001board. We will have a moment of silence followed by Representative Ro leading us in prayer if you choose to followed by the pledge and we would appreciate it if you're capable of standing when that happens. Let us pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you for tonight, for this moment in time. Thank you tonight for our school board allowing to come together. Thank you for our superintendent, our clerk, and members of the media, the parents, the staff, the teachers, our SRO's, all that have come tonight to help us to conduct the business of Nawway County Public Schools. We thank you for your mercy, for your wisdom, for your grace, and for your protection. In the mighty name of Jesus, we pray. Amen. Amen. [Music] I aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to
002the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. I have a motion to approve the agenda for April 10th. So move. Is there a second? Second. Any discussion? Hearing none. All in favor signify by saying I. I. Awards and recognition. School highlights ENTC. Dr. Martin. Good evening, Mr. Chairman, members of the board, and Dr. Grimes. Our highlights this evening come from the Ameilia Nautay Technical Center. Miss Ledzinski will be showcasing the collision repair technology course this evening. So, I'm going to turn it over to her. Thank you. Get your presentation. Good evening, members of the school board. Dr. crimes. Mayor, our collision um program is a two-year program that certifies our students in the art of collision repair. Students learn damage analysis, non-structural analysis, estimating, welding, and
003damage repair. In collision repair technology 1, in collision repair technology 2, they continue their repair training by painting, refinishing, and detailing. This is all done in their junior year of this particular course. By their senior year, the students are able to continue with structural repairs and completely repair a vehicle from start to finish. Some of the materials the students are working with include metal refinishing and body fillers, and this preps and repairs the panels for the of the vehicle. At the end of this 2-year program, all the students obtain two certifications by the automotive automotive service excellence collision repair and refinish program. They are the non-structural analysis and damage repair and painting refinishing. Additionally, our program is actually fully nationally accredited through the automotive service excellence educational foundation. This is they're sorry they are accredited
004in the areas of damage analysis, estimating and customer service. This is a um process is actually every two and a half years goes through a mini renewal and then every 5 years it gets fully accredited. Our program is up for renewal full accreditation in 2026. Here are some of our students that are working on one of the students vehicles. You can see that they are scanning out some of the dents and dings. And at the end of the day, this is what the vehicle looked like. You can see where the hood is kind of got the uh collar. Um it's I'm sorry, it's a cowl induction hood. I had to ask what that was. That I was like, what is that? Um, the student actually completely fabricated himself. So that was a flat hood and
005he completely cut out the space, created that little bump for airflow. I was like, "Well, what does that do?" He's like, "It just looks cool." I said, "Okay, you like it, I like it." And completely repainted that. So, you can't see it in the picture, unfortunately, but the um truck itself actually has like these flexcks to it, so it almost looks like different colors. Oh, wow. This is another vehicle. The gray up there, that gray track, that's what it looked like before the painting. And the purple again has this flex. And this one is actually really cool because it does change colors as you look at the different lights. Wow. And then my favorite pictures. This is my favorite project they did is our ENTC bug. Um, as you can see, the bug, um, let's
006just say was a little used when we got it. Uh, the kids completely redid everything. They had to restructure all of the bottom paneling and everything. You can see they started to two-tone paint in the second picture there. And this is what sits out front now. And at the end of the year, this is our senior project. The end of the year, the seniors, um, all of the completers for ENTC will have a chance to sign their name to leave a lasting impression on ENTC. Nice. That's if you all have not gone by to see this, you really Mr. editor Billy. Good. Yes. The kids did a great job doing it and it it's got this nice little fade from the from the gold to gray. So, nice job. Will they work on cars from
007the public? Like an assistant has cuz my wife drove the pickup truck and a fence jumped out in front of the side of the truck. Yeah. Will they buff it out? Yes, they will. So, if you give us a call, we'll have our team. We get a good picture of that yellow. We'll get a good picture of that boat. They they are willing to work ethic. I think they're looking for some projects right now. Thank you. Thank you guys. Thank you very much. Our sports awards. Uh Dr. Grimes. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Before I do the sports awards, I'd just like to add fort that um the auto body students also have done some work on our vehicles for Nway County Public Schools when we have had some dings, some dents, some scratches, some imperfections,
008they have um done a fantastic job of doing the repairs on those two. So, uh they really do good work under the supervision of Mr. Sprdlin who is the teacher there. All right. Uh Mr. Chair, board members, it is my absolute pleasure. Uh we are here for our kids, right? And it is always my favorite thing to do to recognize our students for their accomplishments. And at this point in the agenda, we are going to recognize our uh 2024 2025 winter sports recognitions. Um and uh we will we I I understand that some of our students are not here this evening because we are in the spring sports and we have baseball and softball uh going on today, but we will recognize them in their absence as well. And as always, Mr. Abbott, we have
009certificates if you would like to uh do the honor of handing those out. All right, starting with girls basketball, we have Anna Lee, who is second team all James River District and second team all region 2A. For Kaw's basketball, we recognize Jamaran Wright. Second team all James River District. And we recognize Xavier McCain, first team all James River District. Second team all region 2A. For indoor track, we recognize Bradley Hamilton, all region 2A for the 1600 meter and the 1,000 meter, all state 1600 meter and 1,000 meter, and national qualified 1600 meter and 1,000 meter. And with wrestling, we recognize Colton Lewis. Lewis, first team all district, first team all region, state qualifier. Elliot Weight, first team all district, first team all region, state qualifier. And Braden Gillerini, second team all district, second team all
010region. our VSBA regional art participants and winner rhymes. All right. Uh, each year we participate in um, we have students artwork to be submitted for participation in the Virginia School Boards Association Southside Regional Art Contest. This year it was held on March 12 um at uh the uh regional southside uh meeting through the SBA. Uh the art contest was started in 1989 to promote the artistic talents of Virginia's public school students. And for each region there are nine. A winner is chosen for the elementary, middle, and high school levels. Um, and for this year, it gives me great pleasure to recognize the following students whose artwork was submitted uh to the VSBA art contest uh and uh whose work um we had one student who placed and so that is also a great honor and
011we have had a student to place each year for several years now in this art contest. So, first we'd like to recognize uh Sophia Ramirez Escalante from Crew Primary School. She is a first grader and her submission was titled Mosaic Rainbow. Beautiful, sweetheart. Good job. Bueno, go ahead. Can you smile picture? Very good. Excellent. All right. [Music] You show it to us, Sunny. When you're done, [Music] are you okay? Do you have enough? Oh, I can get back on you. I know. [Music] Oh, yeah. [Music] Yeah. Did you get to take this home or we gonna keep wrestling it away from her? [Music] Next, we recognize our high school entry. Kaylee Carpenter, a 10th grader, uh had the entry Bright Rose um submitted. And then also, these kids are talented. Yes, they are. Yes, indeed.
012Can you hear them? Let me see it. Oh, wow. Go ahead. All right. That's not attached. It's not attached. And then this year we had uh for the middle school entry uh Chase Wilbourne, an eighth grader Hackard in the red and his entry received third place for middle school. There you go. One, two, and three. One more time. One, two, and three. Good job. Would you would you like a really good picture? Congratulations, young man. [Music] certificate. Now to National Assistant Principles Week, April 7th through the 11th. Dr. Grimes. Thank you. Um, this week we recognize our National Assistant Principles. Uh, this is celebration of the unsung heroes in our education system. These dedicated folks work tirelessly to bolster teachers, motivate students, support their principal, create a positive learning in the community, and face the
013many unpredictable challenges that land on their desk. Our assistant principles play a crucial role, and this week is a dedicated time to recognize them for their hard work and commitment to our schools, students, and profession. Uh each of our assistant principles received a little certificate recognition um of of their role here in Nawway County Public Schools just thanking them for what it is that they do on a daily basis. And I ask that you all join us in celebrating these incredible school leaders. And on to the 2025 SVRTC award. That stands for Southside Virginia Regional Technology Consortium. Dr. Martin. Good evening again. Each year, individuals are selected to represent Nawway as part of the Southside Virginia Regional Technology Consortium. I have the privilege to present to the board these individuals that have helped to advance
014technology or provide technology support within our school division. individuals are recognized as either the technology teacher, the instructional support or technology support in those areas. Um, and they were recognized back in March at the annual banquet that they have. But so first and I want to tell you a little bit about him is Steve Ledger. You can come on up here. Do you have their certificate? Um, so Steve is our computer technology um guru at this point. All things technology. Steve's expertise and proactive approach to supporting technology makes him highly deserving of this award. His quick learning and his adaptability. He's mastered the role swiftly providing efficient and effective technology support across the district. technology prepares uh repairs. He supports teachers by quickly diagnosing and repairing technology issues, ensuring minimal disruption to learning. There's a
015lot of collaboration with the tech team which is very small. It's just a few of us but uh he works very closely with the tech team to resolve issues and implement solutions for the district's technology needs. Um he is overseeing our go our Google domain merger that we are in the process of doing. So he's the main point of contact and lead in the integration of the Google domain merger project improving district-wide technology um systems that we have and he provides support across all five schools in the district. Um he provides comprehensive support to five schools including fixing student devices, deploying devices for students and teachers and maintaining all of those new line boards that I know he so loves when they come in and he gets to put them all together. So um I
016present to you Steve Ledger. [Music] So our instructional technology support award goes to Janelle Terry. She's a teacher at the intermediate school and I have to say she's a former student of mine. So I'm so proud of her. Janelle's dedication to the professional growth and her ability to support the integration of Mastery Connect makes her highly deserving of this award. Um, she supports technology by doing the following across the division for us. She's the teacher leader in Mastery Connect. She serves as a key leader for us guiding teachers and staff through the effective use of the platform to monitor and track student progress. training in small groups. She provides targeted training to small groups, ensuring staff are equipped with the knowledge to use Mastery Connect effectively. She has provided schoolwide trainings. She leads the professional
017development sessions supporting school staff and understanding how to use it for student success. And she's offered individualized trainings for people giving one-on-one support tailoring the training to the individual teacher needs to ensure optimal use of Mastery Connect. And then the collaboration with the administrators. She works closely with the school administration to integrate mastery connect across the buildings ensuring consistent implementation and support for datadriven decision-making as well as working with our mastery connect representative to support the learning. So I present to you Janelle Terry. And finally, and I do not think she is here this evening, um the technology teacher award goes to Ashley Duncan Staylor at Nawway Middle School. um at she may be at a track meet tonight. I'm not sure because I think she does track. Um but the areas that she has
018supported in the use of technology in her classroom, she uses Desmos to help students visualize and explore complex mathematical concepts, promoting interactive learning. She seamlessly integrates technology with math instruction to enhance learning and reinforce traditional methods. She maximizes the use of Chromebooks to support student centered learning, providing access to resources and assignments. She incorporates the Waycom tablet for hands-on interaction with mathematical content, allowing monitoring and facilitation of math learning. So, if you want to know what a Waycom tablet is, it is a tablet that she can walk around the classroom with to monitor students while she's displaying and writing on the board for them to see the math instruction instead of having to go to the board every time and write. So, she integrates that in the classroom. Um, she integrates tools like the new
019line panels and other resources creating an engaging interactive classroom environment that meets diverse students needs. So, of course, um I'd like to highlight Miss Ashley Duncan Staylor at the middle school. [Music] I think I'm here again. And the Nawway County Public School Top employer for interns award. So, we learned about this right before spring break. The official notification came out on April 1st and Nawway County Public Schools was selected as a top employer for interns award. Um, Nawway County Public Schools has been recognized as a recipient of the 2025 top employers for interns award through the Virginia Talent and Opportunity Partnership for Region 3. This award recognizes the commitment to providing worked-based learning opportunities for students through internship offerings. In addition to recognizing the division for the outstanding honor, um I have to recognize Devin
020Foster. He's not able to be here. He's at a conference uh this evening or this the rest of this week. Um and he's now Dr. Devin Foster. So um for his unwavering support of that internship program, I brought the idea to Devon several years ago and I can say he hit the ground running with it and has made it extremely successful for our students. the program and opportunities for our students continue to grow through his dedication and commitment to that program. So, uh, congratulations to Nawway County Public Schools for being recognized as the top employer for interns. Thank you. This is delegations from the public. Mr. Chairman, we had one of our students walk in that was awarded. Could we acknowledge him, please? Artist one athletes. athletes. Athletes. Okay. I'd be happy to. I gave
021all of the certificates to his president. Yeah, I think he gave it. [Music] This is kind of what you referred to as an early warning mug shot with you have to come here. Hold that stir up. You go right there. You got robbed. The basket was good on the last game. Congratulations for recognizing sir. Uh delegations from the public. Just a brief note. Uh board members generally will not respond to comments made during delegations from the public during regular board meetings. However, if there is actionable material presented, there will be followup. And the person that is on our list is Audrey Brown. Yes. Good evening, everybody. Good evening. Good evening. I want to thank you guys for letting me come up and speak. And I promise I won't be before you long, but there's three
022items that I feel I need to talk about. And I am I do admit I am late to the plate. Okay, I am late. So, you know, whenever you can um if you don't mind, I'd like some you know, just a response or whatever. Okay, my first item is the uh Burkeville feasibility update. Um in your plans for the school, I would like you to think about the use. Um take the existing use into consideration. Uh since the school has closed, the building has become a place of public service. We have feed more pantry there. There's a physical mental health classes and exercise if that's what your thing is, physical exercise. Um so just consider these things. Consider it as a community center in your future plans. Okay. One of the reasons why we want
023the pantry is because there is no other building in NA County with electrical capacity to handle the freezes. Okay. The elderly people walk around the gym. They come in between the hours of whenever the registar is open. They walk around the gym. They communicate and then they leave. Okay. So that's another reason why we want it open. All right. Um my other issue is it's not an issue in our superintendent search. The education of our children should be more important than personal agendas. We need a superintendent who has our children's education future first and foremost and can maneuver through the new laws and policies and reductions in funding. This person needs to ensure note county public schools number one maintains accreditation. Two ensures the quality of education such that it increases our students ability to
024compete in any market or on any playing field. and three ensure a positive attitude and uh atmosphere conducive to the educating and learning. We need the best for our children and not you know just any oldbody for our community. Okay. The other thing just a little pet peeve of mine uh last meeting the um there was a a substitute update and there was a database and I did not hear from the presenter whether or not what was the rotation cycle on this database. Okay. Did the database start each day on number one or did day two start at the last person it called in that day? Okay. Also, um, as part of the rotation cycle, I did not hear whether or not, uh, the cycle resets after a 30-day call up. Okay. So, um, that's
025it. I thank you very much for listening to me and like I said, I am late to the game. If any of these issues are off track, just let me know and um, we'll deal with them another way. Okay. Thank you. Thank you for taking the time to come speak to us. Yes. Thank you. May I have a motion for the consent agenda? So moved. Is there a second? Second. Any discussion? Hearing none. All in favor signify by saying I. I. [Music] Approval of the 2526 local special education annual plan part B follow-th through application and report. Dr. Lewis. Good evening, Mr. Chair, members of the school board, Dr. Grimes. Um, I'm before you this evening requesting approval for the 2526 annual special education plan. The plan is a component of the Virginia Department of
026Education's way of ensuring that the local educational agencies are in compliance with the implementation of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act federal implementation regulations. The division's ex expenditure budget includes a local and state contribution towards special education services with the amount of 2 million 624,000 2,62426,81. This is the total based on last year's funding as we are still awaiting next year's allocation to be released. Local funds must be used prior to us accessing the federal 611 funds. The IDA, which is the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, Part B, section 611 grant funds will be expended to help offset the cost associated with personnel salaries, benefits of six special education teachers, one pair professional, a car driver for day placements. In addition to personal personnel funds, In addition, personnel funds will be used to provide occupational
027therapy, physical therapy, vision, speech and language therapy, um as well as professional development for students working with students that'll be identified under the comprehensive coordinative educational, you know, early intervention services, which we call CCIS, but I made sure I brought the what it stands for. um materials and supplies will be purchased to support students with disabilities as well. The grant also requires a proportionate share of funds to be set aside to offset the costs associated with providing speech and language therapy for students who are enrolled in private day schools, private schools like Kinston and those homeschool within the division. In addition to our IDA Part B, section 619 grant funds will be expended to help offset the cost of one early childhood special education teacher and the cost of providing occupational therapy, physical therapy, speech
028therapy um to our preschool students with disabilities. In addition to personnel funds, funds will be used to provide materials and supplies for those students that are in our early childhood special education program. Um, therefore, I'm requesting that the board approve our 2025 2026 annual special education plan for next year. May I have a motion? So moved. Second. Any discussion? Now is the time if you have questions. And what is the amount on that again? It's 2 million 624 226. and 81 cent. Thank you, sir. Any other questions? Hearing none. All in favor signify by saying I. I. Thank you. Calendar adjustment request. Dr. Martin, the invisible Dr. Greer. [Music] Good evening again. So this evening we are recommending a minor adjustment to the 2425 school calendar that would move the last day of school for
029students from Friday, June 6th to Thursday, June 5th and the last day from for teachers from Monday, June 9th to Friday, June 6th. This recommendation is made with confidence that the division has met and will continue to exceed the minimum instructional hour requirements set forth in the code of Virginia. Therefore, no instructional time will be compromised as a result of this change. In addition to meeting statutory requirements, this adjustment offers several benefits. It provides a clear and natural end to the school year for both students and staff rather than requiring teachers to return the following Monday for a single workday. It allows the custodial and maintenance staff to begin summer cleaning and preparations on Monday, June 9th, without overlap or disruption caused by staff still being in the buildings. It supports end ofear planning and
030transitions, helping school administrators and support teams coordinate summer programming and facility use more effectively and efficiently. And it ultimately improves staff morale by concluding the year on a Friday, aligning with the traditional weekly work cycles and supporting uh personnel travel or family planning. This is contingent on us not missing any additional days between now and the end of the school year. So, I request your permission to adjust the calendar. I need a motion to approve the adjustment conditionally. So moved. Is there a second? Second. Any discussion? All in favor signify by saying I. I. Thank you. Thank you. Now for information items. Sergeant Sawyer. Sergeant Sawyer. Who is our lead or supervisory SRO currently assigned to the high school? Yes. And uh first I just want to take this time to thank Dr. Grimes and
031the school board for allowing me to come and speak and to thank Dr. Grimes for allowing us to utilize the building uh last Friday which was very successful. Uh the county we did a countywide uh mass casualty here at the school. We train so that we can be prepared. We don't ever want that to happen. We prepare for that not to happen, but we want to be prepared in case it ever does. It was very successful. And I just want to take this time I tell my my high school kids who came out on uh Friday of the last day of spring break. They volunteered to come out here and spend 8 hours with us. I just want to take this time to thank them high school kids. They know who they are. Uh for
032them coming out and being able to play. Without them, the training wouldn't have gone off as well as it did. Having them to be able to exit the building. Uh we did everything that the school would have done in case of an emergency. So I just want to take that time and thank you guys for allowing us use of the building. Don't sell don't sell yourself short. I mean that training was it was well thought out, well intentioned. Uh, and it was no holes barred with the prosthetics, uh, the the blood, the materials, the the the supplies necessary to carry people if necessary. So, you know, don't sell short what it was that you did just by saying we had a training and it was successful. You all went all in as though it were
033a real event that occurred. Um, and yet the kids were here, um, taking part in it and wearing the prosthetics and, you know, going all in with what it was they were doing, too. But I think it's important for the community and the board to recognize that this wasn't just a a paper, right? It wasn't just a sit down and talk about it, but you guys actually went through walking kids out, protecting them in case of a need to evacuate a building, all of So, it's not my presentation, but All right. No, I I do appreciate that. Um, the recognition was appreciate you. I I will tell you, we hadn't done something countywide like that um in a long time, and it was a long time coming, but the county needs to be proud. they
034came together. We did our job and thank you Dr. Grimes again. Uh and so what I'm asking on that part uh is if the board will allow us use of the facility every year during that time frame, we will clean the building. Um I was mopping floors. I will make sure that your building is clean and prepared for the next week of school. But if the board would approve allowing the sheriff's office and the uh county of Nawway to be able to use and train every year, I will make sure we coordinate it and we will have a training every year so that we can be prepared and be as safe as possible. That's a great idea. Thank you, sir. Great idea. Thank you. The other reason I'm here and I understand times are hard.
035school board, uh, the board of supervisors. Financially, we are in some hard times and I understand that and and for me to come up here and ask you guys for any kind of financial uh, backing is it was hard for me to do it. Uh, last year I put on a summer camp through Virginia rules and that is through uh, the department of um, hold on one second. DCJ. Yeah, DCJ DCJS. And actually, it's actually put on through um attorney uh attorney general general's uh office. He funds it. He gives us a grant that we apply for. It's a reimburseable grant for anywhere between5 and $7,000. I was able to get that grant last year and we put the camp on. The camp was a huge success. I had parents burning my phone up asking
036why their child wasn't there. It was a pilot program. Uh and you know what a pilot program is. We just did it as a trial run to see how successful the program would be. I gave pictures. I'm hoping all you guys got to look at the pictures. They don't even do it justice to what we were able to accomplish that week and still educate our children during the summer. When I first moved here, I'm not from here. I moved here and planted my roots here in Ottawa County. I'm from Denwitty. And one of the things I realized was and a lot of the first meetings I came was that we're not doing things for the kids from the board meetings. So, I took that opportunity and and the division has done this and we started
037it and we spent the 5,000 reimburseable grant. We were reimbursed. The reason I'm coming to you tonight is because that money is not guaranteed. That reimburseable $5,000 is not guaranteed. I'm going to apply for the grant again. I'm working on it right now as we speak. Um I'm asking not just you guys, the school board, but I'm also going to be asking the board next week for $3,600 every year to help me fund this camp. that will put a 100 kids in the camp and we can partner with y'all on how to select these children or y'all can continue to let me select them the way we've been doing seeing kids in need and putting them in this program. Um the reason I'm saying 36, you're saying, "Well, that's more than the 5,000 is because
038that 5,000 did 44 children last year. This year I want to go to 100." We're ready. I've got five SRO's. It's myself and the other four others who care about these children and want to spend a summer with a summer a week in the summer with them teaching them about laws, saying no to drugs, uh saying no to being made to do things because it's part of the cool crowd. We had children, listen, we had 20 children out of the 44 who had never been fishing, not a day in their life, and they all caught fish that week. and the smiles on their face and it might seem small but to that child when he came to school he was talking she was talking they they were quiet in school they opened up and made
039friends so the program to me and I maybe I'm tooting my own horn but it was so successful that I I beg the sheriff to let me do this every year and he gave me the go-ahad but I need I can't do it without your guys' help uh again I I don't what the board's going to tell me. I know what they've been saying in meetings. I'm sure we all seen it. I'm asking for $3,600. And what that goes to is every child gets a camp shirt. This is our camp shirt for this year. I just got it finished and designed. Uh every child gets a t-shirt. We feed the children. We have to get it catered. uh we don't want to, you know, feed the kids anything that's uh wrong and make them sick.
040So, we hire an agency that is insured and brings out the food and the cost just in the food is around $3,000. Um and it's going to be a little bit more cuz I'm going for 100 kids and I haven't gotten my quote back yet. I can just tell you that it was at $3,000 last year. The money also pays for arts and crafts. It pays for fishing, tackle, and gear for them to be able to fish. We partnered with, if you see them there, Virginia Department of Game and Fisheries. They come out and they do demonstration for a day. They teach the kids how to fish, the laws of fishing, and get them loving the outdoors. I will tell you this. Number one, thank y'all for the cell phone policy. Awesome job. Number two,
041that whole week we never saw a cell phone. And that was before we did the policy on cell phones. Not one time did a child bring a cell phone out that entire week. And it was so wonderful to see. So I just I'm asking for $3,600 from each agency if you can find it in somewhere. Well, let me try this. Uh, let me move a mo or ask for a motion to appropriate $3,600 through our finance director with the approval of the superintendent if funds are available. Second. Any other discussion? Hearing none. All in favor signify by saying I. I. That's as good as we can do right now. And last thing is I haven't been up I haven't been up here to talk to you guys in two years. So if you guys have
042any questions about the program, I brought some notes and stuff so I have some answers for you guys. So any I'm shoot them at me if you got anything. Where do you fish? Well, I fish the Atmatics River. I'm a river fisher. The camp. Oh, so I'm sorry. The camp is held at uh we all know you fish. Um, so it's probably some of you will probably remember it as Woodsman's campground and then some of you will probably know it as uh Mullins and Stark Campground. Uh, Stark is now pulled out so it's just Mullins's uh, campground. So that's where it's got a nice little pond right there and uh, stacked full of fish. So they stay a whole week. So we don't stay nights. Um, I'm that's as we go through the years. Uh
043the high school kids have begged me for an overnight camp, but I got to find a way to fund that. Uh I'll work on that later. Uh but we stayed just during the day. Just during the day. Okay. During the day. Yeah. But the high school kids have asked me cuz we do is we do fourth grade to 9th grade and it's a cut off there. The high schools um want me to do a three night stay uh and they want to have the same kind of program and just be able to stay the night. So that I'm going to work on that um as the years go on as long as we keep being successful and and this program is working. So how do you transport them? How are they transported? Dr. Grimes uh
044utilized we utilized school bus last year. Uh Mr. Rash was our bus driver. He met them here at 6:45 I mean uh 7:45. Picked them up and brought them to the uh facility, picked them up at 3:45 and had them back here at 4. We had a law enforcement officer follow the bus was stationed here in the mornings and follow the bus in the evenings. Make sure all of our children got home safe and sound and and that was just for the the moms that couldn't bring or moms or dads couldn't bring them to the camp. A lot of them did ride the bus. Yes. Anything else? Well, as a board I'll speak for the board without them saying so, but we all truly appreciate what the SRO's do in our schools. Yes, indeed. it.
045Uh, I mentioned this before. I visited the middle school and the SR or the intermediate school and the SRO was out in the rain. It was cold in the rain and he greeted every child with either a fist bump or he got a hug. And that's not unusual for the SRO's. Mhm. They are active throughout the school system complex and at the two primary schools. I mean, it's we're fortunate to have the dedicated officers that we have and that's that's thanks to you guys allowing us to be able to be part of your family and we're going to continue to do as y'all anytime y'all need us, we're going to be there. you know, rest assured that as long as long as I'm here and in charge of making sure we can get that stuff
046done, uh I've worked very closely with Dr. Grimes and we've been able to accomplish everything that she's asked us to do, we've been there for. So, thank you. appreciate the fact that you guys did this training with everything that's going on with schools and you guys come up here to do that cuz we some of us got children in school and I am so thankful that that you all took the time out to do that. It's a real Yes, indeed. And that's that's why we asked for the facility because we want to do a three-day event. we want to do. Uh I I did some research on the um what other places were doing and they're doing it in three days because I had planned for a three day a three event. We were going
047to use a high school, middle school, intermediate and because we were so intense as Dr. Grimes was saying doing the training, we didn't even have time to do the third event. So that's why we're asking if we can have access to the facility that week so that we can do more extensive making sure we get all them events accomplished because we don't want to do just one event. Um we want to do like we just for example we used a Parkland shooting um as but we add in another shooter that would get away and we did use our dog and we tracked into the woods. Uh so things like that and we want to be able to get as many events as we can so that we can be trained and and Dr. Grimes as
048you said we were carrying we we have new carriers that uh Buddy Hyde the emergency coordinator got in on a grant and that was the first time they were utilized and they worked perfect. They really did. So thank y'all. Thank you'all for thanking for that. [Music] I would like to extend a vote of confidence to our esteemed financial director, Mrs. Heather Meyer, that she will be able to find the funds necessary to fund this. Uh, no more pressure, no pressure, just a little bit pressure. Just a little pressure whatsoever. and and and I'm um perhaps shouldn't challenge this, but I challenge our our board of supervisors if we can find the money for something this important. We talk about making a difference in community. We talk about we want better children. We talk about we
049want a better community. The only way you're going to get a better community is to invest in your community. I know funds are tight. I get it. I see the numbers. Yes, our personal funds are tight. Multiple families are working multiple jobs to make ends meet. But we have to invest and find $3,600. So I challenge our board of supervisors to meet us in the middle. That's right. We'll cover a little bit of that here in a little bit, but thank you. Thank you all so much. Our esteemed finance director wall feasibility study update. I actually do not have an update. Um I was not able to get any information from our architect who seems on vacation this week. So I will hope to have something to you all soon. Great. How about a budget
050update? I do have that. That budget update is there 3600 extra too soon. That is what she'll find it in the turnup. Hey, she'll find it in the turnup in the corner, please. Uh, yes. Um, so this is just a budget update. As of the end of the third quarter of the school year, sorry, my eyeball is itching a little bit. My allergies are driving nuts. So, bear with me. Um, so year to date, we've received about 71% of our operating revenue. Um, this does not include any grant revenue. This is just strictly um our operating revenue with our state and local and our federal ROC funds and then any other funds we get. But you notice our other fund category is is slightly elevated. A good chunk of that is um insurance payments for
051damaged vehicles that we've turned around had to pay out to have fixed um or some other you know insurance things that we we've had over the years. So that that's a little inflated. Not normally that high. Um just randomly things sometimes happen. Um but overall we are about where almost to the 75% mark which is kind of where we should be at this point in the year being um in our fourth quarter. Um for expenditure update there again we have spent 73% of our anticipated um budget for the year. Um now you will see there again our operations and maintenance is a little bit high there. Again we've had some unexpected repairs that we have had to do this year. Um, so we are a little bit high on that. Typically, we hit the 100%
052mark with them around the May mark. So, we're a little early on that. So, you know, we'll be tracking that hard and heavy over the next quarter just to make sure that we do not go over that too much. Um, but overall as a whole, we are about right where we need to be. Um, so we've got about, you know, 25% of our budget left going into the last quarter of the year, which is typically some spending starts to decrease a little bit, um, just because, you know, we're we're wrapping up things and ending things. Um, so that's kind of where we're at just within revenue and expenditures. Um, I know one of the biggest things that you're interested in is kind of where we're at with ADM and what that means for budget. Um,
053as of March 31st, our ADM was at 1,668.39. Um, what does that mean for us? Well, that that means it's going to be a reduction in our budget of approximately 572,000. Now, I say could be. We don't have a signed state budget yet. We know that there's amendments in the state budget that'll affect not only this school year, but next school year. So until we have that um I that that number is subject to change. Um now I did base it upon the current um general assembly amended budget cuz based upon um the amendments that the governor recommended. He didn't really take away a lot of the stuff for education. He did add some stuff for education. So I kind of based it off of that just to see where we would be. But it
054does look like it's about a reduction of about 572,000 as of right now. Um so once we get the final signed bill and I get the final c tool from the state then I'll be able to know exactly to the penny what that reduction is going to be. Um so that is where we are at for the year. Um my next project is determining where we will be June 30th and that I numbers too early to tell. Thank you. You're welcome. Have you seen a um benefit from contracting the the contracted service for vehicles? Um we have seen a benefit um one our drivers love them, but it's also nice to have something that that is is driving around town that actually has our logo on it. Um, but but it it it's it's nice
055to be able to take some older vehicles that are just not as stable anymore off the road and be able to put some of our students that we're transporting in vehicles that are more apt to be on the road and more and, you know, safer to be out there. Um, but overall over, you know, a three-year period, we will save ourselves um a decent amount of money and I hope that we can be able to um continue to fund so over the years we can continue to um weed out some of our old vehicles. I will say, and I cannot remember off the top of my head, there's actually a um city here in Virginia, they've been using Enterprise for their fleet management now for 5 years, and it completely selfunds itself. So they no
056longer have anything that comes out of their budget with the constant cycle of selling um the um cars and getting new. It's basically funded itself at this point. Um and that is something that I I would like to strive towards. That way we can always have the safest vehicles on the road for our students who are being transported in carts. Any other questions? Any other questions? Thank you. Welcome. update on the 21st century grants. Dr. Martin, this evening, our site coordinators, Miss Nelson at Crew Primary, um, and Miss Clary at Blackstone Primary, Miss Sap could not be here this evening. She's the intermediate middle school coordinator, are going to share some updates on the 21st century programs at their schools, the benefits, and the progress of the work within the programs. um also the opportunities
057this grant provides for our children and some of the upcoming activities they have. We are approaching the year the end of year two and we'll be in our final year of the grant next school year. So the 2526 is the last year of this grant for us. I do have to commend our site coordinators for the work that they do with the programming um in each of their buildings and ensuring that activities are aligned with academic standards. Um they have exceeded their student attendance expectations this year. um they have more kids I think some days than they know what to do with. Uh and they still have more kids every day wanting to participate. So I do have to commend them for all of the work that they do to ensure that this program runs
058very successfully for our children. So, I'm going to turn it over to them [Music] now. Push this right here. Good evening, school board members, Dr. Grimes, and guests. My name is Jennifer Nelson. I'm the school librarian at Crew Primary School, as well as the site coordinator. Miss Melissa Claire is a third grade teacher at Blackstone Primary School as well as the uh uh coordinator at Blackstone and uh Robin Sap who isn't here with us this evening is the school librarian for the middle school as well as the coordinator for the intermediate and middle school. Um thank you for allowing us to speak this evening. um our 21st century program objectives as you can see this year for reading and math during the 2024 school year 80% of regular program participants uh those attending 30 or
059more days will demonstrate improved performance on the standards of learning assessments in reading and math. uh for discipline by June 2025, 50% of students participating in the 21st century program for 30 or more days will show a 10% decrease in school suspensions as evidenced by behavior records. And for attendance by the end of the 2024 2025 school year, 90% of all students participating in the program will maintain good school attendance by remaining under 10% of the chronic absenteeism rate of 10%. At this time, Nanowi County Public School has met or exceeded the state's objectives for this school year. So, a little update about Blackstone Primary School. At our present time for the morning program, we proudly serve 21 students that attend regularly, while our afternoon program has grown to accommodate 189 students. A lot. Yes,
060a lot. Furthermore, we are pleased to announce that the recent addition of 25 new students through our so boot camp, which is targeted for our third and fourth graders to get gear to get in gear for our SOS. And the grow growth reflects our commitment to providing remediation and enriching educational opportunities for all of our students. On our slide right here, we have a presentation, a video. This is our enrichment group. It's called prize, and shake. They participated at the youth league basketball games on a Saturday, which they don't have to do. And all the girls showed up. It's mostly second graders and first graders who participate, and they really love dancing and cheering at the games. Some of our remediation groups um we have first through fourth grade which is Monday through Thursday. They
061are led by grade level teachers at this time. They do tier 2 and tier three instruction. Any type of small group or any student that didn't get that that tier three instruction during school hours, they can get it at this time. Um we do reading remediation with our librarian. She does it with all the students who have a reading plan. Um it is varied. Sometimes it's with our first graders, sometimes it's with our third graders. Um and then our so boot camp is our third and our fourth graders and is led by our third and fourth grade teachers. And as I stated, that's one of our enrichment programs is our pride stomp and shake. We also have boys club who is led by Mr. Folks. He is one of our first grade teachers. Um our
062kindness club who is led by our school counselor and our st our STEM activities who is led by our counselor and one of our spid teachers and STEM is led through Southside on Monday and Tuesday as well. [Music] um at Crew Primary School at present our morning program has 28 students, our afternoon program has 108 students and our um we recently had 40 students um between our third and fourth grade in our spark so prep program. Uh which again is specifically for our third and fourth graders as they prepare for the upcoming SOS. Um, I wanted to highlight our 25 dedicated staff members including uh Tammy Ael. Um, we have uh bus drivers, our secretary and cafeteria workers, classroom teachers and assistants, even Mr. Paige has gotten involved by uh leading some wrestling classes for
063our wrestling club. So, it truly is a collaborative effort that makes our program a success. We as well have our remediation programs. We have Alexia Zern program um utilizing some of the programs that uh we have in our classrooms this year to help enrich um and our so boot camp as well. We have a palms group um which is led by Miss Apps, one of our prek teachers. Um our sportsmanship program and we have the steam program as well. Here is our sportsmanship program. they have really enjoyed um having a kickball club and so we've been working a lot. Um a lot of our other grades have gotten involved with our third and fourth grade group and that's been really nice to see our big kids taking some of the younger kids under their wing.
064Not only to kind of show them how to play kickball, but also to show them, you know, how to be a good example and a good sport. This is Miss Abel's class. They read the book U Balloons Over Broadway and then they created their own little uh parade balloons at Thanksgiving time. And then we also wanted to talk about our partnership with SVCC who does our STEM programs on Monday and Tuesday, but they also have our family events. Uh generally those are Friday evenings. We have one coming up uh tomorrow actually. Um but they also do a couple on Saturdays as well. and we've done programs such as the Olympics. Um we did Boston Tea Party, uh Optical Illusions, and they also are in charge of our uh summer camp, our STEM camp, which we're
065going to talk about in a few minutes. I wanted to highlight one of our students this evening. This is Khalil Brown. And so Khalil is in Miss Abel's class, and he is an amazing artist. And so he has drawn uh they did a dinosaur unit recently and so he has drawn some of the dinosaurs that they learned about in Miss Abel's class first. Oh, so he has prepared a little speech to tell you about some of the things they learned about. I want to tell you I stand up. I want to tell you about my after school fun in 21st century. One of my favorite things is doing Zoom meetings with Miss Able. We do cool projects like making Easter baskets and clay animals. I also love learning about bees and bugs. They are so
066cool. Sometimes we take brain breaks. We dance and get our wiggles out. It is super fun. We also play with toys, draw and make things. I learned to draw dinosaurs and volcanoes. I made some special ones for you today. All right. Very well. He's first grade. Anyone that thinks bugs are cool is all right with me. You drew that. Go ahead. Look at that. Really good. Can I get a picture? Look at that. Do you want to go down? Show them. Look at that. Can I get a picture of it? Can you step back just a little bit for me, please? You hold it up. Go ahead. Oh, that's beautiful. Beautiful. Beautiful. Really good work. Thank you so much. One of the cool things that they did after their dinosaur unit was they got these
0673D dinosaurs from uh Miss Abel's cousin has a 3D printer. Sure that's not real. Good gracious. Go ahead. Wow. [Music] Yeah. Really? Look at that. Wow. Which one is your favorite? All right. Fantastic, sweetheart. Oh, yeah. You always work for the Wow. I couldn't eat it. Good job. You look like a stick. He going to be a wonderful talent. I'm going to speak on behalf of Miss Sap since she's not here tonight. So, Nawway Intermediate School boosts 104 registered students with an average monthly attendance of 32. Meanwhile, Nawway Middle School has 63 registered students and an average weekly attendance of 16. Some of the favorite activities among our participants include sewing, arts and crafts, basketball, and cooking. Here are a few pictures that she provided. Thank you. and as well she had a student by
068the name of Chase Woolburn who would like to come up and tell you a little bit about I would like to say that for the NY middle school 21st century program that students are allowed to learn get help from teachers and they're just allowed to have fun. All right. Congrats indeed. All right. And then the last component that we wanted to share with you, one of the uh one of my favorite parts of uh 21st century has been participating in the summer STEM camp. So every summer our students in grades 2 through six that are enrolled in the program uh have the chance to enjoy eight days at the Keysville campus. Um, and we work with the three ladies during the year who teach our uh, Monday and Tuesday STEM who also do our family
069programs. They are the same people that we work with during the summer. Um, and they do a lot of hands-on engaging opportunities for our students. So, each week through the summer, they showcase a distinct theme. Uh some of the themes that we've done are around the world where they pretended to be stewardesses and we learned about different places and countries around the world. Critter connections where we've learned about different animals. Uh flight where you'll see later on we uh got the experience of an actual helicopter coming and landing on the lawn at SUCC. We built par um we built um not parachutes um hot air balloons. Thank you. Um, we learned about bees. That was the first year that we worked with them and I honestly have learned so so much through the program. One
070of my favorites was uh CSI where uh we had a bomb squad come in and a drug sniffing dog. So, you're going to see uh what my favorite was when the uh the bomb squad come in came in and you're going to see that in uh the video. So um some of the themes that we've done was a medieval theme. These are some of our kids. We do have t um some days depending when SVCC is closed such on uh as Junth where the kids stay here and we do activities related to either the theme um with SVCC or we have activities for them as well. Um, one of our teachers a few years ago was um, hiking and so she taught them about setting up tents and how she um, survives out on the
071trail and how to pack a backpack and things like that. Um, this was during our critter adaptations on the left and then on the right they learned to play Oregon Trail. Um, so that was fun. Um during our space unit, this was our group that we had from Crew Primary School. We do take field trips as well. So this was at the 4 uh camp. Uh during this one, we were connecting it with a magic treehouse book and they had to build a structure that would would withstand a tornado. Um, we've done some where they brought in a leaf blower and they had to con uh construct a structure around themselves and see if they could stay in the structure without being blown away by a leaf blower. Um, so it's very hands-on. Uh, here's
072our helicopter experience and our hot air balloon and to go out with a bang. Nice. Wow. That's all we have for you since I've seen that. That was good. Have any questions for us? The good word. Thank you. Thank you so much. Amazing stuff. Okay. ENTTC report. Mr. Outlaw. Yes. things at uh ENTC have been and continue to move along very well under Miss Sledzinsk's uh principal ship. Uh recently all of the nurse assistants have completed their clinical and here in the next week or so will go on to take their uh written examination. So that's very exciting. probably the most exciting thing, something that's been in the in the works for a while, but we have hired a uh person to begin a carpentry class and that will begin the first of next year.
073Nice. Really, really excited about uh about that. So, thank you. uh the the GSSB report Duncan. Well, it's hard to top that one, but um I I think we have many students who are going to be very happy for multiple reasons and that is graduation is next month. Um so our students will not only graduate with their um I don't have the exact number. I do um I ask your forgiveness for that, but we would have multiple students who would graduate not only with their high school diploma, but also with their degree. That's good. Thank you. And you can continue on with the SEAK report. Um yes, we had our last meeting of the school year, April the 8th. Um the information that Dr. Lewis presented was presented to the SEAK team um which did
074include um all of the figures, the data, the number [Music] um in addition to that they did review a digital portfolio that has been shed to all special education staff. The digital portfolio enables um anyone from teachers to parents to help navigate special education when it comes to transition services. Um there is an up the final update from the federal monitoring the standard regular federal monitoring that all schools must complete should be completed in May. Between May and August, um actions will be planned for any changes that need to be made need to be made based upon the recommendations by VDOE. And then effective August, all adjustments necessary will be made. And then finally um in June, they intend on sending out um plans for scheduling for the remainder of the meetings. Um, again, I
075implore families um who have students who receive special education services to become involved. Um, this we the CAK wants to schedule it around the family schedule, but in order to schedule it around the family schedule, they have to have the family's input. So, it's kind of hard to make a schedule when you don't know what to make it for. So again, um, anybody could always reach out to me, they can reach out to the schoolboard office and receive more information. Thank you. Our superintendent's report, Dr. Grimes, sir, um, both our student liaison and our alternate had uh, conflicts tonight. One of those students is an athlete and is with the softball team which has a game had a game this evening in Cumberland if memory serves me correctly. Um so that is the explanation for
076the absence there. Um as you heard earlier this week we recognized our assistant principles for as a part of the national appreciation week. Um each one received a certificate um created by Miss Wood um and then um presented to to the assistant principles uh on behalf of uh school administration, schoolboard administration for the work that they do. We've heard so testing referenced a number of times tonight and it's because we are certainly in that time of the year where testing is um right upon us. if it starts next week at the high school um for what is uh referred to as per term grads. And basically what that means is we might have we do have some high school seniors who need to have a verified credit in order to graduate. So the state requires
077uh in order for a student to earn a diploma uh that they have to receive a certain number of verified credits. and a verified credit is received when the student both passes a class and the so that goes with that class. We have students who pass the class but not the so. Um and I I had a conversation with a a primary school parent today about SOS when the parent um's comment was along the lines that you know the SOS don't prepare the kids um for anything. And I said I tried to explain that the SOS are not um designed to test to prepare them for something. It's a test it's an assessment of how they're able to apply their skills and their knowledge. Um and we know that there are are many people who
078can do whatever it is that's put before them. But when you give them a test, whether it's on paper or a computer screen, it's a little more difficult for them to do. So we do have some students who struggle to pass the SOS. But th this uh these the these so tests that we give for what we call term grads allow students the opportunity to test early so that if they need to test again they have time to do so before graduation so that we maximize their opportunity to be able to walk across the stage when it's time to do so. Uh and then May 6 through 24 is the testing window for all of the SOS um for all subjects that have SOS assigned to them. So we um are you know coming up
079on the end of the school year and testing is a big part of that. Uh we do ask that kids uh come to school on time um for the testing. We want them to come to school on time all the time. But when we have test, there's no time limit on the tests. Um, and we want the kids to come on time to have the maximum opportunity to test to be able to eat or to come already um, having eaten so that they their bodies are also physically prepared for the test. Um, and that they be allowed to have as much time uh to to relax and sort of get into it when it's time to test. Uh, because testing is serious. you all are well aware that um much of our school's accreditation status
080is based upon what happens that one day that they take the test for a particular subject. Um so it there is a lot of pressure on the school's system for students to do well on the so test. Uh and then I as a reminder I have been saying this to the board in the updates uh email updates for a while but teacher appreciation week is the first week in May. Our principles have activities planned. The schoolboard office recognizes our teachers during uh teacher appreciation week. And I know that at least uh one board member has expressed to the board a desire to also um recognize teachers during that week um on behalf of the board. So I remind you again that the first week in May is teacher appreciation week. [Music] Thank you, Dr. Grimes.
081Other matters of schoolboard interest. Uh the Nawway County School Board will conduct interviews for the position of superintendent from April 14, 2025 to April 28, 2025. These interviews will be held in accordance with the Code of Virginia section 2.23712. In essence, that means they'll be done in close session or executive session. On May 29th, 2025, the ENTC joint board meeting at 6:30 at the Tech Center. April 23rd. Uh 2025 uh schoolboard work session. Uh that's at 6:00 p.m. May 10th is the uh Southside Virginia Community College uh graduation. Uh May 28th we have a schoolboard work [Music] session. On June 25th there is a schoolboard work session. [Music] And are there any uh other items that need to be discussed? I'll start with uh Mrs. Duncan. No, not at this time. Mr. Wilson? Not at
082this time. Mr. Row? Not at this time. Mr. Outlaw? Yes. Uh earlier today, Mr. Abbott and myself uh went to Blackstone Primary School and sat in on their professional leadership community meeting where the principal, Miss Painter and members of her staff and Dr. Martin were present and they went over how the school is progressing and very up-to-date information. But I think the biggest takeaway that I got from this was the excitement of the teachers and you could see that, you know, with the students. I mean, they were all excited about the program and what it's doing to improve uh Blackstone Primary. So, thank you very much. And I would encourage all of the board members when you can to find out when these events and they're they're happening on a pretty regular basis, but sit
083in on one or two of them. It's very [Music] important thing. I I appreciate that. I have attended two uh PLC meetings so far uh this portion of the year. uh they are interesting and it's been a long time since I've been in school, but you learn something. Uh and not only that, I I have the opportunity to share with those teachers and staff that are there uh how much they are appreciated for what they do. Uh also, uh crew uh primary schools and an N note intermediate schools will hold a math night. It's uh one of those activities. It'll be at the URA banquet hall. There are prizes, math activities for preK through the 6th grade. Uh and that's on uh April 15th from 5 to 7:00. on April 17th from 5 to 7
084at the uh Food Lion in Blackstone, the Blackstone Primary School. Again, preK uh will uh through will have uh a lot of student activities, snacks, and so on. And not to be outdone, the Nawway uh high school on May 17th will have a lot of fun. I believe uh they've encouraged the board to become uh targets for uh cream massages, I'll call them. They'll be a lot of other activities. May 17th Uh in addition to that uh I uh took on the uh assignment of handling uh policies E K and then a small portion of the J policies. I have reviewed those. I have shared with Dr. rhymes. uh three that I think need to be reviewed uh just to ensure that they are current with uh all of the changes in electronic devices and
085so on especially KBAE which is predominantly the FOYA policy that it uh covers uh the uh electronic data materials uh and KGB which is the non on active school property uh calculations if if those costs are current which is also part of the KGR. [Music] Uh in addition to that, I would ask for a motion to target the closing date of Bville Elementary to June 30. I attended the electoral board meeting just as a matter of information last Tuesday and as part of the discussion at the electoral board meeting. One of the electoral board members believes that it should stay open through November of this year. The school is not a participant in determining where the registars's office should be. That belongs between the electoral board, the registar or the supervisors and the county administrator.
086However, they are using as the fact that the this board has never said that they had to move. Therefore, I ask for that motion to target June 30 as that date. If we need to make accommodations or adjustments later, we can. But I would hope that there would be able to be support for that so that we can uh basically determine one way or the other. We should have all of the information for the feasibility study whether we're going to be able to proceed with the renovation of that to make it a primary school. If not, what will be the next steps uh anticipated closure but irrespective of either one of those two circumstances the registars's office won't be able to be there. So this will help accommodate that. So I will ask for that
087motion. So moved. Is there a second? Well, I will second it for discussion. Based on conversations I've had this week, I would prefer to wait until we get the results of the feasibility study before we can do any kind of vote on something like that. I've had conversations with myself and I think we should wait before we make a move like that. I guess I'm still a little confused as to why we're pushing this when discussions with the board of supervisors has always has already presented that they are in the process of moving in addition to that the time frames that the registar has to follow with the closeness to early elections. Um, I did the timeline out. Unless I did it inaccurately, which is possible, it's looking like it's not going to be until
088after the elections in November. I also am under the understanding that this is going to happen per communications. It's going to happen. So, why are we trying to push the narrative on this? I I don't understand that. The reason that I'm suggesting that is and the timeline and there is a member of the electoral board sitting in the audience so he can correct me if I say something that's inaccurate. A document I believe has been sent from the registar to the board of supervisors. The board of supervisors will vote next Thursday to send a letter to the attorney general. The attorney general has 60 days to respond. If he does not respond in that 60 days, then the registars's office can be moved. The registars's office cannot be moved prior to an election. The election
089is June the primary is June 17th. So after June 17th, it could be moved because the next election is not until 45 days before November. So that's sometime in September. So there would be the ballots of June, July and August to move the registar. The unfortunate thing is is a member of the electoral board says that the school boards never said we have to move at all and whether we have funding once we know what the expectation is from the feasibility study. Now, I believe we could hold this till May if we absolutely have to. I don't I personally don't see a reason to do that. If we need to change it in May, we can always change it. But in the meantime, there is at least a target date that gives the board of
090supervisors and the county administrator the understanding that the registar will move. Like Miss Duncan said, I think they've already made that determination that they're going to move. Not according to the electoral board, but the electoral board does not make the decision as far as where they stay. That is the board of supervisors decision. Am I correct? Well, that is the argument at times. And that's why I'm saying there is a it's not the school board's game. The only part that the school board has to play is is that we are responsible for the buildings. So if we say that the tenative closure date is June 30, but in May we we decide nope, it's not going to change, let's move it, then we could make the adjustment. But if we if we don't declare a
091date, a at least one member of the electoral board is going to say the school board has never said we have to move, so we don't have to. Mr. I think it would behoove the electoral board and the registar to move as soon after the June primary as possible because we have another election, the general election coming up in November. Back that up 45 days to when early voting starts and they're going to have some adjustments and and whatnot. And the earlier they move after the June primary, that will give them more time to get prepared for the general election, which is will be here before we know it. I'm just not ready to put dates on it yet. I need more information and based off conversations I've had that uh the registar doesn't think
092that he can do what he needs to do at the new place. So, I'm not ready to put dates on it yet. I'm just I'm I'm extremely concerned because um as it was presented to us tonight, we we've we've already lost our county has lost a very valuable resource as of the end of this month. The forgive me, I don't remember the name of it, but the food distribution site is leaving effective the end of the month, whereas in they're going to start removing their things. They serviced over 200 families a month. Now, we know we wanted to make this change perhaps, but we knew we wanted to plan. I agreed to the feasibility study because I want to know what I have. I do not want something to siphon money off of us, but
093in the same token, I need to know what I have before I can make a decision based on what I have. And we've already created a lack where there's already a need in our community which is food insecurity. It is there. It is present. Our county gets free lunches. They get free lunches for a reason because they are poverished individuals. There are children who come to school and this is the only meal that they will get. We as a result of our communications and as a result of our desires which our school our students come first. I will always make a decision based on the best for our students in the school system, not based on the public, not based on the board of supervisors or not based on my own agenda. What's going to
094serve them the best? And as a result, it has caused to me and my thoughts early departure of our need more service programs. Do we need to make changes? Yes. Something needs to happen. we need to use it or it needs to go. Uh I'm with I'm with everybody on that. But I do not think now is the time to cause more disservice or or disservice wasn't the right word, but to cause more upheaval when we don't even know what we're going to do. They know what we want. They know that something's going to change. They already know this. They have confirmed this. They've told the registar, "You're going to have to move." They made them a counter because they know they are going to be moving. I understand there's people who don't want to
095go. That's between them and the board of supervisors. Nothing with us. They're on a month-to-month lease now. Correct. Um who the registar was? Yes. Registar is there until the board of supervisors decides that they are going to move. So there isn't really a month a month. They do pay us but it's just we're waiting for a date. So, as soon as we know what we're going to do, I will stand behind anybody and say this is going to be our unified decision. But we don't know what we're going to do yet. And that decision could take us months out depending upon what we hear. I agree. I'm just not up for uprooting everything until the time comes. Give us consistency because we've already lost that service and that could have stayed there until the time
096came. Yeah, I agree, Miss Duncan. Mr. Row question. Did I understand you correctly to say that the registar said that the building in Blackstone is not suitable for his operation? That's what I was that's what he told me. Yes. Mr. Oliver, have you heard anything to that subject? So, I will comment right now. I'll comment as an individual, not on behalf of the electoral board. Um there have been discussions uh publicly even at board meetings where the registar does not believe that he will be able to conduct business in the way that he wishes to and he has submitted a letter on his behalf under himself as the registar uh to I believe Mr. Bowen regarding that as well as uh the chairman for the board of supervisors. Um, and to piggyback off of what
097Mr. Abbott has spoken earlier, he is 100% correct that we have 60 days once a letter has been submitted. A request for the board of supervisors to submit that letter to the attorney general's office has been made. How they move forward with that and when they conduct that will be their choice. The only thing that was missing was after the attorney general's office, there is one more step and that is that the request then has to go to Richmond. uh which is basically the state electoral board and they will do it. And one of the things that was brought up with whether or not there legal issues or legal guidelines that may or may not be met, uh, this decision was made that when moving forward, if there is approval by the attorney general's office
098and there's at approval by Richmond, then therefore it is their job and it is their duty to make sure that that site is feasible according with the Virginia statutes. And that is how based upon the vote and everything that was discussed publicly in our board meeting we move forward. Um so whether or not the registar agrees or disagrees or has any type of issues whatsoever we have done our duty to basically place it at the hands of the people in the state of Virginia that it is their job and their duty to make sure that the place is feasible. My understanding and I this may be wrong that the state board of elections has to approve this move. That is correct. After the attorney general's office has their 60 days to review it. Thank you,
099sir. [Music] I would like to make a friendly uh change to the motion and that we put that off until next month's meeting and let's move forward with getting all of the information so that we can make a more informed uh vote at that time. This is all pretty new stuff for most of us and I've heard nothing from anybody uh other than uh well I have heard but not from the general population but uh uh that would be uh friendly amendment. Well, I'll withdraw the motion. We can table we can table this till May. Uh it is my considered opinion though that we're going to make a decision one way or the other. In whichever way we make it, the registar cannot be in that building. Can't be in there if we turn it
100into a school. Can't be in there if we shut it down. Whether the registar wants to move or not has nothing to do with this board. This board runs the building. None of that other stuff. That's true. And this this board has to make the decision of what to do after that. So has to be a board decision. [Music] And you feel confident, Miss Meyer, that we will have the information from the uh company that's doing the feasibility study by next board meeting. The last call that I had with them in March was that they would have the the draft to us by um end of April. So I'm going to reach out to him on Monday to get some confirmation on that. Possible then maybe at our work session on May 23rd to present
101that information. Very possible if we have it. Yes. Just making form not just April 23rd, right? 23rd. Yeah. April 43rd. Yes. May I have the closed meeting resolution, please? Pursuant to section 2-2, I'm sorry, 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 the consideration of personnel for 11 appointments, six substitute teachers, one summer school nurse, one reset academy monitor and one temporary instructor, one summer school coordinator, one gifted facilitator, Bformational, five resignations, and C personnel matters. We've heard the motion. May I have a second? Second. Any discussion? All in favor signify by saying I. I. We were in close session.