001[Music] How did you have AAA batteries in your battery. [Music] I mean, you need just one. Yeah, I got two left. Thank you. I would take the battery out quicker. I was going to say, why would somebody Good evening. Good evening. How are you? Hi there. How are you doing? How you doing? Good. Miss you again. I know. Was your lunch good? Destroying it quickly. Yes. Thank you. Recycling. [Music] How are you? I'm good. How are you? I'm all right. Are you sure? I'm sure you're just all right. I'm just all right. Did you get strawberries? I did. Were yours okay? Mhm. Mine all didn't make it home. What happened? Oh, I was like, you didn't make it home. So, everything's okay, though. I sent a list to to Dr. Grimes asking to be put
002back on the cycle to the PLC's. I haven't heard from her yet. Has she talked with you? I know. She was collecting dates. Okay. Anything else? Okay. No. Could get not sure if it will, but it could discipline. One of the focal points. I'm not the best at reading body language, but when we finished up the budget meeting last time and you and Dr. Lewis were position of being a parent and a board member and sometimes that clouds some of the issue similar like you I mean you experience the same thing as an employee and having two sons that going through this or one that is still in the system one that went through it and it's even worse when you're in leadership if you're just a teacher you know or school employee but it's
003even worse when you're administrative level right body langage at The main thing that's updated there is the um close sessions. Oh, go ahead. Good reading facial expressions. Her daughter was thrilled to the ground. [Music] Thursday the 6th of March and the assistant who was still on the job because apparently she didn't go on 7th was supposed to be her last day. She spent her last day. responsible for anything that happened to her. She was against when she went back the next day to speak with principal. Principal knew absolutely nothing about it. That's what she alleged. So the parent was even frustrated and then found out that the person that did this to her daughter was sent to ISS. She seemed to understand what that was. Admittedly, I learned what that really meant about a month
004ago. I didn't know we had one of those tries to reach the administration, she cannot get anyone to talk to her. That's why because I sent an email to get details on. She sent she sent me a list of phone violations and the penalties. Now was redacted and the penalty had the whatever the incident was never heard before. or letter RJ. Hey, how are you sir? All right. as an administrator. I know that memory's faulty at least at my age. It might not be at yours. It's faulty at my age. It's really faulty. I'm sure [Laughter] I'm sure it's not all Disney. No. I think I asked you that today, didn't I? You did. Pay attention. I said you don't pay attention. Did you remember everything? That's right. That's right. Can I recall it? That's
005a different story. Yeah. I'm nervous. This is the first time we're doing YouTube tonight. We will begin with a moment of silence led by prayer by one of our board members and then if you're capable to uh stand with us uh for the pledge. [Music] Let us pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you for tonight for this board meeting. We thank you tonight for members of the board that are here, our deputy clerk and our superintendent that are here, the students that are here, the community support, the uh staff and the principles that are here, the teachers. Thank you that we are able to come together tonight to continue to strive to do the best that we can for our Nawway students. We thank you for your grace and for your mercy. Guide this meeting, guide
006the board, the superintendent, guide the speakers, and keep us in your keeping care. In the mighty name of Jesus, we pray. Amen. Amen. [Music] I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. [Music] I have a motion to approve the agenda for March 13th. So move. Second. Any discussion? Hearing none. All in favor signify by saying I. I. Awards and recognition. Not High School. Dr. Martin. [Music] Good evening, Mr. chairman, members of the board, and Dr. Grimes. This evening, I'm really excited about the highlights that you're going to see this evening. It's from the high school's Cougar Cafe. Um they started back in the fall, and it's just hit the ground running. And
007so, I'm actually going to turn it over to Mr. Wilson and his team for their presentation this evening. And I even think they have some treats for y'all. [Music] All right. Good evening, board members, Dr. Grimes and Miss Meyer. Um, we're going to wait for them to come on in and bring a treat. [Music] here. Do you want to join us? All right. Well, I'm going to make them now or Yeah, make them now. Okay. All right. Well, while they making some drinks, I can start with the presentation. All right. The Cougar Cafe. All right. Uh they launched this cafe October 21st, 2024 and fulfilled and to date they have filled over 900 orders of coffee, tea and hot chocolate. Yes. Um they participated in different community events. We had a 98 Canada public schools
008fall festival where they set up um they worked with the youth record association the basketball and they've also visited Kster school and and made coffee deliveries. our fundraising and educational opportunities. They have donated to the animal shelter and they went and visited animals and they had it was nice little field trip. uh they have helped a family in need and they also purchased books for students at the NIS book fair and they've had a couple different celebrations where I think we talk about that where they included the parents had some meals that they have been able to fund with some of the proceeds from their coffee sales and and I just mentioned that Thanksgiving holiday meals they did a Thanksgiving meal it was held here in our uh library. They furnished all the food. All
009the families were invited and had a right nice meal. Um the students developed the recipes. They created a shopping list and they actually went to actually on Walmart and purchased stuff together. And like I said, they prepare prepared a full meal for the families. Ham, mashed potatoes, green beans, macaron and cheese, rolls, desserts here in the school and they in the library. Um, and they had a classroom secret Santa. And again, the students shop with their classmates using personalized list and exchange gifts for holiday party. Slow down a little bit. I don't I don't want to be finishing and and going too fast. But there's a few few pictures here of from the Thanksgiving dinner as well as the Christmas um gift exchange they had. And I like the one in the middle where they
010actually in Walmart and they took a selfie where they was doing [Music] shopping. And through this program, they developed a lot of skills and a lot of learning opportunities. Um writing, they had to write the Thanksgiving notes and letters. Uh they mailed them. They get to go to the post office and then they ordered things when they went to Mitchell's restaurant. Um they obtain individual library cards for their library visit. They visit the citizen bank and trust and learn more about checking and savings. Also visit the Blackstone fire department and police department to learn about community helpers. And then they visited Heritage Hall and created some cards and coloring sheets for the residents which was went over and all of the visit went over very well. I was about to say Heritage Hall but everybody
011was very happy to see them and they have enjoyed going out and interacting with the different uh organizations as well. Few more pictures here. [Music] And have a short video. They've been twice CBS News. Uh uh Naw's own uh Miss Coburn came out. She came out twice and and did a nice interview and a nice piece on him which I really appreciate. And we're going to play and some of you may have seen it on the news but we're going to play a short clip for you. Whoa. Huh. Very funny. Limu doesn't even look like me. At Wayfair. We're game for every style. Let's play cherry. I like my favorite chair. Welcome. Do we have to put on the apron? Y to the Cougar Cafe. You're going to be my pump girl. Where sugar, syrup,
012one, two, milk, half and half, medium, pour, half and half, medium, pour, and ice help make a mean cup of Joe. I'm going to get y'all some coffee, hot coffee, tea. Yeah. Make your day feel better. Sophomore Na Merritt is quite the saleswoman. This is like a cinnamon bun. You can actually eat this with She and her 12 classmates in Nawway's life skills program are serving up special sweater weather coffees. is going to follow while also practicing math. A little bit more reading. Who do we have first? And social skills. Hey Miss Dy, we got your coffee. We incorporate that into everything that we do. Maline Duffy is not exceptional education teacher and I love it. It was her idea to transform this tiny corner classroom into a cafe. So here we are and we're
013growing every day. Honestly, I got tired the room looking lonely like any need of any people. Preparing students like Naia for the future is Miss Duffy's job. Giving them these life skills. I mean, they work on money skills. They work on communication skills, which is a huge thing for our students. And making 20 ice orders a day has become Kenyans. It's good. Like you got to focus, concentrate, and serious. The senior, who's also studying culinary arts, hopes his experience in the beastro will help him become a chef. I know that he'll accomplish that and he's learning all those skills and he's adapting and he's doing exactly what he needs to do. Both Kenyan and Naasia smells of an take their roles as coffee creators and deliverers seriously. We deliver the coffee. So, where is this
014located in the building? Where is it located? was located in the uh the school store right there as you come in the door. But when we had that snow, we had a a leak in the roof there. So, they've actually moved all the equipment into their classrooms. Okay. And then when they uh prepare the coffee, they put it on a cart like this and and will go door to door and deliver the coffee to the teachers. And they they've been to every school here, the complex, crew, primary, Blackstone, Kster for so they they've been getting out and All right. Can we come by and get a cup of coffee in the morning? Yes. Yes. The cafe is not open every day. So, um what we'll need to do is is next time we open, we'll
015reach out. And just one last thing, you all know that you started something, right? And we'll expect this from Yes, sir. Yes, indeed. Thank you very much. Thank you. Very good. [Music] You want to be na at 2:00 in the morning. Na would like to maybe All right. Before we go, one one of the students wanted to say something. All right. Okay. Yes. They call it Jim. I like it. Okay, guys. So, y I really like school. I really like dealing with the coffee. And I'm thank you guys here cuz if you guys want to come get a coffee, you know where it's at in Missy's room. But we do a really good job of it. And I'm really glad that you guys like it. So, yeah. All right. Thank you. I think I'm going
016to be glad you are. [Music] You're a teacher of this group. Raise your hand. All right. Thank you. You got good job guys. Next time they show up, you'll have to have cash. I need to ask a question though. Is there are there any delegations? Thank you. We'll move to the consent agenda. May I have a motion to approve the consent agenda? So move a second. Second. Any discussion? Hearing none. All in favor signify by saying I I the action items of budget. Adoption. All right. Um so nothing's changed since you all got your budget books last week. Um I did look into something Mr. Abbott had asked which I know Miss um Dr. Grimes to you all earlier today with some figures of potentially adjusting teacher pay or the teacher pay scale. Um, and
017while it's something I still want to do, we just don't have the funds to do it now. It doesn't mean that that's a no for the rest, you know, for next year, it just means we may have to wait until the state actually formally passes their budget to make any more adjustments to, you know, anything in the budget. And I'll show you some of um what that is here in a minute. Um so I'm just going to go over the state budget. Um go over some of the things that we did with the budget and then what our request of the board of supervisors is going to be. Um and this is this is a budget comparison for two things. Um, so the budget books that you all have are based solely on the bianual
018budget that was passed and signed last May cuz that is what is currently law for the 26 uh 2526 school year. What I have put in here is the update on the budget bill that was passed by the general assembly. Now is my understanding the governor is going to propose amendments. So we won't have a signed budget until probably sometime in April. Um but this is just to show you the difference between the bianial budget and what the general assembly has. Um and there is there is a difference not a huge amount but I mean enough that we could be able to do a little bit with. Um so you'll see you know if you know the general assembly budget is passed as is which I mean I know that it's not going to be.
019Um we would see an influx of $639,835 just in state revenue. Um, so that would be able to potentially, you know, fund one, some of the things that I had to cut from the budget. Um, that we would like to add back to the budget. Um, or two, be able to fund, you know, potentially addressing the teacher pay scale. Um, which is something, you know, I had mentioned that I wanted to do and I was hoping to do. We just we did not have the additional funding to be able to do so um, at the point in time with using the bianial budget. Um, so one of the things that I did talk to you about during the work session is the fact that we had to cut um a million dollars out of the
020budget. Um, this had nothing to do with any requests from the board of supervisors. It was just the fact that we did not have the revenue coming in to be able to um cover all of the expenditures that were budgeted on the forefront. That means we had to look for cuts in several places. Um, so you know, we cut vacancies that we deemed not needed. Um, you know, we cut, you know, a lot of materials and supplies and purchase service lines, um, where we felt like we could cut. Um, some got cut that I did not want to. And those I have a list of of priorities of where we need to place funding back if we get additional funds from the state or if we have any funds left over at the end of
021the year that we can carry over to offset next year's budget. Um, so you there's there's a lot of things that we still want to do. It's just we do not have any additional funding at this point in time to do. Now, that's not to say we won't. Um, you know, this is really the first school year that we've had without um any type of extra er funding. So, really and truly come June, we'll see just how well we have budgeted. And we could then look to see, okay, well, we know this is what we budgeted this year. Maybe we overbudgeted. So maybe we can look at those lines for offsetting next school year as we kind of really truly know where we're at. Um so you know it's just it's one of those things
022that it's kind of a tiered approach for for you know how to budget for years going forward. Um so what is our current request to the board of supervisors? Well, it is, you know, their required local contribution, which is the required local effort and the required local match that is 6 um 6,161,000. Now, depending upon the state budget that gets passed, there is the potential for that to increase um solely based off of just what the general assembly passed. I said if that gets passed as is, which I highly doubt, there could be a potential increase of an additional 155,000 um on the part of the county. I will not know that until we have a a state budget signed. Um anticipated ENTC funding um which is, you know, we finalize that budget this week
023um is $318,71028. For those of you who are on the joint board, you will get to see the ANTC budget at the March 27th meeting um for you all to approve at that meeting. Um so that's where we're at with the budget. Um definitely probably one of the hardest budgets I've had to put together since I've been here. Um but we are where we are and we will keep on moving forward and determining what other ways that we can save in the process. Any questions this evening? I just ask if you call enough to adopt the budget. Um because we do have to have it to the county prior to April 1. Well, I'll ask for a motion to uh adopt the budget as presented. So moved. Is there a second? Second. Any discussion? I
024just like to ask, is the board aware of what my request was? I was. Yes. I know it was sent to them this afternoon. I don't know if everybody got to read their email. So, just I can go through it if you'd like for me. My my request was to see if we couldn't increase what I'll call the zero line because some of the concern that we have heard in trying to uh recruit is that our starting pay is lower than many of the other districts in our general vicinity. So I was hopeful if we could figure out a way a math way to increase that zero line and somehow spread the pain across the other 39 steps. Uh which I think would be a good idea too as soon as we can find a
025way to do be able to do that. I think that would do a great job of attracting teachers and if funding comes in, I would hope that we would be able to do something like that so that we have uh a little more in our arsenal when it comes to uh recruiting. But I like many of you, I did not have an opportunity to look at the computer today cuz I I was home for maybe 30 minutes uh during the day. Um but having said that are there any other questions? Hearing none all in favor signify by saying I I opposed by the same sign. Hearing none. We look forward to any adjustments that may be necessary due to our uh friends in Richmond. Information items the substitute update. Dr. [Music] Good evening everyone. Hopefully
026everyone's enjoying their coffee and such. So, uh, Mr. Abbott presented three questions um, regarding some data regarding substitutes. Turn it on. That's on. The three questions for how much how many were asked to work of the 67 substitutes? How many actually worked? How many positions required a sub? Three simple straightforward questions. Historically, as you've know working with education and stuff like that, simple questions sometimes don't have simple answers. So hopefully I'm going to work through this so that the the questions kind of have responses with that. So we use a system an asset management system called frontline. So to answer the first question, how many substitutes were asked to work? It would be 100%. Of those folks that are listed because the system, if you're listed, the system calls every single substitute in that c
027in that list that's active. So answer that question would be 100%. Now the tangent where it gets less simple is the fact that the one the schools have ability to individually and teachers have the ability to individually call substitutes directly without that. And sometimes that information isn't relayed back into frontline to get the accurate data. But to answer the question specifically, every substitute that's listed is called and reached out. [Music] So, in the month of January, there's 1,957 calls from the system for substitute requests. As you can see, February, as of the 25th of February, 1371. I want to be clear, calls from the system because you're going to have another outlier where it could be where this, like I said earlier, the school could be calling or the the teachers could be calling directly
028if that makes sense. All right. Here's hopefully to clarify some of the the outliers and the things that could could garble up the the simple questions. So, like I said, substitutes are able to and we we found prefer to go into the system, log in, select the jobs that they want ahead of time and independently. So, they don't get that 4:30 in the morning phone call, you know, in that category. They can just they're already preset. So, that job is taken care of. Second point, the data that's provided that I have that you'll see next is just from the frontline data because we don't have the anecdotal information from the schools or the tracking mechanisms that the schools or the specific teachers would call. So whenever a teacher or a school would set something up
029independently, we would hope that they would go back into the system and say job filled or something that is filled by Joe Smith or whatever in that category. So then we would see that information. sometimes it doesn't make it. So that's why the numbers are going to be two different sets potentially. On top of that, a nice thing about it for the for the the um employees of it front line is very very customizable. You can select like if I was a substitute, I can select a specific building. I can select a certain day. I can select a certain grade level. I can select a certain teacher in that. So it's very very customizable which in turn would potentially again skew some of the overall numbers with that. So even though I'm a number 98
030on the sublist I may want stuff already pre-arranged in that category. So the second question, how many were asked to work? So from the January front line, the first column there was you can see the calls that were made, the location of the schools. Obviously the percentage is of the total count of calls. So for example, Blackstone had 536 calls from the system into front line for substitutes. So of that it was 27% of the calls were from Blackstone for the month of January. Same thing but for a target mark of the 25th of [Music] February. So here's how many actually worked. So from January you can see that the number of positions filled the number of positions unfilled and then the overall fill rate the percentage of filled and then with an overall systemwide
031fill rate of 68%. [Music] So in the month just example Blackstone the month of January it filled 28 vacant sub positions however had 17 that were not filled in that category. This I think is where we get into the concern the the no fill rate is the part that's troubling. And again this is a snapshot of February through the 25th. We included ANT A&T NTC on this because they they use our pool of substitutes as [Music] well. So how many positions required a substitute for January? You can see the data there. I'm trying not to read to you because it's quite straightforward again February's data general question of course these absences is there any are there any particular factors that is a reason why yes um going back historically it's personal leave and sick leave
032those are the two dominant categories if you will because again the system when you put in it's certain cate categories they put in. So, it's doctor's appointments, it's I got a sick kid, it's I need to take a dentist appointment in that category. Um, as we talked about before, October seems to be a significant spike. Um, there was another month later on that was another spike. We're still trying to figure out some of the reasons why. I mean, there's guesses as to aspects of things. Um, for example, one of the aspects of, you know, in October is, you know, we have the start of school as September, everyone's shiny and new kind of thing, and then school starts, we get into the thing of things, then all of a sudden the appointments start coming in
033cuz now we got say kids, everyone's around each other and so on. So, we really don't have any hard data of the wise. Um, but we we do charge the the principles do a pretty good job about they're getting better to filter about what's going on and and cuz not every absence has to be approved. Well, I say a sick sick leave, you have that. But if it's like a personal leave and you've accumulated stuff, the the supervisor can ask in that category. So, that's some of the things that they're they're taking a look at just instead of a blanket yes to everything, just asking some questions. you know, does appointment have to be right in the middle of the day or can the appointment be right after work and so on. Are most of
034these absences something that is known ahead of time so that plans can be made or most of them last minute? I would I would say yes. I got to turn around. Most of them are kind of to the most part scheduled. The ones that you can't feel are the ones that Yeah. The unfilled ones and the night up, right? The unfilled numbers are usually the ones that are last minute. Yeah. If three of them delay is a minute. Mhm. For the month. Yeah. That's what a whole month. Keep in mind these numbers are for months, not a month. Like two a day. Yeah. That's a lot. Still a lot. Still a lot. I know you asked three questions. Hopefully that kind of covered the three questions to a certain degree. There is still work to
035be done. Um but in the aspect of you know 100% of the substitutes are contacted through that system. Well I appreciate I appreciate this information because that it does help but let of the substitutes over these this two-month period of time. Do you know how many of them never worked? I don't have that off the top of my head. I don't have that. But that's something we could probably grab. Well, the reason that I asked that is is sometimes you have to fish or cut bait. True. So if if if they're so particular that they only want to take a certain spot and that spot is rarely vacant, either that sub substitute needs to expand their horizon or we need to take a second look. Uh because the numbers here suggest that we need more
036substitutes. True. The 67 isn't enough. But if if there's 10% of the 67 never choose to work, then that's a problem in and of itself. If we have numbers, if we have information, any information that comes to us, we address it. there's a concern at the school, it's addressed. Um, if there's a gap in work, you know, Kristen, Heather, and myself, we all kind of tag team and we'll address those concerns if they pop up. So, but yes, to your to your point, that is accurate because one of the thing I believe in my mind, the thing that started all of this was a teacher that came and said that their planning time didn't happen because they were always obligated to fill in the space. And if my memor is correct, of the five schools,
037four indicated they didn't have a problem with that. All of their teachers in four schools got it. The high school was the problem area. Yet, when I look at these absences, the high school isn't the lead leader when it comes to absences, and there are more teachers in the high school than there are in the other schools. So, uh, there we somehow and I don't I don't have any magic words that will fix it, but we have to figure out how to uh better adjust for those circumstances. Uh, that the data helps because now we know where the holes are. Now we have to figure out how to fill those holes. And I know that this board wants to help do that. think we can react. I mean, we we came back with the and
038I know that you've worked on this the uh the companies that will help provide those kinds of things. Uh and I know we're still looking at that and money's important and it's it's essential to getting some of these things done. So, we'll have to figure out if we can find that $4ome,000 to figure out how to do this if it can help mitigate some of these issues because a not having a teacher in a classroom means [Music] something, but I don't know if anybody else has any questions, but I I appreciate Can I get where do we stand on outsourcing? It's really funding. We have a company that we feel confident. Um, we've done a lot of research on it, talked to a lot of our neighbors. Um, so we have a company that is,
039if we were able to do that, we have a company that we feel comfortable with. And may I ask the name of that company that you ESS, correct? ESS. Of the three, ESS was the one that could meet the majority of the expectations. I say yes. Um, is there any way I can get a copy of Of course. Send that to me. Of course. Any other questions? Hearing none. Thank you. Thank you. Birdville feasibility update. Mrs. Meyer. All right. So, last week, um, Mr. Templeton, Dr. Grimes and I met um virtually with the architecture firm. Um the previous day they had sent um Mr. Templeton and myself some additional questions that they wanted some answers to. Um they've also have asked for some additional um building schematics that Mr. Templeton had to to go search
040through through his massive um amount of blueprints that he has down at his office. Um we have since given them all of the additional information they wanted. Um they also were talking to us about some of the BDOE um school building requirements and regulations um and just kind of talking through that with us as far as what that entails um asking some additional questions. So we've asked them to give us um as many options as they can in the report um to be able to provide you all with as much information as possible. Um right now the timeline has has been extended out um just because of them doing some additional um information gathering and research. So right now they are anticipating getting um us a draft by the end of April. Um and then
041hopefully I can get them out here to present to you all in May. Um and that is where we kind of stand right now. um just trying to make sure that they can be as comprehensive as possible and providing the different um options. They have certain guidelines as far as how many how many square feet are supposed to be in a classroom um and that's all dependent upon, you know, the grade that's in the classroom, the configuration of the school. Um, so they're going to, you know, give us some options based upon the current square footage, um, and and potential and current layout and what may need to be changed in order to make it, um, you know, an an elementary school, which is what you all kind of, um, have kind of spoken about.
042Um but then they'll give us some other options to get us, you know, kind of truly up to um Virginia Department of Education's guidelines on a true elementary school at um its full potential um as far as spatial. So there's a lot of extra moving pieces and parts that we were not aware of. Um I've learned some things along the way in these conversations now that I've actually read through those building guidelines. Um it'll actually help us just on our five schools that we do have as we are you know looking at you know upgrading, renovating and you know doing sorts of things to to get us um you know refreshed over the next however many years. Um but it it is definitely it is a much more comprehensive process than what I anticipated it
043to be. But they are being very thorough and I said they're going to provide you with multiple options as to what that school could do could be. Um so you all just have all the information to make any decision on the future use of that school. So that's the update for this evening. If you have any questions I will be more than happy to answer. No. Thank you. I'm I'm good. Any questions? I have question. Yes ma'am. Um two questions. Did I hear you correctly when you said they contacted you about VDOE requirements? So, they as one of our meetings that we were asking questions, they brought up the Virginia Department of Education building requirements. Um, I knew they were out there. I've just never honestly read through them. Um, them having, you know, constructed
044many and renovated many schools, they're very much more familiar with it. Um, so they kind of contacted us with questions about the vision for the school so they kind of knew which direction to go. Um, we told them that the vision for the school was kind of up in the air and at the board's discretion. So, we would like as many options as possible so that you all can make those decisions as we move forward as to what to do with that building. Um, so there's some different configuration options they're going to provide to us based upon different levels of requirement within those um, building guidelines. I appreciate that. I I asked that question because I knew the arch the individual we chose, they had had prior experience with schools and so that raised a
045red flag for me. If they have prior experience, why are they asking you the requirements when they should already know that? Yeah, they they wanted um some guidance from us as far as what we were looking for. They weren't really asking us what the requirements were. They were basically asking us if we knew that these were the requirements and then based on that what is it that the board is looking for? Yes, I appreciate that clarification. I was a little confused. One other question and this is not pointed at anything. Um um this is just to clear the water on some things that have been brought to my attention. Has the division requested that anybody who's in the building to move? No. So currently now we haven't been doing any additional new um building use
046we have not approved any um what we have stated is as long as the registar is there um that like with feed they are allowed to stay currently in their and they're pay and they're paying utilities for us um we've allowed them to kind of continue cuz one they are looking for you know another location um they you know holding a key to the building for them is not necessarily the direction we want to go because we do have stuff stored over there. Um we do have it for the registar because we don't go and open and close that building for them. Um so they are aware that once the register moves then at that point they will um need to absolutely make a decision on what they want to do but I have been
047extending them um just as I've been getting information but other than that like we have not done any um further additional uses other than there is a church that rents it on the weekend and they do pay for that rental. Um, Winter Guard currently is using the gym for practice, which that's one of our sports teams. You know, obviously we will allow that. Um, and then there is a um a youth group that once again they rent the gym um to be able to use it one day a week. Um, so currently we don't have any additional people using that building other than the people that um were pay currently paying. Um we have not given permission to anybody else like state police hasn't been using it. Um VCBR hasn't been using it. Um the
048county has not been using it other than the voter registar office. So we've kind of pulled back on that while we are in the process of doing this plus you know working with the county um to determine what's the future of the registar out there as well. Appreciate that. Thank you. What's the timeline for the registar? I do not know that answer. Um, I know that there are some extra steps that they had to take for that to happen, but I do not have an updated timeline as to when that could potentially um when they could potentially move out. Is there a way to encourage them? Um, by increasing the cost as I understand it, the registar got a the county got a really good deal and registar has been there temporarily for the last
0495 years. It it is my understanding what's holding them back right now is there was additional paperwork that had to be done with the state voter registration office to move them. I don't know all the details about that, but I know that that's I think that's in motion. I just don't have a date as to when they may my understanding the intent is for them to still move to where the um treasurer revenue are. Right. But I don't think anybody is I don't think anybody here has given direction for them. Nor are we trying to push them out with the exception of the knowledge that we are considering to use it and that the extent we are not looking to do anything more than that. Correct. I mean we haven't just gone in there and
050told them you know they they had to get out. Um, you know, one, it is somewhat nice to have someone in the building to at least tell us when there's an issue and a problem and we can get over there and address it. Um, but we we don't we I just don't know at the this point in time, you know, the county's direction and a timeline for them. With regards to the registars's office, the Virginia Department of Elections has requirements that must be met before the registars's office can move. They don't up and just say, "Okay, folks, pack it up. We're moving." They have to meet all these requirements beforehand. Yeah. I think it's like a public notice has to be given and all that, but I have no idea of the details, but there
051are requirements. Correct. And I I know that the county has started the process on all of that. I just don't know where they're at. Any other questions? No, sir. Hearing none. Thank you. Thank you. Our ENTC report, Mr. Uh yes, a couple of things. Uh things are moving along really well. Uh again, I would encourage you if you have not uh been by ENTC and driven up to the uh the front entrance and looked at the uh uh Volkswagen bug that the students in the auto body class have redone. That is quite something to see. It is impressive. So these these guys are learning a lot and they're doing some excellent work. Second thing uh Miss uh uh Sledzinski uh asked for and received approval to apply for a CTE competitive innovative program equipment grant.
052Uh the deadline on that was just last Friday. So, I'm sure we don't have any uh any word on whether we were successful in that, but uh that would certainly help uh help us going forward if we get get that grant. Thank you, sir. Uh the governor's school report, Miss Duncan. Um thank you. Um yes, we recently had a meeting. We were informed of a variety of things. Um currently in this school year, um one of the highlights is that that they are going on a very nice field trip. And I say nice because it is going to be highly educational. The tattooist of us were more the Harlem Renaissance and African-American studies and Native American literature. Um they were going to visit the Virginia Holocaust Museum. um and a multitude of other mosa hands
053off museums. [Music] Um currently um there will be an increase to the budget but that is not going to affect our division um per se. Um but they are there is going to be a slight increase. Um all students seem to be doing well. They are also going to be having, if they haven't had it already, a Renaissance fair, which is supposed to be really cool because they dress up and they go all out. Um, but other than that, Broadway students appear to be doing wonderfully in it. Thank you, Miss Duncan. Uh, the SEAK report, Miss Duncan. Yes. Um, we held our meeting in our last meeting in February. Currently, our seat, I mean, excuse me, our special education division is going through normal federal monitoring. Um, went through normal federal monitoring. Um, within that,
054VDOE has made and requested some adjustments for our SEAK. The VDOE would like it to be restructured some. it is guided to be um 51% parental participation. VDOA is going to meet again to discuss some of those changes. I know Dr. Lewis and her staff are working hard on trying to make some of those things happen. One of the ways that they're trying to make that happen is the SEAK is now featured on the division's website. Um Dr. Lewis is checking in on having the meeting announcements placed on the school social media Facebook pages. Um, and our next meeting will be held April the 8th at 400 p.m. virtually and that CK will receive the annual plan to us and then I can bring it to the board at the next meeting. Dr. was to
055bring it, but sorry. And that's it. Thank you. Uh, our student liaison reports. Good afternoon. Um, not really much to talk about. Um, spring sports have started softball, baseball, and track. Varsity girls played Monday and ended up losing to Ken Forest 15 to three, but ended up coming back that Tuesday over Brunswick. Baseball boys have a game tonight starting at 6:30. Um, today we had to take cap and gown pictures. So, that went pretty well. Tin can coffee visited the school recently with great success. It was really good. You guys should try it. And lastly, Principal Wilson has launched a student ambassador group which will play an important role in representing our school and the ambassadors will guest speakers and meet monthly to discuss, you know, like different ideas and fundraising and stuff. Good. Thanks.
056Excellent. Thank you. Thank you, Dr. Rimes, our superintendent report. Thank you, Mr. Abbott. Board members, last night I attended the VSBA's Southside region spring networking forum and submitted the artwork of three of our students into the VSBA art contest. We had entries submitted for students from Crew Primary School, uh, Nawway High School and Nawway Middle School. Uh, and our not middle school entrance entry was the third winner, uh, for that middle school contest. Awesome. Uh, each of these students will be invited to and recognized at the April board meeting. Uh, and I'd like to remind the board that last year we had a first place winner. Uh, and that student um will receive her framed um artwork back uh in just a little bit. And I believe, if I'm not mistaken, based on information from
057Miss Wood, for the last four years, we have had a winner from first place to third place at this BSBA art contest. So, that is quite an accomplishment for our students. Great. Um, also, uh, the final piece of information to share this month as the executive superintendent for the governor's school, which I've been for three or four years now. Uh, today I spent the morning in an English class at the Keysville campus watching student presentations of classic British literature tales. Uh, and I'm an English major and British lit was one of my favorite subjects. So, I just was choser was the topic and I was in hog heaven. Uh the kids dressed uh in period garb. They um each group created uh a um a meal, an entree. Not every group did everything, but one
058group did an entree, a couple groups did dessert, one did the sides. Uh that was also true to the period. Uh and their uh video presentations were were really interesting in that they did a good job of meshing the old world stuff with current day stuff. So, you know, they they uh reimagined the tales that were told uh to uh be a little bit more modern, incorporating some modern music and modern dances. But it was wonderful to watch the students uh with this. And in about two weeks, I will visit the Alberta campus for the senior symposium. Uh and then I will also attend the whole school um the entire governor school, Gatsby Gayla, that will be in Chase City. And the Gatsby Gayler uh is um if you think roaring 20s uh they again
059dress in uh period uh wear for that. Uh they do the Charleston but they also do presentations related to um their readings and work from there and the Renaissance fair was if not last week the week before. Yeah. Yeah. So that's the um superintendent's report for this month. Thank you. uh matters of schoolboard interest on March 25th, the VSBA 2025 uh spring superintendence evaluation workshop which could be addressed either in Charlottesville or virtually. I know I am registered to uh see that virtually because it's an update from the previous program that we once uh attended on the 26th schoolboard works session. at that work session, be prepared to discuss what I will call the all questions. If you'd like to be more informed on that, talk to me after the meeting. On the 27th, we
060have the joint board meeting with the NTC. Uh are there any future agenda items, Miss Duncan? [Music] Um we moved on to the next section. Mr. Wilson. No, not that right now. Mr. Ro, nothing is that. Mr. Allah, uh, a couple of things. Uh, and I won't go into a great deal of detail here, but uh, first off, cell phones. The, uh, rule that we have is not being a enforced across the board. And from information that I received just recently, there are some pretty serious infractions. And I do have a question on that, Dr. Grimes of you uh on the uh the policy about videoing a fight may result in the phone becoming evidence and being turned into law enforcement. The student with the video also may have to go to court as a
061witness. Uh, a first offense is an out of school suspension for 3 days, second ascent, second offense 5 days, and third offense 10 days. [Music] past there being an abuse of the basic cell phone rule that they will not be used during school hours and I'm paraphrasing there. I don't see the point in this and it seems to be rather restrictive and I would also have the question does one of these uh [Music] uh punishments add on top of the [Music] other. Well, I'm I'm not quite sure how to That was a question to Dr. Grimes. I I appreciate that. I'm not sure how to make it an agenda item. Well, okay. Uh then just if you could, Dr. Grimes, let me know via email uh the answers uh to this. I would certainly appreciate
062it. Uh if you take the courier record and have the knowledge of uh what's in the paper, uh we continue to have a problem with violence more so in some of our schools than others. And to me, and it I think should be a concern to all of us, uh we need to do something about that. I appreciate that because I I know that we have recently received some data from Dr. Grimes. We all received an email on those things that uh have been recorded. Uh I will uh work with Dr. Grimes on the potential for an agenda item that would provide clarity to some of those uh things that we received. uh more recently uh because it it uh is good data. uh it's about bad things that happen, but it's the the kind
063of data that might allow the board to help in supporting the changes necessary so that administrators and especially those teachers can deal with these situations uh more effectively in their uh classrooms. Other are there any other items? I'll start with Mr. Row. Nothing. at this time. Mr. Jim, Mr. Wilson, nothing. Mr. Outlaw? No. Miss Duncan? Yes. I have a couple things. One, um, I want to say thank you that I do see here. I appreciate that. We need that and I thank you for that. Um, another one is that I appreciate Nawway and the teachers doing what they've done with our self-contained classes because those skills that were brought out, they are everyday life skills that you and I take for granted, but going to the store and buying a loaf of bread can be
064complex for some individuals. So, I applaud them. Um, and thirdly, I guess I said two, I meant three. Um, I'm sure that when it comes to discipline, there are no two families that do it the same way. And discipline is hard. We, as adults and professionals, have to be flexible and understanding while being firm and consistent. Sometimes discipline should be a teaching moment rather than a punitive moment. Our discipline, policy, and procedures are created from guidance from DOE, Department of Education, and Virginia Department of Education. We as a school board and our superintendent use the guidelines from DOE and VDOE to create policy and then the superintendent enforces that policy via code conduct and handbook. Now, I took this that I'm getting ready to read to you out of the student code of conduct, page
06565, which states, "The Nawway School Board establishes expectations for student conduct so that public education is conducted in an atmosphere free of disruption and threat to persons or property and supportive of individual rights. In addition to the types of conduct prohibited below, the superintendent issues standards of code of conduct and lists of possible actions for violations of these standards. It next lists when the code of conduct applies to students such as if they're on the bus, if they're on school property, and then it is followed by, and I quote again, the school board and the superintendent bianial review of the model student code of conduct developed by the Virginia Board of Education to incorporate into policy and the standards of student conduct a conduct a range conduct a range of discipline options and alternatives. ives
066to preserve a safe and non-disruptive environment for effective learning and teaching. This year, we will need to review the student code of conduct. Now, realizing all of this and also realizing that there are concerns in the community regarding discipline in our schools, I would like to offer a motion. Mr. Chairman, I motion that we create a committee to review all of the current discipline policies, including included in that review of discipline in our handbook and our code of conduct. This committee would complete a comprehensive review of everything regarding discipline. Then a presentation of any recommendations by the committee will be made. I would also like to include in this motion that the committee consists of the following individuals. two school board members, one administration administration staff from the central office, one administration staff from each
067school, one mental health individual, and three parents preferably not employed with the division. I requested that of you, Mr. Chairman. I second that motion. Well, you've heard the motion, and I've heard a second. Uh, is there any discussion? Hearing none. All in favor signify by saying I. I. Any opposed? By the same sign. Hearing none. Uh I will respectfully uh suggest that um March 26th at our work session that we can work out the fine details of that motion so that we can figure out all of the uh steps to be able to uh get uh all of those uh positions or named positions uh to be made aail available and when if that meets uh with everyone's expectations. Uh let me finish uh other uh April 10th everyone should be aware that from 4:30
068to 6:30 we will meet with the VSBA. Then April 14th, 16th, 22nd and uh Sunny, Sunny, can I pause? Yes, ma'am. Chairman, could we please pause on the sharing that information, sir? Say again. Could we please pause on sharing that information, sir? Okay. I mean, it's just dates that I would make want everybody to be uh prepared for. So, we will continue on. Uh close closed meeting resolution. [Music] Oh, sorry. Let me get over there. 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 for five appointments, one art teacher, one two substitute teachers, one car driver substitute, one assistant baseball coach. B informational for resignations one retirement C student discipline and
069D personnel matter heard the motion is there a second any discussion