School Board Meeting: August 15, 2023

001[Music] good evening I would like to call to order the regular meeting of the Newport News school board for Tuesday August 15 2023. on behalf of the members of the school board and Dr Mitchell I welcome each of you present this evening and those who are watching on TV and online Quorum is present to transact the business of the school division we do have one member of the school board who wishes to participate in our meeting electronically as indicated in board policy be e there's an extra e there electronic participation in meetings from remote location the board member must make such requests cite the reason for remote attendance and the board must approve the request by majority vote of the members present School Board member Rebecca Aman has made such a request Miss aman yeah

002thank you chairman Surles law I request that I be allowed to participate remotely as I am out of town due to family obligations thank you um and hearing Ms aman's request what is the pleasure of the board do I have a motion okay do I have a second second great thank you any discussion please call the roll for for for for for for thank you so much Miss amen we do realize that with our faulty weather and perhaps wherever you are you may break in and out but we're hoping that you'll like be able to join us thank you so we will begin tonight's meeting with invocation and pledge to the flag here to do the honors is Michelle Nordeen president of the Newport News Council of ptas chairman Surles-Law, Dr Mitchell and school board

003members thank you for this invitation um what is it thank you for your invitation to give the invocation pledge at tonight's meeting last year I read a poem about teachers and parents working together to help a child be the best they can be this year I would like to pay homage homage to a group that is also interested in helping children at our school at our excuse me also interested in helping our children at 25 to 32 of our schools this group is our PTA volunteers as teachers staff and students gear up for the upcoming year PTA volunteers are also busy planning events for students and families without these dedicated volunteers there would be no PTA even if you can only volunteer for one hour a year you are a PTA volunteer excuse me that

004hour will be appreciated because it may give the PTA board a much needed break from trying to be in multiple places at once therefore I would like to thank all past current and new PTA Volunteers in advance for everything that you do and continue to do um I found this ode online and a lot of the PTA volunteers will um be able to follow along with this one P is for the patience that you show each time you come T is for the time and effort that you give a is for each Act that shows us you care V is for for the very many things you do for us O is for all the other things you do L is for the long hours that you spend on PTA things U is for the

005unending Flyers that you print and distribute n is for the nights and days you give up just for us T is for the tearing sorting cutting stapling copying and laminating that you do to help the teachers e is for every Food donation you buy e is for the events you carefully plan for all the students R is for the respect that you deserve s is for the support that you give to school put them all together and it spells PTA volunteers thank you for all that you do and that all you have planned to do this year thank you [Applause] um I guess it's now time to stand for the Pledge of Allegiance I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation

006under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all thank you for this opportunity and I look forward to working with you guys this year Miss Nordeen we need to tell you thank you you have been in this position for a while now we're happy to see you coming back this second year thank you for all of your time and participation with our with our parents we appreciate you thank you the next item on tonight's agenda is School Board recognition so Dr Mitchell please join me at the podium all right so this evening we're going to begin our recognitions with the oath of commitment for our 2023-2024 student representative to the school board Aaron Lin Mr Lin please come forward to receive your oath of commitment your family members are welcome to join you if you

007would like so before we begin I'd like to introduce Mr Lin Aaron Linwas elected to serve as this year's student representative by the student Advisory Group on education that's also called our Sage group a Cadre of high school students who serve as the superintendent's advisors Mr Lin is a rising senior at Woodside High School where he co-founded students say he is a member of the archery club and the math and music honor societies a talented musician he is a member of the Williamsburg Youth Orchestra and serves as student ambassador do you have time for us I think so this year he was one of 300 students nationally selected to participate in the Bank of America student leader program in Washington D.C in April Mr Lin received a William and Mary leadership award for being a

008role model for volunteerism and Leadership wow Mr Lin at school board chair I have the honor and privilege of leading your oath of commitment so please raise your right hand please repeat after me I Aaron Lin do solemnly affirm that I will support the mission of Newport News public schools and I will Faithfully perform my duties as the student representative to the school board perform my duties very good I will attend school board meetings and participate in board functions I will serve as the facilitator to the superintendent student Advisory Group on education I will contribute to school board discussion I will strive to fulfill the responsibilities of this position while excelling in my studies okay that was real important according to the best of my abilities awesome Mr Lin congratulations and welcome to the school

009board would you like to offer some comments now or wait until the end of the school board meeting at the normal comment time okay well please take your seat Among Us we appreciate that man we'll make you come down in a little while take some pictures with us all right so on for our recognitions this evening we have some very very special people among us this evening the school board also has the honor of recognizing and thanking the Newport News police department for their dedication and their support of our students and our staff so if I can get the following to join us up here police chief Steve Drew [Applause] assistant chief Brandon Creswell assistant chief Eric hires [Applause] Captain Allison of ... get that right [Applause] thanks for joining us Lieutenant Karen Allen [Applause]

010Sergeant Michael Gross [Applause] Sergeant Alexis Ortiz [Applause] school resource officer James booth [Applause] school resource officer Lonnie fitzer [Applause] school resource officer Aaron Watkins [Applause] school resource officer Isaiah Washington [Applause] I will read quickly because it looks like we have most of nnpd behind me and that is exactly what we do have we have nnpd behind us here in Newport News public schools and this is why they're here tonight so thank you all thank you we are presenting a resolution of con Commendation and appreciation presented to the Newport News police department and it reads in part whereas the dedicated members of the Newport News police department Serve and Protect our citizens and take a leading role in making the City of Newport News a place where people want to live work and play and whereas

011the mission of the Newport News police department is to reduce crime and the fear of crime and enhance Public Safety and quality of life and whereas under this steadfast leadership of Chief Drew the dedicated sworn officers and civilian Personnel serve an integral role in our city and as such deserve respect and gratitude for their service and whereas the Newport News police department is a faithful partner dedicated to supporting Newport News Public Schools students and staff and whereas the Newport News police department provides up to 13 police officers who serve as school resource officers in our middle schools and high schools fulfilling of a vital role in promoting a safe School communities by Assisting School administrators and staff in maintaining safety and Order and whereas sworn officers and civilians of the Newport News police department serve

012as Lunch Buddies mentors and role models for students and whereas following several tragic events that impacted our school communities the Newport News police department committed to ensuring the well-being Safety and Security of our students and staff by assisting students and staff on site evaluating Safety and Security measures and increasing police presence and Patrols and now therefore be it resolved that the Newport News school board recognizes and Cummins this dedication and service of the Newport News police department and therefore be it further resolved that the Newport News school board will include this in its minutes as an expression of appreciation for the Newport News police department for its support of our students families and staff the resolution is signed by each member of the school board to the officers thank you for all you do every

013day to protect and serve our school community please join me in one more [Applause] did you want to do a picture okay we'll do a picture sounds good and I am I did request that we kill a few trees I wanted um the resolution printed for everybody on the force so you all will be able to share that because I know that you have the support to do what you do for us [Laughter] board members if you all can come down as well oh yeah stand up can we just stand up stand up yeah you can stand hopefully you'll be able to stand on your tippy toes up come to the middle yeah did she go to the front okay yeah I don't know um Foundation at least I'll step to the right [Applause] thank

014you and at this time we will take a seven minute break so that our honorees and their families may leave if they desire to do so and during this time our viewing audience will be able to enjoy this month's School Board Spotlight and the meeting will resume following the spotlight segment thank you so much [Music] thank you [Music] fifth graders at Discovery STEM Academy and Newsome Park Elementary spent a day on the water exploring the beauty of the Chesapeake Bay watershed thanks to a grant from Virginia's Department of Conservation and Recreation Newport News Public Schools stem Department partnered with the Chesapeake Bay Foundation to expand the learning experiences through the STEM Magnet programs at DSA and Newsome Park each fifth grade class in these two magnet programs enjoyed a meaningful Watershed educational experience by learning

015in an outdoor classroom aboard the Chesapeake Bay foundation's research Festival while on the water students learned firsthand about the importance of protecting the Chesapeake Bay Watershed by testing the water quality exploring habitats and investigating some of the Abundant sea life all while overlooking historical locations that have significant ties to the river through these Hands-On experiences knowledge became tangible right before their eyes just spending time on a boat in the James River was a first time experience for many of these students whose understanding of the Watershed was exponentially increased by this amazing and unique learning opportunity [Music] for the 12th year students from across the peninsula took part in the youth volunteer Corps of Hampton Roads 2023 can structure competition this annual contest motivates schools to collect canned goods and then build amazing structures using non-perishable

016food items the theme this year was end Hunger Game on with many schools constructing video game or sporting structures of the 17 school teams that competed 13 were from Newport News public schools elementary schools were able to build their can structures at their own schools and were judged remotely based on video recordings middle and high schools were back at Patrick Henry Mall for the first time in three years on a Saturday morning in late April students used teamwork creativity and problem solving to design and construct their game-themed Creations all on display for Shoppers to see and enjoy Newport News schools won six of the eight trophies including Saunders Elementary and Ella Fitzgerald middle schools winning top honors in their divisions and Gildersleeve Middle was voted the fan favorite overall the entire competition allowed students and

017schools to donate over 14 000 pounds of food and eight hundred dollars to the Virginia Peninsula Food Bank providing over 12 000 meals to families across the peninsula [Music] for the second year a community of golf enthusiasts joined together to support the students and Educators in Newport News public schools second annual Golf Classic took place at the premier Kiln Creek Golf Club and Resort at the summer start teams consisted of Community Partners Business Leaders Educators Avid golfers and local high school student athletes the annual event was organized by Newport News public schools with proceeds benefiting the Newport News Education Foundation the foundation's year-round support directly impacts Student Success by celebrating academic achievement supporting a merit-based scholarship program and offering grants to nnps Educators to elevate classroom learning experiences thanks to the generosity of sponsors and

018golfers the Newport News Education Foundation will be further equipped to enrich the quality of teaching and learning in Newport News public schools [Music] Community gardeners are planting seeds of knowledge for students across Newport News in December Newport News Master Gardeners Association announced four schools to receive their inaugural Horticulture grants among these four recipients were three in NPS schools Deer Park Elementary and Denby and Woodside High Schools each school was awarded five hundred dollars based on their applications to provide student-led projects that enhance Horticultural awareness while improving the environment this past spring each School sprung into action using their seed money to make their ideas blossom into reality at Deer Park Elementary students Educators and families spent weekends and school days constructing pollinator-friendly raised garden beds kindergarten and first grade classes took turns painting the beds

019before filling them with soil and planting native Flora many of which were donated by deer Parts families to attract butterflies and bees at Denbigh students utilize the school's Greenhouse to plant a range of delicious herbs straight from seed once the edible plants matured they repotted the herbs in decorative pots just in time to present them as gifts on Mother's Day and at Woodside student leaders work together to design a plan to beautify the front of the school with a gravel walkway surrounded by colorful blooming plants on each campus volunteers from Newport News Master Gardeners gladly donated their time expertise and resources to ensure each student-led project was a complete success [Music] students families and the community were invited to explore the wondrous world of stem for the first time since the global pandemic Community stem

020day was back and bigger than ever co-hosted by Christopher Newport University and Newport News Public Schools 6 500 guests enjoyed exploring learning and competing during the Saturday event in cnu's Freeman Center each Newport News school set up tables with Hands-On learning activities to demonstrate how students explore stem in the classroom high school students also showcased their custom built robots which compete in annual challenges against other schools 36 Community Partners offered fun interactive experiences for students to sample some of the possible careers available in stem fields meanwhile student teams from all grades were engaged in Friendly competitions through radio Robotics and engineering design challenges Riverside Elementary the elementary virtual learning program Heinz middle and Woodside High Schools were top winners in their design challenges where students displayed creativity critical thinking and problem solving to build a

021solution to a real world problem through these enriching experiences a community explored the wealth of knowledge and opportunities available through stem education [Music] regular meetings we provide time for the public to address the school board these opportunities are scheduled in the early part of our agenda and also towards the end of the meeting as advertised citizens May submit comments via email up to 30 minutes prior to our meeting time to be included in the official meeting record for those of you joining us in person the board considers this an opportunity to listen to your comments please understand that we will consider your concerns we ask that you comply with our three-minute time limit as you begin your comments a green light will come on a yellow light signals that you have 30 seconds remaining and

022a red light and beep indicates that your time is up in a moment as your name is called I'd like for you to come forward this evening's meeting has some characteristics that are very germane to starting school back in the next few days here so we are going to do comments now however uh when we get to about the 30 minute Mark then we will cease with those carry on with the rest of the meeting so that those who are turn tuning in to hear back to school information uh we'll be able to do so and then we also as everyone knows have we have an additional section in our meeting set aside for comments so if you don't hear your name red do not dismay uh it I do have it so the first

023person who I'll call is uh Janie Bazemore good evening good evening my name is Janie Bazemore and um Madam chairman members of the school board and Dr Mitchell first I want to congratulate you Dr Mitchell on being appointed superintendent of the Newport News public schools and I wish you much success you and I go back all the way to Huntington Middle School Days and speaking of Huntington Middle School I can only say we fought a good fight we are not happy with relocating Huntington most will not understand when I say sacred ground we are not giving up because the mayor stated to us that nothing is off the table regarding the project so we will continue to pray that after all things are considered Huntington will remain in its current location speaking of Prayer please

024know that I pray for this school board for our School Division and for every employee of Newport News public schools for a successful and safe school year I pray that every child is equally treated and that we are so busy providing every child a quality education that we do not have time for belittling and labeling children I'm reminded of the saying that children do not ask to come here so let us pledge to give them the best we have to offer I pray that every child come to the realization that guns and other dangerous weapons are not ways to settle conflict that they understand that unlike the gaming when you use a firearm or other dangerous weapon that person may never get up again their life in your life are over I pray that every

025child pledged that they will not touch Firearms or other dangerous weapons to try to settle a conflict I pray for our parents that they come to understand that they are the first teacher for their children they must teach the morals and the values and not rely upon teachers to be parent and teacher understand that a teacher with 25 students in a classroom is dealing with 25 different personalities and attitudes at once I pray that parents become involved in their child's School joining the school PTSA or PTA is a way to support and advocate for your child I challenge every parent and each of you as school board members to join the PTA and Huntington is okay thank you so much all right thank you next I have Gene Magruder hi everyone congratulations Dr Mitchell thank

026you excellent choice for now thank you until we disagree [Laughter] evening I'm here to talk about collective bargaining I've spoke to y'all about it before most of y'all were here but uh just to get on with it because if I read this paper you are going to throw the red light on me anyway so anyway this is about Collective Bargains for School Employees I'm hoping that you follow the lead of our mayor Philip Jones because his one of his first actions with not only to say that he was going to try and figure out collective bargaining for city employees but he was also set up a meeting with all The Local Union labor leaders to figure out how this could actually be put into action I have shown you and told y'all how you can

027save money on it Richmond in Fairfax are good examples I've told you right now the system is as you are very familiar a general assembly how much money you got so they put out a figure and then the city council's got to meet that figure that may be above or below what the teachers really want because the teachers just don't want wages as y'all have told me don't speak Duty they want benefits they want working conditions and you may not know exactly what they want unless you sit down at the table with them so collective bargaining agreement would do away with that system that I have been working on for 45 years lobbying against which is a general assembly than city council and then back to school board School Board goes back to city council

028hoping they can please the teacher so so we got to do away with this system it doesn't really give the teachers what they want because it nobody here sits down the table with teachers so according to Richmond who has liked it right now what is it 10 from General Assembly so the teachers may be happy wage wise I doubt it but you know somewhat but but they may not need 10 percent if you add benefits to it so I'm asking for a commitment from this school board we've been at it a year year and a half two years and just the followed marriage lead hold a meeting with the local labor leaders these are apprenticeships these are these are like our president Shipyard which a lot of Shipyard parents and spouses and all they have

029kids in your system so you want to make them happy but uh I'm asking for that meeting to come to fruition I will facilitate it if you need I will help you out because I want y'all to know everything there is before you know and I need a commitment to actually I'm done good night good night thank you Amber O'Neill good evening my name is Amber O'Neill and I am the parent of indigo O'Neil Turner and he is an upcoming freshman at Warwick High School I am requesting that my child's chosen name be placed on the official School of roster my child is transgender and goes by the pronoun he him School staff at Crittenden middle have been very supportive and mindful of his name and pronouns unfortunately because his legal name is Angela all

030documentation Awards reports yearbook Etc has to use that name it creates an atmosphere of confusion and hectoring among his peers and is just an uncomfortable and awful situation for him I plead that the board would vote fairly so my child can have an easier transition in the high school thank you [Applause] I'm not sure if I said that right I'm not sure if I'm reading it well so if you would repeat that's great Amanda Rochelle Rochella yes gotcha thank you sure good evening my name is Amanda rochlow I'm a Believer I am a wife to one a mother to five and I'm also the co-director of Speak Up Newport News in 2021 Governor Northam released transgender model policies that were voted on by the school board and ultimately approved these policies took parents out of

031the equation when addressing transgender issues I'm here tonight to ask that policy JB be adjusted to align with the revised 2023 model policies that have been issued by Governor youngkin's education department specifically I'm asking the policy clearly states that the school system complies with state law recognizing a parent has a fundamental right to make decisions concerning the upbringing and education of their child in accordance with their family values and faith also that the school system does not encourage or instruct teachers to conceal material information about a student from the student's parent including information related to gender I also would like to say that it should State and uphold the fundamental and constitutional rights to free speech and the religious liberty of parents teachers and students I'm also asking that policy jvp be replaced with the

032entirety of the revised policies among other things the current jbp policy contains language that encourages school officials to hide information from parents youngkins provides policies emphasizes parental rights and puts parents back in the process some of the most dramatic improvements included in the newly updated model policies from youngkins education department include no more hiding information from parents instead of instructing Educators how to deceive parents the revised guidance now makes it clear that no policy guidance or other written materials issued by the school May encourage or instruct teachers to conceal relevant information about a student from the student's parent including information about gender parents must be notified before gender identity counseling it also emphasizes that parents must be informed and given an opportunity to object before counseling regarding gender is given to their children no more

033compelled speech the revised policies also address the fact that schools cannot constitutionally compel employees or students to speak words that violate their faith or conscience to reiterate I'm asking you to align the current transgender model policies to reflect in its entirety the adjusted policies that have been issued by Governor youngin it is time that Newport News protects every single child equally and fairly and puts parents back in the equation thank you thank you Pastor Russell Evenson also congratulate you Dr commissioner thank you I am Pastor Russell Evanson from World Outreach Worship Center uh Newport News and I represent a congregation in which uh 45 of that congregation are parents families residents of Newport News and in August of 2021 the school board here adopted the model policies on transgender students to ensure that it aligned

034with the state law at that time and to protect itself from the liabilities and the lawsuits that could ensue but as of July 19th Governor northam's model policies have been withdrawn and are no longer effective according to the Virginia Department of education's adoption of those policies which replace the former policy with the revised model policies by law now it's up to all the school boards here in Virginia to make that decision and so we are appealing and petitioning you the school board as before news to vote to update this JB policy with wording that provides clear and long-term protection for the fundamental parental rights and the religious Liberties of both students and Families the current policy is rather vague and does not provide the superintendent with very clear directives in all situations and there has

035been a potential to leave our schools in a state of constant change with each new superintendent superintendent that may come forth which we hope in yours is long term and uh provide it would provide harm to students parents and to teachers we're also petitioning you as a school board to vote to direct superintendent Dr Mitchell to replace policy JB in its entirety with the 2022 revised model policies these 2022 revised model polities have taken great strides to protect parents and students rights and which the current policy really lacks among the other things is policy new policy would do it removes the language that again as formally mentioned hides information from parents especially when their children are experiencing gender identity I am so sorry for this student here that previously spoke his mom that things like

036that happen in a school system that's not right that person the child has the right to accept and be what they want to be we acknowledge that we're not trying to force anything on anybody and it's clear that parents need to be notified and given an opportunity to be involved in their and when counseling referring to transgendering is taking place with their children and in the past we kind of feel like that consideration has been a little bit uh one side of the narrative so we would like to urge you to consider the equally important perspective of both the kids and the teens and the families who've experienced harm in these previous policies and for example we have some the student Smith from Loudon Stone Bridge high school that was raped in a restroom supposedly

037by chance transgender male turns out he wasn't really that thank you [Applause] next person is Jonathan waltron w-a-l-d I think r-o-n good evening my name is Jonathan Waldron I'm a Newport News resident and a small business owner here on the agenda tonight for you to vote on is a revision to policy gbaa discrimination and harassment policy I'm urging you to please vote no on the proposed revisions to the policy which adds the wording sexual orientation and sexual identity to it I'd like to make clear that I do not believe that that I believe that every individual and child without exception can and should be protected against harassment and harm however both state and local policies already provide comprehensive non-discrimination and anti-harassment protections however we've seen uh demonstrated in multiple cases Peter Fleming and Tanner cross

038for instance how singling out these categories for special protections within our policies are often weaponized against religious freedoms and Free Speech especially when it comes to how gender identity pronouns are handled that's cool with that I have the the definition of harassment which is given in the policy that you're voting on tonight is any behavior that creates a hostile or offensive working environment is a form of illegal harassment so I find it very vague doesn't really give a lot of extra definition on the illegal harassment side of it it does go into more definitions on the sexual harassment but does not really give a lot of guidance otherwise on illegal harassment um so in many cases I see that this could be weaponized against people who just do not want to use someone's pronouns even

039if they're very respectful about that and using their proper name and the name that they've chosen like in the case that we saw earlier I'm just wanting to be called by the the name that they've chosen um so I'm just asking that you vote no on this issue I think it needs more clarity and it leaves the school open to just more more issues arising that we'll uh take up more of my tax dollars and uh so I'm asking you to protect our teachers religious freedoms and vote no on this measure to protect our teachers and our children in this school system thank you I have Josh hetzler good evening my name is Josh hetzler I'm the legal counsel for founding Freedom's Law Center based in Richmond I want to address the transgender model policies

040as has been mentioned a few times tonight and I want to leave you with just uh three three brief points the first is that the legal analysis on this is quite simple Virginia code 22.1-23.3 B expressly states that each School Board shall adopt policies that are consistent with but may be more comprehensive than the model policies concerning the treatment of transgender students developed by the Department of Education those policies have in fact been adopted and former policies have been rescinded and the the Mandate is there the second point is that the refusal to follow the state directive could result in lawsuits against the school board and even possibly in your personal capacities at first the school board could be sued over its policies whether written or in practice that violates certain constitutionally protected or statutory

041guaranteed rights including excuse me including parental rights Free Speech free exercise of religion and others and secondly Virginia code 15.2-1405 specifies that members of local government boards generally have immunity from their discretionary or governmental actions that tortiously harm another but not when it constitutes gross negligence so as school board's deliberate refusal to adopt legally required policies regarding transgender students would certainly add more Credence to a claim of gross negligence if a student were harmed because of the board's policies for example allowing boys to enter girls bathrooms at will and if a girl is sexually assaulted by a boy in the girl's bathroom that that might be an example of gross negligence by a refusal to adopt policies that are required by law lastly I want to note that I believe last time you all adopted

042the previous policy um the um you did so in part on the basis that it was required by law and I I think that was largely right and so with that understanding I hope and urge you that you would do the same now under these and I would just offer our services at the founding freedoms Law Center if we can be of any service to you legally would be happy to do that thank you we have Gary Porter and then we'll have time for two more after that and then we'll move on with a little more of our agenda items good evening good evening Madam chair members of the board now including Mr Lin and Dr Mitchell my name is Gary Porter I'm also here tonight to urge you to adopt the 2023 revised model

043policies to replace policy jb-p with us in its entirety with the new policies and to do so without delay I don't need to remind you that the clock is ticking on the resumption of classes the new policies are measured and they are reasonable strengthen parental rights which I think is a critically important goal God places parents and parents alone with the responsibility of raising and educating their children I don't think I'm telling you anything new and some parents of course are able to do this on their own other parents are forced to employ the services of new schools in assisting them with that responsibility and when they do so they are of course confident that their rights as parents will not be infringed without consultation thankfully these guidelines also protect a critical right of all

044citizens but particularly your teachers and that is a protection against compelled speech when the speech conflicts with their conscience or the reasonably held religious beliefs and finally the the new policies also provide additional protections for children using bathrooms and locker rooms frankly I see nothing in the new policies that should give you pause or any reluctance in adopting them and I thank you in advance for doing so without delay thank you thank you have Veronica Williams foreign good evening my name is Veronica Williams and I was born and raised in Newport News matriculated through and graduated from the Newport News public school system and have multiple family members who matriculated through and graduated from the school system to include a minor who is currently in the school system I'm also an attorney whose law office

045is located in the City of Newport News I'm here because the Virginia Department of Education recently released model policies for transgender issues by law it is now up to each of the 134 Public School divisions in Virginia to adopt local school board policies that are consistent with or more comprehensive than the 2023 model Statewide policies I request the school board vote to replace the current jb- p in its entirety with the Virginia Department of Education model policies with a particular focus on requiring public schools to obtain parental consent prior to sending children to counseling for any issue of concern pertaining to their gender in Virginia licensed counselors have been Stripped by State Statute of their independent professional judgment when it comes to counseling children with regard to any issues or concerns about their gender under

046Virginia law a licensed therapist is at risk of losing his or her license to perform counseling for professional misconduct if he or she counsels a child with gender dysphoria to consider embracing his or her gender of birth however the statute is one-sided as it is not considered unprofessional conduct for a therapist to counsel a child to consider embracing a gender other than his or her gender or birth to include transition surgery while still a minor therefore while a child is referred when a child is referred to counseling whether inside or outside of the school system the child is not being referred to a licensed professional who is free to exercise independent professional judgment to the contrary the child is being referred to a professional who is operating under the risk and threat of losing his

047or her license if he or she even suggests that the child consider embracing his or her gender or birth many of you may not be aware of this law many parents may not be aware of this law and when children believe they're being referred to a neutral professional to help when they're confused about their gender they may not be aware of this one-sided law nowhere else in the law do we allow minors to make important decisions without parental consent children cannot purchase alcohol or sell or sign contracts as an estate planning attorney I can tell you that children cannot inherit or own property and children have not traditionally been permitted to consent to medical treatment or surgery I would ask each of you to please consider this counseling construct that impacts student outcomes as you

048evaluate policy decisions what we don't want to see is any young precious extremely vulnerable and extremely impressionable child who currently self-identifies as trans make a decision is that it yes okay okay all right thank you very much thank you the last one that we'll do for this time section I think it is to Mary t-e-m-e-r-e and I believe this is Willis I think the pen jumped on the end there good evening everyone ... to you as a child of God a minister former student current teacher and resident of Newport News I grew up here I have experience great care from amazing teachers mentors employers leaders co-workers and families but there has been a shift somewhere as we see all around us that there are matters and media and on news on the news and throughout

049the world frankly as we see it today but let it not be so in Newport News because we are to be a light we are attempting to solve spiritual matters in on physical Turf the right doors must be closed leaders you have been endowed with the authority of God each person in your care has been put out excuse me part be put here to carry out um a plan but you're flying a plane uh for does it not say in Romans Chapter 13 Verse 1 let every person submit to governing authorities but there is no Authority except for God and those that exist that were put in place by God and according to Psalms 2 verse 10 through 12 so now o Kings be wise take warning o judges of the earth serve the Lord

050with fear and rejoice in trembling my sharing of this is not out of order for I have met with leaders and clergy leaders and and Civic leaders for years to share the openness of this account as means to support them alongside their journey and their Vision their whole Vision that the Lord has given them however when our Humanity supersedes that of our our creators the foundations of who we are uh as a city and Community are exposed and unprotected and there is no clear Road for people to travel on and to fulfill their purpose our human authority has this much uh impact on lands and people who dwell in them it is time for us to repair the breaches in uh repair to breaches less our unseen enemy uh has legal authority to come in

051like a flood it is time to return to the courts of our makers so that great people the great people that you govern uh will be giving a chance to lead and live uh this will not be easy and it will take everyone but we have everything we need uh and we have already been supplied with this Newport News do you not know who you are we have been chosen to be light and uh and to give direction as our flag actually uh proclaims hide your light no more for you have for have you not heard to who heard to whom much is given much is required you have been entrusted with great people govern what God has given you well in the light uh use the this light to protect uh religious freedom and

052adopt the tool that Governor youngkin just recently released only be strong and courageous how you like no more for everything that operates in the dark will be exposed by the Lord arise and shine for your light has come who gives it uh who gives who knows if you have been put in a seat of Authority for such a time as this you have support and this is my final word father forgive us for going Our Own Way heal our minds our heart and our soul forgive us we're not continually inviting you into the internal in external Affairs of our hearts amen thank you thank you I want to thank everyone for their comments this evening and as I mentioned we will have another comment section A Little Closer to the end of our meeting we

053want to move now on to section three the consent agenda which includes 3.01 minutes from the special meeting June 6 3.02 minutes from the closed session June 6 2023 3.03 minutes from the closed meeting June 20th 2023 3.04 minutes from the work session June 20th 2023 3.05 minutes from the regular meeting June 20th 2023 3.06 minutes from the organizational meeting July 1 2023 we also have 3.07 Financial reports including the revenue report for July 2023 the expense report for May 2023 3.08 the Personnel report 3.09 the vsba media honor roll at this time can we have a motion to approve that consent agenda manager and make a motion that we can put the move that we approve the consent agenda thank you do we have a second second thank you Mr Hunter any discussion please

054call the roll aman she's happy for best fo Brown for Harris for for thank you so much uh the next item on our agenda is section four some action items on the agenda this evening is 4.01 Personnel actions may I have a motion to approve the superintendent's Personnel recommendations here I moved to move tools of the superintendent for Karen base more person critique Washington Middle School Ramona Brower principal and achievable dream little high school and Dale Rose Atkinson assistant principal Booker T Washington Middle School [Applause] thank you for that motion do we have a second great any discussion please call the roll aman for best for brown for Harris for hunter or Alger or Surles law for motion carry seven zero congratulations congratulations so Dr Mitchell would you please do the honors of introducing our

055new Personnel absolutely Madam chair it gives me great pleasure to introduce ourselves promotees if you will when I call your name please stand if you have someone with you from your family please briefly introduce them if you would like I'd like to begin with introducing miss Karen bazemore person as the new principal of Booker T Washington Middle School Miss Bazemore person has a master of arts degree in special education and another master of arts degree in communication from Norfolk State University she has been with Newport News public schools for 22 years she beside right now prior to this she was the assistant principal at Booker T Washington she's also worked as an instructional technology coach and a teacher for Newport News Public Schools congratulations Miss Bazemore person [Applause] have anyone with you you'd like to

056introduce first I do I actually have my sister joining my Aunt Janie Bazemore and last but not least the favorite here my husband Stacy congratulations next next I'd like to introduce Miss Ramona Brower as the new principal at an achievable dream middle and high school [Applause] power has a master of education degree and administration and supervision from Regent University she has been with Newport News she's another lifer for 27 years she previously worked as an assistant principal at an achievable dream Mill and high also assistant principal at Woodside High School and Heritage High School congratulations Miss Brown [Applause] and completing the new appointees I would like to introduce Miss delrose Atkinson as the new assistant principal at Booker T Washington Middle School Miss Atkinson has an educational leadership degree from Longwood University she has been

057with Newport News public schools for six years she was working for us as an instructional technology coach and has also worked as an ITC team lead she has been a teacher in Isle of Wight and she's also been a teacher in Hampton City Schools congratulations [Applause] my husband Wayne Atkinson and sister Marjorie Hall and my niece Danielle Johnson and my nephew and nephews and my professional learning Squad my forever colleagues Betsy Tiffany Robin Kirsten and Alex thank you and we appreciate you all bringing your talents to Newport News public schools are in this case keeping them here so we do appreciate that I'm going to take just a tad of a break uh to let those um who were just recognized if you would like to get home and have dinner and uh celebrate go

058out to dinner or we'll give you a moment to depart [Music] to the rights and responsibilities handbook Dr Mitchell do we have an update we do not have anyone here tonight to present however if you recall Dr Ransom did a presentation and there were some questions and he has responded to each one of the board members questions in writing and made himself available as well thank you and we do want to thank Dr ransom for the effort here so do I have a motion to adopt our rights and responsibilities handbook yes ... Madam chair I move to approve the rights and responsibilities handbook as presented do I have a second second thank you Mr Hunter any discussion well the one discussion I will make is I want to thank the superintendent who in her interim

059superintendent role created one of our committees to look at the rights and responsibilities handbook with the community and I want to thank the community too for their input it was quite evident when reviewing this year's rights and responsibilities handbook that we had the support of the community going through that document so much so that they have agreed to stay on board and assist us moving forward so thank you to them as well as Dr ransom for for leading that effort and we're looking forward to implementing that document this school year so Madam clerk please call the roll aman for best for Brown for harris Hunter for Alger for Surles law for motion carries seven zero thank you next on the agenda this evening is 4.03 the 2023 2024 student fees Dr Mitchell we have Dr

060Jones here available tonight should there be any questions regarding the student fees Dr Jones did do a presentation in a previous board meeting there was one a question which has been rectified or answered but she is here however to answer any questions should you have any great board members do you have any questions so do I have a motion to adopt the 2023-2024 student fees yes a Madam chair I moved to approve the 2023-2024 student fees as presented thank you do I have a second second okay and do we have discussion sure I just want to um you know make sure the board continue to find ways to reduce our our children's uh output as far as bills and I think the PTA can help I think the community can Community can help uh with

061these fees um you know it's pretty tough because you know as we know some kids just can't afford some of those fees so just want to make sure we continue to look at ways to try to reduce those thank you and we we do currently have a waiver system in place and so I do encourage students and parents to communicate with your building administrators or with your teachers if you are in that situation however Mr Harris makes an excellent point and we certainly will continue to look at that thank you [Laughter] okay please call the roll for best for brown for Harris for Hunter for Alger or Mrs surles law for motion carries seven zero thank you next on the agenda this evening is 4.04 Huntington Middle School final design plans Dr Mitchell thank you

062Mr fairhart is here to provide an update to the board and the community on the recommended design plan for Huntington Middle School Vice chairman Dr best members of the board superintendent Mitchell I come before you this evening seeking final approval of the design plans for Huntington Middle School which of course is a part of the comprehensive Southeast Community Resource area project recapturing um a series of events it was November 16 2021 nearly 20 months to the day that the board adopted the final site plan for Huntington middle school and the Southeast Community Resource area project this provided the architect Quinn Evans the ability to move forward with developing the designs plan the design plans for Huntington Middle School as a reminder through various stakeholder group meetings the following design themes were identified as priorities celebrating

063learning open and secure environment students and teachers matter monitoring the history honoring the history of Huntington and fostering Community among students and I hope that you find that the design that we're presenting to you this evening fulfills those design themes in February of 2022 the board approved an mou with the city the mou states that the school board must approve the final design plans for Huntington Middle School prior to the procurement of a construction contractor so just to refresh your memories um this is the actual design plan for the or excuse me the site plan for the school itself um eliminates the community side of the property this is the first floor you can see the main entry point on Orchid Avenue another entry point from the Bus Loop that's the main student entry on

064my left and then you can see 28th Street and Wickham here this is the first floor which you'll notice throughout the presentation is that the building Stacks so the second and third floors on the academic Wing which is on my right are nearly identical and most of the other amenities are on the first floor the white area in the middle is a court Courtyard excuse me as you recall lower left is the gymnasium and the green is the cafeteria the administrative offices are up by the main entry we have our Auditorium and Fine Arts over there to the left and then the orange color are what I would call Orange is the CTE sites or classrooms to be utilized at the discretion of the school division oh this is the second and third floor um

065let me go back one you can see also in the lower right on the architect did leave us room for expansion moving forward as you all are aware we're building a 600 student Middle School there's a first floor opportunity for expansion this is the second and third floor again they marry the academic wing of the first floor and there's an area for expansion expansion on each of those floors as well the um the design plans were presented to the school board during the work session on March 14th um during that discussion there were three main questions I believe that were raised by the board on one being the size of the auditorium two being um the conversation about the ability to add a magnet program to the site or re-establish a magnet program and the

066third was the potential to add a track the auditorium working with the architect on our Plant Services team we conducted a comparative analysis of the proposed auditorium at Huntington middle school and other existing Middle School auditoriums within the school division for example we compared Gildersleeve and Hines obviously sister schools their auditoriums are approximately 3 800 square feet including a 500 foot stage the proposed auditorium at Huntington Middle School is 5700 square feet with those 660 square foot stage again about 1100 students at Heinz and Gildersleeve 600 at Huntington so we feel that the auditorium is adequate to meet the needs and the capacity of the school in regards to a magnet program or reestablishing a magnet program we have identified some instructional space currently as I identified for you labeled as CTE space but it

067can be utilized to support the re-establishment of a magnet program if desired certainly design and implementation are different on the buildings designed to be used instructionally and we make the determination about how that will be used and then lastly we asked the architect to consider including a track that's before you on the slide [Music] on the screen the the track as it's proposed is a 330 meter rectangular track with a multi around the multi-purpose athletic field and it's a revision to the design plans that were originally presented to you um you can see that it's going to surround the artificial surface it's still going to allow us to include the sporting lights the perimeter fencing which surrounds the exterior of the property the track will be two lanes well it will still allow for the

068track there's a walking Track also that's included on the community side of the property which will still exist even with the rectangular track around the multi-purpose Athletic Field which we thought was a plus for the community additionally it allows us to keep the field house which has storage on restrooms which we thought was important with the expansion of Middle School sports and also for recreational activities for the community it doesn't uh doesn't marginalize our parking at all we still have parking for 150 cars all dedicated to the Middle School uh one downside is that there'll be no permanent spectator seating and we'll have portable bleachers for our families during athletic events and you the ability to use them on the weekends for parks and rec whoever else may use our Fields when schools are not

069allows us to maintain the campus trees and sidewalks in the original plan the biggest unknowns are the impacts on stormwater infrastructure system as to improvised areas so we're going to need some grading and drainage it's going to potentially eliminate the amphitheater stage if underground retention grows significantly and that's to be determined by the architect based on the design if approved tonight the revised tentative revised timeline is as follows completion of the plans by November of 2023 finalizing the bid package around December of 23. a bit solicitation in January of 24 bid review in February 24 a bit award in March of 24 groundbreaking hopefully in April of 24 and project completion second semester of the 25-26 school year and on our call last week the architect did indicate that the revision to the design plans

070would push the project back approximately four months so with that it's recommended that the school board adopt the final design plans for Huntington middle school as presented during the March 14 2023 work session with the addition of the rectangular track around the multi-purpose athletic field as proposed by the architect thank you Mr fairhart uh questions from the board at this time Mr Brown okay go ahead I'll go ahead and I'll go first okay I'd like to go back to your slide nine about the track so two questions there about the track I see 400 meters and 330 meters my concern of course is you know 400 meters is regulation size for a track which track is 400 meters and which one is 330 liters 330 meters would be the track around the athletic field a

071400 meter would be the walking Track on the community portion of the property where's the walking Track if you can see the rectangle to the left to my left is there a light on here um it's it's the rectangular that runs this oh that that rectangle there okay it's lighted it's a lighted walking path for the community it's two lanes it's going to be rubber out of surface so this this track then would be a two-lane non-regulation track correct and the 330 would be four lane what surface um what surface is the track the walking Track is rubber or I mean the uh the track field for the for the kids uses we requested that that'd be the rubberizer surface okay um and then the football field that's uh that's you know encased within it

072uh the width and the distance of the of the field regulation that is 100 100 yards 55 uh yards wide uh football field okay okay so um and I guess the question is um what did The Architects say about providing a 400 meter track even if it's you know two lanes how much did that how much does that cost and um did they did they offer up um and I suppose in tandem with that talking with our athletic director what can we um do with a two-lane non-regulation track well right I can answer that off the top of my head if you will um I would say they can use it for health and PE on a regular basis um currently all of our middle schools participate in track and field and and none of

073them have a regulation 400 meter track um so they're making do with without um so this would and all in all ways to say it probably be better than what most of our middle schools currently have what was proposed for the art by the architect for our four lane track a full-size 400 meter track um it says um one it would only be four lane so it wouldn't be a competition that's typically eight Lane so we couldn't have competitions there um it would eliminate the two lane track surface in the community space and the amphitheater um again no spectator seating it would eliminate the field house and the restrooms it would eliminate two basketball courts reduces our parking from 150 to about 98 or 100. so we're going to lose about 50 parking places and

074again the major unknowns in regards to stormwater runoff and infrastructure and it also eliminates some of the campus trees and sidewalks okay so we lose by having a regulation track we would lose basketball courts outside we we do have basketball courts inside of uh the school side you're right the two the three basketball courts basketball courts on the outside within the walking okay okay which would be lost which would be lost as well and then they said 50 parking spaces 50 parking places as well okay um and then my last my last question is the question I've asked you every every time we've had this discussion which is how much money does it cost to have Huntington remain where it is so the same design but flipped with Huntington Middle School over there on the

075left where it is right now and the community center over on the right so certainly Mr Brown I'm not in a position to answer that question I can share with you what we shared with us on the call it would be a minimum of at least 2.5 million dollars to just start the design process all over again because it's not just the design for the school it's a design for the community center the pool the amenities as well um and there's also the concern that the architect raised about wanting to preserve the original Huntington um High School portion of the building and his solution was to relocate on the other side of the property and didn't identify a feasible opportunity to maintain that with the site with the school on the current site and I

076guess do the architect Express knowing that Mr Brown has been asking the same question for two years and I asked this question every time we talk about this that how much would it cost for Huntington to be where it is um that they still after two years haven't been able to come up with a ROM on how much money does it cost to keep Huntington where it is that they did they didn't say that they have uh in two years they couldn't find the time only the design fee is what they discussed okay so they only said hey just give us more money to do a design fee and then we'll think about it correct and then it goes out to bid of course okay where the where the true cost is identified right okay

077Mr Fair call hearing hearing that would be an additional eight to ten months is that correct at a minimum at a minimum okay that's the way we need to move as quickly as possible and uh and if we may continue to make changes it's going to push that timeline back our community is depending on the fact that we need to spell uh our children need a place to go after school and be able to you know engage in activities so to delay it uh not all you know I would recommend so I should say we stick to the tracks that's what I I um and that if we decide to change the plans and change it eight to ten months out it's doing what we've been doing all along and and I don't think I

078think that's okay I'm thankful um Mr Harris my mind is pretty simple even though we this is a community plan I think the priority still should be set on the schools so on February the 24th when the bid review is put into place we should have a priority list of what we call bid options so when the bid comes in and obviously more than likely it's going to be overbid we as a School Division should have what we call bid options which means that anything outside of preview of teaching kids should be the first thing to go that's something I've discussed with the chairman and the board but you know you know it's standard protocol absolutely right so we need to make sure we have that at least you all know what we what we

079want all right so certainly theory in theory in theory yeah I need for I can say hey yeah if you move that it's going to cost you it's going to cost that right we really don't know the cause until the bid comes in in theory right agree okay thank you yeah thank you Mr Harris Dr best so with the option that we track with the lanes around the athletic field what the um firm did say is that they talked about a delay that it would be a delay because they have to go back to the table to redo the design but they did acknowledge that also currently the demolition is is behind so the it it's not like if we say we want to go with the option for the track that that will be

080the only hold up for the project things could be moving to design the um track around the athletic field and um the plans for the um as as the demolition continued they would be going concurrently so that won't be a reason to hold it up a significant uh more longer significant longer yeah can I just it's just a point of Education right when when a e firms go into design they are designed under a contract which means the city say hey guess what uh we're paying you to start design here and design and finish here 35 65 95 once you get to 95 percent right there's money exchanging hands if not then regardless of what they have to demo regardless of what they have to tear up the design has to be done before you

081start even talking about construction and so so one faith has to be done and if we delay it then it obviously delays a lot of other things so yeah further further discussion yes okay Madam chair just one point to also share is that in our middle schools while we have uh track all competitions are over at Todd Stadium correct I just want to make sure that everyone understands that the the track competitions will not take place right there at Honey at Huntington they will take place continue to take place at Todd State absolutely uh okay yeah please go ahead so my other comment is that the school closed in 2018 and just making a comment and so these students have been displaced since that time and and that should be our priority and for every

082year that we delay building the school it's the students that are suffering the most um and so we just have to keep them in the Forefront of our mind and so right now we will have um two grades still at Heritage Huntington at Heritage but as we keep moving the project out there may come a time where we don't have any students at Huntington because the rising sixth graders are going to another school so it's just imperative the kids since 2018 they have not had a building in the community they have not had a school and so it's we have to keep this project moving I think the comments that I will make even before the vote is I really want to thank members on this board and members of council and Mr fairhart and

083his counterparts for the city um Dr Mitchell and our city manager to get together and make this a priority for today as we are preparing to go back to school we realize we're down to school and that's a hard thing to stomach year after year for our students so I'm very glad that we are at this point and able to take a vote let's see how we do so any other any other questions before we make a motion okay is there a motion for Huntington Middle School final design plans design plan for a Huntington Middle School do I have a second a second any discussion so uh manager I'll just make a I'll make a comment now that we're in the um the action item stage here one of the things that makes this simple

084or straightforward for me it's uh always consequently when you make when you make promises but I did make I did make a promise that I was going to hold the line on finding a number for how much it costs to keep Huntington Middle School where it is currently today um and I think that it's well you know the rest of the board is going to do what uh what their individual will compels them to do but I gave my word to that and I'm going to stand by that um that would not support the design without knowing what that number was so simply be told for years in a row it's too expensive it's a lot of money but we're in a position as leaders and as elected officials to actually be accountable to citizens

085to say well how much was it to to keep the school where it was and in five years have not been able to get a straightforward answer to what I consider to be a simple question um that that I've you know that I believe should be unacceptable to the entire board um and what we want to be careful of is that uh we're in the same pattern and by the same pattern I mean getting yourself walked into the slaughter in 2018 we were definitely in a hurry but there was no hurry um on the counterpart of our friends and Council and they said you hurry up and wait and we went through a lot of challenges and changes to try to keep Huntington Middle School alive as a school of record um which that was

086important work for us to do and we did do that but at the same time there was no urgency on the other side and it was no you're going to get this design and you're going to get the design the way that we design it and now we're still getting the design the way they designed it they haven't considered any other Alternatives in years and I'm not I'm not blaming the current Council because we have a new Council now but what I'm saying is that that that um consideration by the community that was a request made by citizens to me that has never been considered in the design of Huntington Middle School okay having Huntington Middle School keeping it where it is it has not been considered which is why we don't have Iran today

087which is why I'm asking the question how much yeah can you just rough order magnitude how much how much is it so and that's and so all I'm saying in that regard is um I don't like uh to be pushed into a a hole where into a direction where this is designed we just have to live with it and we're gonna and we're gonna have to just work around whatever changes there are to something that someone else decided that wasn't us when the board we were supposed to decide where our school goes in the first place and we didn't actually decide that you know I'm not trying to go all the way back in history and rehash all of that but this is not our design um and this this we're at a stage now

088where this is supposed to become our design and still to me without the questions answered it's not my design so and that's why I don't you know support tonight I'll let the rest of my colleagues make their own comments you want to go first yeah as well I made a I made a promise as well I was elected with one of my promises to do everything within my power to rebuild Huntington middle school as soon as possible and that is exactly what I have done Mr Brown with all due respect you have not been asking for that price the cost since 2018 as a matter of fact the very board actually voted to approve the design where that school would go in the current location and you voted yes as well I was the only

089dissenting vote at some point in this processed we have to get to a place where we have to make some movement we can keep stalling we can keep pushing it back but the time to really uh come and make a decision as to exactly where to place that school to preserve the history of the building that train has already left the tracks that train has left the trash so you can you can not vote or do whatever you feel the need to do but again it's the students that will if the project continues to get delayed it will be the students that will be the ones that are paying the cost for what grown folks have done whether it be the school board whether it be the city council it's the children that will not

090have a building Dr best Madam chair I thought we were voting on the design tonight so I just you know in terms of this going back through history when did we vote on the design the location of the school because we're talking about the design because the location of the school Madam chair like yes uh Mr Harris well just go ahead you're in the shop you're in the South District um I think uh I'm going back to the students cannot continue to be in this place the cost is going to be much greater and that to me is what matters at this point the decision we're making today is for the children and and that to me has to come first and that's why I'm voting in order for us to have this done as

091soon as possible I've talked to leaders in the community and they are not wanting to wait and so it's important for us to continue down the road and get this done and I did take the responsibility and the charged um Mr Brown that you did give me to go and find that number as to what it would cost to move where we are looking at today to put the school the issue with the facade being gone I don't know how you put a dollar dollar amount on that the other piece is you so if we move the keep the school where it is the facade would go away I don't know what the dollar amount is on that the 2.5 million that has already gone into the planning that's the number and it and it's

092seems little but there's also the eight to ten months and that's not a dollar amount that that's an impact to our students and our students being displaced for so long you can't put a dollar amount on that either so if we're really looking at just money probably is about 2.5 million dollars and waiting 10 months to get a plan that we have to put up for bid to break ground thank you for identifying me appreciate it I just want a point of order and clarification you know when we make discussions about people got to make sure we that discussion goes to the chair um you just want to just one of those things and also you know for my board members that you know I mentioned this years ago that we have a duty and

093responsibility and it's completely laid it out in the code that we had opportunity to take our path uh and go down a private partnership route uh based on the relationship that we had with the past administration and we chose not to do that uh uh and we had another route which was an economic route we didn't want to use that one but we had a chance to do that and the board didn't want to take that route so you got to understand that whoever pays the bill makes the decision we we basically gave that authority to the city in the city said okay not a problem uh so but we did we do have an option uh the next time we want to build a school we have this the school board has an option

094to go do it ourselves even though they would have to sign off on it but we will still be in charge so I just want to make sure that we clarify that out okay thank you madam chair so I will go back we have a motion and we had a second and we've had discussion Madam clerk please call the roll aman for best for Brown against Harris for Hunter for Alger for Surles law for motion carries six one thank you next on the agenda this evening is 4.05 revised policies uh Dr Mitchell I know we had a presentation on these policies um the board has gone to Great length uh revising them and making sure they will meet our needs I'm going to take them not as a block so we have six motions that

095we'll be taking this evening the first of which is BG the school board policy process do I have a motion to approve Virginia school board policy process hey do I have a second thank you um conversation please call the roll aman for best for brown against Harris for hunter for Alger for Surles law for motion carry six one the next is GAD access to employee social media accounts do I have a motion to adopt Madame chair moved to approve the vast policies to approve policy Gad access to employee social media accounts do I have a second second any discussion please call the roll aman for best for brown against Harris against Hunter for Alger for surles law for motion carries five two next is gbaa discrimination and harassment do I have a motion to adopt

096to a mood to approve the revised policies to approve policy gbaa discrimination and harassment do I have a second thank you any discussion please call the roll aman against best for brown against Harris against Hunter for Alger for Surles law for motion carries four-three the next policy is g b e b a staff dress code drive a motion to adopt move to approve the revised policies to approve policy GBEBA staff dress code do I have a second second any discussion please call the roll aman for best for Brown for Harris for five two for Alger for Surles law for Harris seven zero next we have GB EBC gifts to staff do I have a motion Madam chair I moved to approve the revised policies to approve to approve policy g b e b c gifts

097to staff do I have a second any discussion please call the roll aman for best for Brown for Harris for Hunter for Alger for surles law for well she carries seven zero final policy this evening is GCR outside employee employment do I have a motion Madam chair I'll move to approve the revised policies to approve policy GCR outside employment okay do I have a second second thank you any discussion please call the roll aman for best for brown against Harris for enter for Alger for surles law for motion carries thank you very much we will now move on to section five reports and information 5.01 back to school ready report Dr Mitchell thank you very much Madam chair good evening several members of our team will present our back to school report this report will

098be the uh presented by multiple individuals based on their area of expertise and we are going to begin this evening with Nina Farish our director of Human Resources good evening Madam chair Surles law Vice chair Dr best Dr Mitchell and members of the board I am presenting our back to school Staffing status on teachers and bus drivers some of our staffing efforts include social and digital media advertising mail Flyers contacting recent retirees that desire to return job fairs walk-in interviews and the use of University instructors just to name a few efforts for bus drivers we offered a two thousand dollar sign-on bonus the starting pay is twenty dollars and sixteen cents an hour we are also off we also offered a five thousand dollar employee referral bonus for hired teachers as of today we have

099received 119 employee referrals the cutoff date for this program is August 31st additionally we have instituted the role of associate teachers this is a one-year role which allows candidates that want to be teachers and need to complete a few components such as taking a Praxis or taking a required course to become eligible for their provisional license we have hired 69 associate teachers this serves as another path on to grow our own along with I teach which is an alternate alternative Pathway to licensure that is more affordable than going through a college program and it is flexible in that it is self-paced and online I teach provides free Praxis test preparation therefore those who already have their provisional license can successfully complete I teach and obtain their full license within a year here we have numbers

100showing a three-year review of Staffing for teachers and bus drivers currently we have 74 bus driver vacancies and we have hired 19 giving us a 77 percent fill rate of our allocations for teachers in 2021 we started the school year with more vacancies than we had prior year in Prior years we were not able to fill all of those vacancies and therefore as we went into 2022 we still had those vacancies along with additional vacancies due to turnover thus we had an unprecedented number of vacancies to fill in the middle of a national teacher shortage before the pandemic our percent of vacancy staffed from 2017 to 2020 was 98 and 99 percent as you can see from the slide in 2021 and 2022 that percent decreased due to the previous history I just shared I

101am happy to say for 2023 we have 64 teacher vacancies and a 96.1 percent of our total vacancies staffed wow the human resources thank you human resources and school leadership has worked strategically with Staffing to take a huge step this year towards getting us back to normalcy for the current teacher vacancy vacancies we are utilizing other sources to staff these vacancies with University instructors partnered with long-term substitutes we also have over a thousand active substitutes in our pool and lastly we are also hiring additional instructional assistance for support at this time that concludes the human resources update next you will hear from Mr Mark Stewart executive director crisis planning prevention and response foreign bikes to your best Dr Mitchell glad to be here in front of you all today give you a brief update on

102our um our layered plan that we have in place for the security and safety of our children as you know our safety plan is layered it involves many different pieces of the puzzle oops and these are some of the changes that we're making at the beginning of the school year starting we're hiring three new security supervisors for our officers in the schools these three security officers will be deployed regionally throughout the city and they'll have the responsibility for keeping our officers accountable for what they're doing offering them guidance and Leadership it'll be mirrored with our police departments North South and Central precincts and that will allow these three supervisors to move quickly to from school to school on a daily basis we've hired 45 new security officers that give us 115 total that puts two

103in every Elementary School three in every middle school and six in every high school but to supplement that plan we've hired 10 substitute officers these substitute officers will go to various schools throughout the district to if an officer calls in sick that school won't have to go short for a day we can call a substitute officer so the the complement of security staff will be there if there are particular problems in one school or another we can surge more officers to a school until things calm down so we're very excited about the addition of those new substitutes we have Rewritten our Strate our standard operating guidelines for our officers and we are going to train them starting on the 22nd of this month to be more proactive to look for problem problems not reactive problems

104to solve problems before bad things happen and that's going to be a focus of our training coming up this year we have also taken the time over the last six weeks to update our our division wide crisis management plan and that plan will eventually filter down to better crisis management plans for each individual school and we're excited that's going through the review process and we hope the board will see that shortly thank you we have had crisis management teams in every single school and the training for those teams has been there but it's been minimal so we're in the process of developing a crisis Management training program for each School we're working on developing that program now we hope to deploy that program in November of this year so each school's crisis management team can

105get individualized training for their school as you know we we are issuing clear backpacks to every single student in this in the school and we now can say we have weapons detective systems and every one of our schools throughout the city so each one of these is a layer of security each one of them would not stand on their own but as we layer them all together in our system it contributes greatly to the safety of our students and staff thank you thank you well it looks like I might have one question for you yes Miss Alger yeah so research states that foreign assessments are really critical in terms of making sure that their safety um so where is where are the threat assessments fitting here are the folks that you're working with um getting

106trained or is that given to another group for the crisis how are we handling for assessments So currently the Department of Criminal Justice Services requires a uh accepted assignment it's a uh it's a survey of the school for for gaps within their safety plan that's required to the Department of Criminal Justice Services which we've completed for every school every school is required to complete their own crisis management plan which they have done and in addition to that we are developing the trainings for these crisis management teams to give them a higher level of training and a better ability to respond and prevent incidences within their schools if you could do me a favor and do yeah and and we can in terms of the threat assessments because I imagine uh whenever a student makes a

107threat somebody jumps on it in terms of making they call the student and question and Survey the students so it just if we can make sure that's incorporated as a part of yeah you'll see within our policy that exact thing is listed in there it's listed per incident on what the school officials should do and how they should act and when they should call the police not call the police that's all in these crisis man this overarching city-wide division-wide crisis management plan that we have just completed writing is currently being reviewed internally and we hope to make that available to the board shortly thank you so much for your time sure and I need to introduce our executive director of Plant Services Mr Wade Beverly good evening good evening Madam chair co-chair members of the

108board and Dr Mitchell congratulations it's the first time I've seen you since you're uh so what happened so Plant Services has been doing some great things around the uh division we have flow water machines at every school wanted to share that right off the bat to kind of break detention oh nothing but we bought 121 units and I have not had one negative word about them everybody loves them says the water's great the kids say I want more and it's a good thing kids walk around water bottles now I just want to drink water so that's the good news of the day uh Plant Services as you know we've had some busy years these past couple years uh not quite as many projects going on this year but a lot bigger projects we did 94

109total I wanted to share something else with you plant Services annual work orders last year we did or well this past year we did two two uh 22 965 year before that we did nineteen thousand two twenty three which is a different increase of 3742. what does this do this kind of identifies the need for more funding it identifies the need for more staff our buildings are getting older and this shows it's costing more and it's taking more to maintain them so with that being said I'll look at some of the projects around I'm not going to read every line to you but HVAC projects and Replacements a lot of these are Esser projects uh some which will not be complete until uh September 24 but we are completing some this year we're wrapping up

110several um a lot of sidewalk repairs and trip hazards we're fixing uh gym finishing and Replacements interior door Replacements casework replacements uh Paving projects as all of you know in the paving right out here at the admin building and we did the driver's range of saving money by installing on-demand Timeless water heaters at several of our sites canopy replace uh Replacements which is badly needed at a lot of sites so we started working on that environmental projects at Palmer and Ella Fitzgerald and several others elevator upgrades which were barely needed at work in Crittenden so I wanted to share some the part everybody likes the pictures stony run gym renovation so if you look at the left that's what it used to look like if you look at the right that's what it looks like

111now much brighter you know much nicer to go into so hope the kids enjoy it Ella Fitzgerald their new gym went from old tile floor to a uh wood perform a wood performance flooring look with new bleachers and they've got their initials in the bleachers some projects around the division you've seen the new bleachers at Woodside High School see the new finished floor at Woodside uh some damage up in the soft uh ifas area at Heritage High School the new paved driving range back behind us some pumps on the bottom left that uh merry passage which is badly needed a new compressor unit and crane lifting it up on at MacIntosh Elementary uh the fourth picture over going towards the right at the bottom that's a new soy step floor that we're putting in and

112that's at Kiln Creek to mitigate some water intrusion areas that we had and then uh Dutro that's a picture just showing the carpet replacement in the open form area of of the Learning Center South Morrison phase one Renovations are complete with the exception of they're still getting a little bit of technology in so all the pictures on the top are what it looks like now anybody that wants to go by just get a hold of Mr fairhart or myself be glad to walk you through and all the pictures on the bottom are what it used to look like so the picture at the bottom left uh is kind of looking into the picture at the top left it looks all different because all the rooms have been split now so we made them smaller uh

113they don't need the large classrooms so uh anyway and so now I would like to if there's no questions I'd like to introduce Karen Lynch our supervisor Extended Learning one moment please set me up man good evening um this summer Newport News Public Schools provided pre-k through 12th graders opportunities for instruction remediation and enrichment at nine schools throughout our district the steam program provided 500 students in grades 3 through 12 an enriched opportunity to engage in 10 unique steam camps at summer Institute for the Arts or SIA our our high schooler students were immersed in dance drama music and visual arts and our SPARK program offered over 4 700 students an opportunity to receive additional instruction and Remediation in reading math and science enrichment these summer programs also provided learning and Leadership experience for our

114students and staff approximately 20 Juniors and seniors in Newport News public schools had an opportunity to service career pathway interns 36 employees in the ODU administrative cohort group served as site administrator interns and 18 employees who are current assistant principals administrative assistants and teachers served as site administrators this year our steam campers engaged with the following Community Partners Jefferson lab William and Mary College Newport News police department Brooks Crossing Innovation lab Newport News TV channel 47 Civil Air Patrol NASA Astro Camp Newport News sarfan Food Forest whro Batten environmental van Newport News Green foundation and the Virginia air and space science center these amazing Community Partners Incorporated emerging Technologies in the computer science lessons exposing our students to drones Unruly Splats and Lego spike Prime robots students who attended SIA combined their talents to create

115a culminating performance featuring music dance and drama while the inspiring artists created an expo to Showcase their incredible talents this summer our five-week long spark program provided an engaging learning experiences to close learning gaps for students at eight sites throughout our district meals and transportation were provided for all participants and next we have with school leadership Dr blowe good evening Madam chair Searles law Vice chair best school board members and superintendent Dr Mitchell I am here representing School leadership this evening to share some helpful information from our department for our families and students as we equally eagerly prepare for the opening of school starting Monday August 21st both families and students will be able to access their students schedules conveniently through parent view and student view additionally for those students attending the orientations physical copies

116of the schedules will be distributed if students or families have questions or need assistance regarding schedules they may reach out to the school counseling offices for support device distribution for all students will kick off during the week of August 28th this initiative is a vital part of our commitment to ensuring top quality education and equal access to learning resources for all of our students our students at the virtual Learning Academy have a slightly tailored schedule to accommodate the needs of the virtual Learning Academy students at vla will receive their devices beginning August 21st and on August 22nd this ensures that students will have their devices well in advance of the start of school allowing a seamless transition to Virtual learning on this slide you will see some essential dates to note open houses and student

117orientations will take place in the next week preschool and Elementary open houses are scheduled for August 24th Middle School open houses are scheduled to take place on August 23rd Point option vla orientation open house is set for August 21st 22nd and 23rd based on grade level 6th grade student orientations for our new middle schoolers are scheduled for August 23rd from 10 a.m to 12 noon freshman orientations for our Rising 9th grade students will take place August 25th from 8 A.M to 11 A.M so our 9th graders will be ready to kick off the high school year bus transportation services will be provided for both our 6th and 9th grade orientations please check our division website on August 19th for bus schedules also please note that the regular school year bus stop information will be available

118online starting August 22nd as everyone is prepping and for an exciting return to school we want to make sure you have all the information that is needed for that there is a One-Stop location for to find all of this information and more on our divisions back to school webpage on the division's website you can find everything you need to know about registration procedures supplies for your child that your child might need to start the school year breakfast and lunch menus and school calendars to stay up to date with important dates throughout the school year all this and more can be easily accessed on our division website under the back to school Banner I am now pleased to introduce Dr Joanne Jones executive director of curriculum and development who will share some exciting information regarding teaching

119and learning thank you thank you good evening chair surles law Vice chair Dr best board members and Dr Mitchell I am pleased to round out teaching and learning this evening with our back to school updates during the 2022-23 school year Newport News Public Schools participated in a curriculum audit to include a review of the written taught and assessed curriculum additionally focus groups were held to gain perspectives of teachers administrators and supervisors based on the recommendations the office of teaching and learning has worked collaboratively to enhance the curriculum one major change included the accessibility and navigation of the curriculum as a result all departments have migrated the curriculum to the new and revised SharePoint site additionally an instructional toolkit was added to provide guidance and resources for planning and instruction also the teacher feedback portal was

120relocated to the new site for ease of use for teachers in providing feedback regarding lessons units and resources alignment to the written taught and assessed curriculum is a focus for our division one of the new changes included the development of a curriculum reviewer and writer manual these guidelines include the steps involved in the alignment of lessons units assessments and resources in grades pre-k through 12. most importantly teachers are encouraged to apply to be writers and participate as curriculum reviewers and writers alongside the curriculum and development teams while there is a host of professional learning opportunities offered to teachers and administrators by our internal staff as well as external Partners we have a K-12 vertical professional learning plan to address the area of science last week Newport News hosted a region 2 District science leaders professional

121development to collaborate on the development of a bank of regional assessment items that address the new cluster Style Style questions this session was facilitated by Ann Peterson vdoe science coordinator and as a result of this training this group will continue to meet quarterly to continue this collaboration in addition to this training all K-12 administrators will participate in one of the vdoe webinars to learn about the new science observation tool in order to support observations and feedback and Science in schools after spending time utilizing the tool during the first nine weeks Newport News Public Schools administrators will come together again to extend their learning about science instruction observation and feedback by participating in another in-person session led by the vdoe the literacy steering committee is excited to Embark year three of our Pre-K literacy pre-k through

12212 literacy plan which is included in goal one in the Newport News public school strategic plan during 2025. each school is represented with at least one member on the division literacy committee as well as departments and community members this year we will continue to activate Elevate and extend the literacy plans five action steps with the focus on early literacy explicit instruction and embedded literacy practices across all content areas and grades this year Newport News Public Schools will expand gifted services to all middle schools this enables students to attend their Zone schools to encourage participation in school and community events the dual immersion program is expanding to first grade in the North District at Catherine Johnson Elementary School as a part of the Department of Defense Grant the program will continue to expand each year in

123addition the first dual immersion cohort that began at Saunders Elementary School will be entering 9th grade this year at Menchville High School we are excited about these expansions and they also attribute an exemplify characteristics to promote college career and citizen readiness that deserves a hand clap I'm sorry that's amazing [Applause] this year students in grades 5 8 and 11 will be administered a new integrated reading and writing standards of learning assessment the assessment requires students to read a non-fiction text and science or social studies answer questions connected to the passage and respond to the prompt through writing integrating the text they read and applying the text in their personal life and experiences overall this assessment format promotes a balanced literacy approach to writing we are so excited to welcome all our new and returning teachers

124this week and next week for professional development as we prepare for all of our students on the first day of school on Monday August 28th are there any questions thank you I want to say thank you for pushing the writing because that to me is very important it's something that has fallen behind for a while and to put that back on the table that means if you put a focus on it then the kids are just going to be better writers and so you know that was really thoughtful and the other thing too is just making sure that we have results along the way as we measure you know as we're trying that science um you know having those Assessments in place so that we can see results I do have one question from Miss

125aman uh I don't know if we'll be able to get her she wanted to know how the um backpacks are going to be distributed to students so I don't know the logistics individual who can come back to the podium to share Mr Wright's coming here he comes you thought you were going to get away from us tonight Mr wright never never always available we're touching base as a team number one we're going to work with procurement and Mrs Minto on delivery so the key is to ensure that we have an accurate delivery date and then we want to communicate you know with our community around in our schools so something will go out to them absolutely and we've already spoken with Miss price about that communication okay we want to make sure we have the

126delivery we want to under promise and over deliver so we'll get that out as soon as we can all right thank you any other board members with questions for this What was decided I'm sorry Dr Jones due to the new literacy um act we have moved that until they have approved all of the textbooks they've approved the one that we um selected for grades K through three but now we're waiting for the approval for grades four through five and and up okay okay so we're still waiting we don't want to order the books and then for some reason and not appear on the four five list for elementary English [Music] two is our construction report board members you've received a copy of this report are there any questions at this time and hearing none will

127move on to 5.03 comments by the superintendent thank you very much Madam chair I would like to begin my it's by thanking our speakers for coming out tonight and I wanted to share that we are in the process of reviewing the 2023 model policies on ensuring privacy dignity and respect for all students and parents in Virginia Public Schools as our leadership team has shared we are working to ensure that our students and staff are ready for the new year so on Thursday our returning teachers and assistants will report to prepare for our students return last Monday August 17th some members of the school board the mayor and school administrators join me in welcoming nearly 250 new and experienced Educators to the Newport News family during the new teacher welcome celebration at Woodside High School it

128was a great event and we enjoyed meeting our newest educators across the School Division schools are hosting welcome events orientations and team building activities to provide a festive return for staff we do want to congratulate our summer graduates of the class of 2023 on August the 1st over 40 students received their high school diploma during their our summer graduation ceremony at Heritage High School these students put in a lot of hard work over the summer to complete the graduation requirements and on July 20th the board members and our police chief joined us for our annual GED graduation at the Fountain Plaza in city center 20 young people completed their studies and subtests in our student alternative education plan program and successfully passed the GED test all of our summer graduates are truly models of resilience

129and commitment we truly enjoyed celebrating with them and we wish them much success on August the 3rd you can see we've been busy we hosted our fifth annual innovate conference hundreds of Educators participated in this year's conference there were interactive and informative sessions both in person and virtually and at Innovation station featuring Hands-On technology and digital design tools we did have a guest speaker who was an award-winning educator Nancy Blair black she was encouraging and inspired many so special thanks to our teaching and learning and Technology departments for another successful conference earlier Michelle Nordeen gave the invocation and the pledge and if you recall she leads our ptas for the division so please help her and help our ptas by coming out to Yates Elementary School for the PTA plus Community event this will be

130held on August the 19th outside on Yates Elementary's grass field from 10 a.m to 2 p.m we recognize you cannot stay the entire time but please apply and support parking is available at Yates Elementary School and the adjacent grass field please come out for parents you can join the PTA and receive free Bounce House tickets for your children and there will be food trucks there as well so a final note just a reminder that the new school year does begin on Monday August the 28th I am truly looking forward to a successful School opening and I wish each of you a productive and rewarding school year and teachers I will see you I will be visiting schools and be there to support you thank you that concludes my comments thank you Dr Mitchell well we

131will move on to item six another opportunity to hear from the public there I do have cards so I will resume by name uh calling in a gentle way here um Larry Elliott Larry Elliott and the next one after that I think is Natisha Elliott so we'll just kind of keep us in the queue hello how do you do boy my name is Larry Elliott I'm a veteran and a resident here in Newport News and I just like to take the time to uh say that I really want to urge the school board to direct the superintendent Dr Michelle Mitchell to fully replace the current policies of the outline that are outlining the policies of jb-p and uh I'm advocating for the implementation of the complete 2023 model policies provided by The youngkin Administration on

132the transgender issues in the schools and these policies uh pretty much uh aimed to remove any suggestion of Educators uh deceiving or concealing information from parents especially concerning their children's exploration of gender identity at school and emphasize that parents must be informed and given an opportunity to express their concerns before any gender related counseling and is provided to their children and it's also to affirm that schools cannot force employees or students to express statements that go against their personal faith or conscience another thing is uh I request her that the school board the vote for revision of the policy JB which governs the approach to transgender matters within the school district and as these changes will established clear and enduring safeguards for fundamental parental rights and religious freedoms I just want you to take that

133consideration tonight thank you thank you Tisha hello school board members uh my name is Natisha Elliott I am a resident of Newport News I'm also a graduate of Newport News system as far as High School I just want to express eye discontent on the some of the board members approval to move forward with the revision of a GB AAA I want to thank the members that stood against it uh Mr Brown Mr Harris and Mrs aman that voted no against the um the revision of the gbaa it is critical to know that addition some of these terms of the sexual orientation of sexual identity can cause some problematic concerns um it does um single out certain categories like that do inadvertently infringe upon religious freedom and freedom of speech so I'm just hoping in the

134future you will reconsider um these new additions to be taken back out thank you so much and have a good night thank you Jennifer herget good evening hi the school board superintendent and especially parents need to be aware that all doctors in the state of Virginia received a letter which states that the doctors are to recommend the covid injection down to six months of age parents take their children to their pediatrician prior to coming back to school doctors get bonuses based on the percentage of their practice that is vaccinated with the Covid 19 injection will they give informed consent before the covid-19 vaccines were rolled out if you were 19 or younger your risk of dying of covid-19 was .0003 percent three per one million infected with covid-19 at this age ended up dying the

135average age of death in the UK from covid-19 in 2021 was 82.5 years old the same as in the U.S but not what we were led to believe from the media is anyone here aware of the Pfizer documents for the covid-19 vaccine I've personally spoken with five doctors and they were unaware the FDA tried to have the documents sealed for 75 years until 2096. a Texas judge ordered the release and the first set came out on March 1st 2022 there are nine pages of adverse reactions that were known by February 28 2021 over two years ago Within These Nine Pages there are approximately 40 autoimmune diseases six types of hepatitis 50 types of herpes should your immune system be compromised your body cannot protect itself properly to find the full document go to www.phmpt.org click

136on documents type in the search bar 5.3.6 for the adverse reactions go to Pages 30 to 38. please note that these are only the side effects that were known as of February 28 2021 the CDC had to be sued twice to release their own v-safe data out of approximately 10 million vsafe users over 7.7 percent had a health event requiring medical attention emergency room intervention and or hospitalization and another 25 percent were unable to perform normal activities moderna also needed a lawsuit to release their data the release started in July of 2023 and should be complete in June of 2025. what are they hiding the good news is there were many different batches many have had very few reactions you can go to how bad is mybatch.com to check your batches the Virginia medical Freedom

137Alliance along with many other organizations are available to help the vaccine injured I'm a strong supporter of informed consent I hope that this school board will help educate parents with this information our government and our media are not educating the public so it is left up to We the People my daughter is vaccine injured it was very difficult finding a doctor to help her I finally found one she wrote a book The alarming facts about the covid vaccine and helpful resources for healing she signed it for you John 3 20 21. thank you Jason Parker Madam chair board members good to see you again I'm back to talk about response from Contracting apprenticeships we've been hoping to get ourselves a work session at some point we would love to do that uh yeah I want

138to go through all the components the game that I want to remind everybody that in the state of Virginia we're down construction workers in the com in the nation we're down construction workers and one of the components that everybody forgets when they think well we'll start a program is it takes 8 000 hours for an apprentice in a registered apprenticeship and so one of the things that we're trying to remind all the different agencies who now have the option to do such responsible Contracting is that if you have the ability to do capital projects then you are a stakeholder in the training of the workforce of the state of Virginia and Workforce Development is a big push at the state level we know they've made the Virginia uh Department of Workforce Development I'm on that

139board The Advisory Board I'm also now on the State Workforce Development board this is a big Push by all people this was a bipartisan legislation and one of the things we need to do is to make sure that we are actually putting the projects out there for those young folks to become the trades folks we need in the future they will also go on to carry on to become various uh technicians and other things that NASA Shipyard Franklin Paper Mill including Tech hubs and stuff that we're putting together right now in places like Lynchburg and other places like that so I just want to come back and remind you we're all still here we would love to sit down and really go over this stuff hash it out with y'all show you the value of

140it we brought you best practices and I've heard a rumor that um you guys are considering some form of working on collective bargaining with the teachers and if that's the case I applaud you deeply from the bottom of my heart I know what a contract can do for working people uh it's changed my life and it's changed the life of so many of the folks I've worked with and lived around and thank you very much for hearing me thank you Ben Lambert good evening uh members of the board uh Madam chair Dr Mitchell first of all congratulations Mr Lin uh it is a good vantage point to have that chair I hope you and uh do as much with it as you can um I am sorry to be here tonight after hearing that the

141board will not be moving forward with responsible Contracting with considering responsible Contracting I hope that at some point in the future you all revised that decision uh it is um very much at odds with what much of the rest of the state is working on right now to create a pathway to these skilled trades uh and so again I wish that that had not been your decision and I do think it was not the best but I would like to Echo Mr Parker's sentiments I have been delighted to hear that you all are considering Collective work beginning and we very much hope that that moves forward and know all that it would do for the teachers so we all hope to be back here in a few months time to uh be speaking on alongside

142our brothers and sisters in the nnea to celebrate uh new resolution giving them the right to collectively bargain for the first time in Virginia history thank you very much thank you Jesse Robertson I'll try to be brief I take a slightly different um not view but a different point of view on the issue that our two last speakers have spoke on I'm a union member that much is true but my wife's a teacher well was a teacher in this District she quit so did a lot of teachers 96.1 percent fill rate that's pretty impressive but why the turnover you want the highest paid districts in the area why the turnover it's not the money there's something else going on here it's the voice at work the ability to be heard as a teacher and have

143that get up not just to you guys to the superintendent through the principals all of that is very important right now that can break down at any point on the chain give them the right to collectively bargain they have a voice if it's not getting through the normal channels it can get up further management 301 when I was taking that remember hearing doesn't matter how much you pay somebody they'll stick around for another month another year eventually no that's had enough made enough money I'm getting out of it you have to figure out what it is driving the turnover it's not the money money's great but there's something else going on and I think collective bargaining will help with that now yes I understand it'll probably make some other problems as well but I can't

144have one thing without the other everything's a trade-off and that's what bargaining is so please I would ask that uh when you have the opportunity please vote for that thank you thank you Aaron Woodard uh thank you esteem school board members my name is Aaron Woodard and I'm the president of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 1340 located here in Newport News Virginia I'm here this evening to speak in support of the amazing teachers employed in the Newport News City um as a proud football coach for work high school and an even prouder parent of both the former and current work IB student athlete I've had numerous opportunities to meet and work with the teachers faculty and staff of our school system I've seen firsthand the positive and direct impacts that teachers can have

145on these students and I see the difference that they make in their lives I've watched them change lives against all sorts of odds and adversity and we asked them to teach encourage Challenge and Inspire our children without the benefits of working under a collective bargaining agreement as a 20-year plus proud union electrician and now Union president I've received the wages and benefits the Safety and Security of working in a union and I credit the union with creating a pathway for my family to a career um with family sustaining wages benefits and retirement these amazing teachers that have helped develop and Empower future Generations deserve the same opportunity to have a voice in the workplace and a seat at the table when it comes to working under a collective bargaining agreement so I encourage you as

146this moves forward if you guys would please consider allowing teachers um to to have the protection benefit and uh joy that comes from working under a collective bargaining agreement and to speak on what some of the former speakers had said um it's it has changed my life and it's changed my family it's a lot of I've never had to worry about a house of a roof over my head food on the table and lights that work um and these teachers deserve that same opportunity they put theirself in not only Harm's Way but give everything they've got to our future generations and I think that they deserve their respect of having a voice in the city table so thank you very much thank you the last speaker card that I have is for Mary Voss and

147I do not believe I see her Mary Voss I'm sure she will join us next time okay so we are past the ninth hour here I have to say working with this board and getting to hear what their resolve is being here for the students and making sure that they're set up for success and that they remain our Focus has definitely encouraged me this week as we get ready to open school so I am going to stay true to the board's thought that students are the reason that we are here and we will only hear tonight from Aaron Lin our new school board representative as this is his first very long night of a meeting Aaron we are so happy to have you with us what comments might you have 11 make lemonade so I

148think this is true because as a student every year we have hurdles to overcome or lemon stone at us from our rigorous classes at school to the different extracurricular activities or just or just events that happen in life it has already been difficult for the past few years after coming out of the pandemic and through the unfortunate shooting of Richmond class school year so as a student representative I want to help guide students and reduce some of the stresses that can come from schools so by the end of the year all students in Newport News Public Schools can feel successful and possibly even enjoy a club a cold glass of lemonade to kick off that something so thank you thank you and with that this meeting is adjourned [Music]