001[Music] good evening and I'd like to call to order the regular meeting of the Newport News school board for Tuesday April 16th 2024 on behalf of the members of the school board in Dr Mitchell I welcome each of you present this evening and those who are watching on TV and online a quorum is present to transact the business of the school division we will begin tonight's meeting with the invocation and pledge to the flag here to do the honors are two students from Discovery STEM Academy Adriana Brown and Enzo shorter first Adriana will come forward and deliver the invocation and she will be followed by Enzo who will come forward and deliver the pledge so Adriana if you would please come forward and tell us a little bit about yourself before you get started uh
002good evening and thank you for allowing me this opportunity my name is Adriana Brown and I am dis a discovery STEM Academy Explorer I'm in fifth grade and I serve as the sea co-president My Hope for tonight is that everyone is on one Accord and that we um getting real solutions to real problems and I am oh thank you for thankful for this I will be reading Phenomenal Woman Why by Maya Angela thank you pretty woman wonder where my secret lies I'm not cute or built to suit a fashion model size but when I start to tell them they think I'm telling lies I say it's in the reach of my arm the spin of my hip The Stride of my step the curl of my lips I'm a woman phenomenally phenomenal woman that's [Applause]
003me Ando will you please come forward and tell us a little bit about yourself before you get started my name is endo sh I am a third grader at Discovery STEM Academy I love going to school there because I learned a lot about science and math I enjoy learning about space especially the sun and the planets please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all well thank you for participating in tonight's meeting you guys did a really wonderful job um it's uh all of us present here are really proud of you and honored that your scholars in Newport News Public Schools that's really exciting I
004know you have family members and probably some school members who are here to support you with those individuals please [Applause] stand and thanks each one of you all for entrusting your children to us and thanks for coming tonight the next next item on tonight's agenda is the school board recognition so Dr Mitchell please join me at the podium thank you very much each year the national school boards Association Magna award program recognizes school districts taking bold and Innovative steps in educating students the 2024 Awards program focused on Innovation and education while recognizing School District programs that solve the challenge with creativity and out-of-the-box strategies an independent panel of school board members administrators and other Educators reviewed hundreds of submitted programs and selected the top for National recognition we're proud to recognize that Newport News Public
005Schools earned a 2024 silver award for its youth development program Newport News Public Schools youth development program is honored for its unique infrastructure of dedicated school-based teams who increase the school division's ability to implement evidence-based programming at every school this evening we're proud to recognize the members of the youth development administrative team who lead and guide our division-wide programming please join me in congratulating Bridget Adams director of Youth and Family [Applause] engagement Michael Nichols Youth Development supervisor [Applause] Christina Buckingham Youth Development specialist and William Shackleford Youth Development [Applause] specialist we also want to acknowledge and extend our congratulations to our more than 200 school-based staff who support engage and Empower our students special thanks of course are also extended to our activities directors Our Youth Development leads our empowerment coaches our gun violence intervention prevention
006site directors Live Well student wellness coaches and our school-based club Athletics and activity sponsors and I'd also like to take a moment to acknowledge um Miss Tiffany Smith who's joining us today Tiffany Jones excuse me Tiffany who is our coordinator of family and Community engagement thank you for joining us as well [Applause] Newport News Public Schools positive Youth Development initiatives build essential skills and Empower students to lead serve and contribute from preschool through High School Youth Development emphasizes student empowerment and Leadership inclusivity power positive School culture and mentoring while teaching important social and emotional skills student outcomes demonstrate that students who are involved in school activities have better attendance and grades and fewer disciplined incidents every student is encouraged to participate in at least one Club sport or other enrichment activity this award-winning youth development
007program is unique to Newport News Public Schools we are the only School Division in the state to boast such a robust comprehensive infrastructure to positive Youth Development Division wide level programming includes Blossom balloon and flourish girls and empowerment programs the rise male mentorship program the emerging Leadership Institute the level up Elementary prevention and Intervention Program and my brother's keeper and My Sister's Keeper violence prevention programs Youth Development also coordinates numerous division-wide programs which many of our students are familiar with including the star awards which recognize students and clubs who are making positive contributions to their schools and communities and stand the division whyde campaign to discourage bullying and harassing behavior and to promote positive School culture and also celebrate me week a recognition of cultural heritage which promotes a sense of belonging for students and
008staff among many many other activities throughout the school year Bridget Adams our superintendent Dr Michelle Mitchell and our school board member our vice chair Dr Terry Bess were recognized during the national school boards association's annual conference in New Orleans earlier this month the School Division along with other Magna program Award winners is featured in the April issue of the American School Board Journal so again to this wonderful uh central office based team we say congratulations and thank you for all your hard [Applause] work take a picture e at this time we'll take about a 9 minute break uh so that our honores and our student guests and their families may leave if they desire to do so you know you're welcome to stay for the rest of the board meeting uh during this time our
009viewing audience will have an opportunity to view this month's Schoolboard Spotlight so we'll stand in recess for about nine minutes thank you [Music] for many sports fans March Madness is the most anticipated event of the year but March just got more exciting with Newport News Public Schools hosting March Mania at Menchville High School for the second year the family and Community engagement team hosted this exciting weekend event for All Families to enjoy on the Main Court various high school student teams faced off against adult teams both male and female staff were victorious against the combined junior varsity and varsity teams but the student All Stars finished the day with a hard-fought win over the Newport News police department who love using basketball to build positive relationships across the city in between games generous local businesses
010donated prizes to some excited winners meanwhile in the smaller gym 150 students participated in a series of age appropriate basketball clinics basketball coaches from various nnps high schools ran groups of energetic students through advanced drills to sharpen their ball handling skills but March Mania offered families even more Educators along with mv's Air Force jot Cadets hosted a variety of fun math activities for all grade levels each of these math related games use items that can be found at home so families can reinforce important math skills anytime another great family game that flexes the brain is chess volunteers with Hampton Roads chess Association taught 100 students how to play many learning for the very first time and throughout the hallways Community part ERS and Educators offered a range of valuable local resources focused on character building
011math mentoring and mental health with an amazing collection of sports and educational activities for all ages 540 people enjoyed everything that March Mania offered this year throughout March women's History Month honors the remarkable contributions of women to history culture and Society meanwhile young ladies at Greenwood and Riverside Elementary schools are Paving their own path to Success Through computer science once a week students at both schools start their morning with girls who code a fun and engaging Club experience for interested third through fifth graders that aims to close the gender gap in the career field of Technology teachers and instructional technology coaches set up Hands-On activities and fun challenges to introduce the young l ladies to coding and programming languages through these experiences the girls learn how to problem solve think creatively collaborate with others build
012confidence by sharing their ideas and grow as strong leaders by participating in girls who code the hope is that many of these young ladies will pursue future careers in stem Fields but before that day comes girls who code will help them now as they create strong bonds through Sisterhood learn the basis of computer coding and make a positive impact on their community and the world Middle School volleyball wrapped up its 14th season with four different schools represented at the girls and boys tournaments hosted at Warwick High School in eight of the last nine Seasons Ella Fitzgerald and Gildersleeve have met in the girls championship game and one of these teams has been in every tournament over the past 14 Seasons so it was no surprise to see these teams vying for the championship Crown again
013this year but after settling for runnerup the last four seasons the Gildersleeve Seahawks won this year's girls championship this was the second year coaching at Gildersleeve for Coach Juan quentes who also teaches and coaches at minville high better known as coach low to his players he attributed the team's success to strong serves and crisp pass on offense Gilder sleeve and Ella Fitzgerald are now tied with six Volleyball Championships each setting up a dramatic 2025 season on the boys Court critton faced off against Washington the crittenden Cougars were making their second appearance ever in the championship round while the Washington Bay Savers were hoping to reverse last season's outcome where they lost the tournament game to Huntington Washington's young team won the first set but critten and fought back forcing a third set ultimately the Washington
014Bay Savers prevailed as Citywide champions for adapted physical education specialist coach Susan mcalli this was her third season coaching at Washington this year's team didn't have a height advantage over other schools but they communicated well developed a strong student leaders and had a great desire to win as a team Washington's boys have now earned three tournament wins in the past 14 seasons of Middle School volleyball fourth graders from Discovery STEM Academy and Nome Park Elementary visited the Mariners museum for an exciting trip back in time the field trip aligned perfectly with the students exploration of the American Civil War and the historical Maritime battle between the USS Monitor and CSS Virginia the Mariners Museum hosted an ironclad Marvel's field experience specifically for the students enrolled in each school's stem themed magnet programs the indepth and
015engaging educational program tied in with the fourth grade pacing guide and emphasized relevant Virginia standards of learning students toured the Mariners Museum's award-winning exhibit Ironclad Revolution using a scavenger hunt card to focus their exploration on the Battle of Hampton Roads by viewing artifacts from the wck of the USS monitor reading historical documents and listening to personal accounts the students were fully immersed in learning about a significant moment in American history as the students further explored the USS monitor Center they learned about different careers at a museum including the job of curator to manage collections research artifacts and care for them while they're displayed students then dove in a Hands-On stemx activity to simulate the various jobs of divers researchers and team managers as they explored a cannon retrieved from the monitor wreck on the ocean
016floor the entire learning experience was free for every fourth grader at Discovery STEM Academy and Newsome park with Mariners Museum covering the cost of the educational trip Newsome Park Elementary celebrated read Across America week with a community of readers reading specialist Barbara Brinker invited guest readers to visit every grade and classroom 14 excited readers took time to read including nnps superintendent Dr Michelle Mitchell city leaders Community Partners retired Educators and a former Nome Park student Beyond reading grade relevant literature these special guests also shared a little bit about how reading is important in their careers what they enjoy about reading and what some of their favorite books are Barbara Brinker also worked with each grade to combine reading with classroom learning experiences through the theme building literacy through stem every grade level stem challenge was
017introduced by reading a book the style of each stem activity varied across grades since every challenge was designed to align precisely with their grade level content through these Hands-On and engaging lessons students were in teams to blend literacy stem and various content areas to tackle a real world challenge by showing students the benefits of becoming a lifelong reader and expanding their scope of how much we can learn from Reading read Across America week was an important step to help the new park Navigators find their own love of reading [Music] I hope you enjoyed this month's School Board Spotlight we're going to change our agenda up just a tad um we're going to go ahead and move to our Personnel actions that we have on the agenda for this evening so Dr Mitchell thank you very
018much Madam chair tonight actually I need to vote we need to we'll vote first on those so do I have a motion to approve the Personnel actions yes Madam chair I move to approve the superintendent's Personnel recommendations for John Downer assistant principal location to be determined Michelle Gunter assistant principal Stony Run Elementary and Dr Steve paret assistant principal Sanford Elementary School Great do I have a sec thank you any discussion okay and now please call the rooll Harris four Hunter four aler four aan four best brown four s's law for motion carry 70 congratulations congratulations I was so eager so now Dr Mitchell would you please uh introduce us to our new family members thank you very much Madam sir law tonight I would like to introduce uce our newest members of our team and
019as I call your name if you don't mind standing so everyone can uh get to see who you are I'd like to first introduce Mr John Downer as the new secondary assistant principal for the school year of 2024 2025 um he uh his location will be to deter be determined Mr Downer has an education specialist degree in educational leadership with a concentration in administration and supervision from Old Dominion University he currently works as the lead social studies teacher at Woodside High School and I might add he also if I am correct is the teacher of the year was the teacher of the year last year for Woodside High School um a phenominal teacher um we we certainly are looking forward to working with you if you have anyone with you that you would like to
020have acknowledged um please feel free to have them stand and we'll give them a round stand okay if you would please stand so we can see you and acknowledge you and thank you welcome next I'd like to introduce Miss Michelle Gunter as the new assistant principal at Stony Run Elementary School for this current year 2023 2024 she has a master's of Education degree in educational leadership with a concentr ation in prek through 12th grade from Regent University she currently prior to this moment was working as the administrative assistant at Stony Run with Newport News public school she has throughout her career been a teacher and an assistant principal and she actually taught in Newport News some years ago so we were happy when you came back as an administrative assistant and we are certainly happy
021to promote you to an assistant principal do you have family and friends with you tonight I do I have my daughter with me Alissa and I have my friend with me Dr Stafford thank you so much and our last that we would like to recognize tonight I'd really like to introduce Dr Steve Pard as the new assistant principal at Sanford Elementary School for this school year 2024 Dr Pard has a doctorate of Education from Regent University University he currently works as an elementary teacher with Chesapeake Public Schools he has also worked as an elementary teacher for Virginia Beach Public Schools and we are excited to have you join our team welcome to Newport News Public Schools Dr Pard and if you have someone with you you'd like to have them stand yes I do um
022so over here is my mom and I have two of my friends here this is Ashley and this is Anthony [Applause] thank you welcome to our team and I would like to ask Dr Van djk to please stand because we appreciate you being here he is the principal at Sanford Elementary and I'm sure you two will be a great team for the remainder of the Year you and that concludes our new newest um employees perfect thank you so now we're going to let you all if you want to go celebrate and have a meal or whatever give you'll have a moment to we'll give you a moment to leave before we go on with our uh meeting but you're very welcome to stay for the duration if you choose don't be sh don't be [Laughter]
023shy know okay during our regular regularly excuse me I cannot speak tonight during our regular meetings we provide time for the public to address the school board these opportunities are scheduled in the early part of our agenda and towards the end of the meeting I will say that we have cards that will take us through our allotted 30 minutes and depending upon how we do at the mic I will petition the board for an additional um uh 10 minutes as advertised citizens May submit comments via email up to 30 minutes prior to our meeting time to be included in the official meeting record for those of you joining us in person the board considers this an opportunity to listen to your comments please understand that we will consider your concerns we ask that you comply
024with our three minute time limit as you begin your comments a green light will come on a yellow light signals that you have 30 seconds remaining and a red light and beep indicates your time is up as your name is called please come forward Natalie Chamberlain Reverend Natalie Chamberlin good evening members of the board and Dr Mitchell I wasn't sure I'd get to be first tonight I'm Reverend Natalie Chamberlain pastor of Hilton Christian Church a congregation who welcomes and Embraces people of all genders and gender identities I'm a citizen and resident of Newport News I've been addressing this board for the past several months I've addressed issues of morality faith and safety the most important points I have made have to do with the increased danger trans students experience under the policy so nonsensically called
025protection of trans students trans students are also much more likely to deal with mental health crises including suicidal ideations and attempts than their non-trans counterparts in the district I believe wholeheartedly that most of you care passionately about the Children and Youth in your care and that you recognize that this policy as it stands is illc conceived it is also quite obvious that you're unable or possibly unwilling to change it therefore I directly address you Dr Mitchell you can change this before the start of business tomorrow if you choose please change the policy back to what it was before your procedural changes were implemented protect the children you've been hired to care for [Applause] hello good evening um Dr Mitchell um board chair seraw and vice chair Dr Terry best as well as the rest of
026the board um my name is Mary Voss I'm an nnps te teacher parent and graduate and I'm also Secretary of the Newport News Education Association the Educators Union in Newport News um uh to just start off on a side note before I move into some n&a updates um I do want to remind the board that the n&a and vaa have both released formal statements opposing youngkin's discriminatory guidance that targets trans and other lgbtq plus students uh yonan's guidance was implemented last fall without a board vote and the public deserves a vote on this matter in order to know uh where our elected officials stand on the topic of discriminating against vulnerable students um if a vote to allow board members to vote on controversial procedures is needed to call a board vote on Yan's guidance
027um please let's get that done as soon as possible um moving on to some important n&a announcements um I'm pleased to share that at the vaa convention this past weekend out of over 100 vaa locals across the State our local union the nnaa was selected as winner of the Statewide vaa fund for political activism in addition our local vaa uniserve office posted the third highest membership increase in Virginia um so we have great things happening in n&a and I want to invite nnps employees to visit our website at Newport newseducation association.com to learn more about us and about the benefits of membership um in addition the nnaa is making good progress with our authorization card campaign campaign to win collective bargaining rights also known as contract negotiations for nnps employees um so again I uh
028invite nnps employees to check out our website we have a section called authorization cards um that they can click on for more information and we can um they can connect with us and we can uh help them uh uh get information on and sign their authorization card um we've already exceeded 50% in one employee category and we look forward to hitting a majority in other category soon uh contract negotiations would provide nnps teachers and staff a seat at the bargaining table to negotiate for improved working conditions of course teacher and staff working conditions or student learning conditions so giving employees a voice in the details of our contracts will also help our students and their families and the community thank you so much for your time thank you Matt De grave good evening Schoolboard members
029even um my name is Matt grave uh I am a parent um here in the City of Newport News my kids go to school both my kids now I have a couple of things um so on the lighter note of items the clear plastic backpacks that are there are not of poor quality but my son has already gone through three of them with all of the books and Chromebooks that he's had to carry and then when he goes to go get more they're not available for him um one of the things that I would like to ask is it possible that we buy our own or make more available I understand that that's you know they got to come in as there to purchase and I'm sure lots of other kids are having the same
030issues um on to more serious notes um uh Governor Yan's trans policies are not great um I realized that the school board hasn't voted on them to to bring them up and has come up with their own M policies but um under Governor Northam um the policies while they may not have been great they were developed you know with kids in mind to protect students um who are vulnerable in in the Newport News City Public School Systems I really think we need to stick with those policies that are out there because we did you just were here to protect the kids it's it may be a small minority of kids but if we could prevent a set of kids from feeling like the only way that they can continue to live is to commit suicide
031or to to feel better is to commit suicide or something like that it's not great we need to find them the services that they can and we also need to show that um we will protect them from parents who may not be as willing or open to discussing these issues and something that came up tonight had a little bit more prepared on that to talk about it but you guys will probably hear a lot more so um I guess with that just um um please reinstate Governor northam's policies that he came up with um something that came up tonight that was of Interest I need to do a little more research into um uh Doug Brown uh apparently has been asking his church that he's a member of to bring a church Le program into
032the Newport News City Public School Systems um I don't know if it's been brought up to the school board yet apparently this um program is called LifeWise academy uh from what I have seen um the church itself is very political so they're not an apolitical group and I would just like to ask the the City Board uh the school board to not um adopt any of these policies and as matter of fact a vote the fact is is that students are allowed to pray in school if they wish to there's no law against that there's no law against teachers praying in school if they wish to or expressing their religious um preferences however we can't have outside sources coming into the schools and potentially proz to students um I I disagree with that I I
033need more information on this myself this is something that just came up but um if that is the truth it is pretty egregious separation or violation of church State separation and I would appreciate if the school board looked into that and oh my time's up anyway but thank you for hearing me out thank you Eric [Applause] Burton Eric Burton good evening ladies and gentlemen good evening my name is Eric Burton I'm with noport news Transportation as you all seen last time when I was here I'm key driver for one of our schools our one of our concerns right now is the safety on the buses and I don't want to go in too many details on some of it because this is public you know this form is but these metal detectors we have are
034getting bypassed daily with items stuff that's getting on the buses as you all seen in the news a couple months ago you know there was a knife report on one of the buses and the police had to go out to it also in the area surrounding us which is also the same students that move out of our area and come to this area they have reported a bullet on one of the buses and other weapons we have no way of knowing when these are on the bus there's no way to check for it we're not allowed to do anything about it and we hear these students all day long talking about how they're defeating our metal detectors because we have 70 of them on our bus and we listen to them and they don't realize
035that we're hearing it one thing I'm asking is this if we can take our safety a little more seriously and not just put this the metal detectors up but constant review on how they're getting around them and how we can adjust for that another thing is the safety at the bus stops and at the schools we're having a lot of issues with with our bus Loops at our schools by law when our buses are loading students or discharging students we cannot have other vehicles going P those buses that is why there is a Bus Loop with a physical divider between us and the parking lot but there are schools that are bring parents into that Bus Loop now because it's convenient because that we do have one school that they have to use their stop
036sign they had to stop signs out every time they pass that bus $250 ticket we're at the point now do we have to do that in the bus Loops that our bus Loops no longer safe one of the schools that I'm at every day I wish it was once a week or less but every day I'm going to remind parents please don't come through here you're shooting right past my bus going about 10 15 miles an hour you're not even slowing down for a crosswalk while I have students coming going we just had a student yesterday almost hit at our school because people are not reading the signs they're not obeying them but yet our answer is from the school from most of these schools is what do you want to do about it so
037we're asking your help to help enforce the rules that are currently there and the laws that we have for our student safety one last thing for yall is due to numerous requests that we have seen from teachers and coaches and staff is when we take them on field trips we drop them off and we leave them they are afraid if they ever have to evacuate or something happens how long it will take for us to get back to them because we might already be at home then we got to go back get the bus and then get to where they're at the other thing is just recently yesterday we had a group of kids stuck in another city because that driver couldn't get to we had nobody for them it took hours to get them
038yall have a great [Applause] day Adam marrow Adam marrow good evening ladies and gentlemen of the school board um last month I came up here I told you I had a petition with 200 signatures on it this asking you to overturn Governor youngkin's transphobic policies I pointed out that that was more signatures than some of you had won your seats by that numberers uh the number of signat gone up there's 250 on it last I checked and it could be more now that is more than several of you on your seats by I'm not I'm sure you're all very passionate about supporting the Newport News school board and the Newport News Public Schools if you want to be able to keep doing that from your positions you might want to begin reconsidering your stance on
039this thank you [Applause] David Brakman hello um thank I'd like to thank uh the board for allowing me to speak today and for responding to my emails um clarifying that the decision making power with respect to the implementation of the model policies um lies with the superintendent and um would like to address the history of of my previous comments go over the board to the superintendent um today the reasoning that we have to or the the claim that we have to implement the the procedure this way in order to comply with the law is not meaningful uh it's not necessary to protect Newport News public schools from litigation because there wasn't any enforcement action from the state the first time that model policies were introduced uh and people did or boards did or did not
040comply with them um the law also says that the policies provided by the Virginia Board of Education are to instruct compliance with state federal and case law and that's explicitly the antithesis of Youngkin's model policies it's to the goal is to create new case law to challenge the understanding of gender identity as a part of sex under um as far as the courts are concerned the procedure saying that we will make every effort to respect trans students except for in the immediately following sentence using the chosen name in conversation um is very transparent and frustrating um thank you for your consideration thank [Applause] you Ash check your home good evening Dr Mitchell members of the school board I'm here to talk about Governor Youngkin's LGBT policies yet again it has been five months since these
041policies were unilaterally implemented by Dr Mitchell five months of pain and suffering for transgender students in your care tonight I want to speak to the backers of policy jpp on this board I'm not going to name names but you know who you are and I'm reasonably certain we know who you are too I want to confront you tonight with the people on your side as it were in this issue people like Oklahoma state senator Tom Woods who just days after the murder of a student in his district referred to LGBT people as filth who do not have a place in our society people like the state superintendent in Oklahoma Ryan Walters who helped fuel hate with policies strikingly similar to your own those same people have ties to white supremacist and dominionist groups groups that
042seek to broaden the scope of persecution Beyond just queer people but to everyone who does not fit their mold groups focused on anger and hate and moving us back as a society but to what end I want to ask you this what does your ideal Society look like what is your goal here what policy goals what substantive changes do you have that aren't based on simply rolling back the gains made by people that aren't you I know you might think what I'm about to say is a bit of a stretch but building any society Better or Worse starts at school is the only thing that we all have in common in one form or another I want you to want to encourage you to imagine this what will you do when you're finally done with
043this project finally done stripping away the rights from all but your ingroup imagine what your society would look like how it would feel living in a community hollowed out from the inside a community stripped of the diversity and difference that is so core to The Human Experience where anything unique is CR crushed or frittered away and so much Beauty has been destroyed only then will you be able to look back on the society that you've built for yourselves and only then will You Weep over it if that's what you want by all means keep Governor yonan's policies in place lay the groundwork for that ending or if you're courageous enough do what's right repeal Governor yin's policies and let our society Thrive free from Fear free from oppression and free from hate and I want
044to end with this final point the hyenas that you've set upon your career constituents will come for you next no matter M how many people you feed them they will never be satiated the only way for us to keep our community safe is to steadfastly refuse the Hyena's demands for further meals and let them starve in the face of our diversity thank [Applause] you Valerie fashion good evening Dr Mitchell and school board members my name is Valerie fashion and I'm a grandparent and I'm also advocating for my grandchildren in the Thousand schools in Newport New School District my grandson's in the kindergarten and since entering kindergarten in August of 2023 three mocking peers 135 days he has not brought home not one spelling word words however he's being given a spelling test every week on
045Fridays this is not acceptable and I do not understand why this board allows this to happen and I would like to know what is the name and the date of the study and a research that this school district is using that shows that students learn how to spell words better without being given any words to study right now this district has hundreds of fourth fifth sixth seventh eight graders that are reading on the third second 1 and beginner reading levels being a bookless school district is not making the majority of students in this district career and college ready why was this bookless curriculum chosen for New School District also as a grandparent and as a joint guardianship for my grandson I call Ella Fritz J to ask to be placed on the email list and
046to be placed on the phone call list so that I can understand and know what's going on in school every week they told me they can only call one person out the family that was discouraging and also without an education our students will be eliminated for opportunities in education Corporate America entrepreneurship and the public sector thank you for your time thank Carl Brean good evening um I'm a parent who had a child come through the Newport News school system uh from peep all the way through graduation you graduated in 2012 uh talking about the special education advisory committee and the review of the special education annual plan um just briefly going over the website tonight I was I noticed um you know the membership has not been updated since 2020 um the committee is supposed
047to be made up of a majority of parents um on the 2020 roster there was only two parents out of a um and I think I don't know 13 advisory members from the school um so let's see also yeah there's 13 consultanting members um they couldn't find any policies and procedures for special education only operational guidelines and when I was on the committee over 15 years ago the state had said you can't call them operational guidelines you have to call them um you know policies and procedur procedures I don't see any forms there I don't know what date the policies and procedures have been updated um I was wonder about the part B flowthrough funds um how much has been budgeted for uh preschoolers to get extended school year how much has been budgeted for
048school AG children to get extended school year to help address those uh particular needs um so yeah that's all thanks thank [Applause] you board members we've reached 30 minutes um do I have a motion to extend until we go through the rest of the cards it's it's four at this time do we have any more okay do I have a motion for us to extend time okay so move thank you second and please call the roll Harris for Hunter for alger aman for best for Brown s law for motion carries 7-0 thank you next to the podium is Ron Le Ronald Lee hi I want to say that I really thank you guys do an amazing job generally I uh would vote for the vast majority of you guys if it was my choice and
049Dr Mitchell pretty sure I would hire you I think you do a great job and I think you guys do a hard job and even if you're being authentic um it's got to be tough when you run for office you tell people about yourself and you hope that those people believe in you and when you don't measure up to them it's got to be it's got to be hard and I think that most of you guys have the best of intentions and that's admirable what I can't understand Mr Brown is when I looked at who donated to your campaign how you must have presented yourself because you had quite a few of Democrats donate money to your campaign um your church is is a political organization they talk more about politics than Jesus you guys
050do training from wall builders.org an election denying organization that teaches history biblical citizenship and all kinds of other things Mr Brown do you think that slavery was not so bad in America I know you've seen the videos the crazy things that are said in that church and you would ask them to bring LifeWise to Newport News that tells me that you agree with what that pastor says and you buy into what they say and that you're on board it also tells me that you weren't authentic when you ran for office there's no way that those people would have donated to you if you would have told them who you are so while I love all of you guys think you guys are doing a great job I will be here exposing who you are until
051the day you resign and I would like to ask you that today is that day that you [Applause] resign Michael Bernett members of the board Dr Mitchell thank you so much um my name is Reverend Michael berett I forgot to use my anic on the card but just for fun I serve multiple congregations in Newport News that share a mission of seeking and serving the Divine image in all people respecting the inherent worth and dignity of all people and so of course I'm here to speak yet again against procedure jbp and here I got to be real honest with y'all I am exhausted with this conversation and I know y'all are too every tool in the box has been pulled out for this we've talked about all the grand sweeping ethical things we've talked about
052separation of church church and state and we know those who are going to intermingle church and state are going to be clever enough to know how to do so within the bounds of legal precedent we've talked about how this procedure was implemented without a vote and we've even got a policy right now policy CH that's being workshopped and possibly being voted on next month to prevent that from happening in the future but that doesn't go back into race procedure jbp we've had personal entreaties to Dr Mitchell to use her still existent authority to go back and rescind that procedure we've talked about the danger that this poses to students that there is statistically that there are there are there are databased evidence that this will harm students in your care and from where I'm sitting
053n none of it seems to be sinking in so I'm exhausted I know that you serve first and foremost the students and that's or at least that that is the motto although from all the advocacy I heard up until the implementation of procedure jbp from so much of what I've heard from campaigns it seems like the de facto Alliance is to the parents and not the students and frankly if we're being real real the allegiance is to Richmond and not even the parents of Newport News I understand the desire desire to keep Richmond happy right now I understand there are lawsuits pending and possibly more if these procedures stay on the books and keeping the Attorney General's office happy is important and significant to keeping our funding flowing and keeping things going well but I
054have to ask for that queer student who had an ally in a beloved teacher up until November whose one Lifeline to their personal happiness is now forbidden from calling them their chosen name or pronouns is Richmond going to foot the bills for that teacher's therapy bills when they're named in that student suicide note thank you fie McMillan hi uh my name is eie McMillan I'm here again to talk about uh like a lot of people here tonight the policies regarding trans students and I'd like to bring your attention to the section in particular uh where parents are explicitly permitted to opt their child out of using facilities quote where state or federal law requires schools to permit trans students to share otherwise sex segregated facilities and specifically this part of the policy is framed as
055an issue of privacy and safety not of course for the children of a protected vulnerable class but for the other children who might have the inconvenience of having to share a room with them now I'm just wondering where are the provisions that say can allow someone to opt children out of having to share facilities with those who practice minority religions uh what about opting out children in order to protect um straight children's safety and privacy by making sure they never have to share a locker room with a queer student um I mean I would expect similar if not identical policy to make sure parents can keep their child away from anyone they consider to be other unless of course the board thinks that trans children pose a specific threat to non non-trans children by the
056very nature of their identity and existence but of course that would fit the very definition of bigotry and if any of you do hold that view I'd really appreciate such an affirmation in writing perhaps in an up or down vote um just a thought I have no idea if any of you are individually bigoted um but every month that you allow these bigoted policies to stay on the books in your names you are effectively doing bigotry and I understand that there's been some worry that the school board may open itself up to Legal challenges by reversing these policies but all that says to me is that you who have been given direct mandates to think of children's well-being are willing to let select vulnerable children get thrown under the bus to avoid litigation and if
057that is truly where your moral calculus lands well I won't need that in writing your posivity and silence on the issue is all that I need thank you gabri Marquez gab okay all right do we have any other cards at this time thank you for your comments and thoughts this evening uh we do appreciate you taking time to come and share we'll now move on to section three the consent agenda which includes 3.01 minutes from the regular meeting March 19th 2024 3.02 minutes from the special meeting and work session Mark March um 5th 2024 3.03 minutes from the public hearing March 12 2024 3.04 Financial reports including the revenue report for March 2024 the expense report for March 2024 and the Child Nutrition reports for March 3.05 the Personnel report 3.06 resolution to appoint hearing
058officers to hear teacher grievances 3.07 vsba large seat nomination for Douglas Brown and 3.08 budget transfer at this time can we have a motion to approve the consent agenda Madam chair I move to approve the consent agenda as presented okay Madam yes I have um before we approve the agenda I'd like to remove or make a motion to uh move one of the agendas off the consent agenda okay which is 3.07 VBA at large C denomination Douglas Brown okay and do I have a second for the removal of that 3.07 I second okay all right is there any discussion for the removal all right Madam clerk if you could call the RO so I'm hearing there's Amendment to the um the main motion to remove um 3.07 and that's what the board is going ready
059to vote on the amendment to yeah to to remove it okay all right Mr Harris four Mr Hunter for aler for Aman for best for brown against s's law for motion carries 61 now a motion to approve the consent agenda yes now do I have a motion to approve the consent agenda Madame chair I move that we approve the consent agenda minus item 3.07 okay do I have a second second okay any discussion Madame clerk please call the roll Harris for Hunter for alger for aman for best for Brown for surles law for motion carry 7-0 okay thank you and let's see here my pages fell and they got a little bit out of order so let me find my number four okay here we are all right we are in 4.02 um let's see
060I am looking for the approval of our current of our policies and new and revised policies and I'm trying to see where I missed that on my sheet is okay oh I that's right I want to do the special educ a that's what happens when you change up your agenda a little bit so 4.02 we'd like to um do an action item for a special education annual plan and we actually heard a presentation Dr Mitchell thank you very much Madam chair during our March meeting as is customary once a year the special education director Vivian vulo comes before you and presents the proposed spending plan so she present to you what with input from the cak committee as well as others what we would like to spend the funding on so tonight we are asking
061you we are seeking your approval um for the proposed funding spending plan that was presented to you last March and just keeping in mind the the bulk of the funding is to pay for teachers um instructional assistance um materials and supplies and things of that nature for students with disabilities okay may I have a motion to approve the special education annual plan Madam chair I move to approve the special education plan idea Part B in the amount of 7, 76,5 47 and Ida Part B peep Grant funds in the amount of $27,000 976 okay do I have a second second and any discussion all right please call the role Harris for Hunter four aler four aan four best four Brown four s's law four motion carries 70 thank you now the next item on our
062agenda is 4.03 the new and revised policies so Dr Vell thank you very much Madam chair at your March 19th Schoolboard meeting Mrs Tracy Brooks Special Assistant to the superintendent shared over 30 revised and review policies and procedures to begin the review of the policy chapter on students since that time policy committee members have provided responses to your questions so this evening the policies are coming before you for your approval and given the quantity they have been placed in five groups for your consideration great thank you very very much so do I have motion uh to approve the new and revised policies and we are going to take them in the five divided categories so I will read um the category and then the um moniker for the actual policy and then we will do
063a motion for the others subsequently so do I have a motion for the administrative related policies which r j j a j CB J EB J HCA um Madam chair I move to approve the administrative related policies ja student policies goals priority and objectives JCB administrative transfers of students from one school to another JB persons for whom education will be free and jhca open/closed campus do I have a second second any discussion please call the roll Harris for Hunter for alger for aman for best for Brown for Surles law for motion carries 7-0 the next set is under the category of student assignment to schools and programs do I have a motion to approve jca jfab b jfb d j g and J G A Madam chair I move to approve the policies under student
064assignments to schools and programs jca assignment of students to school jfab foreign exchange students jfb magnet alternative programs JG assignment of students to classes and grade level and JGA assignment of twins or multiples in classrooms do I have a second second thank you Mr Hunter do we have any discussion um Madam chair I just wanted to bring up um and I don't know how we do this jca the first sentence there's some grammatical inconsistencies um it's epis by the school board and will be consistent with the desegregation obligations of the established by appli federal court orders so I think ofv has to be pulled out to make sense of it and I don't know how if we can do that now or if we have to pull it and bring it back yes so it's
065really a typo then yeah and we'll be consistent with the desegregation obligations established by applicable federal court orders I think Miss Bradley what do you suggest the best way to handle that you want to approve it with that correction correction you make the motion to approve it with that correction okay okay so we'll make to make that correction as part of the approval okay and I'll send you an email so sounds good and do we have a second for that correction of second eror thank you so I'm a hearing that that correction is attached to the main motion yes the main motion was already made to approve them without the correction yes yes so there's an amendment to the main motion okay to approve okay I'll corrected form on to include the um the cor
066on the amendment the amendment and then I'm sorry and which which number is that one again jca oh jca okay sounds good all right do we have um do we have any dis further discussion please call the roll Harris for Hunter for alger for aman for best for Brown for surles law for the amendment passes 7-0 now go back and vote on those um policies with that correction to jca yeah there we go okay do I have a motion to approve these policies for Student Assignment to schools and programs yes Madam chair I move to approve the policies with student assignments to schools and programs with the correction for policy jca assignment of students to school do second thank you any discussion please call the roll Harris for Hunter for alger for Brown for best
067for aman for surles law for motion carries 7-0 thank you may I have a motion to approve the student admission related policies jec JF jfab b jfab b e jfab BF jfab G and jfb Madam chair I move to approve the policies under student admissions related policies jec admission of nonp of nonpublic students for part-time enrollment JF student admissions to school jfab admiss JF ad of postgraduates and jbi admission of children of persons on active military duty do I have a second second thank you Mr Harris any discussion please call the roll Harris for Hunter for alger for aman for best for Brown for surles law for motion carry 7-0 thank you do I have a motion to approve the policies in the category of student health related policies those include jlc jlca jlcc jlc
068d jlc e j lcf and jci Madam chair I move that we approve the policies under student health related policies jlc student health services and requirements jlca physical examination of students jlcc communal infectious diseases jlc administering medications to students jlc first aid and emergency medical care jcf School nurses and J LCI recommendation of medication by School Employees okay do I have a second second thank you Mr harrris any discussion please call the role Harris for Hunter for alger for aman for best for Brown for surles law for motion carries 7-0 the final set of policies to get a motion to approve are Student Activity related policies JM JN JP and JQ Madam chair I move to accept the Stu the Student Activity related policies JM student awards honors and scholarships JN student volunteers for community
069and community service JP student donations and gifts and JQ student fees and charges thank you do we have a second second any discussion please call the role Harris four Hunter Al aan best brown s's law four motion carries 70 thank you all and uh as I always say thank you so much to our policy committee um as much as it took to read all of those can you imagine how it was to review all of those so we really do appreciate um your time and effort and allowing um the board time to to give our recommendations as well so I'll move on to 5.02 the attendance report 5.03 the membership report and 5.04 construction report board members you've received a copy of this report are there any questions at this time I know I'm just
070moving P I know I all righty so we need to go back and do a report because I was trying to approve the uh the group of reports so we got to listen to the report first so um let's move on to section five reports and information and we have 5.01 the Virginia literacy act I was not trying to get rid of you Lori I promise I understand I understand thank you so Madam chair tonight Lori wall director of Elementary teaching and learning is here to share an update on the development of our division literacy plan and it is a component required of all divisions as part of the Virginia literacy act which aims to reverse the trends and improve early literacy outcomes for the Commonwealth's youngest Learners and I will add that Newport News
071began that process long before it was required and long before other districts so Miss Lori all take it away thank you good evening Madame chair s law Vice chairwoman Dr best members of the board and Dr Mitchell I'm here this evening to share as you know an update on the development of our division's literacy plan as required by the Virginia literacy act in 2022 the general assembly of Virginia passed the Virginia literacy act establishing the state as a national leader in enhancing literacy outcomes for its youngest Learners this multi-year implementation is set to commence in the 2425 school year in February the board approved Benchmark Advance as the core instructional resource for our division in alignment with the Virginia literacy act mandate that every student in grade K5 received core literacy instruction grounded in scientifically
072based reading research and evidence-based literacy instruction as stipulated by the Virginia literacy act I'm here this evening to discuss another critical aspect of the Virginia literacy act that will take effect effect in the 2425 school year the requirement for each division to develop a district literacy plan delineating their strategies to ful fulfill the mandates of the Virginia literacy act to facilitate the development of the division literacy plan a template and instructional guide has been furnished providing essential support division to divisions during the creation process this slide outlines the six integral sections that the plan must encompass the initial section of the plan is dedicated to articulating the district's literacy Vision including the timing and methods of communicating this Vision to various stakeholder groups our team initiated the development of a district Vision in the fall
073as part of our efforts to streamline the curriculum the vision presented on the slide embodies our dedication and the outcomes of this commitment as we strive to equip our students to be active contributors to their community the second section of the plan details the highquality core supplemental and intervention materials selected by the division from the board of education's approved list the third section outlines the evidence-based reading research training that will be employed within the division including implementation training for the new core program Benchmark Advanced fourth section details the student assessment screeners and diagnostic tools that will be utilized within the division Newport News is among 17 School divisions in the Commonwealth participating in the soft launch of the new K3 screening tool the Virginia language and literacy screener known as vows that is also a
074requirement of the VA in the 2425 school year for all schools in the Commonwealth our Educators have been trained in using the screening tool and have been providing feedback to the VP office regarding the new assessment to Aid in the final modifications of the assessment to to be administered by all districts in the fall of 2425 the fifth section of the plan specifies the resources divisions will use to monitor the literacy progress of their implementation including expectations for lesson planning lesson delivery walkthroughs and feedback and the final section of the plan requires divisions to describe how they will involve parents and caregivers in the implementation of student reading plans in grades K through three in K through 3 as well as in their child's literacy development displayed on the screen is our division's timeline for
075completing our plan and obtaining board approval in June the plan must be approved by the local board and submitted to the Virginia Department of Education no later than July 1 with our literacy Vision established our core program selected and approve and initi professional development planning underway we are confidently progressing into our final planning stage so therefore tonight I am happy to take any questions at this time about our plan what would you say regarding this plan to a parent with concerns like Miss fa um about in particular or just about our process in general so regarding spelling in our process her concerns so um I would say that no matter what division that you're in the Commonwealth has said that our our plan should be grounded in the research the science of reading research and
076evidence-based practices and that has been laid out in um the training that we provided over the last few years to our teachers that our letters training they'll also receive training by the Virginia Department of Education next year and so all of the resources that we're using are also on an approved list by the Virginia Board of Education that are all grounded in Reading research and um evidence-based practice so um when we talk about spelling spelling is a great example of it is a critical skill that kids should learn it's grounded in um the reading research in all of the Five Pillars and it is um the evidence says that that we are to explicitly teach students how to spell and read um and we call that decoding and encoding and that our resources and curriculum
077um establishes that uh kids are taught how to do that through a very explicit scope and sequence so parents will know that because our plan will have what are the resources that you're teaching our students and we will have professional development and resources for our families to partner with us thank you for your answer and just being a former educ educator I could keep up with you so I I might would suggest just yeah making it even even simpler yes thank you absolutely okay yes um I thank you and I just want to piggy back off of what Dr best asked um you know as a parent some a lot a lot is online by virtue of these resources but we be intending planning to able to I'd like to see us be able to
078send more things home with families that maybe they prefer the paper or over dinner they can discuss what uh we're doing vow consonant vow those sorts of things because some families may not have the opportunity to but some may and to the extent anyone could do a little bit more it's going to I think Elevate the whole class I think a beautiful piece that our our uh adoption committee found that was a real Plus for that partnership is that we used to have um basil texts that were a book one book with all of our um stories in it the way Benchmark Advanced is designed is that those are consumable and so what they're reading in school they're able to annotate and write but those go home to families then and on the back of
079each one of those is actually parent activities so every time they are in a unit um and there are 10 units those will go home with families um after each unit and so that Anthology will then almost be going home um with families rather than we collect them at the end of the year I think that's a great resource that will really be um powerful for our partnership other questions yes Mr Brown I'm going to stay on spelling um some more questions about that thank you for the clarification about the the spelling being critical to the five uh uh components of the science of reading so given if it's given its criticality yes what how often um is spelling a part of the curriculum how much spelling uh tests do the kids you know do
080we plan on giving the kids how much was how much is spelling going to be a centerpiece versus a versus a supplement So currently um if you were to go into our kindergarten our first grade our second grade where they're learning foundational spelling skills that's happening daily every day kids are reading and spelling and getting explicit inst instruction I think the difference would probably be where we were um in in past uh practice you might have seen we memorizing spelling words and you're getting a list and you're saying you have to memorize these in the science of reading you learn that we don't learn by sight of just memorizing words that we that our brain is wired in patterns and so the neural pathway is that I'm able to read that word because I quickly
081understand patterns in my brain automatic and so we're teaching students and the new standards outline it won't say um you need to memorize these however many words it'll say you need to learn in kindergarten short valve patterns and if you know short vow patterns you'll be able to spell hundreds of words and once you learn vow consonant e and long vow patterns and and are controlled in first grade you'll learn even more words to spell so it's it's designed to learn patterns in order to spell and read words that's by Design in our standards it's by designed in the evidence and it's by designed in our resources that we have just purchased um so hope because I so I understand you're we're going to recognize teach children to recognize patterns which will then help them
082to spell words but at what point memorization of the word at some point takes place so from the you know as a parent who's who's watching this you know isn't isn't there a list of words that I can teach my child that will help prepare them or is that not the case so there isn't there isn't a list of words is not a best practice no okay no we would say you would learn patterns and so you would work on spelling words with your child that has those patterns that are within the scope and sequence for their grade level and as the grade levels move forward you're learning many more patterns and you're also learn reading much more complex text so you're in moves with your reading if that makes sense so if your question
083is are word spelling words in isolation a best practice moving forward as a result of the science of reading the answer would be no what replaces that is that we still teach kids explicitly but through patterns and and and mapping of words and that is within that is happening daily and by the end of the year what the standard says in first grade is that you should be able to read any AR controlled word any short vow word any long vow word that's a single syllable or it might say multi- syllable okay so it's not just a set of words it's any word I see how that that's going to be a struggle for a lot of parents you know in bridging that Gap so are there some resources or some classes that we're going
084to provide to parents because parents are going to want to help their children to learn to read so how are we how are we planning to come alongside parents and help them understand this pattern recognition so in section six that's one of the places where it says how will you uh work alongside teacher uh parents one thing will be through the vowels uh you saw our screening tool is changing to vowels through their vows data when teachers are sitting and explaining what does this data say about your child's decoding and encoding or spelling and reading they would say here are resources and if a student has a student playing um that is required as part of our our division plan there H there's a family resource section so the teachers is required the development of
085the plan you understand your students data you understand what we're doing and partner with you at home and that's the story of the student of the student plan and our partnership let's see Dr best yes I was goingon to let Marlin go first no I I think she I think she hit on it as far as making it simple for the parents to what we call a take- home packet you know yes when you're traveling to see your grandmother or whatever the parent and the child can be working on spelling no matter where they at correct no no special your software I know you know I need to call you to get access to something piece paper and a pencil okay piece of paper and a pencil okay all right yes sir Dr best I
086know you Shar with us some new research but the research still says that for parents reading to your children 100% reading with your children is the best thing that you can do to help your children yes so that's the other side of the research the spelling falls under that um decoding and encoding but the other part of that um research is language comprehension and so to expose students to background knowledge vocabulary sentence structure um and comprehension those we we always say every night reading with your child or um your child reading to you will always be um part of our work that we'll do moving forward some things haven't changed after B that's one other questions or comments thank I just I just want to say um in terms of the VA um I I'm
087excited about the changes that are coming ahead um we still need to push for funding uh at the state level making sure that in the long run they continue to support because the money has to follow uh the mandates and making sure that that happens also the Virginia Department of Education has resources for parents as well and that's something that they can also look to um in order to get additional support uh with word study and spelling and those are on our um division website under our elementary English um sit so we can if if you are talking to parents that's the place where you could quickly um get them to thank you so much and thank you for answering our questions absolutely I look forward to coming back in June we will move on
088to 5.02 the attendance report 5.03 the membership report and 5.04 the construction report board members you have received a copy of this report are there any questions at this time okay hearing none we'll move on to item 5.05 comments by our superintendent Dr Mitchell thank you very much Madam chair I will begin my comments this evening by congratulating Crittenden middle school English teacher Miss Shonda Woods she was named the 2025 Virginia Region 2 teacher of the year by the Virginia Department of Education in a surprise announcement this past Wednesday [Applause] and while I never remember whether there a 15 or 16 School divisions in region two I'll just say she beat out the rest of them okay oh other divisions um the Virginia superintendent of public education Dr Lisa Coons joined members of the school
089board local elected officials and critton students to rec and staff to recognize Miss Woods she is now one of eight region finalists for the state teacher of the year so she will now be going up against the winners of the other regions in our state I on a personal level have had the pleasure of serving with her she was a teacher at Huntington middle school during my tenure of principal and I am proud to say I actually hired her back then um we are really looking forward to her working hard to be named the Virginia teacher of the year that is our goal Newport News public schools has once again been honored with the best communities for music education designation by the N National Association of Music Merchants foundation in recognition of our commitment to
090music education we do here in Newport News offer a diverse music curriculum at all grade levels which includes music instruction performance ensemble and Community performances so a very special thanks to all of our music educators who ensure that our students receive quality music education this past Friday our community had the opportunity to enjoy our student vocalist in action more than 600 students performed during the first Newport News Public Schools All City Music Festival right here down the street at Christopher Newport performances included middle and High School bands choirs orchestras guitar ensembles and Elementary choruses so congratulations to all of our student performers we celebrated the new artificial turf at Todd stadium with a ribbon cutting ceremony last Thursday the turf installation was recently completed and the field does look amazing if you have the opportunity
091please take a look now in addition to being used for track and football lines have been added to create soccer and field hockey Fields uh we are looking forward to hosting more athletic events on this brand new field this is also National Autism Awareness Month and there are numerous community events taking place throughout April to increase understanding and acceptance and Foster support of children and adults with autism Newport News public schools has a wide range of resources to support and Advance students so I thank all of our dedicated special Educators special Educators for their service to our students April is also designated as the month of the military child when we recognize and honor our military connected students for their resilience and their courage our region is of course home to Air Force Army Coast
092Guard Marine Navy National Guard and Reserve families as a show of support we invite all students and staff to wear purple tomorrow April the 17th for purple up day to show our combined support for our military students that concludes my comments this evening Madam chair and as Mr Hunter says great things are happening great things are happening in news so thank you Dr Mitchell and Mr Hunter we will move on to item six another opportunity to hear from the public are there any cards no ma'am okay great so you you may notice that there is a um seat empty uh this evening um for our school board rep I am not going to steal his Thunder we will let him let us know uh where he has decided to go to school um for college
093for his next steps um but there were some commitments that he needed to make this evening um and I'm just beaming up here because that is what this is about it's about our students taking those really great next steps um with the encouragement of Newport News Public Schools behind them meeting adjourned [Music]