January 13th, 2025 - 6:00 PM - Board Meeting

001e is a worldclass school district expecting each student to achieve at his or her optimal level in all areas and providing all members of our district family with an environment that permits them to do their personal best and our vision our mission statement leading the way every student every day through relationships relevance and rigor thank you thank you everybody and welcome to the January 13 2025 regular board meeting obviously a little different tonight um with me opening the meeting this is our annual board reorganization so the first thing on the agenda is the approval of the consent agenda do I I have a motion to accept the the consent agenda I have a motion by Dr lmly do I have a second second second by Mr Guthrie any questions on the motion all those in

002favors we'll do a electronic vote thank you and the motion passes seven in favor none opposed all right the next thing we have on tonight's agenda is the election and appointment of our board officers the first appointment or first election is for the board chair do I have a motion for board chair I make a motion to nominate Dr Ashley Wimberly for board chair I have a motion for Dr Wimberly by Miss Bates do I have a second I second that I have a second by Miss Annie King any discussion on the motion all those in favor this is a voice vote all those in favor signify by saying I I those opposed and the eyes have it I will now turn it over to board chair Dr Ashley Wimberly thank you Dr Robins I

003appreciate it and thank you to my fellow board members for your vote of support I appreciate that as well moving on we will now accept nominations for our board Vice chair do I have a motion I make a motion to nominate Kelly Bates as Vice chair okay thank you Mr Guth I have a motion from Miss Bates do I have a second okay I have a second from Miss Powell any discussion or questions okay hearing none we will vote all in favor please signify by raising your hand okay and we have um and any opposed abstaining M turnsworth okay we have um six in favor one exstension the motion carries congratulations Miss Bates okay um and then at this time we will move into our appointments um I would like to proceed with those just

004because um I feel like we are in a very busy place a very productive place with everything that we have moving and going on in the district at this time and so I'd like to keep that momentum going so I'm going to go ahead and make those appointments this evening um I'd first ask like to ask Miss Cynthia Powell if she would serve as our board secretary okay thank you very much I appreciate that um and then next I will move on to our committees um for our facilities committee I would like to ask Mr Justin Farnsworth if he would cons continue serving as our chair okay thank you very much and miss Powell would you serve um on that committee with him as well okay great thank you very much um for our finance

005committee I would like to ask Mr Guthrie if he would continue serving as our chair for that yes okay thank you and I'd like to ask um our newest board member Mr Lee if he would serve with him um on that committee okay great thank you very much um moving to our policy committee I would like to ask Mrs Kelly Bates if she would continue serving as our chair for that yes great and um Mrs Annie king would you serve with her on that committee yes ma'am okay excellent very well um and then for my final appointment this evening our dd2 Educational Foundation this is such a great opportunity for board members to serve on and so I really do like to rotate this every year because I think they do such excellent and important

006work across the district so I think it's nice for board members to have an opportunity to see all that they do and to be a part of that so this year um I'd like to ask Miss Bates if she would serve in that role yes I'd be happy to thank you excellent very good okay and I think that concludes our board reation and I appreciate all of your support in that um Yes actually um do you all want to trade places I guess yeah make it you could have slid it guess I can and based on the audience we have with us tonight I am thinking we must have a a lot of great highlights coming so I am looking forward to that that is the next thing on our agenda and so we will

007move to that oh and look at this we are welcoming on on his first day of work first for the end of a long first day that's the first board highlight welcome we are happy to have you here end of of day one um I have first in front of me uh Madam chair Dr Robbins board members a proclamation from the governor that I'd like to read the state of South Carolina Governor's Proclamation whereas education is the foundation upon which the economic intellectual and social capital of our state is built and whereas school boards directly influence instruction in South Carolina's public schools and whereas the decisions of local school boards affect the present and future lives of children while setting the direction to prepare all students to be competitive in a local State national and

008Global 21st Century knowledge economy and whereas local school board members work with parents businesses education professionals and other community members to represent their views and create the ideal educational vision for their public schools and students and whereas Schoolboard recognition month highlights the unique role School boards play in representing their constituents public education now therefore I Henry dargan McMaster governor of the great state of South Carolina do hereby Proclaim January 2025 as school board recognition month throughout the state and encourage all South Carolinians to recognize the contributions of local school boards to the academic success of public school students across the Palmetto State signed Henry McMaster Governor state of South Carolina I would ask that all of our board members come down for a photo as I'm told we don't have a picture of all of

009you together yet [Applause] there we just tapped it oh mine's not on either oh mine's on okay there we go okay and as part of this um I am also going to read the South Carolina School Board member ethical principles and then we will all sign this poster representing our um plan to follow these ethical principles as we serve as members of the board we pledge our efforts to improve public education in our community and will solemnly try to represent the interests of the entire District when making decisions and to rely on available facts and on our judgment rather than on individuals or special interest groups understand the proper role of the board to set policies governing the district and to hire the chief administrative officer to carry out these policies encourage an open exchange

010of ideas by all board members during the decision-making process seek regular Communications between the board and students staff and all segments of the community attend all board meetings to study issues facing the board and to enact policies and official actions only after full discussion at such meetings work with other board members in a conscientious and courteous manner befitting the public trust placed in the position of Schoolboard trustee communicate concerns and public reaction to board policies and school programs to the superintendent and other board members in a professional manner support employment of the person's best qual qualified for staff positions and to ensure a regular and impartial evaluation of all staff avoid conflicts of interests and to refrain from using our board positions for personal or partisan gain encourage recognition of the achievements of students and

011staff and of the involvement of community residents support legislation and funding which will improve the educational opportunities and environment for students and staff take no individual action which would compromise the Integrity of the board or Administration and to respect the confidentiality of information that is privileged under the Freedom of Information Act study current educational issues and to participate in training programs such as those offered through the South Carolina School boards Association and make our District's educational setting the best possible to encourage all students to achieve and to love learning okay and then at this time I will ask if each of my board members will sign this and then we will do the photo one there for stay you can [Applause] stay for nearly 70 years the Coastal Carolina fair has celebrated creativity and Community

012showcasing the incredible Talent of young artists to more than 300,000 attendees each year tonight we are proud to recognize 34 students from 13 of our schools who have earned Coastal Carolina fair youth art Awards their achievements reflect not only their talent and dedication but also the guidance of our art Educators and d2's long-standing commitment to Excellence in arts education I'm going to call each Winner's Name by school so please come forward to receive your certificate and remain in the front so we can take a picture of you as a school if we have any school Arts teachers or admin that are on on site please also come down and get in your school picture we're going to start with Austin Middle School Abigail [Applause] abomi Monique katam and Dora [Applause] Junius next from Dr Eugene

013sers Elementary we have Mansfield [Applause] Alexander get some from Fort Dorchester Elementary Ryland Chapman [Applause] from for doorchester high school Haley Davis Haley here and we have Mel suon moving on to Joseph Pi Elementary Kylie [Applause] Cooper and we have Reagan mcmanis [Applause] from Knightsville Elementary we have sayana Matthews we have Maria [Applause] Costa and Harper Finny [Applause] from Newington Elementary we have Taylor Casey ammani McDow Murphy romanic and Brinley winter [Applause] from Oakbrook Elementary we have Angelica alcantra Medina [Applause] from River Oaks Middle School we have Lynn Barnes [Applause] either way from r Middle School of the Arts Gavin [Applause] Ruckman from Span Elementary Tatiana Wallace [Applause] [Music] from Somerville high school we have Emma Daly Luke Foster Alexa Kendrick anley Kingsford Coya lagasa Josie Limehouse London Miller and not a typo London Miller

014again won two Awards Alana Morano Brianna [Music] Priam Taylor Riley Tiner Mary roas and Sarah Von lintl from Summerville High School and finally from William Reeves Elementary Emma Payne [Applause] and keep it going a little bit one more round of applause for all of these amazing artist we found it Taylor [Applause] is e e this looks a little more typical lots of artistic talent to celebrate that's fantastic okay we will now move on to the next item on our agenda which is our public comments on agenda items and we have two this evening the first is Mr Jason brocker good evening um I'm actually reminded again to thank you was a few years ago is in the in the covid days you know those dark times where I'd recommended that we do Awards before public

015comment I I think that's that's pertinent uh that was a good move so it's really good that they did not have to sit through what you and I remember from what happened at these podiums with that I think I need to provide a uh breakdown of some of the first few minutes of the meeting but that's entirely different you have an agenda item tonight uh 7e academic report specifically read to succeed um I've read through that and I remember going through it a few years ago I like the update where there's a specific focus on the uh K through 5 rather than um than all k through2 um it reminds me back in 2018 when my son had won several reading Awards in fact they even had to create award a separate award for how

016many books he read that year um in second grade he had Lexile level over and the courses were very good for this um that got him into gate classes uh that set up years of academic performance uh he was mostly a straight A kid for six more years he had a fond love of reading I'd like to remind you that it doesn't matter our reading levels when we don't make it through so the academic performance doesn't matter if you don't make it through so from that I'd like to know over the past few years I've been at this Podium speaking about many many things I love celebrating the accolades I do but there's an issue we need to address issues as well it cannot all be celebration I'd like to know what has been changed

017in the school since I have been in this Podium for years about bullying I'd like to know what you who have been on this board for a while have done individually to make anything better on that regard and to our incoming board members I also challenge you to do better I'd like to say that since May of 2021 I happen to count it up I have 107 emails to Joe P Mrs Robbins I've been doing this for a while 107 emails with valid points with no response or to be fair with with a response where I had a further question which was then not answered I've been up here and been active I don't see the change for the things that need to be addressed we hear about budgets I get that I've talked about

018teacher retention and budgets I would like to know what all of you are going to do to change things for the better my three minutes thank you thank you Mr rocker okay next we have Mr Ben hup greetings board members I'm here to address item 6C on the agenda in regards to school facilities the facil I wish to directly speak to are the tennis courts at Somerville high school at the school board meeting I previously attended superintendent Robbins uh promised the new tennis courts will be be ready for the ladies next season which Begins the first week in August over most of the past 20 years the summer of high school courts have been in poor condition the courts were unusable for matches four of the last five years as excited as we are about

019new tennis courts many are concerned the same mistakes in building the old Somerville courts as well as more recently constructed tennis courts within our school district will be repeated our first concern is the layout the old courts were laid out in a long line with viewing only possible along the western Baseline through a fence a better design would be two courts on either side of a viewing Gallery similar to the layout at Berkeley High School Ashley Ridge and West Ashley which has lower fencing along the sideline or Berkeley is an example which has lower fencing along the sideline and that would be the best option of the three I brought a schematic to show the board uh what this looks like it is important the courts are also turned properly to avoid looking directly into

020the Sun during matches Su somerville's courts are currently positioned improperly east to west in closing uh Somerville tennis players and supporters or actually let me back up just a second uh may I suggest uh posting the new court schematic to allow the public comment on the new design and that way potential problems can be avoided before construction begins uh in closing Somerville tennis players and supporters want the new court to reflect the highlevel players and coaches put into the tennis program the Somerville Boys team recently made it to the state championship and the girls team reached the third round of playoffs this season losing to the eventual state champions it is our hope that when the Tennis complex is completed Somerville tennis players can walk onto the courts with their racket heads held high thank

021you for your attention in this matter and I would like to give the schematics that I brought uh to Justin who as I know our facilities chairman I brought three copies and I'll just hand all three to you Justin and then if you want to hand extra copies to whoever that'd be great thank you for your time thank you very much okay the next item on our agenda is our board chairs report um yes Mr Moore I had you assigned for a non-agenda item um is it an agenda item it isn't no non agenda item we will have it at the end of the meeting it'll be at the end of the meeting yes sir sorry okay um so moving on to our board chairs report um this evening I have a list of upcoming

022important dates that I wanted to bring to everyone's attention um most of these on here I think everyone is aware of but there are a few things that we need to discuss um at the top here we have the scsba annual convention which I believe we have already talked about and everyone is aware of we do also have our new board training at that so um looking forward to that we have the kaspa National Conference um dates as well which again we've also discussed but I just wanted to bring this to everyone's awareness there is still time to register if you have not and are interested in that um the other dates over to the right we have the superintendent state of the district I know we were all sent a save the date for

023this but I did just want to bring this to everyone's attention and make sure that you have this on your calendar as I know Dr Robbins is looking forward to this and to having us all there to support him and to hear about all the great things that are happening in the school district um so that is January 30th at 9:00 a.m. at the Performing Art Center all right and then um some new that we are planning this year that we discussed at our last board advance and when we made our goals for this year is to have public Talent Halls we've gone ahead and scheduled those dates for the year um we worked I worked with Dr Robbins to make sure that these would work for his team as well so that we could

024have the board as well as um him and his leadership there um and so our first one is scheduled for January 24th at 5:30 and that will be here at the district office the plan is to have those um throughout the district and so you can make note of the other dates and put those on your calendar and then finally um the last thing I wanted to bring to everyone's attention to plan our agenda I know he has some information that he wants to bring to us and I will also be reaching out to each of you that he wants to bring to us and I will also be reaching out to each of you to see to see what you would like to have included on that agenda we will have time for um

025information from Dr Robbins and his team as well as a time for our board to workshop together so that's kind of the tentative plan for that looking workshop together so that's kind of the tined a plan for that looking ahead any questions about any of the working on the budget this year okay great thank you very much and then from our facilities committee Mr farnworth um yep I appreciate the time um the facilities committee met prior to the meeting uh this evening uh productive meeting as we mentioned um several months ago as we move into Bond referendum and and Capital Improvements projects uh specifically our facilities committee meetings will primarily be used um for those projects and so tonight we got an update on um the ponds property and so I think we are all

026excited to hear that that that is closer uh that is getting much closer to fruition and and shovels in the ground so I'm I'm anxious to get uh get that continued movement there um as well as additional referendum projects throughout the district um moving forward so again just want to say thank you to the district uh Mr Souls Mr Smith everybody that's involved in those meetings um again uh what Miss Bates is saying is correct we will meet on the um I guess that's the second Monday prior to our board meetings is the intent that we'll meet for facilities all right thank you very much Mr Farnsworth all right and that concludes our board committee reports and so now we will head into our superintendent report and I will turn it over to Dr Robbins

027thanks Dr Wimberly um as you can see we have several items um on the agenda it's been a little while since we've met and um we will go through these things um one by one I have several different people that are going to present tonight and the first thing I have is our annual um well no I take that back that's second so our County auditor report so I do believe um Mr missery is here and you know before he presents I just want to share and and I don't ever want to sound like a broken drum but um I think there is some value and understanding um the situation and how schools are funded in South Carolina but most of you realize in 200 uh six state funded home uh were exempt from taxes

028through through act 388 and so that shifted tax burdens away from the property owner to commercial industry and then another area which we see some tax collections are through our registrations for our vehicles so that's what Mr misser is going to talk about tonight um they have been a huge supporter of us you know my first couple years here and creating the budget and working with them so I do appreciate their support and um again if you want to present on this um JJ thanks for being here tonight oh he's got slides okay yeah right now I went to South Carolina so I don't know how well this is going to go all right thank you all for having me this is the most thankless job other than being the county auditor but I actually

029get paid all right so one of the biggest ways that y'all are funded locally is going to be through Vehicle Tax um we have a lot of people moving here you know constantly and then we have a lot of people that are moving here moving away moving here moving away um they're not as tidy about getting their uh their cars registered so and I didn't want to get too technical here but basically if you have a child in school your car should be registered in South Carolina um I've been doing this program for about 12 or 15 15 years we took a pandemic Break um but it's one of the greatest ways that y'all can help me improve y'all's collections like I said if you have a kid in school and you're not military exempt

030your car should be registered in South Carolina in Dorchester County um basically if someone fails to do so they can have the penalty of having to pay twice as much in the car taxes that's not fun being taxed and put it on the roles um this is an idea about all the property tax that we collect for vehicles if you see that between what we're collecting for the vocational school for dd2 like those kids which are your kids as well as your debt service and your operations of all of the entities including District 4 S or 60% of it is y'all's collections um and I can go ahead and tell you that when people have concern concerns or comments a lot of time they're commenting on y'all's bills and they're coming to me and I'm

031a big defender of what y'all are doing here I have two kids in the district I was in the district and I think y'all are doing well I don't know about y'all the schools are doing a great job thanks JJ um so right now just for operations y'all are collecting over $15 million in vehicle taxes your operational budget is $26 66 million thank you Tina and the percentage of the budget is 5.8% so that means 5.8% of every teacher salary comes from vehicle property tax collections which for a $50,000 a year teacher that's $2,922 that's a lot um how the program works is we're going to notify the schools at least 24 hours in advance before we come we typically will notify five or six schools at one time we always copy the superintendent as

032well as um Miss munier um we check in at the front office of every school we wear fluorescent vest they'll never be less than two of us at any time I also get out there and do it um we typically go to the elementary and middle schools in the AM and in the PM over the year so if we were starting at the beginning of the year we would start uh after the 45 days CU after 45 days people are supposed to be registered so then there's no issue with that um and then we'll you know do one in the a.m one in the PM throughout the year we do the high schools in the afternoon go through the students parking lot we run all these through the ncic that then tells us who the

033owners of the vehicles are we then contact the attendance office at every school and we are not worried about the children we're just trying to try to tie the adult to an address because if your car is registered out of state more than likely we don't have a local address we also go through neighborhoods and we go through neighborhoods we obviously have an address to send the letter to and then Lexus Nexus and these different sources then tell us you know how long you've lived there um and then we start this whole process that the statute requires as far as the letters that we send and over the many years most of the people just register their car um um one of the big things is is like as Dr Robbins mentioned nobody that's JJ

034can I add something on that so um it two things when um they're deemed to not be legal residents or that's not their primary home one that affects the schools because they aren't supposed to be attending our schools and number two it also changes their tax bracket if they're occupying a home that's a second home is that correct so it goes from 4% to 8% typically well it goes from four to six but what is typically happening in those instances is that once the people get the back bills for the 6% to four they're finding the Lord and coming in and registering their cars but beforehand we weren't receiving any of that Revenue um so yes sir it it is a big difference because it 4% you literally get nothing as far as operations are

035concerned and I forget what the number s are but it's like around $2,000 someone can fact check me on what it cost to put a kid through school in local taxes so like I have two kids in school I have one car I'm paying about $300 $400 a year in school operations taxes if each kid is $2,000 even though I'm in compliance I'm at a $3,600 deficit to y'all each year but that's what the law says um some of the outlier that we always want to take care of is that if people are military and they're active duty military and they are claiming another state on their eles because we have a lot of them will come in and they'll be exempt locally but they just provide us a copy of their Lees and then

036we take them off the um direction from Joint Base Charleston for many years has been that they are to send the Lees in and that the program we're doing is what we need to be doing um as part of this too because we go to neighborhoods we will do press about this if I register one car because of us going out we'll register and I'm making this up but you'll get the point we'll register 10 cars from people just not wanting to get the letter they've been putting it off and what have you and we for months will have a line out the door of people like I don't want to get that letter um we also like try to educate the public on what we're doing and why we're doing it that's part of

037what we're doing here um and then like I said the the press and working with y'all like the impact will be much greater um what I need from y'all is I need the board to okay Administration to work with the auditor's office I need Administration to communicate and convey with the schools and the auditor's office to understand the scope and expectations of each school and then I need buyin from each School administration and attendance Secret secretary to confirm verification as prescribed by state statutes um overall and we've had a break of doing this pandemic and then a bunch of other different things but anyways um we have had unbelievable buyin there's I'm sure there's some veterans with the school district some of the school board members have been priview to this as well and honestly

038at the end of the day I'm doing this for dd2 my entire staff buys into it we're out there at 6:00 in the morning morning and then they go to work and work their regular schedule we then listen to all of the complaining and what have you about you know this and that um but this is my best way to help yall and it's my office's best way and it's the County's best way we also and uh Miss mun has been part of this as well in a big important part of it we also have been partnering with the school district for about 14 years on legal residence audits that we have taken on that has over the years brought in millions of dollars to dd2 and y'all have just been a fantastic partner but

039I'll take any questions and if I don't know the answer I'll make it up you go back to the one slide did I understand correctly it's the school district's responsibility to verify residents no sir okay must have missed that yeah and and honestly they threw this uh presentation together with which one was it keep going back the issue for the taxpayers that they had to certify residency through the school what does that mean that they had to oh in order to go to Public School in South Carolina you must declare that you are a resident of South Carolina that's why y'all get bills and whatever else utility bills you are certifying that you are a resident of South Carolina that's what brings them in conflict with this is they have certified to y'all that they

040are resident that is the only way you will permit them to come to the school so it is an open shut I'm not a resident do you have a kid in school yes did you certify to the school that you were a resident yes you're a resident well I just want to say um when I was in the classroom I actually saw some of you all out there looking at the cars so apparently it's very effective and um I just want to say thank you for doing it it is all about making sure we have the resources as much as possible in order to educate our kids I have to pay so everyone else and I don't have children in school but I'm still paying taxes of some kind so it's no more than right

041that those that have children in school at least do their fair share when it comes to that so thank you so much for the sacrifices that you all are making I love to fight with [Laughter] people any other questions I actually just want to say the same thing we we really appreciate it sounds to me like it's extra work for your office getting out there early and being there late in the afternoon so we appreciate that work but we also just appreciate the partnership and your willingness to support our um school district and our schools and our students and I think these kind of Partnerships are are a little light reading tonight so you can get all of the details that she's going to tell you about right now Emily good evening I know everyone

042was excited when they saw two different Auditors speaking on tonight's agenda um again my name is Emily Saab I'm with green finny colie and I oversaw the district's financial statement audit for the year into June 30th 2024 and so I'm here this evening to present those results before we get into the number numbers I think it's important that you remember that the financial statements are the responsibility of the district and so it's important that you have good policies and procedures in place that properly address the risks of misstatements in that financial information um because of course that's important at year in for our audit purposes but it's also important as you're making strategic decisions on behalf of the district throughout the year our responsibility as your auditor is to audit the financial information provided and

043issue an opinion based on our audit we issued an unmodified opinion this year that opinion provides reasonable assurance that the financial statements are materially correct so important to note there we're providing reasonable Assurance which is a high level of assurance but it's not absolute um and we're also using materiality in determining our audit procedures so now we'll look at your general fund results you had an increase in your total fund balance of 5.3 million bringing fund balance to 70.2 million as of June 30th included in that 70 million is is assigned fund balance of 723000 that's assigned for school carryovers and you also have 4.7 million in fiscal 25 budget Appropriations that are also classified as assigned fund balance when we take out those assignments we're left with your unassigned fund balance of 64.9 million

044that's what's available for future operations when we look at that unassigned fund balance we like to compare it to your operating expenditures to gauge how healthy the fund balance is so your unassigned fund balance at June 30th represent presented about 23% of your budgeted 2025 expenditures we provide a couple of benchmarks there one comes from the government Finance Officers Association that's a National Organization and they provide a generic Benchmark um that local governments of all different kinds should have at least two months or roughly 177% in their unrestricted fund balance the state also has a minimum requirement of one month or 88.3% um there are of course a number of reasons why it's um um advisable for the district to keep your fund balance higher than that minimum of one month um or even perhaps

045The Benchmark of two months some things to consider um the first uh is very important um when we are measuring fund balance again we are at June 30th but you have six months of cash flows to get through until those property tax collections start coming in and so having a healthy fund balance uh minimizes your Reliance on short-term financing such as tax anticipation notes for meeting those cash flow needs as you wait for your property taxes to come in of course we also want to be PR prepared for unanticipated expenditures natural disasters or other such emergencies um and having a healthy fund balance also allows you more flexibility in capital planning choosing which non-recurring needs you fund through uh debt issuances versus funding through fund balance um having that flexibility can help save you interest

046interest uh expenses um when interest rates are higher so let's look at your general fund activity we had revenues of 21.7 million for the year that was a 99.3% increase from the prior year as you saw increases in your state revenues as well as in your property tax revenues your revenues came in about 6% better than what you had budgeted and again of course because the state revenues and property taxes are your most significant Revenue sources um it's no surprise that that those were the areas that um that you saw those increases in when we look at your expenditures expenditures were just under 268 million that was a 15% increase from the prior year as you saw increases in your personnel costs primarily of course Personnel costs represent the large majority of your budget and

047so million um so a little under 400 million for your expenditures if we take those amounts out so definitely a significant budget uh for your Finance crew to oversee um and you know as I'll talk about in just a minute they've done a really great job doing that when we look at your governmental funds we focus on current assets and current liabilities but we also have your government-wide financial statements that include long-term assets and long-term obligations a couple of the long-term obligations that we continue to report relate to your participation in the state retirement system and the state retiree healthcare plan these are your net pension and net OPB liabilities these liabilities are not direct liabilities of the district rather they represent your proportionate share of the total unfunded Actuarial liabilities of the plans and

048so while they are significant um the net pension liability was right under 280 million net OPB liability around 190 million um like I said they are not direct liabilities of the district so you're not expected to write a check to pay those off like you would other liabilities um rather what you are expected to do is pay the employer contribution rates at the rates mandated by the state and those rates are significant they have been increasing over the past um over 10 years now we reach a rate of 18.5% for fiscal 24 that was up 1% from the prior year um for the State Retirement System the good news is that there are currently no planned future increases in place um and so we held it that 18 and a half% for fiscal 25 um

049however I'm not quite sure that's very good news since that rate is very significant and does have a direct impact on your operating budget and cash flows and so now that we're getting into budget season um it's just very important that when you are considering your personnel costs that you're making sure to capture all those fringe benefits in addition to your salaries because um like I said they do have a significant impact on your budget now we'll look at your long-term assets you have total Capital assets of 47 million at June 30th that was an increase of just under 12 million compared to the prior year um as your additions of 30 million exceeded your depreciation expense looking next at your more um uh typical long-term obligations your long-term debt uh it totaled 277.50 million

050at June 30th that was a decrease from the prior year of about 30 million um that decrease was primarily due to your principal payments made during the year um I do note also that you did issue several uh Bond issues during the year um some of those were to refund previously issued debt to achieve some cost savings um savings uh the refunded bonds will save you um a little over 10 million over the remaining life of those bonds and so um always love to see that U we did have principal payments of 23.4 million and we report compensated absences of 8.1 million that is your earned but unused vacation leave as of June 30th and then we note that total debt service payments for fiscal 25 are just under 40 million so a little bit

051less than what you paid in fiscal 24 in addition to the financial statement audit we also performed the compliance audit the single audit on behalf of the district that's the audit that's required by the federal government um where we focus on individual Federal programs um and follow federal guidelines in testing those programs we tested the idea program and the Esser program for fiscal 24 and we did have one finding to report uh that related to time and effort so when you use federal funding to um fund payroll expenditures you are required to obtain appropriate documentation to support the fact that the individuals that are being paid through federal funds are indeed serving on those programs and so for the idea program for fiscal 24 the district did not fully complete the process of obtaining that

052documentation um I know that there have been changes made to ensure that that's not a problem going forward um on the financial statement audit we do perform your audit in accordance with government auditing standards and so in addition to reporting any findings related to the federal programs we're also required um to identify findings related to any significant audit adjustments that are required or significant weaknesses um in your internal controls that are identified during the audit process we would also be required to report any significant instances of non-compliance if if they were noted during the audit and I'm pleased to say we have no findings of that nature to report this year and so that really reflects very highly on your Finance uh team in all that they're doing day-to-day throughout the year so thank you

053um in addition to the financial statement audit we do also issue a management letter each year that includes some required Communications from us um to the board and to management um and so that kind of gives some highlights of the audit process and the results of the audit so I encourage you to review that letter um which should be included with your financial uh statement package that brings me to the conclusion of my presentation I'm happy to answer any questions that y'all have yes um first and foremost thank you thank you guys um for the work um for you as well as our financial office I don't know that folks really understand the workload um that our financial office Tina and her entire team have to go through for this audit um it's very extensive

054very exhaustive and and so very appreciative thank you and it's it's always a pleasure uh to work with your firm so we appreciate your support uh next thing we have on um the superintendent's report tonight is a um just a quick update on the recruiting and retention task force we had a meeting um this week you know it been a little bit of a break because of Christmas uh but we have several projects that we're working on I just want to share um with the board and publicly the goal is to have a final report to the board as we enter into budget season anything that might have a little cost associated with it um by April and then what um I will recommend and we can talk more at the um Advance about it

055is probably a quarterly meeting with this group um and not meet quite as often um but I think it's a group that they've all agreed um that it would be very beneficial to continue to operate together so a couple of the things that I want to highlight we do now have the um logo for our business Partnerships uh and the QR code that has been created out of the community relations department and so you'll start to see some of that the website is up and running we're still working through some of the challenges of making this easily accessible and and trying to find a way that we can do that for our employees uh in the professional development Focus Group group we have talked about a targeted um Academy approach for our employees so they

056can sign up and again one of the challenges out of the P PD focus group has been U that our employees now um through our plc's really receive about all the training that they need for license um renewal so one of the things we're talking about is are there ways we can compensate them to provide the PD internally amongst the District staff and so we do some of those things already but we're trying to formalize that more for people to apply and be a part of that process the work life balance focus group is one that I'm spearheading the main project with that one is child care for our employees and how we can pilot that most of you remember that we had looked at Gans as a location to Pilot the child care we

057are now working on another location and I won't say it out loud miss ball but um i' I've talked to her and a couple other folks about another location that we think will be able to Pilot Child Care there's going to have to be an application process because we can't do this for every single employee so we that's part of the work right now that's ongoing is what's the application process going to look like how do you qualify and how we how do we make those decisions again a big part of this will be based on DSs and Dhat guidelines on the ratios we are working with two groups the Boys and Girls Club of America and the YMCA who have met with us to possibly provide employees and they have those credentials already in

058place will make it a little bit easier and the final uh piece is our mentoring and support programs again just trying to make sure that we are synchronized with this and we provide the time necessary for our employees when they come in and they have the ongoing support So paying mentors um is one of the things that we have discussed so again kind of getting our feet back wet you know this week working with the committee we have we meet monthly um and we'll have more to follow up as we get closer to budget season and closer to April to present you all with a final report but I'm happy to answer any questions okay all right the next thing I have tonight then is our finance report uh the finance report you know is

059usually the second meeting of the month so this one is about our 8 uh% spend Authority and it's really time sensitive for our device renewals and so I'll turn it over to Mr dhy and miss m um to give you a update on that and answer any questions because this will require board approval yes thank you board members um again hello um we um uploaded the capital project listing for the fall 24 8% funding um the top section in um the peach color is what was already previously approved that was um the capital projects for the various schools and the projects that yall have already approved um of that 12 million so we had an additional 8.8 million and that is the amount that we're requesting tonight for your spend Authority um as a request

060to come before the board I wanted to go over the numbers and Mr dhy is going to go over any um specific questions that you may have um over some of the information for technology pieces the first amount is for our staff laptop replacement that's a refresh for all of our staff um all the teachers Tas all of the district level folks principals Financial secretaries everyone who has a laptop this will be their refresh that we usually do every three years um we have some good news about that um the instructional technology renewal for our um Apex Study Island clever that's all wrapped up into our adum contract this is the second year of a third year of a three-year contract it's 1.1 million for the renewal um for this coming up year um we

061were able to utilize Esser funds for um this current year and so now since Sr funds have um been exhausted we would need to move this into another funding source and we have technology specifically allowable under our 8% monies so we had discussed using the as part of our technology money out of 8% um the $844,000 is the for emergency and unforeseen issues that may come up that was um our um our balancing line item that's the remaining funds after we go through the these other items for Professional Services and salaries um Professional Services would be for architect and Engineering costs if there are any other projects that we need to work on that were outside of these capital projects that were listed above um the salaries are for our salaries and benefits for the

062business development director that the board had approved last year so this is a continuation and then also as we have moved into our Capital project planning um for our Capital project facilitator for the salaries benefits for that person to come out of the 8% funds as well um our Erp software renewal that we show is for our Enterprise enterprise resource planning program that is for our new finance and Personnel payroll system that we'll be moving to um at the end of this year and the beginning of next fiscal year so this is the renewal for that program we're very excited about that and the rate program is for the district portion of the federal eate program is for technology items such as the internet access internal connections and the related equipment for that um it's

063not for devices but this would be the the district portion um that we pay along with what the United the USAC the UN Universal service Administration company for through the federal program pays um so um after you talk with Mr dhy with any questions that you may have our request is to get the additional spend Authority we have already received These funds y all voted on us to to be part of the sko program back in the fall um and these are the remaining funds that we are requesting for these specific items we had been waited for a little while because we wanted to get the exact um spe specifications for the majority of this is the staff staff laptop replacement for the refresh so that's why it took us a little longer to come

064to you this year for that refresh when we go for the fall of 2025 we'll have all of this information together when we go in the fall of 25 so do you have any Financial questions for me are you ready for Mr dhy or do you not have any of Mr dhy I don't know whether this will be in the financial category or it belongs from a technology standpoint so two questions uh on the uh laptop refresh do we have a defined program for periodic life cycle maintenance of of uh equipment within the district in this case staff uh and if so what is that we do and that is a Mr dhy question I will let him come very good Mr Dory and the second one which I don't think is is going to

065be for you either but I just want to be clear so in terms of these uh software renewals is it on I thought it was on um in terms of the software renewals how do these renewals compare to the last renewals of these contracts this is this is the second year of our three-year contract so we had put this into place last year so this is the same amount they spread our spread it into three years these programs it's the same basically yes okay thank you and just kind of answer some of the questions on the refresh um basically the specs for the device so you know what we're doing we have a currently we have a dell and we're having issues with the battery life on the dell and so now currently for the

066specs we're looking at the same specs we have for the same device it's a 13 and 1 12 inch screen it's going to be a touchscreen um you'll have a camera it will have the Microsoft operating system and one of things that we're looking in this contract is this since we had an issue with the battery life Dr s and his team have really looked and they're asking for a 4-year device warranty and also a 4-year battery warranty um again to get those four years out of this this new device it'll also come with a case and each one will have a docking station which will be able to operate our current um flat screens that we have in our classrooms um the current docking stations are uncompatible with the new device um that he's

067gotten some new devices to come in and he's actually looked at those and see if those will work and they're not comp compatible um and so also um we'll have those a total of 3,700 devices will be needed 3215 will be for staff we will have 485 extra that will be spread across 26 buildings uh in district office to help with break and fix for staff our staff need these devices so if something happens we'll have a little bit of um wiggle room and some extra computers and in those buildings to help out with that um also this is not a Chromebook um these devices are more robust and have additional storage for our teachers to store things on their devices for information um and again we're going to be paying about $1,500 per device

068but that includes all those above uh items includes the warranties all the invite items I talked about with the case and so again we're asking for permission it's going to be through State contract and so we're asking for permission to spend 5.5 million on those devices also um the devices we're currently looking at is either Adele an HP and or Lenovo and so I know Dr sang and his team are researching um those devices to make sure we get the best device for the best uh price and he's hoping to even get it under the state um pricing also we'd like to purchase these in February because this is when they um release their updated version of the new CPUs which will be released and also the updated security built in this new system operating

069system so he's hoping we get permission to P to purchase these devices through State contract we'll do that in February because that's when the new devices come out we don't want to have the old operating systems um and so that's what he's looking to do um also with the old devices what will we do with those um those will go out to bid to vendors and we will use those dollars to help fund other technology items that are needed um in his Department um we will keep some of the old devices um that recently had to replace the batteries uh I'll give you an example schools will ask for requests to see hey can I get a few extra uh computers to help out with um let's say uh at a ball game um maybe

070it could be for uh when we do registration of new students when they come back so they'll ask for some computers we'll have a little bit of that to be able to use those older devices for things like that so he does get a lot of Dr s and his team do get requests for those and so they'll be able to have those devices we have those uh newer batteries so we won't have to replace the device so um that's currently uh with the devices so I don't know if you'll have any questions about devices I know Mr Dr s is back there for any other questions but just to kind of give you the nuts and bolts of what we're doing so is that to say the life cycle is four years the the

071intended life cycle yes four years yes sir how long have we had the current devices I believe it is on was it three they were three we're talking three years right now yes yeah three years right now three years right now yes okay so by the time we great question so yeah we're hoping we want to get even another year out of it with those warranties would we go on a foure cycle or would we still go on a three-year replacement it would still be a fouryear cycle that that's the intent instead of a threeyear cyc yes okay and I know in the past we've done um I guess primarily for the student side of it but we've done some focus groups where we've had um because you mentioned different looking at different models of

072laptops um having those different models and then having um either students or staff sit down with them and and give feedback are we are we planning to do any of that um we did not the only thing we were plan on doing is take it with our pdc's to look at our professional development coaches to look at that since they are the same specs on those devices we figured you know again it's going to have a touchcreen three and half inch screen um the camera everything's going to be similar to the same device we had we didn't feel that that was necessary at this time sure and then um it's a financial question um so te I apologize to to get you back up there is is there anything in as far as these line

073items that we need to maybe plan and this may be a naive question I just don't know is there anything we need to plan on that really shouldn't be an 8% money that we need to be forward-looking for our general fund budget is there anything other than this is that what you're asking for instance I like the the it renewal stuff so the the 1.2 million is there any reason that we put it under 8% money versus a general fund line item um we have technology money set aside in our 8% money so we were trying to utilize between the laptop refresh and then including this since it was paid for with eser dollars before and not including it in our general fund since we have some room in our 8% capacity because this 8%

074money has has increased can can you repeat that question I I'm sorry I didn't hear you clearly yeah I I was just curious to looking at these specific lighting items the the total the 8.8 million if there's any specific reason why we're putting them under 8% money versus putting them into our general fund just paying for them at a general fund I don't our 8% capacity has grown as the assessments have grown in the um in the tax base so we have been able so our funds have been increased over the years we have a been able to um pay for some of these items out of Esra dollars so the only two items that are new this time um for the 8% would be the instructional technology renewal and the um Erp software renewal

075um Erp is the the new program that y'all voted on that we were able to move to for our finance and Personnel payroll softw I had a question for that is that good for how often does that need to be renewed annually annually okay so yes thank you so I I want to answer I think Mr farnsworth's Question on that we try to put as much into cpf and into our a% and keep it out of the general fund so that we can adjust sales the more that we put in that would otherwise be able to be paid somewhere else is just that less of flexibility we have when we go to um increase salaries every year so that's the big thing is trying to create a strong enough buffer in your general fund with

076other areas yeah I'm not saying not to do it that way I'm just I think the trade-off is there's some interest rate that we're paying on that interest rate on the there's interest that we're paying on this 8% money so I mean that's the balance this is our shortterm um 8% money that we get so we pay it off every year so there is no yeah yeah so perfect it's not long term and then the only and and this this may be an offline um item but since we're talking about technology I I'm getting a lot more feedback specifically uh from the Kate programs um looking at different device requirements uh specifically on I think when you start looking at the design and and different program Pro programmatic needs uh for possibly Apple computers and

077so again that can be an offline discussion but I'm happy to Broach that subject I I my concern is that we're putting our students at a disadvantage if we and I understand the funding issues I understand the ongoing funding issues I understand there's a lot of pieces to that puzzle but if we're talking about this level of spend um is is there anything we can do to make that better for our students I I would say that's probably a a discussion a different discussion versus just a quick response to long and short yes and no and a lot of it has to do with the management piece of of all of this but we have been in discussions with Mr Walsh I don't know if he's still here tonight but he was here uh with

078his him and his team on some of those things it would be a very spot specific programs um to do that but what we have found is a lot of the Microsoft programs and some of these cap programs will do the same thing but not all programs so we're working through some of those um challenge we can definitely give you some more information bring that to the board in the upcoming future perfect thank you do that if I could uh ask a followup and forgive me um I deal with renewals and contracts in my regular life so do I understand these are actually not renewals this is the next year required payment we've already signed a contract for multiple years this is the next year's payment or is this an actual software renewal where if

079we wanted to we could potentially renegotiate or talk about whether or not we're getting the value from this software and anything that the suppliers of those software might want to contribute uh or to to help us um I'm not aware I think I can answer that question um it it's an actual threeyear contract and we and the reason I say that is yes we have to have authorization to pay it every year but it was a three-year contract at a set price by doing you know obviously you know so you're just dealing with the idiosyncrasies of somebody who uses jargon from an entirely different industry so yeah we got a we got a three-year uh rate by doing a three-year contract versus a year-to-year contract with them so are you referring to the Erp software

080renewal or the instructional technology renewal which one are you talking about the the instructional technology Ral okay so what year are we on two it'll be for year two so we're paying for year two okay yeah we won't pay it until um the fall but this but this is for so that we will have it authorized so that we didn't have to include it in general fund budget for next year okay yeah we're in the first year of Erp transition okay this year okay so we have two years left with the current instructional technology thank you um so if it's the board's pleasure if you would vote to um provide us with a spending Authority for the 8,845 391 that was part of our 8% funding I'll make a motion to accept the proposal to

081spend 8.8 million Deo bonds okay thank you Mr Farnsworth I have a motion and I have a second from Mr guthy okay at this time are there any further questions or is there any discussion regarding this motion Okay then if hearing none we will call for the vote this should be yes this is an electronic vote okay and the motion carries seven in [Music] favor thank you very much thank you [Music] okay I know you're probably wondering what am I doing walking down here and I don't rarely do this uh so um back in October I nominated uh our board for the Patriot award through esgr which is employer support of the guard and Reserve most of you know well all of you know that I was an active drilling member of the Army Reserve

082and I really really wanted to um have this Award presented to you in December because I retired um as a colonel from the Army Reserve on December 8th had my change of command ceremony and it was thank [Applause] you and I was just excited um to maybe be able to do that and synchronize it together it didn't work out um but I do have Don trola um from the Department of Defense he's the chairman emirus of the esgr um I know I've got uh Miss Troy here who retired from the Army Reserve I've got Brian Bohanan here who is an active uh Drilling reservist and what I want to tell you as he comes up here is on behalf of all the military folks in our school district thank you um it was not easy

083there were a couple times in my short tenure here where I had to be gone I was in New Mexico I was in Virginia and not once did any of you ever question and whether I couldn't be here and I wasn't on ground and this last year I was commanding a Hospital Center and it was really difficult going to Boston once a month and you guys were nothing short of amazing and supportive of my career but after 37 years it was time um to say I've done my tour Duty and my service but Don if you want to come up here and say a few words and um I would love to get a photo op with um with our board and thank for being here tonight my pleasure all right good evening everyone I'm

084dant tra chair of Meritus for the Department of Defense employee support of the garden Reserve esgr was created back in 1972 why well the Vietnam War ended the draft ended so the Department of Defense said there has to be some mechanism in support in what we're going to call an all volunteer armed forces and that's exactly what happened so that think tank was way ahead of the curve not realizing that today over 52% of our military that's fighting the global war and terrorism is the guard and Reserve that's very important for you to understand that this evening over 52% of our military is gten reserve components so when we received this application from Mr Robbins it was quite an extensive read if if you will and he goes on to say because you can detect

085pride in someone's verbiage or written report and if I may just want to just a couple of sentences and this is what he wrote that really touched a lot of our hearts in at the Pentagon doorchester School District number number two has a large military Community including active duty parents as well as a large number of garden Reserve components Dorchester School District number two is one of six proud purple star districts in the state of South Carolina wow that is amazing and I think that should deserve an Applause right now so esgr is in every state Across America and we have a board of directors in Washington which I had the honor of serving for two terms and I decided to move to South Carolina because this is where my Roots Began uh back in

086Vietnam when I was actually at Fort Jackson South Carolina in 1972 I hate to admit that so I came back to my roots and uh it's such an honor to be here this evening to present this award particularly in my new home state so on behalf of vgr I would like to present Ashley Wimberly and the entire School District the Patriot award which by the way is the highest award that a supervisor can receive from the Department of Defense so please come on up and receive this award my pleasure my pleasure e [Applause] service [Applause] I love it all right well thank you so much for indulging me in that um I would invite our academic team to come up um they've got a presentation on our read to succeed updates I thought you were

087going to do the read to succeed update Dr Robbins when you grabbed the microphone I didn't know what was going on so good evening board members thank you for having us tonight I will say I'm the one at the microphone but it is certainly um representative of the team's work so I am first here to update you on read to succeed which this first slide just kind of shows that it is not a new law it has been in place in South Carolina since 2014 but in 2024 now a year ago um there were some major updates so we just wanted to bring you up to speed on those updates next it that's okay thank you so the numbers at the top are the the state department update so and then at the bottom you'll

088see the dd2 implications that's really where I'm going to focus since that is what our experience will be here in Dorchester 2 so the first update to the law really was a shift and focus for literacy from a K12 focus at the state level to a K5 Focus so for us in dd2 early literacy has always been a key component of our literacy program that is not a major shift here you guys all know that we have a district literacy model um we will just because we are a curriculum and instruction team that Ser that serves all schools and all levels will continue to work and support literacy education at all schools also just that last bullet if you remember last year I think now we also instituted A literacy um policy that focuses on

089education at all levels so um and we were specific about what that looks like at each level the next major update and this is a big update um really focuses on scientifically scientifically backed reading instruction which all of you are smiling because we've talked a lot about this over the last year this shift really was is the state Department's way of holding districts to the fire for being in line with science of reading and current best practices which we're happy to say prior to this update in the law we were already moving in that direction so we do feel good about where we are a big um shift here really was that last line is that the state department was very specific about districts moving away from using any instructional materials that use the three

090queing method so the implications in dd2 we had already started that process um but we have been not just in dd2 across the state Across the Nation been using 3 queing method for years and years and years 20 plus years so um it is it is not just a start today you're your it's done tomorrow but some major shifts that we have taken over the last several months is this year we moved away from using the Dr which diagnostic reading assessment which we have used since I started teaching in this District in 2001 um the Dr specifically uses three queing methods so it was clear that that assessment could no longer be used in our kindergarten first and second grade classes we did shift to something called the foundation skills survey I don't know why

091the S always throws me I want to call it an assessment um which completely aligns to what the state department wants us to focus on with those early foundational reading skills and I'll say we want to be in line with what the state department wants but ultimately it's about what's best for students and literacy education so also we are auditing at the school level materials that they have to ensure that they don't have any previously purchased instructional materials that don't support science of reading and they're not still using things in their classrooms or in their schools that um use the three queing method and that that will continue to will continue those audit um throughout the year our facilitators at each Elementary School are great resources for that as well and then of course anything

092new that we adopt either through state adoption or anything new in the district that will go through those guidelines as we approve those this is another big big shift that we will definitely see some um change es in our district so remember that the read to succeed law is the law that put into place third grade retention if students aren't reading on grade level and don't have what the state calls a good cause exemption so an an an an explainable reason why they might not be reading on grade level so previously in the state of South Carolina students that would be noted indicated that they would be in Jeopardy of being retained at the end of third grade um were students that scored what we called not met one so that whole does not meet

093category and that not met one is really the lowest range on this SC ready assessment in reading so starting this year that changes to all students that score does not meet in that in Reading Alone so it that that this will be a big change for us obviously because we're changing what we're measuring there and we're looking at a larger group of students so what we do offer is students that score does not meet in Reading are invited to summer reading camp and if they make significant progress attend summer reading camp and then make significant progress and then that can be their good cause exemption for them to go to fourth grade so this will be a big change here we are already have already been heavily communicating this with schools who are then heavily

094communicating that with families especially third grade families there are checkpoints in place um for example all all third graders get a letter at the beginning of the year that so parents are aware of the r to six seed law specifically third grade retention also the state department requires a conference with parents at the end of second quarter and again at the end of third quarter if we think students are on the trajectory to Pro possibly not meet that Benchmark of at least approaches on SC ready so um it shouldn't our intent is not for it be a surprised that it's well communicated in writing and throughout conferences with those families so we'll continue to work on that um monitoring the numbers because obviously we're anticipating an increase in the numbers of students that would need

095to attend summer reading Camp the next update is that you have to have 90 minutes of reading instruction daily and you have to provide interventions for students that aren't meeting reading expectations so um again we are happy to say that those are already things that we had in place our elementary literacy model has a solid 90 minutes of reading instruction in and then additional writing and other Ela instruction as well so 90 minutes of reading is across the board at all of our elementary school TOS um it also references um putting having interventions in place so we have been providing literacy interventions for students again maybe since I came to this District in 2001 so for a long time so at that at the K2 level that can look a lot of different ways sometimes

096that's an intervention in the classroom that the classroom teacher delivers sometimes that might be a pullout intervention that an interventionist um a school level interventionist deliver but that can look different ways based on the students needs um in third grade specifically since we know that is a big one for that third grade retention piece we utilize read 180 used to be called System 44 but there have been some updates to that so it's now called read 180 um and then also in addition to interventions this part update Amendment to the law requires that we start to add in the future first grade and second grade to summer reading camp we have historically included second grade already so we'll continue do that and then add first grade on we may look at um how those students

097qualify how we target those students um as we get more information from the state department but that isn't necessarily a huge change for us and we'll just add first grade as we move through the years um so the next big update is teacher professional development I won't spend a ton of time talking here because this one we have I've shared with you guys before but this really is the state's requirement that teachers complete letters training so we are already well on our way with this we have five elementary schools that started last January and the additional 10 started in August of this year so at this point in time all of our elementary teachers in the identified Group which is k through3 um Elementary administrators coaches um special education teachers all of those teachers are

098already actively participating in letters training and so we are excited about what the outcome of that will be remember that that's an intensive 2-year training so it is it is a it is a big lift for schools but they are um handling it with Grace and those teachers are excited just get in there and learn more and we're excited as we do school visits it's exciting for us to start to see a lot of those things in coming into the classroom as they're exposed to new content um just a reminder that the state does provide a stipend for teachers as they complete those letters trainings so over the course of it's a two-year Pro process at the end of the first year if they successfully complete it's a $500 stipend and then an additional one

099the second one so they will get um ,000 in stien from the state that all is wrapped up into that Proviso that provides letters also we're happy to announce that the state department has released optional letters training that starting next year our 4K teachers our fourth and fifth grade teachers as well as middle level special education teachers will be able to participate in so we're really excited about that because we have a couple of schools this year who opted to pay for some of their fourth and fifth grade teachers um and it's about $2,000 plus dollars a staff member and that's without that is then without the stipended and things like that so um we're excited that the state is continuing to add more um openings there we also have a couple of um District

100level staff that are going have opted to be trained to be facilitators of that in the future so we're excited about that so the next update from the state really limited the number of universal screeners that schools and districts have available to use this is not a huge change for us we have map the map NWA map growth assessment is is what we utilize in the state in from the state at the district level and it continues to be on the state list not a big change there for us but again they do you can see that they um can continue to limit that and check that list um so we'll obviously always use an assessment that's approved by the state the next one is the literacy coach endorsement at the at the school so

101if you'll remember we call them facilitators those serve as our reading coaches at all of our elementary schools all of the reading coaches in Dorchester 2 are either already certified have their literacy endorsement or are currently working through it with the state so not a big change there that practice has been in place in dd2 for years the last um update from the state changed the the read to succeed endorsement requirements for um some Educators so current previously middle level high level related arts teachers things like that had to take some cours work to complete their red to suceed certificate and that has been removed so they really focus that at at the elementary level now so those are all of the big read to succeed changes any read to succeed questions I can ask

102or answer answer I should be able to answer them but if not before I move on to the next update yes I do have a question yes ma'am when are the parents first notified about the retention possibilities MH so the first step is it's part of our our registration process when parents come through fax and fees every third grade parent receives a letter that explains the law um explains how that it's tracked um what they can do to support their child what we as a school are going to do to support their child but that goes with every single registrated registered third grade parent and they sign that letter so we have that signed and we're actually this year Miss Farnsworth had the brilliant idea to build that into registration so that upon completion of

103the registration paperwork that will be completed for every third grader so that's when all parents are first notified of it now that's not to that's not limited at all to students that may be in Jeopardy of possible retention so at minimum the law requires the read to succeed Law requires a conference by the end of quarter 2 and again at the end of quarter 3 for all students that we think are at risk of possibly scoring in that lowest range we usually we really start that early because we tell teachers that in dd2 every child that is below grade level proficiency you have a conference with in com in quarter one so but at minimum the law requires it in quarter two and that is our goal is always a face-to-face conference especially for something

104as serious as that that shouldn't be a quick phone call but for parents that are unable to come in we will use a phone conference or something like like that worst case scenario so what this what we use throughout the year to determine if we think a student may be at risk to fall below that reading proficiency level is our map assessment so the state gives us a clear score a 186 in Reading is what they determine to be on grade level for third grade so starting right well really starting in the fall is where the schools start but starting now at the district level is we already will use our winter map scores to start inviting students to summer reading Camp any student that has a below 186 on their map we at the

105district level will communicate with schools level and all of those students um that it is appropriate for certainly we have some students that will participate in other special education programs and things like that over the summer but they will receive that invitation or notification that their child would be invited well before even the assessment for ready takes place okay I asked a question because I've been thinking about that with the third grade in my opinion and I'd like you to at least consider it grade one and two you begin to see signs already and part of it has to do with parents doing their particular job at home to reinforce what's being done in school so if parents can be notified first grade second grade that way we aren't waiting until the last minute and

106now they want to come up with a reason why particular things are going on in their family but that's part of the parents responsibility to reinforce what we're doing and if they don't believe that we're serious enough to give them two years in advance so that they know your child will be retained then I think we're kind of dropping the ball just a little bit that's my opinion no ma'am I think I I think we would certainly agree there these two coming straight out of a school are like we do that I will say the the letter at the beginning of third grade is the be earliest in third grade they're notified I know that all of our schools use really that third grade retention as a talking point with parents as early as kindergarten

107first second grade this is why it's so important that we remediate those weak areas now so that we're not talking about retention in third grade so we we do that it it's just not necessarily in writing that parents are notified about that third grade retention piece and also I know that we have it a lot of our schools have it in their school handbook as well so that's a good point well a lot of people don't read the handbook unfortunately and then secondly tell me that I honestly you know it's true but anyway secondly I truly would like to see something in writing go to the parents because it's not what you say you said it's what you put in writing and you could you know how to phrase it up so it says there's

108a great possibility your child will be retained And when they see that word you know something seems to go off in them maybe I need to do something else and be more serious about helping my child get the assistance that is needed just a suggestion no Absol thank you I have a fast question um I'm a former third grade teacher and I taught third grade um summer reading Camp so this excites me um will the summer reading Camp requirements be the same or are they going to get a little more challenging as well to pass on to fourth grade so do you mean the requirements to go to summer reading camp or do you mean the instructional day during summer reading Camp I mean the instructional day during summer reading Camp uh what does that

109student achievement need to look like in order for them to pass on to the fourth grade yep great question so last two years last year I can't remember my some years are running together we went to from a shorter day for summer reading Camp to a full school day um in addition it's all it's all literacy instruction so it is students they're there from 7:30 to 2 o00 and it is all literacy instruction um instead of in the in years past it was a half day and at one point in time we were integrating math and steam which certainly H are great but since our Target really is the purpose of summer reading Camp is to fill some gaps for students so they're not retained we went to just an instructional day for literacy so

110the academic um focus there um shifted a little bit to support that on the flip side um in order to successfully complete what the state has to do so we will progress mon those students throughout and it that has really over the last couple of years um become much more intense and beneficial so every single student um has a specific Target and intervention that the teacher is working with them on um we provide some support to them at summer reading Camp the first week so that they can test all kids outside of map testing so they can identify their primary literacy skill um in addition to what the school sends um and then they will Target that and progress monitor that throughout so that they can change what they're focusing on if there's a need

111and then at the end to successfully complete we readminister map and a student now has to score a 186 it used to be a 177 to successfully complete to go to the next grade well that makes my heart happy thank you absolutely I've got one more yes ma'am so will we get a report say at the end of this summer session indicating the success are the number of those that met are you know failed of Summer read work yes absolutely we'd be more than happy to do that thank you absolutely Jess come sure is writing that down for me so I remember yep so I I will start and just say um how proud I am of dd2 uh for getting ahead of this and and I will even say for the State uh for

112following our lead on our um literacy policy um had a question so the summer reading Camp so you had mentioned that we we would look potentially um you know more kiddos going into that uh more resources needed what does that look like from a district perspective like how are we how do we fund summer reading Camp are we going to be looking for more Educators any concerns there so the that is a great question Mr Farnsworth so the state does allocate money um for summer reading Camp based on the number of students that qualify according to them so um we receive a certain amount of money for all students that fall and that does not meet category however the struggle is that we all know we get SC ready scores back the second to last

113week in May so we certainly can't wait until the second to last week in May to start planning so we use that score of 186 starting really in Winter to identify really the number of students that we need to start planning for obviously with the understanding that the majority of those students will more than likely have a good cause exemption um or will end up scoring above the does not meet category however I will say we also know if those St they might score in approaches but summer reading Camp is not going to hurt any of them so we do end up including students in that in summer reading camp and serving students that don't we don't get money from the state for and we absorb that money if you're asking me which pot of

114money that comes out of I would look to Tina for that exact answer thank you absolutely yes ma'am really the last question so what is um the teacher student ratio that you project for the summmer reading program yes ma'am the state requires no larger than 15 students so we build it for 15 students um and in all honesty by the time it kind of averages out it's usually I think our L our largest class last year was no larger than 12 sorry I have a question too that's okay okay so on on number four the introduction of additional reading interventions um so I know you said that we already are doing the 90 minutes of daily reading and then but when it comes to the Intensive instructional services like the interventions are we changing any

115of the way we do our interventions are we doing the same thing and then also how does that look differently from school to school so I'll answer the last part of your question first and then go it just might make more sense there um so we well now I forgot the left well I guess what I'm saying is I I know it it sounds like they're requiring more intensive interventions as well as the minimum of 90 minutes and I know you said we're already doing the minimum of 90 minutes that's great so I guess my question is more about the interven is do we need to change the way we're doing our interventions do we need to add more and and or does that depend on the population and the school does that make sense

116yes ma'am okay so yes and no we are changing the way we're doing interventions number one number one we're change some of the interventions that we've used previously are directly in contradiction to what number two was about not using three queing methods so for example we Ed a lot a lot of um programs that now the state would not support anymore so the materials alone the interventions that we're using alone we had to make some major changes there most of our schools um purchased were able to if they didn't have something that was in line with science of reading already they used title funds School funds things like that to purchase um interventions that align with science of reading so we did have to make some changes with what those materials are I will also

117say that as we learn more about FSS the assessment that we're using now in K2 and this the M the skills that those students are missing it's targeting our interventions more so than we were able to do before because we didn't have the data that would give us a specific skill that we have now so how we're delivering interventions is changing it does look different at some schools based on a lot of different things funding number one not depending on a school's title budget um may depend if they have a full-time pullout interventionist if they have someone part-time if they have someone that works maybe just with second grade because they've identified that as a large group of students really falling below that level so schools use data to determine how they're going to um

118financially support their greatest need needs but just because there may not be a pullout intervention in that grade level doesn't mean those students aren't getting intervention we have seen finearts teachers doing pullouts for students that need intervention some schools have built in an intervention block of time where they're rotating some students from class to class the teacher might be pulling those students for an additional 20 minutes of intervention outside of their 90 minutes so that how it looks really depends on what the data at that grade level and that school shows them the need for and so what about our I know some of our schools don't have title money and then also I know one we've changed the way we distribute our title money a little so I'm just I guess asking about how

119that's affecting ourselves I just want to make sure that they have enough does that make it does and I mean I I will you know my principal hat is anytime I can have more money and provide more is always but I will say that we don't I'm not saying I have money um but I will say that I think that we you know our our principles are very creative about that um I know we have they are identifying the kids and providing the intervention sometimes that's media Specialists and I you're right we do have schools that have smaller po every title school has smaller amount of money this year but we do have schools that aren't title funds some of them work with PTA possibly to fund things um some of them we have several

120schools that have um like volun reading mentors that come in three or four days a week work three or four days a week and work with students and they're not some of them were really lucky or retired certified teachers but they're also giving them a scripted curriculum so it's it's it's easier for teachers that may not have the literacy understanding to follow through so um you know we are we're looking for ways and being creative with meeting that need now again a million dollars and everyone can have you know an intervention but but I don't you know we are and also they are they know that intervening at that K2 level is the most important place to intervene so that's where they're looking first well and I feel like I mean we're talking about have

121needing These funds obviously the state gives us some money for the reading camp but still needing potentially additional funds so I guess I just want to make sure that you and your team feel like that those inter they're able to provide those interventions that they need to all of our schools that's kind of what I'm asking you feel like they are I feel like they have interventions in all of those grade levels yes that are meeting the needs of students that are identified as needing intervention great excellent thank you read to succeed questions I I apologize no one one more thing and this is really um for for the folks up here um I I'm going to make another pitch if you have not listened to the podcast sold a story say it again it's

122just a podcast it's called sold a story um it's everything that we need to know about it talks about it's this it's exactly this down to a te literacy interventions um big companies government there's a lot of pieces at play um so I would encourage uh fellow board members and and really anybody listening out there that's interested in in this because very good conversation uh sold to story very easy uh listen I listen to thank you okay this I think we this is only two slides so this might be quicker um if you remember I was here in December to share a math update with you and then we received another update from the state department on January 2nd so just out of transparency we really wanted to bring an update to you um it

123doesn't change what we're recommending and what we think is best for the students in DD too but it there is a little bit um of new information so we just wanted to be here to share that with you today so one of the things if you remember that we specifically discussed was historically we have offered two high school credits the opportunity for two high school credits at the middle school level and the state's intention with the new standards was that we move away from that and only offer one um they did release some updated guidance for districts that would opt to offer two high school credits it is still not the recommendation of the state but they did come up with some compacted sixth and seventh grade standards for districts that um want to continue

124offering two high school credits at the middle school level um I just I did put this graphic in here this is not this is the same thing that we shared before um I will just say that it is it is still the recommendation for dd2 based on the needs of our students and um the updated standards and just overall course sequencing for all high school credit classes now that we still continue with the plan that we shared in December of just offering one high school credit if you remember we talked about it then really because we are on a block high school and schedule a block schedule for middle school for high schools our students can still take up to eight math credits in high school alone without getting any in middle schools so um

125it's not going to students can still well well surpass um what they need for graduation and for um to be College and Career ready um we just really feel like based on the way the standards are written our students um this will set them up for Success down the road and that is also still the recommendation of the state even though they do provide an option for a second High School Credit in the middle school but because that is a little bit different than what we shared with you in December I just wanted to be here to update you on that any questions about that okay I I'm scared to take over you did an awesome job thanks Katie that was a lot of information um so we have one more component to the academic

126report tonight and um I'm going to ask other members of the academic team to come up to the podium because I think Miss Parker's probably ready to take a little bit of a break but uh we wanted to update you on our PLC Wednesdays um the team has put together a survey that we sent out um to our staff I also wanted to share that we have Liaisons from the district office that go to all 15 elementary schools throughout the course of the year but specifically there they are there as well on PLC Wednesdays number one to observe number two to support um and number three to take feedback myself I rotate so I've been to nearly every Elementary School um and observe their PLC Wednesdays also for me it gives me a chance um

127to talk to their staffs as well so I I'm going to let them take you through the survey because they conducted the survey but I will tell you a couple of the things you'll see in here are logistical um challenges that I've already met with Mr frell about and Mr schope to try to fix the transportation on what buildings we're double routing to make sure they can get started on time because this is all about time right and it's it's the gift of time for our staff and if they can't get started on time they can't get a accomplish what we hope for them to get accomplished so ladies I'll turn it over to you so I will start us off but Jessica is really the one that did all of the um work on

128this so she is the expert um and she will jump in and save me here um so we did surveys some the prin the elementary school principals to get some feedback from them about how PLC Wednesdays are going like Dr Robbins mentioned we do have the Liaisons there all the time and they are great about service as um kind of a communication tool back and forth so that we get their feedback but you'll get different feedback sometimes from a survey so we just kind of wanted to hear what was going well and what their needs continue to be so you can see at the top it was just kind of we started with asking them just one to five how beneficial is it you can see range the the results there were two to five

129we did kind of all average it um even though I don't know if that's mathematically or statistically allowed but the average is a 3.82 so kind of on that higher end um of perceived benefit that principles feel like the benefit is there for plc's to align and support the school's Vision the best part about plc's really like we shared is opportunities for collaboration articulation a lot of times that happens between um multiple grade levels so that vertical articulation because there's not time during the school day for them to have that time together and then a structured time for Teacher meeting so that we can um work hard to respect that time for teachers some challenges like Dr Robbins mentioned is um you know 45 minutes is wonderful and more than we had before but also

130not enough time sometimes to really get into some deeper level conversations late buses we they're going to happen but it it certainly can be a struggle to impact that time to really protect that time um and leadership team disruptions don't an emergency will always happen on a Wednesday and someone will need to be pulled so really just making sure that um schools are very intentional about the principal always being present for that but sometimes if there is a late bus and we want to release teachers so that they can go to their PLC Wednesdays the assistant principles and think other members of the leadership team might be covering that um and then in expectations throughout the process this was really we'll say just about kind of communication we were very specific about what those days

131should be used for and it was just kind of a change for some schools from what we've traditionally used Wednesdays for so really holding true to what the purpose of those PLC Wednesdays was um and then we've mentioned kind of what they do during that time our requirements are that it has to it can be grade level plc's faculty meetings and then committee meetings are really things like are they digging into their data and talking about their literacy scores are they for example We're Going Through Math textbook adoption soon their math team might meet to dig into those math textbooks things like that behavior team mtss that's another big their mtss committees that's another big um item that they're doing on those PLC Wednesdays so we always like to celebrate success so a lot of

132the positive feedback focused really just on teacher happiness with it it's nice when their meetings can start earlier so that they can leave earlier and to go back to what Dr Robin said earlier about recruitment retention that helps with that work life balance a lot um efficiency during faculty meetings you know it's one of those give me a deadline and you'll see how quickly you can really get everything in so um it has really helped schools use that time well during those 45 minute faculty meetings um and then just successful use of time for planning when teachers have a very specific purpose during that time then they're able to be more intentional during that time um since they have 45 minutes on those Wednesdays set aside um we'll the next slide I'm G to pass

133it over to Jessica and just kind of let her share what a lot of the feedback was about moving forward for ways that we can refine it um but I love that people really want more time to talk about those things that we know we need to spend some time on so that was really one of the biggest suggestions is that sometimes as we mentioned 45 minutes isn't enough um especially if it's a if it's a big deep data discussion because we have time to get through the data but then kind of the what next which is the most important part we don't want to run out of time for at the end so um that was one suggestion for improvement and I'm going to pass it to miss Farnsworth and let her kind of

134go over the rest okay great so um as we know with any new initiative there's always like that time period that takes the faculty and staff and principles everybody involved to adjust and so some of the suggestions um were just based on that looking at ways that if this is something to continue in the future that we look at having more time and build in some flexibility um a lot of it was we gave a lot of guidance to schools on how they should use their PLC Wednesdays and they felt very confident that now that they understand plc's and the purpose of them that maybe they could have a little more time uh a little more autonomy to choose what they do during those plcs um a a few principles again just to clarify this

135was the 15 Elementary School principles responded to the survey um another idea offered up a latein option but we know that the logistics of that would be very difficult to um to obtain improved Logistics so again Transportation because it's a great idea to say all of our faculty and staff members are going to get together but then also you have to remember that several students are left uh waiting for buses waiting for parents communic Comm unication parent square has helped with that communicating and reminding parents every Wednesday that it's going to be a different dismissal time um but sometimes the students that are left behind we have to safely monitor them so some principles felt like the some faculty members felt a little bit left out they wanted to be a part of those faculty

136um plc's so refinement of expectations so just from the get-go knowing exactly the purpose of the PLC and what the expectations are for those days and making sure that there's alignment across their teams so that all of their teams are are using that time wisely so a couple of comments from the principales more time pass possibly starting at 1:30 p.m. if all Wednesdays were the same time for dismissal it would be easier to plan efficiently as you know effectively as you know some of our Wednesdays are early release day Wednesdays and so that's 11:00 a.m. dismissal so they're there can be some confusion with families also just communicating with families what happens during this time and I know that can happen at the school level but helping them understand the purpose of those PLC Wednesdays

137and why not just for retention of teachers but just important that we are all you know building that capacity in our teachers um another comment was that a laden option might work um knowing how to plan and use this time we appreciate the additional time no suggestions and they've made a lot of necessary adjustments like I said it's something new so as we've learned we've made adjustments and that the schedule is working well for them questions from the group so just to clarify at the very beginning okay I think I missed this so you said I but I heard you say this Miss Farnsworth so these were the 15 elementary principles who were surveyed and so that you were asked for them to rate it on a scale of one to five and so the

138responses were anywhere from two to five but the average was 3.82 Stars they could choose one to five stars so I mean it's interesting to me that some I mean two to five that's a pretty big I mean why did some people say two and some people say five yeah and I think that a lot of is logistics when you have uh you know we try really hard to have um equity and equality across all of our 15 schools but you know it's some of some of our schools we have a lot more parent involvement so it was easier to maybe get volunteers to come help cover at car rider and they have um a lot more responsive parents willing to pick their kids up whereas you may have some schools that maybe struggle a

139little bit in that area so just differences from one school to the next it could be that um larger schools with buses um then you may have a large school that has a lot more buses and a lot more kids and so maybe it was more of a challenge to get those students off campus in a timely manner I mean that's challenging because it sounds like well for some schools it's really helping but for others I would say it's not maybe we could I was going to say could we like potentially Identify some of those schools that might have less involvement or struggled with like coverage and see if maybe we can create um a volunteer program that comes from maybe outside of their parent pool or maybe use high school students or you know

140yeah no I'd like to speak to that that's an awesome um point so there are two things one is to look to see if we can't find volunteers we've talked to our retired D um educator group to see about that as a possibility student volunteers as well um but the other piece too is we also found that where we're double routing um we're going to change that location that was one school that I was at that were particularly not happy because of the double routing and so it was leaving kids you know straggling behind and they couldn't get to their PLC so yes absolutely um we're going to look at the transportation piece and then the supervision piece because at the end of the day after the first couple weeks of school really it's the

141first couple days but kids know where to go and then teachers need to feel comfortable to hand their classes off and go straight to their PLC so yeah those are great ideas could that be something like we address in our summer workshop maybe so we can yeah it okay y we're also going to be able this has prompted us to see those that variety and have some conversations within our Elementary principal plc's to discuss okay what's working for you and really brainstorm with the the brains at the table that are making it work or that have had more success and really try to pinpoint what the what the issues and challenges are one other piece that um that that they didn't share but they also work on and and Dr Wilson is we require a

142summary of the PLC at the end of the PLC it allows us to go in even if I'm not there I can see what was good what was bad what the challenges were but we answer the four questions uh from deor for the PLC to make sure they're trying to stay focused so when we talk about consistency of expectations we probably weren't as clear about that when we first started this process so we've had to hone back in and make sure we refocused on what the expectation was um with the with the process I would agree with that Dr Robbins and I think also we've been focusing really heavily this year on what is a PLC and how to run an effective PLC so it doesn't surprise me that it's getting better as the year

143progresses I yes I have a question so uh the feedback that we're getting here is a result of the administrators do you have anything directly from the teachers themselves where they completed a survey and then you don't have to present it tonight but I'm just if you haven't done it I think it's very important that you basically get some feedback directly from them and then we look at how they're seeing it because as an administrator you may see it from a different perspective definitely and I know Dr Robbins works with the teacher liaison at Roundtable and they have those discussions but we definitely can look at formatting a survey that would be appropriate for teachers okay I do have a fast question um on the utilization of the PLC time I see I see the

144grade level plc's faculty meetings and committee meetings so during that time there should not be any professional development is that correct that's okay we just went back to par so professional development can happen as long as it's tied to one of those things we try we try to like if it's I'll say active shooter because it's something we were talking about today which we wouldn't necessarily want to pull people to complete active shooter training but P professional development should happen as part of PLC so as long as it's tied to the purpose of those plcs I would like to add just because you you weren't here when we discussed it but one of the um mandates I have for the principles is that once a month their PLC should be their faculty meeting so that

145teachers don't have to stay afterwards after their work hours for faculty meetings so again back to that whole gift of time for them so that once a month that is you know the purpose of the plc thank you thank you thank you thank you all very much yeah Madam chair the um next thing is our Personnel report I have one Personnel recommendation you know typically Personnel would uh would be at the next meeting but this was a position that we really wanted to get started so we went ahead and put it on the agenda for tonight so hopefully the board had a chance to see that recommendation okay thank you Dr Robbins yes that was included in our packet so board members are is everyone okay with proceeding with this in Open Session okay then

146at this time do I have a motion I make a motion to approve the personel recommendation great thank you motion made by Mr Guthrie to approve the recommendation um and seconded by Miss Bates any questions or discussion okay hearing none we will call for the vote okay and the motion carries seven in favor thank you and then the last thing I have tonight are student enrollment recommendations and just a little disclaimer hopefully everybody had a chance to see the updated uh recommendations with the um explanations associated with it I apolog oliz that that was a little confusing coming out of your board packets but I will also say that um I do appreciate the feedback um so that we can respond to it before we get to the board meeting so thanks for doing that

147okay board members at this time is everyone okay with proceeding with this these student enrollment recommendations in Open Session okay do I have a motion Madam chair I make a motion to accept the student enrollment recommendations as presented in our packet okay motion made by Miss Bates do I have a second second seconded by Mr Guthrie any questions or discussion okay hearing none we will call for the vote motion carries seven in favor that's all I have tonight Madam chair thank you okay thank you Dr Robbins lots of great information next on our agenda we have our public comments on non-agenda items and we do have one this evening thank you for your patience Mr Moore it is now your turn you lots of good information though all right thank you very much for the

148opportunity to speak tonight I want to welcome the two new board members Mr Lee and Miss King and that's why I'm doing this presentation again for your benefit I had the pleasure working in this district 15 years and it's number one I can't say enough good things about it there's a good example right there uh I want to place a nomination again or consideration of the name of Mr Charles studemire for one of the new schools to be named in his honor uh Mr stmy has been in public education for 45 years he was a teacher a coach assistant principal a principal and a board member for eight years he received more votes than any candidate that's ever run for the school board in a atlarge position I think that speaks for itself uh when

149Charlie was a young man 29 years old he lost his vision he could have stuck his head in the sand he could have made excuses and uh I think he could have drawn uh what's it called uh not welfare but uh disability thank you I'm getting old disability he could have made more money on disability than he did working but no he persevered he moved forward he made a change in the lives of many people just to mention some of his accolades and I don't have time to list them all but he was the South Carolina administrator of the year he was recipient of the state's highest civilian award uh the pela uh order of the pela he was a National Distinguished Principal National I'm not talking about state I'm talking about national uh his

150biggest asset is his love for children his love for people just a couple examples uh he was the best principal I ever worked for from a teacher or principal principal from a fellow administrator a man of integrity from a parent a poster child for uh perseverance that's for me I've never seen a man like him he's amazing uh again his biggest asset is his love for children and I could sit up here all night and sing his accolades I would say this to you folks if he doesn't meet the criteria to have a school left named after him I want to know what does maybe sainthood thank you again I want to thank you all for what you do every day for the best school district in the state of South Carolina and I'm still

151actively involved I'm a part-time hearing officer so I can't get enough of you thank you Mr Moore all right at this time we do not have a need for executive session so I will ask for a motion to adjourn motion made by Miss Powell do I have a second second seconded by Miss Bates any questions or discussion okay hearing none we will call for the vote please vote before you leave pleas vote yes she's had enough and the motion carries seven in favor we are adjourned e