001board meeting of March 31st, 2025. At this time, I would ask for a motion to approve the consent agenda. So moved. Motion made by Mr. Guthrie. Do I have a second? Seconded by Mr. Lee. Any discussion? Okay. hearing. Now we will call for the vote. Motion carries. Seven in favor. All right. The next item on our agenda are public comments. And I believe this evening we have no public comments. Okay. So we will move directly into our superintendence report. Yes, Dr. Wimberly and the rest of the board this evening we have our citizens advisory review team here this evening. Um in attendance is Mr. Jay Lombardo, Sue Gage, James Weaver, and General Henry Taylor. Um we have a two members that could not join us this evening. That's Mr. uh James Pi and Allison Duke.
002They could not be here tonight. And so we would like to turn the um the mic over to Mr. Jay Lombardo to give an update on the cart. And those you're not familiar with the cart. Um they actually look over our referendum projects to make sure we're meeting all of our deadlines. And we really appreciate all the time and effort that they are giving to the district. Um and they're giving a lot of their time proono. So we really giving all of their time proono. So, thank you so much for what you do and keeping us on uh track. So, Mr. Lombardo, thank you very much. Dr. Wimbley, this is kind of tough to say it this way. Interim superintendent. Yes, I'm going to get there. Thank you. Fellow members of the um of the
003board. Um, as a reminder for those that are unfamiliar with uh the citizens advisory review team uh for DD2, we are an independent committee with oversight for last year's $200 million referendum of the district's school projects, upgrades to existing schools, and to build two elementary schools at the ponds and the RB subdivisions. The card has developed a master project list, and I hope you all have a access to that. if you don't, it is at the DD2 website under the referendum under the citizens advisory review team tab. Uh that gives us a that gives a stoplight visual of ongoing and future projects with the district. At the March 19th, 2025 CART meeting, updates on of various projects were provided by the district's facility managers whom informed the CART on security and safety protocols uh and
004projects that included an update on the radio projects uh that are to be completed. Hopefully, they are uh they were scheduled to be completed today, March 31st. Um, additionally, uh, updates on the new security cameras that are set for August 1st along with safety films for windows also to be completed on 1 of August. As those are updated, a check mark will be note denoted on each of the projects for the SNL um projects. Other projects such including such to include walls and ceiling repairs will begin when the schools are out of session to ensure safety measures are followed uh in case there's any asbesus or uh other items of hazard material discovered. Finally, we were informed of the issues with the conveyance of the property for the ponds. The delay for the conveyance has
005a direct impact on the anticipated 2026 school year for the district. The CARP measures the impact of our spotlights coloring based on four elements: schedule, budget, timeliness, and operational. As we look at the ponds elementary, we find issues with the following schedule. Initial scheduling initially scheduled to break ground in January 2025. Budget without the conveyance of the property increases in building costs are expected. Timeliness. There is an estimate that for each delay of the property's conveyance, the expected 2026 completion is in jeopardy and operational September 2026 operational date is most definitely pushed to a later date. The car therefore must show the pond's elementary as red on our starlight chart. That is the opinion of the cart. Do you have any comments for us? Mr. Farnsworth heads up our facilities uh team, so he may
006have some comments. I know he's been working closely with with with the cart team. Yeah, for sure. All right. And I appreciate and I think what we'd like to do, you know, maybe we close out this section of the CART report and then get into more of a board discussion because I I do think and and this is a it's an unfortunate but good segue into um actions um that that the board is planning to undertake moving forward uh with that project specifically. Um so on that I I just want to echo what Mr. had already said earlier, thank you. Um very very meaningful thank you to the CART members. Um the these are volunteers that have stepped up uh to genuinely make a difference for our school district and our children. Um so again,
007I just want to say thank you for what you do. Thank you. And I would like to say a few items too with Mr. Lombardo here. We really appreciate you looking over our projects and this is something that's kind of been disheartening for us. I know our facilities team has worked extremely hard um having all of the permitting and everything ready to go on our end and we're still just waiting um for the final approval with the developer and the county. So, I think that's kind of where we're at and I know we can talk a little bit more about that in length, but we do appreciate you you and your team helping us um to get to that finish line is where we want to be again. Um that's what our community voted for.
008um they voted for a school in the ponds and and that's what we intend to deliver and I know that is what the cart intends to deliver. So just want to say thank you. Thank you sir. At this time I'll entertain um item B on the superintendent's report discussion of the pond's property with uh members of the board. Um I'm looking at Dr. Wimberly to see who's who's going to take the lead on that. I I will certainly take it as a chair of the facilities committee. Um you know and and again I think as a board we can certainly um kind of get into as much historical context uh as anyone would like. Um I have have had the privilege of being here through that historical context from the very beginning when you look
009back into um shoot I guess that was 2012 2012 2013 um with the original referendum and and how we get to today unbelievably 12 years later where where we are still um looking to build a school in in the ponds. Um I I certainly don't want to misspeak. I I don't want to speak for anybody on the board, but I I will tell you my intention um is very much so that our board um our district proceeds with a school at the Palms and and the intent very clearly for anybody watching this, for anybody that replays this, for anybody that does not understand the school district, whether it is tomorrow, 5 years from now, 10 years from now, hopefully much much quicker than that. But I want to set the expectation that the school district
010will build a school at the bonds. We will never ever ever give that land up to any other development other than a school of the bonds. So I want to make that very clear to anybody that might misunderstand that um that parameter. So, if if it pleases the board, um I we've got a letter. Obviously, everybody's seen it in their packets. If it's okay with everybody, I know it's a little bit lengthy, but um I would like to read that letter um if that's okay. Uh that way the community can kind of hear that and then we'll talk about next steps. So, the letter is dated as of today. Uh this is to our partners at Coulter Homes, Dorchester County Government, as well as the community at large. The Dorchester School District 2 Board of
011Trustees remains committed to planning for the future of our students and families, especially in rapidly growing areas like the ponds. Our district has seen consistent and significant population increases, and with that growth comes the urgent need for additional school capacity. Over the past several months, the district has acted in good faith to move forward with construction of a new school in the Ponds area. We have secured funding. We've engaged contractors and architects. And we've begun the permitting process to ensure we're ready to move as soon as the land is available. These proactive steps were taken with a clear intention of aligning school school capacity with residential growth. We want to emphasize that while the developer has remained in compliance with the development agreement, the land needed for school construction could be deed to the district
012at any time. The timeline is no longer limited by regulatory hurdles. It is a matter of choice and action. We had hoped the conveyance would occur in alignment with the planning efforts already underway and we continue to urge our partners to consider the pressing needs of the community and the students we serve. The district is eager to move forward and remains committed to open communication and collaboration with both Coulter Homes and Dorchester County. We respectfully welcome the opportunity to meet and discuss any actions that ex could accelerate this project for the benefit of all stakeholders. Thank you to the families and community members who continue to support our mission. We will keep advocating for solutions that serve our students and uphold the values of Doorchester District 2. That's where we are. I am happy to
013entertain uh any questions um you know the good faith efforts that that we have attempted uh to move this forward. I and I and again I want to be very clear um that the developer and the county are still in accordance with their development agreement. We we are not saying they're outside of that. But and this is the big but the caveat is the developer has the ability, the very real ability if they wanted to, they could convey that land through the county to us with no restrictions. So, I will leave it at that and uh again certainly um ask for any or questions, concerns or comments. Thank you. I I don't have any questions on the letter. I appreciate the the time and effort that went in to try and uh convey I think
014accurately the feelings of the board. Um and much as I'm a history buff, don't want to go into the history. Want to focus on so where are we? Are we at a point where there is no recovery to get to opening a school in the ponds for the fall 2026 timeline? And if so, what are the implications for us as a district? Yeah. And so to your point, um, we are I'm I'm looking at Mr. Frell and Mr. Souls. I would tell you from my understanding um if we were not to have shovels in the ground by now by the end of March uh into very very very early April um there there is just no way to overcome that from a construction deadline perspective um to be able to get a school open in
015the fall of 26. So the the discussion has now turned to potentially because of what was stated earlier, right? Because now we have some budget concerns as as we continue to push this timeline out, that budget continues to creep up. And so, you know, it it turns to if we can get this land deeded to us, which can be done, um there's potential. Do we look at a December um you know, finish date? But but then there's questions about what do you do with a facility for those months. So again, so there's just a lot of logistical questions. Um but I again I would argue and I'm looking at at these guys out here that that have done the brunt of it. I would argue we we still need to move as quickly as possible.
016And I think Mr. Souls I think could probably talked a little more in detail about what has been done. I think what what we can control on our end as a school district. Um I I didn't know if you wanted to share any uh Mr. Souls about kind of where we're at with I know we've we've kind of partnered with Hood Construction on a guaranteed maximum pricing kind of goes back what Mr. Lombardo said with his three points about budget and increases and so um what have we done as far as what we can control as a district? Have we done everything that we can control? Mr. Souls, we are at that point where we have done everything we can do. uh we we are on the cusp of uh agreeing to a guaranteed maximum
017price and but but with with the situation at hand we we might need to take step back and take a breath and and because we don't know if it's going to be next month or next year. So and we know there's going to be project budget creep uh to to what extent is is completely unknown. Uh but we have we we've got a a meeting scheduled for next week. We we have a monthly meeting now to just to touch base, see where we are, see where we are contractually, see where we are with conveyance of the property and and kind of get a feel for where we are on on pricing and what what the subs are saying because I mean the the in the grand scheme of things when a contractor gets a project
018of this scope, they have subs lined up months in advance. They have superintendent lined up months in advance and we come in weeks before kickoff and say timeout that throws them into kind of a a bad situation. So and and but we we're we're maintaining that line of communication. It's it's almost, you know, every week we're we're talking with Hood, talking with the architects and talking with everybody in the project that's uh that's that's involved and just to m maintain a good line of communication to let everybody know where we are, what we're doing, and and we're still we're still pushing, you know, for the for the final permitting. Uh we've got we got all the permits. We just need a letter from the county now. That's it. And that's that's the end of it.
019So we're we're there and we're shovels are in hand. So Mr. Souls uh clarify whether or not I'm thinking correctly. We are doing our part as a board as a district. The difference of opinion as to what needs to happen is between the county and the inver. So I think Mr. Farnsworth covered that very clearly that that everybody is in compliance. I mean the the the letter of the agreement is being met, but they could at any moment it's it's they could convey. I'm just trying to determine where's the stalemate. What what's keeping us from moving forward? We have two parties. We're in agreement. There are two other parties. So they have a what? Oh, I wish I could answer that question. If I had that answer, we wouldn't be standing here talking about it
020right now. So, how do we go about resolving helping them to resolve whatever the issue is? I I think Mr. Farnsworth has has has has started it with with this letter. I think we we we still were still in conversations with the developer. We're still in conversations with the county. And so, so it's it's it's an ongoing process. We haven't nobody has stopped and said and thrown in a towel, we can't do that. We we've come too far to throw in the towel. Okay. So, we're we're still massaging everything we can to make things fall out the way we needed to. Unfortunately, it's it's very very razor thin on time right now. Uh and I I wouldn't want to stand here and and put our contractor in a bad situation by telling you if we
021start on X, we can be done by Y. I would not do that to No, I don't want you to do that. I just want, you know, the public to understand we're at a stalemate and we're just on the side trying to determine what needs to be done because I've been since I've been on this committee um facilities, you know, I've heard this side and I've heard that side, but nobody seems to be wanting to come and bridge that gap, whatever it might be. You know, I I don't know that I would call it a stalemate. I think we're I think the the it's a it's a process and I think we have to continue working through that process. Okay. To to to massage everything every possibility we can to to continue our efforts at
022the ponds. Okay. Well, I trust you. I don't know that much about building and doing all of these contractual issues and resolving them, but um it just seems simple to me. You got point A and point B and then you meet and come in the middle and then you come up with a solution because you know you have all of these children waiting for a building to be able to have access to. So I don't know. Thank you. I just want to say, you know, I echo Mr. Farnsworth sentiments that he shared. I'm I'm grateful for this letter. As you've said, everybody's in compliance. um while they're in compliance. That doesn't shed light on the fact that the funding's in place, the plans are ready, and this only hurts kids. So, I hope that we
023can put kids first and everybody in everything they do, every meeting they have. Let's think about the kids. The kids should be what we're thinking about. So, thank you, Mr. Farnsworth, for taking the time on this letter. So, all that said, uh, moving forward, I I think we want to, of course, take some action on this letter, uh, to be able to provide that out to the community and and those partners. Um, and then next steps, uh, what we've got lined up and and I want to make sure with Mr. as well. Um, next week, so next Monday, April 7th, if you will put that on your calendar, uh, 6:30 p.m., we are planning to hold a community meeting uh, specifically about uh, this issue, about the ponds, uh, the school in the ponds. Um,
024that will be at Sand Hill Elementary School. So, April 7th, 6:30 p.m. um, Sand Hill Elementary School. Of course, this will get out, you know, to the channels we have available. Um, I know Mr. Dhy, we had spoken about ensuring that our school communities because that that is a huge impact to those communities over there um to make sure they know about this meeting. I think it's important that they get this information. Um, is that something we've have we talked about that? Are we able to get that out? Yes, we'll be able to do that through our parent square. Okay. So, yes. Perfect. Um, so th those will be the next actions. Um, so as a board, you know, again, um, our intent is to then get this information out. We'll use this letter as
025kind of the backbone for that, uh, meeting. Um, but just to be able to get out any sort of, uh, community information that we can and I'm assuming it's going to go out like tomorrow or something like that. I mean, it's on the 7th and that's one of the issues sometime the public have. They don't have advanced notice. So, just making sure it's done in a timely manner. Yes, Miss Pal. We will definitely have that ready to go with with uh with the letter as well. Absolutely. And and again, super quick and I know we have a lot of members in the community that that are very um ingrained in their local HOAs and and their boards and those sorts of things. So, we would appreciate the help getting that out um to those communities
026as well uh for that meeting next week. And I was just going to say before we close this out, I think one other just important piece to talk about is is why that timeline is so important. And I I mean um and obviously the increase in the budget, the promise of an opening of a school in August um as part of the referendum, but also I think you know when we're talking about opening a school, it's going to involve reszoning. Um, and so we, you know, if we were able to open the school in September, October, November, it's not really going to do us a lot of good because you can't move kids, um, you know, in the middle of a school year. And so that could create a potential issue of an empty school
027for months, which none of us want to see happen. And then also there's the domino effect of just um of of reszoning and what that looks like and how it affects kids across the entire district and and it's the goal of this board and I know district leadership um to not continue to reszone our district because that is definitely a hardship on um our families and our students. So that is why we are so passionate about this and why it is so important for us to try um everything we can um to keep this um timeline as we had planned. So, um, and if if does anybody else have any further questions or discussion? Um, okay. If if not, then at this time, what I would like to do is ask for a motion to
028um put the full support of this board behind this letter and also um to share this letter. So, to support and share this letter with our um community families and families. So, so moved. Okay. Motion made by Mr. Lee. Seconded by Mr. Guthrie. Any further discussion or questions? Okay. And hearing none, we will call for the vote. All right. And the motion carries. Seven in favor. Thank you. And before we move on, I'd just again like to thank Mr. Lombardo, Mr. Susan Gage, uh James Weaver, and General Henry Taylor for coming this evening and supporting us um as we move move uh to getting a school in the ponds. So, thank you very much for coming. We appreciate it. As you can see on your uh board agenda, we'll move on to item 4C, which
029is an organizational chart positions update. Um if we can, we'll pull up one of um one of our first items on there, organization chart. when we talk about um looking at adding um from our PD coaches going to instructional um content specialist in those positions. Um when we look at that we'll have four and I'll go back into this and kind of explain to you we will actually have four um at the middle school and high school level. So there'll be one language arts, one math, one social studies, and one science. um at that level they'll be supervised by Mr. Cannon who is the director of secondary education. Um we will then have four at the elementary level, two um at the for language arts and two for math and they will be supervised by
030um Carrie Balhaj who is our director of elementary and those would be a 210day contract. um they would help out during the summer for professional development, writing curriculum, um looking at any of the new instructional materials that we get in especially when we're looking at textbook adoption and those items and so that is on um your chart when you're looking at curriculum and instruction. So those are those positions. So one of the questions was asked um what about uh social studies or science um for having in the elementary um our curriculum instruction team believe that the support from a good PLC lead um at each grade level in each subject. So, example, we would like to see possibly six social studies and six science at our elementary um to with the help and support of
031Jessica Farnsworth, one of our assistant directors in elementary and in Kerry Ball, they will be enough to help support our teachers in those two subjects. Um our plan would be to have those 12 people, six social studies, six science, they would be that liaison for grade level and could lead vertical and horizontal alignment for standards and curriculum development. Um, we would look at our best teachers in these two areas to lead our district. They would be able to hold PLC meetings via teams and work directly with Jessica and Carrie. This would also empower teacher leaders and create uh collective buyin across science and social studies. The more we give opportunities to our teachers to step up and be leaders will help us grow our own. And so again, the only tested area in science and
032social studies is actually in science right now and that is in grade four. And we have already kind of uh when we look at those scores, we'll look at those science scores and which teacher is actually performing the best when we're looking at student achievement. Um and again uh we also do not do common assessments um for science and social studies. We do that in language arts and math. And again that's why the need for a content area specialists in the elementary um in language arts and math and not science and so much social studies. Um and so again, those leads would really help in doing that curriculum. And so again, that's kind of the why behind that um why we're um asking for permission from the board for your approval of those positions, what
033those would look like. Um but again, if we had our had our way and our magic wand, we would love to add more math people because if you look at our data based on data driving our decision-m, we'd like to have more content area specialists in the area of math. However, when we just got done with our budget uh meeting, we're looking at again trying to do what we can do with what we have. And so, this is what we feel like when talking with our team um these positions what we need, especially in the uh the curriculum instruction area. If I could ask a couple questions. So, you know, we're not as a board or as a district trying to teach to a test. We we know that yeah, there are scores and there
034those scores in math and reading make up our overall scorecard. Uh but that's not our goal here. um with the science and social studies, is there anything that prevents us from doing our own internal assessments to gauge how effectively these uh content specialists and coaches and whatnot are being to help our elementary and middle school teachers who teach social studies and and science to ensure that, you know, we're doing the right things to help them out even though we don't have a a formal assessment. And then secondly, these changes that we're talking about here, these were all considered as part of the discussion with the budget and everything already. Correct. That is correct on a question too. Yes, Mr. Lee. And and I have Katie um Barker who can kind of answer that formal question
035that you had as the CN um the curriculum instruction. She is our chief academic officer and uh she was a big help and when we're pull pulling this plan together. So I'll just kind of turn that question over to Sure. Thank you. So, and also to address the question about certainly we could always add additional assessments um at the elementary level, we do offer common assessments for social studies and science at the secondary level and that that is for many reasons that we don't we have many years ago in the past done them. Um we moved away for them for several reasons. one primary children, elementary age children, and just an over assessment. They work, you know, they already have usually two common assessments for ELA, two for math in addition to our progress monitoring
036assessments, their regular classroom assessments. So feedback from teachers, from administrators really were we're almost assessing more than we are te we're almost testing more than we're teaching. but also um to be in alignment with the purposes of those common assessments is to change and target the instruction and we're just seeing more of a need for that in science and social studies as oppo or in ELA and math as opposed to science and social studies. Um also the teachers in an elementary setting usually teach all content areas or math, science and social studies. So, um, just taking so much time for those assessments and there's not necessarily, you are correct, we want students to be well-rounded in all content areas. Um, not science and social studies are just as important as reading and math. Just because
037they're not there's not a state assessment at the end of the year doesn't mean that that content is any less important. Um, but we also see a lot more, what we want to see a lot more of and we're working towards is more integration of that content as well. So that the ELA teacher um may not have a social studies common assessment, but we are integrating and assessing a lot of that social studies content that way even though that teacher might not even be the social studies teacher of record. Does that answer some of those questions? It does and thank you for that. And you know, this is the danger of me actually using your terminology and not mine. I probably shouldn't have used common assessment. I I'm thinking in terms of how are we
038determining whether the support we're providing for elementary and middle school teachers in the area of content for social studies and science is having some effect. Okay, I agree with you. We overest everything, but I'm thinking of things like quizzes or whatever to tell us whether or not the kids are getting the education that they need, the teachers have the support that they need. And also I guess as add on to that question, how does this align with our curriculum around elementary school social studies and middle school social studies? Same thing for science. And if those things are all in alignment and we're confident that our teachers have the tools and and skills that they need and the students are actually uh mastering the material at their grade level, then that's good. We don't need any
039more formal assessments. I I would agree with that. Sure. So certainly we do that in a lot of ways. Our teacher feedback um are we have even though we may not have as we move into next year um a science or social studies elementary curriculum lead teach we still get teacher feedback be because there are science and social studies pacing guides curriculum plans resources at the district level that our all of our teachers use. So we will get feedback and that's how we monitor the effectiveness of that. Um we have resources for testing even if it's not a district assessment. So we get feedback from schools and monitor the effectiveness of what we are pushing out to teachers to use and then assessing the effectiveness of it through the teacher feedback. Yeah, absolutely. I just
040wanted to clarify just for the public's sake that we are not necessarily adding new positions. We're reclassifying what was previously the PDC positions and separating them out into the instructional technology and the curriculum specialist just so it doesn't look like we're adding a bunch of stuff to the org chart. I know people see that and get like, you know, in their feelings and wonder what we're doing, but it's really just I I guess less positions technically um as well as more direct positions to kind of what their original intent was. Yes, and I can answer that. So, you went from the PDC position where we had 26 of those. Um, of those 26, they were taken out of title one, title two, and in some general fund. So 7.5 were taken out of the general
041fund which we're currently paying right now. So those eight you could say, you know, that we're going to use as content um specialist would be those positions. And so we're really going to add six positions to the general fund um which would be your your content or would be your um IT positions. So yeah, I guess I said that wrong. I meant to say be prior to the consolidation of the PDC positions and putting them under the title one money. We're just kind of going back to what we had before, but we are going to have to cover some of the general fund as a result to not being able to use the the funds. Correct. And I think and to kind of go on your point where you said what we did before, what
042we did before were 26 positions and those were all funded out of the general fund. Then we took those positions, put him in some in title one and title two. Um, and then we were just told we cannot use those title one and title two funds. And so now they're coming back out of that. And so our plan is these positions, they have new job descriptions, 210 days, and then our plan is when if the board approves these positions, we'll then post those for seven days. These people will all get to apply for those positions if they would like to interview for those positions. Um because many of them have been sought out for other positions in other districts and and even some of our other buildings. They're going to go into teaching positions. we
043feel like we need to do this as one of the first um things that we're doing in our budget because uh these people have done amazing work for us and um unfortunately we look at it it comes down to to the money and looking at what we can afford and and meet the needs of um our academic team and the needs of our teachers. And so that's kind of why we've decided to go this route. Um and so yes, you are exactly right. We are not adding a bunch of positions into our budget. I am glad you clarified that. Well, and yeah, and I just want to say thank you for prioritizing this. I know this is essential to our student success. So, um I'm I'm glad that this is the top of mind when
044we're looking at our budget. So, thank you. Um I do want to say I concur with Mr. Lee and the question about determining whether or not our kids are getting it on the lower level. Now, I'm not saying that we need to implement it this year, not even next year, but I would like us to look at making an earlier determination as to Robin those kids that aren't there yet and they have not yet mastered what they need to master on that grade level, kindergarten, whatever their requirements off of that grade to make sure that they've got it when it comes to the science and social studies and it could be something that we make in district as Mr. De Lee has suggested and it's not formal but yet it gives the teacher a better
045idea as to where those kids are. Um sometimes we could always do more and so if we had the money of course we could just but right now we don't have the funding and so what we would like to do is at least I would like you to think about it. I haven't thought it all out in my mind. I'm just listening to what he said and it kind of resonated with me. So it's just something to have on your thought calendar for next year the year after or something like that. Thank you. Any other questions on on these uh these positions here? Um one other position that is has always kind of been on the org chart. Uh Miss Thomas, if you could go back to the educa uh yes, thank you. Uh yes,
046that one right there, you can see it says MTSS coordinator. Uh we did have in the previous org chart was read 180 and math 180 coordinator. We're changing this to MTSS coordinator. This will allow us to save some dollars because we can pay it out of our ATSI do money. So half the salary of this position um will be paid out of ATSI money. So again, trying to get creative in how we can save some money uh at the district office um and pay for um this person's salary. So again, um it's still a coordinator's position. It's not been elevated. It's always been a co coordinator's position on our org chart. Um has not been paid as a coordinator before. um it was not paid as as that but it was always on our org
047chart as a coordinator. So I just wanted the board to be aware of that but it will finally be paid as a coordinator's position. They will be doing a lot of work with MTSS across the district and also be doing work with read 180 and math 180. So they're picking up additional duties and it will be a 245 contract. So again coordinator's position it was always on the org chart that way. It was however it was never paid as a coordinator. Just want to be very clear and transparent on that. So that's that position there. And then moving on to the next one on our technology. Miss Thomas, if you could go to that next slide. So the next one is right there. Educational technology um ETSs. You can see there the six people that
048we'll be using for uh instructional technology um will go under the assistant director of instructional technology. those six positions and what will they do? Um I'll give you an example of those six. Somebody will be in charge of parent square formative uh pltw another can be doing clever class link secure robo help. The third one could be edmentum discovery education safari montage. Fourth one will be schooly lumio ed plan. Fifth one will be Tableau, NWA, Map, STEM learning and the sixth one will be Canvas, Adobe um and then course design. However, all six of them will have to be articulate in uh Microsoft 360, Adobe uh captivate educational AI and then also digital citizenship. All of them will have to do that across the district. So, you know, um working with our um technology team
049and also our academic team of coming up with these programs that our teachers are expected to be able to use. We want to be able then to give them the support on this where we felt like um that's where a lot of our PDCs were having to be kind of the um the jack of all trades doing all of this plus content. And so we do feel like the content specialist separating those out and just focusing on academics and curriculum and this one's more f focused on uh technology instructional technology and how we're incorporating that. So that we're asking for those six positions um this evening and you can see where they fall on the org chart and again that's a 210 10day contract as well. So just asking for board permission and approval for
050uh those positions. So, and and if I can just super quick, I one thing I'd be remiss if I didn't say when when I think about Doorchester District 2 and and what has always always always made us the special place that it is, right? Because a lot of what we talk about in today's world is is teacher recruitment and retention and and it's we've always said it's more than just pay, right? pay. Pay is 100% extremely important. No one is is questioning that. But on top of that, it's things I would classify as supports, right? And so when I think about Doorchester District 2 and what we have historically always done better than those around us are the supports from a district level, right? Right? Because our our job our job as a board, job
051as a superintendent, everybody in this district office there, the entire job that we do every single day is to support a teacher when they close that door to make sure they have the tools, resources, and everything they need to teach those kids. That's it. And we have to give them those supports. And so I think pieces like this are really important because it allows us to give district level supports to every single school. It's not not just individualized schools, but it allows us to give tailored support for every single school in a way that that is equitable across the entire school district. And so again, so that's why I look at at plans like this um as as steps in the right direction. Steps I'll say steps back in the right direction. How about that?
052All that said, if we can I don't know how you want to split. I think that are the content specialists already split out. How do you want to vote on those here? Here's why. And it's very specific. The content level specialists um for the elementary schools, if we can split those positions out, I don't know. It's up to you guys. Or you can just take out content specialists because I I need to abstain from voting on the elementary school content level specialists. Makes sense. Okay. That's up to you guys. If if you want to just do content specialist and I and I don't have to vote on any of them, that's fine. Or if you want to do middle school, high school, and just separate out elementary school so I can abstain from that one,
053that that would be fine as well. I was just gonna say I thought we could we just make a motion to approve the Oh, okay. I see what you're saying. Never mind. Yeah, Madam Chairman, I would move that we separate the elementary and the middle and then allow Mr. Farnsworth to abstain. Okay. Yes. Absolutely. Um Okay. So then let's first ask for a motion to approve the um organizational chart update regarding the MTSS coordinator job description. So moved. Okay. Motion made by Mr. Lee, seconded by Miss Bates. Any discussion? All right. All in favor? We'll just do these by hand. Okay. And the motion carries. Seven in favor. All right. Next, I will ask for a motion to approve the middle and high school level content specialist jobs organizational chart updates. Okay. Motion made by
054Miss Bates, seconded by Mr. Farnsworth. Any discussion? Okay. Hearing none, we'll call for the vote. All right. Seven in favor. Motion carries. And then finally, I will ask for a motion to approve the organizational chart update regarding the elementary level content specialist jobs. Okay. Motion made by Miss Powell, seconded by Miss King. Any discussion? Okay. All in favor? All right. Six in favor. Um and one abstension. Yes. Motion carries. Did we get them all? No. Oh, technology. Okay. Sorry. I apologize. All right. So, the um All right. So, now I would ask for a motion to approve the organizational chart updates regarding the um technology specialist, instructional technology specialist. I apologize. Okay. Motion made by Miss Bates, seconded by Miss Powell. Any discussion? All right. Hearing now, we will call for the vote. Okay. Motion
055carries. Seven in favor. Did I miss anything else? Okay. Thank you. Sorry. Thank you. Appreciate that very much. And the next we have is a personnel report um for the board to take action on. Okay. And um if the board is okay with this, we will hold off in doing this after we return from executive session. Um, so I think we will vote on that after that and so we can move straight into the student enrollment recommendations. Um, and board members, are you okay with proceeding with that in open session? Okay. Um, can I ask for a motion to approve the in student enrollment recommendations as presented? Okay. Motion made by Mr. Guthrie. Second. Seconded by Miss Bates. Any discussion? Okay. Hearing none, I we will call for the vote. That one we should be
056able to do electronically. Okay. Motion carries. Seven in favor. Does that conclude your presentation for now, Mr. Dohy? Thank you. All right. Thank you. Great information. Okay. The next item on our agenda are public comments and we do not have any public comments this evening. So board members at this time um I would ask for a motion to convene into executive session um for personnel matters as well as um the personnel matter regarding our interim superintendent. Okay. Motion made by Miss Bates. Second. Seconded by Mr. Guthrie. Any discussion? All right. None. We will call for the vote. This should be electronic as well. Right. And the motion carries. Seven in favor. We are in executive session and we will return. Okay. Motion made by Miss Bates, seconded by Mr. Lee. Any discussion? All right. Hearing
057none, we'll call for the vote. Motion carries. Seven in favor. We are back in open session. All right. Board members, at this time I'd ask for any motions um as action from our executive session. [Music] Um, Madam Chair, I move that we accept the Fort Dorchester Elementary School personnel recommendation as presented in our packet. All right. Thank you, Mr. Farnsworth. Do I have a second? Seconded by Miss Bates. Any discussion? All right. Hearing none, we will call for the vote. Motion carries. Seven in favor. All right. Any further motions? Yes. Um, Madam Chair, I move that we authorize you to send a letter to Chad Dhy confirming the terms of his assignment as interim superintendent, including that effect of March 10th, 2025, during the time period in which he serves as interim superintendent of the
058district, he will receive a monthly supplement of $1,250 along with a monthly automobile allowance of $1,000 for in district travel. All right. Thank you, Miss Bates. Do I have a second? Okay. Seconded by Miss King. Any discussion? Okay, hearing none, we will do a hand vote. All in favor, right, motion carries, seven in favor. Okay, thank you very much. And I believe that is it. So at this time, I would ask for a motion to adjurnn. Okay, motion by Miss Bait, seconded by Mr. Lee. All in favor? It's probably a vote. Yeah, one last vote. Did I do a Barbara? Motion carries. Seven in favor. We are journed.