0012024 2024 um door chest District 2 school board meeting um at this time I will call the meeting to order and I will ask for a motion to approve the consent agenda motion made by Miss Crosby second seconded by Mr Guthrie any discussion hearing none we will call for the vote okay and the motion carries seven in favor all right now we will move on to our district highlights good evening board chair Dr wimbley superintendent Dr Robbins and board members at this time I will turn the podium over to assistant principal Miss Erica Matel for this highlight and then I will return to close it out good evening I'd like to welcome our Turtle Bots down front we can share a little bit about their accomplishments and recognize each of them individ the Somerville Elementary
002Turtle Bots coached by fifth grade teacher Sarah Cook and assisted by third grade teacher April Jeff were the loan robotics team from dd2 to earn a spot in the state robotics competition based on this year's theme Masterpiece the team's project involved creating hidden piter puzzles displayed in school hallways the project showcases creativity and incorporates technology such as can to enhance their designs and is an Ode to the team's Collective love of puzzles team members Outreach included a sharing designs with the community displaying puzzles in public spaces and exploring Partnerships with local entities the team earned a first place trophy for their project at the East Edisto qualifier a second place trophy in robot design at the East regional qualifier advancing them to the state competition where they receive second place in the state for their
003project and play seventh overall [Applause] and at this time we're going to recognize the members Daniel hmel Daniel Hollman Ella meter is actually at a a rehearsal she's in the Finding Nemo production in town Anna patillo Joseph Lombardi Cooper cill and Campbell Jackson and of course their amazing coaches Sarah Cook and April Jeff way to go Turtle [Applause] Bots congratulations again turtlebot [Applause] Dr Robins Dr wimbley it is my honor tonight to recognize the 2024 South Carolina High School league wrestling state champions and wrestlers please come forward as I call your name from Ashley Ridge High School anelise Marlet weight class 100 lbs cydney [Music] Palmer Sydney Palmer weight class 1335 lbs [Applause] from Fort Dorchester High School Ricky Springs weight class 120 [Applause] lbs and from Somerville High School Hassan Williams weight class 150
004pounds DD 2's athletic director Mr drer could not be here but wanted to express his excitement seeing these individuals achieve their goals as a result of their commitment and dedication to the sport they love each one of you standing here makes dd2 proud to call you our state champions congratulations [Applause] again and that concludes our highlights you okay we will move on um to our public comments and this evening we have no public comments on agenda items and so now we head straight into the board chairs report and the first item under that report is our um kaspa annual convention report we had five board members attend the um second annual cook convention um this year and um at this time if anyone would like to discuss um or add anything in regards to that
005um go ahead Miss Powell okay so there were so many this was one of the best conference I've been to and um there were so many that I had a hard time choosing and several of them well one I went to several time and that was the one with AI I was not I am not a computer person and I will do anything manually I don't try to act as though I'm the guru on anything that has to do with technology but I was so impressed with the AI I've decided I need to go take some lessons it has many benefits and so instead of just trying to throw the baby out with the bath water we just need to become more knowledgeable about what it is what is not and how it can be
006of benefit to us so I just say thank you for allowing me to be able to attend that conference yeah uh very valuable to see what's going on in the rest of the country so we can get ideas that we can bring back here um and one of the biggest ones that I I like the most was there was a a school district out at Arkansas benville where the Walmart headquarters is at they did um they're having a new uh teacher housing um sort they built a nonprofit kind of similar to our Educational Foundation but which is separate um to fund teacher housing when that was really inspirational how they took B by the horns and created their own thing and teacher housing shortage as a big issue but they actually did something about it
007so school but hopefully we can do something similar and then the other one was they had another talk was about another school district outside of Nashville that they have their family court um their law enforcement and their school officials they all meet once a week talking about student discipline so we kind of limited on what we can do as far as the school district or his sometimes it involves law enforcement or the family court that does Juvenile Justice um so but having um Everybody work together that was really kind of inspirational to see what they can do for student discipline to the next level and come up with Creative Solutions to to be able to do that but that's kind of my my highlight my favorite um talks I was able to see thank you
008Mr gther um I can sure absolutely um okay that'd be great I um I agree with what Miss Powell said I think um there were so many choices um some of the best keynote speakers that I have ever heard I mean phenomenal I was texting Dr Robbins and sending him ideas possibly for convocation this year so maybe we will be able see see um or hear some of them in the district hopefully um also some great ideas about something we're going to talk about here in a little bit um teacher and staff Recruitment and Retention um some things that uh that we might be able to implement here I think it's nice to just um as Mr Guthrie was saying when you're in these conferences and you're you know meeting people from across the whole
009country and everyone kind of has that same um just passion about public education and is working so hard to see the good and do the good and share ideas and that's it really is very inspiring and motivating so I think that was good for all of us as well and you know some of the ideas are you're you're bound by different state laws and your own policies and things like that but it's still good to kind of brainstorm and just listen and hear what other people are doing and you know bring those ideas back and have some good discussions here and so I feel like a lot of that will come out of this conference all right I also agree I feel like that conference was just good speaker good breakout after good breakout um
010I I love the one on teacher Recruitment and Retention one of the ones that stuck out to me and I know it's no surprise to y'all is the therapy dogs one there was a district that has nine schools and each school has their own therapy dog um I I'm kind of passionate about using it for our special needs students but this was just across the board for the students and I just walked away with so many different ideas and ways to fund it and ways they they do it that I never thought of um they also had some really good sessions on communication and just proactively communicating things as well as highlighting the positives in your district and they did this really cool thing that was like the person behind the leader where they pick
011a principal that they highlight and they share a little video and a story behind their why and how they got to where they got and why they do what they do because I think it's so easy to look at people from afar as a community member or a parent and be critical but when you actually get to know people and you get to know their heart and their why it really breaks down some of those barriers and so it was really really special for me to see a way that a District's highlighting those things and bringing the positive um things that they they they care about and they see every day to the community and then again like Ashley said the keynote speakers there was a guy Mickey Smith who talked all about the impact
012of being that person in somebody's life and he referenced his aunt who was that person who was like you're going to win a Grammy and he hung on to those words eventually going on to win a Grammy but just the power of how one person and their words can positively impact a student for their entire life and it was just I laughed I cried I I mean I felt all the things and it was it was just a phenomenal phenomenal conference on top of the fact that we get to know each other better as board members and superintendent and our wise because again once you get to know each other that breaks down walls and allows us to see the person behind what you see up here every month so yeah I will start um
013as I always do by saying thank you of course um to the community of the district and and the board for the opportunity to attend these type of conferences I I and it's funny just hearing everybody chat a little bit it's um funny I I almost feel bad for Dr Robbins um because I can imagine as we're sitting in these sessions I I know I'm guilty of it and and I will text him um hey we thought about this this is a great idea we thought about this and so I know you're getting that from from everybody that was there at the conference um yeah just from a from a national perspective to be able to take in um different perspectives different viewpoints from Across the Nation um one thing that I always always always
014take away and it's very interesting is the fact that that I think Dorchester District 2 across the nation has always always been ah head of the pack and and so we still very much see that um you know with the different sessions that are happening um a couple things that I do want to give some kudos to to some of our board members because of course they they won't do that themselves um a couple of the sessions that I found really really valuable of course and Miss Powell mentioned it uh the artificial intelligence a lot of information this this conference about AI uh for folks in the education space parents uh your kids know about it so I don't have to say it to your kids but for parents Educators administrators um who are not
015on board with AI if you don't know what I'm talking about um you need to go learn because it is here and it's here in a big way and and it will I I mark my words it will change the entire education landscape over the next several years and so you've really got to get on board with this AI stuff and understand what it means for the education Community the other one um the other really meaningful uh sessions I took away we're dealing with literacy uh they had a lot of really good sessions on literacy uh I know tonight we've got an acade academic overview uh on some literacy topics science of reading um you know those those are all big big topics right now and so coming away with with that is very very
016valuable as a board member and then finally Kudos of course um so miss Wimberly Mr Guthrie Miss Bates um they were able to submit and got approved to do a session so a session for folks across the country um on our very own dester so on Chester our working Canine dog in the district um he actually came from an idea from cosbo last year and so it was very fitting um that we highlight the work that the district has done for uh for D Chester so again so very very much so heard very positive things after the fact from a lot of board members around the country so kudos to uh to our colleagues here and again just a a really good conference thank you for the opportunity and uh Dr um Wimberly let me
017also just reiterate doc um D Chester they did such a phenomenal job that the people had questions and they stayed around to ask questions so as Dr Robins say if they're interested they'll stay around if it wasn't good for them they're gonna leave before time and these stayed around so I said kudos to them the other thing I want to say so that our educators will understand Mr Smith our last keynote speaker that um so used to call you Kelly um spoke about he is an educator and he got that award as an educator with music the man can play a saxophone that takes you to another level and so I'm sitting there just boohoo and just crying because he played so beautifully he had all of us on our feet just clapping and taking
018pictures and um it was just a phenomenal experience and so um thank you if for no other reason I had such a great year to this year going there thank you absolutely thank you all appreciate the great input um okay next up we have the coordinated school health advisory Council and um Miss Bates is currently serving as our board representative on that Council yes thank you um we did have our annual meeting I'm going to call Miss nurse Santa Maria up here to kind of discuss uh they did set their goals as well as review the policy but I'll let her kind of dive deeper into all of that good evening Dr Robbins Dr Wimberly members of the board thanks for having me um so as Miss bat said we did have our annual meeting
019last Thursday the 29th um where we met as a council um our school district is required by State Statute to have a coordinated school health advisory Council we've always had one we just reconvened for the year to kind of assess our progress our new goals and look at our wellness policy our council is made up of community members parents students um School Representatives District representatives and we work to get Buy in from all of those different parties to see how we can enhance health and wellness within our schools so part of what we do as a council is look at our District's wellness policy see if there's any changes that we need to make which is something that we did do at our last meeting um and we discussed many of those at our policy
020committee meeting this evening um and and those are just changes in line with the language that we're currently using the things that we're currently doing in our schools as well as the model policy um and then the next part of that is looking at our progress as a district our trienal report which is a report that we work with our food service provider to submit to the state every year to determine what um required elements of the statute we have in place what are maybe partially in place but we're working on and so we assess that trianal report and then we come up with goals in four different areas health education health promotion phys physical activity and other school-based Wellness activities so our committee came up with four goals in those areas um we're still
021fine-tuning them a little bit and then once they are fully developed they'll be published on our website with other cack information do you have any questions for me anybody have questions all right thank you Miss and Maria and I'll turn that back to you Miss Wimberly okay great thank you both very much okay and the next um item on our agenda is um teacher and staff Recruitment and Retention task force um and just to speak a little about this um this entire board and Dr Robbins I know we all believe that uh one of the main reasons dd2 is such an excellent School District um is because of our people um and of course by people I mean our teachers but also um our all of our staff and and all of our employees um
022retention of our people is a top priority for Dr Robbins and for this entire board um and additionally the recruitment of quality Educators and staff to our district is also critical we know that um and we have had many conversations um with some of you out there with each other and you know with Dr Robbins and we know that there are multiple reasons that people choose to stay here there are multiple reasons that people want to come here and unfortunately there are also multiple reasons that people choose um to leave and we know that pay is an issue um and it's and it's important issue but I think we've also heard that there are other factors too um when it comes to pay we have unique challenges in this district and you know in the
023finance meeting we had right before this um we're were talking about um information that's coming from the state um regarding the the budget for next year the salary scales that sort of things um we don't have all of that finalized and that's we're definitely having those conversations and working through that but I will share and I know we always talk about this but it's important to continue to share it we are fifth from the bottom um in the districts across the state for um for funding and that is because of the way the state does the the funding method because because of act 388 and the way the local funding works here so that is a a challenge for us but that being said we also recognize that staying competitive with compensation is is very
024important and that is a goal for us so um after speaking with Dr Robbins and each board member individually we all feel that it is essential um that we take a step to to face this Challenge and to look for potential Solutions um so we have asked Dr Robbins to to form a teacher and staff Recruitment and Retention task force um and so this will be something that he will undertake but the the group will be made up of of Educators administrators and people from various different departments and you know um people who are in the trenches if you would say and and know what's going on and can help generate ideas brainstorm talk through things um you know what the issues are where the problems are what we can do differently or better what
025we doing well because obviously there are things that you know good things too about this district and we know that um and pay and compensation of course will definitely be part of this conversation but just overall work culture Community satisfaction I mean that's important to all of us and and to Dr Robbins as well um and I'm excited about the potential for this task force because I think that it will be um a a great asset and a big tool for us and there's a lot that we will be able to learn um and so um at this time I would ask for a motion um from this board to um ask Dr Robbins to please take on um forming this task force for us so moved all right I have a motion from Miss
026Bates do I have a second second from Miss Powell any discussion yeah just and and so to your points really and spot on 100% on on everything you said said I I think what I would relay to Dr Robbins and and of course I think we all understand this um this is bigger than Dr Robbins this is bigger than our board you know we're we're talking state level issues we're talking National level issues that that impact what we're seeing as a district and our ability to recruit and and retain you know the best education talent that we can and so I think that's that's why it's so important when we look at something like this um because at the end of the day I think what what you look at this as this task force
027for Dr Robbins you look at it as an aid to help you do what we've asked you to do which is recruit and retain the best uh that we can find um and so you know from that standpoint I think we we need a wide swath of um you know opinions and and just information as much as we can get because again you know we we may call it a salary task force um that's that's one piece of it that's that's one piece of the puzzle when when I talk with Educators um and and I'm not downplay it salary and pay is a huge piece to the puzzle but in the education field there's a lot more to it um being treated with respect is is way way way up there being treated like a
028professional is is way way way way up there and so how do we put all those pieces into place to do that better than anybody else and and to do it better than anybody else in the state and so that's that's you know the driving force the the only real I guess kind of question I have as far as information and and coming back to the board what what's the intent are we G to have kind of reports back out um what does that look like yeah so um I guess let me uh provide the board with a little foundation so you all know I spent 10 years in a different state where I bargained contracts was part of my responsibility and requirement and so the way we did it was we looked at our
029and to Mr fernworth point it is not just a local state but a national issue and so it it will be a comprehensive approach but we'll we'll come together with a um a wide swath of individuals to look at what our priorities are um when we address this yes Sal is one piece to it um but when you look at Recruitment and Retention you know if we can recruit them great if we can't retain them that's bad uh and so we'll look at what those concepts are uh and put them into action now we have a salary study that's great that's fine but that's just one little piece of this entire plan uh and what I like to do when I do this is I like to look at what my competition immediate competition is
030for my first level of approach okay and so when I say immediate competition for us we obviously need to look at at what is the cost of living issues that we face in the Low Country who are we competing against I won't say it out loud we all know who we're competing against and what do we do to attract Talent it was interesting because part of this task force may have a recommendation to this board of something that Mr guthy mentioned that he heard at cosba um because housing is a huge issue uh for new teachers and Educators and people who are entering into uh the profession in general across um the state and the nation so I see us as having benchmarks you can only make progress if you backwards plan and so we
031would set a timeline in which we would provide the board with updates and probably there'll be more than one phase because it is March and we'll bring recommendations to you all I will tell you just in preparation for this and knowing that we're one of 20 school districts out of 83 in the state of South Carolina that does not have have um fiscal autonomy uh I've already started to put together presentations that we'll present to our local um elected officials who we have to request those you know make those requests to moving forward and the board will be able to see those you know up front so that we have a onee twoyear and three-year plan moving forward to be able to address these challenges uh again I know that's kind of gray for you
032all but if this is what you all would like to see I'm 100% on board um I'm a planner and we'll put a plan together so that we're giving you consistent feedback and update the other thing I would add whenever I've done this when I did bargain contracts I had teacher representation I had support staff representation I had a community person that would be on my um bargaining committee I would have at least one board member um on my bargaining um Team or in this case the task force and so I would ask um Dr Wimberly if if this is the case and the um what the board would like to see if you could appoint somebody to set on that task force as well um to represent the board's interest okay thank you Dr
033Robbins um I think it's important one of the things that you just mentioned and and this is um you know this isn't a problem that's going to be solved in two weeks or one meeting and and I think we're all aware of that and we understand that I mean this is going to be an ongoing thing and I I like the idea that we're it's going to happen in phases we need to think about the short term we've got to think about next year right now next year but we also need to plan and think ahead for you know down the future and I think the other thing is when we talk about the funding um you know unfortunately there's only so much when it comes to that that's within our control and and I
034know that it's a priority for us all to do as much as we can but again there's only so much we can do there but I think as Mr farnworth were saying there are other things that we can address and that we can do even more about and that's what we want to get to the bottom of too in addition to the compensation so all of that is important and I appreciate the idea um love having a board member um the love the idea of having a board member serve in this and that way um we can make sure that we're you know getting information back from Dr Robbins as well as another board member um I think at this time I'd like to ask U Miss Powell if she would be willing to serve
035in that capacity for us great thank you um and now before we call for the vote is there any other discussion comments or questions okay um and so I think at this time we will be voting um with our hands um so all in favor of um Dr Robbins um forming a teacher and staff Recruitment and Retention task force raise your hand please all right perfect the motion carries seven in favor it is unanimous thank you very much okay and I guess that concludes the board chair's report for this evening and so now we will head into our board committee reports um first up is our policy committee so I'll turn it over to miss Bates thank you so we did just meet today at 4 and we will be having more policies coming around
036for first reading but today we do have um a list that that is also coming for first reading and that will be BCB board member conflict of interest bjr board legislative program CCB line and staff relations CF School building Administration is being recommended for deletion jic student conduct is being recommended for deletion jic c-r the rule is of student conduct is being recommended for deletion J IA student dress jic student dress and jic d a r student code of conduct so the jic d a r I believe is replacing the ones that were deleting right Miss Graham is she in here oh yeah there you are right yes okay okay so these coming out of committee I would like to ask for a okay motion all right great so yes coming out of committee we
037will not need a second but do we have any discussion at this time um any I would if if at the pleasure of the board I would like to possibly send policy uh BCB bravo charlie Bravo back to committee um that's the board member conflict of interest that one and it was interesting because I know that policy committee uh meeting there was some discussion um around volunteering in schools and so I just want to be very very very clear we should volunteer we should be in schools as much as possible but when when hearing from Miss Graham about this specific issue and it seems weird you'd be like oh what do you mean that that's a Schoolboard members volunteering in schools that's a conflict there there are some use cases where volunteering from a board
038member perspective gets a little bit in interesting because you're putting on kind of a an in a hat you're putting on a volunteer hat where you possibly now report up through a building administrator and you still can't circumvent being a board member and so again so it's just from a conflict perspective there's some questions so the only thing I would ask is if we can send that one back to committee I I do think and and we looked um I think it's Lexington 5 so Lex 5 uh their policy actually has some information that that I think is is worded um pretty well and and so it may just be something that we can put into our policy um to be able to move that one forward I have no problem sending that back to
039committee okay so then we can send that was policy BCB board member conflict of interest so excluding that one um is the board prepared to go ahead and vote on the remaining policies for first reading yes yes hold on let me find which one you're looking for because I think I know where the dress code was question Christie IUD bonnets head Bonnets and dag now dag may be an exception for covering if there's a medical or if there is a religious reason but other than that I would like to recommend that no dags and no bonnets especially Miss Graham what policy does it list like the hats and which one is that under rule okay I so to me Miss poell and and you tell me if you'd be agreeable to it we've already got
040BCB that that sounds like it's going to go back to committee to me it would make sense to move jica the rule back to committees okay to capture those edits that you're talking about that way we can get the actual policy language that's fine so do we just want to send the rule back we do not need to send jica the policy back just the ru because it's amending just the I mean I don't see why we can't do it today but that's fine to send it back as well it's essentially just I think what she's asking is just amending the part that says sunglasses hats hoods to include Bonnets and do-rags so sunglasses hats hoods bonnets or dags worn inside the building correct so per board policy it has to pass two readings with
041the exact same language so it makes more sense and it back to policy committee and then it would come up for first and second reading in line with other policies instead of having three readings for one policy absolutely thank you yes okay so at this time we will send policy BCB as well as J IA the rule back to committee um and we will vote [Music] to pass the remaining policies as incl included in your packet correct okay for first reading correct for first reading yes absolutely okay so hearing no more discussion at this time we'll call for the vote on those remaining policies okay and the motion carries unanimous seven in favor thank you very much policy committee all right all right and now we will move on to our finance committee report Mr
042Guthrie yeah so the finance committee was able to meet uh today five o'clock and we went over different aspects and we all agreed that we wanted miss m to talk about legislative update and she can give some some brief highlights about the cool things happened in Columbia we're in a weird spot here with the microphone um thank you again um Mr Guthrie um mam chair board members Dr Robbins um just wanted to provide youall with a legislative update there are some great things happening in Colombia we haven't gotten our actual um projections yet for our revenues unfortunately hopefully those will come by the end of this week we'll see fingers crossed um but some of the things that are coming out of Colombia right now that you may have seen is that um the governor
043when he proposed his budget um he um wanted to rework the state minimum teacher salary schedule to increase the minimum salary to 45,000 which we are currently at 435 but um that is an increase of 2500 on the state minimum just wanted to make that point um but then the budget went to um the house Ways and Means and they came up with another number which sounds better um their proposal was to increase the state minimum teacher salary schedule beginning teacher salary to 47,000 so um depending on what is passed in Colombia we know we'll at least be moving our teachers up to that that scale that would be great um also out of the house Ways and Means um they increased the steps from for years of experience from 23 to 28 thankfully dd2
044was already at the 28th so we are good there um again we're still in the early budget process um Gathering the information from departments um schools working with leadership to be able to bring y'all um some very detailed revenue and expenditure numbers at our next meeting since we don't have um a meeting during spring break it'll be the April 8th meeting where we'll be able to give you some some really good numbers um let's see if there's any any other great information to tell you um so some of the areas that we are going to focus on um to bring to y'all is definitely the teacher salary scales so it's great to hear about the the task force um the extracurricular stiens we haven't really addressed those in a number of years so that's um
045one of the areas of focus of course we'll have additional FTE that we'll bring to you because of growth in our area that we've been experiencing um in instructional instructional support and also on the operation side of the house um we are definitely needed to increase some FTE there um um cost of living increase not just for teachers but for non-teachers for our other staff as well um maintaining health room assistance the duties have just grown in all of our schools um to be able to assist with the nurses we've had um those folks being paid out of Esser and then move to a grant that dhad Grant is going away next year so that's going to be one of the focuses to keep those in the budget for next year and also look at
046some various scales um as Dr Robbins said and and Dr wimbley that we did have a salary study and we weren't able to implement it all at one time so we've been trying to take little chunks at a time so last year our Focus um we worked on bus drivers we worked on um full-time adult supports and on teaching assistance which there still could be another tweak for teaching assistance that we will propose for this year but also for um secretarial positions for school bookkeepers also for systems operators those scales haven't been reviewed or haven't been changed in quite a while and those folks are um near dear to my heart because they deal with money so systems operators have to capture all that information about all of our students which that goes to the
047state and and helps determine our state aid classrooms funding that we get from the state um the other um big topic that we talked about that um apparently there's some chatter happening in Colombia about um fund balances which we've talked about fund balances for many years um we finally were able to get the 15% cap removed which was wonderful um so and we really haven't gone too far above the 15% just because because we were held back for so long we do have some savings that we were able to realize from eser monies which we need that for when eser funds fall off read a little cushion there to take up for those additional s expenditures so just wanted to point that out to y'all as well so that's just very high level um legislative
048out um update Outlook and um more good news to come unless there's any other questions that you wanted to um did we decide to add our media specialist assistance also on that list to like review to possibly look at their scales yes I just wanted to make sure assistance it was the media assistance you're right we did the taas last year yes the um the only caveat and and I don't want to put words in Miss M's mouth but looking at when we talk about starting teacher salaries um 100% we are I think every single person in this District anybody that touches educ education would say yes they should get paid more The Challenge and this goes back to what Miss Wimberly was saying earlier the challenge becomes when we look at Dorchester District 2
049specifically bottom five in funding in the state of South Carolina and so then if if Colombia pushes out what we call an unfund an unfunded mandate so for those playing along at home write that down um unfunded mandate so they're saying you as a district will do this you must do this and by the way we're not going to give you any money for it that's an unfunded mandate and and so we get that a lot we get that from the state of South Carolina it it happens hundreds of times thousands of times and and it really puts the district in a bind um so that's the only caveat just throwing it out there to to remind folks of those challenges so absolutely do we want to pay our our our starting teachers our teachers
050we want to pay everybody a lot more because they deserve it but um you've got to remember the The Limited resour resources that we've got on the back end and just to um your point and to Dr W's the point that she made earlier that um the state gives provides US money but they also um are expecting us to put in some local Revenue dollars as well so that's one area where we have been um behind in the past um as Dr Robins pointed out we do not have fiscal autonomy so we cannot raise millage we have to go to our local County Council to ask for millage increases so um if we demonstrate the the need and as Dr Robins pointed out comparison with our neighbors our close close neighbors who are able to
051who do have fiscal autonomy that's something that we need to um keep driving home to them so we'll do the best we can with the all the money that we get from them and then I know we did in the finance committee meeting to possibly have some sort of FAQs online to maybe answer some of these questions and concerns that people and staff in our community have so they can easily access that so just a little fun fact thank you very much I didn't know if you wanted me to stay up here Mr Guth for the next piece or if you oh yeah I mean that probably be good another part uh that we did uh during the meeting was every five years we had to change uh our auditing professional auditing services so um
052I guess Miss manier can talk about U the process about how we selected the new Auditors and how we came to the recommendation for the new Auditors absolutely so um board policy states that every five years we are to change our external Auditors which an external audit is required in state law every year um so this was the end of our five years um we had a great relationship with um ellia Davis who was working with us um so we um submitted requests for proposals and we received some from various um auditing firms so the Review Committee um reviewed those and submitted a recommendation to Dr Robbins whose recommendation is to y'all um it was uploaded in your board packet under the confidential information because we asked for that until we have entered into the
053contract with the actual auditing firm um so that would be starting with the FY 24 year which is the year that we're in right now and moving forward for five years with the auditing firm that was noted in your um board packet so if um pleasure of the board we could ask for a motion for that yep so I guess the finance committee is going to make a motion to approve recommendation for auditing services with contract beginning in fy2 24 okay thank you Mr Guthrie coming from the committee we will not need a second do we have any discussion at this time or questions okay hearing Now call for the vote we will be voting electronically okay motion carries seven in favor thank you very much thank you right that's it ask co-chair Barbara did
054you have anything else that you want to add okay perfect that's it okay great thank you both very much I appreciate the report um and now we will move to our facilities committee Mr Farnsworth thank you madam chair and and so the facilities walkthroughs continue to roll right right along um I I do want to give some thanks um Mr Souls Mr frell um Wanda um all the building administrators Miss Hughes um it it takes a lot to go through all of our sites and and to be able to um put the logistics together for all of those sites and so I just want to say thank you uh to everyone involved uh for making those happen those will continue this week next week the week after um tomorrow morning we are at Windsor Hill
055followed by Fort Dorchester High School um so if anybody would like to join the facilities walkthroughs tomorrow morning should everybody should have them on your calendar um so please feel free and you you're more than invited your you're very very welcome to come to those walkthroughs so thank you Miss Hughes anything on on your side I just wanted to add that not only are we when we go into these schools are we learning um the facility needs but we're also having the opportunity to talk to our administrators and here's some of the other needs or concerns that are going on and um and not only that we're learning some things that are happening in some of the schools that um you know I think and I don't know it may be going on in all
056the schools because we haven't been to all of the schools yet but um for instance we were at um one school and as we we're talking they actually have a person in their school that does nothing but service um new teachers that come in that have concerns or has um issues that are going on or things that they don't understand or need help with or or even teachers that have been there a while that maybe it's a new adventure for them they're doing something different this year they have one person that is there to do nothing but support um all of the teachers teachers in that school and like I said I don't know if we have one of those in every school or not but I will say that I think that is one
057thing that even this committee that we were talking about earlier I think that is another piece that teachers are looking for or just to know that they have a person there that is there to support them and if they have any concerns they have a person they can go to and talk to so um that may even be something setting aside the salaries that maybe if we don't have that in every school that we could look at putting that in every school so that so that we can do that in across the district because we got lots of comments on that whenever we were there that day from teachers that were pastors by saying oh yeah we could not have made it if she wouldn't have been here our first year um the principal even
058said she probably would have left whenever she started teaching if that teacher would not have been there so um so it's it's a good thing so I thought that was quite interesting so facilities visits are not only about facilities these days um Dr wimbley historically we have had what they call Buddy teachers or else um mentors to new teachers to the district whatever they may be whatever their status is so I'm not sure if it's still going on now but I know that's something that we've had in the past okay great thank you for the input and um thank you for your diligence in completing those facilities walkth through and um for all the other great information that you're learning we appreciate it um okay and now um we have reached our superintendence report so
059I'll let Dr Robbins take over thank you madam chair members of the board and even before I get started um part of my report will be our facilities report and I want to say thank you um um uh to our board because um when you um make those walkthroughs and sometimes we take some of those um items and issues for granted but you're going to see in tonight's report that one of the things that I was contacted about uh we already have an action plan for it um and the one thing I can tell you about Mr Souls Mr frell and their team is if we give them Direction um they move and they move pretty quickly and so this isn't an easy task and undertaking and I'm just going to stop there um because
060I don't want to steal Tony's Thunder he's worked pretty hard on this so again I just want to say thank you um tonight I've got several items um under the superintendent's report we're going to cover a a referendum update Finance report facilities report because this is the only meeting in uh March so we'll cover that we have an academic report that covers several things uh one of them is our literacy initiative we are going to cover our leak program overview um and something we're very proud of um because we are servicing a number more students um than we able to and support more families this year and then finally our Personnel report and our student um enrollment recommendations so first up is a excuse me a timeline for our um referendum and I just wanted
061to start this off by saying you know for most in the community they will not understand the foundational work that's taking place with this um we actually started a due diligence facility study in late 2020 and because of covid it got kind of sandwiched and then in 2021 and um it was about two-thirds of the way complete when I arrived in 22 and um I worked with Tony and Rhonda and Tina and our team uh and the contractors to complete that facility study so that was completed in the fall of 2022 do obviously there were some changes that happened uh in our community and communities across the country when covid hit and people came out of covid a lot of enrollment numbers declined even if you were in a growing District because several families kept
062their students in a virtual environment until they just really felt comfortable and so we actually saw a decline in enrollment but my first year here last year we actually eclipsed our preco numbers and then this year you all know what our growth numbers look like so in the fall in talking with our team we decided to bring in a demographer we felt like we we could look at the Predictive Analytics um in power school but it would be good to have a professional demographer come in and so when we were looking at our rezoning plan we used a professional demographer to complete a demographic study that looked at what is our district going to look like over the course of the next 10 years trying to plan out over um 10 years years we then
063put together um some conversations for the board to say Hey listen this is where we think we need to go um at the same time concurrently we were doing a fiscal analysis uh and and and then we decided the board decided that you wanted to look into the possibilities of a referendum um we've put together a Citizens action review team um we have coordinated a um a pack U because you all know what our um abilities to only educate about a referendum are and then we decided the board decided on a May 14th special election so then as we look out into the future what's that timeline look like for us we know that um in May that doesn't mean that everything is solved immediately so we have talked about four specific ways to address
064our enrollment issues one was to rezone which we're doing two two was to add learning Cottages which we're doing three is to add brick and mortar buildings which take about 12 to 18 maybe 24 months which we're working on and then the fourth and final thing is to add structures so um if you look at 20 20 24 25 you can see the work that will take place um with the successful referendum we will be building a building we working on building a building adding classrooms at San Hill Elementary School adding classrooms at Oakbrook um Elementary and Middle School adding classrooms at Somerville uh Elementary School adding classrooms at Somerville High School adding classrooms at Ashley rid High School uh and then as you look on out into the future um 24 through 27 because
065it's going to take 24 to 36 months to construct a facility then we're looking at the two elementaries um that are potentials for us to try to take some of the um pressure off of beachill elementary school and San Hill Elementary School um and again you along with all these things that are going on a lot of this will be going on um concurrently throughout the course of the referendum and if you go ahead and go to the next slide um you'll see that this is our Master project list again that was based off the Master faciliity Study um that was conducted where every single building is going to have something done to it uh and a lot of these things will be going on concurrently some of the stuff that will be quicker hopefully
066fixes are parking lots um some of the exterior wall Renovations um we have some roof Replacements that are scheduled where we have some failing roofs some of the things that could be fast but may take some time because of the logistics supply chain or some of our HVAC Replacements we have some buildings that we have already pre-ordered um hvac's for them but there's a 52- week lead time um on those um coming in and so even for the installation to begin so that is a a you know kind of a broad timeline until we can actually say all right we've got the money in hand um we're trying to do as much work as we can uh with due diligence surveys and some of the the other work in preparation for um a referendum and
067some things that are just have to be done because they become safety issues our buildings I'll give you an example last year we started school you all know what the weather is like in August in South Carolina and we had a failing um HVAC at Newington Elementary School where we had to bring in a portable unit on the inside to try to pipe cool air into that facility and so we are really really trying to avoid this um when you look at the master project list and you look at the Safety and Security upgrades you know some people look at that and they say what what does that really mean so I put a list of things that we will look into based on the needs of the building you know one of the things
068that the ad hoc um safety task force looked at was ballistic Windows years ago and we've now found that we can do that much cheaper with Ballistic window film and like you all um when I was at cosba I actually met with an individual um that was showing the difference between what used to be the ballistic film and and what they have now on the market it's a lot less expensive obviously we've started down the path of metal detectors and we would expand that uh into our middle schools looking at some buildings on the vestibule um configuration and is that good for a safety plan um some of our schools you walk right into the front office and so the vestle configuration is not safe more security cameras and then in some locations exterior lighting
069um for our parking lots so again a a lot of things and a lot of work going on um and again once um the referendum passes then we'll have very specific detailed timelines for the board um as this work takes place I'm very happy that you know we have a Citizens advisory review team that is kind of that extra layer of transparency for us um as a community and like like I said we had an organizational meeting um a little over a week ago to get things started and very happy with the support we're receiving so pending your questions and that's what I have with a referendum update I don't have a question but every board meeting until May 14th I'm going to put out my individual personal plug because as board members we cannot
070tell people how to vote right but what I am going to say is that Justin Farnsworth intends to vote Yes on May 14th um I do have one other thing to add um that if you go to dd2 dorg referendum I I want to say kudos to our new web master we've got everything you could possibly imagine the finance the timelines the projects um all encompassed in there what our enrollment forecasts look like uh the fact that this District's not gone out for a referendum for 12 years that's how we're able to do it at no tax rate no millage rate increase um I also would share with you um and I will continue to share every week all the many meetings that we're going to to continue to educate you know on how we're
071going going to be able to accomplish this matter of fact Mr DH is not here tonight because I had a request to present at one of our HOAs and so I sent him out to to present but we're presenting at HOAs and rotary clubs and um if there's anywhere you all think that we need to go to make sure people are educated on why we think this is so important please let me know and and I'll make sure we're there and you're all more than welcome if you can make it to any of these presentations please more happy to have you um I have a question actually what about education within um our our schools our staff um and um employees yeah so um if you look at I think I sent it out my
072soup update um on Friday you'll see in the one column I'm going out to every school and now I may do like a Consolidated Oakbrook Elementary Oakbrook middle and and allow staff to come um we're also going to have a a pre-recorded video If people just want to go to the website and they can't make it of course the slide deck is on there as well but yes I'll hit every single um either myself or somebody on our team will hit every single school that's excellent thank you very much for that I appreciate it are there any other questions for Dr Robbins regarding the referendum update okay may continue them is is it a time when the custodial and all of them can be present anyway because we want to make sure but we want
073to make sure that they know that they're invited to be there absolutely yes um and I will share that on the website too as well as the entire slide deck and that I present at these meetings but yes we we'll double check and make sure that they know they're all included yes ma'am and that's all I have tonight so um uh if there's no other questions for me I'll turn it over to miss m for the do you have anything in additional for the finance report okay okay yeah um then Mr souls for facilities good evening Madam chair members of the board Dr Robbins uh you've got the entire list which is growing by the day of all the projects that we've got going on I'm going to hit on uh just a few tonight
074few highlights uh first one is the preconstruction meeting for the adult ed building is next week and we're excited to get that started um another thing I want to talk about is I had a great meeting today with Scot the office of school operations and uh OSF out at the ponds and U it was a fantastic meeting one of those meetings where when you drive away you got more solutions than you had problems when you got there so that was it was successful and in in my terms and uh so hopefully we will get the due diligence survey wrapped up very shortly and we can press forward with uh the business at hand very soon um I think what Dr Roberts was alluding to earlier is the greenwave boulevard issue over there that where Berling
075G comes into Green Wave and when they they made that connection it's going to create some uh some additional traffic and uh we're we're we're very concerned about pedestrian traffic along Greenway Boulevard I've already contacted yes sir could you all Advance one slide I have a picture of what he's talking about thank you yeah that's uh that's like the Dr Robert likes to call it 10,000 that's like a 50,000 foot view so to give you an idea uh on the on the right side of the screen is where Burling G's coming down parallel in the Saw Mill Branch and green W Boulevard Cuts right through the middle of that the the green line and purple line or I'm color blind but I believe that's purple but it goes all the way from 17A all the
076way down to the new intersection behind the ball fields uh right there at the corner of Greenway where it where it used to have that very sharp corner now it's kind of softened a little bit but it's going to continue on down to Berlin G Meyers and our our proposal is and I'm work already working with an engineering firm to get this on FastTrack uh we we we're working with the town we're working with the county it's a County right away Along Greenway Boulevard but it's in the town of Somerville so once we get a a sidewalk constructed uh we're going to it's probably going to be an Enforcement issue that the town will have to take care of to keep people from parking on that sidewalk and to keep it open for our pedestrian
077traffic and it's not just our pedestrian traffic we we anticipate uh folks on the other side of the Sawmill Branch to be walking up toward the schools uh so that that's and but when you open that up on both ends that's a long straight road and bad things can happen and we don't want it to happen to anyone especially one of our students and so we're going to move forward uh I just wanted to let everyone know what we're doing and be upfront and transparent 're we're pushing forward this uh uh we set aside some emergency funding and some of the capital some of the 8% funds last year uh so I'm I'm confident we can get it funded with that and we're ready to roll we're ready to put a concrete sidewalk down with
078any crosswalks that we need on on Greenway Boulevard for our kids questions yeah I just have a comment Mr Souls um you know I think this is the perfect example of what this board and our people who work for this district is all about they're all about the Safety and Security of our students and we know here we are battling funding and talking about all the reasons why we don't have the funding that we need to build the rooms that we need to put students in in but yet on a county road that is maintained by the city by the town we have to we have to take the money that we should actually be putting into buildings putting into classrooms and build those sidewalks to make sure one that our our students aren't parking
079across that road can you imagine a major Interstate coming off and coming right down Greenway Boulevard at around about they're all coming home from work around about the same time our high schools are letting out and all those students trying to leave and they're already backed up as it is um all the way back past the track Fields trying to get out on 17A and we're not I think that this ought to go viral that we're doing this because I think that the county and the town should be chipping in to do everything they can to try to help to make this this road suitable one for the traffic that's going to be um put on that road and two suitable for our students that because we don't have the the property or the parking
080spaces they park over here um so I think you know this this needs to get out there and they should be volunteering to help us to do this for the safety of our students so kudos to the district for doing this because this is something that's going to be a total disaster when it happens so thank you very much for for moving forward with that yes ma'am and I just want to mention one thing about that the county and the town so hopefully um I've talked to the folks of the county I'll talk to folks of the town uh the permitting process will be fast-tracked and we can get this thing going and and and on ground before before the end of the summer that's that's our goal thank you Mr souls are there any
081other questions comments okay we appreciate it thank you yeah Miss Eep and the academic team it looks like Miss Barker and Miss Dary are going to present on um we got a couple different things to present to you all um some are some new standards implementation and book adoptions as well as our literacy initiative as well yes thank you chair excuse me chairman Wimberly Dr Robbins and members of the board I do have part of my team with me here tonight um so as he said uh assistant director Katie Barker and assistant director of instructional technology and staff development um Deb dhy so we are going to talk about uh sort of a hodg Podge if you will of things um um we're going to talk about the new uh Ela standards we're going to
082talk about the process that we go through um all the way down to the school level to choose the instructional materials and the textbook for those new standards we are going to talk about specifically at the elementary level how as Mr Farnsworth mentioned um hearing about the science of reading that the state department has also um sort of taken an initiative to how uh the programs of youly and letters are incorporated into what we already have as our literacy model at the elementary school and so with the help of my assistant directors tonight hopefully when we finish you're going to see how that all fits together and then we will present um or Dr Robbins will present the recommendation for our new Ela textbook and instructional materials which um needs board approval for us to
083move forward with that so um if you look at the screen this sort of shows you the South Carolina College and Career Readiness standards implementation timeline so if you take a look at 23 24 you will see where we are with this year we had a full implementation of our science standards and only a partial ele implementation of our Ela standards the ELA standards we have not had new ones since 2015 and so these were for these were for 23 from the spring we only did a partial implementation because we are still assessed with SC ready and our end of course on our old standards they give us what's called a bridge year so those grade levels that did not have or do not have testing they went ahead and started started with a partial
084implementation so that's K through two and then at the high school level our non endof course courses such as English one three and four so next year if you'll move the slide forward please so next year um our 2023 seccc Ela standards will be fully operational in all of our Ela courses and they will also be assessed um next year in in the 2024 25 school year at this point I'm going to stop and just um when we think about it when we Implement new standards and even when we teach reading it starts at our most lowest level our basic level and that's with our elementary students we pride ourselves in dd2 with our literacy model and what um we do with our students to get them to to be able to read um especially
085by the time they're third grade as you know we have um the read to succeed loss which says that if we do not have students passing a certain po a certain making a certain score on the South Carolina ready test then they either have to show a good cause exemption or they're required to attend summer reading camp and so um we have been ve monitoring that very closely for the last seven several years even having some of our second graders who we think may need um a little bit of extra over the summer to join us in that summer reading Camp so with that I'm going to turn it over and I'm going to let Katie talk to you a little bit about what we're doing to incorporate youly and letters into our literacy model
086in K through five good evening thank you for having me um Miss eastep asked me to speak first about youly foundations which is a new phonics program that we are implementing in kindergarten through third grade elementary schools this year um and I first want to say that this really was in response to a need that teachers shared districtwide um for the last couple of years that we didn't have a sequential phonics program in place so that's where efly came from we started um investigating at getting feedback from teachers we had some schools that were using efly with intervention students and youly hands down um was the best program for us to adopt districtwide it is as we discussed based on the science of reading which was which we know is where literacy is headed in
087the future and I really want to kind of drag your attention to those bottom bullets and that's how the framework for every single uly lesson so you can see it's very sequential which is exactly what the state is asking us to focus on in the new standards as we Implement those foundational skills in the lower grade levels so every single youly lesson regardless if it's a kindergarten lesson a third grade lesson is going to have those eight parts those first five parts and it's broken up over two days so those F there's those first five parts really align with those foundational skills so it's very quick um if you walk into a first grade classroom that's where you'll see them using their hands to put sounds together the teachers will make signs for breaking the
088words apart and that's where students are really learning to hear those sounds so they have those foundational skills so when they're learning more difficult words and sounds they can read those fluently then the second part um where you'll see about halfway through is that New Concept and in day one of a lesson that's where they spend most of their time it's about 15 minutes of explicitly teaching a new skill that they then will Implement in day two which will follow with that word work a regular words and connected text and that's that a applying the skill that they have learned so it's very sequential they're always going back and spiraling back to those skills that they've previously taught and building on those new skills and you can see from the beginning which is finy MC
089awarness which we always say are things that students can do with their eyes closed all the way to reading connected text at the end of the lesson so it covers all of those foundational skills youly is a fairly simple program to implement they need a manual and then the Powerpoints or the slide decks for all of the lessons are provided online so um I will say that we had a little hiccup at the beginning of the year there was um some back order on manuals but within the first couple of weeks all teachers had those manuals so at this point we really are getting a lot of good feedback from teachers um it's great to go in and watch a ufly lesson and really see now that we're a semester in how quickly the students
090are starting to apply some of those things as those skills are becoming increasingly more challenging any questions about youly before I move on to letters which is another big initiative right now um I actually have a question okay so so you said this is the first year we're using youly yes ma'am it is the first year we're using uly districtwide we do have some schools that have piloted it or use it in small groups in years past okay and it's K through 2 it is a program that is designed through second grade because of our scores from last year and not having a sequential program in place we did opt our teacher curriculum planning groups did opt to use the last group of lessons at the beginning of third grade because we felt like some
091of those students since they didn't have that since they didn't have you fly or That explicit word work earlier in the grades that we wanted to build that foundation for them before they became more independent as they moved through the second part of thade because that was actually going to be my next question because it seems like if this is the first year we we're using it I mean that's a big change for students right who haven't used it in the past so I'm just curious about obviously if you're in kindergarten and it's your first kind of experience with it it's not as big of a deal but if you're in you know second grade and you haven't been doing anything like this and then it's a change right yes ma'am definitely now we certainly
092taught I mean we have standards for phonics so we've been explicitly teaching phonics but youly is much more sequential than anything we've used in the pl in the past which is why those um and I'll say that we have some third grade teachers that have still said based on their data they're continuing to use it to reinforce some of those skills based on the needs of their students and also we have some schools that are continuing to use it maybe in just a small group for some of those students that are still showing a need okay and then so final question and you mentioned this so based on their data so what kind of data are we using to you know cons decide whether or not this is effective and how it work it's working
093absolutely so actually we talked about this Dr Robbins always says facts over feeling so we're getting good feedback from this but we ultimately want to make sure that that's coming across in our scores so we did start we have started to look at our as web probes for kindergarten in first grade and we'll compare those from last year to this year the hard part is that some of those probes we don't give at the beginning of the year we administer them mid year so we kind of have to wait further into the closer to the end of the year to be able to compare apples to apples but we're on top of that too so now that's our main way of um assessing the ases web as web is how is are our Universal screener
094that we use that focuses on Phonics and the lower grades yes ma'am are we doing any other assessments or just the am web now so as web is the one that we use districtwide to assess those there are certainly classroom assessments there are also other um assessments as part of different programs that teachers are using at their school certainly okay do we still use dras at all yes ma'am okay and that fits in well with this new program yes ma'am Ma so uly focuses on Phonics which are the sounding Out of the words um and Dr is kind of where they put all of those skills together and read and connected text and then have to retell so there is part of the Dr Continuum a student for example that may not read fluently shouldn't
095go up to the next level and that may be a student that needs more practice like with the irregular words or connected text part of youly okay okay I kind of had you asked one of my questions but kind of piggybacking off of that you said that we had pilot piloted this in some of our schools previously so do did we have data from those schools that showed its success like through the as web so our schools that have used it previously used it in an intervention used it an intervention program so this is the first year where we have schools that have used it with all kindergarten through second grade or third grade um so we have that data from that to show that students were making progress in inter in intervention but but
096it wasn't necessarily with the whole grade level I'm just going to add to that because um when we did youly before uly stands for the University of Florida's literacy Institute the uly program that we are using now was not the one that we used and we actually got a grant for that for three years and so we had three schools that did do that and as Katie said that was an Intervention Program which was also from youly the University of Florida's literacy Institute but it was not the same phonics program so we couldn't use that b to measure the success of this program we're just gonna have to wait to see this correct years no thank you I I wasn't even thinking about that so thank you no this program is the foundations is the
097phonic program um Ladies as you know we've had quite a few conversations about youly y'all know I was an elementary teacher for 30 years um I've done quite a bit of research on youly also on letters um youly is not one of the top recommendations from the state department letters is um I'm disappointed in you fly what looking I've gone to almost well not every I've gone to many many first grade classrooms to observe it because I wanted to say all I all I've ever asked for what was the word I used all the time consistency consistency and I told y'all the same thing yes ma'am if Somerville Elementary is doing this then I want Williams Reeves to be doing this just consistent is all I've ever wanted nothing special for anybody or anything just
098consistency and that is not happening been there I've watched him I've observed it and I've seen it I've shared it with Dr Robbins Dr Robbins admits that he is not an elementary person but he's trying bless his heart he's trying we go take him back to first grade anyway but um I don't believe I I don't approve of this program at all and that's my opinion everybody has one I don't think it addresses the needs of the students phonetically like they have in the past and as we know it takes about three years to find out if a program is any good or not well I hope we don't lose a lot of children over the next three years because of this program because um I know A lot's gone into it I see a
099lot that teachers are doing in other schools that some are not doing in some schools that go along with the youly program I mean I can well I'm not going to name any right now but there are schools that are doing exactly what they're supposed to be doing as far as you fly I can buy that program you see what I'm saying I mean because they're doing what youly said to do the way it said do it and and I fully was more on board with that okay some of them are not um I know it's your job to go in and sit there and observe the Fanatics program or see what they're doing and that that's your job what you're do to do but um I've tried to keep this undercovered because I didn't
100want to bring it up at a board meeting but and it's nothing against you as an individual not doing your job that's not what I'm saying at all I don't mean that at all I'm just saying that having taught elementary school for that many years and spoken to many many teachers and I you know I retired from Berkeley County I play bunker with some of those ladies that's retired or that's still over there and they're doing you fly over there and they just kind of shake their head you know um and we know that every program does not work for everybody we know that I mean I can't tell you how many programs I've seen come over the 30 years and you know you take a little bit of this when you take a little
101bit of that when you take what works for your children at that time because you have different level children every every year but I felt like I needed to say that that um as a former educator and as a board member wanting the same for all of our children and the best of all of our children letters program just gave M um Dr what's your name Robins just gave Dr Robbins a big article about letters the other day and and it's more like what we were used to I guess you could say and I'd ask him to would he please look at letters because I didn't know y'all had done that and I said would you please at least read this and look at it because the state department does you know support it and
102um so I just felt like I needed to say that and like I said it's it's I'm speaking from experience if I had not seen the paperwork that kids are bringing home and and what they're doing and being an educator I probably wouldn't have picked up on it or whatever and I appreciate the time that y'all have allowed me to sit speak with you and try to work this this thing out out but um I just hope our children don't suffer over the period of time that we have you fly thank you just um I did have a question so um Miss Crosby Miss Crosby is it more of the implementation at various schools that's not consistent that you're having an issue with more so than just the program itself because it all depends on
103no that's what I was saying is youly from from my research that I had done and the youly from what I have seen that's come been coming home that I've seen is not consistent on what I have seen at many of our other elementary schools okay that's where these that's where these ladies come in because that's their job they go and sit down and observe right but I thought we were using it at all our elementary schools we are using it we do have one school that previously before youly had piloted a two started a two-year P pilot for another phonics program so we do have one elementary school that is currently not using efly and I did just want to say um I think maybe is that a we do have there are components
104of uly that are required and then there are components that are optional and I think that may be not certainly not the answer to everything it is year one um of an implementation so you know it takes us time to become better and better and I applaud teachers for jumping in with some of them with not even a manual um so but certainly is there room to grow is there always room to grow yes for example one of the things we've discussed is youly has um I'm trying to think of what they call them optional home practice activities which shows what skills or have previously been taught are new Concepts what the irregular words or what youly called heart words are um and that isn't you they're not a requirement of youly some of our
105schools um have not weren't hadn't started using those at all some of them were taking that and incorporating it into their current um newsletters some of them were just printing it for that week's lessons so that is one way that we found that we could work on some consistency there um also there are once you get I think to lesson eight there are additional activities that practice those skills that some teachers are using in different ways so that's another way for us to to continue to look at some of that consistency um purpose and also responding to the needs of your students in your class some of your students are going to need you to say some of the time our teachers are going to say oh we're going to need to spend another day
106or two on this lesson um and maybe go back to part one um so there there is but overall um we are getting for the most part good feedback could we you know all of the because it is is provided through the University of Florida literacy in literacy Institute all of the PD they provide online so it's not something where we can gather all everyone together to do that so we're trying to be creative with that that's just another way for us to continue to to get better at it um so but certainly there are always ways that we can you know look at what our practice is and ways to improve and and there again you know if if if I'm out observing classrooms which I've done many and you see the different aspects
107of what they're teaching or how they're teaching or what they're not teaching that's not being consistent because you just said they could option or they could pick and choose you can't do that well not not the scope and sequence of the lessons but the additional materials is what I meant I'm sorry if that didn't if I spoke correctly there but anyway um I know depends on where a school might be as to where they are with certain standards that they're teaching at that time so you may not necessarily see apples and apples on the pur standards we're not talking standards we're not talking South Carolina Standards I'm not talking I'm just I'm saying standards but not necessarily stands whatever the lesson may be at that particular time they may not all be consistent and maybe
108it's a possibility you didn't see a particular lesson yes I have I'm an elementary teacher and I've watched the several different aspects of it and you'd have to kind of see it and research it a little bit to understand it because I was like what you know I mean I admit that I was that's why I came and questioned y'all because I didn't understand and that's my opinion like I said and I'm going to back off right now because I know that y'all are trying to do the best you can and I appreciate that but like I said you know um I'm so glad that you've Incorporated letters because this was definitely definitely help the children is that going to be incorporated this year yes ma'am what we've only got a one grading beard left
109but do you want are we ready to shift gears to letters that was the next slide so no but I just didn't know if this was going to be incorporated until to this year or is this going to be next year so yes ma'am letters we have five of our elementary schools have started this year but before so letters let me be very clear that letters is for teachers it is for professional growth it is and development it is not a a program that it is not a curriculum it is not used in the classrooms with students so teachers it is about the SC teaching teachers the science of reading and how to apply that understanding and that knowledge into the classroom um and I will say that letters lines up those those eight components
110that I talked about are part of a uly lesson are built into letters so they Li they do there is overlap there what um diagnosing reading weaknesses which is part of letters um lines up with those different components of a ufly lesson so language Essentials for teachers of reading and spelling for those of you that were wondering what letters was um that is what it stands for and just to say again that letters is about knowledge and education for our teachers it is a big big Initiative for the state it is a big Initiative for us Proviso um 1.73 um provides letters training which means the state is paying for it for all what they call eligible participants which are your K3 teachers your special education teachers in that grade range reading coaches administrators our
111PD coaches all of our administrators um so we have five elementary schools that started our F first cohort in January that's alustin Bailey beachill Joe pie Knightsville and sandill and then the last 10 elementary schools will start their letters training in the fall it is a 2year process so you can see that it is a lot a lot of professional development um but I will say and I think that's one of the things that missor is going to share is that um we are hearing great things from teachers we just had a principal Elementary principal PLC with those five principles that are participating now and whereas you know the second week of January when their teachers were first starting and they were first starting because they're we are all doing it right along with with
112the teachers um I think we were all thinking a lot of work because it's about an hour and a half to two hours of work asynchronous work each week principals are working really hard to build that into their school day so we're not encumbering teachers time outside of their school day um but at last Friday's PLC there were were more celebrations than there were challenges they're talking about how they're seeing these things that teachers are learning in letters training being applied in the classroom letters calls it their bridgeo practice activities um so it really is even though it is a big Initiative for the state and therefore for Dorchester 2 as well we're hearing great things from schools and our 10 remaining schools are um hearing about that from the other five schools and are
113really excited to kind of get started at their schools so again it focuses just on um the science of reading and teachers teaching teachers to really meet the needs of our students today um in relation to teaching reading and spelling I'm going to ask you to jump in and kind of share your experience and then we can answer any questions about letters good evening Madam chair Dr Robbins and board members I am super excited to be here to share my experience with as being a participant in the letters training as you can see these two binders this is my Sunday evening read and I look forward to it honestly every Sunday evening um just like to share a few things that I've learned and the first thing that I have learned in letters training is
114it is not a curriculum I was looking for something with curriculum not a curriculum it's really about understanding how the brain processes word recognition and language compreh language comprehension and when those two are coupled together we have strong reading comprehension so for example I was working with with the Knightsville Elementary teacher Cadre and we were discussing a student that we've had in the past that struggled with reading first grader you would think they were the perfect reader you give them the passage to read they stand up in front of the class and you're ready to vote for them for president I mean they were just eloquent readers but when you ask that same student some questions about that passage unfortunately they're unable to answer so what we're learning is that's where we need to strengthen
115the Pathways in the brain that improve the language comprehension so coupled with that word recognition we have strong reading comprehension in addition with this program just from unit one it's been beneficial because it offers early detection for dyslexia so that we can get supports in place sooner than we have before and finally I want to leave you with a conversation that I had with the nightville elementary teacher today and she said this has been really beneficial when she's speaking with parents she's teaching the parents how their child's brain is working and the parents have a better understanding of what they need to do and why we are doing some of the processes that we are in our class and some of the using some of the strategies we use that's it and thank you very
116much I've had a wonderful time I'm only in unit one so I've got seven more units to go so it's gonna a good fun Sunday evening reads for the next two years yes so I love that you shared that because when talking to miss Crosby this is probably what is needed um this coupled with the uly and I've observed several uly lessons the second grade has been my main focus on classroom observations they're working together um within that word recognition that's broken down into three parts and the three parts are the phonological awareness the decoding and then the site recognition so that's where youly is strengthening that area is that does that answer your question no what I was going to say I'm sor was the first teacher to teach read 180 in the district
117so I understand would like to have a new program and those around you may not necessarily itue to bring uses from to happy to do that the one thing I was going to say about um letters is the comprehension and the reading language part is touched about that much in you've life they do not write where they should have a little black and white Journal they should be writing every day they don't do that comprehension um they're not reading enough outli out loud orally in the classroom whatever to comp to discuss comprehension thank you ladies for all that you do I do appreciate it I I actually have a question before you go away um I that was interesting that you said it helps with early detection for dyslexia yes um do you can you
118talk any more about that do you know any details because that's actually something I'm very interested in um and well also because I so my youngest son is actually dyslexic so it's personal for me too but I feel like um he's in eighth grade now so we've been dealing this for a long time but we actually don't even use that word dyslexia anymore so I but I appreciate that you said that because um I you know if you know any more about that I'm interested if you know what any details if not I know you said you're in the first module so that's okay if it if you if it has to come later too well we have not gotten to the part where we have all of the answers yet but I will say
119that something that letter stresses over and over again is about um identifying the weakness in where what the breakdown is in their reading very early so that that way we can intervene very early um and actually in talking to a teacher that's what she was saying is that she has a student that she struggled with trying to figure out why can't he read and then she was like it goes all the way back to really those Phim M awareness skills like rhyming um being able to hear the beginning sound the middle sound and the ending sound and here she's been working on comprehension with him so really breaking down those very isolated skills so that we can intervene very early is really a big focus on of letters and really um realizing that we have
120far more students Nationwide Statewide districtwide um that are struggling in reading that don't fall in that you know if you took them to um out for testing that wouldn't qualify as a student with dyslexia and we're we're still struggling to really meet them where they are so focusing regardless of if they're a student with a learning disability or if they are sitting in a Kindergarten class or a third grade class it really starts with identifying the area of instruction that they need yeah because I think it's such a broad it's not just I mean dyslexia isn't just one issue obviously you know that it's it could be different for every single student and you know my son has he's actually been since he's been in middle school he's gotten pull out support for this but
121he he's the only student in his entire Middle School who's dyslexic is that right identify of students is what letter say exactly so that's why when you say this early detection because you know it we had him tested privately but it's a a passion of mine that I mean there's probably so many students out there who are not identified and you know I would love to see that just it would be such a support for students to understand I think if they're having trouble reading that there's something more to it that it's not just that they're stupid because I think that's what happens a lot of time within you know their own mind so I could talk about it for 20 years but I'll just say like this is Deb actually brought um one of
122the graphics that letter shares and it's called the reading rope and it really is 20 different skills that students have to be masters of to be readers and really we want to see them be fluent and independent readers by third grade so you miss one or two of these and then it impacts everything so it really is um which we know intervening early and really but also we get students that move here in in fourth grade and they you know still are at the very lowest levels of the reading rope but that doesn't mean they can't if we can get them where they need to be that they can't be readers and be independent and successful in school and in life so I think it really just is about that early detection and knowing even
123if it's not early what to do with them um to fill those gaps yeah I appreciate that I could talk about it for 20 years with you too so um and but then I actually had another question I was thinking about as we were sitting here and I was just looking at the two things the letters and the ufly and um I was just looking at the eight steps in youly and then the science of reading what it focuses on and so I know going back to we were talking about the as web you know using that for the assessment and then the Dr um because I know with Dr and it's been several years since my kids were in elementary school but it it focused more on like things like site wordss and pictures
124you know using the picture to help you I mean so have we moved more away from those type of things when we're using like this youly and the the letters I mean I know the letters is just for the teachers but is there a movement away from that I'm just curious well it's a loaded question okay sorry but I will say science of reading supports you know science of reading is really based on years and years and years of brain research about how children learn to read um and part of that to speak specifically to like using your picture Clues is that every reader as fluent adult readers as children learning to read every single reader reads letter by letter you you your brain does it so quickly you don't notice but you don't identify
125the word the' as the word the' you identify it as th and that means the that's how quickly your brain does it and although we have students that certainly use the pictures to help them we also know relying on pictures alone is not going to teach you to be a fluent reader so that can't be our only tool in our toolbox for lack of a better way to say it it's still a valid instructional tool I don't want to say you know never do a picture walk again um but brain research really shows that if we're relying strictly on picture clues for example that it's hard and then we know when was the last time as adults you opened a book and there was pictures that were going to support your reading in it so
126um so it's it's not gone it just is we're really trying to monopolize on what brain research tells us so we can best meet the needs of our students yeah wow well thank you very much this has been great information um if anyone else has any questions before I do want to add a few things there and and so to kind of tag on to that um because I I've spoken with a lot of current Educators practitioners in the field today um that are praising and raising their hands that these types of programs are now available because what the science and the research shows when when you look at it U what we were doing 30 years ago turns out maybe not so correct and and that's that's really difficult like as Educators you don't
127ever want to you don't want to go back and say oh man I and and now it's happened and so 30 years later with with the you know research on on the way the brain works we figured out that site words and and picture words was was not not right and so yes M Crosby you're referring to years just retired 10 years ago so I mean hasn't been 30 years if you're trying to throw rock something again but I think you're speaking out of terms because you might be married to a teacher but you haven't been in the classroom to do it so I thank you walk walk lightly thank you for your commentary M Crosby I I'll continue and so what the research has shown the data in the research very clearly has shown
128is that the science of reading is correct and that what we were teaching 30 years ago unfortunately was not and so we've got to get past that and so programs again like youly um you know letters for our educators are are critically important I've done a lot of research the the literacy rope the reading rope that actually came up um at Cosa and so if anybody is is really interested um Atlanta Public Schools um if you guys have not seen that um Atlanta public schools has a unbelievable literacy program um that they've instituted into their school district um you'll you'll actually see some more coming for me on that um piece and and I've been working with them a lot behind the scenes they some really amazing stuff and they have bought in their their
129district is all in because they see how important this work is um the last piece that I would say and and for my colleagues on the board I I know every one of you has already heard it um for my Educators in the district my administrators if you have not listened to sold a story uh it's a podcast write it down you I've been preaching this for a year now um it's called soul to story it's a very easy listen I think there's six episodes there's a seventh one now that they're coming out with sold a story go listen to it very very easy read and it will show you again very very clearly how we got it wrong I'm seeing we no one individually the education system sold a story the education system got
130it wrong and there's reasons for it it's not just because we we wanted to there there's legitimate reasons why we got it wrong we now have an opportunity to move past that and move forward into the future and and this is the way of the future and so again you know this science of reading stuff is is really interesting the research um is is proving a lot of um things I just I think about our kids and and the way that they learn now um we we can track you can you can look at where their eyes are looking on the paper um again the brain research is is really really in depth so thank you for what you do we we appreciate you more than than you know real quick I'm going to wrap
131this this up by um if you'll go to the next slide this is um just the process that we use um at the schools um if you remember I said in the beginning we needed to bring you the recommendations um for the instructional reading materials um and the textbook and this is for all levels but what we do we have to use what the state has approved first we get to choose um from State approved um publishers and so you can't really see it but the top of it they give us four or five um Publishers that have been Publishers and textbooks that have been through that process at the state department then those Publishers that are awarded that send their materials to each school and so all of our schools have an opportunity to
132look at the instructional materials many of our teachers try out a lesson or two to see if you know with what they're teaching like at this time period will that lesson work with the students and how did they respond so that was about the beginning of February that the instructional materials were were sent to the schools once they go through those then each U PLC sits down for their grade level or for their department at the middle or grade level at the high school and middle and high school levels they go through those um they have a somewhat of a rubric um with look fors that okay what is it that's going to be important for us what do we want to make sure that's in there what aligns with the science of reading or
133what aligns with what we're doing in our literacy model they rank them and then each School turns in one recommendation for the publisher that they want so all the grade levels come together all the courses come together and they turned in turn in one recommendation that was turned in by March 1st to our department we collect those and if I can get you to go to the next SL slide and So based on the results from the school levels from each uh elementary middle and high school levels those above were what were chosen um H for elementary hmh inter reading K through five with Z Zer blower for the handwriting for Middle hmh into literature 6 through eight and English one and then for high McGraw Hill South Carolina study sync for 9 through 12
134as well as Bedford Freeman and worth were both chosen for AP Lit Literature and AP language so Dr Robbins I'll allow you to call for the approval yeah mam chair so I'd make a recommendation um of the list of in ela instructional materials provided by our academic team all right I would ask if possible if we could put this on hold until the next meeting Madam chair I move to table the approval of the materials for the recommended materials till the next board meeting okay I do just want to say if I could that April 8th is when the pre-order opens and we don't have another meeting at the end of the month so I just still do what you want to do but I just I do want to say that pre-order for schools
135opens up then and they try to get them so that they can get those textbooks in your vot thank you okay so at this time we have a motion to table this vote till another meeting um till the next meeting I apologize do do I have a second for that motion I'll second I was making a i motion to second okay okay so I have a motion made by Miss Crosby and a second by Miss Bates do we have some discussion in regards to that please yeah absolutely I'm I'm curious the reason why we' want to table that to the next I I can only speak for myself personally um I don't necessarily have an issue at all this was just full transparency not uploaded into my packet until today and I don't like to
136vote for anything that I haven't had time to look at so that's plain and simple my reasoning and mine goes into my own personal research I think these ladies have done a great job I'm not knocking that at all I'm just looking at the program and you know what like I tell people before a noun is still a noun two and two is still four so it can be 30 years ago or 100 years ago but this is a program excuse me the youly is now let me ask you one more question let me ask you one question um um we're not voting on you I understand that I wanted to ask you another thing um the zena broser is a great handwriting program I mean I don't have any problem with that at all
137the middle school is this going to actually be textbooks like um a reading book or is this how does this go yes ma'am it's a textbook and all the ancillary materials that come with it same thing for high I'm sure yes yeah yes okay I have a question actually so just to understand the the process here I know you went through it but just to clarify so we the state gave us this list of recommendations correct the five things at the top there so all of those recommendations came from the state that is correct and then each district across the state is able to choose which one they want which ones they want to use that is correct and so ours was based on a vote of after surveying you said and letting our schools
138look at it this was all of the teachers that teach English language arts previewed and looked at the books in their plc's again some of them use them to teach lessons to try them out because they know that for the next several years six to eight because the last time we had new standards was in 2015 so they know this is what they're going to be using we like to give every teacher a voice so they get to again sit and talk choose and then as a school just so that we don't get hundreds of them they narrow it down at the school level to one vote and then turn that into the district office so then we have 15 elementary votes seven middle school and then the three high school and sorry so just
139one other question so we have to choose one of the ones that the state from their state adopted list correct we ma' we can't go outside of that okay good question um and I I resend I I'll get there in a minute these five things that were recommended those are sorry I said these five companies the ones that were at the top of what the slide that I showed yes ma'am those were state approved right and I and and I'm familiar with all of those okay and I I can remember them book companies coming in and bringing tons of books and stuff for us to review over the years and we had so many days to to check them out I reme remember remember all that did you not get a top five for the
140to pick the uly cuz youly is not in the top five for the state Department recommendation that wasn't a that wasn't a um no I'm just asking you it wasn't in a top five and y'all somewhere or another had to just you didn't just pick you fly out of the sky was it recommended it's not an instructional material so it wouldn't have been right but I mean as far the state department there are many people many districts at the state department when we go to our instructional roundtables our Elementary Round Table there are many districts that are using youly along with the letters i I have a comment about the topic is sure thank you um we how do we guys the seven of us sitting up here how do we sit here and go
141against the people that are in the classrooms and they they tried these programs out and they're the ones that choose this how do we St sit up here and we're not in the classroom and how do we say we're not going to prove what they know they need to teach their children and we just said a little while ago that you know all children learn differently they know what their classrooms need so how how are we sitting up here I'm not a school teacher I'm not I'm not one of these two here that have been in the classroom but still they're not in the classroom now we have to trust our teachers that's what part of the problem is with Recruitment and Retention we're not listening to our teachers and what they say they need
142and I they need this I'm voting for this hey let me just clarify I never said I was against this I'm not I'm not trying to micromanage by any means I just did not get a chance to look at this other like because it was uploaded today that is my only issue um but I it's not a it's not a breaking point for me it's not like a the end all be all I just hate to vote on anything that I didn't have more than you know I I this is the first time I'm seeing it so like the way I vote is I make sure that I look at everything I know what I'm voting for ahead of time I am not questioning your judgment by any means I just like to you know
143have time to review what I'm voting for that was my only concern apart from that like I'm and I will take back I'm not trying to nitpick any of these programs or pretend that I know any better I would like to resend my motion about um waiting until next meeting because this is instructional material and these companies are good and that's okay all right let's proceed then Madam chair I would like to make a motion that we accept the recommendation as presented for the ELA instructional materials and I second that motion okay we have a motion to accept the materials as presented from Mr Farnsworth and a second by Miss Hughes is there any discussion Madam chair didn't you have to close out that motion first didn't we have to vote to close the motion
144that's on the table first sorry well miss Crosby rescinded the motion I guess it got a technically it got a second so then it's the board's motion and so the board all right I apologize nope that's okay so let's back up so let's go back we have a motion from Miss Crosby with a second from Miss Bates to um wait until our next board meeting to to vote on this and we' already had discussion so at this time I will call for the vote for that all in favor no I think you can then make the she then made a motion to resend her motion so now I second that and let's vote on resending the motion I okay no that's not right you don't have to vote on resending she's you're fine okay right
145the board the board owns it at that point you right sorry so I apologize so let's Okay so just to clarify so at this time we have a motion made by Miss Crosby um to wait to vote on this recommendation we have a second from Miss Bates we have already had discussion and so we are gonna call for the vote on that before we proceed with another motion voice does everyone understand what we are voting on we are not voting on this recommendation we are voting on waiting to vote on it all right okay all in favor signify by raising your hand I'm certain that's not in there okay except my recent no oh I thought we were no we're actually voting on the motion because oh we're voting okay table it okay I got
146is anyone in favor of that okay all right so all opposed okay so zero in favor seven opposed that motion fails let's move on to the next motion we have a motion from Mr Farnsworth to accept the recommendation as presented by Dr Robbins and his team we have a second from Miss Hughes do we have any discussion I I and I know we're meating the day I and I apologize but I do want to commend Miss Eep and your team because I've heard from several Educators that that the process that we used to come up with this recommendation um was extremely solid it was extremely legitimate the surveys that went out using the programs um Educators felt very heard in that discussion and so I just want to say that I applaud that process and
147for it to come before us 100% was what Miss Hughes said I am not the one to go against that thank you I agree with everything Mr Farnsworth and Miss Hugh said again my concern is the fact that I did not see this until the board meeting and that's all I have to say and I just like to say as an educator who has gone through those books and made some determination everyone has the right in the building to check out the book if they ch choose not to they had that right as well but once it's been voted upon and it comes to us that's what they've decided they want so we go with it okay thank you so um at this time let's call for the vote um give let me see this
148one this is a this will be a Voice vote so all in favor of accepting the recommendations signify by or a hand vote I okay we have six in favor all opposed did you not oppos oh okay okay all right so the motion carries six in favor one exstension thank you thank you appreciate the great um dialogue and information yes well um as taty limps up here after surgery be careful please um I had asked Miss Thomas to give you all an update on our LEAP program she has some exciting news and um before she even gets started I've just got to say that um she has been nothing short of amazing and done everything I've ever asked her to do to try to make this program successful and I think the data will demonstrate
149we're doing that and reaching more children in our community and supporting our community um in Greater ways and she continues to to do those things so thank you for being here and presenting Madam chair Dr robins and Dessa 2 School District board the calendar says celebrate Leap Day once every four years but here in dd2 we celebrate leap every day in our 15 elementary schools across the district our students learn engage act and progress each day in our academic social and physical development rotations students are given homework assistance participate in physical activities outside and inside play games with friends and are encouraged to explore create and build their own imaginative ideas with Arts crafts and manipulatives next slide please leaping along this school year our current enrollment is 1,81 students that is an increase of
150430 students at this time last year of our enrollment 1,248 our community students and 550 53 are dd2 faculty and staff students 300 of our students do receive our ABC scholarships our current staff is 193 strong which includes our seasonal staff I invited our leadership team to participate today with me there are a few of them here but as you know our staff is supervising students up until the time our school board meets so most of them could not attend this year we incorporated academic enrichment activities through stem and steam as well as well as the use of other materials we also increased arts and craft activities weekly 76% of our sites do academic enrichment more than once a month we are currently registering for leap summer camp as we speak there are amazing things
151happening at all 15 locations these are just a few of the examples at santel elementary school a mother and daughter team are teaching Spanish classes to all the students who want to learn at Somerville Elementary School they alternate weekly between stem challenges and community building activities at Span Elementary they write letters and send artwork to musc's children's hospital patients at nightville elementary they grow a garden that is not just plants but vegetables and last year the lettuce was the hit at Reeves Elementary School they use the Outdoor Classroom for Journal observations and to write about what they see when they do the nature walks and at Windsor Hill arts and fuse Elementary School they rotate weekly with a different theme and a story time next slide please for the upcoming school year we are excited
152to continue to grow the program and make it our very best Dorchester District 2 faculty and staff will enroll with the signing of contracts and the community will register and enroll towards the end of May all parents will know by the beginning of June whether they have a spot in leap or on the wait list this will give give parents more time to secure after school care before the first day of school we will continue to hire throughout the summer to hopefully add more students off the weit list and onto the sites the weekly cost for next year will be $100 per week we are purchasing the child care management software program Procare Solutions this will allow online registration payment processing and streamlining much of our day-to-day processes we will continue to increase academic enrichment
153activities and purchase materials that will support our students academic growth we are also looking at offering student enrichment activities each month that may include outside sources dd2 leap will continue to provide after school care and a nurturing and safe environment that supports all students as Learners thank you very much thank you very good thank you um thank you job that you do follow him a little bit during one summer with them and it was wonderful to see them again at that age not my age group but anyway they're still pretty good to work with um I have a couple suggestions that we make sure that we include the leak coun when we had the I noticed this year they weren't there and I was disappointed part the difficulty is we do invite our our leadership
154team some of them are back here our site coordinators and assistant cyers are invited to attend convocation because as you know we are supervising students at that same time yes but we want I'm one of those that believe that every individual as much as possible should be a part of whatever the remainder of the district is yes ma'am so I would like you to consider that and then the other because technically just as with parents they just would have to find a day to have someone else cover their child my opinion and then the other would be um whenever there's a weather condition where we are dismissing the employees across the district I think the lead counselors custodial and all of them should have the opportunity to go home as well because we don't want
155anyone on the road if it's not safe for one it's not safe for the other yes ma'am thank you you for these suggestions yes ma'am thank you okay any other questions or comments I I appreciate the fact that y'all are doing the enrollment earlier this year I think that is great I know that is feedback that we received last year um and so thank you very much for for making that change I think ma'am we are very very excited about that yes I think everyone will find that helpful and it will alleviate a lot of stress and and anxiety about you know not knowing for sure what your child care plans will be so that's excellent yes ma'am great thank you so much thank you okay um next under our superintendent report we have our
156Personnel um recommendations and resignations board members that information was uploaded into your packet is everyone okay with doing that in Open Session okay do I have a motion so mooved okay motion to accept that as presented by made by Mr Guthrie is there a second second seconded by Miss Bates any discussion okay hearing none we will call for the vote on that and that should be an electronic vote right there it goes okay it's just a little delay thank you all for your patience okay perfect all right looks like the motion carries seven in favor um and moving on we also have student enrollment recommendations that were uploaded into our packets is everyone okay with doing that and open con session all right do I have a motion still moved moved motion made by Miss
157Bates seconded by Mr Farnsworth um any discussion okay all in favor and again um this will also be electronic vote can't okay and that it didn't pop up are you in favor excuse me I was reading sorry okay no worries that motion carries as well it is unanimous seven in favor okay and um next on our agenda we have public comments and we have none this evening and then um we also have no executive session so I would um oh do you want to talk about these real quick before we are these for the art yes yes so um before we um before I ask for a uh motion to adjourn I know that um we all received these um Schoolboard superlative ribbons uh we had these last year as well for the um Dorchester
158School District 2 to dreamfest Fine Arts Festival at Hutchinson Square um on March 21st from 5:30 to 8:30 um and then I believe the artwork will be um will it be on display do we know does anyone know it used to be last year it was like in various stores and stuff like that do we know if that's know the time frame or the stores we can we can get that information later okay yeah so um but all board members received two of these and so you can um view the artwork uh for your enjoyment and then choose um two of your favorites that you would like to give a superlative to that's so much fun so okay and and now I will ask for a motion to adjourn so moved made by Miss Bates
159do have a second made by Miss Powell um all in favor um I think we're yeah so all in favor seven in favor everyone is in favor of that um we are turned