001like to call the Thursday, June 12th, 2025 regular meeting of the Nawway County School Board. We will have a moment of silence followed by a prayer offered by Reverend Row if you choose to pray with us. Following that, if you're able to stand, we would appreciate it for the pledge. Let us pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you tonight for our school board. We thank you tonight for our superintendent, our clerk. Thank you tonight for all the staff, the parents, and the students that are here tonight. Thank you, Father, for helping us to come through the end of another school year. Pray that you continue to strengthen us that we may continue to go forward. We thank you for all of these graduates that have graduated and pray for them as they go out into the
002world. Thank you, Lord, for giving us a mind to be able to come and to stand and to work for you. In the mighty name of Jesus, we pray. Amen. Amen. [Music] 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. [Music] I have a motion to approve the agenda. So moved. Is there a second? Second. Any discussion? Hearing none. All in favor signify by saying I. I. Awards and recognitions. Dr. Grimes. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Tonight, it gives us great honor to formally recognize um our 2025 valictorian and saludiatoran. I do want to take the time to congratulate all of our graduates from the class of 2025 and commend both of our students for the speeches
003that they gave uh during the graduation ceremony. Um we do have a token of appreciation for our 2025 valadictorian, Mr. Abbott, if you would like to come forward. Uh we have our valid Victorian Taylor Lee Atkinson who graduated with a GPA of 4.2. We also recognize our saludiatoran Mariana Mame EPS eps who graduated with a GPA of 4.2206. We also recognize those of our students who are 2025 SBCC graduates. Um, when I call your name, please come forward to receive a certificate and have a photographic opportunity with our board chair. Earning an associates of arts and sciences from GSSB STEM. We have Raina Amendes earning an associate of arts and sciences from the governor school staff program. We have Seth Kendall. Congratulations. Earning an associate of arts and sciences from the Governor School STEM program.
004We have Brian Lynn earning an associate of arts and sciences from the governor school humanities program. Able earning an associates of arts and sciences from the governor school STEM program. Eli Skinner earning an associates of arts and sciences from the Governor School STEM program. Hie Turner earning an associates of arts and sciences general studies degree from the humanities. Filler Atinson, congratulations again. Thank you. If you hang on just a second, that guy will take your photograph. Call the other guy back and then call the other guy. You want this back, too? Looks familiar. Congratulations. [Music] Earning an associates of arts and sciences, general studies, humanities. Khloe Dillan earning an associate of arts and sciences general studies in humanities and also um as announced previously just a few minutes ago the saludiatoran Miss Mariana EPS [Music]
005One, two, and three. You can always have them crop me out of the picture. Thank you. earning an associate of arts and sciences general studies degree in humanities. Logan Hayes earning an associate of arts and sciences general studies and humanities. Carson Lee hold up a group together. We can do that. We'll get them all back for you. Off the rating. One, two, and three. Give them all reason to buy the newspaper. Earning an associate of arts and sciences, general studies and humanities. Ashby Proise earning an associates of arts and sciences, general studies and humanities. Denaria Terry earning an associates of arts and sciences general studies and humanities. Adriana Twifer Congratulations. Jed, don't leave. Don't leave. If you have your certificate and just received it, would you please come back up so the editor can take
006your photograph without me in it? Don't allow together right here. Push together here real quick. Here we go. Right here. On three. Looking great. One, two, and three. One more time. One, two, three. Thank you. Earning certificates from South Virginia Community College. a uniform certificate of general studies. Uh Wilson, uniform certificate of general studies from Governor School STEM program. Caris Lindsay, criminal justice certificate program. Jalira eps criminal justice certificate program. Caitlyn nicely. Congratulations. You have to come around this way. Do this. There you go. One, two, three. One more time. One, two. One more time. Yeah. Hold that around. That's right. One, two, and three. Thank you. Thank you. Certificate program. Jackson Gray. Electrical certificate program. Cyrus McMillan. Congratulations. One, two, and three. Perfect. Yeah, I should have been taller. an electrical certificate program. Alexander
007Morales. Congratulations. Accepting for Alexander as his sister. [Music] Electrical certificate program. Caleb Tolbert, Electrical Certificate Program. Kenneth Turner Jr. Electrical Certificate Program. Dante Watson, welding certificate program. William Mley, welding certificate program. Owen Schlife. Congratulations. We did this. We did this. There you go. One, two, and three. Cyber security certificate program. James Arms. Congratulations. Three. One more time. One, two, three. Cyber security certificate program. Logan Hansen. Cyber Security Certificate Program. Steven Manel. Congratulations, Stephen. You want them all back? No, we're good. Receiving band awards tonight. The marching cougar band maintained their standard of excellence throughout the season, winning awards at multiple competitions for its show with the theme just dance. Marching band staff, we recognize Carrie Smith, the director, Andrew Bentley, the assistant director. Alexis Williams, the guard techch. Jerry Worsham, the guard techch. Recognizing our
008students, marching band leadership. Lauren Lee, drum major. Yeah, we're in Laura Allen, field commander. [Music] All right. Our woodwind captain B. And our brass captain Naja Zarif. our percussion captain, Livia Lee call, [Music] and our guard captain, Molly Blandon. And these students participated in the uh Virginia Tech. We had students to participate in the Virginia Tech Honor Band, which was a three-day event at the university. And for that we recognize Sarah Allen who is silver band third chair tenner saxophone. [Music] You take honor band as one photo then longwood band one photo then we'll get the whole big happy family. Andrew check orange band eighth chair flu. Olivia Lee, orange band, sixth chair percussion, [Music] the Longwood, [Music] anyone after this is over who may Longwood band, Virginia Tech band or um district band, get
009a photo of them and then we'll get one of everybody all together. Okay, I'm good with that. I'm pretty sure they are too. I'll go ahead and announce the Longwood Honor Band um participants, which was a two-day event at the university. We have Lauren Lee on the alto saxophone, Olivia Allen on the flute, Franklin on the flute. Savannah Savannah Minor on the clarinet. and Elliot Andrew on percussion, serving in the district honor band, which was a blind audition band made up of students in our Virginia band and orchestra directors association district and a high honor. We recognize Sarah Allen who was first chair concert band saxophone. Roy Franklin who was third chair concert band flute. Olivia Lee fifth chair concert band. We can pause and get a picture. If you made one of the three
010honor bands, Virginia Tech, Longwood, or district, could I get y'all to come like stand right here? We're not going to leave you on. We're going to get everybody. It's all over. Promise. No mutiny, please. You can get there, Mr. Chairman. I don't need to be y'all can all hold that. Y'all getting closer together. Getting just getting a little closer together. Yeah, this is great right here, folks. A little closer. Be happy on three. One, two, and three. One more time. One, two, and three. Fantastic. Thank y'all. Let me borrow that for a little while. Thank you. Um, have more band students to recognize. Uh, being a band student myself uh, back in the day. This is so exciting. Miss Smith chaired the first ever central opening honor band which consisted of the top students in
011the rural counties of our BPDA district. Nine note high school students and eight not middle school students were chosen to attend this two-day event. Ladway High School students participating. Sarah Allen, Sterling Price, Ariana Vaughn, Lauren Lee, Olivia Allen, Franklin Savannah Minor Andreek. The middle school students who participated or who were selected are Maya Hill, Emily Rosario, Lopez Barrera, Elaine Aguilera Diaz, David Cruz Ramos, Gordon Hurt, David Miller, and Michael Hendricks. The Nawway High School Symphonic Band went to Buchanan High School for the annual assessment performance, which is the so test of band, where they are rated on a scale of five to one with a five being poor and a one being superior. The Nawway High School Symphonic Band received a rating of two excellent despite the amount of instruction lost due to snow days.
012The Nawway High School Symphonic Band traveled to Williamsburg, Virginia for the Bush Gardens Music in the Parks competition. They spent the whole weekend there to perform and they won first place in their class. Congratulations to our band students. And for those who um may have graduated, I would just encourage you, as I mentioned, I was a band student. Uh I played the clarinet and the alto clarinet. Take some advice from an old lady. Don't put your instruments down. Don't lose your amisher. Don't lose the fat flexibility. Keep it up. Practice and play all throughout your lives because music brings joy. And I'd hate for you to lose it because you don't practice. Mr. Coburn, how would you We're good. Working while y'all been talking. We're good. Let me do this. Yeah. I'll take this. Thank
013all of you. [Music] Hey, guys. Love you. Hi, how are you? How's your first recognizing? [Music] All right. Yeah. Not yet. These are your people. Just stand right here. We recognize our athletes who excelled in spring sports. We bring forth a high school. Uh and we recognize the following students. In baseball, second team all district center fielder Trent Hayes. in softball. first team all district pitcher and second team all region pitcher Diane Eastulations I don't know do them all at once to get run off first team all district outfielder and second team all region outfielder Taylor Atkinson Good job, Taylor. Softball. Second team all district second base and second team all region second base. Katherine Bravely, softball second team all district outfielder Jayen Banks. be in it to be in there. Picture ready folks show
014up on three. One, two, and three. One, two, and three. Fantastic. For soccer, first team all district forward and district player of the year, Thomas Ingram. Second team all district forward Daniel Murphy. Second team all district midfield. Sebastian Silvin. Lasso here. Let's get you in there. Come on. One, two, and three. Move that. One, two. And in track, district male track athlete of the year, district champion in the 1600 meter and 3200 meter run, state qualifier in the 800 meter, 1600 meter, and 3200 meter. Bradley Hamilton. State qualifier in the long jump and triple jump, Malia Davis. State qualifier in the high jump, Kamaran John. State qualifier and shotput, Anton Carter Jr., state qualifier in 100 meter hurdles, Haley Carpenter. and state qualifier in discus, Logan Hayes. Feel a little lonely. [Music] Have a great
015night. Night [Music] white bag. [Music] We have six county public schools employees who were recognized for their service uh and their retirement from Nawway County Public Schools. Uh these five uh I'm sorry these six employees their years of service totaled 168 and a half years. That is quite an accomplishment. And so I will um go through the list and name the folks who are being recognized as retirees. I see one person here. So I'm going to name him last. Okay. So working my way up, we have rec we are recognizing for retiring Angela Faren Holt who um was in Nawway County Public Schools for 37 years by 1988 to 2025. We have Anna Bowen who was here from 1991 to 2024. 14 years teaching and 19 and a half in technology. We recognize Cynthia Aut
016and Nawway from 1994 until 2025. That's 31 years. Michael Travis Andrews from 1995 to 2025 30 years. These are all teachers. Carolyn Jones is retiring. She um was in not from 2008 to 2009 and 2023 to 2025. That's three years in not but 28 years total in education. She's retiring from us as principal and our man of the hour here with us in person. We recognize Mr. Edward Eps who was with Nawway from 2015 to 2024. He served with us for nine years as a custodian and we recognize him ask him to come forward. Congratulations. Thank you, sir. And retirement's okay. We'll put it right here. You got it. Here. Ready? Hold that. Hold that package up a little. There you go. One, two, and three. Smile for me. Right. Ready? I would ask the
017board to stand. Please, Dr. Grimes, join me, please. as a superintendent of Nawway County Public Schools, Dr. Tamisha Grimes, who served this division for 6 years from 2019 through 2025 and Chesterfield County Public Schools for 21 years from 1998 to 2019 with a total of 27 years in education. Thank you for your service to the students, families, community, and this board. Heat. [Music] on with delegations from the public. I remind that generally the board does not respond to comments made during delegations from the public. The board meeting is a meeting for public business not a public forum or discussion. All will be provided if appropriate. I will call on Deborah Oranger. Hope I said that correctly. First off, if it's okay, I'd like to give each of you a copy. I made a copy of
018what I was going to be saying. Yes, ma'am. Thank you. Thank you. Good. Okay, I'm going to try to get through this the best I can. My name is Deborah Arstrander. My three kids attend Nawway County Public Schools. I'm going to start off by saying the school system is broken. I am disappointed in the leaders of Nawway County Public Schools and I'm beyond angry. Our children are being failed by the people who have been put in positions to protect them. My daughter has been bullied, threatened, and made to feel less than by her peers as well as certain administrators. In the last two years, sorry, she was threatened to be shot, stabbed, her shirt raised above her chest, exposing her to the class. The students also calling her fatty Patty, and saying they hate her
019because she's fat. My daughter has lost her spark. We have consistently reported it to several different administrators with promises it won't continue. Yet, it continued up until the last couple weeks of school. We even asked about changing classes at open house and were told no. I have voice recordings from crew primary principles stating he knows it is continued. Blaming my daughter, even referring to her as grumpy poo pants, even admitting the other kids admitted to calling her names. Please look at the student code of conduct page 15 that I have provided to you under behaviors that present a safety concern. Behaviors that prevent a safety concern. These behaviors create unsafe conditions for students, staff, and visitors to the school. This category may include, but not limited to the following examples. Bullying behavior without physical injury
020that continues after intervention. You can also follow page 16. I have marked physical contact of a sexual nature, padding body parts, pinching, tugging of clothes, which is a level one to three for elementary school children. as well. If you could follow to page 34. I know it'll take a second. Okay. Section 16, bullying harassment. A student either individually or as a part of a group shall not harass or bully others. Prohibited conduct includes, but is not limited to, physical, verbal, or written intimidation, taunting, name calling, insults, lies, rumors, social exclusion, or isolation, threatening body or posture, money or possession taken or damaged, being threatened or forced to do things, and any combination of prohibited activities. Prohibited conduct includes verbal or written conduct consisting of comments directed towards and based upon a person's race, religion, sex,
021orient sexual orientation, national origin, disability or physical abilities or characteristics or intellectual ability or associates of the targeted person or group. Any aggressive behavior that involves unwanted negative actions in a pattern of behavior repeated over time in an imbalance of power or strength is considered bullying and will not be tolerated. I met with Dr. grounds on May 29th about my concerns and we are here 2 weeks later and unfortunately I have yet to hear an update on her investigation. I'd be happy to share either recording I have with the board at another time. Suicide is the second leading cause of death in people 10 to 24. Members of the board, let me ask you, what do your children's lives mean to you? What if this was happening to your children? When does this become a
022priority to you to fix these problems? You are all elected officials. We put faith in the promises and speeches that you gave us to be put in these seats, but nothing is changing. Did you forget it was on you to uphold the rules and consequences that you have handed out at the beginning of the school year? I'll leave each of you a copy here for it to be rewritten and fixed because we as parents are tired of the lives that are written within its pages. Do better for all these kids and their futures as well as your own depends on it. Thank you. Thank you. pain. [Music] Hi. Hi. How's everyone? Hi. I'm here. First, I'm going to tell you about this little girl. I don't cry in the middle of it. Um, her mother
023was just talking to you. Her name is Callie. She is the most precious child that you will ever meet in your lifetime. She has a light about her. Her spirit just shines when she walks in the room. She started coming to our church. She's in our children's church, her and her brother and some other kids that are in Korea primary school. When I walk in the door, he's beaming. you know this big smile. She's running to me. She's hugging me. She's hugging everyone in the church. When time comes to sing, she's singing at the top of her lungs. Hands in the air. The most precious child. And her spirit has been crushed. Completely crushed. Her light has been extinguished from these kids in this school. Now when you see Callie, you see Callie sad. You
024see Callie quiet. You see Callie staring off. You see when we go into class, usually I show a video. They stop me in the middle of it because they want to talk about how they're treated at school. It's not only Cali. The entire kids church is being bullied at Crew Primary School. But she's the worst one. When when you tell a child, "Fatty Patty, you're fat, you're ugly, your clothes aren't okay." Might not sound okay to big people, but it's crushing to a little girl who just wants to be a part of things. a comment was made. Um, she asked one of the little boys if if she could see his phone just because she wanted to be a part of things. She wanted to be included and he continued to bully her and she
025was blamed because she asked to see his phone because she wanted to be included. She wanted to be a part of everything. the principal at Crew Primary School. I've reached out to him twice. And the reason I reached out to him is because Channel 8 News reached out to me and I wanted to do what was right. So, I wanted to hear from him before I spoke to Channel 8 News. I still haven't spoke to Channel 8 News, but I'm going to. And I called the office that day. He was doing something with IEPs in the morning. I told who I was, gave my name, said I didn't have children, but I needed to speak with him. I have children, but they're not in school. He never returned to my call. I called again. I
026left the same message. He never returned my call. Okay, maybe he said, "I'm not going to talk to her because she doesn't have children in the school." Well, anybody deserves a return phone call. He should have called me. He should have said, "I'm uncomfortable with talking to you because you don't have children in the school. You're not the parent." I don't care what he said. I deserve to call back. So now I'm not going to call him again. I'm going to call Channel 8 in the morning and say, "Okay, I'm ready to talk." Because I tried to do what was right, but your school system did not do what was right. [Music] It's not a threat. It's a sad thing. It's a very sad thing to watch somebody that I love be broken like that.
027The principal made a comment that children third grade and under, it wasn't considered bullying. It was considered conflict. Let me just tell you what the code of Virginia says. 22.1-276.01. bullying is aggressive unwanted behavior. Bullying is intending to do harm, to intimidate, to humiliate, repeated emotional trauma. So, when a 7-year-old girl is sitting there and all the boys are saying, "You're fat, you're ugly, your clothes look stupid, your hair is ugly, we hate you." Do you think that's humiliating her in front of her friends? I think so. That is bullying. I did have a conversation with Dr. Martin the other day. We just like ran into each other and I introduced myself and I told her I told her that I was going to be on this like excuse my French white on race until
028something's done. And she promised me that she was going to do intense training with every single school employee about it. And I'm going to hold feet to the fire on that. But I just want you to understand what the lack of holding your employees responsible for children, what that does to them. I wish she can't be, but I wish you could look in that precious child's face and see the light that has gone out of her eyes. She actually goes home and won't eat anything but a salad. At seven, she weighs herself numerous times. At seven, that is her formative years. So, that's really all I have to say, but I will be watching. There are programs, many programs. I have a list of them that are available to your school to deal with the
029children that bully cuz they have issues as well and the children that are being bullied, their parents, classes, all of it. And I expect to see something happen. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you Brown. Good evening. [Music] us all as well tonight and I'm back talking about the school as you guys know uh Burkeville building um we probably will not get the funds that we want for that building so desperate times are going to create call for some creative measures you know in our strategic plan we call for partnering and that we're going to take care of families and hope you know hold people accountable you know for learning and what they do and all But yet, um, last week, last month, I'm sorry, and this month, I hear that our youngest of the youngest
030are being bullied and mistreated within our schools. Now, I think, you know, as I've been talking to you guys about the Burkeville building, I do think that those children need to be removed from the regular settings of the children. this little girl should not have to go back into a classroom with those same bullies. If it's a whole class bullier, then we need a counselor to come to that classroom and talk to the whole class. If that doesn't work, then we need to talk to some parents. We need to take it all the way down to the root. But anyway, um we talked last month we talked um kids talked about their kids being bullied on um school property and felt the school system had failed them. After the incident, the perpetrators were allowed to
031come back to class with the victims. To the parents, it appeared to be very or little if any consequences for the perpetrators and lack of concern from the school or the school board. Wouldn't it be nice if those if the Burkeville Library, which is set up to be a a office and uh a big room, could cater to those kids, have them go there instead of going back into the classroom with the kids as far as a and that would be a great partnership. Now, as far as forming our partnerships with the community, we are food desert. A good partnership would be the food pantry. They have revenues. They have sources of revenues that they we can tap into if we allow them. How about having the um the community college come there and teach
032a class? What about that lineman class that everybody's going down to SBCC to take? That's a 30 minute drive after you've worked 10 hours, 9 hours, whatever a day. Let's give our people a break. Let's give our high school graduates who can't afford to go to a college or university a break. we can have classes there. We have to come up with something better. We have to come up with a community way of supporting the whole community, not just several people in the community. And if we don't learn how to take care of our own here, we're going to have a bigger problem than the channel 8 news coming down here and discussing problems in our school board. Thank you. Moving on, I need a motion to approve the consent agenda. So move. Is there
033a second? Second. Any discussion? [Music] I have a question on element E which is um [Music] the uh let me find it. [Music] Anyway, [Music] it's the somewhere we're splitting up money between Burkel Elementary, I mean, um, Prew Primary and Blackstone Primary. You're talking about the budget adjustment. Yeah. What is that? So, it that's we just have to So, we the state gave us funds to be able to give a bonus to teachers. um we just have to appropriate it to a line to be able to pay teachers out of. Um and these are just two lines that we've typically have used. It doesn't really mean it's just the lines that we pay it out of. Um but we are using those funds to pay the teachers a bonus before June 30th. Um we received
034the money May 30th. We just need you all actually approved and it's only going to teachers at those two schools. No, it's going to all teachers. We're just using those two lines as the line to pay them out of. So I don't have 15,000 lines to pay off. Thank you for the uh clarification. Yes, this one. Any other questions or concerns? [Music] Hearing none. All in favor signify by saying I. I. [Music] action items. Uh approval of travel for the incoming superintendent. Uh Dr. Martin will be attending the IST conference July 1st and 2nd. There is an administrative retreat for her and executive staff and school leaders on July 23rd and 24th. I will mention this although I do not think is a requirement of the board to approve. She will be may be attending
035monthly regional 8 meetings. May I have a motion to allow her to attend those activities? So moved. Is there a second? Second. Any discussion? Hearing none, everybody signify by saying I. I non-action items. Uh, Dr. Grimes, the first reading of the 25 school board policy updates. Right. Thank you, Mr. Abbott. If it pleases you, I will combine both items A and item B because they are related. Okay. Um you have in your packet the uh updated schoolboard policies as well as new schoolboard policy drafts provided by VSB. As has been shared numerous times over the course of my tenure here. Our policies are based upon law. Uh and there's also a cycle uh in which policies are reviewed. Often times the updates are changes to reflect um changes to law as well as um just
036cleaning up language, removing the male pronouns for more inclusive pronouns um and then m making sure that references match. Also included in your packet, there's an explanation of the policies that you have to review as well as a designation of the new policies that have been created based upon new laws passed during the 2025 general assembly session. I include the cell phone policy with this um as well because um the there there was no individual cell phone policy before the cell phone free school policy was placed into the student code of conduct. But with the last general assembly session, there is now a law that requires no cell phones in schools and a policy to be in place. and the draft of that policy is with the policies that you have for first read as
037indicated in an email back to Mr. Abbott. Um the code of student conduct is reviewed every summer by the administrative team that school-based administrators as well as central office. updates are made and it will be the new superintendent's um task to work with those folks to determine and to present to the board um how language in the code of student conduct regarding a cell phone free uh education or instructional day will be handled. Uh but the policy specific no cell phones during the instructional day is included in the drafts that you have for first read. Uh, I'm not sure the best way to proceed here. Uh, because this is a non-action non-action non-action item, but I just like uh I'll give the board an opportunity after I share some concerns that I have. I've gone
038through all of these proposals. someone were to look at JFCM, it has to do with student cell phone and smart devices. There is a paragraph that reads, "Students are permitted to use and possess cell phones and smart devices on school property before or after the bell to bell." Now, that's part of the sentence. The very next paragraph says, "From bell to bell, students are restricted from using or possessing cell phones on school property." Now, if you can take it to school with you, but can't use it from bell to bell, what do you do with it when the bell rings, if you're not allowed to have it on school property? That's one of the concerns that I have with some of the policies, the way they are uh presented. Uh there are a number of
039others I won't go on, but since the cell phone policy is one of those, this policy is absolutely inconsistent, I do not know how anyone could follow it without being wrong. Any other comments? Um, as far as what students do with their phones when they are on school property, I do know that um, at least in my personal experience with my child that it is expected to be off and out of sight and that includes not in a pocket. So, it must be in a book bag, totally out of sight because I know my son left his book bag. he had this phone in his pocket and it was turned into the office because it cannot be on your personal possession at all. I don't know if that answers your question or not. It it's
040not a question. And I think that that policy needs to be restructured so that it meets the expectation because as soon as I'm sitting here, there's going to be a student that will arrive at school with a doctor's note that says that they have to have some electronic device that monitors some medical circumstance for that child. How we integrate that into the school's policy is a I think a matter of importance to everyone so that we are not unnecessarily hindering a student that needs some kind of electronic device but that we are also trying to follow the governor's and the law currently of bell-to-bell non-use of a own. But I I appreciate what you're saying. There needs to be if you if you can take it to school, but you can't have it on school
041property, that needs to be adjusted. There needs to be a way or a method that every student understands so that there's a way to meet that. Mr. I would like to suggest that each of us take the time between now and our July meeting to read the governor's executive order on this subject. There's a lot of health information in there that we need to think about. read the law and read the VSBA policy and come up with some suggestions. Now, I attended a uh the governor when he came out with the executive order, there was discussions around the state and uh I went to one of these discussions and there was uh numerous there were many teachers there and they had some pretty innovative thoughts about how these cell phones can be uh dealt with
042uh during the course of the day so that the student does not have possession of them. I think we need to get together and compare notes and come up with a viable policy uh that I hope will be adhered to and in uh uh and followed. Any other discussion on this item hearing? None. Information items. The uh disciplinary committee report. I know it says Dr. Lewis, but I will defer to Mrs. Duncan if you have something that you'd like to share. Do we have the presentation that we can make? Like for me? Yes. Could you please? Yes. Thank you. We have a presentation. I'm Dr. Grimes could make that presentation. Okay. Dr. Grimes. All right. Actually, um, Mr. Chair, board members, we have members from the discipline committee here um who are going to provide
043the presentation for you. Just a little bit of background. It says Dr. Lewis. Dr. Lewis had a death in her family with us this evening. Um but what um I would like to bring forth to the board is that this discipline committee um as you uh really uh remember came forth came about because Miss Duncan made a motion and the board accepted that we form a committee to review all of our current discipline policies. Included in that review is discipline. Um in that review of discipline is our handbook and our code of conduct. She had specific requests about membership of that committee. We did have four parents to serve on the committee. Um uh an administrator from each school, Dr. Lewis, um Mr. Wilson, school board rep, and Miss Duncan, school board rep. Uh the
044there had there were three meetings held of the discipline committee. Does he have the presentation? I don't think I have a PDF version. I don't have the actual presentation. Okay. I don't have a present. I was asking. I don't have a presentation tonight. I wasn't given one. Was it not? It's on the It's on the agenda. Talk about the email. Send it to Marsha. You can share it with me. I'm happy to Yes. Share it. Actually, Mr. Wilson, do you have it? Yes. Um, please, because he's logged in. All right. There were three meetings of the discipline committee. Um the first meeting was held on May 1st. During that meeting, uh policies related to student discipline were distributed as well as the code of student conduct and title 22.1 of the code of Virginia that
045regards discipline. Uh an explanation of disciplinary processes and procedures was provided and some specific definitions were also discussed. The second meeting was held on May 2nd, I'm sorry, May 7th. And during that meeting um between the first meeting and the second meeting members of the discipline committee actually the parents on the discipline committee had reviewed the information read through the information and the entire discussion was centered around the areas of focus for them. What comments they had, what thoughts they had, what suggestions they had uh and as well as their general observations of student conduct and quite frankly where we may or may not fall short uh in its enforcement. email was not working. The third meeting was held on May 13th. Uh and that meeting was um the purpose of that meeting was to
046go through the information that had been shared by the parents on the discipline committee to hash out um what they wanted to have uh included in tonight's report um so that they could make recommendations to the school board. Um and once we have presentation up. The members of the committee will want to speak about their recommendations between um the meetings and the discipline committee meetings and tonight's meeting. uh discipline committee members were provided with a draft of the presentation that you will see tonight. They were given the opportunity to make comments. Um each slide was assigned to uh a member of the committee, but we don't have all members of the committee. Um so we will just lean on the three of you who were present to fill in. You all did a fantastic job
047of sharing your thoughts. Um please don't feel like you have to stick to what the information that's on the slides. Um it is much more authentic when you speak from the heart and share freely like quite frankly like you did in the discipline committee meetings about what you um identified in our code of student conduct as well as what you know about how discipline is handled in our schools. Did you receive it Marshall? Um it is I don't have the presentation format the PDF form of it so we can at least bring that part. It's on a screen. There we go. Good. Yeah. Um and before we get started, let me name the members um so that those who are here might be recognized. Um in their absence, I will say that we had on
048the committee Dr. Lewis, Miss Lzinski, principal of ENTC, uh, Miss Painter, who is here this evening, uh, Mr. Paige, who is in Chicago, uh, Amy Saunders, who is the assistant principal at the middle school, Mr. Reggie Wilson, who is standing before you, Miss Kiara Hurt, our school social worker, who is here this evening. Um, our school board members, as said before, Mr. Charles Wilson and Miss Michelle Duncan. We had Mr. Robert Bobby Carw who is a parent. Uh, Miss Jalita Fitzgerald Booker, who is standing before you as a parent rep, and Miss McKenzie Schrader, who is standing before you as a parent rep. So, we are at recommendations. Okay. All right. I I'll try to take the lead. Uh, Dr. Lewis was in charge of doing most of the slides, but I'll attempt to go
049through and and um touch on them. uh with the recommendations um the accountability adherence of procedures and expectations. We talked about how uh almost like we just talked about the cell phone policy with it being even in the code of conduct us really having to as administrators and school officials adhere to those policies and procedures and enforce them. Um and and uh we talked about the frequent infractions, the cell phones, the class removals, office referrals, and it was all like Dr. Grime said, it was a rich discussion because they had questions, the board members had questions. We were able to answer some of the questions and have some discussions about it. So everybody had a better understanding of some of the things in the code of conduct as well as how it works in the
050school and how easy some of the things are to enforce and how difficult some of them are to enforce. And we had a good discussion around a lot of those things [Music] y'all slides. [Music] All right. what we talk about with the the parental involvement. Um, as schools, we're really trying to work harder to get the PTA and and different parental groups involved in the school to help with some of the issues that we deal with dayto-day. Um, and I know uh, Miss Booker, she's on one of the PTAs and and I think she kind of brought that up and how and from a parent perspective realizing how hard it is for us to get the parents to really even just come to the meetings, let alone really be active in some of the things
051that we're doing. That was our slide. This one is mine. That's all right. You need to speak. Yeah. Hi. That was my slide. He took the words out of my mouth. But I am Jalita Fitzgerald Booker and I have I will have five children next year going to um Nawway County Public Schools. I have since this meeting I have heard so many different things. Um I have mixed emotions about a lot of it. But we do have a bullying problem here. Um it the little kids, the intermediate kids, it's in every school. people don't think their children do certain things. Um I know we have cameras, some parents have to be shown and I asked Dr. Grimes and Mr. um Mr. Wilson himself. I'm like, so what do you do when the parents don't listen?
052And they said, you know, we can't parent the parents, you know, but that's the major problem here. We can't do anything with the children if the parent doesn't listen to the child. So, I don't know this. It's a big problem. It's a really big problem here. And we can't pick and choose who has to follow the rules and who doesn't. Like, everybody has to follow the same rules. Or the children will see like, you know, children learn stuff. They will see like, okay, well, they pick and chose this person, so all I have to do is go get my parent, they will cuss you out, and then I don't have to do anything. I can still do what I want to do. We can't do that as a school system cuz it's not working. It's
053not working at all. And I've seen some people's papers and from doctors who saying that bullying is a problem. It's sad. It's really sad here. And we do we try to get parents involved. I'm I'm the PTA president at um Blackstone Primary. So, I'm trying to get the parents and the teachers to bridge that gap because if we don't, it's just going to keep going on. And I've tried everything in my power. I've begged people to join PTA. people just don't come out. They don't care. We have to do something so they care about their kids. I don't know what it's going to take. And I hope it's not something bad, you know? Exactly. Cuz it's it's it's a lot. Then I you guys deal with a lot, but somebody has to stand on business
054and really like when a few parents call and say something, if they feel that they can bully the staff and the students, other students and the school board, they're going to keep doing it if you give them the power to do it. Thank you. Cuz that's the truth. Next thing was um school communication, school to home communication, teachers to parents um regarding behavior, grades, attendance, um administrators to parents as followup to teachers, positive phone calls, kudos versus only negative information. So, as a parent, I want to know everything. I want to know the good, I want to know the bad. Um, a lot of times it's really easy for any um, anybody to to focus just on the negative, but hearing those good things is something that we mentioned too that really, you know, helps
055with everything overall. But we need to be, in my opinion, blowing the parents' phones up. if they're not getting what they need from those students at school. We've got to figure out a way to make those parents more accountable. I know everybody wants to blame the school and I'm sure there's things that you guys can do to make that better, but it's not all just a school. Uh I've seen it on both sides because I sub and I'm a parent of kids in multiple schools. Um, I see both sides of it. And it's it's not just the school system. It's parents not being involved, too. It's everybody's problem. It's it's everyone, right? It takes all of us. It takes all of us to make it better for our our students. The right one source is
056not it's not good. Back to you, All right. We kind of already hit on this with some of the recommendations. what we had talked about is making sure that the discipline process is clearly defined. Um, and just like Dr. Graham said, as administrators, every summer we sit down and we look at it. We talk about uh what we can do better. Um, how things can be worded differently. uh you know just just try to refine the process but we talked about actually making sure that the teachers understand it more clearly and try to make sure the parents understand it more clearly. Um and even with the the next you go to the next slide. [Music] All right. And this uh the code of Virginia um section here the lady just read that alert earlier. Um
057and and we we talked intensely about this as well, the the bullying and and what we can do. Um as well as just like I said to clarify to the parents and everybody the difference between bullying and peer conflict. Um because with us we have to handle it totally different ways. You know if it's if it's a true bullying situation you know we we investigate we try to talk to everybody. we call home and and we the process is the to address it. But if it's a peer conflict where is a back and forth, it's it's handled totally different. But a lot of times the we get the same report is is bullying, but it's not always bullying. But but we but like I said, we we we t we had intensive conversations about that
058and and just like she said, and I'm not going to stand here and say there's no bullying going on in school. It happens when you when you have young people together. There's disagreements and and we try to do the best we can to work through them and address them as they come to us. Mr. Carwall spoke passionately about the enforcement of discipline policies in the schools as well as bullying uh versus peer conflict. I'm not going to try to put out the words that he said, but suffice it to say that in summary, Mr. Carwal's point was clearly made and clearly taken that if it is written that this is the procedure that we follow, then we need to follow the procedure from the classroom all the way up through administration. um speak similar to
059what um Miss Miss Booker said um uh as well as um Miss uh Schrader that you can't pick and choose who it is that you uh enforce it with because of how parents respond or not respond. Um and at the end of the day, schools administrators get hung up on language because when reports are made, the reports are made based on specific words because that's the way it has to be reported to the state. But where we fall short and where we can certainly do better is talking to parents like people and not like the people at the um Department of Education and just making it clear this last sentence of this slide. It doesn't matter whether it's bullying technically or not. If there's a report that comes to you, regardless of who it comes
060from that a child feels like they are not welcomed in the school, like they are being picked on or bullied or harassed or whatever it is, it needs to be fully investigated. Parents need to be communicated with even if it's even if the outcome is not what they want to hear uh and then followed up on. Um and and the consequences that need to be made need to be made. I'll speaking of consequences, I'll just say that I also think our administrators in their efforts to try to explain things again fall back. They think that parents are have the same level of understanding about the processes and the rules that they have and the people at the Department of Education has. It is inaccurate to say that a student in third grade or less cannot
061receive a consequence for negative behaviors. I think what the administrator was trying to convey is that there is a law that restricts what can happen to a child in third grade or below and basically it says they can't be suspended more than 3 days at a time but it doesn't mean they can't be consequenced for it. Um and so I think sometimes in their desire or their eagerness to try to explain they muddle muddy it up kind of like Mr. Wilson did with this slide here. um because they're they're trying to walk the line of well what do I say without saying too much but then they're hung up on the language. End of the day it doesn't matter. I don't care if the if the child is technically bullied or not. If they don't
062feel like they're welcome then it's a problem and we need to figure it out. [Music] Is this yours? No. All right. Uh, one of the recommendations and we kind of hit up hit on it already is to uh try to have some regular community parent chats or or different uh events where we can get together and and and talk. Um, also we going to work hard to try to get our PTAs and different things that and hopefully um even just people seeing this will will be more inclined to join the school's PTA or be more involved with with the schools cuz we we need all the help we can get because it it's it's hard when the only comments we get are we see it on Facebook or somewhere else instead of we having conversations
063where we can get positive feedback. Well, even negative feedback, get feedback and and we can work together. I just wanted to speak on this because it was my one of my recommendations for PTA to start something like we after all talking about it, we said coffee chats or parent chats. It's a lot of people at Blackstone Primary, they like to have conversations and we were trying to figure out all the whole year like how could we do that? So when somebody else bought it up, I thought it was a good idea. This will be my second year and we're going to try to do that at least monthly like just have community involve. It'll be a part of our community involvement. We do a lot of community involvement but it's not a lot of talking
064and you know talking stuff out. So we're going to try that and see how that works. see if we can get some more involvement and have, you know, calm conversations, get our points across and see, you know, what's on everybody's mind and then maybe we can get some more people to come and talk to you guys. Do we have PTAs at all five schools? No, it's just the primaries, isn't it? The parents don't come. All five schools are set up to have set up. Um, the difficulty is the PTA is not a school organization. It has to be run by parents. Um, and having parents who are willing to step up and to lead the organization is where the difficulty lies. That's right. At the same time though, I can say as a parent, I
065have never been reached out to to ask to do it or don't know to do it. Communication can be improved. Absolutely. Yeah. So, like I knew that there was one at Crew Primary cuz they've pushed it a lot there and they've messaged me about it and stuff, but I didn't know they did it for the other schools. All right, next slide. All right. uh the ENTC u Miss Slit Sled was there with us um and we had some discussions about um how we work together um because the students that go there obviously are our students and Amelia's and they have their code of conduct is kind of a combination of the two schools. So she and I and uh Miss Hajis, we communicate quite a bit about the A&TC expectations and um how they mirror
066the high schools and what we talked about doing and we kind of do it anyway, but like if they if an infraction happens at ENTC, they'll be disciplined at the high school. Um and then we also went and talk about some of the protocols um because they in auto body and some of the class they using some heavy equipment or some machinery and so um restrictions about the heavy equipment as well as if a student maybe is concussed from uh accident PE or or sports they can't participate until they're cleared by the doctor just like with any other activity. Board members, you all have any comments? [Music] Yes, sir. Very good. Got a question? Yes. Uh, I understand I probably don't fully understand the lack of parent participation and involvement. And I absolutely cannot imagine
067the family life that some of our students are existing in. Uh, and that's terrible. And, uh, what's the answer? I don't know about that. But I've got one question in particularly for you, Mr. Wilson. Uh, what's the purpose of Nawway County Public Schools? That's what to educate students. Yeah. What what what are we here for? To educate students. To educate students. When there is discipline problems in the classroom, how much education is taking place? Right. And I will suggest to you, I've got 10 grandkids and I've been around them. They're a wide range of ages and they get distracted and they can get distracted pretty easily. They don't care what anybody's saying. And that's exactly what's happening in our classrooms. And that needs to be in my view a large part of this discussion. It
068it was it it was a large part of the discussion. Um and just like Dr. Grimes said with with the K K3 where is certain regulations where they can only be suspended 3 days is it's certain regulations all the way up. They they vary with the the incident of consequence, but we we just can't chop the head off and dismiss them. is is is a process and and and there's regulations that are outlined by the state that we have to follow and I understand that and I believe also that there are alternative means uh that need to be explored and I won't go into any of the details on that now that's not really the place uh for that but the time but uh that education is suffering We need to fix that. Yes, sir.
069I know you're being How much longer do you think this committee needs to stay together? Uh, well, the committee is is done. We we met the the number of times and then we that's to put the the the PowerPoint together and in this presentation I hear what you're saying, Mr. all and some will agree, but I still feel like that parents really need to be involved cuz I'm involved. You and you know I don't play and it shows in your child. Yeah. So I don't play like that. So if a parent is not involved now we're saying Mr. Wilson, we need you to raise our children. That's the that's you know that's what I'm I'm I'm seeing. No, you're not gonna raise my children. You understand what I'm saying? Yes, sir. I'm gonna raise my
070children. And that's what all parents should be raising their children. When you send to them to school, you should your your discipline should be fine. All that's supposed be at home. You understand what I'm saying? So, that's nice and all, but I think it starts at home first. I'm from the old school. It start at home first. And when you get to school, act up if you want to. That's going to be a problem. That That's what I That's all I got to say. Charles and I were raised by the same father. I think you like that at different times. I mean, it was just a that circumstance. But my concern, if you don't mind, I'll provide clarification about the the question about how long or how much longer the discipline committee needs to meet.
071I think that this committee um the work that was done was to the purpose of what was asked and that motion that was made and approved by the board. Um but that does not mean the work has to stop. You have a new superintendent who was very much aware of the concerns that have been raised and uh not just from the members of the committee but the parents who've been here for the last 3 months or so talking about bullying in schools. and the superintendent, the incoming superintendent certainly has the prerogative to continue with this committee to add to it to continue the work of refining and updating uh practices and communications about practices based upon parent feedback. The board also has um the purview to form a board committee if it so chooses regarding
072uh this issue as well. But I I would encourage the board to really um if if it pleases the board to really uh have those conversations with your incoming superintendent who ultimately is responsible for working with your principles and administrators. I appreciate that. I have one question. How many kindergartens through third graders were given three-day suspension? He's not going to have that. I wouldn't have that information. We probably can get that information. Yeah. Yeah. Get that information. I would like to know that also. We talked about parenting, right? I would like to know that. And if a parent's not involved, but little Joey gets sent home for 3 days because he keeps saying things that are inappropriate. You know, calling someone fat or ugly or all of those kinds of things. You can call me
073old. I understand that. You can call me stupid. I will believe you from time to time. that won't hurt me, won't bother me. It might a six or seveny old. Yes, sir. It sticks with you for life. If if you in some cases send that child home for 3 days, somebody at home is going to understand what's going on and they're going to want to know why little Joey isn't in school today. I don't think we're utilizing all of the tools that are available to us. We want to be nice people. We want to be softer, kinder, gentler. And I'm in favor of that when it's appropriate. That's not true. But these kinds of This isn't the first time, right? This isn't the first time we've had folks come up and talk to us now.
074I know that the other thing happens, right? It was in the newspaper just recently. They the parent called this the child a 9-year-old the gentle giant and the gentle giant doesn't like his teacher. Therefore, he rebelled against that teacher. We don't hire teachers on a are they going to be is the student going to be happy with them. We hire them for completely different circumstances. But I don't think we're using all the tools that are available to us in the current administration or in the hopefully in the future administration. and it will be different. I will respect I will Oh, I'm sorry. Go ahead. Uh I was just trying to patiently wait my turn. Um so, I've got a lot to say here. So, um the biggest takeaway that I saw in this um I'm
075going to have to guide my notes here. Our policies are good. They are they're aligned with the state. I cross reference state. They are good. There's not a question. And in fact, the entire committee agreed, and correct me if I'm wrong, the policies are good. Um, we have guidance on discipline that holds schools and students accountable as well as gives latitude for staff to take circumstances into consideration when disciplining. One note, Mr. Abbott, that you said when you said that um parents will get upset with their children. Nine times out of 10, the parents get upset with the school. I agree with that. holding this accountable and it's hard. Yes, we still have to do it. Now, with that all being said, um some questions were raised about, well, what happens if you're consistently having
076the same problem again and again and again? Um the information that was received is that um and this has to do with the bullying aspect because that's when you cross over into the bullying. So um first off policies are good that was the purpose of this is to find out are our policies good and then what can we do to make our schools better. So policies check one of the areas topics was bullying and communication. Okay. Um when it comes to the bullying, I ask the question if there is a situation and it is deemed to not fit the definition of bullying, then what happens when it is repetitive behavior that involves the same students? The answer I received was that it falls under the guidance of holding students accountable such as having those conversations
077with the students and explaining to the students that this behavior would not be tolerated and then at that point you progress in disciplinary procedures after that regard if the student continues to perform those same actions. Um, and then I asked, "At what point do those repeated actions become bullying?" Um, and forgive me, I do not I I didn't see it in my notes, so I don't know if I didn't write it down or or whatever, but I don't have the answer to that question. When it comes to bullying, I agree with everybody that we have behavioral issues. We do have concerns um within the division. Part of the problem is the parents. I admit it because parents have to hold their children accountable. And when a child is held accountable, you need to have that
078trust within the division and the families that you trust each other. You're telling me, Mr. Wilson, that my son did something. I don't trust you. I don't believe you. So I'm going to come lash out at you because my son Billy Joe Bob couldn't have done that. And as you shared, you have to show the families the videos. So there was a breakdown of communication that there is a trust issue between the schools and between the families. My personal opinion is we do have a misunderstanding on the definition of bullying. The one of the things that I have heard repetitively and this could be self taken or I could misunderstand the definition as far as what it was presented to me was what I have heard repetitively when it comes to the definition of bullying
079is power imbalance. Power imbalance. Power imbalance. And I truly believe that bullying had to possess from the individual who was doing the aggressive actions had to perceive that they were in a power over the victim. [Music] Because of this committee, I have to me a deepened understanding of the definition power imbalance and of bullying. If you read the definition and it was read earlier and it was listed, the power imbalance could be that the victim perceives the power imbalance, not just the aggressor. And I know that um Dr. Dr. Grimes hasn't had an opportunity to get it back to me, but one of the things that I question is, do we have a formula? And I didn't ask it in the committee. I didn't think of it at the time. Do we have a formula
080to define what is bullying? Do we have a sheet that we check off and that we we break it down even further so we're consistent across all the schools? So, we have a clearer understanding. Um, another thing that truly came out of the committee is accountability. It was admitted, I believe, by everybody in the committee, and if I'm wrong, I I want to be corrected. We are not holding students, parents, administrators, teachers accountable. The students are are having actions and they are not being held fully accountable. And I I feel bad for our administration because they do get backlashes from parents severely. I I know that. I've heard teachers say it to me. We're going to hear it from the parents and that makes it so hard to do the job and I get that
081and I feel bad for it. But if we have to start holding these students, these parents, our teachers, and our administrators all must be held accountable if we want to move forward. So to sum it up, really look at that definition of bullying. Um, and and hopefully I covered what you were going to share because I I picked up the same thing, Dr. Grimes that sometimes the bullying comes from the parents to the administrators and the teachers. Yeah. And the teachers and and and it's hard. That's one thing that I was going to say is I feel like teachers need more support. I don't know how to give it to them. you guys can or it's a lot because you know everybody in the office you have a lot of jobs but the teacher also
082has to maintain control over the class teach the class and then deal with Johnny over here who can't sit still and be quiet and stop messing with everybody and it does disrupt the whole class and once that child is removed in my perspective 95% of the time you're able to move on and everything's great but what I I mean, if that kid keeps doing it, what do you do at that point? How long do you keep kicking them out of class and redirecting them and calling parents and doing all that? That's one of the things talked about in the meeting that that I've always said that when you especially in these elementary years when you have children who are showing a pattern of disruptive behavior and I know Dr. Grimes you gave me guidance that
083you cannot you know make children accept certain aspects of counseling or therapy or positive behavior support you know that about it right you can tell them but you cannot make parents accept things but perhaps for those students we need to increase our PBIS our positive behavior enforcement you know we need to increase that I know schoolwide we have that but those students would be your targeted students start training them and giving them those skills because we all have sat up here and agreed starts at home. And if they're not getting it at home, the best we can do as educators is to give them every single skill that we can and empower them in it. I I get it. They still have to choose to do it. I get it. But at that young age
084when we start targeting those children that we're seeing the patterns they should be a target for us for the PBIS and we should be targeting them to give them every single support that we can more than I think more than what we are doing and I'm not knocking what what the the schools are doing because I know that they are trying. We have excellent teachers who love the students. They don't come here for a paycheck. And I know that because they could go elsewhere, right? They do it because they love the kids. We have to find a way, as you said, we need to support them more. Teachers, we need to hear from you. What do you need? What do you need? How how can we support more? And and it doesn't help to say,
085I'm not getting help. Bring ideas. I was taught a long time ago, don't bring a problem unless you bring a solution. Bring the solution. Give thoughts. Give ideas. Parents, give thoughts. Give ideas. Parents, you want to see a change? Those who are saying, "I'm having issues in the school and nobody's listened." Get involved. I was just going to say get involved. If you're not involved, nothing's going to change. I was just I'm sorry. I was just going to say I've sat here a few times. Mr. Our Lord has done the same thing. Wanting parents to come to the meeting. Am I wrong? Wanting parents come to the meeting. Say what you got to say. Keep bringing it. But this is this is what we got. This is what we got. So if you want change,
086come to the meeting. One more thing, Mr. uh Wilson. I had somebody to come and ask to tell me about you. And they said, "Well, first of all, they asked me where's I was up there. I was their um representative representative." And I said, "What? Where you lived?" And I said, "Yes." Said, "Yeah, I had Mr. Wilson 10 years ago, whatever." And he he he didn't play. He didn't play. And she also said that her child is going to Chesterfield and she wants to move him here. cuz I don't know if she going to do that or not cuz she said the bullying in Chesterfield is worse. It is worse than Chesterfield. Her child go there and being and actually really being bullied. So she has to go up to the school and then she
087said what she's finding in all the way because she got people children or nieces or whatever go here. She said it. I'm not going to say it's not happening cuz that that'd be a lie. But it's it is happening, but it's nowhere near. And I just testify. I've talked to others. Not as near. So, as educators, y'all keep doing your job. Keep doing the best you can. Keep fighting and do investigate every because you told me in the meeting, keep investigating everything that come to you. Okay, these parents are coming and I get it. Please say what you got to say, but none all these chairs here should be full of parents. If you having that problem, should be full of parents. Let us hear it. If you got to come at us like come,
088come on. But you can't keep saying that and then this is what you got. That's all I have to say. Anything else? No, sir. Yes, ma'am. I just want to say one thing, and I'm not pointing fingers at your teachers because we have some good teachers, but we have some teachers that need to be trained on these new age children cuz they don't know how to handle the children. Um, they don't know certain terms. They don't know certain behaviors. Some of your teachers can't follow directions, sample directions. So, I don't know. Staff has a job, too. Yes. Yes, sir. What is the first line of dealing with discipline problems in our schools by the Code of Virginia? It's in the law and it hits right with what you're saying. It's the teacher and the law
089is pretty clear on that. So, what do they need to be able to do their job? because that that's the first line of uh defense if you want to use that term. But thank you. Thank all of you. Thank you. We appreciate it. Yes. Positive effort. We'll go on with uh the Burke bill feasibility update. This is Meer. Good evening. Good evening. Um, short little updates tonight. I know I've got this one and one right after it. Um, you know, we met with the architect on May 28th. Um, he took away some notes from that meeting of some clarification points that he is going to be adding to the report. So, there should be a final report to me by the end of June because the time I've asked for it is by the end
090of the month. Um otherwise I know that you know we had also um kind of left the meeting with some potential other ideas for the building if in indeed it just was not feasible to spend the money to renovate. Um and I did meet with um Dr. August this week um to listen to some of her ideas. When I was at conference a couple weeks ago, there were actually several school divisions who do run a community resource center. Um, so I've reached out to some of them just to get some information um that I can be able to share with our new incoming superintendent as well as with you all just to have some other ideas of potential uses for that building. Um, you know, if we don't go the direction of actually opening it
091up as a school. Um, so you know, hopefully as we continue work session conversations, we can continue conversations about what that could what that could be and what that could entail just so that the building does not sit there and go to waste. Um, so you there are some possibilities out there um that we would be able to charge rent for and be able to, you know, earn some potential income with. Um, so I'd like to be able to, you know, investigate and and and really look, research those ideas to see what we could could potentially do, um, and how that could impact us. So, that's just a short little update for me this evening on that. I appreciate the brevity of that. Uh, one concern that I have is is if we try to
092convert it into some other application, is there anything that we're liable to have to change in that building so that it can be used by others? That's things that we would have to research and and and understand. Um, so I don't have the answer for that this evening. ADA compliant restrooms and those kinds of things. That could be potentially one of those. But I do know that, you know, if if it's a situation where we turn it into an actual community center where we rent it out to other 501c3 organizations, they have grants available to them for renovation um that we don't have access to um that would be able to potentially, you know, help. Obviously, there's got to be there's got to be legal agreements to be able to to do some of these
093things um to protect all parties, but there are options out there. Am I understanding that we could be in the real estate business as far as uh our building leasing business or something like that? Potentially, a lot of the school divisions have theirs sort of run through their community foundation or their education foundations. A lot of school divisions actually have a 501c3 um organization within the school division. Um I believe Nawway maybe used to have one uh many years ago um from just the research that I have been able to do. Um, and a lot of those the purpose of that that 501c3 organization within the school division is actually to bring in donations and to bring in other streams of revenue that the actual school division is not able to go after that um
094it's a way for them to be able to raise money to do projects to to for you know to have other programs. Um, you know, a lot of especially the larger school divisions have it because they have major corporations that like to donate a lot of money. Um, and it goes through them versus it going to the school division. Um, so there there's different avenues that we can look at for trying to utilize that building for something good. Um, and at the same time, you know, being able to one, cover the cost of operating the building and maintaining the building. Um, and two, maybe even, you know, earn enough revenue that we can use it to pay for programs at our other five schools, pay for potential renovations at our other five schools, depending on
095how much we can, you know, revenue we might be able to pull in. So, there are some options. Um, and I'd like to be able to kind of at least research and understand them so that, you know, you have a full comprehensive picture of what we can and cannot do. Thank you. I I'm going to ask uh the board uh is there a date that any of you think we need to set as what I'll call the drop dead date on decision making when it comes to what we're going to do with that facility. We want to I want to I personally and I'm just a member of the board. I want to be able to give Mrs. Meyer time to do this investigation. But at some point in time, we have to decide cuz
096currently that building's costing us about $5,800 less $4 to $600 a month that we make in revenue. Uh, so it's costing us about five five grand a month to keep it open and we don't use it. Use it strictly for storage. So the the county uh has loosely asked that the registar be able to stay through the November election because uh they failed to do what they were supposed to do when it came to notifications and so on. So, do we want to take uh and make December the uh drop dead date on what to do with that building? I'm fine with that. I was not at the meeting. I did give Miss Meyers a lengthy list of questions. uh and she just me or mentioned just before the meeting that she has had just
097emailed me with the answers to many of those. Uh [Music] I want to see the answers to my questions before I commit to anything or even think about committing to anything. Well, I I uh got a phone call from the county administrator last week and I simply asked the question, is there a possibility of getting any support from the board of supervisors for funding? Uh the answer came back in a rather simple two-letter word. No. Well, I mean, if if these figures that that we heard, I don't expect the board of supervisors to cough up $13 million. That that's that's out of the question. Wouldn't even think of asking them for that. What What are other means of getting the funding? Well, that's how a bond issue. We've done that before. I think we did
098that for at least two of the gyms, the new gyms, and the board of supervisors has to approve the bond issue because they're currently carrying the debt for that. Correct. Well, that that's that's the same as asking the board of supervisors for X amount of dollars. Thank you. They're the they're the taxing authority. They're not underwriting the debt, are they, in a bond issue? Well, the taxpayers of Nawway County are underwriting the debt, right? But the in in effect in a bond, the money is borrowed, correct? Correct. Okay. And the only way they can borrow it is to use the good faith and credit of the note county. Right. And their ability to pay it off in their with their line item in the budget is debt, right? So since we've had a 20 plus
099tax increase the last two years convincing the board of supervisors to come up with any amount of money is going to be a challenge. Not saying it isn't possible. That's why I would since the the county wants us to keep the registar in that building through November. I would use that as a a target date personally as a target date. I would also like to explore 22.1-129 code of Virginia surplus property sale exchange lease of real or personal property and ask the board of supervisors to give the school the authority to do whatever it needs to do with that building. What's the length of that those bond issues for the usually 20 years? We had two bond issues 2005 2007. The 2007 one still has two years to pay. Get paid off in July of
1002027. Okay. 20 years. Mhm. in there. Uh I think it's 178,000 or 278,000 is what's in the budget to pay the schools debt for that 2007 bond. [Music] Step to the next one. Budget update. So just a small budget update this evening. Um I don't have final numbers in front of me. the state did provide us their final calc tool for the current fiscal year so that we know what our um final payments are going to be. And then today I got an email saying that um the state's sales tax revenue is higher than forecasted so that we know that our final sales tax payments for FY25 which come in July and August um are going to be higher than what they anticipated. So right now trying to pinpoint one how much exactly we're going
101to have left over for the end of the fiscal year is a little difficult. Um now that we know that we going to get more sales tax than we were anticipating. Um and I said the final sales tax revenues for this fiscal year get paid out in July and August. Those always have to be acred back. Um so we're kind of in, you know, this little limbo right now. Um but I will say preliminary numbers, we don't have a lot left. um which is, you know, hopefully a good thing that shows that we're budgeting, you know, a lot better and we're not having this large amount left over. Um, so, you know, as we continue to dig into these numbers over the next few weeks, um, once payrolls are complete, that really gives me a
102really good idea of where we're at and what we have left over so that, you know, come July and August, I can give you all a really true update as far as how much we have left over, how much needs to get carried over, what purchase orders will need to get carried over and be reappropriated. Um, those should be coming potentially July and August. Um, I've been communicating with the county on potentially keeping our books open for 2 months since we still get sales tax payments in July and August. Um, and not closing out the fiscal year until the end of August and literally operating at a two. Um, there are several school divisions that do that and it makes it easier because you're not having to acrew money back. Um that way we actually
103can pinpoint to the penny um exactly how much we'll have left over and we want to maybe actually be to the penny what the auditors say. Um which is has is always a goal is to make sure we match what the auditors say. Um so you know you'll be coming either July or August. You'll get the information for the revenue that needs to get carried over and um the u reappropriation of any purchase orders that need to get carried over. Thank you. Simple budget, simple updates tonight. Any questions? Hearing none. Uh, ENTC report, Mr. Outlaw. Yes, ENTTC has been busy. They're always busy up there, it seems, and they have made some really uh uh great progress in a lot of areas. Uh, first off, they had a social the end of this year, and
104that was a huge success. Uh, and if you have not been to see it, the bug that sits out front of ENTC, the Volkswagen Beetle bug, uh, all of the students signed that. So, that adds another, uh, level of of interest, I think, for for that. Uh, all of the credentiing has been completed for the year. uh ENTC has gotten approval uh to be a nurses aid testing site which is a plus because students don't have to go somewhere else to to get that testing that has not been completed that testing has not been completed yet but at least it will be uh be done at ENTC. Uh we have three medical assistant students that are in the process of uh going to interviews for jobs. Uh three cosmetology students who graduated have jobs in
105that field. So those are two big pluses. Uh we are currently without a custodian. Uh, and Miss Sledzinski asked me to particularly uh give a shout out to uh Heather and Pam for all the help that they have uh rendered both in physical labor and equipment to get the school all cleaned up uh at the end of this year. And finally, uh the July ENTC meeting has been cancelled. We will have a straw poll. There's a banking issue that needs to be taken care of. Uh but that will be done with a a telephone or email straw straw pole. Uh next meeting uh will be in September. Thank you. Governor school, Miss Duncan. Thank you. Um they just of course as you know we've had multiple students graduate which was an amazing thing to see
106how many not students have graduated with their degrees. um and certificates. Um new student and rising um evening meeting was well attended, well attended. Um they did create a new boot camp for pre-calculus and calculus. Um students um are excited about it. It's being wellreceived. All staff will receive $1,000 bonus at the end of June. Um, Nawway did not fill all of their GVSS slots this year. Um, all staff is receiving a step in pay and a 3% raise. The next meeting will be July 23rd. Thank you. You can continue on with the SEAK report. Um, the next SEAK meeting has not been scheduled as of yet. Um, this month an email was sent out requesting meeting times. Um, as I shared in my response to the meeting time offers that, um, I request reconsideration
107of the meeting times once we're able to get more parents to attend. I am attempting this summer heavily to get more parental involvement to explain to parents that you don't need a degree. You need a student with an IEP. I didn't even realize what I did, but you know. Um but yes, um I am working heavily in trying to get more parental involvement in that area. And I did make that request that we could look at the timing again. um do another poll, but that is all for CEK. [Music] Thank you. Uh our superintendent's report, Dr. Grimes. Thank you. Um this is my final report to the school board. My final school board meeting uh in Ottawa County Public Schools as a superintendent. It has been my pleasure and privilege to serve the students, staff,
108and community of Nawway County Public Schools for the past six school years. I will be forever grateful to Jackie Hawks, Curtis Hurt, and Kelly Hinton for voting in as superintendent and to Bob Horn for being supportive during his term on the board. My first four months in the position from my first day, which was July 15, 2019, there were quote unprecedented uh end quote events that occurred. Perhaps most significantly, the pandemic of CO 19 and the closing of schools effective Friday, March 13 of 2020. Despite those challenges to long-standing and long-established practices regarding what makes school school, we through the work of our teachers, administrators, and staff members were able to continue to educate, feed, and support our students and our community during that time. As I reflect on my time here, I am proud
109to highlight that under my leadership, we modernized the financial accounting system and developed a strong and trusting relationship with the county administrators plural because there have been several and the staff at the county administrator's office. We shifted quickly to providing each student with a device to use for at home instruction during COVID. We were able to work within the budget we had to hire assistant principles for the four schools that did not have one. Setting us up to have our school principles be able to focus on instructional leadership, which is their major role when students are present rather than being managers, which is what they had been doing. And due to the paperwork that comes with that, not focusing as much as needed on student performance. Through my travels and networking, I identified new funding
110sources and new instructional resources that central office staff was able to apply for and secure so that students had the opportunity to learn as an example by way of VR instruction and updated radios for communication were secured and a massive grant, was it 14 million 12 $12 million uh was used to begin updating our building's HVAC and energy efficiency. A significant amount of time has been put into professional development of our principles, teaching them to think and act as instructional leaders, not managers. We started about four years ago with Ronis explaining and practicing with principles what it means to set and model the expectations for a positive school climate and culture. Then we started about three years ago with Abbott Consulting working directly with principles on conducting walkthroughs and observations and providing feedback focused on
111alignment and what I call productive struggle for improved student outcomes. For the past two years, we've worked with principles, assistant principles, and teacher leaders from each building, as well as the central office leaders with UVA on putting everything together and using the 90-day plan as the treat strategic guide for the division and for each school. Research says it takes about three to five years for outcomes to be seen and that has been true for us. Scores are improving. There's still work to be done. We want scores to be higher, but there have been improvements and our principles have grown leaps and bounds in understanding what instruction should look like and how it should occur in the classrooms. to the staff. The cafeteria workers, the custodians, the maintenance team, the mechanics, the bus drivers, the supervisors,
112the support staff, the third party contract workers serving our students, the aids, the nurses, the school counselors, the librarians, the social worker, the school resource officers, the school office staff, the central office team, the school-based administrators, and the leadership cabinet. Because of each of you showing up each day and putting your heart into this work that we do, striving to be champions for our students, we have made a difference. Thank you for making my time here productive and fulfilling. Fulfilling. Godspeed. Thank you, Doc. Thank you. Thank you, Dr. Grimes. Matters and school board interest, July 25th, the VSBA conference on education in Richmond. Please note that Dr. Margin will not be attending. August 11th is the back to school parking lot party. August 15th is convocations. There will be a July work session. It is
113not listed, but there will be a July work session. And I share with you at least uh two items that I am aware of. We all need the five board members need to come prepared to discuss goals and objectives so that we can meet with Dr. Martin in August and share with her our feelings on those things that will be part of her evaluation. As Mr. Outlaw mentioned uh we need to come prepared to discuss the phone policy and modifications changes recommendations [Music] for other Mr. Row. Uh I just like to say I want to reiterate what's been said um especially to ones that are watching online. We we need the community support and we need their presence and we need their ideas. Um we were elected to represent the people. We don't know everything.
114We need to support our parents and citizens to be present at these meetings and to let us know like Mr. Wilson said these seats should not be empty like this. That's right. We we need the voices and we need their ideas and we need their presence. We're representatives. We we were voted by the citizens of each of our five districts and we need their presence and we need their voices. Thank you. Thank you. And Mr. Wilson, I almost want to reiterate it again. Yeah, it's worth hearing. you have a student in Nawway County public schools, then you should be in these seats right here. It should never be empty. You have the problems. You have the different things that's going on. I get it. I get it. But you should you should be here. I
115get you want to talk, but you you don't say that and then you just leave. That might be the wrong thing to say, but I'm going say it anyway. You should still be here. We just had this conversation. Don't nobody in no seats. Mhm. So, what do you want us to do? You just said we're just representatives. We need to hear your voice. That's all I have to say. Thank you, Mr. Wilson. Mrs. Duncan, um I I I could, you know, toot the same horn. Um y'all know every single time I ask for seak um participation. Mhm. Um, I do need to get up with Miss Brown, I need to catch with you. I lost your information. I know you said that you wanted contact and I misplaced it. So, I need your information again,
116please. Okay. Um, but yes, be involved. Be part of the change. Change can happen. Not saying we've got bad schools, cuz we've got great schools. We do. We have great students. We have great administrators. We have great everything. Um there is room for improvement and if you want things to change, be part of the change. Um that's right. Um I do wish to ask for an update on um how there would I'd love to hear an update on the energy grant. Um the next board meeting if you could please let us know the things that we've accomplished with it. Um what we still have left to do. Um, in the next month or two, I would like to hear from our incoming superintendent an update either at um, work session is fine with me if
117the board agrees on the 90-day plan that the schools have as well as um, the special education routine monitoring monitoring that was conducted by VDOE. I'd like to hear the results of that and the action plan for um anything that needs to be adjusted, modified, changed, changed in that realm. Um other than that, I I I really want to say thank you to those who committed their time for um the committee. It was truly open, honest, and at times raw conversations. I was most impressed at the parents ability to speak what they thought. It was good and I loved that. And um I hope that the schools take away with the chats. I I realize parent participation is small. I get that. But mighty things come in small packages. And when you get started and
118you get moving, you know, it can grow. Um, I like the idea of communicating that with the families, helping families understand, as Dr. Grimes pointed out, sometimes we don't talk on the same playing field. You know, I I could I can have a conversation regarding special education with Charles be beside me, and if I'm using acronyms and I'm using the big words and everything else, he's not going to understand what I'm saying. So, I I appreciate that these things were brought out and hopefully as as Mr. Abbott alluded to that perhaps we do need to look into doing something on a more regular basis. Um, I'm not sure. I'm not saying we do. I'm not saying we don't, but I'm saying it's it's worth listening to our constituents. It's worth listening to our administration. It's
119worth listening to our teachers. How can we help? What can we do? and don't come empty-handed. We'll provide and be part of the solution. That's all. Thank you, Mr. Outlaw. Several months ago, we as a board voted uh on governance norms and protocols that we would adhere to. And I think it's time that we are reminded of what we voted on. And I'm going to read those items. We agree to employ the following norms in all our interactions. We will hear each opinion and ultimately act as one. We will speak candidly and courteously to each other and listen to dissenting or different viewpoints with an open mind. Once we reach a decision or compromise as a board, we will each support the will of the board. The chair or designate will speak as the official
120voice of the board. A single board member will not represent the board without the consent of the board. And the board members making personal statements in any format including speeches, articles, social media, etc. should clearly state that these statements are their opinion and not the position of the board. We will be mindful of the different roles and responsibilities throughout the school system and maintain a focus on policy governance and improving the education of NCPS students. We will be aware of the different roles that we play as individual board members. We will be focused on our work as a board and support the day-to-day operations of the school system which is the responsibility of the superintendent. We will maintain open communication with each other, the administration and the community at large. Information shared with one board
121member will be shared with all members as practicable. [Music] I have a couple of things. Uh, first of all, I'd like to uh thank those that uh handled the graduation. Uh, it was uh it wasn't perfect, but it worked out and we beat the rain. Yes, indeed. Uh we also had the opportunity to hear from the assistant principal about some of the scores, the test scores that show improvement at the high school. It's always good to hear good news. Indeed. I also think I owe the sports director a bit of an apology. I think he wanted to make a speech or make a presentation this evening and I thought there was space on the agenda and it didn't work out that way. So I'm going to invite him back next meeting so that he can
122have that opportunity. Uh, and then more on a a personal note, in an email that I asked uh our clerk to send to the board, I mentioned at the last board meeting that uh there was an issue uh parliamentary issue that I failed to uh handle. Parliamentary procedure was violated. It's been past practice that members speak without going through the chair. Up until last meeting, that has been acceptable. Once a motion is made, it is followed by a second, then discussion with a vote following all discussion. Each of you may recall that Miss Duncan mentioned Mr. Outlaw in her remarks prior to her vote at that last meeting. I interrupted her indicating that it was time to vote. She continued with her prepared statement. In my humble opinion, I think her comments were inappropriate. Hopefully,
123we can get past and focus on the division. We all have differences. Can we do it with decency is all I ask. May I have a motion for closed resolution? [Music] May I speak again, Mr. Chairman? Well, there is is finished. We need to go to the closed resolution. So, that is a no. Correct. I am pulling it up to read it, but I think that is not in alignment with it. But I will go ahead with what you're saying. Pursuant to section 2.2-3711A of the code of Virginia, I move that the board convene a closed meeting for the purpose of discussing the following specific matters. A one, the consideration of personnel, four A, 26 appointments, two custodians, one health and PE teacher, one art teacher, three substitute, one principal, four teacher leaders, one temporary
124instructor, one reading specialist, one librarian, one assistant principal, seven elementary teachers, one English teacher, and two math teachers. B, informational 15 resignations. C one retirements, D one termination, and E personnel matters. We've heard the motion. Is there a second? Second. Any discussion? Excuse me. 14 resignations. I apologize. This is crossed out. There was a second. Any discussion? Hearing none. All in favor signify