001ask that you give this school board the strength, wisdom, courage, wisdom, and guidance to do what's truly in the best interest of the 26,000 plus students in this district. And we ask that during the summer vacation that you bless uh the safety of all our uh teachers, students, staff, administrators u make sure they don't get in too much trouble and um be able to come back in the beginning of the school year. In your name we pray. Amen. Good evening and welcome to the June 23rd, 2025 board meeting. At this time, we do have two board members who will be phoning in. So, we're going to go ahead and get them on the line. We have lots of people on vacation up here, but a great crowd out there. So, thank you all for being
002here. Is that Miss P? All right, we have Miss Powell on the line. Okay. All right. Well, we will go ahead and proceed. Um, so at this time I would ask for a motion to approve the consent agenda and meeting minutes. Motion made by Miss Bates, second, seconded by Mr. Guthrie. Any questions or discussion? All right, hearing none, we will call for the vote. Cynthia. Yes. Oh, Cynthia, are you? Yes. Yes. Yes. Cynthia's yes. All right. We have five in favor and two absent. Do you have that, Wanda? Yes. Perfect. Thank you. All right. Five in favor, two absent. Motion carries. Okay. Next item on our agenda this evening are district highlights, which it looks like we have quite a few. So, we are excited for that. Miss Call, are you leading us in those
003tonight? Thank you so much, Dr. Wimberly, Mr. majority board members. Tonight, we are proud to present seven district highlights that wrap up our 2425 school year and celebrate some of our amazing students and high performing schools. Each summer, the South Carolina Chamber of Commerce hosts business week at the Darlemore School of Business, where high school students from across the street state explore leadership, entrepreneurship, and career pathways through hands-on activities and mentorship from top industry professionals. This year, Ashley Ridge High School sophomore Khloe Enslland has been selected to attend this prestigious program. She'll be learning from leaders at companies like Michelin, Colonial Life, and Food Lion while getting a taste of college life and building connections with peers across the state. Congratulations, Chloe Chad. This year, students across our district had the exciting opportunity to compete
004in the rapidly growing world of esports. Our schools participated in multiple team and solo competitions, including Super Smash Bros., Smash Solos, and Valerant. Along with thees Rocket League state championship and the state championship, these games challenge not only quick reflexes and strategy, but also teamwork, communication, and problem solving. Tonight, we're proud to recognize our student esports athletes for their dedication, competitive spirit, and success this season. I'd like to invite the teams and players from each school to come forward as we celebrate their achievements. Let's begin with the students from Ashley Ridge High School. You can step down. Swamp Fox Gaming placed second in the Super Smash Bros. Ultimate and fourth in the state Smash Championship. [Applause] Next, we would like for any students here from Fort Doorchester High School to come up. Brandon Larry placed
005fifth in the Smash Solos. The RL Patriots placed fifth at the Rocket League state championship. And the SSBU squad placed seventh at the State Smash Championship. This is everybody. [Applause] if the students from Somerville High School can join me at the front. Greenwave Esports placed first in the Smash Bros. Ultimate, fourth in Valerant, RLA bringing home second, and RLB taking fourth at the Rocket League state championship. first at the state smash championship. Brandon Williams took first in solos and Max Jones broke brought home third in smash solos. [Applause] A big round of applause for all of our esports champions. Next, if I can have the Fort Dorchester High School archery team join us. Since its founding in 2021, the Fort Dorchester High School Archery Club has made a name for itself on the state, national,
006and world stage, competing in both Bullseye and 3D Archery events. These student athletes have already participated in seven state championships, six national championships, and five world championships. This year alone, they won second in bullseye, and ninth in international bow hunting organization. They finished seventh in the world at the NASP Open, also known as the World Championship, out of over 40 teams. [Applause] Next, if I can have Miss Mary Kate Ward come talk about our PTA school winners. Good evening everyone. I'm Mary Kate Ward. I'm next year's district PTA president and tonight I'm joined by Mike Ward, our state VP of advocacy. There are a few things more important in a child's education. And if you're looking to make an impact, then consider getting involved. I encourage those of you who have not volunteered before to
007reach out to your school's PTA. Volunteering can be as simple as offering to prep class for a teacher or as committed as serving on the PTA board. Whether you are working, a stay-at-home parent, or even a grandparent or community member, there is truly something for everyone. To all of our current volunteers, thank you for all you do. You have been amazing and the awards being presented tonight are a shining example of the phenomenal people we have in here in DD2. The board of trustees are recognizing all of our district's state PTA award winners. It's no surprise that DD2 PTA has won more state awards than any other district in the entire state. I'm so proud to be a part of this district's PTA and I can't wait to see what you all do next year.
008Congratulations to our winners and thank you to the school board, Mr. DHY and all of DD2 for valuing and supporting the PTA. At this time, we'd like to recognize our state PTA award winners. So, when I announce your school, please come forward. First, we would like to bring up our friends from Nightsville Elementary School. Miss Jennifer Miss Jennifer Hawkins received the elementary principal of the year award. Miss Latisha Kale received the teacher advocate of the year award. And the school also received the award of excellence and patriotism. Oh, sorry. [Applause] All right. Next, if I can have our friends from Joe Pi Elementary School join us at the front as they receive the award of excellence in membership. All [Applause] right, Oak Brook Middle School, can you please step down? [Applause] All right. Uh, Miss
009Allison Brown received the exemplary teacher advocate award and the pillar of the South Carolina PTA school site employee award. Miss Jenny Frisco received the outstanding new PTA member award. Miss Lorie Pendino took home the literacy award. And Miss Julia Salustri took home principal of the year. [Applause] All right, Rawlings Middle School. The Arts is up next. Their program received the program of impact award and the award of excellence in both membership and patriotism. [Applause] All right, last but certainly not least, we have Somerville High School, who received the Membership Mania Award. Congratulations. Come on. [Applause] Next, I'd I'd like to welcome Mrs. Katie Barker, chief academic officer for DD2, to tell us about our next two district highlights. Good evening. It is my honor to be here tonight to recognize our 20242 Dorchester School District
0102 validictorians and saludiatorans. We congratulate the outstanding academic achievements of this year's validictorians and saludiatorans. Through unwavering dedication, exceptional effort, and a commitment to excellence, these students have distinguished themselves as the top scholars of their graduating class. We commend them for their hard work and perseverance throughout their high school journey. Their achievements reflect their personal dedication as well as their support of their families, teachers, and school community. When I call your name, please come forward to be recognized. From Ashley Ridge High School, Victoria Elizabeth Smith, validictorian. I think she was unable to be here. And Grace Elizabeth Thorp, saludiatoran. [Applause] Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. Come, come back. Sorry. Yes. Sorry. Next from Fort Dorchester High School, Allison Reed Phillips, validictorian. Matteline Nicole Row, Saludiatoran. We will make sure they get their certificates. And from
011Somerville High School, Chandler Adair ROR, validictorian and Charles Robert Gross, saludiatoran. [Applause] Congratulations [Applause] to our validictorians and saludiatorans. We look forward to all you will accomplish in the future. Next, I have the honor of a recognizing our Justins Renaissance Schools of Distinction. So, the Justins Renaissance School of Distinction Award celebrates schools that make a positive impact on climate and culture through exec executing the Renaissance results formula. This formula is when schools identify the values they respect and then recognize and reward actions they want to see, then reinforce these values while looking for ways to create strong relationships. All of this drives results. Congratulations to these schools for being recognized as a just Renaissance School of Distinction. When your school is called, please come forward to be recognized. First receiving a platinum award to Bose
012Middle School. [Applause] also receiving a platinum award, Oakbrook Middle School. [Applause] That's blue. [Applause] Also receiving the platinum award is Somerville High School. [Applause] Congratulations. [Applause] Receiving the gold award is Alustin Middle school. [Applause] Yes. [Applause] Next for a gold award is Ashley Ridge High School. [Applause] Also receiving the gold award is East Edestto Middle School. [Applause] And then finally receiving the silver award is Greg Middle school. Alice unable to attend tonight, but we will make sure they get their certificate. Thank you so much. This year, student athletes from all three of our high schools delivered outstanding performances on the track and in the field, bringing home individual state championship titles and making their schools and our district incredibly proud. Tonight we celebrate their hard work, talent, and dedication to excellence in athletics. First up
013from Ashley Ridge High School, state champion in girls long jump with a 5.89 m and a triple jump at 12.2 m, Alana Braxton. [Applause] Next from Fort Doorchester High School, first place in women's discus with a 39.91 meters. And for those of you who were as unfamiliar with meters as I am, that's over 130 ft. Miss Sayia Joiner, congratulations [Applause] from Somerville High School. Placing first in the women's 3200 meter with a time of 11.13, Taylor Blackwelder. [Applause] Stay out here. Yeah. Also from Somerville High School, placing first in the women's pole vault pole vault with a 3.48 meters, which is 11 and a half feet, Nikki Brown. [Applause] To close out our highlights tonight, we are proud to recognize a team that exemplifies inclusivity, teamwork, and competitive spirit. Somerville High School's unified track team.
014This incredible group earned the title of lower state champions, placing first overall in both the unified boys and unified girls team competitions. Please help me welcome them to the front as we also celebrate these individual achievements. Christy Daniels, first placed in the unified 100 meter dash. Jeremiah Ingram, first place in the unified boys long jump. Madison Lrod, first place in the unified girls long jump. [Applause] Sorry. [Applause] All righty. Next item on our I think there was a little bit of confusion. We were celebrating our individual athletes, but we would like all of our unified track students to come up for a picture. Yeah. [Applause] Come on everybody. Good job. All right. Thank you all so much. Appreciate everyone being here this evening. We're going to move ahead now the next item on our agenda
015which are um our board committee reports and um we will start with our policy committee. Miss Bates. Yes. Thank you, Madam Chair. Uh we have several policies today. Some for second reading and some for first reading. So do we do you want to vote on those separately? We can. Okay. Um so for second reading we have DGD credit card use, DHA contracting authority, DJ purchasing. Again those were for second reading. For first reading we have J IJR possession use of personal electronic devices or district owned devices. IH AF arts education, IH A music education, IHBF, homebound instruction, IHBFR, homebound instruction. And so, Madam Chair, I turn those over to the full board. Okay. And since these are coming out of committee, we do not need a second. So, I believe we can go ahead at
016this time and vote on all the policies for second and first reading. So, um, are there any questions or discussion? questions or discussion. All right. Then hearing none, we will go ahead and call for the vote yes, you're showing up. Yes, Jim. Okay, Miss Pow. Yes, Miss Powell's in favor. So, the motion carries. Six in favor, one absent. All right. Sorry. And that's all I have for today. Okay. Thank you, Miss Bates. Um, next we have our finance committee, Mr. Guthrie. Nothing to report tonight, but look forward to approving the budget. Okay, great. Thank you, Mr. Guthrie, and our facilities committee. Um, I do not believe we have anything from that committee either. Um we will have some um information later I think underneath the superintendent report. So okay um next item on our agenda
017is our public comments on agenda items. We do not have any this evening. And then the next item is our board chair's report. Um and again I do have some um upcoming dates. We have updated this um list. So, board members, please make sure you um look over these dates and get them on your calendars. We do have um we've added summer graduation, summer school graduation at Ashley Ridge High School um on July 16th at 10. Um we did finalize the summer board retreat for board members. That's Monday, July 28th. We've added the convocation, 2025 convocation. That is Thursday, July 31st. And then um we still have two town hall meetings left for this school year or this calendar year um and one this summer coming up soon, July 17th, and that will be at
018Ashley Ridge High School. Um and we also have a conference. The SCSBA school law conference is in August this year. If you are interested in attending that, please go ahead and let Wanda know so that she can get you registered. Y'all have any questions about any of those dates or events? All right, great. And then our next item is our superintendence report. So, I will let Mr. Dohy take Thank you, Dr. Wimberly, and the rest of the board. We have several items tonight uh in the superintendent report. And our first item is the update from our cart. Uh Mr. Lombardo is here to report out on our cart. So, thank you for coming, uh Mr. Lombardo. Dr. Wimbley, Superintendent, and to some of the in the community. Um, I'm Jane Lombardo. I'm uh the chairperson
019for the uh citizens advisory review team on the $200 million uh referendum from last year. Um, so you have to forgive me for one one second. I wanted to say one thing. Uh about uh 7 hours ago, there was an attack on IUD in Qatar. It was uh from Iran. There was nobody hurt and we're very thankful for that and we hope that this conflict ends quickly. I'm not quite sure if you have the um master project listing available, but we're going to go over a few items here. the current review of the master project list. Uh we have monitored the following work areas uh that uh are some successes and we have a few that we all know can uh drop off a little bit. First of all um the uh biggest projects that
020we want to talk about is safety and security for our children, for our students and our teachers. Uh we're happy to say that the radio projects are now on pro are good to go. There's some minor software issues or programming that uh they hope to get done here very soon. Uh cameras are now operational at all schools. Weapons detection at our middle schools and high schools. Very big. Um we're still waiting on uh finishing some projects for the shatter resistance uh film. Um but they are shown to be completed prior to the school year. Two of the four vestibule uh renovations are complied with. Nightsville Elementary uh uh flooring and abatement of asbestous panels and is anticipated to be completed by August. Uh work is in progress uh and scheduled or in planning for the
021following. There are 12 projects for roof repairs of out of 10 of our schools. ceiling grate and tiles, lighting replacements, and on three schools, and they're waiting for OF, excuse me, OSF, Office of Safety and Facilities. Overall, there are 68 active projects in work at various stages encompassing $19.3 million. Ponds, as you all know, is still behind for an August 2026 opening, and with the land conveyance still between the county and the developer, it is questionable that the cost will not rise. This concerns the cart and we highly recommend that the community express their concerns with their elected officials at the county. So the question comes should we hold some of the projects on should we hold some of the projects on anticipation of C cost increases for the ponds or andor Yarby Elementary the
022cart fills the projects that are ongoing should stay and we should proceed with those safety measures if there's no other questions that's what the card has from our quarterly review Our next meeting will be September 17th and uh we welcome all community members. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Labard and also Mr. Weaver who's also out there. Thank you so much for coming. We appreciate it. Our next item that we have this evening is a report on our digital learning environment. Uh Mrs. Dhy will be presenting um basically our district's uh district learn our digital learning environment how that's the progress that's going. So, Mrs. Dhy. Thank you. Good evening, Madame Chair, Mr. Dhy, and board me and board members. The purpose of the presentation is to walk you through how we've evolved in digital learning
023from identifying the critical needs and the key priorities, implementing our systemwide goals and improvements and preview our forwardlooking strategies and action. As a quick review the definition for digital learning environment you'll see these three terms discover create and connect students you will use digital tools for research students will use digital tools to create and students will use digital tools to communicate and collaborate just as a very simple definition in 2022 DD2 identify digital learning as a key priority. Classroom mosaic data from Cognia student surveys, data from digital program usage audits, and what we see here is the information from the Elliot observation data showing that the digital learning um there is there is a need. These data points give us a clear message that our students needed more engaging technology enhanced learning experiences. I'll let
024you take a minute to look at the document on the left from 2017 where the digital learning environment is scored as a rating of a 2.05 and on the right in 2023 it's scored as a 2.04. So you can see why we worked as a team and created three systemwide goals and moving forward. Each goal is measurable, time bound, and focuses on student experience, ensuring the accountability and targeted progress. The first goal being improve our DLE from a rating of a 2.1 to a three. The second, increase observations with the DLE from 42% to 75%. And then boost student engagement two percentage points annual growth in the Cogna student survey. From this key priority action steps were created. There are eight steps. One is we continue to review and revise our DLE reference documents. We've
025restructured personnel. This past year we're moving from professional development coaches to instructional technology specialists with an added Apple specialist. We evaluate technology programs and processes and we audit and streamline the current tools. Our work is visible in both the infrastructure and instruction and every action is grounded in data and focused on impact. Uh action five provide professional development with tailored targeted approach. You'll see the um uh graphic there that has a training that we did with the schoolboard members um giving them the experience of what it's like to be a student in the digital learning environment where they were discovering creating and connecting using digital tools. We also see a sample of training administrators for interrator reliability as they give observations to know that that data is um is the word I'm looking for valid
026and reliable and then the um samples for the teachers we are using tailored and targeted approaches there where we're giving them bite-sized PD six we analyze data from classroom mosaic checking the ratings a percentage of walkthroughs as well as teacher and student surveys and we communicate bimonthly in the weekly need to know. We ensure the progress and accountability and we celebrate and that's an example of a bi-weekly memo and we have reason to celebrate today. Um our ratings are at 2.3. Our goal was to be a 2.4 but um that's fine that we did not reach our goal. We've got some ideas what we do need to do and we will make adjustments um to continue to reach that 3.0 by 2028. We are celebrating our percentage of walkthroughs. We have exceeded that that goal.
027So we are at the 60 I think this is the 66% at this point. So we celebrate that. So what results do we have that measure the progress in meeting our goals? We have a lot of data on this page, but this page can tell it all. And think of where you've seen green, that means go. We're doing great. We've met our goals. Yellow, think of that as caution. Let's take a look at what that data is telling us. And the the red is stop. Stop and look at what's happening here. we did not meet our goals and where should we realign uh our resources as we plan for this year. It's very important that we believe in inspecting what we expect by continuously reviewing data. We remain agile and responsive to this future. Uh
028we just want to continue to improve student achievement. It's not so much about the computers. It's about improving student achievement by increasing student engagement and critical thinking skills in our digital learning environment by discovering, creating, and connecting using digital tools. We're equipping educators with high quality digital content and support systems, ensuring consistency, accessibility, and innovation. Thank you for your time. Mrs. Dory, I do have one question for you. Is uh our IT's are they presenting at the national conference? Yes, sir. We're excited to share that our IT's are going to be on the national platform at an international conference ISTY in San Antonio, Texas. They will be presenting our digital learning environment at a much deeper level in a 45 minute to hour presentation because we are very proud of what we're doing at Doorchester
0292 and they are very excited to represent us on a national level. They will also be presenting micro PD and it's really exciting because 23% I think it is right in there applications get accepted. So, Doorchester 2 had their applications accepted and we're excited to see them on the big stage and we wish them well next week. Thank you. I did have a question. I appreciate all your work and I'm so excited for that. That's that's great. Um, for the 37% for elementary students and it says under learning looks like the use of digital tools in my classroom most of the time. Maybe my brain is in summer mode and just not wrapping around this, but is that saying we want to increase the amount of use of digital tools or just make it more
030effective or what are we looking for? We want to use digital tools to improve critical thinking and communication and collaboration for example. um they will be communicating maybe in a discussion or it could be in a digital platform like discussion schooly um where they are communicating with one another working on their writing skills in that digital space. I guess my question is I mean so are we trying to increase that essentially and what are the benefits of that because I know there's benefits to just handwriting and reading on paper and I I worry sometimes with elementary school is it beneficial to increase technology use I I agree critical thinking and writing out stuff and and communicating on a digital platform because that is the future within reason but I also to I don't know like
031that's why I guess I'm trying to ask is is the goal to increase usage because I okay or just make it more effective usage it'd be making more effective use and a good visual is if you look at the discover here you see the two gentlemen with their computer open where they're using that computer for research but they're still writing with paper they still have that paper and pencil there so this would be a really great example another good example in the picture of connect you see the teacher are there collaborating, bringing them together. But sometimes when there's that digital space, students are more apt to share their thinking. They feel safer when they share in that digital space. Another example that I can think of of some observations that I've noticed um when uh
032it was in an elementary classroom, second grade, a teacher's gathering their students in the back and asking a question and you see 20 hands all raising their their hand and they want to be the one to respond and the teacher can only call on one. When you do that about five times and you're not being called on, you see the students become getting disengaged. This would be an excellent example where the teacher could get responses from every student in that digital platform. They all can respond. And even with that, the teacher can give immediate feedback with just a star and a heart that they might click on their digital tablet. I remember that from our example. No, I I do and and not to cut you off, I really appreciate that like that visual of
033that because I think when we hear increasing technology for elementary students, everybody starts to go, "Wait, wait, wait, wait." We don't want to like forget the the foundational tools. But I think when you're utilizing it appropriately and accentuating learning with it, then that's the right way to do it. And so I appreciate that visual and description. And I love that you say that we want to think of it not as being consumers but being producers with it. And if they are being producers, then they are using it appropriately. If they are creating something, whether it's a a piece of writing or they're creating something collaboratively together, that that is what we want. We want producers or they're creating a video or they're creating a podcast. That would be an example. I love that example of
034because I I think we've all been that student that like you know you raise your hand, raise your hand, you never get called on. So I mean that is really valid. So I I do like that. That's very I appreciate the description. So thank you. Well, thank you. Thank you for giving me the time to share. Thank you Mrs. Dhy. And the next uh presentation we have this evening is tonight we're going to talk a little bit about our discipline matrix. And I have Mrs. Carrie Ball Hodgej, director of elementary education and Mr. Maurice Cannon, director of secondary education and CTE. And they've been working tirelessly in trying to put this discipline matrix K through 12 across the district. And again to help bring that collaboration together and also to make sure we have consistency
035amongst buildings. And so I appreciate them all the work that they have done to put into this. And so I'll turn it over to Mr. Cannon. Good good evening board members and um Superintendent Dhy. Thank you for this opportunity to share an update with you all with the work that we've been engaged in while um developing a comprehensive discipline matrix um or matrices um for our elementary, middle, and high schools. Um throughout this process, we um framed this work around four principles um to guide our um practice and development of our matrices. And the goal was to want to have a a system and a process um that is centered on purpose and provide benefits for us as far as being able to communicate um behavior expectations in a reasonable way to parents for consistency
036um to provide equity um to our parents and to our families. Um and so they can see that there is a continuum of um behavior expectations, but one that is um based upon a progression where we are hoping from stages one, two, and three of responding to discipline matters that hopefully students can see and families can see that progression and decide to change behaviors um to be more in line with our positive student code of conduct before they get to um the higher level of consequences um throughout our process. So if they see that continuum then hopefully that'll allow them to understand our desire to help them change behaviors and that's um bringing about our equity to promote fairness and impartiality within our discipline practices across all schools and also um to provide that transparency
037that is visual um that they can see um that if I have this particular behavior that's in opposition to our student code of conduct then this is these are the recommended consequences as Um result of that accountability brings about um support for students to grow through application of having fair consequences applied when mistakes are being made. And that accountability is on the student, on the families as well as on the school um administrators and teachers wanting to provide a nurturing environment to help students identify where mistakes are being made um when they are in opposition to the code of conduct and how do they correct that behavior and also for fidelity purposes. The um an overarching goal is that we wanted to ensure that there this alignment um of the discipline matrix with the behavior
038expectations and the consequences that they are all aligned with our policies and procedures that the board has established through um the code of conduct. um ultimately making sure that we are um guaranteeing a learning environment that's appropriate for all students and when there are challenges to the learning environment that we have a system in which we are responding to those challenges u for corrections and I'm going to ask Miss Bolhaj to come forward and she's going to talk more about the system that we use to develop the matrix. Good evening madam sorry there you go. Good evening, Madame Chair and Mr. Jordy and board members. Thank you for listening to us this evening. So, really our next steps um and how we developed the discipline matrix was step one, we looked at our needs assessment
039and that was looking at our referrals and educators handbook and we were kind of all over the place. Um and so really pinpointing what can we do to streamline um for instance disrespect if students are using inappropriate language. we would code that as inappropriate language versus disrespect. So, it's hard to provide interventions our next steps when we're kind of all over the place with the way we're coding things. We also, like Mr. Cannon mentioned, we want to be fair and consistent with our discipline practices. I know when I was an administrator, the easiest discipline for me to handle was boss discipline because it was clear if the parents understood it, the students understood it, we were all on the same page. It was the easiest. So we're hoping that this provides that tool for our
040administrators and our parents and most importantly our students. The next step is we conducted research. So by conducting research we looked at what are our neighbors doing in the low country um Berkeley County and Charleston County. They had already adopted um the discipline matrix within their district and just kind of talked to them about their process and looked at their three levels from elementary, middle, and high. Then our next step is we met um with our school teams. Um we collaborated with them with our elementary group. We looked at what middle and high had developed. We also looked at like I said Charleston and um Berkeley as well as how we had already handled or ruled on disciplinary infractions. So as well as in the code of conduct levels one, two, and three to make
041sure we were all in alignment. Then we came back together and we met with elementary, middle, and high. We shared that with our admin teams and we also mentioned that and shared that with you guys at our board advance. I believe that was in February. So we touched on that a little bit. Then we developed a soft matrix. Um middle and hyde kind of already had something similar happening but elementary had never had that. So we started with elementary and we just asked for them to you know start implementing some of these um consequences based on the infractions by looking at the matrix that we had developed together. collect some feedback and go from there. So, and then the last step is we um reviewed the implementation. We collaborated with our administrators, our district leaders,
042our um our in-house council. Um we reviewed the implementation and um looked at next steps as pro as far as providing um behavioral supports districtwide. So, moving on, do you guys have any questions about the timeline, how it all happened? Okay, our next steps and Mr. canon jump in at any time if you'd want to. Um, as schools presented discipline data during our end of the quarter um, data debriefings and so they really talked about, you know, we compared over the years our discipline infractions as well as what were our majors, um, what were our minors, how many merits were we issuing and really getting back to those best practices. Um, and now they are working on action plans as we move forward at the principal at the admin symposium. We will be presenting um
043several PD offerings for that as well as meeting with our admin teams. Number two, I believe at the board advance, Miss Powell asked what's our philosophy on behavior and discipline. And to be honest with you, pre-COVID, I could have confidently said what it was as a district. But postcoid, we we're different now. We've changed teachers that have come in are new. Some of them have gone through, you know, their training or induction um online. So, we really need to make sure that we are getting back to what is what do we believe here in DD2 um about behavior and discipline. What are we value and what are our beliefs and how does it relate back to our students most importantly. Number three, um we're going to revisit our American school counselor standards, our ASA standards.
044Again, that's where we talk about being kind, showing respect, those um life skills that we talk about every month. um PBIS or our positive behavior interventions and supports framework as well as capturing kids hearts and just renaissance initiatives. How do those all tie in together to make it work for our schools for that tier one instruction with behavior? And then last but not least, we're going to share finalized plans with all stakeholders during the first week back of the 2025 2026 school year. And that's going to start with meeting with our assistant principles, our principles to make sure that we're all on the same page and then move it forward with um showing showing the matrix to our teachers. All right, any questions? I don't have any questions, but thank you. Clearly, you put a
045lot of work into this and it's very thorough. And when I was looking at it, I was impressed and I just think it's going to be a good thing to have the transparency so everybody knows what the expectations and consequences are and just to have it consistent across the district. So, I am excited for it and I just appreciate all y'all's hard work because it clearly was a lot that went into it. So, thank you so much. I did want to add as well that um first semester we are going to try this first semester and of course we're going to come back and evaluate where we are. Have we been handling the disciplinary infractions? Have we been coding it the correct way? Um have we've been providing the correct consequences based on those infractions?
046And if we need to come back revisit um and change um our process or change the consequence, we are going to do that because we always do what's best for kids in DD2. So thank you Miss Balhaj and Mr. Cannon. The other thing to to let the board know, we are doing away with educators handbook. We're going to simple discipline. Most districts around the state are going to simple discipline and going away from educators handbook because simple discipline is is simple and it's easier to code a lot of things and we'll be able to extract a lot of the data data easier than we could with educators handbook. So we're very excited to make that switch. So I think that will help. Anything else you'd like to add, Mr. Cannon or Okay. All right. Thank
047you very much for your work. So we appreciate that. Um, our next person coming up is our assistant director of secondary education, Miss Christy Sealander, and she has some stats for uh the class of 2025. So, we appreciate her putting all this data together. It's very exciting to see uh what our students have accomplished last four years. So, thank you. Good evening, Madam Chair, Mr. Doerty, board members. Um, this I I would echo what Mr. Doerty said. This is really, really exciting. We had wonderful graduation ceremonies this year. We were glad you guys were able to be a part of it to be able to witness just the great work um that our students have done. We really have been um working to get more and more students across the stage. I was looking at
048some additional numbers and this year we have 250 more graduates than we did in 2022. So we're really doing a lot to get kids across the stage. Um additionally, we are getting kids across the stage with higher degrees. We have um kids that are graduating with associate degrees. We had 58 students that graduated with their college associate degree before they even graduated from high school. And then the other thing I really would like to point out is the scholarship amount. Um I will say that sometimes the scholarship money es and flows and that may be more of a reflection of how much students are willing to submit their information. Um, as I see two of you up on the stage had students that graduated this year, you probably got tired of the messages from the
049school encouraging students to submit their scholarship information. So, that is something that we are always constantly striving to um have students and their parents report just so that we can brag on that. So, this year our students had over 40 47 million dollars worth of scholarship offers. Um, and then going back to last year, we had about 43 and a half million. So, we even just from this reporting from last year, we are already back up again. So, we're very excited to be able to have so many graduates, um, kids that are getting out there doing really amazing things. We're really proud of our students and our seniors. And I'd like to give it a special shout out to the administrators and and faculty and staff of all of the high schools, especially those that
050work so hard to put on amazing graduation ceremonies this year. Any questions? I I just want to confirm I'm I'm not mistaken. So the 47 million is what was reported. We could have had significantly more in scholarships, but that's dependent on if the parents or students the students reported. I guarantee we had much more than that. Yes. Okay. I just wanted to emphasize and reiterate and clarify. So, I mean, I think yes, sometimes we're we're not above um you know, bribing our students to come and to report these things. Whoever reports their stuff, they go into a drawing and it's a little bit like push, pull, drag, or toe. We're just trying to get the information that we can, but it's an exciting time for seniors and their families. It's a stressful time. Sometimes, you
051know, leaving out that one little detail of submitting that information. It's an easy thing to overlook. Uh, but our school counselors and our administrators especially work really hard to try to get that information from students. We want them to be recognized for all of these wonderful scholarships that they've earned. Right. I appreciate you. Thank you. You're welcome. Thank you, Mrs. C. Lander. And also, Mrs. Card, I don't know if you could say anything. One more thing. Right now, we're still trying to figure out what our graduation rate is going to be for this year. And so, um, we're hoping it's going to be 90%. We're hoping it's going to be over that. So, that's what we're excited about. Um, if you're able to attend, all of us did attend the graduation ceremonies and it was
052nice to see the number of students were able to get across there with their diploma. Um, and then to be somebody that's going to be employable into our into our, uh, in our county. So, thank you for providing all this information. I know it's a lot to pull, but it's great to see um all the great things that we're doing. So, thank you so much. You're welcome. Our next thing on the agenda is our org chart. And so, we have a an org chart change. Um we're getting ready to do our budget. And so, when we were doing our budget, um we have eliminated a few of our positions. And so, tonight we're bringing forth um the revision of our org chart. And as you can see uh above there what will look like our
053organizational chart will look like um from the 30,000 foot view. And so um we used to have we have two chiefs and those chiefs are Mrs. Barker and Mr. Frell. And we'd like to reclassify those people to assistant superintendent. Um Mrs. Barker for assistant superintendent for teaching and learning and then Mr. Frell, assistant superintendent for operations facilities. Um, we will be eliminating the deputy superintendent position off the org chart. Um, the chief of military relations has been has been removed. And then we're going to absorb and combine into one position our assistant director for security and risk management. And so when you look at that, even though we're elevating, we're not bringing new people into the district. We're just elevating our current people. And when we look at that, we're still going to have a
054savings uh of 425,000 just at the district office. And so when we're looking to try to give raises across the district to all of our employees, every bit matters. And so um we did add the deputy on there that was not added on there on our first uh when we're looking at our budget. Um I believe we have like 280,000 I believe. And then with the savings of some of the deputies position, we'll be at 425,000 at the district office. And so we're asking this evening um for the approval of the new org chart changes as you can see um there in front of you. So is there any questions that I can answer? All right board members at this time I would ask for a motion to approve the organizational chart changes as presented.
055So moved. All right. Motion made by Mr. Guthrie. I second it. Seconded by Miss Bates. Do we have any discussion or questions? All right. At this time, we will call for the vote. This house not responding. Okay. And the motion carries. Five in favor to absent. Okay. The next on our agenda is we have our approval of our fiscal year, our 2026 budget. So, I'd like to call up Miss Tina Manet, our chief finance officer. And so, we have some great information to share with you all. So, Miss Manet, thank you. Um, good evening, Chairwoman um Wimberly, board members, Mr. Dhy. We are going to go through the final um adoption of the FY26 budget presentation tonight. Yay. Um, we'll kind of tag team this. I will have Mr. had already helped me with um
056some additional information that he'd like to share as well. Um let's see, Wanda, do I have the Oh, clicker works. Wonderful. So, as we were trying to u reiterate through all of our presentations that our budget priorities for this current year um are student achievement, um teacher quality, recruitment, retention, and financial stewardship. So, of course, we were trying to um as Mr. Mr. Dhy just said um work on writing the ship so that we would have some additional funding so we would be able to provide some um raises for our our our folks who are here now and hopefully um be able to recruit some additional folks to come into our district. So we wanted to show you our 2526 budget summary. Our previous pre presentation, the one that we presented to y'all last time
057is in that first column. um we were showing that we would need some additional funding um right there above the total revenue line of $3.2 million um in order for us to have a balanced budget. And we went to uh Dorchester County Council and with all the hard work from our board members um and the support of the county, they did support a millage increase for us and we are very thankful for that. We also received some information from the state um for the from state revenues from the conference committee whenever the the house and the senate came together and the conference committee and they decided on what would actually pass in their budget. We received some additional funding from the state. So, if you see in that middle column with the millage increase and
058the additional state funding, we were able to um we were able to reallocate $4 million towards some additional raises for staff and for a couple of different expenditures. So, we'll go through that middle column. Um, we received additional $4.3 million for from the millage increase, additional $2.5 million from the state, um, an additional 418,000 which is also additional from the state um, from the conference committee members. We had which was $7.3 million and we needed 3.2 million that we had requested from millage increase. Um, so we got an additional 1.1 because the value of our mill was actually higher than what was originally presented from when we got our numbers from the auditor. So that worked out wonderfully. So our total revenues that we were able to um add into the budget were $4 million80,438.
059So, with those funds, um, again, in that middle column going down into the proposed expenditures, we did receive, um, a request from the city of North Charleston. Um, they had been supplying a couple of SRO's, two SRO positions to us and were were not charging us for them for in the past and they requested that we provide them with some funding. Um, so the $134,000 is to provide two SRO's at um for Dorchester High School. So we built that into the budget with these additional monies. We had also been telling y'all that there was a possibility that the paid parental leave was going to come into effect. Um, and then also the health insurance that the employer was going to have to pay and that made it through. So we added the million dollars and
060that's that's a close estimate. We don't know exactly on the paid parental leave. It's dependent on the number of folks who um request that time off. So, we built the million dollars into the budget. And then if you go down to the next line that we have um in bold, um there were some funds for an additional $500 for a teacher increase. So, the starting salary will be $51,500, which means that we'll be able to include $2,500 on each step of the teacher salary scale. So that's additional 500 and then um an additional 2% increase for classified and certified staff who are not paid on the teacher salary scale. We originally only had 1%. So this will bring to a total of 3% for those folks. So we are very excited to um balance this
061budget um for our proposed budget on the far column to make our total revenues and expenditures balance at 300,41,140. Um again a summary of what we had requested um the 7.6 6 mills um shown there for the first three line items for the increase for the first increase of the $1,500 for teachers, the the first 1% increase for staff, then the additional 500. So when we went to county council, we asked for the 2,000 which made up the 7.6 6 mills and then again we have the additional money to do the additional 500 additional 2% the new state mandates and the cost of the two North Charleston SRO's. So we wanted to show you the difference between our revenues from um fiscal year 25 to our proposed fiscal year 26. um the total um increase
062in our local property taxes with the increase in the millillage plus the increase in the um the value of the assessments in our in our district. Our 9.9 million um state revenues would be the next um four million I'm sorry 5 million. Um we did have a small decrease in our indirect cost. We had some indirect costs from ESSER which the Esser dollars are are completely gone now. So, we have no more indirect cost transfers from that. And then one other transfer from state revenues for a difference of our um total revenues of $15,952,233 as an increase in our revenues in the areas where we were able to um put our additional funding. Um, and the reason why this increase on the revenue side looks smaller than the from the revenue the expenditure side is
063I mean pardon me from the revenue side is because we had to make up for the $4.9 million that we had taken out of fund balance last year. So we were able to put 11.2 million back into the budget into our expenditures. Um, so for salaries we increased by 7.7 million, benefits by 2.8 8 and all other expenditures by $714,000. Um so uh again our grand total for expenditures will be 300,41,140. And that was everything for our um presentation. I wanted to bring it back to this slide which shows our total revenues and total expenditures for proposed for FY26. And if y'all had any questions before you approve hopefully the budget. Thank you, Miss Manet. And I would like to say a couple things. I just want to thank the board for all their efforts.
064Um our district office staff, Miss Manet, our administrators. Again, we absorbed and rightsize almost 50some positions um teaching positions because we thought we were going to have growth and lost students. And so we had taken those positions with positions at district office and were able to with the new revenues that we're getting is be able to give a really nice um you know raise during this time period. So I want to thank everybody for all their efforts. It was definitely a team effort and just really excited to be able to uh to go what we're doing this year. So thank you to everybody for all their help. I think the board echoes that same sentiment. So thank you Miss Met and team. Thank you Mr. majority. We appreciate all your hard work um on on
065this balanced budget as well and also the emphasis that you have put on prioritizing our people and making sure that we put every extra dollar towards um those salaries and those increases. So, thank you for that. All right, then. Do you have something else you want to share? Okay. I was going to say um then at this time I would just ask for a motion to approve the um fiscal year 2026 budget as presented. So moved. Motion made by Mr. Guthrie. Second. Seconded by Miss Bates. Any questions or discussion? I just want to first say thank you to the district as well. And um I think it's absolutely exciting that we can do a $2500 increase for our teachers. And is it 3%? Yes, ma'am. So, that's phenomenal. That's way better than we expected. So,
066I personally want to thank the county council for being such great partners this year with us. Um, I felt like we had a great relationship, great dialogue, their support. We couldn't have done this without their support. And so, I know it means the world to our staff, to our district, to everybody here. So, I'd like to personally thank the county for that leadership, for that partnership, and I look forward to continuing to work with them. And it's just very exciting to be able to offer this to our staff and I'm thankful for them and all they did. So any other questions or discussion? Okay, then hearing no, we will call for the vote. I'm trying to call. I'm sorry. What did you say? I said, "I have some concerns, but it will not affect my
067vote for today. I will go ahead and vote yes." Great. Okay. Thank you. Powell votes yes. Motion carries. Six in favor, one absent. Thank you. And just to kind of reiterate a little bit about this, what this means is so each teacher will get $25 increase to each step on the teacher scale. And in any eligible teacher will see an approximate 4% to 6% increase because they'll get that step depending on the years of service and their step. And then you think of this uh an additional 3% increase for classified and certified staff, which is non-eing. So any eligible non-eing staff will receive a 3% increase plus a step which will equate to an approximate 4% increase for them. And so when you think of any great organization, you're thinking what's the secret sauce? It's
068your people. And so we are definitely pouring into our people. And I just want to say thank you to the board for for your support. So thank you again. Um we'll move on now to our facilities. And so I have Jeff Smith and Mr. Tony Souls here and they're going to talk a little bit about a facilities update that includes referendum 8% projects and our TIFF projects. And so I'll turn it over to uh Jeff and Tony. Good evening. Um just want to give a quick update on some of the projects we've got going on. To say it's been a busy June would be an understatement, but um we've got quite a bit done. As you see up here some pictures, the picture on the far right is how our floors and hallways are looking
069at Knightsville. and they're probably by the end of the week about 80% done with that project. The uh on the left is Flower Town. So you can see at the top is after we pulled the panels off in one of the hallways and then the bottom picture just shows after we've skimmed the walls to get them back ready for paint. The HVAC projects, so Flowertown, Newington, all units are set and running and uh we're just waiting for controls to tie them in. The abatement is complete at Flowertown now and Newington will be complete by the end of the week. And uh now that that part's done, the the hard part begins. And but we think that we get back the week of July 7th, we'll be very close to to wrapping up and doing a
070punch list on um all four of the all three of those schools you see on the the slide. Oops. So the we have some other projects going on besides uh referendum projects and and maintenance projects. These are TIFF funded projects at Oakbrook Middle School. The addition uh that's going very well. They're about eight courses a block high on the middle school. They're about 50% done on the foundation walls at uh the elementary school and site work is is is starting to progress at the elementary school. Uh we do have the completion dates there and that is and we're still on schedule there. Uh the bus maintenance facility that's a general fund that was approved in 2023 that project uh we're working with the contractor and the design firm. We're going to meet with those folks
071tomorrow morning and and go over uh the firm that project up a little bit more to get started on that. Thanks for uh yeah, um so the with the referendum you have a lot of paving projects and HVAC in 8%. So I just kind of put it all on one slide, but just wanted to share, you know, some pictures of, you know, that's Flower Town on the left getting their lot front lot seal coated and striped. Um today they were at Somerville High School and they actually milled the entire senior parking lot today. So it'll get asphalt starting Thursday. So, that's a very large coordinated project that'll go through the rest of the summer. And then, um, bottom right shows that same lot at Flowertown after it was strike fully, uh, getting the last couple
072units put on the roof. So, they're lifting one in the back. If you, if you look really hard, you can see at the back, but um, it's definitely a game changer over there. And we're changing the way our um, controls work as well to monitor the rooms as well and average it out instead of the uh, the old design where basically you had one reading from the pod and that controlled all five classrooms. And so now we'll have averaging sensors that'll assist with that um keeping the climate right in those rooms. Um the top picture you see a little more invasive is Oakbrook Middle. So when you go to Oak Brook Middle, every single classroom has a air conditioning unit inside the room. So they had to go in and take out basically maybe like
073a 8 by8 section of ceiling grid. And so that's the units going in and they're I think we've got 27 units up and running out of 63. So they're making really good progress and don't really foresee anything that's going to slow it down. and um prevent us from finishing before August 1st. Oops. One more for me. Um so the Windsor Hill contracts uh has been signed and we have a kickoff meeting scheduled for the 7th. The uh we're still working on the contract for the Knightsville award for the roofing and wall project. And then you can see the other two for Oakbrook and Oakbrook Elementary as well as Beachill and Austin Middle School. Um they're in uh various stages, but we haven't got to the the bid phase yet. And we also have a solicitation
074out for press boxes, modular press boxes for both Fort and Somerville, which the bid closes on the 17th of July. The refer referendum construction's well underway at Sand Hill. They've got this picture that was taken on uh Wednesday of last week and Thursday morning at 3:00 a.m. they went out and poured the slab. So the slab is completed. The masons are on site. They'll be laying block starting probably tomorrow. And uh they've got two crews of masons coming in. So they're going to be moving rapidly going vertical on that. Uh the ponds, we know where we are there. the Somerville Elementary edition. Uh we're very close to the point where we can take that old wing down. All the abatement is complete inside. We've identified the water and the electrical where entryways. We've got that
075isolated. Uh so I I anticipate probably if they if they don't get it the week of the fourth, it will be the following week where that building will actually come down and be boxed up. And then hopefully we'll have everything together by uh early August, mid August to start vertical construction and and taking the slab down. Well, we're we're kind of on hold after we get it taken down until we get the permitting in place where we can do the land disturbance and and start with our foundations at Ashley Ridge High School. Uh the uh phase one, which is the splitting of two classrooms into four classrooms. That's uh that that should be wrapping up pretty soon. We should be having a a final inspection over there, an overhead inspection probably the week of the
07617th of July. So, I anticipate that done being well done ahead of schedule there. Phases two through four, those design documents have been approved by OSF. They're working on the construction documents now and as soon as those get approved and we get our approved permits, we'll be able to start on the ban, which is phase two. and and it's going to be kind of sequential uh construction over there. We get one piece done, we have to move a piece, and they get the next piece done and move that piece. It's a lot of moving parts going to happen at Ashley Ridge within the next 12 to 18 months. And we're really excited about that. I know I know the band director's excited about it. I know the strength training folks are excited about it. Everybody's
077Everybody's had a hand in it and everybody's happy with what we're doing. Somerville High School gym, we're expecting a schematic design this week. Uh Fort Dorchester High School, we are very close to a schematic design completion on that one. Hopefully, we'll have that submitted to OSF no later than August 1st. And the ponds again. Uh so we we have all the permitting, but we're still waiting on land conveyance there. the urban. We had a we had a great meeting the other day um with uh the developer, the builder, the engineers, Thomas and Hutton, and uh they're they're they're excited for us to get in and and and and see what we're going to do. We're going to have a site visit in mid July. Uh we're going to go trump through the woods and and
078see what we see what we've got. See, and and after we make that trek through the woods, we're going to get OSF involved and get our due diligence survey started and and the buildout is is still market dependent. If it it uh you know, we're we're going to kind of wait and see kind of thing, but uh they're Rose is that's the first part of their they're going to be starting on. So, we're just waiting to see how that due diligence goes and where they are and hopefully it will all converge and be the perfect alignment of stars. And I think that takes us to Yeah. And that in that last question there, I think we wanted to make sure again we're still focused on those previous slides. You can see this is the referendum
079question um that was answered by a lot of our voters. 70% approved that. But again, the one thing we still have in yellow is still the ponds. Um we don't have that land. It's not been conveyed. U we're getting some some movement from the Yerby track. But again, items need to be completed by 2030. And so we just want to make sure people understand this is kind of our timeline. It is ticking. Um as Mr. Lombardo said that we spent $19 million of the referendum on previous projects and I think he mentioned there was over 60 projects that we're working on right now. So, a big thanks to Tony and Jeff and Kenny um Rhonda and their team and Tina. Um they meet we meet every Monday and go over all these projects to make
080sure we have all the right documents signed to make sure we're continue to move through this. Um but again, we're still trying to keep our eyes on prize and still going to get build those two elementary schools and that is still um our priority just we're just still waiting on that land. So I just wanted to put that out there as well. But want to thank these gentlemen and Tina for their help and what they do. So thank you. Any questions from the board on projects? Speaking of the referendum, my apologies. After we went over the budget, we were supposed to talk about the invitation for bid award that we needed for the board to um vote on. We uploaded the information to the board packet and there was um for the Sville High School
081restroom renovations um for that project to continue. We wanted to bring that back to the board for y'all to um approve the vendor and the the project amount. And again, this was part of the referendum project projects. Great. Thank you, Miss Manet. Board members, at this time I'd ask for a motion to approve the award of the Somerville High School restroom renovations bid as presented. So moved. Motion made by Mr. Guthrie. Second. Seconded by Miss Bates. Any questions or discussion. All right. Hearing none, we will call for the vote. All right. And the motion carries. Six in favor, one absent. Thank you. Thank you. Uh and the next thing we have on our agenda is um our personnel report. As you can see, it's in your board packet. And again, we need uh approval from
082the board from the those positions that we're asking and for this evening. And but before that, I'd like Mr. Matthews to come up and talk a little bit about personnel because we have some exciting things to kind of share a little bit about personnel and where we're at with the hirings and I know he has some kind of exciting news before we have uh the board uh approve the personnel report. So, Mr. Matthews. Yeah, thank you um Dr. Wimberly, Mr. Dy, members of the board, thank you for this opportunity just to give you an update on where we are with the hiring as we get ready for the 25 26 school year. Summer is going by really fast and uh but we're excited uh especially with the news tonight with the budget passing. Can't wait
083to uh get the team together tomorrow and and uh get back on the recruiting trip with this with these. I can't wait to get the new salary skills. Uh it's going to be very exciting. Uh but we are we are doing really well at this time of the year. Um our personnel team has been working extremely hard. They're very dedicated and uh working um along with our department supervisors, our school level leaders uh have done an awesome job of filling positions that we've had open this summer. Um as of earlier today, and it does change by the hour. Uh so we're probably even better than this. But uh as of earlier today, we were when you look at all of our positions in the district, you look at all of our uh certified teacher positions,
084our classified positions, all of our departments, admin, DEO, we're 98.5% filled uh for the n for the 2526 school year. Um and we are uh very Thank you. We are very uh motivated to be 100% filled by the time we we get to the beginning of the school year. As a matter of fact, um hopefully the next board meeting, July 14th, we'll be able to to uh share that with you. And uh if we aren't, we're going to be really close. Um just to give you some insight at the for teachers, uh we have 9.5 teacher openings at the elementary level right now. So that's five uh teacher openings and 4.5 special education openings for a total of 9.5. Feel very confident we'll have all these filled uh very soon. Um middle school we have
085six openings and 1.5 special education openings with a total of 7.5. And at the high school level we have eight openings with two special education openings for a total of 10. So we have a total of 27 teacher openings right now. But again, we feel very confident we we have offers happening. Maybe by the end of this week, this number will be way down. So, uh definitely on a good track there. And then is if you when you look at all of our other uh positions classified, um we're down to just a handful of secretaries really by I think we had two secretary openings that got recommended today. So, as of tomorrow, we'll have no clerical openings, down to a handful of TAs. So, we're looking really good on all those fronts. And all of
086our departments are also doing an excellent job. Um, nursing, maintenance, transportation, custodial, leap, safety, security, technology are all uh have very few openings that are on track to uh be in good shape by the beginning of the school. So, uh this is very exciting and uh this is the best. I've been a part of the personnel team now for I think six years maybe seven I think six and uh six years and I can say that this is uh you know in in the past five or so years we're in the best shape we've been at this point of the summer and uh but we're not done yet. So hope to continue to share more great news for you in the coming weeks. Thank you. Thank you Mr. Matthews. We appreciate all the work your
087team's doing and administrators and so uh it's been it's a great start to the summer. So we appreciate all the work you're doing. So um board, anything else you would like to add? Okay, we're just asking for your approval on the uh personnel um report. So thank you. All right, board members. Um the information was included in our board docs. Is everyone okay with proceeding in open session? All right. Then at this time, I would ask for a motion to approve the personnel recommendations as presented. So moved. Motion made by Miss Bates, seconded by Miss King. Any questions or discussion? Hearing none, we will call for the vote. Miss Powell is Yes. All right, the motion carries. Six in favor, one absent. The next item we have on our agenda would be our student enrollment
088recommendations for the 2526 school year. Um, those are in your board packet. All right, board members. Is everyone okay with proceeding in open session? All right. Then at this time, I would ask for a motion to approve the student enrollment recommendations as presented. So moved. Motion made by Miss Bates, seconded by Miss King. Any questions or discussion right hearing? None. We will call for the vote. All right. And the motion carries. Six in favor, one absent. And that that concludes the superintendent's report, Dr. Wimberly and the rest of the board members. Thank you, Mr. Doherty. At this time, I just want to say um thank you for a fantastic last meeting of the 2024 25 school year. Um, just thinking back on this meeting and all the great news and excellent updates, I just feel
089very grateful and super excited as we head into next school year from the um report on the digital learning environment, the discipline matrix, which I'm very excited about, um, the graduation update, the new org chart, the approved budget, which is excellent news. um and and the all the amazing projects happening in facilities. I know that is a lot to um to keep going and the amazing news from personnel with 98.5% filled. So, we have so many things to be grateful and thankful for and um I'm just really appreciative to all of you for all your hard work on all of these things. So, thank you all and thank you for your leadership. Um, I think that is why we are in such a great place heading into this next school year. So, I really appreciate
090you all. Thank you. All right. Um, and the next item on our um, agenda for this evening is our public comments. And we have one, Mr. Jason Brockert. lots of good things. Yes. But I'm going to bring the tone down a little bit. I am exhausted. I have been up to this podium so many times. It's been over five weeks since my wife and I were able to sit down and talk to you. And you haven't done anything over the last several years. The discipline matrix borrowed from another district seems like no effort. Okay, you presented something, so I can't say you didn't do anything anymore. I didn't see anything about the agenda last time. What you need to have on your agenda is the teen suicide epidemic, which is everywhere, including DD2. I have
091said this so many times. Whatever happened to considering a vigil? No silence. Silence. You said you would. Nothing. We know several good teachers. I hope you get those teachers positions filled. We know several good teachers that this district has lost because of the callous way that you've treated them. Specifically because they see what happens here at this podium and how you treat me. Teachers, you need to show up in numbers to get something done. I have far more to say, but you limit my time. You have not even granted me one reprieve on the time limit. So you don't want to hear my words, maybe somebody else's words. You can hear the sound of a thousand voices calling your name. You can have the light of the world blind you, bathe you in grace. But
092I don't see so easily what you hold in your hands. Cuz castles crumble, kingdoms fall and turn into sand. You can be an angel of mercy or give in to hate. You can try to fight it just like every other careless mistake. How do you justify? I'm mystified by the ways of your heart. With a million lies, the truth will rise to tear you apart. Whoa. No one gets out alive. Every day it's do or die. The one thing you'll leave behind is how did you love? How did you love? It's not what you believe. Those prayers will make you bleed. But while you're on your knees, how did you love? How did you love? How did you love? My words don't mean anything, right? So, I'm here to speak up for Julian. If you
093want to see the rest of this, go to www.honoring honoringjulen.com. Watch the podcast. Speak up for Julian. I have put every last ounce that I've done over years into this. Speak up for Julian. Speak up for all of them. I'm going to give you the silent treatment right now between the lines. All right. The next item on our agenda this evening is our executive session, and we do not have any need for one. So, um, at this time I would ask for a motion to adjurnn. So moved. Motion made by Miss Bates. Second. Seconded by Miss King. Any questions or discussion? Hearing none, we will call for the vote. Motion to adjurnn. Miss Pal is a yes. Thank you. Motion carries. Five in favor. Is Mr. Lee still on phone? No. And two absent, I
094think. Oh, wait. Never mind. Yes, he is. I apologize. Six in favor, one absent. We are journed.