001Heavenly Father, as we gather this evening, we thank you for the gift of a new school year in Dorchester District 2. We ask for your presence, guidance, and protection over our entire district, every school, every classroom, every person. We pray for our students. May they enter each day with hope, curiosity, and confidence. Help them feel safe, valued, and encouraged to become who you've created them to be. We lift up every teacher and teacher's aid. Grant them wisdom, strength, and patience as they shape minds and change lives. Bless our guidance counselors and school psychologists as they support the emotional and mental well-being of our students and staff. Give them discernment and compassion in every interaction. watch over our school administrators that they may lead with integrity, vision, and servant hearts. We pray for the hands and
002hearts behind the scenes. Our bus drivers who safely carry our children to and from school. Our food service providers who nourish bodies and brighten days. Our school nurses who offer calm in the chaos. Our school resource officers who serve and protect with courage and care. our adult education staff who open doors for lifelong learners and second chances. We also lift up the parents and guardians. Give them strength and peace and let them feel supported as vital partners in their child's success. And finally, Lord, we pray over the school board and district leaders. Let their decisions reflect wisdom, unity, and the best interest of every student and staff member. May this school year be filled with joy, growth, safety, and community. The Dorchester District 2 way. In your name we pray. You all join uh rise
003and join me in reciting our pledge of allegiance. Good evening all and welcome to the July 28th um Dorchester District 2 board meeting. Um I just wanted to let you all know um that I do have Mrs. Bates um with us via the phone and she is logged in and so she will be participating in the meeting. Um, at this time I would ask for a motion to approve the consent agenda and meeting minutes. >> So moved. >> Motion made by Mr. Guthrie. Do we have a second? Seconded by Miss Powell. Any questions or discussion? All right. Hearing none, we will call for the vote. Okay, motion carries. Seven in favor. All right, first item or or the next item on our agenda this evening are district highlights. Mr. Brian Bohannan to bring us those.
004Looks like we have a lot of great stuff coming. >> Dr. Wimberly, Mr. Doherty, board members. That's exactly right. Uh we've got a great crowd in here and there's no better way to have a good crowd than with lots and lots of student and school achievement. Uh most of this is going to be handled. I'm gonna bring up Dr. Emily Duplantis to run us through the first of these. I'll catch the last one and wrap us up. >> Thank you. Good evening, Board Chair Wimberly, Superintendent Doerty, and esteemed board members. Tonight, I am excited to share several celebrations highlighting the outstanding achievements of our CTE students. Please join me in welcoming the following students as we recognize their recent accomplishments. Dorchester District 2 and the CTE department proudly recognizes Valerie Aosta. Come on up. A
0052025 graduate of Somerville High School for competing or completing the Trident Technical College Youth Apprenticeship Program with an education aid focus. This two-year program included over 1,000 hours of paid work in our schools, 25 free college credits, and recognition from the US Department of Labor. Valerie is the first student to complete this grow our own Own educator initiative which launched last year. While working in DD2, Valerie supported both Rawlings Middle School of the Arts and Syers Elementary. In the I'm sorry, not Sireers, it was SPAN Elementary. I just realized that. In the fall, Valerie will proudly be attending USC Columbia as a part of the teaching fellows program, pursuing a degree in elementary education and hopes to graduate in three years thanks to her Trident Technical College credits. We look forward to welcoming Valerie back
006to DD2 as a future educator. This year, 31 DD2 students participated in the youth apprenticeship program across the tri county area through our continued partnership with Trident. Thank you, Valerie, and congratulations. Next up, we have the team from Ashley Ridge. HOSA HOSA Future Health Professionals is a global student-ledd organization recognized by the US Department of Education in the health science education division division of ACT. HOSA empowers students to become leaders in the global health community through education, collaboration, and hands-on experiences in health related fields. Its mission is to promote career opportunities in the health care industry and to enhance the delivery of quality health care to all people. Students qualify for the international leadership conference by placing first, second, or third at the state leadership conference held in March. Students from across the state demonstrate
007their knowledge and skills in health science, leadership, and teamwork through events that reflect realworld healthc care practices and standards. Last month, DD2 students were among 12,900 students competing at the international level from 54 chartered associations, including chapters from American Samoa, Canada, China, Korea, Puerto Rico, and Vietnam. This evening, we would like to congratulate the public health team second place win at the international conference. In front of us, we have Kayla Wilcox, Lily Edwards, Annabelle Salceto, and Annabelle and Isabelle Jacowski. Congratulations, ladies. Next up, we have Ashley Ridge, Future Farmers of America. The National FFA organization, formerly known as the Future Farmers of America, is the largest career and technical student organization in the country with over 1 million student members nationwide. Over 300 of those young leaders walk through the doors of Ashley Ridge High
008School each year. FFA is an intracurricular organization that makes positive differences in the lives of students by developing their potential for premier leadership, personal growth, and career success. Our students develop this potential by engaging with the community, challenging themselves to exceed expectations, and learning about agriculture through hands-on experiences at Ashley Ridge. This year, the Ashley Ridge FFA chapter competed in several events at the state FFA convention in Greenville, South Carolina. Their accomplishments illustrated to all of the South Carolina FFA the caliber of students and rigor of academics here, not only in DD2, but at Ashley Ridge High School. At this time, they're already in front of us, so they don't need to come down. But I would like to recognize a communications team who placed second place. That team consisted of Berlin Campana, Abigail Daniels,
009Alise Gardner, and Casey Trulock. Also, I'd like to note that Abigail Daniels placed third in employment skills and earned her state degree. Parliamentary Procedures placed third place that consisted of a team of Payton Bird, Berlin Campana, Abigail Daniels, Alise Gardner, Addison Money, and Ashley Walters. Agra Science Fair second place in their division for environmental and natural resource division three Patrick Russell for testing water purity plant science division six Olivia Jones and Ashley Walters comparing lettuce growths and for the floor culture team placed third place and that consisted of Olivia Jones again Berlane Campana again and Elise Gardner again. So very well done and thank you for representing DB2 so well. [Applause] Next up, we would like to recognize the Volvo Accelerator program graduates. Since 2023, Ashley Ridge High School has proudly part partnered with Volvo
010Car Charleston alongside three other area high schools to bridge the gap between education and industry. In 2024, Volvo launched the Volvo Accelerator Program, VAP, providing graduating seniors with hands-on training, realworld simulations, and a pathway to full-time employment. Despite several unexpected challenges this year, three of our Ashley Ridge students successfully completed all program requirements, including technical skills development, teamwork, and a hands-on pre-in. One of those students also became the first to participate in Volvo's new marketing internship, helping capture content and share the VAP experience through social media. This powerful partnership is opening doors for our students and preparing them for meaningful careers. We are deeply grateful to Volvo for their continued investment in our youth and excited for what the future holds. I don't it's hard to get students in the summertime. So, I would like
011to recognize the three graduates who were Jordan Gadston, Brian Yates, and Rory Collins. [Applause] All right. And last, but certainly not least, Bo, our Boeing interns. You can make your way up front. Now, this summer, a select group of students from Dorchester District 2 participated in the Boeing High School internship program. an incredible opportunity to gain hands-on experience in STEM, manufacturing, and supply chain management. Boeing's internships pair students with employee mentors, offering insight into realworld projects, cuttingedge technology, and the inner workings of the aerospace industry. From facility tours and skills training to contributing to actual projects, our students built valuable knowledge and connections that will benefit them. well beyond high school. This year, Boeing expanded the program to include supply chain management, reflecting the growing need for diverse talent across all areas of their organization.
012These paid internships not only prepare students for future career opportunities, but also open doors to long-term success in high demand fields. In front of you, we have a combination of the following students. Um, air president Chassity Wigfall, Christian Brownlow, Deshawn Jenkins, Devin Garcia, Gabe Dela Cruz, Jeremiah Champagne, Jesse Clark, who I recently found out today was offered a full-time job at Boeing as well. Kellen Fernandez was also offered a full-time job at Boeing. Correct. Yes. Logan Diesson, Lucas Clabnik, Malik Grant, Nicholas Kimmel, and Rudy Aguilar. So, we give them another round of applause. >> Thank you, Dr. Planus. One more round of applause for all these students. Now students, I forgot to mention before you run off, uh Dr. Duplantis has certificates of appreciation from the board of trustees that she will distribute in the
013lobby, assuming you don't all want to stay for the entire board meeting. But hang on real quick. We have one more board highlight to close out our highlights. I'm proud to share that Fort Dorchester High School has been named a data trailblazer by the South Carolina Education Oversight Committee. for Dorchester is the only high school in the state to earn this award in 2025. Data Trailblazer schools assist educators and accessing, interpreting, and communicating data while demonstrating improved student outcomes. They help families interpret their students grades and assessment scores. Establish and maintain a culture of schoolwide datainformed decisionmaking with a goal of improved student outcomes. Thanks to efforts led by Fort's leadership team, they developed new systems for collecting and analyzing academic attendance and behavioral data. Efforts that had a tremendously positive impact on student outcomes
014and school culture with gains in every measured category, including a graduation rate of 95.5% and a 40% improvement in their attendance rate. They believe these outcomes were key contributors to their recognition as a Paul Meadows finest finalist last year. Congratulations to the entire Ford Doorchester community on this outstanding achievement. I believe we have principal Trip Aldridge in the room. Come on down, Trip. [Applause] Mr. Al would like to give a special shout out to former assistant principal Brent Hamrich, currently principal of Eetto Middle School and the contributions that he had in in getting this award taken care of. So, plug for Brent. This concludes our district highlights. if you'd like to make a polite and quiet egg. Oh, yeah. They're they're taking the hint. Okay, perfect. All right. Thank you for your patience. We will
015continue with the agenda. Next items are board committee reports. Um and first up we have our policy committee. Uh we will have Miss King present these policies. These policies are for the second reading. We have a R J I CJR possession use of personal electronic devices or district owned devices. We have policy IH AF. It's the arts education as well as policy IH A music education. We have policy IHBF for homebound instruction as well as IHBFR homebound instruction. >> All right. Thank you, Miss King. These um as these are coming out of committee, we do not need a second. So, at this time, I would just ask if we have any questions or discussion. All right. Hearing none, we will call for the vote. Okay, motion carries. Seven in favor. All right. Um, next we
016have our finance committee. Mr. Guthrie, have anything for us this evening? >> Uh, nothing to report. I don't know if Mr. Lee has anything to report. still recuperating from passing the budget. Uh looking forward to tonight's update to see how we ended the year and going forward to the new year. So nothing else to report. >> Thank you, Mr. Guthrie. Um and Mr. Lee. All right. Then we have our facilities committee, Mr. Farnsworth. >> Um thank you, Madam Chair. Facilities committee did meet this afternoon at 4:15. I would encourage folks to go back and watch that live stream if they're interested. A lot of good information. Of course, facilities working uh really, really hard over the summer. I know we've got some more updates uh later in the meeting from uh Mr. Dhy, but that's
017all I've got. Anything for Miss Powell? >> All right. >> Thank you. >> Okay. The next item on our agendas are public comments on agenda items. Um, and just as a reminder, um, public comments, um, on agenda items are allowed as a regular agenda item. Speakers may address only items printed on the agenda for that particular meeting. Speakers are required to complete a sign-in card five minutes prior to the beginning of the board meeting. Speakers will be recognized by the chairman to speak for no longer than three minutes per speaker. The board has set aside 20 total minutes for public comments and speakers must remain behind the podium at all times and must not remove the microphone or other equipment from their location at the podium. This is per the policy beh public participation at
018meetings. Okay. And so, um, I would ask all our public comments speakers to please come up and around down the aisle to access, um, the podium and microphone. So, this evening, we do have one public comment on an agenda item, and that is, um, from Mrs. Brooke Hamilton. Hey. Um, I am commenting on the student enrollment recommendations that's on the agenda. So, I don't know if that's appropriate, but that's what I wrote a comment on today. So, um, I'm aware that the board's meeting to discuss transfer request appeals today. And as a parent of a student who was previously allowed a transfer request and denied this year, I would like to request that the board take a few things into account when reviewing these requests. Um likely these are all taken into account but I
019thought it would be a miss if I didn't come and speak on behalf. So first and foremost school starts next week. Um we initially placed these requests back in May and so you can only imagine the amount of stress that this is causing um our families and our children. So I hope you will review each request on an individual basis and take into account the impact the decision will have on the student, the family and the classmates. I implore that we do not make sweeping generalizations with regard to transfer requests and examine the ability of the requested school to accommodate each students. While some schools are overcrowded and this has to be taken into account, there are also transfer requests to schools that are not overcrowded and have space for the students who were requested
020to attend that school. While I know past requests are not typically taken into account, if a request has been granted multiple years and there has not been a major change such as reszoning or a sudden over capacity, I would hope that you would uphold previous transfer requests and not unnecessarily uproot children from these schools that they have been in attending in this if the space is not needed for others. Please consider the financial implications of transfer denials. Afterchool options for working parents are hard to come by and inschool afterare options are already full. For those that are requesting a renewal of a previously approved transfer request, please take into consideration that these schools have become a part of our family. I can only speak to elementary schools as that's where my children reside, but I
021strive to be as engaged as possible with the school through PTA and school events. We've established relationships with the students, teachers, administrations, and other parents. And these rel relationships are vital to the success of both our individual children and our communities. Thank you for your time and consideration. >> Thank you, Miss Hamilton. >> All right, the next item on our agenda is the board chair's report. And again, I have a list of some upcoming dates. I believe that everyone already has these on your calendar, but this is just a friendly reminder. Um the next uh thing we have is our convocation this coming Thursday morning and I know that we are all looking forward to that and excited about the big kickoff. From what I have heard it's going to be a lot of fun.
022So I hope to see you all there. Um and then the um next conference we have the SCSBA school law conference is August 23rd and 24th. Um and I believe it is not too late to register for that if you are interested. And then the only other item we have on here right now is our town hall meeting in October 24th. But with school starting I am sure we are going to have lots of other exciting upcoming events. So we are all looking forward to that. All right. The next item on our agenda is our superintendence report. So, I'm going to let Mr. Dohy take over. >> Yes. Uh, madame chair and rest of the board, we have several items for you tonight on the superintendent report. The first is a summer program update. Um,
023we have a lo local board approved courses, uh, school readiness report, um, unudited financial statements, and then personnel report and student enrollment recommendations. But first, we'll start with uh our assistant superintendent for teaching and learning, Mrs. Katie Barker, and she's going to talk about our summer programs um this summer. So, Mrs. Barker, >> good evening. Make sure I can use the clicker. Good evening, everyone. Thank you so much for having me tonight. I just wanted to first before I start to go over our summer program update, give a huge shout out to our assistant directors and our leaders at each school that really organize all of our summer programs. You'll see based off of the numbers, it is no small feat. Um, and even though I get to celebrate and share this with you, it
024is really their work behind the scenes that make all of this happen. So, they deserve that shout out. So, thank you to them. Um, so I'll start with our elementary summer reading camp. If you remember, this is part of the read to succeed law. Um, and we target second and third graders here. So, it is a total of 20 instructional days that are all focused on literacy. So, from the time the students arrive until the time they go home, it is all literacy focused. um transportation and meals are provided for all elementary students that participate. So you'll see up there some invited numbers. We invite students for summer reading camp based off of our winter map scores. Um so you'll see very pretty high numbers if you remember corre if you remember in the spring
025we shared that that bar had had risen for the read to succeed retention law this year. So, we, as you can see, invited more students um and had more students participate than we have in years past. So, um you'll see we had 93 second graders and 194 third graders attend summer reading camp spread over two sites. Um, and out of all of those third graders that attended, invited and were attended, we had 24 students at the end of summer reading camp that didn't meet the cutoff score from the state for the read to succeed third grade retention. So, 24 students um that will repeat third grade um based on their literacy progress over the course of this year. So, we've been in contact with those schools and those parents and working closely to ensure that
026they'll get what they need this year. So, middle school, same thing. 20. The schedule runs very similar to elementary school. This summer recovery for middle school is focused on recovering credits for students that didn't pass the courses in during middle school. They mainly use adminum courseware at the middle school for credit recovery. And again, transportation and meals are provided. We're super excited about these numbers. 38 310 students, middle school students were assigned to summer recovery and 292 of them um served their credit recovery time. So only 18 students um that didn't attend and complete. So you'll see the breakdown by grade level. And those 292 students over the course of summer recovery completed 499 courses. So you'll see that several of those students had more than one course that they had to work on credit
027recovery over the summer for. We did have some special circumstances in middle schools um where maybe our students couldn't attend um the assigned. We hold all of our middle school summer recovery at one location but for different reasons. maybe students could not attend the summer recovery. So, our middle schools really chipped in to meet those families needs and help those students where they needed it so that they could still get their summer recovery done even if they couldn't attend at that specific site. They served those kids at their homeschool site where where needed. And then these are our high school numbers. You'll see enrollments. Again, um a lot of different a lot of stu students may have more than one specific course. At the high school level, it can be for initial credit or credit
028recovery. This includes all dual enrollment courses. Um and you can just see them broken down over the different content areas for a total of 2363 um course enrollments over the course of summer school for high school. So you can see elementary, middle, and high. Um, we were able to really assist a lot of students to catch up, recover credits that they needed to or offer some initial credits where needed. I think that might be it for me. Any questions about summer programs? Okay. Thank you so much. >> Thank you, Mrs. Barker. And now I'd like to call on uh Mrs. Christy Seanner. She is the assistant director um for high schools and she's going to talk a little bit about um the local approved courses on orchestra six honors and eight honors at our middle
029schools. So Mrs. Celander. >> Okay. Good evening Dr. Wimberly, Mr. Doerty, and board members. We do have one request for a local board approved course for the beginning of this year. I know I was just here in May doing our courses for this year and renewing. Um, but we have a good problem which is where we have students in orchestra who want to continue on past the level of five honors. So that means they're typically taking it more than once in this school year. So we're excited that we have such a a thriving fine arts program in our high schools. So this really is a very it's just really a continuation of a program we already have. We do have classes in the fine arts up to level eight or nine honors already. And this
030just gives the students the opportunity to continue the honors level for orchestra as they become juniors and seniors. >> So at this time I'm asking the board for um a motion to approve this uh this new course. So thank you Mrs. Zelander. >> Great board members. At this time I'd ask for a motion to approve the local board course as presented. So moved. >> Motion made by Mr. Guthrie, seconded by Miss King. Any questions or discussion? All right. Hearing none, we will call for the vote. >> Sorry. You good? Did you have any questions? >> I do not. Okay. Motion carries. Seven in favor. Thank you. Thank you. >> Thank you, Mrs. C. Lander. And now, u we're going to do a little bit of different report. As we talked about, uh I think Mrs.
031um or Dr. Wimberly talked about the beginning of school. We're going to talk a little bit about school readiness report about our facilities operations and and how we're getting ready for the uh 202526 school year. And we'll start with uh Mr. Jeff Smith, director of facilities and maintenance. >> Good evening. Uh just wanted to give a brief update. And obviously the the first line up there is what the most important line that uh all schools will be ready for students on August 6th. Um in facilities we don't really have a it wasn't a large summer. It was very short in my opinion. So we're going to be doing products year round at this point. So we've got several products that are just just actually kicking off. Um Ashley Ridge, we're actually going to start putting
03213 HVAC units on tomorrow. Um should have no issue with school starting. We'll get them all done within two days. and uh Newington's parking lot. They're still um paving as we speak, moving to the back tomorrow. So, we'll be doing that right up to uh school starting, but we'll have everything ready for August 6th and for the first day. We've already spoken to the principles and if we have to make arrangements for teachers to park in certain areas of the campus while we're finishing up, um that'll be done as well. The um security vestibules have been like a fight constantly. I think I mentioned this in our facilities meeting, but they are telling me they'll be done this week. So, um I'm hoping on that. I know all the material is already on site, so
033it's just a matter of installation. And um like I said, yeah, um Opra Middle's got a few units that we haven't got to change out yet with their project, but we've got backup plans in place. In case we don't get those units put in before the first day of school, we'll keep the old units running and reschedule a different time to do it. But, uh right now, we're we're feeling very good about where we are um overall as a district. And um I don't foresee any issues to uh stop school from starting on the 6th. >> And I just want to say thank you to Mr. Smith. I know it takes a lot of coordination and communication with all these facilities and all these projects that get done in such a small window of time.
034So >> very few projects. That's not many. >> And I think uh I think we talked about at the earlier meeting, how many uh requisitions or uh work orders did you have placed this summer? 00400 for the summer. >> And how many did you guys get completed? >> Thousand complete so far. >> Wow, that's amazing. And I know you said that you'll probably be able to get the other 400 completed probably by >> will be done by the time school starts. Yes. >> Well, so thank you for for doing all that. >> Thank you. >> Next up, we have uh Mr. Kenny Ferrell says the superintendent for operations facilities. And Kenny's going to talk a little bit about the items that he's working on uh to prepare for the summer. Once again, good evening everybody.
035But once again, uh Jeff did a great job. Tony, um there's a lot of moving pieces in our buildings and the age of our buildings and what they do in a summer. Uh like the rest of the departments I'm getting ready to talk about. Just an amazing job. Um athletics, we start athletics on Thursday. Um July 31st. They kick off. Um all fall sports, our our fields are ready, our gyms are ready, and uh our athletes are ready. So athlet athletics is kicking off. Food service. uh we've uh made our transition to Aramark. We've had our weekly meetings. Our team has met with them or um teleconference with them on every Thursday. Um it's just been outstanding uh building that relationship with them, their attention to detail, their attention to what we're saying. Uh we
036really look forward to that relationship. Our resident manager, um we got to meet the principles and the district staff got to meet her last uh Monday. Her name is Paula Stampanic. Stanic. Um It's it's a tough one. I I'll get it before the end of the year. But we're excited about her. We're excited what she's going to bring as far as building a culture and our food service uh family. And u menus are uploaded. So for the next couple weeks, you want to see the menu for the first couple weeks of school. They're ready to go and our food will be delivered uh tomorrow and Thursday. So the freezers and refrigerators will be packed ready for Wednesday. Uh safety. Um we've hired all SRO security and crossing guards. So we're fully staffed. Uh district-wide radio
037system is up and ready. So, we're excited about that with the communication and the safety. We'll be able to do that. Window film has been installed. Um, so we're excited about all those initiatives. Technology, I've been told we are ready to go. Devices are ready to be issued the first day of school. So, we're excited about that as well. Transportation, 160 routes. We have 160 drivers. All right. All right. So, uh, Mr. Shop and his team has done a great job and we just need to continue to push through and work with our drivers and and make sure that we create an environment where they're happy. We have three of 15 subs. So, we're still trying to find some more subs because we are going to have those days where, you know, we get the
038flu and there's some sickness comes through. So, we're trying to to beef up that route. But, this has been the best in years. So, just a shout out to the operation department and all the people who work there because they've really done a great job getting us ready. But, we are ready for opening a school. Thank you. [Applause] And now I'd like to call up uh Mr. Kenneth Wilson. He's going to talk a little bit about uh he and Mr. Scott Matthews. Uh M Dr. Wilson's the assistant superintendent for personnel and student services and Mr. Matthews the executive director for personnel. And so they're going to give us a little bit of update in that department. So >> So good afternoon, good evening everyone. Um, so I originally was going to do this by myself,
039but that's some great news to report tonight. And so I thought our executive director of personnel should be involved in that process as well. So we do have a lot of great news to share with you as it relates to personnel. And our focus tonight will be on personnel and staff development um, and not so much on student services overall. And so I'm going to start with Scott and I know he's going to give kudos to the department. So I'll let him do that part. >> Yes. Thank you. Yes. I want to continue with uh what Mr. Farrell was saying. It's just been a it's been a great summer, spring and summer. Um, as we've started to prepare for the 2526 school year, um, from a personnel standpoint, um, I want to give credit to
040all of our department leaders and our principles. They've all all their hiring teams, uh, our department and personnel, all of the district level support. It's just been a really, really nice spring and summer and and I feel like, uh, we're in the best place we've been in several years from a personnel standpoint. Okay. So, I want to continue the good news. I just want to give you uh a little bit of information, just some some some fun facts about personnel. Uh we did hire new certified personnel to DD2 this year. So, excited to have 237 new certified personnel. These are teachers, administrators, anyone who's certified uh guidance counselors, anyone who's a certified employee. We we've hired 237 new employees. and we've also hired 101 new classified employees to the DD2 team. So, uh we're excited
041to have these new family members to our DD2 family. We also just some other uh tidbits. We've hired 35 of our uh employees that we've hired certified are from other South Carolina school districts. So, they've moved into our district and going to be joining uh the DD2 team. And then we have this is interesting. This is always great to see. We have 12 uh current we have 12 TAs who have gained certification to become certified teachers. So we're always a district is promoting growth from within and we have a lot of people who are doing it and I think you're going to see as we move forward in the coming years you're going to see that number continue to grow and then we even had seven sub we've had seven substitutes for example also who've
042become full-time employees either in the classified realm or certified realm. So excited about that. And some more information about substitutes. You know, we don't always get to report about substitutes, but we have uh our team members, Larara Hayes and Elena Jackson who who work specifically with our substitute program are doing a wonderful job. And uh just some information, we have currently have 156 certified substitutes as we begin the 2526 school year and 448 non-certified substitutes. And what we've done, what we've be got gotten really good at uh the last year or two is cleaning up our sub system. It used to be where we would have a thousand in there, but but 500 weren't subbing. So, we've gotten really good at making sure that we keep those numbers are active folks who are subbing. So,
043we're excited about that. And then some very positive news. We did some uh looking at data from the sub rates for fill rates from 24 25. You remember some of you? Yes, you all remember uh back when during the COVID days when we were looking at fill rates at 40 50% um you know and and now this past school year um we averaged uh every month we average between 91 and 93% fill rates. So that's just a little bit of exciting news and I'm going to let Dr. Wilson continue to share more exciting news >> and I also want to thank the board because the substitute initiative you remember a few years back it was to keep our subsystem in-house versus outsourcing it and so that has really paid off for us in a great
044way. So our next slide is about professional development. So we've had a lot of professional development over the summer. Nothing happens around here without professional development. There's always PD taking place all the time. So we've had 750 staff members who have attended professional development over the summer and it's been presented by our curriculum leaders, our teachers, our its and also our content specialists. And some of the highlights over the summer onboarding, we could talk about that for a very long time because it involves every content area. Classified and certified staff members are involved in that process. We also have a capturing his kids hearts initiative that we continue with training throughout the summer. lots of curriculum writing led by our CNI team that took place over the summer, mentor training for those who will be
045assisting our induction teachers, and of course, we had induction training as well. And I believe Miss Powell was able to join us the second day, the first day of our second group of induction teachers who were over at the RISE facility. And then we also had teacher evaluation training over the summer and substitute training. And we are still training probably up until the first day we begin. And after convocation, we start training again. We don't stop. The next slide is in reference to vacancies. I'm sure this is what you want to know about who's still left, right? So certified vacancies, elementary, we have none. No elementary certified vacancies. We also have no middle school certified vacancies. For our high school, we have five and we have coverage plans that are in process of being reviewed.
046Um, and hopefully we'll be taking those vacancies down as well. And then we have five and a half special education vacancies as well. And I will say one and a half of those special education vacancies are at the district level. Um, and four of them are at the school level. So we are in a much better situation this year than we were this time last year. Also in our classified vacancies, we still have some in adult supports, teaching assistance. We have, I believe, one secretary position. Talked about those substitute bus drivers. So, we still have those. We're looking for 12. And then we have one maintenance position. So, we're in great shape to start the school year. So, everybody who's here just needs to stay. Anybody who wants to come needs to come and fill
047these vacancies, but we're feeling good about starting out the school year with our schools pretty much fully staffed in all areas. That's it. I think that's it unless there are some questions. >> Well, I just want to say congratulations. Thank you. I mean, having a report like this is not easy because we know we have competition elsewhere, but I keep saying what I what I've said all along. We make them feel like they're welcome. They come and more will be coming. So soon the next report may say we have no vacancies and it's all because of the family and the warmth that they feel when they encounter us. So continue to do it. You're doing a great job. And hey, if we had more money, I'd give it to you. We don't have it yet,
048though. >> We certainly want to thank the board for the salary increase from 49 to 515. Um that was significant. We had, of course, the other departments had a 36% um increase as well. And the one thing we've learned is that no matter how we advertise, the best advertisement is word of mouth. And that's what brings the people to Doorchester 2. And those who've left, they tend to come back. So, thank you. >> Thank you, Dr. Wilson and Mr. Matthews. So now we'll bring up uh Miss Manet and talk a little bit about where we are, our kind of our budget and where we're at uh to start the year or ending the year and getting ready to start a new year. So Miss Manet, >> good evening board chair, board members, and Mr. Dhy.
049just few tidbits um for finance, we'll talk about the school report in just a second. But as far as opening school and getting ready, um the biggest concern that we had, well, not the biggest, but one of the concerns that we had was that federal funding that was on hold from the federal from the from Washington and over the weekend, it's been released. So, we are so happy because some of that money, as Dr. Wilson was talking about um is for professional development and onboarding which we were thinking of another plan and another funding source to be able to cover those very important needs. Um but now we'll be able to continue with that same source for professional development. There's also English learners in that and um student support and academic enrichment and also migrant
050education. So, we're happy that we'll be able to th continue those with that same federal money. Um, for our new year, um, we're now in FY26 and our school and department budgets have been activated. Um, like a video game, I guess now they're activated. They're set up in the system and we're ready to go. And then the teacher supply checks. Um the state department of education sends us, as the state includes in their budget, $400 for all certified teachers who are the teacher of record for their classroom. They will receive those $400 checks on the first day of school when they return on this Wednesday. So those are already at the schools. Um our finance department's been working hard to to continue through the summer and u we're ready to go for the new school
051year. Thank you, Miss Manet. And now we'll bring up uh Mrs. Barker back up and talk a little bit more about curriculum and instruction and a little bit what uh PD day and what those first few days or first week is going to look like for our staff and some other items that you need to be aware of when you're talking about the new math standards. So, Mrs. Barker, >> thank you. So, first week for teachers or staff, we have five full days. Um, and you'll see here kind of how those are divided up. If you remember that the statute was updated this year, um, and gave us a little bit more guidance on that. So, one of So, our staff development, um, is already in alignment with that, but there was a minor change.
052Teachers have always gotten two work days prior to the opening of school. Um there was an update over the summer that those work days were required to be one full day and two half days um or two full days, but it couldn't all be half days. Um so we've been working with principles to and also that that shouldn't be interrupted. So there shouldn't be meetings that take place during those times. There shouldn't be uh come to the media center to pick up your stuff. So we are we've been working with principles to ensure that those two work days are uninterrupted are teacherdirected time um to review student data, get their classrooms ready, all of those things. So um we feel like we're in a good a good place there. Our one and a half days
053of district staff development will be convocation is the half day and then on August 1st is all content specific PD for teachers for secretaries really for everyone across the district. So depending on what you teach is where you will report for your content training for that day. So, we work really hard to make sure it is timely, something that teachers need to start day one um and really equip them for a successful school year. So, on that note, a lot of our PD on August 1st this year will focus on math because we have stood before you many times over the last several months and um shared information about the new math adoption. But just a reminder, we will have new math standards K12 all the way up through high school as well as new
054textbooks and new curricula across all levels. So that will be a big focus for August 1 is the updates to those standards as well as using their new teaching materials and their new high-quality instructional materials from the state. So, we are um kind of biting our fingernails a little bit because um we still have schools that are receiving those textbooks and their instructional materials. Um they are shipped to us from the state kind of manages that. But the good news is that all of our teachers and our students have access to all of the digital resources already. So, if for some reason is anything isn't here by the first day, we feel like we'll still be okay until those materials arrive. So, um, we are good for math textbook roll out and the new math
055standards. Um, and part of what we're planning for this year is the change in course sequence for high school courses. That's the flowchart at the bottom. And that will just really be something we work through um over the next several years through IGPS and things like that. So, and then also just a reminder that middle schools starting this year will only offer one high school credit course at the middle schools as recommended by the state department through the new standards. And then finally for me, this is always a big a big um you know question at the beginning of school is how how are we looking for our LEAP our afterchool programs. So um we are we are looking great. Our programs are all full and have a wait list in some grade levels. So,
056um, Miss Thomas and her team are interviewing and hiring as fast as they can and as soon as she gets a position filled, we're taking students off of those weight lists. So, she is starting obviously first at the schools that have the longest weight list so that we can work through those weight list and hopefully have all students off of the weight list um pretty quickly. But of course staffing within those rate those expected ratios has to come first. So current enrollment and she said when I was going over this with Miss Thomas, she was like, "Well, it's changed five or six since I posted that 15 minutes ago." And I was like, "This is this is a good, you know, it's like the moving target. This is a good place for now." But you
057can see that um almost 500 of our slots in LEAP are for Dorchester District 2 staff children. So, Miss Thomas is also working through new hires. Um, she worked really hard this year to fill those leap spots for staff members um at when we were before we left at the end of the year. So, new staff members maybe that weren't here. She's working through the with individually with those people on a spot for a leap. So, working on those as they come up. Um, and I think that is it for me unless you have any questions for me. Thank you so much. Thank you, Mrs. Barker. [Applause] And one of the last things we'll get into is a school readiness report is our admin administrative symposium. And this was for two days. And we're able
058to have this at the Low Country um convention center. And so what we did, our theme this year is dare to lead. And that's based on the book from Bnee Brown. And one thing that we did, we did a little bit of about an hour and a half of that and then we're able to break out into 47 unique sessions. And you can see what was offered there on health and safety, law, instructional technology, curriculum, connections, personnel, special education, finance, assessment, accountability, community engagement, uh, student services. So again, 66 presenters from the district office, school teams, and outside agencies. very engaging and I appreciate everybody that's out there in the crowd. Our our district personnel did a great job and also our content specialists, our IT's um everybody did a great job of providing a
059great event. Um and somebody could take away a nugget or two from each one. Also, I would like to thank uh Mr. Farnsworth and Mrs. Bates for coming. They were able to come and launch uh each day. So, Mr. Farnsworth came on the first day on the 21st and was able to give some good nuggets and uh of leadership to our administrators and then Mrs. Bates came and was able to give some really nice uh comments to our administrators on the the second day. So we appreciate them coming out and uh representing the board. Um also if you look at the second part we were able to have a keynote speaker as Raphael and Serena James um as part of the special service parent liaison. And uh the one thing that we wanted to talk
060about was uh our focus on special services and uh you know every student matters. And so uh Mr. James was able to give a perspective of a um a student with autism who came through the district and about the impact that that that group had uh administrators and teachers on their son. And he's wrote wrote a book about it. his wife actually has a blog on Nile 9 when they found out their child was do di diagnosed with autism. And so um and then the most powerful piece was when their daughter who had went through um Ashley Ridge wrote a really nice letter to all the administrators of what it meant uh for them to care for their child for their brother. And so very good day, very powerful two good days. And so um
061you can see a couple uh pictures there. Um Mrs. Farnsworth and then you have Carrie Balhaj and uh Amanda Amanda Sims and then you can see Laren Deb and talking about AI and some other things and so a great two days was had by by all and we got a lot of great feedback our administrators were able to give feedback on each day and so we'll take that and kind of put that together and when we do it again so uh but very very positive from everybody very engaging and so I just want to thank everybody that participated and it was an outstanding two days. I think we all had a lot of fun. We're still talking about it and I think some of the administrators are still talking about it and uh I think
062we're ready for the for the new year. So, I want to thank uh our team for doing that. So, it was great. [Applause] And next, we'll bring up Miss Met again um to talk about our financial statements. So, thank you, Miss Manet. >> You're welcome, Mr. Dhy. We were talking about the present and the future. Now, we're going to talk about past a little bit. I did also want to mention um for part of our school readiness that we had a big meeting with all of our school financial secretaries and department financial secretaries and they are ready to go for for the new year as well. I just wanted to give a shout out to them because they're they're great. They work really hard with all the different hats they wear besides just the finance
063hat. So for right now, we're going to talk about the um cash flow analysis. I can't believe we're already through a whole another year. Wow. We started on the very far left and in July of 2024, just completed our June of 2025. So, all of our numbers are are actuals. No more projections on here. I will say we are working on our closing entries for the year end. So, we have a few more approvals when we receive money in July and August that needs to be acred back um that really belonged in the 2425 year as well as some expenditures. But these are really really close to almost being done. I'm not gonna say perfect. Um, but these are our unodudited financial statements before our auditors come in, which they will be here next month.
064So, we're getting ready for them. That'll be fun. Um, so I wanted to point out, um, just something of note on this all of these numbers. We won't go over each and every one of them because I know y'all studied them beforehand. Um, if you look at the very very top number in the far left in green, the beginning balance of $64.8 8 million. That was our fund balance that was unassigned at the beginning of this fiscal year. Um when we were going through the budget process for this year, the board said we need to really bring down our fund balance because we had saved some over the years during COVID with ESRE dollars where we were able to have some savings and we don't need too high of a fund balance. Um so we
065we needed to spend some of that on our non-recurring expenditures, some onetime expenditures. So we we planned on spending $4.6 million of that fund balance. So as you go through all your columns, all your columns, we get down to the end to June and then we have our total for the year. The number in the green all the way to the far right is where we actually ended up. Um we had budgeted for 4.6 million. We were a little tiny over the over that of 5.5 million. Um so that's only an $878,000 difference. And again, we're still working on closing entries. So that is almost perfect. So we are coming down to 64.7 million as a fund balance as opposed to 64.8 million that we started the year. I just thought that that was great
066that we did a really good job. Y'all did a really good job as the board for getting us to that to that number. Um the little the little block that's to the right of that that shows the 300 million um 41,140 is our budget for this current year. and the board has um adopted a a policy that we don't want to ever go below 18% while we're going through our budget year. So, we'll be at 21.5% right about there whenever we start this new year for um 2526. So, I feel like we we did great. Y'all did great. Um our next set of reports is our um balance sheet for our assets and liabilities on the first form on the on the left hand side. Um we are right on target with where again like
067where we had predicted where we budgeted. Um again we feel like these are really good numbers that we've been working on our closing entries and we will end our year around the $64.7 million mark with for our fund balance. Um the next report that's over on the right hand side. This is our 30,000 u mile view. U Mr. Lee we'll talk about some more details as we go through. Um we'll we'll be able to bring some other reports. Um talking to the finance committee probably this year, Mr. Guthrie, Mr. Lee. Um just some different reporting formats. This is we've been doing this for several years. So um if a different format is better, we are we are all about that. It's great. We would love to to share some more information. Um high level view.
068Just wanted to point out some of the um the first column as of June 30th, 2025, our budget versus actual column. We did receive some additional property taxes. Um that was not because of a tax increase. It was from our assessments. Um some additional interest earnings. We did have a reduction in some of our state monies um because of our decrease in enrollment. Um we did get some additional state manufacturing depreciation money. Um so overall you'll see it where it shows a negative 2% that's really a positive on the revenue side. If you if you are we received more revenue than what we had projected of of 2% here. And then for our expenditures if you look down we're at 2%. So we balanced out just like right on the money. So proud of all
069of our people. They did a good job everybody. Um, so, so our our ending fund balance right down there in the middle is that $64.7 million. So, those were all of the highle dollars that I was going to present to you tonight if anybody has any questions. Okay, >> I I do have a quick question. It's actually it's not it's financial related, but it's not financially related and you may not have this information. is do we have any sort of trend or do we know as far as um students that have registered so far through facts and fees registration like what we're looking at this year potentially versus last year years prior >> you're talking about projected enrollment this point there are a few schools that we don't have overall but I know there's a
070couple schools uh I'll just give you Ashley Ridge at one time we thought they were going to have 24 right now they have projected they think over about a little over 2500 but And again, until you still see that student in seats, that's the only issue right now. I I do not have any other numbers. I just when we were looking at that, I do know this East Edesto uh will be over capacity when we start the year right now. I do know that one. Um you know, that will be a big one. And then when we're looking at uh Sand Hill until we get those classrooms, it's going to be very tight uh there until we get those additional classrooms. So, they're actually over capacity. But when you get those classrooms online, it'll actually
071go down in like I believe 87% capacity. I think when I Kenny and I were doing the numbers and so just looking at those are our big hot items, big areas that we're really concerned. We're okay with Beach Hill right now at this point. Um but those are the big target areas that we're we're concerned about when you look at over enrollment, over capacity. Um and so that's that's where we're at. Sorry. I hope hope that answers I couldn't answer all that, but those are the big hot areas that we're looking at. >> Yeah, for sure. Thank you. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Thank you, Miss Manet. And the only two items we have left on the superintendent report will uh Thank you, Miss Manet. Good job. Got to give you a a clap there.
072Uh the only other two items we have uh is for the board to approve the personnel report and the student enrollment recommendations. All right, board members, we did receive that information in board docs. So, is everyone okay to proceed with the uh personnel um recommendations as in open session? Yes. Okay. Yes. Yes. Okay. So, um motion I think to approve that um made by Mr. Farnsworth. Do we have a second? Okay. Second by Miss King. Any questions or discussion? Okay, hearing none, we will call for the vote. >> Any questions for you on personnel? >> Okay, motion carries. Seven in favor. All right. And then next we have our student enrollment recommendations. Is everyone okay to proceed with that in open session? And um just asking can we potentially have a quick it's already on
073the executive session. Can we bring that to executive session just based on some comments from earlier this evening? >> Absolutely. Yes. So we will hold that vote for now um until after we return from executive session. So um I believe does that conclude your superintendent report then? >> Yes, Dr. Wley. >> All right. Excellent. Thank you very much for all the great information. Sounds like y'all have been very busy bees over the summer. We appreciate all your hard work and I am super excited for start of this school year and so excited for all our kids coming back. They are they have no idea how much work has gone into making this um a fantastic school year for them. So, thank you to everyone. All right. And then the next item on our agendas are
074public comments um on non-aggenda items. And we do have one comment this evening. Um, Mr. Jason Brockert. So, the other day I received a letter from DD2. It's strange that you'll send me certified mail, but don't respond to my emails or ever address our family situation publicly. We're now into meetings for the 2526 school year. So, I'll remind you that you sat on your hands and stayed silent for the entirety of the 2425 school year with respect to what happened to our son. I would like to address my behavior at the previous DD2 meeting. You see, it's been over a year since we lost our son, and DD2 hasn't genuinely attempted to work with us to change things for the better. During the meeting that we had on the 16th of May, I really thought
075you all would do something a bit different. I thought that you would discuss holding a vigil for our youth that we're losing to suicide, for our youth who we are constantly just telling to cope instead of providing accountability. However, during the board meeting on the 19th, not a single word was mentioned or until today, still nothing. That brings us to the June 23rd meeting. I proceeded to take the microphone from the stand and sang a profound song. I don't think you heard or appreciated that either. So, I received a letter about my behavior. To be clear, if I break anything, I'll pay for it. That's never an issue. If anything happened to the microphone, that would have been on me. But how quick you are to forget how much my family has helped this district
076over the years. Those of you sitting up here, this behavior is behavior that DD2 has earned from me, deserved. I have been speaking at this podium for nearly 5 years. All of which is on video. Go back and look at it. Call me on that if I'm lying. I have consistently spoken about respect, though rarely been shown it in return. the night of the insurrection where four of the board members were present. Maybe you'll remember May 10th, 2021. And I was not the first person that was supposed to speak that night, but the district called me to speak first to set the tone for respect, which I did, and then still had to stand in front of teachers that were being attacked by parents. I have done that. I've been in that role. I've been
077here for the district for years. So, review every single time I've been to this podium. Then, watch it again. starting in November 11th of 2024 when I came back after we lost our son and asked you to just remove that three-minute timer so I could speak to you like human beings. This board has operated under a flag of hypocrisy and it's about time you start showing respect to a grieving family who has done nothing but fight for this district for years. Only after you snubbed us after the loss of our son have I turned up the volume on you. So yes, I sang a song. I broke your rules of decorum because your systemic failure to address bullying is a far greater disruption to children's safety than anything I could ever say here at this
078podium. You can continue to send letters policing my grief or you can start addressing the chronic negligence that is costing children their lives. The choice is yours. My entire story with all the documentation is available for anyone to read at honoringjulian.com. I invite you to prove me wrong. Show me where a trash can is so I'm not littering. Thank you, Mr. Brockert. All right, board members, next item on our agenda is an executive session. So, at this time, I would ask for a motion to convene into executive session for student enrollment recommendations. >> So moved. >> Motion made by Mr. Lee, seconded by Miss Powell. Any questions or discussion? Right. Hearing none, we will call for the vote. Okay, motion carries. Seven in favor. We are in executive session and we will return. I would
079ask for a motion to return to open session. >> So moved. >> Motion made by Mr. Guthrie, seconded by Miss Powell. Any questions or discussion? Hearing none, we will call for the vote. Yes, she is. She's still on. And so the motion carries. Seven in favor. We are back in open session. All right. Board members. Go. >> Sorry. I make a motion that we accept the student enrollment recommendations as presented by the district. >> All right. Motion to accept the student enrollment recommendations as presented. Do I have a second? Seconded by Miss King. Any questions or discussion? Any discussion? >> All right. >> Hearing none, we will call for the vote. >> You're good. Motion carries. Seven in favor. Okay. Board members, at this time I would ask for a motion to adjurnn. Motion made
080by Miss Powell. Sorry. Seconded by Miss King. Oh, seconded by Miss Bates. I apologize. Motion made by Miss Powell. Seconded by Miss Bates. Any questions or discussion? Hearing none, we will call for the vote. Motion carries. Seven in favor. We are adjourned.