001thank you so much for your patience think we've got it all taken care of and so for those of you who are just joining us we just did had an approval of our consent agenda so now we are moving on to our district highlights and it looks like we have a great crowd here tonight for that good evening Dr Wimberly Board of Trustees and Dr Robbins at this time I'll turn the podium over to miss Cassandra Parker head coach of the Fort Dorchester High School state champion archery team [Applause] good evening the fdhs archery club was established in 20121 by coaches Ronson and Cassandra Parker since its incorporation the club has competed in three state championships two national championships and one world championship last year we were the first team from the Lower State to
002compete in the world championship this year we had an undefeated season and won the 2024 South Carolina archer in the schools Bullseye state championship and the IBO 3D Championship my husband and I became the first African-American coaches to win a South Carolina archery state championship and Gabrielle dolphin became the first African-American Archer to Grace the podium [Applause] Carly Lanham and Alex W narrowly missed first place finishes next month the club will head to Louisville Kentucky to compete in Eastern Nationals and hopefully earn the opportunity to compete in another world championship last year the team finished Ninth Place in both Bullseye and IBO champ the world championship as a team we strive to be humble work hard and better ourselves together we are [Applause] strong at this time please come forward as your name is called
003to receive your certificate and be recognized 2024 South Carolina archer in the schools Bullseye state champions Mason Blandon [Applause] good job right there Nicholas Peters spray Z and Scott Taris White 2024 South Carolina archer in the schools IBO and 3D state champions Gabriel [Applause] esel Anthony georgees and Dan Slater the next group group of students shot in both the 2024 South Carolina Archer and the school's Bullseye state champion as well as the IBO 3D Championship Ahmad abdusalam Riley Adams Isador bines Gabriel dolphin Zachary dolphin Matthew hail antonet henryan Audrey Holton [Applause] Apple Jackson Carly [Music] Lanham Merrick Lewis Quinn [Applause] Lutz Casey McLoy [Applause] Sarah meech Alex [Applause] W Allison Phillips Michaela Ray hariman verke Gino Balano [Applause] and Ty Wells and we also have our team manager Brandon Parker here and our assistant coach
004Ronson [Applause] Parker e [Applause] okay moving on with our agenda we have no public comments on agenda items this evening um and so next week we have um the board chairs report and I was just going to speak briefly about a meeting that Dr robins and I attended um last week trying to think um so we were invited to attend a joint Town County and Dorchester District Two School Board um meeting there um were County officials Town officials and then Dr Robbins and I were there it was a great opportunity because we got to listen to information coming um from the county and the town and then we were also asked to speak um on a couple different items Dr Robbins reported on our growth um our student growth and the impact that um that
005is having and will continue to have on us um and then I actually spoke um in regards to the situation on Green Wave Boulevard kind of just gave some information about the concerns that we have there um I felt like it was a great opportunity because um the feedback that we received um it it was very positive um the support that they were offering and um just the opportunity to collaborate um listen uh for us but also for them to listen to us kind of going both ways um was was very positive so I appreciated the opportunity to be a part of that um and I can let Dr Robin speak as well if he would like to but I and I had a very good feeling coming out of it um that they want
006to support us they want to work together with us um and that they are willing to help be a part of the process of finding solutions for these challenges that we are facing so I felt good about it Dr Robbins do you want to add anything yeah thanks um Dr Wimberly it was uh I felt like everybody in the room was engaged in trying to find Solutions and for us specifically I think they understood um some of the challenges we're facing uh hopefully moving forward we have some more um transparent conversations how we can manage growth in our County and our community uh and again just speaking from the lens of Education how important that was one of the things I shared with them was just the reminder that over 20% of the population of
007the entire county is underneath one of our roofs 180 days a year whether that be students or staff members and so how important that was to safeguard that resource then the final thing that um I was able to participate in in terms of the conversation was with um Chief Wright and Deputy U Sheriff Richardson on safety and what the new gun laws that were passed mean for us as a community but also as a school district and how we're going to continue to Champion the fact that safety is our number one priority on our school ground so yeah I enjoyed and appreciate it being a part of the conversation does anybody have any questions about that or comments that you want to or anything you want to ask us okay all right great yeah it
008we really did appreciate being part of it and I I felt very good kind of just about the um teamwork that uh we felt in that meeting and just moving forward I'm I'm hoping that we can continue to work to build those relationships I think that's very important I know it's a priority for all of us so um okay and now we will go into our board committee reports first up we have our policy committee I'll turn it over to miss Bates thank you madam chair um we have several policies up for second reading today that is policy ADF District Wellness CFA School principles building administrators CFC assignment and trans transfer of building administrators ebab hazardous materials ebce school closings and cancellations IH AE physical education and IH so I turn that over to you
009for second reading okay thank you Miss Bates um coming from committee we do um not need a second so do we have any questions or discussions in regards to those policies okay um hearing none I will call for a vote it's going to be electronic okay and the motion carries six in favor one absent thank you so much uh next we have our finance committee Mr gther yeah so I guess the finance committee was able to hold a board Workshop public input and we were given another copy of the latest budget draft so we were on track and balanced budget so thumbs up to all the hard work that they did so and then we do our uh presentation and draft budget to County Council on May 13th so everybody wants to show up to
010that um we would like to have the stands full so definitely good look forward to that okay thank you Mr gther appreciate the update and the hard work that our finance people are doing to get our budget rolled out I know um a lot of hours are going into that okay next we have facilities Mr Farnsworth um thank you madam chair and and just to make sure I think we've got a facilities report in your in the super okay so underneath the superintendent boort so from our standpoint um again we finished all of our walkthroughs I'm still working with Mr Souls um to provide a meeting date to the board and and for our committee to meet and finalize um recommendations as far as the facilities committee goes so thank you okay thank you for
011that and I think you actually are up again for the foundation did you want to introduce our guests yeah for sure and and thank you um I will say first and foremost thank you for the opportunity to to serve on the foundation board um you know I think back and and there's a couple of us up here that that remember when we started the foundation and um not not really knowing the the Stars we would reach if you will um with our foundation and and of course it takes um a good while the ramp up period was long and arduous and um a few executive directors later um we have landed on uh Mr Hayes who I've asked to to speak with United and I just want to say um to that board to that
012Education Foundation board I know again many of us have have served on that board um un unbelievable just working power um what what they do the advocacy behind the scenes that they're doing for us as a school district is unparalleled and and so to that board um to Ralph you know again everyone here hopefully knows that Ralph sits on uh the national Foundation director board um what a what a huge win for Dorchester District to and so um we had asked Ralph to uh just just give us a few words tonight let us know what's going on with the foundation um we've I think we've broken some records this year so I'm I'm super excited to hear from you and and thank you for joining us thank you Mr farnworth uh Madame chair Wimberly members
013of the board superintendent Robbins um excited for the platform to be like you said able to share some updates of things that we have going on in the foundation and just to run through those real quick we'll end with the big event since that was the most recent but the first thing we wanted to talk about were the Bosch best teacher grants so um these are facilitated by the Bosch Community Fund and they execute those grants in communities where they have a manufacturing facility or a footprint so we're very fortunate for our partners and the facility that we have on Dorchester Road and the first year that I took the position um we were awarded 10 grantees throughout the schools for $133,000 and I was like hey that's great how many can we get and
014um they said well how many can you get to write them and I said well I don't know are you going to give me a a limit or not and they said just just try to get some more R um so we're excited about growth that we've seen in those over the last few years so we went in 2022 from 13,000 to 38 grantees for $76,000 last year so that was a huge jump that we made there and then this current year we were awarded 69 grants for $137,000 now those grants all of that Applause goes directly to the teachers in the classroom so my role in this is to be a champion and support facilitation and to work with our wonderful public information office to help Advocate push make people know the process support
015that help them along the way but those grants are actually written by classroom teachers for things that are going to go directly into their classrooms to support what they're doing each day um in addition to those the foundation does write a districtwide grant each year for Bosch and over the past three years we've gotten just north of $70,000 in those grants that we've been able to execute so we're really thankful for the growth in that for our partners with BOS and the BOS Community Fund and look forward to continuing to grow that uh to get more resources directly into the classrooms um the next thing that I wanted to talk about was having the opportunity to be able to present at the National Association of Education foundations impact Ed conference so this is a national
016uh conference of Education foundations from all over the country we actually had two foundations from the state of Alaska that did not know each other which we thought was kind of a a neat uh scenario um but we specifically presented on the rebranding and pushing of our employee giving campaign now a lot of teachers and a lot of people in this room were here a few years ago when that campaign first went out and it was a year that was financially challenging with no cost of living increase no step increase and then we said hey by the way give us some money and um it it really didn't go over well and I completely understand but what we've really tried to do is Revitalize it to where it's a fun and engaging and exciting thing
017to be a part of so that we're empowering people in the schools to want to be a part of the journey that we're on and letting them know that they can contribute to what we're doing for a little bit each pay period and it is so humbling we have every type of employee that that gives into that from board members who were up here to District administrators here all the way down to custodial staff after school staff uh and of course our wonderful teachers and Educators so we're so thankful that we've been able to revitalize that and make people excited to give to that um small plug we also give away $500 a month to somebody who's in that that does not come from the funding that is generated from that we get a sponsor
018to sponsor that every month to do that um and we've talked about next year having some uh some branded t-shirts and some different things that we're going to do but our friend from Rock Hill who runs uh a a sister Foundation to us up there in that school district we co-presented on it and we had the session ready for 36 attendees and we ended up with over 50 so it was a it was a good hit so we were excited about that and then uh finally transitioning into the big event um thank you to everyone for your advocacy your kind words your support um we're really thankful that in a community with so many strong nonprofits and so many great events that we've really been able to carve out a part of the sector and
019really give our event a unique identity and feel and and really energy every year um and just some of the overall numbers we we had over 425 ticket sales for people who came between sponsors and general admission guests um we had a revenue record in sponsorship sales that was led by our presenting sponsor our friends at scout boats so thank you to them but one of the great things about our sponsors is we had sponsors as big as Boeing and we had sponsors as low as one employee organizations and every type of industry and background of business that there is so we're really proud of that that people from different Industries and different walks of life want to be a part of what we're executing and then overall between the the ticket sales the sponsorships
020and the uh the games and activities that we have we uh we raised over 177,000 in gross sales that night which is a record for what we've done so we were very thankful to be able to do that that helps us generate funds that we're able to utilize throughout the whole school year to support Educators in our in our buildings and um again just thank you so much to those in the room and those on the stage who have helped advocate for that and helped grow that and I'm happy to answer any questions or entertain any comments or anything that comes up okay well thank you so much um Mr Hayes for that amazing report report and those fantastic numbers I think first of all we should give you another round of applause for your
021outstanding work for for the big event specifically I I cannot stand here and tell you that that is not an absolute team effort um we have an event chair Jen Limehouse who was a former board member of the foundation who literally works on the event all year long and provides thousands of dollars of in-kind services from flower arrangement and planning and event coordination and then the board that we have several of them take several days off that week leading up to the event to try to transform the space that we're at so it truly I certainly appreciate being the face and the focal point but but it is by far a large group effort to to make that happen and I'm so thankful for all of them yeah I absolutely agree and appreciate that just
022from my time on your board I I 100% know that you have some very dedicated individuals who are passionate about the foundation and passionate about education and passionate about this district and so we are so fortunate to have them and to have your leadership as well um I think we also should say thank you to you know all of our teachers who are taking the extra time to write those grants because we all know that they have so much on their plates so um thank you to them but also to you and your team for getting that out there and spreading the word on that because just you know sharing the communication is is an important piece of that as well I know I I appreciate that feedback and one of the things as far
023as the growth for the grants specifically is we have been very candid and upfront about the fact that we don't want it to always have to be a traditional classroom teachers uh several of those Bosch best grants were written by kindergarten teacher assistants or special needs adult supports or media special assistance so we're very proud of the fact that we're providing resources not only to the certified teachers but also a lot of times to the other positions that are giving their time and effort each day as well again I think it speaks to the people who are just so passionate about our our students and our um District in our schools and so we're we're very fortunate to have that and and also thank you for your leadership and and your the presentation which sounds
024like it was um a lot of fun I was just read reading about it sounds like you had a good time with that so we're we're very grateful for all you and your team do so thank you for that does anyone else have any questions for Mr Hayes or I don't have a question but I do have a suggestion yes ma'am please make sure you include the bull ride from now on that was one of the best so and um I want to challenge our superintendent to ride that bull next year there may have been a mechanical bowl at the big event this year it was western themed um and so yeah that that that was a hit I I don't know if it'll fit next year's theme but we might find a way to
025incorporate something but we always wanted to be fresh right I will say Dr Robins up there yeah it was of all I've been I don't know that I've missed a big event yet but that was by far my favorite theme it was really a lot of fun yeah enjoyed the evening too so thank you I just Echo the sentiments of my fellow board members we appreciate you your leadership your team the foundation all you do so so so much you're wonderful everybody you work with is wonderful and we're so grateful for everything you guys do so and I do just want to say sometimes it's almost the sense of wow like all I'm sharing is is positive things but guys when we give those teachers those grants and and they're overwhelmed for getting $600 to
026be able to buy Lego kits for their kids or something it you really I mean it gives you chills to understand the difference that we can make so please you know advoc cuz he is free anytime uh you can support people knowing about what we do or how they can help support our teachers in the classroom we we greatly appreciate it because uh ultimately that's what it's all about is giving back to the teachers and the students that they serve yeah great thank you so much appreciate [Applause] it okay good luck following that Dr Robbins well I I would say 99.9% % of the time I never want to follow Ralph Hayes um because he's full of cheer and and giving and and I usually have like the facts and the the not so fun
027stuff but along the lines of what he shared and the fact that we understand that um this place is special because of the people that are here um the first thing that you know I want to share with the board tonight as a recommendation is just a small demonstration of that we all know how restricted Ed we are with our budget and we know how poorly funded we are as a school district but the one thing that the board challenged us to do is to try to sharpen our pencils and figure out every way we could try to invest into our staff what I will tell you is um as we get closer with our budget cycle this was the second presentation tonight it will be a historic raise for our staff it'll be a
028raise like they've never seen before and it's it's going to be a challenge to get to that point but it's a challenge that we're going to accept and assume but before we even get to the salary piece and we bring that to you later on um in the budget season I do have a signing bonus longevity stien it's not um as large as the one we had last year if you recall last year we paid that out of our Esser funds and it's something we'll relook at every single year it's hopefully something that we'll be able to provide our employees and use it as a Rec a recruiting incentive um the one thing I do want to put at the bottom is the um on item number four under assumptions is that I will bring
029this to the board annually uh to determine bonuses based on availability of funds and so what we've done this year is we've put it into three tiers uh for the length of time you've been in the district for the longevity stiping and then we've stayed with the same number that we used last year for our um certified teacher and special ed teacher recruiting uh bonus incentive so I have that before you tonight as a recommendation happy to try to answer any more further questions on that Madam chair I would absolutely make a motion to accept the employee signing bonus longevity stien as presented by Dr Robins all right thank you we have a motion from Mr Farnsworth do I have a second second by Miss Bates any questions or discussion so I'll I'll kick that
030one off for sure um you know you think about no-brainers right and and what we as as a board what we're able to do and what we're able to um say to our Educators to not even just to our Educators but to our I when I say Educators I include every single person in our school district um but in a very tangible way that we're able to say thank you even if that that's in the smallest form um of a signing bonus of a long longevity stien um I I think it's something that we absolutely we we have the funds for it you know we have these funds available in our general fund it it does not put us below any thresholds there's no concern there um and and I will go back to that's
031because and and I look over Miss Manet Dr Robbins and and your teams um because of wise accounting practices we've been able to build that up to a point where we're we're able to do this again and so I just want to say um thank you for bringing this to us it it's important again it's it's not we we really do we understand it is not all about pay there's a lot to the puzzle um when it comes to our Educators and and making sure we have the best people in our school district but we also understand it's about pay there there's a lot to it um and so again so this is is a very tangible way a the smallest token of appreciation that I think we can do as a school board so
032I just want to say um we appreciate you thank you and um look forward to uh to dispersing this out okay thank you Mr Burnsworth anyone else no I I share the same sentiments as um my co- board member over here um Mr Farnsworth I think it's just you know something we've all talked about it's a huge priority to us to not only let the people we have now know how much they mean to us how much um we value them but Al with these bonuses but also in looking as Dr Robbins touched on um the salary scale so um that's also going to be a really important component of this as well as we go through the budget process but definitely um I look forward to approving this so that come Signing Day we
033can show our employees how much they mean to us and that we really really do value them okay yes I think we all agree that this is an important step we appreciate um Dr Robbins presenting this to us we also know it is um not the only thing that um is going to be happening this budget season um I think there's we had some great discussions um already and in our um meeting our finance meeting before this um so there'll be more good news coming but I do think this is a good step and I think we also have the um teacher and staff um retention task force that is working to come up with ideas as well and so we will continue ahead with that and again um as I think my other board
034members said this is just one piece of the puzzle it's an important one but you know please know that we're talking about doing um as many things as we can to show um the people in this District how much we appreciate what you do every day so um okay well then at this time um if if we have no other comments or questions we will call for the vote okay okay and the motion carries unanimously six in favor one absent thank you Dr Robbins yeah and I just want to say thanks again to the board uh for supporting this effort um you all know how important our people are so thanks again the next thing I have tonight is a referendum update and so um if we could go ahead and go to the next
035slide no that's not it back one that's not working I wanted the countdown clock to be up there on how close we are to this um so I'm just a an update on the referendum the election is um on May 14th the absentee deadline is Friday May 3rd by 5 o'clock you can get more on the referendum again just as a reminder if you go to dd2r and just some notes um and reminders that this is not a request for a millage increase all buildings in our district are going to receive some type of upgrade specifically safety upgrades and and the biggest um issue that we're really addressing here is the increase in our enrollment um and if you scroll down a couple slides uh for me one more one more and so on this
036on this slide right here you've seen this before it's interesting when we started the year um our predictive enrollment was that we would be at 26,33 students um I had been asked a few weeks ago if I would include it in My Soup updates on what our current enrollment is as of today we are at 26,8 196 students so we have already outpaced our increase our uh expected enrollment growth by 780 some students we've even grown five students since Friday and so we are growing and at this time of year if you've been in education for any length of time you know that enrollment doesn't typically continue to increase this time of year so we are growing 10 to 15 students every week even though they were at the end of the school year so
037again we will there's a good chance we'll Eclipse 27,000 students before the end of the school year with the amount of construction that's taking place so again I just share that um to show the critical nature that we have in terms of the need for this referendum I also just want to notate that early voting dates begin April 29th through May 10th thank you thank you yeah okay thank you for that update Dr Robbins and then before we move on to our our next thing could we just go back to I apologize to the um um bonus and do we have a date on when that might be um or an estimate of when that might be available for EMP I'm going I'm going to yield to the finance department because it really depends on
038payrolls um ability just an idea maybe yeah can we say before the end of the fiscal year so in June so then we can get the right count for who signed um perfect so their contracts June okay great that's thank you very much okay thank you you might as well just stay there I would say later but I don't think later is better um good evening Madame chair board members and Dr Robbins um tonight we're presenting our financial reports um through May 31st of 2024 um the first report you'll see on your left is our balance sheet which includes our assets liabilities and our fund balance um at this time during the year um our assets are at 95.6 million and you can see where we had um our investments have grown at this time
039during the year right after we've received our property tax revenue we look very healthy but we know we'll be using those tax revenues during the year um we won't receive them again usually um after the March 31st period except for our um vehicle taxes so mostly we have collected all of the real property taxes um our liabilities in are right on track with where they were we show the comparison with last year and then our fund balance which we'll talk about um on the next on our on our cash flow analysis talk about our fund balance where we are now and moving forward so the report that's on the right there on that screen is our um revenues and expenditures and changes in fund balance again we have the um comparison with the 24 and
0402023 um as we were just talking about our local taxes through the end of the year I'm sorry through March 31st are at 61.7 million um what's mainly left outstanding at that at this time is our fee and L which is included in that top budgeted line item and we don't usually receive that until June um our investment earnings um wow we have we went up last year in our budget incredible amount and we're still receiving a large amount of interest income that we did not antic that we did not there we go that um so we are 390 per over budget right there we did increase in the FY 25 budget to capture some of that interest income right now we're we're earning 5.5% on our lgip account out of Columbia and that's that's
041great we I remember a time we're at 0.5 in our lgp account um all of our other state revenues are coming in on time so our total revenues through the end of March um are at $24.5 million our expenditures um we show the ideal percentage that at this time of the year you will have spent everything you will have spent 75% of your expenditures ideal remaining percentage of 25% um the first line item under expenditures for instruction under instruction instructional support are typically the the contracts that run through July that we acrew back for teachers um into this fiscal year so it shows a little bit higher so we're we're doing well on there it's not going to be a savings because um we will spend out that money so on the next report um
042is our cash flow analysis where you can see where we will be spending out that money um that we were talking talking about um so the The Columns that are we're almost through the end of this year already good grief um so April May and June are our forecasted numbers everything else are showing actual for each month so um for the month of March um we are ending our year pardon me again we are ending the month with a cumulative fund balance amount if you can see um 83 7 87.4 which is at the top of the April that's where we're ending our fund balance again we will be using that money as we go through April May and June because our revenues will again exceed our expenditures as you can see by the negative
043amounts for our monthly deficit and gain but that's that's the timing of our revenues versus our expenditures we only get those revenues at one time of the year so at the um we we sort of touched on this when we were talking at the um in the budget Workshop that we anticipate for our projected fund balance to be 62.1 million which leaves us at 23.3% at the end of the year um the board's projected amount that they wish to keep is 18% which 18% of our projected next year's Bal um next year's budget will be 52.2 million in fund balance so that gives us a little wiggle room right there of $110 million to utilize to still stay within our 18% keep in mind we want to use that money for the $2 million or
044$2.9 million that you just um approved thank you very much and then also for the 4.6 that was um in the projected budget for next year those amounts will come out of the of that $10 million gap so we still have some room before we get down to the 18% which is wonderful um so you you can see um the three columns to the um on the far left we have our general fund budget what our year- to-day actuals were and then where we are projecting over and under in our revenues and um our expenditures we had predicted to go below um we had predicted to use $4.4 million of our fund balance and we won't need to use that much of our fund balance so that's nice for this current year so those are
045all both Financial reports through the end of March for your presentation tonight we have any questions for me well um before the board asks you any questions I just want to say the general fund cash flow report is very helpful um we've been able to use that um as we've looked at your budget for the upcoming year and and working with the finance department um and the team on developing a plan to increase salaries so again being able to look out into the future uh and see where we are uh again has been beneficial and I appreciate the support and getting us those numbers and having the good discussions that we've had um I actually had a question so looking at our food service fund balance oh yes I didn't talk about those numbers po
046that's okay well it's on there I just was going to ask about um so is there it seems like we're carrying a lot of money in that account is there a reason that we keep it so High um actually we have intended on spending some of that for equipment we have a three-year plan with that we've run into some to some problems with um supply chain with being able to purchase those large pieces of equipment and getting them delivered to us um so we do have an equipment three-year plan place um is is that something what are we are there like limitations to what we are allowed to spend that money on or is it yes so those are federal dollars and you're allowed to spend it directly on the um nutrition program nut but
047we can spend it on equipment to replace um items that are that need to be replaced in in the cafeterias um the tables um for salaries and benefits of course for our um Food Service management company who we have our Outsource with directly related to that program could we ever utilize that money to maybe increase the cost we pay to increase the quality um because I know there's different tiers of you know what you're paying out so is that if we notice that that's a something we're re residually acre additional monies in um could we pay out more to basically go to the next tier on the quality of yeah and I I just and I don't know specifically with our sedexo contract what it looks like but I know with most of those contracts
048that's just a renegotiation of the contract of what you want um and then just looking at the bottom line and make sure we always keeping enough money in that balance in the event that we have equipment issues because the equipment is very expensive um but yes we can definitely look at that yeah we're on a fixed meal contract right now fix cost okay does anybody else have questions or comments all right um do I have a motion to approve the finance report as presented for information only okay thank you Miss Hughes um and a second by Miss Powell one more chance for questions or comments okay um if you will please please vote on that okay motion carries six in favor one absent thank you thank you you're you're uh you're up good evening I'm
049going to try to do my very best to uh stand in for Mr Souls which that's a very difficult thing um he is getting a well-deserved vacation so I hope he's doing good um tonight just going to give you update on the facilities uh where we are with some projects we're going with um right now at span and nightville the lighting uh upgrade at 95% is complete at span um the HVAC duct cleaning in progress at span uh lighting upgrade is in progress at nightville HVAC equipment has been purchased and contractors is receiving equipment and it will become available um project completion for span will be 8 I mean for nightville will be August 15th um partial Roofing replacement for Greg U buildings 700 and span preparing bid documents to to be advertised by the
050end of April estimated completion date will be August 24 and that comes from the 8% funds Fort Dorchester Media Center um to Kate conversion um the contract has been awarded the media center moved to the New Media Center will be mid-may and once that work is complete we'll commence on redoing the old Media Center to Cape and that is also 8% money Sand Hill Elementary portable classrooms we did get some bad news last week they have pushed our delivery date for our our mobile classrooms or learning Cottages to uh late June um so we're hoping we can get them in and uh Mr Souls can work his magic and we can get them up and running as fast as possible so that was not good news but they are coming uh we got bumped on
051a somebody jumped in with 400 mobile order and our little two mobils got kind of pushed back but so we got that cleared and we're we're headed down the street with that uh Sand Hill Elementary Wing Edition Architects are updating the drawings um that we're using the same plans as eagle nest so they're updating the codes um so we can bring that forward uh the Community Learning Center demolition is underway and we should be done with that renovation by June 15th bus maintenance facility at Oakbrook uh working with architect firm and transportation staff to design a much needed maintenance facility where our folks can be inside while they're repairing buses um Oakbrook middle Edition um design documents nearing completion um we've met with the faculty and got input um so the next step will be
052OSF review and oook Elementary Edition uh designs in progress for a 10,000 ft 10 classroom Edition um that will be used with Oakbrook Tiff uh Green Wave Boulevard sidewalk on the survey is nearing completion a plan view update discussion will occur before issuing final drawings uh Elementary School at the ponds uh due diligence survey has been completed Architects are updating the um latest plans um for the middle school elementary school that we've built several times and that the uh traffic study is on the way any questions and that me and Mr farnworth and Miss Hughes got to visit a lot of good schools so we'll have a report coming very soon on do you know offand what um design we're using for the ponds is sire pie sire pie wsor Hill I mean we should
053we should be really good at that we know all the we've had several runs so we should we should really be able to pull that one in all right thank you so much Mr pH I appreciate it you okay board members we have our Personnel report next um and I believe everyone received that information in their packets um if you are okay with it we will proceed with um voting on that um at this time minus um the last three um included in the packet um we will do that after we return from executive session so if at this time we could have a motion if everyone is okay with it to proceed with approving the classified um and um certified Rec recommendations and resignations so moved okay motion made by Miss Bates seconded by
054Miss Powell any questions discussion okay this time we will call for the vote okay motion carries six in favor one absent thank you very much okay and um additionally we also have um a couple student enrollment recommendations that were also included in our packet if everyone is okay with doing that in Open Session we will proceed with that as well okay do I have a motion motion made by Mr farnworth seconded by Miss Bates any questions or discussion okay we will call for the vote okay motion carries six in favor one absent all right and at this time we are at our public comments for um non-agenda items and this evening we do have one public comment uh Mr Ken Green Street there he is come on down good evening I'm here again tonight to
055speak up for the Constitution the Constitution is under an ever increasing attack the fervor for which people come to these meetings debate which books should or should not be in school libraries is absent when it comes to demanding students actually read and study the Constitution the very document that gives the people the right to stand up in America and yell death to America is being disregarded it is as if people believe those freedoms will always be here this happens in a society when Generations grow up with the most freedoms ever experienced by any people in the history of the world people who have never been hunted by a foreign army on their home soil suddenly believe they know a better way my daughter graduates from Ashley Ridge High School in May having never read the
056entire Constitution while in school there are growing calls that the constitution needs to be abolished because the found of fathers were racist slaveholders and therefore the Constitution and the government it created is systemic racist I have two questions for anyone that may think this way first if the founding fathers were racist slaveholders why did they set the course for the abolishment of slavery and not instead enshrine slavery as legal in the Constitution Second what would have happened if five fifths of the slave population had been used for representation as Georgia and South Carolina wanted instead of counting three fifths of the total slave population I submit to you that slavery may have lasted well into the 20th century I started coming to these meetings several years ago because a school ministrator told me I was
057not an expert in teaching and essentially to leave teaching to teachers I have three college degrees but that means nothing here all one must do is look at the product that schools across the country produce to see country to see schools are failing the country one problem that one no one that no one seems to want to address is unruly students who are a product of broken homes and parents failing to fulfill their responsibilities to instill even a little respect for authority in their children I recently asked two young men what freedoms were afforded them in the first amendment I was taken back when I was asked what is an amendment they were familiar with freedom of speech and religion but did not know those were in the First Amendment or even more importantly why
058they are in the Constitution I served 21 years in the United States Air Force One person after another including college graduates could not name the five freedoms enshrined in the First Amendment the Constitution like a framed but unfinished home is simply a framework for a government how the home or the country looks after it's finished it is finished depends on how Americans informed or not vote and finally a medal of honor recipent killed in 2018 while serving in Afghanistan went to Somerville High School do you know his name moral day is approaching his life and service might be a good thing to talk about in dd2 high schools thank you thank you Mr Green Street okay at this time um I need a motion to convene to Executive session for personnel related matters so moved
059okay motion made by Mr Guthrie seconded by Miss Hughes any questions discussion okay hearing none we will call for the vote anticipated okay motion carries six in favor one absent we are in executive session and we will return e e e convene into Open Session please so moved oh okay motion made by Mr Guthrie seconded by Miss Powell any questions discussion okay we will um all in [Music] favor um okay six in favor and one absent motion carries so we are in Open Session do I have a motion Madam chair I make a motion to accept the Personnel recommendations as presented in our packet okay motion made by specify the three the three that we didn't vote on so yes okay thank you very much motion made by Miss Bates is there a second seconded
060by Miss Powell any questions or discussion okay hearing none we will I think probably be voting by hand so all in favor six and one absent the motion carries thank you very much um and at this time I need a motion to adjourn motion made by Miss Bates seconded by Miss Powell any discussion hearing none all in favor six and one absent motion carries um we are adjourned for