001We enter your presence and give you thanks and praise for who you are, our creator. You said if we lack wisdom, we could ask you for the wisdom we need to complete whatever task is before us. We thank you for allowing us board members, academic leaders, and all those who have a part in educating our young people. Thank you for giving us the wisdom, knowledge, patience, love, consideration to bring out the best that is in each student. We pray for the families of those we teach, for the various needs they have to be met. We lift up members of our community, our county, our state, our country, and our world. Help us to see one another as you see us different in many ways, but yet loved. Thank you, Father, for keeping us safe and
002helping us to work on being better day by day. In Jesus' name, thank you. Amen. Good evening and welcome to the September 8th Dorchester District 2 schoolboard 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. Four in favor, three absent. Right. We will move on to the next item on our agenda this evening and that is our district highlights. For this I will welcome Mr. Brian Bohan to the podium. Come on. >> Perfect. Thank you Dr. Wimberly, Mr. Dhy. Board members, we have just one highlight uh this evening, but it's a great one. Uh an honorary proclamation
003that I'm going to read for National Adult Education and Family Literacy Week, which is happening next week. Whereas more than 43 million Americans can't read or write at the most basic level, while 62.7 million lack basic math skills as well as the credentials and skills necessary to succeed in postsecary education. Whereas every year, one in three young adults drop out of high school. Whereas adult education programs contribute to solving these challenges by helping Americans move along the continuum in their educational journey to achieve basic skills and get prepared for career and college. Whereas in 2024 2025, Dorchester County adult education served 400 adult learners. 57 earned a high school equivalency diploma. Seven earned a high school diploma. 32 English language learners completed skills upgrades and/or graduated with a high school credential. Two met their family
004literacy goals and digital literacy lessons were taught. Whereas Doorchester School District 2 celebrates Adult Education and Family Literacy Week as a proud participant in the National Educate and Elevate campaign, which helps our citizens learn about all their adult education options to attain their professional and personal goals. Therefore, I, Dr. Ashley Wimberly, board chair for Dorchester School District 2 Board of Trustees, proclaim September 15 through 19, 2025 as adult education family literacy week. Dorchester School District 2 and encourage all Dorchester County citizens to work together to promote adult education and increase literacy among our residents. Given this 8th day of September, 2025 signed Dr. Ashley Wimberly, board chair, Dorchester 2 Board of Trustees. And we'd like to welcome our team from adult education to come on up, receive a copy of the proclamation, take a photo.
005Thank you very much to our team from adult education. They're very popular. They're heading now to the town of St. George to receive another proclamation. It's a great time to be in adult education. This concludes tonight's district highlights. Thank you. All right. The next item on our agenda this evening are board committee reports and we will begin with our policy committee baits. >> Yes. Thank you, Madam Chair. We have several policies up for first reading today. They are as follows. be uh board meetings. This is for first reading and it is a new policy or not that one sorry be a live streaming of board meetings is the new policy. GCL unencumbered time JJ student fundraising activities JJ Er student fundraising activities JJF student activities funds and JJFR student activities funds. So, Madam Chair. All
006right. Thank you, Miss Bates. As these are coming out of committee, we do not need a second. So, at this time, I would just ask if any board members have questions or discussion. Okay. Hearing none, we will call for the vote. Motion carries. Four in favor, three absent. All right. Thank you, Miss Bates. Next, um, under our board committee reports, we have our finance committee, Mr. Guthrie. >> Yes. So, the finance committee met earlier this afternoon and we had a number of topics that we discussed including going over the different bond restructuring where and then also the overperformance of the bond payments. We had to pay a little bit of money to the IRS for that. But that's good news, bad news. So, bad news is we had to pay extra money, but good news
007is we outearned our um I guess what we were allotted. So, that that's more money for school district. And then uh also we were discussed uh kind of re refining our district policy for investing. So we might be able to invest in different different locations and um get better returns and be a little bit more aggressive in some of the uh investments that we do to um make sure we get as much money as possible but also make sure we're still safe but be able to maximize our earnings. And then um last one is we just discussed u being able to present to the public more visual um so whenever we have our board meetings you see all the financial data and it's bunch of numbers and um but we also want to make sure
008you get to see kind of what all the numbers mean. So we're going to try to re re uh make sure it's it's it's more visually pleasing and get more information out there. And then we have our upcoming uh next month uh finance meeting on October 6 at four o'clock. Okay, great. Thank you for the update, Mr. Beth. We appreciate it. All right. And then finally, we have our facilities committee. Um I don't know, Miss Powell, do you want to give a preview on that? Um I know we have facilities coming up later on in the meeting, but if you would like to give a little brief update on the meetings. >> Very briefly, we're doing a lot of great things in the community right now and um everything seemed to be moving moving smoothly.
009We have had some water issues with all the rain, but everything is, you know, coming along. So, we will have the facility speak later, but right now everything's moving the way we anticipate it would. So, thank you. >> Great. Thank you, Miss Powell. >> All right. Um, next item on our agenda is our public comments on agenda items, and we do not have any this evening. Um, next on the agenda is our board chair's report. Um, and so again, board members, I just wanted to bring to your attention the upcoming um, important dates. Tomorrow evening, we have our inaugural VIP reception with the DD2 Educational Foundation. I believe we all received a calendar invite for that. So, I hope that everyone is planning to attend. I am looking forward to being there. Um, if you
010have um any questions about that, just let me or Miss Bates know. Happy to help you with that. We have our next town hall meeting scheduled for October 24th, and that one will be at Somerville High School. And then we also have included on here a list of upcoming conferences. So, at this point, registration for some of these conferences has opened. So, I would ask that if you know you are planning to attend, please go ahead and let Wanda know so that we can make sure we get the early bird discounts for registrations. And also, if you know that you are unable to attend at this time, go ahead and let her know that as well because I think she want try to um register us as a group and go ahead and get all
011that settled. So, just check your calendars and get um get back to Miss Wanda as soon as possible. Any questions about that? Okay, great. Yeah, absolutely. Yes, of course. Um, I believe Mr. Bohannan has done a great job with this, but I want to remind all of our educators, uh, with your ID, you can go to Toast between 6 and 9 on Fridays, all during the month of September, for a free breakfast. So, I explained to them that many of our folks are already at work, but those that can, if you just take your little ID, you are welcome to go there and pick up a breakfast or consume it there if you want to, but it's only on Fridays. And that's their way of giving back to us as educators. Thank you. >> Thank
012you, Miss Powell. >> All right. Next item on our agenda is our superintendence report. So, I will turn it over to Mr. Dory. >> Yes, Dr. Wimbley and the rest of the board members. We have several items to discuss this evening. And our first is I'm going to invite Mr. Thad Schmink, our director of data analytics, and our assistant superintendent for teaching and learning, Miss Katie Barker. And so they have a lot of great information to discuss with you regarding SC ready scores, um some other scores that we get a judge for by the state. And so we're very excited for him to show those metrics and kind of where DD2 is. And so we're very excited about the information Mr. Schmink is getting ready to present. So, Mr. Spain, >> good evening. Um, Madame
013Chair, Mr. Superintendent, and board members. Um, thanks for having me back. It's this that time of year again when we get all of our data in regarding our test assessment, you know, information. I know many people are eager to get the school report cards, but those are embargoed or actually not even um formulated yet, and they'll be out around October 15th. That's the state's deadline for that. So tonight we're going to be looking at um assessment data. I do want to begin by talking a little bit about putting some things in context that um unrelated to our state assessments. We have a national assessment that we um give here at our school uh in our district u the MAP growth and it is a nationally normed test. And just to kind of give a little
014bit of context overall when they reormed this year they do about every five years. So this is our first major norming after CO nationwide. we can see that our our achievement has slid a little bit to the left meaning uh our overall achievement is less than what it used to be as far as our norming is concerned. So um just to kind of keep that in mind that nationally there's been a slight movement to the lesser achievement side of the of the spectrum than than the other direction. Um but not but it also depends on grade level too. So, um although I'm not saying this in a pretense because I'm I'm delivering bad news, I just want to make sure that everybody understands that um even if we were to be stay even if you
015were to stay put and everybody else slides left, that's still a little bit of an accomplishment that we didn't slide um that we didn't slide with them. So, first up is SC Ready, which is our um basically grades three through eight. Um what was new for 2025 was that it was a three-part assessment for ELA. In the past, it's only been for two days. Um this was a field test. Um so it was a little bit longer in its length. Um and it um applied the new or the the 2024 ELA standard. So that's the first time that we saw those on on official assessment. As well as a major component of the test, the writing component changed from what they call the TWWA to a TWW um or TDW. And that is a significant
016uh change in how students go about writing and and reading and responding to something that they've read and some data that they have to analyze and then they have to come up with a a passage that fits that that information. So it's definitely a little bit of a twist to um the TDA that we had used to have prior to that. So basically um when we're talking about ELA I always like to remind people that while we will compare it because we that's humans so it's what we like to do they're not necessarily comparable um given the fact that so many things so many factors the lengths of length of time to take the test as well as the test itself as well as the standards. So, a lot of lot of changes going on
017there. And then science was the we didn't have one last year. Well, we had a test last year, but it was a full field test where results were not provided to us. So, um this is the first time that we're getting science um back since the field test is getting formal results from the state department. So, here we can see as we always like to do, we like to compare ourselves to ourself because we are our um number one competitor. And the good news here is this is um again this is ELA. So this is the one I'm going to say even though I'm comparing it that we really shouldn't compare it. Um and you can see here overall that our the red which is the the lowest performance a number one on the assessment
018has significantly decreased not not only over time but also from the previous year and that we've also you can see here that level three which is the meats category has significantly increased. Um and you can see that our level four which is the exceeds has slightly decreased over the previous year but that has kept up with pretty much state trends across the state. The whole entire state has seen their their does not meet in approaches their ones and twos drop while their threes have gone significantly up and statewide we've seen the level fours um come down a little bit. Again it's up there to compare but I am very hesitant in saying hesitant in comparing because they're not the same the same tests. So next year we'll get to see some trend data. It'll be
019the same the same or the same test with the same expectations. Um with math math has remained the same test same every go. Although this year the 26 the end the 25 26 school year we'll be doing sort of the same thing. It'll be a field test. It's going to take a two-day format. Um, so there's going to be some changes coming along the line with math, but I got some great news to report here, which is we have continued our slow and steady um, movement in the positive. As you can see there on the red, every year it is getting slower or and lower. In 22 it was 30% and in 25 we're down to 22%. So 8 8% over the last few years is a great decrease. and we're seeing them not just
020go to the next category, but we're also seeing our level threes and level fours also increase over time. So, we're moving all those kids forward, which is great. Just nice, slow, steady, consistent um increases there. And then here we can see our science. Of course, we don't have anything else to compare it to since the full field test last year. Um but just showing how we've come in here is with our you know kind of evenly distributed um with our threes and fours um being in the highest categories there being about 54% almost 55%. Then we of course everybody else wants to know how are we doing compared to our uh surrounding counties and as we can see here when we look at the the trends over time everybody's trending in a great direction which
021is great. We want to celebrate everybody's um everybody's victories and but we can see there that we're definitely holding our own um across the board with other counties. This next slide here, this is um again our science which is a little a little hard to compare, but you can again you can see that in science we've kind of topped all the other local local districts. Um this one helps us to see if it's in yellow that we're beating the state averages which is which is great. and we're um um knocking it out pretty much across the board in ELA or across the board in ELA and almost across the board in math. And this is looking at each uh grade level individually. So, we break things down overall with the one big score, but we
022always looking for what we call masking. We don't want there to be one or two smaller parts that are doing really well that are masking something. So, we like to break down every grade level to see how they're doing. And we can see that that for the most part there we're um we're doing quite well. Um even uh actually I do apologize. I'm looking at the the white blotches from the previous years. This year in 2025, I apologize. We're we are straight across the board um higher than the state on on ELA and math. I apologize. I'm looking at too many charts today. Um and this I just put in there for your reference. This is showing you the actual state scores in case you wanted to compare them to our scores. But off there
023to the red there, you can see the difference um of the scores from this year's um DD2 performance over the state performance there. So, pretty handedly doing quite well there um across the board. And then how are we comparing to our local districts? Again, we're looking across all of them there and we're looking across all grade levels and uh for the most part there except for our math. Um Charleston County continues to beat us out. Um but uh across all other tests and uh against all other surrounding counties, we're doing quite well. That brings us to the end of course examination with the EOC. This is our high school predominantly being taken by our 9th through 11th graders. Um and as we can see here again comparing to ourselves that every year we're slowly just
024slow steady progress we we saw gains this year in biology English 2 as well as US history. The only place where we did not see a gain was an algebra with a slight there slight loss of a point I believe it's like 0.9 um I apologize my eyes are going not what they used to be. So um but we are definitely seeing gains in all in three out of four which is wonderful and again when we look across the state we're beating the state um averages when you look at a mean score so and we're doing quite well there we had a little slight like that that 1% loss there um in algebra and again we like to look at um the surrounding counties and how we're doing and we can see there for Um
025I believe if I'm everything there we are beating on all the surrounding counties with the exception I believe is algebra. Um yes. So Charleston County took a little bit of a nod there but I believe um well with English and I think English English to Charleston might have um taken the taken the cake there as well. But um we're doing quite well though in as far as that average mean score. Um and then we get to win which is a career readiness assessment that South Carolina uses and just wanted to report on that we had another great year. 74% of our students in the our graduating class all um received a credential um through this assessment. Um it's a pretty rigorous assessment with reading data and math components to it. Um, and there's also a
026soft skills component to as well, but that is not part of the certification process. And as you can see there, we're doing um quite well there and also beating out state averages. Again, when we look at the different components of math um data and reading um doing quite well there, also beating out the state performance um as well on on all in all three areas. Again, we're always looking for that masking. And here we have our progress over time. And I believe that uh again we're we're kind of just nice and consistent with our with our performance. And again I know a lot of people ask about they they hear career readiness. This is only one component that a student can use to be considered career ready. There's CTE completers. there's um other certificates they
027can you um there's other coursework they can do through the career school. So on the report card we expect to see a percentage of our students who are college or career ready being much higher than the 75 um the roughly 75% that we see here and this is again just another thing comparing you with the state in case you wanted to see that. And our last assessment that we get in is WEDA which is what our multil- language learners take. Anybody who is a non-native English speaker is assessed on their abilities there. And we are um again beating out the state average there with our percent of students who are earning that title of being considered language proficient which is considered to be at a 4.4 or higher. So our level fours plus fives plus
028sixes pretty much make that that number there of 12. But not everybody in a level four. Again, if you're a 4.1, two, or three, you'll not make the cut to be part of that proficient uh language portion of this assessment. And and that's it until we get the school report cards. Thank you, Mr. Schmank. Any questions from the board? >> Okay, we'll bring up uh Mrs. Katie Barker, assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction, teaching and learning. She's going to talk a little bit about some of the factors for growth. So, Mrs. Barker, >> good evening. Oh, that was very loud. Um, so first I just kind of want to go over first I want to say yay. Um, we're super proud of a lot of the progress that we saw there. Um, but always there
029are always things we want to continue to work on. So, first I just wanted to go over um some things that we feel like contributed to some of the success that we saw in the data that Mr. Schmink reviewed. So, um most of these things are things that we have previously presented about, but I'm happy to answer any questions if you have any. So, we spent a lot of time last year really fine-tuning our professional learning communities and our practices with our district common assessments at the schools. And we feel like that was a big contributor to the success that we experienced last year at all three levels. Also, a renewed focus on classroom observations and feedback from our administrators. we really focused on the work that was going on in the classroom and and
030building up and supporting the work that the teachers were doing um during instructional time. Instructional software was a key component as well. Um also a renewed focus on using data to make decisions. We've presented before about the um quarterly data meetings with principles from the district level and then data debriefings that the principles and administrators and instructional coaches were holding at schools with teachers about their common assessments. And then something else that we felt like really was a huge part of our success last year is using MAP scores at the school level to really drive goal setting and measuring growth. If Mr. Schmink mentioned that we'll find out um about school report cards coming up and if you remember to last year there was a big change in the student progress measure. So using map
031um to really help us target that student progress measure that we that we see on the report card so we can help schools and students measure that growth throughout the year. Also as Mr. Schmink mentioned we had all new standards K12 in ELA last year and along with those new standards full implementation of the high quality instructional materials and that was a big focus for our curriculum and instruction team last year is really implementing into reading and into literature in our elementary and middle schools and then McGra Hill in our high schools. So, that was a big focus of the instructional team um at the district level and the department heads and team leads and PD coaches last year and content specialists this year um to make sure teachers had at their fingertips all of
032the instructional materials that they needed to use in the classrooms. And then we also feel like even though the assessment scores that we just went over aren't necessarily looking particularly at our youngest learners in kindergarten, first and second grade, we know that those students move up to third grade. So we feel like as we are really able to focus on those foundational skills and literacy and providing those students and those teachers um with the letters training and UFly and he as we get further into implementation with that we feel like that was another um key component in our success especially in that elementary level for literacy. And then just some things that we have going on this year Mr. is going to share um a little bit in a few minutes about comprehensive school visits
033and that's just a change or a tweak that we have added this year that we feel like is going to really continue to support as Mr. Schmink mentioned those slow steady gains that we want to see. Um and we know that we are fully implementing new mass standards and the new core sequence in high schools. Um so that's a big focus for us this year. and then using the um content specialists with the change in those positions this year. That's really allowed them to be in schools working with teachers, working with the curriculum, um updating pacing guides with our teachers and all of that. Um and then the state has released a partnership with Zern, a math K8 instructional platform that we are pursuing. We've used it in small um ways previously, but we are
034really focusing on using that as an instructional program um because the state funds it and we feel like it's a great way, another tool to the tool belt that our teachers can use to really help meet the needs of their students. And then those instructional materials I just listed there for um math that will all are all new this year. So teachers have been working through PD. Our teachers worked with content specialists over the summer for curriculum writing because along with those new standards comes all new curriculum to support those. So those are things that we feel like last year helped lead to where we are now and that we are building on this year as we move further into 2526. Any questions for me? >> I just want to thank uh Mrs. Barker and
035the curriculum instruction team. I know they're here. They have spent a lot of time and hours of putting a plan together, but they've also worked the plan. And also credit to our teachers in the classroom of being leaders and following our curriculum guides that have been put forth and also our our principles become more instructional leaders. And so when you put all that together with a plan and they work the plan, you can see some of the data that we're very excited to see that we're trending in the right direction. So we appreciate all the work you've done and so thank you. >> Absolutely. Thank you. Good team. I'm blessed with a great team. So, thank you. >> And then kind of go into our next um couple slides is kind of um the first
036month of school and just wanted to kind of go over our enrollment numbers. Uh our projected enrollment for the 2526 school year was 25,771 and as of 9925. Um this is our 25,761. So really only 10 students down at this point. So we're very excited about that number. Um when you look at our food service um this year we've went with a different uh food service provider and we're happy to say um for the 13 first days first 13 first days of first days of school we're up 20,000 more meals served in August and in approximately 30,000 more meals those first 13 days uh for lunch. So we're very excited to see the participation going up. Uh obviously all of our students get to eat free and so that is up. So we're very excited
037about that. Um we're still not fully staffed at this time. Um we still have about seven positions that we need to hire in the food service area and then we have a lot other positions that are are monitors in our um cafeteria. So we're still trying to f uh you know get all those filled. Um and then we're going to start our participation for the staff eat free on Fridays um starting this Friday the Friday the September 27th. And the reason we've backed this up is we're again we're trying to make sure Airmark is fully staffed and making sure we can be able to provide that for our staff. So, we're excited about that date. Um, we just had a facilities report um earlier tonight and you can kind of see a picture there of
038the courtyard at Deose um that our facilities team has worked with Mr. Brinkley to put that together. But, uh, if you've been able to get into any of our buildings, uh, you can see that uh, Mr. Smith and our principles and all of our custodians have worked really hard to make sure all those buildings look pristine shape, especially when students come back for school. So, we've been very excited about the way our facilities have looked. And I know uh Jeff, we just had earlier where he is filled out. I think I think over 2,000 um requests for like work orders that were put in that he and his team have really been busy trying to fill. And so, um, making sure to continue our facilities are topnotch. Moving on, um, going on to school visits.
039I know Mrs. Barker touched on this and you can see here, this is one of our first school visits that we did. You can see that picture there. Um, everybody's getting ready to go into classrooms. And you can see the number of people that are there. You're looking at 15 to 20 people that will go through that school. They're unannounced. those visits are in the areas that we're targeting our DLE, instruction, behavior and discipline, safety audit. Uh Mr. Giant and his team are there, special services, um our ML, our fine arts, our 4K and CTE, and also our guidance uh instruct director is there as well. And so again, this gives us kind of an area to go in and see how things are going on each building. And our purpose is to inspect what
040we expect and to see in buildings and give positive and constructive feedback to buildings and their administration team. And so uh what Katie and her team will do is each school will get a report back. It's a very comprehensive uh report and giving feedback to each school. So you know we can go ahead and do these visits uh but if we don't give constructive feedback and how people can improve they don't do any good. And so they have done a wonderful job of putting the report together and they'll sit down with each admin team and talk about some of the ways that they can improve and also talk about some of the great things that they saw. And so we're seeing a lot of great things that are going in our buildings right now. So
041what a great opportunity for us to be able to see all the great things that are going on. And the next thing uh the next thing to report on is our leadership development for the 2526 school year. Our CNI team along with Dr. Wilson and Mrs. Barker have put together uh kind of some cohorts. And so our administrators, our assistant principles, and so when we look at our assistant principles and how do we how do we grow them? And so our goal is to grow our leaders in the DD2 way. And so all assistant principles have been assigned a cohort and you can kind of see those cohorts. They meet six times throughout the school year. Um instructional leadership, culture and climate, organization management, and leadership development. And there's kind of a sample schedule that
042those people will go through and we're getting a lot of great feedback after the first meetings with our assistant principles. We're taking a lot of great nuggets out of this these trainings and they're being able to take those and apply them into their buildings. And so again, we're trying to grow our own. So if somebody does leave one of our principal ships, we'll be able to, you know, have somebody the next person up as they would say. So we're very excited about um what we're doing there. And so again, kudos to the CNI team and Dr. Wilson and uh Mrs. Barker. The next thing is our part we'll talk about is personnel update. Um we've hired 240 teachers to start the year with 1550 classified staff. Um we've added a couple positions due to numbers
043and so we added a kindergarten position Eagle Nest and a fourth grade position at Sand Hill Elementary School. And so we still have some currently current openings. one A at Ashley Ridge, one JOTC, um, and three sped. And so all the sped positions are halftime positions. And then we're having something happening tomorrow night, um, with our personnel department. They are putting on a substitute recruitment fair. So, we're very excited about that to get uh, more subs in our system to be able to help um, fill those needs in our classrooms. And so, we already have 70 that are pre-registered um, for tomorrow evening. So, uh, we're excited about that. So, we can pass that word on. As far as special education, uh, Dr. Gadson retired September 1st and Michelle Jakes, uh, was one of our
044assistant director. She is going to act as an interim executive director for the remainder of the year. I believe she's here this evening. So, thank you, Michelle, for doing that. And also, David Walker will act as interim assistant director as well. And so, then we'll post that position this spring. And we just felt like the transition with Mrs. Gatsson with the great work she has done. Um we will not be able to miss a beat with uh Mrs. Jakes and Mr. Walker there. So and then our first SSPL parent leaison group uh meets this week as well and that's a chance for the district office and our um special ed group to get together with our parents and lays on group to talk about thing the great things and things that we see that need
045to be improved. So that will actually happen tomorrow night. And then the other thing to really report on I think is very positive is look at the positive referrals. And so at August 22nd district administration and principles meeting we celebrated six 621% increase in positive referrals written for students. And so last year we only had 143 last year and this year we already have 1,032. So, you know, that was been our big focus is really focus on the positive, catch kids doing great things. And so, our administrators are doing great jobs trying to recognize those students. And so, we're very excited about that. So, um that's all I have as far as my superintendent report. So, any questions that we may be able to answer? I don't have a question, but um and you were
046talking about great things that's happening and I was over at Somerville Elementary last week, week before, I forgot which one it was, but anyway, um the manager uh of the cafeteria called me over and she said, "I wanted you to meet two of our workers." They were short on staff, but those two workers came in, fixed breakfast, and fed all of those kids over at Sunola Elementary along with the teachers support. So, we want to say yay and thank you. That is definitely DD2 teamwork and we want to see more of that happening. Um, we don't fully have all the staff we want yet, uh, need yet, but you do what you need to do in order to make sure the kids are fed and things keep rolling. And so, um, for them that was
047just part of the job and they did a great job. So, I want to say a shout out to Shannon Edmonson over at Sunville Elementary and Charlene Frasier. Those are the two young ladies that just jumped in and did what they needed to do. Let's give them applause. Yay. >> Thank you for sharing, Mrs. Pal. Anybody else have any questions or comments? Okay. Okay, we'll turn it over to Mr. Steve Shop. He is going to talk a little bit about transportation and kind of give us kind of a comprehensive view of what happens in the transportation department. So, Mr. Schop. >> Well, good evening, Madame Chair, board members, and Mr. Superintendent. Um, I put quite a bit of information on the slide just to give you the sort of gist of the scale of of
048what we're dealing with. 160 program routes. We're running 159 right now. Um we receive the bulk of the school buses from South Carolina Department of Education. They maintain them. One thing that's highlighted there under the buses is we were able to get two minivans last year that we used for the McKini Vento students and that has worked out really well. We don't have to use big bus for it. we can use nonCDL drivers for it and we're supporting those students and it's actually being benchmarked by the state department of education uh because we've been able to make that successful. So we hope to see that continue and and possibly even expand uh depending on the population of students that are in that situation. Um right now we've got 175 drivers total. That's 152 CDL full-time
049equivalents. Um, we have 12 12 drivers that do AM and PM splitting. So, we count them as as six CDL equivalents. We've got three bench drivers who are full-time substitutes. And then we have 10 occasional or part-time substitutes. Um, we currently have 11 drivers. They're out. Um, five are on FMLA. Unfortunately, three of those are subs, but we still have those two that are full-timers with us that are out and six currently are on workers compensation. Um, unfortunately, we've had few things happen where, you know, one got injured at convocation and and some other some others along the way uh that have been from even from last spring carrying over. We'd like to get them back on status and that will help us that much more. So, we currently need five route drivers and we'd
050like to have 12 bench drivers. That would give us 15 of those full-time substitutes that would work every day. Um, and people would, you know, be able to have life events like funerals and weddings and those kinds of things without significant impact on on our busing. We currently have 16,523 students that are daily riders and we're driving just over 14,000 miles every day. And we've got uh just about a thousand bus events happening every day with field trips and some of the uh vocational school runs. Um those are elementary, middle, and high school runs in the morning, afternoons, and then middays. Um we have 124 general education routes coming out to 70 744 runs with about 8,200 general ed bus stops. And then right now we have um students that are special needs um twice
051a day for them, 1,600 bus stops. We have 44 midday runs right now, which is higher than last year uh at the end of the year. So, we're we're pushing up from last year, about 800 more bus stops that we're making every day. Some things that are affecting us are high demand for special transportation. I think the number's right. Um, we meet about once a month and talk about transportation for special ed, but the child fine program, federally mandated, they they told us they had about 75 appointments in September for that. So, those are three-year-olds that are coming into the program that need car seats, and it's just increasing demand, increasing demand, increasing demand for sped buses. Um, and we're at to the point now where 12 buses have long enough elementary runs that they
052can't go to the middle school. So, that's very painful for us. We have to consolidate middle schools, make those runs longer. And then, fortunately, it's not a huge effect, but three buses can't do high school runs, but we have the most students. You know, we have over 300 sped students at Somerville High School alone. We're not busing all of them, but it's it's a big it's a big draw on us. And um some of the buses are old. We we bus u differently than what the state department says. A state department says a bus is a bus. One some buses happen to support wheelchair students. We don't use them that way. I don't think anybody in the state uses them that way, but they still allocate based on us using the buses to their specifications.
053That's why we have the district buses thankfully or we'd really be woefully short. Um, we're having some maintenance issues with the general ed buses from the state. So, we could see we have 24 that are out of service today. And that eats up all the spares and cuts into what they're allocating to us for the for the normal runs. Thankfully, we have the district-owned school buses that we use to to make up for that. Um, but, you know, we're working with them. They're working with us. They have replaced some some buses that we didn't have last year that were just really old and couldn't even be driven. So, they have made some progress on that, but that's that's something that we want to keep an eye on. Um, we're averaging about 10 driver absences daily
054right now. Um, and combined with the open routes, could you go back one? The open the open routes, the workers comp and the FMA FMLA and some call outs, it leads us to double runs or combined runs. We're having about two to three at each level um per day and about six to eight combined um runs each day across across the levels and we don't want to do that but that that lets us get the kids to school mostly and then it does cause some delays in the afternoon to get them home. Next slide please. Um, one thing on the last one, another thing that is infecting us, and I did not, uh, manage to get that on the slide is we're seeing neighborhoods that are really getting big on us. Watson Hill, um, we're
055going to having to do a lot of shifting and possibly add a route. If we can figure out how to do it for them at Beach Hill, um, we're we're overloaded on a couple of buses. I mean, right at right at the max, three person, three kids to a seat in each of those buses, which is the way they're designed, but we've got no wiggle room if we get more. So, we're working on solutions for that. We do have uh four bus drivers that we expect to start within the next three weeks um with us. That'll help and hopefully we can get some of the ones from FMLA and others back and that'll help us also. Okay, I'll go to the next one. The app is everybody's favorite topic. Um, it's called My Ride K12,
056provided by um the company that that that does the routing program that's mandated by the state. It's a GPS-based um system. It works um in concert with the tablets that are on the school buses. The tablets give the drivers turnbyturn directions. Um gives us the ability to scan student ID cards so we know when and where they're getting on and off the bus, which is something the parents really like. Um, if we can keep that equipment working, it seems to be working a little bit better for us this year. But what has to happen with this system is the dispatcher has to designate each bus for a run if it's different than the general than the normally assigned bus. Um, previously we had to send a message out and tell parents what bus to follow.
057Um, so it's better in that circum in that situation for us. It's transparent to the parents. Um, we have occasionally a problem where either the dispatcher will mess it up or the driver has to on the tablet say, "I'm on this bus." And if they get the wrong one, it changes, you know, what the parents can see. Um, so they see may see the bus going to the wrong place. And we've got some of those complaints. So, we're working to iron out those and make sure we're consistent on that part. It's a typical GPS tracking system, though. It has similar issues. Um, on other apps that use GPS, first student has similar kinds of of issues where when the bus is stationary, you're getting bad ETAs. And so in our case, when a bus gets
058close to a school, it's driving up to a school, like at Nightsville, had a complaint about that today. Buses approaching Knightsville, the app goes, "Oh, hey, the bus is here already." And sends out an ETA that's 50 minutes earlier. Well, we didn't send a message that said we're 50 minutes earlier. It's not even dismissal time, but it it sort of puts people into a panic. So, those are some of the things that we deal with. Um, inaccurate ETAs. There's also lag in bus location. And it's it's a it's a very complex system. You have GPS that's beaming up and down somewhere into the traverser servers, wherever those happen to be. I think they're in New York. Then there has to be some calculation and comparison through the internet and have stuff pushed back out via
059the cell towers or or or the internet if parents are are connected to a Wi-Fi or something somewhere. So there's lag. Um and and that's always a complaint that parents have. The bus is showing here and you know there it goes driving by. Um we try to tell parents it's a tool. Um it's good for a lot of things. Sometimes the lag in the GPS um causes some consternation with with missing buses. Um we've had some complaints where parents were still trying to use the old app. We're trying to help people. You know, we we have it advertised in lots of places, but it still happens. Um some other things happen with students being locked on old addresses. And the reason they're locked is there are map anomalies. There's new neighborhoods and we've seen kids
060that go move into those new neighborhoods and their addresses are all the way across town from say near Sand Hill is where they live and the address is picking them up for some reason all the way across Highway 78 on the other side of Austin Bailey. So we end up having to lock them on addresses and then if they transition to the next school level they're still locked on the old bus and and you know so we're working on getting that kind of stuff cleaned up. that's in the low hundreds of of students that have had that problem, but it's still something that confounds people that are using the app. I think that's about all I have. I can answer any questions if you like. I just need clarification on a couple things. Um, for
061those that are trained to get their CDL, is that something the district is paying for? >> We do we do paid training. >> Okay. >> So, they start out at if if they are coming in and getting a brand new CDL. Uh, we start them off $2 an hour less than the lowest um lowest step on the pay scale. >> Okay. once once they have um completed the prerequisites the screening for for being hired >> and then we >> if they leave say three months after they've gotten their CDL training etc some experienced driving what is the penalty >> uh we know what the cost is to do full CDL training and we have pr-rated we we have ways to prrate that and we'll take it out of the final paycheck >> out of their
062final check. >> So, they'll get a final check. Usually, their checks are lagging by about two weeks behind behind the current >> Okay. I just want to make sure, you know, in the past we've heard about them getting trained and then moving on somewhere else. And um I think that's a disservice to us financially as well as you know it in does not enable us to get our kids where they need to be if we are losing drivers that way. And I think there should be a penalty. So since you have one, that's great. We don't want to keep them if they don't want to be here. But at the same we want to drain them. >> Pardon? >> It's it's not a prevalent occurrence. You know, it doesn't happen very often. >> I know
063at one point that seemed to have been an issue. >> It was a little bit >> based on what was being told to me >> and I'm not there so I don't know. That's why I'm getting clarification. >> Yes, ma'am. >> All right. um you do have a lot going on and with these little systems that don't work, GPS and all of that and but you understand parents become upset because they don't know where the kids are. Uh different things happening. >> We do and we're sympathetic to that. We're trying to help, right? >> If if it's hard when it's when you're at the mercy of somebody else's app, >> right? Okay. All right. Well, we just want the parents to know we're not doing it to be ugly. We just It's just a glitch
064and we're working on it. >> We send We still send quite a few messages out on Parent Square and that's what we want people to know. If you don't get a message that says the bus is running early, it's not it's on it's running on schedule. We prefer to be a few minutes late and not early because people miss the bus that way. >> And that's on Parent Square. >> Yes, we send parents messages every day. >> Parent Square. That should become your good friend. Thank you. So, just to clarify, because that's what I was going to ask. So, if a bus is running late, >> yes, >> we send out some a message. Is that what you were saying? >> We if we're more than 15 minutes off schedule, we try to send a
065parent square message or if there's any other kind of event like a fender bender or, you know, whatever might delay a bus, mechanical breakdown, that that kind of thing. >> Okay. And then as far as the um the app is there I mean are parents aware of these kind of complications? I mean because I feel like that would help you know I'm thinking about myself as a parent if I knew that they that these things could happen or you know like especially like when the bus is stationary the you know ETA is inaccurate that would be helpful to know because I think then you wouldn't jump to getting concerned you know. We could we could look at some kind of a message with a little bit of that. It's easy enough to send a parent
066square message, you know, >> right? Maybe just make like a fact sheet that you could post on the website, transportation website, and send out in Parent Square or something like these are common issues, you know? I mean, I don't know. Just a thought. And then my only other question is do you have any feedback about the new initiative um for the pay with >> it's it's anecdotal but uh we just produced um the pay that's that's for the 15th and the my financial secretary said there are 131 people that are going to get it for perfect attendance. So >> okay >> the supervisors say attendance is better. It looks like it's a little better. So, we'll see if that's correlating to that or not. >> Okay. >> I think it is. >> Yeah. >> I
067did have a question about that. So, >> if they had like if they were sick or a doctor's appointment, they lose that opportunity then. >> Yes. >> So, essentially, there's no opportunity to take leave and still get that bonus. And how often are they eligible for that bonus? >> Well, they are I didn't hear the last part of your question. >> And how often is it? So, it's like every like >> it's so many days. It's every I'm trying to remember. >> It's every pay period. So the pay periods are gener. >> Okay. >> So they'll just miss that. >> Yeah. Okay. >> Yeah. For that pay period only. Okay. >> Yeah. >> I remember. No. Yeah. Right. >> No, I understand you have to find the balance. I was just curious on I couldn't
068remember how often the bonuses were given if it was like a longer period of time or not. So, thank you. >> Yeah. Awesome. Thank you. >> Any other questions for Mr. Schop though? Thank you, Steve. Appreciate all the time. Thank you. And now we'll call up to the podium and talk a little bit more about facilities is Mr. Tony Souls and Mr. Jeff Smith. >> Good evening. >> Just a quick update on our capital construction, our new construction projects, uh, out of Sand Hill Elementary. We're getting ready to dry that building in this week and get some air conditioning going or some dehumidification in there so we can start on the finishes. Uh we hope to have that building completed and ready for students to move in by the middle of October. Uh Somerville Elementary
069Edition, we got all the permits approved. We got the final permit this morning at 10:00. Had a pre-construction meeting at 11:00 and they started uh working shortly thereafter. Uh, and we hope to have that one completed by August 1st of next year. At Ashley Ridge High School, we got phases two through four. The construction documents are waiting at OSF for the approval from the office of state fire marshall. Uh, phase one is completed. The work is completed. We had to do a little follow-up work to get that uh certificate of occupancy for those. Uh we started all that work June 2nd and we hope to be completed by the end of next summer at Somerville High School gym. Uh the schematic design, we reviewed that with OSF a couple weeks ago and we're just now
070waiting for the design documents to be submitted back to OSF and that that should happen the week of uh November 24th at Fort Doorchester High School. a classroom edition out there. The schematic design, we reviewed that last week with OSF and they're going to have the construction documents ready to be submitted back to OSF by mid October. So, a lot of new construction going on there. Uh this is uh some projects we're doing with TIFF funds, the general fund, Oak Middle School edition. Uh we hope to have that building dried in this week. The roof was nearing completion last week. Uh the windows are going to be in this week and hopefully we'll get everything uh ready to paint and uh get some flooring down very soon. We're going to hopefully turn that building over
071by middle of December. And that's a TIFF funded project. Obrook Elementary School. The structural masonry is well underway. They're doing the in-wall plumbing and electrical conduits as a block goes up. And uh the substantial completion date for that one is in February of 26. Uh the only outline project over there is the bus maintenance facility at Oakbrook Depot. And we're working closely with the general contractor and the design firm now to firm up the civil drawings so we can have all the permitting started and get that done hopefully by this time next year. That should be a pretty quick project because it's going to be a a pre-fabricated steel building. And that's all the new construction stuff I think. >> All right. Uh good evening. Just a few updates on some current projects. Uh the
072Austin Middle School door replacement, we were expecting that to get done over the summer. Delays from the manufacturer of the doors have pushed us back and they're now expecting the doors to arrive the end of this month. So, we're hoping to get a good push on the October break to get most of those doors installed. So, that's one that was supposed to be done this summer. That's been uh delayed a little bit. The uh Oakbrook Middle and Oakbrook Elementary roof uh wall project, I think the last board meeting you all approved it. So, we're I think we've done our 10day um uh period for protest and that's all passed. And so, that should be getting uh a construction meeting set up fairly shortly so we can get that project underway. It'll probably be a to
073happen during during the school day. There's nothing super invasive about it, so it'll be concurrent while schools u end. The Windsor Hill roofing project is still ongoing. Um they're making pretty good progress, but we still don't believe they'll be done with the project till probably the end of the year. So that's uh that's you know ongoing. It'll continue long as the weather permits. The Somerville High School restrooms. So they've got the I think they've got about 50% of the hand dryers installed. Still waiting on a delivery for the sinks and once those come in, they'll start, you know, coming up with a schedule on getting in there to work on those. Obviously can't do that during school, but they'll be working on that during breaks. And right now they've been working from like 5:00 p.m.
074until like mid uh 11:00 at night uh four days a week to try to get the electrical stuff done. So maybe some something similar once we get the sinks in. And uh September's a great time of the year because uh Tina gets all the 8% money coming in. So we're going to be start this next round of projects which I listed up here. So we've got uh four schools with full HVAC replacement. Some of High School and Greg are going to get phase one and two done there. So, some pretty massive projects with those schools. Um, expecting a lot of those to actually get underways Christmas break or spring break depending on the nature of the job. Um, obviously the Greg Middle School and Summerville High School are the two most invasive projects because they
075basically every unit is in every single classroom. So, not a lot will be done until we get to summer. The roofing projects that are going to be going out for bid very shortly are Beach Hill and Austin Middle School. Um Austin Middle School's project is funded by TIFF money and then the Beach Hill project is a um eight that's actually a referendum project for that that roof. Um luckily this year we were able to allocate some funds from the 8% um pot of money to playgrounds and courtyards. So we did the Deose one under a referendum and now we're going to be able to do actually Austin Middles is going to come from TIFF and then we have Windsor Hill, Flowertown and Somerville Elementary that we're going to do out of 8% and we've already
076actually got the quotes already in place. So, all we're waiting on is the account to be set up and then we'll be able to get a PO out for those projects. The let's see, restroom renovations. So, we're actually doing all of the staff restrooms and all the group restrooms renovations. Maybe not full replacements, but some major upgrades throughout Austin Middle School and Bose. And at Oakbrook, we're adding in the locker room. So, we're doing locker rooms at DMS, Oakbrook, and River Oaks. That should finish up all of our older middle schools because we did Greg and Austin a couple years ago. So get those those locker rooms up to par for all the middle school athletics and also PE classes. And then finally, we've got all of our um plans approved from OSF. So, we're
077basically going to put all these ceiling grid and lighting replacements out starting this month and probably over the next couple months so we have them very well ready, very geared up for the summer to get those kicked off and and completed this summer. Some of them are going to be very invasive. Things like Newington and Flowertown are really major projects. Beach Hill probably being the least um smallest scope of work of all those projects. Any questions on any of that stuff? because I think this is and before you get going, Jeff, I just want to thank our facilities team. They meet once once a week on Mondays and that's Tina, Liz, Rhonda, Lisa, Jeff, Tony, and Kenny. And you making sure that all these projects were able to keep these, you know, organized in a
078a manner to make sure we're getting done in a timely manner. And so, I really appreciate the their work because there's a lot of moving parts that are going on. And you know, when you're going from 8% money, tiff money and referendum money, sometimes it's a lot to keep straight. So, I just want to say thank you to all of them. They they meet every Monday to make sure that's we're making sure we're making progress. So, thank you. >> All right. Thank you. >> I do have a question, and I I think I brought this up before it's been a while. When you're doing the women's bathrooms, there's not enough room. And our ladies are healthier now than we used to be. And when you try to turn around in those B, now it may
079sound funny, but actually when you're trying to turn around in those bathrooms and do what women do, there's no room. And then you end up hitting up against the toilet and that's not good either. >> Example being next door span. If you go to the some of those staff, I've been in there too. >> They're about as big as a you know, maybe just take that out completely, you know, >> room you have. But yes, and some of that goes back to restrooms that were designed before there were ADA requirements that have not been upgraded. So that's something that we're looking at as we do these restroom renovations at the schools. You know, possibly losing a a water closet or a toilet or something like that in order to make, >> you know, better access
080and also ADA access. >> It sounds funny, but I'm serious. I I don't like touching and having it touch me. So, if you can't do anything on this one in the future, make sure you take in consideration. >> Have a female come and come along with you. Thank you. >> Yes, ma'am. >> Yeah, Miss um Bonssworth can do that. >> I'm sure she wouldn't mind >> volunteering. We'll talk about volunteering you later. And and the next thing you see on the slide here, uh, one thing we wanted to report out is the elementary, uh, school in the area of the Yerby tract. And so we want to report on that as the referendum, uh, we're supposed to build an elementary school in this area. So just want to report out to the board and our
081public that uh, the developers currently appealing the Army Corps of Engineers classification of wetlands in the Yerby track. So is being held up and uh right now we're not sure when this is going to happen if when this land will be conveyed over but you can see the picture there that was taken there of Mr. Bohannan and his drone. So thank you. Um as you can see they have not turned over any ground or there's not any trees or not they're not doing anything clearing any of that site and you can see they were supposed to be be building 25 homes um in 2025. So again, just want to keep everybody in the loop on this. This is a concern of ours. Again, this was something that was in the referendum and and building that
082building a school in this area. So that is something we're we're we're constantly monitoring. So I wanted to report out on that. Um the next one is on the ponds as you can see there. Again, uh we talked a little bit about that, but the county's working with the developer culture to get the land conveyed over to the county to give the school district. Um currently the district has all the surveys and permits completed and once we get the land it'll take us 18 months start of construction to completion. Um whereas in the Yerby track we haven't done any due diligence any surveys at this point and that's at least 3 years out uh to 36 months on that. Um the one thing we are concerned about the area of the ponds uh the longer
083this goes on that guaranteed maximum pricing uh will go up and that will change the price of that elementary and so um we do anticipate this will cost more but again uh we're committed to doing that uh but just wanted to give you an update where where we're at. So >> Mr. Dr. Dhy, I just want to emphasize, you know, for the the public that the board and the district are still, >> you know, looking at all options to and plan B's and worst case scenarios and everything we can do to make sure that we're utilizing that referendum money as we said we would and appropriately and to make sure we're accommodating the growth. So, >> absolutely. you can speak on that in any way, shape, or form, but I don't want to >> Yeah.
084I mean, I think the district I think we brought this up about doing due diligence on some land. And again, in case we do not get any of these properties, um, we're trying to make sure we secure some land so we can have um, you know, at least one elementary school there. Um, and then we're also looking at other options. uh you know B and C is you know providing more classrooms somewhere because again when you look at an elementary school you're looking at maybe you know 30 to 40 classrooms and so again um those were things that our our community voted upon and again we're looking at all options if um if these things uh fall through. So again, um we're hopeful and uh but again, we're we're we're uh planning for hoping for
085the best, but planning for the worst as I hate to say, but that's a great question, Miss Bates. And uh I believe that wraps up the superintendent report. Uh Dr. Wimberly and the board. >> Right. Thank you very much, Mr. Jordy and team. Lots of great information. Lots going on. Yes. So board members, um we do have some student enrollment recommendations that were included in our packets. So is everyone okay with proceeding with those in um open session? All right. Then at this time, I would ask for a motion to approve the student enrollment recommendations as presented. >> So moved. >> Motion made by Mr. Guthrie, second. >> Seconded by Miss Bates. Any question or discussion? All right. Hearing none, we will call for the vote. Did yours come up? >> Yeah. >> Did everybody
086vote? Yes. Sorry. Okay. I'm sorry. >> Motion carries. Four in favor, three absent. All right. And then the next item on our agenda is our public comments. And we have one this evening, Mr. Jason Brockert. It's interesting that we started tonight with uh National Adult Education Week. Turns out this is actually National Suicide Prevention Month. This is National Suicide Prevention Week this week. Next week is adult education week, but this week is suicide prevention week. In fact, today is 988 day. I'd be willing to bet that about half the people in here did not know that today is 988 day. Maybe you don't even know what it is. The thing is, it's kind of like ignoring the fire in your own house to go admire your neighbor's new car. Our children's mental health is the
087fire in this analogy. I first stood at this podium to speak about the district's pattern of inaction on bullying on December 12th, 2022. I shared our family's story, warning that the system was failing our students. Despite those warnings, the chronic negligence continued, and in May of 2024, we lost our son, Julian. This is not an old problem. Just a few weeks ago, a 14-year-old in Chattanooga was lost to suicide. This is still happening. His family is now reaching out to their school board over their decisions about student mental health. Since the official systems are not moving in with the urgency that this crisis demands, the community must. So, I'm extending another invitation. Two weeks ago, I extended the invitation. I'm again extending the invitation. This Saturday, September 13th, at the end of National Suicide Prevention
088Week, we are holding a rally for bullying prevention, mental health awareness, and suicide prevention. Everyone is welcome to attend. This is a free event. I'm inviting all Doorchester 2 administration, teachers, students, families, bus drivers, anyone that wants to be there can be there. And as a reminder, the district is not allowed to take any punitive damages to any employees engaging in community actions outside of their school roles. So, I've been hearing from several people that we know that there is an adversion to attending this event because they fear for their jobs in Dorchester, too. I want to open this event to everyone to show you what we can do to try and fix this. Instead of ignoring it, we want to break the silence. So instead of talking about adult education week, it would have
089been great to hear anything about mental health andor suicide prevention. Next Saturday, speak up for all of them. See you there. >> Thank you, Mr. Brocker. All right, board members. Um, our next item on our agenda is our executive session. So at this time I would ask for a motion to convene into executive session for personnel related matters. >> Motion made by Miss Bates. >> Seconded by Mr. Guthrie. Any questions or discussion? Hearing none, we will call for the vote. Motion carries. Four in favor, three absent. We are in executive session and we will return. at this time. I would ask for a motion to return to open session. >> So moved. >> Motion made by Mr. Guthrie. >> Seconded by Miss Bates. Any questions or discussion? Hearing none, we will call for the vote.
090Motion carries. Four in favor, three absent. All right. We do not have any action from executive session. So at this time, board members, I would ask for a motion to adjurnn. >> So moved. >> Motion made by Miss Bait, seconded by Miss Powell. Any questions or discussion? Hearing none, we will call for the vote. Motion carries. Four in favor, three absent. We are adjourned.