School Board Meeting: February 15, 2022

001[Music] February 15 2022. on behalf of the members of the school board and the secretary and I welcome each of you joining us a quorum is president of transactive business of the school division we begin tonight's meeting with the invocation and pledge to the flag here to do the honors is uh jazeera brown from stony run elementary school first gizera would you please come forward and deliver the invocation good evening everyone my name is jazara brown and I'm in miss oliver's fifth grade tech class at stony run elementary school [ want to share a poem that is called the crayon box that talked wouldn't it be terrible wouldn't it be sad if just one single color was the color that we had if everything was purple or red or blue or green if yellow pink

002or orange was all that could be seen can you just imagine how dull the world would be if just one single color is all we got to see please stand for the pledge I pledge allegiance to the flag of the united states of america and to the republic for which it stands one nation under god indivisible with liberty and justice for all and supporting gizard tonight our family members and our school family I've asked them to stand at this time to be recognized the board appreciates the encouragement you've given to jazzar and we thank you for bringing her to tonight's meeting the next item on tonight's agenda is going to be school board recognitions dr parker yes mr chairman and it's a good evening for recognitions uh mrs price you want to bring us full

003circle on those there you go [Music] good evening tonight I have the pleasure of acknowledging the dedicated members of the newport news school board as february is school board appreciation month in virginia this observance was established by the virginia school boards association in 1989 to encourage public recognition of the roles and responsibilities of school board members and to highlight the importance of public education locally elected school board members play an important role in our representative democracy as the decisions of local school boards directly influence instruction in virginia's public schools as constitutional officers of the commonwealth newport news school board members are responsible for setting educational policies employing school personnel providing buildings and equipment operating a transportation system and disbursing school funds among many other duties their job is not an easy one but our school

004board is committed to serving our community ensuring that all students are given every opportunity to excel through education tonight we salute our school board members and I'm going to ask each of them to come down or come across to accept their certificate of honor from the virginia school boards association in recognition of their commitment and service on behalf of the students staff and citizens of newport news and the commonwealth of virginia we'll begin with our chairman douglas brown our vice chairman lisa surles law school board member rebecca aman school board member dr Terri best school board member john eley school board member marvin harris [Applause] and school board member gary hunter [Applause] so on behalf of newport news public schools and our employees I'd like to say that it's been a very tough year to

005be a school board member and um the last past three years and I've never worked with the more dedicated group of elected officials they are parents community members many of them ran for many different reasons but as we know throughout the challenges that we face good better and different they have stayed focused on the needs of children and for that we need to give them our complete and undivided gratitude and appreciation we know we have a lot of issues and a lot of concerns with the with the way things go today but our kids are our focus this board is student focused and they are well-trained board who have committed to doing a lot of professional development to make sure that they have a solid governance structure in place and can support the teachers and

006students in newport news public schools so on behalf of all of our employees I'd like to thank you for all of your service and let's give them another round of applause [Applause] and now stay stable stay here because we want to recognize another very important part of our team which is the board clerk absolutely this week is school board clerk appreciation week in virginia to each february the virginia school boards association designates one week to recognize and acknowledge the work and assistance that clerks provide to school board members superintendents and the school community at large school board clerks are responsible for keeping records of meetings and documenting official proceedings of the school board preparing and posting meeting agendas organizing meeting schedules and providing administrator support among other duties the vsba note is especially important this

007year to take a moment to thank our school board clerks who've remained attentive and ready to help throughout the barrage of changes due to the covet pandemic this evening we acknowledge our clerk of the school board this is tiffany moore buffaloe would you please come forward [Applause] miss buffaloe maintains a complete and accurate record of all school board proceedings including maintaining the board's online meeting portal or docs she also maintains the school board's calendar coordinates and schedules their professional development and serves as a liaison between the school board and the public ms moore buffaloe on behalf of the school board the administration the citizens of our community and our students and staff thank you for your dedicated appreciate service thank you very much and congratulations I'm going to take a moment to just take a

008picture okay thank you while they make their way back to their seats at this time we'll take about an eight-minute break so our um students join us this evening and their families may leave if they choose to do so during this time our viewing audience will have the opportunity to view this month's school board spotlight so we'll stand in recess for about eight minutes thank you [Music] by teaming up with the mariners museum 9th graders at menchville and warwick high schools are diving into the world of lake restoration and watershed investigation bay watershed education and training affectionately shortened to b- wet is a national program administered by noaa the national oceanic and atmospheric administration bewet provides real-world learning opportunities for k-12 students and professional development training for educators mariners museum was one of 12 recipients

009in the chesapeake bay region to receive a be wet grant to help fund meaningful watershed educational experiences for newport news students to investigate local environmental issues through this three-year grant mariners museum and newport news public schools along with student interns from christopher newport university will grow and plant native eelgrass in mariners lake to improve the quality of the ecosystem at menchville and warwick nine educators and about 500 freshmen will participate in the be wet program this school year to get started mariners museum educators met with each teacher and their science classes virtually to introduce students to their involvement in the bewet program through interactive activities and discussions students expanded their understanding of the chesapeake bay watershed learned how pollution affects our waterways identified characteristics of a healthy ecosystem and noted lane changes that have affected

010the health of mariners lake after the virtual meetings students began planting native freshwater eelgrass and water tanks provided by the museum this eelgrass also known as wild celery will grow and mature in each classroom until april when students will visit mariners lake to personally plant it eelgrass will improve the quality of the lake by providing sediment stability increasing water clarity creating a habitat for aquatic organisms and attracting more migratory birds through this partnership 9th graders at menchville and warwick will increase their environmental literacy by being directly involved in a local lake restoration project general stanford elementary has been recognized by the commonwealth of virginia as a purple star school for their concentrated efforts to support students and families connected to our nation's military general stanford is located right on fort eustis so 100 of the

011student population are military connected students who live on base the virginia purple star designation is awarded by the virginia department of education to deserving military-friendly schools that meet a number of required standards since military families are constantly on the move general stanford helps new students transition smoothly and feel welcome with student-led tours and classroom buddies when parents are deployed the school supports students and families through their brand new anchored for life program the entire staff at general stanford receives professional development and training focused on supporting military connected children in school settings professional school counselor lo chevelle brown is specifically trained as a point of contact for military families to help the school create events and activities that keep families connected to their children's learning and celebrate the dedication of the servicemen and women newport news

012public schools helps to broaden the support across all of our schools at the start of the school year the nnps school board passed a resolution that supports all of the 6500 military connected students in newport news through ongoing professional development for educators as well as focused communication regarding additional resources for families general stanford will retain its purple star status for three years but their commitment to military students and families will always continue [Music] elected officials were invited to warwick high school to witness firsthand how students in the governor's health sciences academy are preparing for their future careers in early december newport news public schools celebrated take your legislator to school elected officials at the city state and federal level of government were invited to a breakfast and tour at warwick during the morning presentation superintendent

013dr george parker school board chairman douglas brown and nnps leaders presented some of the various legislative and infrastructure needs facing schools across newport news this allowed legislators and school leaders to openly discuss options and solutions moving forward after breakfast elected officials members from the newport news education foundation and the executive leadership team followed jrotc cadets on a tour of the health sciences academy at warwick in classrooms and labs students presented the technological tools interactive lessons and career preparation they receive daily high school students who complete this unique course offering are highly trained and well on their way to securing a number of occupations in the health sciences field after graduation again legislators were able to dialogue directly with the students and even offer industry connections to further the high school students practical career experiences for

014state and school leaders take your legislator to school was a wonderful opportunity to spur on productive conversations focused on student achievement and success thanks to the james river association all sixth graders in newport news public schools build on their classroom knowledge through unique and meaningful watershed educational experiences since october educators from the james river association have been visiting each middle school to offer hands-on learning experiences that tie in directly with the virginia standards of learning through this educational exploration students are connected to the james river through student-directed investigations using technology and real-world scenarios with newport news located along the shores of the james river students gain a better understanding of how their actions directly impact virginia's communities businesses and recreational opportunities and by becoming responsible stewards of the james river they can positively affect the

015larger chesapeake bay watershed we all live within during their time with students jra educators use a range of interdisciplinary learning skills to develop an appreciation for nature and our waterways by building a wetland in a bottle students visually see how important healthy wetlands are to filtering water using water samples directly from the james river students collect data about temperature turbidity dissolved oxygen and ph levels these water quality tests allow students to grade the james river on its health and discuss possible conservation actions that each of us can make to ensure a healthy watershed jra educators also help students take action by working together to stencil colorful reminders near drains that are located right on their school grounds thanks to the james river association science exploration and conservation become fun and engaging activities allowing students to

016understand how each of them can positively impact our chesapeake bay watershed [Music] well welcome back we hope you enjoyed this month's school board spotlight during our regular meetings we provide time for the public to address the school board so now as we are in item two of our agenda the school board recognizes that some members of the public may not be able to join us in person as advertised citizens may submit comments via web form email or voicemail 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 at this time but not respond the school board has agreed to provide three opportunities for public input during our regular meeting

017newport news residents who wish to address a topic not included on the action item portion of the agenda will be called to address the board during section 2 audience with individuals which is the current section newport news residents who wish to address an action item on the agenda will be called to address the board during section 4. action items non-newport news residents who wish to address the board or those whose address is unidentifiable on your speaker card will be called to address the board during section six the second audience with individuals so everyone's going to get a chance to speak tonight all speakers are asked to 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 a

018red light and beep indicates that your time is up as we'll have 21 cards at this time for section 2 and 3 minutes each and there's a 30 minute time limit you can imagine that we have to be expeditious in everyone hopefully keeping to the time so we can accommodate as many speakers as possible so we appreciate your cooperation and as your name is called please come forward first speaker card I have is tom eamon good evening ladies and gentlemen of the board my name is tom eamon I am a newport news public school parent it is great to see so many people wearing red in the audience and around the room showing their support for what the governor and the legislature have done on behalf of the children of virginia the mass mandate will

019come to an end on march 1st when the new law becomes active this new law does not ban masks it simply allows the parents to decide for their children this is where the decision should always have been i believe this board has an opportunity to retain its autonomy by taking the step of lifting the mass mandate themselves in favor of making it optional this board should take an up or down vote to end the mandate now and allow parents the choice on masks it is easy to do virginia beach added an op out button in parent view newport news has parent view as well it is a shame that the governor and the legislature have had to step in to move this and other boards to do the right thing for too long our children

020have been forced to wear a mask even though it was clear that there was very little if any benefit to it the amount of fear placed on the children by being forced to wear a mask is just sad if standing up for the families and the children in newport news school system makes me a right-wing activist I will gladly wear that moniker because like many others I believe it is imperative that we have equal opportunity in education and as a result equal opportunity in life the parents of newport news are awake and we will be keeping an eye on what the schools and the school board are doing no longer will this board or the administration be able to push its progressive agenda without pushback from the families they serve thank you for your time

021[Applause] all right next card I have is andrew hibach andrew lavichek is he still after uh mr lavichek will be frank richardson good evening board members I'd like to thank all of you for your time this evening some of the things I say tonight may be harsh and offensive to some on the board but they need to be said and you need to hear it as mr brown told me we cannot remain a free society by silencing or censoring desperate voices tonight i have a different view than most of you you need to give an option for chil for our children to not wear masks and we need better school safety in quoting governor yonkin's second executive order while the cdc recommends masks its research has found no statistically significant link between mandatory masking for

022students and reduced transmission of covet 19 and the cdc has acknowledged that certain masks may be ineffective due to the material from which they are made or how they are worn end quote furthermore with governor younkin's second executive order and virginia state code 1-240.1 a parent has a fundamental right to make decisions concerning the upbringing education and care of the parent's child this will allow all parents to make the decision for their kids not to wear masks you do not get to make that decision for us page 3 item 4 of executive order 2 states a child whose parent has elected that he or she is not subject to a mass mandate should not be required to wear a mask under any policy implemented by a teacher school school district the department of education or

023any other state authority the virginia department of health has a list of nine prevention strategies none of these strategies are exclusively masking up it states parents should match to help reduce the risk of covid 19 but not children even for school officials and staff it states to ensure hand washing and respiratory etiquette but not mandatory masking I'm asking as a concerned parent and citizen to please give us an option to unmask our children I would also like to add that house bill 1272 that has passed the virginia senate states in section c notwithstanding any other provision of law or any regulation rule or policy implemented by a school board school division school official or other state or local authority the parent of any child enrolled in a public elementary or secondary school or in any

024school-based early childhood care and education program may elect for such child to not wear a mask while on school property a parent making such an election shall not be required to provide a reason or any certification of the child's health or education status no student shall suffer any adverse disciplinary or academic consequences as a result of this parental election end quote so why don't you the school board just go ahead and end the mask now it's ending in july 1st or sooner anyways lastly when I was here in december I brought up a concern about a book that promotes bringing guns to school to intimidate bullies in your letter to me mr chairman you didn't respond to that do you not care about the safety of our children does the shooting at heritage high not

025matter does the shooting at warwick high where a child that my son knew died not matter? ... the chairman should care about these incidents use the school board have done nothing to improve school safety thank you have a good night frank richardson good evening my name is frank richardson I've been a resident of newport news since 2003. thanks for your service to the school board my life in public school system here in virginia was fantastic in 12 years that I attended school I missed one day that's right one day and the day I missed school is the day I missed the bus I love school and my teachers I still remember my teachers in elementary in high school including mrs perry my first grade teacher that was more than 60 years ago mrs perry was

026a great mentor in my life she built upon the foundation of love respect personal discipline and the value of hard work my parents instilled in me the institutions in my day it created an environment where students could achieve excellence the focus was on reading writing and math my hard work along with mentoring and guidance from my parents and teachers empowered me to go on to college at virginia military institute VMI vmi opened the doors for me to enter the air force which I started here at langley air force base several tours in europe saudi arabia many locations across the globe and I proudly serve 28 years in service of our nation protecting and defending the constitution in the united states the greatest country in the world I am concerned of today's school experience because I

027don't think is great like I experienced it when I I was going to school students have lost valuable time with school closures virtual learning and mask mandates we know children are having increased negative physical and psychological issues with reduced communication and social skills and increased violence and chaos in our schools we see many reports stating high school students are being graduated with little or no reading writing and math skills this is a travesty for the united states of america my call of action to newport news school board are as follows be more transparent and accountable to parents respect parents decisions on their children's health education and care including mask or no mask focus on creating and maintaining a school environment where children can succeed and excel a happy place where I used to go to

028school work with parents and teachers to empower children to experience the values of our nation put into effect in the declaration of independence life liberty and the pursuit of happiness let children be all they can be thank you mr richardson thank you heather clements good evening thank you for giving me the opportunity to speak tonight with that being said enough is enough I'm asking you to please make mask wearing parents choice just like you followed the previous governor's order you need to do the same with the new one it should not matter what political side you affiliate with in this circumstance your job is to educate and protect the rights of the children no matter what I have never questioned or challenged your judgment before but it is very clear to me and a lot

029of other people that masks are not for the health of the children it is all about a political agenda money and control the kids are suffering because of it it is abuse and you all know it nobody has the right to control another person's ability to breathe period kids need to be in an environment where they can learn and thrive muzzling their faces does the exact opposite the harm that is being caused by this is far greater than a viral threat to the kids children are not responsible for the safety of adults please do the right thing and make masks optional thank you sophia ... harper sophia harper good evening school board my name is safiyatu harper and I'm a resident of newport news virginia first of all thank you all for this opportunity to

030speak to you I stand before you today to express my disappointment in the newport news school board it seemed that the school board has forgotten their mission you have forgotten that it's not about you or your political future but about our children you were elected to protect our children ensure our children well-being and to ensure that they are being educated and not indoctrinated because of a failure to uphold your responsibility our children are failing academically feel unsafe physically are scarred emotionally and are not prepared to meet the demands of our ever-changing world instead of partnering with parents and fighting for what was best for our children you choose to turn our school board into an arms of a certain political party you decided to play politics instead of protecting our children and it is our

031children or the recipient of this poor leadership and therefore are not properly educated or prepared for the future the mask issue thought it was destroyed that broke the camel's back for many parents was never really the issue the issue have always been your future to ensure our children was properly educated and protected newport news has the lowest test scores on the peninsula our children are failing in math science reading just to name a few and you did nothing to rectify that instead you told a party line and use our children as political pawns today I believe it in high time as we hold you responsible for your failures I believe you owean apology an apology to every single child in our school system since you've been elected we do need to apologize your children you

032have failed them for your future is in jeopardy because of your reaction instead of leading with logic and reasoning you choose to leave by following the crowd and political talking point you choose to follow the political party line instead of going against the grain and blazing your own trail that would have benefited our children with election coming up I hope each one of you will do a self reflection and begin the necessary step to rectify the situation what our children need now is strong leadership that is not beholden to a political party to a particular political party but is beholding to the finding and standing for the truth fighting for the well-being and proper education of our children partnering with parents for better tomorrow and ensuring our school board uphold their responsibility again thank you

033troy troy sorenson you guys gonna put a face with the name now I've been sending you some emails and I just want to look up here real quickly there's a re-election happening your seats they're up for eviction the law has been passed and this isn't just about masks this is about each and every one of you trying to take away the voice for a choice for people like me who have served our nation proudly do the right thing follow the law I've received the email from somebody recently saying that the school board's position is to comply with the law follow the law one other thing I just want to say there's a lot of people wearing red out here today in support of governor yonkin and it's a great sight to see that's all I

034got you guys have a good night see you on election day scott sperman scott furman thank you all for giving me an opportunity to speak up my name is scott fuhrman I'm the parent of a seven-year-old at central elementary school um first off I truly think y'all forgot who you work for y'all the teachers the administrators you're all paid by the taxpayers and us parents every one of you so that to me is a problem because it feels like just like that lady just said you're always toeing the political line I was here for the transgender bathroom deal with my little girl and sending boys in there and four or five of y'all flipped on that vote from political pressure one of them over here mr healy um the last governor you followed his mandates

035clearly without even talking to us parents just force these pieces of trash on them to wear them I don't understand I've had covid not vaccinated I'm here talking to you I'm not dead smoke like a freight train every day of my life I'm still standing here talking to you not dead I don't understand the fear of it um we're americans are y'all aware that 39 of newport news teachers are talking about leaving the end of the year 39 that's a direct reflection of all except for this one young lady right here all the rest of you direct reflection 39 what are you going to do when you lose 35 of your teachers unless you want to come support my family emotionally financially you have no right to tell me if my kids gotta wear a

036mask or not nor to keep from me if she says she wants to be a little boy for christ's sake I mean that's my right to know enough with that we're finished with mr eley I voted for you blindly because I thought you'd do a good job then I find out you don't even have a kid in the system so it makes me wonder why are you even on the school board you can either come back to where you were when you were running or this parent is going to run on behalf of all the parents and I'm going to ask you I promise you thank you michelle warren after michelle warren will be darren pittman all right in the interest of time mr pittman I'm going to let you come on come on up

037and then michelle want to be right after you good evening members of the board just wondering why we're not allowing parents to make the choice why we're not allowing the parents to make the choice of whether or not their child wear a mask or not we still live in america I fought for this country 22 years just like you did mr harris we are dealing with a society of people that they don't agree on the same thing we understand that the very reason this is the very reason why we are in a constitutional republic which is to protect liberty and avoid tyranny which is a form of bondage some choose to wear masks because they believe it is protecting them some choose not to wear the mask because they believe it doesn't even work some

038choose not to wear the mask because they believe it causes more health issues truth is the science has shown that the masks don't prevent you from catching covid as was first stated truth is the masks can cause you to have other issues truth is many people are dying every day due to age several other issues other than covid liberty that was fought for back in the 60s is still being fought for today it's just been done in a different way we've been threatened here today to do nothing is absolutely neglect of the position that you were elected in to serve parents do have rights we have the right to speak up for our children we have the right to petition we have the right to choose where our children attend school we have the right

039to vote we have the right to say enough is enough we've allowed enough mess into our school systems it's time to allow common sense back into our school systems let's stop the control agenda which has been politicized and let's get back to math english reading writing and real science I'm asking you to cast a vote allow your consensus with know where you stand thank you for your time michelle warren is michelle warren in the audience okay all right courtney kulikowski and after courtney kilakowski will be matthew to grace the grave and after uh matthew grave will be emily council hi my name is courtney kulakowski I have a third grader at saunders elementary a preschooler at chestnut memorial and I recently began subbing in the newport news schools in both elementary and middle schools the

040majority of kids I've encountered are not wearing masks properly I've observed kids flinging their masks around the room spinning them on their fingers trying to see how many pencils they can stick out of it while it's on their face dropping it on an absolutely filthy floor stepping on it and putting it back on their face or simply pulling the mask down they deserve to have a choice not to wear it at all rather than continue to get yelled at and belittled to put it back on my daughter will be five at the end of this week she has a genetic disorder that includes cardiac abnormalities asthmatic symptoms and speech difficulties at this point the mask is causing her more harm than good as she can't see people's faces to observe their mouth formations as they

041speak even though she's high risk due to her medical condition her development particularly in speech is being compromised at a higher rate than are her chances complications from covet I wish that the energy that's being spent on mask mandates would have been spent on educating our kids in the first place I'm absolutely disgusted at what I'm seeing in the schools and all the places I've been I've never seen anything like this the violence the bullying I'm not gonna cry I wish that we were putting the kids first teachers need to have their authority handed back to them they need to have classroom management they need to be able to do something about these kids hitting and spitting on each other and squirting sanitizer in other kids eyes let the teachers teach toward the end goal

042without the silly scripted materials have you tried to learn from what's your math book called have you guys tried to learn from eureka third graders are skipping right past multiplication facts going into order of operations you try that all of the schools should have the students writing with paper and pencils and getting off of those computers smartians and dreambox are wonderful supplemental materials but they never should have been used as a core part of basic curriculum parents need to be involved in all of the schools again not just your tag and magnet schools as a parent I've been shut out of my child's education here in newport news even pre-covid involve the parents let them volunteer let them see what's going on in the schools work together for the higher goal thank you mrs [Applause]

043matthew the grave council members um I just want to first say thank you I feel like my concerns about the large group of people that were going to storm the schools as they put it to ensure that their kids were allowed to go into the school mask-free were taken seriously and you responded appropriately um dr parker I also want to thank you for your response to my emails as well I honestly think the school board is doing a good job there are a lot of people here who are really angry and upset and I try and not demonize or characterize these folks they have concerns that um that the masks may not really work I have a different opinion them I hope that you guys um vote to keep the mask mandate until the law

044goes into effect whether that is july 1st or march 1st I hope that even after that law goes into effect if it's july and maybe we're over covet by that point that maybe we won't need the masks anymore but if it is march 1st that you heavily encourage students to continue wearing their masks I understand it is a sore topic there are a lot of people here tonight who are very much against it I don't think you guys are politically motivated I honestly think you guys are just trying to follow the cdc guidelines and do the best things possible for the students here I have two students in the newport news school system one of my sons goes to riverside elementary and has had amazing teachers they've been there for them they've helped them they're

045doing working with him on his math his reading and writing so this notion that parents are seeing that school boards and schools are not teaching basic reading writing and math is just not true my other son is in preschool he goes to watkins he does he loves it there he says every day he gets to dance he knows since starting school that he comes home and he can write his abcs and he can write his name I think he's on the good track to do this I know that some parents at some other schools may not be having the same experience that I'm having at the schools that I work with but I just want to say thank you for the things you guys are doing i understand that there are people who are upset

046about the mask mandates and I'm just asking that you please um keep forward you followed the governor's order with the the bathroom bill which I agree with that we should adopt those policies um the model bill that was passed um and I say do the same thing here but if it passes march um first I just heavily encourage the mask wearing I know my students my kids will continue to wear their masks in school I also wanted to mention it was brought to my attention before I got a chance to be out in the hallway there are a bunch of religious signs going up and down the hallway that's not really appropriate for a school board I know you guys have been in here so you haven't seen them so there's posters and stuff like

047that and then the other question that I would ask to bring up is if we do get rid of the mask mandate what about teacher sick pay are we going to support our teachers I know that we're already stressed very thin but anyway thank you have a great night thank you mr grave emily council and then we'll be heather schnell after emily council good evening my name is emily council and I am a resident of newport news uh city and a former newport news public school teacher I worked for newport news public schools from 2008 through march 2021 when I resigned as a direct result of mask policies in newport news public schools and throughout the state of virginia as an elementary school teacher and as a mother of small children I quickly recognize the

048dangers that masks have on young children not only is it wildly inappropriate for their social emotional and language development there is also zero scientific data to support it as a teacher I was consistently pulling my mask down to show to show my english language learners how to make letter sounds in order so that they could learn english can you imagine trying to learn a foreign language and not being able to see someone's mouth? I assume you've heard all there is to hear about children and masks and despite the obvious lack of data to support mandatory masking you've still chosen to enforce them despite the absence of any state or federal law that requires them because any such law would be unconstitutional as well as choosing to ignore a state executive order to deny exemptions for

049students and employees despite the fact that people have been attending concerts sporting events conferences festivals and other large-scale gatherings across the country for months without masks despite the fact that anyone above the age of five who wants to get a vaccine and receive a booster has had ample opportunity to do so despite the fact that there is no scientific significance to wearing cloth masks for prolonged periods of time to prevent the spread of an aerosolized respiratory virus I don't need to provide data or information for all these things because I'm sure you've heard it all by now and it hasn't changed your mind however I trust that you will do the right thing tonight by following the soon to be signed law that supports a parent's right to choose the best course of action for

050their children when it comes to managing their health and well-being I'm also here to support all of the teachers faculty and staff that work for newport news public schools who would also like to make their own choice for their own health and well-being at this point all faculty and staff had all have also had the opportunity to receive a vaccine and if they desire should be allowed to remain wearing a mask if it makes them feel comfortable those who desire to remove their masks should have the right to do so without being harassed or made to feel as if they don't care about children or don't love their neighbor therefore I would also implore you tonight to consider revising your guidelines for adults as you adopt new policies for children thank you very much [Applause]

051heather schnell all right I'm here to talk about uh Covid sick pay being covered um so if you caught covid the first semester of school it was covered without using sick time if you didn't have covid but you stayed at home with the child who had it it was covered if you had covid symptoms but no proof of covid um your sick time was covered and this was all before the big omicron surge now here we are second semester of the same school year I had symptomatic covid then my kids got covid I went to the doctor and got a doctor's note excuse me from work for covid I reached out to hr about approving my time off in quarantine so I wouldn't have to use my sick days but I was told I had

052to prove I got covid at school or else it was coming out of my sick time I teach related arts so I see about 200 kids a day and roughly about a third of them were out on quarantine what is the likelihood that I caught covid from one of my 200 students that I see in a single day how do I prove where I caught a highly transmissible virus why in the same school year were teachers who got covid or were even just exposed to covid the first semester their sick time was covered but now teachers who get it during a huge spike in the surge of cases are not covered how is this fair um this is all under the same school year uh please consider changing that policy and on just another side

053note regarding time off um on our reset days I have to pay a babysitter to watch my kids um so that I can plan from an empty classroom I can plan just as effectively at home as I can in my classroom if the reasoning behind requiring teachers to be in the buildings when the kids aren't there is because some teachers maybe aren't doing what they're supposed to then please talk to those teachers individually and don't punish the entire group um and many of us are technically paying to come to work just so that we can sit in an empty classroom so just some things to think about appreciate your time and have a great evening thank you [Applause] vos mary boss will be followed by ron watrons hello good evening I'm mary vos an nnps

054parent teacher and graduate I'm a member of the virginia education association and the virginia caucus of rank and file educators thank you to the school board for following existing state law even when the governor didn't with his illegal executive order I know the new upcoming law will largely tie your hands but we appreciate you doing the right thing for the safety of our students staff and their families in the meantime many teachers staff and students would appreciate the board waiting until the march first date set by the governor to repeal nnps's universal masking policy waiting until march 1st would allow us to get further past omicron's spike and further past cold and flu season before unmasking and it would allow a couple of weeks for immunocompromised students staff and families to look for alternate school

055and work options if needed I hope the school system will continue to have spare masks available for students and also for staff members who continue to wear them for safety and that care will be taken to ensure that children who mask at school are not subjected to bullying for their choice even if our governor and many state legislators are quick to sacrifice student and staff safety to stoke a divisive culture war I hope nnps will support students and staff members right to protect themselves and others during a pandemic also dropping the mask mandate will make it all the more important that nnps expand virtual learning options to accommodate immunocompromised students and staff who cannot safely be around large numbers of unmasked unvaccinated people during a pandemic it's unfortunate that masquerading during a potentially deadly pandemic

056has become a political issue here in the united states instead of a common sense public health strategy like it's treated in many other developed countries politicizing masks and vaccines has led to the united states being the world leader in covid deaths with over nine hundred and forty three thousand covid deaths and counting here many of which likely could have been prevented with masking and vaccination the upcoming state law takes away school board's ability to institute basic cdc mitigation strategies to protect immuno-compromised student staff and families this lot is problematic because two years in the pandemic still isn't over and future waves of variants are likely around the corner eventually going forward virginia school boards will not be able to respond when the numbers skyrocket rocket again and who knows what surprises covid variants have in

057store next many children are unvaccinated and covid is much more deadly for african americans and hispanic americans who make up a large percentage of the families in our diverse school district for these reasons I hope you will keep the mask mandate in place until march 4th it's even march first I'm proud to be a newport news thank you thank you very much for your time thank you miss moss all right at this time board members I have I have six more cards uh which means that we likely could finish in 20 minutes and I'll ask if the board would entertain a motion to extend uh item two for 20 minutes all right thank you for the motion mountain vice chair it's our second second by mr harris is there any discussion there being done madam

058clerk would you please call the role so our next speaker is ron wrote watrus and after mr watrus will be andy thornton um good evening thanks for uh allowing me to speak and be here tonight um ron watrus a 24 year air force veteran um I've done a number of jobs but one of the things I've had to do is fit mask testing and that sort of thing and I got to tell you the science behind this and the the science behind particulate matters and virology and that the peer-reviewed journal articles this is like catching a mosquito with a chain-link fence it's it may make us feel better but short of the person with a big snotty sneeze this does nothing for us it's emotionally great but it's it's not scientific and particularly if it's

059you know an n95 and the better quality masks most of them are not even fitted properly so even if you have the right equipment in the military we learned that when you're trained and you use the equipment properly then it can help you it can help you but it doesn't save you it just helps you this is not helping us now I don't know what right totally looks like in these weird silly putty times that we're living in what I do know is what is wrong I'm watching my granddaughter who has never been in a classroom without this I'm watching speech pathology I'm watching kids that don't know what their friends look like my wife's a teacher and it is heroic I'm not attacking anybody I'm merely saying that the law in virginia the code

060in virginia gives parent parents a voice and a right to be able to say what is best for their children's health and that means that that yes we need to support the teachers we need to support the board we need to support each other but heroes live here and work here too future heroes are going to school and I pray to god that we're not delaying them or turning them into sociopaths because they're not getting the social learning from the cues of being able to see each other's faces and understand oh I see you're upset oh I can see you're happy that's serious that is lifelong debilitating loss in the formative years before age six their personalities are not set my wife is a specialist in early childhood development their personalities are like soft concrete

061until they're six but once they hit six they're set you can you can train them you can educate them you can give them more knowledge but the personalities and the fundamental identity it sets my granddaughter's set it's almost too late for her I'm not asking you to move mountains I'm just saying please for the sake of what's right and good and true seek out what's best for everybody and if heroes truly work there which I believe they do it involves physical risk thank you [Applause] andy thornton good evening mr brown dr parker members of the board my name is andy thornton I am a parent of two newport news public school students and a product of newport news public schools as the elementary student at bc charles elementary uh first I want to thank you

062for what you do the service you provide to our community I know that you all are in difficult positions the last couple years have been unprecedented and I thank you for using common sense to protect our students our teachers and staff and I want to encourage you to continue to do so the law as it stands is requires you to continue to follow cdc guidelines and require a mask and I encourage you to do so unless until that law changes further it's very important to me as a strong supporter of public education to remind you and to encourage you to continue to remember the public education is as close to an equal opportunity for our students as anything in our society and the rumblings of the fringe is starting to come there's a new governor

063and there's new legislators and we're starting to hear this ideology about crt and uh this is something that's not even taught in our schools we all know this and it's it's a hot button issue and it's garbage so please continue to say that proudly and loudly that we don't teach those things we teach history the way it's meant to be taught not the revisionist history that we were taught in my generation please continue to support our most vulnerable students the lgbtq plus students resist the temptation to give in to christian ideologies that had no place in our schools and resist these ideas of book bans and just generally the scare tactics that are coming they're coming and I want you to be strong finally please try to support our teachers our staff make it easier

064for them not harder this snitch line that the governor has has put forward is garbage please remember they have the toughest jobs out there and it's not one that many of us could do and continue to use common sense and resist getting into insanity and hysteria thank you thank you next speaker is valerie fashion and after valerie fashion will be steve bellinger so good afternoon uh good evening dr parker and the school board members my name is valerie fashion I am here tonight as an activist and advocate for children attending the newport news public schools I'm concerned about the lack of basic education the children in this school system are not receiving newport news demographics have changed newport news has a larger limited english speaking community in the school system some of these students are

065in trouble for the virginia education system because no esl help is available to them in some of these schools not addressing these issues creates an inequity in their education there's a huge learning loss among the newport news students your great minds curriculum is a failure students are crying in the classroom they're getting upset because they cannot grasp this math concept no homework is being sent home for reinforcement no textbooks are being used just papers students are not given any spelling words but they're expected to pass a spelling achievement test students are not a curse to correct the misspelled words it's being posted in schools on the boards in the hallways students are required to recognize words they've never seen or pronounced before on the achievements test the school system is not providing a top-rated education

066to our children many of these elementary school classes are overcrowded the students are not protected from the virus you guys are protected because you have a shield we have four kids young kids k-4 elementary school sitting at a table with no protection no dividers in between them the elementary school classes they need to have a full-time assistance in them we are dealing with children that are basically teaching themselves because they have a lot of independent and free time and they spend it on their laptops it's extremely difficult for a teacher to provide instruction when some of the children's disrupt the classes this is all done on a daily basis some of the students some of the teachers have to deal with students talking loud in the class they're running out of the classrooms they're talking

067back to the teachers they're talking back to the administrators they're talking back to everybody they're talking back to each other the students are rude to each other something needs to somebody needs to intervene with these students they do not expect respect authority newport news have a system that's full of left behind children again this is from observation they're left behind in reading the multiplication tables understanding why they need an education respecting adults respecting each other ms fashion you do have to wrap up now okay math spelling english I mean your time is expired ms fashion okay thank you our next speaker is steve bellinger how's everybody doing tonight um nice super bowl we had 70 000 people unmasked that's the whole world is unmasking um the whole illogical thing happening here over the past year

068has hurt my brain because it's absurdity we all know the rhetoric and guidance that's been spewed out at us across all forms of media from the government and officials stop the spread for two weeks social distancing where the mask take the vaccine take the booster it goes on and on all these things that adults have been doing have long-term effects on our kids physical psychological and developmental extended mask use causes physical problems our kids need oxygen wearing masks prevents the oxygen they need to perform carbon dioxide and atmosphere zero four percent co2 is dangerous at ten percent union construction workers do not wear masks all day long they take breaks every so often maybe once an hour to get fresh air our kids are wearing masks at the bus stop on the bus during the

069day throughout the whole day then on the bus back home that's a total of eight hours for my little guy anyway and um with a 30 minute break maybe I'll bet not many of us here wear a mask all day long for eight hours a day straight without breaks especially if we have closed offices or take smoke breaks or anything else like that we try to get these masks off as much as we can and it's really frustrating that our kids have to work in an environment where they have to constantly wear these masks all day long at least give them fresh air breaks they can't even go outside and take a fresh air break they have to wear masks outside even it's causing shortness of breath headaches acne weakened immune system and chronic respiratory

070conditions masks impede emotional recognition which is needed at this time in kids development masks are uncomfortable and cause speech and hearing issues they do not allow kids to learn body and facial language which I think is eighty percent of the recognition I'm not sure about that but kids developmental kids need to be able to develop it at this age and they're being they're having a problem doing it uh june 2020 study shows masks have a high failure rate they're designed to filter air coming in not going out n95 masks are not designed for kids smaller faces uh there's been several studies that have shown wearing masks only modestly reduces infection denmark bangladesh brown university studies they've all got information in there and yes government young can pass an executive order which everybody knows about but

071the school board and union has negated the parents kids parents and kids rights to choose norfolk chesapeake virginia beach gloucester counties they're allowing parents to choose newport news schools do not have that right union negotiations are a big part of why schools haven't followed the governor's executive order to allow parents the choice to wear a mask or not thank you if there's a change in the condition of school processes then the union will renegotiate a deal schools do not want to lose the money they're receiving for keeping these masks on time just one minute I'm sorry mr bellinger this is putting a price tag on our kids students have a right to choose their health okay let me put my pandemic mask back on fred louie [Applause] and after fred louis we have uh jamie

072gonzalez and maya pearson okay uh good evening I'd like to take uh my time thank you all by the way very much I'd like to take the time to talk about critical race theory and the first thing I want to say is that it's a wedge issue and I think the real issue is not that I guess it's not taught in the schools anyway I think the real issue contains the word critical in its critical thinking skills and it's something that our teachers are experts at already doing and I think we need to turn that task over to the experts our teachers and when we think about virginia's history really america's history it contains a story that's glorious it's heroic it's extraordinary it's good it's fair sometimes it's scary and sometimes it's embarrassing and even

073worse why because we're human beings the human story contains all of those elements because that's who we are we can it contains racism it contains it contains revolutionary war it contains jim crow it contains all of that and I think in order for our kids to grow up as fully functioning adults of being able to think for themselves they need to be able to in order to appreciate who they are they need to have the whole story at their disposal and when they can do that and evaluate things in balance then they can make decisions for themselves appreciate our full story for themselves and then be able to pass on their stories to their children and their children can pass on those stories to their children and I think that's really the point of of

074what education is about and I think that there is a and I use this word in the best sense of the word the myth of being an american is it's a story that tells us who we are in the midst of being an american is that we are an extraordinary people we are a people who overcome challenges jack kennedy president kennedy had a ver a favorite quote of his which is those who ignore the lessons of history are condemned to repeat them and we dared not ignore any important element of of our history because when we do we are condemned to repeat them we are a critical time in our lives as a people right now thank you mr louis and thank you very much jamie gonzalez maya pearson okay then um okay feel that

075after cocoa 19 mental health students has been put under a lot of stress so both due to quarantine and homeschooling so we think that students can benefit greatly from having better access to certified therapists and guidance having more particular guidance counselors as our current guidance counselors um mainly help with coursework and students wouldn't want to talk to the person about their home life as they seem as they are the same person they talked about their school life anxiety increased stress have been a result from switching from home school to attending school daily so and because of all the time spent at home it's harder for students to socialize to sorry to socialize now that they are back in the building and amongst their peers so we ask you to address this issue with the almost

076urgency because this is a very urgent issue and it directly offense affects a lot of students and their academics and thank you for your time and consideration and thank you for believing in science and keeping our students and teachers safe have a lovely day thank you we want to thank everyone for your thoughtful comments this evening during a section 2 audience with the public we do have some additional cards uh which are going to be in section four and in section six so those of you who uh who have those cards you'll still get you'll have that opportunity to speak we're now going to move on to section three which is our consent agenda section the consent agenda includes uh 3.01 minutes from the work session on january 18th 2022 3.02 minutes from the regular

077session meeting january 18 2022 3.03 minutes from the school board retreat january 28 2022 3.04 financial reports including the revenue report for january 2022 the expense report for january 2022 and child nutrition ports for january 2022 3.05 the personnel report 3.06 revised school board norms and protocols 3.07 budget transfer at this time we have a motion to approve the consent agenda agenda thank you mountain vice chairs there's a second second all right second miss amen all right any further discussion yes mr hunter mr chairman I was not here for item number 3.01 who I am number 3.04 i was wondering I like to make a motion that we could take those um items one point 3.01 to 3.04 and one vote and then take 3.05 to 3.07 in another vote all right so at this

078time since we have a first and a second what I'm going to ask is if we can have him um have a vote to uh to remove that motion so we can make make another you have to make another main emotion right I would like to mend the motion motion to a man okay I'd like to make a motion to amend the motion that we have but we have two separate motions one to have item summary 3.01 through items number 3.04 in one motion and then items number 3.05 to items 3.07 to another to a second motion all right so there's been a there's been a motion to amend is there a second all right second by mr harris all right at this time any questions all right they're being done then we're going to

079call the roll and uh keep them up what we're doing we're voting on the emotion to amend which will separate the consent agenda into two pieces 3.01 to 3.04 and 3.45 to 3.08 that's great all right and uh madam clerk would you please go ahead and call the roll I'm clear that um this first vote is for sections 3.1 to 3.4 it's just to make an amendment to pull it out to pull it out okay mr harris four mr hunter for mrs surles law for mrs eamonn four dr best for mr eley for mr brown for motion carry seven zero so since that motion to amend was successful mr hunter would you like to make a motion for 3.01 to 3.04 I let someone do that I'm do the second point because I was in

080here oh yes I will remake it uh mr chairman I make a motion that we accept the consent agenda to include items 3.01 3.02 3.03 and 3.04 all right thank you man vice chair is there a second to that motion a second all right second by dr best any discussion all right they're being done down the mountain clerk would you please call the roll mr harris mr hunter abstain mr surus law four mrs amen for dr best for mr eley for miss mr brown for motion carry six zero all right then now we need a motion to approve items 3.05 to 3.0 uh step seven yes mr chairman I make a motion that we approve the consent agenda items 3.05 3.06 and 3.07 all right there's motions or seconds this second okay second by mr

081harner any discussion all right they're being done by them clerk would you please call a roll mr harris for mr hunter for mrs surles law foufor r mrs aman for dr best for mr eley for mr brown for motion carry all right so as understand congratulations are in order uh because included in our personnel report are some administrative appointments and dr parker I believe you have some comments i want to introduce those appointees we need to do mr I need to actually pull this out and uh do the uh all right so then we'll make a motion take a motion first and then yep so uh mr chairman I'd like to make a motion to approve the superintendent's personnel recommendation for donald donald fairheart for chief of operations ramonia lynch for supervisor of library media

082services bruno morales as esl instructional supervisor and thomas mckenna as supervisor of technology support all right you've heard the motion is there a second second second by mr hunter any discussion there being none I'm out of corporate please call the roll mr harris for mr for or mrs surles law for mrs aman for dr best for mr ely for mr brown for motion carry 7-0 okay now we can clap fair heart has a masters of business and administration from old men university master of arts in special education from hampton university and is currently pursuing his doctorate in educational policy and leadership with virginia polytech institute and state university and uh mr fairheart currently works for the virginia department of education as the deputy superintendent um and the chief of staff he has served as interim

083superintendent chief of staff for chesterfield county public schools and executive director for southeast for the southeast cooperative education programs he was formerly the superintendent of middlesex county public schools and director of assessment and assistant director of special education for gloucester county public schools he was an instrumental specialist special education department chairman and special education teacher for york county school division mr fair heart will be overseeing our operations in newport news public schools which includes a lot of different areas transportation buildings construction uh food services so uh we look forward to having you on board and mr fairheart thank you for joining us and congratulations if you have any family members or supporters here this evening we'd like to give you a moment to greet the board and introduce your your family today thank you mr

084chairman members of the board dr parker don't have any family with me my wife's a fitness instructor she's teaching class tonight my oldest daughter is working and then my 16 year old is in driver education class I'm on my own but a lot of friendly faces I appreciate the opportunity it's a privilege to be a part of the team I look forward to starting and carrying on the good work that's going on here in the city of newport news and lastly um happy school board appreciation month um certainly you all deserve more than a month but take your month and enjoy it and it's an honor to be here and I appreciate the opportunity thank you mr sparrow look forward mr chairman our next appointment is I'd like to introduce miss ramania lynch as the

085new supervisor of library media services ms lynch has a bachelor's degree in business administration and accounting from st leo college a masters in elementary education from hampton university and a library of media specialist certification from longwood university ms lynch began her career as a teacher at richneck and uh ro nelson elementary schools and huntington middle school before becoming a media specialist at richneck elementary school and passage middle school so she's been she's been around ms lynch has been serving as the lead media specialist current currently at denbigh high school since 2008 uh miss lynch are you here with us this today thank you congratulations and we'd like to afford you the same opportunity if you have any family members here please uh introduce you and introduce yourself hi I'm excited and this is my daughter

086morgan um [Applause] thank you for being a long-standing uh member of newport news public schools and we're looking forward to your leadership in the next position I'd also like to introduce mr bruno morales as the new esl instructional supervisor now mr morales has a bachelor's degree in english from abilene christian university and a master of multicultural multilingual education from george mason university mr morales began his career as an esl teacher in 2006 with potomac middle school he worked as an esl teacher and adult esl teacher at warwick high school before becoming an esl lead teacher at denbigh high school he is currently the lead instructional specialist a lead instructional specialist for newport news public schools we'd like to congratulate mr morales please stand sir and welcome aboard and well thank you for your in your

087next phase of your professional career do you have any family members with you or anyone you'd like to introduce us yes I'm here with my wife and my two kids and luckily enough to get along with my father-in-law thank you and as you aware we have a very very strong esl program and mr morales will be filling some big shoes for our for the supervisor who preceded him we look forward to your leadership thank you thank you and our final appointment this evening is mr thomas mckenna he is a new our new supervisor of technology support services mr mckenna has an associates of sciences of science and business administration from tidewater community college he started his career with the us navy as a lead as as a lead help desk technician then as a field

088service manager for electronic systems inc and is currently serving as a supervisor of information technology for portsmouth portsmouth public schools mr mckenna holds 12 information technology certifications he will definitely be a big addition to our team uh we would like to welcome mr mckinnon to the newport news family it's mr mckenna here thank you congratulations sir and welcome aboard do you have any family members or are guests here this evening with you thanks for the opportunity look forward to your leadership sir thank you for joining us and welcome aboard and mr chairman that concludes my the appointments for this evening all right thank you dr parker so now we are on to item four of our agenda which is our action items uh as as planned in the fair board chairman update memo the central

089board the chair is now going to recognize miss rebecca amen um you have the floor and I believe you have some comments oh sure thank you chairman brown I appreciate it um I just wanted to take a moment to speak a bit on the mask mandate since we didn't um get into it at our last meeting so I just wanted to share share some thoughts um as we've seen tonight and we've and I've heard and I'm sure we all have heard in recent weeks many on both sides feel very strongly on the issue and it may be rapidly coming to a close parents simply want to exercise their right to determine if their children will wear masks or not one of the significant concerns I've received and I don't know if others have is that

090our board hasn't even held a vote held a vote regarding the mask mandate and I just wanted to take a moment to correct based on a recent court decision a misunderstanding we've been hearing early on someone maintained that current law requires schools to have a mask mandate given cdc recommendations but this virginia supreme court ruling recently I think indicates we don't this is the chesapeake parents petition where they petitioned chesapeake to not have an opt-out and we read in the news that the supreme court did not uphold their petition they dismissed it for on technicalities but the really interesting part was where the virginia supreme court indicated their thoughts on current law even without some of the laws being discussed right now they explained that the laws as much as practicable language indicates that the

091boards it gives school boards a discretion to modify or forego cdc recommendations as appropriate for the board's individual circumstances and they reiterated that so it seems like the virginia supreme court has said that school boards have discretion and license to decide to me that seems we should be as a board making and discussing these decisions rather than delegating them, similar to a budget where we would get a recommendation from the administration but then discuss and decide to accept or reject something I think we are all aware we all know there's a bill being considered with possibly a march 1st effective date and I was just looking up earlier this evening it appears that request has been approved by the senate as of this evening so it simply awaits house of delegates approval so on the

092one hand this discussion may be considered moot but on the other my personal observations on how masks have been used in schools and our personal experience to me indicates we're not getting a whole lot of value or protection out of them anyway the type of masks some students can wear masks that are effectively mesh dropping them picking them up we we enjoyed covid going through our house this past january uh brought home by one of our students our sons who's in a mask mandate school um brought it home really hadn't had play dates we've just been really busy shared it with the rest of the family so even with the mask mandates we went through our house we're all fine thankfully but our personal experience and what I've observed we're not really living a mask

093mandate as it is right now with the way you know everyone is is handling it so given that and I know there's also been some discussion we received emails from the virginia school boards association that it's important for local school divisions to maintain you know their control over over the divisions that it might it would make sense for us to maybe have an affirmative vote on the mask mandate I understand york has voted to go optional next tuesday isle of wight is planning for march 1st that may be more political than anything but I would like to make a motion just for discussion purposes that newport news would make masks optional effective next tuesday the 22nd I think that would give us plenty of time to make an opt out in parent view and we've

094seen the numbers come down and the way I've seen masks being used I don't think we would see a big blip or a hiccup in our numbers so I would like to make that motion if anyone like to second it for discussion purposes all right so to clarify your your motion would be for a parental opt out effective this upcoming tuesday uh to make that motion an action item for the february board meeting yes all right thank you miss aman at this time I'll call and ask on the board if there's a second all right uh hearing none then then we will move on to the board we thank you for your for your comments and for your analysis uh appreciate the um the supreme court ruling that you shared with me this afternoon I

095read that and that was very enlightening so now we are going to move on to item 4.01 which is the 2022-23 proposed school calendar and dr parker I believe you have a presentation for us yes mr chairman out I asked mrs brooks to come back up she did present the calendar to the board and uh followed up with the subsequent posting of that calendar for the community but she wanted to share a little information on what was received from that uh from the community intern and also any other information for the board's uh decision making this afternoon this evening so this is brooks great thank you dr parker good evening mr chairman madam vice chairman members of the board and dr parker uh when the board approved the 2020 to 20 I'm sorry 2021 2022

096school calendar last april you requested that we consider a pre-labor day calendar for next school year the school divisions calendar committee prepared a draft calendar that we shared with you in december and then posted that calendar on our website in january for input this evening I would like to share some of the feedback that was received from the calendar from the community as you consider taking action on the proposal but first I'd like to share just some general information about the pre-labor day calendar that's being proposed for this year or for next year so just as a reminder we are proposing to begin school on monday august 29th which is a week prior to labor day we base that start date on responses from our past family and staff surveys and are working with the

097three school divisions that open prior to labor day this current school year and they are york county williamsburg james city county and gloucester county and under state law school divisions that open prior to labor day must also close schools on the friday before the holiday weekend so our calendar proposal reflects that as well now we've shared these benefits that we have seen in opening a week earlier and I'd like to just quickly review those once again this evening it will allow schools to more quickly address gaps in student learning that have occurred due to the pandemic and quarantined protocols that have continued through this current school year the earlier start will allow for increased instructional times for students preparing for high-stakes tests such as advanced placement and international baccalaureate program tests that are conducted in

098the spring and the earlier start will also provide opportunities for professional development for our staff throughout the year with the flexibility to provide additional supports for teachers and students now in our past calendar surveys students express the benefit of being able to enter the summer job market sooner since they are often competing with college students who typically complete their coursework in may and we also see the earlier start to the years an opportunity to begin the school division's robust summer learning program for students sooner in june so that they may continue the instructional momentum from the school year now when we posted the draft calendar on our website for feedback we received numerous comments in favor of the draft and some concerns from those who were concerned three major themes about the pre-labor day calendar

099emerged and they related to the later short notice about the proposed change to the pre-labor day start for next year second the shortness of the upcoming summer of 2022 especially following a stressful pandemic year and third the two-day earlier start for teachers in addition to the one-week early start to accommodate the pre-labor day calendar so now I'd like to talk a little about each of those concerns now the first concern about the late notice to our nnps families and staff about the labor day start after the school board expressed interest in the pre-labor day start last april the newport news calendar committee and the peninsula calendar committee would typically begin their work in october and november however you may recall that given the stress placed on staff and families do the pandemic and quarantine protocols

100last fall the calendar committee instead focused on addressing wellness concerns for this current school year which resulted in proposing the wellness week in november of 2021. now after that the committee developed a draft pre-labor day calendar that was shared with the board for questions in december and then presented the draft calendar at your january school board meeting we then posted the calendar on our website for feedback shared it with the superintendent's advisory committees and placed a link to the calendar for feedback in our electronic staff and community communications now we realize that the pre-labor day start will require some of our families to address their summer schedules and that some families may have finalized plans in place however our goal was always to provide notification to our families as soon as possible so that they

101could plan accordingly now the second most frequently submitted concern was regarding the very short summer for 2022 particularly for lead teachers and others who typically return earlier in august especially after following a stressful pandemic year we know that the first summer to precede a pre-labor day start will always be a challenge given that it will be the shortest summer of the years that follow it would challenge us to adjust our summer learning program our band camps athletic training and other schedules to accommodate the earlier start fortunately the summers that follow will continue to be the usual length however it will ultimately allow us to end the school year earlier on june 9th in 2023 versus june 20th that we will be ending this current school year and the third most frequently expressed concern was from

102teachers regarding the two-day earlier start in august in addition to the one-week earlier start for the pre-labor day calendar now while the number of teacher work days prior to students returning is two days longer in august on the proposed calendar they are not additional days they are required for teachers to meet their 192-day contractual obligation that has been in place for many years now however our leadership team is considering various options for implementing the two days such as for teacher work days floating days for professional development etc now lastly I will leave you with this visual representation of the 2022-2023 proposed calendar and I'd like to thank you for the opportunity to share some of the feedback we received and I would be happy to answer any questions that you may have right thank you

103so at this time uh before I call for a motion uh we have an opportunity to hear from the audience on the calendar and at this point I do not have any cards for the calendar which means that I would like to do first we'll take a motion and then we'll have discussion and ask ms brooks if we have any questions so is there a motion to now approve the calendar uh yes mr chairman I make a motion to approve the proposed um school calendar approve the 22 23 proposed school calendar as presented thank you matter of fact shares there a second a second all right second dr best all right now are there any questions for mrs brooks all right any further oh yes I just have one um so I want to make

104sure I'm understanding our time period here we are starting a week early and ending a week early correct okay and I know first of all I want to thank you and your team for the time that you spent on this because not only were you working on this you all did a quick pivot on this year's calendar on the 21 22 calendar um to better meet the needs of our students and those who serve our students so thank you for that um it's interesting what you get questions about or you get comments about from the community and this happened to have been one that uh I got a lot of questions about and so I will just relay for my peers my board members here and of course you and your staff is that as

105we're moving forward they have greatly appreciated you looking at the balance between planning and personal development time such that they're able to get the tasks done that they need to do so um we have demonstrated that we are capable of doing that by our most recent um update in the calendar and so it was a good feeling to be able to say that the fact that this is being brought as a concern that it will be addressed so thank you in advance um for helping you know uh articulate that uh to our to our staff and to our families as well thank you thank you any further any further comments all right there being no madam clerk would you please call the roll mr harris mr hunter for mrs earl's law for mrs amen for

106dr best or mr ely or mr brown four motion carry 7-0 all right thank you then the next item on our agenda is item 4.02 which is the huntington memorandum of understanding dr parker yes mr chairman uh we uh were have completed our um negotiations as a good word with the city to uh finalize an agreement for the uh build of huntington middle school um as i apologize for one second we do have so folks in the uh hallway we do have open seats now in the auditorium here so feel free to please come on in and have a seat so so I'll continue here we um this mou our memorandum of understanding will allow uh the city to still maintain the fiscal responsibility of the construction project as well as oversight of hiring the

107architect and and builder uh what has been missed in some construction projects in the past is the collaborative approach to building a school where where the school division has someone on site to ensure our access to the site to oversee the development of the building to make sure that the designs meet the full middle school program so we wanted to make sure that this memorandum of understanding one protected our interests to make sure that that the design and bill will fit a full middle school program that will accommodate 600 600 um or more students would allow us to have at um appropriate access to this all meetings associated with the building of huntington middle school as well as access to the site when it's being built to make sure that newport news public schools interests

108are protected and then to ensure that we're able to head off any problems any any problem issues with the build very complex building the school there are a lot of issues that come up along the way and if you're not on site and not having those conversations in advance you end up with a lot of problems that you have to fix on the back end um so we having the clerk of the works is part of that memorandum of understanding will allow us to have someone on site to protect our interests and work with the city in a closer way to ensure that we um that our right to protect it um we also wanted to engage with the city around cost mitigation we know that that they're going to be a lot of in

109escalation in terms of inflation uh material costs personnel costs and staffing as they build so we so while we have an approved budget uh on the city side for the build of huntington middle school we know that there's maybe some escalation in those costs as they get to the actual site work and development of that project so having that conversation in advance and having it in writing that the city will build that um that building to scale make sure that it supports an appropriate middle school program and that we have ways to address any issues along the way is in the best interest of new produce public schools uh I don't think I've mentioned to the members of the board that um with the board's consideration of this memorandum of understanding this evening the city

110has also planned to have a um to entertain a vote on the memorandum as well um I just recently spoke to the city manager and I and I applaud their efforts and and agreeing to do that publicly so that mr chairman I'll answer any questions that you may have regarding that everyone has seen the document and it is loaded in board docs for the public's consumption as well all right so uh before we call for the motion again we'll take this opportunity here from the audience and I do have one card from the audience in regards to the huntington mou and that's from this pam hall and so at this time inviting us all to come forward make comments good evening as the history of the united states is being censored the citizens of the

111southeast community are adamant on preserving the history and sights of the southeast community especially huntington 3401 orchid avenue is synonymous with huntington and to allow city council to rewrite our history is unacceptable huntington high school memorabilia was tossed in dumpsters and put on the street outraged citizens in the southeast community retrieved many of the items lillian lovett made provisions to have the yearbook stored at the newsome house yes the citizens of the southeast community want a new modern huntington middle school as soon as possible in my opinion you the school board members have a powerful voice and the upper hand you have five blocks of prime property the city wants negotiate a better deal for the southeast community and our children thank you all right thank you miss hall and there being no additional cards

112or madam clerk with any additional cards on this topic no sir okay there being no additional cards and at this time I'll ask the board for a motion uh mr chairman I make a motion to approve the huntington mou as presented thank you madam vice chairs are second second second by mr hunter all right any uh questions for dr parker this time all right any further uh comment more discussion mr chairman I would say that I'm not aware of any store items being disposed at the huntington site that have significant value but I'd like to know about anything that is that has been retrieved and how that how those items were were disposed so if there's anything that I need to know about that and I am contacting my um supervisor of maintenance to verify

113that but um that is something that uh we did not that I'm not aware of and I just want to make sure I investigate that so um if I have any information regarding that or if any citizens have any information from me please contact me and let me know because that that should never hurt thank you dr parker all right there being no further discussion I'm adam clerk would you please call the roll mr harris for mr hunter for mrs searle's law for mrs amen for dr best guest mr ely four thank you then now with that moves us on to section five of our agenda so we're now into the reports and information and 5.01 is the monthly school update dr parker we'll see if we can get us back on schedule well we

114will start with the monthly school update and uh the again the board at the board's request we're completing this update with them with information that we feel is uh is new information or vital for the public to know uh we will start off with a little bit of health related information um and then we'll switch to academics and athletics so uh I will turn it over to mrs carlson or carlson who uh handles our health metrics and she will give us an update on any relevant uh statistics that we have recently recovered mrs carlson are you with us thank you most of our state remains in the high level as of transmission as indicated as the graphic at the bottom right of the screen the transmission level in the city of newport news remains high

115with a rate of new cases at 223 reported last week in addition the percentage of positive pcr tests is at 12.7 percent and both of these figures show a decrease from the previous week next slide please uh reported coveted cases within newport news have decreased since the surge following winter break when we returned to school and worked the week of january 3rd we reported 466 positive student cases and 186 positive employee cases by february 4th which was the most recent data available by school and worksite we were down to 92 positive student cases and 24 positive employee cases uh this is a quick update on our vista testing program we've partnered with the virginia department of health and the virginia department of education to offer free pooled coded 19 testing through the virginia school screening

116testing for assurance programs all testing will be completed through pooled pcr tests and of course that detects the virus that causes covid19 testing will begin with our student athletes in middle and high school additional students and staff will be added at a later date participation is voluntary each participant must have a signed consent form on file with the school site where testing will occur consent forms are currently available online on our athletics page and on our covet dashboard and safe return to school tab we're ready to move forward with testing uh waiting on consent forms to be returned to our visiting our vista testing coordinator keisha thompson athletic directors and administrators in our middle and high schools are aware of the program and are promoting participation and once we begin mako which is the vendor

117that we've been partnered with will come to each of our school sites and they will swab our students and our athletes who have signed consent forms and that's my update for this season okay we'll move on to teaching and learning and dr ming lamont is approaching [Music] chairman brown vice chair searles law dr parker members of the board pleasure to be here this evening i have a brief update for you guys what we've been working on with teaching and learning and our first is I want to recognize the hard work of our school counselors as you know last week was school counselor week and they do so much every single day and to go through everything that they do would probably be a whole presentation in itself but I just want to give a brief

118overview of some of the work that we're doing to help prepare our students for college and careers so we have something called naviance which is a new technology platform which helps align a student's interest to their career and helps prepare them for college and their career career interest it will particularly take their interest give them specific careers that it aligns to and also coursework that will help them get where they need to go so our counselors have been working diligently to expose all students to the naviance platform they've been going into classrooms and doing lesson plans with them they have done activities that are virtual and allow our students to go on virtual college trips they have been helping them explore college and careers through the naviance platform they walk them through the virginia common

119app and for those of you who are unaware of what that is that is the one application that you can apply to many colleges through so you don't have to fill out 10 applications you can only fill out one they also do a career interest profiler with the students in the classroom there's a resume builder in there that they walk our high school students through and of course there's a scholarship search as well and they help the students identify scholarships that fit their interest they've been working diligently as well as promoting our specialty programs and for those of you who know we have lots of schools in in newport news lots of students they travel to middle schools they travel to elementary schools they pull kids into their into their offices they go into classrooms

120they talk about all the programs that are available including dual enrollment ap courses or the early college program they talk about the apprenticeships that are available to students new horizons virtual learning academy they speak to that interest as a part-time model or whether it's a full-time option and of course they talk about all the magnet programs that we have available as well they hold many many family nights as long as as well as our family engagement specialists but they work in conjunction but they've been holding a lot of family nights particularly to get our parents prepared to fill out that fafsa talking about the importance of filling out the fafsa the deadlines to that and then how to apply for those college scholarships they're helping our students by um bringing in virtual on-site admissions so

121they're bringing in colleges and universities to have a virtual admission for our students they're also going through virtual college application week which is a week where students can actually go on site and fill out their application they don't even have to do it at home so as you can see they're doing so many different things on top of their original job duties so when we say thank you to all the school counselors from the department of teaching and learning and i know you guys yourselves want to say thank you as well so if you're at home listening we appreciate you [Music] [Applause] now we know our teachers are working it right we know that they put in many hours many hours during the school day and after the school day on the weekends to grade

122papers and do lesson plans and then through all the challenging times that we have right now then on top of that they're still doing things after hours for our kids to prepare them not only for the sol but to give them opportunities to enrich and have experiences that they might not have outside of school or even in the classroom one of our most famous ones are we leave where we're giving enrichment to students after school and on weekends and if you look at the little center picture right there you see a little boy dissecting an owl pellet which is owls eat rodents and bowls they regurgitate them and then you can can tear them apart and look and experiment with them and that is part of the weedly program and that was on a saturday

123and you can see that a mom had posted that on social media we also do it we do it at eight elementary schools and one middle school we have um lots of difference we just had a coach from cnu come in and talk about athletics work for our students so various stem activities are going on literacy activities all um after hours with lots of students taking part in that then on top of that we have our teachers that are bringing kids in on saturday it's optional it's not for us it's if you want to come transportation is provided and our teachers are helping them prep for the sol right now they just wound down with the writing sol and they prepped them for that but as we approach the sols for may they're going to

124pick right back up and offer the same thing to our students as well the last thing that I want to talk about is just talking about the next special education advisory committee that is going to be on march 29th at 4 30 pm um the meeting is open to the public everybody can attend just like today you can come and fill out a speaker card and come and present to the or talk to the committee and speak to your concerns or questions that you might have we just want to point out that if parents do have a concern we know it's hard waiting for four meetings over a year so during that time you can address any concerns or questions online the link is right there and those emails are sent directly to our executive

125director of student advancement and to our compliance support specialist so that's it for my presentation this evening unless you have any questions we'll move on to athletics dr magna mata our board members usually get may get every every now and then a call a call regarding special education that link is on the website and do you know what where where it's located under what tab or do you want to send some information out to them because I wanted them to know if uh if we get if you get a special education question we all that goes straight to the executive director of um a student advancement but the student the teacher or the parent can also talk to their special education case manager so uh we also encourage them at the site level if they

126hadn't if they haven't spoken to the student's case manager they could contact them as well so um we'll share the link to that so the board members will have that um available to them yeah it's right at the main link as you can see and if it if you just type sped right after it it'll take you there and without seeing the website you know I can't navigate unless i see it but um just type sped right after the main home page all right all right thank you dr ming manager pause for a second if anyone had any questions before I get moving to athletics okay uh mr chairman moving on to athletics um and this is we've talked about athletics and our upcoming planning for our next fiscal budget but one of the things

127the board has asked of our school division team is to look into how can we make middle school more exciting for students and what better way to start is adding clubs and activities so we are investigating the introducing a few additional middle school sports foot bringing football wrestling and boys and girls soccer and we're also considering they have cheerleading clubs but making cheerleading and active sport for um for the middle school teams what better way to invest in our students than to provide some create more student athletes at the middle school level were grounded by both athletics and academics moving into up to the high school level so I wanted to share with the community we're excited of working with our principals our athletic directors and coaches from around the community we'll be meeting with

128them to start talking about what it will take to get some of these sports up and running not only next year but in years to come in our middle schools currently we offer basketball volleyball and boys and girls track at the middle school level so we're looking forward to expanding those opportunities for students at the in the middle school level and I believe that concludes my report mr chairman any questions or any comments all right I know uh time is running short but I'm just gonna make a comment because uh this has been eight years in the making working so hard to expand middle school athletics and this is a really momentous occasion a great time I know it's not official yet so I'm going to save my uh because I exude my exuberance for

129when we pass the budget but I'm looking very very much forward to to adding that to our budget and because that's really going to i believe have paid great dividends for our youth especially in in reduction of youth crime and violence we talk about making the tools safer this is something that makes our school safer this is something that increases our graduation rates and keeps kids in schools all right so mr ealy i also want to say I think this is uh amazing the expansion of sports in our militaries I'm a strong component of when you keep our youth busy with activities they are they still on the right track so by having football and wrestling and it makes them better to get scholarships some of our children want to be professional wrestlers and soccer

130players of football and if we start them off at an early age they have a better chance of getting that scholarship you know having a different route and like you say it keeps the violence down in our communities my mom always say a uh empty mind is a devil workshop so we definitely keep our children busy and I'm glad that we're finally able to add these um sports in our middle schools and I think we're gonna be one of the school first school districts to do that is that correct we are we um we believe hampton is is following suit with some sports um and we'll look forward to having someone to compete with other than newport news somebody's got a list [Laughter] well thank you um for making it happen thank you sir thank

131you oh mr heinrich and I just want to say I think uh I want to say thank you to my board and staff that I have been here over the last almost two months in the hospital at the last meeting but I want to thank you all for the courage and the well wishes and and all the prayers and uh for me getting better I'm here today I'm not fully recovered but again thank you for um i heard your prayers out there and i appreciate each one of them thank you well now we we have uh our human resources update and I'm 5.02 yes sir final report of this evening is on human resources this is an annual report that we bring to the board in the community um in the spring to just talk

132about where we are with staffing and how are we bringing in some of the best and brightest uh teachers in our school division so mrs farris our director of human resources will provide the report thank you good evening chairman brown vice chair sirlois law board members and dr parker this evening i am going to share information regarding human resources annual recruitment incentive and retention initiatives recruitment and retention comes under this our strategic goal stewardship of resources we strive to establish processes and procedures to recruit hire reward and retain highly effective staff all dedicated toward helping our students become college career and citizen ready now as we know the staffing shortage of teachers is not unique to nnps we have over 1700 teachers we have continued to hire throughout the year to fill vacancies throughout the

133school year our current data shows that we have received resignations and retirements which has also increased our vacancies our hard-to-feel teacher positions have been in the areas of math english elementary and special education additionally so instructional supports that we have to help with these vacancies we have 245 instructional assistants we do have a support pool of 469 support teachers of that 469 442 are teachers and 27 are instructional assistants taking a closer look at our turnover for teachers effective january 2021 22 for retirements the data consists of retirees that have processed and those that are retiring effective the end of the school year the number that have retired this year is 32 and the number that have been processed to retire effective the end of the year is 14. thus at this time we have

13446 retirements under resignations the number of 44 is from july to february our records show the previous three years from july to february for teachers for resignations for the 1819 school year we had 36 resignations for the 1920 school year we had 40 and for the 2021 school year we had 26. that was during the virtual instruction thus based upon resignations at this time resignations are nominal taking a look at diversity in newport news public schools the city of newport news racial district distribution is fairly evenly distributed however our student population is two-thirds minority and our teacher population is one-third minority we're working on recruitment strategies and partnerships with hbcus to hire more minority teachers which I will address we have developed many partnerships with our local universities to bring many of the students in

135their teacher programs to nnps for their student teaching and then offers for careers we have placed 146 student teachers as interns we have placed approximately 150 student observers for the 2021-22 school year this data is showing you the number of students over a four-year period that have enrolled in education programs with local universities you can see there has been some decrease in student enrollment especially with the local hbcus we are communicating with the local hbcus to discuss how we can together increase student teachers another part of our recruiting plan is what we call grow your own with a focus on filling the hard to recruit positions our teacher in residence program was established in partnership with local universities where nnps pays for the tuition for the last year of the teachers education program the students

136are paired with a veteran teacher to learn and practice skills and knowledge in a high knee classroom they commit to teach in nnps for three years the tir program is open to anyone through the universities that meet the requirements we currently have a former bus driver and a former nurse of the school district who are in our tir program we currently have 22 tirs that are striving to grow to become full-time teachers with us our goal is for the 22-23 school year to have 10 tirs from each university with aspiring teachers our goal has been to identify high school seniors who have been accepted to a college or university and plan to study education we provide professional development sessions during the summer we offer employment during the summer to stay connected to these students we

137also have worked with instructional assistants that want to become teachers we're working with these individuals to provide practicums tuition reimbursement and assignments that support them during their programs we have an emerging teacher program that our current employees can go through a career switcher program with old dominion university if they qualify we pay for the participants tuition and fees in exchange for a commitment that they will work for nnps for four years we have what we call smart start for our new teachers when we hire the new teachers we partner with curriculum instruction and we provide new teachers a teacher institute this is for our novice teachers for two years new teacher welcome centers are set up for our new teachers they meet with specialists and coaches they have an opportunity to access ignite catalog and

138register for over 100 professional development courses during the new teacher welcome week the new teachers start a new week at the week before their contract they receive assistance on curriculum other professional development they have a technology session and a human resources section session we also provide mentors and teacher coaches for additional support some additional supports for in retention include we have received a grant for approximately eight thousand dollars for competitive grant application for praxis and virginia communication and literacy assessment assistance to support provisionally licensed and pre-service education candidates seeking full licensure in virginia we've also received another grant for approximately eight thousand dollars for praxis assistance to support racial diversity among provisionally licensed teachers seeking full licensure some incentives that we have currently in place for staff to aid during this time of staffing shortages

139we've offered a three thousand we give a three thousand dollar bonus to teachers that are coming in and filling our high high need areas such as special education and elementary we are paying teachers thirty dollars an hour to cover vacant classes during their planning and for staying after hours to stay back and for stay and oversee our students as they're waiting for their buses we're paying instructional assistance an additional 429 an hour to cover vacant classes we have applied for a grant that will provide tuition assistance for one hundred thousand dollars for over three years to set more employees on the path to become fully licensed teachers and retain teachers the focus will be on our hard to recruit areas such as special education math and elementary it excuse me if we received this grant

140it would be in addition to our current nnps tuition reimbursement program and as we've spoken about before the currently we offer 600 600 dollars a fiscal year and we are looking to make a request to increase that further recruitment efforts include working with troops to teachers to help service members and veterans become certified and employed as teachers in k-12 schools also most recently thanks to mr wright we have become the three partners with the virginia department of veterans services to recruit veterans and military spouses v3 stands for virginia values veterans it is organized under the directorate of veterans education training and employment this is a short list of our recruitment plans for february and march these are universities and nnps job fairs that we will be attending virtually and in person and as I said

141this is february and march we have many more events planned throughout the school year we are looking to explore new recruitment efforts with international recruitment we are having discussions to explore hiring international teachers by working with a vendor that handles all processing and credentialing that aligns with virginia department of education requirements the exchange visitor programs are authorized to sponsor teachers for k-12 placements for three to five years we hope to have more information in the near future on this initiative also as a retention effort we have the virtual learning academy in the next few months you will hear more specifics about vla we currently have 32 internal teachers and three external teachers working for the vla we are preparing to grow the program and advertising to recruit will start soon also we currently have staff

142with teaching licenses that do not work in the classroom but they are working part-time for the vla the vla will offer varied opportunities we have also faced some challenges with filling support positions some of our hard to fill positions are bus drivers bus assistants nurses and child nutrition employees all of these positions are critical to operations some of our our recruitment and retention efforts for support staff positions consist of we have been paying bus drivers thirty dollars a day to drive additional vacant runs we have a bonus referral program that pays three thousand dollars to employees that refer a bus driver and that driver becomes contracted we did receive a federal relief bus driver in this incentive grant for approximately fifty nine thousand dollars this money will be used for an incentive bonus for drivers

143that have consistently driven for 30 days from the start of the school year until november 30th we are paying a sign-on bonus of two thousand dollars to newly hired bus drivers and fifteen hundred dollars to newly hired bus assistants retention efforts for support staff also include an apprenticeship program we have four apprenticeship programs that is sanctioned by the department of labor and industry our four programs are child nutrition transportation custodial services and clerical once the two-year program is completed the skills that are learned in these programs equip staff to be ready for the next level of advancement in their respective areas we started this program in 2014 to date we've had 156 employees go through the program and we've graduated 81. some of our recruitment strategy charts excuse me strategies and tools include media advertising

144to expand our presence this is accomplished through television commercials radio social media streaming services and job boards we also plan to use what we call some old school methods of sending out mailers to specific areas in the community to invite members of the community to our job fairs additionally we utilize software that allows us to host virtual job fairs this allows for live chat and text features to reach more interested applicants i want to conclude by saying thank you to the human resources staff for their hard and dedicated work at this time i would be happy to entertain any questions all right any questions this time i have a question yes I see the numbers um the numbers dropped as far as recruitments for hampton university and norfolk state is that because of the enrollment

145of the universities yes sir okay thank you you're welcome all right and uh I know we're short on time I'm just going to ask one question about the bus drivers because I think it's important for the public to be aware um let's take this opportunity to advertise our bus driver vacancies what is the starting pay for a bus driver 15 and 80 cents so 15 80 cents an hour and what is the siding bonus three thousand dollars and uh what are the minimum requirements we have a cdl program if you do not have your cdl we will train you and take you through the program so you can get your cdl so all you need is a clean driving rate a clean driving right yeah you can make 15 80 cents an hour and get

146a three thousand dollar signing bonus yes sir come drive a bus for us okay all right so pick that up for you make sure we got that in all right thank you thank you all right next on our agenda is uh 5.03 the attendance report 5.04 the membership report 5.05 the construction report for members will receive copies of those reports in your packets are there any questions there being none we'll move on to 5.06 comments by the superintendent thank you mr chairman and I will stay on script so we'll stay on time this evening but I do have some shout outs for staff and I want to make sure we do that I'm glad that a previous report actually gave some kudos to our school counselors and our teachers we need to uplift them not

147only as a school division but also as a community our teachers represent the best of who we are as an educational organization and they see our students every day so it's up to us to make sure that they are valid that we value them they hear it they see it and that we that we they that we appreciate the work that they do for us because we can't have a great school division without good teachers we could we could say we are but we're not good unless we have good teachers so we have to keep up raising up the folks who are with us as we continue to work with them us i want to begin my comments this evening by announcing some exciting news our teams program tiered emotional mental health supports has been

148named the 2022 silver magna award winner for the national school boards association so for our community the magno awards is a national award and they specifically look for school divisions who have successful programs that uh that support students and have the data to show the effectiveness of that so um kudos to our mental health uh professionals they submitted an application and were recognized nationally with the silva magna award by the national school board's association teams which is the name of the program offers a continuum of social and emotional services to students ranging from classroom lessons addressing social emotional learning to outpatient clinical mental health support the team's approach removes barriers to mental health care by providing services at no cost to the family the program fully funds licensed clinical mental health therapists who serve in

149a school setting newport news public schools is the only school system in southampton virginia to offer this type of mental health support in schools we began that path together a few years ago by starting to hire clinically licensed social workers congratulations to dr michelle mitchell and our student support specialists our mental health clinicians school social workers and school psychologists for earning this national recognition and we look for the official media announcement and promotion which will be coming out soon so we would like to give them a round of applause for their and I'm sure we will have an opportunity to acknowledge them in person at some point i also extend my appreciation to our dedicated school board members for your work in public education and serving students thank you for your commitment and support to

150our students families uh in in the city of newport news and also congratulations to our board clerk our wonderful board clerk mrs moore buffalo thank you for all you do in the service of not only newport news public schools but the superintendent's office and the school board we appreciate your your effort february is also career and technical education month so I will take a moment to thank our cte teachers our career technical education teachers lead more than 75 courses that prepare our students to earn industry certifications and marketable job skills thank you for ensuring that our students are college career and citizen ready newport news public schools is planning for the future and has embarked in a long-range facility's master plan to identify and prioritize the needs of our school buildings this goal is to

151create plan and identify the funding needs to ensure that all of our students have world-class facilities and we continue to encourage the community to support this effort that part of this process will have several nights where community members may come in and receive information and also give us feedback on the quality of our schools but also the direction that we're taking to improve our facilities so please look out for that we'll be sending information out in multiple ways when those opportunities come available we have engaged a company cooperative strategies which is a national school facility planning firm to assist us with the development of this plan which will guide major capital improvements to better meet our educational needs and I'm going to move on to newport news public schools has been awarded over 82 million

152dollars from the american rescue uh plan act the cares act for set for for school relief we have identified key priorities for this funding and the reason I'm mentioning this tonight is because that spending plan has been updated and is available as of tonight on the website and we have without every budget that we put on the on the website we have a link for any community members not after reviewing that information to provide us any feedback so we'll continue to update that that spending plan and and spirit of transparency make sure that the community can access that information and please feel free to give us some feedback we do review the feedback that's provided by the community so I want to remind families and students that tomorrow february 16th is a half day dismissal

153for students um in-person instruction will be held in the morning and then students will our students will participate in independent learning in the afternoon and this will be a professional development day for our teachers and also tomorrow as part of that professional development I have started a superintendent speaker series and our first speaker in that series will be featuring mr brandon fleming assistant debate coach at harvard university and founder ceo of the harvard diversity project brandon recruits underserved youth with no prior debate experience and he trains them to compete against hundreds of elite debaters all over the world for four consecutive years every student cohort he has trained has won the international competition we're looking forward to hearing mr fleming's motivational and inspirational presentation tomorrow and uh over 1800 staff members have already signed up

154for this first first of a kind speaker series and that concludes my remarks all right thank you dr parker which means that we're on to item six which is our uh another opportunity to hear from the public and at this time I do have six cards our first speaker is a reverend ted inquist thank you so much i want to introduce myself my name is reverend ted inquist and with the endorsement of the previous candidate john kolik I am the frontrunner for the republican endorsement of the next u.s hospital representative this fall and so as the next congressman of this district I wanted to speak on this behalf tonight it is a shame that this this that this school board would not even listen and do a second to mrs iman's motion earlier about relieving

155the vast mandate on our students yet four out of the seven that just shunned her did not wear a mask you can't even sit here for a couple of hours with a mask on and you're asking our children to do it all day long there is no law that says they have to there is a law that says you have to allow the parents free choice it's already been codified let's go ahead and do the right thing and move forward and follow what we all teach and that's equality equality is one of the most important things that we can lean on it's treating each other with respect and fairness let's do that let's treat each other equal let's give this governor the equal respect we gave the last governor when the last governor wrote executive

156order 79 everybody jumped on board and threw masks on everybody even though we did not have signs to back it up when this governor wrote executive order number two it was challenged in court and withstood the court of law as being constitutional and it did away with every executive order that the previous administration had written it's time to move forward it's time to let our children breathe properly I'm speaking on behalf of not only our students but I have a daughter who is a student at cnu doing her student teaching right here in newport news and i have a wife of 20 of 27 years at 20 years has been teaching and has been nominated teacher of the year four times and this is the second year that she has won it and she is

157over in york county and so I know what the school system is about I know the teaching aspect of it and these teachers want to be unmasked as well they need to be able to communicate with the children communication is key and 55 of all communication is nonverbal 38 is vocal with voice inflection you don't get that through a mask you need to get the teachers on mask so they can communicate and if through proper communication our scores will increase we will come up out of the gutter and newport news will be a predominantly high-ranked high-testing school system once again as long as we all work together in equality god bless america god bless virginia and god bless you thank you thank you robin inquest russell everson [Applause] hi good evening you have been scolded

158tonight you have been praised tonight and I know that you're used to both and all of it much I'd just like to reiterate that I am really amazed shocked disappointed that miss eamon's uh motion was not even considered to be second that's really very disappointing of this board that really is disappointing that you wouldn't even consider a vote that's that's upsetting uh reverend inquest and myself are the first to speak after her presentation all those before us did not know that that was probably going to be said i didn't know it but I'm very disappointed in it you know due to all the scientific findings that we all know now uh coveted in its various forms omicron all of these mandates are being reduced nationwide counties cities it's all in the news if you listen

159and read the news it's everywhere it's somebody said statistics internationally the other countries are masked they're doing away with it they're doing away with it rapidly listen if you want to listen to the news listen to the international news as well as home and due to all of these decisions of the cities county states other school boards districts and workplaces they were sending the mask mandates and then due to the passing of sb 739 last week we know it's coming and just cut to the short of it we just appealed to you to follow suit and rescind this mask mandates immediately as soon as possible don't wait till the law pushes you to do it be a trendsetter in your cells and do something for the good of the teachers as we've heard the students

160the teachers the parents the administration allow them the option of the freedom of either wearing a mask or not wearing a mask let them decide what's best for their child and even their own health allow the children youth the teachers the administration and everybody's already said this but to once again be to be able to effectively communicate effectively communicate all these things that have been presented tonight are amazing and wonderful for newport news but how are you going to play sports and create a sports program in other schools when they're forced to wear a mask you know by then it'll be over with by the time that's all true but just thinking about that it's just ridiculous you can't participate in school allow our kids to show their facial expressions let them smile again let

161them see each other's smiles their laughter their unmuffled voices allow them the freedom of choice I'm not here to make threats to you tonight I don't operate like that I'm a pastor I have a pastor's heart in our congregation we allow people to freedom if you're safe wearing a mask where if you feel like you're safe not wearing a mask don't wear it don't judge each other and respect each other but I really feel like perhaps this school board has underestimated the move among parents that's not a threat that's a fact there's a real move among parents to take back their kids the children belong to the parents not to assist them thank you thank you [Applause] uh jennifer economy hi I'm jennifer economy from chesapeake and thank you for allowing me to come up

162and speak tonight from one of the sister cities um I will say I came here to speak about mask but I was pretty impressed by some of the programs that were presented so good job um anyway I'm here to speak about masks like i said I'm from chesapeake what I've noticed sitting here all night is that every time any of you want to speak you take off your masks because you know that people can't hear you speak clearly with your mask on also speakers who come up here in our pro mask they take their mask off they set it on the podium and then they pick it back up when they're done and they put it on their face and every speaker has germs but they're picking up someone else's germs and putting it on

163their face um I'm the parent of two children with autoimmune diseases one with type 1 diabetes and one with crohn's I am a mask optional parent I'm here to tell you that I am tired of lawsuits being filed using children with disabilities as a reason to enforce masks not all parents who have kids with disabilities want their children masked we make their medical decisions we manage their care school boards do not long-term mask wearing causes harm not only to speech and social delays also as my son my type 1 diabetic son experienced chronic headaches and long-term congestion after 25 absences I pulled him out of public schools his health was more important to me than a mask i understand that many are still scared of covet but there are other mitigation strategies available besides masking

164everyone when the science now tells us that masks are not as effective as they once were believed to be in the chest feet district we have recently gone mass optional it is going well we see children smiling faces again and guess what a student even spoke at our school board meeting last night saying no one was judging anyone for wearing a mask or not wearing a mask covet is now at the point where it will always be with us it is up to individuals to make decisions to protect themselves as they would for any other virus stop using these children in this way let them be kids let them breathe freely as all of you do outside of this building or even inside of the building when you take off your mask to speak let's

165see those smiling faces again thank you jane clune gene cloon all right this is a tough one william huberdine hoover dome hello thank you um it was really important to me that I stayed because i think last time I spoke um I said that uh wait I want to get this right because I've been getting it backwards um I have your back um i spent my life thinking long and hard about how to best protect our freedom and I considered law school I considered the arts i if I thought war would do it I would have enlisted but I thought the best way to protect our freedom was to be a teacher and I am one and I have never once thought to change my mind if wearing a mask was about taking freedom they

166would have already taken it they don't need a pandemic to take our freedom all they need to do is lie whether that's about weapons of mass destruction or a fake election all you have to do is lie some people will believe it some people won't and we're divided and the powerful become more powerful the masks are about safety for our students and their families for our staff and our families because wearing a mask is not about an individual choice to protect yourself it's an individual choice that protects other people and that's exactly why this isn't about freedom it's an offering to our brothers and sisters in humanity i know the state senate has spoken and I'm ready to give up if the board decides to but if you do stick with the masks for as

167long as you can wait out legal challenges or better yet make them i have your back i came here last time to say that I'm still here and I think you can count on everyone in the room to have your back if we're able to stay in school and I think the masks are helping thank you next speaker is hunter ames good afternoon um or should I say good evening I've spoken to a few of you on the phone mr brown dr best miss buffalo again congratulations on your recognition tonight um my my issue is with the transportation department and and it is an issue of staffing it is an issue that we are all fighting i work in healthcare i work in the restaurant industry I work I've done a lot um i do

168not expect the school board to pull 120 plus bus drivers out of your hat if you have a magical hat that you can do that let me know maybe the winning lottery numbers are in there um my my issue is communication it's a transportation issue but it's also a school issue um you know every day almost buses are like um a notification to the parents that buses are going to be late i don't think that that is something that's impossible you know 15 20 years ago when I was in school I remember answering you know my parents wall phone you know back when they had those and then be hey there's a pta meeting a recorded message pta meeting tuesday night at six o'clock if we could do that then 15 20 years ago with

169less technology we can't send out an automatic text message or phone call or email letting parents know that buses are going to be late it happened yesterday happened today my daughter's scheduled to be at her bus stop at 4 16. that's per the bus app by the way um which it's an app I'm not that big into technology but I have it um 4 45 i get a notification that her bus has been substituted with another bus because she got out of school at 3 50. if I call the school right now at 4 45 I can't get anybody to answer my kid got out of school for all intents and purposes an hour ago what's five minutes where's my kid at so I will say that at some point the buck stops with the

170superintendent and it stops with the school board we have to hold somebody accountable for notification today I got a notification 4 38 my daughter's bus had been substituted with another bus she was walking through my front door at 4 42 it hadn't even showed that she had been picked up yet it still shows that I just looked at it shows that this bus has arrived at her school but it has yet to arrive at her bus stop the app is great seventy percent of the time seven out of ten times it's fantastic it gives us the information that we need but I do not think that communication is a hard part the other day I went to the school to pick her up because the buses were late when I called the school they go

171oh whoa what route is he I don't know I just know the bus number the school is assigned the kids an actual route and then when I walk in and I ask the secretary do y'all not send out a notification to parents when the buses are going to be late we don't know they're late so hold on you're here in the office answering the phone but you don't know the buses are late we have exceeded your time so we do appreciate your um your story and the superintendent is going to be following up with you okay at this time because we do have a few minutes remaining in this uh item six period I'm gonna ask if miss fashion if you have if you would like to finish up your comments from earlier if you

172like that opportunity you can do so now I thank you for allowing me to finish up my comments uh see what I did um I'm concerned about our schools i substitute teaching the schools that I've been to various elementary schools and there's just certain supplies that are not in the schools for instance a pencil shopping them many of the classrooms don't have not a pencil sharpener there's not enough desks in some of the classroom for students there's no dictionaries for the students to use one of the schools I went to didn't even have a librarian in the in the library to assist the students and select the materials for them to to read some of the classes said they didn't have enough chairs for the students of the class one of the schools didn't have

173everybody has a ipad under k4 through kindergarten so that a lot of the parents don't charge these electronic devices for the kids so when they bring them to school this particular school didn't have enough plugins to plug all the laptops up not laptops ipads up at the same time and like I said before um I just want to know what kind of boards do you guys what what plans do you have to bridge the educational gaps that I've noticed in these schools um the students are really having a difficult time with this new math it's like you're borrowing I don't know what it is but I can't I can't figure that type of math out and it's very important that you educate our students for success and I know you're doing a good job these

174teachers are working very very hard I admire what they're doing in all these schools they spend extra time doing extra duties and also you have your substitutes that's in these schools they're also doing extra duties and and assisting the teachers to help educate the children and also I'd like to say something about the masks the the covid 19 disease has killed over 992,000 people the mask hasn't killed anybody so I say to the board let the masks stay in effect because it helps save lives I have grandchildren in this school system and they want to live and I want to live and the disease is not just here in newport news the disease is worldwide and the disease kills thank you for allowing me to finish my speech thank you mr special all right yes

175sir I just have a comment I wanted to comment on your briefing about the troops to teachers uh I didn't see any information about contacting the local bases I don't have all the numbers on the top of my head but one number that your person can contact is 757-764-1110 that's the base operator number at langley air force base they have a prompt I think one prompt is public affairs probably could talk to that person talk to the person that does transition assistance for retirees every base in this area has a transition transition assistance program that person probably can give you the numbers for everybody and the other thing is you guys are going up to virginia tech why aren't you stopping at vmi why aren't you stopping at jmu uh mary baldwin uh liberty university

176for teachers I highly recommend it thank you thank you thank you and so now at this time we are um I'm just going to say to mr hunter it is good to see you on this side of the grave [Laughter] we were all we've all been praying for you and uh we are very glad to see you here tonight and glad that uh you are making a strong recovery it is it does all of our hearts very good and with that we are going to stand adjourned [Music]