN is currently at 60% capacity of 528 students. Somerville Elementary is cons is currently at 73% capacity or 525 students. That's before the classroom additions. So, when we add those classrooms on those additional classrooms, uh Somerville Elementary will have a capacity of 1124 students. And so, we're going to add 250 students from SPAN to Somerville Elementary School. And that'll bring the Somerville Elementary School to 775 students or 69% capacity with the new classroom additions. And you can see the the star at the very bottom. That's where Syers Elementary is. So going to the next slide, you can see here redistricting students from Span to Sireers. Syers

075Elementary School is currently at 73% capacity. So we're going to add 202 students from Span to Sireers. Majority of students will have shorter travel time to sireers elementary just kind of like what they had from um span to Somerville. And you can see the 2026 27 enrollment of sireers will be 917 which is about 84% capacity. You do not want to go above much more than that. 85% capacity. Again, you want to be functional um and be able to have programming in that building as well. And so um that's what you're looking at here from the redistricting of those students. So when you look at the the repurposing of span timeline, um we had our facilities meeting on October 6th. Um I was able to meet with all our current SPAN staff on October 6

076at a faculty meeting before that facilities meeting because I wanted to reassure them that they're going to be taken care of. Our people come first. Our students come first. Want to make sure that they are taken care of and we're able to meet with them. Then o October 9th we sent home letters to parents of current SP students that will be displaced and uh the date of meetings. And so we're going to have three meetings. One meeting for parents that uh that are going to go from SPAN to Somerville and then we're going to have another meeting and you're going to see this uh November 6 is that meeting for all parents of students that will be redistrict to uh Somerville. Then November 13th, we have a lot of students that are we have special

077programs over at uh SPAN. And so we're going to make sure that all those students know where they're going to go before the first before the first of the year, right after the first of the year. We we think that's very very important for our staff and also our students to know where they're going to go and also know who their teachers going to be. And then when you look at this uh the other thing we did was on October 22nd, Mrs. Taylor and I met with individually with staff members at SPAN and started at 6:30 in the morning and had 15 increments to ensure everyone will have a job and discuss discuss the process. It was great. The people were very very nice. They had great questions. They actually gave us some great suggestions

078as well. So those were great meetings and and uh Dr. Wilson who was the principal over there, he helped put this together for us. So we're able to meet with everybody and he has been wonderful through this process. and also Jen Hawkins. So then going down to November 20th, we'll meet with all parents of students that will be redistricted to sireers. And then again, December 8th, the board will either vote or not vote to repurpose a span. And so, so again, this is the next thing to kind of show you a little bit of where people are living at right now or house or employees. So you can see Joyce Lane and I think Mr. Farnsworth alluded to this about getting more property to build schools. So the one thing we want to get out

079of is a house business. Right now you can see this house on Joyce Lane. That is a current space of special education programs. And you can see that we had appraisals done on these. And you can see this house is done where the current airmark space is. And you can see that appraisal. And then you can see this is where our technology department is right now currently. And again, um, you know, our our our option would be to sell these not this spring, but a year from this spring once we get everything done if that's possibility. So, you can kind of see how these all these things kind of come together when we talk about the yerby, we talk about span, and then you talk about these houses. And so, um, again, I'll entertain any

080questions, uh, that you may have. >> Yeah, apologies and and I will be brief. No, no questions. But I I do a couple things to point out. Um I I will tell you and Mr. Dhy, um I I'm I'm very impressed. The fact that that you as the head of our school district are up here and and we've all been working on this for a long time. Um but you can tell that you know this stuff in and out and and it's just very reassuring um that even though you could have Mr. Souls come up here and talk about this, you could have Mr. Smith. Um, but you took this on. Um, so I just want to say how how appreciative I am for that. And then very quickly on on span, I think that's

081a balance, right? Because we we have schools that are certainly very very much overcrowded. Uh but then we also have schools that are um we'll say undercrowded, underutilized. And so it's a matter of efficiency. Um and and what I like about the plan that we've laid out is let's say down the road um you know something crazy happens and and all of a sudden the the attendance area around span picks back up. We haven't demolished the building. We haven't done anything. We we could in theory very easily retrofit it back to classroom space if we needed to. So again, just a couple points and I just want to say that uh very appreciative and and thank you again for the for the very well-laid out um information that you you've given to us. Thank you.

082>> Oh, thank you. Definitely a team effort. So thank you. Any other questions? Um, I just want to say thank you as well, but um, also because I feel like clearly the plan is well thought out and I know you and your team have put a lot of time and effort into making sure that you have thoroughly looked at all the options and um, it, you know, it is very impressive as Mr. Farnsworth said, but I also really appreciate the fact that not only is the plan great, but y'all have taken the time to speak with the employees and make sure everyone understands why we are considering moving in this in this direction and why it might be necessary. Um, so the staff and then also the families, you know, because this is a big

083decision. It's going to affect a lot of people, but it's not one that any of us are taking lightly. and it's clear based on your presentation that you aren't and your team's not. And so I appreciate that. It makes it a little bit easier just knowing that you are being very transparent, have been very thorough, and are communicating with everyone involved. Um, and I feel very confident that we are looking to make decisions that are in the best interest of our staff as well as our students and families. So, thank you all for that. >> Well, thank you. Thank you. Yeah, I think that's why you see like me smiling and all of us up here kind of smiling because it's we don't have questions because it's very very clear how thorough you were, how

084intentional you are. We're saving money. We're retrofitting spaces and updating them appropriately. We're centralizing things. Like all of this is just very well thought out, very intentional. And just as I echo her sentiments, um, how you've been with staff and everything, like it's a breath of fresh air as a board member to know that your superintendent is so intentional and so thoughtful in what he's doing and to have that trust there. It's I I just really really applaud you and your team and appreciate it a lot. >> Well, thank you. I appreciate that. Thank you. Okay, I don't have anything else. So, the other thing I'll bring up here, I think we have uh Mr. Touchberry and Amy Evans from the park and recck U director of town of Somerville. I think they're going to

085talk a little bit. Uh I think our next slide here is Oh, is I get back to it here. Is this right here? Our partnership with the town of Somerville. >> Okay, it's working now. Okay, so they're going to talk a little bit about this skate park project. So, thank you Thank you all. >> Thank you. Hey, Dr. Weberly, uh, Mr. Superintendent, board members, we really appreciate the opportunity to be here. Uh, I'm just going to speak very briefly on the relationship between the town of Somerville and the school district. Greatly appreciate the uh communication, open communication, transparency, and the partnership we have. I don't think our relationship has been better uh in my time serving as an elected official, and I just truly appreciate our partnership. Uh this opportunity is one of those little

086things that we can do to partner together um and create an opportunity for our citizens uh to have a better facility uh and improved parking. And for the details, I'll turn it over to the subject matter expert, our parks and recreation director, who's been working extraordinarily hard to update a lot of our facilities and this skate park in particular. Um the only thing holding her back is our uh elected officials like myself and our council. But uh we have budgeted funds for design and we just need a place and I think this opportunity presents the space for it. So I'll turn it over to her. >> Good evening. I appreciate the opportunity to speak with you all. Um so the current skate park that we have is a prefabricated park. It's around 5,000 square feet

087now. Uh what we'd really like to do is is rip that out and build a approximate 10,000 custom concrete park. It would just provide a lot more opportunities for kids um that enjoy skating. It would certainly um allow us to offer some programming and different opportunities there as well. Um the corner that the town owns right now, it's about.9 acres. Um, so when we were looking at expanding it, we realized that we really need a little bit more space to be able to do that project and do it well. Um, we looked at a couple other properties, but we really like it here on this corner. We think it's accessible. A lot of kids are able to walk to it and get to it. So, we'd really like to keep it there if we could.

088Um, some of the area that's shown adjacent to our property, um, which is owned by you guys, um, there is a ditch running through those woods. Um, so it's it's somewhat limited on what you could do, but it would allow us um if you guys would be willing to um quick claim that property to the town, it would allow us to be able to expand like we would like and still have room for parking in those other types of amenities that are needed to be able to have that um facility at that location. Um if you have any questions, I'd be happy to answer those for you, but that's really what we're looking to do. So tonight really is for information and then we'll bring this back uh for vote at our next board meeting

089here in November. And so I just want to give the opportunity for Amy and Mayor Touchberry to come up and speak. But we really appreciate you guys have been great partners and so again want to reiterate what you said earlier. It's been a great partnership. So we're looking to continue to do that. I know this will really beautify the area down there and uh we are excited about being able to partner with you. So >> thank you. Okay, next on our agenda is I'm going to have Jeff Smith come up and talk a little bit about our bid and Tony Souls talk about the bid as uh this is for um >> oh I'm sorry Tina Tina Met does I'm sorry Tina money. So >> take over. >> So thank you Miss Met. Oh, of

090course. Um, good evening, Madam Chair, board members, and Mr. Dhy. Um, this evening, the um procurement team has put together the bid approval for your um for approval by the board this evening. Um, this was an invitation for bid for a Beach Hill Elementary School ceiling grid tile and lighting replacement project. It was in the referendum and again, we went out for invitations for bid. Um, this is confidential information still because it hasn't been approved and we would have to um wait for our 10day protest period before we could make it public information. But with your approval, we could um award this contract and let the um and let the contractor know that you have approved it and we can move forward with the project. >> All right, board members, at this time I would

091ask for a motion to award the bid as presented. All right, motion made by Mr. Lee, do I have a second by Mr. Farnsworth? Any questions or discussion? Okay. Hearing none, we will call for the vote. >> Motion carries. Six in favor, one absent. >> Thank you all very much. >> Okay. Thank you. Now we have Jeff and Tony coming up. uh talk about our facilities report. So, uh they're going to give you a little bit information on a lot of our referendum projects and so uh Mr. Souls, thank you. >> You're welcome. Thank you, Dr. Wimberly, members of the board. Mr. Dy, thank you. Uh just a quick update on the construction projects going on on not only on the referendum projects, but a couple of CIP projects going on. uh San Hill Elementary.

092Uh an update from this uh slide. We had an overhead inspection last week. We had a few discrepancies. The third part is going to come back out sometime this week to reaccomplish that overhead inspection. And hopefully our our final inspection will be scheduled sometime seven days after that overhead inspection passes. uh uh elementary school, the ponds. We we're still patiently waiting for conveyance of that property or impatiently waiting. Uh Somerville Elementary uh out back here. There's a lot of a plethora of uh activity going on back here. We've uh we've accomplished the unsuitable soil um problem back there. It was it was not the greatest in the world. Uh we've actually had to replace the sewer line for Somerville Elementary. Uh and that was uh it's it's it's been a challenge from the word go

093and then today it rained but uh but they did in start the uh installation of the foundation work last week and the underlab plumbing and unlab electrical conduits and all that stuff. They're going to start on that this week with the foundation work continuing on. And so which one's here? Uh Ashley Ridge. Uh the update from this slide. Uh found out Friday afternoon. We've got a uh a pre construction meeting actually starting tomorrow morning at 10 o'clock. We're going to have uh everyone out there for the precon and going through everything with the county and uh we're going to get that kicked off and the phase one, the sprinkler modifications that will be completed by the end of this week and we're hoping for that uh completion to trigger the fire marshall to uh give

094us approval on the phase one. Uh Somerville High School gym, we received the 50% uh design documents today. Uh we've got some comments about those documents and we're going to have to have a meeting with uh the contractor Thompson Turner and McMillan Pasen Smith sometime within the next uh two weeks to to kind of work through some issues on that. And uh hopefully we can accelerate the design time on that. I think if we can accelerate that, we can get our get the construction going hopefully before spring break of next year or next calendar year. So, uh, Fort Door High School, Fort Doorchester High School, the classroom edition, uh, we had the design review for that last week. Uh, that went very well. minimal comments and they're they're so confident of those minimal comments that

095they've already produced a 95% construction document and they we hopefully we'll have those 100% construction documents to submit to uh OSF uh in in a couple weeks to OSF uh hopefully by the 17th of November. [clears throat] uh tiff projects out at Oakbrook. Uh the middle school edition. Uh it's it's it's winding up pretty quickly. We got the brick on the building. We've got the HVAC installed. We're going to be dried in probably this week and uh that's being done with TIFF funds. The elementary school, the structural masonry is wrapping up. They're putting the uh bar joist and decking on this week, last week. and and so steps to completion on that one is uh in February of next year. The bus maintenance facility, we've kind of been cranking that one up and getting that

096one uh in in the mill to be done and we've got the permitting in progress, the pre-engineered metal building, the PMBB uh purchases pending on that one. We're waiting on a few more uh design clarifications before we order that building. And we're working with the contractor and our design firm to make sure that everything is right for that. And uh like I said, that one was uh approved in the general fund in 2023. So that's how that one's being funded. And I think that's all I have. I think next one is Jeff. Okay. Um so just a quick update on some things we've got going on on the uh facility side. uh mostly 8% or uh O andM money or some TIFF money as in what you see on the slide right now. Uh this

097is our second middle school courtyard. So I'm really happy about it. It's one of the really positive things we do because a lot of the stuff we do you don't really see or you don't really want to see it. I mean you don't want to see what we're doing in the walls. You don't want to see what we're doing on the roof. But uh when we do something like this it's really great. Um they actually opened it up today for kids. So they're actually utilizing that one and we're hoping to be able to get through all the middle schools in the next couple of years. um in part due to some thrifty savings on some projects and you know trying to you know make sure we cut corners where we can and do what we

098have to do where we need to and you know be very good stewards of our money in order to uh hopefully you know increase the number of products we can actually do. >> And Jeeoff I just want to say thank you for doing that because I've gotten a lot of positive feedback on that from parents regarding that. So, it's been a very positive. >> I mean, it's it's you know, we we always think about and we're, you know, doing more and more elementary playgrounds, trying to upgrade those, but you know, you it was kind of forgotten about the middle schools and, you know, doing that one at DevO kind of kicked it off and now we want to do, you know, every one of them to try to give them a better place to have

099activities and just hang out when they have downtime. Um, brief update on a few things. Uh Windsor Hill, we've got a a update that they're going to be done by the close of November for that uh roofing and exterior wall project. Um the same company that's actually subbing for that exterior wall project is going to Oakbrook as soon as that's done. So that one will be kicking off uh probably late November, first part of December. Um Windsor Hill and Flowertown are both getting uh new playgrounds. Uh they're going to be put in starting probably end of November, beginning of December. So, we're expecting them to all be done by the beginning of the year. So, those are all funded out of 8% funds. And uh we made a decision to use some funds as well

100to buy LED lighting for all of our fields. This will not be game fields for like football at the three high schools, but it'll it'll take care of everything else minus Ashley Ridge. Ashley Ridge, we're still under warranty with Musco and so that's another five years, but all the other high schools, all their athletic lights are going to be converted to LED. So, that'll be obviously a savings for the district in cost and also um they they look really good. They're really bright. Something we're doing in-house, too. Our our electricians are doing all that work theelves. Oops. Um last slide here just a little bit. So, Oakbrook, like I mentioned earlier, Oakbrook and Oakbrook Elementary, their uh exterior wall project kicks off November and uh probably take about two months to get done. So, we'll

101probably have that done by the end of the year as well. Um, a lot of HVAC projects coming up. Um, a lot of those projects are actually going to be done before we even get to the summer. And we're hoping we have enough savings in some of those products to be able to add a few more to it as well. I'm hoping to try to get maybe two more schools in the in the cycle with the savings in that uh in that category. Uh, let's see here. Other projects coming up. We actually just met this week about or last week about Beach Hill and Austin Middle School roofing projects. Those uh the Austin ones coming out of TIFF fund. So really great to have that funding source. The uh Austin Middle School restrooms, our in-house

102engineer, um Robert Mims, he's a PE, so he's able to help us with cost by not having to hire an architect for some of these jobs because he is able to do all the design in in house. So he's working on that currently. He's working on Dose Middle School locker rooms and the Oakbrook Middle School locker room. So those are things that we're going to be churning out over the next three or four months that we can, you know, put out for bid and uh hopefully get all these done over the summer. Um, same thing with Greg Middle School. We've got quite a few projects getting ready to happen there. Uh, first thing you'll see is paving is going to occur this uh Thanksgiving break. So, that'll be a full campus paving. And, uh, like

103I said, restrooms are going to get renovated and we have a lot of money in the referendum for roofing there because we have about five buildings that have to get re-roofed. And I think that's all I have unless there's any questions. I just say one thing is, you know, you've got Jeff and Tony and Tina and Rhonda and Liz and Ashley Cash. They all meet once every Monday to go over all these projects because that's a lot. You have 8% funds, you have TIFF funds, and you have referendum dollars. And so, um, the amount of purchase orders and things that have to continually to get done, they work really well together to try to make sure we're making sure we're not missing the mark. And uh so it's it's really neat to see. And also

104Mr. Frell. I know I forgot Mr. Frell. Uh Mr. Frell who's in charge of facilities and and and Kenny does a great job as well. >> Kenny's still mourning his uh Carolina Gamecocks this weekend. So um but no, they do a great job. This team is uh they work extremely hard and trying to make sure that uh you know we're getting the right pricing. We're making sure we're staying within budget and making sure we're using the right funds. And so I just I I can't thank him enough for all these things that they're doing. So thank you guys. >> Yep. >> And ladies on our next item is uh our finance report. So Miss Manet, thank you. >> Good evening again. Um so tonight our finance team has presented the um September 2025 reports to

105you. Uh we have we have um gathered information through three months of this new fiscal year. So we're 25% of the way through. Um so you can see our actuals for July, August, and September. And then we have projected October through June um in showing in blue. Um we seem to be right on mark with where we've been in the past several years. Um our revenues for this um month of just the month of September was 15.2 million. Um our expenditures were 25.9. Um this is projected, this happens every year. Um so it you will see that our revenue over our expenditures was $14.3 million which brought our fund balance down to 17.58%. Um, that's why it's really good to have a healthy fund balance because we're using our revenues. We're using our monies that

106were left over at the end of the year through until we receive um, additional local tax revenues because again um, we don't receive all of our monies equally throughout the year. Um, I did want to point out on this report as well that food service looks like it um, went way in the hole this month. Unfortunately, we were having a little issue with um, reporting our meals served to the state department. um when we became C this year that all of our schools were C. Um they had to divide some of our schools with the shared um cafeterias. So it took them a little while to get that in place and so now we're caught up in October. Um but we are doing great in food service area. Our meal participation has increased and I

107can't wait for them to present an updated report to y'all. Just wanted to point that out. Um our next report, thank you Wanda. um is our general fund balance sheet. Um again, if you just look at our comparisons from this year to last year through the month of September, um our total assets at the end of September of 25 is 61.4 million. Um our liabilities are at 8.6 and our total fund balance is 52, which balances us at balances balances out at 61.4, pardon me. Um, our next report shown there is our revenues, expenditures, and changes in fund balance. And this is where you can see our year-to- date numbers. Um, the other report, our cash flow reports each month individually. And this is our accumulation of um, July, August, and September. Um our total

108revenues for the month um year to date are $44.5 million at 85% which reflects that we should have um at least 25% collected. Um again we don't receive all of our tax revenues equally. So u we're at 85% but we were right on target with last year. So we were at 85% in the same um in the same percentage for our expenditures through this time um through the end of September is 58.8 million and we're at 80%. We were at 81% or 1% plus or minus that's we feel like that was pretty good. So that um balances out to our fund balance that we um showed you on the last page of 52.7 million. So, our next set of um reports, these are our new reports that we that uh the finance department prepared. I'm

109going to give shout out to Lisa Sizzler, our director of budgeting, for getting these um nice pretty reports with all these colors on there. We hope it's in a it's in a format that folks can read. I know they can't read it on this slide because it's really small, but it is on board docs in a PDF format. And when you um when you look at it there, you can see the numbers um and the colors much more clearly. Um but this is just kind of an overview of in in in bar graph form of what we were presenting in all of the numbers on the boring report, I guess you could say. This is the funner report um showing um where we're 5% of our budget for local revenues, 18% of our budget for

110state revenues, and all our other revenues is at 25%. And that just kind of gives you a comparison year-over-year over the past three years, past two years and this year. That was for revenues. For our expenditures, um we're at 18% of our budget for our instruction and related expenditures. All other percentage um all other expenditures at 28%. And we haven't used any of our other financing uses. That is um when we transfer funds out of general fund to support some of our other special revenue programs. Um we'll do that quarterly. So you'll see some movement on that next month. Um so that was our expenditures. Now the wavy little graph on the very end is what we were talking about making sure we have a healthy fund balance because as you can see at the

111beginning of the year the far left on the July um we started with um close to 30% for our um I'm sorry that was the wrong year. The green is FY26 projected um at the 25% and we move down the chart because we're using our fund balance from the prior year until we get mainly our local revenues, our property tax revenues because those will come in in December, January, and February. So, we're working off of our last year's savings and our fund balance until um you can see in February, March when it levels out again. Um, so we the board has a a mark to keep 18% as a as a goal for fund balance and we're happy that at the end of the year we ended at 22%. So we don't feel like we

112will go less than let's see our fund balance on our projected our cash flow. We're hoping that we don't go lower than 15.5%. So that's so if everything were to not come in, if no revenues were to come in, we'd be able to still have two months worth of monies to pay our expenditures. Um that won't happen. So we we're fine for two months as GFOA has recommended that we keep um close to 16% for our two months worth of fund balance. So those were our finance reports through September of 2025. if you have any questions for us. >> Got to ask the question, but I don't think it has any impact. But any concerns over the government shutdown or any other potential impacts from uh what's happening at the federal level that might impact

113us? >> Um not for this current year. Um we're not certain exactly what's going to happen with our title monies for next year. There has been a lot of talk about that. um our IDEIDA funding for the the the Disability Education Act. Um those funds seem like they're going to be steady and may possibly increase is the word that we're getting. Um not quite sure yet about our title funding. Um, but for this current year, we seem to be just fine. And we will work on if we hear any other changes for next year, how we would um make sure that we supplement that program and in our programs for all of our schools who are title one schools. I don't know of anything else for our government shutdown. Um we haven't seen any um

114effects from mainly we received the federal money through the state department of education through South Carolina and we haven't heard of any um disruptions of monies um our USDA money for uh C program we have not seen any or heard of any um disruption in that. >> You're welcome. Any other questions? >> All right. Thank you, Miss Manet. And so I'll turn it over as our last item there would be uh student enrollment recommendations for the 2526. Um and that is in seven uh L and so didn't know if we need to go. >> Okay, board members, we did receive that information in our packets. Is everyone okay with proceeding in open session with the student enrollment recommendations? Yes. Okay. I ask for a motion to approve the student enrollment recommendations as presented. So moved.

115>> Okay. Motion made by Mr. Guthrie, seconded by Miss Bates. Any questions or discussion? Okay. Hearing none, we will call for the vote. Okay. And the motion carries. Six in favor, one absent. >> And our last item on the uh agenda for the superintendent report would be the personnel report. And so those are in your board packet. And so just asking for board approval on those um items. >> Right. Um board members, again, this was included in our packet. Is everyone okay with proceeding in open session? Okay. Then I'd ask for a motion to accept the personnel recommendations as presented. Motion made by Miss Bates, seconded by Miss King. Any questions or discussion? Hearing none, we will call for the vote. Motion carries. Six in favor, one absent. All right. Thank you, Mr. Doherty. >>

116You're very welcome. >> All right. Next item on our agenda is our public comments, and we do not have any public comments on non-aggenda items this evening. And the next item on our agenda is our executive session. Okay. All right. Board members. Um, at this time I would ask for a motion to convene into executive session regarding a contractual matter related to the purchase of property in the area of Delmare Highway. Um, an executive session for receipt of legal advice related to a contractual matter regarding Tyler Technologies. Um, an executive session for receipt of legal advice related to a contractual matter regarding food services and an executive session for personnel related matters. >> So moved. >> Motion made by Mr. Lee. >> Seconded by Miss Bates. Any questions or discussion? Hearing none, we will call

117for the vote. Motion carries. Six in favor, one absent. We are in executive session and we will return. time. I would ask for a motion to return to open session. >> Okay. Motion made by Mr. Guthrie, seconded by Mr. Lee. Any questions or discussion? Hearing none, we will call for the vote. Motion carries. Six in favor, one absent. Right. Board members, at this time I would ask for any motions from our executive session. Madame chair, I make a motion to enter into a contract for the purchase of a property in the area of the Delmare Highway. Right. 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. Yes, we can. All right. All in favor. Okay. Motion carries.

118Six in favor, one absent. All right. Ward 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. motion carries. Six in favor, one absent. We are journed.